Mansion/Potty Training

As promised, here are some picture of the large home (I like to call it a mansion :)) we stayed at in Bear Lake and some pics from last weekend when we stayed there. Stay tuned below to hear about potty training...

Do you think we had enough snacks/food for 4 days? Close to a 4 month supply...haha

Isn't the house amazing? We had such a great time and it was really the first time we were able to be with a ton of family all under ONE roof which was nice.

Now, onto potty training talk...
Parker has been going potty on the toilet one to two times a day for a couple months now. We introduced him to the toilet at about 18 months and haven't pushed it just waiting until he told us he's "ready". I've heard from soooo many people to just wait until they are ready because if you don't you'll have to do it all over again when they are.
Well, for a while now I've thought he might be ready but I've just been too lazy to actually set aside a week or so for hard core potty training. So I told myself that on Monday (tomorrow) I would start this and finish it. I would have a potty trained son! It would be great. So all week I had been telling him that his diapers were almost gone and so next week he would get to wear "big boy underwear"!
Then on Friday morning he said he needed to go potty. He went and then I asked him if he wanted a diaper on or if he wanted to wear big boy underwear. He said, "My diapers are all gone. Underwear!". So, I thought, "here it goes. Don't know if I'm ready, but why not? I'm all in.".
We started by setting the timer for every 30 minutes and we would tell him to at least try when the potty timer went off. When he went potty in it toilet he'd get to pick a treat out of the treat basket, get a sticker on his potty chart, and get to make a phone call to tell someone he went potty.
As a side note, have you heard of "Signing Time"? It's wonderful. We used it a lot more with Parker than we have with Spencer mostly out of laziness with Spencer. But Parker was able to do lots of signs at a young age and loved learning them. But they have a DVD of Signing Time called "Potty Time!". We have it and it's great. But what is REALLY GREAT is the FREE APP of it! There's a sticker chart, free videos of the songs and Rachel (the main lady on it) will CALL YOU WHEN YOU HAVE AN ACCIDENT OR GO POTTY ON THE TOILET! It pretty much rocks. Parker LOVES "Calling" Rachel when he goes potty. haha.

Anyways, Friday went better than I thought. 10 successes in the toilet and only 2 accidents. I expected much worse. I was feelin' pretty good about it. Tired from being SO excited for every success (I'm telling you-it's exhausting to be so positive. haha.) but happy.

Then there was Saturday. Again, setting the timer for every 30 minutes, he gets a treat when he goes, a sticker and to call someone. Again, only 2 accidents. But by now I'm getting more exhausted. He asks for help with everything. He wants help with pulling his pants down, pulling his underwear down, washing his hands, etc. It's work.

Sunday. Today. No more treats for "going". I'm trying the whole "it's just something we do now". But he can still have a sticker and make a phone call. I tried to go without setting the timer today seeing if he'd just tell me he needed to go. 5 accidents. It's been a rough day. Darrin didn't feel well today so he stayed home from church and I left Parker with him so that Parker could use the potty when he needed and stay in the routine we've been doing. He did great while I was gone. And then for naptime he even kept his diaper dry! (We've been doing diapers during naptime and night time still. We told him there's only enough diapers just for sleeping time.) And then it was just accident after accident. He'd have an accident right after I just watched him go in the toilet.
It's pretty rare still that he tells ME when he needs to "go". I need to remind him every 30 minutes. And if I miss the time frame, that's usually when there's an accident. He also doesn't always go willingly. There's a lot of "I don't like to go potty!".
Accidents are hard for me. Is it bad that I want him to be sad or disgusted when he has an accident? I want some feeling from him like maybe tears or an "I'm so sorry Mom, I had an accident. :(" But all he does is tell me he had an accident. No remorse. No tears or frowns. Just matter of factly. From everything I've read, you're NOT SUPPOSED TO GET MAD OR UPSET. So, I try to put on a happy face and say, "That's so sad Parker, let's try to listen to our bodies and tell Mom or Dad when you need to go potty. OK? Let's keep our underwear dry!" With a happy attitude. When inside I'm going "GRRRRRRR! Diapers were so much easier than this! Why did I start this? Is he really ready? I'm soooooo tired. Is the day every going to come when he actually goes all by himself without being reminded every 30 minutes?"
But please just let me rant for a minute. Wait, that's what I've been doing. Oh well. I am TIRED. I feel so helpless and DONE. It's been a reeeeeeaaaaalllyyyy long day. Hard day. In all reality, he hasn't done bad. I'm very proud of him and all in all he's doing great! Don't worry, I've been doing a pretty good job of acting chipper and happy and smiles allllllll day long. I'm trying really hard to not let him know how HARD this is. But I just needed to write it out. Blah. Hopefully I don't give up (please don't give up self-I don't want to do this again!), hopefully someday we'll be able to go out in public, hopefully Parker will recognize that accidents are gross and uncomfortable, hopefully he'll have a DESIRE to go when he needs to, hopefully someday he'll be able to just do it ALL BY HIMSELF :). That will be a wonderful day. Now, to cheer me up, some pictures. I just couldn't help myself with the first...haha :)

Life Lately

Oh my, it has been sooo long since I blogged. Now is my chance to catch up. First off, Christmas. For those that read my last blog entry about my baby nephew, I will update you now. He is HOME and doing GREAT! It was truely a Christmas miracle. He was one of the fastest recoveries that the hospital (CHOP) has seen! After his surgery (he had to have about half of his pancreas removed) he had to do an 18 hour fast to see how his blood sugars were doing (can you imagine :(?). After the fast, the doctor came in and told my sister, "He's cured! You can take him home!". A MIRACLE (so thank you for all your prayers-we know all the prayers have helped so much!). My sister didn't tell anyone that he'd be home for Christmas! The plan was that she and her husband would fly home for Christmas to be with their three girls, and my brother in laws Mom would be spending Christmas at CHOP with little Link. So, it was a HUGE surprise to me when I went to see my sister the morning after she flew in and when I walked in the door my niece said, "Come see my baby!" I totally thought she was referring to a picture but to my surprise there he was! I was in SHOCK! I started to cry and it was such a sweet, sweet experience to meet him. He is SO CUTE! She surprised everyone individually but the BEST was my sister, Tiffany. I was going to do Tiffany and Heidi's hair, so Heidi & I planned a way to tell her. When Tiffany got to my house, I told her that her friend dropped off her baby while she was running an errand and she'd be back soon. So - the car seat was sitting there & he slept while we visited for a while & I did their hair. After a half-hour or so, he started to get fussy & Tiff asked if she could pick him up. I said I thought that would be fine, so Tiff got him out of the car seat. She commented on how cute he was & what big cheeks he had - like Link. She held him for a while and he kind of got fussy. Tiffany said maybe he was hungry. I laughed & said "why don't you feed him, Tiff? You're still breastfeeding." We all laughed. Heidi asked if she could hold him & so Tiff handed him to her. She said "Well, maybe I should just feed him" & she prepared to do so. Tiffany was saying "What are you doing Heidi? You are naughty! That's not your baby!" And she said "YES IT IS!" For a second, she didn't believe us, but she realized it was true & there were hugs & tears & "you guys are SO mean!" It was just so perfect. I truly wish we had gotten it on video. Pure awesomeness!

So, Christmas had an AWESOME start to it! Christmas Eve we spent with my Mom's side of the family like usual which was a lot of fun. Christmas day was a blast! The older Parker gets, the more fun holidays are. It's like the magic is returning full speed :). Parker LOVED opening up presents! I loved watching him- I felt like a kid again. Parker's main gift was a BIKE (with training wheels of course)! He loves it and I can't wait until summer when he can ride it outside. For now he rides it inside and is getting the hang of it really well. Darrin's main gift was a 22 Rifle for target shooting with his brothers (I think he liked it :)). And my main gift was THE BEST OF ALL!! I have been wanting a Digital SLR since I took photography in high school. My wish FINALLY came true and I'm THRILLED! Darrin and my in-laws got me a Canon Rebel T3i DSLR :) :) :). You should have seen the look on my face! I have always secretly (sometimes not so secretly) wanted to be a photographer. I love pictures. I want to be really good at taking them in my own style. I want to learn to edit like a pro. I love my camera and I'm learning lots! After our own family Christmas we went to Darrin's family and had breakfast and did presents and played with them. Then we were off to my parents house. At this point I started to feel really sick with a bad cold which was unfortunate. But with medication, I was able to make it through. It was a lot of fun still. By the night I felt like a truck ran over me. BUT overall, Christmas was awesome!

New Years Eve was spent and my brother and sister in laws. It was filled with good food, good company and good games! For my new years resolution, I am going to do my PERSONAL PROGRESS again. I finished the program as a youth but I thought it couldn't hurt to do it again as a leader and be able to relate to the girls and encourage them while I'm doing it at the same time. I'm actually really excited about doing this. So far it's been great. As one of my 10 hour value projects, I'll be working on becoming a better photographer and learning lots about it and my camera. I love being in YW! I love my girls! In fact, as a recent activity, we did a photo shoot at the temple and I made them calendars for New Beginnings with the pictures I took. So fun.

Last weekend we were able to go to Midway at Zurmatt with some friends. We almost died on the way there. Don't know who remembers the storm from last Friday, but that's what we were driving in, up Parley's Canyon, with bald tires. It was one of the most scary experiences of my life. There was a sign that gave us 1/4 mile warning that said "ONLY 4x4 and CHAINS". We wanted to go so badly and so we made the unsafe decision of staying on the road. The roads were covered in snow. It was blizzarding. It was icy. There were semi's pulled over everywhere. It was terrifying. We started slipping and got STUCK on the left side of Parley's. That's when the tears started. And the praying my heart out started. The only thing we could think of to do is to get out and try to push the car out. So I had to get in the drivers seat and Darrin started to try and push us out in the freezing blizzard with cars driving past. Luckily, there was a time with no cars coming and Darrin was able to push us out. We were able to get to the right side of the road and then we got stuck again. We had to do the same thing, and then got stuck again. I was PRAYING FOR OUR LIVES! I was so scared. Then all the sudden there were no cars except us in sight and a minute later a few massive plows plowed the way allowing it to be possible to get out and make it the rest of the way. I know that was in answer to my prayers. I am so grateful that we made it safe. I am so grateful to be alive. We had a wonderful weekend packed with swimming, hot tubbing, playing lots of games, and eating good food. We just LOVE the friends we went with and the time we got to spend with them.

Right now, we are staying in a mansion at Bear Lake. AMAZING!!! We got a deal and have been staying since Friday morning and will be here until tomorrow (Monday) night. We are here with Darrin's family and it's been great. Darrin has the day off tomorrow for Martin Luther King Day so that's what sparked the idea. That and we wanted to do something for our upcoming 5 year anniversary. Let me tell you about this home we're staying in: 9,150 square feet, 6 car garage, 9 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, massive playplace including a trampoline, swings, slides basketball quart etc, a home theater, slides connecting every floor etc! There are 23 of us here. 12 adults and 11 kids. You can hardly tell. It's definitely not crowded. It has been so much fun watching movies, relaxing, playing games, eating LOTS of food, sledding and more!

Our house is still up for sale. We've had 7 showings. No offers yet. It's a test of patience for me. I am trying to trust in God's timing. Patience is a virtue. I know things will work out sometime.

So, that's what we've been up to lately.

Spencer is getting so big. Getting close to 10 months old. He got his first tooth (both my boys have been late teethers), he loves clapping hands, shaking his head, signing milk, blowing kisses (by hitting the side of his head. haha), and grunting "uh-oh" (when he drops something) and "uh-uh" (when he knows he shouldn't be doing something) :).

Parker has been saying the most funny things lately. When we were in Midway, of course Parker LOVED the swimming! He got to the point that he would wear goggles, jump in the water, find the swimming ring we have (while Darrin was holding him underwater) and come back up with it. He did so well with holding his breath! When we were at the pool once, a man walked in and Parker said, “It’s Jesus! It’s Jesus!” haha! I don’t think the man heard him since it was loud at the swimming pool. He looked more like Santa or Heavenly Father to me, but hey-it was hilarious!, The other day Parker and I were outside and he saw some birds in the sky flying. I believe they were geese. They were making a funny sound and he said, “Mom, the birds are crying!” haha., The other day Parker tuted and said, “I did a ‘scuse you!” and later on the said the same thing with a burp. Haha. I guess we haven’t really labeled tutes and burps around here. All we do is say, “Excuse you!” :).

Christmas:

Photo shoot with the YW:

Midway Trip:

Sledding/Bear Lake this weekend (haven't uploaded pics of the house yet):

Here's a link to where we're staying. It is SWEET! http://www.vrbo.com/216672