Never a Dull Moment

Monday- Shoo fly don't bother me....Well, Patrick has become quite the fly swatter! It got really quiet in the playroom, which is always cause for concern, and I went in just in time to see that Patrick had killed a fly with his toy hammer. He brought the hammer to me, quite proud of his accomplishment, as asked me to wash it. Later, he went in the kitchen and got a paper towel and came back with another fly! I'm going to assume that he must have amazing hand-eye coordination because I can't swat a fly to save my life!!!!

Yes, I took pictures of our dead flies. Gross, but pretty impressive for a 3 yr old!

Tuesday- We were at the gym in the morning so momma could get her run in when I was called to the playroom. I went in and found that Patrick had pooped in his underwear. He was a little worried about this and I felt bad for him. He had tried twice to go before we left the house, but kept telling me, "It not comin' momma, it not comin'!" So, we left the house and I told him we would try later. I guess he couldn't wait for later. But, I got him cleaned up and in a diaper and he was good as new!!

Wednesday- It finally quit raining and we headed out to play on our new play set. The boys were having a blast with one of their friends until the bees came. Evidently, we have a ground bee nest in our backyard under where the slide is. As the kids were running around and going down the slide the bees became a little irritated. One of them decided to sting Marshall right between the eyes!! He was VERY upset, and kept telling me how the bees had stung him. The sting became swollen and was a big knot right between is eyes. But, other than that he was fine. I dosed him up with Benadryl and put some Arnica gel on his sting and off he went. (Side note: I LOVE Arnica. It works for everything. Muscle aches, bruises, bites, etc. Go buy some- it's in the homeopathic section!!) That night we started our bee extermination project. I am happy to report that we have successfully gotten rid of the bees, but the boys definitely remember when the bee stung Marshy!!

Thursday- The morning got of to a crappy start, literally!! Graham had a dirty diaper and his bottom was a little red so I let him run bare-bottomed through the house for a few minutes. He was sooo happy about this!!! But, little did I know he was actually happy for another reason. I walked in the dining room to discover that he had pooped ALL OVER the floor. There was a nice little trail behind everywhere he went. The big boys were finishing breakfast when this happened and of course, had to get down to check out the poop. What is it with toddlers being fascinated by each other's poop??? But, I got Graham and the floor cleaned up, the big boys back under control and we enjoyed the rest of our morning. Then, nap time rolled around. Marshall was demoted back to the nursery because he wouldn't leave Patrick alone. Graham was already asleep in the nursery, so I put Marshall down and left. A little while later I heard a little too much fun going on in there. I opened the door to discover that Marshall had gotten in the top drawer of the changing table, pulled everything out, gotten in the crib with Graham and covered himself in butt cream!!! So much for nap time.

Marshall with butt cream on his face and Graham playing with some random object from the changing table.

Friday- At about 2am I heard all three boys crying. I went in and calmed Graham down. He went right back to sleep. I then went in the big boys' room to see what was going on. I found Marshall crying on the floor where he had decided to sleep. I could not find Patrick, but I could hear him crying louder and louder. I ended up tripping over his feet, as they were sticking our from UNDER the bed. I pulled his legs, thinking I would get him out and settle him down, but he did not move. He was stuck! He started to scream louder (probably because mommy just hurt him) and saying that he was stuck. In my drowsy, confused state it took me a minute to figure out what to do because he really was stuck. I tried to turn his head and get him out, but he just wouldn't fit. So, Super Momma ended up picking up the headboard and frame and getting him out. Freed at last, but very scared. I got him settled back in bed, put Marshall in his bed and headed back to sleep. All while Daddy was sleeping peacefully down the hall.

Did I mention that there is never a dull moment in the Carraway house???

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

July 30th was Robert's 33rd birthday, and the boys were so excited to make daddy's birthday special. We made cards and I was feeling rather brave, so we made a garden stone. The finished product turned out pretty cute, but I cannot say the same for my kitchen. It was raining the day we made it, so we had to be inside. I mixed up the cement and called the boys in to put their handprints in the wet cement. This was an absolute disaster!!! They kept grabbing handfuls and flinging wet cement EVERYWHERE. So, I quickly moved on to plan B for the stone- the marbles that came with the kit. This worked a little better, but they just couldn't resist getting their hands all in it. But, we made it and the kitchen (and boys) survived. Note to self: any art project that involves cement and three small children is not recommended for indoors.

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.