Bubba's 4 Month Photos

We try to get photos of our kids at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months.  With Jordan.. it ended up being 3...6...9.. and 15.  With Bubba... we got his right at 4 months and they're great!  Our Uncle Ike took them for us last week in our home and what a chubberrific little ball of joy.  Can I get some butta for dem rolls please?!

A Scene

Mom and Jordan walk into master bedroom where Bubba is sleeping.  Mom goes to the restroom to grab some rubbing alcohol and cotton ball while Jordan follows along. The two are on their way out when the following happens.

Mom: Jordan, be very quiet - Bubba is sleeping.  Let's go outside.
Jordan: No, I want play Bubba.
Mom: Jordan, do not wake up Bubba.  Come on, let's go.

Mom makes her way out but Jordan does not follow.  She proceeds to the front door to put a command hook on the door.  A few seconds go by and she is about done.  Jordan runs over to the living room, excited.  

Jordan: Mommy!  Bubba happy!
Mom: Oh yeah?  Is he not sleeping?
Jordan: No, Bubba happy!
Mom: Jordan, did you wake up Bubba?!
Jordan: Yes, but he happy!  I make Bubba happy!
Mom: exasperated.... Jordan!  Why did you do that?

Thanks Jordan.  At least they love each other, right?

Daily Goals for the Week

I made myself a list of short-term goals I wanted to accomplish this week.

1) Work out
2) Sleep before 11 PM
3) No "C" sweets - cookie/cake/candy

I ran maybe 100 feet with the kids at the ballpark today, it's 11:46 PM and I had two red vines today.

Pretty good right?

Home is Where the Heart Is

From where we met, married, and started our family....

To the first chapter of our life away and on our own.. where we had another kid...

To the present....

These will hang in our den. 

We Failed and Gave Up

If you're wondering how potty training went, Andy just went to buy another pack of diapers last night. I really thought he was ready but after two days of house arrest and too much bribery and negative reinforcement, I finally buckled down and read the 3 Day Potty Training Guide (one of the many out there but according to my friend who succeeded with her 29 month old after 1 day!). There were some things we were doing correctly but in order to succeed and help him associate the sensation of needing to pee or poop to the toilet, I had to be really focused in. Too bad I was still taking conference calls and doing laundry. Bad mom.. guilty as charged...  So we gave up and decided to try again in 30 days. Yuck just thinking about it again.

After being confined for two days, we both couldn't wait to get out.  We went to our Gymboree class to run around, met up with the McKissicks for lunch at the mall, and then went to City Creek the next day to meet up with Spokane TY friends.

On Saturday, we had the opportunity to support our friends, the Emerys, at a carnival following a 5K run that was put on for them.  It was so good to see the Emerys after not having seen them for over a year and a half.  Being in Salt Lake sure has its perks and this was definitely one of them.  Mike has stage 4 cancer and Mike and Siegrid have three beautiful and amazing kids.  It breaks my heart to even write about so you'll just have to read more by visiting here.

Not pictured: Diggy, Pao-Pao (their other two boys) and Bubba

In the mail, we were surprised to find some Spokane Transitional Year photos from our "mom," Debora.  I made this little snippet of joy with some of the photos:

It's crazy because the left is June 2012 and the right is 2013 (without Bubba who is in the carseat sleeping I think...) Spokane was an amazing year.  Though it's fun to be here in Salt Lake with family, the program doesn't feel as tight knit as Spokane and the 5 PM/6PM end of business work day for Andy is also quite different here (sometimes he got off at 1 PM or earlier... not always, but sometimes!).  In Spokane, all the resident wives/girlfriends met during the kickoff dinner the program sponsored at the hospital and we all had initiative to somehow get together for a monthly book club and Power of Moms group.  We lived the farthest from everyone which was about 20 minutes but since Spokane was so small.. it didn't feel so bad.  Salt Lake is so big and there's so much around me.. I just don't feel like driving 20 minutes to hang out cuz I'm lazy like that.  

Thinking back to Spokane, it didn't feel like I saw the other transitional year wives that much, but compared to Salt Lake so far.. I definitely did!  It was so nice to finally have a group of friends who were so easy to relate to since all our hubs worked together and went through most of the same rotations (some electives were different).  I guess because of that.. Spokane will always have a special place in my heart and I'm glad I still keep in touch with most of the resident wives from there - even if it's only on Instagram hehe.  I'm hoping I'll get to know one of the other resident's wife here but she is also quite busy as she works part-time too and we've found out that our kids take nap times at different times which makes getting out together difficult.  On top of all that, having family nearby really puts a crutch on any desire to schedule playdates with other people.  I feel like I've done it a bit but it's always easier to go over to Grandma's house or call my sis-in-law and ask what they're up to and if we can tag along.  I'll be in for a surprise once they're gone and my social calendar seems terribly empty.  *le sigh.  

Sunday dinners with family are the best.  Jordan loves his cousins, though he may be slightly biased towards Violet, who is closest to him in age and seems to get his non-verbal cues more than Sophie who is in 1st grade.  He loves them both obviously, but he kinda just tags along with Violet more.  Here are the crazy kiddos dancing tonight at our Aunt Jan's.  

I've gotten really into Adobe Photoshop lately (see new banner above also...).  I made Bubba's announcement, some cards, some new art, and these three prints (after getting tired of the Chevron prints in my bathroom... I dunno... I'm not a huge fan of Chevron and after seeing them in the restroom a few times... I decided to change it up).

Andy and I both though these three prints were fitting for two boys.  If we have a daughter down the road... we may change some of the prints... but that's the nice thing about Adobe Photoshop.  I don't feel any sort of commitment to the prints I do make!  Hehe.

And that is what we've been up to since the disaster known as potty training fail #1.

3 Day Potty Training: Day One

A lot of our friends did the 3 day potty training method, so we decided to try for it ourselves.  Jordan's aware of when he poops and thinks he's pooped when he pees a lot and has been getting better with using his words.

So here's how it went down.  I told Jordan that we were saying good-bye to diapers just like Ducky in this book we got from the library and that we were going to use the "potty chair" today just like Ducky does!

3 wet undies later.... he looked like he needed to poop so we went to the restroom.  Nothing happened.  His undies came off and out he went into the living room commando (where I laid down sheets so I could better see when he wet or pooped as our brown carpet is easily camouflaged).  A few seconds later, he was concentrating.  I knew that look.  Before I could scream "Jordan!" the poop came out and without a thought, I scooped him up and RAN to the restroom, plopped him on the potty chair and told him to poop.  Meanwhile, I ran out and picked up the poop with some Kirkland sanitizing wipes I had, and on my way back to the bathroom, saw what looked like a piece of peanut butter cookie Jordan was eating earlier.  Just to be safe, I picked it up with the wipe and upon feeling the soft texture, knew immediately it was more poop.  What the?  Oh, it probably dropped as I was running with his naked bum in the air.  And that was our gross poop moment.  Back at the potty chair, Jordan was way impressed with the sliver of a poop he left in the potty and he got a sticker and a piece of candy for it.  Lots of TV, some wheat thins and Capri Sun with Sprite later... we had 4 more wet undies but still not acknowledgment of needing to pee beforehand.

He doesn't get it yet.

Everytime, he'd tell me "Mommy!  I pee peed!" and though the instructional books all told me to be aware of any indication he's about to pee, I saw nothing!  No such thing until the trickle down the leg.  So Mommy failed at noticing any "pee" intent and Jordan would only recognize it after the fact.  And I was with him for what felt like every second of the day but of course, any outlier time when I was not within 3 feet of him, he'd pee!

At one point, he ran to the restroom to grab something when I kept asking him if he was needing to pee.  He said, "Mommy, I pee peed!"  There was a slight echo.  When I finally found him, he was in the bath tub, trying to get his swim goggles out - which he has been terrified of until today.  I think he realized he was getting "wet" a lot and needed his goggles.  Weird right?  He also spilled the Sprite a lot and would grab the big blue towel and try to wipe himself up.  Thus, I know he recognizes being wet and doesn't like it - but maybe the undies sort of soak it up for him.  I'm trying to figure out if I need to go commando tomorrow.. but the problem is he starts to play with his ding-dong and that's no bueno either.  

So overall, we failed today.

Bubba had a fine time adding to the poop factor with a ton of blowouts himself today.  

As for me, I woke up with a swollen eye from a stye I suspected was growing in my left eye and tried to rid with a hot compress but couldn't stop from picking at for a while yesterday... 

So I guess we're good being home for another 2 more days.  

Here's to the Never Ending Summer!

We are having too much fun to blog.  Life has been crazy.  Having so much family around is loads of fun, but we, okay I... barely have any downtime!  Jordan has so much fun whether it be playing with the kids who live downstairs or his cousins who live about 5 minutes away... but we really do need more boy friends.  He also loves his baby brother tremendously and it's oh so sweet.  We took him to the movies to see Planes this last weekend, and as we were finishing dinner and going up the escalator, he asked us... "Where's Bubba?"  So sweet.  Andy has enjoyed all the sports back in his life.  Since we moved away from South Pasadena, he didn't really get to play ball every Wednesday or participate in softball and turkey bowls.  Now, he is playing softball, basketball and golf on a weekly basis and he is in heaven.  Me?  I'm enjoying all the mall time I get.  We go a lot.  Jordan is a fan of the mall as much as he is of the park lately.  It's great!

With the McKissicks visiting from Angola for the birth of their sweet baby girl HG, that means TWO adults without jobs in addition to me (my part-time doesn't really count right?) and a lot of outings.  I know the malls very well, as I should.  Everyday is chalk full of things to do above and beyond that of our normal household chores and mommy's work.  It's been so much fun watching Jordan and how excited he gets when he sees his cousins or goes to "Grandma's house."  He also knows which one is "Jan's house" and all the extended family members' names as we see them throughout the week and if not, we definitely see them for Sunday dinner.  It's oh-so-wonderful!

But all that fun is coming to a mild halt as we gear up for potty training.  Yuck.  Gross.  AHHHHHH!!!!!!

You'll notice there aren't a lot of photos of the cousins.  Somehow, whenever we're together - I forget to snap photos and just enjoy.  I need to take more photos of when we're all together.  And more family photos.. there will be multiple outings and Andy and I will both realize none of us took a single photo.  Drats.

Here's to the never ending summer!