Potty Training Genius

Not to brag or anything, but I'm an amazing Potty Trainer. I should open a potty training boot camp. It's day 5 and we haven't had an accident in 2 days (I realize I've just jinxed myself, but I'm too self absorbed to care).



By day 2, he was asking to go potty. By day 4, he was refusing to sit on the toilet if he didn't have to go (no more of this, "just sit down and SEE if you have to go" business). I asked him for an hour and a half yesterday and he wouldn't go. I finally HAD to take a shower, and as I was getting out, I heard someone trying to open my door. He came in, announced he had to go, stripped down (because he won't just pull his drawers to his ankles) and proceeded to produce #1 AND #2! Serious breakthrough! Again, I'm a genius.

I'm A Mama

And they remembered. Another perfect Mother's Day, in bed, with nothing to do but listen to my book, nap, and be waited on.


~Stuffed french toast with cream cheese and strawberries, the recipe even called for 2 oz of freshly squeezed orange juice...which he did!~

I did have to do five dishes. They are required to be washed by hand and my one-armed man apologetically had to ask for my assistance.


~Sadly, the doctor only had blue, pink and white to choose from, no red. I say it's Mariner blue. He dessents.~

It was a great day. I love these five people so much it hurts.

Derby Dummies

~I forgot my good camera. I really miss it when I don't have it.~

Well, we've survived our first Pine Wood Derby. The most important thing to me was that Preston had so much fun. The most important thing to Trevor was that it was a learning experience and we have 1000 ideas for next year. I won't mention that 998 of those ideas I suggested several weeks ago and was promptly shut down. But after talking to people who know what they're doing, Trevor has jumped on board the polished axle train (derby talk). It's not like I did hours of research online for tips on creating the fastest car. Nope. I'm just a girl with no derby experience.

~Recieving his trophy and a look at the track.~

He did win the award for the "sleekest car", but we aren't fooled by consolation prizes! I'm totally kidding. Sort of. His results weren't terrible. He was right in the middle of the pack. At one point, after a less impressive run, I saw him rub his eyes. I think he was fighting a particularly embarrassing emotion. A few minutes later, though, he was back with his buddies and they were carrying on in their loud obnoxious 8 year old ways. Overall, I'll deem it a success. The free breakfast helped.


~The fabulous people who came out to support him (Papa, Mimi, and Uncle Vance).~

After the derby, we had just minutes to spare to get him geared up and over to his third baseball game. He was the starting catcher and was even the lead off hitter! What a change from last year! He is really doing well both at the plate and behind it. So far his batting average is .750;) I really don't think he's had a frustrating or negative moment in a game or at a practice this year. He's LOVING it! And we are loving watching him be awesome!

I know this post is braggy. Deal with it. We're super proud of this dude.


~At first after one of his hits.~


~Behind the plate. It makes my thighs burn just thinking about that crouch.~


~Opening Day.~


~With buddies Evan and Rex on Opening Day.~


~I think I mentioned before how awesome his coaches are. This is Coach Tom. He's been involved in Little League since 1978.~


~His fans, reading a book, playing a game on Trevor's phone and keeping Will from being mauled. I swear we were paying attention to the game too!~


~A sweet one of Lily and Abby on Opening Day.~


~Bet you can guess that the stupid Chick-fil-a cow was at opening day.~

Switching gears to Carson. I took him to Chick-fil-a the other day for lunch. It's a weekly tradition with Heather, Luke and Lily. He asked if he could turn in his kid meal toy for an ice cream cone (I love that they do this and that I don't have to take those chintzy toys home). After I gave my consent, he rushed off to the front counter. He got halfway there and came to a screeching halt, whipped around and sprinted back to me to give me a swift kiss on my cheek. He didn't give a reason, didn't say one word, he just bolted back to get his ice cream. You read it right. CARSON spontaneously kissed me. I am not ashamed to admit that it made me tear up a bit. I work, clean, cook, iron (well, not iron) weeks and weeks for moments like that. It's why I love being a mom.

P.S. I just realized I never let you know Preston's Cardiologists first name. It's Eugene. Eugene Hwang. It cracks me up.

Tis The Season

It's time to pick out pumpkins. Luckily, we were able to tag along with the cub scouts to Cal Poly Pomona's pumpkin farm. It was loads of fun...for the kids. As a side note, don't attempt to take 4 children to pick out pumpkins, with no bathrooms (at least none that were in an emergency ready distance), with no wagon to haul said pumpkins, with no other adult to help man the troops and all in the pouring rain. It's not as fun as it sounds.

Actually, I'm exaggerating. It didn't start to pour until we were getting ready to pay for our items. So only the child loading zone was an issue. But I did trek a stroller across a muddy pumpkin patch, all while toting 4 pumpkins and an infant. Abby did have a major accident in the middle of pumpkinland. That was when I threw my hands up and said "Oh, well. It is what it is" and let her run wet and stinky through the field. The kids did have a blast and that's what matters. I might as well grudgingly admit to having a great time myself. After all, it gave me an opportunity to capture my favorite photo subjects.

These guys...

Next up...Carson turns 6!

Spacing It

I was planning on doing a cute blog post about Carson since I hadn't talked about him in a while. But now I can't remember what is was I was going to say about him. I have stuff waiting in the wings about William, but I feel like he consumes the bulk of the conversation lately. Not that he's not just the best blog subject EVER, but still, I have other children.

Let's move on to Abby, shall we? She and I have been bonding these last three weeks. I'm happy to report, we are getting along swimmingly. She still has her bouts of stubbornness (alright, me too) but she is starting to resent me less and warm up to me more. She still has her moments (mostly when I sit down to nurse the baby) when all she wants is me. These also seem to be the times she absolutely has to go potty right now! I've left William screaming on the couch more than once to go help Princess relieve herself. Speaking of restroom issues, the regression seems to be waining and we are almost back to perfection in that department. Insert audible sigh of relief here.

She has taken on some of my more motherly (bossy) traits now. I often hear her comforting William, chastising the big boys and she likes to tell me "Just a minute, I'm busy. Okay?" when I ask her to do something for me. We've had a couple of scares with her carrying Will down the hallway. In her defense, the only times she's been caught attempting this is when he's crying and she's trying to bring him to me. In her words, "Will wants you mama". Mama wants William to live until his first birthday, however, so I'm not always as grateful for her help as she assumes I should be.

One of the highlights of her week are the days when Lily comes over. I watch Miss Lily once a week and boy these girls can play. They love lotion and baby powder and board games and liquid soap;) They're pretty sneaky too. Instead of nursing being a cue for Abby to need me desperately, it becomes a 15 minute window for them to run free. We do love having Lily over and Abby gets pretty upset when it's time for her to go home.

I've taken a few pictures the last couple of weeks of these two sweet girls. Here's their day in photos.

Usually, they are good buddies. They like to dress-up together.

Ocassionally, they need the same toy. Sometimes there's a scuffle.

After a brief "time-out"...

...they decide sharing is a better plan.

Like I said, we love it when Lily comes over. Personally, I'm grateful for the playmate, it takes some of the focus off Will.

~They even trade shoes. BFF's in the making.~

And it Begins...

She's a good 6 weeks early folks, but Abby has "happily" entered into her terrible twos. My once contented child now has a stubborn mind of her own and voices that mind as loud and as long as she sees fit.

This morning, while both of her brothers were broadening their minds, Abby and I were playing with my diaper bag makeup. I shouldn't do this. I know I'm setting myself up for a major catastrophe down the road, but it's fun. I would place a little lotion in her hand, and she would rub it on her cheeks, or legs, or just moisturize those chubby little hands of hers. I decided that 10 applications were plenty to hydrate my little girl's skin. Abby decided otherwise. What ensued was a tantrum that had me in fits of hysterical laughter (what can I say, I just find tantrums funny) and Abby in fits of hysteria, period. Being the ever so compassionate mother that I am, I grabbed the camera and set to collect evidence of her stubborn ridiculousness.

I am proud to announce that Abby, once she sets her mind to something, doesn't give in easily. I'm sure it's a quality she'll use later in life for the good of mankind and it's not a thorn in my side that is going to fester over time and one day be the death of me. I choose to be an optimist. After, running away from me upstairs, through her brother's room, into their bathroom, and into the corner of that bathroom, she still flung herself away from me. Although, that flinging resulted in her banging her head, first, on the wall, then, on the floor, she got her point across. She DID NOT want her mother.

I put her in her crib for a little time-out, but I'm afraid the picture taking only angered the beast. She. Was. Ticked. I can only describe it as aggravating a starved lion, by poking it in the face with a stick, I was just asking for danger. A much safer flinging ensued, as she would looked at me, scream, and then dive into the pillow and blankets to dissolve, yet again, into tears. Seriously funny stuff, my friends.

When I let her out, she tried to hide from me again, behind the crib. I was too clever and just walked around to the other side to take the picture.

This irritated her and she began wedging between the crib and the wall. I just ate it up. The blogging moment was getting sweeter and sweeter.

She'd had it with me by then and ran into the bathroom again. After a quick snap, I decided that this 15 minute episode was long enough. I forced her into my arms and wouldn't stop the snuggling her until she calmed down. A couple of Doritos later, she was my sweet, happy girl again. The lotion lay forgotten.