BLOG CHALLENGED

Sorry, I have been blog challenged lately. Actually I blame Facebook. I spend WAY too much time on there and to actually sit and write a blog anymore is about as tedious as writing a letter. Now that's pathetic. haha.

So here's a quick update. We're continuing to work with Nate on potty training. So far he has #1 down, but #2 is still "iffy". He's been staying dry during his nap and lately, managing to stay dry overnight. But again, the overnight is "iffy". His 2-yr old independence keeps us on our toes. When I tell him to play in a certain area, he'll usually do it but a few minutes later, he'll look at me and say "I finished." Oh no mister...you're finished when MOM says your finished. yeah right. The few times I wasn't paying much attention and gave in, he (of course) remembered and now expects it. Why do we as parents tend to make our job harder?? On the flip side, his memory is amazing to me. Scary too because we have to keep more on top of what we say and do.

My art work is going pretty well despite the economy. I signed several contracts last year and hope to see some results from that this year. It's a little concerning because my agent keeps hearing about more and more manufacturers or retailers who are closing their doors. In the meantime, Don and I are keeping a tighter and more discerning eye on our spending. We really want to knock out our credit card debt. It's annoying to me that we haven't used credit cards in a few years and we're still trying to pay them off. Ugh! We've also decided to take up mountain biking as a family in an effort to stay healthier. It's hard for us to find a form of exercise that we both enjoy so we're going to give this a shot. Yesterday we rode through the neighborhood for 3 miles and I thought I was going to die. Again...pathetic. I've got a lot of shaping up to do.

Speaking of healthy, I'm feeling the call of a homemade iced mocha (not so healthy) so I better obey it. haha. Does organic sugar and cocoa instead of chocolate syrup justify it??? We're going to a free blues concert tonight (I think) so I might have some good photos to share. Hasta.....

SEEING THE LIGHT

Well that was a long weekend. All of us got a stomach bug...Nate started it Friday night. Then Don got it Saturday. At first I thought it was just a flu-like thing but today, my hubby says, "Don't give Nate any milk, it's gone bad. I tasted it Sunday morning and it tasted bad." I said, "Oh great! I made myself a mocha Sunday night so that's probably what made me sick!" He asked, "You didn't notice it was bad??" Usually, I'M the one who notices those things but for whatever reason, I didn't that night. UGH! So now I'm thinking I got the worst of it and boy did I pay. Before I went to bed Sun. night I felt like I was growing an alien inside me. Then I ended up spending the ENTIRE night in the bathroom. Oh yeah, not even one MINUTE of sleep...I was so sick. Then Monday, my stomach was still so woozy I couldn't even sit up without it rolling. I haven't felt that sick since we drank the water (like idiots) in Cabo. Lucky for me, Monday is Don's day off so he took care of Nate while I was moaning. Bad thing is I spent our only day together sick. :-(

So note to self...Always check expiration dates!!

THE WORLD AT HIS FINGERTIPS

When I was collecting quilt squares, a friend gave me this huge piece of fabric with a world atlas on it. I gave the fabric to my mom and she made a cool quilt out of it for Nate. He loves it and likes to play with his airplanes, trains and cars on it. My world traveler.

HAPPY VALENTINES!!

Look what my two Valentines gave me yesterday......

BIG BOY

Nate is nearly potty trained now. Yay!! He's going all by himself, with no help from mom or dad, and has FINALLY gone #2 (after 3 days..I was debating whether to break out the apple juice). He even got through a nap with no accidents.

The other day, he had to "go" but didn't want to waste time going to the bathroom. I kept asking him, "Do you need to "go"?" and he would say "NO!" as he twisted around in his booster seat trying to hold it. Finally he had an agonized look on his face and his squirming got worse and then he said, "Mama, I GO!" So I yanked him off the booster seat and we ran to the bathroom....barely making it. haha. He's always very proud of himself when he goes in his toilet so he's been pretty easy to train. I can't believe we are so close to being diaper/pull-up free!! Yay!!

MORE CHOPSTICK FUN

SO FAR SO GOOD....

So far, Nate's potty training has been going great. No accidents since yesterday morning! We still keep the pullups on during his naps and at evening bedtime but that's it. Haven't taken him out of the house yet either but we'll use pullups for that too and encourage him to "go" in public bathrooms. He still hasn't done #2 yet so I'm sure we'll have a mess or two until he figures that one out. He doesn't like to be dirty so hopefully he'll train quickly.

I stopped giving him juice after the first day. He was crazy wired and it was making me crazy. I found Goldfish pretzels and those worked great! Yesterday he was going right after eating and every 45 min. thereafter. However, today, he is holding it longer and will tell me when he's ready to "go".

That's our life this week. Nothing else interesting to report.....yet!

DAY 1 POTTY TRAINING SUCCESS!!

We decided to start potty training Nate this week. He's been consistently informing me of when he poops and pees in his pullups so we decided to give it a try. Today was a great success... I am so stoked and Nate is totally getting it. Of course, it took some training of "mom and dad" to get the hang of it too. haha. We put his cloth "big boy undees" on and he loved them. Then we told him if his undees stayed dry, he would get a treat. So every 20 min., we checked his undees and if they were dry, he got juice (a big treat for him). I also made him drink a 1/2 Dixie cup of water every so often. At first he was peeing in his undees and I kept missing him doing it so he wasn't getting it. Then, at one point I caught him in the process of peeing all over the carpet so I rushed him to his potty. It freaked him out a bit (partly because of how I responded). Then I gave him more water and a few minutes later, he looks down at his undees and I could see them starting to bulge from the pee, so I rushed him to his potty again. This time he was crying because he had wet his undees and he wanted them to stay dry. So I had to reassure him that he was getting it and he would understand how it worked soon. I figured he was still full of water and juice so I had him sit on the potty for 8 minutes (and set a timer for him) and told him if he peed in the potty, he would get a treat (some chips...to make him thirstier for water, hee hee). So he sat there for 5 min looking at a small photo album and all of sudden, he stops...looks at me big-eyed, then points to his crotch and says "I go." So I told him to get up so I could see and he DID IT!! I gave him huge praise and that startled him...he wasn't sure what to think. But then Don came in, praised him and showed him how to pour the pee in the big toilet, flush, wipe, etc and then he got his chips and more juice.

By that time, it was time for bed so I put pullups on him b/c I knew he would be peeing again soon. I was about ready to leave the room and then he says "Go bathroom." I said "Do you need to pee in the toilet?" He says "yes" and starts to get out of bed so back to his potty we go. He sits on the toilet for a few minutes looking at photos and then says "Finished!" He got up and sure enough, he had peed again. This time he was excited to get the praise and I really think he's understanding how it works. We still have to work on pooping in the toilet but for now..one hurdle at a time. Hopefully tomorrow will another successful day. Yay!!

FINISHED IT!

Finally finished knitting Don's sweater. Ok, I know what you're thinking...sweaters in Tucson?? Well it got cold enough for the next 3 days to wear it. haha. Don's been wanting an Irish sweater for a long time so I decided to give it a try. It was a tricky pattern..not hard but required concentration to get it right. Needless to say...the times that my short attention span was diverted by the tv, resulted in some interesting stitches. ha. See the rainbow behind him? It was a full bow thanks to some much needed rain that came through today.


I gave Nate his chopsticks to use..the ones we got him in China. He tried very hard to use them the correct way but his fingers weren't cooperating. I could see he was heading toward a frustration fit (although I was trying not to bust up laughing), so I told him he could use one stick to spear his food. He thought that was the best ever. That's one way to get him to eat his veggies!

MY CUZ

As soon as my cousin got up this morning, Nate took full advantage of his presence and piled a bunch of his books in his lap! It was fun catching up with Rudy and hearing stories of his travels and Filipino stuff.



Posing with his mini Coop!




Checking out my cousin's iPhone.

SUPER BOWL FUN

I'm a little behind...left my camera at the Super Bowl party but here's some pics for you. My cousin is coming to stay with us a couple of nights and I'm looking forward to it. I saw him last year for the first time in like, 13 years. He's never been to Arizona so it will be fun to show him the sights. More to come...


Food break!


The motley crew


The lone Steelers fans...who let them in??!


Cutting out those ridiculous glasses.




Mr. Bruce Springsteen


So close..........!

SO CLOSE....AARRRGH!!

Man, what a nail biter yesterday. All I have left are stubs..ha. I was SOOOO bummed to see our team lose yesterday but they gave us a great game. I just couldn't believe we were winning in the last 43 seconds and then blew it. Frankly I thought that ref was a bit biased...I mean, c'mon! How many bad calls against the Cards could he pull? But our defense wasn't that great either toward the end. Still.......it was an exciting game and we were soooo close...I could taste it. Next time! The Steelers were another fav team so if someone had to win besides the Cards, I would rather it be them or the Colts.

Now I can start growing out my nails again. ha.