A Potty Post

Y'all sick of posts about peepee and poopoo and potty?

Tough!

Let me update on the past two days (not that you care at all, but so I can go back and remember this stuff when I'm going through it with Andy...).  Yesterday (Monday) Cal woke up and we put him in underwear.  I sat down to nurse Andy and Cal went into our bathroom while Eddie was in the shower and told him he had to pee.  Eddie started yelling for me, and by the time I pried Andy off and ran down the hall, he had a little accident.  It was very little though, and he was trying to tell us.  I was planning on going to the gym, and this little incident had me nervous.  We got dressed for the day in underwear and pants and headed out.  The girls at the gym are as sweet as can be and they were on board with us trying.  Before I left Cal, I took him into the potty and he went like a champ. 
He stayed dry at the gym and I tried to get him to go before leaving, but he said he didn't have to go, so we left.  I picked up lunch on the way home and he was ready to eat when we arrived at the house.  He climbed up in his chair immediately... I should have made him go pee first-- lesson learned.  He had an accident while eating lunch and watching Mickey-- I think he was so tuned out watching tv that he didn't even realize what he was doing. 
He had a diaper for nap time and then no accidents the rest of the day.

Today, Tuesday, was a school day.  And I was nervous.  He only wanted to wear his big boy underwear to school-- no pull ups, no diapers.  So I let him.  When I got to school, his usual teacher was gone and he had another one filling in.  Luckily, he really likes this woman!  She and the director both encouraged Cal to wear pull ups for the next few times at school until he gets comfortable telling them he has to go.  Basically, they are really trying to avoid accidents on the carpet-- I totally get that!!! So, I put a pull up on him and put his big boy underwear on on top.  He was good to go!  Two of the other boys in his class have started training too, so he was excited since they were wearing pull ups too. 

I was nervous at pickup...the last time we attempted "training" at school he was wearing the school-issued horrible shorts when I picked him up since he had peed through all of the back ups I sent!  When I walked up to the teachers, they immediately asked me if he peed standing or sitting.  I told them he does both.  They said they tried to get him to go sitting, but he did much better standing.  Soooo....does that mean he did okay???? 

He did!  Cal went on the potty and his pull up stayed dry the whole time! YAY! When I got there, I asked him if he had to pee and the teachers told me they took him about 5 minutes before so he should be fine.... well, he walked right into the bathroom and pulled me into a stall.  I lifted him onto the potty and he peed a TON! 

As I was typing that last paragraph, Cal, who is napping, just called out for me saying "I need to go peepee!"  I went in to get him and his pull up is dry.  I took him to the potty, but he didn't go...?  hmmm.....

Adventures in potty training.....................!!!

Diaper-free weekend

Cal may be his dad's mini-me but he's a lot like his momma. When I was younger, I woke up one morning and said "no more diapers!" and I refused to wear them again. Cal pretty much did the same thing this weekend!

It started on Thursday after nap time. He didn't want to put a diaper back on. I let him go diaper-less with pants on top. He did really well and had one small accident just before dinner. He did NOT like the way that felt.

Friday he didn't want to wear a diaper. After I put one on him any way, he took it off to go on the potty. He napped in a diaper and I put him in another one after nap time. We ran a few errands and then met my parents for dinner at the club. Right after we sat down, Cal said "I need to go potty". I didn't really know if he meant it, but he insisted upon going right then. I took him in and his diaper was dry and he peed a ton on the potty!

Saturday morning, I thought we'd just roll with it. I was feeling momentum and didn't want to stop it. The thing was, I had a baby shower to attend and was one of the hosts so I had to be there for set up and clean up... That's a long time for potty training with a sitter! Thankfully my aunt was our sitter and she is a trooper and up for a challenge.

I left Cal in his loose fitting pajamas with nothing underneath and he did great! No accidents! I came home to him standing on a stool next to the potty peeing like a big boy (until then he's been sitting down). He wore a diaper to nap time and I took it off right after nap. It was an accident free day! Other than a clogged toilet, the day was a success-- Cal enjoyed flushing toilet paper a little too much...

Today, Sunday, we decided to try wearing big boy underpants. He did great!! Again, no accidents! We have been sticking close to home, so today Eddie took him to pick up breakfast and we all went on a walk today, just to get him used to holding it. Oh, and we stopped asking him if he had to go- he started telling us, or we noticed a few signs he was doing so we could tell him to go potty.

I guess we will just keep on going with this... He has a fit when I try to put a diaper on him, so I guess I'll just continue on. Tomorrow will be interesting...I'm going to go to the gym and really test him...fingers crossed! And school on Tuesday.... Ohhhh, Lordy....

Oh- he is only peeing on the potty. He went number 2 in his diaper during nap time on Friday and hasn't gone since. Add that to the challenges to cross this week!

Friday Friday

Does he look sick to you? 

After yet another round of throwing up last night, I decided it was time to take Andy to the doctor this morning.  The vomiting has been fairly constant for almost a week now, and it just didn't seem like a bug.  If it was something I was feeding him, then I needed to figure out what, and if he had some kind of allergy, I needed to know that too.    Also, when I was cleaning his ears in the tub, he was pulling away more than normal and was really not liking me to be any where near his ears.  I figured they could check on that too while we were there.  

He weighed in a 21.5 pounds (woah) and had a temp of 99.8- not bad at all.  When the doctor came back, I explained all of the symptoms and he was pretty baffled.  He kept saying, "hmmm, well that IS a mystery!"  Uhhh.... okay.  He immediately ruled out an ear infection because he thought Andy was too calm and happy.  He said babies with ear infections are much more uncomfortable and irritable.   He checked everything else and thought everything was good.  He thought maybe it was a urine infection, but that was quickly ruled out too.  Finally, after checking everything, he looked in his ears...and yup: he has an ear infection in BOTH ears!  Bless his heart-- he is just such a mellow kid that he wasn't acting upset about them!  The doctor was stunned- ha!  Andy is our little mystery kid- haha!  

He gave us some antibiotics and we were done.  Cal went with us... my mom offered to keep him, but I thought he would be okay to go with us.  He was fine for the most part...but he wanted me to hold him while I was holding Andy while he was being examined... it was challenging to say the least!  There is a reason you do not take both kids to well visits!  It was impossible to talk to the doctor about Andy while Cal was opening and closing slamming the cabinet doors. 

And that little snuggle bug above, told me this morning: "Cal no more pay-pers." Let me translate: Cal doesn't wear diapers.  I put some on him anyway, and he came to my bathroom about 20 minutes later and told me he had to pee.  I took the diaper off and he climbed up on the potty to go.  We had some naked time today and he peed on the potty every time.
I put him in a diaper for the doctor and errands today and he announced (loudly) every time he was going. 
Looks like it's about that time....
Lord, be with me.

The Williamson Boys

We've had quite a bit going on around here lately, so I thought I'd do a quick update about each kiddo...


Andy:
Andy has had a bit of a stomach issue this week.  I wrote the other day about him puking right before bed time, and then again in his sleep, but it has happened several more times since then.  At first I thought something I was feeding him wasn't sitting quite right, but now I am starting to think it's a bug going around.  He hasn't had a fever at all, and he is happy as can be, so I just don't know!  He has thrown up (not just spit up- but actual throw up) about 5 times in total over the past 3 days.  A friend called me earlier today and said that her family has the stomach bug going through it so I began thinking it's a bug.  Hopefully it passes soon!

Andy did sleep through the night last night-- down around 7 and up around 6:45-- woohooo!  BUT, he also did not take an afternoon nap yesterday for more than an hour, so he was exhausted.  The night before he woke up at 5 and I was letting him cry it out and then gave in after a while, worried maybe he had puked.  He did not puke, but instead had a way dirty diaper.  Once I am sure this bug is gone and he is no longer puking, I will resume crying it out.  A few nights ago I was letting him cry it out and it woke up Eddie.  He usually sleeps right through it and never hears a thing.  He couldn't take it!  He wanted to go in to him after 4 minutes of him crying.  Hahaha- bless his heart...

Andy is sooooo close to crawling!  He has been getting on all 4s and rocking back and forth.  He also is starting to put his foot forward while in the crawl position, just like Cal did.  Cal never crawled "normally."  He always had one leg in front... it would be too funny if the boys crawled the same "weird" way!

There are still no teeth for Andy... he has started having a little extra drool, so I am thinking we might see some soon...?  Not sure though...
Andy continues to be the happiest kid ever and is constantly smiling and laughing and watching his big brother.  He loves to be read to and he loooooves some snuggle time (and I do too!).

Cal:
CalBoy is doing better in the big boy bed than we ever could have hoped!  He has made this wayyyy too easy.  I do not know why, but I am not complaining! He has slept great in the bed and wakes up late every morning.  The first morning he slept until Eddie went in at 8:30, the second morning, we had to wake him at 8:25 for school, and this morning, I started to worry at 9:15 when he still wasn't talking in there, so I went in and he was happy as could be just hanging out in his bed!  Napping is going well too (fingers crossed I am not jinxing this).  He took a four and a half hour nap yesterday in his bed!  CRAZY!  We broke down the crib last night and took it up to the attic. 
As a note to myself, when we are doing this with Andy: we moved a pillow into the crib several months ago and I think that really helped with the transition into the bed.  He was moving all over the crib from one end to the other and the pillow kept him on one end, in position.  He loves to lay on the pillow and now on the bed, I think the pillow helps him feel where he's supposed to be...

We are not potty training Cal right now, since we need to take the transitions once step at a time, BUT, he does go peepee on the potty every time we put him on there, which is mostly just before a bath.  Yesterday, we were downstairs and he pooped (in his diaper) and I didn't have any of his diapers downstairs and I didn't want to run up to grab once since I was cooking dinner, feeding Andy, etc etc, so I just let him play with his pants on with nothing underneath (gasp).  I told him to tell me if he had to peepee and we would go.  About 30 minutes later, he came over to me and said "I need to peepee now" so we went to the bathroom and he peed on the potty!  It was awesome!  Then today we were at the gym and he pooped in his diaper.  The girl came to get me to tell me and I realized that I was driving my dad's car and I didn't  have any diapers with me.  I took off his poopy diaper and then just put his pants back on and told him to tell me if he had to pee.  He didn't want me to leave him in the play room again so we left and ran an errand then came home for lunch.  I didn't say much about peepeeing, just to see if he would tell me.  He didn't have any accidents!  When it was time to go down for a nap, we went to the potty and he peed (quite a bit) and then I put a diaper on him for bed!  We aren't there yet, but I think when we decide to train, we are going to try the "naked" method...which is simply not wearing a diaper/underwear... it helps boys, in particular, learn the sensation of pee.  Could be a total disaster...I'll keep ya posted!  (goody, right??!!)
And last thing about Cal... he seems to have really grown in the past month-- his legs are getting longer by the day, it seems!  Pants that were once super long on him are now high waters... crazy how fast they grow!  Cue the tears....

Eddie:
Eddie was in a slight fender bender on the way home from work Monday night.  No one was hurt, thankfully, but it has been the biggest pain in the rear!  Five cars were involved, so it was messy, but it was really just a little fender bender for the most part.  Well, in the middle of all of the shuffle, the police officer misplaced/dropped/lost Eddie's driver's license...! Not a big deal normally...but Eddie is going out of town this week for work! He can fly with his passport, but he has to have a driver's license to rent a car once he gets where he's going.  Normally, you would be able to go to the DMV, say you lost your ID, and then get a new one.  Nope.  Not any more!  You have to go there and they MAIL you the new card, which can take up to 10 days.  The whole thing is just a mess and SO annoying!  I feel terrible for Eddie having to work and deal with this junk.  Eddie is driving my car today and I am driving my dad's super duty pick up truck.  I am feeling a little bad ass in it :)  Cal loves the truck and keeps asking if we are going to see Poppa- haha!

There's a look at our week!  Fun and busy times around here!

Cal "sharing" his cars with Andy.  By sharing, he piles them all on top of Andy's legs and says "here, Andy, here. you play like this." It is too sweet.  And you know Hank can't miss out on the play time!

BIG BOY BED!

As a follow up to yesterday's post--Cal is, once again, sleeping in the big boy bed!!! Yesterday's nap went well, and after he woke up, I attached the bed rail and remade his bed with a lighter weight blanket.  Here is is right after nap time, sooooo excited and proud!

At bed time last night, we had a little excitement-- Andy had an upset tummy apparently, and projectile vomited everywhere.  I was frozen after round one, a little surprised that so much just came out of my little guy, so I didn't move out of his bed room-- then rouund two hit and covered the entire dresser and floor.  Eddie came in at this point and told me to get to the bathroom, but it was like I couldn't move fast enough, so round three hit and covered the changing table and floor again.  It was impressive.  Even more impressive-- Andy never stopped smiling the whole time.  Seriously. It was a LOT of throw up, so we were cleaning all of that up right at bed time...

After things were under control and I actually sprang into action instead of standing there like a buffoon, we were ready for Cal to go night night in his big boy bed!

We went into the room, like normal, and put him in the bed.  He was still really excited about it.  We gave him his cars just like in the crib and he was giddy.  And then I repeated the same thing I did as during nap time: "you stay in your crib until mommy or daddy come to get you-- you do not get out of your big boy bed." He got a little upset when we said this and he started crying.  We both kissed him and then walked out the door.  He cried for about 5 minutes and then it got quiet. 

I put Andy down and then checked back in with Cal.  He was almost asleep, but popped his head up when he saw the door open (whoops!). I went quickly over to his bed and told him we needed to say prayers together and he put his hands together real fast and was asleep by the time we finished!

That sweet kid slept through the night...and did not make a peep once!  At 8:30, Eddie could hear him in there playing with his cars, so he went in and Cal was still laying in the bed, head on the pillow, just holding two cars playing quietly.  HOT DAMN!

He is taking a nap in there again today, so I guess it's time to say bye to the crib! 

thank goodness this little nugget still loves his crib...or momma would be reallly upset!!!

 

BIG times 'round here!

Hope you all have had a great weekend!

As I am typing this right now, Mr. CalBoy is sleeping away at nap time in his BIG BOY BED!  I kind of can't believe it!  He has been talking about his big boy bed for a while, but he loves his crib so much, so we didn't push it at all.  Truth be told, I was totally not ready for him to move to the bed yet.  He is so happy in his crib; he is CONFINED in his crib... why rush him out of there?!?! Not to mention, everyone who knows Cal can't believe he has never attempted to crawl out of the crib.  He is my wild dare devil and he is perfectly content to not escape, for whatever reason!

Well, today at nap time, he was put in his crib and started crying like crazy.  I went back in and asked him what was wrong and he said he wanted to sleep in the big boy bed.  Sometimes, if he wakes up from his nap a little early, I will let him get in his big boy bed with the iPad to rest a while longer.  Today, I told him he needed to stay in his crib to nap.  I walked out of the room and he started screaming "BIG BOY BED! I WANT BIG BOY BED!"  Okayyyyyy, fine. 

As soon as I put him in his big boy bed, he asked for the iPad.  I explained to him that if he was going to be in his big boy bed at nap time, he needed to go to sleep.  I walked out and checked on him 5 minutes later and he was sound asleep! 

Several weeks ago, I bought the side rails that go on the bed to keep a kid from falling out.  They have been in the box, leaning on the wall outside Cal's door every since (ahem. don't get me started).  So today, when he napped, I took the box apart and assembled the rails-- now I just have to attach them when he wakes up!  He also needed some kind of a blanket to go in between the sheet and comforter.  If he throws up or has one of the episodes like we did a few weeks ago where I was changing ALL bedding every morning, I would be SOL because I can't wash the comforter.  So, I headed out while the boys slept and bought him a new blanket!  When he wakes up, I am going to transform his bed and make it super cozy so he will want to continue sleeping there.

If tonight goes well with sleeping, we will take the crib down tomorrow....!  CRAZY!

It is such a mix of emotions for me... how can my little man be old enough to be in a big boy bed?? 

Remembering some fun time in the crib with some throwbacks:

who can forget this one?

PS- Cal took a 3 hour nap in the bed and woke up drenched in sweat-- the comforter is too hot for him.  Glad I got the other blanket for tonight!  Will update tomorrow!

Happy Friday, y'all

"miracle" might have been the wrong word

well, maybe I was a little overly excited in the last post.  Andy DID sleep through the night...but the following night he was up for his regular 3 am wake up call! DANG IT!  I let him cry for 2 hours (!!!), and then finally decided to go in.  Right when I went in he was on his tummy, fingers in mouth, about to fall back asleep on his own!  He heard the door creak open and he jumped up.  I was watching him on the video monitor, but I couldn't tell that he was almost asleep....shoot!

He was not soaked, however, when I went in, which makes me believe cutting back nursing him was the ticket.  He just wanted to kind of visit with me.  I changed him, just so he'd be dry, and then quickly nursed him and put him back down. 

Last night, I vowed to myself that he was going to cry it out.  I knew he was fine.  If I had only waited just a little bit longer, he would have done it the previous night. 

So, last night, right on cue, at 3:00am, Andy started talking/crying/screaming.  I refused to go in there.  I just laid in bed (hacking) watching him on the screen.  He put up a pretty good fight... cried for an hour and 45 minutes... but then he went to sleep!  WOOHOO! 

This seems so harsh, but I know he can do it... if you are reading this thinking I am an awful parent, please do not tell me.  Just keep that little tidbit to yourself.  We had to go through this with Cal and now he's a great sleeper.  It WILL be worth it. 

Just a few more nights.... I will survive..... I can do it.  Right??

it's a miracle

little nugget slept through the night...happy 8 month birthday! woohoo!!

(disclaimer: I think he slept through the night.  Cal woke up at 6 and I couldn't remember going into Andy's room the whole night....so I am assuming he slept through and not that I am sleep deprived and don't know my up from my down)

EIGHT MONTHS OLD!

WOWZAS! Andy is turning 8 months old tomorrow, and I had a few minutes to blog so I wanted to do his monthly post today...

I realize I say this every month, but seriously, y'all!  How can he already be 8 months old?!?!?! Time is flying by and I am trying so hard to just hang on to each minute with these sweet, wild, and loving little boys.  There are so many days where I just feel like I can't kiss him enough.  He is unbelievably lovable. Look at this face! He smiles like this every time the camera comes out-- he cracks himself up!

Andy continues to be a big boy.  I am not sure of his measurements right now and we will find them out next month for his 9 month check up, but everyone that sees him assumes he is one.  A lady at the gym last week said he looked like he was big enough to walk right out of there-- crazy.  He isn't fat-- he's quite lean, actually, but he is loooooong.  And his hands are HUGE.  I think he is going to pass Cal height-wise before too long (crazy to think about!). 

how about those for some kissable cheeks??  He looks sooooo much like my brother did!

Revelation this week: I wrote before about him soaking through his night time diapers... I went back to read some of my posts about Cal at this age and I realized I wasn't nursing Cal as many times as I am Andy.  I have been nursing Andy when he wakes up in the morning, when he goes down for morning nap, when he woke up from morning nap, when he went down for afternoon nap, when he woke up from afternoon nap, and then before bed at night.... NO WONDER HE IS PEEING SO MUCH! He isn't eating on both sides for each of those feeds (ex. I would feed him on the right when he woke up in the morning and then on the left when he went down for nap...), but still... so I have been cutting out the waking up nursings and the past two nights he was NOT soaked when he woke up at 3am... he just woke up to visit with me.  Who is a sucker.  Who will be letting him cry it out once this illness leaves our house. 

no teeth yet, but everything goes straight to the mouth!

Eating: other than nursing, Andy is loving baby food.  He hasn't turned down anything yet.  I am feeding him lunch and dinner and he is eating roughly 2 jars of food at each (!!).  This seems like a ton to me, and I don't remember Cal eating that much, but maybe he was. 

Andy still does not have teeth, so he can't eat anything other than baby food, but I gave him some of those little yogurt puff things and he really likes those.  I also gave him a biter biscuit and he liked that, but couldn't figure out what to do when he broke the thing in his mouth. 
I am trying to find a sippy cup that he likes.  He is basically just gnawing on the mouth piece now, but I think he will get the hang of it eventually.  I have a feeling teeth are coming soon....

still a finger sucker! and how HUGE does he look in this picture?!?! SUCH a big boy!

In an effort to start weaning myself down from nursing, I have stopped pumping.  I don't want my body to think it needs to make more milk.  Because of this, I have stopped trying to give Andy a bottle-- we haven't tried in a while.  We did this same thing with Cal and he took cow's milk from the bottle fine-- he just wouldn't take MY milk from a bottle! At our next doctor's appointment I am going to ask about weaning him down and starting milk... I'd like to skip formula all together if I can.  Cal started cow's milk at 10 months... that's right around the corner!

Moving: Andy is not crawling yet, but he sure wants to.  He will get on all fours and try hard to crawl, but then tires and drops to the floor.  He can roll anywhere he needs to go, though, and he is speedy at it! I have a feeling this will be happening soon too...

last night he was standing while leaning on the chair and he thought that was pretty cool-- just as long as he crawls FIRST...sheesh!  I am not ready for him to be walking running away from me!

Andy LOVES watching his big brother and always wants to have eyes on him when they are in the same room.  He is so happy all the time and we just love him to pieces.  He wakes up happy and stays that way until bed time-- when he's happy still!  I've been putting him down away for naps and bed time and I love listening to him chat away in there until he crashes.  Best sound ever.

I am not sure what I did to be blessed with these amazing boys, but I am beyond grateful for them.  I adore being their mom and I feel like the luckiest person in the world to get to love them.

A SUPER(man) birthday

Jackson, my sweet nephew, is turning FOUR this week and he had a birthday party this past weekend.  Don't even get me started about him turning four.  I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday.  How can he already be four?  CRAZY!

The theme of the party was super heroes and it was such a cute idea!  I wish I had taken more pictures, but I didn't, sadly.  This was when Cal started acting like he wasn't feeling well, and we had to wake him up from his nap to go to the party, and Andy didn't take a nap, so he was exhausted and I ended up putting that big boy in the bjorn so he could sleep-- so my hands were a little full!

When the kids arrived, they all got to make their own capes, which was such a cute idea-- the kids loved it!

brad was there too! brad never disappoints when it comes to wearing a costume!

Happy birthday, sweet Jackson!  We love you so so so much and we are "SUPER" proud of you! (you see what I did there?? haha)