I Have the Sweetest Friend Ever!!!

Let me start off we our history, my friend Laura and I have been buddies ever since my freshman year of high school and thankfully we have stayed in touch all these years! So many fun memories of Young Women's activities, church dances, group dates, phone calls, shopping trips, sleepovers, you name it. Laura was definitely the one who taught me how to do my make up and she always helped me out before all the dances. I remember going over to her house before my first prom and having her mom wax my eyebrows for the first time and how funny that was. I seriously had caterpillars growing across my eyes. Thank you, Sister Wibbler! Now we're 10 years, 2 weddings, 3 girls, and 1 1/2 boys, and living in separate states.

Anyway...I got an e-mail from Laura the other day and she needed my address to send something for the baby. How exciting and how nice!!! So today was the big day that our package arrived. I just have to say that this was above and beyond! She made us the cutest matching hooded towels, one for baby and one for E.


Yes, he's hiding under there.
It was so nice of her to think of E and even make him a special card, he truly felt like a special "big brodder" (big brother).

This was actually the very first gift that I've received for the baby so it was a momentous occasion. So I have to send a shout out to Laura and her girls for being such an awesome friend and for thinking of my boys. You made our day! E is so ready for tubby time tonight, he tried to start the tub right after he opened it. Thanks Laura, you are too kind!!!
He looks like he's about to head into the boxing ring. I can see those two boys now...

Arrrr....matey!

So I've come up with a new reward for E's potty training and I think he's pretty excited about it. If he has no accidents at all for 2 weeks then he gets the pirate ship that he's had his eye on for awhile. I actually already picked it up and it's hiding at my mom's house so we're ready to go.

Yesterday I made up the incentive chart during his nap and I thought it was pretty funny. I just put together a picture of a pirate ship with squares for each day he has to be dry. I even made his own personalized pirate with his picture. Everyday "Pirate E" moves one step closer to the ship. We have a nightly celebration and pirate moving ceremony and get ready to bring home the toy!


As for his progress, E is doing great! He really has got this down and he hasn't had any accidents. He is even dry at nap times and night times! I really don't know how or why he's been so easy to potty train, but I will take it! He even told Ry that he needed to go potty yesterday morning when he got up and I was floored! We've ventured out quite a bit as well and he's done really well. We went to my mom's all day one day, Chuck E. Cheese twice, the store a few times, and church and all without accidents. So diapers are a thing of the past and we are now working on Week 3 of being dry! Can you believe it?! Time sure flies when you're in the bathroom I guess. Now I know that accidents will come when you least expect it and just when you're comfortable they'll through a chink in the system. I'm prepared, I have spare clothes and clean up supplies in each car and in my purse so we'll see how things continue to go.

30 Week Appointment

I had my 30 week Dr's appointment today and everything went really well. I passed the gestational diabetes test, my blood pressure is good, weight is right on track, and baby sounded great. I had terrible anemia and low platelets with E, but this time around I'm not even borderline so no supplements for me!!! We're still going to keep an eye on my platelets as I get closer to delivery, so we'll see. I'm measuring 31 weeks right now so still a week ahead, ahhh. I'll have another sonogram done at 34 weeks to check his measurments and everything so I'm excited to see little guy again and be sure he's not getting too big! I'm still feeling really good so I'm cherishing that for now. Things are starting to ache and hurt here and there and I can't quite get as much done as I usually do, but I can't complain. I was reading my old journal from when I was pregnant with E and I can just say...I'm so glad I'm not working during this pregnancy! I can't believe I would work 3 or 4 nights (11-7) in a row, be on my feet the whole time, hardly get a break, and then try to sleep during the day in an apartment without A/C in our room during the summer, and hear banging from the remodeling going on next door! What the heck?! It's amazing how sleeping at night just makes you feel better! I have to say that this pregnancy has been a lot better to this point. I actually went on bedrest at 29weeks with E so I've made it past that mark and not feeling any pre term right now so I'm counting my blessings. So now only 8-10 weeks to go and these next 8-10 weeks are usually the worst so wish me luck!

Celebration!!

Last night we celebrated E going #2 on the potty for 2 whole weeks in a row! We printed off a chart from the Chuck E. Cheese website and he stuck his special sticker on there and we counted down the days together. He did such a great job and his excitment was too cute! Here is his special chart and he's got a gumball in his mouth since he gets to put a penny in the gumball machine everytime he goes #2.


So we took E to Chuck E. Cheese last night and he had so much fun. When Chuck E. Cheese came out, he immediately ran to him and hugged him and then he tried to get him to come play. E played lots and lots of games and rode all the little ride things and of course his dad had to play a little basketball too. E traded his tickets in for a little space gun type thing that he hasn't put down since...it even went to bed with him.



Now the problem is, we can't be going to Chuck E. Cheese every two weeks I've got to come up with another incentive or something. Potty training is still going really well. He's dry and I'm happy! Can't get any better than that. Plus, the fact that I never have to change a diaper again is such a wonderful thing! I must have timed it just right since E is very interested in being potty trained and he is very responsive as well. I'm very lucky!

Roasting Day and Cafe Rio Recipes

So I ended up having a wonderful turn out on my roasts today. I ended up borrowing my friend's crock pot so I had two going today. I got a great recipe from my mom that her ward uses a lot for their big events. It's just pork and a bottle of Stubb's Pork Marinade. I don't know if you can get the Stubb's brand in other places besides Texas, but check it out and see. So yeah, that just cooked on low all day.

Second crock pot had Cafe Rio Sweet Pork going and Hilary, here is the recipe:
4 lb pork roast
1 18 oz. classic coca cola (not diet or generic)
1 cup sugar
1 (7 oz) can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 tsp ground dry mustard
1 tsp garlic minced
Remove the peppers from the can of adobo sauce. Rinse peppers over the blender, with the coke, to get all the sauce off. Discard the peppers (unless you want it spicier then keep 3 out). Also, rinse the can, over the blender, with the coke to get all the remaining sauce; make sure to pour all of the coke in the blender. Put all ingredients in a blender and blend. Pour over roast in crock pot. After cooking 7-9 hours on low, remove and shred pork. Return to crock pot to simmer in sauce for one more hour. Serve in salads or burritos.

Here are the other Cafe Rio Recipes that I have:

Cafe Rio Rice
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 can green chilies
1/2 onion
4 tsp chicken bouillon
4 tsp minced garlic
3/4 tsp salt
1 TBL butter
3 cups rice
3 cups water
Blend the cilantro, green chilies, and onion in a blender. Bring the water to a boil and add all ingredients. Simmer covered for 30 minutes.

Cafe Rio Creamy Tomatillo Dressing
2 tomatillos, quarter
1/2 bunch cilantro leaves
1 cup milk
1 pkg. ranch dressing mix
1 tsp garlic minced
pinch cayenne pepper
1 large jalapeno
1 TBL lime juice
1 cup mayo
Blend tomatillos then add all the ingredients except mayo and blend together. Wish in mayo, chill and serve.

So there you have it! We just had it tonight and it was super delicious! I also love to have fresh tortillas that you can pick up from Costco or Wal Mart. They come rolled out and all you have to do is cook them in the pan.

How We're Doing

Well, this weekend was truly the test to see how our potty training efforts were going. I am proud to say that we are still dry since Tuesday! E ended up going a bunch of different places this weekend and did really well. I was a little hesitant about how he'd do at church with sacrament meeting and nursery but it ended up being just fine. I took him before we left the house, Ry took him before Sunday school, and I went in before Relief Society and it was pretty simple. Plus the fact that they have those little potties in the nursery in the new buidings is soooo nice! He didn't seem too bothered when I left and was pretty proud of himself for being a special potty boy. We're going to try to venture out more and more this week and see how it goes.

Last night my sister-in-law passed off a bunch of her freezer and fridge stuff to me since they're just about all moved out now so I needed to make some room for the goodies. Well, I pulled out my 11 pound pork roast that I got a major deal on so I'm trying to figure out ways to cook it. I have a feeling I will have the crock pot and the oven going and maybe even have to borrow a crock pot from a friend. I think I'm going to make Cafe Rio Pork and then maybe a BBQ pork. My only problem is that I want to freeze the pork when I'm done cooking it so I'm going to have find room again. I'm really wanting to eat everything out of our fridge and freezer and then make a ton of freezer meals come September and then restock the fridge about a week before. That way I'll be set for this baby to come. I told Ry to be prepared for some VERY creative meals.

Adventures in Potty Training

So here we are on Day #4 and we haven't had an accident since 7 pm on Day #2 so we have been cruisin'!!! He totally knows what to do now, it's just him knowing when he needs to go. I take him to the bathroom just about every hour to 1 1/2 hours and he'll sit and go within a minute and he's done. Quick, easy, and to the point but he has yet to really tell me he needs to go except when he needs to go #2. I guess all in time. I would love to just take him when he needs to and not be sitting in the bathroom every hour, but I'll take what I can get.

So anyway, I decided before this whole thing started that we'd do this whole thing "unplugged"... meaning that we'd have no TV, no phone, no friends, no outings, no distractions so I could be completely focused and be right there for him. It seems to have worked and as if we don't get enough bonding everyday, we've bonded even more. We've been doing all sorts of craft projects, reading all his favorite books, baking things, playing games, doing puzzles, etc. I do have to say that you can get a lot done while playing a game of "Hide and Seek." E loves to hide and so I take my time trying to find him and clean up or pick up along the way. He has no idea what I'm doing and he thinks he's a super good hider. Try it out!

Here is a picture of one of our projects. I had him lay down on a big piece of paper and I traced around him and then he colored himself. He even colored his "wet" (i.e. accident) and I'm sure you can tell where that is located. Anyway...he is so proud of his picture that he wanted it in his room until the fan started blowing it at night and he thought it was a ghost. So now it's on the front on his door.


We did go swimming yesterday morning to get us out of the house and do his favorite thing. It was a great motivator for him and he had a good time playing with some kids.

I don't know if this is totally "little boy instinct" or something, but I swear I have seen pictures like these on many blogs of moms who have little boys. E totally grabbed his undies the other day and followed suit and said he was a super hero when he put his undies on his head. I think I remember a couple of old family stories about my uncle Brad doing this, but he was old enough to ride a bike back then so who knows what he was doing.


So all in all, things are going pretty well around here in the potty realm. We haven't ventured out yet so we'll see how that goes...that will be a whole new ball game. I am so proud of my little E! He is so good! Now I just hope I don't jinx myself and I'll have a really cranky, wet child that wakes up from his nap...

Potty Day 3

So sorry for the "potty posts" but I am still in the trenches. Well, today was a wonderful day! No accidents! I'm totally serious! He went about 8 or 9 times today on the potty, had totally dry undies, and he even told me tonight that he needed to go! What?! It was wonderful! I needed a day like today! One day at a time.

Potty Training Day 2

It was similar to day 1, but more successes than accidents. Things are going good, but I'm seriously wondering if I will ever be able to not worry about him peeing everywhere. I keep drudging up scenarios in my mind right now of how in the world I'm going to do normal things again. Like, what do we do at church during nursery and we're both doing our callings, how can I get my VT done, when will I ever go out with him, how will he even make the drive to my mom's house, when will he ever tell he needs to go potty instead of me telling him, how much longer will my patience last, when will he ever sleep later than 6, how will we do this with a newborn, and the list goes on and on. I'm seriously having a lot of anxiety over this whole thing. What is my problem?! Well, this whole potty training thing is really bringing it home that we're having another baby and that life is ever changing. And right now some of those changes are already happening and it's already exhausting. I guess I'm having those pre-baby jitters right now. All I have to say is Potty Training right now while I'm 7 months pregnant is rough and I'm not really enjoying it.

Conclusion of Potty Training Day 1

So here is what happened from where I left off. Sorry if you don't care to hear about potty training, just skip the next few weeks of entries. This is what I'm dealing with for the moment. Anyway...E woke up from his nap, completely dry! He ran right to the bathroom and went potty when he woke up and he woke up really happy. Hooray! Ry got home around 5:15 and E got really excited and got kind of hyper so he ended up having a little dribble accident (just got his undies wet) so we ran him to the bathroom and he went the rest of the way. Anyway, tonight he ended up pooping in the potty and then went pee pee right before bed. So my night ended on a GREAT note! The last big accident he had was around 12 and other than that he's been doing fine. I think he's starting to understand what we need him to do and what the whole process is. I am so proud of him, it's a big change in his life and he's reacting really well to it (for today at least). I swear this morning I was one accident away from going back to diapers, but I'm glad that I didn't cave. I'm just so glad that Ry came home to save me early this evening! It's so nice to have someone there to support the effort and it was good for him to be there in the learning process so E could have the same things happening with both parents instead of being confused. Now on to another day of potty training, may the potty force be with me!

I'm Going To Die!

It's now 2:45, E is down for a nap and I am this close to putting him back in diapers and hoping he'll eventually potty train himself by college! I swear! This is how our day has gone...
We officially started the potty kick off at 8:30 and had the "Good-bye Diapers" ceremony. I had him put all of his diapers in a box and tell them good bye and brought out the big boy undies that he had picked out over the weekend. He took about 10 years to pick which pair he was going to wear and finally settled on Spiderman. Then I took him in the kitchen and explained all the special things we were going to do today, the reward system, and took him in the bathroom for the first official pee pee time. I seriously sat in the bathroom with him for over half an hour and he just sat there dinkin' around. He wouldn't pay attention to what he was doing, he sat so his pee would fly everywhere if he went, or he'd pretend to close himself in the toliet with the toliet seat. After the 30th verse of "squirt the pee pee out," I was tired. He did go a little bit so we did our celebration and he got to have his special cup with his special drink (gatorade) for being such a good boy and he got a sticker on his potty chart.
Well, I let him pick out what he watned to do so we played play doh for awhile. Every 10 minutes we'd do dry checks where he feels his underwear and tells me if he's wet or dry. Of course after a few mintues of play doh, he's wet. Off we go to the laundry room for him to take care of his wetness. Then back to play doh and then painting.
Anyway, I'll spare you the rest of the details since I'm tired of potty training and I don't want to even breath the word anymore. So in the full 6 hours of doing potty training we've had 3 accidents and 1 success. I guess we'll see what happens when he wakes up, wish me luck!!!

Potty Training

I have taken on the task of starting to potty train this week. Wish me luck! I'm going to need it and all the patience I can get. E actually can poop in the potty and has completely trained with that for just about a month with very few accidents so I'm pretty much only working on staying dry. I guess I should consider myself lucky. It was very easy to get him to poop in the potty, I'm just worried about how staying dry will go. I know there will never be a convenient time and that something will always come up, but I think now would be a good time to get things going before the baby. We'll probably have some set backs when the baby comes, but at least we'll have a good 2 months under us and we'll take things as they come. E is definately ready, more than ready. Incentives and praise works really well for him and when he really wants something, he's quick to do what he needs to do. So I'm basically going to be at home completely focusing on bathroom fun for the next little while. So if you don't hear from me, you'll know why. Why is the summer always the time for big tranistion times? I remember last summer we were taking away the binky and putting him in a big boy bed. This summer is potty time. Bring on the summer fun, I guess!

Dr. Appointment

I had my Dr. appointment yesterday and everything went really well. Now I'll be going every 2 weeks, wow! Baby sounded great and is head down. He's actually measuring a week ahead, surprise surprise, we have big babies here. I'm right on track with my weight gain and I totally passed my glucose test. As of right now, everything in the preterm department is quiet, hallelujah, but I didn't start my preterm labor with E until I was 30 weeks so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Only time will tell I guess. The wedding ring still fits on my finger and no sausage toes yet, but I still have a good 10-11 weeks to go so that could all change in a matter of days. I'll keep you posted.

4th of July Weekend

This year we had a little bit different weekend than usual. My mom and I finished up E's room the day before so Ry was off the hook for painting (I think he was really happy about that). But as for me, I feel really good right now and I'm really wanting to get some things done around here. Ry's weekends are very limited with YMs since high adventure and youth conference are taking up his next 2 weekends so I knew I had to utilize my resources the best I could while I had him available. And let's be honest, I wanted to spend time with my husband and my son and have some of our own family time. So the 4th was really great, Ry helped me get so much done off my list!!! The garage is clean and organized, the closets have been gone through and organized, all the baby stuff has been found and washed, E's room is done, and my house is getting to be in order. While E took his nap, I finished up my lesson for Sunday and afterwards we took E to go see Wall E. We liked it, some slow parts, but for the most part it was good. So our 4th was really good, low key.

Saturday we went and spent time with our families. We went over and saw Amy and baby Chloe at the hospital for awhile. After that we headed over to my parents and put E down for his nap and we hung out. Of course, the first thing on E's agenda when we woke up was to go swimming. It was really fun since Ry has never seen him swim this year and E's quite the little fish these days. I think if we'd let E swim as long as he wanted he would honestly swim all day long. After some great grilling, we headed over to see Ry's family. Ry's dad took E out for an evening of his dreams. Golfing, fishing, running outside, and drinking gatorade...what more could a little boy ask for? Seriously!

28 weeks

These pictures are for Liz, she asked so here you go. I feel like this pregnancy has gone by really fast, but right now I feel like it's going to be a long time until it's over. I noticed that I haven't posted any preggo pictures so here is probably the only one I'll post since I'm at the point that I'm not huge, but I'm pregnant. I feel the hugeness is coming, ahhh! I can at least wear my wedding ring still and my pre pregnancy jeans are still wearable under the belly so that's really good. I feel pretty well for the most part, a little bit of heartburn here and there but nothing a little TUMS can't fix. I'm enjoying the good times because I know how uncomfortable I got with E. I was miserable towards the end with E. I got soooo swollen, I had carpel tunnel in both arms, my heartburn was constant, and my back killed. I'm really not looking forward to that and I'm hoping that it won't be that bad again. I guess time will tell.

Baby Chloe!

My siser-in-law, Amy, had her baby on July 2nd! Chloe Lynn came in at 5 lbs 6 oz and 18 inches long, not bad for being a tad bit early (at 35 weeks). We went to see her on Saturday and I was even able to go in the Nicu to take a little peek. She's on CPAP (Continous Positive Airway Pressure) and then under the bilirubin lights so that's why you can only see her cute little lips. She has quite a bit of hair and she is super cute! I can't wait until I can hold her! Congrats Nicol family!

Big Boy Room Project

Having a baby makes you all crazy about getting projects done so I have list of things to do. One of those things is redoing E's room. When we moved in we decorated his room with all the nursery stuff so now all the nursery stuff has been moved to the baby's room and E only has his new big boy bedding and not much else going on. So I got it in my head that I wanted to do something new. I decided I wanted to paint 2 horizontal stripes on his wall to start out and then pick out all his wall decor.
I called up my mom since she is really good with painting projects and she offered to come up today and measure everything and tape. Then the plan was to have Ry paint it tomorrow. My mom and I work pretty well together so things went remarkably fast. I measured and marked while she leveled and taped. It only took us one time around the room and everything matched up really well. To be honest, my mom only thought we'd only get the taping done today, but needless to say she was wrong. After about 2 hours of taping (and E interruptions) we were done.

We took a break to go to Home Depot and pick up the paint. I ended up taking E's pillow sham with us and they had the camera there to match the two stripe colors that I wanted, navy blue and khaki. I think the colors turned out matching really well. When we got home, I got E lunch and down for a nap while my mom started rocking it out on the painting. By the time I got in there she had already sealed the tape with the original wall color and started on the navy. So we worked on painting the stripes and ended up doing 3 coats of Navy and 2 coats of Khaki.

My mom took a look at me at one point while we were painting and said, "do you realize that these are totally BYU colors?" And then I looked down and I was even wearing my BYU t-shirt! Ironic, I guess. I guess we're a BYU family through and through. (I know I look so lovely on painting days!)

Anyway...we pulled the tape while it was still drying and started to touch up as E was waking up (perfect timing). So we tried to work around a riled up E since he was so excited that something fun was happening in his room. So here is the finished product. I am so proud! The colors turned out perfect, the size of the stripe is exactly what I wanted, and the lines came out totally straight. Hooray! We got it all done and cleaned up before Ry even got home. Needless to say, he is very excited about the room and the fact that he doesn't have to paint it.

Now if you guys have any good ideas for wall decor, send them my way.

Words Cannot Express...

I really don't have much to say about these pictures since they basically speak for themselves. They just really make me laugh. Ry sent E into the kitchen a couple of nights ago looking like this...
I just started busting out laughing and of course E loved that. Ry also had to get in on the action. I love the "mullet hair flick."
We're all about "business in the front and party in the back" in this family!

Golfing

This post is for Trav and Tanya since their son will be E's future golf partner. As many of you know, E has been in love with golfing since he was 16 months old, not even joking. He's gone through a few sets of plastic clubs in the process, but his dad went out the other day and got him a real set. You know, in order for him to get the feel of a real club (that's according to the husband). Well, the day they went out to get his clubs, E had such a blast! Ry put him in the simulator at the golf store and let him hit a few balls and by the time he got swinging, he had a small crowd of people around him watching this 2 1/2 year old hitting the ball 60 yards. It's pretty funny. Everyday when Ry comes home from work, E asks to go to the golf store. He just loves it there. So here are some picks from our backyard excursions. I think Ry will have a little golfing buddy for a long time (and maybe someday E will beat the pants off his dad!).

How Did This Happen?

E is one of those kids that has to be put to bed in order for him to understand that it's time to sleep. Some of you guys have kids that when they're tired they'll crash somewhere or will fall asleep to a movie, not my child. When he's tired he just seems to catch a "second wind" and never settles down. It's like you have to make him stop long enough for him to realize that he's tired and it's time for him to go to sleep. Well, on Saturday I had to take a defensive driving class because I got pulled over the other day so I was gone pretty much all day. Ry was taking care of him that day and E decided to make a big pillow pit and ended up falling asleep while Ry was organizing our office. The only other time this has happened was when he was sick and on medicine that made him really drowsy so this was a pretty big event. I didn't know that this could ever happen. In order to get proof, Ry took some pictures so here is the evidence.

Peruvian Gifts

A bunch of our family, including my in-laws, went to Peru to go visit our Aunt and Uncle that are serving in Lima as mission president. Well, my mother-in-law came up last Sunday to bring E some special Peruvian souvenirs from their trip. Unfortunately our A/C went out that day so my poor mother-in-law ended up having to swelter along with us. One of the gifts that she brought E was a really cute Peruvian hat that E immediately loved. He put it right on his head and then ran into his room and was gone for awhile. So we went about visiting and all of a sudden E comes back out of his room with his coat and he wanted help to put it on. Keep in mind that it is probably about 86 degrees in our house and he wants to put on his coat and his new hat. How can a mom say no? So we helped him put on his stuff and he went outside to play. Isn't he so cute? Plus, the hat matches his coat perfectly...grandmas just know these things I guess.