potty time

Friday morning I woke up, put underwear on Nixon and decided it was time to potty train him. He is one month older than what Logan was when I potty trained him. He had a few accidents that morning but once he woke up from his nap he stayed accident free the rest of the day.

Saturday we had to go to Lowes and Sam's club and I thought for sure he would have an accident, but he went to the bathroom once at Sam's club and made it home in the same dry clothes. Then Logan and I went to my parents' house and I thought for sure Kyle would slap a diaper on him (he's not really the day #2 potty training type), but I was surprised to find out that Nixon was still in underwear and accident free.

Sunday I was a little nervous because of our 3 hour church but somehow he managed to let his nursery teachers know that he had to "pee pee" and between Kyle and me checking on him he stayed nice and dry.

We are now on day 5 and he still hasn't had any accidents since day #!. I'm sure there will be some down the road, but I really am so proud of my big boy who loves his underwear. His little chuncky buns are perfectly pinchable, his tree trunk like thighs are adorable and I'm loving watching him run around diaper free.

And because my boys seem to have to be in competition over everything, Logan now wants me to watch him go to the bathroom and then congratulate him everytime!

It's getting crowded

Months ago we tried to put the boys in the same room. Kyle and I gave up quickly and so Logan's bed has been vacant ever since and he has been my bed buddy. Aside from the occasional foot in my face I really don't mind it. But lately he has had a group of animals that have to sleep with us always positioned the same. There is a Bronco bear on the left side of him that has to sleep on a football pillow with a little blanket. There is a brown bear that has to be on his right along with a penguin. A big mechanical grey cat and a small tan cat lay above his head. My bed is big, but it is getting crowded with all these creatures. I think it may be time to move all of them, including the boy out of my bed. It's only a few more months before another member of our family starts occupying my room (and it becomes an all girls room:).

definitely his father's son

monday night i took logan to a basketball game, csulb vs sfsu. while neither team was very impressive, we both managed to have a great time. he was pretty overwhelmed initially, lots of people, bright lights and a giant modern pyramid tend to have that affect on people.

we watched the game for the first 10 minutes until Logan started getting a little antsy. then i started pointing out stuff around us to keep him entertained....retired jerseys, giant scoreboard, the 49er mascot, and the cheerleaders. any guesses on his favorite? yep, the cheerleaders. only he liked to call them "dancing ladies". and although that reference is accurate, it just doesn't have a good ring to it. the rest of the night all he would say was "daddy, when are the dancing ladies coming back?" trust me, they were not that impressive.

we moved closer to the floor at halftime, got ourselves a cold diet coke, and resumed watching the basketball game/dancing ladies. soon enough it was time to go home and put the party animal to bed...plus logan was pretty tired too.

from what i hear, the following morning logan kept telling his mom "when it gets dark tonight daddy will come home and take me to see the dancing ladies". i have no idea what trisha thought the first time she heard that, but i can imagine it was not good and involved the packing of bags! she called me after she dropped him off at school and i quickly explained exactly what he meant. crisis averted.

atta boy son, att a boy.

Seriously?

I was driving to my dr's appointment this morning (don't worry mom, nothing serious) and was using my phone for directions. Traveling South on the 405 in the morning is painful enough, but I was nearing my exit I saw this on the screen:

Wouldn't it just be a lot easier to get off on the Brookhurst South exit? Maybe easier but definitely less fun!

When I finally got to the dr's office I had to answer yes to this question: "Are you feeling dizzy?". Thanks Google!

Things I Have Learned

Here are some things I have learned this week...in no particular order:

• Daylight Savings Time is so not worth it! It's dark at 4pm, my kids are cranky all day, and the hour I supposedly gained is lost resetting all the clocks in the house
• Nixon might like candy wrappers more than candy. He is always asking for his Halloween "nandy", but once it's gone he carries around the trash w/ him the rest of the day
• I am WAY too big to drive a Toyota Corolla
• Jamba Juice has some pretty good oatmeal
• the BCS is bound and determined to screw Boise State
  
• it doesn't matter how long I stay at a Krispy Kreme store that is soon to open, they always start making donuts the day after I leave
• going to the gym only twice a week makes me feel guilty. which is somewhat surprising since I only went 2 times in the previous 6 years
  
• Stockton, CA is a pretty nice town...IF you're the kind of person who likes Bakersfield, CA....and I am!
• it doesn't matter how tired Logan is, he still wants to wrestle all night
• I need to appreciate nice hotel rooms, because apparently they are more rare than I suspected
  
• Facebook is growing on me
• nothing makes Trisha more angry than sports on TV
• nothing makes me happier than sports on TV
• I always take a book on business trips but never have time to read it
  
• it doesn't matter if the Broncos play in Denver or London, they still need to fire their coach
• watching 48 Hours Mystery before going to bed is an interesting experiment
  
• working until 11pm and then eating dinner is not good on your stomach
• getting to know new people is pretty interesting...everyone has such a unique story
• I am a firm believer in Murphy's Law
• I have only voted for 1 winner since moving to California
• I like chocolate. I knew that already but Halloween always confirms it
• not seeing your kids for 3 days isn't very fun
  

My favorite quote of the week: "So, Californians voted for Jerry Brown and Barbara "don't call me ma'am" Boxer, and against marijuana. They elected 2 of the biggest idiots running for office and they weren't even high" - NPR Las Vegas

November beach day

Kyle has been out of town for 3 days. Only 3 days, but I am tired. So to keep the boys busy I very reluctantly packed up the sand toys and sunscreen and headed off to the beach. Turned out to be the easiest morning.

We dug a hole and filled it with water and then the boys starting fighting over the hole (there has to be a fight over something), so I dug another hole far enough away from Logan, filled it with water and all was well.

Hopefully, this was the last beach day until next summer.

October

Logan was star of the week at preschool. I talked to him about it the weekend before I knew it was his turn (because he is a little shy). On Tuesday morning he woke up and said, "mom, I don't want star of the week to come up at school." Sorry kid. He was happy on Thursday when it was all over. And then continued to wear his star of the week all weekend, everywhere we went. 3 year old pictures were taken a few months late 18 month pictures were taken a few months late

Pumpkin patch was visited

Logan was thrilled to drive the train

Nixon really wanted to ride it, but cried everytime we left his side so the ride never happened

He was happy to sit on this motorcyle while brother rode a firetruck. Once it started he cried and screamed through the whole ride.

He was happy just sitting on pumpkins, until brother knocked him off.

We carved pumpkins

Nixon didn't like sticking his hand in the pumpkin and once again cried

Either did Logan so he got a spoon

October ended with a Halloween party at church, the boys loved it.

And Kyle won us 4 free movie tickets by winning the chili cookoff!

Sometime in the middle of the month Kyle also turned 35. He chose to eat lunch with his friends, and play basketball that evening so there wasn't much of a celebration for him on his birthday.

Speaking of sports, why have I not realized that 3 major league sports are being played in the month of October?! Scary!!!

a frightening doc's appointment

Yesterday I had an OB appointment.

I dropped Logan off at school and Nixon and I started our drive on the 405 freeway.

All of a sudden a motorcycle policeman was driving next to me signalling 2-1 to me.

I was racking my brain for what 2-1 means?

So we drove next to each other for a little bit, trying to communicate, but my off ramp was coming up so I starting moving over lanes.

Now he was on my right side giving me the 2-1 signal.

I gave him my "I don't know what you are talking about" signal.

We continued next to each other for a while, until I decided to just pull over.

He got behind me, turned his lights on, and pulled me over.

He walks up to my car and tells me, "ma'm just so you know you aren't being pulled over unless a policeman's lights are on."

I was thinking, then just leave me alone.

He told me he was trying to figure out if I had 2 people or 1 person in the car, 2-1, since I was driving in the carpool lane.

My little Nixon was in his carseat, fast asleep.

Isn't it his job to just figure that out without distracting me while I'm driving on a busy freeway?

Gave me the perfect amount of anxiety right before my doctor's appointment.

Fortunately, my blood pressure was normal.

The whole time I was thinking......Logan would just be in heaven right now if he was in the car. He had a love/hate relationship with cops. Loves their cars/motorcycles, hates (fears) the actual policeman. He has been taught that policemen take bad little boys that hit their brothers to jail.

The actual doctor's appointment was not too exciting. I'm 21 weeks. New due date of March 13th. My doctor gave me the VBAC consent form so I can sign away my life should I choose to do it.

Nixon was an angel at the office although he walked up to everyone in the waiting room and wanted to sit on their laps and be held.

I need to start having talks with him about talking to strangers.

Pregnancy projects

I started doing pregnancy projects, because otherwise it seems like I don't get anything done that I want/need to. So I decided that I would start and complete one project a week. I started doing them around week 14 when I was starting to get my energy back. Here is my project for this week.

Whenever Logan grew out of baby clothes I made sure they were washed, unstained, folded, separated by size and stored carefully. Whenever Nixon grew out of baby clothes I grabbed them, threw them in a trash bag, tied them up, and tossed them in the garage.

So it has always been in the back of my mind that I better go take care of those clothes. After 5 loads of laundry, folding, sorting, and reminiscing, I put them into boxes according to their sizes, sealed them up and had Kyle put them high up in the garage, not to be seen for a long time because..........

We are having a GIRL!!!!!!

(Still don't want to scan in any pictures of an ultrasound so a baby picture of me will have to do)

I can't believe we are having a girl. I was so anxious during my ultrasound and was about to tell the tech not to tell me what it was because I didn't know if I could handle the thought of having 3 boys. After the initial excitement of being told that it was a girl, I'm now anxious about having to take care of a girl, it's like starting over!

My ob also pointed out to me that I am going to have 3 kids, ages 3 and under. yikes!! She said it sounds like so much fun.....I told her to send on over her nanny and housekeeper and it might me a little more "fun" for me.

Back track

Logan turned three.....along time ago (in August).

Originally I was going to throw him a birthday party, had the invitations signed and sealed to 8 of his favorite friends.

Then, Kyle's parents gave him his birthday present and he ran and hid in the corner embarassed.

So the party was cancelled before the invitations were ever sent.

On his birthday he got to eat lunch with his dad, all by himself.

Everytime I ask Logan what he wants me to make him for lunch he tells me "El Pollo Loco salad".........he gets a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. So eating an El Pollo Loco salad on his birthday was a real treat. An even bigger treat was that his brother wasn't anywhere near. The store manager brought Logan a birthday sundae and some of the workers sang him happy birthday, and he hid behind Kyle embarassed.

We had a little birthday celebration at my parent's house with just my brothers and parents. Instead of decorating a cake I bought some Toy Story action figures and stuck them on the top of the cake and called it good. We sang him happy birthday, and he hid behind Kyle embarassed. His favorite presents were his baseball glove and a microphone. Some facts about my 3 year old:

-his 2 year old year was rough.

-He loves sports. All of them. Hopefully he will make me money someday, and then I will be able to forget all the things that he has thrown full speed at my head and other innocent bystanders.

-His preschool teacher says he is smart. She says he knows more than the 4 year olds. Kyle and I don't know what to think about that, he sure plays dumb around here.

-He will still beat up your child (sigh)

-He loves salad and pickles

-He loves Nixon and especially loves to pick on him

-Whenever he sees a police car he tells me to race it.

-He sleeps in bed with me....every night. And I like it.

-He thinks it is funny to pee on the floor.

-His best friend is Harrison, they are quite the nightmare together.

-He loves anything with an engine and tells me all the time we need to buy a 4-wheeler.

-Even though Kyle and I have to resist to urge to strangle the kid, after he is sound asleep we have so many funny things to talk about because of him.

-He looks like an angel when he sleeps, too bad he doesn't nap anymore.

The facts of this pregnancy

1. I am so grateful to be pregnant with my 3rd child. So much so, that I never want to complain about pregnancy symptoms. In fact anytime I gag it makes me smile because it reassures me that the baby is fine.


2. I'm 17 weeks along, the doctor pushed me back a week according to an early ultrasound.


3. I find out on the 12th what I am having.


4. I'm hoping for a girl.


5. If I was a betting woman I would say I was having another boy (and I won't be that sad about it).


6. I feel almost the same as I did when I was pregnant with both boys, maybe a little less tired.


7. At a 12 week ultrasound the tech gave me her best guess on the gender of the baby but I've kept it a secret except from Kyle and maybe one other person.


8. I am 90% sure I am having a VBAC. I was 100% sure I wanted one prior to getting pregnant, 99% sure once I found out I was pregnant, 95% sure after my first talk with my doctor, and 90% sure now at 17 weeks......so we will see how sure I am as I get closer.

9. I am always awake from 2-3am it's good thinking time.


10. During that hour of thinking time I think about rupturing and dying during the VBAC. So I started having discussions with Kyle about the care of the kids should I die. Our first talk was about school being more important than sports. Fat chance, right.....that's why I need to stick around.


11. Logan seems more concerned about his baby then he was with Nixon. Whenever he sees me leaning onto something (squishing my belly) he yells, "Stop mom, the baby is crying." Hopefully he is nice to the baby once it is born.

12. During quiet time one day Logan and I were talking and he said, "mom, I want the doctor to cut your belly open right now so I can see the baby." I can't believe he remembers that's how Nixon was born.

13. I'm not keeping track of my weight gain, I will just let my doctor worry about that. But I still fit in my regular clothes.

14. I've been doing pregnancy projects which I will have to get to later.

Summer Vacation, Part 1

Since Trisha and I were married in 2003 our summer tradition has been to take 2 weeks of vacation and travel somewhere new. Since we had Logan in 2007 we decided that instead of traveling somewhere new every year our time would be better served by visiting friends/family who we otherwise don't get to see. So for the last few years we have been spending our hard-earned vacation in Idaho w/ my side of the family. This year was no different and in early August we caught a plane (that's a whole other story, one that I might just get to later) and headed up North.
We got to spend some time w/ the Bridges family in Salt Lake City (they are friends of ours from LB who must have suffered head trauma at some point because they decided to move to UT several years ago...and they actually like it). It was a beautiful day in the Happy Valley so we fired up the BBQ and let the kids play in the backyard.
After outstaying our welcome there, we were off to Pop and Grandma Hunt's house. This is usually the worst part of our vacation because even though it's only about 2 hours from SLC to Pocatello it seems like an eternity. This trip felt especially long for me as my sister's driving is like something out of a video game. But we made it in one piece, went right to bed, and the following day participate in the blessing of Cory and Ashley's first boy, Noah. I don't have any pictures of the blessing, but I do have this picture from the water-balloon game the kids played after church which, no offense to the proud parents, was WAY more excitingPart 2 to follow....

"You're Fired"

Trisha started this blog so that friends and family could keep up w/ our comings and goings. I'll admit that she did a fantastic job initially, but lately her posts have been few and far between....and don't get me started on her grammar :). So we had a family counsel to discuss the future of this blog, and during that meeting it became painfully obvious that something needed to change. So, Trisha was fired. Of course she was immediately rehired as a part-time poster because even though I have every intention of posting here regularly I fully expect to have the same difficulties that she did carving out the time. The good part is that she is no longer alone here. Of course that does mean that our readers will hear a lot more about sports, fantasy sports, computers and current news, but that sounds like a win-win to me! So w/out further adieu, my first post....enjoy!

The boys

Nixon got a haircut yesterday. I didn't take before and after pictures but he had a lot of blond hair that was starting to curl. He made quite the scene at the hair salon. There was a lot of crying, screaming, growling, thrashing.......I think his hair stylist may refuse service next time. With shorter hair he looks like a cute little boy now instead of a baby. And just a little school update on Logan. He is enjoying it more, no crying from either of us. Yipee!! I made the mistake of giving him a little treat (candybar) on the first day of school and now he thinks he gets one every time he goes to school.

Not how I thought it would go

Logan started preschool today

It didn't go how I thought it would

I thought I would drop him off and enjoy three hours with just one child.

Instead, we walked into preschool together......and Logan ran right out the front door.

I kissed him goodbye and told him I would see him in a little bit......he nearly strangled me so I wouldn't go.

I walked out the door listening to him crying hysterically saying very sadly, "mom, mom, mom"......I rushed to my car because I was crying too.

I thought about going back inside pulling my tuition check out of the box and saying he was done with school for the year, but I didn't.

I called Kyle and he told me to shake it off, Logan would be fine.

I texted a friend for reassurance.

I called another friend who dropped off her daughter after I had dropped off Logan. She said he was still crying pretty bad while she was there.

Then I spent my first three hours without Logan worrying about Logan.

Apparently he cried for 15 minutes with his hands on his face, then stopped, and started peeking out from in between his fingers and was fine after than.

His teacher called me this afternoon to make sure I was OK and to reassure me that he did fine today.

I cried again.

Hopefully tomorrow goes better.

No first day school pictures were taken, we both looked like a mess.

I've always hated school so maybe he gets it from me.

Bad blogger

I haven't blogged about vacation

I haven't blogged about my newly turned 3 year old

I haven't blogged about my newly turned 18 month old

I haven't blogged about all our summer activities

While blogging is probably one of my least priorities, other more important things like doing my hair, putting on makeup, keeping the house clean, doing the dishes, laundry, and sometimes even cooking dinner just aren't getting done these days.

All I seem to be able to get done these days are feed my kids, keep them clean, and keep them entertained.

I can think of quite a few reasons that I nothing is getting done around here but I will just share with you the top three.

Reason #1 Reason #2
Reason #3

(truth be told I was too lazy to scan in a picture of the actual ultrasound pic so that one is actually Logan)

sharing

a room that is I lost my roommate of 16 months.
Logan gained a roommate.
There isn't much sleeping going on.

Swimming lessons

Before I became a mom, before I became a nurse, I was a lifeguard/swim instructor. So since Logan is still only the age for mommy and me I decided to teach him myself. I found a pool and in exchange for using the pool I teach another little girl along with Logan.

Surprisingly, it is going pretty well. Logan is actually listening to me and has improved over the short 4 days since we have started. A couple of times I have questioned why I am doing this, the water is freezing since it hasn't been too warm outside yet, and the little girl screams at the top of her lungs, "I don't want to go under the water." So I dunk her. And then I tell her there is no screaming. I have also had to chase her around the pool to get her back in the water. So I dunk her and tell her to stay in the water. And now I remember why none of the lifeguards every wanted to teach level one swimming lessons.

Hopefully by the end of the summer I will have two dolphins instead of two guppies.

pool party

Joy school is over and today one of the moms, Jill, had a pool party to celebrate. We had so much fun!

I was a little sad for school to be over. It was something fun for Logan to do every Tuesday. In the fall he will be going to preschool 3 times a week. Maybe we will have to start up joy school for the little ones.

Last day

I woke up yesterday and thought I need to squeeze in one last day of Disneyland. As I walked through the bag check I saw this..... Lines, lines and more lines into Disneyland and California adventure, crazy lines. But I took a deep breath and picked a line and it actually moved along pretty fast. Luckily the majority of the people waiting in line went to get tickets for the new show so the little kiddy rides didn't have any line.

Monster's Inc. is a big show at our house. We watch it almost daily. Logan loves Sulley, but not in person. Nixon wanted to cuddle right up and start sucking his thumb.

After a couple of rides we watched the Drawn to the Magic show, which Logan and I both love. Nixon liked it too. Now Logan asks me to sing the songs all day long.

After a little water fun in the splash pad we left. Whew......I'm glad I'm blocked out now, but how do you explain that to a 2 year old?!

Last day

Monday we went to Disneyland for the last time until summer is over. I wasn't planning on going since we just got home from our Mammoth trip and I had tons of chores to do. But while I was still laying in bed two of my friends asked me if I was going. And since alot of days are blocked out from my pass I thought I better head down there.

First we met up with Reese. We've never watched the Star Wars show before. Logan hasn't seen star wars movies yet, thankfully. He's more into the Little Mermaid these days.

It was so hot and crowded and poor Logi has sensitive eyes like his mom, so I gave him my sunglasses to wear. Reese got called up to the stage and once she left Logan started crying and came to sit with me. And then these two guys came out and I have to say that with the scary music I was a little nervous myself.

Darth Maul kept coming over to where we were sitting gnashing his teeth. Scared Logan to death. I covered Logan's eyes everytime either of the darths walked over because I wasn't about to be up in the middle of the night with a crying toddler who was having nightmares over these two guys. But I may have threatened Logan when he has been naughty that I will call up Darth Vedar. It seems to work.

Reese ended up being pretty brave and fought darth maul.

Since it was so crowded and hot I took the kids over to California adventure where we met up with the Hess girls for some fun in the water.

My boys love the water.......................................maybe I will squeeze in one more day next week before I am officially blocked out.

Mammoth

Last week we went to Mammoth with my family It was a LONG drive

We spent a lot of time exploring and throwing rocks in streams. To be honest my dad did most of the exploring with Logan, they were definite sidekicks for the week.

Then on Thursday, Kyle arrived after making the LONG drive on his motorcycle. I'm not sure if the boys were more excited to see their dad, or to see their dad's motorcycle

Poor Nixon is a plumber in the making

Most of the lakes and hiking spots were closed because there was so much snow. Maybe next time Kyle will ski......I won't be skiing unless he makes me. We spent some time everyday in the jacuzzi

And just enjoyed some time together as a family, although I'm pretty sure my entire family needs another vacation after spending so much time with my two kiddos.

Logan and his new pet for the week.....a big elk that him and grandpa named Bill.

All I heard in between videos on the drive home was, "mom, I need to see Bill."