After Dinner Dip!

Tonight after Jack was done eating dinner he asked if he could out and play in the backyard. I, of course, said YES! The water table and the pool are both filled with water and have been since yesterday. I was thinking that it was only a matter of time before he got in the pool. I am sure the water temp was nice and warm since it has been sitting in the hot sun two days in a row. And sure enough he got in!!!! Clothes and all. I laughed because I knew he was going to do it. Then of course when Paige was done eating she wanted to be outside too, and she followed her big brother and got in.

I guess they felt it was a nice evening for an after dinner dip!

3 weeks

Aaron has been in Logan three weeks today. Here is a re-cap of our three weeks without Dad around:

Week 1: Both Jack and Paige were unusually irritable. It was so bad that I almost called a moving company to pack us up and move us to Logan that week. Its like they knew that there was a change happening.

Week 2: The kids were so pleasant. It was so nice to have happy kids and to not want to scream and pull out my hair. It was a nice week which went by all too fast.

Week 3: Sick kids all week. And not just cold sick, it was puking everyday sick. At least they took turns on the days they would vomit. So that was nice of them. Seriously I am so done doing laundry (which is something I am not fond of anyway).

We get to see Aaron on FRIDAY!!!! I am so excited and I am sure the kids are too, they just don't know it yet. I try not to tell them things too far in advance. My parents and I head out Thursday to make our way to Utah. The kids and I will spend a week in Logan, then Aaron will come back to ABQ with us for a few days before he has to get back to work. It will be so nice to reunited! So here's to Week 4, it should be a good one!

Paige Walking

She has finally done it! Our little Paigers is walking! Well for the most part. She chooses to walk but once she falls down if she is not near furniture to pull herself back up she crawls to something and keeps on going. Only once or twice has she stood up from the ground without the help of furniture. We were really hoping that she would have the walking thing down before Aaron left for Logan, but since she didn't I got it on video so Aaron could see his little girl walkin'. (do you like the trash that she is carrying around with her?! I keep finding that box upstairs and in weird places that are not the trash can with a bunch of toys inside!)
Aaron - I hope that you enjoy and we sure do miss you!!!! XOXOXOXOXO


Oh and an update on the whole potty training thing: Jack is doing really well, in fact he can tell when he needs to pee and may get a few drops in his undies but gets most of it in the potty. So I am pretty stocked about that. Poop is still a hurdle that we haven't gotten over yet. But from what I have heard and read poop is hard, because really you can' poop on demand every 20 min like you can with pee! So we keep trying and I am positive that he will get it before he starts kindergarten (that's my expectation at least).

Potty Training 101

I got the hair brained idea to start potty training Jack last Wednesday (just a few days before Aaron left). It probably started when Tuesday evening Jack screamed at me "change my diaper!!!" Excuse me but if you are going to scream at me like that then you don't wear diapers anymore!

We had a toilet seat, the kind that goes onto the big toilet, but it just didn't seem to excite Jack. So Tuesday night after the kids were in bed, Aaron and I went to wally world and got a little toilet, treats, and Robin Hood on DVD, to entice the little boy. Wednesday morning he woke up and was super excited to try his new potty. Now this potty is not your normal potty because it sings when something is left in the bowl (it was the only one they had). It only took him one time to make the potty sing and he was sold, plus he got a sticker and a chocolate for going pee in the potty. He was told that once he fills up enough of the chart he gets his movie, which he has named the "bear movie".

Jack was doing great, excited to go every 20 minutes when the timer went off, ate a whole bag of hersey's treasures, and filled two lines on his chart in just two days! So I tried extending the time. A few accidents and little discouragement, but we made it through the weekend. Well as far as pee goes. Poop is whole other story.

Tuesday is when the break through came! It first started before I hopped into the shower when Jack said "I need to go potty." I am thinking sweet he just went and I didn't remind him to go, awesome we are making progress. He closes the door while he is doing his business, which is nice. Then I hear "uh oh". I go in and see that he went poop, but didn't quite make all of it into the potty. I didn't care. He went on his own and tried to do it! I was so thrilled. So he got two chocolates and some stickers on his poopy chart (yes he has another chart just for poop and another movie when it is filled). Tuesday is park day for my ward and so we were off to the park and I had no real expectaions of a dry boy (he wore a pull-up) but I thought it was worth a shot. He went potty right before we left. When we got home and he went potty, his pull-up was dry!!!! He got two more chocolates and I was so happy. I know that it hasn't even been a week but this morning I was about ready to give up! I guess I need to keep holding in there. Its a little step and as I am typing this he is telling me he pooped in his underwear. Oh well. We will keep working at it. I know it takes time. It would be nice though if my kid was the abnormal one that got potty training in like an hour. (sigh)

I would love to hear some advice or suggestions that anyone has to offer. Because who knows I may feel like giving up in a few hours. lol. And a little encouragement never hurt!

(I have some awesome pictures but I can't find my USB cable again! I think Aaron accidentally took it with him, Oh well)

Red Neck Pool!

Most of Albuquerque has what they call xeriscape landscaping. My parents house is no different. The backyard is filled with rocks. Since Paige is still not walking, we got some astroturf to put under their little plastic pool. The kids have quite the set up! They also have a sand and water table that they enjoy playing with (we only put water in it). This afternoon the kids took a little dip in the pool. It got super windy while we were outside but it was a warm wind and the cool water felt good.

Paige soaking Jack's hat and then attempting to put it on his head.

Jack's favorite thing to do when he is wet is to make feet and hand prints on the concrete.

My mom enjoying the warmth in her awesome new lounge chair.

Paige's favorite thing to (besides torment Jack) is to put things in and then take them out and so on.

Here's a good view of our Red Neck Pool and Paige's behind!