Look Alikes!!

This explains why I sometimes call Logan by my brother Ethan's name!

Look at the sides of their hair line even!  Logan has more of a "peak" in the middle but they even both have that double cow-lick on the sides look!  I have said all along that's who Logan looks like.  But to see them side-by-side at a little older age & see how much they really do look like eachother is kinda crazy!

FINALLY!!

I think Olivia has finally mastered poop!  Thank the Lord! 

The thing she REALLY, REALLY wanted was "shaving soap."  Weird?  She watched me shave one day and has been begging "I need shaving soap to put in my armpit like Mom."  So we've been telling her when she poops in the potty every day, she can have shaving soap.  A while in, it dawned on us she wasn't getting the concept of "everyday"... so off I went to get some "shaving soap" & go with a new plan.  However, those little kiddie shaving kits that are everywhere over Christmas.... are no where to be found in May.  So instead I picked up some Mr. Bubble Foam Soap, called that can "shaving soap" & that has served us just fine.  She carried it around one day all day & when she finally pooped.... we took a bath & she got to use her shaving soap.  It sits up on the shelf in the bathroom & when she poops, she gets to use THAT soap to wash her hands (which makes it beneficial that is actually soap).  And if she pooped the potty on bath day, she gets it at bathtime.  She is still mostly on the every other day poop cycle, but yesterday she pooped 3 times!!  And its been over a week with no Livi pantie poop!  Who would have tought shaving my armpits & a can of foam soap would be what it takes to get her full-time poop PT!?  Hopefully we are at the end of this battle!

Not exactly your armpits Liv.... but whatever works!

 

The boys are still doing well.  If we are at home all day they, there are maybe 2-3 accidents between the 2 of them.  Jeff said he's glad were are selling this house (and this carpet!)  But I'm trying to do less of the "take them hourly" approach & more of the "let them figure out the feeling of need to go on their own."  The novelty of it all has worn off for them & I've more or less ditched the jelly bean rewards, so we have had a little "rebound" of accidents per say.  If we get outside for a long time or get out of the house, all bets are off.  (Which is why I'm using some pull-ups this time, which I only ever did like 3 times with Liv.  They are for out of the house away from home adventures & my own sanity.)  Both Hayden & Livi successfully used the big potty by themselves today (by getting the step stool out & figuring it out all by themself)  Hayden has figured out how to take his own panties off (& tries to get them back on himself but can't quite get them up over his butt!)  SO its going well, but I think it will be a while before I can call our household 100% PT.

Kind of like how many hours of straight sleep do you have to sleep to be sleeping through the night as an infant? 

How many accidents are you allowed & still defined as Potty Trained? 

My first Linky Party

I'm not one to "blog hop" & get in on linky parties. But this one is all about Mama's of Multiples... so I can't help but jump on board! Plus the story behind Capri + 3 is simply amazing! So here we go, my first linky party!

Happy Mother's Day

*Today I celebrate my mother.... who showed what it means to be a mother. 

*Today I celebrate my grandmother.... whose love & wisdom never fails to amaze me. 

*Today I celebrate my children.... who are teaching me how to be a mother. 

*And today I pray for those missing their mothers, those hoping to one day find a mother and those longing to become a mother. That one day they too may celebrate on this day. 

Today is an amazing & emotional day for me. Today & everyday I am blessed. 

 

 

I had an amazing Mother's Day weekend.  We have either been out of town or I have worked the last 6 weekends, so its been a long time since we were all home together for more than a few hours.  It was nice!!  We went shopping Friday night & got ourselves a much needed new computer.  And we went out for dinner.  (All during which Logan told us when he needed to potty & stayed dry.  Hayden... not so much.)  Saturday I had a lazy day with the kiddos celebrating them turning 2 1/2 , got in a nice afternoon nap, and got to go grocery shopping by.my.self!!  Sunday I got to sleep in (and Jeff got up with a certain group of kids who think its appropriate to wake up at 6 or 6:30 for the past week!), we went to church & had some pretty well behaved kids (who between the 3 of them took probably a dozen trips to the bathroom during the 1 hour service, but they all stayed dry & all actually went potty most of the times they drug us out).  We went out for lunch at my favorite little cafe in town.  And had a fun afternoon/evening playing outside & grilling.  It was just so nice to be home as a family for a change.  And now I'm blogging & eating a bowl full of cake & ice cream in honor of mothers everywhere!

 

Happy Mother's Day!

 

{This looks a little bit more like reality!}

2 AND A HALF!!

My kids are officially 2... AND A HALF!  Pretty much blows my mind!

We made ourselves a cake today to celebrate.  The kids LOVE helping.  Now if only Hayden actually liked sweets (such his father's son like that!)

Of course Lightening & Mater had to come help too.  My bet is on him for being the child with an imaginary friend who has to come along everywhere!

They LOVE getting outside every day.  Leaving me to set up this litte mirror by the back door to get ready in the mornings while I keep an eye on them.  Actually works out quite well.

Little boy boxer briefs!!  Seriously?  Top 10 cutest things ever!!

Either take a little potty outside or keep it by the back door for potty stops.  Again so I can keep an eye on whats going on outside.  This having 3 kids who need potty stop thing is time consuming!!

And so you actually get to see his face....

Logan playing outside in panties too.  They spend a lot of time in shirts & panties.  Less layers to pull off to potty & less laundry to wash with accidents.

They have good days & bad days.  Yesterday Logan had an AWESOME day.  Today, they had rough days.  But no one can be as easy as Liv was!

And so you see her pretty face too ;)  This is what I got when I asked her to say cheese!

Her current obsession is diapering her babies.  Well, usually its her babies... but that night it was her dad!  Ha!

She can finally put their diapers on all by herself!!!  Her brothers better get this PT thing mastered or we'll have her chaning them soon!  She almost always at home chooses have 3 "babies" when she plays.  Coincidence?  This intrigues my mind so much. 

Happy 2 1/2 "Birthday" to my "babies."  I love you beyond words!

2 weeks later...

2 weeks after this potty training accident all begun....

Today we spent most of the day in panties to see how it goes for us "clothed."  After an awesome success out of the house Monday & 2 accident-less days at Grandma GG daycare.  I wanted to try a clothed day.

Logan had just one accident while playing outside.  And actually even woke up from his short nap dry.  Rock star!!

And Hayden had 3.   Two of which happened within 5 minutes of me trying to take them potty & him refusing to go.  So really 2 were "attitude induced accidents" per say & one was a real pee potty accident.  He is in a bad way with negative attitude lately & ultimately thats what's holding him back. 

Otherwise successful #1s & #2s all day!

And... because you are all dying to know.  Olivia has had a 5 day run with no poop in her panties.  This is HUGE HUGE HUGE for her.  She's {we've} been battling this battle for a large majority of her PT'd days.  The girl can stay dry all night but can't manage to poop in the pot!  My frustrations with this are sky high & our patience for poop is running thin.  So hopefully with all the boys' success & their ability to poop-a-la-pot {multiple times a day} without drama, she can learn a thing or 2 from them along the way too!

We took a quick run to the pediatrician today for a Logan eye full of goop & a less than ideal sleeping pattern.  His ears look good.  So we just got eye drops.  And his tonsils had a little white on them, but appear to be just a viral irritation vs an infection.  But we brought a antibiotic prescription home just incase things aren't trending up over the next few days.  While we were there, I slipped them all on the scale {inbetween taking them all to the bathroom to clean up Hayden's accident since he refused to go before we went back like the rest of us & waiting for "Dr. Fran" as the kids so call him}.  They were cheerful & chatty & no one shed a tear at "Dr. Fran's house."  They have been on a feeding frenzy lately & I was expecting weight gains.  Feeding frenzy to the extent that Logan, YES LOGAN... ate hot dog & summer sausage this week!  You have no idea how HUGE this is!  The boy eats NO meat beyond chicken nuggets & while I'm not saying hot dogs are a healthy meal choice, I am THRILLED he is finally trying things!!  Hopefully he keeps it up!!

Clothed, with panties on (no diapers!!) & with crocks on....

Hayden was 32 lbss 11.5 oz (OMG!!!)
Olivia was 27 lbs 15.5 oz

AND, you will never believe it, but Logan was 28 lbs 2.5 oz.  MORE than Olivia!!  For the first time probably since they were 12 months old!

Despite our runny noses.... they have all managed to gain almost a pound since we were there 3 weeks ago when H was sick.

Here's to potty training, a hopefully health-full summer & eating hot dogs off the grill!  And I promise I will take & post some pictures soon :)

Panties & Potties!!

So this potty thing is going along just smashingly.

Today for example, the boys peed in diapers when they napped.  Otherwise wore panties ALL DAY long without so much as ONE accident.  And yes, I was actually able to do a day in panties without accidents.  They didn't have to be naked all day to remember!  I make it a point to take them about every hour when I'm home.  And they sometimes go more on their own in between.  So we more or less LIVE in the bathroom.  But thats part of the progress, right?

We go through spurts where they want to squeeze out a few drops about every 10 minutes just to get a jelly bean, but hopefully we can phase treats out with time & with that phase out the 10 minute pee cycles too.  But the boys definitely don't have the bladder size that Liv has.  That girl sometimes goes just 3 or 4 times a day.  She was so easy, that even our boys who really have been easy to this point by most peoples standards, seem much harder.

Today I even ventured out of the house with NO diapers on!!  {Ok, ok... so Hayden had a pull-up on.}  I wanted to put pull-ups on both boys, and Logan REFUSED!!  He said it was a diaper & he wanted panties on.  So I figured I'd go big & bold, put them all in panties... but then Hayden WANTED a pull-up & refused panties.  So close enough.  2 in panties, 1 in a pull-up.  That's technically no diapers.  We made a quickie trip to Walmart & a drive through McDonalds.  We were gone maybe 1.5 hours.  Peed before we left, came home & peed before we ate lunch.  And EVERYBODY stayed dry!

Saturday H had a couple accidents for Jeff in the evening.  And Sunday they did diapers with being out of the house 1/2 of the day for showings & such.  But we have come an incredibly long way in, what, a week?  Especially considering I didn't think Logan would get this til he was 5!  And really this wasn't even our agenda.  It wasn't on my plans until July.  But they totally took the lead on this one & I'm not about to deny them & miss out on our perfect opportunity & possibly make it harder on us later. 

I need to invest in one of those travel potties people talk about.  So if we're on the road we can just stop & use it instead of dragging 3 kids into a restaurant or gas station.  I've seen people talk about THESE & THESE.  I've heard great things about the Potette. 

Anybody have a travel potty?  What do you have?   Pros?  Cons?

And get myself down a system for taking 3 tots to the toilet in public.  Tried it once & it was a bit of a disaster.  Finally got taking Liv potty on the go mastered, now I have a different method to tackle.  But like everything with parenting, you figure out your way of doing it eventually. Right?


Tips for potty going on the fly.  With one... or three?  Or boys??