Unbelievably Impressed

I will admit, I was a bit nervous, or skeptical even, when I decided to push forward with potty training and go straight to "big boy" underwear, but to my surprise the whole process has gone great... for the first week at least.  Of course Graham is not perfect and potty training doesn't happen over night, so we still have accidents and are working on the complete concept of going "poopers" IN the potty, but over all I have been delightfully surprised by how well Graham is actually taking all of this change. 

Maybe I set my expectations really low in hopes not to disappoint myself right off the bat, but I imagined load after load of laundry and tons of accidents in public and that has just not been the case.  I'd even dare to say that Graham does better in public than at home.  He made it through a restaurant dinner, and hour and a half at the gym yesterday and today through 2.5 hours at MOPS all without an accident.  I'd say that's pretty impressive for the first week, OK I'd even stretch to say it might be a small victory, for me anyway. 

Now back to reality... I am still trying to keep a level head about this because I realize that the "newness" of wearing big boy underwear will soon wear off and it will no longer be fun to read the potty book 8 million times, but I am still hoping for the best!  Setting realistic expectations, remembering my patients and above all reward, reward, reward, those are the goals, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed it works!

Going "Cold Turkey"

No, I am not quitting smoking.... isn't that the most common use for cold turkey?  As I have never smoked, that is one less battle I will ever have to fight, thank goodness.  I am, however, going cold turkey on a few other things in honor of Lent.  I grew up Catholic and we always had to give some things up for Lent.  While I no longer believe in all that Catholicism teaches, I do think there are some great traditions in the religion that I would like to keep going.  For instance, I love celebrating St. Nick at Christmas time and I loved watching the stations of the cross and getting palm leaves on Palm Sunday.  Anyway, back to the point, our family is giving things up for Lent and I have chosen 3 things this year...

First, I am giving up alcohol.  Now granted this is no major feat for me since I consume about 1-3 glasses a wine per week on a really rough week.  But all the same, I'm going dry.  I figured since, with some miracle from God Himself of course, we might actually get pregnant before lent ends that giving up my occasional glass of wine is probably a good choice anyway.  This does, however, mean that I have no real way to escape from those super awful toddlers days, so beware, calling me at night may not be advised  :)

Next is dessert, and if you know me you know I would trade dessert for all other meals.  I love me some chocolate cake, cheese cake, apple pie, apple crisp, ice cream or pretty much anything that could be sweet and not too healthy.  I'm not a junk food addict, but man do I love my desserts.  So for 6 weeks I will be dessert free. 





Lastly, and this is a biggy, I am going to try to give up diapers... well daytime diapers anyway.  I know this means that Graham is technically giving them up, but I'm pretty sure I am going to have to do the majority of the work, so I still think it counts.  Graham is so there, he's so ready to be potty trained and he just uses his pull-ups as a crutch allowing him to be lazy.  So, I am going back to how my mom and your mom and everyone else was potty trained and using good, old-fashioned padded underwear.  I know I am in for some major accidents and a lot, a lot of laundry, but I honestly think it is going to speed this whole process along.  And we all know, the faster potty training goes, the happier everyone is.

So here's to drooling over dessert menus, longing for a glass of wine and loads of laundry... I'm going cold turkey!

"Do the Potty Dance"

We have started potty training, again, this week due to Graham's sudden interest Monday morning.  I was prepared, I got new snacks and stickers and the whole nine yards, but this time none of those 'rewards' seem to be working.  Nope, all Graham wants is for mommy to do the "Potty Dance!"  Just to further prove that kids absolutely never forget anything...

One day when we were trying potty training the first time I got so excited that Graham actually went on the potty that I did this little song and dance number.  Now every time we sit on the potty Graham refuses to go unless I dance.  Now this is fine at home, but I feel like a huge boob doing this in public restrooms.  Not quite sure how we are going to get around this one, but the good news is that he is going on the potty.... that's what I wanted right?

Sticky Situation on Valentine's

For Valentine's this year Tim and I were offered a wonderful gift, a night of babysitting courtesy of my MOPS group.  Yeah!  We were so excited, so we made dinner reservations at The Chef's Table downtown, which we had heard was fabulous and had wanted to try, and the date was set. 

Tim got me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers, my favorite kinds, roses and star-gazer lilies... it had the makings to be the perfect, romantic Valentine's evening.  We got all dressed up, dropped Graham off at Grace Community Church and without even a tear he said "bye mommy" and was off like a lightning bolt to dive on the bean bags and play. 

We were able to find a parking spot within 2 blocks of Chef's, which is somewhat amazing, and then the date began...  Our waitress offered Tim and I their Valentine's drink special, some concoction of strawberries and champagne and we took the bait.  So she brings the drinks over and before setting even one down, she dumps the whole tray of drinks on the table and ALL down the front of me. 

Now I am not that guy who yells at a server for spilled drinks because accidents happen and I know I am not perfect... but I am thinking great, the one night I actually get to go to dinner without Graham and I still have crap spilled all over me.  I calmly started trying to dry myself off, but I was just drenched and freezing and sticky from my neck to my knees... nice!  Of course everyone is looking because it's a small place and this is quite the ordeal.  The waitress just looks at me and says, "oh, I'm really sorry, we'll be sure to get you some free drinks!"  Like I really wanted free drinks, maybe a free meal, but I think I was pretty set on my fill of beverage for the evening thank you.  And to top it off, our waitress must have been embarrassed or gave up on her tip from us because she ignored us the whole evening.  It ended up taking us 2.5 hours to eat dinner and we ordered our appetizer and dessert from other waiters.  Not impressed!  If the food wouldn't have been so extremely delicious, I think Tim and I would have refused to pay.  So my picture perfect Valentine's Day didn't turn out exactly like I'd planned, but the food was awesome and at least Graham had a blast with the MOPS kids  :)  We ended up exhausted after the 2.5 hours eating, and our one free drink of course, so we ended our super romantic evening by going to bed at 9:30 and falling asleep while watching the Olympics.  Maybe next year...

And I'm done!

I'm sure most northerners are in my same boat right now, but I really have had enough winter for this year.  I've shoveled about a million times, we bought a snow blower and I mastered that.  We made snowmen, snow angels and every other snow thing I can think of, we went sledding and watched ice skating (Graham's still a tad young for that) and I'm just done... I'm done with winter. 

The snow was pretty at first and at Christmas time, but 3 million inches later it has lost it's allure.  I'm tired of the dirty cars and trekking in a sandbox worth of sand from the garage. I'm sick of the lack of parking because people can't figure out how to park in normal rows without seeing the bright yellow lines and I'm tired of driving with white knuckles on the highway because everyone else is driving like morons, as if snow is selective to which cars it throws into the ditch.  I'm done with coats and hats and little mittens that never stay on, I'm just done this year!  Bring it on mother nature, I'm ready for spring.  Or if you're really ambitious, 75-85 and sunny is perfectly fine with me as well!

Hold the Phone... Literally!

It looks like my phone conversations are now going to be limited to naps, after Graham goes to bed or not at all  :(   Every single time I pick up the phone Graham trashes the house.  In the 5 minutes I was on the phone with the Dr's office this morning Graham managed to dump out an entire container of powder foundation all over himself and the whole bathroom and then proceeded to put on lip gloss, just to make the foundation stick permanently... nice!  Yesterday it was coloring with pen on the couch, it's like he has already figured out that I can't yell at him when I'm on the phone so he sneaks away and does the sassiest thing he can think of.  I really am going to miss my phone, but I can't afford to talk any more, the destruction is just too expensive!

Maybe It's True... TV is Bad for Your Health

    I wouldn't call myself a Sci Fi lover, in fact I don't know that I've ever really enjoyed a Sci Fi movie, but whatever category you put the show Lost into, I am completely addicted.  I am just so intrigued by this show.  There are so many open ends and what ifs in every episode.  Now, I will admit that I began as an avid Lost watcher and lost interest somewhere in the middle when there were just too many ridiculous things happening all at once, but now that I am caught up and starting to understand how all the episodes link back and forth to each other I'm completely hopeless.  I watch an episode and then lie awake for hours at night trying to figure out what is all happening and how it all fits together.  It is the one show I can honestly say, I have no earthly idea how it is going to end.  So thanks to DVR and me watching Lost the last 3 nights in a row I look like a zombie today and I am really considering a nap...but I just love it and I got to have more.  I think I'd actually forgo sleep just to be intrigued some more!

Ha Ha, Success!

So while this may not seem like a big achievement to most of you, I am quite proud of myself... I actually cooked dinner from a recipe in a cookbook tonight  :)  No, this isn't my first time using a cookbook, and yes, I have followed a recipe before, however, this is the first time I have gone to the gym, come home late and cracked a cookbook to quickly whip something up.  And to top it off, it was good, yeah... and not just good like I got home from working out and was so hungry I would have eaten my arm, which I was, but good like Tim even commented on my superb chicken.  And, it was from the diet cookbook so I could have it and Tim never even knew.  All around success if you ask me.  So I guess it just proves that with a little determination and quite possibly A LOT more ingredients, I might actually be able to cook regular meals for my family.  Who know I had it in me?

Oh Metabolism, Where have you gone?

So I am still working on my blog... resolution #1, check!  And because my life is still completely chaotic in January every year, I decided that any weight loss goals need not start until Feb. 1st.  Of course, that date totally snuck up on me, but here we go with resolution #2.

So over the past summer I was doing great with weight loss, wearing a bikini to the pool even.  But then there was Tim's Birthday, and Vacation, and Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, My Birthday, New Years and Graham's Birthday  :(  Needless to say I began to slack off in August and now I am looking at 12.2lbs I need to lose to get back to my goal weight.  I am a little disappointed because I really have changed my eating habits.  I rarely snack, I watch my portions, I drink tons of water everyday and I've even begun working out.  I've actually worked out more in the past 3 months than I have in the last 10 years.  But I guess it just proves that I am not the exception to the rule, but instead just like everyone else... my metabolism just isn't what it used to be.  Oh well, you can't win them all, so bring it on 12.2lbs because I'm ready to lose you!