Tuesday, January 25, 2011

worst part about parenting


The worst part {according to me} so far is POTTY TRAINING!!! I don't know why, but I absolutely hate potty training! I think the main reason I dislike it so much is because I lack the patience. I am not a patient person whatsoever, and to stay calm for days on end while you clean up pee and poop is not my ideal parenting job. But...it has to be done!

Potty training Wesley was so hard {or so I thought}! We started when he was 3 months shy of turning 3. We did the whole method where we put him in underwear and spent the next 3-4 days teaching him to go in the potty. Did he wet himself? Yep! Did he poop in his underwear? Yep! I hated every second of it. We didn't do anything to prepare Wesley, and I was surprised that by day 3 or 4 he was telling me he had to go potty. It was like a light bulb went on in his head. I thought we were free and clear after that. Boy, was I wrong! It took probably another month and a half to get him trained all the way. I swear most of his accidents were just to spite me. He even peed on my bed while staring me straight in the face! By his 3rd birthday, he was pretty much trained. He still had a few accidents here and there but he was doing great!

Onto Beckett...I've been dreading the day we started training since the day he was born! When Rob got laid off this past fall, I thought it might be good to get started since I'd have his help. We talked to Beckett a little bit about it and he really showed no interest. So we put it off. Then a couple of weeks ago Rob came to me and told me he wanted to start potty training Beckett over Martin Luther King weekend since he would be home for 3 days. I was hesitant, but gave in. We stocked up on underwear and little prizes. We prepared him the best we could and dove in head first.

The first day {saturday} was rough, but by the late afternoon we got him to go #1 and #2 in the potty. We were ecstatic...he was ecstatic! He had a couple of accidents but went two more times through out the day. The next day didn't go so well. We couldn't get him to sit on the toilet and he was saying he was scared. We went to church and put a pull up on him. When we got home, I spent quite a bit of time with him in the bathroom and got him to go in the potty again. Again...ecstatic! Onto day 3...he started resisting a little more. He would sit on the potty but wouldn't go. I can't remember exactly, but I don't think he went a single time in the potty that day. I was beyond frustrated and even scared, because I knew Rob would be returning to work the next day and I would be all by myself. I prayed A LOT and went into day 4 {tuesday} feeling motivated to stay calm. It only lasted until about 10 am. The kid was completely resisting and cried every time I tried to stick him on the toilet. I called Rob for help. We decided to take a break. I was frustrated and we knew that he was probably frustrated so we stopped. I stuck him back in a diaper and didn't mention the p word to him for few days.

I felt like a total failure! I didn't want to give in, but I also didn't want to scar the poor kid and have him be completely scared of the toilet. I also didn't have a clue of when to reintroduce it. I wanted to get him trained before his birthday, because starting in March I will be watching my friend's adorable little girl. The thought of training him while watching a newborn completely overwhelmed me. Ugh...what was I supposed to do? My mom kept telling me that he would do it on his own time, and of course I didn't want to listen. I like things done when and how I want. I finally decided to leave it alone.

On Saturday, just four days after I put him back in diapers, Rob and I went out with some friends and left the boys with our fabulous friend Nicole, aka Nikki. We came home that night and Nikki had told us she got Beckett to sit on the potty and he went for her. I was excited but also thought it was just a fluke. Then on Sunday shortly after he got up, Beckett said he needed to go potty and to our surprise he went in the bathroom and went POTTY! We couldn't believe it! I was so happy, but also didn't want to get my hopes up, so we continued to keep a diaper on him. We went to church and Beckett told me twice that he needed to go potty so I took him but nothing. Then during Sunday school I was taking the roll to the nursery when his teacher walked out and told me Beckett was in the bathroom with his diaper off. I walked in and asked him if he went and he answered "yeah mom, I goed!" I completely believed him. He is quite honest when it comes to going to the bathroom. He either says, "yeah I goed", or "no, I just sat on it". After church I checked his diaper and it was completely dry! He continued going to the bathroom through out the rest of the day. Rob and I couldn't believe it! Was it really going to be this easy the second time around? I texted Nikki and thanked her! I don't know what she did to ignite a fire in him, but it worked!

We are on day 3 of no accidents...{so far}! GO BECKETT!
I couldn't be more proud!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

So long 2010...HELLO 2011!!!

We had a fantastic New Year's Eve and New Year's! I was so excited to say goodbye to 2010. It wasn't the best year for us and I have high hopes that 2011 will be a great year for our family. We celebrated New Year's Eve with some of my family. My brother TJ and his wife Lynette invited us over for dinner and games. We had a ton of fun! We were a little worried about how the boys would do staying up so late, but they did awesome! My nephew Jacob has every toy an 8 yr old (or 4 and 2 yr old) could ever want, and they boys were in heaven! We hardly heard from them the entire night. It was fun to hang out with some of my siblings, as well as my nieces and nephews. We started off with yummy Cafe Rio and then played games the rest of the night. We shared a lot of laughs and even learned a couple of new terms of endearment { aka Round Bottom :) }. Thanks again to TJ and Lynette for hosting the fun little shindig!

Here are some random pictures from the night:

{ How cute! Hobby shares a pre-new year's kiss!}

{My cute nieces}

{Beckett and licorice were inseparable that night}

{ me and roberto }

{ the lil' boys giving me their silly faces }

{ mindy and brady }

{ lynette and the serial killer }

Then, New Year's Day started off with a bang! We met up with our friends at The Incredible Pizza Co. We have been wanting to check it out for a while and we are really glad we did. They have go karts, mini golf, mini bowling, laser tag, bumper cars, arcade games, and a pretty intense pizza, pasta, and much more buffet! Somehow our friend Jonny found out about an incredible {secret} deal they were having. We were able to get unlimited everything {including food} for $10 a person! Best part? The guy didn't make us pay for the boys, so we got our whole family in for $20 bucks! We had a blast! We played all day long and definitely got our money's worth. The boys keep begging to go back.

{Beckett was so excited to be there}

{making silly faces while waiting in line to race}

{Wesley and Rob in their go kart}


{ Black Light Mini Golf}

{How cute are they?}




{Mini Bowling}

This was probably my favorite thing to watch the boys do. Beckett was so cute on every turn. He would throw it down, wait, and then jump if he hit any balls. I included a video so you could see for yourself. Here are some pictures to illustrate his technique.





Below are two cute videos of the boys bowling. Rob recorded them sideways and I can't figure out how to rotate them. So just tilt your head a little sideways :)




What a fun way to kick off the new year! We can't wait to go back.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Christmas Day 2010

Christmas morning was quite busy. The boys woke up at their usual time of 7 am! They were SO excited to find that Santa came and left them some presents. I had the video camera running while the boys opened up their presents and completely forgot to take any pictures with the camera :(. Beckett was so cute this year and squealed with every present. After we were done opening up presents at our house, we headed to Rob's parents for more present opening. The kids were being adorable! Especially our little nephew Yoshi! He was such a chatter box and loved having Rob read to him. Rob's parents were generous as always and we left with some great loot :)

The next stop was my sister Jenny's house for brunch. After the grub we opened up more presents and visited for a while. We even Skyped with my parents while they opened their gifts from us. We were missing them like crazy, and I'm pretty sure they were missing all of us as well! We were back at home and done with family stuff by 3pm that afternoon. That is a first for us. Normally we are go, go, go and never get back home until late in the evening. We decided to take advantage of the quiet afternoon and we layed down for some naps. It was delightful! After some much needed rest and a delicious dinner, we decided to take the boys to a movie. We went and saw Tangled and all four of us LOVED it! It was too cute! Afterwards we came home and it was straight to bed. The boys were exhausted from all the excitement. What a fun day!

This Christmas season was a real eye opener for me. I have never felt the true meaning of Christmas more in my life than I did this year. The Lord opened my eyes to all of the amazing tender mercies he gives to each one of us every day. Our family is extremely blessed to be surrounded by amazing family, friends, and neighbors! I honestly don't know what I would do without any of them. I was deeply touched by the service that was rendered to our family this year. I am grateful that my Father in Heaven has placed them in our lives. I am so grateful for the birth of our Savior! It really bothers me that Christmas has become so commercialized. Too many people focus on too many worldly things and it clouds our minds to what the Christmas season is all about. I made it a goal to also look toward Him during this time of year. He is the reason for the season and I hope and pray we will never forget that! A special thanks to all of those that made this Christmas special for our family {you know who you are!}.

Here is our Christmas day in pictures:

{Christmas morning at the Smith's}





{Christmas afternoon with the Beck's}













Saturday, January 1, 2011

Christmas Eve 2010


{Our Family}

We had a very merry Christmas this year! It was definitely different then in years past, but merry none the less! Up until a few weeks before Christmas, I was honestly considering cancelling the holiday all together. Due to our circumstances, the stress had put me in a 'Bah Humbug' mood. Luckily, a few weeks before Christmas we were given a couple of the best presents {ever!}, and it changed my attitude completely. The #1 present being Rob's job offer. What a HUGE blessing! I honestly cried tears of joy when he got the call. The Lord has truly blessed our family and for that we are grateful! Although we started our Christmas shopping extremely late, we were still able to finish everything on time.

This year a few of our normal traditions were tweaked a little bit due to my parents being gone. We still spent Christmas Eve at my grandparents house with the Rigby side. We had a great time as usual. We ate yummy food, visited with family, and the boys both got to open a present from their cousins.

{My sister Jenny and her family}

{Wesley played photographer for part of the night. Aren't we attractive?}


{My cute nieces singing Christmas songs, and my even cuter Grandma in the background}

The video below is extremely precious! My grandma suffers from dimensia and rarely remembers who any of us are. She has good days and bad days. Christmas Eve was a good day. She stayed out in the living room almost the whole night, and we even got her to sing "Jingle Bells" for us. I apologize for the horrible quality of the video. I was too far away :(. My cousin Eliza is singing with her, but if you listen closely you can hear my sweet Grandma.



{The kids being silly}



{opening presents}


Before it got too late, we decided to head home and prepare for Santa to come. The boys opened their Christmas pjs, video chatted with my parents, set out the cookies, and even put food out for Santa's reindeer. Luckily the boys weren't too excited and they went to bed quite easily!


If you aren't too bored yet...stay tuned for Christmas Day!