Diversity Amongst Happy Faces

This is the "Potty Chart" that is displayed on our refrigerator. Every day that Noah does not have an accident, he gets a happy face. When the chart is full of happy faces, he gets a "Henry" train. The big X on the chart is a result of the stained chonies day and will be made up once all the other happy faces are filled in.

As you can see, the happy faces all looked the same up until the two and a half week mark. All of a sudden we have a curly haired happy face, a goatee mohawked happy face, a happy face of Asian descent, and a flat topped bully looking happy face. Ricky felt that my happy faces were not diverse enough and therefore not sending the right message to our children. So, I am no longer allowed to draw the happy faces because apparently I am not promoting diversity on the potty chart.

Movie Night

Like I've mentioned in a previous post, I am currently re-evaluating my life, re-prioritizing, and striving to make the most out of my time here on earth. God has opened my eyes to many things and I feel like I am seeing things from a whole new perspective. One of the things that I've determined to do, is enjoy the time I spend with my kids, be present with them mentally and not just physically, and start new traditions! Last Friday, we had our very first family movie night! We bought a classic, 101 Dalmatians, got in our jammies, made popcorn, brought out blankets and watched a movie together! It was so much fun to actually watch a movie with my kids rather than have the movie babysit my kids. They loved having mommy and daddy sit on the couch with them and cheer on the doggies and shoot (yup, shoot...with toy guns...yes we are a violent bunch) Cruella Devil and the bad guys with them. It was also the first time they'd had popcorn and they really enjoyed it.

Of course, Maia only lasted about 30 minutes before she had to go to bed, but all in all I can tell that movie night is going to be a hit for years to come!

Thomas is Taking Over Our Lives

Every night when I put the kids to bed they ask for me to sing a song. I think they do this to postpone bed time as long as possible by keeping me in the room, but I use this opportunity to sing to them worship songs that we sing in church . I really want my kids to love the Lord and understand what it means to sing praises to Him. They are now familiar with a few worship songs and I love asking them what they want me to sing at night. The usual answer is "Hosanna" by Hillsongs United. So, last night when Maia asked for a, "song?" I asked which one, fully expecting my spiritually mature child to reply, "Hosanna." Instead the answer was, "Thomas." Huh? There are no worship songs entitled "Thomas." What is she talking about? Noah chimes in, "Yeah, Thomas the Train song mommy!" The chant from both cribs rose up, "Tho-mas, Tho-mas, Tho-mas." No amount of persuading could have changed their minds to pick a worship song. I breathed a quick apology to God for my heathen children and sang,

"They're 2, they're 4, they're 6, they're 8.
Shunting trucks and hauling freights.
Red and green and brown and blue,
They're the really useful crew.
All with different roles to play
Round Tidmouth sheds and far away.
Down the hills and round the bend.
Thomas and his friends."

Then I sang it again, and again, and again. Apparently that song never gets old to my one and two year old.

There Has to be More to Life Than Poop!

This morning Maia woke up and asked to go poop on the potty. This has become a bit of a game we play because she likes to sit on the toilet and pretend. She wants those little colorful pretty tasty looking things that Noah gets every time he sits on the potty. She also sees him get praised every time he does it and wants some of that praise for herself! I took off her diaper. She sat on the potty and grunted and said, "All Done." I say, "Good girl!" like I always do and we walked into the living room to watch Sesame Street and to put her diaper on. I sat down on the floor and went to reach for her. Suddenly, her face turned red and in a labored, pushing, grunting fashion she growls, "POOOOP." Oh no, no, no, no! Why my immediate reaction was to put my hand on her butt, I'll never know...or maybe I do know. Maybe I thought that would stop her from going. It didn't. I screamed, she cried, Noah yelled from his crib, "WHAT'S HAPPENING MOMMY?" I frantically called for Ricky and Maia went to hug me for comfort. Somehow the mess got on my leg, her foot, the carpet, and of course in my hand. Ricky, slowly made his way to the living room, gagged, and picked Maia up holding her as far away from his body as he could and took her straight to the bath tub. I yelled to Noah that everything was okay despite mommy's frantic cries. He responded with, "I wanna see Maia's poop!" I finally got the courage to move and clean myself off and then proceeded to clean the mess off the floor all the while listening to Ricky dry heave as he washed Maia in the bath tub.

Every day is an adventure when you're a parent. It is funny that after all that chaos, I head off to work and no one there has a clue that 1 hour prior to my arrival, I was covered in poop!

Don't Cry Over Stained Chonies

Pride comes before the fall. It seems like that is a phrase I use often on this blog. Just when I thought we had conquered potty training we have a major hiccup.

My kids are scheduled kids. I know many people feel very strongly against scheduling but me, well, if my kids were not scheduled I'd be in a mental hospital or in a bar. So, scheduling and strict routine works for our family. The problem is that when the routine gets thrown off, everything gets thrown off. This week Bup was sick and so on Tuesday I had to take the kids to daycare at work. I prayed for Noah to go poop before we let the house, and thank God he did. I was so happy to have his daily poop out of the way before he went to daycare...little did I know that even his poop schedule would be thrown off that day (he pooped a total of FOUR times that day). The morning was chaotic but I finally get them dropped off after telling Noah one million and two times to, "Tell the teacher if you need to go potty. If you go potty in your chonies mommy will have to throw them away."

I worried all morning about them because they were not in their normal environment and I counted down the minutes until Ricky would pick them up. Finally at around 12:45 Ricky came to my work to pick the kids up. We went together to go get them and when we got to the room my stomach dropped. Noah was on the changing table being changed. He doesn't need to be changed anymore. He is potty trained. Noah looked back at me with those big brown eyes and began to cry. "He had an accident," the sweet daycare lady said. Awwww man! It's all my fault. It is because he wasn't in his normal environment. I should have just taken the day off. What a horrible mother. Now he is embarrassed and upset and it's all my fault. Then, in between sobs he says, "You'll wash 'em mommy?" Oh SHOOT! What to do? Do I stick to my guns and throw his favorite chonies away like I said I would or do I just wash the nasty things?...I've got to stick to my guns or he is going to think it's okay to poop in his chonies. "No, buddy," I say, "Mommy has to throw them away because you pooped in them and they are ruined." He cries harder, my heart breaks. We finish cleaning him up, he asks 12 times where his chonies are and begs me not to throw them away. I feel like a horrible mom as I throw the poop chunked beloved Thomas chonies in the trash. He screams and cries. He leaves with Ricky.

I go to the cafe to eat lunch and I feel my eyes getting warm and filling with tears. You cannot cry. Hold yourself together. What are you going to tell people if they ask why you're crying? How silly will you look if you tell them that your sobbing over throwing away Thomas the Train poop chunked chonies? They won't even know what "chonies" are! Suck it up.

It took everything within me that day not to cry for the rest of the day. It was a mixture of mom guilt and grieving over lost favorite Thomas the Train chonies. I may have to write an ode to the famous chonies because the loss was just so devastating.

On a positive note, Noah is back on his routine today...even his poop routine. No accidents, no thrown away chonies. All is right with the world again.

Last Lake Day of the Summer

It was our last lake trip of the season and we had a great time. Here are some pics...

The kids love lake days!

Noah even went wakeboarding with daddy and stood on the board too! I was so proud!

My brother illustrating that Red Bull really does give you wings. We are hoping Red Bull will pay us for this picture...okay not really but it is a really cool shot because it was taken by me!

Noah and Maia fought over the flag the whole time. He didn't quite grasp the concept of holding it up only when the rider was down.

It was a good riding day for Ricky, he landed a few flips.

They both had a turn to drive the boat and push buttons.

Look at that crazy hair!
He thought it was hilarious that the boat was peeing!

Noah had to poop and we were prepared. It turned out to be a false alarm, but it made for my favorite picture of the day!

I Cannot Be Trendy

My sister-in-laws always have the cutest designs on their toes. Their toe nails actually look like works of art. Mine are always plain and boring...mostly because I am too cheap to pay for a design. But, today was different. I felt like a big spender and I wanted to have cute trendy toe nails so that I could fit in with the girls...bad idea! I should never try to be trendy, because it always goes bad for me.

I thought that since Halloween was coming up I would do black nail polish with white polka dots. It looked so cute in my head, however, the end product looks nothing like the cute picture in my head. The girl got a little carried away with the polka dots and now I am left with a hideous, way too expensive pedicure, that I will not remove because I am too cheap. So, just like every other pedicure I've had since having children, I will be stuck with this ugliness for the next 3 months and if you get a glimpse of them, try to pretend like you didn't see. Oh and for those of you who will never cross my path, I've posted a picture...

Moments to Remember

As a church we are reading a book called "One Month to Live." I am really enjoying it and have challenged myself to live as though my days were numbered. One of the things I am doing is really cherishing moments spent with my kids and truly being present with them. I often find myself ignoring them to blog or answer emails or clean the house or catch up on my favorite reality show. However, if I only had 30 days to live none of those things would matter as much as sitting on the floor playing with them, or reading a book with them, or tickling them until they can't breathe! Living this way has made me more keenly aware of how much they pick up on. Here is what I've seen and heard from them this past week...

We were on our way out the door and Maia goes to her room and puts her purse on her shoulder just like mommy and walks out the door.

Maia, shakes her finger at daddy, after he shoots a toy cap gun that is much too loud and says, "No mo daa-eee!"

Noah talking to Ricky, "BABE! Don't do that."

When Ricky asked Noah who he was calling on his toy phone he said, "I'm just texting Buzz Lightyear, daddy."

Upon discovering a sticker stuck to the bottom of his foot Noah exclaims, "Holy crap! Where did that come from?" (I must assure you that he picked up that word from his father, NOT his mother.)

We Can Now Move On

My son is officially potty trained!!! Woo hoo! He has gone 2 weeks straight without an accident and I no longer have to watch him like a hawk and ask every 15 minutes if he has to go potty. My heart is happy and my wallet is happier! I now only have to buy one set of diapers!

My only question is, how do I stop rewarding him for going poop? He is so used to getting an M&M every time he goes poop that I am having visions of him being 15 going poop at school and asking the teacher for an M&M. Ay yaiy yaiy!

Turn the other Cheek or Bite it?

This is a picture of Maia's teeth marks on Noah's arm (the black blob is my make-up brush...yes, I let my son play with my make-up brush). Noah now has matching teeth marks on his other arm and on his leg as well.

This is the vicious cutie responsible for those painful marks. Here is the routine: Noah is playing with a toy, Maia goes to grab the toy, Noah pulls the toy away and yells, "NO!" Maia sinks her teeth into his nearest limb. I'm beginning to think that she is buying into the trendy Vampire/ Twilight fad.

Here is my question: Do I tell Noah to bite her back? I know it sounds insane but the girl is impossible! I've given her time-out, I've flicked her mouth, and I've spanked her, yet her instinctual reaction to conflict with Noah still is to sink her teeth into his skin. The only thing I have left in my bag of discipline tricks is to tell Noah to bite her back. Anyone have any other suggestions?

The Exhibitionist and Potty Hog

Since my cleaning lady was here yesterday, I decided to get the kids out of the house and go out to lunch with some of my family members. Having a potty training child makes every outing an adventure. You never know what you're gonna get. Here is what I got yesterday.

Noah started out with swim trunks on which required no chonies because we were planning to play in the fountain at the shopping center. However, when we were standing in line at Panera Bread waiting to order our food, Noah started whining and loudly asking for his chonies. His swim trunks were bothering him and he wanted his underwear. The problem was that I had left them in the car and we were next in line to order. I knelt down and quietly told him to wait until we ordered our food and then we'd go get his chonies. He was not having it. He began to cry and yell for his chonies. Then, to my dismay he "dropped his drawers." That's right, my son pulled his shorts down right there in the middle of Panera Bread, exposing himself to everyone. I quickly positioned myself in front of him and tried my best with one hand (I was holding Maia) to pick his shorts up. He cried louder as my one-handed attempt to lift his shorts caused him much pain (I didn't quite get the elastic waistband over "his area") and the poor kid yelped in agony and begged for his chonies. I don't even remember how I got him to calm down but somehow we ordered our food, I got his chonies on and all was right with the world...until 40 minutes later.

After lunch we were playing in the fountain when Noah looked at me and said, "I have to go potty." I left Maia with my family members, picked Noah up and ran for the Starbucks which was the closest place with a bathroom. I whisked my way past the two ladies having a coffee date, prayed that the restroom would be vacant, and thanked God that He answered. Noah had a successful potty trip but asked to change his shorts since the shorts he was wearing were wet from the fountain. We changed and walked out with smiles on our faces celebrating Noah's success. About 3 minutes later, I realized that I had left Noah's shorts in the bathroom. I went back in and retrieved the shorts this time avoiding eye contact with the nice ladies on their coffee date. I made my way back over to where my kids were playing when Noah again informed me that he had to go potty again. Great! I ran back into Starbucks, smiled at the ladies hoping they wouldn't think I was crazy, and sat Noah down again to go pee. When he was done, I asked him to try to push more out so that we wouldn't have to go in there again. He assured me he was done. Back out we went. Five minutes went by and Noah says, "I have to go poop!" I scoop him up and run as fast as I can to the Starbucks bathroom hoping that the nice ladies are gone by now. They are not. We get to the toilet and Noah pushes and and says, "It's not coming out. I don't have to go anymore." I ask him to try again. He refuses. We go back outside to play. Ten minutes later Noah informs me that "The poop is coming." I beg him to hold it until we get to the toilet. We run in the Sarbucks, pass the ladies, into the restroom, and onto the toilet. Whew, we made it! This time was the real deal. Noah did his thing and we leave the bathroom for what I think is the last time. I feel as though I owe the nice ladies an explanation for our frequent potty visits so I inform them that we are potty training and almost let them know that Noah just went poop but stop myself just in time. They smile kindly and say they understand. We get out the door and Noah says, "I have to go more." WHAT? Why do people potty train their kids? Diapers are so much easier. I ask him if he is sure. He shoots me a look of panic, I grab him and run back to the bathroom. He finishes his business. I bid farewell to the nice ladies and we leave the Starbucks for good.

So if you were in the Panera Bread that day, I apologize for my son's self-exposure and if you were in the Starbucks, I apologize for hogging the potty and to the nice ladies, you are welcome for the free entertainment.

The Dirty Dirty Chonies

The cleaning lady is coming tomorrow and I should be cleaning instead of blogging because she is not going to know what to do with the clothes strewn all over my room...I'll worry about that tomorrow...

So Noah has been doing very well with relieving himself in the potty this week. I am so proud! But, I have a problem with the chonies. He has this one pair of chonies that have pictures of Thomas, Percy, and James (trains) on them and these are the only chonies that he will wear. He has now worn them for 5 days straight because I would rather let him wear them than enter into a full blown war with my son over a pair of chonies. I know that some of you may be asking "Why don't you just wash them when he goes to sleep at night?" Well, I'll tell you why. It's because he cuddles with them at night. Yup, since he has to wear a pull-up to sleep he holds the chonies in his sleep. I know, I know... my kid is weird.

I have tried to tell him that his Buzz Lightyear chonies are going to be sad that Noah doesn't want to wear them and that Buzz Lightyear will cry. Noah's response, "Buzz not gonna be sad. I want Percy and James chonies." I have tried to tell him that I just need to wash the Percy and James ones real fast and then he will get them back. Noah's response, "You don't wanna wash Percy and James, mommy. They not dirty." I have tried begging, "Pleeeeeease let mommy wash them Noah, you're going to be a stinky boy." Noah's response, "I not seenky mommy. I want my Percy and James chonies."

Ay yaiy yaiy!

Chopped Liver...

Yesterday, when I went to pick up my kids from Bup and Guck's house, Noah was sitting on Guck's lap watching a movie and the first thing he said to me was, "I don't wanna go home. I wanna stay here." I laughed it off and tried to convince him to go home because daddy was waiting for him. Then, Bup woke Maia up from her nap and brought her down stairs. I greeted her sweetly and opened my arms to hug her and she walked right past me to Guck, hugged him, and crawled up to sit in his lap all without even acknowledging me! What am I? Chopped liver? Sheesh!

I Hurt

On Friday, we went out to the lake with our friends, the Linzays. We avoided the smelly dead fish lake and headed to Lake Perris instead. It was a perfect day, the weather was nice, there were hardly any other boats on the lake, and the kids were all in good spirits. Everything was so great in fact that I was inspired to try my hand at wakeboarding once again. I really had not done it since before I had kids but I was ready to feel young and adventurous. So, I got out on the board and this is what happened.

Ouch!

A Flashback

So, I was looking through old pictures and I found these ones of my little guy and my dad. My dad used to tie his belt to Noah's little truck and pull him along for long walks. Noah loved it! My dad would point out the flowers, mailboxes, fire hydrants, birds, statues, and anything else they would come across on their journey. I think that is why Noah is so smart!!! But, I love these pictures. My dad put one of his hats on Noah because it was so hot outside and Noah came in the house after his walk with bright red cheeks. So cute!

Maia Belle

I do most of my cooking one-handed these days because Maia Belle always wants to, "see?" She will attach herself to my leg and say, "see?" until I pick her up and give her a spoon to help me cook.

At 1 1/2 my little girl already has very strong opinions about what movie she wants to watch, what song she wants to listen to on the radio, and what toy she wants to play with. She will scream at ear piercing decibels if you do not choose the right movie, song, or toy. My little cherub also knows what she is not supposed to touch and goes for the item just for the sake of defying me. However, she shoots me the sweetest little smile and giggle while doing it, in hopes that her cute little face will make me forget how evil she is. She takes Noah's toys right out from under him and runs away laughing just to watch him throw a fit. However, if he takes a toy from her, he has to run for cover because she comes up swinging hard and may even take a chunk out of his arm with her teeth if mama is not in the room. I would describe her as "determined." She is determined to get her way.

However, she is not all evil...there is some sugar and spice in that little one! For one thing, she is very polite, she says, "Yes, peeese" and "Ta-tu mommy" and she blows kisses with a big "mmmm-maaaaa" when saying good bye. She folds her hands to pray and names off family members that she is thankful for. She loves to sing in the microphone at church and she is a dancing queen! I love my little Maia Belle, tantrums and all!

More Potty Talk

What is that? You've had enough potty talk already? Well...too bad! It turns out potty training is a process and not just a one day thing no matter what anyone tells you!

I can sum up this week's potty training experience by saying I feel so bad! Besides the one time my son's pee shot Bup right in the face, she also had to experience his one poop accident. Picture, a hysterically crying boy freaking out and kicking his poop across the room and two of the sweetest people in the world trying to calm the kid, clean the kid, and not step on the poop that is all over their house. Meanwhile, I was at work in meetings, oblivious to the chaotic scene. I felt awful!

Tomorrow we will continue the adventure of potty training while on the lake. We are going out to the lake for the day and since my son cannot go pee in the water, we will have our little port-a-potty in tow. I have no idea how that is going to work if he has to poop but I guess I will find out tomorrow. Lord, help us!

Noah Moments

Here are a few things Noah said to me today:

After putting on his precious Thomas chonies Noah looked at me inquisitively and asked, "I can fart in these mommy?"

I bought a Beta Fish and on the way home, Noah was holding it in the container, "I eat it mommy?"

Maia wanted her turn at holding the Beta Fish in the car too. Bad idea. She was shaking the container and I was trying to stay calm and ask her to stop shaking the container. Noah, "Dori's(the fish) gonna be sick mommy."

"Whem I get bigger, I keen poos like daddy." (When I get bigger, I clean pools like daddy.)