cabin fever

Springtime... Where are you??  We are desperately waiting for you.  Last week, we had some beautiful days and took advantage of the sunshine and played outside.  We were so happy and man was it good for our souls.  

{he loves pushing her on the swing.  just look at both of their faces, pure happiness.}

{barking at the neighbor's dog.}

{the dirt expert showing her how to dig.}

{the best girl i know.}

Now this week has been miserable!!  We've been stuck inside due to snow and ice.  I'm not going to complain to much because I've loved the time we've all got to spend together but being trapped at home hasn't been the easiest with two little busy bodies.  We've been extremely lucky to have kept our power because almost everyone we know has lost their power for at least 12 hours or more.  

{ready to play in the snow ice.}

{first time sledder.  is that a word?}

{sister and i trying to stay warm.}

{girl's turn!  maeve loved it!!}

{family photo in the ice.}

{asher and i took a walk around the yard..our play set was frozen all over.  asher loved knocking all of the icicles off.}

{playing hide-n-seek}

{found you!!}

{making a fort under the kitchen table for a snack was too much fun!}

{meltdowns were inevitable.}

{we did finally get some actual snow and watching it fall was gorgeous.  we didn't get much but that's ok, we still went outside for a few minutes to play.}

{this one.  she already looks at me like i did my mother... when i thought "lady you crazy!"}

{even though we've been stuck at home, these two have been so so good to each other.  of course, we've had our moments but for the most part they have been super troopers and best friends!}

And thanks to my oh-so sweet parents for coming over and relieving me for a few minutes.  Mom stayed in with the kiddos while Dad took me to run a few errands.  I got to grab a Starbucks while I was out and it definitely recharged my battery!  Thanks Papaw and GJ.    

potty training boot camp

We decided to potty train Asher recently and we used the 3 day boot camp method.  It's kinda like the sleep training we did with him when he was around 3 months old.  It's hard core for a few days and much harder on the parents but so worth it in the end.  Trav and I just had to get our minds right and know that our life would be a little stressful {and dirty} for a few days.  I gained great advice from friends who had used a few different methods.  We decided to follow the method that basically lets the child start wearing underwear one day, have accidents and rushing them to the potty.  That way they are learning the feeling and understanding the urgency to get to the potty.

{We also chose this because our son is extremely stubborn.  We knew that the method of taking him to the bathroom every 15 minutes and waiting for him to potty would drive him crazy and he would fight us and not do it.  So we chose the dirtier route!}

We had to stay right with Asher all day every day for three days and catch him having an accident and then rush him to the potty.  We were very careful and never told him "no, that's bad" or anything along that lines.  We always just said "yucky, wet, gross."  We would take him to the potty and let him finish, if he needed.  We never fussed or disciplined him for having an accident because that's the whole learning process.

After peeing on himself twice that morning he quickly learned to tell us "mommy daddy hurrwe hurrwe, pee pee potty" and he would run to the bathroom.  He actually did number 2 in there once, too.  Not planned but it happened.  After each time he successfully went to the bathroom he got a treat.  I had lots of things on hand for him to choose from: m&ms, skittles, suckers, Popsicles, chocolate {you know...all the good things that ruin your teeth}, tattoos, balloons, etc.  He loves getting a treat!

Since we were all locked inside for a few days, we had to get creative.  I broke out all of our fun activities that we rarely do all in one day/weekend.  We painted, played with play dough, colored, cut paper, made a home made pizza, watched lots of tv and basically sat and waited around for one little boy to poop or pee his pants.  It.was.fun.

So at the end of day 1:  he had 5 accidents and 7 potty successes!  He even made it through his nap dry.  We are still putting him in nighttime pull ups because we aren't even ready for that yet.  A few weeks ago, he went through a phase where he was waking up in the middle of the night and crying out and then beating on his door.  He was also waking up really early and banging on it to get out.  We finally broke him of that after a few weeks of bags under our eyes so we are not about to mess up his bedtime when we are finally well rested again.

{pretending to be papaw}

Even though Day 1 wasn't all that bad, Travis and I still each enjoyed a glass of wine to celebrate the day being over!!!  Day 2 was so so so much better.  And yes I meant to say that three times.  He had ZERO accidents all day long!!!!  Say what??!  We caught him twice in the pooping act and rushed him to the potty {clinching his little cheeks together} to finish.    

{this awesome masterpiece is now hanging in our hallway! love love it.}

 {sometimes a boy just needs to pee outside.}

{I love Asher in underwear.  Good lord he looks so grown up and just cute!  He has no booty so most of his undies are hanging off after about two minutes.  But you can tell he's loving this new freedom of his.}

We discovered that constantly asking "do you need to go potty" really frustrated him and so we changed our game plan.  We just started saying "no pee pee in your underwear, only in the potty.  tell mommy and daddy when you need to go."  Through out the day he would say "hurrwe hurrwe pee pee potty" and he would take off. 

{so at the end of Day 2, with no accidents, we celebrated with an ice cream cone.}

And now Day 3...... oh day 3.  After a great Day 2, I was ready to take on Day 3.  Well, it's been about the same as Day 1.  Several accidents and lots of frustration, on my part.  I had to step back and remember that this is only our third day with him in underwear and that he's only a three year old.... who loves to play cars by the way.

Trav had to leave the house to do some training and various things for work so it was just me on potty patrol.  I was about to go nutballs from being trapped in this house for 48 hours so I loaded the kiddos up and headed to the Chick Fil A drive thru.  It was empty inside and I thought about just going inside to eat but changed my mind.  I wish we would've because Brother had an accident on the way home that could've probably been prevented had we gone inside to eat and he used the potty.

The end of Day 3 went well because he didn't have any more accidents the rest of the day.  Day 4 and 5 he went to school.  Hallelujah!  After being stuck in this house and spending every single moment together we were all ready for some normalcy and space.  He did great at school and only had one accident.  We are very thankful that he has wonderful teachers who have been encouraging us to potty train and to not worry and send him in his undies.  They are amazing.  

Happy Wednesday!

love is in the air

We decided to do a little Valentine's Day decorating this morning around the house...  I cut out the hearts and Asher colored on them.  He helped me write a few names but was really just interested in scribbling on them.

{so proud of his hearts.}

{girlfriend was caught trying to take some down!}

{and wasn't happy when mommy told her not to pull them off.}

{they've walked by and looked at them 100 times today... every time they are in the area they look at their love hearts!}

life through my iPhone

Here's what we've been up to lately according to Instagram and my iPhone pictures..

{we love days with no where to go because that means we get to stay in our pjs all day.}

{i think it's safe to say that sister loves it when brother goes to school and we have a girl's day.}

{asher wants to hold maeve all the time.  she isn't a big fan.}

{lazy days and watching tv make this guy happy!}

{i love sneaking in her room and watching her sleep.  she's the sweetest.}

{randomly this guy likes to toss on his tiger suit on.}

{getting a decent picture of these two together is not easy.}

{another day, same tiger.  he loved his new shelf in the playroom for his toys......}

{he loves to wreck it and make a total mess.}

{we have play dates with carson a lot and we love them.}

{looking, and sometimes acting, like he's 16.}

{rarely does he ever just walk through the house.  he's normally riding on a toy, pushing a toy, chasing reecie or running at full speed just because.}

{i pulled maeve's hair up into a ponytail for the first time and was in love!  so so cute.}

{asher channeling his inner-joey tribbiani and loving random days with nice weather.} 

{we spend lots of our time in the playroom.. my OCD goes nuts because i clean it and it gets completely destroyed in 2.5 seconds but i'm learning to deal.  ha}

{maeve loves to shop, especially if josie and summer are with us!}

{we went to memphis for trav to attend his monthly ortho class and we spent lots of time with one of our favorite girls.... kate!!}

{asher loves dressing up with kate.}

{we made fun crafts!}

{while in memphis, we went to eat with some of our friends.  well, our children had different plans.  they decided to act a fool and we left before our food was ready... dinner in bed at the hotel instead.}

{chillin in his own bed at the hotel.}

{breakfast in bed.}

{kate riding in our car makes us happy!}

{these two.  it's a love hate kinda relationship.}

{since brother gets up before maeve, he sometimes has to chill out in the tub while mommy showers.}

{cars.  still one of his favorite things, ever.}

{watching for daddy to get home.}

{he's all about taking turns and "it's asher's turn" he wanted to take my picture the other day.}

{lunch date with summer!}

{getting this kid to brush his teeth is such a chore.  the other day he hooked his truck to his toothbrush and was so happy.  it's the little things.}

{best buds, for the moment.}

{she loves carson.  i know it doesn't look like it in this picture but he really loves her, too.}

{bed head at its finest.}

{they would wrestle all day if i would let them.  nutballs.}

{begging springtime to hurry!!}

{off to school and looking cool.}