Get your motor running

Our moms group took a field trip to the Atlanta Motor Speedway for a tour.  I knew we would be driving around the track in a van.  What I did not know was that we would be going 90 mph not wearing seatbelts with 20 children and about 8 moms in the car.  It was exhilarating and frightening all at the same time.  We got to stand in the winners circle and rejoice the fact that we had not died on the track after our ride.  It was an awesome adventure and the boys got a little Nascar too!

Some pre-race hugs and running around!

 

The van!  Can you believe this van did 90?

Some inside shots of us all crammed in the van.

 

The winner’s circle

I can’t believe we were able to get most of them to stand still and line-up for these photos!

And Finn and D are done!

You forgot about me!

Me and my boys!

Phew, need a break!

And a race car

Chocolate

We made some goodies for Uncle Buzz who is hiking the Appalachian Trail right now!  Finn helped and even got to lick the bowl, and sent him a cute message!

 

Potty Update

So, I don’t write new posts every day, and when you see a bunch of them days in a row you should know that I typically write them all in one sitting and then schedule them to post days out.  This is mostly for people who are bored at work (ahem, Lauren) and need something to read, I want to make sure they have something new each day and don’t get 10 posts all at once. 

So this potty post that I just posted today, I actually started writing 2 weeks ago but didn’t finish until yesterday and scheduled it to post today.  Well after I went to bed last night I thought of a few things I wanted to add to that post, but by the time I got online this morning it had already posted and I didn’t want to take it back and then repost.  cuz that would be just wrong.  ;)

But, then today was the most amazing potty day to ever happen!  It was like Finn knew it was posted and just wanted to prove me wrong!!! 

I’ll start first with the things I wanted to add and then I’ll update about today.

We’ve had a tough time with trying to get Finn to pee standing up.  He always has to sit down.  We started potty training that way with him going sitting down naked as he was about to get into the bath.  So now he has to sit and he has to take off his shoes, pants and underwear completely.  le sigh.  this is “fine” at home but not cool when we are out in public.  So then we tried standing up but he just wasn’t getting it and would request to sit down (and undress).  Then a friend told me about how her son loves to pee on trees!  Yes!  This I would love, yay for having TWO boys, they both can pee on trees when we’re out and about!  But, Finn won’t pee standing up.  On Mother’s Day, Todd took the boys to the park while I went to the spa really quick and when I met them at the park Finn proclaimed “I pee-peed on a tree momma!!!”!!  YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!  Best.Mother’s.Day.Present.Ever!  No joke, I couldn’t be more excited about my son peeing on a tree!

Up until this point Finn still had yet to ever tell me when he needed to pee, it was always me asking/taking him.  Yesterday we ran a bunch of errands and then went to CFA for lunch and played on the outside playground after eating.  It wasn’t until we were in the car five minutes later that I remembered I didn’t take him potty.  So I pulled over into a parking lot, got him out of his seat to put a diaper on him and he was soaking wet.  He peed in the carseat, for the first time.  :(   He didn’t even tell me.  I was totally bummed and really thought this was never going to happen.

Then today….today we went to the Imagine It Museum and next thing I know Finn runs up to me and says “Momma, I gotta go poopy” and he’s jumping up and down, so we RUN to the bathroom, sit him down (with undies and pants down to ankles, no full disrobing!) and he pees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!  30 minutes later, he runs up says he needs to go potty, I was skeptical but we RAN to the potty and he peed AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  YAAAAAAAAY!!!  Oh….it gets better!

We get home, we eat lunch and then I always let the boys play for a little while before laying them down for naps.  I’m in the next room and I hear Finn grunting.  Oh NO!  He’s still in his undies, not a diaper yet!  I run into the room, ask if he’s pooping?  he stares at me, I grab him, run to the bathroom sit him on the potty and he POOPED ON THE POTTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And his response, so soft and calm, not wild crazy excited like his momma, he says “I did it.”  I was jumping up and down, told him how proud I was of him, etc etc.  And he said “I still going poopy” and he kept on pooping.  And then he carried on a conversation while pooping about how he has boogies in his nose and I have hair in my nose and that daddy has hair in his nose and grandma and grandpa have hair in their noses and so does uncle John and aunt Steph but that Holli and Joseph have boogies in their noses too.  And then he was done.  And we went and got our special sticker!!!  Seriously awesome day in the PT arena!

YAY FINN!!!!!!

Potty Training

le sigh.

my baby is growing up.

A little over a month ago I asked Finn one Monday morning “do you want to wear big boy underwear today Finn?” and he said yes.  So we did.  The first week we had one poop accident (which was really my fault) and one pee accident (which was also my fault because I knew it was time to go potty but he ran away from me and I got tired of chasing him and decided to fix lunch and then take him before he ate.  literally two minutes later he comes into the kitchen soaking wet.  the second week we had NO accidents.  he still wasn’t telling us that he needed to go, I was just always taking him every 2 hours and he was wearing a diaper at naptime and bedtime.  then week three…..all hell broke loose.  and he had countless accidents.  it was a mess.  literally.  on week four we did a combo of diaper and underwear depending on our activities and what I thought would work best.  but since then we’ve been back in big boy underwear and we’ve been mostly accident free.  he can keep the diaper dry during nap time and there have even been a few over night diapers that have been dry!

But, in all this time, he has refused to go poopy on the potty….with two exceptions…..one night he did actually go poopy on the potty.  he was in the bath tub and exclaimed “I have to go poopy” and he actually went!  there is a picture that Todd made me take but I’m just not sure about posting poop on the blog.  oh what the hell, you can’t even really see the poop, but Finn’s face is priceless.

and there was one other exception……we started a sticker chart and I showed him all these stickers, but told him the special “Cars” stickers were for poopy on the potty and the others were for pee.  He then sat on the potty for an HOUR trying to go poop so he could get a Mater sticker.  I was worried he wasn’t ever going to come off the potty but he eventually did, but no poop.

at this point I’m just not sure if he is ready and if I should go back to putting him in diapers until he asks or if I should keep it up.  he doesn’t like to wear a diaper now when I try to put one on him other than bedtime/naptime.

So who knows…..we’ll see how it goes.  This is definitely a maddening process.  Wish us luck!

Never a dull moment

So we went to test drive mini-vans this past weekend.  I know, that does sound dull.  And sad really.  A piece of me died just by sitting my butt in the drivers seat.  And we took the boys with us, so we were obviously crazy and just asking for it.  But the boys did well climbing all around each van.  Pushing all the buttons (yay for sensors that don’t allow the doors to close on little fingers, legs and arms…and heads), honking the horns, open the storage bins and cup holders, and just about breaking the TV screens.

But the best part?  We got to ride in a golf cart through the ginormous parking lot to get to the vans.  Finn and I sat in the back, rear facing, he couldn’t wait to get back in the golf cart.  When we returned to the main office, we waited in the golf cart while the salesman went inside to get us some brochures.  Finn asked if he could move to the drivers seat.  Sure, no problem.  Todd and Riley were sitting right next to him.  Next thing you know we’re moving and we’re heading straight for a golf cart sitting in front of us filled with people and a man standing in between the two carts….waiting for his legs to be crushed between two golf carts by a 2.5 yr old.  The man jumped out of the way, the people jumped out of the golf cart just as we were able to get the cart to stop.

And….we’re done.  Scooped up our babies and headed for our car.

never.a.dull.moment.  even when we’re mini-van shopping.  there is hope for me yet.

15 months? What the what?

We were at Toddlercize on Tuesday when Riley turned 15 months old and as we were going around the room telling ages and names of our kids I realized…nope, not 14 months old….now he is 15 months old!  HOW?  It is crazy fast.

We took him to the doctor for his well visit and O.M.G. he is huge.  I mean, I know this because I lug his heavy bum around every day but….good lord.  These boys are going to eat us out of house and home!  At Riley’s 12 month check up, he had only grown 1/2 an inch from his 9 month check up, and they measured him twice just to be sure.  I figured maybe he’d start to take after his momma and be a shorty.  But he grew 2.5 inches since then!  He’s also getting his molars in, which I kind of knew and we recently bought a $20 chew toy that the child will not put down.  Sophie the Giraffe!  She is infamous in mommy circles, everyone raves about this giraffe, and I just finally caved after a whole little sleep and Sophie is now also MY new best friend.

He’s running, he’s climbing, he’s wrestling his big brother and stealing his toys, he’s still talking in incoherent sentences and his only word is still ball.  But Dr. R assured me that this was OK and that all of the sounds he is making are normal and he will eventually just start spewing words.  He can sign for milk and more which is beyond helpful!  We’re working on the sign for help right now as he definitely gets frustrated when he can’t do something himself.

He’s really into trying to feed himself with a spoon/fork.  He’s still taking Maalox and Prevacid before meals but it is definitely helping and he is eating a larger variety of foods now.  He follows simple directions (“Riley, let’s go brush your teeth” and he toddles into the bathroom; “Riley, let’s change your diaper” and he toddles into his room, etc).  He LOVES brushing his teeth.  He climbs right up onto the stool and reaches for his toothbrush (though he can’t reach it yet) and will stand on the stool brushing away.  It is too adorable!

And because I’m a big nerd, here’s the updated growth chart:

Age	Weight	%	Height	%	Head	%
Birth	8lbs 9oz		21.75”
1 week	8lbs 1oz
1 month	11lbs 3oz	90th	23'”	90th	15.25”	50th
2 months	12lbs 14oz	90th	25”	100th	15.75	50th
4 months	15lbs 14oz	75th	27”	100th	16.5”	50th
6 months	17lbs 9oz	75th	28.25”	100th	17”	50th
9 months	21lbs 3oz	75th	30.25”	95th	17.75”	40th
12 months	25 lbs	75th	30.75”	75th	18.25”	50th
15 months	27 lbs 9oz	90th	33.125”	95th	18.5”	50th

Braves Game

Before it got too hot in Hotlanta, we planned a day at Turner Field with our boys and a bunch of our friends!  We had 20 adults and 18 kiddos, 11 families in all!  The weather looked like it might not cooperate with us and we had very dark clouds rolling over us (and we were in the upper deck so we felt like we were IN the clouds!).  But…it rolled right on through without any rain and the sun even came out!  The game also fell on my one year anniversary of being a stay-at-home-mom (more to come on that), so it was a fitting excursion for the occasion!  It was the boys first Braves game and they held out until the last inning!  We had a blast! 

Finn is ready!

Most of our group

View from our seats

Finn, Livi and Addie

The newest Braves fan and her big sister Addie!

 

What do you do when you don’t want to eat the bun but the hot dog is too hot??  This is how a seasoned mom does it!

Justin stone cold chillin’.

Riley playing with daddy’s hat.

Daddy’s and their “babies”

Finn and Libbie, and Drew and Maggie running the bases.  I think the kids ran the bases like 50 times.

 

This post brought to you by Chick-Fil-A – Eat Mor Chikin

And these are our seats!

Little Guy in a Big Hat

And some family photos (this post also brought to you by Coca-Cola)

 

(one of us doesn’t look as small in this big chair as the others…)

The Bowman Family!

 

The Oviatts!

The McCloud’s! 

Look at Hudson and Edison sharing a snack!  How cute are they?

Drew and his daddy!

Me and my Roo!

 

 

I only caught the very end of Finn doing the Tomahawk Chop!

Riley Shows You How He Grooves

Riley LOVES to dance!  LOVES music and every time he hears even a hint of music he starts to shake his booty!  I just barely caught him dancing to Sid the Science Kid.  Not his most animated dancing but still cute!

 

Earth Day

We spent Earth Day outside, all beautiful day long!  We went to play group at the park in the morning and then in the afternoon we hit the Fernbank Forest with our friends.  The Forest is gorgeous….and quite hilly!  I didn’t get any pictures until the very end where the boys played with the chickens and roosters.