Potty Training!

I've been wanting to log on and write a quick note to update everyone on our potty training progress for so long now, and as per usual, it's been nearly a month. BUT, we had a MAJOR potty training breakthrough about two and a half weeks ago. As I mentioned earlier, I was having a hard time with Landon, and was also having a hard time fully committing to the whole thing. After my last post I did jump in head first. I found out that potty training is much more than something that we would do for a few hours a day a few days a week. It is literally nonstop. It's a lifestyle really. So here is what we've been up to lately.

Helping daddy fix the fence

We would get up and the diapers came off right away. We had to eat breakfast before even trying the potty because they are really cranky until they have eaten (kind of like their momma). Then after breakfast they would sit on their pottys and I would read to them. That was the only way I could get them to stay on their pottys long enough for them to even think about using them. The pottys were in the playroom so any time they had the slightest urge, all they had to do was turn around and there they were. The house fell into complete disrepair. I didn't do any dishes or cleanup until they were napping. And by that time I was usually too tired to do anything...let alone care that the kitchen was a disaster zone. But that was the only way I was going to be able to have eyes on both of them all the time. The second I saw an accident they were scooped up and plopped on the potty. We didn't leave the house for about 10 days excepting very infrequent trips to the grocery store to get some essential food items. It was potty bootcamp. I even canceled a few playdates because I knew that as soon as they got it I was going to have to ensure that they didn't forget.

It was May 16th (a day to remember) the three of us were playing at the train table and Landon  walked over to his potty very nonchalantly and sat down. This was pretty normal behavior but then he stood up with a big grin on his face and pointed to his pee in the potty. I was floored. I couldn't even get him to pee in his potty with all the reading and fussing and nonsense that was kind of working for Liam, there were only two occasions that I managed to get him to pee the smallest amount two times before this. But sure enough, he had done it all by himself. We had the biggest dance party celebration you can imagine. Then we all went into the bathroom and i poured the pee into the toilet and he got to flush. It was very exciting. But a fluke I thought. Then a few hours later, the same thing happened, but this time he pooped in his potty! I was picking my jaw up off of the floor as we went into the bathroom and he got to flush again. And that was that! From then on both boys have been rock stars. It was like a light switch. Since then we have been able to move their pottys into the bathroom. They know that they have to hold it long enough to make it to the bathroom. Most of our short errand runs they are able to stay dry and they know to go pee before we leave and again when their diapers come off once we get home.

The only time they wear regular diapers is at bedtime and for naps now. All other times they have nothing on unless we run errands. Then they wear either cloth diapers or training pants (the undies with a thinker pad to catch one time accidents). Initially Chase and I wanted to do cloth for naps and bedtime but I was doing way too much laundry. Realistically, it'll be months before they can stay dry at night. They are still in cribs so if they had to go potty at night, they would be out of luck. So this is what's working for us now. Our next goal is undies. I tried them last week but not wholeheartedly. The boys can pull the undies down which is great, but they turn it into a game and they like taking them all the way off. I know that when we start undies it will be almost like starting again, but we're almost ready for that step.

In addition to potty training, we are getting ready to move back to Colorado. Like really ready. Our lease is up here the end of the month and then we will be moving everything out west! Things are really hectic here these days, more so than normal. But we're still finding time to enjoy each other and all the wonderful things we've been blessed with.

Two Years Old and Counting

We have officially entered the "terrible twos." I'm not sure when our babies turned into little kids, but we can see it every day in how they interact with one another. How they play together, how they fight, how they play on their own, and how they interact with us. It's wonderful to watch. And then I look around the house and see a disaster zone. Not only do they play with their toys all over the house, but their new thing is standing up on whatever they can find and getting things off of the counters. They learned how to get up onto the kitchen table a long time ago but this is new. Almost nothing in the house is free from their grasps now and that's scary. I feel like we're always running after one (or both) of them trying to keep them from getting into too much trouble. But in general, they are good boys. We're at a hard time right now because they want to be running around all the time. When we're running errands they're no longer content sitting in the stroller or shopping cart, but they are still a little too young to walk along side so that has become a frustration when we go out and about, but we're working on that. I need to learn that it's ok for me not to have them strapped down or be holding their hands all the time when we're out and about too. If I never let them walk around on their own, they will never learn what "stay close to me" means and they'll never learn that they can't stray too far. When I get together with my other mom friends we "practice." It's a perfect environment to let them run around without me when there are lots of other moms there watching out for them. So we're getting better.

With plans of moving back to Colorado in our minds these days, Chase and I have been wanting to soak up Pittsburgh living while we're still here. There are a lot of things we want to do as a family as well as just the two of us before we leave. One of the things we have always wanted to do here is ride the incline in the city. Its an old coal mining track that runs from the top of Mt. Washington down to the Monongahela river. It was used for bringing coal down from the mines to the boats that would haul it away years ago and now it is used as a means of transportation for people who live or work up on Mt. Washington. It's also a tourist attraction because Mt. Washington has the best views of the city. In fact, USA today voted the view of Pittsburgh from Mt. Washington one of the top 10 views of a cityscape in the world. Pretty neat huh? We went during the day with the boys back in March and spent a nice afternoon exploring. The views were really great. Chase and I would like to go back at night so we can see the city all lit up if we ever get the chance. The boys had a lot of fun on the incline and we had a nice lunch at one of the restaurants up on Mt. Washington.

Their second birthday was March 30th. We had a train themed party for them at the house which was a lot of fun. Lots of people came to help us celebrate and there were no melt downs! The boys were really well behaved and let the other kiddos play with all of their toys. It was a cool day so we weren't able to play outside, but the boys got a train table from mom and dad and that was pretty much enough to keep everyone entertained all afternoon.

April was a very warm month. We were spoiled by the whether for sure and we took advantage of it as ofter as we could. My mom's group does a lot outside which is great. A few days before Easter, we went to Simmons Farm for an Easter egg hunt and a picnic lunch. It was their first Easter egg hunt and they did great. It was so cute watching them fumbling around in the orchard chasing after the eggs and each other, tripping over sticks, filling their bags and dumping them out again. This was one of the examples of a time that the boys were able to run around without me holding onto them or pushing them in the stroller. I almost didn't even go because I was so worried about losing one (or both) of them. But Lori convinced me to go and I am so happy that I did. They strayed pretty far from me at times which made me nervous, but would come back when I called to them or if they couldn't see me. All the kids were allowed 12 eggs. At the end of the hunt they could exchange their eggs for candy. Since they boys don't get candy we didn't exchange them for anything but they had fun looking for the eggs and since they never eat candy, not getting it in exchange for the eggs didn't bother them. See how that works?:) After the egg hunt we had a picnic lunch up at the farm which was really nice. All the kids would eat for a while and then run off down the hill and play in amongst the trees, then run back up to their moms and get a few more bites before venturing off again to play. After lunch we went into the "petting zoo" that they have there. Which is really just a big fenced in area with ducks, chickens, pigs, goats and sheep that the kids can pet...and inevitable chase. The boys are really brave around the animals. Just walking past the baby goats and running their hands across their backs, going into the chicken coop and trying to go into the duck inclosure. Maybe someday they can help gather eggs from our chickens.....but first I have to get these little ones under control.

Easter Sunday was a really nice day here. Perfect weather to be outside as a family. We went to church in the morning which was nice. Chase and I took the boys up to the daycare when we got there because they were really squirmy. They were really excited when they saw all the toys waiting for them. After the service we came home and they took a good nap. While they were napping we cleaned up the yard and cut the grass and hid the eggs that they were going to find once they woke up. Since Chase wasn't able to be with us at Simmons he was excited to watch them find the eggs that we "hid." This time we put some candy and trail mix and Crasins in the eggs for them and once they figured out that the eggs weren't empty, progress slowed quite a bit, but they eventually found all the eggs proudly carried them around in their Easter baskets. It was the perfect Easter.

After Easter it got cold again. It froze a couple of nights killing a lot of the flowers and reminding us that it's not summer yet. We got quite a lot of rain and spent a lot of time inside. I'd like to say that during that time I was able to completely potty train the boys. But alas, that is far from the truth. Has it really been two months since I started? Well I'll be the first to admit that I have not been very diligent. But anyone who has ever potty trained a kiddo (let along twins) knows how exhausting it is. Another word I like to use is frustrating....and disheartening....and yes, messy. Liam has made pretty good progress. He is to the point where he will stop what he's doing and run over to the potty and go pee or poop. Well, he was to that point and then I needed to take a break. I've found that I can hit it hard for about three days, and then I need to take a break that is usually at least that long and that is where I'm losing him. But he rarely has an accident as long as I'm watching him. He'll come up to me and I can tell that he needs to sit on the potty. Landon is another story entirely. He will go through the motions with us, but will not pee in his potty. Today I thought I had a break through with him, and maybe I did, but after peeing on his potty two times, and enough to flush down the toilet, he just let it go and peed a big puddle on the floor. That's the disheartening part. It's kind of a thankless endeavor when things like that happen. But I want to kick it up. I need to get them to the next level and I will have a renewed confidence. But for me to get them to that level, I need to buckle down. I'm planning on just focusing on Potty training for a week straight. Wish me luck! Hopefully I can get at least four days in a row before taking my break this time. But I'm shooting for seven.

Chase and I had a rare weekend away last weekend. We had a babysitter watch the boys Saturday night and we did another one of those things that you need to do if you live out here. We went to Fallingwater, which is an incredible architectural wonder about an hour and a half south of here. It is a house build on a water fall for an aristocratic family that lived in Pittsburgh in the 1930s. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the house for the Kaufmann family as a summer home and it is now a national historic landmark and has earned many other accolades over the years. We went on a cool and wet day but spent most of the time inside the house. We went on an in depth tour and learned so much about the house, Frank Lloyd Wright and the Kaufmanns. I highly recommend checking this house out if you're ever in the Pittsburgh area. It was such a fun day. After the tour we went to dinner at what may be my favorite restaurant out here. We ate there last May when we went to the Laural Highlands for my birthday. We tried to go to the house then but didn't know that we needed to buy our tickets in advance. Anyway, we wanted to go back to this restaurant because it was so great. It's a privately owned restaurant that's cutie fancy and is BYOB, as many places are out here. So we bought a bottle of wine, called and made reservations and enjoyed a romantic dinner of delicious food after a day of exploring a national treasure. We actually felt like adults again!

Now that we're back to reality, Chase is working a lot and I'm...not working on potty training. This week was a lot of fun for us. Monday we went to one of the many parks around here and played for hours with a big group of women. It was the last MOPS meeting of the year and it was nice to jsut get outside and let all of our kiddos play together. Tuesday, we went to the zoo. I could go on and on about the zoo because it was such a long day. We had a really good time and the weather was perfect. Not too hot, but we did have to put sunscreen on twice and the boys sucked down two water bottles. Liam wasn't having the stroller at all so he walked almost the entire time. I was so impressed! He was so cute just strolling along behind us talking to himself, playing in the grass, looking at the animals and running around. He would come up to me every now and then and hold my hand, but mostly he liked being on his own. Landon, however, was more than happy in the stroller, I would take him out so he could better see the animals and see if he wanted to walk but I think the number of people around made him nervous. We went with my mommy group and there were so many kiddos with us! After lunch Liam was a little tired and was happier in the stroller and Landon had worked up the courage to get out and walk with me. They were so tired by the time we got to the car. They conked out shortly after we left. It was a really great day.

Now they're both napping which is a rare occurrence these days, but I've really been dying to get a chance to write another blog post. Hopefully by my next entry, potty training will have progressed more. That's my goal between then and now. I also know that it will happen when it happens and that notion calms me down a bit. As with everything so far, once we're over a stage and onto the next, I miss it. These boys are growing up too fast.

Happy Spring

It's snowing here today. There's no snow on the ground, and this won't amount to much, but none the less, it's the first day of spring and it's snowing. Earlier in the week we went to the park in short sleeves and played on the slides, then came home and ate dinner outside on our back deck. This time of the year is hard because you can get tricked by the weather and think that you're closer to summer than you really are. But then again, I'm happy that it's only March. Time goes by too fast anymore.

We just got back from a five week trip out west. We visited our family in Colorado and Wyoming. We had such an amazing time that coming back here this time was the hardest yet. We love our Pennsylvania home, but we're itching to move back to our roots; to have our kids grow up in the same environment we did, and to have family only a few hours away.

The first part of our trip was spent in Steamboat. We rented a condo so that we could have our own space and so that our family could continue their normal routines without having to accommodate two two-year-olds. Steamboat is one of the most beautiful places on earth in my opinion and our first day in the valley just solidified my feelings. It was a blue bird day. Not a cloud in the sky and the snow was piled up every where we looked. My mom was in town for the first few days of our trip so it was a treat to be able to see her while we were on vacation too. We took full advantage of everyone who wanted to babysit the boys for us while we went out to dinner, went skiing, sat in the hot tub, and just spent quality time together. It felt so good to be up on the ski hill again and to see that after missing two seasons, Chase and I were still as good as we were before moving away. We had so much fun skiing with my dad and Maggie. It just felt like old times. It was so good to have so many outdoor activities available to us right in town. We miss that out here. One of our other highlights while in Steamboat was walking up the Spring Creek Trail with the boys, Maggie and my dad. We pulled the boys in a sled some of the way, but they really preferred to walk. Chase and I were so proud of them and it warmed our hearts to watch them play in the snow, fall, laugh and marvel at the beauty of the winter wonderland that is Steamboat in February.

As always, family dinners at my dads house are a favorite thing for us. Great food, conversation and company. The boys even helped cook some meals and had a great deal to contribute to the dinner time conversations. It was also so nice to finally be able to go to an opening of one of my brother's art shows. We went to an art show that he curated. He had one piece in the show, but he was the one coordinating with the other artists and deciding which pieces to use etc. It was a lot of fun to be a part of that scene.

Thanks to everyone for watching the boys for us and helping us with everything from loaning us a car to bringing beer over when we hosted dinner. Dad and Birgit, thank you so much for taking the boys for a few nights (with colds) so we could enjoy our time without them. We miss you guys so much and can't wait to come back for another visit soon!

After two action packed weeks in Steamboat, we went up to Encampment for the remainder of our trip. We stayed with Marcy and Skyler while we were there and it was so nice to be surrounded by family and helping hands the whole time. We tried to get outside and play every chance we got and the boys loved it; Taking walks, going for wagon rides, going sledding and even going for a quick ride on daddy's snowmachine. It was also great for the boys to get to play with their cousins while we were in Wyoming. I just loved watching the kids interacting with each other while the adults played games and caught up. It's so hard for me to believe that this time last year the boys weren't even walking and now they're running around everywhere. It's like they're growing up or something!

It was so much fun going to dinner in Saratoga with Marcy, Chelsie and Ashton while the guys hung back and watched the kiddos. But one of our favorite things about this past visit was all games we played! Granted, I lost almost everything and will probably never play "Phase 10" again, but we loved laughing and trash talking with the family again. 

We also got outside and went sledding with Grandma Marcy, Papa T, aunt Chelsie and uncle Garrett, uncle Mitch and one of the boy's cousins, Cooper. Everyone bundled up and we drove a little ways up the mountain. It was fun to watch the boys go sledding with Cooper, Papa and uncle Garrett. They had fun going down the hill and being pulled around. Chase and uncle Mitch brought their snowmachines up with us and the boys got to sit on their laps and get a feel for a sled with an engine! Liam was brave enough to go for a little ride with daddy, but Landon wasn't a fan. The noise was too much for him. Chase gave me a ride on his sled which was a lot of fun. It has so much power that it took my breath away every time he pinned the accelerator. We drove up the mountain a little further with Mitch and Chelsie to a big hill where Chelsei took a few laps on her snowboard. While she was doing that, Chase let me drive his sled. I have a ways to go before I feel comfortable on a snowmachine, but I'm getting there. 

It was so wonderful for us to get to spend so much time with our families. The big family meals in Wyoming when aunt Ashton, Nathan and the boy's cousin Braven came over to play were really nice. And seeing other relatives here and there during our visit is something that we miss living out here. As a bonus, the boys got to meet their youngest cousin, Chaislyn, days after she was born. Mitch and Ryan were nice enough to bring her over to Marcy and Skyler's house multiple times so the boys could see her. They were so cute with her. Landon kept trying to bring her toys, and Liam liked putting his finger into her little fist. It was really sweet to watch. Thanks to everyone in Wyoming who helped us with the boys and with everything else while we were up there. It meant everything to us.We love you all and miss you so!

Now that we're back in Pennsylvania and back to our routines, Chase and I have started potty training the boys. We're being very passive aggressive with it right now because they are so young and are still unfamiliar with their potty seats. But (almost) every day, we have "potty time" where they run around for a few hours multiple times a day without their diapers. They have accidents on the floor and we talk to them about what happened, and then bring them over to their pottys and tell them that that is where they need to go potty. Liam has started to hold his pee and poop until we put his diaper back on because he doesn't like having accidents. It's pretty remarkable that he has that much control of his bladder, and it's frustrating because he will sit on his potty, and go through the motions but wont pee or poop. Landon on the other hand will do both on the floor. It's interesting to see how differently they are going about it. One of my friends gave me a big bag of cloth diapers the other day and we plan on using them to help us train the boys. They can feel that they are wet right away in these diapers as apposed to normal diapers that are made to keep them dry. I have been sick these past few days so training has been put on the back burner, but this morning we decided to start back up again and they were both really excited about siting on their pottys.

The first week we were back the weather was so nice. We tried to get outside every day whether we were in the back yard or the park. There is a great park by our house that has slides and swings and everything else you can imagine. We've taken the boys to this park many times, but last week, they wanted to go down the "big kid slides." They climbed all the way up the play structure with dad's help and then picked the biggest slides and went down them where I was waiting. They had such a good time and it was really nice for us all to be out in the warm weather as a family. Kita even tagged along.

Chase is back to work, I've signed the boys up for the spring library program, I've been to another MOPS meeting, and have been to a few play dates since getting back from our vacation. We're getting settled back into our home here and it feels good. But we know that sooner rather than later, we will be picking up again and heading back west, but we will be moving back. We miss our lives back there and cant wait to bring our boys back to where we grew up. We wanted to experience something different for a few years and by moving to Pennsylvania, we got just what we wanted! If not more. I guess we're just that lucky!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

The Holidays

Happy New Year everyone!

2014 has started off quite cold for us out in western Pennsylvania. Chase and I were reminded of life out west during our few days of below zero weather. However, things are on the warm side again. It's been rainy here today and in the mid 30s. This weekend should bring some more rain and temperatures back up in the 40s and 50s. We'll hang the boys big winter jackets up for a while again.

This Christmas was a lot different than last year with the boys as I'm sure next Christmas will be as well. Last year the boys were just starting to crawl around Christmas. This year, we found ourselves with two little helpers when it came to decorating the tree, cooking, wrapping (and of course unwrapping) gifts and almost every other task around the house. The weeks leading up to Christmas were pretty cold and Chase was busy working, but we really wanted to get out of the house to take part in the holiday festivities. A few weeks before Christmas the weather finally broke and we went into the city for the Kennywood holiday lights display. This is a Christmas tradition here at one of the amusement parks. They have a good deal of the rides running, and all of the rides in the little kids amusement park are in service. The park is also decorated to the brim with christmas lights. Christmas music is playing, Santa is there with his own little workshop set up for the kids to see. It's quite something. We were there for a few hours mostly just gawking at all the people and lights. We thought about riding the carousel with the boys but the line wrapped around the whole thing at least once and we were all enjoying just walking around. Once we finally got to the kids section of the park it was so overrun with crazy parents chasing after their little ones that again, we were just happy to watch. The rides are still big for the boys which is probably good. Waiting in those lines looked like a nightmare. Non the less, it was a lot of fun to be a part of the excitement and festivities.

We got a big Christmas tree a few weeks before Christmas. We were debating where to put it with the boys being so curious and into everything, but the best place ended up being in their playroom. After taking some of their "baby" toys upstairs and putting them in storage, we had room. Once the tree was up and I brought out the box of ornaments they were so excited to help me put them on. It was so cute. They would excitedly reach into the box and pull out an ornament and hand it to me. Needless to say, we got those ornaments up pretty fast! They were pretty interested in the new installment but got used to it after a few days. However, every morning once we got downstairs, they would run over to the tree, point to it and say "Tee, tee! No no." And once I plugged the lights in, they were ready to go play. (They would say no no because they knew that they weren't supposed to play with it.)

Chase had Christmas eve off so we did some last minute shopping  and got the last few things at the grocery store for our Christmas dinner. He and I played Santa after putting the boys down; wrapping presents and getting the stockings ready. Then it was Christmas morning! We all slept in a little and then headed downstairs in our pajamas to see what Santa had brought us. When they came down they were so cute and groggy with their little stuffed animals but so excited to see the new toys. After opening some gifts and playing for a while we had breakfast and then just relaxed. We wanted to get outside and go for a walk but it was pretty cold. It didn't get above 20 degrees until about 4:00. We did get all bundled up and went for a very short walk, but it was nice to get some fresh air and some red cheeks.

While the boys were napping, I made an apple pie. I used my Grandmother's recipe and was pretty nervous because I had never made it before and I wanted to do her proud. Considering the fact that it was gone two days later, makes me think I did a good job, plus, I think it was delicious!

By New Years, I was tired of making big fancy meals for our family of four. We had a low key celebration. We bought a small cake from the grocery store and some wine. We also got some firewood and Chase worked on digging out our fire ring. The days leading up to New Years were pretty wet, so the chance that our weed pile on top of our fire ring would burn nicely was pretty slim, but we wanted to have a small fire with which to bring in the New Year.  So as I cleaned up after dinner, Chase worked on getting the fire ready. After putting the boys down we headed out and started the saga of getting anything to burn. Even the wood we had bought at the grocery store seemed to be wet. But the lack of any kindling may have had something to do with it as well. None the less, it was still fun to be outside. Right before midnight, we ran into the house to watch the ball drop. We ate our too sweet cake and then went back out to try the fire again. This time things were a bit more sucessful. We seemed have more time to enjoy the fire before needing to pour gas on it again.

New Years day was pretty low key as well. We spent time together as a family enjoying the beautiful weather. It was a sunny and rather warm day and we took full advantage of it by playing out in the back yard. The boys ran around like crazy chasing each other and Kita and Chase and I relaxed in the sun watching everyone play.

It was so nice to have Chase home for a great deal of time during the holidays. We got a lot of stuff done around the house, spent some quality time together as a family, and started to get ready for our trip out West. Now with the holidays over, he's working more and we are getting settled back into our routine. Our library program has started back up but we haven't made it in yet. Last week it was canceled because of the cold and this week we were busy. Just as long as we're out and about doing things a few days a week, we're all pretty happy.