Carson is 3!!!

Obviously more to come later, but here are a few little videos from this morning…

 

 

 

 

 

Potty Training isn't for Sissies

Potty Training.  Fun Stuff.  (I'm sure he will LOVE this post when he's 16.  If you don't care for poop talk... might as well stop now.)

Since Carson is about to turn THREE (next week.... where has the time gone?!?), we figured it was about time to get serious about the potty training thing.  He had regularly been tee teeing in the potty at school (when everyone else goes) and also at home before his bath.   

So, since the 4th of July was a long weekend for us (we had Thursday and Friday off), we decided this was the time to make the switch from diapers & pull-ups to big boy pants (during the day).  Carson had picked out a couple packs of underwear on a recent trip to Target, so we were already armed with Thomas and Cars undies.  For the record, why are little boys just so cute in their tidy whities?  I know that sounds a little strange, but you know what I mean!

Anyways, after school on Wednesday night (7/3), we tried out those big boy pants.  He crapped them.  No biggie, that happens.  Well, 30 minutes later, he crapped them again.  Really?!?  Yep, go figure.  The night we decide to give it a go, he's got diarrhea.   So.... back to pull-ups for the rest of the evening and the next day until we got back from the pool and knew he no longer had the runs.

We switched back to big boy pants some time on the 4th and {if I remember correctly}, I think he did pretty good the rest of the weekend.  He might have had an accident a day, but I consider that pretty good.  Let's be real though, I was asking him every 5 minutes if his big boy pants were dry or if he needed to go tee tee.  He's always been good about going tee tee IF you take him to the bathroom.  He doesn't quite get the whole "tell Mommy and Daddy if you need to go tee tee" thing.  I don't think he really pooped much that weekend.  I was starting to get worried he was going to get constipated.  I think he wanted SO bad to NOT poop in his pants, that he was scared to go at all.

On Friday (7/5), I nervously decided to venture out of the house with a child in big boy pants for the first time.  I needed to go to Target and Andrew's dad did too. So, off we went (with probably 2 changes of clothes in tow).  Papi bought Carson a special prize for having done a great job of tee teeing on the potty at home.  He picked out a crane.  We also went to eat at Novrosky's, still in big boy pants!  During our meal, Papi took Carson to the bathroom and he tee teed at the restaurant!  Another first!  Peeing in a public bathroom!  I think he had to hold him up so he could reach.  I bet that was a funny sight!

 

Made it through church (7/7) with no accidents!  He tee teed in the potty in the nursery!

 

Well... on Sunday (7/7), we hit a MAJOR milestone.  Carson pooped in the potty at home!!!!  (That link is to a post with a video of a happy little boy!). 

 

 

We headed straight for Target (again, in big boy pants) to get a special prize!  I am perfectly willing to buy lots of "special prizes" during this process if it helps motivate him.  After all the 'big moments' have happened, these special prizes are certainly going to decrease in value.... $1 bin, anyone??  With out hesitation, he picked out a set of planes from the upcoming Disney Planes movie.  He is already obsessed! 

Given what I would call a fairly successful weekend, I hesitantly bit the bullet and sent him to school on Monday with big boy pants on.  When I picked him up, he was in timeout.  BUT, he was still in the same clothes I sent him in!!  Success!!!  Sort of.  While I was asking him why he was in time-out, he peed his pants.  Dang.  Hey, I consider 8:30-5 with no accidents pretty darn good!  I am still having them put him in pull-ups during his nap.  I tried big boy pants during nap time over the weekend and it didn't work.  I'm just more focused on awake time right now.  Tuesday he regressed and had two accidents.  Boo.

 

Thursday (7/11) was a big day!  He pooped in the potty at school!   Daddy got him a Dollar Store 'special prize.'

 

Saturday (7/13) he pooped at home again at night. 

Sunday (7/14) he was acting like he needed to poop, so we went to sit on the potty.  As soon as he sat down, he told me he needed to tee tee first.  Okay, so we stand up so he can tee tee.  What does he do.... crap ON. THE. FLOOR.  AHHH.  Really?!?!

Monday (7/15) he made it through a WHOLE day at school without any accidents!!  I won't take away from this by noting he didn't go to school until about 10:30 because of swim lessons.  Happy boy!

 

While it is super exciting when he does poop on the potty, trust me, there have been plenty (as in a lot more instances) of poop accidents too.  Not fun.  Taking off a dirty diaper was SO much easier than trying to peel off poopy undies.  YUCK!  I've got the bleach handy and have had to use it a lot lately... for example, we had TWO poop accidents this Tuesday (7/16).  Yesterday, he pooped in the potty in the morning, and I was SO excited.  Then less than an hour later, he pooped AGAIN... in his pants.  Come on kid!

If I didn't work from home, I can't imagine how some of this would go down.  Let's face it, men like to take their time in the bathroom.  Today (7/18), he asked to go poop.  We sat FOREVER.  He had swim lessons, so we HAD to leave.  We started heading to the door and he said he had wanted to go poop again.  So, I said something like "you've got 2 minutes, kid" because seriously, we had already sat for like 30 minutes and were already on the verge of being late.    Of course, nothing happened and we left.  As we were walking up to the gate for his lessons, he told me he needed to change.  Yep, there was the poop.  Thank goodness he had on a disposable swim diaper.  Easy fix.  I guess it was a good thing that he didn't go in the pool.  He knows not to poop in the pool, so I guess he was trying to be good.  He told Miss Korinne that he "did not poop in the pool."

It's been 2 weeks now since this PT journey started.  We have not given in and gone back to pull-ups, except when sleeping.  I had a whole box of Size 6 Pampers that I sent back to Amazon unopened.  I know he understands that pee and poop go in the potty, and for the most part, is good at going when he is instructed to do so.  He's gone at a couple of restaurants, so I know that going in public is an option.  I'm glad he's tall because he can reach most normal toilets standing up, which is definitely his preferred peeing position.  He still hasn't quite grasped the concept of letting us know if he needs to go.  The pee accidents have done down substantially, but pooping is still a challenge.  We'll get there eventually.  I certainly didn't expect this to happen over night.  We could have easily started this process sooner, but I knew that it was a commitment that we really had to stick with once we started, and let's face it, I was SCARED.  Diapers are easy.  I feel pretty good that he should be pretty well potty trained by the time this little girl comes, which was really the ultimate goal. 

More updates to come!

 

 

 

 

Such a Sweet Big Bro!

I am SO excited to see this sweet big brother in action!  I hope he's is still this excited when she gets here!

 

A Few More Galveston Pics

Mini-Vacay 2013 - Galveston!

The weekend before the 4th of July, we took a little mini-vacay with my family to Galveston.  Andrew was already there for a work thing during the week, so Carson and I met up with him on Thursday.

Happy to see Daddy after almost 5 days!

 

Lunch time!  Those are "kids" fish sticks.... really?!?

Andrew stayed at Moody Gardens for work, so what a better way to spend the afternoon while we waited to check in to our condo.  We checked out the Rainforest Pyramid (since Andrew had some leftover tickets) and the Dinos Alive exhibit. 

 

He loved the fish (and running away from us).

 

I was a little disappointed by the Rainforest.  When I was younger and went, I remember there being a bunch of monkeys everywhere.  We saw one.  Boo.

 

Carson REALLY wanted to see the dinosaurs!!...

 

...Until he actually saw the dinosaurs.  They were BIG.  They were LOUD. They moved.  He wasn't so sure about this dinosaur thing after all.

 

He did warm up to some of them towards the end.  He liked the baby dinosaurs in the eggs, but that was about it.

 

Let's be real, this fossil-digging experience turned in to just throwing sand.  Yep, hadn't napped at this point and it was WELL after lunch.  There ended up being NO nap on that Thursday and it took him FOREVER to go to sleep that night.  The next day was just as bad.  He would NOT nap and went to sleep late AGAIN.  By Saturday, he finally got into a normal routine... of course, that was our last full day.  Typical.

 

Chillaxin' on the patio at breakfast

 

 

Checking out the beach!

 

Those are his FAVORITE PJ pants, and obviously WAY too small.  He's prepared for the next hurricane floods!

 

Let's be real, his favorite place was really just the pool!  We spent a LOT of time at the pool!!

 

 

 

Found a friend with a pirate ship...

 

Sweet time reading (NOT sleeping) with Pops...

 

Have to have a picture in front of the old Galvez...

 

Thank goodness we had a king size bed...

 

Checking out shells with Gigi...

 

A Sprite at Murdoch's on the way out of town...

 

My dad has all the good family pics and any beach pics.  I'll post more once he sends them my way. 

 

It was a quick vacation, but certainly better than nothing at all!  Carson certainly loved spending time with his Gigi & Pops and Uncle Dave & Erin!

20 Weeks & a Little Scare!

Hard to believe it, but we are HALF WAY there!!! 

 

I'm definitely bigger this time around than I was with Carson, even though this picture doesn't really look like it.  I got called out [about being pregnant] by a complete stranger 3 weeks ago in a McDonald's bathroom in Galveston.  That was at about 18 weeks.  I've been called out several times since.  With Carson, I was 22 weeks before anyone said anything.

 

I'm definitely feeling Little Miss moving quite a bit.  Occasionally you can see the movement from the outside, but I haven't tried to see if Andrew can feel anything yet.

 

Cravings-wise, it's pretty similar to the first time around....Carbs, fruit juice, and ice cream. 

 

I'm already having to pee all the time and sleeping on my back is no longer that comfortable, which is a good thing, since I'm not supposed to be doing that any more anyways.  The same goes with lifting Carson.  It's not that hard to just hold him, but trying to swing him up in the carseat or on the changing table (which is thankfully, not THAT often), is becoming increasingly difficult or uncomfortable.  He's somewhere between 35-40 pounds, so I try to keep the lifting to a minimum for sure.

 

 

Terrible bathroom selfie....

 

I had, in general, been feeling pretty good, until this happened.....

 

Lately, I've been having lightheaded spells.  I had one on Wednesday while at work in Houston that led to me passing out in a cubicle and my first ambulance ride to the ER.  I didn't fall, I felt it coming on and was able to lay down, but it was the worst one I've had in a long time.  It was Deloitte and building "protocol" for me to go to the hospital, or at a minimum, get checked out by paramedics.  They take things pretty seriously if anything happens in the building (liability issues), but even more seriously if you are pregnant.  As reluctant as I was to go, I know it was for the best.

 

My system has always been pretty sensitive, and I've passed out (apparently "syncope" is the official term) or nearly passed out ("near-syncope") several times (when I wasn't pregnant).  Pretty much every time it had ever happened before, I had forgotten to eat and then ran around or worked out or something.  I LOVE to eat, but occasionally, would just get busy and not eat anything for several hours.  Andrew makes fun of me sometimes that I eat ALL the time, but I'm not one who can miss meals without it messing up my system.  I really do have to eat multiple small meals a day versus 3 big meals. 

 

Anyways, the reason this one was a little scarier was because it was the 3rd time in 2 days that I had been lightheaded to the point I had to sit or lay down.  I didn't pass out the other two, but it certainly seemed to be a recurring thing.  I was at Office Depot the day before and as I was paying, started to feel weak and lightheaded.  I grabbed a Gatorade out of the drink fridge near the check-out and sat on the floor.  I never 'saw black', but it took 5-10 minutes to feel okay enough to stand up.  Wednesday morning, I think I may have just gotten up from the table too fast.  That episode was very short-lived.

 

When the medics took my blood sugar at the office, it was 74, which isn't that low, but even Andrew said he starts to feel a little off if his blood sugar is in the 70s.  They ran a bunch of tests at the hospital and everything seemed to check out.  My papers indicated "Unknown" as the cause of the syncope.  It was likely due to a drop in blood sugar.  They do want me to see a cardiologist to rule out any kind of arrhythmia.  They did an EKG and everything looked okay, so it's just a precautionary measure.  I have an appointment with my OB/GYN next week, so I'm sure we'll talk about it all in more detail then.  They requested all my records from the hospital prior to my appointment.  They didn't seem terribly concerned, but certainly want to follow-up. 

 

Of course, they wanted to check the baby at the hospital, so I ended up getting a full, detailed ultrasound.  During the ultrasound, as they were measuring the leg bones, they asked me if my husband was tall.  Apparently, they can tell she already has long legs.  I was 19w 6d when I went in, but she was measuring over a week ahead.  This sounds familiar.... Carson always measured at least a week ahead.  One AWESOME part of the ultrasound was that we learned that we did not have SUA (single-umbilical artery) this time!!  Carson had SUA, which technically made that pregnancy "high risk".  I still remember how terrifying it was for them to call you after the detailed 20-week ultrasound and tell you they found something 'abnormal.'  If you made the mistake I did of Googling "SUA" or "single-umbilical artery", you get all kinds of terrifying information.  Fortunately, everything turned out just fine, but it was a relief to know that this wasn't something we were going to have to face again.  Little Miss was moving all over the place... I was REALLY hoping for a slightly LESS active child this time around... haha! :-)  Her heart rate was 139.

 

So, minus this recent bout of lightheadedness and weakness, I've been feeling pretty good.  It's hard to believe I still/only have 4 months to go.  The "Still" part... Part of me already feels so big and can't imagine getting as big as I was with Carson again.  (It's crazy how much you can stretch!).  The "Only" part.... holy moly, we haven't done ANYTHING.  No name.  Haven't started the nursery.  Haven't done as much of the transitioning training at work that I know NEEDS to be done.  Haven't cleared out any of the boy stuff that I said I would do as soon as I knew it wasn't needed.  I know 4 months is still a long time, but the next month is pretty much booked.  My brother is getting married.  Andrew is pretty much MIA during September because of work.  October includes a good friend's wedding (that Andrew is in) & engagement party for Andrew's sister.  So.... looks like we're going to have to MAKE time somewhere!  Thanksgiving (and Little Miss!) will be here before we know it!

Random Carsonisms

"It's going to be o--kay, Mommy.  It's going to be o--kay!"

"Don't snap me!"

"I turned on the light to see what's there."

"Cael is my BEST friend!" (7/3/13)

"I'm a 'neked' baby!"

"Ha, ha, ha, that's funny."

All his "jokes" are about gender.  If you ask him what kind of baby is in Mommy's tummy, sometimes he says "A boy."  Then he gets this silly look on his face and says "Nooooo."  Then he starts cracking up and says "that's funny."  Today I asked him about his girlfriends and he named several at school and also said "Mommy."  He then said "Daddy", got that same silly look on his face and said "Nooooooo."

"You stay right there, Mommy.  I go get it.  You stay right there."

"This is so much fun!"

Carson's new favorite song for me to sing at bedtime is Edelweiss.  I usually have to sing it multiple times.  I wasn't really paying attention by the time I got around to singing it the third or fourth time, and I failed to go to the last part about "bless my homeland forever."  Carson quickly corrected me and told me to sing "the house part" (I guess he thinks homeland and house are related).  Apparently Andrew has never heard this song (what?!?!?!), so he better learn it soon! 

Carson also loves Amazing Grace.  He's got the first verse down pretty good and will sing with me, but the verse with "toils and snares" is "trolls and snails" or "trolls and stairs."

Listening to Carson say "Jack & Jill" is SO hilarious to me.  Jack broke his "Crayon" y'all, not his crown.  Makes more sense, right?!?  I guess he doesn't really "say" it either.  He's usually dancing and reciting it with a lot of passion.  Goober.