Potty Training

I've been bombarded by family and friends for the last few months, asking when we'll start potty training Evan. And I've always said, I honestly have no desire to potty train Evan because he is more than content to sit in his own pee or poop all day. In fact, Evan has been one of those kids that can soak through a diaper in an hour if you aren't careful. He started wearing overnight diapers when he was only three months old because he slept all night and a regular diaper wouldn't work.

A couple months ago I started putting both boys on the potty every night before bath, just seeing if they'd go. It's been hit or miss with both of them. Sometimes they both get a skittle for going potty, and other times they are both crying because I won't give them a skittle since they didn't potty. But lately things have taken a bit of turn. Evan is actually really interested in potty training. The last few days, he's been saying he needs to potty. Sometimes he does, and sometimes he doesn't. And then there was today. Every time I changed his diaper, he was dry. A couple of times I changed him because he'd pooped, but he was never wet. And every time I took his diaper off he said, "Mommy, I poop on potty." Which is his way of saying he needs to go potty...don't ask me how he got hooked on this phrase because I don't have a clue! So I rushed him to the bathroom and sure enough, he'd pee on the potty. I think we might actually get him potty trained by his third birthday! I'm hoping it isn't just wishful thinking!

So, my goal over the next few weeks is to get him to tell me more often that he needs to go, and hopefully get him to start pooping on the potty too! I would love to get one of the boys out of diapers!

Messy Eater

Last night at dinner I realized I hadn't gotten the camera out in quite a while, so I decided to take a few shots of the boys. Andrew was loving the creamy chicken and biscuits we had for dinner. He made quite the mess, and he loved it!

Well at least supper was good!

What's been going on in our world

I'm just realizing that I've not done a real update on here in quite some time! The boys are amazing, I'm always pleasantly surprised at how quickly they are both growing. Talk about two strong personalities!

Poor Evan has been fighting a stomach bug all weekend and hasn't been able to keep much food down. He ate some mac n cheese and a couple chunks of hot dog for lunch yesterday, but the hot dog didn't agree with him...he spit it out and then was fighting throwing up. He didn't eat anything for dinner, just a couple of chunks of banana. He is drinking though so that makes me feel a little better. But he's not running a fever which just seems so odd. The first thing Josh thought of was food poisoning, but Evan has eaten all the same things that we have and none of us have gotten sick. So I think he's just not feeling well. I'm hoping that whatever it is passes quickly, I feel so bad seeing him so worn out.

Lately Andrew has been living up to his little brother status and has been absolutely ornery. He'll purposely touch or take Evan's toys just to annoy him. And he thinks its just hilarious! All the while of course Evan is upset. But they actually can play together now, which is so nice to see. It gives me hope that I won't always be chasing them around thirty times a day because one stole another's toy!

Other than being sick, Evan is doing great. He loves talking and asks a lot of questions. I hear, "Uh, mommy" at least a hundred times every day. Don't ask me why he says "Uh" first, I suppose he's picking up on what Josh and I say and we don't even realize. But he's also starting mumbling, which I'm trying very hard to break him of. The mumbling drives me nuts! But for the most part he is just doing amazing. And the world revolves around his choo choos and tractors. Those are his absolute favorite toys.

Today is Josh's first official day back at Syngenta. I know that he's excited to be going back, even if it's only for a couple of months. He's been going a little crazy without something to do during the week. But I know we'll both miss taking turns sleeping in lol! No more late night kindle reading or marathon crocheting sessions for me. I'm going to have to try to start going to bed before midnight for once! (Which I obviously didn't do tonight lol!)

I promise to post some pics in the next few days...it seems that I keep forgetting to pull my camera out these days, I need to change that!

Another post from Miss Crafty!

As I'm sure you'd all be just shocked to know, I love crafts! I am a hands on person and love being creative. So other than my scrapbooking, I crochet. I love to crochet. I've been doing it ever since I was about 9 when I tagged along on a weekend trip with my brother Tylor to visit his friend Michael back in Indianola. We'd only been living in Maxwell about a year and I somehow wormed my way into staying the weekend in Indianola at the Ramirez's. Michael's mom Chris asked me if I knew how to crochet, I said No, and she said oh it's so easy let me show you. It's been a love-hate relationship ever since lol! I love to hate crocheting, and I hate to love it!

My first projects were epic failures. Countless times I started off trying to make a pretty baby afghan or a scarf and ended up with uneven stitches and something ultimately ugly. It's not been until recent years that I've actually been able to complete a project and look at and say, "Hey! That looks pretty dang good!" Granted I still haven't been able to make a completely "perfect" project but I've sure made a heck of a lot of scarves and baby blankets!

And now for the reason for this post. Yesterday I started my biggest project to date. I'm making a blanket for Evan. I found some awesome cotton yarn at a neat store in Prescott, Arizona when I was visiting Melissa. The blanket will hopefully be done in a year, I'm crossing my fingers on that one!!! And so far it's looking amazing! The ends are matching up nicely, and the tension is even. So far so good! Oh, I forgot to mention that the finished project is going to be a blanket big enough to cover a single or twin bed. Wish me luck! Lol!

And now a word from miss crafty!

I promised a friend I would post pics of my Christmas crafting projects. I will fully admit that I borrowed the idea from my scrapbooking club. I made these dry erase boards to give to the "girls" at my mother-in-laws Christmas Eve celebration. And everyone loved them!

I made six, well seven of these for Christmas gifts. I made a different one for my mom that I forgot to take pictures of.

I didn't take pictures of the steps. But here's the basic layout and list of supplies.

1. 11x14 picture frame with a wide edge to stick the marker on.

2. Adhesive velcro patches, I found pre-cut squares at Staples.

3. Dry-erase markers, I found packs of all black ones at Staples.

4. Four sheets of coordinating scrapbooking paper.

-dimensions for background sheets are 4x5, 4x9, 5x7, and 9x7.

5. Your choice of a light-colored cardstock to use for the title, notes, and calendar.

a. Title dimensions 1 3/4 inches by 6 3/4 inches

b. Notes dimensions 8x4

c. Calendar dimensions 7 inches by 6 3/4 inches

There ya' have it! That's it! I have a cricut and that's what I used to cut out the wording for Notes.

Wanna Know Where to Get Good Deals?

I started following this blog when I quit my job at the jail. Even though Josh and I have been amazingly blessed, I still try to save us some money when I can. And this blog is awesome. And since I know some of my followers are currently anticipating some major life changes, I just wanted to share.

http://babygoodbuys.com/

And one thing that some people don't always realize is that it never hurts to check company websites. Target has coupons available all the time, but they are only available for you to print yourself at home from their website. I take advantage of their coupons and double them up with manufacturer coupons for things like diapers, wipes, formula-when we were using formula, baby food, toilet paper, groceries, etc. This blog shows you how to use sales and coupons to your advantage and get the best deal possible. I know it never hurts to save a little money in todays economy.

NYE 2010

After having not gone out for New Years Eve since my freshman or sophomore year in college, Josh and I decided we needed to get out of the house this year. Our friend's Cody and Dana were hosting a little gathering at their house so we went down to Urbandale to ring in the new year. Lots and lots of food was consumed, there was definitely drinks and champagne, and there were a lot of shenangians! Many people got "iced" and we all played games of some type. All in all, it was a great night and I hope we can all get together and do it again soon!