Our Last Day

Today was officially our last day at Children's for Children- P&G. This has been Patrick's school since he was 5 months old and Marshall went for about a month or so when he was 6 months old. It was a tough decision to pull Patrick out, but we feel that is will be best for him to attend pre-school at our church with Marshall, which is only a couple of blocks from our house. I cannot say enough good things about CFC-P&G!!! I have loved having my child/ren there and would recommend them in a heart beat to any other P&G parent!!! We will have many fond memories of our days there and I feel confident that Patrick had an amazing experience. However, I think I was more sad today that he was!!! We have been talking about going to our new school for a while now, so he knew what was going on. But, maybe it was Momma that needed the preparation! I must admit, I teared up when I picked Patrick up for the last time. And, in the car when we were talking about our last day and our new school, it was me that was getting all emotional and not Patrick! But, life changes, I guess. I have a feeling that every time my children leave a school/classroom/teacher/etc. I will feel this way. Maybe I'm just an emotional sap, I don't know. So, here's to a new adventure with a new school!! I am so happy that Patrick and Marshall will be able to be in a school that is church based, as I feel this is very important. I know they will have a great time. Our new school has all the same accredidations as CFC-P&G, so that makes me feel a little better. See ya later to all of our CFC friends, hopefully we'll run into you all occasionally! And again, thank you all for an absolutely wonderful experience. I could not be happier. You are all very special people and do such great work. :)

Potty Training Bootcamp: The Third 24 Hours

SUCCESS AT LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Patrick did so well on Sunday. He still had a few accidents, but they were when out on a walk or playing outside. We even ventured to Target and Sam's Club in our big boy underwear! He said he needed to go at Target and went on the potty. He then said he need to go when we got to Sam's and went. Then, as we were sitting down for our Sam's Club Sunday Brunch (there will be a post on this topic soon) he said he had to go again. So, I jumped up and took him to the women's restroom and took him to a stall. He freaked out and said he wanted the stand up potty. What?! I had no clue. But, he walked out and started to go in the men's room and I figured it out- the urinal! We ran, and I mean RAN, back to Robert and he took Patrick to the men's rooms to pee in the urinal. Note to Robert- PLEASE do not get him used to using the urinal!!! For obvious reasons, this will not work when I am out with him. But, overall we are doing quite well! The third day is the charm, I guess. Day number four has been successful, too. We have had NO accidents!!!! And, Patrick is consuming mass quantities of M&M's. We were at the gym for 1 1/2 hours and he peed in the potty of the playroom 5 times. I'm beginning to wonder if he's got some little scam going. The Only-Pee-a-Little-Stream-So-You-Can-Go-Again-in-5-Minutes-and-Get-More-M&M's Scam. I'll keep you posted.

Potty Training Bootcamp: The Second 24 Hours

Not much different than the first 24 hours. But, decided to still hang in there and really push the M&M reward for actually putting pee/poop in potty, not just trying.

Potty Training Bootcamp: The First 24 Hours

Friday morning I was somewhat inspired (maybe by the Pacie Fairy- who knows!) and decided to officially beging potty training Patrick. I went to Target and bought the thick training underwear and plastic covers. He doesn't mind the think underwear, but isn't too fond of the plastic covers! I started putting him only in underwear and telling him he needed to put his pee-pee and poop in the potty. We even set the "potty timer" to go off every 20 minutes in order to remind us we needed to try to go on the potty. This all started at 8am. By 9am we had already had three accidents. Two on the floor, pee only, and one in the plastic cover. He decided after having pee run down his leg the first two times that he would try using the plastic cover to keep his legs and shorts dry!! By naptime we finally had a pee in the potty- yippeeeee!!!!! Go Patrick! We ended up having one more pee in the potty by the end of the day. However, it was kind of hard because if we go to the gym and during naptime he wears a diaper. But, I figure we made progress.

Marshall has also decided he wants in on the potty training action, too. He tries to go whenever Patrick does, but he still wears a diaper. I really don't believe he's got the sensation yet, but at least he is interested in trying. However, the end of our first 24 hours of potty training was a little bit of a disaster. At 7am this morning when I went in their room I discovered that Marshall had taken his diaper off, pooped all over the floor and peed all over his pillow!!! Yuck. Patrick was very quick to tell us his version of what took place in the room before I came in, but who knows how much of it is true considering it came from a child that is almost three! But, I have not given up. I've thought about it though, don't worry. We have resorted to giving two M&M's for every pee in the potty and four for every poop.

We are now on our second 24 hours of Potty Training Bootcamp and not much is different than the first 24 hours. Hopefully we will see some progress over the next day or two, for my sanity more than anything else. We are constantly running to the bathroom, trying to pee/poop, fighting because they both want to do it at the same time, then shoving and pushing begins because Graham comes in to join all the fun. It never stops in the Carraway house...

The Pacie Fairy...

Marshall putting the envelope in the mailbox for the Pacie Fairy

Sitting at the dining room table loading up the pacies!

....has FINALLY come to the Carraway house!!!!!! Tonight after dinner me and the big boys decorated a folder with stickers to leave at the mailbox for the Pacie Fairy. Before bed we all went throughout the entire house collecting any pacies we could find and putting them in the envelope. I explained to Marshall that we would leave the envelope at the mailbox and that the Pacie Fairy would come and take all of the pacies to give to little babies that did not have pacies and in return leave a nice present. He was really cooperative and seemed to "get it," if you know what I mean. It was kind of too easy. He went to bed with no major issues- just asked for the pacie once. So, we shall see. I am bracing for a tough night, but hoping to pleasantly surprised. Tomorrow will be a different story. The pacie is a total crutch for not just Marshy, but Momma too, especially when she is worn down and doesn't have a fight left in her!! However, all of the pacies are in the big trash can outside so that we are not tempted. And I'll be honest, if they were in the kitchen trash I would totally dig through it to get to one if I got desperate! The outside trash, now that's a different story. If I end up posting about digging through the big trash can out back, you know it got really, really bad!! Sweet dreams to you all, hopefully the same for the Carraway house.

Vacation

Here are a few sneak peaks of our vacation. I will elaborate and post pics throughout the week. Enjoy :)

Daddy Killed Peter Rabbit
"My penis hurts!"
Staples
Bloody Nose
Ant Bites
15 Hour Drive Home

Getting Caught Up

Our Poor, Wrecked Pathfinder :(

Well, it's been a while since our last post, but life has certainly been super busy. A few weeks ago I was driving home from an eye doctor appointment and a man turned left and hit me. I was driving the Pathfinder (thank goodness, as my car was a lot bigger than his!) and the boys were at home with a sitter (Thank God for this one.) My car was not drivable and had to be towed, as did the other person's. Robert came to pick me up and then the fun began! It was next to impossible to find a large rental car on such sort notice since it is the peak travel season. We had to have a large SUV/van in order to fit all three carseats. But, after almost three days of searching, the rental company found us a Kia Sedona minivan. (I was about to loose my mind being stuck in the house these few days. See an old post from one of our little snow storms this past winter and just insert sunny, hot weather!) And, yes, I am a convert!!! I would buy a minivan tomorrow if Robert were willing. I know this goes against everything I have ever said or thought, but I think I have reached a point of functionality over fashion. Or, maybe I'm just thirty now and a minivan comes with the territory!! But anyway, we settled quite nicely in our minivan and began to pack for our trip to Destin, FL. Boy, did we have tons of room! It was great. So, we left early June 19th and drove to Prattville, AL to spend the night and woke up and drove the rest of the way in on Saturday. We stayed in Tivoli in Sandestin and it was beautiful! We had such and nice time and were sad, but at the same time ready to head home June 27th. We ended up making the entire drive back to Cincinnati on one day, and it was brutal. But, we survived and had a nice vacation. However, vacations are not what they used to be before children!