Potty what??

If you've visited with us recently then you know our potty song. Most likely you have it memorized just like we do because of how much C sings it.

"PEE PEE ON THE POTTY. PEE PEE ON THE POTTY. PEE PEE ON THE POTTY. NO PEE PEE ON THE FLOOR." sung to the tune of the conga? I don't know. I made it up. I think of a conga line when we sing it. It worked, that's all I know.

I think it is safe to say now that we are a one diaper household! WHAT WHAT?!! Man, how can I type this and you get the full affect of my excitement? After months-and months-and months of working on the potty routine, Chey's got it. She's been diaper free for weeks now with only 1 accident so far (I'm still not sure how it happened- she was in the bathroom by herself). Even though I have her in a cloth wrap at night because I'm not 100% trusting of her yet, she is in big girl undies all day.

To our surprise, she still will not get out of her bed by herself until we go in there with her. Because of this, I'm not willing to put her in undies at night yet until she realizes that she is actually allowed to get down alone. I have no idea why she hasn't challenged it yet, but she seriously will stay in bed all day until someone finally comes and gets her. That doesn't mean quietly, but she will not get down. And so you know, she's in a full size bed and has been for over a year now, not the flippin' eiffel tower, so she is completely physically capable of getting down but just won't. Once she is willing to get out of bed on her own, I'll be more willing to put her in undies at night. Then at least if she has to go, she'll get down and go. She wakes up dry in the mornings, but the cloth wraps makes me feel better in case she does actually have an accident.

POTTY POTTY POTTY!!! Woohoo! Momma and Daddy are so proud of you big girl. You are growing up so fast. Sometimes you act so much older than 2 that I have to remind myself that yes you are still technically two and a toddler. Ah, I'm so proud of you I could explode.  Good job baby girl!!

Just being real

Sometimes life is just plain hard. There is no way around it. No excuses. No apologies. Life just gets difficult.

There never seems to be a short supply of things to do around here. My husband can attest to my constant worrying about that ever-growing list. He reminds me on a consistent basis that I need to "chill out" and things will get done. I feel like my parents really should have just gone on and made it official that my middle name be "Worry." Its what I do best.

Between two rapidly growing kids, a constantly under foot attention-needing dog, a husband with an ever-changing schedule and the annoyingly continual household chores that just won't go away despite my best efforts to ignore them, life gets busy. I wish I could be that mom that juggles everything seamlessly all while wearing white and putting her makeup on perfectly then blogging about how wonderful her life is and how her children sleep through the night. I'm not her. Really, I'm not even close. Most days I'm lucky to get a chance to put on a little mascara let alone a full face of makeup. I'm being completely honest here. I get discouraged when I see these moms (even friends of mine) that seem to be able to handle it all, husband, kids, house, jobs, life and pull it all off like they barely blinked. Then of course tonight there was Miss USA that the Giant and I watched for all of 5 minutes until I started with the "These girls are younger than I am! Come on!" I now feel old, fat, and completely clueless on how to change either of these.

But, putting Stupid Miss Bikini, I mean Miss USA aside, that is not what this post is about. This is a post just to say "If you are having a hard day, know that you really are doing a great job." Sometimes its just nice knowing that others are getting through life the same way you are, one day at a time. There will always be things to do to keep you busy, but sometimes its more important to sit on your front porch in a rocking chair, hold your baby, and remember that you're life is good and you're doing great. The laundry will get folded, the dishes will get cleaned, your cell phone will ring again later, and missing some news on facebook is not the end all. One day, you're baby won't be a baby anymore so enjoy this little time you've been given just to rock and hold you're angel a while.

That's my two cents on a busy life. But now I've run out of things to say and the pans from dinner can only soak for so long… so I'll stop procrastinating and get to it. :)

5 Month Stats

Jameson, five months have flown by. You are not my teeny baby anymore. Your size fools people, sometimes even me.

You are still nursing about ever 3.5 hours during the day and sleeping in 6ish hour stretches at night.

Bedtime is 6:30pm. Sleep until midnightish (give or take an hour or so). Nurse. Back to sleep until 4-6am. Nurse. Sometimes back to sleep until 8, sometimes not. Those "not" mornings make for long days…

You DID sleep through the night once. I thought maybe that was the start of something new. You tricked me. You were up 3 times the next night :(

love that you hold your ear when you're nursing.  No idea why you do, but its cute. Chey used to play with her eyelashes or my hair when nursing. You play with your ears.

One word. Slobber. One word said multiple times. Slobber. Slobber. Slobber. Ahh the drool.

"Jameson…!"

"Hey Jameson"… There it is. The drool :)

I felt a tooth last week while you were gnawing on my fingers. Its just a little corner piece poking through, but those teeth are making their way up. I'm. Not. Ready. For. That.

You're favorite person in the world is your sister (because I don't count since most of the time I'm quite sure I'm just the boobs in your world). You laugh at everything she does whether she is trying to be funny or simply walking by you. You crack up.

You're newest love is bubbles. You think they are hilarious and amazing all at the same time. See the best bubble video HERE.

You are constantly moving, quite the wiggle worm. Daddy loves holding you when you are wiggly butt. NOT!



You roll everywhere. If you don't have room to roll, you scoot yourself like a flopping seal using your face and whole body to get yourself moved. Crawling is in your near future.

You still loves baths, despite the fact that you are too big for your bath. I haven't figured out a new game plan for that one so we just deal with too small bathtub that you try and squirm out of.

You are in size 9-12 months. 9 months is snug but its the last of my cute onesies for you so I'm getting my wear out of them. 12 months is quickly taking over though. There is no early buying for you. I can only get you things to fit now, no planning ahead because there is just no predicting.

You love being rocked and will fall asleep with pretty much anyone if they rock you. Exhibit A- you fell asleep in Skipper's arms while in VA.

You love being carried in either the Baby Bjorn or my Mayan Wrap. Those are your favorites. The Moby Wrap was just never going to work for you.

Firsts at five months- seeing bubbles and finding them hilarious!, Trip to VA to meet lots of new people, playing in your saucer, played in a "jonny jumper"-awesome, slept through the night, successfully took a bottle (the only bottle to date unfortunately).

Best outstanding moment of month five-

This. Happened.

Yes, you are a chunk and half and its only accentuated next to your cousin Ty. Yes your thigh is as wide are your cousin's waste. Yes, you did try and eat his head at one point.  I love that you two are holding hands and yes, you're best friends for life.

You are still such a happy boy! I hope that never changes. I hope that you continue to bring smiles to peoples's faces and shine your light bright in a very dark world. Your daddy and I are so thankful that we get to be your parents. What a gift you are.

 

Happy 5 months baby boy!! We love you.

Cell Phone Photo Dump

Here are a "few" of my favorite recent photos from my phone I thought I'd share.

Mother's Day dinner at the Noisy Oyster downtown

Such a happy boy in his bumbo

Silly girl eating her dried okra and spraying her flowers

Love these two.

This is one of my all time favorite pictures of Cheyanne. Downtown in front of the 

Charleston Customs House. 

Pretty much how I get anything done when I'm out of the house. God bless the creator of the Mayan Wrap and cute Old Navy sun hats.

My mini-me

This one is a favorite because Jameson got to meet his Giant great-grandparents. I know that he probably won't grow up remembering them but it is so special to all of us that they were able to meet him. 

What can be said here? Her imagination is through the roof these days.

These two are so in love. Chey is a daddy's girl.

Brother attack! He thinks that she is the best thing in the world.

And to top it all off, sisters and cousins. The next generation of best friends.

The cutest bubble video you'll ever see

This is the first time that Jameson has ever seen bubbles. He's a fan!

Be prepared for a long one

Has it really been almost a month since I posted last? Eek, that's embarrassing…

Let me sum up my last month in a short conversation that the Giant and I just happened to have today. In a moment of silence in our house (also known as nap time), in a rare moment, the Giant and I were lying down talking about this and that, how our lives have changed with kids, ya know, and all I could say to sum up my lack of enthusiasm was "Man, I'm just exhausted. All. The. Time." Yeah, that about sums it up. Two kids takes a lot out of ya.  I never imagined being so exhausted but being so used to it that I don't even realize it until I finally lay down.

tonight for the first time in who knows how long, I actually asked the Giant to rub my feet because I realized that the dull ache I was feeling was from being on my feet all day. Maybe I'm a wimp, but seriously, how do people with so many daggon kids do it? I have two and I feel like Momma Duggar by the end of the night, except somehow she doesn't seem half as exhausted. I'm pathetic.

Long story short, its been a long month. Technically its been a long few months, but the last month has been pretty rough. Not all bad to be rough, just lots of challenges. But, as "they" say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right? I don't know who "they" are, but I'm trusting "they" are right.

The terrible twos seem to have kicked in full swing around here. Cheyanne is stretching her boundaries every single day. I'm proud of her for being more self-confident and independent, but let me tell you, what comes along with independence is not all rainbows and butterflies. We've had the 2 going on 20 attitude which is new and uh, challenging. Her vocabulary is in constant reminder to use her manners. "I WANT x!" Yeah, lots of that happening. The time outs have started and are a regular. It took her a while to catch on that mommy and daddy were serious about time outs. She bucked all the way down the plank, each and every time, for a few weeks. Something seems to have clicked (for the most part) that when we threaten time out, we mean it. Usually just the threat of time out corrects her, but its not fool proof. As her preschool teacher said hitting the nail right on the head, "Cheyanne does what Cheyanne wants. She is very strong-willed." Ding ding ding. Truer words have never been spoken.

Despise those rough few weeks (that really are still on going some days), she has these precious lovable moments that I eat up. Sometimes you never know who you are getting when she wakes up in the am, either Holy-all-things-Two Cheyanne or Sweet-lovable-I-need-a-hug Cheyanne. Headspin. She has never been an overly cuddly child always needing her own space, but these last few weeks have been pretty awesome for this cuddle loving mom. She comes up to her Daddy and me and says things like "Give me a big hug!" Love it. I think this is God's way of helping our heads not to explode in frustration from those tantrum moments.  Life wouldn't be fun if it wasn't challenging, right? Oh, and did I mention that this has been the month of potty training? Yeah, challenging fun.

Besides these new behavior challenges, we've had all kinds of other challenges. Without going into too much boring detail, this month has brought a new schedule for the Giant's flying. Even though its completely temporary, we've had to adjust to a time of little flying which has been difficult for the Giant. I know that its unsual to say this, but it is completely weird having my husband home so much. Don't get me wrong, its been nice. But, this is the longest he's ever been home and frankly, its brought a lot of adjusting for us. Cheyanne loves having Daddy home every night. When he leaves in the morning for work, she always says, "Its okay, he'll be back" to which I always reply, "Yes baby of course he'll be back." Our daily morning mantra. It seems to reassure her that he's around. The down side, its temporary. I would be lying if I didn't say that I have concerns about her readjusting as soon as he starts flying again soon. She is such a daddy's girl. But, that's the life we live, so I'll do my best to adjust with her when the time comes. She's a strong girl and thankfully she is quite flexible so I think we'll be alright.

Jameson is such a good, adaptable kid, thank God. Despite recently entering the fun stage of needing Mommy within eye shot at all times, he really is an awesome little dude. Now I know the Giant will give a different story, but in my opinion, this kid is easy. Now, I don't mean he's always easy especially when he's sleepy, but he is such a joy and smiles so dang much that I don't even know how else to describe him. He is so interactive and entertaining. He loves to be involved and adores his sister. He thinks she is the funny thing alive. If he's fussing at all, I can usually just ask Chey to go entertain him and the minute he sees her, he laughs and all is fixed. His size is getting a little challenging for me. Put aside the fact that I can barely keep him clothed because he's growing so fast. I have a hard time these days holding him for super long periods of time. That sounds ridiculous right? He's not even 5 months yet. And I know I'm little but I'm no weak duckling. He is just a solid beast baby. I never never take him out without some form of wrap/carrier to carry him in. My arms about fall off if I carry him through stores on my own without support. Between his length and weight, I'm quite sure he'll be my size by age 5. Obviously I'm slightly exaggerating here, but I'm not really sure by how much. I love my big baby boy so much.

I didn't plan on writing this long of a post. If you actually made it through the whole thing, thanks for reading! You're a champ. I think I mostly wrote this so that I can remember how things are now down the road. That's what's going on around here that has kept me from blogging. I know it probably doesn't sound like much, but I promise its been a lot to handle this month. Thanks for reading this. I doubt I would have it I wasn't writing it...