New Bed and Braum's

Nathan has graduated from a crib to a toddler bed.  He hasn't done so well staying in it at night, and spends a lot of nights in our bed.  But he's getting to be such a big boy.  Next up, potty training!

Westley was recognized at the monthly school board meeting for his Reflections award for music composition.  He did not end up winning anything at state, but we are proud that he entered the contest to begin with and then won at the school and district level.  We went to Braum's after the board meeting recognition to celebrate his accomplishment. 

Feeling "Pooped" Out

I am feeling completely pooped, and I mean literally. We came home from my cousin's house today to find that our lovely dog had a very runny bowel movement all over the kitchen while we were gone. Corey quickly cleaned it up (thanks, Corey, you're awesome!) while I kept the kids away and acted as his assistant, handing him paper towels, moving chairs, and whatever else he needed. It was great of him to help with since he had to get ready for work. He gave up a shower in order to do it, but I'm grateful he did because he has a stronger stomach. I had to fight the urge to puke several times and I wasn't even the one cleaning it up!

Well, that was fun and dandy, but after he finished that and was upstairs getting ready, our little Eliza started to scream because she was constipated, so I had to hurry her out of her diaper and sit her on the toilet. After that, things were calm for a bit. Corey left for work and we all went on our merry little way.

When I was on the computer checking Facebook, I saw Caleb dancing and acting weird at the top of the stairs. I asked him what was wrong, and he said nothing, but with a tone of voice that suggested something was wrong. He was standing with his hand behind him, so I asked if he'd pooped in his underwear again (he did last Monday because he didn't want to stop playing computer and was thus grounded from the computer for a week). He wouldn't answer me. I knew he had--he didn't want to tell me and invoke my wrath nor did he want to lie, so he remained silent.

So, I had him get undressed, threw the offending underwear away in the outside trash (a consequence of pooping in the underwear after full potty training is to lose that pair of underwear), and he went on the toilet to finish the job. He must have sat there for 45 minutes while I picked up his Legos, which he is now grounded from until Monday. When he was done, he left a clogged toilet, a new roll of toilet paper that was sopping wet having been dropped into the toilet, and a very dirty toilet seat. When I shooed him out of the way to clean up that mess, he accidentally sat on the floor in the hall, still not clean, and smeared the carpet. So then I clean up that mess, and tell him to get in the tub to wash off his mess. He did, but left a huge mess of it in the tub. He had let the water run and stopped the drain, though, so it was just all floating around in the tub with him. I had to empty and clean the tub, then make him clean himself with the water running and NOT filling up. When I finally had him situated in the tub and the floor and bathroom cleaned, I went to get his towel and clothes and found that Eliza and Travis had gotten into his Legos and thrown them all over the toy room. About 1,000 Lego pieces all over the whole room.

Now he is out of the bath, the kitchen floor is all clean (after the THIRD mopping for the smell), Eliza is happy and the Legos are finally picked up.

I am all. pooped. out...

Bathroom Blunders

So I go upstairs this morning to find my 3-year-old standing by the toilet, naked from the waist-down, crying. I peek in to see what's going on and he's stuffed the ENTIRE ROLL of toilet paper in the toilet and is trying to get it to flush, which it won't. Thankfully, it wasn't clogged yet because it wouldn't flush BECAUSE the float in the tank was in the way of the little flap closing and it hadn't filled back up from the previous flush.

So, I grab a couple plastic bags and use one to lift the huge sopping mess of TP out of the toilet into the other plastic bag. Then I fix the problem in the tank and have the plunger on hand just in case. It flushes fine, so then I instruct him to sit in the hall and put on his clothes, ASS-U-Ming that he had wiped thoroughly based on the amount of TP in the toilet.

Not so. He starts to wail that he hasn't wiped and when he stands up, lo and behold, there is a HUGE mess of #2 ALL OVER THE CARPET! So I pull him back into the bathroom and grab a new roll of TP and proceed to help him in his endeavor, but apparently he'd been up there a while because it was dried on. I hastily pull his shirt off and start filling the tub, he starts to scream and sits down on the bathroom rug, which then got the same spot as the hall carpet. I stand him up and instruct him to stand there until the tub is ready.

Then I go to work, pouring water on the spot in the hallway and scrubbing with a cloth until the stain is gone, then spraying on pet stain remover for such pet accidents (very useful stuff if you have potty training kids!) and covering it with a towel to dry. Then he gets in the tub and I whisk the bathroom rug to the washing machine.

Last week my 6-year-old flooded the downstairs bathroom due to too much TP! I swear, I might start rationing--making them come to me for a small-ish amount before they use the toilet...

Ah, the Joys of Potty Training

So Caleb is still potty training. He started last June with it and seemed to be getting it, but then sort of went in reverse in August, then after his surgery in October, started getting the hang of it again. On Sunday, we ran out of the diapers he was wearing for naps and night, so we told him that he had to start wearing underwear to bed and naps. He stayed dry that day at nap, so we were excited to try the night. He didn't stay dry, but he didn't get very wet. The sheets weren't even wet, so we thought we were on the road to success...

Think again.

He went to bed last night in his underwear. Corey was at work, so it was just me to hold down the fort. I went to bed at 8 pm. At 1:30 am, I woke up suddenly. I noticed a light coming from under our bedroom door, so I peeked out in the hall to see what was going on.

Scene: The boys' bedroom light is on as well as the bathroom light. The wood blinds in their bedroom are wide open, exposing everything in that room to the street. And there sits Caleb right in the middle of the room, completely naked.

Mom: Caleb, did you pee in your bed?
Caleb (his voice low and croaky): Yes.
Mom: Why didn't you come to my room?
Caleb: Didn't want to wake you up.

I change the sheets and start to help him put clean pajamas on.

Mom: Go potty.
Caleb: No. Travis sleeping.

So the whole thing boils down to him not wanting to bother me or wake up his brother! At least he's thoughtful...

He's thoughtful, but I'm exhausted!

At least he slept until 6:30 this morning, instead of the usual 5:30. Amazingly enough, Westley slept through the whole charade.

Tuesday Afternoon Bath

Don't you just love little kids? Caleb is currently potty training. He goes back and forth on being successful. This week is a bad week. Yesterday he wore diapers all day because he had three consecutive accidents involving #2 in the morning in his underwear. Today, he did great all morning. At naptime, I put him in a diaper, as usual. Unfortunately, the diaper didn't hold it all. In addition to having to wash his sheets, I had to put him in the tub. Travis wandered in at the same time and wanted to take a bath too. So, here we are, on a Tuesday afternoon, taking a bath.

Thoughts About Sleep

Here it is, the end of November. We are currently staying in Mesa at my parents' house until the baby is born. This is because Corey is always gone with school and work. He was going to be gone for the whole week this week, so we decided to pack up and come stay. That way, I wouldn't have to find people in the middle of the night to come watch the kids and take me to the hospital if I were to go into labor. Instead, either Corey can take me to the hospital, or my dad (if Corey isn't here), with my mom staying with the kids.

So it's been interesting staying here. The boys aren't sleeping well, neither am I (but for different reasons--mine are contractions galore). I kind of just want her to come to put me out of my misery of these horrible contractions that plague me at night!

Westley has been pulling "no sleep" nights and days. He goes to bed between 6 and 7. Some nights I try to get him to bed at 6 because he just doesn't sleep long enough at night. He ALWAYS gets up at 5 am to go to the bathroom. Then he won't go back to sleep, and often wakes up Caleb. If we get him to come into our bed so he won't bother Caleb, he ends up talking and messing around and still not sleeping, just he keeps us awake instead. Then he won't, absolutely WILL NOT nap during the day. Occasionally he has, but the conditions have to be JUST perfect. I finally got him to nap today, but I think it's because he cried himself to sleep after I laid into him. I was just so mad at him for his antics. I told him he HAD to stay on the bed and couldn't get off. I guess I said it angrily enough that it scared him into staying in bed and he finally fell asleep.

Caleb spends nap time filling his diaper. Even though he's doing great with #1 on potty training, he still isn't doing well with #2. So he spends the first 30 minutes to an hour filling his pants and then I have to change his diaper and try to get him to lay back down to nap.

Travis spends his naptimes crying. Today he spent the whole hour crying (we usually let him cry for 1 to 1-1/2 hours to see if he'll cry himself to sleep). He cried the whole time and never went to sleep. That was for the morning nap. Then I took him with me on an errand in the car, and he had a hard time staying awake. What a little punk! Then, for the afternoon nap, he cried out about every 1/2 hour for a couple hours. I don't know if he even slept in between the moments I would hear him or not. No wonder he's completely exhausted by 6 pm. Usually, if Westley doesn't wake him up in the morning, he'll sleep until at least 6, sometimes later.

With all these sleep issues and a new baby coming soon, I'm very nervous about ever being able to sleep again. I may not sleep for a very LONG time. Needless to say, this is the last baby for at least a while. I need to get back some sleep!!!

A Day in the Life...

Let's see, today was a pretty typical day for us, so I thought I'd share...

4:00 a.m.
Westley troops through our room to use our restroom. We've trained him to come to ours because the toilet in the other one, when it flushes, comes through very loud into Travis' room, and we don't want him waking Travis. I guess either way, we (or I, since Corey's not usually there) would wake up. So he comes through and goes to the bathroom and I take him back to his room to make sure he gets up on his bed safely (top bunk) and doesn't slam his door shut.

5:00 a.m.
The alarm goes off for Corey to get up. Lately he's had Mondays off, and then school is at 7:40 am Tuesday morning. If he leaves here at 6, he won't get to ASU in time to park and walk to class without being 20 minutes late. But if he leaves here at 5:45, he can get to his class by 6:45 and have an hour to kill. Fun, fun, fun. So he gets up and gets dressed. His bags were already packed for this week of school, work and staying in Mesa, so he didn't have to do that. But he did have to eat breakfast and pack a lunch without making enough noise to wake the kids. A tricky endeavor, to be sure, at 5 a.m.

5:45 a.m.
Corey leaves. I turn off all the lights and go back to bed for another fifteen minutes. At 6 a.m., I hear Travis crying. I quietly tiptoe down the hall and lock the boys' door, so they won't come out unsupervised and get in the shower (truly, a rare moment for me, a shower!). I take more time than usual, and even let the water run into the tub for a quick bath as well, savoring the last moments of silence.

6:25 a.m.
I finally am dressed enough to get the boys, who are now yelling through their door because they've gotten up and found it to be locked. I let them out and go in and get Travis from his crib. He is soaking wet from his super soggy diaper, so I go and change his diaper first thing. The boys run out looking for Daddy, but I tell them he has already gone to school. We call him on the phone and have scripture reading.

6:50 a.m.
I pour bowls of Cheerios for me and the older boys and slice up a banana in the bowls. I call them to breakfast, and we sit down to eat. A few minutes in, Caleb starts to scream and I look over and find no bowl on the table in front of him. The bowl is upside-down in his lap, with milk, Cheerios and bananas all over him, the chair and the floor. I quickly get him cleaned up (during all this, Travis is fussing in his high chair because he wants something besides just Cheerios on his tray). Then, I get a Nutri-grain bar from the cupboard and break it into small pieces for Travis. Then I sit down to finish my now-soggy bowl of cereal.

7:30 a.m.
With breakfast done and the boys dressed now, I turn Caillou on for them to watch. They watch it and then at 8, when Sesame Street comes on, they leave to play in their room. I turn the T.V. off, check email, and play with Travis.

9:00 a.m.
I put Travis down for a nap and turn Curious George on for the older boys. I lay on the couch and doze through Curious George and Clifford. Travis wakes up (it's now 10 a.m.), and I bring him out. The boys sit through one more show, Super Why while I do random things and play with Travis.

10:45 a.m.
I start making lunch, peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Last week, Travis ate this, so I make one for him too and break it into bits. The boys devour theirs and ask for seconds, but Travis refuses to touch his. I end up spoon-feeding him some bananas mixed with barley. I eat my own sandwiches. We clean up from lunch and return to the living room to watch Word World.

12:00 p.m.
I put Caleb down for his nap and leave the room. I put Travis down for his nap. Upon leaving Travis' room, I hear Caleb start to scream. I go in and he tries to come out. I don't really understand what he's trying to do or say, so I repeat, firmly, that he must take a nap. He continues to get more frustrated. Finally I ask if he wants to sleep on Westley's bed. This seems to solve the problem, so he climbs up to the top bunk and I tuck him in once more. Then I go out and start preschool with Westley.

12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Westley and I do preschool. We do math, science, and we focus on the letter A for the week. We make an apple book on the computer, complete with pictures of Westley eating apples, applesauce and drinking apple juice (digital cameras can be so great!).

Afternoon
Westley quietly plays with playdough for the next hour. I chat with my SIL, Allison, online and then go in and watch the rest of Yes, Dear. After that, Travis wakes up and I spend the rest of the afternoon with a crying baby following me around. Caleb finally wakes up too, and the boys go off and shut themselves in the toy room and won't play with Travis. Travis has a cold right now, so he's got a runny nose and is miserable. Finally, my visiting teachers arrive at 3:30 p.m., and the boys spend the whole time showing off to them. They leave by 4, at which time I phone my mother and talk for a bit. Then I get the corn dogs in the oven.

5:15 p.m.
I feed Travis his dinner, chicken noodle dinner with sweet potatoes mixed in. Then I get the boys' plates ready and call them to dinner. We eat our corn dogs, canned corn, and canned pears. Then, I get Travis down and clean him up. I put his pajamas on him and make him a bottle. I brush his teeth, give him a dose of Tylenol, and try cleaning out his nose with the suction thingie. The boys, meanwhile, finish eating and then get their pajamas from their room. I rock Travis with a bottle and put him in bed, returning to set up the humidifier. Then, I go out and help resolve the issue of the stuck tape in the VCR, which Caleb tried putting in backwards. They start their movie, an animated story from the Book of Mormon. I clean up the kitchen.

6:15 p.m.
The movie is over. We play one round of Old Maid. Then we brush teeth and use the potty. The boys go to their room and each choose one book for me to read. We read books and say prayers. Then I sing to them and put them in bed.

7:15 p.m.
I finish blogging and then who knows what? Maybe a bowl of ice cream and then a nice soothing bath to finish out the somewhat chaotic day!

Caleb, Caleb

Caleb is definitely a challenging child. He simply is NOT motivated to be toilet trained. He has the ability to do it, he just doesn't want to. Often, when I am getting them ready for bed, or ready for the day in the morning, he will go potty in the toilet and then request a diaper. But then he refuses to let me change his diaper unless he is really poopy or it's been all day. Often he wears the same diaper from when he gets dressed in the morning until he goes to bed at night. Sometimes, he even insists on going to the potty during the day and the diaper remains dry. But I can't get him to wear underwear anymore...he's not interested. I'm hoping that this will change in a few months and he will realize that wearing underwear is much better.

He also is struggling with speech, I think. He is almost three, yet I can hardly understand anything he says. There are a few words that I know for sure, but sometimes, I think he's saying one thing and it's really something else. Even though Westley's vocabulary by this age wasn't huge, you could still understand the words. I think a lot of this is due to his finger always being in his mouth. I don't really know how to rectify that problem either. I am waiting for his 3 year checkup with the pediatrician to discuss these concerns of mine.

Otherwise, he really has a delightful personality. He's very happy and loving, and he likes to be silly. I think he will be our little comedian, when he's finally able to really talk. He sure loves to laugh.