On the Road Again

Well, we are trying potty training again with Abby.

It's hard. I admit, I was the problem last time. I was in a really bad situation for potty training but I thought I could do it and not let circumstances dictate our time frame. I was wrong. We started potty training in February - Abby was almost 2. March, Cate was born. April, we decided to move FOR SURE. May, we packed up and went to my parents house. June, the car broke down on the way out to Colorado, we moved into my parents apartment, and Andy finally got off to Montana. July, a hard month of waiting and wondering what was going to happen in Montana. This is when I finally gave up on potty training Abby. She was having several accidents a day. I was breastfeeding an infant and trying to keep our lives contained in a tiny little room. My dad was sick and in and out of the hospital.

One day after the second poop in her pants, I got so mad that I just lost it. I went outside and screamed and cried. What was I doing wrong? Well, how is a kid supposed to learn something like potty training when they are distracted by a new baby, cousins, and parents/grandparents who are to distracted to give attention to this life changing lesson in her life? I ask you? What was I thinking? Anyway, it was traumatic for both of us.

This time, Andy discovered he had a few extra weeks before school stated again so he said he was going to train her. I laughed. I worked on training her for 5 months before and finally gave up. What did he think he was going to do in 2 weeks? He worked with her for 3 days. She's trained.

When he got a call that he was going to have to go back to work yesterday at the hospital for the whole day (today and the weekend also) I thought I was going to cry. I can't potty train this kid. But yesterday, she did everything on her own. Today she has done it all by herself again. I guess it was timing and that good old Adams patience that did it. I'm not going to say there will never be accidents again and we still have night training to go but, I think the worst is over. Rejoice with me, people. We may never have to buy another daytime pull-up again.

Baby Hopes

Before you hear this story, you have to understand that my nephew is the smallest little guy you have ever seen. He's off the charts under size but totally proportionate. He is also a little brother and loves to copy his older sibling. My oldest nephew is almost totally potty trained and has been "going" in the potty for a while. The baby has been watching and now that he's old enough to indicate some of his wants, he decided today that he wanted to be like big brother, Grandpa, Uncle Andy and Uncle Josh and wear big boy underwear. Mom put it on over his onsie and diaper and he was a happy camper. He marched around showing off his big boyness all over the house and let me tell you, with all those layers he probably put on several extra ounces. At nap time, I asked the older boy to hit the head and little brother followed after indicating that he also wanted to pee in the potty. He's to short for any of the stools to even help him get his stuff up over the edge of the seat so I held him up high. He put a foot right in the bowl. After cleaning off the misplaced foot, I just sat him down. He was the happiest kid in the world. I asked if he was done and he nodded his head, a huge triumphant smile on his little face. I checked to see if there was anything in the potty. Nothing. Not a drop, but that kid was so happy. He got a new diaper, the onsie and back on with the big boy underwear and pants. He's sleeping happily, knowing that he has conquered the potty... almost.

FREEDOM!

After having babies, I have learned that you lose your freedom and it is given back to you in stages. Similar to being on parole or something. Not that having babies is like being in prison but... oh, who am I kidding. It's exactly like being in prison. You can't leave your place of residence without significant difficulty, the screaming keeps you awake, the food looks like slop and you can't change the channel off PBS Kids.

Anyway, your freedom comes back. Just very slowly. At some point, the baby starts to sleep in their own bed and you can roll over without the fear that you are going to crush them. Then the baby starts to crawl meaning you don't have to hold them all the time and you can have your hands back sometimes. Then they stop breastfeeding (if they ever were) and you have your boobs back (at least for feeding... they will always be pillows for everyone in your family). This is usually followed by them learning fairly quickly how to feed themselves (and I don't mean the crap they find on the floor although I'm sure they could survive on that just fine.) Walking frees you up even more and that last little bit... potty training. The ultimate freedom is when you don't have to deal with people's excrement all day, every day. Ah, freedom... I can't wait. My release date (baring any other pregnancies) The last day of Cate's potty training. To celebrate that day (in the oh, so distant future) I am buying a big screen TV for my bedroom on which I will watch whatever the heck I want!

Princess and the Pee

Cate is teething. It's miserable. Daddy is trying to help and that means that both sets of parents are working to get both kids to sleep or rest at random times of the day. We have to separate them right now because one wakes the other up and such. So Cate is on our bed barricaded in with pillows and she takes up the WHOLE BED! Yes, she is a princess. It's amazing how a little 18 lb. baby can take up a queen sized bed and force both parents to sleep in the living room on the floor or the couch or crawl in with the two year old.

On the up side, Abby has decided she's ready for potty training. That means that Mommy has decided she is never going to potty train anyone again and if Abby wants to be a big girl, great. Otherwise, diapers it is until college. Anyway, Abby can get into her own drawer and get out panties and put them on... all on her own. She can also get onto the potty and do her own business. So, if there is an accident, I clean it up and put her in a pull-up. If she wants to put on panties, she knows what she has to do. Updates to follow.

Randomness...

Yesterdays weigh in: 176.5 which means I gained half a pound and lost all hopes of ever getting out of the 170s.... for about 3 minutes. Then I bucked up and got onto the Weight Watchers website and totally rededicated myself to getting the weight off. I need to have a meeting with Jillian. (I have illusions that people are reading these weigh-ins and routing for me like some Ruby wanna-be. LOL! Style - here I come. I could have a great show called Mission Impossible: Losing Weight While Breast Feeding and Potty Training. Subtitle: ...and working and being a wife and keeping up a house and several hobbies.)

Abby went down semi-easy for her nap today which does not reflect the insanity of last night. I put her in bed and she got out and I put her back and she got out. She claimed she had to poop and after previous incidents, I wanted to give her at least the opportunity to poop IN THE POTTY! She discovered that this was a way to get out of actually going to bed so... then it was a game. She gets out of the bed, is put on the potty, is watched like a hawk and then gets put back in bed screaming that she is being scarred for life and totally over the whole bed "thing." So after an hour and fifteen minutes of that, I almost lost it. I let her know, in no uncertain terms, that getting out of bed again would be a grave life altering mistake and she would regret it well into her teens. In the words of Bill Cosby, "I brought you into this world and I can take you out, AND I can make another one that looks just like you!"

I realized recently that the picture on this blog is way out of date. It was taken in November of 2009 but I have a good reason. I had a picture taken of the family in the hospital right after Cate was born. It shows me as a puffy, drugged up insomniac and although I posted it, I will not use it as my banner. I had pictures of us taken at a party and you can totally see my bra and a bit of breast pad hanging out through my somewhat sheer shirt that didn't like flashes. I will not even post those... I'm hoping to get some really good shots in a couple of weeks when a pro photographer is going to be in town and has agreed to take my money and make me look like a rock star. I REALLY need to get back with Jillian Micheals before that. I have to go... I need to work out before I eat everything in my house...

EXAUSTED

I'm tired. Potty training is literally the worst part of parenting EVER! Abby did really well today but I am worried that now that my mother in law is gone, she will have trouble as I am breastfeeding and I can't just yank one kid off to help the other when the call of nature hits.

We have moved the baby potty into the bathroom and she is using it as a stool to get on the big potty. She told me today that she needed "prishey" which I figured out was privacy when she pushed me out of the bathroom and shut the door. We are also leaving the door to her room open a bit when she is down for a nap and for bed so she can get out if something happens. She uses potty as an excuse to get out of bed time and nap time but eventually, she does get to sleep and I'd rather have to take her back to bed over and over than clean up another crazy mess of POOP ALL OVER HER ROOM!!! We'll see how it goes. I think it's going to work out this time. I wonder when we will be able to transition the whole way into underwear and not use diapers EVER AGAIN!!!

POOP!!!!!!!!

Last night, after an hour of "being in bed," Abby was crying and Janet opened the door of her room to find that Abby had pooped. She had taken off her diaper, her pj's and was smearing the poop from here to Kingdom Come. It was everywhere: on the floor, on the bed, on the toys, on herself. She put Abby in the tub and that's when I came out of my room to see what all the commotion was about. I went right back in my room and buried my head in my pillow and screamed. I was so angry. I came back out, barely.

I scrubbed down my daughter, I scrubbed down her carpet (going through a whole bottle of Resolve and several pairs of disposable gloves) and my mother-in-law took the bedding and toys and got them all clean. We put her back in bed. Abby knew she had done something wrong. She cried the whole time.

Two guesses as to what she did today during "nap time" and the first two don't count. Andy is on his way to the grocery store for more resolve and a steam cleaner ON THE SABBATH!

Suggestions?

Heading Out to the Dr.

Today I head out to the doctor at 4. Yes, my appointment was originally at 10 am but they called and switched me to later because the Dr. was out of the office or something. I think it's just to torture me. So here I am trying to decide whether I should bake cupcakes with the words I'M READY on them and try and beg for an induction or just let go of the guilt and not worry about it anymore. I'm not THAT uncomfortable. I'm just guilty about getting everyones hopes up over and over with the contractions and dilation and all that. I really just want to get it all over with so we can get into a schedule. But with my Murphy's Law life, I know I will be dragging this out until the actual due date or beyond because that's what happens to me. Here's how I know I'm cursed:

I got a kidney stone DURING MY PREGNANCY!

Right after the kidney stone, Andy's mom rushed down to help us get it together. I was fine until the day she left when I got the flu. I am still hacking up a lung every day from that. And of course, I'm pregnant and HUGE and I really feel like with every cough, I am going to smash out little baby.

I was going into labor and my mom rushed out from CO costing her several hundred dollars and my sister her free babysitter, then my labor basically stopped and she has been here for a week just putzing around with me...

If I had not had my mother come out, I would have this kid already and she would have missed the birth. We all know it's true!

In the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy, I found out I won't have a job next year, Abby waffled back and forth between potty training and waiting causing clean ups on the FLOOR when I can't even see my own feet, and my husband is working more than he has all year.

Despite all this, I think I'm going to make it. Suddenly last night, after finding out we had money problems that I didn't know about... I decided that none of it mattered anymore. I'm just going to sit down on the couch, watch Project Runway and zone out from the world until Cate is born. I can only do one thing at a time and I'm creating life here, people.

Potty Training (cont.)

I have decided that Pull Ups are evil. We are trying to potty train Abby and any time she has anything resembling a diaper on, she just pees in it. She get's upset about poop but pee... nothing. She doesn't even notice unless she is naked and it's going to go on the floor. Therefore, we are going into what I am going to call intense potty training.

We are leaving her naked unless people are coming over or we are going out. Then she gets a regular diaper and we are "taking a break." Other than that, because it is break (and particularly, the side that we have no responsiblities for) we are just leaving her diaperless. She may have a shirt on but that can also get tricky. Then, one parent has to sit close to the potty training potty and call her over every time she starts displaying signs of needing to do something. She is getting the idea that she needs to sit if she feels "the feeling." I think we are getting somewhere and hopefully, by 2010, we will have a mostly potty trained kid. Not a big deal if she doesn't. We are giving her chocolate (M&M's) if she does something in the potty as well as praising her like crazy. I think she really likes this whole deal because there is a parent playing with her (watching her like a hawk to protect the carpet) all the time... literally. We are giving her tons of liquids and trying to keep her fed more than normal to keep the pipes moving. We'll see how it works out. I'm hoping to use some of her Christmas money for new panties for the new year. We'll see how that works out as well.

If anyone has more suggestions, we are open to them. I will say that Pull Ups are definitely out! We will not use them until we are DONE figuring out what it feels like to pee and poop and all that. Hopefully, we will just get into the underwear thing and leave Pull Ups for night time use only for a while.

Poo-pawie?

When Abby wants to sit on the toilet, she says, "Poo-pawie?" Which translated is, "Poop in the potty?" But this always comes directly after she has already pooped, or she is trying to get out of bed time, or she is sick of being in her diaper. So, today I was in the bathtub and she was messing around in the bathroom and I saw the look come over her face. You know the one, that watery eyed, red cheeked look with the lips pooched out that said, "I'm going to poop and you are going to have to chase me around to change this diaper."

She has been doing this thing where she hides behind a wall in the kitchen to poop and then she runs from me knowing that I'm going to change her immediately because I hate the smell and I don't want her getting used to being in a messy diaper. I leaped from the bathtub, as fast as a huge pregnant woman can leap. I grabbed my somewhat frightened daughter, ripped off her pants and diaper and sat her on the big toilet. She was freaked into constipation.

I knew that poop was waiting to come out and I wasn't going to let it get the best of me. I put her training potty behind the kitchen wall, got her some wipes (her favorite just-sit-there toy) and sat her down, naked to learn what pooping in the potty really meant. I didn't want to scare her again so we played with wipes and we washed the wall. (Before you start thinking what a mean Cinderella step-mom I am, realize that these are her favorite activities...) We scrubbed carpets and jumped around in blissful naked freedom. Several times, the look crept back onto her face and I would rush her back to sit down armed with a juice box to get the pipes moving and keep her from being scared about what we were doing. Finally, she got the idea that when she started to feel that way, she was to sit and she would rush there herself only to lose that feeling and run off to jump some more. Finally, after an hour and a half, she sat down just in time for the poop to rush out INTO THE POTTY!!!! She was scared at first that she had done something wrong with me sitting right there but as she sat, I praised the heck out of it. I smiled and clapped and made a general fuss. She got excited also and after a good wipe down, celebrated with me. So maybe we have closed the lid on what it feels like to poo-pawie. But I'm not sure. We will try again tonight and every day of break after that.

Potty Training

So we have arrived at the time in life where Abby knows when she needs to go potty. She asks to sit on the potty and then does... absolutely nothing. Then she will get up and down and up and down and I will put her in a new diaper and she will inevitably pee or poop. So, how do we get her potty trained? Is it worth it right now as she will have a new sibling in March? Ideas?

I have read Dr. Phil's ideas... crazy. I have heard about just leaving her naked for about 5 days and following her around all the time. If this really works, then Christmas break is the ideal time for getting it done as we are here and have minimal work to do over the break. I have heard about many different methods but I almost always hear that it's harder than any other part of parenting.