Tales from the potty part 4

Oh how I'd love to say we are done with diapers for the boy in this house for this update. Or at least that we are completely day trained! Unfortunately, that is not for this update.

I really thought we were there. Well, not so much. However, apparently he is out of the house trained. When we go out he is great about telling us he has to use the bathroom. He can even hold it when we have to wait in line or can't find a bathroom right away.

When we are home things don't go so well. Sometimes he does good, but most of the time I swear we are taking steps backwards. As a matter of fact I was getting potty training burn out yesterday. I was going to write this update and say I'm waving the white flag. I was seriously considering taking a break.

The last few days we have mostly just been home. The weather hasn't been the greatest. Hot hot hot and then rain rain rain. So we were laying low and CJ was peeing and pooping everywhere, but in his potty that is. I put his dirty underwear in with the dirty diapers and I think the bag has filled up with more of his underwear than Alyssa's diapers. That's just sad. I am really just so puzzled by this.

Today we had a nice sunny day and we went out to enjoy the day. While we were out he told me he had to go to the bathroom. I didn't even have to remind him. I mean, I'd ask, but he'd tell me he was fine. Now at home that usually meant that shortly there after he'd be wet, but out he tells me he has to go. Is it the fact that he gets to see a new bathroom? Does he not like his potty chair? Is it more embarrassing to be wet in public? I have no idea, but yesterday he drove me crazy. He would wet, not say anything, I'd ask if he was wet, he'd tell me no even though I could see he was wet. I would tell him to go take his dirty underwear off and he'd have a temper tantrum. What, you like staying in wet underwear???

I guess I'll have to take the little victories though. I won't actually come out and say we are 100% out of the house potty trained, but he definitely does way better away from home than he does at home. Does anyone know how to transfer that into an all the time 100% being potty trained toddler? Because bribing, rewards, punishment, and making him clean his own mess hasn't been working. I think I'm out of tricks.

When I think about it the differences in the potty use out of the house is of course he doesn't have a little potty chair. He has to use the big potty. And usually that consists of holding him up so he's not really sitting down to pee. He definitely likes doing that, but I can't always help him do that at home and he hasn't gotten the whole "aim" thing. We tend to aim him in the bowl. Sigh, maybe it's time for some Cheerio target practice. He is definitely proving to be the hardest to potty train so far of all of my kids.

Joe's vacation week

Joe has been on vacation this week. So we have been spending it together as a family and it has been really nice. Officially his vacation started on Tuesday so we went to the new fishing spot we found with all of the kids.

Kaitlyn was showing Natalie how fun wading is...


Alyssa was a happy girl...


Wading turned into swimming...


CJ was looking for rocks...



Wednesday I don't think we did anything exciting. It was hot! I think we did some window shopping at Home Depot and that was about it.

Thursday was Joe's birthday. It was an even hotter day than Wednesday though. So we went out to breakfast and then had to go to DMV because Joe's license needed to be renewed. That of course took a while. When we got out of there we went to the auto parts store for a part that needed replacing on the car and came back home so the kids could got their socks and sneakers on and we could head over to the bowling alley. I get these kids bowl free coupons for each of them every week. They get to bowl two free games Monday through Friday. So the kids had fun bowling and then we went to the store to pick up something for dinner and came home to melt in the heat.

Friday Joe spent in the extreme heat (as it was the hottest day of the whole week) trying to replace the car part while I was inside dealing with a fussy baby from the heat and trying to do some cleaning. Joe also ended up putting the air conditioners in, something I didn't really want to have to do, but when it hit 94 degrees in here it just seemed to be needed. I was after all having a Pampered Chef party and we didn't want our guests to be super uncomfortable. We had a nice time with Pampered Chef and when it was done and everyone had left a very tired Alyssa had finally crashed. She looked like she was praying for cooler temperatures...


And then Saturday brought some slightly cooler, or more comfortable anyways, temperatures. Joe was still struggling to get the car fixed though so he was out there again working on it. So mostly we hung around the house...

CJ wanted to hold Alyssa and have his picture taken

I couldn't resist getting some shots of this new face that Alyssa makes all the time now. She's sucking on her bottom lip. I think it's soothing for her gums as I believe she is starting to teethe. I get such a kick out of this face though...




Joe has another two days of vacation and I'm not sure what that will bring for us. The weather has been a huge factor in our day to day plans. While it has been sunny all week until the weekend it has been HOT. We haven't really wanted to be out in the heat. I'm hoping tomorrow is cooler and we can do some letter boxing though.

My Fun Weekend with my Awesome Grandparents!

This weekend Natalie went with my parents to New Hampshire to see Nascar. She came home with a ton of pictures and stories of her time so I asked her to blog about it. So from here on out you are hearing from Natalie, my 12 year old!

This weekend I had a lot of fun with my grandparents.We spent most of Thursday night driving to New Hampshire.It took us about two hours to get there. We stayed at Best Western. It was a great hotel.

On Friday we stayed in the pool for most of the day. However, after I put my bathing suit on, the snap broke in half! Grandma and Grandpa thought to fix it with dental floss but they soon found out that it wouldn't work. So Grandma suggested a safety pin, but she only had tiny ones in her sewing kit. So she soon decided to just sew the bathing suit back together.

Here I am playing in the pool...







Then we went out to dinner with the moose...





The next day we went to Joey's Diner for breakfast. The food was very good. From there we headed to the New Hampshire Motor Speed Way. The track was huge and very loud! Grandpa got me some headphones so the loud noise wouldn't bother my ears. My Grandpa and I argued about who would win. Grandpa said Joey Lagano would win but I thought Kyle Busch would win. I was right, Kyle Busch won the race! It was his one hundredth win! I was very happy.

Kyle Bush's trailer

Kyle Bush warm ups

Kyle Bush getting ready for the start of the race

Kyle Bush getting interviewed

Joey Lagano's car

And Kyle Bush's big win...



On Sunday we went to Joey's Diner for breakfast again. We ate our breakfast and headed back to the hotel so we could pack our things. We then headed home. We stopped to have some watermelon and strawberries after a half hour or so. Then we were back on the road again. We stopped for an early dinner at Pickadilly. After we were done with all the good food we headed back home. When we got home I showed my family a whole bunch of pictures that I took. I had a lot of fun and I can't wait to hopefully go to New Hampshire again next year!

So that was how Natalie spent her weekend with her grandparents. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Mini golf and fishing, does it get any more summer?

This weekend Natalie was with my parents for the weekend. So I was back to being a parent of 3. On Saturday we took the kids mini golfing. It was packed. We had fun though. I couldn't get any pictures of us actually golfing because, well it's not easy juggling a baby, a toddler, a putter, and the scorecard let alone add picture taking on top of that. We had a good time though and we'll definitely be going back because I won a free game. The last hole where you sink your ball to never be seen again if you get a hole in one you win a free game. I've never done that before. Actually, the whole game I had no holes in one. I did it when it counted though. I doubt I'll ever do it again. It was a lucky shot. I thought it was going to bounce out the way it was bouncing around. So when it went in and the bells went off I stood there in shock. After we headed over to the ice cream shop there though for some dinner and ice cream.

CJ watching the people golf

Kaitlyn at 9 years old still really knows how to wear her ice cream. I get such a kick out of how into her food she gets.

Alyssa was just happy to be out of the Ergo at this point!

Then on Sunday we found a new fishing spot. We didn't have any luck, but it's very pretty and we took a little hike. We're heading back this week I'm sure.
CJ ready to fish.

They call this a pond! Looks like a lake to me!

Alyssa napping

Kaitlyn was sitting by the water looking hot and bored...


Do you want to go in the water? Yeah, okay take your shoes off...


Going wading...


In she goes...


Eventually she did get to a point where she was more wet than dry so we told her to just dunk herself and then get out to dry off because we had no towel or anything for her and we were going to get going soon.

CJ was getting his fishing on!

We brought the fishing stuff back to the car and did a little exploring on some of the trails and then came home. It was a nice summer day. Kaitlyn went and took a shower as soon as we got home and we started getting dinner ready and then before we knew it Natalie was back with us.

CJ gets a big boy bed

For a while now we have been trying to figure out what to do for CJ for a bed. I was going to turn his crib into a toddler bed, but apparently some parts are missing to do that. So then we thought about buying a twin mattress and setting up one of the girls old beds in his room. But then we found this great deal on a toddler bed and we couldn't pass it up. So yesterday we got it for him and set it all up in his room. And he couldn't be happier about it as you can see.




So last night CJ said he wanted to go to bed. He went in there happily to go to sleep. However, my parents had the girls and they brought them home shortly after we had put CJ to bed. So he ended up coming out when he heard his sisters home. As soon as they left though he happily went right back to bed and stayed there. He didn't get up this morning until about 8:30. He came in our room and suddenly I heard this little voice saying, "I was calling you, but you didn't come!" Awww, I guess he forgot he was in a bed and could get out of it. Must have dawned on him pretty quickly though. Now we just need to figure out a crib for Alyssa. CJ's crib has seen better days really and besides it doesn't meet new federal guidelines. So we will have to figure out a way to get her a new crib.

Jump 'n Jammin Birthday and baby giggles

Today CJ had his first friends birthday party. It was at a local indoor bounce place. He had so much fun. The parents were nice enough to include our two big girls in everything too. Somehow Natalie escaped the camera. Be sure to check out the cute video full of baby belly laughs.

CJ getting in one of the bouncy things

Kaitlyn

CJ coming down the big slide

Making his way through the maze

Daddy got to join us some too

Alyssa found Daddy extremely funny tonight. No tickles he just had to fake sneeze at her and she was giving such hearty belly laughs. CJ even got in on the fun.


Happy kids and big belly baby laughs! Does life get any better than that?

Fishing, nature walks, and milestones for today

Phew, what a day! A beautiful, breezy, sunshine filled day spent with family fishing and taking nature walks. But yet the most exciting thing of the day had to be the fact that Alyssa is starting to sit unassisted. It's only for 20 seconds tops, but still she's doing it. But here are some pictures from our fishing, nature walk, and then Alyssa sitting up at the park today.

We started out with a picnic lunch at the park before we began fishing...

CJ loves fishing!


Alyssa hanging out on the blanket

Joe loves fishing too

The girls were more interested in hanging out at first and taking pictures of each other...





Then CJ caught a fish...


So Kaitlyn had to get in on the action...

Watching daddy take the hook out of the fish.

CJ took this picture.

Natalie decided it was time to catch a fish. I wonder if she could get that fish any further away from her?

Alyssa was getting a little antsy so I decided to take a walk and everyone else wanted to come along.

CJ spotted this duck on our walk

Some pretty flowers.

All four of my kids, but Alyssa was not happy.

The big kids looking at the fountain.

We spotted this tadpole in the water on a rock.

We headed back to our fishing spot and Joe took off with Kaitlyn and CJ in search of frogs...

They didn't catch any.

Meanwhile, Natalie and I stayed with Alyssa and tried to get some pictures of her sitting up...
A little wobbly.

Don't let go mom!

Okay let go mom!

Oh no I'm falling!

Finally sitting completely unassisted!

So that was our exciting day. It was very nice spending it all together. And Alyssa is 5 months and 1 week old today and is starting to sit up unassisted!