I think I can, I think I can, I think I can

I am totally frustrated today by the whole process of potty training. Treyton turned 3 in October and should be potty trained by now, but he isn't. I have been trying on and off for the past 6 months or so to get this done, and it just isn't happening. I have a strong belief that is is better to wait until they are a little older and then potty training is a breeze, but this is getting ridiculous. When I first started trying several months ago I was all excited, and I bought him several dollar store prizes and told him that every time he goes on the potty he can open a present. That really worked and for almost an entire day he went potty several times. But then the next day he absolutely refused to put on underwear or sit on the potty (I mean throw himself on the floor, arms and legs flaying refused to do it.) Ok, we will try later.

So then again a couple of months later I tried again, only this time his cousin McKay was also doing it so I thought this will be a perfect time to do it. Well, same thing he went a few times and then refused again.

So then the other night I had to go to the store to get some things and I found the little boys underwear and told him I would buy him some new ones if he would try to go in the potty again. He was so excited to get new "Diego" underwear that he wanted to put them on as soon as we got home. I was excited to get this going so we started trying again on Thursday of this week. Well he did pretty good on Thursday, and then on friday he went in the potty several times, but would not go poop. He went from Wednesday to Saturday without pooping. Well this afternoon he pooped in his underwear and he has wet his pants twice today. He does not want to get on the potty, but he won't put on a diaper or pull-ups either, because he wants to wear underwear. So do I just let him pee and poop himself?

Both Savanna and Mitch were potty trained within a few days of starting the process, they were both excited to do it and it was pretty painless, but this is causing me great stress. When I try to physically put him on the potty he throws a fit, and yet he won't let me put a diaper on him. I just hope that he doesn't end up going to Kindergarten not potty trained!!!

I find myself getting really frustrated when I hear other people having success getting their kids potty trained when they are under 2. Why can't my 3 1/2 year old do it!!! I know that he is smart, he is just incredibly stubborn.

Quiet weekend!

It's just me and her this weekend

This weekend Reid took Savanna, Mitch & Treyton with him to Salt Lake to stay at his sister and Brother in law's cabin. I decided to stay home with Carolina. She does not do very well in the car and I wasn't really very excited about camping out with a baby, so we stayed home. I feel a little bit bad about not going and seeing my kids have so much fun at the cabin and for missing an opportunity to get out of town, but I have to say I have been loving the quiet around here. I got the kids rooms and closets cleaned out, and I went through all the kids clothes and got rid of a bunch of stuff. So I feel like I got a lot accomplished and it was worth me staying home to work on. I feel like with 4 kids all I ever get done is the basics, I can't ever seem to get any of the deep cleaning done that needs to happen. I do miss Reid and the kids but it has been an enjoyable weekend so far.

I decided to take the opportunity while the kids are gone to try and get Carolina to sleep through the night. (She shares a room with Savanna, so I haven't felt like I could let her cry it out.) I am getting really tired of getting up with her 3 and 4 times a night. So last night she went to sleep on her own, and when she woke up at about 11:30, it took about 1/2 hour of me going in to her room about every 5-10 minutes to try to comfort her without picking her up and she went back to sleep. She woke up again at 2 am and I did the same thing, and then again at 6:00 am, and I did get her out of her bed then and feed her and she went back to sleep. I will do it again tonight and hopefully we can get her to sleep clear through without too much crying. It breaks my heart to let her cry, but she is 8 months old, it is time to sleep through the night now.

A fire is burning!

We had quite the experience tonight that I just had to write about. While I was cooking dinner and all my children were sitting at the bar watching me I had a fire break out on the stove. This is the first time this has ever happened to me, and it was so scary. I was cooking a chicken breast with a little bit of oil, and I opened the lid to turn it and it burst into flames. I am not exaggerating one bit when I say the flames were at least 2 feet tall. I grabbed the pan and threw it in the sink and turned on the water, which at first made it worse. I thought in those few short seconds that here goes my kitchen. I thought for sure it was all going to go up in flames. But luckily it went out with no harm done. A few seconds later the fire alarms started going off, and all 4 of my kids started crying. They were really scared. At this point I knew we were ok, so it was just a matter of calming down the kids and opening up some doors to get the smoke out and within a few minutes the alarms stopped. It was a good learning experience for all of us because we got to have a good conversation about what to do if a fire were to start, or if we were to hear the fire alarms go off in the night or any other time. We talked about our emergency plan and where we would go. We will all meet at the mail box, and then probably head down to Steve's house.

Carolina

I know that I do tons of posts about Carolina, right now more than any of my other children. It is not that I love her any more than the others, it is just that right now she is growing up so fast! I want to have this all documented. She is constantly going, she doesn't like to hold still. Church today with her was a pain, only 10 more months till she can go to nursery. (But who is counting!) She is pulling herself up in her crib, and she thinks she is such a big girl!

What a wonderful weekend!

This weekend we went to my nephew Easton's and our niece Emily got baptised. We felt bad because we could only go to one of them. Emily lives in Salt Lake so we ended up staying here for Easton's baptism. We hope that Emily knows that we love her and support her decision to get baptised. The baptism was wonderful, I always really feel the spirit anytime I go to a baptism, but this time maybey a little more because of how much I love Easton. I can't believe he is 8 years old. I still remember so clearly him as a baby and how fun it was to have a nephew. He is the oldest grandchild on my side of the family. He is a really great kid and I am so happy to be his aunt.

One of the best parts of the day for me was after the lunch we had at the Sargent's, Savanna, me and my Mom were going over to my parent's house and Savanna said to us "Don't tell anyone, but I kind of cried during the baptism." It made me feel so good to know that she felt the spirit. We told her that sometimes that is how we know that we feel the spirit is when we cry. I can't believe that in just a few short months it will be Savanna's turn to get baptised.

We got to spend the majority of the day on Saturday just hanging out with family. Sara and Shane came home for the baptism, and it was fun to just sit and visit with them. It is good to see Sara is adjusting to married life very well. We also got to hang out with Val and Layne who we don't get to see very often. It was just a nice relaxing day. Last night we got a babysitter and had a little date night over at Ruth and Kent's house. It is nice to get away from the kids for just a few hours.