WHAT A DAY!!

What a day it has been. Monday I decided that it was time to potty train Austin for real. We cleared our schedules, picked the 'system' we were going to use, got the necessary items (undies, carpet shampoo, laundry soap, treats, stickers, and so on). So we started Tuesday morning and it has been a nightmare. We have religiously taken him to the bathroom every 20 min. from the time he got up until the time he went to bed, except during his nap (which he stayed dry for 3 1/2 hrs!!!, which is normal). Unfortunately he only urinated in the potty once - to which he got praised and rewarded and it was wonderful, only to have him pee his pants 15 min. later. What we have learned is that for some reason he WILL NOT go to the bathroom in the TOILET! When we set him on the "potty" as we call it, he will hold it, even if he has to go, until he gets off (it doesn't matter if we keep him there 5 min or 15) then he will blatantly pee his pants and or poo his pants. I know that he knows when he has to go. The other day we had his diaper off and he brought me a diaper because he had to go poo, I tried sitting him on the potty but he wouldn't go, after wards my husband got home so as I talked to my husband for a minute he got off the toilet, went into my daughters bedroom and pooped on the floor! I was getting so frustrated!!! I didn't know what to do or why he won't go pee pee or poo poo in the potty! We have rewards that he likes, things that when he doesn't get them he would sit on the potty and cry that he wants one because he can see them, but he still gets off then continues to pee in his pants instead. We have started making him clean it up himself but it hasn't seemed to help any. He has to take off his wet pants and underwear, put them in the bathtub and then put on clean ones - that too is a task. I just keep telling myself that if he is this stubborn now, it is just going to get worse. So we pressed on

This morning after putting him to bed early the night before (he was in bed and asleep by 7 then didn't wake up until 7:45 this morning) we started again. The day started off the same as yesterday. Nothing in the potty, everything on the floor. So by 4:00 I was at my wit's end. Devon was telling me to just stop and try again another time but I knew he (Austin) was just testing. He knew exactly what I wanted him to do but wanted to see if I would hold. Anyway, I finally had it. I set him on the potty at 3:30, then proceeded to let him have as much as he wanted to drink. We had water and soda and chocolate milk, he could have whatever he wanted. hahahahahah. I knew that no matter how stubborn he was going to be, no two year old in the world can hold in pee after drink a whole soda! So I let him drink and then we waited. We read books and colored and then he started getting wiggly. I knew it was hitting him. Ha ha, He wanted to get up and I wouldn't let him. He started screaming, and "crying"(he has this annoying fake cry) then stopped when he realized that wasn't working. Then he wanted to go in the bath. Well, yesterday I fell for that trick. As soon as he got in the bath he peed, so when he asked to go into the bath this time....I didn't fall for it. Ha! But, instead I told him Sure, (as I turned on the water) you can get in the bath as soon as you go pee in the potty. And sure enough - he went!!! It was wonderful! We gave him loves and kisses and hip hip hoorays and HAVEN"T HAD AN ACCIDENT SINCE! He went potty 5 more times before bed (I told you we pumped him full of liquids) without even a fake cry. It was wonderful

In other news....this will be TMI for most, so feel free to stop reading, but I "started" today. Huge bummer! But I guess I can't complain too much because this is the first time in 16 months. Don't you love babies?! I do, I just wish the period-less bliss could have lasted a little longer.

Anyway, It's 11:-- and so Kate is doing her nightly scream. So I am going to go give her a binky then hit the sac.

It's picture time!!!

Here are some pictures of our trips. Fair warning - there will be way too many!!

This is Kate and her cousin Aarum. I guess our older niece and nephew took a picture like this several years ago because they were about the same age, so we had a request to reinact it. I think they look dorky, yet so cute! oh, and kate would NEVER smile for the camera.

This is one of my Christmas presents...my wood router and table. YAY!

This is my niece and my mother in law. The look so much a like it's crazy...even in a crazy christmas morning picture like this.

Austin's new bike from Santa. He loves all the noises the different buttons make.

Or not, this is just a start, but it's 11:00 and Austin just woke up and isn't going back to bed without me so I guess we'll have to post more later.

Sleep

It's so nice to get some much needed rest. Being on vacation I just didn't seem to sleep that well, especially when the kids got sick. Finally last night after figuring out what we could feed Kate and have her body tolerate it somewhat, I was able to get a solid nine hrs! Woohoo! Now, I know for most people 9 hrs. at 7 months isn't that great, but with her sensitive stomach she hasn't been able to go more than 4 hours without nursing since she turned about 4 months. (there was like a month in there where she started sleeping "through the night" but then stopped because she was getting bigger and needed more food to get her through the night but couldn't eat cereal or ANYTHING). So, yay for sleep. It's amazing how much better you can feel, and how much more patience you can have when you can get a good nights sleep.

Now I am going to jump back to our vacation.

Once we left Devon's parents house we went up to my parents where we were originally going to stay for about 2 weeks. Then the day before we went up my Grandfather passes away (a little quicker than anyone thought he was going to) and so instead of staying for 2 weeks we ended up only staying for about 2 days. We left Devon's Sunday afternoon and arrived at my moms Sunday in time for a late dinner. Monday and Tuesday we just hung out. Monday night we went to the High School basketball game and that was about it. It was nice to relax and not have a schedule, especially since the kids were getting sick (thanks to the earlier visited cousins grrrr). My kids seem to ALWAYS be sick when we go to my moms. I don't know what it is but it drives me crazy! It doesn't matter if it is the middle of winter of the burning (and in YC it is burning) heat of summer. Anyway, so they were sick and not very well behaved (don't you hate that!) plus, I wasn't that patient with them because of the earlier mentioned lack of sleep. By Tues. night Kate was doing really bad and had honestly been up all night for 2 nights in a row, so we got her in to see the doctor Wed. morning. She ended up having an ear infection along with the wonderful cold that was going around. She got some meds and I got relief in knowing that although her cough and breathing sounded bad that there was no fluid in her lungs and she didn't have pneumonia. Thursday we were all planning to drive back to Utah for my grandpa's funeral but Devon and I decided to leave wed. and stay the night in Reno. We thought that it would be better for us because 1. we wouldn't have such a long day in the car and 2. because we wouldn't have to get up early to leave. With that decided we loaded the car and drove the 2.5 hrs. to Reno and stayed in the peppermill. The best 23.00 I have ever spent! They upgraded us to a suite and the room was really nice! The beds were so soft, the pillows heavenly and just a whole lot cleaner and nicer than I was expecting....especially for what we paid for it. The night however didn't go as well. Kate spent most of the evening crying and would only stop when we were in the bathtub. Austin seemed to be doing better until he started crying and i went over to see what was wrong and he puked all over me and the bed (it was mostly on me and I caught the rest with a towel.....SICK!) then I picked him up and we hauled it into the bathroom where he pucked on me again. EW. That was the first time he has ever puked!. The poor lady who had to come and and clean up the nasty towels we used to clean with probably thought we had gotten a nasty hang over LOL. Sorry lady, just sick kids. After a late night and FINALLY getting the kids to sleep, we actually slept really well. We ended up sleeping in and not even getting up until like 9:00! After that we were off to Utah. Things in Utah went well. It was nice to see family, for me it was kind of awkward....you're all there because someone has passed so you don't really want to be rambunctious (sp?) like we were 3 weeks ago at thanksgiving....yet it's boring to just sit around solemnly. Anyway things there went well. The funeral was nice and the lunch in after wards was fun. It was fun to hear so many different stories about grandpa, some of them were classic grandpa stories that I have heard 100x and some I had never heard. After the funeral services and everything friday we all just hung out then got ready to leave on Saturday. We ended up packing up and leaving in the early afternoon and were able to stop and have lunch with 2 of my old roommates before heading back home. Once we were home had time enough to unpack, do the laundry and pack again so that we could do one more quick trip to Idaho Falls to see an friend of ours that moved back east, but had come out to spend time with her parents. We got back last night unpacked and I am so happy that the house is clean, the laundry is now down and I don't have anywhere to go for a long while!!!

I just want to say, although it was a crazy holiday, I can't believe how well our kids did in the car. Both of them have been complete ANGLES. On the way out to california we drove 14hrs without the slightest glimps of a meltdown. We drove up to my parents, then to reno, then to Utah, then to Boise, then to I.F. then back to Boise....all within a month and they handled it better than I did! They seriously were so good in the car I still can hardly believe it! So yay for good kids in the car that don't get car sick, yay for medicine that helps make being sick more tolerable, and yay for a husband who works like crazy in the summer so that we can do crazy things like this in the winter.

We're home!!!

After 3 weeks of being cramped in the truck and sleeping in other people's beds we are finally HOME!!! It was nice to spend time with family over the holidays and we are so fortunate to not have to rush back for anything. We actually cut our trip short by a week because of the unfortunate passing and funeral of my Grandpa Anderson.

Way too much has gone on in the past 4 weeks since I have written to try to catch up on it all but I will try my best to give some highlights and then when I upload pictures I am sure I will give more details.

Christmas Eve we spent with Devon's entire family and it was FABULOUS!!! Dawn did an amazing job of hosting the party and in my opinion it couldn't have gone better! The food was to die for, followed by all the cousins dressing up and acting out the story of Mary and Joseph. After that was done we did a white elephant gift game that was so much fun!!! After everyone had their turn at that we opened the presents that we gave each other. I can't think of anything that could have made this night better. It wasn't too long or too short...not too crazy or boring...just PERFECT!

Christmas morning we had at Devon's parents. Some of his brothers and sisters were there with their kids. For our family we opened out "Santa" gift and stockings. Then we all went in and ate a wonderful huge breakfast made by Devon's parents. After that everyone who was there gathered in the living room and took turns drawing "straw" papers out of "Jesus' cradle" that had acts of service written on them. Once you got one that had a service you had done on it then you got to open a present. We did this for a while....but it was taking a really long time - and not everyone had papers in the "cradle"( we were never even told about it so we didn't have anything in it so we would sit and watch then every once in a while we would just open our own)
Austin didn't really care for opening his Christmas presents. He got a tricycle from Santa and just wanted to play with that...and then everyone else's toys but none of his own. Maybe next year.

The day after Christmas we just laid low. The kids were mostly entertained by their new toys. Devon and I just hung out with is sister and her hubby. We just sat back and chilled. It was nice. Then on Saturday I ran down to the local craft store...we had stooped by on Christmas Eve day because I needed some ribbon to finish a Christmas present and they had TONS of Christmas stuff on sale for 70% off. We got a few things but with 2 crazy kids we didn't really get the chance to look as much as we/I wanted.....so on Saturday I ran back to the craft store and to my pleasant surprise everything was now 90% off!!!! I couldn't believe it! I was like a kid in a candy store. I didn't even look at prices. I was walking around the store and just putting anything that I even thought I liked in my cart. I had so much stuff I started a pile up at the register. The ladies were just laughing at me, especially when they heard that I was taking all of this stuff with me from California back to Idaho. Little do they know that I was the one laughing the whole way out. I was getting all this stuff (and it is nice boutique/craft store christmas stuff) for literally pennies on the dollar! We got everything we could ever want and more...wreaths, trees, garlands, lights, santas, sleighs, ornaments, nativities, you name it! By the time I left on Saturday I had 3 baskets full of stuff. I was scared to go to the cash register and even more afraid to go home and face my hubby....on my way up I was just trying to sooth myself thinking of the explanations and excuses I was going to give my hubby for breaking the bank at the craft store. (Like: yes devon I really think that we needed 5 different alpine trees because when they were originally 39.00-79.00 and I am getting them for 4-8.00 I just couldn't say no!) So I held my breath as they rang up thing after thing after thing....and the grand total? 108.00! That's it! 3 FULL baskets of nice christmas stuff. CRAZY. I literally laughed when she told me the total...I was no longer worried about breaking the bank or having to explain anything to my husband. Enough stuff that originally would have cost 1,080.00! Now I can't wait for next year!! Hopefully next year (if they do this) I will not be blind sided by it and maybe even look for stuff for other people and gifts....and not just myself.

Oh, enough about my amazing finds LOL
The rest of the week we laid pretty low. We stayed at the house most of the time. It was nice just to spend time with family. We went one day and had family pictures taken at the beach, went the the children's museum in San Jose (AWESOME, I can't wait to go back when Austin is a little older) had a bon fire on New Years eve at the beach while we made smores and enjoyed the beautiful evening.

Devon and I had the opportunity to go on a nice dinner date together while my sister in law watched our kids. That is the first date that we have been on (other than going to the temple) since Halloween, and who knows how long before that. Devon had gotten a gift certificate 6, yes six years ago to a nice restaurant in Santa Cruz and we have never been able to use it. So we finally were able to redeem it. The restaurant was nice, the evening was peaceful, but the food wasn't that great. The bread and spread that we started with was to die for. Then we got the roasted artichoke appetizer. It was okay. I found it a little tough and just not that great. Then since we were at a restaurant over looking the ocean I thought it would be a great place to try the seafood. I mean you can't get it much fresher. So I ordered the muscles (side note; I love muscles! Ever since I worked out in Nantucket for a summer I learned to really enjoy the many different ways that they can be prepared) They were steamed in white wine with tomato and garlic, which sounded amazing to be but.......YUCK! They were horrid! They were bitter and about every 5th one I would eat and it tasted like I swallowed a mouth full of sea water. Unfortunately they were the worst muscles I have ever eaten. So sad. Devon got the Pork chops with an apple chutney. He said that the pork chops were nice and tender but it was absolutely flavorless. He was actually trying to shake salt and peeper out of the tiny salt and pepper shakers that were on the table when he bumped the bread basket and accidentally lit the napkin in the bread basket on fire from the candle that was on the table. HA! That was funny.
But over all it was a good night and nice to just be out without having to worry about the kids, so thanks Chelsea for watching the kids, it was a much needed break.

As for the rest of the vacation, that will have to wait for another time. It's late, the kids are now in bed for the night so I need to catch some zzz's.