Here's what we've been up to in January!
We started off the new year with Andrew officially in Primary. He is a new little sunbeam this year! I just can't believe it. I tried to prepare him all week for Sunbeams, but he didn't really understand until we went the first week. He struggled and didn't want to go, but now he loves it! Singing time is a favorite and whenever we have family prayer he always asks if it's the opening prayer or the closing prayer. He sure makes us laugh!
Stephen and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary this month. Crazy to think it's been 8 years! We were able to celebrate a bit too. We split the kids up between a few different people in our ward and headed to a mtg with Andrew's teacher at school...romantic right? But then we caught an early dinner after the meeting at the Cheesecake Factory. It was yummy and was our first time to be 'kid-free' in months! Love him!
Another awesome January happening was that both girls officially are sleeping through the night. Just after Christmas we did a little sleep training and they learned so quickly how to put themselves to sleep and then sleeping through the night came just the next day. They have an evening feeding around 7-8pm and will be in bed by 10. Then they sleep until 6:30-7 in the morning. It's awesome and I feel like a human being again!
We've had a bunch of warm days here in Georgia and it's getting me anxious for spring! We've tried to get outside and enjoy them while we can.
We ventured out to the pet store on Martin Luther King Day! Andrew had a day off of school and Stephen had to work. So we decided we needed to get out if the house for a bit and Andrew loved walking all around and seeing all the animals.
One Saturday we hit up Zoo Atlanta. It was awesome weather almost 70 degrees and we went the last half of the day, so it was pretty empty. We couldn't have planned it more perfectly. Andrew loved walking around everywhere in his walker and the girls were such troopers. Tons of the animals were out and active because of the warmer day, which made it a lot of fun. Of all the animals at the zoo, Andrew was most excited to see the panda bears and the snakes that day.
Riding the Komodo Dragon
These girls did awesome and loved being out and about!
Andrew has been into maps lately. He found that each sign at the zoo had a map and would ask where the map was showing.
I loved the parakeet house. It had tons of birds everywhere, flying all around you.
Family Picture
Here's Andrew's favorite snake because it was big and right up against the glass. As for me...I stay far far away from snakes.
Our biggest adventure the last month has been potty training. Oh the joys! I somehow feel more official in the parenting realm, now that I've dived into the potty training phase of raising kids. Honestly, we didn't know if Andrew would ever be able to potty train. We thought we would be in diapers for many years after he was born. But he started to show some interest this summer, then everything happened with the girls and I was laying in a hospital bed, so that wasn't going to happen. I finally feel like I can tackle this. It really came down to Andrew having a messy diaper right before therapy one week and I somehow forgot to throw in an extra diaper into my purse. So we rushed out to the car. (We always keep 2-3 extra diapers in there) But for some reason there weren't any except a few size one diapers for the girls. So yes, just picture me in the back of a minivan trying to squeeze my almost 4 year old into a size one diaper...good thing this boy is Mr. skinny pants and has a tiny waist. It worked and was a temporary fix, but I realized we NEEDED to get him potty trained.
So we decided to keep him home from school for a few days and we dived into it one weekend last month. Let's just say day one was a huge struggle and a bit traumatic for him...and for Stephen and I. Really, I mean weeping, wailing and gnashing of the teeth doesn't even begin to describe the first day. Stephen and I looked at each other at the end of the day and said 'what are we doing???' We honestly thought we were going to scar him and he'd never get the whole potty training thing down. Days two and three were a little rough, but things are much better now. He is very intrinsically motivated, this boy doesn't want to earn a m&m no....he just loves flushing the toilet as a reward. I'm all over that one. EASY!
It's been a concern whether he is ready or not with his physical disability and he's also on a muscle relaxing medication that he takes 3x's a day for his spasticity. I didn't want to dive in to potty training, not knowing if he had the fine motor muscle control. But after the horrible first day. He came right up to me the second day first thing and said, "Mommy, I fixed it! I don't have to go potty ANY more." I tried so hard not to laugh....fixed it huh? I don't think you can hold it in forever kid....but good try.
Now we are to the point where we usually only have one accident a day, if any. But I have to remind him to go every hour or so. So I wouldn't say he's totally potty trained. He doesn't self-initiate and tell me he has to go. Although, he has done it a handful of times, but it's always a hit and miss. With his CP, I don't know how long, if ever, that he'll be able to go and sit down on a toilet all by himself and be totally independent. But that's okay. He's been diaper free for almost four weeks now and that's awesome news in this house. I was way too tired of changing diapers for three children.
So we decided to keep him home from school for a few days and we dived into it one weekend last month. Let's just say day one was a huge struggle and a bit traumatic for him...and for Stephen and I. Really, I mean weeping, wailing and gnashing of the teeth doesn't even begin to describe the first day. Stephen and I looked at each other at the end of the day and said 'what are we doing???' We honestly thought we were going to scar him and he'd never get the whole potty training thing down. Days two and three were a little rough, but things are much better now. He is very intrinsically motivated, this boy doesn't want to earn a m&m no....he just loves flushing the toilet as a reward. I'm all over that one. EASY!
It's been a concern whether he is ready or not with his physical disability and he's also on a muscle relaxing medication that he takes 3x's a day for his spasticity. I didn't want to dive in to potty training, not knowing if he had the fine motor muscle control. But after the horrible first day. He came right up to me the second day first thing and said, "Mommy, I fixed it! I don't have to go potty ANY more." I tried so hard not to laugh....fixed it huh? I don't think you can hold it in forever kid....but good try.
Now we are to the point where we usually only have one accident a day, if any. But I have to remind him to go every hour or so. So I wouldn't say he's totally potty trained. He doesn't self-initiate and tell me he has to go. Although, he has done it a handful of times, but it's always a hit and miss. With his CP, I don't know how long, if ever, that he'll be able to go and sit down on a toilet all by himself and be totally independent. But that's okay. He's been diaper free for almost four weeks now and that's awesome news in this house. I was way too tired of changing diapers for three children.
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