Adventures in potty training...

From the very first tiny diaper that I changed that first day of Grace's life I remember thinking, I can't wait until she is potty-trained! Well, 2 1/2 years later we are getting very close. Grace is able to keep her pull up dry most of the day, with very few accidents, and is very good about telling us when she needs to go. What has surprised me, however, is the amount of work that having a potty-trained child has turned out to be. I used to think it would be so much easier when we didn't have to worry about carrying diapers and wipes around, and when we didn't have to face the ever looming possibility of "the blowout." What I have found though, is that this is all much easier than the constant effort it takes to a) find a bathroom anywhere at any time, and b) get your child to the bathroom and onto the potty while holding another kid and your purse/any other items you happen to be juggling at the time. What do you do when you are on the highway, late for an appointment and you hear the familiar "mama I have to go pee pee." I am the first to admit, there have been times when I have said "please just go in your diaper." (probably not the most effective way to potty train your kid!) The other day we pulled over and used our travel potty in the trunk while it was pouring rain and the wind was blowing all around us. Poor Grace. She looked at me like I was insane, and I have to admit, I probably wouldn't choose to pee in hurricane-like conditions. I have also found that it is crucial to cover the sensor on those toilets at large stores. Found that one out the hard way after the toilet flushed and Grace jumped off and ran bare-bum across the bathroom while both kids wailed. Days later I still have to convince her that the toilet will not flush while she is sitting there. Grace loves potty training videos, and if you have never experienced one, click below. This is currently her favorite, followed closely by Elmo's potty time. Oh man, after watching this movie, Steve and I laughed so hard we were crying. "She's a super-duper pooper" is our favorite song!

City girls (and guy)

We are still having a blast with the family in town! Today we went into the city to see the sea lions (Gracies favorites!). After watching them for awhile we checked out the Boudin bread factory where we got some yummy sour dough bread. The kids got a roll shaped like a turtle, which they didn't want to eat, but preferred to play with. (I have a feeling we will have a very stale turtle-bread sitting around our house for days) We are going to go out to dinner at the cheesecake factory tonight (yum!) and tomorrow we are planning on checking out Muir woods. Hopefully the weather holds out as long as our energy!

Visit from the fam!

Grandma Terry, Aunt Erin, and Aunt Kate are here to visit. Today we went to the zoo. Grace was enjoying watching the giraffes until one made eye contact with her, at which point she started crying hysterically. Noah loved the gorillas! It was a gorgeous day today, a great break from the rain we have been having. It's supposed to start raining again for the weekend, hopefully we will get to go to the city tommorow before it hits!

L'amour

Today was Grace's valentines day party at school. Nana Marsha is still here (she came to take care of Grace while we had Noah in the hospital), so all of us went to her party. Noah was so funny! He thought he was one of the gang and bellied up to the table with the rest of the munchkins. It was only when they started handing out candy and he didn't get any that he started to figure out that he was getting left out. He got so mad! The other kids figured out why he was pounding his fists and yelling, and started feeding him candy. Every time I turned around he had a different piece of candy in his mouth- he was in seventh heaven! Grace got lots of beautiful valentines! The other moms definitely went all out, her classmates all gave homemade cards, complete with glitter and handwritten names, goody bags filled with creative gifts, and giant pretzels hand-dipped in pink frosting to name a few! Oh well, at least the kids seemed to like our store-bought princess cards (it helped that we taped a HUGE box of sweethearts to each one). Hey, if you don't have time to win their love, you can always buy it :) I finally got a new charger for my video camera, so I will try to post a video from the party. The pics are'nt great quality, I just used my point and shoot camera (juggling two kids, valentines and the video was enough without adding my SLR).

Noah's hospital stay

After surgery this morning, all snuggled up in some warm blankets

The view from our room

"ladies, look but don't touch!"

Riding around the hospital in style

Noah loved his wagon

He quickly took charge of the tv

The cyst found below his vocal chord

We are back from the hospital! Noah did great! He is such a trooper! He put up with having a tube down his nose for 24 hrs to measure his pH levels. He handled wearing "no no's" (pink ones no less!) to keep his arms straight so he couldn't pull the nose tube out. Sweet Noah, any other baby would have fussed about not being able to use his arms, he just looked at them and went about his business (You could practically hear him thinking "oh, I can't use my arms today, oh well"). The only time he seemed a bit bummed was when Steve said "hey Noah, peek-a-boo" (he forgot he couldn't move his arms), and Noah tried to cover his eyes but couldn't. It was so sad! We got to watch a lot of cartoons (I do not recommend Cinderella 2)and play in the wonderful playroom at the hospital. Later, he was so good for the sleep study. He had probes on his legs, arms, face, head, belly and back. Two belts around his waist, and several things in his nose and mouth monitoring his breathing and vibrations. With all those monitors, he didn't even cry. The only thing that seemed to bug him a bit was the pulse/oxygen monitor stuck to his toe,(pretty much the least invasive thing on him!) he didn't like that at all. He slept really well, and we went into surgery early this morning. They did the laryngoscopy and bronchoscopy back to back. There was no sign of damage from his reflux (we thought there would be) but they did see that he had a cyst located under his vocal chords (see the picture above, that is his airway and should be circular). They were able to remove the cyst with a laser, so hopefully that should take care of a lot of his breathing issues. They said the cyst was probably caused by his intabation during his heart surgery. Just a few hours later he was up and eating so well that they decided to let us go home! Thank you all so much for your prayers, it could not have gone any smoother!

Finally doing some walking (sort of)

Although he still prefers to climb (today I watched him use his tigger plane to climb onto a chair, and then onto the top of the kitchen table, then when I took him down he wheeled it over and used it to climb onto the tv stand), Noah has been walking with the assistance of push toys. He has the funniest little walk. He was doing pretty well, until Grace emptied his toy of all the blocks that were weighing it down, and then he was flying! His little chubby legs couldn't keep up with his body, it was hilarious! She was a big help as you can tell in the videos. We head off to the hospital tommorow, I will update you all as soon as we get back (looking like that will be wed.) but Marsha will also know what is going on, please feel free to call her if you need to know sooner.

This is how we roll

Gone are the days of quick errands. Even a fast trip to the grocery store now involves getting two kids up two flights of stairs to the parking lot, in and out of car seats, and into the very "special" car shopping carts that Safeway offers (I think to punish parents for trying to shop with kids). They place them right in front of the door so there is no way to get into the store without your kids seeing them, and if the choice is shopping with a sobbing child (or two) because they didn't get to ride in the car cart (or germ petri dish as I like to think of them), or wielding the massive beast throughout the store, I usually end up picking the later. I think its the better choice...I think.