Stomach Flu

I know it has been nearly two week since I lasted posted, but it has been a busy and yet calm couple of weeks. Johnny and Mommy both got the stomach flu last week and it was not fun. We spent days throwing up and having diarrhea and then days after that of fighting the diarrhea. I feels like it may never stop. Mommy is feeling much better, but Johnny's tummy is still bothering him. But here are a few pictures of our week.

We pulled out Johnny's tent that Grandma Sharon and GG got him for his 1st birthday and put it outside for him to crawl around in, he loves it!

We had one hot day the day before the flu hit our house so we tried out Johnny's little pool. He much more enjoyed the filling of the pool and less the playing in the water.

I just thought this was cute, playing with his little toes, my baby boy!

Recovering from a night of throwing up and and a morning of an upset stomach, watching Dinosaur Train.

Part of trying to get rid of the flu and make his tummy feel better is eating the BRAT diet...Bananas, Rice, Apples and Toast. Johnny decided to start eating his apples whole...core and all! Why wouldn't he, no one ever told him not too and why would I.

This was last night, just as we thought the flu was gone, Johnny got really sick again. This time he was bent over in pain and wanted to be held and soothed and had his worst poos ever. He didn't want to eat, he just wanted to go to bed, whimpering. After a quick trip to the doctor this morning we are gathering some samples of his poo and cutting out lactose. It appears that I gave him milk too soon after the flu and his tiny tummy wasn't ready to process it yet, but the samples are just to make sure it is nothing more serious.

Because of our flu invaded house we haven't been doing much more then recovering. Potty training was going amazingly before the flu hit and he regressed a little needing to wear a diaper on and off. But we have been trying to go back to undies and sit on the potty as much as possible. I would say he is mostly potty trained, he knows what to do and when to do it, but the diaper confuses him...but it is either that or me scrubbing poo of the couch...which did happen this week. We look forward to a calm week end and finally moving past this horrible poo flu!

35 Weeks and all is Right on Track

Just a quick Lily update. Our due date is very rapidity approaching and we are getting more excited and more nervous every day! We had our big 35 week check up today, so we all went to the midwife appointment together. After an exam we now know that Mommy is not dilated, but beginning to soften, which means we will probably get to our due date, but we are right on track. We had to have an ultrasound to make sure Lily was head down and in the right position...which she is! No more breached baby fears! So in short everything is going great!

This past week end Shawn and I went to our birthing class together. It was a wonderful experience. I felt like it brought Shawn and I closer and laid out what Shawn's roll will be during labor and helped us make plans for the event. Everything is starting to get real and it is hitting me that labor is getting closer and closer and I am really going to have to do this again, oh crap! I started freaking out again. We are planning on going more natural then we did with Johnny, avoiding induction or pitocin or any pain medication at all. Actually the hospital now has a labor tub suite that I have requested, so we plan on using hydrotherapy to help with the pain. But up until today it was all just a distant plan, today it became real and next week when I hit 37 weeks I will be considered full term! and ready for her to come out at any time. As a good labor partner and daddy to be Shawn helped me out a lot today reminding me that I handled labor and delivery just fine last time, when I had little idea of what to expect. With a second baby everything in my body knows and is prepared to do it all again. Labor is suppose to go quicker and be easier, we can do this! It is only a day or two out of a life time we will have. And after we will have our Lily girl and our family will be whole. I can't wait for Johnny to meet his little sister!

First Underwear

Look at that big boy butt in his big boy Elmo underwear. You know those will be going into his keepsake box.

My big boy woke up bright and early at 7:15 am and went right into his first pair of underwear! He picked them out himself!!!

So here is to another day of potty training, fingers crossed.

Potty Training Day 2

8 am, Off to a great start! Johnny woke up around 7:30 with a wet diaper, but no poo poo. Twice between 7:30 and 8 Johnny asked to go potty just for us to sit there. But at 8 am it was like a well oiled machine...."Momma Potty" and we went to the potty and he peed, A LOT!!!

9 am, I found a puddle on the tile but I can't decide if it is an accident or something was spilled. We where upstairs for most of the last hour and pee pee hitting the tile would have made enough noise for me to hear. Either way it is not a big deal, accidents are to be expected, but we will be headed to the potty every 15 minutes again instead of waiting for him to tell me.

9:15 am, headed to sit on the potty and he didn't throw a fit or anything. We where reading books and a little pee came out in the toilet and his little face lit up, then it was like a light came on and his mind said "oh ya that is what I am suppose to do here" and he let a bunch out. But he wanted to keep reading books so we sat there for a little while longer reading books.

10 am, I have noticed he is leaking more without noticing today, he is drinking more today then yesterday, which would account for it.

10:30 am, after throwing a fit and sitting in time out for the first time over going potty he finally peed again on the potty. He knows what to do and isn't emptying his bladder on the floor, just leaking a little now and then.

11 am, he still hasn't told me again that he needs to potty, but he did pee again when I put him on it. He still knows, but now he is testing it, we just have to keep reinforcing going on the potty, nothing happens over night!

11:20 am, Morning is our TV time, maybe Dinosaur Train and Sesame Street has been distracting. I noticed Johnny holding himself and dancing a little while watching TV so I took him to the potty and he peed a lot! The TV is off.

This is Johnny playing with his "reward." We don't offer candy or anything just because I am not sure his mind can relate the reward with potty. But these silk flowers are from our wedding and are in a glass cabinet in the bathroom, Johnny always asks to play with them so I only let him after he goes pee pee on the potty.

11:30 am, It appears my TV theory was correct. Johnny just ran by me, sitting at the computer, yelling "MOMMA POTTY" right to the bathroom, climbed up and went poo poo! But he was so excited to see and say "bye bye" to his poo poo that he got off the potty and I thought he was done. A few minutes later he ran past me again yelling "POTTY" and sat down again to pee pee! Like he was trying to hold everything in until his shows where over.

Saying bye bye to his poo poo! (yes I am keeping the camera in the bathroom, this is all very exciting)

3 pm, After a great two hour nap his training pants where wet, but dryer then yesterday and he peed on the potty right after he woke up. Then Mommy tried to stay upstairs and put away cloths for the last hour and Johnny wasn't having that. Without mommy's full attention he just wasn't happy, he started to yell "potty" every five minutes to get my attention, knowing I would come running. This being just the second day I kept coming to him, but we set up the bathroom so that he can now get on the toilet by himself, but he still asks for help to get Mommy's attention. And no accidents this afternoon, he is doing great, if a little side tracked!

6 pm, I am a little confused on where we are at right now. After his last pee at 3 pm I tried to give him the opportunity to tell me that he needed to go. I asked him often and the answer was always "no." When Daddy came home around 5 pm, Daddy took him to the potty and he peed, but only a little. Then around 5:45 as we where eating dinner he asked to go potty, and peed again only a little, I think that was more to get out of sitting in his high chair. As far as I can tell he has not had any accidents, but when I clean up the toys tonight I fear I will find a pee corner!

I was going to wait until Thursday to put his underwear on him, but maybe we will try tomorrow so I can really see how much he is holding and how much he is just letting out when he doesn't want to bother with the bathroom. He knows where to put the pee pee and poo poo, it is time to move forward.

6:20 pm, while climbing on and kissing Daddy Johnny told him "potty poo poo" He then peed a good amount, but no poo poo. I am learning that there is no pee schedule, you never really know when he will need to go or how much he will need to pee. Yesterday was just so cut and dry, and today not so much...but he is still doing an amazing job!

6:45 pm, Johnny was sitting with Daddy on the couch watching Elmo's World and Daddy saw him acting suspicious and asked him if he needed to potty...Johnny said "watching Elmo's World." So we showed Johnny how to pause it and Johnny dragged Daddy to the potty where Johnny fully emptied his bladder! He is a good boy! See him hold his pee even when he doesn't want to leave what he is doing to use the potty itself.

Bath and bed and a diaper again for sleep.

Week end at the Beach

This past week end Friday the 9th through Sunday the 11th Johnny went to the beach with Grams, Pops and Ella and had a blast! He really loved the water. Click eaither picture to link to Grams' blog post about the week end.

Potty Training Day 1

I am starting this post at 11:30 am and plan on continuing it for the rest of the day. I wanted to document our potty training. This is our third time trying potty training. The first was when Johnny was about 21 months old, he just couldn't hold pee, he just leaked all day, he wasn't physically ready. The second time was last month and we just tried cloth training pants, but he didn't care when he was wet. So this time Johnny and Mommy are not going anywhere all week and Johnny is going around the house half naked, which he enjoys.

All morning we have been going to sit on the potty every 15-30 minutes and sit there until something comes out or about 10 minutes pass, reading books and playing dinosaurs. Twice during our regular sittings he has peed on the potty! He realizes it and gets really excited, we clapped and yelled and made a really big deal out of it.

Johnny had to take his favorite two dinosaurs and his elephant with him, he held on tight so none of his friends fell in.

We wondered outside to water Mommy's plants and Johnny found his new little chairs and got comfy. He would have sat there all day, but there where lots of bees, see the dandelions! Daddy is going to take care of it tonight.

Once this morning Johnny peed while sitting on the floor and got up saying "potty" and we rushed to the potty, but he must have emptied on the floor...no big deal, I was so proud that he knew he needed to go to the potty. Just now Johnny peed a little on the floor, stopped himself and said "potty," so we ran to the potty and he peed a bunch! I was so proud! We clapped and laughed together and we hugged.

The Afternoon:
He peed quite a bit in his training pants at nap time and woke up angry about it, but once we handle peeing on the potty awake we will work on holding it while asleep. Then once out of bed he peed a little on the floor without noticing it, but Momma noticed it shortly after it came out and rushed to the bathroom. It concerns me that maybe he was leaking all morning and I just didn't notice it. But we hold the course steady, what else can we do? This is the point where Momma started to waver the last two times we tried, the afternoons seem to be harder, but I can't give up on him again, he is a smart kid and deserves to be aloud to grow up.

3 pm SUCCESS!! Johnny is eating his snack and asks me "potty?" I say "YES" and grab him...we sit down and he pees a bunch! Laughing and clapping the entire time! Then he even tried to push a little, so a poo poo might be on its way. He also seems to like to sit on the potty with Momma's undivided attention and lots of books! I like it too!!!

3:20 pm DOUBLE SUCCESS!!! Momma is sitting at the computer and Johnny is playing behind me, I hear "potty poo poo, Momma potty" and he went running for the bathroom!!! He got his little stool put it in front of the potty and climbed onto the toilet all by himself! Then peed and pooped!!!! That is my big boy!! He immediately got off to look into the potty and say bye bye to his poo poo! As sad as it makes me that he is growing up, I am close to tears with pride at this accomplishment!

4:30 pm another success!!! As I clean the floor in the bathroom he comes in and asks what I am doing, I tell him and ask if he wants to go potty and, there ya go, back on the potty and immediately a full bladder is empty!

I have learned to time our trips to sit on the potty around what he is doing, to catch him in between toys and not to put on any full length movies, (Land Before Time) but only shows with a break in the story line every 15-20 minutes like dinosaur train or Elmo's World. If you try to take him away from something he is enjoying to go to the potty he will just yell and not pee pee. But at this point in the afternoon he is telling me when he needs to go and stares at me blankly when I just put him on.

6 pm AGAIN! After an hour and a half of trips to try to potty and a couple false alarms we have yet another success!!! With NO leaks or accidents in between! This stream was long and I was scared to clap and congratulate him until it was done for fear he would stop. He told me "potty" we went to the bathroom, sat on the toilet and there ya go...again! I will be putting his training pants on him for dinner, because bare butt at the table seems unhealthy. Oh and he isn't fully naked, just bottomless, he has been wearing a T-shirt all day.

7:15 pm After an hour or so in the training pants they where completely dry when I took them off! And we sat on the potty again with nothing coming out. But he is getting tired since he didn't nap well having peed and been angry about being wet. So he is taking a bath now and then will go into a diaper for bed.

Shawn and I discussed that if the potty training goes really well this week that we will transform his crib into a toddler bed, so we can minimize night diapers and work on complete potty training, i e him getting out of bed to potty if he needs to. He does know and welcome bed time and even puts himself to bed when he can get into his crib alone. The only thing is, that I thought we would need him to still be contained in the crib when Lily gets here just in case she wakes him in the middle of the night. But we will see how the rest of the week goes. We have NO plans to go anywhere or do anything but pee on the potty!

Today was a very hopeful and positive start. I attribute some of this to Grams and Pops trip to the beach with the kids this past week end. They had him on the potty when ever they could and in his swim trunks with no diaper or little swimmer for a good deal of the time. They both say that they noticed every once in a while he would stop and spread his legs a little bit and look down, or even see the pee running down his leg and once while he was pooping in his diaper he told them and walked funny, obviously not wanting the poo there. He was perfectly ready to start this with momma today. We had so few accidents and I feel like he is really catching on. A couple more days bare butt and then maybe we will try underwear again.

One unrelated sweet story: while Johnny was in his dinner time training pants he was cuddling with me!!! Which is sweet and out of his norm anyways, but Mommy's belly was in the way so we talked about a baby being in Mommy's belly and he was catching on, even lifting his shirt to ask if there was a baby in his belly. Then he kissed my belly, it was very sweet. Mommy and Johnny had a few sweet moments talking about the new baby and cuddling together! He kept moving my arms to make sure I was holding him the way he wanted me to hold him saying "hold me." I will forever cherish these moments and this day, just Mommy and Johnny having a great growing day together. He really helped my Mommy self esteem today, he is a good and smart boy!

Easter 2010

Easter this year was so much fun! Easter bunny basket, church and an egg hunt and family dinner!

The Easter Bunny may have gone a little overboard this year.

Even though the Easter bunny didn't hide the basket, it still took Johnny a few minutes to realize where it was and what he was suppose to do with it. But once he did he dug in and had a blast!

He got a new dinosaur and an elephant, he picked each off the basket carefully and held on to them for the rest of the morning...if the basket just had these two in it, he would have been happy.

Roarrrrrr!!

And his chocolate turtle. Every time he found a new candy or food item he would ask for it to be opened, chew on it a little and then hand it back. Also Johnny didn't want to wear the blue bunny ear head band from his basket, so Momma put on the bunny ear hat she made him...so he is festive.

Daddy (in his Christmas jammies) helped Johnny sort through everything else, showing him these new little dinosaurs.

He really enjoyed this chocolate flavored duck! And see he wants to share. But he ate half of this before moving on.

Of course he got the traditional kite, which Daddy was very excited about and has been checking the wind each day this week waiting for a good day to show Johnny how it works.

He is just a pretty pretty boy!

The Doodle Pro was something Johnny asked the Easter Bunny for and has been a clean and safe drawing toy.

After a morning of playing and eating chocolate we got dressed up and headed to meet Grams and Pops for Easter Mass. Mommy and Grams got this adorable sailor suit and saddle shoes for his fresh start this spring.

Johnny is a good boy, but he has a lot of energy. We tried to take him to the church child care but someone closed the door and it locked and no one knew. Johnny sat with us for a little bit. It was frustrating but we all understood why he wouldn't sit still, Daddy and Papa took turns walking outside with him. He was very happy to have so much of his family all together.

Our sweet little family outside after Mass.

After Church we headed home for a nap and preparing for everyone to come over for an egg hunt and Easter dinner.

Ella quickly showed Johnny how to hunt for hidden eggs and they had so much fun.

Look at them go, they where very quick at finding the eggs, which is good because the chocolate in the eggs was melting.

Grams and Pops where very helpful in making sure the kids found all of the eggs!

Grams and Pops got Johnny his first bike as an Easter gift. Daddy put it together while we played and waited for dinner to be ready.

This bike is very cool, Johnny can peddle and use it like a normal trike, or there are foot rests and we can just push him, OR the handle rolls underneath it so he can practice peddling and use it like a rocking horse! Johnny was excited to get on it, but still hasn't mastered the peddling part.

Finally dinner was ready!

Ella and Johnny helped to set the table with candy, so everyone had a sweet start to the meal.

For dinner we had honey glazed spiral ham, mashed potatoes, home made macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, and then dessert was a special derby pie and lemon merrang pie! Everything was so yummy and it was nice for all of us to sit together and enjoy it.

After dinner Papa took Johnny and Samantha to the park in our little wagon.

SOOOOOO much fun! Everyone hung around and played, blew bubbles, played "Easter Bunny" and watched a little TV. It was a wonderful day! I love making memories with our family.

What we did miss was Charlie, Michele and Wyatt who stayed in Ohio this year. We will see them in just a few weeks, but we thought about them all day. The Easter Bunny left three very large chocolate bunnies at Aunt Nenni's house for the three able to eat chocolate kids and we are saving all three for when Wyatt can enjoy them with us.

Spring is Here!!!

The past week we have seen lots of rain and then lots of sunshine!! We are opening windows and going to the park...SPRING IS HERE!! and we are loving it!!!

Last Friday night Ella spent the night with us and we did lots of fun stuff...including planting some veggie and flower seeds!

Ella picked out watermelons, corn, and peppers to plant. They both loved playing in the dirt and putting seeds and plant food in the pots. (we aren't suppose to plant anything that we want to eat in the ground because of the chemical testing here on post...scary!)

Saturday morning we got all set up and dyed some eggs! I was surprised how much Johnny enjoyed it, jumped right in!

and we knew Ella would love to paint some glitter on her eggs!

But putting one egg in each cup and waiting just was not good enough for Johnny, he wanted all of the cups and an egg for each, then he started moving them around, so each egg hit each cup for a few seconds.

Really it was very exciting.

When Ella was a baby and toddler her tongue never stayed in her mouth. But the older she gets the better she is about keeping it in, except when she is thinking very hard! and that is why I love this picture of her so much, she looks like baby Ella again, at least for a moment.

Ella's beautiful eggs!
Johnny is half naked because there was a big warning on the side of the box that said this stuff would stain! and he was in it up to his elbows and splashing it around!

Johnny's very colorful eggs!

The proof that the box was right and this stuff stains! But it washed off by the time he went to bed that night.

Somehow Mommy was so focused on Johnny's birthday, that the fact that Easter was fast approaching slipped my mind. Johnny wasn't a big fan of the Easter Bunny. We took him four separate times. The first two just so he could see the Easter Bunny and get used to him. Each time he would get excited "Easter Bunny, Easter Bunny, Easter Bunny" from the moment we pulled into the mall parking lot until we got one inch from the Easter Bunny and then he wanted "up up" in Mommy or Papa's arms and "bye bye, go go go, outside" to leave the Easter Bunny. Today we took Ella and Sammi with us so Johnny could see how to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap and that it was okay. It didn't go horrible, he sat there, but he wasn't all that happy about it. I promise better pictures in his adorable sailor outfit this Sunday!

On the way home we enjoyed the 70 degree weather and opened the windows, Johnny enjoyed it too.

Here our at least half Maryland boy got his first pair of flip flops (that he will keep on) and like any Maryland kid he wears them with jeans...all year round, but especially in the spring.

We are so relieved to have the nice weather and be getting out of the house, we are meeting and chatting with out neighbors and letting the fresh air breath through the house. Papa also came over this week and helped us out a lot getting our yard back together after the fence people (who no body official can seem to get a hold of) tore up our yard bad! We now have grass seed down and mulch and a much prettier and more comfy place for Johnny and Ella and probably our neighbor kids to play in!!! Yeah for warm weather!!

As far as Lily is concerned we are now 32 weeks pregnant, she seems to be okay in there. Mommy is getting very big and round! Lily must be losing space to move around because her kicks and movements are much more painful to Mommy and Mommy is starting to lose her breath much quicker, more heartburn and more trips to the potty. But we are getting more and more excited every day...we are now just 2 MONTHS from meeting our little Cupcake!