Lately...

I've been slacking on the blog a little.

I've been putting in a lot of hours at work.
I started about two weeks ago, and it is going really well!
I really enjoy doing this kid of OT more than I thought I would.
I give about 4-5 showers a day with patients.
Really they do a lot of the work themselves...I am there to teach new techniques, safety, home modifications, etc.
I should have the nicest skin in town, with all that showering.
Also in so obsessed with wearing bright scrubs, after 4.5 years of wearing steel gray!
I am so happy every morning to put on pink, green, blue...all the colors I haven't been allowed to wear!

My kid is going through a bit of a "phase" and he is making us a little nutty.
"Nutty" being the blog-friendly version.
He has a cold, a new molar, an ear infection, and now, quite possibly pink eye.
The jury is still out on the pink eye at this point.
I'm waiting to see if his eye is all matted shut in the morning.
His hanging in there though, and is now on day 6 without even one peanut butter sandwich.
He enjoyed a movie with his daddy yesterday, and we have a library trip planned for Friday.
And I love that kid, i really do.
But wow, who would think so much "personality" could be jammed into 27 pounds of feistiness.

Jeremy is back to work tomorrow too.
He learned a lot at his 4 week class, so now it is time to put it into action.
He gets a 4 day weekend, which is exciting for all.
We are going to get a little date on Saturday, and we are looking forward to that!!!

We are still church shopping.
So far 0 for 3.
None of them were bad.
Just not for us.
So the church search continues.
It's a little tiring though.
We got lucky in Mississippi and found the right one on the first try.
So it's a little discouraging, but we will find one, I'm sure.

On a positive note, my potty training child is doing awesome.
At home and at daycare, he is really saying when he has to go and making it!
No accidents!
It is hard to believe that the difficult part is over.
When I was doing it, it was so awful, but soooo worth it!


Off to bed, I'm already 27 minutes past my strict bedtime!!  :)
Happy Wednesday!

Healthy eating boot camp

So mission healthy-eating-boot-camp is under way.
It started Friday afternoon.
After Noah's pediatrician recommended we get control of Noah's diet.

He is a VERY picky eater.
75% of his diet is milk.
The other 25% is peanut butter, cheese and goldfish crackers.
Clearly it's working for him, cause he is not a small kid.

But aside from being annoying to me, it was causing some stomach issues.
Like sit-on-the-potty-forever kind of issues.

So I discussed it with the doctor, and with her encouragement, we went for it.
It is her theory that a "neurologically intact child won't starve to death".
Turns out to be true.
With only one meal of partial boycott, he jumped right on the program.

Lots of new fruits, which he previously refused.
A few bites of various meats.
More water.
Less snacks.  Really no snacks unless its fruit or cheese.

I'm shocked at how well it's going.
Afte 2.5 days, I have to say I'm really happy we stopped caving to his peanut butter diet.
I'm sure there will be a pb and j here and there, but I feel so good to be feeding my boy healthy food.
And wow, is the bathroom a lot, shall we say, smoother.

More updates to come!
Maybe tomorrow I will post a picture of him eating a plate full of broccoli!

I shouldn't get ahead of myself here...

Back Together

After almost 4 weeks home, Jeremy is home and we are back together!

It feels good to have any everyone together.

And it is SO nice to have help with the little man.

There isn't enough good things to say right now about it.

Ahhhhh....soooo good.

Guess I can finally sleep with the lights off tonight.  ;)

Zoo Trip

A day off means a trip to the zoo.

Noah loves it there, and he is so busy looking at animals and yelling "Nother One" that I can only ever get a picture of his back.

And I was on high-alert-potty-patrol, so that added to the chaos.

But he survived the trip, dry, in his undies.

I now know where every bathroom at the zoo is and the quickest route to them.

It was the perfect day...85 degrees and cloudy.

Never mind the hat, he would wear it if it was raining too.

Have I ever mentioned that I'm a HUGE zebra fan?

They are my favorite animal by far.

Had to shove a couple of kids out of the way to get a better look.

 And Noah is a big rhino fan. 

This guy is HUGE!

There is only one, so I'm sure he is lonely.

So that, long afternoon naps for all 4 of us (though the dogs pretty much sleep full time anyway) and a pizza dinner was our day.  

Counting down the hours till Friday!

The Good and the Bad

1.  Yet another blog without pictures.  Its kinda dreary.  I'm hoping Jeremy will unload some of my pictures this weekend onto the hard drive, making room for more.  He has a little to-do list (which he doesn't know about yet), and that is high on the list!

2.  I'm bringing N to the doctor in the morning.  Maybe another ear infection.  Or maybe just teething.  Something isn't right though.  I've been pushing advil down his throat, which seems to be helping some, but he is still doing a lot of night crying.

3.  Speaking of ears, I think Beagle has an ear infection/yeast infection too.  Seriously?!?!?  Why does everyone seem to get sick at once?

4.  I totally forgot to workout today!  I guess between starting work, and taking care of N, it didn't hit me until I was getting out of the shower!  I'm going to have to make myself a note so that even with more going on it doesn't slip my mind.

5.  I got sick of beagle tonight.  I was trying to get N through the bath and into bed, and Beagle was just howling and howling.  I slapped his bark collar on #4 and that was that.  I do love our dogs, but sometimes.....you just take all you can take!

6.  I got 2 pairs of prescription glasses from zennioptical for $20.  I'm a HUGE glasses fan, and it is nice to have a spare pair (or 2).   They came in the mail yesterday.  One pair is AWESOME.  Everything I was hoping for and more.  The other pair...very cute, but very crooked.  I tried to straighten them out, but don't want to break them.  I emailed the company, and they responded with some options.  They asked me to take a picture of the glasses...so I did, with me in them.  Crooked and all!  :)  Anyway, what do you want for $20!  Now I can have a pair to travel with so I don't leave them (like I did this weekend).

7.  My new job is going really well.  Today was my second day, and I feel like I am getting the hang of things.  I really really enjoy the clinical aspect of the job.  I am working on figuring out the documentation system.  The patients are very motivated and very cooperative.  The clinic has a lot of resources (high and low tech), so there are sooo many options of things to do with patients.

8.  I scheduled a dr appointment in a few weeks to discuss my headaches, which have slowly crept back on me.  I seem to be having more and more, which is a really bad thing, especially now that I have a little man to take care of.  He still needs to be taken care of, even if I have a headache, so I'm hoping they have some sort of miracle pill for me.

9.  I did a little couponing at safeway today.  I was buying 4 packages of granola bars (the limit on that deal was 4).  The cashier told me that if I'm using coupons, I can only buy 3 of one item.  HUH???  She said I would have to buy one separately.  In order to do the deal I was doing, I had to buy 4, so I was thrown off.  It was a confusing moment for me, but she ended up scanning it through anyway (probably because I looked so dumb).  Besides that, I was pumped to stock up on granola bars for work!

10.  Happy Birthday to Joseph!  On a side note to that, I got an app on my phone that tells me birthdays and anniversaries.  I have been so excited about being "on the ball" till I realized it never notified me of Joseph's birthday (or my own MOTHERS birthday 2 weeks ago!!!).  I can't even get over how I could forget their birthdays!!!  Sorry guys!  You know I love you!

Happy Monday, a-non-working-out-day!

Everyday Stuff

We are headed to Phoenix tomorrow.

Looking forward to all that grandparent time.

Its been a loooong week of potty training, and I'm ready for a break.

Mom and Dad---did you guys know you were up for that?

Noah REALLY wants to spend time with you.

Lots of time.

Alone.

:)

And I'm starting work tomorrow.

Friday is a weird day to start work, but I think it is mostly training and observation.

I'm looking forward to it.

I'll be working at a rehab center, where patients get 3 hours a day of therapy.

N is doing really well at daycare.

3 days, one potty accident.

No fights.

No bites.

They have to wash their own hands (with help), clear their own plates, brush their own teeth.

Lots of good independence skills.

And OT loves that.

Still trying to figure out how to get the pee IN the potty.

Probably something I will be battling for years to come.

So nothing exciting going on here.

Counting down till next Friday.

First Day of School

I'm totally totally totally out of space on my computer.
I need Jeremy to take some of my massive picture files and dump them onto a hard drive.
That might take a little while, so for now the blog will be picture-less.
And I had a really cute one to add.
A picture of my boy this morning before his first day at his new school.
I start work on Wednesday, so I'm taking him today and tomorrow to see how he adjusts.
And see how I adjust.  :)

He did really well today.
Totally infatuated with the toys.
Neutral to the "friends".
Not crazy about the food.
NO pee or poop accidents!
Spent the whole day in undies.
Still working out the details of aiming into the toilet.

He was happy to see his momma at the end of the day.
Happy to come home, and insisted he sit in my lap for the next hour.

I had a rather unproductive day.
A TWO HOUR trip to the dentist for a regular cleaning.
Can anyone say thorough?
A drug screen for work.
Getting frozen groceries home in 100 degree weather.
A little couponing.
I've been itching to get out since I started potty training with N.
I've got a whole list ready for tomorrow too!

Another Potty Update

So today is one of my proudest mommy moments.

Maybe one of my proudest moments period.

As I blogged yesterday, I've been potty training Noah

Its been a rough road, but sooooo worth it.

After 5 days of pee EVERYWHERE....he officially gets it.

We were out and about all day today...at the Children's Museum, the drug store, a friends house, out to dinner...and he was totally accident free.  

He is so stinkin cute in his undies.

All grown up, but yet still so small and fat.

I am so proud of him.

I know we still have learning yet to do (and probably many accidents), including day care, travel, pool, etc...but he will get it.

I know he will.  

Potty Training

 So normally I’m pretty open and honest on this blog.

But I’ve been hiding a little secret.

Because I was afraid of failure.

The more people you tell, the more people you have to admit to that you failed.

But I think I’m past the point of “failure” per say…

So I only told a very few people that I was potty training Noah this week.

We used Lora Jenson’s 3 Day Potty Training that was recommended to me by my sister Danielle.

So, it wasn’t 3 days, but we have made great progress.

Today marks the end of the forth day.

And wow, what a crazy 4 days it has been.

Day 1 started out with 19 pee accidents.

Everywhere.

Fortunately we have a house that is very much set up for pee, so clean up was no big thing.

And LOTS of hateful behaviors. 

Wow.  Who knew he had it in him?

Day 2 included less pee accidents, lots more bladder control and lots less hatefulness.

Only about 10 accidents.

And luckily for me, they weren’t spread all over the house on day 2.

I was just glad to FINALLY get SOME pee in the potty.

Day 3 included SEVERAL full pees in the potty!

Lots of “holding it”.

Lots of potty dancing, squirming, and holding himself.

A little excited, but overall somewhat neutral about getting it in the potty.

1 #2 in the potty, 1 #2 elsewhere (I’ll spare you).

Day 4 included several full pees in the potty.

LOTS of “holding it”.

A few accidents though. 

Lots of "false alarms".

A trip out to the store and to Subway.  Accident free.

ZERO loads of laundry.

SOOOO much better than day 1, 2 or 3!

I think my child has watched more youtube and eaten more cookies this week than his entire 2 years combined.

So at the end of Day 4, Noah is not potty trained yet.

But he is getting there!

And he is understanding the process a lot better now.

My sister keeps reminding me that it was more like 5 days for them.

I have 2 more days at home with him, doing nothing but potty training.

Overall, I would say I’m pretty happy with the process.

With my work schedule, I didn’t know when I would have a whole week to do nothing but potty train.  And I doubt if I did, I would want to be doing potty runs.

So we are committed. 

And really, I’m very proud of my little “undie” wearing boy.

Weekend in Phoenix

Noah and I spent the weekend in Phoenix with Terry and Ken.

I spent a lot of time visiting with Joseph since my parents are on their cruise.

We even got to FaceTime Stephanie and Elijah from his house.  :)

So I ate my heart out with all of the wonderful food Terry prepared this weekend.

My body is in good-food-withdrawal right now!

Noah loved loved loved her toys...I think he had every single one out at one point.

I got a lot of errands run (although I never did find that Pluto).

We made a Kohls run, and did SO well there!  We ended up with $360 worth of clothes for $40.

We really paid $50, but got $10 Kohls cash, so I just call it $40.

You can see in my picture below...3 shorts, 2 pants, 2 long sleeve shirts, 2 polos, 1 tee and 6 tank tops! 

There was even more...but I think it is being saved for little boy Christmas gifts.

I am so excited to be stocked up on 3T clothes for next summer (and some for this winter too).

WAY better prices than a consignment, and all new too!

I had such a good-deal high when we left!

So now it is back to real life...laundry, dishes, taking care of dogs.  :)

Thanks for the great weekend Terry and Ken!

Happy Friday

Just a few happy Friday pictures.

Too busy for a face shot.

Too busy lining up his "friends".

Not sure if I should be freaked out that his "friends" and 2 inch plastic toys.

We went to Dollar Tree tonight to get him a new "friend"

Donald Duck

To add to Mickey, Minnie and Goofy.

It made him soooo happy!

I'm on the hunt for Pluto at various Dollar Trees.

Phoenix Dollar Tree, here comes a Mickey mouse lover!

Tonight I said "I love you Noah"

And he said "I lub you mommy"

ahhhhhh....melts my heart!