I take being a house wife/stay at home mom some what seriously. By that I mean that I do think of it as my job to keep the house clean, make 3 meals a day for my family and take care of the kids without the help of preschool/daycare/nanny/babysitters. That doesn't mean I live in the 1950s and have heels and an apron on when Brett gets home, but I try to have a hot meal and a some what straightened house.
If I was actually employed as a house wife/stay at home mom I would have been fired today. I wasn't feeling great, so I laid around most of the day writing blogs, while the kids played, watched TV and fought over the iPad. It wasn't my finest moment. When Brett got home the house looked like a tornado hit it, and the kids and I were at the dining room table eating for only the second time today (not sure what happened to lunch).
Brett - Hey guys, what did you do today?
Peter (who has a very vivid imagination) - We had a playdate with a family of dragons.
Brett - Wow, really?
Me - Yep, that is why the house looks like this.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Coming to a Potty Near you - PETER!
I am finally comfortable saying it - PETER IN POTTY TRAINED! WOOOOO HOOOO... seriously, lets have a party because that was the hardest 15 months of my freaking life!
Peter first went potty on the potty in April of 2010, had a short stint of being semi-potty trained around his birthday last year (when he turned 3), and then about 2 weeks after his 4th birthday he decided he was ready and BOOM... Potty trained in two days.
Peter took all the rules of how to potty train a kid and laughed in their face. He proved that he was strong willed, and was not going to do it until he was good and ready. I'm not going to lie, it was extremely taxing on Brett and I. Sometimes there were tears shed, and sometimes it wasn't Peter doing the crying.
Many people said things that hurt my feelings and Peter's feelings on the subject. As a parent I cannot tell you how hard it was to listen to friends say to Peter, "Don't you want to be a big boy?" and having him cry about it later.
Or how hard it was when people told me that, "Boys are physically ready by the time they are three." - Thanks, are you trying to say that my kid is delayed or that I am a bad parent?
There are moments the past year that MORTIFIED me. Being the only mom in the 2007 playgroup who's kid was still in diapers was so hard, and the few times when I was changing Peter's diaper in public restrooms and strangers walked by and said, "He is a little big to be in diapers!" I wanted to curl up and hide.
The fact was, Peter was TERRIFIED of pooping. He held it for DAYS until he would be rolling on the floor crying from the pain. Because he was holding his poop, he wasn't able to hold his pee. Because of both I had to let him wear Pull-Ups.
Based on all the research we did online, and talking to doctors and parents with the same issues, this is normal for boys. "Normal" does not make it easier to live with, but it did make me realize that I was powerless and needed to stop getting frustrated. Peter kept telling us that he was going to start wearing underwear when he turned 4.
The day after his 4th birthday I asked him if he was ready for underwear and he said, "Maybe when I turn 5." So I waited.
Two weeks later we were at the Disney store. Peter wanted everything in site. So I let him pick a toy (Cars) and a new pack of underwear and headed to check out. When I got home I put the kids down for naps and got to work making a chart (entitled: Peter and Aaron's Race to Diaper Independence):
Day 1 - Lot of accidents, Peter cried for his Pull-Ups. I gave them back and reminded him that even though he was wearing Pull-Ups he could still use the potty when he needed to go.
Day 2 - Peter wore Pull-Ups and didn't have any accidents, BUT I saw him holding his poop. I decided to give him something to help him go so it would be less traumatic. Fifteen minutes later he ran to the bathroom, went poop and has been going on the potty with no problem ever since (I think it helped that I made a HUGE deal about how it didn't hurt and wasn't scary at all).
Day 3 - Went back to underwear and has been virtually accident free ever since.
He does wear "training pants" at night (they are essentially cloth diaper pull ups, but with very little absorbancy), but he has a lot of dry nights and I am not really concerned about that.
This experience has taught me a few things, the two most important being -
1. Waiting until your child is ready to potty train is so much easier than fighting with them. Pushing when they are not physically or emotionally ready is only going to frustrate you both and could potentially do more damage than good.
2. Do not let people make you feel bad about the way you choose to deal with tough situations with your kids. I let people get to me. I knew in my heart that Peter would do it when he was ready, but outsiders frequently made me feel like a bad parent.
I know this is a much longer blog than I usually write (and more serious), but to any mom who is having trouble, you are not alone. And to people who know someone who is having trouble - give your friend/relative a break. It is hard enough without your commentary.
Next task - Aaron... who, guess what? Is also terrified of pooping. Of course he is.
Peter first went potty on the potty in April of 2010, had a short stint of being semi-potty trained around his birthday last year (when he turned 3), and then about 2 weeks after his 4th birthday he decided he was ready and BOOM... Potty trained in two days.
Peter took all the rules of how to potty train a kid and laughed in their face. He proved that he was strong willed, and was not going to do it until he was good and ready. I'm not going to lie, it was extremely taxing on Brett and I. Sometimes there were tears shed, and sometimes it wasn't Peter doing the crying.
Many people said things that hurt my feelings and Peter's feelings on the subject. As a parent I cannot tell you how hard it was to listen to friends say to Peter, "Don't you want to be a big boy?" and having him cry about it later.
Or how hard it was when people told me that, "Boys are physically ready by the time they are three." - Thanks, are you trying to say that my kid is delayed or that I am a bad parent?
There are moments the past year that MORTIFIED me. Being the only mom in the 2007 playgroup who's kid was still in diapers was so hard, and the few times when I was changing Peter's diaper in public restrooms and strangers walked by and said, "He is a little big to be in diapers!" I wanted to curl up and hide.
The fact was, Peter was TERRIFIED of pooping. He held it for DAYS until he would be rolling on the floor crying from the pain. Because he was holding his poop, he wasn't able to hold his pee. Because of both I had to let him wear Pull-Ups.
Based on all the research we did online, and talking to doctors and parents with the same issues, this is normal for boys. "Normal" does not make it easier to live with, but it did make me realize that I was powerless and needed to stop getting frustrated. Peter kept telling us that he was going to start wearing underwear when he turned 4.
The day after his 4th birthday I asked him if he was ready for underwear and he said, "Maybe when I turn 5." So I waited.
Two weeks later we were at the Disney store. Peter wanted everything in site. So I let him pick a toy (Cars) and a new pack of underwear and headed to check out. When I got home I put the kids down for naps and got to work making a chart (entitled: Peter and Aaron's Race to Diaper Independence):
Day 1 - Lot of accidents, Peter cried for his Pull-Ups. I gave them back and reminded him that even though he was wearing Pull-Ups he could still use the potty when he needed to go.
Day 2 - Peter wore Pull-Ups and didn't have any accidents, BUT I saw him holding his poop. I decided to give him something to help him go so it would be less traumatic. Fifteen minutes later he ran to the bathroom, went poop and has been going on the potty with no problem ever since (I think it helped that I made a HUGE deal about how it didn't hurt and wasn't scary at all).
Day 3 - Went back to underwear and has been virtually accident free ever since.
He does wear "training pants" at night (they are essentially cloth diaper pull ups, but with very little absorbancy), but he has a lot of dry nights and I am not really concerned about that.
This experience has taught me a few things, the two most important being -
1. Waiting until your child is ready to potty train is so much easier than fighting with them. Pushing when they are not physically or emotionally ready is only going to frustrate you both and could potentially do more damage than good.
2. Do not let people make you feel bad about the way you choose to deal with tough situations with your kids. I let people get to me. I knew in my heart that Peter would do it when he was ready, but outsiders frequently made me feel like a bad parent.
I know this is a much longer blog than I usually write (and more serious), but to any mom who is having trouble, you are not alone. And to people who know someone who is having trouble - give your friend/relative a break. It is hard enough without your commentary.
Next task - Aaron... who, guess what? Is also terrified of pooping. Of course he is.
Semi-New Addition
Like the new blog header??? You might notice a change; or I should say an addition.
Campbell Louise Gardner (our little princess) was born on July 19, 2011. She was the biggest baby I ever birthed (8 pounds, 1 ounce) and the most well behaved! From day one, Campbell has been an easy, laid back, good eating, great sleeping baby; who is loved by the entire family... but probably most loved by her Big Brother - Peter:
Now lets get past the face that it took me two months and nineteen days to acknowledge her on my blog. I am busy people!
Campbell Louise Gardner (our little princess) was born on July 19, 2011. She was the biggest baby I ever birthed (8 pounds, 1 ounce) and the most well behaved! From day one, Campbell has been an easy, laid back, good eating, great sleeping baby; who is loved by the entire family... but probably most loved by her Big Brother - Peter:
Now lets get past the face that it took me two months and nineteen days to acknowledge her on my blog. I am busy people!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
We are the Champions
I have recently been having a hard time dealing with Peter and Aaron always competing. Everything thing we do, down to getting in our seats to eat dinner or getting in the car, is a race. That inevitably ends in one kid yelling, "I win!" And the other in tears.
It makes me nuts, so I have been trying to work on it with them. But the other day I lost my temper and before I realized what I was saying, the following works came out of my mouth:
Me - Peter and Aaron, stop it! There are no winners in this family, we are all losers!
Sadly, there is probably some truth to that statement sometimes.
It makes me nuts, so I have been trying to work on it with them. But the other day I lost my temper and before I realized what I was saying, the following works came out of my mouth:
Me - Peter and Aaron, stop it! There are no winners in this family, we are all losers!
Sadly, there is probably some truth to that statement sometimes.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Old McDonald
This morning in the car Aaron was signing to himself.
Aaron - Old McDonalds had a farm E-I-E-I-O, and on that farm he had a chicken, E-I-E-I-O. With a balk balk here, and a balk balk there, here a balk, there a balk, everywhere a balk balk.
Old McDonalds had a farm E-I-E-I-O, and on that farm he had a french fry, E-I-E-I-O...
Hey mom, what does a french fry say???
Me - Aaron, french fries don't live on a farm.
Aaron - But they live at McDonalds!
Aaron - Old McDonalds had a farm E-I-E-I-O, and on that farm he had a chicken, E-I-E-I-O. With a balk balk here, and a balk balk there, here a balk, there a balk, everywhere a balk balk.
Old McDonalds had a farm E-I-E-I-O, and on that farm he had a french fry, E-I-E-I-O...
Hey mom, what does a french fry say???
Me - Aaron, french fries don't live on a farm.
Aaron - But they live at McDonalds!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Stick and Stones
We were at the park playing today, when Peter picked up a huge stick that had fallen during last week's hurricane. As he danced around with it he almost hit another kid with it prompting a time out and being told he was not allowed to pick up anymore sticks.
Two minutes later he picked up a stick off the ground.
Me - Peter, what did mommy JUST say about your privileges with sticks?
Peter - I am not allowed to pick up sticks.
Me - Then why are you holding a stick?
Peter - This is a branch!
Me - Branches are made out of sticks.
Peter - No, they are made out of wood and bark.
Two minutes later he picked up a stick off the ground.
Me - Peter, what did mommy JUST say about your privileges with sticks?
Peter - I am not allowed to pick up sticks.
Me - Then why are you holding a stick?
Peter - This is a branch!
Me - Branches are made out of sticks.
Peter - No, they are made out of wood and bark.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
EARTHQUAKE
Yeah, we had an earthquake. In VIRGINIA! Nuts right?
Everyone insists on telling their story around here, so this is mine.
Yesterday at whatever time the shaking started (I don't know the date, so don't ask me to focus on time) - I was sitting on the couch watch Big Love on Netflix and nursing the baby (yeah, we had a baby - maybe I should post a blog about her). The boys were upstairs sleeping.
My first thought, "wow, the garbage truck is late today."
Immediately followed by, "Oh SHIT - are we being attacked???" Because, let's face it, when you live outside of DC and the world starts shaking you think terrorist attack WAY before earthquake.
But it didn't stop, it was getting stronger and glasses and things started to fall off the walls and shelves.
So, I ran outside (boob out and baby in arms). That was the scariest part, the cars were shaking like crazy! I don't know earthquake protocol, so I went to "rescue" the boys and bring them outside. I was screaming, "Peter, Aaron, Wake up!" in the boys room when it stopped.
Both boys were still sleeping, so I went to check on some neighbors (we have an elderly couple two doors down and several kids who do not have parents home).
A bunch of the neighbor kids ended up at my house because they were scared, so we all unsuccessfully tried to get a hold of loved ones over the phone while we watched the news and learned that there was a 5.9 earthquake.
At that moment I was a little freaked out. Brett was in his office building (which he later told me was SWAYING) so I wanted to make sure he was fine before I could breath. But the news was not reporting any major damage, so I wasn't too worried.
After it was all over and we knew no one was hurt and that there wasn't major damage, it was just really cool. I witnessed an earthquake! Not something I ever thought I would be able to say as an east coaster. Pretty awesome!
We did have two fatalities - two wine glasses that were perched on shelves in our dining room fell to their death.
Oh, by the way, people who live in Cali are absolutely freaking crazy - it was fun once, but I wouldn't really want to do it again, and especially not one that actually does do damage. I know west coasters are probably making fun of us for freaking out over this one, but we are all making fun of them for choosing to live somewhere that it can happen so frequently!
Everyone insists on telling their story around here, so this is mine.
Yesterday at whatever time the shaking started (I don't know the date, so don't ask me to focus on time) - I was sitting on the couch watch Big Love on Netflix and nursing the baby (yeah, we had a baby - maybe I should post a blog about her). The boys were upstairs sleeping.
My first thought, "wow, the garbage truck is late today."
Immediately followed by, "Oh SHIT - are we being attacked???" Because, let's face it, when you live outside of DC and the world starts shaking you think terrorist attack WAY before earthquake.
But it didn't stop, it was getting stronger and glasses and things started to fall off the walls and shelves.
So, I ran outside (boob out and baby in arms). That was the scariest part, the cars were shaking like crazy! I don't know earthquake protocol, so I went to "rescue" the boys and bring them outside. I was screaming, "Peter, Aaron, Wake up!" in the boys room when it stopped.
Both boys were still sleeping, so I went to check on some neighbors (we have an elderly couple two doors down and several kids who do not have parents home).
A bunch of the neighbor kids ended up at my house because they were scared, so we all unsuccessfully tried to get a hold of loved ones over the phone while we watched the news and learned that there was a 5.9 earthquake.
At that moment I was a little freaked out. Brett was in his office building (which he later told me was SWAYING) so I wanted to make sure he was fine before I could breath. But the news was not reporting any major damage, so I wasn't too worried.
After it was all over and we knew no one was hurt and that there wasn't major damage, it was just really cool. I witnessed an earthquake! Not something I ever thought I would be able to say as an east coaster. Pretty awesome!
We did have two fatalities - two wine glasses that were perched on shelves in our dining room fell to their death.
Oh, by the way, people who live in Cali are absolutely freaking crazy - it was fun once, but I wouldn't really want to do it again, and especially not one that actually does do damage. I know west coasters are probably making fun of us for freaking out over this one, but we are all making fun of them for choosing to live somewhere that it can happen so frequently!
Sunday, July 3, 2011
S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G I-T O-U-T
This evening we were at the pool, when a huge storm started rolling in. We packed up quickly and started walking home as quickly as possible. On our way, I started thinking about what we would do now that Mother Nature had changed our plans.
Me - Brett, I am thinking that I can make dinner while you get the kids showered and in their PJs, then we can have dinner, and if they are good we can do a M-O-V-I-E after (spelling it out so that the kids wouldn't know what I was saying).
Brett - Sounds perfect.
Peter - What movie can we watch?
Brett - Uh oh...
Me - Why did we teach him how to read???
Me - Brett, I am thinking that I can make dinner while you get the kids showered and in their PJs, then we can have dinner, and if they are good we can do a M-O-V-I-E after (spelling it out so that the kids wouldn't know what I was saying).
Brett - Sounds perfect.
Peter - What movie can we watch?
Brett - Uh oh...
Me - Why did we teach him how to read???
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Aaron Vs. Alex
After Aaron's whole tooth ordeal I Googled "Ovi missing tooth" to see if Aaron had the same tooth missing as Washington Capitals super star Alexander Ovechkin. Turns out Aaron is missing the opposite tooth, but here are two photos I found in my internet search that were a funny comparison:
The toothless gaps -
Aaron
Alex
Upside-down shades -
Aaron (taken the day before he lost his tooth)
Alex
Now if only we had this magazine, we would have had a much easier time finding a dentist to pull Aaron's tooth yesterday!
The toothless gaps -
Aaron
Alex
Upside-down shades -
Aaron (taken the day before he lost his tooth)
Alex
Now if only we had this magazine, we would have had a much easier time finding a dentist to pull Aaron's tooth yesterday!
An Early Visit From the Tooth Fairy
Our normal routine in the evenings is to go to the pool as soon as the kids get up from their naps in the afternoon (where Brett meets us when he gets home from work), then we walk home, change into pajamas, eat dinner, brush teeth, read books, go to bed. Yesterday was going the same as always, except when Brett got to the pool I headed out to make dinner for everyone and get ready to leave for dinner with some friends.
Right as I was finishing up cooking dinner and was grabbing my keys to leave for my dinner out with friends, I heard Brett and the kids coming in the front door. Brett looked distraught.
Brett - Aaron chipped his tooth at the pool.
Me - WHAT? Why didn't you call me? What do we do? I need to call Debbi (my friend that I was going to meet is also mother of 3 children who are older, so I figured she would have advice).
Debbi didn't have a specific dentist to call, so I got off the phone with her and went into mommy mode. While the kids watched TV (Aaron wasn't actually crying at all, but his mouth was bleeding), Brett and I were on the phone calling the pediatrician, dentists, and anyone else we thought could help. What ended up being the biggest help was a post I put up Facebook asking if anyone knew an emergency pediatric dentist.
An old friend of ours who is a dental hygienist called me right away and was able to calm us down a little (apparently chipped baby teeth were no biggie), but she also gave us the number of a friend who was a pediatric dentist. Once we called him, Aaron let me get into his mouth a little more to see what was going on. Turns out his "chip" was more like a split up the center of his tooth (the whole center was shattered away) and the dentist advised us that he would either need it pulled or need a root canal. Bad news (as if the whole tooth thing wasn't bad news) - this doctor was out of town and most of the people he would recommend were also out of town. However, he knew one dentist - Dr. Ternisky out of McLean. Another friend on Facebook had JUST recommended the same dentist, so we gave her a call.
Dr. Ternisky was EXACTLY what we needed. She explained over the phone that it wasn't going to be a fun process. Aaron would need to essentially be strapped down to the table, and we would need to hold his head while she gave him shots in his gums and then she would pull the tooth.
Knowing that we didn't want Peter to have to listen to all of crying and yelling and knowing that we wanted to both be with Aaron, we started calling around to friends who could potentially watch Peter for a couple hours. Thankfully our friend's Christy and Dave were more than willing and we were able to quickly drop off Peter and head to the dentist.
Once we got to the dentist, everything went exactly as she had explained, except she didn't really say that it would be the most torturous moment that anyone of us had ever endured. Poor kid needed about 10 little Novocain shots in his gums and into the middle of the tooth, and pulling the tooth was not at all like what I remember from having loose teeth yanked as a kid. The dentist had to get the root, so lets just say, it didn't come out too easily.
With that said - Dr. Terniski was wonderful and Aaron was such a little trooper. Through the tears he made jokes, got excited about the tooth fairy and gave us some smiles (photo post pull):
The dentist recommended that we take him out to ice cream after we picked up Peter, much to both kid's excitement.
When we got home, we put Aaron's tooth under his pillow (something I never thought I would be doing while one of my kids was still sleeping in a crib). This morning he was so excited to find a dollar and looks forward to going to the Dollar Tree later this morning.
Side note - the photo of Aaron at the pool (at the top of this post) was the last photo ever taken of his baby tooth. The dentist said his new tooth would grow back in 2-4 years, so we have a long time before we have another photo with a full set of teeth in Aaron's mouth.
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