Learning the Potty

On one of the blogs that I read Mckmama hosts a weekly blog carnival called Not Me Monday. Which basically entails brutally honest confessions of how we are all far from perfect. You can find more Not Me Monday postings at http://www.mycharmingkids.net/.

When my son had a BM in the toilet for the first time the other day, I most certainly did not do a little happy dance and send out a text to some of my friends declaring this accomplishment. I would never share something personal like that.

I didn't take Logan this weekend just to get a picture with Santa, knowing he would probably be terrified of the man, only so I could have a picture for his scrapbook. No, I would never do that. And if I did, we surely did not wait in line for an hour only to have Logan scream when put on Santa's lap. That would be ridiculous. Why not wait unit next year.

Finally an Update

I know it has been ages since I have posted anything. So what life change event has happened in the last 6 months to keep me away so long? Really not much of anything. I always mean well. I think of things I would like to post, but after working all day at the computer I can hardly get the motivation to do it some more. Well it's the weekend now, Logan is asleep and Adam is watching the Cowboys game with the guys. Now seems like a good time to post.

We are quickly approaching Logan's second birthday. I can hardly believe it, time really flies! Logan is growing by leaps and bounds. His personality is coming out a little more every day. He is making sure to assert this now too. Gone are the days when I can dress him as I like. He usually wants certain shoes and a certain jacket.

Sesame Street has become an obsession, Elmo in particular. He absolutely loves him! Gammy took him to see Sesame Street live last month. Which of course he adored. Reba got him a little stuffed Elmo from the show. Now he sleeps with his Elmo every night. Elmo has to be there for story time, sometimes he has to wear pajamas, and of course his Elmo must have a Binky too!

Logan started potty training about 3 weeks ago. He pretty much decided to start on his own. I bought him a potty seat several months ago, just to get him familiarized with it. Sometimes he would go in the mornings, but other than that he would just sit on it on occasion. Now all of the sudden he is telling me when he needs to go potty and wearing underwear at home for a couple hours at a time and staying dry. He is also doing a great job with it at daycare usually only wetting two diapers a day there. We are very proud of him! Although, I must say it is a lot of work. We make frequent trips to the bathroom, but the thought of no more diapers is very motivating!

Don't you just love Mondays

Today has kind of shaped up to be a shitty day (literally). It started going a little sour when I called Logan's doctor for a prescription for pink eye. Yeah, we both have it. My baby loves to share like that. Anyhow, moving right along. I spoke to one of the nurses in the office and she proceeds to tell me that Logan is no longer a patient there. What!? Yeah apparently if you see another doctor they transfer you. Jeez I didn't know we took vows. The only reason I took him to another doctor was because our pediatrician was closed when Logan needed to get in. Actually, it turned out ok. They pulled Logan's chart from the archives and cleared it all up. They just told me from now on he is not allowed to see another doctor during normal office hours. Doctor politics who would have known....not me.

The rest of the day went fairly smoothly until we got home. I walk into the kitchen to find our dog had let go of all of her bowels. Now Shelby never goes in the house. I will spare you the details but there's no way she could have held this in. It was horrible!! I'm just thankful it wasn't on any rugs. Normally I would have made Adam clean that up since it's really his dog...but sadly he wasn't home and wouldn't be for quite a while. I think he should be on diaper duty for the next three months for that one. Poor Shelby though, I hope it was just something she ate.

So after I finally got that cleaned up. I was having a battle of wills with Logan. We have a big 50 gallon salt water fish tank. It sits on top of a cabinet built to hold the tank, the pump is housed below. We have locks on the doors so Logan can't get in. But it is open on the back side against the wall. Well Logan kept trying to peek around the back of the cabinet, and I was worried he would pull out something he wasn't supposed to. I tried to redirect without avail, so we tried timeout. He played nicely for a little while after. Then, he snuck back there again and I saw that he had my cell phone in hand. I yelled "NO LOGAN!" Kurplunk! I ran over and got the phone out, finding many other treasures in there as well. I ripped out the battery in hopes of saving it, and scolded Logan and sent him back to timeout. He was only in timeout about a minute and half. You would have thought it was an eternity. He was upset for the rest of the night pretty much. Good grief he doesn't even know what a spanking is. I guess I hurt his feelings...but maybe he won't do it again. Ha ha right.

Unfortunately, I don't think my phone will make it. This is the second drowning. The first time it fell in the toilet. I would like to blame Logan for that one, but sadly I can't. I mean really how many lives can a phone have.

Dreaded Dinner time

Dinner time is a stressful time at our house. By the time Logan and I get home it is almost 6:00. He is hungry and fussy...as am I. I try to keep my meal plans to 30 minutes or less, because Logan's tummy and patience do not give me much time. Otherwise, he is at my feet begging to be held. Or I have to try to hold him while chopping vegetables or doing something dangerous of the sort. So this is how he deals...he wrecks havoc on my kitchen.

My Simple Money Saving Tricks

This weeks edition of Works-For-Me-Wednesday is themed the Frugal Edition. I opted to go for a list of my simple money saving tricks, seeing as we are still trying to work on that area.

*I try to always plan our meals for the week. It saves us an average of $25/week in groceries not to mention the headache of coming up with something at the last minute.

*Craigslist is my best friend for furniture or baby equipment, usually I can find lightly used items for a fraction of the price.

*When a doctor's visit is needed outside our pediatricians hours I try to take Logan to a clinic with late hours rather than the urgent care. It saves us money on our co-pay.

*Having prepared frozen meals on hand for when I don't feel like cooking. We don't end up spending money eating out and we eat healthier.

*And our best money saving benefit...Grandparents, They save us a ton of money on babysitting. :o) And we feel comfortable leaving Logan overnight.

Visit www.wearethatfamily.com for more frugal ideas.

Monkey Boy

This weekend we bought Logan a little climber slide with a playhouse underneath. Do you think he likes it? Since then he has proceeded to climb onto the kitchen table as well as the second shelf of my bakers rack. This boy loves to climb. I must go now and reevaluate all of my childproofing.

Delicious tortillas

We use tortillas quite often in this family. We love breakfast tacos, fajitas, gorditas....anything yummy you can put in a tortilla. While eating at home the tortillas are never as good as the homemade tortillas at the resturants. Unless you have the gumption to make them from scratch...which I don't. Well recently someone told me about some raw tortillas that you can find in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. They are already rolled out and about the same price. All you have to do is cook them in a skillet for about a minute. And you have fresh tortillas that are delicious! Yes, they are a little more work then the cooked tortillas. Oh but they are so much better. So, raw tortillas works for me.

Check out http://www.wearethatfamily.com/ for more Works-For-Me-Wednesday Tips.

Our Weekend Away

Adam and I are finally taking off for a weekend. It has been a well earned mini vacation. Next weekend we will head down to the coast for two nights, with 6 of our friends. Four of which are couples. We rented a beautiful beach house that is walking distance to the beach.











The guys are going on a deep sea fishing trip on Saturday, which will take pretty much all day. While us girls shop, lounge on the beach, and explore the area. We haven't made any plans for Sunday just yet, but I'm sure it will involve more lounging, possibly some water sports, and a nice fresh seafood resturant.

We have been wanting to get a way for a while now. However, we needed a little extra push and my brother and his girlfriend coming down for a visit seemed like the perfect opportunity. This will be the first time we have been away without Logan. He will be staying with Gammy and Grandad. It's so nice to have a set of grandparents here. He has stayed the night with them several times before, but we have never gone out of town without him. I feel a little guilty. I told Adam this and said "Logan has never been to the beach, maybe we should take him.". He said, "No, this our weekend." I agree we do need it. Sorry Logan, you can go next time.

Blanket Hogs

One of the blogs that I read hosts a fabulous list of different ideas, tips, & recipes all submitted by different readers. It is called Works-For-Me-Wednesday. I have been a long time reader and have found many beneficial ideas from this. So, I decided I would give it a go. So here is my Works-for-me-Wednesday tip.

Hubby and I have always had a hard time sharing a blanket. I won't say who the offending party is, but someone always ends up curled in a ball shivering because the other stole the blanket. Now... we had a king size bed with a king size comfoter. So it's not like there was a lack of coverage area. I suppose some people just like to roll in their blanket.

Anyhow, it didn't take us long to realize that this just wasn't going to work for us. So rather than us sleeping in different beds to avoid midnight struggles over a blanket. We just each have our own blanket. I bought 2 twin sized duvets and it works wonderful. Although it's not very much fun to have to buy two duvet covers for one bed...but it is definately worth it. Everyone stays warm and can sleep how they want.

Find more works-for-me-wednesday ideas over at we are THAT family.

Happy Easter

We had a nice Easter egg hunt and lunch with the grandparents, but the Easter bunny left the crabbies in our house. Logan was running on a short little nap, thanks to mommy. I believe it all started from the short lived nap. It took me a while to get Logan down for a nap this morning. Then, when I finally did I was trying to get all of our stuff ready to go. There were some things in his room and I thought I could just sneak in there and grab them quick and get out. Bad idea, never try to sneak into sleeping baby's room! I woke him up and he was up to stay up. Adam and I were also both running on little sleep. Needless to say by the time we got back from a late lunch we were all grumpy. Logan is finally asleep for the night (hopefully)! And I'm off to bed as well. But here are a few pictures of our easter egg hunt.

Logan jamming on the wii guitar

first carousal ride

at the zoo

the butterfly exibit at the zoo

Glorious Sleep

Until recently we had been fighting a battle of wills nearly every night at bedtime. To add to that, my once peaceful sleeping baby had gone back to waking up at night. Sometimes deciding it was playtime...at 3 in the morning. I don't think so!

I know I added to the problem by bringing Logan into bed with us when he would wake up, or sleeping with him where ever we could get sleep. This lack of sleep was starting to wear on me. I mean come on, there is no reason a 13 month old baby should not be sleeping through the night, unless he is sick. It was time for an intervention.

I was ready to try the cry it out method...Adam not so much. So we kind of compromised. I decided I would put him in his crib to go to sleep, but stay in there with him so he wouldn't feel abandoned. Well, the first night didn't go so well. I sat right by his crib and tried to sing to him...but he cried regardless for about 30 minutes. Then, he finally gave in. I was a little discouraged but determined to make it work. So we tried again the next night. I told Logan it was time for bed. He cried all the way to his room, but once in his crib he was fine. We read some stories, then he went to sleep.

We have been following our new routine for about a month now, and minus a few bumps along the way, it is working great. He sleeps through the night now. Sometimes he will still wake up and fuss a little, but he usually goes back to sleep on his own. At bedtime he will walk willingly to his room and lift up his arms to get in his crib. I do have to stay in there with him until he falls asleep, but it doesn't take long...and we enjoy our story time.

Unpredictable, dramatic, exciting, emotional, lovable.....TODDLERS

Ahh life with a toddler...it is very fun but oh so exhausting. The temper tantrums have started, spaced between sweet cuddles, kisses, and new accomplishments and adventures everyday. One of our favorite activities now is reading. How he loves to read. He has his favorites and we read them over and over again. I try to bring out new books when I don't feel I can read the same one another time. However, this doesn't usually work very well. He will listen through the first few pages then prompt a quick finish by clapping and shouting "YAHHH!!", while handing me one of his classics. If you don't seem to get the drift he will come close the book for you. I suppose at least he tries to be polite about it.



His second favorite past time is climbing. Anything he can climb by himself he will. Then once at the top he will sit precariously on the edge swinging his legs with a smug look of accomplishment on his face. He is absolutely fearless, he has no problem climbing the big playground equipment or trying a slide by himself. Sometimes it seems he thinks he is much older than he is. But give it about 10 minutes he will make sure to remind you how old he really is when you try to pull him away from the playground.

Tug of War

This is Chloe, Gammy & Grandad's dog. She is their baby, so whenever Logan comes over they are always fighting for center stage. Or rather Chloe is trying to regain it. That's why I think this video is hilarious, because this a great representation of them.

Happy Birthday to Logan!

Saturday we celebrated Logan's 1st birthday. Wow, this year has really flown by. I can't believe how big my sweet baby is. We just had a simple party for him with presents cake and ice cream. I also made my first attempt at decortating a cake, it didn't turn out too bad...but I will need to perfect my skills before I can do Spiderman. Here are a few pictures and highlights from his big day.

This was the cake that I made for Logan to tear into. The marshmallows

are supposed to be bubbles.

I made the cupcakes for him to take to daycare.

My look how you have grown baby.