And just like that I’m folding toddler underwear

I realize you are probably getting tired of potty training stories, but hey, that’s my life lately and it’s all I know.

As I folded the 10th pair of Dora, Minnie Mouse, Diego and Cars underwear on Friday I could not believe that that was in fact what I was doing and that they belonged to my children.  How is it that three years has gone by and both my babies are almost potty trained?  How is it possible that my baby girl daily reminds me that she’s a big girl now and that she’s old enough to wear makeup. How is it possible that my baby boy says “ME ME ME” a hundred times a day because he thinks he can do anything and everything by himself?  How in the world did time go by so quickly and can’t it slow down just a bit?

Don’t get me wrong folks. I’m SO thankful to be done with diapers.  But being done with diapers just causes that battle to rage of wanting your babies to grow up but not wanting them to grow up.

Both kids are doing great with potty training. We actually were out and about on Saturday and at church this morning with both kids in undies and no accidents! Woo hoo!  Caleb thinks he’s hot stuff because he now stands up when he goes to the bathroom, because of course he needs to be like daddy. For some reason I didn’t think he’d be standing up for awhile and it makes me sad that he’s getting all grown up.

Ok, enough talk about potty training and my mommy roller coaster emotions.

Perhaps you are still stuck on the sentence above about Angel telling me she’s old enough to wear makeup. Yes. Yes she is 3 going on 13.  She’s all about telling us what a big girl she is.  Just this morning at church we were hanging out by a set of stairs. I told her to be careful and she said, “Mommy I’m a big girl and I don’t fall down anymore.”  Oh, how I wish that were true.

So anyway, I”ll let her “play” with a few things out of my makeup when I’m getting ready and Aunt Nellie does the same. But she had gotten a little girl makeup thing for her birthday from her Aunt Nellie (who might just spoil her rotten) and we won’t let her play with it yet.  We were in the van the other night on our way home from somewhere and she declared that she was going to play with her makeup when we got home.  Thus began the conversation discussion argument about whether or not she was big enough to wear makeup.  I would tell her that she’s not big enough to wear makeup unless she’s helping Mommy or Aunt Nellie and she would say, “Mommy! I am a big girl!”  And I would have to agree that yes, she was a big girl, but that she wasn’t big enough yet to wear makeup.  And round and round we went. 

I think she was just overly tired which was why she got so upset about it (seriously, isn’t this suppose to happen in like 10 years instead of now?), because she does understand that she’s not big enough to get her ears pierced yet.  At least once a week she’ll remind me that when she’s bigger she’ll get to get her ears pierced.  I don’t remember exactly how the conversation ended but I think it finally came down to me having to tell her we weren’t going to talk about it anymore and she saying, “I want my Daddy,” which usually happens when Mommy’s being a meany.

(For those of you who think I’m a wacko, we know it’s just play makeup and there’s nothing really wrong with it but we also feel there’s nothing really wrong with making her wait for a little bit.)

In other news the Lord must think I need some help in the patience department because He’s certainly giving me opportunities to practice it. As I mentioned Caleb is SO independent. So much more than Angel was. He needs to do everything by himself, but of course he can’t and so eventually he gives in and lets us do it. It’s just that whole waiting until he gives in that drives me bonkers. 

Unfortunately that whole indepenent thing also brings huge fear for us. We thought we were past it, but on Friday Caleb ran out into the street again. As in running away from me into the middle of street and why not take a right and head down the middle of the street too.  And it’s not because I was chasing him. If we don’t chase him, he just keeps right on running. So we have to chase him, well, because it’s the street. And the little stinker is so fast. He also runs away from us when we’re at the store or church. Just like that he’s gone.  Twice now in the past few months he’s run away at church and we haven’t been able to find him for at least 5 minutes (which seemed like 50). 

Anyone else have any experience with this? We’ve tried everything and I was hoping it was just a phase and I’m sure it is but it’s a rather long phase that I’d love to be done with. He hates being carried and he’s also too heavy to be carried everywhere so I’m not sure how to dissuade him from bolting every chance he gets.

God also might be trying to give me a little practice in the area of letting go of control.  Me? A control freak? Come on, right.  Well anyway, Caleb’s favorite pair of shoes are his church shoes. They are these little brown docker type shoes and his feet are so fat that they barely fit him. But every single time it’s time to get shoes on he runs and get those. And usually we tell him no and to get his tennis shoes (unless it’s Sunday morning).  I’m not sure why I’m so particular about these shoes, I guess because they look so uncomfortable. But in the scheme of things does it really matter?  Well it usually turns into a battle and I’m trying to do a better job of picking my battles.

So the other day I actually got a little motivation and decided to do Jillian. The kids love doing it with me (Angel can seriously last almost the entire time) and they both wanted to put shoes on since Mommy had shoes on. Caleb of course runs to get his brown dress shoes and I tell him that he can’t wear those to work out.  The battle briefly started and then I decided that I don’t really care what he wants to wear when he works out.

Is there something wrong with that last statement? A 2 year old working out?

Well anyway, obviously I no longer care what he wears…

Speaking of shoes, the past few days Angel has been adament about wearing shoes all the time. Shoes in the house are fine with me but normally we’re just bare feet people. I finally asked her why she wanted to wear shoes all the time and she said, “Mommy there’s garbage all over the floor.”

Ouch. I guess my cutback of computer time hasn’t helped out in the house cleaning area.  Well you have a great week! You can find me at home sweeping the floor.  

My weekend wasn’t totally ruined even though Angel called me crazy hair

This was my first of many weekends to work but it wasn’t all too bad. Since I’m training I had to work the day shift, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm but the days went pretty fast.  I started taking phone calls yesterday (I’m a call rep for Ask a Nurse) and I think I’m going to really love my new job. It’s so interesting and while we don’t really take alot of calls, compared to what I’m used to, the calls are challenging and there’s alot to learn.  I have to work 40 hours this week, about 30 next week but then after that I’ll be on my normal schedule rotation only working 20 hours. I can’t wait.

I realize Thursday wasn’t part of the weekend but I had both Thursday and Friday off so it was kinda one big long weekend. Thursday I had the pleasure of meeting a bloggy buddy. We’ve been blog friends for a few years. I think it was at least a year ago that she made the connection that we live in the same town. We’ve been emailing every since talking about planning a coffee date.  In fact, I’m sorry to say it’s probably been about 2 years since we’ve been trying to do that. Well then after Caleb was born I went a little psycho and unfortunately we kinda lost track of each other.  The other day I was reading my old posts about Caleb being born and I saw all these comments from her! I emailed and she emailed right back and it was like no time had past.  So on Thursday we were able to finally meet in person and have our first play date.  I wasn’t weird at all, which I think we were both probably worried about! Our kiddos enjoyed playing together and we enjoyed visiting and I can’t wait for our next play date!

Friday Angel had school in the morning and Caleb and I walked around Target working on my price comparison book. This is something Owlhaven recommends – making a book of common items that you buy and finding out what the prices are at all of the main stores.  I’ve been meaning to do that for quite some time and I’m excited to finally be getting started on it.

Friday afternoon I got it in my head to move the kids’ bedroom downstairs. We only have 2 bedrooms upstairs and so we have our “office” in our dining room. Plus boxes and papers and files in Princess’s old bedroom. It’s about enough to drive me mad. I feel so unorganized so I decided that I think the kiddos are ready to sleep downstairs.  I first asked Angel and she was so excited. Then we called Daddy and he was ok with it too. So Friday afternoon and night we got all the stuff (everything you could possibly imagine – I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture) out of Princess’s bedroom and moved their beds and some toys down. I didn’t want to move everything upstairs and get the “office/playroom” set up or get their new bedroom set up completely until I knew they’d be ok. So Friday night they slept all night and last night they slept all night.  I didn’t want them to be down their with the gate closed, so we put them to bed and then after they fall alseep we go back down and open the gate.  So far it’s been working ok and they just come upstairs when they wake up in the morning.

So today after I got home from work we did the switcharoo with everything. Our “office/playroom” is also going to be our “school room”. So we have alot of books, their puzzles, playdoh, crafts, colors, markers, paper, etc in there. They each got a cute little desk from Aunt Nellie for Christmas so that is in there along with a small table.  Then we have our two desks that have our computer and the 8 years of junk and papers we’ve accumulated (that’s going to take me another 8 years to sort through).  I still have alot of work to do but we are making progress.  But I actually have a dining room now with just a dining room table. No computer or desk or stacks and stacks of papers. It’s the simple things in life.

That’s been most of our weekend.  A few other highlights include:

~Splurging and buying chips and sour cream and onion dip. It’s been probably a year since we’ve indulged and boy was that tasty.  I know my life is pathetic when chips and dip is a highlight of our weekend.

~Potty training. A tiny bit of success. We tried the plastic pants over the underwear route on Friday and Angel did pretty good. She had a few accidents but actually went potty in the toilet a couple times so that was awesome. It was the first time that has happened in a long time (at least at our house – she does better at Grandma Barb’s).  So G Barb is going to work on it more this week since I have to work extra hours and we’ll just keep plugging away.

~Sorting through boxes and totes finding pictures from high school and elementary school.  Angel said about my sophomore picture, “Wow mom you’ve got crazy hair.”  Pat saying about my freshman picture, “You can burn that one.”

~Me practicing my scripture memory verse after hearing Pat say to burn my freshman picture (even though he said he was kidding).   Especially this part, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love...”  (Grrr)  Maybe someday I’ll show you those pictures. Or not.

~Pat quoting this cartoon. ALL. DAY. LONG.  He thought this one was especially funny.  Whatever.

~Soup. Lots and lots of soup. Just your good ol’ tomato soup and grilled cheese for supper on Saturday night. Tortilla soup and cheese quesadillas for supper tonight.  Yum.

Well for some reason my baby girl is struggling to go to bed tonight. She’s been crying for a few minutes now and I just heard her say, “Caleb, I want my mommy.” And Caleb said, “Ya.”  That warrants breaking our new sleep rules and going in to give hugs.

Hope your weekend was full of great memories. Have a good night!

 

Sitting here waiting for sleep

The kids have been so clingy lately. They will not go to bed unless I sit in the room with them. We’ve tried closing the door and letting them cry it out but that’s not working. So I sit on Angel’s little white chair, that used to be Grandma Barb’s little white chair when she was a little girl, and wait for them to fall asleep, trying not to pay attention to the fact that they keep sneaking out of their beds to get a different baby or book.

Now Caleb is dumping his pillow and all his blankets on the floor.  And Angel never sleeps with blankets. Don’t they realize it’s 50 below? 

Pat is getting ready to do Jillian. We just watched The Biggest Loser and so now he’s psyched up again. I, on the other hand, am tired and would really enjoy some chocolate ice cream right now.  Even though I haven’t been exercising much I’m still holding strong at 134.  Today though I had 15 M-M’s, a Coke and a small piece of chocolate cake so unless I do Jillian that number is likely to climb.

I have some exciting news to share with you in the next few weeks. I’m not pregnant – that’s impossible remember. We’re not adopting again (yet).  I don’t know the exact specifics of my good news but hopefully will soon.  How’s that for a cliffhanger.

Both Angel and Caleb have been so lippy lately.  Caleb’s all about saying no to anything we say. Angel on the other hand, lips off like she’s 14.  She’ll say things like, “You don’t talk to me like that,” or “You don’t tell me what to do.”  Or she’ll threaten us like just now she said, “FINE! Then I’m not going to cover up!” (What else is new). 

Things in our house are definitely alot better since we stopped going to daycare.  Grandma Barb is watching them fulltime right now until we decide what to do long term.  I’m not sure why it was so traumatic for Angel but she’s a completely different person.  She still misses us of course but it was almost like she went into a depression.  Like my mom said though, eventually she’s going to have to leave the house and we know that’s true. We are pretty much forcing her to go to pre-3 preschool on Friday mornings. She has a pretty bad meltdown when we leave but then she’s ok and has fun. She has a great teacher who is so patient.

Pat says he’s taking me dancing on Friday. We have a place in our town that has open ballroom dancing on Friday nights for $10. Now that we’re a little bit in shape we might not have a heart attack!  I’m looking forward to it although I’ve never done any ballroom dancing so hopefully I don’t look like an idiot.

Close. They are very close to sleep. The jumping and talking has stopped. That’s always a good sign.

We carved our pumpkins this weekend and Caleb was completely grossed out by it. My mom got it on video so hopefully she’ll post it to her blog and then I’ll link to it.  Angel loved it and helped me clean out the pumpkin. Daddy carved really funny faces and we put a candle in them.  We roasted the seeds although I put garlic on them and interestingly they kinda burned.  They don’t taste awful, just not the best.

Angel is still not potty trained. We’re back to wearing diapers although every once in awhile she’ll go on the toilet.  It’s very frustrating because for about 2 weeks this summer she was wearing underwear and staying pretty dry.  Right now we’re not even asking because she has a fit every time.  I know I’m going to have to get to the place where I just let her wear underwear and we deal with messes. I so don’t want to get to that place. 

It’s quiet. I think they are asleep. But I’m afraid to move because Caleb hears every move I make.  I’ll spend the last few minutes praying for them and then it’s off to bed for me too.

I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. Ephesians 1:16-19

 

How bout a little randomness

1. Yesterday Pat was changing Angel’s diaper and Angel said to him, “I’m SOO tired of changing diapers.” 

2. Angel is not even close to being potty trained. Despite the fact that a few weeks ago she was wearing underwear all day and staying dry. Not sure what happened but I’m SOO tired of changing diapers!

3. I did not do so hot on my eating today. I had an egg-free cookie made by our nephew’s girlfriend. They may or may not have been made with a pound of butter. Yes. One pound. Then at lunch I ordered my normal 170 calorie Fresco Chicken Ranchero Taco but I received the regular Chicken Ranchero Taco which is not 170 calories.  Yes. I did eat it anyway.  And then we ate supper at church and they had these hugely amazing special K bars.  I may or may not have had a moment of weakness and ate the entire thing.

4. All that training and anticipation and neither Pat nor I were able to run the 5k last Saturday. Turns out you had to register the night before! It was kind of a bummer but we still had fun helping my brother at their water station and cheering on the runners. We are planning to run the Walk for Life 5K coming up a week from Saturday.

5. We found a daycare we are going to give a try. It’s a center but it’s smaller than most centers. There will be 10 in Caleb’s group and 5 in Angel’s group. They are going to let Angel be in the preschool group so I’m excited about that and I know she’ll love it. They will go to daycare Monday and Tuesday and Grandma Barb’s Wednesday – Friday, plus Angel has her pre-3′s preschool at church on Friday mornings. We’ll give it a try and see how it goes (and if we can afford it)!

6. I haven’t cleaned my bathrooms in 3 weeks. Just thought you should know that.

7. Caleb eats all the time. He wakes up in the morning and within 12 seconds he’s wanting to go into the kitchen to get breakfast. And then as soon as he gets to Grandma Barb’s he’s expecting a snack.  He’s such a porker.

8. I know I originally said that our starting weight when we started exercising and eating healthy was 210 for Pat and 155 for me. However, that actually wasn’t our high weight.  This would be our high weight, Christmas 2008. Pat was around 260 and I just under 200.

Yikes. I had just had baby Caleb and I guess Pat was eating so I wouldn’t feel so alone eating.  It’s pretty amazing looking at this picture. Especially seeing now how skinny my husband is.

Plus since this picture he’s lost at least another 5 pounds. I’m so proud of him! Especially because he’s got plenty of discpline and unlike his wife says no to cookies and special k bars.

9. It’s a new day tomorrow though right. Praise God for that!

The one where we let the children hurt themselves

1. A little while ago Caleb was jumping off our big squishy red chair onto the hard floor of our basement. And loving it.

He then folded his hands into a prayer, looked at us, laughed and dove.

And we’re letting him do this. It’s just the kind of parents we are.

2. Pat was watching Wipe Out and the kids stopped their playing and watched attentively. It’s no wonder Caleb’s favorite past time is wrestling and launching himself off furniture.

3. It’s been an overwhelming week. On Monday Pat hurt his back lifting Angel. For the past three years or so anytime he hurts his back or gets a cold and feels like he can’t breathe he has an anxiety attack. He’s very claustrophobic and feeling like he can’t breathe makes it worse and triggers these attacks.

Like I said it’s been happening for about three years, about once every 1-2 months. Monday though it was pretty severe. He went to acute care on Monday night and unfortunately saw a doctor who was more concerned that Pat was going to sue him or that Pat had a drug problem. 

Thankfully we got into our normal doctor on Tuesday and was able to talk to someone we trust and get some drugs to help calm him down. Unfortunately his back was still really bothering so for the past 3 days it’s been up and down as Pat has tried to battle through the feeling of not breathing and triggering into an anxiety attack. Having a last resort medication has been a big help but it’s not all good because it completely knocks him out. That’s better than the alternative though.

4. It’s been interesting dealing with all the feelings of “why can’t we just pray through this?” As a Christian that’s the first thing I’ve thought of and I feel guilty or like I’m failing the Lord or not relying on Him to get us through this. I know that God has given us doctors and that sometimes medication is needed but at the same time it’s difficult to keep all those feelings in check.

5. I’m not sure if Angel has been able to understand everything the past 4 days but she’s went way backward on potty training. She was doing so amazing, hardly having any accidents. And now the past 2-3 days she’s hardly went in the potty chair at all.  I know that takes time too so we are trying to be patient.

6. The new season of Project Runway just started! starts in 2 minutes. Isn’t that exciting?  Hello?

7. Tonight at supper Angel told my brother Tracy that daddy found her and Caleb a frog yesterday. We were talking about how Angel let the frog go to find his mommy and daddy.

Tracy to Angel: No, I think the frog is in here (referring to his chili).

Angel: What?

Tracy: The frog got cut up and it’s in here. I’m eating it. (I know, harsh).

Angel: What?

Tracy: The frog is in my chili.

Angel: Noooo, it’s not.

Tracy: Yes it is.

Angel: NO. It’s not.

Tracy: Are you sure?

(pause)

Angel: No.

8. Have you been following us through our training? Well even though this isn’t our training blog I feel compelled to share that I ran almost a mile on Tuesday night. Pushing the monster babies in their old creaky stroller.

And then yesterday I couldn’t walk so I didn’t so a thing.

9. In addition to launching himself off our furniture Caleb enjoys hitting, throwing hard toys (at people), saying “GO” and pointing, slamming himself against the wall when he gets mad, dumping cups on the floor and spitting food out of his mouth.  Last night this mama had had enough and made him pick up every single piece of food he had thrown on the floor (22) and put it in the garbage.  

Yes twenty two pieces of food.  No, I was not painting my toenails while he threw food. He would throw a handful and then go to timeout and we would repeat that process 4 times. Obviously timeout has no effect on him.  But since giving him one of Pat’s relaxation pills isn’t an option I’m not sure what else to do.

It’s at this point that I would love for someone to tell me that their 19 month old is a worse terror than my 19 month old.  Hello?

10. Ok, well that’s my cue that it’s time to close up shop and spend some time with my hubs who is thankfully feeling much better.