Potty with the Middle

When we potty trained MJD I was in Costa Rica for 2 weeks. With my parents, husband and a maid full time for assistance......I also didn't have to worry about schedules, pick up, drop off, homework, crawling babe, etc.....

Yesterday I decided, enough was enough and it was time to potty train our middle one. Ugh, what was I thinking?!?!? About 15 minutes into the decision, just after I had spoken it out loud, put the kid in undies, I realized perhaps I am in over my head. But alas, I said it, we must commit, it really is time and I just need to get through it.

Day one....went as expected....accident after accident. Bean keeps asking for a diaper. He refused to poop. Morning was rough. He peed on potty post nap, was excited, ate M&M's and then had accidents the rest of the night. Ugh....we have a long way to go.

Day two....I just want to cry! :( One success....we have officially gone through our stockpile of undies and I have done two loads of laundry already. I am working hard to count my gifts today!

Day three.....fewer accidents.....struggling with poop, but I actually haven't been home for most of those situations. (Yet, I am still the one cleaning them up :( ) He is starting to understand the whole, stop the pee, call mama and sit on the potty. Now the goal is to get him to tell me he has to pee before he actually starts peeing! Oi vey! 


Updates will continue......If you read this before the week is over....PRAY FOR ME! I need it!

We have some moderately wonderful success! We are 95% mastered with pee....and about 2% mastered with poo....I will take what I can get! 

Thank The Lord for mini M&Ms :)

Blasting off into ONE!

It is crazy to believe that we have seen our last 1st birthday party in this family?!??! How is it possible that our littest has finally turned one??????

CRAZY! 

So for Lincoln's birthday we had a Rocket Theme party :) I loved it. This time around it was so low key, super easy, and just fun. Kinda like Lincoln, super low key, easy and fun!

We kept the guest list simple and focused on our family, closest friends, and Lincoln's baby buddies.

He loved the excitement of everyone in the house.

Cake smashing took a little warming up to, but once he figured it out he had a blast!

Then add to the fun the excitement of presents and finding toys and snacks buried under tissue paper and he was in heaven!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET BOY!!!! We love you, Lincoln!!!

Just past midnight

The clock just creeped past midnight and we are officially on Nov 2, 2013.....your first birthday! 

Crazy how a year has come and gone since the day you were born. Lincoln, I wish there were words this side of heaven to express how much I love you! 

     

  Happy Birthday Little One!!!! 

Happy, Happy, Happy

Our computer died at the beginning of the year. Our wonderful MacBook which we have had since MJD was tiny with everything I had was on it, every photo, project, file, song, movie of the boys, you get the point! Money was tight when it happened so we didn't bother replacing it. 

Money is still right but not as suffocating as before, and while it will take a couple months to pay it off, Tim has been working a side job at home in the evenings so he isn't too worried. 

So this morning when he said he wanted to go to Apple and buy a new computer I let home entertain the thought. Post nap time, with three kids, pj's packed for the long drive home post dinner, we packed up and bit the bullet! 

Here she is, our new family computer! 

As I type on my phone she is restoring my old files and photos and my heart is Happy, Happy, Happy! 

I know it was a big purchase and perhaps we should have waited....but I am kinda a little glad we didn't! 😉

Heaviness

The past couple weeks of my world have been swamped with a million things on my to do list, demanding children, needy family members, a busy work schedule for my husband, and endless responsibility....so as I climbed into bed the other night ready to curl into a ball to sleep, with this aching desire to just cry, I found myself just feeling as if life was heavy. 

My heart burdened for loved ones......heaviness. 

My days busy with littles......heaviness. 

My nights filled with housework, homework and headaches.....heaviness. 

As my husband wrapped his arms around me to offer me his strength and comfort, he whispered, "You feel heavy because you are trying to carry burdens that you were never meant to carry." 

Ouch, truth. I know this....yet I keep finding myself back at this pace, this need to pick up a burden that isn't mine to hold. A need to control what is out of my control....and all it does is lead me to a place of struggle, frustration and heaviness. 

I need so much to cling to these truths, to hide them deep in my heart and have them spill forth more often so I do not take on the heaviness of this world. 

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." 

Matthew 11:28-30

Praise be to The Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Psalms 68:19

Kindergarten here we come!

My big guy went from a bundle of baby into a bouncy 5 year old in the blink of an eye! And down in the south we start school super early....must be because by the end of May the heat index is astronomical already! 

So a couple weeks ago we made lunch, ironed uniforms, filled out tons of papers and off to kindergarten we went! 

Big guy totally loves it! I felt like a wreck but held it together....at least in front of him. I wanted to linger in his classroom longer....but he sat down and did his thing and I just had to kiss him and walk away..... That is SO hard sometimes. Especially for this "want to control everything on my life" kinda girl. 

"Is it the right choice?" "Should I home school?" "All day?!?! He will be gone a long time!" "What if he gets hurt, or someone hurts him, or he gets in trouble, or bullied..." The enemy had me in a  tailspin of emotions, doubts and fears. 

And then I prayed....and peace whispered to my heart. "I love him more than you do. I am always with him. I will not call him to something I will not walk through with him. Just trust me." 

This whole making choices for your kids thing is hard! So many options and opinions and voices in the world, all often well intended, but sometimes difficult to discern. 

So on the first day of kindergarten my big dude wasn't the only one learning lessons. I had some of my own to learn. Like letting go just a little, trusting a whole lot more and staying in constant prayer. 

And now, weeks into the year my dude is doing great! His teacher is fantastic, he loves her and his new friends, he has mastered buying lunch, new classes, staying on his behavior chart and even moving up to the amazing "blue level" and his first week of homework. Always love how beautifully God takes care of everything! 

Blog Apathy and Absence

I've been silent.....strange in my world. Not that things haven't been happening in our lives over the last few months....quite the contrary. In fact so much has been happening that I kinda felt the need to simply enjoy the moments with my loves and save the online stories for another day.

God has been moving....in small whispers as well as loud shouts in my heart and in my world. And with each painful layer of me He has been removing I find at the end of the pain a beautiful new layer of Him in my world....more another time.

And so, over the last few weeks my heart has started to become more attuned to the words to place with the emotions, the stories to tell and the pictures to post. So I'm back.

More posts later....my biggest little just crept out of bed!