End of Dia Dos

Day two complete.  In many ways it was worse than day one.  This potty-training thing is exhausting.  On top of that, the boys are exhausted from this new running-to-the-potty thing AND because they didn't nap yesterday.  How could they nap with the sides off their cribs??  And with their daddy laying on the floor next to them.  WAY too exciting for napping.  Today, however, they were TIRED. Myke was tired.  All three of them crashed at rest time.  The boys in their beds and Myke next to them on the floor.  He stays on the floor by them because part of this 3-day-thing is that you don't leave their sides.  You are always there to rush them to the potty if they start having an accident.  The boys woke up dry from naps.  We were excited about that.

Anyways, it was a long day.  How was potty-training Chloë SOOOOO easy and this seemingly SOO hard?  Maybe I just don't remember how hard it was with her?  Parent-amnesia, perhaps?

Chloë had a birthday party this afternoon and I couldn't get out the door and FAST enough to take her to it!  I got to take her since Myke took her to her skateboarding lesson earlier in the day.  We NEED breaks from this full-time insanity.  I was cornering anyone who would listen at the party and telling them about the potty-training-hell that I was currently in...and how this party was a 2 hour respite from the loony bin I felt like my home was turning into.  I had a coffee in hand (half-caff...cuz it was 4pm, after all), red eyes that burned with exhaustion, and most likely a crazed look on my face...people were slowly backing away.

Okay, bed time.  Owen has already come out of his room tonight saying he has to to use the potty.  Then he insists on getting the M&M treat, after.   Even though it's 9pm.  I can't believe we are putting them in big-boy underwear AND taking the rails off their cages cribs...all at the same time.  Not sure I'm ready for this.  I like my sleep way too much.

One Day Done

End of Day One.  

Watching "Dora" on the iPad.  

I won't let them sit on the couch or chairs!!

Potty Training Boot Camp.  Day One.  Complete.  Well, kind-of.  Myke decided to go full-throttle and do the no-night-time-undies thing for bed.  So the boys are wearing regular undies to bed.  Night-time undies, for those who don't know, are basically a pull-up.  They are just labeled in the stores as "Night-time Underwear".  I remember we used them with Chloë.  Until she told us she didn't want them anymore, that is.  So, I would be fine with the boys using "night time underwear" for awhile.  However, the 3-day-boot-camp-guide suggests just getting rid of all diapers and diaper-imposters right away.  Don't "confuse" the child by making them wear undies all day and then a diaper or pull-up at night.  The THING is, the boys have been in cribs since birth.  UNTIL today.  Myke took the sides off their cribs TODAY.  So not only are they suddenly in big boy undies.  They also are suddenly in "big-boy beds".  A lot of change going on for them.  Of course you have to take the sides off if you're going to have them wear undies.  For naps, too.  Obviously, they have to be able to get to the bathroom.  So we'll see how tonight goes!  They are EXHAUSTED, that's for sure.  No nap today as we couldn't let them out of our sight and they were so excited with their "new" beds.  Sleeping at nap time?? That's a joke.  

Anyways, they are in their beds now.  Myke is laying on the floor next to their beds as they fall asleep.  He just texted me from the trenches that Owen is already snoring.  

I'm pretty tired from today, but it was a good day.  I got to spend A LOT of time with my boys.  Chloë went to a friend's house for the day and Ella napped for something like 4 hours.  Myke and I were really able to focus on Owen & Elijah.  We didn't let them out of our sight all day (following the plan).  We let them drink all kinds of sugary drinks and have all kinds of treats as rewards.  Goes against all my mom-sense...but we spoiled them.  At the end of the day, Owen peed in the potty 10 times and Eli 9 times.  That's success in my book!!  We need to work on number 2...but that will probably be for tomorrow!  Fun times!  

Goodnight!  

Some pics from the past week or so:

Eli & Chloë

Making gluten-free banana muffins

eating the muffins

mmmmm!

Chloë's last day of preschool: Picnic in the park

Pre-K class of 2014

(some of them)

Ms. Monica is an amazing teacher!  We'll miss her!

Chloë, Laura, Paige

Enough is Enough

Not sure why I bothered showering this morning.  I'll be covered in poo & pee soon enough.  Yes, it's potty-training boot camp this weekend at the Hines household.  You can be envious of my life right about now.  I give you permission.

As the title states: enough is enough!  Myke and I are so OVER having 3 kids in diapers.  It's so expensive.  It's so gross.  The boys just turned 3 last month and are still not showing much interest in using the potty.  In fact, they will straight out tell us, "I don't want to wear underwear.  I wear a diaper."  Uhhhh...ok...  Eli even said that he doesn't want to move to the 3-year-old classroom for preschool because he doesn't want to wear underwear and use the potty (which is a prerequisite for the 3-year-old room.  They don't mess with diapers there).  So the boys are still in the 2-3 year old room.  They are supposed to move by the end of the summer to start Fall semester in the new room.  We are determined to get them there.  I will not have them be 5 years old and in the 2 year old classroom because they won't use the toilet!!  In fact, I think MOST of the kids in their current class are potty trained.  So they do see the kids using the teeny little potties that they have in the class bathroom.  This past Thursday I took all 4 kids to a birthday party.  Besides Ella and the hostess's newborn baby, they boys were the only other ones in diapers....and there were plenty of 2 and 3 year olds there.  AND I changed 4 diapers between my three diaper-clad children within a 2 hour period.  Two stinky.  Two wet. (if you must know the breakdown).  I felt like I was constantly on diaper patrol.  Such is my life.  Like I said, enough is enough.

So today it starts.  We are putting on the big-boy undies and throwing out the diapers!  Well, not really throwing out...Ella will still use them....for now.  She shows more signs of being ready than the boys.  She loves to sit on the little potty and clap for herself.  She grabs her diaper as soon as she wets it and whines.  Then she'll go bring me a diaper so I can change her.  Maybe we should potty train her this weekend, too.   Anyways, so we'll just pretend to throw the diapers out.  That's how the 3-day-boot-camp starts.  Get rid of the diapers.  No turning back.

Wish us luck!

Been an emotional past week or so.  Last Tuesday we heard the news that my uncle Brian (husband of my mother's younger sister, Debbie) passed away after a battle with cancer.  He was only 57.  Just a few days later I found myself on a flight to the midwest to be there for the funeral and a "Celebration of Life" gathering at my aunt's farmhouse out in rural Illinois.  Myke wanted to join me on the trip but we were unable to find care for the kiddos (one of the downsides of not living near family) and definitely knew that taking all 4 of them was out of the question.  So I went alone, and I'm so glad that I went, even though I was literally there for only 36 hours.  It was a beautiful and emotional service but it was great to be in the presence of all my extended family (most of whom I hadn't seen since my grandmother's funeral exactly two years ago this month...sadly, that was the last time I had been back to that area).  All of my mom's seven siblings were there, cousins, etc.  It was like being able to go to a family reunion, but, unfortunately, for such a sad reason.  There was great comfort, however, sitting there among them all, comfort that I hope my Aunt Debbie and cousins Alex and Cam felt as well.  Uncle Brian's passing is a great loss.  He was a wonderful man and will be missed by many.  I'm so glad he and Debbie made the trip out to visit us this past March and that we had that time with them.  I'm thinking of Debbie and the boys every day, hoping they are getting by and doing okay.

Debbie & Brian on their visit this past Feb/March

Lunch in Pacific Beach

California Adventure to Celebrate THREE!!

A quick post - Owen & Eli's birthday trip to Disney's California Adventure wasn't quite what we had planned when we asked my parents (MONTHS ago) to come out in May 2014 so Myke and I could take the boys on a solo trip to celebrate with them, but it was fun nonetheless.

When Chloë turned 3 we took her to Disney.  Just Myke, myself & Chloë.  The boys were 9 1/2 months old at the time so they would have definitely put a damper on the day, to say the least (ha..I'm mean...mean, but honest).  My mom (who has made a point to be here for every one of Chloë's birthdays since day one) was in town then so she watched the twins all day while we took Chloë on her birthday adventure.  Right then and there we decided to make it a sort of Hines Family tradition and do it with the boys as well when they turned 3.  Well, here we are.  They just turned 3.  We had been looking forward to having that time with just them for quite awhile now.  It was even more exciting because we NEVER get time with just them.  Never.  Of course we don't.  We have 4 kids.  I'm talking about time with just Owen & Eli and their parents.  No other siblings.  If we really got into it, we should have probably given each of them their own day trip to Disney with just the two of us, on separate occasions, but let's not get crazy here!!

So anyways, a couple days before our planned trip (i.e.: Myke had taken off work months in advance for this day...he VERY rarely takes time off...this was big) Myke stubs a toe on one of our outdoor chairs and BREAKS the toe.  He's broken a toe before, so not that bigga-deal.  However, the hobbling around for a couple of days apparently strained his back in some way and he ended up on his back with severe back pain for a couple days.  Long story short (did i make it short?), we had to all but cancel our trip to Disney.  I was pretty disappointed but definitely didn't want Myke to be hobbling around in pain all day.  Well, in the end, my Dad rallied and said he would come with us!

So, last week my Dad & I drove up with the boys and spent an incredible day at California Adventure with the boys.  I know it sound cliche, and I said this last time I blogged about our Disney trip (Disneyland in February 2014), but it was MAGICAL.  I truly feel that way.  It was just so much fun to see their (terrified...lol) faces when we went into CARS Land and saw Lightening McQueen, Mater & Red.  I was more excited than they were, I think!  Dad will confirm!   We had a wonderful day!  The boys were great.  We did rides (even ones that scared me!...Dad made us!), had ice cream, watched a show, saw the Pixar Parade, met Woody from Toy Story, etc.  It was a great time and so fun to spend it with my sweet boys and my wonderful Dad :)

They were nervous for each ride but ended up liking them (almost) all!

 Cars Land with Grandpa

Woody!

Grandpa & Owen

For reals?!  Summer 2014 is already maxed out and it's barely even started.  It's June 1st.  I feel like the next 2 1/2 months are just so jam-packed that I can't possibly fit anything else in.  Not if I want to keep my sanity.  I DO want some days where I feel like there is relaxing (haha...that must be a joke, right?!) and enjoying.  I want things to somehow SLOWWWW down before they SPEEED up (as I anticipate they will) starting August 18th.  The day my oldest child starts kindergarten.  I want to just hold on to her before she slips more away from me.  I can't even imagine this next stage of life.  I know it probably sounds like I'm making a mountain out of a molehill here, but I have really gotten used to our schedule and routine.  Three days a week we WALK around the block and take the kids to preschool by 8am (the boys go Mon & Fri and Chloe goes MWF).   We are usually pretty punctual about it (we are paying for it, after all.  x3!) and get them there as close to 8 as possible.  Now I have to start thinking about not only DRIVING Chloe to elementary school (no buses here!) but getting her there by 7:45am?!  EVERYday?!?!  Seriously??  AND the boys will need to get to their preschool three days a week by 8am (thinking I will have them go three days a week starting in September...but I may keep it at two..we will see).  Still around the block.  I'm not worried about that one, too much.  We just have our morning FLOW going on here.  I just am not sure about a NEW morning flow.  Will it work?  Will the kids still all get to eat breakfast together every morning?  I'm doubting it.  Even now we don't have much leisurely time on preschool mornings.  We are rushing around to get diapers changed, kids dressed, fed, teeth brushed, sunscreen on, etc.  Now we have to factor a 10 minute drive into this?  Oh man.

And then I have to drive AGAIN to pick her up at 2:20pm?

Anyways, just thinking about that a little.  It will be a change for us.  I'm just EXTREMELY lucky that Myke has been able to work from home so far and can help with the morning routines.  I don't know what I would do without him.  It would be utter chaos around here.  Truly.  He is the one who pulls the mornings together.  I'm a zombie for the first 10-20 minutes after waking up.  I need a shower and coffee to wake up.  I'm going to have to start figuring out how to pull myself together and get moving faster.  We'll see!