Ode to the potty?!

Or maybe not. Honestly, I couldn't think of anything else to title this posting, so it is what it is. Let me start this by stating that I believe that potty training is the WORST chapter in a mom's life as being a parent! I have been dreading this day from the day Jackson was born and I am still not looking forward to diving in full fledged. However, I still have pee-pee parties and poopy trains going around the house!

Eh em... back to the post...

A friend of mine recently sent me a message through Facebook inquiring how Jackson's potty training was going because she is trying to train her daughter as well. So, instead of just responding to her email (because I know she reads my blog as well), I thought I would let EVERYONE know too.

Let me just tell you... um.. it's going. I guess the best way to put it is, we are still doing the "introduction" stage. If there is one of those. When we first started all of this, he really was just using it in the evenings when HE decided he was ready to "pee-pee in the potty". The few times that I tried to get him to go in the morning, his quick answer was NO! and he would start crying when I started to take his PJs off. And... since I get up at the very last minute in the mornings, I didn't have time to fight with him. So, I just got him ready and he peed in his diaper.

This week, I have started making him go on our toilet. Monday morning, I woke him up and told him that we needed to go try and pee-pee in the potty. I thought he would react a little better than he did because he did use the big toilet the night before. I told him that I wanted him to try the big boy potty, and the no's started. We got into the bathroom and he started crying... But, I was persistent. He is not going to win this battle. I got his clothes off and his diaper and sat him on the toilet backwards. I had a thought that it may help him to see the process. He fought me getting on the toilet and wanted me to pick him back up. I just stayed close to him and told him that he was going to be okay and that he wasn't going to fall. It didn't help. The only thing that did was to find something to divert his attention -- the water drop on the back of the toilet lid in front of him. He finally stopped crying. I looked at him and told him that he could pee-pee in the hole. "Wouldn't it be so great if you did that?!" He sat for a minute and then wwaallaahh! He did it and was rewarded with "fruit snacks".

He does so much better in the evenings because he goes right after his bath. I have been telling him that he cannot pee-pee in the bathtub. So in his little rebelious mind, he gets to giggling whenever I am getting ready to put his towel on because he wants to pee in the tub. I tell him that he better not do it and then we run to the potty. And he goes like a charm. No crying, no fighting, nothing...

I have been persistent every morning this week to get him to go. We start with the tears, then go into the diversion, and then he gets happy again, and then he goes. After that he gets really excited because he gets to flush and get fruit snacks (with a hand washing in between there). Like I said though, the evenings are so much easier... with peeing...

Tuesday night, he went hiding to his room to go poopy. I heard him start to grunt and I told him the he needed to poopy on the potty. He said "LEAVE ME ALONE, MOMMY!" "GO!" and was shooing me away with his hand. AHHH!

I bet you are wondering about mid-day. You see, day care doesn't allow me to train him cold turkey with underpants. They want pull-ups and I am boycotting them. I personally think they are the worst things ever made as it is just another form of a diaper that leaks like a swimmer. So, during the day he is still in a diaper. His teacher told me the other day that she asked him if he wanted to go to the potty because he had a dry diaper all day and he said no... so she didn't take him. Hmmm... he is going to tell you no... even if he has to go... but that is something I have to take up with his teachers. Right now though, I am still just trying to get him to LIKE going to the bathroom. I am not going to push so much for day care to start helping me until I can get him to go at home. Happily.

I am sorry if this posting seems a little choppy. There was so much I wanted to say but I just am so tired and not really in the mood of typing. So, I hope you get the jist of what I am trying to say and hopefully when we meet again, you will have fun reading what I have written to you. Goodnight.

Birthday

Today, I turned 29 and this is what was waiting for me when I got home...

Doesn't look very "jacked up" to me!
Wayne picked Jackson up early today from daycare and they spent the afternoon getting prepared for me to come home on my birthday! Jackson helped Daddy make my cake.






It looks like they had a lot of fun! You know what? It tasted great too! Wayne said that he didn't ask anyone for help -- he had been watching me make mine, so he knew about what to do! I will tell you that this just made my day! :) I also got a cute little card and a new pocket book from Jackson. They are always nice to have.

This has been a great day and I am looking forward to the year to come!

Cakes -- update

I am guessing that you are interested in an update on the cakes that I have been doing. I only have pictures of two of the most recent ones that I have done, but I love them so much, they definitely make up for the ones that I missed taking pictures of! :)

The Yo Gabba Gabba one that I was getting really nervous about turned out beautifully. I was so excited about it! As my Mom said, it looked just like the picture I had!


And then there was a ladybug cake…



I think this one has been my favorite -- even though I love all of the ones that I do! Oh, and business is kicking off! I posted these two pictures to my facebook account and people are coming out of the woodwork! Love it! Thank you! God is so good! :)

Dear Mom...

Disclaimer: Tears may well up and tissues will probably be required. Consider yourself warned! :)

Oh, where do I begin? I love you and thank you sounds good. :) Since you are away on this special day, I want to take a small moment, in a different way, to wish you a wonderful Mother's Day. You are so special to me and I thank God that he gave me to YOU. You have not only been my Mom, but you have been my very best friend, my shoulder to cry on, my giggle partner, my advisor/mentor and so much more. I am glad that we have the relationship that we have. I believe that through life, it has made us both stronger.

Thank you so much for teaching me everything you have through life -- the good, the bad, and the ugly -- because they ALL matter. Thank you for your little tidbits in life, i.e. telling me to marry someone that would make me laugh, to smile often, and to choose my battles. All of these are great pieces of advise for life!

Thank you for raising me with Christ first. I don't think you will ever know what that means to me. Thank you for praying for me. Thank you for praying for me AND Wayne. Thank you for raising me in a wonderful church that Wayne and I now call home (again - for me). I really believe that I am in a place that God wants me to be right now and it really feels great.

As I type this, I am thinking about the many things that I could say. One of the things that keeps coming to mind are our cards/letters that you sent to me a while back. (I still have them and they will appear again... :)) So often, I made a reference to you teaching me to fly so that I could leave your nest. Now that I am "soaring" in my world as an adult, wife, and Mommy, please know that I still see you behind me watching and guarding my every move. Even though you may not speak when you may see me falling, I know you are there. I just have to call on you if I ever need anything. That is part of what is special between us.

Thank you for just being you. You were right, I would never understand the love that a mother has for her child until I had one of my own. I do believe that there is a special kind of love that is from a child to their mom. There is for me anyway. One that is sincerely thankful and unconditional.

I love you, Mom. Thank you for everything you have done and will continue to do. You are AWESOME!

Love Always,
Jennifer

He's growin' up!

... and my hair is getting longer! :)

Our annual town festival has arrived again. The Blooming Festival started this past Wednesday night and ended tonight. Since Jackson arrived, I usually only go on Saturday morning just to check out the booths and watch the parade.

Last year, my mom was so instistent on taking a picture of me and Jackson (because we had one in 2009), that I think this year I have made it a tradition. However, lucky me... :( all of my family members were "busy" this year... so, it really made it hard to pin-point someone to take our picture because I wasn't sure if Wayne was going to be available with him working the festival. Luckily a friend of mine was able to make it (after her son played soccer this morning) so she was able to take our 3rd Annual Blooming Festival Photo!

Oh, and I really don't mean to "toot my own horn", but I do have to say that my favorite one is this years! Maybe, just maybe, soon there will be a third party in our picture. :) Wishful thinking, I guess. (Love you, Sweetie!)