To Potty Train the Girl

I very much dislike potty training.  It is a very difficult parenting chore - but there is no way around it.  It is not quick, it involves lots, and lots, and lots of messes.  It makes you think that you will never get your life back.  It also is a huge transition from toddlerhood to childhood.  Emotions definitely get involved.

I actually thought about writing this post a while back, but decided to wait till I was sure that the potty training was completed.  I did not want to boast success and then turn around and find a puddle of pee on the floor.  Can I say it?  Elizabeth is potty trained!

This journey actually started back in April I believe.  Elizabeth started showing interest in the potty so when she wanted to I let her.  If I remember correctly we started the real deal in early May.  The diapers came off and the panties went on!  When I start to potty train we don't turn back.  None of this messing with Pull-Ups, in my opinion they are nothing but more expensive diapers.  Yes, I do buy one (and I mean only one!) pack of Pull-Ups to use when we go places where I will not be with her (church).  When the pack of Pull-Ups runs out she had better have it figured out!  Even in the beginning of potty training I had Elizabeth wear panties when we would go to the grocery store.  Sure grocery shopping would take about 3 hours that way because we had to go to the bathroom every 20 minutes or so, but she never had an accident when we were out.  I always carried 3 complete sets of clothes just in case, but she was usually in her car seat when she would have an accident.  (Yes, I am an expert now at taking the cover off the car seat, washing the entire thing and reassembling the whole thing!)  Elizabeth was very different from Nathan in that for Nathan the bowel movement was the first thing for him to get.  He only had one of those in his underpants.  Elizabeth on the other hand did not seem to get it at all!  Like it was a shock to her that she had to push it out!  Come on now! If you need to go - go to the toilet!  Nathan loved to sit and read for hours on the potty.  Elizabeth likes to get in get it done and leave. 

Patience is the key to potty training.  There will be a ridiculous number of accidents.  But one day you will realize - Hey!  It's done! When was the last accident? I can't remember!  They are potty trained! 

I have heard it said that girls are easier to potty train than boys, but I have also heard that boys are easier to potty train than girls.  Nathan took almost a year, Elizabeth only 6 months.  I have no idea if that is boy verses girl or just that I knew a little more about what I was doing the second time around.  Who knows, it could just be that it depends on the kid!  Whatever the case, I am glad to have two potty trained children! 

A Little Less of Me!

It's that time of year - New Year's Resolutions!  Well, I started a little before the New Year.  I started the Monday after Thanksgiving... Yes, I needed to loose weight.  After I had Nathan I dropped all my baby weight and when I got pregnant with Elizabeth I was the same weight as I had been when I got pregnant with Nathan.  After I had Elizabeth I did not keep off the weight.  For the past year or so I had been the same weight as I had been the day I delivered Elizabeth.  Not good.  I hated seeing pictures of me, and I hated that I could not fit into my clothes.  So, what to do about it?

The first thing that I tried I started all the way back in June.  I was doing Pilates 5 days a week.  I did not change my diet, I just started working out.  This did nothing to drop the extra weight.  It did give me more energy and made me feel better about myself, but I wanted to loose weight.

The next thing I tried was to change my diet in addition to the Pilates.  I focused on eating meat, nuts, fresh fruit and lots of dairy.  Again, I was really feeling better about myself, but still not loosing weight.

Then my friend Tabitha told me about the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred.  I had seen on Facebook comments by quite a few people saying that they were doing The Shred.  I thought I would give it a try.  I have had great results with this program!  This is a change in my exercise routine and a change in my diet.  In 8 weeks I have lost 15 pounds and 3 inches!  I still work out 5 days a week, but I don't do it 5 days in a row like I was doing.  I am off on Sundays and Wednesdays.  I count calories, eating 1200-1400 calories a day.  I can eat the foods that I want as long as I keep track of the calories, but I am training myself to make wiser choices in the foods that I eat and the amount that I eat.  Fresh fruit and water are my good friends.  My goal is to drop yet another 5 pounds and then I can up my calorie intake to a maintaining level rather than a loosing level.  I can't wait to get to that point!  I am looking forward to going clothes shopping in just a few weeks!

Kids with Guitars

My kids LOVE music (go figure...) I try to have at least one day a week that is "music day".  Every weekday from 10:00 to 11:00 AM we do some sort of activity. I have 5 different activities that I try to make sure we get done at least once every week, but I don't ever do them in the same order.  One day a week we do "school", one day we read books, another day we do crafts, another we do puzzles, and then the last activity we do is music. 

Some days music for us could be putting on a kids CD and listening, dancing, and singing to it.  Another day we might pull out the keyboard and play it.  Today we got out my guitar.  I have to admit, guitar days are my favorite!  It makes me want to actually get my guitar out more often and play.  The kids love it!

Here is Nathan and his "I'm so cool with my guitar" self.

Here is Elizabeth.  She tends to play the guitar as if she is playing the upright bass.  It's just a little big for her :)

And here are the goofy kids together.  I can't wait for the day we can actually all sing and play together as a family!

Snow!

Wow!  It's been since November since I posted last!  I have a lot of catching up to do!  Our computer got a pretty nasty virus and then my internet was out at the house for awhile... all that being said - I think I am back up and running again (for now!)

We have had quite a winter so far!  We have had 3 significant snowfalls (significant for our area anyway) and it is only the end of December!  The kids have been so excited! 

Here are the kids playing in our backyard during the 2nd snowfall of the year.

The neighbor girls came over to play as well - Nathan and Elizabeth had so much fun!

Here they are making an "igloo"

Our most recent snowfall started on Christmas Day!!!!!!! It continued to snow, and snow, and snow!  We ended up with about 14 inches of snow!  How beautiful! 

John and I took the kids for a "walk"

Here is a shot looking down our street. 

What a perfect Christmas!   Time with family, friends, and SNOW!

Nathan's Thomas the Train Birthday Cake

Nathan is 4 years old!

I know I am behind in posting Nathan's birthday pictures... here it is 2 days after Thanksgiving - yes that means it is a full 2 weeks after Nathan's birthday, but here are the pictures :)

Here we are with Nathan's Thomas the Train Cake.  I was very happy with how the cake turned out!  We got to use the train cake pan that my brother Eric had as a bithday cake when he was a little boy.  Nathan really wanted freight cars to go with his cake so we made up one freight car and one caboose (yes that is what that green thing is supposed to be - thank you very much Aunt Chelsei )

Nathan blowing out his candle

Nathan eating his cake

Aren't they so cute!  Cousin Ethan, Elizabeth and Nathan are ready for some cake!

Happy Birthday Nathan!  You are such a blessing to this family!

Where is Elizabeth?

Can you find Elizabeth?

Weekend in the Mountains

We got to take as a family a much needed vacation this past weekend.  What an awesome weekend filled with fun and rest!  First off let me just say that I came home with 280 pictures on my camera, so it was difficult for me to decide which pictures to post on the blog, and what to leave out.  So there are a lot of pictures - but not 280 of them! 

We stayed at Massanutten Ski and Golf Resort in Western Virginia.  It was about 3 hours from here.  I would say that we were probably about a week past peak leaf season, but it was so beautiful!  We drove up Friday night to a wonderful three bedroom condo. 

Saturday we took a trip to a corn maze about 45 minutes North of where we were staying.  Amazingly, even though I grew up in Indiana where there are lots (and lots...) of corn fields, this was my first trip to a corn maze.  What fun!  Here is the map of the maze... we did not make it all the way though.  When you went in they gave you a sheet that you were supposed to fill in all the blanks, we really just wandered around and enjoyed the maze.

Our family

We so enjoyed the slides that they had coming out of the side of a barn!

Playing corn hole



Nathan in the maze

Elizabeth making her way through the corn

There were two pedal go carts!  Fun, but very tiring!

We also took the worlds fastest hayride!  That tractor was moving!  Dust flying everywhere!  The kids enjoyed it!

Sunday we took the kids putt-putt golfing for the first time.  They had so much fun.  Nathan really didn't do too badly either.

We found a park for a picnic lunch and play time on the swings and playground equipment.  There was also a stream that the kids played in and a short trail that we walked.  Nathan loved the hiking!

Here are the cousins at the condo right after naptime.  Each one with a Night Night in hand.  So sweet.

Sunday night was Halloween.  I had brought the kids costumes so that they could dress up.  Nathan was a pirate and Elizabeth was Minnie Mouse.

We had not talked about trick-or-treating, but of course Nathan brought it up and we were like "well, we are not going trick-or-treating... but we are going to find candy!"  So we did a Halloween candy hunt!  John and Norman hid the candy and took the kids out with "clues" to help find the candy.  They had a great time!

Elizabeth finds her glow stick

Nathan finding candy

Finally it was time to head home.  I so could have stayed the rest of the week, but time to go back to work!  We drove the Sky Line Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway for part of the way home.  Nathan really wanted to go hiking after we had gone the day before so we stopped several times to enjoy the view and hike. 

One of the places that we stopped was a little farm set up.  Cute.

At the same stop were hiking trails.  I had wanted to find a place that we could stop that was also part of the Appalachian Trail, but no such luck.  This sign says that we could hike 10 miles to get to the Appalachian Trail - not today, maybe another day.

Good bye wonderful family vacation.  We need to meet again soon.