Yep, we're winners!

Okay...maybe not the lottery, slot machines, etc...

We're winners in this house because Blazer is doing the potty thang - and really well I might add.

My last post, "Success!", provided details on our potty-going adventure, and I may have mentioned that I was waiting for a successful numba-two try in the potty on his own.  We've reached that goal, ten-four!  AND SO MUCH MORE!

I really cannot contain my excitement.  I know potty chatter really isn't everyone's cup-o-pee, but as a parent I'm floating on the potty training cloud right now.  It's has been four days of no diapers...yes, I said FOUR.  FOUR AMAZING DAYS WITHOUT HAVING TO CHANGE A DIAPER!!

I know, I know...maybe my excitement is a little premature, but heck yes!  Pull-ups are working so well!  He uses about 2, sometimes 3 a day, and it's not really because they are dirty but because they just get worn out with all his playing around.  We found that leaving his pants or shorts off while at home helped with his ease of going on his own.  He's a weird little dude too, because he wants to use his little potty downstairs but uses the big potty upstairs just fine.  Hmm.. Whatevs.  Did I mention we have gone FOUR DAYS without diapers?  (No, I'm not going to admit a pull-up is a diaper.)

In addition to the pull-ups, today we tried regular underwear.  He did so great with those too.  It's like, he gets it now.  A lightbulb has been turned on.

Chug-a-chug-choo-choo.  Potty train, we're going to keep chuggin'. 

Post-blog notes:  I forgot to mention that Blazer took his potty training success to a public restroom today.  Actually, he begged to go into a store, just to use the potty.  Umm, win!  

Success!

It's really important to celebrate each success, no matter how small.  For the last week, Aaron and I have been working harder than ever before on the potty training with Blazer.  He's resisting, but we're persistent.  Couple of things we are trying:

1) Place him on the potty every hour - celebrating even if he goes or not..
2) Setting a two-minute timer with a cool alert at the end, making sure he has enough time to do his business.
3) Praise, praise, praise.  If he went, we throw one heck of a verbal party.
4) Purchased cool "Cars" and "Monster's Inc." pull-ups. (Yikes, I know what they say about pull-ups, but damn it, we have to try everything.)
5) Brought the little potty in the living room, so he doesn't feel rushed to go watch a favorite show.  (This has actually worked great! ...and if you are judging about Netflix cartoon watching for a toddler, just don't go there.  Ha.)

Finally, I wanted to share today's success.  I put Blazer in his bed for a nap.  15 minutes later I hear him in the bathroom.  I figured he was in the tub playing with his bath toys, which is odd because he NEVER leaves his room during sleep times.  I walk upstairs and his diaper is on the floor and he's on the toilet - GOING POTTY.  Praise all that is holy in toilet world.  This is a major leap for him, and I'm so excited.

I'll be even more excited when he does the #2 deed on his own...  Yes folks, poop is very exciting when you have a toddler...VERY.

Have a great Sunday!

Discipline

This is the hardest part of parenting for me. Child psychology experts, who must have conducted outrageous studies on infants and toddlers, have varying opinions of what discipline should look like in any given family. 

Well, that's all fine and dandy...for the experts.  As a teacher and a mother I have the blessing/curse of seeing the fruits (or lumps of coal) that parenting has created in today's adolescents.  The one thing I can be certain about is that the type of parenting we use and the way we raise children from the womb to adulthood has a significant impact on everything those tiny human beings become. Well, duh I guess. 

Unlike trying a new recipe and seeing the results minutes later, we have to wait to see how our efforts have panned out as our children grow up. I can't say I do everything right. I can't say I know what I'm doing all the time. But, I can say that I'm present, I hold my children accountable for their actions, and I hold myself accountable. Yes. Me. Because when my children are partaking in society, a classroom, or anywhere, no one will be able to say, "He/she didn't have a good upbringing."

I know my children have free will and make choices, but Im going to make sure they go on in life knowing good morals and right from wrong. I'm not afraid to discipline my children, and I'm not afraid because I know it will make them better people. I'm the person I am today because my parents held a firm stand in our home - from that I learned to respect them, myself, and others.

One of the biggest mistakes I think we can make is to expect our children to know something we won't teach them because we think they will learn it from somewhere else.  It's our job to help them learn.

And to be frank - it has been an evening of tough lessons in this house.   I don't regret teaching my children...and learning from them too.  

Potty training woes

The potty. The toilet. The bathroom. Cars padded seat, baby Bjorn potty chair, potty dance, pee-pee treats...nothing works. 

Blazer likes diapers. Actually he might just like the leisure of going potty at any time he pleases. He'll be 3 in September and I keep thinking of Blazer's first year of preschool in diapers.   This kid just doesn't care. I've tried what the books and so-called experts say. I've tried letting him wear big boy underwear. I've tried potty chairs in multiple places. I've tried potty songs and dances (which were more traumatizing to him than the act of peeing on the toilet). 

The last couple of days he has pooped in his diaper and it has found its way out. What. Do. I. Do. Now?

Poop, screen doors, and ants

Last night was a hard night with the kids. Blazer refuses to potty train. He's used the potty many times in the past, but I think the addition of Faith made him take leaps back. He sees her get attention during diaper changes and he wants that too, I assume. Anyways, here's how my night progressed...

First, Blazer kept trying to abuse Faith with one of those giant basketballs you can win at the fair.  I hid the ball - problem solved. 

Next, Blazer thought it was hilarious to stand on the patio in the backyard and attempt to smash Faith's legs in the sliding screen door. I brought Blaze inside and locked the sliding glass door. 

Then...oh man my blood boils at the thought of this one.  Blazer is sitting on the floor next to his recliner with something like chocolate on his legs and on the recliner. Faith had decided to play in the chocolate colored mess on the recliner. OMG. POOP! Some poop had fallen out of Blazer's diaper. I yelled. I grabbed Faith and put her in the kitchen sink to wash off her hands. I cried. I put Blazer in the toilet while I cleaned up the mess. I cried. And then they both had baths. 

And if that wasn't bad enough...I went to warm up my dinner in the microwave, and it was infested with ants. We have ants with superpowers in our house. They. Just. Won't. Die. I blasted their asses in he microwave for a few minutes, and then warmed up my food.  After all, sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and go one step at a time. 

Today will be better, and if it's not...

No, it has to be better. Have a great day!

Defensive Phrases

As a parent, I have to choose my battles with my toddler wisely, and that's saying a lot when I have a two year old who constantly wants to battle.  Along the way, I've used some phrases I had believed to be great defensive and non-aggressive ways to deter Blazer.  Now, he kindly uses them on me - I guess I start battles sometimes too...

Here are few:

"You need to be nice to me."
"You mad?  You be happy!"
"You say sorry to me!"
"You no talk to me!"
"Not fair."
"I can't, I too small."  (He apparently is too small every time we ask him to do a chore he dislikes.  Currently, he's too small to use the toilet.)

I think one of my favorites is from a situation when we were telling Blazer we were going to play outside.  We lived in Tillamook and the sun didn't come out often, so when it did we took advantage.  We told him, "It's sunny! We can go out and play!"  Outside is always fun with Blazer, and he really loves to play.  He associates sunshine with playtime now, inside or out.  So, his response when he needs a nap during the daytime is...

"But Mom, it's Sunny!  Look!  It's sunny!  I don't sleep.  It's sunny!"  - In Tillamook, I would have cut the kid some slack when the sun came out. But, in Springfield during the summer...he'd never get a nap.  He's clever though...touche Blaze.

1 Year Later

On July 16, 2012, I said hello to our baby girl, Faith.

It's fitting and completely unoriginal to share her birth story now that she is 1, but I can't help but reminisce.

Sunday, we had a baby shower for Faith at our church in Tillamook.  A few very wonderful ladies showed up to show their love for an angel yet to be born...and I was extremely pregnant.  Her due day was the 26th and it was the 15th.  Like all women in their last weeks of pregnancy, I was ready.  After the baby shower, a few of us made plans to go to the Oregon Zoo in Portland (an hour away) the next day.

I woke up on Monday feeling weird.  I woke up with back pain when I went into the labor with Blazer, and then my water broke at home shortly after I awoke.  This was different.  I just felt...icky.  I called my friends and told them I had better take it easy.  That was 8:30am.  Aaron was in class at TBCC, and I was home with Blazer for the day.  I felt pain but I was in denial.  At 9:30 I called my mom and told her I thought I might be in labor.  While on the phone with her, she laughed because I was breathing heavily.  "You're in labor," she told me.

Crap...I can do this.

My doctor had told me to stay at home and labor as long as possible because I wouldn't be admitted until I was a few centimeters dilated.  Well, I'm a wimp and that sounded horrible.  But...I did.  I walked around my house whaling like I was dying during contractions.  I would sit, stand, lean over, etc.  Blazer came to me during one of my contractions and said, "Mommy, you ok?" Sure bud...just dandy.

I texted Aaron that I was in labor but to just come home after class, not to rush.  I knew I probably had a few hours.  Cheyenne, a very good friend of mine, came over at 11:30 to keep an eye on Blazer while I labored.  Aaron read my text during class, freaked out, and came home as soon as he could.  At about 12, I had enough and went to my doctor to get checked.  Luckily my doctor office and the hospital were only a block away.  Almost 5 centimeters she had told me when I got there.  Hospital time.

Thank. Goodness.

I went home, picked up Aaron, and then went to the hospital.  I'm a big baby.  I admit it.  When they made me sit in a wheelchair to go a few stories up in the elevator, I wanted to scream - sitting during contractions hurt like hell.  I got to my room, stood up, and grabbed the closest nurse to hold on for dear life while I suffered through another contraction.  A few minutes later, the anesthesiologist came in for my epidural.  I had an amazing doctor who called in my drugs right after I left her office.  It was about 1:15 when I had my epidural.

Ah. I can breathe.

I relaxed.  Chatted with Aaron and Cheyenne (who had taken Blazer to our daycare).  And I slept a little.  About 4 hours later it was time.  Six pushes and she was out.  I don't even think it took 10 minutes.  Amazing. Beautiful. Perfect.  She weighed 7 lbs 2 oz.

Faith Ann Brumbach

Now, a year later, we all adore her.  Blazer loves her, even with his jealous spells.  She's a happy baby with the best personality.  Her giggle is contagious and she's a fast learner.  Our life was wonderful when we had Blazer, but now it's everything we could have ever hoped for...and more.

   

Yep, the absent blogger.

I never wanted to be one of the probably millions who start a blog and then leave it in the black hole of the internet.  ...it happened anyway.

It amazes me what takes up my time on any given day.  Diaper changes, runny noses, tantrums, food, snacks...tantrums, more food...did I say tantrums yet?  Oh yeah, and then there's snuggles, kisses, hugs, "I love you mommy," and lots of other wonderfulness that outweighs all the aforementioned.

All of that can seem like a lot, but I do have enough downtime to blog - really I do.  I read a post yesterday about blogging - that someone who starts a blog with the only intention to lay it out there is not someone who will blog successfully.  It's the community building that makes success.  I never even thought about what type of community I wanted to reach out to.  Maybe moms like me, or women, or just anyone who might find humor in my seemingly normal yet crazy-to-me life.

When I started my purpose was to share our lives with my family.  It's hard to live far away and still provide the opportunity for my children and our relatives to know one another.

And then there's Facebook, which for many people can be a great alternative to blogging.  Lately, though, it's just a little bit unnerving to sift through all the game posts, advertisements, sponsored profiles, and whatever else may show up on my "newsfeed" in order to get to the good stuff about all my relatives, friends, etc.

Blogging is simple, it's all in one place, and it's all about what you went there for.  That's why I'm going to attempt this again - for like the umpteenth time.  Maybe this time I'll be a little better than the last.  Besides, with the way life is going these days for our family...I may have a little more down time than I want.

Be back...soon.