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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

I Want to be Normal Again...and My Valentine's Day Gifts

The last few weeks have been..ehh...well let's just say they've been pretty rough. We never did an official announcement on the blog about my pregnancy. Everyone that reads this blog probably already knows anyways. Plus, I'll just now be 9 weeks tomorrow so it seemed a little early to be making announcements. But anyways, if you didn't know, now you do. I'm due September 22.

My first 2 pregnancies were brutal and this one is turning out to be the same..maybe worse. The term morning sickness makes me laugh. I have all day sickness. Pretty much from the moment my head lifts from the pillow in the morning to the time it lays down again at night I feel sick. Some days I throw up constantly, others I just feel that I could at any second and nothing happens and I get no relief.

I take a high powered anti-nausea medicine and eat all day to ward off the nausea. Probably not a good thing since I will probably feel like a whale at the end if I have to keep eating a lot! I take my pre-natal vitamins at night. I do almost anything possible to feel better, and it just never leaves.

This post isn't to complain or make you feel sorry for me. But more to make you feel sorry for my husband and kids haha! I feel horrible that my house is a disaster most days. I don't cook hardly at all. My kids eat pb&j almost everyday for lunch. Matt goes into work a little late every day so that he can help me get the kids up and fed in the mornings. Yesterday morning, Valentine's Day, instead of waking up to homemade cards and breakfast in bed, he got to deal with "Daddy, I'm done pooping on the potty", Carson crying in his bed with 102 fever and his nose plastered with snot, and the sounds of me puking in the other bathroom. Very, very romantic. But despite it all, he has been such a trooper. So supportive and helpful through it all. And I know he'll do the same for the next, oh, like 7 months.

I had planned to cook us dinner for Valentine's Day. I thought it was the least I could do for my honey to show him how much I appreciate and love him. Well, even that fell through yesterday. So Matt picked up dinner and a movie and a few Valentine's Day surprises for me. We don't really do Valentine's gifts so I was shocked when he said he had something for me. I have to say, they were probably the most thoughtful Valentine's gifts of the century. I bet no one got better gifts than me :) Just look...

My doctor suggested trying vitamin B-6 to help with the nausea. 

These are Sea Bands, used to prevent nausea due to motion sickness. Mine are a little different and the package even said morning sickness. 

And last, but definitely not least....
Oreos fix everything :)

I'm ready to feel normal again. We are praying that this doesn't last the entire pregnancy like it did with the boys. Maybe it will just be a first trimester thing like regular people get. Either way, pray my husband and kids survive! 

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Potty Training: Days 2 & 3

I never got around to posting day 2 so I'll just do both days in one, because really, they were about the same. Before this potty training experience began, we prayed about it and asked God to bless it, to give Brody the ability to learn this and be a willing participant. We asked God to make it go smoothly, partly just for all of us, and partly because I've been feeling so sick.

 And I have to say, the Lord answered mightily. Its almost as if we just skipped training. Like Brody just put underwear on and BAM! Just knew what to do. He only had 1 accident on Tuesday (day 2) and 1 Wednesday (day 3). Today we have been in the same pair of clean underwear ALL DAY! His pull ups have been dry every naptime and morning as well!

Again, I'm not getting over confident as if we'll never have accidents. We know we'll still need to keep a close eye on him for a while and keep reminding him to keep his underwear dry and to tell us if he needs to go. But this is a HUGE victory to even been this far. I was dreading this week. And the Lord came through  big time, as always. Praise the Lord for only having 1 child in diapers!! Our budget will definitely appreciate that :)

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Potty Training: Day 1

We are taking a second stab at potty training Brody. We attempted last May and it was..well..lets just say it didn't work out. We decided he just wasn't ready, and we thought there was a chance his leg condition may have been affecting it as well. So we waited until yesterday to start again.

We are doing the 3 day method with a couple of modifications. Leigh Ann loaned us some potty books to read to him and we got him syked up for it last week by reading one every day. His favorites are "Too Big for Diapers" with Ernie and "Diapers are Not Forever." We talked about it on Sunday night and yesterday morning he was excited when he got up and remembered it was the day for underwear and no more diapers.

All in all, yesterday was a great day. I think he really understands what we are trying to accomplish and seems willing to see it through this time. He only had 2 accidents all day. A few times his underwear were slightly damp and when we noticed, he would run to the potty and finish. It seems like when that happens he is realizing its happening and is catching it before it becomes an accident. So I'm really proud of him for that.

There were a couple of times early on yesterday that he said he was all done with the underwear and wanted to go back into diapers like Carson. But after explaining that Carson is still a baby and Brody is a big boy, he decided he wanted to stay in big boy underwear. We also moved all the diapers and wipes into Carson's room and are only changing him in there, out of Brody's sight. 

One major modification we are doing (that the 3 day method does not support) is that we are using pull ups at nap time and bedtime. The first go round we did underwear at sleep times, and although I understand the reason why, it was just too much for me to handle. He was never taking good naps because he'd wake up covered in pee or worse. And the same at night. It was miserable for all of us and it about made me lose my mind. So this time, that just wasn't an option for me. Between morning sickness (oh, I guess we need to blog about that announcement!) and raising 2 toddlers, I just couldn't add that stress. We explain to him that these are his nightime/naptime underwear and to try to keep them dry and to still tell us if he needs to go potty. When he woke up this morning, it seemed  he only wet once in the pull up.

So far, day 1 yesterday was fairly easy. I'm not getting my hopes up that we've got this thing in the bag. Day 1 last time went pretty good as well. But I feel like this time is different. He is more mature and definitely more willing this time. We still don't know if his condition has any affect on the training. His legs seem stronger than they were last May, so maybe the other muscles have developed more as well which may be helping him get it this time. I'll wait until tomorrow to do a post on how today is going. I should wait to see how things play out after nap time before I get too excited :)