Potty Training Update

So I think the potty training is going good. He has had less accidents today and yesterday.. but he also went 5 hours without peeing, and then had 3 accidents right after that yesterday, and they were all after Steve woke up. I think he is really learning to hold it. Simon does not like going poop on the potty and hasn't really done it yet. He's finished it off on the toilet, but he hasn't started out on it, at least since we actually started officially potty training, he has done it in the past. But yeah, he is good at holding it. He also stays dry during his naps which is nice since we typically take them on the sofa together and half the time he is in my lap.
He held it all through a movie today, and I was getting nervous thinking he should be about to go anytime, and I would push pause during it to show him the movie can wait and going to the bathroom is most important, but he wouldn't go. As soon as it ended I stopped it, and looked at him, a little wet spot was starting to form on his underwear like the pee was starting to leak out, but he still mostly had control, so we ran to the toilet and he sat down and went pee!
I think his biggest motivator though is the "potty snacks," he gets a pack of fruit snacks every time he goes. I think as he gets better we will cut it down to like 4 fruit snacks every time or something like that. I am trying to motivate him to go poop on the toilet by using marshmallows, but I just started that today, so we will see how it goes. Also when I go to the bathroom I make a big deal of it, and I get potty snacks too, just to try to be an example to him that if he goes he gets treats. He liked the sticker chart the first couple days, but now he doesn't care, he just wants fruit snacks!
I'm not really sure how trained he is, he isn't good at telling us yet, so I still haven't decided if he should go to Cindy's tomorrow armed with pull-ups, I'm kinda nervous about it and don't want him to regress by wearing the pull-ups and not being able to feel it when he pees and wets his underwear, I am just going to have to call her and see how much she wants to deal with with the whole underwear and peeing and accidents thing. And maybe promise to shampoo her living room carpet when I am over on Sunday! I will keep you updated, it seems to be going well if you ask me, definitely a lot of improvement since we started, I just need him to tell us when he needs to go.

Potty Training- Day 1

So I finally decided it is time to start potty training Simon, we have kinda done the letting him go on the potty/trying to get him to go on the potty thing, but I decided it's time to do it for real. I kind of judge things by when my sis does them with her son because he is just a couple months older than Simon, and since B did potty training around Christmas, well, now it's a couple months later so it's about time for us to do it too! Plus, I am only working part-time now (which I love by the way- more on that in a seperate post if you are lucky) so I actually have one-on-one time with my son where I can be the one doing the training, otherwise I would have had to say, yeah I am gonna do this, and then make my daycare do it (which is Steve's mom, and that's just not fair to do). So we started yesterday. Basically, we just try to get him to drink tons of liquids, have him running around in underwear and a shirt, and whenever he starts to go to the bathroom tell him no gross, yucky, etc., and run him to the bathroom. We also added in a sticker chart for some extra incentive which he is digging. He gets a little sticker for pee and a big sticker for poop. Last night before he went to bed he was kind of telling us if he had to go, and today he has told us a little more than half the time already, but by the time he realizes it he is already starting to pee. I think he is getting it pretty fast though, it's supposed to work in three days. We have tarps covering the living room floor right now to protect our already-needing-to-be-shampooed carpets. We are "cheating" at night and putting him in pull-ups because he normally ends up in bed with us halfway through the night and I definitely don't want to deal with that (pee) in my bed. So anyways, so far it is going good, and I hope he gets it, I am nervous to send him to daycare on Wednesday because I don't want him to pee all over Cindy's carpet, so I am thinking about doing pull-ups for daycare too. Wish us luck! I'll update and let you know how it goes. It definitely takes a lot of vigilance, you can't be doing anything else except watching the kid and making sure their underwear are dry and praising them when they are.

boogers

How do little kids fit so many boogers in such tiny little noses?

routine

I was talking to my SIL Mel today, and I told her that after almost 2 years, I finally feel like we have some sort of a routine and our day-to-day life has become somewhat predictable. It is quite nice. I feel like I get to spend enough quality time with Simon everyday, I make dinner most nights, get Simon into bed by 9 now (or earlier some nights!) instead of 10 or later, and even have time for myself. I still need work on spending enough quality time with Steve, but this past week we have been playing lots of Halo together, and that has been really fun. But most nights I do something for myself while he is studying and then we crawl (or I get carried) into bed exhausted. I have even been doing pretty good at keeping the house clean. The kitchen gets cleaned about 3 times a week, the living room 2 times a week, and upstairs... well does that really count as part of the house? We pretty much just go up there to sleep anyways. and laundry... well that gets done about once a week-and by done I mean we wash it all normally once a week or whenever we are out of whites or scrubs and then it goes into a huge tote in our bedroom.
I feel like things are finally under control around here, life doesn't seem as hectic, and I feel like I get a lot of good quality time out of the 3 hours a night I get to spend with my son. I really enjoy being a mom, and I can't wait until I get to be a stay at home mom.

having kids

No, I am not pregnant. But I very recently came to the realization that if you want more than one child, it is smartest to get pregnant with that second child before #1 gets much more than 18 months old. At that point Child #1 starts to get a lot of "personality" and starts to become more independent, stubborn, smart, and frustrating. And at that point you start to wonder if you really want more than one child. Seriously, there are brief moments when I wonder why I would want more than one child, and then you get those wonderful moments where you think you would want tons of kids because they are so wonderful and sweet, and want to call their dad before they go to bed just to say goodnight and I love you.
I love my Simon-son, but man, sometimes I ask myself, do I really want to go through this again- and then maybe even a couple more times after that? No worries though, we do want more kids, and intend to start trying in January while we are on amfabulous trip to Malta! And after that, maybe it will be a good idea to have the kids a little closer in age. I actually wanted them to be about 2 years apart, but I also wanted Steve and I to be able to go to Malta- which had to happen after he graduates, and I didn't want to be pregnant on the trip because that would be miserable, and I knew if I had a young baby at home there was no way I would be able to leave it behind for two weeks. Luckily I have finally gotten over my attachment issues with Simon, and I am pretty sure I can handle being apart for 2 weeks. I left him with Steve for 1 week while I went to Vegas for work, and it went very well.
So anyways, if you plan on having kids, have them about 2 years apart, because if you wait until Child #1 is almost 2, you are going to be seriously reconsidering your desire to have more kids.

Weaned

So back in mid-January Steve, Simon, and I went to see my sister Leslie and her family. After that trip and having a hard time with getting Simon to take a bottle in my presence or even a sippy cup we decided it was time to finally wean Simon. It's really not much fun to spend your vacation trying to get your son to take a bottle and I didn't wan to spend the whole time pumping and trying to nurse him still It was hard for me the first two days, but we did it very quickly and Simon never even seemed to notice, so I would say it went very well for us. I did enjoy breastfeeding Simon and I think we ended perfect timing for us. It was getting really stressful for me pumping at work and I was just really tired all the time. Since weaning, I feel more energetic and happy, I am less stressed, I actually get to hang out and do nothing during my breaks at work, I get to eat lunch with both hands, I don't have to stress about getting enough to eat and drink so I can produce good healthy milk, and I feel like I have more time to spend with my son at home. Granted, we have just as much time to spend together, but now we can spend it together playing! At nighttime I do still rock him to sleep and give him a bottle, but it just feels more relaxing now. I let Steve put Simon to bed at least once a week now which I think is nice for Steve because it isn't something he ever got to do in the past.
All in all, breastfeeding was wonderful. I am huge fan of breastfeeding and plan to do it with our next child also. The other day Steve was studying for his OB class and asked how long I want to nurse our next kid, and I said just as long as we did with Simon, and maybe even to 18 months. Yes, I am one of those people... Simon was weaned at about 14 months, and I think if I hadn't been working it would have been a lot easier, it is definitely a huge commitment and lifestyle decision, but for anyone willing to do it, it is totally worth it. I think as a working mother I enjoyed it even more because I felt like since my son is in daycare I don't get to be around him as much, so for me, pumping was a way for me to still provide for my son and take care of him even though I couldn't be with him all day.

Baby food

So lately Steve and I decided we wanted to save some money and start making our own baby food. It's actually really fun and kind of rewarding to make your own food, but in the end it is a whole lot of work and kind of disappointing if you work really hard to make a batch that your kid doesn't like. The latest one was carrots, chicken, and rice. I even thought it tasted good!! But Simon wouldn't eat it, I think it was one of two things: either it was too thick or lacking some bit of sweetness. When I mixed it with pear puree, he would eat it up, so next time I try it I will do it thinner.
Some recipes I have done that Simon has liked: avocados and egg yolks (from hard boiled eggs), zucchini with jalapeno cheese and spaghetti, zucchini with swiss cheese and whole wheat rotini, peaches (boiled and pureed), pears, and the carrot chicken and rice combo I talked about earlier. We have only been doing this for about two weeks, and I have had a few lazy days so we stocked up on the beechnut and gerber again for my lazy days. When I do make it I use our Oster stick blender that comes with a food processor attachment so I just put it in the food processor, blend it up, and then put in baby food jars that I saved from the store-bought stuff.