Potty training success/ Potty Training Chart

I ended up being sick on Friday so we started Saturday instead :)

So this 3 day potty training method I think will be more like an "I'm not sure how many days but we're going to keep truckin' potty training method"...We started off Saturday with setting the timer for 45 min intervals (as the book requested) to head to the bathroom, but after a handful of accidents I found that amount of time was just too long. I switched it up to 25 min and that's when it clicked! He headed to his super cool Paw Patrol potty and pee'd! I cheered and screamed with so much excitement! He had the biggest grin on his face and he continued to have that grin every potty trip. There were several times to he kept saying "mow, mow" ( "more") but he just had nothing left in him! LOL.  

So every time he went in his potty, without any accidents in-between, it would win him a sticker to add to his chart and he loved that part! I was so glad as I loved the stickers I made for the chart as I thought I was so whitty to come up with a fire hydrant and dump truck! haha. But anyways, I used my sticker paper to the back of the paper with another one of my craft tools and then used my Cricut Explorer Air 2, that Lee got me for Christmas, and let me just tell you this machine is AMAZING!!! So he went ahead and added his fire hydrants for every successful potty trip, but I'm sure you'll see there are no dump truck stickers that made it to the chart...I'll let you come to your own conclusions there, but yeah I'll just say I really wish the dump trucks made it to the chart. There is absolutely a difference in cleaning a diaper of poop vs underwear with poop, i'll just add that tid bit...

Poor dump truck stickers that never got used, but maybe in the next couple days we'll get lucky!

  

   A reward for many successful potty trips - Painting on his easel!

So on Day 2 the book says to challenge them and to not set the timer, therefore they can work on just telling you they need to go to the bathroom. Yeah.... this definitely did not work. So after a few accidents I went back to the timer but I increased it to 45 minutes for day 2 and he did awesome. So he's holding it for longer which is a definite plus! The only bummer is that he does have to be told it's time to go potty, BUT he's going in the potty and we're not changing diapers, so that's a win to me!

By Day 3 the book says that our child would be totally potty trained and I have to laugh a little at this because I knew within 5 min of waking up on that third day there wasn't a chance in you know where that would happen. We went to a mommy and me class on that third day, as the book says to go out for 2 - 1 hour outings, so I was hopeful we'd be ok buuuuut no. I think the nervousness of new people got to him. It was a learning moment for me though that although going out for a quiet lunch with us as a family the day before worked out perfectly, that situation was stress free for him as it was just our family sitting outside on a nice day eating at The Bronx so it was easy breezy, but anything or anyone beyond that throws him off. So I'll add that to my notes for Jaxon's potty training!

Overall I am so proud of Greyson for all he's doing at only 2.4 years old. He's able to pull down his own pants 75% of the time and go potty in his own potty chair. He gets to wear big boy underwear and gets to start figuring this new world out and he'll get there! So although 3 days wasn't so much accurate for our little man, I hope within another week or so he'll start understanding that sensation to go and just let us know. But yay for this new exciting milestone! 

 Love, Kaylin

Potty Training my 2 year old!

Ecstatic, nervous and slightly apprehensive are the words that come to mind when I think about these next 3 days. Tomorrow is the day, Greyson is being potty trained. 

I've been actively preparing for the last month, both mentally and physically, as this is going to be my first go at this and I'm crossing my fingers, toes and everything else I can possibly cross in the hopes all goes well! My designated words are set, chart is made, training toilet has been present for months, fun underwear is purchased ( Greyson decided he wanted ALL the underwear packs I showed him verses what I had planned to buy...I guess "puppies" (Paw Patrol), "choo choo trains" (Thomas the Train) and "cars" (He actually got this one spot on, Cars it is...) are just too exciting to turn down!) So we now have more toddler underwear than I know what to do with, but they are washed and ready to go. My fun filled activities are set for the next 3 days in order to avoid the horrifying terrible 2 tantrum to emerge when he's pissed that he's having to stay inside for multiple days. I've got sponge blocks, bubbles galore, puzzles, paint projects with his new easle, a fun movie, play-doh making and more! Thankfully we have a roomy back yard with plenty of outdoor activities so that's also going to be a lifesaver.

I've read this highly recommended book "Potty Training" (They really nailed that title on the head didn't they) - cover to cover, highlighted and now placed it in an easy to grab spot when things go awry. My hope is that Greyson will wake up Friday morning ready to master this little thing called potty training and it won't be nothin' but a thang' but we shall see... In all honestly, he really is insanely smart and picks up things far quicker that I'd ever expect a 2 year old to do. Lee and I have been told many times he acts older than he is, so with that said I think he's going to take the toilet by the horns and own it! My genius 2 year old, please please own it...

So wish us luck as we go through our 3 day potty training journey. By Monday one of my babies will be taking another step to independence and I could cry. Yet, running around my house in pure excitement is also highly probable. I hope to be a pro potty trainer at the end of these 3 days and who knows maybe I'll have my other genius child, Jaxon, potty trained right at 2 years old! Then it will be time for a 3rd child as I feel like I can't imagine not changing diapers everyday, so that's a reason for a 3rd right? haha.

Looking forward to updating you all! 

Love,

Kaylin

Glamis Trip with the kids

Glamis is a place I grew up going to and to see my kids doing the same is both surreal and brings me a heck of a lot of happiness. It's part of what formed me into the person I am today and I know it will do the same for my kids. Getting away from electronics, having so much time to just talk and laugh with your family, play sand games, run and ride around the dunes, building fires, I mean everything I loved and those that know of this amazing place get to experience these unique opportunities that seem to not exist when we are just in our homes. Everything seems to revolve around a TV so this escape is serene.

We headed out with the kids just after Christmas to hang out with my family and some close family friends and it ended up being such a great trip. It felt so good to be out there again as it had been 2 years since I'd last been there as pregnancy and riding I'd say isn't the best mix ;) 

The boys did amazing, loved every bit of the endless sand pit they had to play in. They loved seeing Mama on a motorcycle and I'll say Greyson loved the Razor initially but that faded after a bit as it gets quite chilly riding and some get car sick so we think he felt a little of both but it faded quickly once he got out at Geo-Cach spot that my parents hid out in the desert. This is SUCH an awesome concept where people can hunt for these Geo-Cach treasure boxes of sorts, see all the fun items inside, sign the book and over many years time you'll have all these visitors that have seen your box, and all the other boxes out there to find and it's the history piece in the making! It could be filled with coins, toys or just random little treasures in each box (which is the case of the one my parents hid) but you can see all these awesome signatures of all the people that have found it. Love this concept, it's like a giant treasure hunt in the desert, who wouldn't love this!? Just have a GPS handle to find them as people have logged them so that there is a way to find them...pretty essential or else you'd NEVER find these things lol. I'll say though, although my family has never used a GPS in all the years we've ridden out into the dunes (My Dad is no joke a human GPS - we've rode miles and miles into the endless dunes and he always gets us back to camp with no problem at all, we do use it to find these Geo-Cach spots).

So even after all the fun we had, I say we'd need to stay one day longer next time as we didn't get time to go to Oldsmobile which is staple if you go to Glamis. We just found working in rides around naps was a little tough so we couldn't do everything we planned for. Now I know though that one more day would have done the trick. Regardless though, going on a nice ride with them and doing all we did was still awesome. The mere sight of them climbing on the exact sand dunes I did as a child was so nostalgic and made me feel like a real adult for some reason haha. Having Greyson roll all the way down a dune and Jaxon dig around and us bury his legs in sand and make sand angels of sorts, Jaxons were more like a a turtle trying to flip over off his bag but close enough to a sand angel that I used to make all the time as a kid!

The weather was perfect, just chilly at night so I'm thankful for the 27 blankets I brought in fear of the boys being too cold! Another thank you to the RV we rented as I would have about died in a tent. My brothers can do it without the blink of an eye but me...nope. Give me that RV! 

Always Grandpa's shadow!

Sunset for days

First time roasting marshmallows

Me and my boys :)

Returning to the blog/Christmas extravaganza!

I'm finally back in action here on the blog! I wasn't finding the time I had really wanted to spend writing this blog but now I feel it's time to pick it back up as I'm finding so many things I'd love to share but as I'm no longer have social media accounts like Facebook and Instagram I have no way to share! I felt like those accounts were taking too much time away from my kids as I kept scrolling through everything for too much time during the day so it was time for a change up. So now I'm even more excited to share the fun things we're doing over here as well as some new business ventures I'm interested in, so hopefully you'll all enjoy it with me!

So for my first return post I thought I'd share about our wonderful Christmas celebrations with BOTH our boys since little Jaxon was still growing in the womb at Christmas time last year and I was so ready to NOT be pregnant anymore...the constant back pain and incessant need to pee really gets old after a while. Not to mention the tedious finger pricking I had to do 4 times a day due to gestational diabetes, so needless to say I was done done done by this point. Thankfully Jaxon arrived just a mere 6 weeks after Christmas!

So this Christmas we participated in Operation Christmas Child again, which is an amazing organization giving these gift boxes to kids in need all over the world. As well as helping wherever else we could like with our home church. Always nice to find ways to give back and showing our kids the importance of it. We also enjoyed friends and family Christmas parties, gift wrapping, meeting Santa, church activities and baking galore (like the famous Tucker family Nuts n' Bolts) and then had the ultimate closing of Christmas festivities with a perfect Christmas morning opening gifts with the boys at home and then heading to my families home to celebrate with my parents and brothers. The boys received their annual Christmas eve gift from my parents with their new pjs and a special book for the night (absolutely LOVE this tradition). We then had dinner with my Lee's family for additional fun family time. Tons of amazing memories for us and the kids and we can safely say we have toys coming out our ears now after all this celebrating! Time to hide some away for a rainy day! We are so grateful for our families and the joy this season brings. There is something so unique about the Christmas season, regardless of the family time you have throughout the year it seems that during December it's something to treasure that much more. 

Church Winter Wonderland - Thanks Sweet Pea Vintage Rentals for this adorable truck photo prop!

Matching PJs is a must! Lee did not agree...bah humbug to him

Best giant Jenga set ever which doubles as dominos for kids that my brother made! (Coming soon to Etsy!)

Opening their Christmas Eve boxes from Grandma and Grandpa!

Christmas morning! 

Hope you all had a perfect Christmas with your loved ones!

9 month update and some water fun!

He was cracking up and thought it was too cute not to post :)

Well 9 months has brought us a bunch more laughs, cardio and excitement all around as his personality is just bursting through like no other. He's very attached to me right now which I hear happens around this 9 month mark but that doesn't make it any easier. Crossing my fingers he grows out of it shortly! His teeth are still trying to pop out so that's been a struggle as well but other than that he's such a fun little man!

Food: He's now eating both the Puffs by Gerber and we just got the OK to start with plain cheerios and he's loving it!
Naps: Same as usual- about 1-1.5 hours long twice a day and 75% of the time he'll take a 3rd 30 minute nap in the late afternoon and then sleeps wonderfully from 7pm to about 7:15am everything morning :)
Milestones:Pulling up on everything even easier now so walking will be here before we know it. He continues to do raspberries all the time which is hysterical (Where you stick your tongue out but you're kind of spitting at the same time...if that makes sense???) 

I decided, now that it's getting so hot, that it was time to buy a fun infant water activity play thing of sorts and was happy to find this awesome one called Banzai Splish Splash pool at Target, which is specific for the little ones. It doesn't show on Targets website as its just sold in stores but I did find it on Amazon which I linked above, it's just surprisingly more expensive on Amazon. It does fill up with about of inch of water in the bottom and then it has a bunch of holes to spray out water, along with fun blow up toys, a slide and a nice rainbow for shade. Totally perfect for our 90 degree weather!

This really is a great way to entertain an infant in the summer so definitely check it out over at Target!

Tie Dye DIY cover-ups and/or workout shirt

I thought I'd jump back to my younger years for a minute and see what kind of tie dying skills I could bestow upon all those that view this blog of mine. I mean, since I have all the time in the world, said no Mom to an infant...ever, I thought why not throw this fun messy project in the mix! So here's how my new little project turned out, not too bad!

 I tried out a couple different types of white shirts, the far left is a $2.99 shirt from my local craft store, middle is a basic Gerber Onesie and the far right is a Hanes super soft shirt that comes in a 3 pack at Target. So I started by washing them then did a little different of a design for each.

• Left- One spiral (technique pictured at the upper right)
• Middle - Was supposed to be the tiger stripe but ended up being more of just a blend of colors, which I actually really like!
• Right - Double spiral (Double over the fabric then do the same spinning technique as I shown above)

Mix your dye, per the instructions (I used the Tulip brand) and place 3 rubber bands in a start pattern for the spiral shirts (You should then show 6 triangles in which you'll color 2 triangles pink, 2 purple and 2 teal) and then use 3 rubber bands, for the image I got on the onesie just crumple and fold the onesie in half (Watch this tutorial) and put the 3 bands on a couple inches apart and color it as desired. 

For this shirt style, I cut about 2 inches below the bottom of the sleeve and cut quite a bit more up to the shoulder. I kept cutting more and more as I'd try it on after each cut and it kept looking to bulky, so just cut until its the fit you want. I also cut about 2 inches off the collar plus an additional 2 inches at the chest area to make it lower. Then fold JUST THE BACK of the shirt in half and make as many cuts as you want, do them a little shorter at the top and cut longer strips as you go lower down the back. Then just pull them to stretch them out a little. I then made one cut up the bottom right of the shirt and made a little knot so it would fit tighter.

For this style, cut the collar and the sleeves the same as above BUT after you've done that, flip the shirt over so you're looking at the back and cut the back further in than the front so you have the razor back affect. Now cut straight across from left arm hold to right arm hole so the collar is no longer attached. See the picture above. Then cut the left over razor back into 3 pieces, braid it and run it through the sewing machine to keep it together. Take an extra 2 inch piece of fabric from everything you've cut and sew it to the back color that you've just sewn the braid too. Then wrap it around, over and back around to cover up your stitching. I then did a blind hand stitch to hold this fabric in place. Voila! You're done!

I now have a couple of fun tops to wear to the gym, running errands, working in the yard, going to the beach, anything really when you just need to throw on an easy top and you aren't trying to impress anyone :). These will of course be impressive when you make them, but they aren't so much for a nice occasion. :)

Other than dying a couple of my fingers purple, I'd say this was a pretty accident free project. So with that I will recommend to double up on gloves! But if you happen to dye yourself, nail polish remover and a lot of hand washing got the color out.

Good luck!

8 Month Update

I'm loving how much Greyson's personality continues to come out month by month and now his brute strength is making an early appearance as well! He's just now 8 months and pulling himself up on to everything, he speed crawls through the entire house and is most recently going to each reachable window (we have low windows) and pulling out all the wood safety poles. I constantly find him playing with another one, so that has been a fun little trick of his.

Food: Still eating the same pureed food, we haven't advanced to finger food yet as his 2 teeth don't allow for much chewing
Naps: Changing a little bit, more often he's taking just 2 naps and those 2 are thankfully about 1.5 - 2 hours long
Milestones: Pulling himself up onto furniture now so I'm sure we'll have an early walker!

A little model pose action

So this month I decided to purchase the famous amber beads, the ones that so many moms are using these days, in the hopes it would help relieve some of G's teething pain. So after researching various brands I decided on the Baltic Wonder amber necklace and so far I'm glad I jumped on the bandwagon. I do have to admit I was a bit skeptical for a couple reasons...1. I wondered how these beads could really be powerful enough to target the pain, 2. I'm very impatient so if Greyson is in pain I expect whatever I buy to work instantaneously and I know that's not very realistic, but I still expect it anyway :) 3. I wasn't to keen on my strapping boy wearing a necklace - But he actually looks incredibly cute! He has this adorable little surfer vibe going now. As of now, I do think its helped as he has been less fussy during the day and is sleeping a bit better as well. I do wrap the necklace around his ankle at night to make it safer then him having it around his neck and that way is also allows the beads to be on him as close to 24/7 as possible. 

So those are just a few of the changes now that we're in our 8 month! Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend!