Operation "Mickey Surprise" a success!

About a month ago, my friend Melissa celebrated her 40th birthday. After asking over and over again what she wanted to do for her birthday, she finally came up with her wish. Girls trip to Disneyland - awesome, right? Yes, except that we haven't been to Disneyland with the kids since Landon was born. I would have felt way to guilty to go without them, that's when the plan started to take shape. You see, Landon is too young to take, but Lance offered to stay home with him. Melissa has season passes and had a trip planned this week. So, we decided to surprise her two oldest and Morgan and Bennett with this surprise trip together.

On Christmas day, I sent an email that said:

"Dear Morgan and Bennett,

There is one last gift to be given to you,
You will never be able to guess from who
It's a special treat that you can look forward to, my dear
In the very near future, it will all become clear!

No peaking, no sneaking,
No bugging or screeching,
It will all be revealed in a few short days,
But you must be patient, and wait until we can play!

Love,
Momma and Daddy"

And the plan was set into motion! This morning, Collin brought Morgan and Bennett a letter that contained a clue for them to find a basket that told them they were going to Disneyland. They were so excited and then got even more excited when they realized we were driving down and doing a road trip together. Looking forward to another week of great memories!! Watch out Disneyland...here we come!!

Can I just brag on my kids for a moment?

I am really impressed with how well they have both taken to their new sibling and their part in all of it. Now, I know that having a 4 year gap between Bennett and Landon and an almost 8 year gap between Morgan and Landon makes it a bit easier, but seriously, they have been so great -- far beyond my expectations. I expect it out of Morgan, she's another "little momma" and is old enough and responsible enough to be really good with the baby. I was a little worried about Bennett though. His personality is so big and I was worried about what he would do to try to compete with the baby. So far (knock on wood), he has not been trying to compete with Landon. In fact, the only problem we've had so far was one time when Bennett was sick (he got a cold on Easter) and Morgan was feeding Landon a bottle. Bennett wanted a turn and I had to remind him of how he was sick and couldn't be near the baby right now. He understood, but had a small melt down. I took him upstairs with me for some time alone watching TV in my bed (which he never gets to do) while I pumped. He came around and he said he understood. He was so good while he was sick too, never getting too close to the baby and not getting upset by the fact that Morgan could hold Landon and he couldn't.

I have been trying to give him Landon-centric jobs that he could do while he was sick, like helping with diaper changes by getting the diaper, the wipe, etc. and he's done this each time with complete joy. In fact, he comes running every time he's around and I'm changing a diaper. I am so lucky!

Now that he's feeling better, he will sit next to me holding Landon or next to Landon and talk to him. "There's some eyes, Landon! Do you see me, bubbas? I'm your big brother! I love you, Landon!" It just makes my heart all ooey gooey melty. I couldn't be more proud of the kids I'm raising!

THIS is precisely why I wanted to have another child.

Never let them see you sweat

Or cry for that matter. No matter how many children you have, it seems that nothing can bring you to tears quite like a good combination of baby "issues", postpartum hormones and an inconsiderate doctor.

When Morgan was a baby, she would not latch on to nurse for anything. They sent me home from the hospital with all kinds of contraptions, never really explaining to me that it wasn't normal or that she was at risk for many things (including but not limited to jaundice, Failure To Thrive, etc.). I knew my milk had not come in yet and knew that she wasn't really eating great, but felt assured that the tubing that they had me tape to my chest before every feeding would make it all better. Or maybe that she would eventually get the hang of drinking from a medicine cup or medicine dropper. It never dawned on me until we went to our first in-office pediatric appointment, the day after being released from the hospital, that her excellent sleeping habits might actually be caused my malnutrition. Imagine hearing that, as a first time parent from a professional doctor. In other words, I heard "you are starving your baby and that is why she sleeps so much". The panic alarms went off inside me and I got completely stressed out. The fact that she wouldn't nurse made it all that more alarming. I was pumping and feeding her, but apparently not as often as they wanted or as much as they would like. Forget the fact that she was sleeping. I was told things like "strip her down and put a cold rag on her to get her to eat". When you hear things like that, the stress level escalates and you feel like the worst parent ever. And with Morgan being our first, I felt it all compounded with these major feelings of inadequacy and kept asking myself how I was going to do this. What have I gotten myself into? Eventually, I gave in and decided to confront nipple confusion head on and while I continued giving her breastmilk, I found it much easier to do so in a bottle and not the medicine dropper. We got into the groove of bottle feeding her, and then pumping for the next feeding. This happened so frequently (it took 20-30 minutes to bottle feed and 15-20 minutes to pump) that it seems like I was doing this around the clock, especially through growth spurts. I would periodically try her on the breast, at times when she wasn't completely starving and I had a lot of patience. Finally, somewhere around 8 weeks old, she finally caught on to the nursing thing and we went on to successfully nurse until she was about 10 months old.

Then there was Bennett. Now, he came out hungry and nursing like a champ, so all my anxiety related to that quickly dissipated and just as I was getting confident in what a great baby I had (heck, my milk was in and he was gaining weight before we even left the hospital!), I realized that I had been thrown another parental curve ball. A fussy or difficult baby that wouldn't sleep. I knew from the moment we brought him home that he was way more interested in making sure he didn't miss a thing at home than he was in sleeping. We had invested in those new-fangled swaddling blankets and I was using them religiously. That is until Mr. Houdini figured out how to free himself. Every. Single. Time. There were nights where we were up every 30-45 minutes because he had freed himself and was pissing himself off with his free arms. Oh the torture! We'd have to reswaddle him, settle him down and pray that the swaddle stuck for longer than an hour. I remember researching different/new swaddle blankets, swaddling him in a regular blanket INSIDE the swaddle blanket, etc. Nothing was keeping this kid in and he just didn't seem to want to sleep unless he was tightly swaddled. He was one of those babies you had to be careful to not overstimulate him and had to watch his cues like a hawk, lest you miss the yawn in that perfect window for sleeping. Which is not always easy with another kid in tow, mind you. But, eventually we quit the swaddle blanket. Cold turkey was the best way to go and we never looked back from there. Bennett still is not my "good sleeper", but nevertheless, we managed to work our way through that parental challenge.

Baby number three - what else is there that hasn't been covered? I've had the baby that didn't eat and the baby that didn't sleep. I felt pretty well prepared for both of these situations and knew what indicators to look for for either one of these types. When Landon was born, he latched on and nursed like a champ, right away. After bringing him home and him having his days and nights mixed up for the first two nights, he started to give us 3-4 hour stretches of sleep at night. Blessed sleep! Is it true? Did we get the perfect baby?

Well, if I had spent a little less time romanticizing the perfect third child, perhaps would not have been in for the rude awakening that I was to experience when he failed to gain weight back as expected for a baby who was latching on so great. Well, apparently he was eating only the minimum amount needed to sustain his little body and then he would promptly go back to sleep. This was made clear in the week after his birth, where he maintained his weight at 8 lbs 14 oz for the entire week. We were in the pediatricians office nearly every day that week and we watched as he lost an ounce, gained an ounce and then maintained. We were given the advice to wake him every 2 hours during the day to feed him and every 3 hours at night. We did this, but he did not gain. Next, we were told to do this AND supplement with a bottle of breast milk after EVERY feeding. I completely lost it at this appointment because I felt like such an idiot. I mean, come on. I'm not new at this. How could I not know that my child was not getting enough to eat? How could I have been so proud of his sleeping when his sleeping was getting in the way of his eating (similarly to Morgan)? Also, I began to have flashbacks to the issues I went through with Morgan. All the pumping and bottle feeding. I didn't want to accept this as the answer because I knew how much work it was. And my baby WAS latching correctly. It just all seemed too much. Not to mention that the doctor we saw that day (not our regular pediatrician) said a few things that really rubbed me the wrong way. I was a bawling, hormonal mess. I texted my friend Melissa and she called me. I could not keep it together while talking to her. She gave me some great advice - just nurse your baby. He's going to gain weight. It's temporary. Hang in there. And so I did. I hung in there, I nursed him every 2-3 hours and then my mom and Lance bottle fed him after while I pumped. We did that for two more days and then went in for another weight check. Finally, FINALLY he gained weight - adding 3 oz to his 8lbs 14 oz, he weighed in at 9 lbs 1oz!. We were advised to feed more on demand (since Landon was not showing signs of hunger) but continue to supplement. So we did that for another two days and he gained another 2 oz! Our pediatrician then recommended that we continue to feed on demand and cut out the supplemental bottles and so we did that and after another two days, he gained 4 oz, up to 9 lbs 7 oz (only 2 oz shy of his birth weight, which is where they want them to be at 2 weeks old). Finally, we were told we were out of the woods and could officially quit worrying about his weight gain. It seems like he's gotten over the hump and was nursing more efficiently.

Now I've got a little oversupply issue to deal with, but I remember going through that with Bennett before and know how to manage that. But, it is just always something, right? I know nobody ever said caring for a newborn was easy, but who ever thought that three babies could be so different, but yet each of them make you sweat and cry nonetheless. I've told Morgan and Bennett about the ways they challenged me as a mother when they were newborns and one day I'll have the same conversation with Landon. Maybe it will help them appreciate me even more.

Happy Easter!

As if coming home from the hospital isn't enough to take in for one day, there was also the Easter preparations to worry about. Bennett is my original Easter baby, having been born on Easter morning in 2007. Now I have a new Easter babe, born on Maundy Thursday! Unfortunately, that meant that I was not going to be able to go to church for Good Friday services or even on Easter morning, and I admit I was a little saddened by that. Luckily, my mom was game for taking the kids to church on Easter morning, so after the eggs were all found, breakfast and a good dose of sugar was had, off they went. Myself, Lance and my Dad stayed back and celebrated Easter with Landon at home.

Here are a few pictures from Easter morning!

The kids' baskets

 The pre-hunt investigation

Easter Sunday best!

One hour in the morning

The day starts as the alarm clock goes off. I peek through heavy eyelids and see the time is 6:30. A sleep in morning. I get up and get in the shower and then as I'm drying off, I can hear the life that has started percolating downstairs. Someone is talking a little too loudly, coffee is grinding, life is carrying on. After I'm ready, I go downstairs and greet my family as they themselves get ready for the day. Morgan is in tears for some reason and Bennett is slurping milk out of a bowl that is dangerously close to the edge of the table. I start gathering breakfast for myself, but it isn't long before I find myself needing to resolve the issue that is heating up between Lance and Morgan.

"Daddy won't let me eat breakfast", she wails as she tries to find her socks and shoes. I try to hide my amusement, at the thought that her father is actually withholding a meal from her. I give her some nudging to get her socks and shoes on, which is met with more tears and "but I don't know where they aaaaaaaarrrrrrreeeeee!" I give her some general locations to check and then go back to the kitchen to see about some coffee. Lance is in there, working on breakfast himself and I ask him why on earth he would not allow our daughter to eat breakfast (in a joking manner, of course). He informs me that, as expected, that wasn't exactly what happened. There had been some issue with the remaining cereal and her not wanting it and throwing a fit. He'd asked her to go finish getting ready for school before breakfast. After she was ready, she could eat.

About then, the timer that Lance had set for Bennett goes off, signaling it was time for him to go sit on the potty. I go over to the table and help him down and then follow him to make sure he's doing what he's supposed to do. He pulls down his pants and Big Boy Diego underwear, all the time eyeing the jar of peanut M&Ms on the counter top in the bathroom. He sits for a minute or so before I hear the "da da da DA!" jingle the potty seat makes when something crosses the sensor's plane. He smiles at me and announces "I went potty!!" I give him my most enthusiastic high five, watch while he pulls up his pants and underwear, empties the potty tray into the toilet and flushes it, "bye bye pee pee!" and then squirt him with some foaming hand cleanser. We go back to the table where he is supposed to finish up his cereal because he's going to need to sit on the potty in another 15 minutes and at that time, he's going to need to be getting dressed. Morgan has a performance at school right after drop off.

Morgan has finally located her shoes, but is still sobbing uncontrollably. Focus. Get your hair brush, put a headband in and put your sweatshirt on. After she's completely dressed, Lance has her fix the homework she'd finished the night before, but upon checking had not done correctly. This practically sends her over the top. I know Lance is trying to prove a point to her about wasting time (arguing over cereal), so we try to ignore the drama and just keep emphasizing that she can eat as soon as she is completely ready for school. You might think this would make her move faster, but it actually has the opposite affect since she's not getting what she wants and feels compelled to lament over it.

I'm stand in the kitchen and throw down a quick bowl of raisin bran, put together a thermos of coffee and a Coke Zero to take to work. Secretly, I'm praising God for the fact that we have a team lunch today and I need not worry about packing a lunch. T minus five minutes to leave for the train.

Lance needs to get dressed, Morgan needs to eat, Bennett is finishing breakfast while waiting for the timer to go off again. Everything is in motion, full chaos.

I gather my laptop and glasses, phone and charger since I failed to plug it in last night and once everything is together, I start the process of saying goodbye. Having finished his breakfast, Bennett runs over and grabs my leg and says "Kiss and Hug, Momma!". I bend down and give him a kiss and a quick squeeze. T minus NOTHING to leave for the train. Morgan starts sobbing again, "what about me??!!"She comes running to the door where I take her face in my hand and tell her to have a good day, give her a kiss and a quick squeeze and then I'm out the door.

Ice on the windshield, defroster not working fast enough. Train is coming. Friday traffic sucks. I race to the train station and make it just in time.

All of this in one short hour. And I admit, sometimes I'm breathing a sigh of relief as I walk out that door. A sigh that I'm glad it's not me that has to have the battle of getting in the car and how quickly they are moving and who has their shoes on. A breath of relief that I get to get on a train and open a book and read for 30 minutes. But other times, such as today, I feel badly for the task that my husband has at hand. Potty training, homework, lessons, tardiness. It's a lot. I know FIRST HAND that it's a lot. I wish I could stay and help. Wish I could stay and watch the performance. Such mixed feelings....glad I have a book to escape into!

Thinking of my friend Robyn

I had been warned about how mischievous and active little boys can be almost the very instant the ultrasound technician pointed out Bennett's little boy parts on the day we found out we were to have a son. I've experienced some of that, particularly the active part throughout Bennett's short little life thus far. Even in my womb, he was constantly kicking me. Now, it's while he's riding in the shopping cart and he's hitting my womb from the outside. I've seen some mischief from him from time to time. It started early with him crawling over to the TV, pulling himself up and pressing all the buttons. Or pulling CD's out of the CD rack or books off of the bookshelf. It seems as if while he's growing, he's also inventing new and unique ways to cause problems. What a talent! :)

Today, I was really thinking about my friend Robyn from high school. She has THREE little boys. Now, they are all as cute as can be, which is a good thing since she has THREE of them! :) I just can't imagine how she does it, though! I mean seriously, one is enough for me! Here are the things JUST TODAY that my son has gotten into.

First thing this morning, he ran straight out of the garage door and into the street. Yes, seriously. Luckily there were no cars whizzing by, but my heart just about leapt out of my chest!

Next up was a glass lamp in his room. I was in the kitchen preparing lunches to take to the park and suddenly I hear this CRASH!! I run in to see he has wedged himself behind a small bookshelf/table that is next to the rocking chair in his room. The glass lamp sitting on the table was the only casualty, thank goodness!

We had a great time at playgroup and then came home and had naps. After naptime, I let the kids play in the yard. When I had to go in to cook dinner, he proceeded to dig up one of the pavers from our back patio.

He was continuously taking his shoes off while outside, so I made him come inside and he threw a complete fit, so I asked him to go into his room to calm himself down. BIG MISTAKE. I came back a few minutes later to find him trying to cram a whole box worth of baby wipes into the diaper pail. Why, you might ask? Well, because he had apparently gotten a hold of the baby lotion and gotten it all over him and then tried to clean it up with a baby wipe or 500.

At this point, I called it a day, strapped him into his high chair and finished cooking dinner to the sounds of him screaming his lungs out. What a rough day.

And I only have one!

Lots of props going out to moms of boys. Especially more than one!! :)

The "take out" era

I distinctly remember a time period with Morgan where we just decided that it wasn't worth it to go out to eat with her. She was so obnoxious and loud and unruly at the table that we figured, why pay good money to deal with this in public? I remember that we even had friends who laughed when they told us, "yeah, we just don't eat out anymore". So, we pretty much cut it out for a little while. We let her mature and practiced good table manners with her at home and then we were finally able to take her out to eat with us again.

With Bennett, it's been a little different. As he's grown into his two-ness, we rarely eat out. When I quit my job that meant cutting back and one of our biggest wasteful spending categories was eating out. I mean, we do on occasion, but it's so rarely that we haven't had any major problems with him at restaurants.

Until tonight.

I knew it was going to happen, too. He's really into screaming these days and he was playing with his fork, flinging it all around in the air. I had asked him to stop a couple of times and I knew what I had to do. I was going to have to take the fork away from him. Before I did it, I knew he would start screaming and that I'd be forced to remove him, physically, from the restaurant.

Oh the spectacle we made! Because, you see, only moments before, Lance had inadvertently pulled the top off of the balsamic vinegar on the table, spilling it all over the table and splattering all over my white blouse. So there's me with vinegar all over my shirt, carrying this kicking and screaming toddler out of the restaurant. You should have seen the looks of compassion I got. People would look at Bennett as he was screaming "ME GO BACK!!" and then look at me with the vinegar and smile and nod this knowing look like, "been there, done that!" Except it wasn't quite what they thought!

I think we're going to save our money and just go out on occasion to restaurants where it's easier to hide a restless toddler. You know, places like Sweet Tomatoes or Baja Fresh. :) It's just that season of life for us. This too shall pass! Someday I may even look back fondly on what I'll call the "take-out" era.

Old fashioned fun!

Remember the pictures of us as kids? All of us shoved into a baby pool in the back of someone's yard. We'd be diapered (maybe), or wearing goofy grins as we showed off our bathing suits. Inevitably, you'd also see the picture of the parents, lounging about in their lawn chairs (remember the metal ones with the criss-crossed plastic fabric??), maybe with a beer in hand, or at the very least, just kicked back and enjoying life. It seems like those were easier times. Times where you just hung out with friends while the kids played. Now, it's possible that I'm remembering them fondly just because I wasn't the parent "on duty" back then. But today, I got a chance to experience that same kind of good old fashioned fun.




Today we went to a birthday party for Bennett's playgroup pal, Taylor. There wasn't a ton of fuss and overscheduled activities. It was a kickback, relaxed good time! She had a couple of baby pools in the back yard, a slide for the kids to play on and some finger painting set up. Not to mention a spread of food set out, so you could eat at your leisure. She had plenty of lawn chairs (NOT the metal kind, but he nice kind we can appreciate now!) and so I was able to chill out and socialize with the other adults at the party while Bennett hung out in the baby pool. He had a good time, so did I!

Of course, in true Bennett fashion, he really spent the majority of the party eating. Because that's one of his signature moves. He really enjoyed the watermelon!


Thanks for the good time Cindy. I loved the relaxing old fashioned fun! It was perfect, right down to the homemade Mickey Mouse birthday cake! Happy second birthday to the beautiful and sweet Taylor!

Trains

I'm not sure what the fascination with trains is all about. Not sure if it's a boy thing or just a this kid versus that kid thing. Morgan was never as into them as Bennett is. I mean, this boy if he even THINKS about a train, he starts choo-choo'ing and runs to get his Thomas toys out. So, imagine my delight when my MOPS group announced a kids outing to ride a REAL. LIVE. TRAIN. Oh, my goodness. The glee could hardly be contained, because this was a big first for Bennett and I just couldn't wait to see him experience it.

This morning, when I reminded him that we were going on the train ride today, he ran to get his Thomas toys and started playing with them immediately. He wanted to bring them with him, so we packed them away in his backpack to share with his friends. Rosie for Clare, Arthur for Kylee and some other train for Bennett (can't remember his name, again - not sure about the big deal about trains, so cut me some slack!). We packed up snacks and headed to Sunol to ride the Niles Canyon Railway.

Now, being the boy that he is, if asked, he will tell you that his favorite part was eating yogurt on the train. Because isn't that the holy grail??

Nevertheless - a great time was had by all and here are some pictures to prove it! :)

Ode to my camera

How I love thee
For capturing life's moments
Just as they are
Without losing patience.
















How I love thee
For not a lot of fuss and worry
I can simply put it on A
And take pictures in a hurry.
















Oh, how I love thee
A stare, captured
A feeling, forever
Joy and laughter.

The fairest of them all

Bennett has really gotten into dressing up. How fun! Not just for him, but also for his sister. It's like a real live doll to play with. This one even responds and follows you around the house. Only it also poops and burps. So lifelike!

What's childhood without some good blackmail material anyway? ;-)

If you don't have anything nice to say...

....then show pictures and videos of your amazing kids! :)

We went to see Lance's mother today. We haven't seen her since Bennett was a couple months old. We drove the two and a half hour drive with the kids plugged into a movie. Well, okay, just Morgan plugged in since Bennett kept taking his headphones off and unplugging his DVD player. It was nice to see her, but it was also a farewell since she's moving away to Washington. It's always a little strange to me to visit with relatives that you don't see very often. You are supposed to have this familiarity, but yet it's not there since you don't see them too often.

Fortunately, kids don't recognize social nuances such as these, and instead, had fun seeing their Nana. Since she is in the process of packing and someone else is moving in, we went out to lunch and then headed to this really amazing park for some play time after. This park had EVERYTHING! A little play town, a play structure, a rope web to climb on, sand, swings, water stuff, EVEN HORSES TO RIDE AND A TRAIN! I wish we had a reason to go back...


After lots of fun at the park, we loaded back into the car and dropped Lance's mom back off at her house. We said our goodbyes and then were off for our two and a half hour drive back. This one was with seriously deliriously tired children, so we got to see fun things such as this video.




Good times.

Worst mom award winner

You know how a friend might accidentally drop their child, say from the changing table or something like that? You know how they are all distressed and you tell them repeatedly not to worry about it, that their baby is fine and that it's harder on the parent than it is on the child?

Well, up until today, I could never truly empathize with the mother in those situations because I have never dropped my child. Until today. It happened so quickly, yet in such slow motion. I could see it happening, but had no way of stopping it. I keep replaying it over and over in my head, beating myself up for it, even knowing that it won't do any good. No, I dropped my son and I can't take it back.

He's not even really that badly hurt. He's got a bruise on his forehead, a scrape on his cheek, his chin and both knees. But the crying. Oh my. I'll hear that cry in my head and in my heart for a long time.

It happened innocently enough. At 30+ pounds, my son is a load to carry. Our morning walks to drop Morgan off to school are an effort in me balancing him, some keys, my coffee cup, or whatever else we have going on that day. I can't let him walk because he is just too slow and even if that didn't drive me crazy, he would get trampled on by the other students who are walking at a much faster pace. This includes his sister. So, I have to carry him. Well, the other day I had the bright idea of shoulders. So much easier, right? And it was! So, today I did the same for the trip back to the car. We were kind of in a hurry because I was meeting my friend Kristin at the park for a walk. I popped him up on my shoulders and chatted with a friend until we reached our car. When we got there, I opened the card door, grabbed him with both hands. I lifted him up off my shoulders, over my head and down to the ground where I went to set his feet on the ground. Only his feet didn't hit the ground. Instead, he toppled over forwards, into the door jam of my car and also onto the sidewalk. Like I said before, this all happened so quickly, but in such slow motion. Then the crying started.

Now, my boy is tough. He's been known to walk up to you with a huge scrape on his arm and not even care that it's there. I never worry with him that he's over exaggerating something, because he just doesn't do that. But his cry. Well, it makes me want to cry just thinking about it. He started wailing. Normally I can ask him if he's okay and he'll stop his crying and say yes and that's that. But not this time. Nope, he just kept wailing.

I held him as tight as I could. As if I could apologize for not being more careful simply by squeezing him tighter. I rocked him side to side, shushing him like a newborn, telling him over and over again, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry!" Finally, his cries subsided and I got a good look at him. Then I started crying. A huge bruise on his forehead, scrapes everywhere. My fault. I shouldn't have. I didn't mean to. I'm sorry.

He looked at me and said, "Momma, you crying?" I told him I was, because I was sorry that he got hurt. I asked him if he was okay and he said he was. I just kept asking over and over again.

"Bennett, I'm so sorry you got hurt. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, Momma. Me o-tay"

Now I know how it feels. And why it's so hard to let it go.

Bennett's first tire swing

Remember these? These were always my favorite swings at the playground. I remember in the third grade, playing on this swing with my two best friends. It was awesome because there were three of us and three spots to sit. We'd take turns spinning it around and then we'd jump on with the other two. We'd spin so fast (you know, you go faster if you lean in) that we'd almost hurl. Just when it was too fast, we'd slow down and laugh until we cried. Whenever I spot a tire swing, I think of those two friends. Wonder if it will be the same for Bennett?

Isn't childhood grand?

And then he did the craziest thing

My son, notorious for shaking his head violently when you take him into the bathroom to sit on the potty, just did the craziest thing. You see, I was in the kitchen making quesadillas for lunch (it is Cinco de Mayo, after all) when he walks in and says "Momma, me go potty on the potty." I didn't believe for one minute that he would actually go on the potty, since he'd done all but scrape the skin off my arms with his fingernails on previous occasions. Sure that this was some sort of plot to get under my skin and keep me from finishing my task, I gave him a test.

"Bennett, do you need to go pee pee or poo poo?"
"Poo Poo"

What do I do? Here I am, skillet all hot and cheese all melty. Quickly, I wrangle Morgan into the equation and give her a crash course in flipping a tortilla over and checking for burning and then take Bennett into the bathroom. I remove his clothes and his diaper, scramble to locate the potty seat we've tucked far away. Okay, here goes nothing. This is the point where he normally looks at me with his baby blues and screams "NO!" at me. Except today? He did the craziest thing. He sat on the potty. Yeah.

So, then I see his little boy parts poking up and I explain to him that he needs to point it down. I show him how. His face lights up when he's been given permission to touch it. He grabs it. I try to explain to him that if he pees, he can't have his hand over it. To just take one finger and point it down. He does this and I give the appropriate level of praise and then I wait. Hmmm. Quesadillas are surely going to be burned in the kitchen. Thinking quickly, I grab a book and ask him to look through it while I go check on things in the kitchen. Quickly thinking of what I can bribe him with, I remember we have some cookies left over from the batch that Lance baked and I tell him that if he does go potty in the potty, he can have a cookie when he's done!

Back in the kitchen, Morgan is too afraid to flip the quesadilla, so I ask her to trade with me and to go oversee the potty situation. I give her two simple instructions. First, do NOT let him get up without me being in there. And second, but most important, is to be VERY supportive. Tell him how proud you are of him sitting there and if he does actually go, to let me know.

Minutes later, the unthinkable happens. That's right. HE POOPED ON THE POTTY. Word came from Morgan, "Mom!! He went!!" Flipping the quesadilla over for the last time, I throw the spatula down on the counter and race to the bathroom where he's sitting there with a big smile on his face and a big turd in the potty. Wow. Crazy. Yes, he did something crazy and now it was my turn. I immediately bust out the best potty dance you've ever seen. Morgan joins in.

"Poo poo on the potty! Poo poo on the potty! Bennett went....Poo poo on the potty! YAY!"

Big smiles, I wipe him up and get him off the potty. THANK GOD I have held onto the pull ups from back in the day. I have yet another thing to reward him with. "Bennett, I'm so proud of you! Because not only did you go potty in the potty, but you also told me that you had to go before you went! Great job! Because of that, you get to wear big boy diapers!!" I bust out the old pull ups and choose Woody and Buzz Lightyear over the Disney Princesses, we all get cleaned up and go into the kitchen to eat lunch.

Bennett got to eat his cookie BEFORE lunch. Ooooooohhhhh! Yep, there was crazy going on at our house today!

Water play!

Bennett received an IOU from Grandma and Grandpa for his birthday for this really cool water table I had seen about a year or so ago, and that I looked for online for about 2 months before his birthday. Apparently, it's all about time and place because we couldn't find it ANYWHERE in time for his birthday. There were promises that it would be coming within the next two weeks or within six weeks, depending on who you spoke to. But, I knew how cool this table was and wanted to hold out for it, so they gave him an IOU.

Imagine my surprise as I'm perusing Costco the other day and find the exact table I've been searching for! Hooray! So, I busted it out of the box today (since it was not COLD today -- not WARM, but not COLD) and got out several different sizes of screwdrivers and got busy with the task of putting this thing together.

It wasn't too hard and before I knew it, the kids were tossing water everywhere. :)

Yoga kids

I'm not sure what it is about doing yoga in front of your kids, but mine always want to join in, climb under or on and really just think it's the best! I'll never forget the first time Morgan asked for her own mat to do it along side me. So cute!

This afternoon, while Morgan was at ballet, I figured I would get some exercise in since it was too cold out to walk this morning and Bennett had a runny nose so I couldn't take him to the gym. I pulled out my old favorite yoga video, my mat and came downstairs so I could watch him playing while I did my yoga. He was immediately entranced by the video! He sat on the couch and watched me do it for probably ten minutes before he got up, walked over and started bending over like I was. I asked him if he wanted to try it and he said he did. So, I helped him learn a few poses. He was so proud of himself that when we went to pick Morgan up from ballet, he excitedly told her the he did "down dog with Momma!!" Morgan was sad that we did it without her. Not sure what's up with my kids and yoga. Morgan LOVES doing it on the Wii Fit. Maybe I should look into a yoga video for the under 8 age group.

I do love that I am setting a good example for them, though. They see me taking care of myself and exercising and hopefully it will instill that in them as well.

Morning with my Melissas

I've spoken about my two friends, both of whom are named Melissa. One Melissa (MW) I've known for about three years, having really gotten to know her through the moms club when I was pregnant with Bennett. She was on the board for the club at the same time I was and I remember meeting her for the first time at a movie night. The other Melissa (MA) I've known for almost two years, having met her at a new members social, where I shamelessly stole her from another playgroup to include her into Bennett's playgroup. I love them both, so what better way to spend a spring morning, than with the two of them?

I met the first Melissa at the sports park to get some exercise with our little guys in tow. Brandon is about six months younger than Bennett, but they've known each other practically since birth since Melissa and I have done mixed age playgroups and traveling playgroups together with our older children since the little guys were wee ones. Melissa took her oldest, Collin, to Disneyland and also took a getaway trip with her husband over spring break. That meant that she was away from Brandon most of the week and when she told me that she wanted to get some exercise but didn't want to leave him at the gym in the morning, it seemed like the perfect way to catch up with her while we were also able to spend some time with our little guys. I drove to the Sports Park in Pleasanton and we made a couple laps around before it was time for me to go. It was nice to have a change in scenery and to have time to catch up with a great friend!

From the Sports Park, I scooted on over to my other Melissa's house for some adult chatting while we watched Bennett and Clare play in the water. Melissa and I, kicking back on the patio, sipping water and watching them play. I love that I am able to do this. What a charmed life I lead, huh? Here are some cute as ever pictures of Bennett and Clare having fun in the water!

Our first big outing of the season!

As the weather gets nicer and summer draws nearer, I yearn for the carefree days of going wherever we want, whenever we want. I love going to new places and exploring them with the kids and I also like going back to some of our favorites. Today, we took our first trip of the season, to Gilroy Gardens. This amusement park is perfect because it's small enough to do in a day, has lots of rides for the five and under crowd, and it never gets too packed with people, even during spring break! We went with my friend Melissa and her daughter Clare and we had a great time! Even the trip home, with my two non-stop talkers was funny. :)

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day.

A different park for a change

Day three of Spring Break and the weather is finally starting to get a titch warmer and a little less windy. We met for Bennett's playgroup at a super cute park that I had all but forgotten about since the days of Morgan's toddlerhood. Osage Station Park in Danville is a super cute park with a train that the kids had a ton of fun pretending they were headed to Disneyland on. We spent ALL morning at the park, ate lunch and then headed out as little eyes were getting tired. Love a great morning at the park!