Potty Training. . .Still

Many of you know how much I have struggled with Isaac to get the potty training down. I started potty training him one year and 8 months ago. There have been a lot of ups and downs. Just when I would think he had it he would prove me wrong. He would go for days and be fine and then regress and have several accidents a day. It has been VERY frustrating. Well, a couple of weeks ago I came across a chart to reward kids for obedience but I thought it would work great as a potty chart. Isaac got to color a gumball on his chart every time he peed in the potty and when his chart was full we would go to the store and buy him a real gumball. Easy for him, cheap for me and he was very excited about it! I was doubtful that it would actually work, but I decided it was worth a shot. Well, it is working!! It is working really well. He has completed three charts and is now working on his fourth. On this newest chart he is coloring a gumball every day that he stays dry instead of every time he pees and when he is done he'll earn a gumball machine instead of just a gumball. I hope he stays with it because so far he has been dry for 8 days straight-a huge accomplishment for him. I am hopeful.


Isaac with his first completed potty chart


In other news, Sarah got her first tooth on Tuesday! I have yet to get a picture of it, in fact she'll hardly let me even see it, but I can feel it in there. She's getting so big!

It Will all be Worth it in the End, Right?

I have been lazy and had not tried too hard to get Sarah to give up her nighttime feeding. It was just too easy to get up and feed her. It only took about 10-15 minutes and she usually went right back to sleep. But this week I decided that it was time to get serious and get her sleeping through the night. I knew it would be difficult, but I knew in the end it would be worth it. The first night she woke up at 1:15 and cried for an hour and a half before I gave in and fed her. I know, that's about the worst thing I could have done, but I just wanted to go back to sleep so bad. The second night she woke up around 3:00 and cried for about an hour and then I fed her, but only on one side. That's an improvement, right? The third night she woke up around 3:00 again and only cried for 10 minutes and I didn't feed her! I was so excited. The fourth night (I know, this is getting drawn out but I want to document it) she woke up at 2:30 and cried for an hour and a half, but I didn't give in and feed her this time. She eventually went back to sleep and made it all night without eating. I knew she could. So last night I was expecting more of the same-long drawn out crying spells- but she surprised me and slept through the night!!! She went to bed at 7:30 pm and slept until 7:00 am! I was so shocked and happy when I woke up at 6:00 to work out and she was still asleep! I still can't believe it. It may have been a fluke and we may have more rough nights ahead of us, but it seems like she is getting it.

She is getting to be more mobile too. Yesterday she started that scary stage of leaning from one piece of furniture to the other, like from the table to the couch. She is also starting to crawl further distances to explore. She is pulling herself up on pretty much anything she can. Oh, I should have appreciated more that time when she couldn't do so much. It's hard not to look forward and want them to move on to the next stage.

Sarah is really starting to show us her attitude. I'm started to get really worried about how she'll be as a two-year-old because she is getting quite a temper! EVERY time I lay her down to change her she throws back her head and screams. And then when I try to keep her from rolling over she screams and cries. She will also scream at me if I'm not getting her what she wants fast enough. She is really getting to be quite demanding for an 8 month old.

Luckily, she is also happy much of the time and we LOVE to get her to laugh. The kids sang Pop Goes the Weasel about 30 times this morning because she was laughing so hard every time they sang Pop! It was really cute. We all just love her so much.

8 Months Old

Sarah turned 8 months old on Monday. I really can't believe how fast the time has gone! She is so much fun and has so much personality. It's hard to imagine how we ever lived without her.

On Sunday before church

Those shoes would not stay on. I put them on about 15 times before I finally gave up.

She is pulling herself up on everything now. It is really scary for me because I don't want her to fall. But I guess that is the only way she can learn. She is really proud of herself when she gets up too. She loves for us to clap for her and she is very happy about any attention the kids give her. She babbles a lot now saying mama, dada, nana, baba. It is really cute. She is a very efficient eater. It usually only takes her about 8-12 minutes for a feeding. She is very impatient when it comes to eating solids too. She knows when she is in her highchair that it is time to eat and she wants it now. Same thing when she is done too, she wants to get out of the highchair as soon as the food is gone and move on to other things. She is very vocal when I take away something she wants or if she sees something she wants that she can't get. It is so fun to see her explore her world. She is quite the little scientist right now. She gets bored quickly with the toys she has seen a lot and she is very interesting in seeing (and tasting) anything new. She is still getting up once a night to eat, but she quickly goes back to sleep. The past couple of weeks she has been waking up really early in the morning and not napping very well. I hope that trend doesn't last too long. She loves her daddy and gets really excited when she sees him. (She usually says dada when she sees him too) She has started interacting more with Isaac during the day while the other kids are at school and he loves that. He loves to hold her and give her toys to play with. She is such a happy baby most of the time and she is very loved.

Christmas Meadows

This past weekend Robby took Friday off and we went to Christmas Meadows to go camping with Robby's parents. It was such a great weekend! The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast (and got filthy, dirty in the process).



Here is the before getting dirty picture, right when we got there.


Robby's mom with Sarah

Robby's parents bought a trailer a few weeks ago and we got to try it out. It was great! I love having a toilet and a bed while camping. It was really nice.

Friday we got there in time to check out the campsite and get everything set up. Then we had dinner and sat around the campfire until bedtime.

Sitting around the campfire telling stories and looking at the stars. I don't think the kids had ever seen the Milky Way before. They thought it was pretty cool.


Saturday was a gorgeous day and I was all ready to enjoy listening to conference and being out in beautiful nature at the same time. Unfortunately we didn't realize how fast we could run the battery down on the trailer and we had no power. I did manage to catch the second half of the morning session while Sarah took a nap in the car. The others all did some fishing.

The view out the car window while I listened to conference.

The kids were very excited to do some fishing. Although we saw a lot of fish swimming around, no one caught anything.

Saturday afternoon we went for a hike and the scenery was gorgeous! I love being in the mountains in the fall.

There were a million logs on the ground around the trail and Savannah and Will were determined to walk on all of them.

Isaac was happy to be in the lead with Papa.

This was my favorite tree on our hike. The pictures don't do it justice. The yellow was so bright!

Exuberant Will. We had to remind him CONSTANTLY thoughout the hike to slow down so he wouldn't trip on something. I don't know where he gets all that energy!

My favorite tree on the way back. The lighting was a little better this time.

It was such a pretty hike. Sarah even slept through a lot of it on my back.

We headed back down to our campsite and had some dinner while Robby and his dad tried to catch a fish, but they had no luck once again.

The kids were excited to roast hotdogs and marshmellows over the campfire. They were great at gathering firewood and loved to help tend the fire.

I forgot to take the "after" pictures so you could see how dirty they really were. Oh well.

Sunday morning we got up and had a yummy pancake breakfast, cleaned up and headed for home. We listened to conference the whole way home. We had such a great trip. Thanks again Bill and Kim for inviting us. We can't wait to go again!

We have a Crawler!

Sarah started crawling yesterday! I managed to get some video this morning. She is still trying to figure out what to do with her legs, but she can move to get something she wants. I guess it's time to baby proof the house.