Praying for poop...

I decided last Friday on a complete whim to start potty training with Kahn.  I mean, he'll be 3 at the end of January so he definitely needs to be potty trained soon but I hadn't really thought through my approach and literally just woke up and said, 'no more diapers!'.

And Kahn did great!  I am actually shocked at how easy it has been.  We have definitely had some accidents, but overall, he's done amazing!  He was definitely ready.  He loves his underwear, he loves peeing on the 'big boy potty like Finley, Sammy and Will and Kate' (which he has to say every time he goes) and he has even done great at night.  He either wakes us up at night to tell us he has to go potty or if he doesn't wake up at night, then he wakes up in the morning with a dry dipe!  We are thrilled to have him out of diapers and thrilled to only have one kid in diapers!!!  And he looks super cute in his underwear!!

We have however, not been so successful with pooping on the potty.  I've heard from lots of people that getting them to actually poop on the potty can take a little longer.  When he has gone poop over the past 5 days, he has snuck into a corner and went in his pants.  I've talked to him about it, but he just won't go.  So today, I sat with him in the bathroom for about 20 minutes and we read books and sang songs and talked about poop and he told me he had to go, but just wouldn't go.  About 5 minutes after we gave up, he went in the corner again.  Ugh...

Tonight we read 'Everyone Poops' at bedtime like we do most nights and he told me he had to go.  So I got him undressed, headed into the bathroom and we camped out in the bathroom.  I decided to give him a little privacy and about a minute later he yelled for me and told me he had gone.  He did!!!  I was so excited!  It is actually embarrassing how excited I was for that poop in the potty! He was just as excited and looked at me and said, 'Mommy, does that make you happy?'  Seriously?!?  How sweet is he! I told him 'he always makes me happy' and then he wanted a big hug!

Here he is just before the big poop!

And as I said above, we've had accidents over the last few days.  So, this morning, he couldn't find his Toby the train and I told him to go check in his bed.  He went upstairs and he yells downstairs..."Mom, I couldn't find Toby, but I found a giant turd!"  Yes, he found a turd...under his covers...in his bed.  I am not exactly sure when and how the little present actually got there, but it was in his bed nonetheless.  But here's a funny video of Kahn explaining the situation to me.  Absolutely hysterical!!!

Poop and all, kids make life so entertaining!

The dreaded Christmas card picture

Why does it have to be so hard to get ONE decent picture?!?  I swear, the stress of getting a picture that is worthy of showcasing on our family Christmas card is sometimes not worth it.  Having a one-year old and an almost three year-old makes the task virtually impossible!

Last year we all got in our Christmas card picture...and it actually turned out halfway cute.  I mean, neither kid was actually looking at the camera or smiling, but it was as close to perfect as we were going to get.  It definitely wasn't the plan for all of us to be on the card, but at the time Olivia was too young to sit up on her own and Kahn was too young and definitely too stubborn to actually hold her so to avoid me having a nervous breakdown and beating my kids during the photoshoot, Kahn and I had to jump in the picture so we could hold both kids in place and quickly snap a picture.  Although the picture's not perfect, I liked it!  And I really liked the idea of having an annual picture of our family.

So, this year while we were in Orlando the day before Thanksgiving, we had a family friend (and also a very skilled photographer) take some pictures of us as a family.  Basically, it was a disaster!  Olivia was honestly horrible for the pictures...she basically cried in every picture and wanted nothing to do with any of us.  She pretty much has a mind of her own these days and if Olivia doesn't want to do something, Olivia doesn't do it!  Surprisingly, little Kahn was super cooperative (very unlike him) and actually looked into the camera and smiled.  Him cooperating had nothing to do with the continuous bribes we offered him!  I really wish bribes worked for 15 month olds!  Probably all together Jacquie took 100 pictures and about 5 were decent!  Although, I have to say...the picture that has ultimately made it onto our Christmas card is pretty darn good!  I have absolutely no idea how we managed to get a decent picture of all of us with Olivia being so difficult.  I obviously can't share the actual picture that has made it onto the coveted Peterson family Christmas card, but I did see it appropriate to share one of my favorites from the photo shoot...this about captures what a family photo session is like when you have small children!

Big Kahn picking little Kahn's nose and Olivia screaming her head off and me acting like we're one big happy family!

Priceless!

A very busy Thanksgiving...

I’ve been absent, I know!  I’ve been busy as hell.  And not really a fun busy…just work, and doctor’s appointments, and kids, and normal everyday life.  But I apologize for the long absence.  I’ll try not to let it happen again. 

So, what’s happened since my last post?  Oh yeah, Thanksgiving!  I am seriously still recovering from all the driving we did at Thanksgiving…maybe that’s why I haven’t written…it brings up the memories of nearly 24 hours spent in the car with a 1 year old and almost 3 year old.  Not.fun.at.all. 

But yes, we drove down to Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday.  We basically did the tour of Florida!  We drove to Orlando (7 hours), then to Fort Lauderdale (3.5 hours), then to Sarasota (3 hours) and then back to Atlanta (10 hours).  Luckily, for it being the Thanksgiving holiday, the traffic wasn’t too bad, but I can honestly say I will never drive that much in that short of a time with two small kids ever again.  Overall, the kids actually did OK, but it’s just miserable for them to be stuck in their car seats for that long of a time.  I honestly feel guilty about it along with the endless DVDs we exposed them to and the disgusting fast food they had to eat along the way. 

Our Thanksgiving was nice!  It was great to spend a few days with Kahn’s family and stuff our faces and catch up with family.  Some of his family had not met Olivia yet so it was great to be able to introduce her to everyone.  And everyone was so happy to see how much the kids have grown and to spend a few days with the little ones.   And the weather could not have been better!  It was a great tribute to Dick, the late host, who died earlier this year.  We had one last ‘hooray’ before his kids sold his house and it was a really great time.  He was smiling and enjoying a glass of wine in heaven as he was watching us!

We have a ‘big’ Thanksgiving every other year at Dick’s house in Fort Lauderdale and it’s always a blast!  I guess I should rephrase that… it WAS a blast until we had kids.  Now, for me, it’s been downgraded to just fun and good to see everyone.  Prior to kids, it was basically 2 days of eating, drinking, staying up late, drinking, playing card games, drinking and just lots of laughs.  Honestly, some of my favorite activities of all time and it was nice because it was with some of my favorite people.  But since our sweet angel babies have been born, there are no more late nights and definitely not any heavy drinking (boo!  And I mean, BOO!!!).  This year Thanksgiving consisted of me chasing the kids around to make sure that they didn’t knock over the Chinese dragon sculpture on the pedestal in the dining room probably flown in from some small village in China; that Olivia didn’t wipe her yellow snot on the white, white, white, white, white couches in the living room; that neither kid escaped onto the porch and fell into the pool; that Kahn didn’t leave some of his original artwork on the walls; or that Olivia didn’t crack her head open on the tile steps that she had to play on the entire time!  To be honest, it was exhausting!  But Dick, please know…we left the house intact!  Thankfully, nothing was broken on behalf of my two kids. 

It is honestly no fault of Dicks or anyone who invites us over that doesn’t have kids, but as a parent it is really nerve-wracking to bring two very young, very active kids anywhere that is not child proof!   There is just no way to relax!  We recently brought our two kids to DC to stay with our good friends up there and I was equally as nervous having the kids there---although they didn’t have any super expensive art showcased on pedestals throughout their house, but nonetheless, I would have been devastated if they would have ruined anything in their brand new house.  I mean, it would have been totally OK if I would break their banister from dancing on it at 3am after 15 cocktails, but God forbid one of my kids break something in their house.  I would feel terrible!  I was a nervous wreck in DC and I was in a nervous wreck down in Fort Lauderdale for Thanksgiving!

But overall, it was a great Thanksgiving and I am thankful for the time we got to spend with everyone, the wonderful food and the wonderful conversation (even if I was half listening since I had one eye on the kids at all times).   

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for our families, our friends, our house, our jobs…my life!  And I am thankful for my kids.  Even if I can’t enjoy the conversations and cocktails like I used to on holidays like Thanksgiving, I wouldn’t want life any other way.  They change everything…for the better!  And I am forever Thankful. 

And my apologies…sadly, we didn’t take any pictures while down in Florida for Thanksgiving.  We had our hands full with the kiddos.