I pulled the plug...

I can't believe it really happened...I found the perfect opportunity to pull the plug on Beckett's binky. I was starting to get worried about when we would take it away from him. He was really attached to it and we hardly saw him without it in his mouth. We didn't pull the plug on Wesley until he was 17 months old. And we got really lucky with him and it went better than expected. Well, last week Beckett woke up from his nap and I didn't realize he didn't have his binky attached to him. I was in a hurry to get the boys fed and out the door to my nephew's baseball game. At the game, my sister Jenny noticed he was looking for his binky and we realized he didn't have it. I didn't think anything of it because it sometimes gets caught on the car seat.

Well, the next time I thought about his binky was the next morning. I realized he still didn't have it attached to him. Then I realized I never looked for it the night before. I called Rob and asked if he remembered if Beckett went to bed with it. He said he couldn't and so I went looking for it. I found it under his crib and was about to give it back to him, but then it hit me that this was the perfect opportunity to see if he could go without it. It has now been five days and we are still binky free! He has been a little more whiny and it takes him a few minutes to go to bed, but he has been a trooper! I was so relieved to have another "no more binky" incident go so smoothly. I am also relieved I don't have to buy anymore binkys. Our dog LOVES plastic and eats any binky that is left lying around. We have probably spent $200 on binkys between the two boys! Not to mention money we have spent on new bottle nipples. (We have a retarded dog!)

*Potty Training Update*

I just wanted to give an update on Wesley and potty training. Things are going AMAZINGLY well. It took a rough 2-3 weeks but he is doing so well. I am so proud of him! He is going both #1 and #2 in the potty and he hasn't had an accident in over a week! (knock on wood!) I would have to say that #2 was really hard to conquer. I think he was really nervous and scared to go on the potty, but once he finally did it, it hasn't been a problem since. This has been a very difficult thing for me as a parent, but I knew it was something that had to be done. I am so glad I didn't back down or give up and put him back in diapers. I knew he could do it if we worked at it. It has taken A LOT of patience, but it is paying off. I am so happy that we only have to buy diapers and wipes for ONE child! Although I haven't seen the extra cash in my wallet yet :)

Also, if any of you are interested, I've started updating my running blog again. I am planning on updating it every Sunday. So, if you want to hear me complain about my half marathon training check it out! And I can't post without including pictures, so here are a couple of my handsome boys!

Look at this sweet get up Wesley picked out to wear the other day after church! I about died! Dad was definitely supervising, not me! Also, look at his hands. This is Wesley's trademark. He always has his fingers crossed like that. I think it's so cute!

WICKED

Last night we finally got the opportunity to go see Wicked. We had been anticipating seeing the show for months. I've been listening to the soundtrack for weeks, trying to figure out the story. The soundtrack left some blanks and I think for the most part I assumed correctly. The ending was a little surprising and a little bit cheesy. But overall the performance was AMAZING!!! I loved every second of it. We had awesome seats and the show exceeded my expectations! I wish I had the money to see it again before it left town. What an amazing show! If you ever get the chance to see it...I highly recommend it! It is by far my favorite musical!

CeLeBrAtE Good Times...Come on!

We had a fantastic Easter weekend filled with fun fun fun! Easter also happened to be my birthday, so we pretty much celebrated all weekend long! Friday was a frustrating day filled with many frustrations! We had planned to do a session at the temple that night with my parents, my sister Jenny, and her husband. Everything seemed to be going wrong. Wesley wouldn't take a nap, we were having a HORRIBLE day with potty training and I was not feeling up to going to the temple. And to top it all off, while I was ironing my temple dress, Wesley had an accident on our bed. I was FURIOUS! I stopped ironing, and hurried to try and deal with Wesley and the mess. When I was done cleaning up, I came into my room to discover I had left the iron face down on my temple dress. Let's just say the tears started to pour! And I don't think the stopped they rest of the night. I decided to throw in the towel and not go to the temple. But an hour or so later after calming down, I realized that I really needed to go. I wasn't going to let Satan win the battle. After a very spiritual night in the temple, we headed over to Gecko's for some delicious grub. It was a great evening spent in great company!

Saturday I had a six mile run planned. I ended up running 6.5 and it didn't go as well as I hoped for. Later that afternoon we were supposed to go to an egg hunt over at Rob's parents, but they had cancelled it due to the poor weather. So, I spent the rest of the afternoon running errands myself. It was quite nice. Saturday night Rob and I went out on the town to celebrate my birthday. We dropped the kids off at my parents and headed to Robintino's for our favorite pizza. As we got to the restaurant, Rob pulled out a present. I was definitely surprised! We had decided that we were going to redecorate our room for my birthday. He wasn't supposed to get me a present. I am usually really good at guessing presents, but he had stumped me. I was overly excited when I opened up a bodybugg! I don't know if any of you watch The Biggest Loser but all of the contestants wear this little gadget. I first learned about them when my friend Maren got one a little while ago. Then my Mom got one for her birthday and I was able to see what they were really all about. I had mentioned to Rob that I wanted to save up for one. In the 5 years that I have known Rob, he has NEVER been able to surprise me. I am really good at guessing and always ruin his surprises. Well, he finally got me! I had no clue it was coming! I first scolded him because they aren't all that cheap and we are in the process of buying stuff for our room, but he told me my parents had found one on Craig's list for 30% off and he couldn't pass up that kind of deal. I was so excited! I have been fascinated the past two days with my new toy. What it mainly does is keep track of the calories you burn throughout the day. Then you can get online and enter in your nutrition and it tells you how much more you need to eat, or how much more you need to burn to lose weight. It is practically my own little personal trainer and nutrition specialist. What more could a girl want?

After a delicious dinner, Rob and I went and saw Knowing. It was a huge disappointed! It is probably the worst movie I have EVER seen and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone! No joke! I thought it was going to be about something completely different. They throw you through a loop in the middle and the movie is a complete disaster by the end! I can't believe Nicholas Cage actually signed up to be in it. It was AWFUL! But on the plus side, Rob and I enjoyed a night out without the kids.

Sunday was like any other Easter. It didn't really feel like my birthday, but that was ok with me. I felt like I had already celebrated my birthday the night before. We got the boys dressed in their adorable Easter outfits, went to an amazing sacrament meeting, and then I wrestle with Beckett for the remainder of church. Later that day we headed to my parents for an Easter egg hunt. Wesley was a little confused what was going on and Beckett found two eggs (one for each hand) and was perfectly content. It was fun to see Wes get all excited looking for his eggs and basket. After loading our cars with a years supply of candy, we were off to my Grandma's for dinner. We ate some yummy food and Wesley had a blast playing for hours on the tennis court. We came home with too much birthday cake and candy, and even though the boys were hyped up on too much candy, they crashed shortly after getting home. Rob and I relaxed the rest of the night and even went to bed a little early!

Today is my sister Heather's birthday, so her and I, my sister Jenny, my sister-in-law Lynette, and my Mom all went out to lunch to the Cheesecake Factory. Then all of us (excluding my Mom) went to the spa and got pedicures. It was a much needed treat! We had a great time relaxing and chatting. I can't wait to wear my flip flops and show off my cute toes! Thanks girls for the fun afternoon! Overall we had a great weekend! I felt completely spoiled for being able to celebrate my birthday for the past three days. Thanks to all the birthday love I got through phone calls, texts, and facebook! I certainly felt loved!

My silly boys

Me and my guys! Doesn't Beckett look happy? All my boys! Done with taking pictures!Can we say Sabotage?!?!?!

This is the basket my parents gave to us! I told my Mom I wanted a third of the amount of candy she gave us last year and I think it doubled! I told her I wanted a little bag of Cadbury mini eggs, but instead I got a 40 OZ BAG!!! Rob doesn't even like them and they are a major temptation for me!!! If anyone missed out on candy this year...please give me a call. I can give you a year's worth!

House Arrest

That's right folks...I feel like I'm on house arrest! Since last Tuesday, the only places I have ventured out to are: doctor's office, store, my parent's and Leatherby's. And I've gone out for my scheduled runs. But other than that, we have been home! For those of you who know me, this is not normal for us. The boys and I go out on various field trips DAILY! The reasons for our house arrest...#1 - a NASTY virus!
Last week Wesley got a horrible cough. He could not stop coughing for more than 2 seconds. I took him to the doctor and they said he had a virus which was causing a wheeze. They gave him a breathing treatment and sent us out the door with an inhaler. By Saturday Beckett wasn't feeling too well and yesterday he woke up with a little wheeze. It concerned me because it was worse than Wesley's. So...to the doctor we went. Diagnosis - same as Wesley's, but Beckett also had a bad ear infection. We were sent on our way with antibiotics and an inhaler. Today Beckett woke up wheezing worse than yesterday. I was concerned it might be RSV but didn't want to take another trip to the doctors for no reason. Luckily, sweet Margie (a neighbor who happens to be a pediatric nurse) came to the rescue and came and checked Beckett out. She reassured me he was ok and recommended giving him Saline drops to help break up the mucus. I'm hoping he will start feeling better in the next couple of days.

Reason #2 for our house arrest:

Potty Training! This is something that I've been dreading for months! When it comes to being a parent, I don't do well with bodily fluids. I am not one who can clean up throw up. I end up gagging and throwing up myself. I've never been a fan of changing diapers, but I know it's something that has to be done. Since I've been changing 2 bums for the past year, I started contemplating potty training Wesley. He wasn't really showing signs of readiness, but he's a smart kid. Rob and I decided that we had to start now or wait until July (we are trying to plan a trip to Disneyland in June). And that wasn't really a convenient time because we travel up to Bear Lake a couple of times during the summer and I didn't want to be in the middle of training when we did go. We started looking at weekends to start and this past weekend seemed perfect. We didn't really have anything going but general conference and that was perfect because then we would hopefully have enough time to get him sort of trained before church next week.

So we started on Saturday and it wasn't going so well. He wouldn't even sit on the potty and I was starting to wonder if he really wasn't ready. Finally by 4pm he went on the potty! Rob and I were so proud. He also went 2 more times while we were out to dinner at Leatherbys. Sunday also went better than expected. He still wasn't telling us he had to go, but Rob and I took a preemptive approach and tried to put him on the toilet before he went in his pants. It worked. He even went number 2 on the toilet (pure luck). Monday I was terrified to do the training alone. I wouldn't have anyone to watch Beckett while I dealt with Wes. First attempt at putting him on the toilet Monday morning did not go well. We had 3-4 accidents and he still wasn't telling me he needed to go.

On Tuesday morning, Wes totally had a meltdown and wouldn't even try to go. I ended up having a meltdown and had to sit him down and have a major talk with him. I knew we couldn't go back to diapers after being this far into the training process. He is a smart kid, so if we went back to diapers I knew the next try at potty training wouldn't go smoothly at all! I sat him down and told him there were no more diapers. He had to wear big boy underwear and use the potty. He said ok and not even 20 minutes later he came running to me saying he had to go to the bathroom! I was thrilled! It was the first time he told me he had to go before actually going in his pants. It was another proud moment. Yesterday has been the best day so far. He only had one accident and it was #2. I was very optimistic going into today. He sort of took a couple of steps backwards, but he is learning quickly. I feel like in a couple of more days he will at least get the first part down. I was starting to regret my decision, but after yesterday and today I think it was a good decision to start training him. We've come a long way in the past five days and I hope we make improvements in the days to come. Wish us luck!

After a week and a half of being in the house, all of us are going a little stir crazy! Hopefully by Monday Beckett will be feeling better and I will be able to take the boys some place fun! Luckily for me, tomorrow night my friend Maren and I are going on a little girls night. I can't wait! Thanks to Nikki for making it possible!

Boy...I'm in TROUBLE!!!

Beckett has done it...he has taken his first steps!!! The other day the boys and I were in the basement. I was sitting at the computer and Beckett was standing up at Wesley's little armchair. Probably about 6-7 feet away from me. I called Beckett over to me, thinking that he would get down and crawl. Well, he took me by surprise and decided to walk. He took 10-12 steps and made it all the way to me! I totally freaked out! I couldn't believe it. I knew he would probably walk sooner than Wesley did, Beckett has done everything faster than Wesley. But I didn't think he would walk this early. Wesley was a late walker. He didn't take his first steps until after he was 15 months old. Beckett on the other hand is only 1 yr and two weeks old! I have a feeling he's going to be running around by next week.

I'm sad because I didn't get his first steps on video. I did video him walking a little later that day, but he really wasn't cooperating. Today I tried again and finally got a pretty good shot. He is growing so fast! He even looks a lot older to me today than he did two weeks ago.


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Beckett has also learned another new trick of climbing up and down the stairs. He has been able to climb up for months and we have been trying to teach him to turn around and go down backwards. He has finally grasped the concept and now spends most of his days climbing up and down the stairs. I videoed (is that even a word?) him today doing his new favorite thing. He can usually be found with a golf ball in one hand and a bouncy ball in the other. He has now discovered the fun in climbing to the top of the stairs, dropping both balls down the stairs, then climbs back down to pick them up and starts all over again. It will entertain him for hours! It's also pretty cute.


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