Cub Scout Blue & Gold Candy Bouqets

We have Blue & Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts coming up this week and so I am trying to put some life into this horribly dead program. I am trying to help the leaders WANT to be in their callings rather than FORCED to be there. I want them to know that I am thankful for them, and hopefully they will want to do more than they are doing.

I saw this and thought it was a cute thing to give them, that I would want, and I could definitely make it.

So I made them a blue & gold candy bouquet! 

I am excited to give it to them.

I'm A Big Girl Now with my big girl bed!

Well, I am not doing well at many of my New Year's Resolutions but I am trying to keep this blog going. 

The biggest thing that we have had this week is Michelle is more and more a big girl. She is peeing in the toilet whenever she is awake. Her pooping is a different story. She is almost scared to go in the toilet for some reason. She just clenches those little butt cheeks together and doesn't let it out. 

On Wednesday I had to have her with me at Cub Scouts because Chris was working his other job and she told me probably about 5 times that she had to go potty but every time I took her she didn't go. I finally stopped taking her to the bathroom. I remember Matthew having this problem and our pediatrician told us to use liquid kids suppository. It helped with him and so that night I went and picked some up and when she woke up in the morning I gave it to her and she was able to poop on the toilet.

She knows she needs to go, but just won't go so I have had to do it a couple other times. It is a work in progress.

Anyways, this week I decided it was time that she slept in a big girl bed. I have been worried about this because she has been just fine in her crib and never attempted to crawl out or anything...but it is about time to let her grow up a little more.....AND I need to do these things when I am still hopeful that there will be another one. I didn't want to think about her actually growing up so much.

She was super excited about her big girl bed. We found all the bedding from when Allison got her big girl bed and just put it on.

I was SOOO surprised that she never attempted to even get out of bed!!!

YES!!

I have a video monitor that a friend gave us when she was first born and it has been the best thing ever!!

She did sit up in her bed once but then she laid down and went to sleep.

I was SOO excited that she actually fell asleep in it.

I went in and even used the flash to send it to Chris. He was also surprised she was actually sleeping in her bed.

This bed is basically still the crib though, except I pulled one side off and put this little guard rail up. However I did give her a super small pillow and tucked in blankets to make it more like a bed rather than just her crib.

This crib/toddler bed actually turns into a regular twin sized bed also when we want it to. 

So she is out of her high chair, now she sits with us in a booster seat at the table, we all thought that was really weird when we first started that. Now she is out of her crib, she uses the toilet (most the time). I asked Allison what was left that still made her a baby? She came up with Michelle still uses a binki when she goes to sleep. We threw the potty training at her, then put her in a booster seat in the same week. The next week she went into a big girl bed. I don't know if I am ready to take the binki from her yet....but she is almost 3....it is part of our bedtime routine so we might just need to replace it with a different routine.

I will have to think about that.

Burkwood Swim Meet #1

The kids started swimming training this month.....but I don't think we will keep going once this month is over. My kids NEED to go to sleep early (7:30 & 8pm) in order for them to get their sleep and be happy. Matthew gets off the bus, changes into swim shorts and grabs his swimming stuff and then we have to leave. We get home around 6pm and sometimes he is lucky to eat before we have to go to Archery practice then by the time he gets home from that he showers and goes to bed. That is just on Tuesday, which means he has to wake up earlier in the morning to get his piano practiced and other chores done before going to school. On Monday he has Archery in the morning before school and then when he comes home from swimming he will usually babysit for us. Our date night is usually Monday night because that is when we don't have something else pulling us away. Anyway, Monday night is usually a less crazy night. However, on Wednesday he goes to school early for Archery practice, school, swimming, then Scouts. Thursday nights he only has Archery practice, no swimming, and Friday he has Archery practice morning and night. 

He is a BUSY kid. I really should have just wanted until March to put them in since Archery is going to be done this week. It has just been too busy.

HOWEVER, they did go to their first swim meet this past Friday. I think they do one the last Friday of the month. The kids did well and have either stayed the same from the end of summer swim team or even do better.

 This swim meet was held the same place that Allison's Champs Swim Meet was held last year. It was a new place for Matthew.

They both had fun.

Michelle was a trooper and sat in the stands with me just watching.

Fire Station Tour

Since I am in Cub Scouts now, if I have an adventure that I have to go to, I am bringing my older kids along if they want to come.

We met at the Fire Station and Allison wanted to join us so yes, of course....there has to be SOME perk to being in callings:)

Piano Train Wreck

I have been trying to learn the piano more now that it is on my Goals list. 

HOWEVER, I have been slacking with my practicing the last couple weeks. 

I FINALLY went to Relief Society today and I wanted to go in the play prelude because the RS pianist usually isn't there so I wanted to play my songs.

However, I had to take Michelle to the bathroom and then I help the Sunbeam teacher with potty break. Then I finally went to RS.

I realized that the closing song is one of the songs that I actually knew.

The 2nd Counselor is the person that normally plays when the pianist is gone. She is the only person that can play that is in the RS room. HOWEVER, they do have an automatic piano so you just have to push a button. 

I wanted to show off that I could actually play, and the 2nd Counselor had to take her baby out so when the teacher was done, I just went and sat on the piano bench. I could have just pushed the button, I have done that before but I wanted to play....BUT it had been a few weeks since I had played and I was BEYOND nervous, I messed up SOOOOOOO badly. It was pretty horrible actually. My hands were shaking so badly. The 2nd & 3rd verse went somewhat ok, but then I didn't realize that their was a 4th verse so I didn't start playing with them and then just lost it again towards the end. 

It was So bad, I just have to laugh or cry, I am choosing to laugh. After the closing prayer, I played that song just fine, and played my other songs but I was still shaking. As I did piano lessons with the kids today and Matthew was making quite a few mistakes and I just started laughing realizing how horrible I played. I just have to think, I can't do worse than I did so I can only get better from here.

Michelle's Potty Training Week!!

So this week started with me really mentally getting ready to potty train Michelle. We had been talking about it for a few days before, maybe for her good, or for mine. I tried back in October and I wasn't mentally ready for her to pee in her panties time after time after time and I would get mad at her. After about 3 times of her doing that I knew that it was better for me, and for her to not do it anymore because I didn't like getting mad at her.

I knew this time around, I needed to be more compassionate, and loving and encouraging. I knew I couldn't get mad at her like I did last time. It didn't help her, or I, or how she did. 

Our awesome Pediatrition said to not even try to potty train her until she was 3 and then it would only take a few days.

So last week, I realized she is almost 3 and she now needs to be potty trained. She is close enough to 3 and she be able to. I was mentally ready for it.

I put her on the toilet every 20 minutes and yet she still peed in all 6 of her panties and then Allison dropped one of her clean panties from the dryer and so I put those on her as well because I didn't have anything else. While I was washing all the dirty panties, Michelle peed in panties #7 so I finally just had her run around naked. I have never done that with either of the other two kids. I saw throughout the morning that she was starting to finally realize what it felt like to have to pee and not just let it go, whenever. Her face would change like oh no, it is coming! She did REALLY well just being naked and would go to the potty if she had to pee. We put a pull-up on her for her nap but other than that if she was awake she was naked for the rest of that day. The next day, I tried to put panties on but she refused and I let her, but told her after her nap she would wear panties. She has done well and is learning how to strengthen those muscles to hold it in longer. After that nap we put panties on her and she has been doing awesome. She will tell us when she has to go, and only got a tiny bit in her panties as she learned how to use those muscles and how to build those muscles up. Throughout the day I would ask her, "Michelle, do you have to go potty?" Her response would always be, "No, thank you". Got to love a polite girl:)

She does better telling me when she has to go, rather than me asking her. I think she was starting to get irritated with us constantly asking her, like come on guys, I will let you know when I have to go. 

There have been a couple times when I have asked her to sit on the toilet because we had to run the kids to swim practice and she would actually go!!

We aren't trying to worry about nap-time yet but usually she will wake up from her naps with a dry pull-up, but not always.

We have tried to stay home as much as possible, but some times we just had to go places. 

All of this is TMI, but oh well, my blog:) On Wednesday, I knew that Michelle needed to poop but she didn't want to go on the toilet. She had gone on the toilet just on Saturday so I didn't think it would be a big deal...but she wants a diaper to go in still. I had to watch her like a hawk to finally swoop her on and put her on the toilet to poop. She did but I knew she wasn't done.

I had a meeting that night and while I was waiting for someone to get to the church building, I had to change Michelle's pull-up. I ended up having to change her diaper 3 times that night!! Ridiculous, but we were at the church for about 3 hours but she would rather go in a diaper.

On Friday, it was Allison's half birthday which we celebrate as her school birthday since she has a summer birthday. I had Michelle pee and then put a pull-up on her. I ran upstairs to grab my keys and when I came done, she told me she pooped in her pull-up. I just acted very sad with Michelle. So she is still struggling with the pooping part. She would rather just do it in a diaper. I would like to not have to go anywhere and just have her in panties because I don't know if she will actually poop in her panties but pull-ups and diapers are what she is used to.

Anyways, today we did put her in a pull-up to go to church, no nursery leader wants to deal with that. I took Michelle to the bathroom after Sacrament but she didn't do anything. I did go and get her after 2nd hour and then she peed in the toilet so I was excited for her and that she was willing to sit on a big toilet without any problems.

I feel like we have had a lot of success in the peeing department. She is now telling us every time she has to pee and no drops end up in her panties. So those muscles are getting stronger!!

Now we just need to concur the pooping part of potty training!

Swim Training Started & Matthew's Baptism Debut

The older kids have started swim training and it makes our lives a whole lot more hectic.

We have had to move things that were on the week days to the weekends to help the kids have time to do what they need to get done, since my kids go to bed early to get their sleep so they can be happy.

 They love going to swimming and usually tell me how much fun they had that day in the water. I am grateful that my older kids do know how to swim and know all the strokes. 

I am feeling like the weeks go by quickly.

This week was my third of three weeks to sub as chorister. We played Jenga while singing the song we are trying to learn. I was trying to not make it TOO fun so that it wasn't such a big difference because Sister Graham and I. Allison figured it out well. Sister Graham is very reverent and sings reverent songs. I am irreverent and do crazy fun things. We are both good, just different. 

The song Baptism in the Children's Songbook, is the hardest song in that book and so I decided that Matthew needed to learn how to play it. Very few pianists can actually play that song. In fact, when I was the chorister in Texas, even though Baptism was one of our songs for the program, when it came time for the program, my pianist had a different lady go up to play that song and then she played everything else. There are so many notes in just one measure that I only made him learn one measure a week. He was frustrated at first but after a couple weeks when he was getting it down, he would have a smile on his face when playing it because his left hand would be going all over the piano. He really thrived on it. We got to my last week subbing and I really wanted Matthew to play it for us in Primary while I was in there. I was pushing him a lot and he would get frustrated with it because it wasn't quite ready....but he WANTED to play it while I was in there. If it hadn't been my last day I wouldn't have him play it, because he wasn't completely ready but since it was, he opted to play it.

He played it and only had to drop his left hand for one measure and then picked it back up while accompanying us. I was SOO proud of him. He did a GREAT job, considering that he wasn't ready. It was the first time he had ever been able to keep going while I was singing with him. 

Matthew got a lot of praise and so Allison has decided that she wants to learn that song to. Allison is a little bit excited for Matthew to move out of primary in April so then she will be asked to play more of the songs.

There is a boy that turns 12 in March that accompanies a couple songs, Matthew that plays many songs but turns 12 in April, and then Allison is learning more and more songs. She has learned When I Am Baptized which makes her feel old because Matthew learned that song to play for Allison's baptism so he was 10 and now she can play it at the age of 9. Once Matthew and Nathaniel are out, she will be the go-to person for that song and it makes her feel like a big kid now that she can play it. 

Another kid made his debut playing in Primary today, playing Book of Mormon Stories and did a great job. I love having kids playing for us. It builds their self-esteem, gives them practice, and lets them "show off" their talent that so many of us wish we had.

Loves to Read (Feb. 8, 2018)

Michelle loves to "read" and also loves to be read to.

February GOAL check

My brother had mentioned that they had a way to check how they are doing on their New Year's Resolutions. I don't think I had ever head of that before. It resonated with me. So if I go back and look at my goals monthly that can help me get back on track.

So.....have I actually been keeping ANY of my goals????

Um....welll......not really.....

I have blogged every week  ----- check

Drink 100oz of H20 daily ---- nope...need to work on that one

Lose 50 lbs or get pregnant ------ neither :( not that I would lose 50lbs in a month but I haven't lost any NOR am I pregnant:(

Keep House Cleaner ----- I don't think so...maybe a little

Do dishes every night ----- well the kids are helping with that, they take turns

Get step goal every day ----- no, I need to do that better also

Get ready each day ----- nope, only sometimes

Have more get togethers with ladies ----- I did get woman together for my birthday ice cream so I guess that counts

House updates ----- nope, nada, nothing

Enjoy and spend more time with kids ----- I think so??
Save More ----- Haven't really had the opportunity yet
Stay in budget better ----- I think so
Treat my wonderful Honey well ----- I think so?
Limited Time on Facebook/Internet ----- Yes, I think I have done this because I have unfollowed everybody on facebook so I only go on for my calling and I don't spend time scrolling through all of the posts.
Read a Book ----- Nope
Learn 6 Hymns & 6 Primary Songs ----- Haven't practiced much:(
Daily Family Scripture Study ----- No:(
Daily Family Prayers ----- No:(

It is a good idea to go back and remember these goals monthly or maybe more often and remind myself of what I need to do.

I needed to change my Fitbit profile picture so I could some:

Michelle Clams Up

Yesterday, Michelle and I got invited to a girl in our wards' house who was born the day after Michelle, in the same hospital.

I walked Michelle down to her room to see her when we were both in the hospital.

Anyways, we went there and I know that Michelle clams up a lot, but I realized that I need to get her out a WHOLE lot more. She really has to warm up to a person/people before she will start talking and stuff.

She didn't really want to leave my side much, didn't want to play with the other girl, Audrey Fox, just because she isn't used to it. Audrey was really sweet and asked Michelle to go upstairs with her and Michelle took her outstretched hand and they went upstairs. They didn't last very long up there before we heard little Audrey yelling down, "Michelle is crying."  Nothing was wrong with Michelle, she was just scared because I wasn't with her. I need to get her out more and drop her off at more friends' house to help her get used to not having me, or her family around all the time.

This week we will be having another friend, Nicky Rowland, come over to play and then on Wednesday, I will be taking her to visit teach with me. 

Last week we tried preschool storytime and she just wanted to sit on my lap the whole time. When they brought the shakers out it was too much for her, and she started crying. We left. We will go back on Thursday and try it again.

She does not clam up at home!!