Busy - Busy - Busy

Okay - So, my dumb butt decided to wait until the last minute to get things done and NOW, I have a ton of stuff to do. Now, I have to clean my car, go get it inspected, I am going to try to run in to San Marcos - but that is the last thing on my list. I have to go to target, get some laundry done, clean the house a little. Then I have go by the library - go back to target without the kids, get dinner made...oh thre is so much to do...but I am hoping to get the majority of it done today so that I can have a somewhat relaxing day tomorrow before heading to the beach on Friday! Woohoo I am a bit nervous about travelling with the kids by myself...I am worried about their behavior and how I will cope with the stress of it all, but I am sure it will all be okay! I am probably stressing over nothing - but wait, probably not! LOL Anyway, can't wait to get down there and try to have some fun with the kids...we are going to build sand castles!

our weekend

After the extremely busy week, we decided to continue on into the weekend. First, let me just say, I am soo very tired. On Saturday, my mom and the kids met us at the river, as well as our friends Keith and Lauren. JR had to work that morning so we didn't get out there until around 2:30. I don't really have any photos, because of the situation with my sister, I didn't take many photos, and on some of the events I didn't even bring my camera. My sister doesn't even know that they are in town. Anyway, I am not going to get in to all that....Logan went home with my mom and the kids to stay the night, and Landry, JR, and I headed to a friends house for poker. We didn't want to take Logan because he can a wild man. He, unfortunately, has no schedule - and if JR and I stay up - he will too. I understand that saying this is a direct reflection of our parenting and the mistakes we made - but, it is what it is. Considering JR and I usually go to bed at 10:00 it isn't really an issue, because he goes to bed at that time two...the problem is that when we do stay up...he will too - no matter how tired he is...he finds a way to stay awake. Landry on the other hand goes to bed at 8:30 every night, so we decided to take her with us. She wouldn't ve been able to play with her cousins because of her bed time, so it just seemed unfair to send her along. Unfortunately, the room I was using to lay her down in, was the master bedroom where people kept going in to take showers, so I wasn't able to lay her down until 9:15 - I think she fell asleep before her head hit the pillow! I won $120 playing poker, so that made it even better! LOL
Sunday, JR went into work early, came home to get me, and we left the house at 9 to go get Logan from my parents. Then we went to Canyon Lake to look at some time share condos. Yes, you read that right. JR and I are thinking of getting a time share. We are looking in to it and will let you know what we do...it won't be anytime really soon- but hopefully within the next year. One thing that JR and I do agree on, is that we both want to be able to take the kids on vacations all over the country as they are growing up. In my family, going on vacation meant we were going to visit family. Yes I would love to continue that tradition, I want the chance to take my kids skiing in the winter, to yellowstone, the grand canyon, I want to take them to a Red Sox game in Boston - go to New York...and yes, part of it is selfish because they are all things I want to do...but I just want them to be able to travel and see and experience new things. See other ways of life - maybe we can visit an amish community...I don't know I just want them to be sheltered, but not sheltered. The problem with vacationing like that is that it costs a lot of money. So it seems reasonable to own a time share that you can use all over the world and depending on where you stay it's free for an entire week...(if you stay at a property owned by Silverleaf, it's free...if you want to go somewhere else you pay $200 for the entire week 8days 7 nights...and you are guaranteed 2 bed, 2 bath with a fold out couch! Anyway, JR wants to do it right now...but I think we should save up for a down payment...plus, right now we are saving up for a cruise that we are hoping to take in Sept. Anywho! It may not ever happen, but it is something we are looking in to!
Hope everyone has a good week...I am going to try and take it easy before heading down to Galveston for my friend, Aiden's 2nd birthday!

Catch up

This week has been soooo incredibly busy! Landry is still doing great in her crib! I told you in my last post that I would start the potty training again starting on Monday - YIKES! I am questioning it though because she hasn't displayed any of the signs this week - no taking off the diaper or anything of the sort. But anywho - we will start it up and take it slow. Tuesday JR and Keith went to Dallas on a Party Bus (JR won free tickets on the radio) and he didn't get home until 4:00 in the morning. Of course, he had left for work by the time the kids and I got up, So we didn't see him for like 2 days. AND he was really tired by the time he got home on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, my mom brought Isabella and Isaiah over to play. They will be here for the week, so it was nice to get the kids together. Logan loves playing with his cousins. When JR got home we called my dad and he met up with us at the Cracker Barrel for dinner. As we were getting ready to leave, Logan started bawling...he didn't want to leave Isaiah. It was the saddest thing ever, so my dad offered to take Logan back with them to stay the night. Apparently, Logan was wonderful - so that was really great to hear. I missed my little man though. I was up half the night - unable to sleep knowing he wasn't here. :(
On Thursday, mom and dad brought Logan home and we all went swimming at our neighborhood pool. My dad didn't swim, but mom and I played with the kids. Logan actually did well - I was able to get him off steps and actually let him hang on to me and try kicking his feet. Landry loves the water - she just splashes all around - the girl is such a dare devil!
On Friday, we met up with my parents and the kids at the San Marcos movie theater to watch Cars 2. It was a pretty cute movie. I didn't really get to see all of it because I was pretty occupied with Landry. But Logan was enamored. He never moved...in fact, once the movie started he couldn't care less about the popcorn, or candy, or the drinks. When we got home, Logan asked JR if he could go see it again.
Today, we were supposed to go back to the pool, but now that JR is going to get off work a little earlier than expected we may go to the river...I just need to give my mom a call and see if she is willing to change the plans. Honestly, I think I would rather go to the pool! Buuuuuut - the river will be fine as well!
Tomorrow we will actually get to sit down and pick a date of our cruise! I am so excited about it. I was hoping to do it before Logan starts school, the first week of Sept., but JR's contract still have 75 days left in them, so we may have to wait until Sept. or Oct....hopefully Cancun is still warm at that time! I have no idea!

Changes....

This weekend we had a lot of family come to stay with us, so in order to give our guests their own rooms I moved Landry's crib out of her room and into ours. Any of you that have cribs understand that this means that I had to take the crib apart and move it, then re-assemble it. I ended up doing this 3 times because she barely got any sleep on Friday evening...I am sure part of it was due to the new room, I think most of it was the noise. JR said that every time he turned over in the bed she would wake up. I slept on the couch because I went to bed after JR and I didn't want to wake her up. So for Saturday night I disassembled the crib and once again re-assembled it in our closet. I know - I know, it sounds horrible but it was the only place in the house where the sound was muffled. 1st, we have a large closet, 2nd we put a box fan in the closet to keep it cool. She slept like an angel...in fact the fan even helped to drown out more noise. On Sunday after everyone left, I was feeling pretty lazy so I just let her take her nap in the closet and afterwards I again, took it apart, transferred it to her room and put it back together again. By this time, JR was home from work so I talked to him about leaving off the front side and converting it to a toddler bed. The more I thought about it the less I wanted to do it...I mean, a toddler bed means that my baby is growing up, and I am not really ready for that yet. So I started to put in on anyway and JR said we should just test it out for one night. That night when I put her to bed, she quickly realized she could get in and out...she got out and ran to the door and cried for about two minutes and was then silent. At 10:30 I went to check on her...I didn't want to wake her, but I also didn't like the idea of her sleeping on the floor...sure enough she was in her bed sleeping like an angel. I checked on her again at 12:30 and 2:30 but then fell asleep and wasn't able to check again. The next morning, (Monday) I heard her at the door so I went to let her out. I was particularly worried about nap time because she would still be able to see around the room. We dont keep any toys in her room except for her puppies that she likes to sleep with so I dont have to worry about her getting up and playing...I was just worried that in the light of day she wouldn't be able to nap in a bed that she could so easily get out of. I put her down for her nap and after about 30 minutes I went to check on her...she was sitting in her bed with ALL the clothes from her drawers in her lap! Geez! So I grabbed the clothes and put them on TOP on the dresser, went back laid her down, gave her the puppies, covered her with her blanket and gave her a kiss. I left the room with out a word. She said "night night" as I was leaving! LOL 30 minutes later I checked on her again, and she was sound asleep! Woo hoo!
Last night when I put her down, everything went well again. At just a little after 12:30 I heard a thud followed by her crying...Obviously she fell out of the bed. I was trying to decide what to do, because she literally cried for about 5 seconds, but I was wondering if she would know to get back on the bed. Again, I didn't want her sleeping on the floor, so I went to check on her, she was sitting on her bed...so, I now know that if she falls off, she knows to crawl back on! I went in, tucked her back in the bed and gave her kisses and left. I didn't hear another peep from her until this morning! Honestly, I can't believe how easy it has been...or the fact that my little girl is growing up so fast! I decided to put off the potty training this week just to make sure she is comfortable with the toddler bed transition...I really dont like the idea of changing up so much at one time... I think it can be confusing. So I will start up again next week, assuming that she keeps up the good work with the bed!

Almost here

First...I just wanted to say Landry has not peed in the potty again since the 14th! :( I am staying with it. So far there have been LOTS of messes to clean up. But, we keep moving on. I am worried I might have scared the crap out of her with all the excitement of her first time...I was clapping and I was SOOOO excitement!
We will have lots of company this weekend - we are doing the father's day float on Saturday. I am really excited and at the same time, I'm kinda ready for it to come and go. This has been THE BUSIEST summer we have had. Two weeks from this weekend I will be traveling down to Galveston. Then at the end of July, JR, Vanessa (my little sister), and Kyle (Vanessa's boyfriend) will be traveling to South Padre Island. It is a graduation gift to her her and Kyle. I am really excited about that...to leave the kids for the weekend and disappear into a drink with a pink umbrella! I am really looking forward to bungee jumping again! Anyway...like I said we have been BUSY! Now, I am off mow the yard! Woohoo!

2 in one day....

I know, I know - I already blogged for the day....but - After several misses today - Landry just peed in the potty for the first time! Happy Birthday to me! Hopefully we can keep it up! I can't wait to buy some princess panties! LOL

potty progress

Last week I bought my darling child a new potty! 1st let me just say, I wasn't real excited about the potty training process. I honestly couldn't believe that my almost 20 month old was actually ready to begin. However, she was displaying a readiness so I bought the potty. She kept taking her diaper off, going to a corner and peeing on the floor! Ughhhh! Luckily, she chose the kitchen to do her business so all it took was a towel to clean the mess, instead of having to clean a mess on the carpet! For that - I was very thankful! I set out to get her comfortable with what the potty was used for and I decided that I would take the same approach as I did with Logan.
So let me step back in time and explain what I did for him. I got him acquainted with the potty first. Then I tried pull-ups. I tried, and tried, and tried. I read potty training books, I tried other methods...nothing seemed to work. If he was wearing a pull-up or diaper...he just went in it. I tried buying the big boy undies - I had read that peeing in the undies would create discomfort which would in turn, teach them not to do it. That didn't work either. After a few other ideas and trials. I decided that Logan's main problem was that he wasn't fully aware of what was happening. i.e. he didn't understand the feeling of HAVING to pee...to him - he just did it. So, I stripped him down and let him be naked. I would ask him just about every ten minutes if he needed to potty. Every twenty minutes I would take him and sit him on the potty. I don't know if that was really helpful, but I continued doing it anyway. Then every time he started to pee I would say..."POTTY" (more like I yelled it! Not because I was trying to scare him, but because it always took me by surprise!) I would pick him up and run him to the potty and sit him down and wait. It took many times and lots of towels to clean up the messes, but after a few weeks he has learned the cause and effect. He learned the sensation he was having meant he needed to potty and he started using the little potty. I still let him go naked for another week or two to make sure he was getting it. If we had to go somewhere, I still put him in a diaper because going to a grocery store, or restaurant or other public places was difficult to get him to a bathroom in time. Obviously the sensation to pee was still coming only seconds before the actual task. Now days, Logan can be in the car and say, "I have to pee." and can hold it for plenty of time for us to find a restroom exit, unload from the car, and still make it to the potty in time...but obviously - he is 4 now, and it was a learned process! So at home, he was naked - in public he still wore a diaper...not to mention that I couldn't exactly take his little potty with us every where we went...and he was a bit afraid of the whole "big potty" idea.
With Landry, I am taking the whole naked approach again, considering that it worked for Logan...Now, I just started the process last week, and I hope that it will prove effective again. However, because this is just the beginning..I believe in taking little steps and going slow. I think she has become accustomed to what the potty is, and therefore we move to the next step. With Landry, however; she will go naked, then bring me a diaper. I put the diaper on, she pees, takes it off, and puts it in the trash! In a way, its funny...but also, its encouraging, because she obviously understands that she has a sensation to pee, so she brings me a diaper. This is a good thing...I guess I am so used to putting a diaper on her - that I have to be better about realizing things quicker. Such as the fact that she seems to be getting the whole concept much quicker than Logan did...and I am behind in realizing her readiness to move on. I'll admit, I have been a bit on the lazy side! My big wake up call was the fact that she went through an entire package of diapers in 5 days...which normally would take closer to two weeks! Ughhhhh! So, now when she brings me a diaper, I will be sitting her on the potty instead. If I remember correctly, the hardest part was getting Logan to do it just a few times. After he had peed in the little potty about 5 times, it was so much easier. So...I guess I need to get her to do it a few times so that we can keep moving on! Hopefully she will be in big girl panties by her second birthday...only 4 months away! YIKES! Wish me luck and wisdom and courage...I will need it!