Girls Night Out Fun

Blurry but fun.

Ethan Loves His Train

Christmas Cookies For Santa

It's The Most Crazy Time Of The Year

To paraphrase the famous song, that's how I feel today. I noticed today that I haven't blogged in over a week! Where are my priorities people?! I'll tell you where, they're at the store, along with all of my money.


Let's see...what has been going on with us...


Dan worked about 60 hours last week and his brakes need to be fixed on his car so he has been taking my car to work...


I've been trying to finish last minute projects and get everything ready for Christmas. I finally mailed Becki's present to California today. I used priority mail, so it should get there on time...I hope...


I've been finishing Christmas shopping and making Dan drive me in the snow because I hate driving in it...it's one of my many sources of neurotic anxiety these days.


Other than that, I've been trying to get rid of this cold. I think it's finally going away. I was sick last year on Christmas so I'm hoping it will be gone by Thursday.


So, Merry Christmas Everyone! Here are the Christmas cards I made using my digital scrapbooking software.

Potty Training Stuff

I decided to write a post on this again, because I'm starting with a new approach. Ethan is definitely not the potty boot camp kind where you do it in a short amount of time. We're still in Pull-Ups, but that's okay. He'll learn it eventually. I mean, I just started doing "Potty Time" yesterday and he's already come to me twice to tell me that there is poopy in his Pull-Up and we need to put it in the toilet and he already peed once yesterday. That's progress and we're both happy with it. It's important for us both to be relaxed and happy about this or it won't go well for either of us.

I called my pediatrician's office yesterday for some ideas, since Ethan is my first child and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. They referred me to a doctor who specializes in child development. I left a message for him and he was gracious enough to call me back with some ideas. They seem to be working.

This is our plan so far:

1. Scheduled potty times throughout the day, about once an hour or so, or whenever he wants to go.

2. Putting the poopy in the toilet and flushing it down so he knows where it goes.

3. Using the potty box and getting a treat for trying to go.

4. Positive reinforcement. Positive correction for accidents by saying, "Uh oh, you got poopy and pee pee in your underwear, it goes in the toilet."

5. Doing all potty related stuff, like cleaning him up, etc., in the bathroom.

Anyway, I know a lot of moms out there stress about potty training their kids. These were just some ideas that I thought were good and they're working for us. I get the best of both worlds. I'm teaching Ethan to do something grown up, but I'm not cleaning up human waste every five minutes.

My mantra to myself is, "Don't worry. He'll get it eventually." I know he will, and we're both happier now that I'm comfortable with what I'm doing.