Lessons Learned from Potty Training

What goes in must come out

Let's just say that Lydia ate about 6 of those rolls along with the green pancakes we had for breakfast and 2 bowls of that green pasta. It was a St Patrick's Day surprise for the toilet (let's be real, the surprise didn't make it to the toilet)!

And Lydia had so much fun dying eggs for Easter, she ate eggs for breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, second lunch, dinner, second dinner and dessert! That's why she isn't really wearing pants in this picture. I was tired of washing her royal princess underwear!

Peer pressure is POWERFUL

For the first day of Lydia's potty training, we brought in the experts. (AKA Claire). Lydia worships "Clairsy" and would do anything Claire told her to do. Claire came prepared with prizes for Lydia and some light bathroom reading. She was more prepared than I was! All I had was a sticker chart.

Speaking of peer pressure, Ben decided he needed to join the fun too. While I was cleaning up a big puddle of urine off the kitchen floor, Ben walked in and proudly announced that he peed his pants too! I thought he was joking... he wasn't.

Sometimes it can be a little painful.

Like when you fall into the toilet. That hurts.

Just when you think you are in the clear, disaster will strike!

After a couple days of being cooped up inside and running to the potty every 5 minutes, I was ready to get out. We went for an Easter Egg Hunt with our church playgroup. She did great! No accidents. We left with LOTS of chocolate and the same pants we came in. Hooray!

A couple days later, she was doing wonderful at going to the bathroom and telling me she needed to go BEFORE she went. We made it through 3 hours of church without incident. I was doing the extreme celebration dances after every successful 'event' on the potty. Things were good.

Our neighbors who live above us graciously invited us to Easter Dinner at their place with some of their friends.

(This is Olivia & Rachel. They were born a little over 2 weeks apart)

The food was delicious. The company was delightful and the kids were de lovely. (that was for you, Mom)

... until we smelled it. Those poor parents who had to change that poopy diaper. It was a smelly one! Oh wait... that wasn't a diaper that needed to be changed! 
While I was cleaning up the mess, Lydia had this exchange about 30 times:

Mom: Lydia, we don't go potty in our princess underwear! We go potty in the toilet.

Lydia: That's right, Mom. 

It can be exhausting

I saw something on Pinterest a few days ago and this picture really sums it up for me:

"I don't want to sleep like a baby, I just want to sleep like my husband!"

Sometimes you just need to take a breather

Thank Heaven for Mitch. Potty training really brings out the devil in me and he has the ability to swoop in and bring me back to a semi-sane state. (Because we all know I have never been fully sane in my life)

This is a video of our walk home from lunch at Potbelly's. 

(don't mind the watermark, I used a free trial to do the editing)

Success is sweet!

And these are mostly for Grandmas:

My Ben

My Benny Boy turned 4 on February 23rd. He has been so curious about birthdays and is frequently asking when everyone's birthday is and how old they are. It has mixed him up a bit. I think because I have told him that I am 29, and his birthday is on the 23rd, he doesn't know how to answer when people ask his age. Lately, if someone asks him, "Ben, how old are you?" He will usually respond, "I'm 23rd". 

My "23rd" boy is pretty awesome. He is a great helper when it comes to taking care of his sisters (especially his baby sister). He adores them and becomes very protective of them if he feels that I am not taking care of them properly. I could tell you a million things about Benjamin, but what I love so much about him right now at this age is that he still loves to be held and cuddled. The only thing he asks for at night is for me to tuck him in. Each night I kiss him and hug him and tell him he is a good boy. As long as all of those things are done, he will go to sleep without any complaint. He is a good boy and we sure love him.

I am a bit retarded when it comes to taking pictures. I miss my personal photographers in Utah that followed me at every major event and documented my life. We didn't take very good photos on Benjamin's big day, but here are a few we did take.

 Rather than have a big party for Ben, we decided to make the day all about spending quality time with him. He tends to get into trouble when people come over and we didn't want to be scolding him and getting upset with him on his birthday, so we let him take his buddy Lucas to a jump house. After the jump house, we went to Portillo's for hot dogs and picked up one of their famous chocolate cakes. 

We saved the presents for after naps. This was the first year we ever purchased anything for Ben. We figured that he was too young in years passed to even realize he was getting any presents and he would have been as happy with a box as he would have been with any other toy. He got SPOILED. I went all out on the gifts and so did relatives. I even bought him a bike and when I revealed the bike, all he saw was the little stuffed animal I had attached to the bike. Lesson learned - I'll stick to the boxes for future birthdays.

Just a few fun facts about Ben at age 4:

1. His favorite color is Green. He says it is 'his' color.

2. His favorite foods are apples and vegetables. Seriously. I could put a plate of chicken nuggets in front of him with a plate of vegetables and he will eat ALL the vegetables first. And he eats about 4 apples a day.

3. Benjamin's favorite activity is to take a bath. He is a nut. If I let him, that kid would spend all day in the tub. He loves to take his toys in the bath and splash around.

His second favorite activity is to play the monster game. It's this crazy game where we run around roaring at each other like crazy idiots.... btw, did you know there is a monster in our sink? Just ask Lydia. She won't go in the kitchen by herself anymore.

4. Ben's favorite day of the week is Saturday because that is the day dad is home taking care of the kids and mom is out running errands. As a result, the kids and dad watch movies almost all day. Being with dad and watching movies - life doesn't get any better for my Ben.

What a sweet boy. We love our Benjamin!

Odd Goings On - Pinterest Style

Blogger must have removed my probation for good behavior because suddenly I can upload pictures again. Hooray! 

I thought I'd make up for lost time Pinterest Style.

NOVEMBER

Mom, If you buy anything pink, please make sure it fits over my head! - Lydia

iPood

TGIF - Thanks Goodness I'm Fabulous!

Not cool, Dad!

Grandma says she is making pies for "us".

Ha Ha! That was fun, Alli! Let's do it 300 more times!! 

DECEMBER

With our powers combined with the effectiveness of these aluminum helmets, we prevented the end of the world. 

The Nightmare Before Christmas?

"I regret Nothing." (Ben in timeout)

Ben: "Mom, that's baby Rachel when she is a princess! She's a princess just like you, Mom!"

"Skipped my nap today. Exhausted. Will go right to bed. LOL. NOT. FEEL LIKE ADRENALINE AND RED BULL ARE PUMPING THROUGH MY BABY VEINS!"

They don't tell you that Mary had Joseph slaughter the cow to help feng shui the stable.

This is one of those moments that you just "had to be there"... LOVE YOU DAVE!!

JANUARY


Snowmagedden is coming.

(Toenail died and fell off after running the 10k Polar Dash)

If I ever had to run for my life, I would probably die.

Picnics with Rachel - AKA: Mom's way of keeping the mess in a 4' by 4' space and avoid extra cleaning. And of course my kids are naked - they are eating spaghetti!

"No Mom! It's my turn to feed Baby Rachel!"

I wish there was a rollover plan for childhood naps I refused.

Mom has been wearing the same pants for three days but I'm "the mess". Ok.

FEBRUARY

I smile because you are my sister. I laugh because there is nothing you can do about it!!

If you think I nap a lot, you should meet my Grandpa!

Blanket on? ... too hot

Blanket off? ... too cold

One leg out? ... PERFECT!

What is a bathroom door, really. Other than a love barrier!

Happy Valentines, Dad! To Show you how much we love you, we are going to drop in at your office, eat the Valentines candy that we brought for you, and demand to be entertained by you and everyone on your floor. Don't worry, if we feel the slightest bit excited, bored, happy, sad, or confused, we are going to run around like wild monkeys, make as much noise as possible, climb on the office furniture, and color all over your very important papers. Love you Dad!

Yes, aside from the pictures, I stole almost everything from Pinterest.

Obsessed. (Dedicated to Kelli & Tricia)

For almost 2 weeks we were blessed to have the Rencher Paparazzi stay with us. They came with strict instructions to take as many pictures of Rachel Ann as possible. I think they did a pretty good job. 

WARNING: This post contains A LOT of pictures.

Per my instructions, here is a DETAILED account of what we did throughout the week. Enjoy, Kelli & Tricia.

Friday, November 15, 2012:  

12:47pm - Grandma Rencher arrived.

(we actually didn't take many pictures that day because the Paparazzi equipment didn't arrive until Saturday)

Saturday, November 16, 2012

12:15pm - Aunt Alli Arrived

2:06pm - Rachel ate and worked on a good burp.

3:44pm - Diaper Change

 3:51pm, - More time with Alli

4:10 pm

4:25pm - get ready to go to the Disney Parade downtown

4:40pm - Headed to the car

 5:47 pm - Arrive on Michigan Ave

5:56 pm

5:57 pm

 6:04 pm

6:15pm - face lift

Sunday, November 17, 2012\

This post will be continued...

I was just informed that I have used up the maximum photo storage limit and can no longer upload photos. I didn't realize that I had a limit, but if you want to see more pictures from the Paparazzi Visit, you can go to my family's Smugmug account.

I will continue this post once I figure out how to get around this storage situation. In the mean time, you can see how Aunt Alli stole my son's heart: