Getting Ready for a Change

Jason has been out of town all week on business, and will be back late Friday night. We decided that we’d go ahead with our plans to officialy start potty training Jonah, even though his trip cut his long weekend short. Mostly because Jonah’s being very interested now, and if we wait two weeks until the next long weekend, he might not be so interested anymore. It’s also because we’re very close to the end of a box of diapers and I’d really just rather not have to buy more.

So tonight I told Jonah that we’re going to have a special Potty Party when Daddy comes home in a day or two. That he’ll get presents and will get to start using the big potty all the time, that he won’t have to wear diapers any more. He seemed like he liked the idea cause he was nodding and grinning and telling me “Daddy come home, potty party, big boy unnerwears” and such. Oh I hope this works well… he’s really smart so I don’t doubt that he CAN learn it quickly, it’s a matter of us not doing anything in the process to piss him off about pottying or he’ll outright refuse the whole idea… that’s just the way he is about stuff. If he’s happily eating his dinner and you tell him to not swing his fork around with food on it…. he’s likely to sulk up and shout “ALL DONE!” and refuse to eat another bite. We’re just going to have to do a lot of tounge biting I imagine.

I am glad that it’s working out with Jason being gone because it will feel like a major shift, like I said “when Daddy gets home” it’ll be time to be a big boy.

4th of July Weekend 2009

Carly looking quite patriotic

Dinner at the lakehouse w/ my family

People full of good food

Chad playing w/ Jonah

Jonah playing with Cosmo

My dad’s new (used) 26′ sail boat

Jason and my dad on the sail boat watching fireworks

Kay on the boat, looking way younger than she is!

Jonah an Mommy on the sailboat

the fireworks

Jonah trying to sail the boat

Party Crashers

So I somehow managed to not only crash/get myself invited to a party that wasn’t intended for us, but I also somehow got the whole thing turned into a party for a whole lot more people. I had called Sarahjenne to see if they were doing anything on Friday as Jason had the afternoon off and I thought a playdate might be fun. Then she told me that she was having Stephanie & Thane and Chris & Julia over for pizza and beer to thank them for helping her move all her stuff out of her classroom a few weeks ago. Then she said “you wanna come?” I suppose I should have declined, but we were bored and wanted to do stuff with people. So I said sure, despite the awkwardness. Then she was like “Maybe we should invite Richard & Crystal since no one came to Crystal’s birthday party.” and I told her I was pretty sure they were packing to move this weekend. But it was pretty much left at that… When we got there though, Oscar & Nancy were there too!  Heh, so I guess we changed the party dynamics some, but it was a fun night. Samantha and Carly got to hang out, Jonah played with the kitty’s toys (kitty was hiding), the boys talked cars (while Jason listened cause he’s not much of a car buff), and the girls talked babies and made jiffy pop for the first time (which was fun!) Then we all laughed at the possum that came up on their back porch window. Jonah slapped the window repeatedly and made it mad to the point that it fell off the window ledge! haha

Carly & Samantha

The Guys & Carly

Nancy Making Jiffy Pop

The Baby Possum

McCarty Family Reunion 2009

A few of my favorite pics of us and the kiddos at our family reunion this past weekend. To see the rest of the pictures, visit my facebook album!

Oh no! Elmo, here we come!

As you all know, from a previous post on the subject, I have tried to keep cartoon character infatuation at bay, in order to keep the more expensive/lower quality “licensed character” items out of our house. Well, I’m here to admit that I’m bringing this soon-to-be Elmo infatuation on myself, and I’m even asking for your help to do it!

We’re about to start potty training soon, and as I started reading the library books I checked out on the matter… most techniques seem to encourage the use of a few teaching tools, to help make potty training into a big deal. They say to have a potty weekend where that’s the focus of everyone’s attention, all weekend long… kind of a “coming of age” thing for the trainee. They say to start off by helping your kid “teach” a doll how to potty, then let them read books and watch dvds about pottying. Then start hourly potty-sits and give rewards or stickers on a chart for good tries and even the smallest of sucesses. By the end of the weekend, the kid should pretty well have it down, and to celebrate that, some say you should have a potty party to invite a few friends and family over to congratulate them on their potty success.

So after reading all that, I’m starting to feel a little overwhelmed. I did sit down and start a shopping list of supplies that to get the ball rolling. A potty book, a dvd, a potty doll of some sort, and a progress chart w/ stickers. Once I started researching what was out there, I discovered a major money pitfall… most of the stuff is geared for either a boy or a girl. I have one of each, and I don’t want to have to buy this stuff twice, cause it’s expensive! So, I needed to find something gender neutral.

I first found a pretty cool potty monkey doll that came with a book for the kids and one for the adult. But being that I had already checked the adult book out from the library, I really wished it had come with a dvd instead. Then I found a a wide variety of potty bear items, but no cohesive set, which I feel would make it easier for Jonah to understand the relationship between what the character is doing in the book/dvd and what we’re trying to get the doll to do. Then I stumbled across Elmo. There is a complete line of Elmo potty training products out there, and since Jonah’s never really watched much Sesame Street, Elmo will be new to him.

I was going to put a big Amazon.com order together with everything we’ll need for potty weekend, but then I decided that I might have friends who might have some of the stuff on my shopping list that might be wanting to sell/get rid of it. So let me know if you have any of the following to offer up for borrowing/buying/giving away!

Potty Time Elmo Doll -OR-  A Plain 1-2′ Elmo Plush Doll that we can teach to sit on Jonah’s Potty Chair

Potty Time With Elmo Little Sound Book

Elmo’s Potty Time DVD

Potty Book Coloring & Activities With Elmo (Let me know if you know where I can find this new in stores anywhere… I imagine if you own it, it’s already been colored and the progress chart used up)

Anyone’s leftover Elmo Party Supplies to make a VERY small (like maybe just us if that all we can get) Potty Party with (preferably ones that don’t say happy birthday on them, like the Hooray for Elmo or Elmo Loves You supplies, but beggars can’t be choosers right? hehe)

a rough night

ugh. very rough night. jason went to bed at 10:30 and so did i, but carly didn’t stay down. she of course stayed up screaming off and on till 1:15. then jonah woke up crying at 2:45 at which point i discovered he’d puked in his bed i got jason up for that one cause i told him “jonah just threw up and that falls outside the realm of cranky baby in the middle of the night. i need your help” and he got up and didn’t complain… well that was until jonah threw up on the bare mattress pad after we had already started the 1st puke laundry load, he was pretty pissed about that, but what can you do… and then once we got him back in bed and had just laid down ourselves, he got out of bed and stood in the window and puked a 3rd time. so we were back up changing jammies and cleaning up for a 3rd time. as we got back into bed at 4:00, carly started grunting like she was stretching to wake up (probably from all the commotion) so i laid there in our bed listening to her grunt for about 15 minutes, waiting for her to cry cause sometimes she likes to nurse at 4 anyway, but then i drifted off. Then she finally did wake up at 4:30. after she ate she didn’t go straight back down as usual (probably because jason had just asked if she usually did and i said yes. stupid murphy) instead she would drift off and i put her in the crib and got in bed myself only for a few seconds before she was screaming again did that 3 times before i finally lost my temper and just got her and went to go sleep with her in my arms on the couch at 5:30. then jason woke up for work and took her to her crib at 7:00 before he left for work. i kept sleeping on the couch until both kids woke up at 8:00. I haven’t even attempted to try to calculate how little sleep that was last night until now… 4.75 hours!?

sheesh. no wonder i am having a hard time keeping my eyes open.

Happy 1 Month Carly

Happy 1 Month

I am totally hijacking this idea, of the monthly picture wearing the 1st birthday hat, from Kelly, who got it from Michelle, who ultimately got it from Girl (all of these lovely ladies are Pea Friends of mine, so I’m sure they won’t mind! ). I always loved seeing the pics of their little guys in their hats… and I just so happen to have some plain pink hats hiding out in my stash… so I’ll just have her wear these until the big 1st b-day, when I’ll either decorate it or buy some other hat that coordinates with it to be her special b-day hat… cause these really are plain for such a special birthday!

So Sweet When They're Asleep

Here are her abbreviated 1 month stats, the nitty gritty stuff can be found on her baby blog. She weighed 9 lbs 6 oz (66%) measured 21.25″ long (66%), and her head was 15.75″ (96%)!  She’s still sleeping most of the time… she just doesn’t seem to be as awake and alert as Jonah was at this age. Unfortunately for us she HASN’T been sleeping from 10pm-2am or 12pm-3pm (Jonah’s nap time). She just seems to not nurse very well in general (gulping a lot of air) but she gets even worse at it after about 10pm so then she nurses and fusses and nurses some more, for several hours on end… very very frustrating for me, and for her too I’m sure. We’re getting better at it though, I have to believe. Other than that, she’s a pretty snuggly baby and we definitely love her!

Double Take - 1 Month - Jonah & Carly in the same Jeans on the Couch

A Trip to the Park

Both kids in the double stroller for the first time

I took both kiddos out in the double stroller today, just down the street a few blocks, to the little swing playground.That’s literally all there is there… some swings. Jonah doesn’t care though. He likes it just the same, and it’s only about a 3 minute walk from our house.

When we got there I tried fooling around with my camera to learn how to get the right settings for outdoor shots, but think I was somewhat unsuccessful because the sky is way too bright in all of these shots. Jonah was fairly patient with me though. He made it into a game of peek a boo!

Boy Child Shoveling to His Heart's Content

After I let him down, I asked him if he wanted to swing, and he said no. Uh Oh I thought. It was because he wanted to shovel though. So he ran around scooping up pebbles with his shovel for a while, and then eventually he did ask to swing.

Girl Child Enjoying the Warm Breeze

Carly and I just chilled in the shade while Jonah played. I could see us doing this fairly often this summer.

Got Alot Done

With my mom hanging around and helping out last week, we got WAY more done than any couple with a nearly 2 year old and a 1 week old should! My mom is a major DIY handy-woman, and just couldn’t contain herself when she came to stay. By the end of the 1st day she was just itching to get started on some projects. Who am I to complain?! I knew it’d happen, so that’s why I had already started a list of little projects around the house that needed doing, that just haven’t gotten done, for whatever reason. She actually started working on things while we were still in the hospital!  My to-do list that my mom tackled this week… as you’ll notice, she didn’t leave us much to do after she left! hahaShe got Jason involved in a lot of the projects too, and some of these he actually did on his own.

• Install Handheld Showerhead & Caulk Around the Ring
• Install Blinds in Our Bedroom
• Fix Drippy Master Toilet
• Fix/Oil Master Closet Door Knob
• Fix the Storm Door Alignment so it’ll Actually Close
• Remove the Satellite Dish
• Remove the Antenna
• Put a Piece of Screen Over the Chimney to Keep Birds Out (need to call chimney sweep first to get current nesting birds out)
• Put Hinges on the Sandbox Door
• Re-Configure the Sandbox Lid Boards to Make an Easier To Open Lid
• Dig Out the Rose Bush in the Front Flowerbed
• Dig Out the Bush Stumps in the Front Flowerbed
• Check on the Roof Leak and Seal Where Possible
• Hang the Letters for Carly’s Name in the Nursery
• Fix the Wet Bar Cabinet Door that’s Sagging
• Install Trim Around the Guest Bath Mirror (need to buy trim)
• Change Light Fixtures in the Guest Bath (need to buy light fixtures)
• Install and Overhead Light in the Garage (Bonus! They ended up re-wiring a bunch of stuff and putting in 2 new outlets too!)
• Paint the Nursery Furniture (need a non-muggy day to paint)
• Some Projects she thought of that I hadn’t -
  • Replace the Missing Toe Kick Under the Dishwasher and End Cabinet in the Kitchen & Install Trim
    
  • Fertilize the Yards
  • Replace Missing Pickets on the Fence
  • Replace the Damaged Board Around the Garage Door (We discovered ACTIVE termites there! Yuck! so had to get that treated first, so that project is sitting unfinished right now.)
  • Clean Some Previous-Owner Junk Out of the Attic

It was such a busy week that I’m probably forgetting some of the other stuff that got done, but we always appreciate having my mom come stay for a while! Jonah CERTAINLY enjoyed having his Mamaw around to play with, and to “help. work. hammer. outside. saw. ears. noise. loud.” with!

The Main Reason for Coming

The Other Main Reason for Coming

Jason Helping With the Projects

Jonah Helping With the Projects

New Baby – New Project

With the addition of our little girl, Carly Michelle, to our family I have added a new blogging outlet for myself! I attempted to start this photography project, called the 365 Challenge, with Jonah at one point, but always wished I had started at his birth and used it to document his 1st year in our life. I kind of failed at keeping up with it, but I’m wanting to try again now that I have a new little life to document as well! The idea is that I take at least one photo every day and post it on this blog. I’m sure I’ll get behind on ocassion and I’ll forget entirely on ocassion, but you’ll forgive me! I know you will! Here’s where you’ll find the 365 blog… http://365pacesfromhere.wordpress.com Enjoy!