Equality in Parenting

This morning was a HUGE morning for us. Luke woke up dry so I hurried and put him on the potty - we sat there for a full 10 minutes and nothing. So I let him get off for a few minutes and had to go in the other room for a few minutes so he wouldn't see how upset and disappointed I was in myself for not being able to potty train him. Then I stuck him back on the potty with a full glass of his favorite drink (strawberry milk) and told him he had to drink the whole thing before he could get off. He wouldn't even sip it (I'm sure because his bladder was way too full) finally he let go and went and trust me he went and went and went. I've never seen a kid with such a big bladder! Then I got Claire up and she sat on the potty and went too. What a great morning. The funny part however is the reactions to their successes. They both got "special" stickers on their potty charts and I told them how proud I was of them. Then Luke got to pick any toy he wanted and I just kept telling him how proud I was of him. My mom was over since she is watching the kids this week and just laughed at how much more praise Luke was getting than Claire and she said "isn't it hard to have equality in parenting?" It made me laugh and think about the truth of it and how many times when I was little I would tell my parents "that's not fair...so-in-so got to do this and I don't." We live and we learn.

All in a days work

Most days being a mom who works outside of the home isn't too bad. My job is very relaxed most of the time so I can take off if I need to for the kids doctor's appointments or anything that comes up and I live really close to work. But I have to complain just a little today (we all deserve it every once in a while). This morning came way too early thanks to day light savings time and on my way to teach my spin class the clock in my car said 4:32 am - UGH! I quickly changed that at a light so I wouldn't have to think about it. I got home around 7 and after my nice hot shower really just wanted to climb back in bed for 30 minutes until it was time to get Tayson off to school. But there was way too much to do. So I went around the house and gathered up all the sippy cups and got everything in the dishwasher, folded and put away 4 loads of laundry (my fault for not finishing the job on Saturday), changed 2 poopie diapers, got the kids dressed, pulled out a dinner to thaw, and somehow managed to get myself ready and dressed to get to work as close to 9 as possible (I actually made it here at about 9:07 am). Thanks to Todd I didn't have get Tayson breakfast or get him dressed and ready for school. Lucky for me it's a slow day with no meetings today so I can spend the rest of my day relaxing while working on the computer instead of chasing the kids around. :)

A great week

The sun is shining and it's a beautiful day...no I am not going to take my kids for a walk. I have had a great workout week, back to 5 days - thanks to having Traci back among the living and some great advice about taking iron (which I started last week and it has made a world of difference). I bought a hot new pair of maternity jeans so I can have skinny days again. The kids are healthy and sleeping all night long and life is GREAT! Sometimes it's just all the small things that make the good in life outweigh the bad.

Funny quote from Tayson this week: "You gotta big bum and you weigh a ton." He said this to me when I got on his case about using too much toilet paper when wiping and he said that's how much you use mom. So I told him I have a bigger bum. I learned my lesson with that comment - give 'em an inch and they'll take a mile!

The Boots

For some reason snow boots are only on sale in Utah until the end of October. During January and February when we were hit with snow 5 out of 7 days a week every store had swimsuits but NO snow boots. Anyways, my brother Steve was taking his boys sledding so he invited Tayson and Luke to go along with them. Of course my boys had no snow boots since I didn't prepare last fall for the heavy winter we had. Todd and I were both at work so my parents ran them to Wal-Mart to get them boots. No snow boots...but there were some sweet rubber galoshes. Luke's fit him great, but the next size up from Luke's were size 5 adult which my mom bought for Tayson so he would at least have something. This would have been fine if they were only used for sledding. However, they have turned into their favorite shoes and I had to force Tayson into different shoes every morning before school. His boots are hilarious and he can barely walk in them, but he wears them every chance he gets. He LOVES his boots. Yesterday they both wanted to go outside to play since it was sunny and not too cold (high 30's) so they put on their boots. We had them pose for a quick photo op when they came in from playing. Yep, Luke is wearing basketball shorts with his boots and Tayson's really do go up to his knees. The second Luke took his off Claire put them on and then stood in the same spot ready for her picture too.

Technology

It amazes me how much technology is in my kids lives. We have a lot of gadgets in our home because of Todd. I love this picture of Claire. We were trying to get ready for church and she wanted lots of attention, so being the great parents we are Todd gave her his iPhone and she watched a movie sitting on the bed while we finished getting ready. If we are out at a restaurant or anywhere the kids are bored we hand them our cellphones and they play games or watch movies - it's fabulous. The kids can get around on our home computer so well it amazes me and right before we left on our cruise I told Tayson I would take lots of pictures for him while we were gone and he said "are you going to put them on the Internet for us?" It is just so funny to me how different life is for them than it was for me growing up. We couldn't even get my dad to put a radio in the car when I was little so on our long family road trips all we could do was sit on the floor (not in seat belts or car seats of course) and play games like slapping each others wrists. Oh the good old days.

It's Potty Time

Mornings are usually a little hectic for me. I got home from the gym this morning at about 7:15 and the boys were already awake and downstairs playing so I had time to jump in the shower and try to start getting ready. Right after my shower I heard Claire talking in her room so I went to get her out of her crib. She wanted to get dressed right away rather than kick it in her jammies like most mornings. Then she just hung around me while I tried to put on makeup. In no time it was 7:45 and time to get Tayson dressed, fed and off to school. On his way up he banged his knee on the door frame which caused him to be completely incapable of walking - he's so dramatic. I of course can't carry him up the stairs without killing my back so I woke up Todd to have him carry Tayson upstairs (it just wasn't worth fighting with Tayson). When Todd went downstairs Tayson was feeling well enough to run around playing with Luke so he ended up having to walk upstairs all on his own. :) He was really good this morning and ate 2 bowls of cereal and got dressed fast so we had a few minutes before he had to walk to the bus stop so he yells "it's potty time!" Tayson got Luke and Claire and headed back into the bathroom where I was still trying to finish getting ready. We got Luke on the big potty, Claire on her potty seat and Tayson grabbed his Diego folding chair and Todd's guitar and started playing a "potty song" for them and singing to them. It was so hilarious to me.

Tayson loves potty time and is always encouraging Luke and Claire to go sit on the potty so he can do the robot dance, sing them a song, read them a book or just be silly for them. Of course it gets pretty crowded in the bathroom when the whole family has to be in there. I love Tayson's enthusiasm with potty training. If only Luke and Claire would go potty!!!

Wal-Mart

So I am not one to shop at Wal-Mart - it's too stressful for me. The aisles are too small and there are too many people. I have been hit by people's carts one to many times so I avoid it as much as I can. Last Saturday I was on the go all day trying to get a few things done (like going to breakfast with the girls and buying some new maternity clothes) but I absolutely had to go to the store before my big fun date with Todd that night (we went to see "The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee Contest" - so fun!). I was completely out of trash bags and diapers...so no waiting until Monday.

So I thought since Todd was home with the kids all morning while I did fun stuff I should let him go play volleyball in the afternoon. So I took all 3 kids to Wal-Mart for a "quick" trip. Yea right. First we got there I get all the kids out of their car seats and through the parking lot only to find no shopping carts. So we all head back out into the parking lot. Since I only have 2 hands and 3 kids it can get a little crazy in a parking lot and one option for the boys is to hold my back pocket so I know they are close and where they are. This is Luke's favorite way to walk in a parking lot and while we went to get our cart he kept pulling on my pants until I swear they almost fell down! So we got our cart which only sat 2 and was so big it was hard to steer and headed into the store. Because it only had 2 seats Tayson just stood next to Luke's seat and they were so close there was no way to keep them from constantly touching each other.

We made it through the food section with only a few extra items that I would normally not buy thanks to Tayson being my "runner" and loading up the cart. On our way past the diapers and over to the toys I was telling Luke to stop touching Claire and she was yelling at him when I ran into an old friend who I haven't seen in over a year. Just how you want your friends to see you....3 kids out of control! She has 5 of her own kids (lucky for her they were at home) so she just laughed with me at the insanity. We had to get lots of toys for the boys for their book and potty charts (yep, I am all about bribery), and the kids were amazingly good during the toy shopping part of our trip. Then we headed to the checkout and I ran into my sister (good thing I showered and wasn't wearing pajama bottoms since I always run into people at Wal-Mart). I let the kids each buy a treat at the checkout so we made it through without any huge meltdowns. Then when we walked outside some huge wind and rain storm hit and we got soaked and almost blown away in the parking lot. I am so the mom I swore I would never be before I had kids....I just sat there while they fought in the shopping cart then I even bought them treats to keep them quite! Oh well we got our diapers and trash bags. I swear I am never going anywhere near Wal-Mart again on a Saturday, especially with all my kids!!!