Potty Training Yays and Nays

As if I don't have enough laundry to do for 5 people, now we get to start potty training again!! Let's look at the positive though - diapers are expensive!! Bryce has been asking to use the potty for a couple of months now. When he would stand at the potty, he just could not figure out how to get anything out. On top of that, he hated the way underwear felt on him. So, about a month ago I bought Easy Ups, which are diapers that pull on like underwear. When he started wearing the Easy Ups he decided I no longer needed to change his diaper - he could do it himself! (Unless of course it was nasty!)
After a bad diaper rash in Colorado, we let him run around naked in the backyard for a couple of hours. The point was to let the rash get some air, but I guess seeing pee come out and feeling it at the same time made him realize what he was supposed to do while he is standing at the toilet. The day we got home he asked to use the potty. I was trying to unpack and told him in a little while, but he was persistent. For my sanity, I undressed him and he went to the potty and actually peed! I whooped and hoorayed for him, even though it was only a trickle. He ran to Paul, who was cooking, "Daddy, I pee pee in potty!" Daddy praised him and he ran back to the potty. He is now known as Little Jake. For those of you who don't know, Jake is our male Lab that likes to "mark his territory" while out and about. He is constantly lifting his leg and "trickling" on everything. While Bryce does not lift his leg to everything, he instead after every trickle runs to tell Daddy what he has done. This makes for some long potty sessions! And although I am the one that is constantly taking him to the potty and doing the extra laundry and scrubbing the porcelin and the floor around the porcelin, my praise means nothing to him. Everytime he pottys he runs to Daddy and tells him so he can hear Daddy praise him. If Daddy is not home it is "I call Daddy. I pee pee in potty." So to anyone who works with Paul and has been hearing his phone ring more than normal - we apologize.
We made a trip to the store and got all the firetruck, monster truck and choo choo train underwear we could find. He was only wanting the firetrucks, but after lots of begging, I convinced him to take the other vehicles as well. Everytime I showed him Finding Nemo or Scooby Doo or Spongebob, he would throw them on the floor. Whatever makes him want to use the potty is fine with me!
Overall he is picking this up much quicker than his brothers did. I guess that is the upside of being the baby brother, he has plenty of males to watch and learn from! Much of the time he is doing ALL his business in the potty, and this is only the first week! I only hope he sticks with this and it is not just a fun thing to do for now.
So, I will continue doing the extra laundry, and continually scrub the floors and toilets. And I will gladly, and sadly, look forward to not changing anymore diapers. It is just yet
another sign that ALL of my boys are growing up to quick!

Visit to Colorado Family

We went to Colorado and got to see my family - everyone except my big little brother and his family. It was a nice visit, I just wish it was longer. It was nice though because the kids are all old enough to remember who everyone is. It always seems like the kids spend the week getting to know everyone again and then it is time to go, and then we start all over again next time.

We took 3 of my nephews and Caleb hiking in the mountains while we were there. We chose a great time to go because while everyone else was suffering in the 100+ degree weather we were in the cool mountains. The scenery was beautiful, and the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves. They spent most of their time if not hiking, playing in the cold river.

It was about a 3 mile hike with plenty of hills going both ways. I was impressed with how well the boys did with the hike. We got a late start Monday when we got there so we did not make it all the way to where we wanted to camp. We hiked for about 3 hours and set up camp and then got up the next morning and hiked the rest of the way to where we were planning on camping. It took about 4 hours or so to hike in to the final camping place. It only took 2 and a half hours to hike out. We kept telling the kids we smelled Taco Bell or McDonalds and they were so ready for "real" food, as they put it, that it kept them moving. They were not too fond of the dehydrated bland food we had taken with us! Caleb was sick the day we left so he was not able to carry his pack out. I think he got too dehydrated and I know he did not eat much while we were there and his body was just not doing well. He still managed to hike out though.

We got back to Dad and Mom's house and Isaac had pink fingernails. He and his cousin decided to polish his nails. Alyssa loves painting fingernails!! Since this is the first time I have been away from the kids for more than overnight, Isaac and Bryce would not let me out of their site!! It was nice at first to know how much they missed me, but it got old quick when I could not leave their site for one second without them screaming. I don't know that the four days away from them were worth the four days after I got back with them!

I got to take my niece, Alyssa, shopping. It was nice to do girlie things for once. I was so excited to get to look for little girl clothes, and buy her makeup and nail polish! Maybe it will get it out of my system for a little bit! Probably not, though.

Blogging Newbie

My husband Paul thought it would be a good idea if I had a place to write about all the crazy stuff that our three little boys do and say. Maybe more importantly I have have a little piece of cyberspace that I can call my own where I can be calm and organize my jumbled mess of a brain. Anyways I hope I stick with it. This should help me from going insane.

I posted this picture from a recent family hiking trip in the wenimuche wilderness in the San Juan Mountains just to see what interface options I had for working with pictures.