A Work in Progress

Day 1 of potty training ended pretty well. Nash started to get the hang of it in the afternoon. I think he had about 8 accidents total. Not bad. He had one accident during the night. If I remember right, Day 2 was an improvement with only 4 accidents. Day 3 started out VERY well. By 6pm he had not had a single accident and he stayed dry during his nap. However, between 6 and 8:30 he had FOUR accidents. As part of this training I have to say to Nash "Tell Mommy when you have to go potty," about 100 times a day. The frustrating thing was that he had these accidents very shortly after I had reminded him to tell me. When he does make it to the bathroom he likes to take the plastic bowl out of his potty chair and dump the pee in the toilet. Then he flushes the toilet and says "Bye bye pee pee." On the morning of Day 3, when he said "pee pee" his pacifier flew out of his mouth and flushed down the toilet. It happened so fast! He looked up at me with puppy dog eyes and said "where paci?" At first I told him we had other ones but then it occurred to me that this would be a great time to break free of the paci. Believe it or not, it has been a rather smooth transition. I was surprised. He still asks for it when he goes to bed but I remind him that it went down the toilet and he is able to get to sleep without it. He still has his beloved yellow blanket, which is fine. This morning Nash woke up around 4am because he wet the bed. I got him cleaned up and he slept the remainder of the morning in my bed (Jason is out of town and missing out on all of the potty training fun!) He woke up around 7:45 and went in the big boy potty. He had a few accidents this morning but made it through his nap just fine. I had to wake him up during his nap because he had his 2 year checkup today. I was nervous about taking him out of the house without diapers but that is all part of the training. I tried twice to put him on the public toilets and he did not like it AT ALL. In fact, he didn't go the whole time we were out which was about 3 hours. He held it until we got home. This has been a learning process for everyone involved. I'm learning to pay attention to Nash's signs and if he is hiding, he's probably pooping. Needless to say, we have made great strides but potty training is still a work in progress.
Nash got a shot today in his right thigh but took it like a champ. Just a few tears and then he was fine. He weighs 27.5 pounds which is at the 40th percentile and he is 33.5 inches tall putting him at the 25th percentile. Doctor told us we can switch from whole milk to skim milk now. Nash's feet turn in slightly from sitting in the "w" position. This afternoon we worked on sitting Indian Style instead.
Nash's favorite movie right now is "Toy Story 2" which he calls "Buzz and Woody." He would watch it all day long if I let him.

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY NASH!!!

Today our little man turns 2 years old! We love you buddy!
We are spending the day potty training of all things. As of about 11 o'clock, Nash was on his 6th pair of underwear. I was thinking to myself, this is going to be a long three days! Then the angels sang! I recognized that he had to go and walked him to the bathroom. He went pee pee in his big boy potty for the first time. He was rewarded with a "Marty" beenie baby which he loved. A short time later I recognized his potty dance again and walked him to the bathroom. BINGO! This time he was rewarded with some Nutter Butter bites which he also loved. Not bad for the first half of our first day of potty training. Right now he is napping so we'll see how the second half of the day goes. We are using a three day potty training program by Lora Jensen that was recommended to us by our good friends the Engels in Great Falls, Montana. Here is the website if anyone is interested: www.3daypottytraining.com.
I feel a little guilty that we are spending his birthday potty training but he doesn't seem to mind. He has already received lots of Happy Birthday texts and phone calls. Nash's "Madagascar" birthday party is planned for Sunday so I'll have lots of pictures to share.

Pajama Party

Ok, so it wasn't much of a party. On Friday, the boys and I decided we were going to stay in our pjs all day long. Nolan attempted but after pooping and spitting up on multiple outfits, I had to resort to a real outfit for him. That boy soils clothes like it's his job! The boys are both fighting colds so I thought a pajama day was appropriate. I did get Nash into the bathtub but then he went right back into his pjs. Well, except for about 1 minute when he ran around naked while I cleaned up the bathroom. When I got him out of the tub I asked him if he had to use the big boy potty but he ran off quickly. The next thing I knew he was saying "uh oh Mommy." I went into his room and he pointed to his tool bench. Sure enough, he had peed on the leg of his tool bench. When I asked him why he did it he looked up at me and said, "no idea." I had to laugh.
With that being said, Tuesday we are starting our Three Day Potting Training bootcamp. Our friend Tosha has trained two of her kids using this and recommended it to us. We are going to give it a shot. We have 30 pair of the cutest "big boy" underwear you have ever seen and a little red potty chair ready to go. I'll keep you posted. Nana is going to be here to help us on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Daddy is going to be out of town.
Tomorrow Nash turns 2! Where has the time gone? We love him to pieces and we are so proud of him! We are planning to have a "Madagascar" themed party next weekend because Nash loves animals and loves watching the movie "Gascar!"
As I mentioned, we are all fighting colds. Then last night, Nolan threw up two of his feedings and had a lot of drainage making it hard from him to breathe and sleep. He has been sleeping most of the morning now. We are headed to the doctor this afternoon.
We had another snow storm last night. Hey SPRING! WHERE ARE YOU???? We are SO ready for you!


Jason and Nash playing with stickers















Nolan playing in his bouncy gym

Nash-ster's Dictionary

Nash is about to turn two years old on February 23rd. I thought it was time to update his vocabulary list. Here are a few things he has said recently...



"Where my Daddy?"
"Come on Nana."
"Go that way."
"one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten"
"go church"
"it locked"
"feed dogs"
"eat lunch"
"I stuck"
"Yee haw cowboy!"
"Oh Darnit!"
"want out"
"dogs barkin'"
"have snack"
"my get it"
"hibernate" (Nana asks him what a bear does in the winter time)
"good job"
"rhinoceros"
"Hi boy" and "Hi girl" (Nash is quite social and greets other kids when we are out)

"left foot" and "right foot" (he gets them confused though)
He knows his colors and some of his shapes. He is starting to sing the alphabet too however some letters are missing and sometimes three letters are mushed into one letter. :0)

A Day of "Firsts" for Nolan

Yesterday was February 11, 2010. Aunt Nini made Nolan laugh for the first time when she came in to see him in the morning. Nana made him laugh again later the same morning. He is so smiley and likes it when we tickle his double chin. Nolan also got his first haircut from Nana. When his hair was wet, he had the cutest curls but as soon as his hair dried, it was straight as an arrow. He had the old man combover look going on and since he was 9.5 weeks old, I decided it was time. Nash got his combover taken care of at 9 weeks old too. Nolan looks so different now. See for yourself!
















































This is Nash after his first haircut in April of 2008.


















Nolan also had his two month checkup with Dr. Anderson and had to get 3 shots. They must have been powerful ones too because Nolan cried, then Mommy cried, then Nana cried! Nash was our rock! The numbers are in... Nolan is 23.5 inches long putting him at the 50th percentile. His head circumference puts him at the 75th percentile. He weighs in at 16 pounds 6 ounces which puts him at the 95th percentile! So different from Nash who weighed 11 pounds 14 oz at his 2 month appointment putting him at the 50th percentile. He was 21.75 inches long putting him at the 10th percentile. Nolan might be our linebacker I think!

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

Another midwest earthquake?! Last night I fed Nolan at 3am. I had just fallen asleep when the house began to shake and woke me up. I was a little out of it but knew right away what was happening. It felt like it lasted a long time but probably only lasted about a minute. I found out this morning it was a 3.8 magnitude earthquake in northern Illinois. The reason I knew what was happening right away is because the same thing happened in April of 2008 when I was up early in the morning changing Nash's diaper. He was about two months old at the time. That one was a 5.2 magnitude quake in southern Illinois. Apparently the New Madrid Fault Line runs through Illinois and down to New Madrid, Missouri. Who knew?

Come Sail Away!

Here are a few pics from our Caribbean cruise...

"Brock Omama" and "Joe Biden"

Settling back in

Jason and I left early Sunday, January 31st for San Juan, Puerto Rico. He earned a 7 day cruise through his employer to the Caribbean. There was around 200 in our group consisting of Titan Machinery employees and their guests. We sailed to Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten, St. Croix and then back to San Juan. We had such a great time even though we missed our boys terribly. We were able to keep in contact through emails and one day we ended up making an 8 minute phone call from the ship at $7.95/minute. It was worth it though!!! I don't have our pictures downloaded yet but will be posting some soon.
I flew home from San Juan late Sunday night and was able to hug my boys when I got home. Of course that was after I had to jump start the truck at the airport (thats another story). Jason flew into Orlando for a rental construction equipment show but will be back on Wednesday to spend time with the boys. He is SO ready to be home. The boys were well taken care of by Nana and Papa. Two of our neighbors watched them on Tuesday and Friday while Nana and Papa went to work. Everyone reports that the boys were very good while we were gone. We decreased Nolan's feedings to 6 oz just before we left. He still has a double chin but I don't think he is growing quite as fast as he was before we left. However, the 6 month outfits are still snug on him! He continues to spit up like a champ after he eats but he is sleeping so well at night. Last night I fed him at 9:30 and he ate again at 7:00 this morning. He's allowing me to re-charge after a weeklong fun filled vacation. Nash is becoming more and more independent as he prepares to turn 2 in a few weeks. He does his own thing but is smart as a whip! While we were gone he learned who the President and Vice President of the US are... "Brock Omama" and "Joe Biden." It's so cute to hear him say it! It's so good to be home with the boys again! Thank you Nana, Papa, Patty, and Allison for taking care of them while we were away! I will have picture of our trip posted soon. Hopefully.