Potty Training Adventures

Potty training has been one of the things I am most afraid of as a parent. I often describe Owen has our stubborn resist-er and you can imagine how difficult it was to potty train him. In fact, we quite literally had no part in it. But with Jack, it seems that by the end of day two, he's legit good to go!

Let me explain. Owen is wildly stubborn, just like his mama, so it came as no surprise that he refused to do much with us. We tried once in February 2016 to no avail and even though we kept trying over the next several months, nothing ever came of it.

Then, a few weeks before his third birthday, daycare told us to just bring him in underwear. And of course, bring lots of outfit changes. So, that is what we did. On Wednesday night, I made my way out to Walmart to buy a few elastic-waist pants and more undies. Of course, there were many accidents over Thursday and Friday. But then Owen refused to even try over the weekend. Surprise, surprise. But the real surprise came when Owen came home in the SAME OUTFIT that he went to daycare in. FOR REALS. Then, he did the same on Tuesday...and Wednesday...and that was that. He still wore a pull-up when sleeping and didn't go #2 yet but this was a wild success! All thanks to daycare. (THANK YOU Otter room!)

Owen was then really scared to attempt #2. We had one successful attempt in April 2017 but no others until one fateful weekend when we weren't even in town. Yep, that was went Gspice and I were in New Orleans and miss Sarah was hanging with them. It was apparently a bit messy but we've never looked back since. THANK YOU, SARAH! I took him out to celebrate with a donut and he also requested lettuce. Yep, lettuce. The text messages shown below came to us while we were eating at Luke in New Orleans. Probably another reason why I loved it so much!

In February 2017, Jack started showing signs of wanting to use the potty. Just look at that sheepish grin!

We didn't make much of an effort simply because we were lazy. Looking back now, I'm fine that we waited but it would have been nice to save money on all of the diapers/pull-ups/wipes. Fast forward to a few short days before his third birthday and we had a massively different experience with this tot. And I thank my lucky stars for that. I decided on a whim that this last weekend was it. I was going to attempt potty training simply because he was about to turn three and Owen was potty trained before this. Knowing that Jack is much more of a willing participant, I thought we could do it. And do it we did! JACK IS POTTY TRAINED!

I almost cannot believe that I sit here on Sunday night with a little boy who on Saturday morning, couldn't even understand what it was like to go potty. He had quite a few accidents in the morning but quickly got the hang of needing to speed over to the potty when he saw it coming. By midday, he had probably 4-5 accidents and then started a marathon pee session which I gave him 5 stickers for. Essentially, he'd have a little tiny accident but then ran to the potty right away but would only sit there for a hot second. At that point, I could tell that he was ready for the next step. I made him sit for longer periods of time so that he got more out in each sitting. It was a bit of a struggle but I got creative. We used a timer, let him color in a little activity book, use reuseable stickers, use dry erase markers on the toilet lid while sitting backwards, you name it. That got him 8 more stickers before naptime. It certainly helped that I gave him apple juice diluted with lots of water so he probably had around 36 ounces before lunch!

I was pleasantly surprised to see that he didn't have a very wet pull-up. It showed me that he did a pretty good job of emptying his bladder so that was good. After naptime, Jack kept doing really well but still had a little accident every time before rushing to the potty.  By the end of the night, he had a total of 21 stickers. He clearly got the hang of it!

This morning started out a bit rocky and I was nervous about the progress that we had made. I upped the ante and put him in underwear but then had to sit through at least 10 underwear changes. He seemed super happy to change each time so I tried to act like it was such a chore but Jack was having none of it.

one of many undies for the morning!

It wasn't until I got serious after naptime and told him that he would no longer get any M&Ms if he peed in his underwear even if he ran to the potty. If he did that, Jack only got a sticker. The first time he had an accident after that, he threw a major fit because I didn't give him the M&Ms but I didn't give in. It only took one or two more times before he FINALLY got it. It was probably around 2:30pm when it clicked. I'd say he had at least 9 stickers for successfully dry undies. He also got two M&Ms each time so that might have helped. I was even so sure of his progress that I left to go grocery shopping with Owen and left Gspice in charge AND let Jack sit on the couch for the first time all weekend!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Jack also pooped on the first day (and one random day awhile back which is why there are two stickers there) but I think he was confused with how to pee. He would push like he had to poop even though he didn't need to, so while I was super excited when he did that, I'm not convinced we're there yet. And also, any time I got a little too excited, Jack always had to tell me that I was too loud. It was super cute. And just look at this sticker board!

So now, I am sitting back and enjoying a glass of wine because friends, I think we now have two potty trained little boys! Cheers to that!

New Orleans || September 2017

Gary and I decided that traveling was one thing we wanted to prioritize last year. We never took a honeymoon so we knew that one day we wanted to take a trip with just the two of us but I wasn't convinced we'd have the courage to do that. Leaving our boys for even a night is nerve-wracking because they are two wild and crazy boys. Like, on another level wild and crazy. However, we also decided that the boys were perhaps a little too young to appreciate a trip like this and it would have been much more work with them at this age for us. That doesn't sound like much of a vacation, huh?

We finally committed to where we wanted to go back in March or April when Gspice came up with a really cute idea. We both got to pick several cities we'd be interested to visit and then we watched a bunch of Expedia videos on those cities. We both wrote out the pros and cons of each city and then ranked our top three choices. If I remember correctly, we both chose the same top three but maybe in a slightly different order.

#3: San Diego - solid choice but we'd like to take the boys here

#2: Boston - the boys MUST go here with us!

#1: NEW ORLEANS! Definite first choice but not an option for the boys. This aspect made us nervous but we took time to think about our decision before fully committing.

And as crazy as this sounds, Gspice and I returned just over five months ago from our very first vacation together since before the boys were born! While we did struggle with making this decision, I am so glad we did! Being away from the stress of our daily lives for a few days was such a blessing. We were able to relax, enjoy the city, enjoy each other and eat amazing food.

RECAP

Day One: Friday, September 22

It was pretty obvious to our amazing babysitter, Sarah, that we had never traveled before but we somehow got out of the house by 6am. We traveled from New Orleans to Dallas and then Dallas to New Orleans and both flights were uneventful. I loved being able to see the different terrain as we flew south and Gspice was able to catch a nap or two.

We then took our first Uber from the airport to our hotel, the Hampton Inn & Suites (French Quarter Area). It took about 25-30 minutes but at least the driver was super nice and gave some good suggestions on what to do and see. I think we ended up doing some of the things she suggested too!

After settling in to our nice room, we made our way to dinner at Juan's Flying Burrito. It was within walking distance from the hotel and was a really cool spot to have our first meal in the city. My fish taco was nice and spicy, just the way I like it. 

After a drink at Back Space Bar, we then made our way to the movie theater to watch Kingsman: The Golden Circle. I know, I know. Why did we go to the movies on vacation? Well, it's actually something we do often whenever we do travel so it made sense for us. We did manage to have a drink or two while there so that was fun :)

On our way back to the hotel, I tried jumping over a patch of water and biffed it. Totally biffed it, and some guys behind us tried to help me. I'm surprised they were so nice but I was fine. I did scrape my ankle a bit so that was annoying.

Day Two: Saturday, September 23

We got to sleep in while on vacation which was a DREAM since I never get to do that. And of course, I let Gspice sleep a tad bit longer because it was his BIRTHDAY!

When we did end up leaving, we headed to what seems like a pretty popular spot, Ruby Slipper Cafe, but the one in Uptown versus the one closest to our hotel. Gary got french toast which looked amazing and I got the smoked salmon benedict. Though it certainly looked good, I think I was in the mood for something else because I only had one of the two. Oh well. When I see a salmon bene, I've got to try the salmon bene!

Strangely, after brunch, I started to feel really out of it. I felt weak and had a hard time catching my breath so we just tried to take it easy for awhile. We walked around the old, historic Lafayette Cemetery 1 and found a really friendly black cat. Only slightly spooky.

When I was feeling a bit worse (probably because of the sun), we then decided to go to the National World War II museum and were quite surprised that we got in for FREE! If I remember correctly, we weren't originally going to go to the museum on Saturday so I'm really glad we did!

Of course, I needed to rest after such a busy day so we went back to the hotel for a nap. After that I was feeling so much better so we decided to go to LUKE - New Orleans. It was by far my favorite spot of the trip. That Shrimp & Crab Etouffee hit the spot and I loved being able to see into the kitchen. Gspice enjoyed his burger but I don't think that compared to mine!

After such a nice dinner, we decided to be typical tourists and walk down Bourbon Street. It was a bit of a mess with all of the construction so it wasn't really all that fun. That said, we found a cool jazz spot and got some drinks before heading back to the hotel for the night.

Day Three: Sunday, September 24

We started the day by eating at EAT New Orleans in the French Quarter. It was cute spot, but it was a bit underwhelming. That said, I'm glad we gave it a try and it does really look like a good spot but perhaps we choice the wrong items for our palates.

The night before we had been on Bourbon Street but seeing the French Quarter during the day was really cool. The area is beautiful and I love walking the streets. As we made our way towards Jackson Square, we saw some festival up by the water. Turns out, there was a Fried Chicken Festival in Woldenberg Park. We didn't try any of the fried chicken but had fun walking through that area too. Of course, Gspice found a good drink to gulp down, not once but twice.

And I, clearly having issues with the sun and heat, had to sit down to relax. We were waiting for a friend so it was a good time to sit and watch all of the tourists in the area. We ended up meeting Branna, a friend of mine from Rubaiyat, who had recently moved down to New Orleans. She had never been to Cafe Du Munde so we all got to try beignets for the first time. They were messy and delicious, as expected.

After another afternoon nap (yes, we definitely prioritized sleep on this trip!), we decided to go to another nice spot for dinner, Marcello's Wine Market. It was a fancier spot with a good display of wine all over the place. This was by far, Gary's favorite spot and simply put, it was the Truffle Mac&Cheese. Holy amazeballs, that was good. How do we get mac and cheese that good around here? Seriously?

Day Four: Monday, September 25

We had a little time before we needed to leave for the airport but instead of going out for breakfast, you guessed it, we slept in a little. I was really sad to leave such a beautiful city but we were also excited to get home. 

We had a long day of travel ahead of us and we savored every last second we had without the mass chaos that is our boys. We love them to pieces but man, they tire you out! We also cannot thank Sarah enough. She is a F&*K!@G r.o.c.k.s.t.a.r. and wrangled our boys from Friday after daycare to Monday morning when she dropped them off all by herself. Holy Cow. Of course she also got to take care of them after daycare on Monday but we tried to get back as soon as we could so she could go home! I will say, it was really fun to surprise the boys the next morning when they woke up. It was almost like we were never gone!

Sadly, there was one spot that I REALLY want to go to but found out after going to LUKE that this spot wasn't open on Sundays. To say that I was sad is an understatement. That just means we'll have to go back sometime soon.

Traveling to New Orleans with Gary was a really nice way for us to reconnect and really got us thinking about where we will go next. We've got big plans for the boys this year. In fact, next up on our vacation list is just a few weeks away and we can't wait to surprise the boys!

How to Reuse Broken Crayons

For all the mommies and daddies out there that have kids that would rather break the crayons than use them for coloring, this post is for you!

Both of our boys love a good box (because who doesn't, right?) so they each got one of the plethora of empty boxes we have in the house to use as their drawing pad. It was going well for a hot second before the first crayon broke. A few minutes later another broke. After I coached Owen not to push so hard it seemed to go okay for awhile. Or so I thought....

I got distracted for a minute and when I returned, Jack was just sitting there, breaking all of his crayons. He looked up at me and gave me a sheepish grin and I knew that I couldn't get upset. Instead, I decided to reuse them!

I didn't tell the boys what I was doing so it was fun to see their reactions when they got to help with the process. I will say though, that taking the paper off the crayons was ridiculously difficult. I finally broke out a little knife to help me out so that process took me awhile. Of course, the boys had proceeded to tear up their boxes and make a mess all over the house while I was busy :)

Once that first step is done, the rest is easy peasy!


Ingredients

• broken crayons, paper removed
• muffin pan
• cupcake liners

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line as many liners as you think you need. As the oven heats up, let the kids help fill the liners, 1/2 to 3/4 full. Place in oven for 5-10 minutes until fully melted. Let cool completely before using.

As you can tell, Owen didn't want to mix his colors but Jack was all over that. These kept the boys busy while I prepared lunch so it's a win in my book!