Henry and the 3 Day Potty Training

Call us crazy but we did it again...yep we signed up to attempt the 3 day potty training method again!  As you'll recall we did this with Paige when she was the same age as Henry.  We hadn't planned on potty training Henry until after our family vacation at the end of June.  Henry apparently had other plans.  He started asking to go potty, and telling us when he needed to go.  He started doing the same thing at daycare.  So Memorial Day weekend Rob and I decided to pull the trigger and just do it.  We went out and bought undies and rewards.  We bought new potty seats that will help keep the pee in the toilet with a little boy.  Paigey went to spend time with Rob's parents so she didn't have to deal with us running around cleaning the carpet all day.

Saturday morning we woke up and put on undies.  Saturday was hard but not crazy like it was with Paige.  Rob was installing new closet organizers in our room and my mom came up.  I wasn't super stressed out with him I thought he did pretty well.  The different between Henry and Paige is Paige drinks all day long, she still does.  Henry doesn't drink much so it took him longer to catch on as he didn't have to go as often.  He did so good during the morning and the afternoon he just didn't care.  Sunday was a different animal, we went to Rick and Gail's house to pick up Paige.  We stayed for lunch to celebrate Gail's birthday.  Henry was playing and running around, so we had a few accidents.  By the end of Sunday I was DONE.  I texted friends of mine who have done the same thing and I asked for them to remind me that this would work.  Monday he did great!  He started finally telling us that he had to go potty and was dry all day.  We were so excited!!  Tuesday brought back to daycare and spending part of the day in his new 2 year old room.  He had a couple accidents but that is expected when being around new people.  They did teach him to stand to pee because he was getting shorts and undies wet from sitting.  Standing has been amazing!!  He loves it!!  He's been doing AMAZING since.  Today is a week and he's had multiple all dry days, he's dry during nap time.  We'll conquer bedtime later as we did with Paige.

I mean does he get any cuter in these undies!

This is the amazing organizer Rob installed!  It has a certain 5 year old girl pretty jealous.

Our weather has been hot, then rainy, then cold so not much time outside in the water yet.  Last weekend they got to be outside and were so happy.

So excited when I got this sheet from daycare, says he was dry and went in the potty all day!!

Then Tuesday night happened.  I was getting the kids ready for bed and Rob ran downstairs.  Next thing I hear him yelling and running upstairs.  We had water in our basement.  Our sump pump just quit it died.  So Wednesday Rob and I were home from work all day trying to get all the water out of the carpet.  It's doing a lot better!  We're hoping we don't have to pull the carpet, but time will tell.

This little girl had her last day in her preschool room on Friday!  Monday she officially starts the school age room with all of the big kids.  She's excited to get to have a carefree summer full of field trips and movies.  She gets to play with some new kids too.  We of course celebrated with some frozen yogurt!

We hope all is well with everyone!  Life is starting to get crazy for us.  T-ball is wrapping up, swim lessons are starting, Henry is about to turn 2.  Get ready for a lot of blogs and pictures!!  Love to all!

Paige's Preschool Graduation

Well my sweet girl graduated preschool today!  I'm so proud of her.  She's so entertaining, bright, and has a big future in front of her.  It was fun to have all the parents of the kids she's been with since she was 6 weeks old.  I think it was harder to say good bye to the parents I've seen every morning since I first dropped her off.  One family we wont meet up with again until junior high.  They made sure to take pictures together just in case we hang them at their high school graduation parties.  Paige was a lucky girl to have all of her grandparents and family there.  So proud of her!

Someone was very proud of his sister tonight

Singing songs

Random Catch Up

Well it feels like summer is here already.  We are in full swing of tball with swim lessons right around the corner.  Our weekends are filling up and the weather is warming up!  It so nice that the kids are getting outside most days at school and at home.  They are loving the fresh air.  This is going to be a random fill in of some of the things we've been up to.

Last weekend on Saturday we went back to Newton to visit some of our friends.  Joel and Katy Van Maaren were back in town from STL for Pella Tulip Time so we all got together to let the kids run.  As you can tell from the below photo there are a lot of kids between 4 families now.  I remember when we all used to hang out and Callie was all that was around.  Now holy moly!  I'll try and name them all with last names so you'll tell who is related.  Jenn, Katy, and Lyssa if I get their ages wrong I'm super sorry!!  Most of these kids are all very close in age. The 3 girls who are all 5 were born one right after the other in 2010.  Kenzie and Reagan came at the end of that year.  Henley and Henry are a couple weeks apart.

Left to Right: Callie Cross (7), Hadleigh Hornbuckle (5), Haleigh Van Maaren (5), Paige (5), Reagan & Kenzie Cross (4), Reid Van Maaren (3), Henley Hornbuckle (2), and Henry (1).

This lovely lady and her family hosted us.  So great to have Jenn in my life!!

The next day was Mother's Day.  Paige surprised me with a mani/pedi that she wanted to get me.  So her and I went off on an adventure.  She's never had her nails done at a salon so it was just as much for her and it was for me.  The salon was CRAZY busy but they were able to squeeze us in and get Paige's fingers painted.

We're still doing tball.  Yesterday her game was at noon.  It was the first time she played while it was a little warm outside.  She was drenched in sweat and pooped out at the end of it.  But she's doing great!  She's getting in front of the ball to make stops.  When they as for volunteers she's usually the first one to volunteer.  Now if only she would quit drawing circles in the dirt while the game is going on we'd be onto something.

Last night I thought I would get out the sprinkler and water table for the kids to cool off.  They both loved the sprinkler.  It's so funny to see Henry have no fear compared to what Paige was like as his age.  Rob and I realized that we have almost lived in our house 4 years.  So crazy!  I'm so thankful for our backyard every summer.

Then today we got the garden planted.  Paige has always helped Rob with this task, but this year EVERYONE helped.  Henry had so much fun digging holes, and playing in the dirt.  Now we just have to wait for all the fun to start popping up!

Our biggest joy this weekend is Henry has been very interested in the potty.  He used the potty while at daycare on Friday and talked about it non stop.  He went multiple times this weekend.  So this means that potty training is going to begin.  I didn't think we would do it this early with him but I'm not going to miss my window of him being interested.  I went out and bought undies for him and a box of pull ups.  We'll be doing the 3 day method with him just like we did with Paige.  We're going to do it next weekend so everyone say a prayer for us.  The light at the end of the diaper tunnel is bright and I just hope this works!!!

Rob and I are still both very slammed at work.  We're both continuing to navigate through transitions at work.  It's been a lot of hours for both of us but I know it will all be worth it.  My Etsy shop is still going well.  Orders aren't crazy right now but I'm 100% ok with that.  When one comes in I get excited.  

We hope everyone is doing well.  The next blog will be for Paige's preschool graduation!!

Paige & T-Ball

Well it's officially started...Paige is in sports!  We officially started tball this morning.  She was the first game of the day at 8:00 AM.    Rob and I didn't know how she'd do she usually ends up crying when we work on stuff at home.  But she did great!  She listened to her couch and had a lot of fun.  They worked on throwing, batting, and fielding.  It was so much fun to watch the girls all figure out when to run to the base, how to field a ball.  Rob and I had a great time!

Warming up with some running

Learning how to throw, point to where you want it to go

Paige's turn to throw

Batting practice!

Someone was SUPER jealous that he didn't get to go out there.  He kept telling Rob "I hit it!"