Potty Training - FAIL

Since Vicky had the day off on Friday i figured i might as well try the whole potty training with Easton. My sister had sent me a while back the potty training 3 day boot camp. I read through the whole thing and had a good idea on how to tackle things and what to expect.

Easton woke up this morning and I immediately took him to his big boy potty. He of course didn't go. Put big boy underwear on him for the first time. He was so excited about his big boy underwear. I on the other hand was nervous. Ace was home with us as well so i couldn't have my full entire focus on Easton. Almost immediately after I put his big boy underwear on he peed on the carpet....UGH....lol. I got him changed into another pair of big boy underwear. We sat and watched cartoons for a while...i gave him plenty to drink...told him every 30 seconds "let mommy know when you have to go potty"...well not even 20 minutes later I hear him say "oh know"...what did the little pickle do..peed on the couch this time....to his room we went again to change his underwear. I think he liked changing many times to see what character he'd get this time.

Steph and the boys were coming over for a play date. Probably not the best time to potty train when the cousins were coming over but i had the 3 days to at least try. We ended up with 3 more accidents...needless to say...this girl gave up. I need to have my complete focus on Easton and Jesse needs to either be home with me to care for Ace or take Ace out of the house so i can focus on Easton. This time it was a fail on the whole potty training. Hopefully he'll find more of an interest and we'll try again. I tested the waters and they are not fine....lol.....

Dale and Tiff's Wedding - Denison IA

Friday could not come soon enough. I was super excited to pick up the boys from daycare so we could spend the weekend with them. I miss holding my little Ace daily all day long. Being at work is definitely not as enjoyable as being at home snuggling a little one. He's starting to show his personality as well....just as I was coming back to work. He is definitely a smiley little guy. Easton is still a little jealous of him though. I'm hoping that phase will pass and he'll be able to realize what a blessing his little brother truely is.

This weekend Jesse's cousin was getting married. Dale and Tiff. I couldn't decide on if I was going to go or not. The idea of watching two boys on my own at a wedding/reception just wasn't my ideal of fun. At the last minute I did decide to go. I told Jesse that he was in charge of Easton and I was in charge of Ace during the wedding.

We arrived in Denison at the last minute. The wedding was at 3 and we got to Denison around 2:40 and still had to stop at Tom's so I could nurse Ace and Jesse could get his tie tied. We arrived at the wedding just as the wedding party was walking in. Easton was a little pickle and didn't want to sit or be quiet so I took him out and we walked around the church. Good thing the wedding wasn't all that long.

The reception turned out to be fun. It was open bar the entire night. Jesse and I didn't have to do a whole lot as in watching the boys due to having Grandma's there and little girls (Molly) in particular who loved carrying around Ace and watching after Easton. At the reception Tiff had an awesome idea of putting a couple of kids tables in the back. They had colors/coloring books/masks/puzzels/markers...etc...kept Easton busy at least. Never seen that before at a reception but it is a great idea for little kids who are bored.

Easton finally had enough and was getting tired. We left the reception around 9 and went back to Tom and Marla's. I let Easton stay up till around 10 or so and then him and I went to bed...Ace was already in bed and passed out. He was exhausted. Every one slept really well for the most part. Easton was on a blow up toddler bed which worked out great....I will be getting one of those in the near future for our travels.

Over all I think we all had a good time and I was glad I went. One thing that I wanted to do that didn't get done was dance with my handsome hubby. We were too busy visiting and watching kids to make time for each other :(

On another note: my flash that i got free worked like a dream at the reception. The pictures for the most part turned out rather good. Still need to get used to it though and tweak some settings.

brotherly/sisterly love

Grandma dancing with Easton

Miss Ava

Molly and Easton - she was a great help with the boys

Jesse's face and Easton's eye placement is hilarious

Ace - 3 months

Can you believe that Ace is already 3 months old. Crazy how much bigger he's getting and less of a newborn he's looking. What a great baby he is. He isn't as mellow as Easton was as a baby but Jesse and I sure have no room to complain.

Ace 3-4 months. April 11-May 11th

     1.) Difficulties at daycare sleeping - always wants to be held
     2.) 4/12 - First night in crib with out car seat - did great
     3.) 4/13-4/14 - Trip back to Denison for Dale and Tiffs wedding. Did great sleeping in Tom and Marla's crib and did great at the wedding.
     4.) 4/13 - weight check - only gained an ounce since last weight check - 11lbs 5oz - mommy concerned
     5.) 4/15 - Visited Dr for a weight check. weighted 11lbs 9oz - 10% on charts. Nurse not overly concerned. Should be consuming 22-33 oz of milk a day between breast milk and formula
     6.) 4/17 - Get together with friends at Glens to see Billy and Julie. Emma, Addy and Ace all together...so cute
     7.) 4/17 - slept great 9pm - 4am - 7hr stretch of sleep with no waking to nurse
     8.) 4/19 - play date with cousins due to daycare closed.
     9.) 4/20 - Mommy and Daddy date to the PBR with the Owens. Jill watched both Ace and Easton. Boys did great
    10.) 4/21 - Ace's 3 month pictures - turned out great
    11.) 4/22 - Jill came over to help with Ace's 3 month pictures - so cute
    12.) 4/24 - Ace second round of shots - HIB. Weighted 12lbs. Gained 7 oz since last Dr's checkup. Slept most of the night. Only woke up at 3am to nurse. Shots wore him out
    13.) 4/26 - Deb Nebelsick passed away - Bianci boys with Johan and Julie
    14.) 4/28 - Aunt Steph, Dax, Mommy and Ace traveled to SD for Deb's funeral. Boys did great till last leg of trip. Had to stop at Kohls to shop to get the boys out of their car seats
    15.) 4/29 - Flower shopping for Debs funeral - Ace slept all day while shopping. Visitation - Ace fussed the majority of the time
    16.) 4/30 - Deb's funeral - Aunt Mary Lou watched Ace and the boys while we attended the funeral. Headed back to DSM due to weather. Boys made it for a long trip. Fussy and didn't want to be in carseats. Took us over 8 hours to travel back home. Long day emotionally and physically for both Steph and I
    17.) 5/03 - Ace first runny nose and teary eyes - cold
    18.) 5/04 - Visted Brooke and Oswalds while they were visiting in DSM for the faith conference.
    19.) Doing better at daycare - not as needy and needing to be held much
    20.) 5/07 - Rough day at daycare - slept good only waking at 12 and 4am
    21.) 5/08  - Another rough day at daycare - rough night as well. wanted to talk in his crip after his first feeding at 1:00am. Talked and babbled in his crib till 3:30am.
    22.) 5/08 Found feet
    23.) 5/11 - 4 months old today. Aunt Steph and Ben watched both Ace and Easton while mommy and daddy went to a barnstormers game that daddy won from work. Nice night out.

Sleeping Pattern: Sleeps 4-6 hours at a stretch. 9-2, 2:30-5:30. Sleeps great swaddled in crib with out carseat
Feeding Schedule: 4oz per bottle. Mommy only pumps 9-11oz per day so consumes 2-3 formula bottles
Sounds and Motions: found hands, loves fists in mouth, rubs eyes when tired, laughs out loud, talks like crazy under jungle gym and in bumbo, very smiley at all times, feet ticklish, swats at toys, smacks lips when hungry
Likes: Hands and fists in mouth, being blown with blow dryer after tubby time, watching big brother play, sitting in bumbo watching mommy cook, glow worm
Dislikes: being buckled in carseat, tummy time, being left alone, still tubby time, being hungry
Learning: laugh more outloud, sooth own self to sleep, mommies voice, rolls on side but cannot roll completely over.

I tell you what..this week is going by so slow it seems. Ace seems to be doing pretty well at day care. His second day at daycare wasn't the best. Vicky said he fussed a lot and never wanted to be put down. Thankfully yesterday he did way better and was content for most of the day. He is consuming roughly 9 oz of breast milk and 2 oz of formula per day while at Vickys. I am unable to keep up with his supply in milk so we are still having to supplement. At least he is getting some breast milk.

Easton has been rather on the winey side these last couple of weeks and this week he's gotten even worse. Could it be because baby brother is at daycare? Who knows. I know he has his 2 year molars coming in but for the amount of fussyness and temper tantrums he's given I just don't think that that is what is the problem. I'm guessing he's strugging with jealousy with baby brother Ace. When we get home from daycare and I have to tend to Ace and nurse him Easton is always pulling at me and telling me "put baby down", "put baby down". Easton does not like me holding Ace all the time. I try and divide out my time between the both of them and give them equal mommy time but some nights it's harder than others especially if Ace is more fussy. He does great most nights but some times there are just nights he needs to be held and rocked by mom. I hope Easton grows out of this stage and realizes that baby brother is not going anywhere and that he'll have to adjust to him not just being the only child anymore and the only one getting mommy and daddies attention. He'll eventually adjust I would think. It will just take time.

It's so hard to be at work right now...the days are so long due to me not having anything to do and no system access to even work on anything. I cannot wait until I"m officially up and running and my days go by faster so I can see my boys that much quicker. Since i have all the time in the world i am pumping 4x a day. I'm trying to get my milk supply up since Ace will so be taking in more milk due to him growing bigger. During the day I only pump out 9oz of milk. Slightly shy of what he's consuming. Hopefully my milk will either stay the same or increase so he can at least get a little more breast milk. I just think of how much time i spend at work verses how much time i get with my kids. Just stinks how I only get a couple of hours a day with them. That is so not ok...but what do you do....we have to earn a living :(

1st Day Back At Work

Are my 12 weeks of maternity leave really over? Where did the time go. Seems like when you're working or on a 12 week diet plan...12 weeks takes a life time but when you're spending time with your new bundle of joy 12 weeks seems like 1 week. I knew this time would finally come but a part of me wishes it wouldn't.

I was really worried about Ace's sleeping schedule heading back into work. He for the most part has been only waking up once in the middle of the night. Of course he is still being swaddled and sleeping in his car seat in the crib. One of these days I'm going to have to break him of that because he'll start to be able to buck himself out of his car seat. Thankfully my first night prior to going back to work was great. Ace went to sleep around 9pm and didn't wake up till 2am to nurse. He then again woke up at 6am to nurse which was perfect for my schedule since most mornings he'll have to be fed by 6am in order for me to get to work by 7am. Hopefully he'll stay on the same schedule and go back to sleep after his 6am feeding so Jesse has time to get him and Easton ready.

Dropping off Ace with Easton was actually not as bad as it was when i dropped off Easton for the first time. Knowing we have a great caregiver made it a little easier. Don't get me wrong..it was still difficult leaving Ace for someone else to care for but at least I had a sence of relief since I knew he would be loved and cared for just like he is loved and cared for at home with us.

My 8 hour day at work couldn't of ended fast enough. My first day back was pretty light. I didn't have access to anything and I had hundreds of emails to go through so I at least kept a little busy.

I was really anxious to know how pumping at work would go and how much milk I would actually get during the course of the day. Surprisingly I pumped out 8 oz. With Easton it was a struggle on a daily basis just to get 3 oz the entire day. At least with Ace he is able to get more of my priceless milk. Work as well is at least understandable when it comes to pumping and I'm able to pump as many times as needed. I call them my smoke breaks...lol...

My 8 hour day finally came to an end and I was so excited to go and pick up my boys from daycare. Ace was all smiles when I got there which made me feel better. Vicky also stated that he was a perfect angel as well..barely fussed at all during the day and took great naps both in the morning and in the afternoon. He also ate pretty good. I for 2 weeks have been pumping every time after nursing to gather enough milk for Ace's first day. I had brought Vicky 12 oz and Ace really only took in 9 or 10. Now I have at least a good idea as to how much he's eating during the day. I'll be a little on the short end when it comes to producing enough for him for the entire day but I'm definitely ok with him being supplemented with formula for only a couple of ounces if need be.

The weather was amazing my first day back at work. The boys and I spent the evening playing outside and enjoying the nice weather.

Overall it ended up being a pretty good day.

Oh and I asked Vicky how Easton was with Ace at daycare and her response was "Easton basically ignored Ace all day"..lol...He'll one of these days be old enough to enjoy his baby brothers presence :)



Love this little guy and will miss him dearly during the day