Adventures in Potty Training

I know, I already did my one post for the day but I had something happen just now that I had to write about. Just had to....I know that one day when my Anthony is older he will really want to hear this story about his potty training woes. Maybe not, but I want to write about it anyway....

We have been trying for quite some time to get Anthony used to going to the bathroom like a "big boy" on the toilet and not in his pants. We have tried regular old potty chairs, potty chairs that make music after you do your business, little seats that go on top of the toilet seat with Diego or some other character on them. You catch my drift - we have pretty much tried everything, and he just has not been all that interested in going anyplace but in his diaper.

I know, I know, he is still young, but I was successful in getting Ava and Lucas potty trained by the time they were 3. Again, I know, you can't push, every child trains at a different age....but he seems more than ready. Actually I think he is playing me (Anthony can be a little stinker like that). I say this because on occasion he will "out of the blue" say he has to go potty, walk into the bathroom, take off his diaper, go, flush and wash his hands. He knows how to do it, he just chooses when he wants to and when he does not want to. So what to do? Little stinker.

I have decided recently to just put clothes on him sans the diaper, thinking that he will feel the need to get to a toilet and go. I thought I was actually successful as it has been working for the past few days, up until just an hour ago, when he went #2 on the rug in the playroom. Here is how it played out...

I was sitting here on my computer returning some emails - Off point, but I have been spending way too much time on this computer, facebooking and blogging to my hearts content. I am thinking I may need to cut back. Back on point.... When Anthony walked up to me and said

Anthony: "Hey Mommy, I pooped on the floor in the playroom."

Mommy: "You did? Where?"

Anthony: "On the rug by the toys."

Mommy: "Why didn't you go on the toilet."

Anthony: "Because." (enlightening, right?)

Mommy: " Show me where so I can clean it up."

Anthony: "Right there Mommy. See, it is just a little bit."

Ugh. The only positive point about this whole story is that he was right, it was just a little bit and more importantly, it was very..... solid. I know, gross, but could you imagine if it would have been - not so solid?? What a mess that would have been.

So he may not end up being potty trained by the time he turns three, and that is alright. I figure sooner or later he will get tired of sitting in his own potty/poo and resort to going on the toilet instead of in the diaper. I hope.

Oh the joys of Motherhood.....

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it....

I'm about to lose control and I think I like it!! ( I know, it is a silly crazy looking picture, but it pretty much sums up how I feel at the moment!

Olivia Grace slept in her crib for the first time at naptime for a whopping 2 1/2 hours!!! Not in her car seat, or with me, but in her crib....ALL alone!!! I have been delaying making the transition from car seat to crib as she has been sleeping so well in her car seat. Plus, everytime I attempted to get her to sleep in her crib she would screamed for hours - just never worked. Admittedly, I never tried all that hard Iguess. But that is all behind us now, because she sleeps in her crib!!!

I know, to you commonfolk this may not seem like that big of a deal, but to a mother of 4 little kids who has been dreaming of getting things accomplished during the day, and sleeping in her bed with her husband sans any babies at night, this is a HUGE deal!

I was so taken back by the fact that she was sleeping in her crib, AND sleeping for such a long period of time I had to go in and check on her....

So sweet, sleeping nice and sound until I had to walk in there and snap a picture. I woke her up - nice mom, huh? But at least she looked well rested and was happy. I can tell she likes her crib now and is comfortable sleeping there.

Alleluia! It is a good day in the Shelton house!!

Mom and Ava's great debate: Minivan or Porsche?

I absolutely cherish the times that Ava and I get to spend alone together. I guess I feel like since she was the first born she did not ever have much alone time with Daddy and I as we had Lucas a short 16 months after she was born. I especially love the conversations that we have while driving in the car. I am guessing she gets time to think a lot in the car and as a result tends to come up with some pretty interesting thinks to discuss. Today was no exception.

We were driving to Grandma and Papa's house to pick up her brothers - she was pretty excited as I let her sit in the front seat with me. This is something I let her do when it is just her and I hanging out and she simply loves it as it is something only she gets to do. She was sitting quietly enjoying her time in the front seat when the conversation started.

Ava: "Daddy really likes Porsche's"

Mom: "yes, he does. How do you know that?"

Ava: "Because he always talks about wanting to buy one."

I giggled a bit, thinking how funny it was that she had listened to the hundreds (literally hundreds) of conversations Brian and I have had about him wanting a Porsche soooo bad that it hurts. (his words).

Ava: "How much are Porsche's...$100?"

Mom: "No, they are a lot more than that."

Ava: "Our car is really dirty mom, I think we need to buy a new one. I want one of those cars that has the sliding door on it, like the one we drove in Florida."

I had to think about this one for a while, trying to figure out what car she was talking about. Then it came to me.... The dreaded Mini Van. I cannot believe she picked a mini van, out of all the cars she could have picked, she picked the one that Daddy and I loathe the most. So much so that we swore to never, ever, ever purchase one no matter how many children we ended up having. We would buy a bus before we would buy a Mini Van. No jokes.

Mom: "A mini van? No, we will never buy a mini-van."

Ava: "Why? Do they cost too much? How many 'dollars' do they cost? $1?"

Mom: "Because Mommy and Daddy don't really like Mini vans, and no, they do not cost $1, they cost a lot more than that."

Ava: (big sigh) "Alright, then I want a Porsche."

Like father like daughter.

Our Family Vacation

I have finally resigned myself to the fact that I do live in the frozen tundra - otherwise know as Minnesota - and that I will have to simply savor the warm climates when I am lucky enough to go on vacation. (insert loooooong sigh).

On a positive note, I can always look back at the beautiful pictures and remember how truly wonderful it was in paradise. Laying by the ocean, sipping cocktails with colorful umbrellas in them... Ahhhhh, remembering actually makes me want to hop on a flight right now back to that place called Cayman Islands, take a job as a bartender and live the simple life.

My four kids (whom I love dearly), are unfortunately are holding me up on making this dream a reality. Darn. I sure do love them though. They were just perfect on the flight down there, which surprised me as I thought we would have some "issues" - meaning strangers feeling the need to strangle my lovely Anthony on the airplane. Not the case!

Arriving at the airport was a bit hectic with 4 kids, stroller, backpacks, car seats in tow. We managed to get through customs, grab our baggage, and get out front without much trouble. Ron and Brian ran off to get our rental cars, and this is when we first noticed there was an issue. This is the mini van (at least what Caymanianas call a mini van) we were provided with to get 4 kids, 3 adults and all of our crap to our condo. Really?

Really. Best part of it is we actually managed to squish everything into it, passengers, luggage, car seats, strollers and all!

Once we got to the condo and settled in everything was great, better than great as this was our view from our front patio door.

After unpacking we did not waste any time getting our swimsuits on heading out to the pool. Where the kids pretty much stayed the whole vacation.... As you can see, Livi was very excited to be at the pool relaxing in the hot sun.

Here she is in her other swim suit, the bikini. A woman always has to have two swimsuits - the one piece and the two piece. My little fashionista.

The rest of the kiddos took turns swimming in the pool with Daddy. Which was much to my enjoyment as that meant more relaxing in the sun for mommy which makes me happy. Like they say, "if momma ain't, happy, no ones happy", right?

I got a much needed day out with the girls - Cindy, and Diane on Monday. We walked up the beach,cocktails in hand and found a nice place to lay out, enjoy the sun and have lunch. This was the day Auntie Cindy was a bit "overserved". :) I was jealous to not be right there with her, but I unfortunately had to watch my alcohol intake as I am still nursing Olivia part time. Darn it. I do have to say she was quite fun company that day!

While we were gone Daddy and Grandpa took the kids to the turtle farm which I heard they just loved. They saw AND got to hold all kinds of turtles. Lucas very much enjoyed holding this one.

Yikes those are some big turtles.....

Daddy decided to stay back on Thursday to take care of Olivia, Anthony and cousin Lucia so that the rest of us could go to Sting Ray city to swim with the Sting Rays. Let's just say I was a bit hesitant about this as I am deathly afraid of the ocean and everything in it. I can barely swim right out in front of a beach without worrying a shark is going to come and bite my leg off, or worse, swallow me whole. I know, I have watched Jaws a few too many times.

Anyway, we took a catamaran ride out to Sting Ray City which was enjoyable as it had a stocked bar which I thought would help in easing my fears. Not so. We arrived and the boats captain told us all about the Sting Ray's and what to be careful for. All the while I was looking overboard at the bottom of the ocean. It was filled with HUGE black Sting Rays -EEEEW!!

I tried to keep my composure so as not to freak Ava and Lucas out, and I think I did a pretty good job. It turns out they were deathly scared of the Sting Rays as well. The three of us got back onto the boat after about 10 min. At least we tried, right?

Cindy, Grandma and Grandpa had the most fun at Sting Ray City. At least a few of us got something out of this little adventure. Notice all of the sting rays swimming behind them?? Again, EWWWW!!!

We also took the kids to the butterfly farm on our last day of our trip. They were intent on getting a butterfly to land on their arm and all were unfortunately unsuccessful. UNTIL... at the end of the tour one landed on Ava's leg. She was simply tickled pink....

On our very last night in Cayman Islands we hung out at the pool - more specifically in the hot tub drinking cocktails and relaxing. All 10 of us (Brian and Ron did not venture in), it was quite a crowded hot tub.

All in all we had a fabulous, wonderful, sunny, warm family vacation. We all got a much needed break from the worries of this terrible economy, the constant stress of work and this terrible cold MN winter. Most importantly we all got a time to reconnect and spend some much needed time together as a family, which is most important in life. Many, many thanks to Ron and Diane for making it possible for us all to go on this trip!!

Back home, and not really loving it....

We just left paradise,




For below zero temps, and snow -





Why??





I think I need one more day to wallow in my sadness. By tomorrow I am sure I will have accepted the fact that we live in MN and be able to resume life as usual. Then, and only then will I be able to write all about our fabulous Cayman Islands family vacation, adventures, mishaps and all.

I know, a bit dramatic.

I just really, really loathe MN winters....

PRICELESS

Sandals that Anthony will only wear a handful of times while on vacation: $20.00

A "Star Wars guy" from Target as a reward for Anthony using the potty chair: : $10.00

A new video game for Ava and Lucas's Playstation hand held's: $40

The kids in bed, a glass of Concha y Toro in hand, the couch, and watching one of my favorite shows on Tivo

Priceless.

It's a new dawn, it's a new day

It's a new year!!

I stayed in last night, no New Year's celebration for me. I put the kids to bed, poured myself a glass of wine and lounged on the couch watching some of my favorite shows that I had on Tivo. I ended up curled up in bed, asleep by about 10pm. In my opinion, a perfect way to end 2008.

Brian, on the other hand, could not resist the invitation to a party at the "Cow Barn." He left last night around 9pm with his friend Dave in tow to ring in the new year. I am pretty sure he had a rousing time as he crawled into bed at 3:30 am. Yuck. Even the thought of staying out that late drinking makes me feel sick - I can't figure out how he does it. I guess it helps that he does not have to drag his butt out of bed at 6am to kids yelling for toonies and breakfast. (It is now 10:30am and he is still in bed - nice.)

Over the past five years, I have learned it is just too darn hard to drag my tired, hungover butt out of bed after an evening of being overserved. So Brian tends to go to these types of festivities solo, or if I do go with him, I tend to find myself in a cab on my way home around 11pm. Brian is always left behind at the party without a thought of being tired or ready for bed in his mind.

So, that sums up New Year's Eve festivities and how they tend to work around our household.

Onto my resolutions....

1.) Less junk food. I think I need to stop buying so much junk food, and start buying more fruit, veggies and nutritious snacks. The other day Brian and Anthony talked me into buying a huge, I mean huge jug of Cheese balls at Sam's Club. Needless to say, the kids went nuts over them. (mostly Anthony - of course.) Lucas did enjoy them when we first got them home, but unfortunately we found that he had some sort of allergic reaction to them. About an hour after eating a bowl full he broke out in a terrible rash - no more cheese balls for Lucas. The funny thing is he was not as devastated as Brian was. Brian could not believe Lucas was allergic to his own all time favorite snack ever.

Anthony really enjoyed carrying the huge tub of them around and stopping occasionally to dig down in there for a taste. He was very happy to have control over the whole tub of them. I soon figured out I had to take them away as I knew if I didn't he would have a cheese ball overdose and I would be stuck changing some not so pleasent diapers for the next two days.


So, this whole cheese ball thing got me thinking that I needed to start cutting back on the junk food, and I will. I think.

Resolution #2. Less video games/T.V. We watch a lot of T.V. in this house - it is pretty much on from sun up to sun down. I guess I have never had much of an issue with it as the kids are not glued to it. They will watch for a bit, then go play in the playroom and do other things. But Daddy bought the kids PSP's for Christmas and now we have added video games into the mix. So now Lucas (my video game lover) sits on his couch, with the cartoons on, and PSP in hand playing away. Both at once.... This seems to bring on a bit of the "Mommy guilt".

This morning I tried to get his attention to ask him something and he was in a PSP induced coma. Alright, exagerating a bit, but he was really into his game.

So these are my top two resolutions for the year: Less junk food, and less T.V./video games. Will it actually happen??

I always have such good intentions New Year's day, as does everyone. But how many of us actually follow through? I guess I am not going to worry too much about it... why sweat the small stuff - so the Shelton family enjoys junk food, T.V. and video games - but who doesn't? I figure life is too short, so the heck with it!