Visit From Aunt Susie, Uncle Doug, Matthew, & Nick Nick

I had to work half a day today, but was home about lunchtime. Noah was asleep, so Susie & I went to the mall and bought some more underwear for Noah. When the boys woke up, they swam and swam in the pool, and we topped it off with pizza for dinner! Susie's boys have had 2 weeks of swimming lessons, and they really paid off! Matthew used to be scared of the water, but he swam for almost 5 hours and was jumping in the deep end all by himself! Go Matthew!

Potty Training Day 3 Synopsis

Potty Training Day 3-
Up @ 6:00 am. Noah went pee pee in big potty with NO FUSSING! Great improvement!
Drank Milk
6:28 am- Noah said "all done" and grabbed his penis. I asked if he had to go pee pee, he said, "pee pee," and went pee pee on Daddy's potty with no fussing! Yay!
6:48 am- Pee pee accident on floor-Was watching show.
7:12 am- Pee pee on hall potty; didn't want to, but did.
7:41 am- Noah went pee pee on Daddy's potty.
Mommy went to work. Daddy wrote down the next few hours.
7:50 am- Noah was outside, said, "poo poo," ran inside and tried, but nothing came out.
8:05 am- Noah tried to potty again, none.
8:35 am- Tractor ride with Daddy
8:45 am- Noah made pee pee on potty with Daddy; No fussing:)
9:10 am- Noah had a pee pee accident on the floor.
9:30 am- Noah was playing with penis. Michael told Noah to go potty, and Noah went to the potty. Just a little pee pee were in his underwear, but Noah went pee pee in the potty very well.
9:55 am- Michael took Noah to the potty, but Noah was fussing and throwing a fit on the floor. Noah started going pee pee on the floor but finished on the potty. Way to turn it around, buddy.
10:25 am- Tried to pee pee several times, but nothing came out.
10:40 am- Fussy, but finally went pee pee in potty.
11:00 am- Noah told Daddy, "poo poo," and sat on the potty for a few seconds and just a touch of poo came out, but he couldn't/wouldn't finish.
11:05 am- Noah said, "poo poo," again and ran to the potty, but nothing came out. Then the fun started. Every 5 minutes between 11:05-11:25, Noah ran to the potty and tried to poopy, but couldn't. Poor little guy was constipated!
11:50 am- Small piece of poopy in Noah's underwear.
11:55 am- Another tiny piece of poopy in underwear.
12:05 pm- Daddy put Noah in his diaper for nap time. Daddy knew Noah was constipated and told Noah that he could poo poo in his diaper if he needed to go. Noah wanted to get to the potty, and ran to the potty, but made very large poopy in diaper. Daddy wrote, "No wonder he wasn't able to go before now." Poor little angel tried his hardest to poo poo on the potty. He is SUCH a sweet boy. I felt SO bad that I wasn't there to help him feel better.
Mommy home just after Noah went down for a nap.
12:30-3:30- Noah napping.
Aunt Susie, Uncle Doug, Matthew, & Nick Nick came over for a visit at 1:00.
Matthew swam outside while Daddy & Uncle Doug had man time. Nick Nick napped.
3:30 pm- Noah made "pee pee grass," which means he got to pee pee outside in the grass, which he thinks is fun before going swimming.
4:30 pm- Noah made another "pee pee grass" while taking a break from swimming.
Swimming and pizza with cousins. Lots of fun!
5:57 pm- Noah made a pee pee in the hall potty. Aunt Susie clapped, too!
Not long after this, Noah said, "poo poo," and would run to the potty but wouldn't sit on the potty. Poor little guy kept saying "poo poo," but was so overstimulated with his cousins and all the commotion. He'd run to the potty, but not get on, or get on just for a minute and then jump off. We ran back & forth to several potties for about 30 minutes.
6:35 pm- Noah said, "poo poo," again, and ran to Daddy's potty. He tried to go on the potty, but quickly got off. He then had a poo poo accident. Poor litttle sweet boy of mine. He is so sweet, was saying, "I saw-wee" (I'm sorry), "I saw-wee, yucky. Oh man!" Bless his little heart. I told Noah, "It's o.k., Love," but Noah was upset. It just broke my heart. We EXPECT these things to happen, little darling! It's o.k. He was just so, so precious.
6:40 pm-Just 5 minutes after the poo poo accident, Noah said "pee pee," and he was right! He got the feeling he had to go and told me, which was REALLY GREAT PROGRESS! He made it to the potty and did great! Good job, angel!
7:10 pm- Last pee pee on the potty for the day. Noah did a super job today! Potty training with a house full of cousins is not the ideal situation, but I'm glad Noah had them over, because he had fun. And he did great, especially in light of all the stimulation.

I don't have a "potty seat" on the potty now, because we had one and it was worthless. Susie told me that she's tried them all, and the only one that has worked well is one she ordered off Amazon. So here's my dilemma. I want to make things easiest on my sweet Noah in terms of going poo poo on the potty. (He's got the pee pee just about down!) If I order the potty seat from Amazon, it won't be here until about Wednesday, and that's longer than I want to wait. It's not at Toys R' Us, but I could get another sorry one until the other one arrives. Or I could just travel to Athens and get Susie's. So I talked to Susie & she was sweet enough to meet me in Frankston so that I didn't have to drive the whole way. At the last minute, Noah decided he wanted me to rock him to bed, so Michael is the one driving to get the potty set. Oh the things we do for this boy. LOVE IS A VERB.

Noah's 2nd Day of Potty Training: Synopsis

Day 2 of Potty Training: Better Day Overall...in fact, after I looked at the OVERALL day, it was markedly better. However, this morning was a bit trying at times, but we made it through. Here's how day 2 of Noah's potty training went.
6:05 am- Noah woke up, very wet diaper. Tried to go pee pee in the big potty, but no pee pee. Improvement is he didn't fight very much to try to go on the potty.
6:12 am-Milk
6:30 am- VERY resistant to going pee pee, but eventually went pee pee on the potty at 6:35 am. 7:05 am-Again, Noah was quite resistant but went pee pee on the big potty. DID put on underwear with no problems, which was a good thing:) Go Noah!
7:35 am-Pee Pee on "Daddy's Big Potty," (our bathroom potty) with NO PROBLEM or resistance. (Daddy cheered him on, and Noah did great:)
8:03 am- Noah went pee pee on the small potty. No problems. Good job!
8:32 am-Pee Pee on big potty with NO FUSSING! Go Noah!
8:47 am- Pee pee accident on the floor. No problem. Mommy mopped it up with the steam Shark. As soon as it was mopped up, Mommy went to put up the mop and returned to find:
9:00 am-Pee pee accident. At first I thought maybe Noah got into my caffeine free coffee, because I found him in a big pile of wet, spreading the wet all over the floor with his hands and feet. Nice. BUT IT WASN'T COFFEE! This was the SAME spot I just mopped. Oh well. I mopped it again.
9:22 am- The last accident took a bit of time to clean Noah up & mop up the floor. I received a text message from Mary Beth, checked my message, and sure enough...ANOTHER pee pee accident in the SAME spot on the floor. At this point, I was taking deep breaths, and remembering that this is a process. Once again, out came the Shark Steam Mop!
9:50 am- Noah went pee pee on Daddy's potty. No problems. No fussing. Excellent!
10:20 am- Noah said, "poo poo," so I quickly swept him up and took him to the potty. Noah kept throwing fits, trying to lift the big potty lid. I tried to explain to him, model to him, etc. that when he poo poos on the big potty, the lid is down (unlike when he pee pees on the potty). He eventually quit fighting me, and sat on top of the potty, which I thought was great...until a big squirt of pee pee came directly onto my shirt. Noah just thought he had to poo poo, but was just figuring out "the gotta go feeling," which was pee pee. No problem. I turned him right around and he pee peed in the potty. Sorry baby. Mama's bad. We relaxed with a prize and a fun snack as a reward for making it through all that!
10:50 am: Noah made more pee pee in the big potty with NO FUSSING:)
10:56 am: Milk before winding down for nap.
11:18 am: Huge fit about going potty. I let Noah just throw his fit on the bathroom floor because he was in tantrum mode. While throwing a fit, Noah had a pee pee accident on the bathroom floor.
Took a break with nachos with Mama.
11:37 am:Noah went pee pee on the floor (minutes before our timer went off). Oh well. Good try. Cleaned it up.
12:30-3:00 pm- Nap time for Noah. Mommy mowed the front & back yard and cleaned up.
3:05 pm- A little fussy after waking up, did not want to try to potty; nothing came out when he tried, but I appreciated him trying.
3:30 pm- Tried to pee pee in the big potty (reluctant again), no pee pee. Fussy.
4:03 pm- Noah made pee pee on big potty with no fussing. Great:)
4:30 pm- Pee pee on the big potty with no fussing! Hooray!
4:50 pm- Pee pee outside in the grass (We were outside, so he thought that was cool).
5:23 pm- Pee pee on big potty. Go Noah!
6:15 pm- Pee pee on big potty. Yay!
6:40 pm- Noah said, "poo poo," so we rushed Noah to the potty and tried to encourage him to go, but once again, it was Noah feeling "that gotta go feeling." He went pee pee on the potty, but I'm really proud that he mentioned that he had to go! Way to go, Noah! You're making progress!
7:04 pm- Noah went pee pee on the hall potty for the 1st time. No fussing or problems at all! Great job! No accidents since 11:37 am this morning. THAT'S GREAT NOAH!
So, even though we continued our ups and downs, Noah made lots of progress today & I'm VERY proud of him! Changing the underwear also made a huge difference! Day 2 Down.

An Amazing Email From My Dad

This is an amazing email I received from my dad today. I am constantly astonished at how incredible he is. I know I have been abundantly blessed to be raised by such a wonderful father.
This is my email verbatum,

"Dear Ones-
At a memorial service for workers having died in the last 3 year cycle, there was this thought at the convention-
Jesus said, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me."
John 14:1.
"Let us remember with thanksgiving those who have gone before us with the sign of faith, for they were created by God to offer Him praise and thanksgiving forever, and He gave them new life through His Son in Holy Baptism, and nourished them in the company of His people at His holy table, and in His mercy has summoned them to His nearer presence so that they may continue in joy."

Someday I will be gone from your presence and there may be many remembrances that you have of me-some loving, touching, and warming,- for those I am grateful- others perhaps painful, disappointing, and harsh- for those I am deeply sorry and ask for your forgiveness.

But all of those remembrances that you might have, please cling to and hold fast what is my faith. God brought us into this world to serve Him and others. He gave us new life in the waters of Holy Baptism. He nurtured and sustained us in the body and blood that Jesus shed, and He will call us home to His eternal comfort and peace in His own good time and way. This is my faith- the hope that I cling to and rely upopn. It may not always be apparent, seen in my words and actions, or lived in my daily life. For those failings and short comings God gives me His free and full forgiveness. And because He has loved me, called me, redeemed me- bought me back- I am His and will remain so forever in His loving care and mercy.

I love you all and pray that this faith is yours also and sustains you as it has, does, and will me.

Dad"

Potty Training Summation: Day 1

I jotted down notes of our 1st day of potty training in a spiral notebook. Here's what it read for today.
7:50 am: Pee pee in underwear when Mommy trying to get him to go on the potty after the timer went off. Noah didn't like it. He was a little scared/confused by the puddle below him.
Had a hard time getting him to put his underwear back on.
8:20 am: Noah went pee pee in the potty:) Didn't want to put underwear back on, but eventually did.
8:50 am: Noah went pee pee on potty! Yeah! Didn't like putting underwear back on. Asked for a hot dog, so I gave him one and he ate it. We had cupcakes for breakfast, so I'm going to pick my battles.
9:22 am: Pee pee accident (wood floor). Noah cried some when I told him we were going to put the underwear back on. I switched to the Gerber training pants which were a little more padded and softer.
9:40 am: Pee pee accident on floor.
Mommy to shower.
9:55 am: Poo poo in pants. (See previous post about the details if you like to be grossed out.) Tried to pee pee in the potty, but Noah couldn't.  Susie called to check on me.
10:30 am: Pee pee accident.
10:55 am: Pee pee on potty---immediately went to mall to buy more underwear from Gymboree! Stressed me out...thought for sure we'd have an accident, but Noah stayed dry!
We got home at 11:45 am.
11:45 am: Pee pee on potty.
12:30 pm: In diaper for nap. Mommy & Noah both exhausted!
Noah slept for 3 hours, and I let him! I napped for one, myself.
3:40 pm: Showed Noah all kinds of fun new underwear from Gymboree. Asked him if he wanted to put them on, "No." Eventually put on underwear, but with resistance.
4:00 pm: Pee pee on potty. I had to give Noah a piggy back train ride to get in the bathroom, but he did it!
4:25 pm: Tried to pee pee on potty, but couldn't.
4:35 pm: Tried to pee pee on big potty...Noah wanted to try that. Noah was cooperative, but no pee pee came out. Good try, buddy!
4:41 pm: Pee pee accident on floor. Oh well. Went to try to make pee pee on potty, but none came out.
5:04 pm: Pee pee on potty:)
5:20 pm: Pee pee on floor
5:40 pm: Pee pee accident in chair
5:45 pm-Mommy went upstairs for a break after Daddy came home with food.
5:46 pm- Noah had pee pee accident on the stair step. Daddy there.
5:50 pm- Noah had pee pee accident in hall by his room.
6:05 pm- Mommy came downstairs. No finishing dinner or break for Mommy.
6:06 pm- Noah upset, needed consoling. Snuggled with Mommy. Had some milk.
6:25 pm- Pee pee on potty with Mommy's encouragement. Then went swimming with Mommy in swim diaper. Put in diaper and watched a show to get ready for bed.
8:00 pm- Last pee pee before bedtime...Noah wanted to go on the BIG potty, so Mommy held him up and he had his biggest pee pee of the day on the big potty! Good job, buddy! Get some rest! Mommy loves you:)

Noah's 1st poo in underwear incident

I debated on whether or not to write about poo poo, but the story is so funny...I couldn't resist. Noah doesn't like being dirty. If his hands are dirty, he'll say, "Clean it." I thought that would be the one thing I had going for me in regard to potty training and the poopy diaper scenario. I set a timer for every 20-30 minutes today and would prompt (and beg and bribe) Noah to go potty when the timer went off. At first he resisted, but it did improve off and on. After one of these many trips to the potty, I decided to set the timer and grab a quick shower. Noah was watching Sesame Street, and I figured it would be safe. Of course it was the 4 minutes I was in the shower that he pooped in his pants. Fine. I thought it would bother him. Unfortunately, Cookie Monster was singing a great song, and Noah was way to interested in it to care...even when I prompted him to change the dirty underwear, he said, "No, okay," and would run away. I gave it about 5-10 minutes, and he eventually walked with me to the bathroom. Progress, I thought. When I took his underwear off, neither one of us noticed that a big ball of poo fell on the floor. What happened next was like it came straight out of a sitcom. Noah lifted his foot up, then proceeded to put his foot down right in the poo. Yuck. The poo was all in-between his toes. It felt yucky, so he then proceeded to put his foot down on my leg. I jumped, so he then put a poo poo footprint on the white cabinet door! Serious mess! I just had to laugh, so we just said, "Yucky," and cleaned it up. Thank goodness for the Shark Steam Mop is all I can say! I'm already anxious about how it's going to go tomorrow, but I WILL look very carefully when I take the underwear off!!!

Noah's 1st BIG BOY Underwear

Noah's 1st BIG BOY underwear---didn't go over as well as I anticipated. Noah LOVES Thomas the Train right now, so I had great new Thomas underwear, but he wimpered some when I put them on. Poor thing. It's just a lot of changes all at once. I'm sure it didn't help that even though I bought size 4T, the underwear were snug, and I accidentally snapped the elastic next to Noah's skin when I pulled them up. Nice job, Mommy. Let's have him associate the underwear with pain. Oh well. In the later synopsis of the day, I'll include that we eventually went to Gymboree & got some more underwear that were a little bigger without such rough elastic. That helped. I'm sure he'll one day HATE that I'm mentioning this, but he was also pleasantly surprised when he discovered that he could find his penis with the underwear on...something he couldn't do with a diaper! By the end of the day, Noah still didn't WANT to put on the underwear, but he wasn't fighting, either. Progress.

Potty Party Time

Today is the big day...the day we begin our potty training to get Noah into big boy underwear. We started off the morning with a potty party, including cupcakes, brand new Thomas the Train underwear, & several different fun-style juices to keep the fluids going. Noah has been going pee pee in the potty when I ask him to, but we've never done the underwear or anything beyond that. I was surprised to see that he wouldn't even go pee pee on the potty this morning when I asked him to. He said, "No." I tried the cupcake, again, "No." I offered the Thomas underwear, "No." Michael and I just looked at each other like, "Uh, now what?!?" I thought, "Oh, it's going to be a long day!"

Craziest Baby Sprinkle Of All Time!

Mary Beth wanted to give me a baby "sprinkle" before she has to move, so we did our girls happy hour at KE Cellars tonight & made it a combo sprinkle. It was interesting to say the least! Normally, KE Cellars has some acoustic guitar lightly playing in the background...NOT TONIGHT! Some band was playing serious rock & metal songs (VERY loudly!). It was so loud, no one could hardly even hear each other. But somehow, we just rolled with it...or rocked and rolled with it. The highlight had to be when the band played the single-worst rendition of "Sweet Child of Mine," (previous fame by Guns-N-Roses) I've ever heard. Maybe we should name the baby Axl? It was SOOO funny, though. Definitely, the craziest baby sprinkle I've attended! One for the memory books for sure!

Swimming with Daddy, Paw Paw, & Sarah

Paw Paw & Sarah came by late this afternoon for a swim. Noah couldn't have been more excited, even though he & I spent about 2 hours in the pool this morning! My little guy is a fish! Sarah brought Noah some of her old books and a t-shirt that she bought him. She is very sweet with him. We had pizza & then played in the pool. I'm sure he'll sleep well tonight!I love the sound of his Noah's laughter. I think Noah's little brother (still without a name) liked the laughter, too, because when the pool fun was going on, baby brother was kicking up a storm in my belly! I guess he was doing his own swimming!

Pizza with Daddy

Daddy has spent all day upstairs working on paperwork, so it was a nice treat when he came downstairs & shared a pizza lunch with Noah.

Playing in Grammie's Sink

After getting hot playing outside, Noah cooled off in Grammie's sink.

Visit with Grammie

We made a quick trip to Grammie's yesterday. Noah was so happy to see Grammie, and said, "Hi Grammie," for a lot of the 2 hour drive to Grammie's house. When we arrived, Grammie had special cupcakes for Noah.

Noah & Grammie danced...

and played with Aunt Rebekah's dog, Chip...

and played cars...

before we had to leave. Sorry we couldn't stay longer, Grammie! Kisses for Grammie!

Turtle float time

When Noah's cousins all came over, Mommy blew up this huge turtle float. It took a while for Noah to try it, but after he got in, he had plenty of fun:)

Noah says, "Brother."

We've told Noah that there's a baby in my belly, but don't really expect him to understand. But both last night and today, Noah touched my belly and said, "brother." Sometimes, my boy is just so sweet. I know he will make a great big brother.

An important 1st for Daddy

Dear Baby-On-The-Way-
Tonight I felt you kicking more than ever before! I could literally watch my belly jump when you'd make a kick. Daddy put his hand on my belly and felt your kicks for the first time! What a special moment for us both. I put Noah's hand on my belly and told him that there was a baby in my belly. He said, "Baby," and then sweetly made the sign for baby. He then said, "Brother." It melted our hearts. We love you already. I'm going to be surrounded by boys! It's a little bit scary, but exciting too!

6 crazy cousins swim

Susie kept Denise's kids while Denise was visiting London. We thought we could wear them all out with a long day of swimming and pizza. 6 crazy cousins---oh yeah, we wore them out. Of course, they wore us out, too! James, Matthew, Nicholas, Andrew, Ella, & Noah

Michael was a good sport and swam & helped with crowd control. Good man.

All the kids ould line up and take turns jumping to Michael. Matthew really got some air on this jump!