Kudos to you, Pampers!

Pampers have always dominated the diapers world for me. This is not new news to you, faithful blog readers... but I'm resharing this info because they've won me over once again.

It's been three years since I've had an infant in the Swaddlers line of diapers. Maybe these "new" advances are not really new...but they're new to me and I appreciate them.

You know how you're supposed to count the pees of your newborn for the first few weeks or so? Remember how hard it is to tell if they'd peed or not? Well Pampers made a blue line that runs the bottom portion of the diaper... And it turns green when your baby has peed! Genious! Thanks Pampers.

You know how frustrating it is to be inbetween diaper sizes? One size makes a big ol' gut on your kid (too tight) and the next size is so big the poop seeps out the gapeing legs holes. Pampers made inbetween sizes! Now my fat 9 1/2 week old can wear a 1-2 for a little while. Thanks my Pampers friends.

--Posted From My iPhone...pardon the errors, please!

Panties

This one's comin' first for Jennifer's sake...


Well, there's a new member of our household that's wearing panties these-days...nope, it's not Jeremy...it's Margaret!


So I'm a pretty strategic thinker...and when things do not go just like I've mapped them out...it can be a little bit frustrating sometimes. It really depends on what it is. For instance, maybe I've plotted how we're going to drive somewhere but Jeremy takes a different route. Fine. Probably not a big deal. Or maybe I was going to purchase animal crackers at Wal-Mart while grocery shopping but the only kind they carry are processed in a factory that has peanuts. Okay. I'll make a separate stop later this week. Not too life-altering. BUT, when I have planned out in my brain that my almost-three-year-old will be potty-trained before her baby brother comes and it DOESN'T happen. UGH. That's not "fine" or "okay." That's frustrating. I had to let it go, though, because Margaret was sooooooo not even interested in the potty during the months of January through March when I made my small first attepmts.

So April came and went and a new brother came to our house and I had TWO children in diapers. That's not what I had planned.

May began and Margaret's school started the potty-training process. She'd wear panties all day at school and every 20 minutes they'd make her go sit on the potty. Some of the other kids picked it up lightening fast and were saying, "Bye-bye" to those diapers. I am sure their parents felt like they had gotten a raise in these "tough economic times." Diapers are costly. However, my stubborn daughter chose to hold her pee and let it all come out TWICE A DAY: 1) at nap time when they put a diaper on her and 2) when we put a diaper on her for bedtime. She'd flood those diapers when she'd finally let her peepee out. It was amazing. In fact, one weekend as Jeremy and I were trying to keep up with the school routine at home...Margaret held her peepee for so long that we had to take her to the Cook Children's Emergency Clinic. And you know what they wanted her to do there? Pee in a cup! (Literally, Nana sat on the bathroom floor with her and prayed for God to help the peepees to come out!...It eventually did...).

Anyway...all that to say, we really thought, "She's just not ready."

Here are all the things we tried:
Incentives: enticing toys laid out for her to see as rewards for peepee in the potty
Long Potty Time: We'd all sit around the potty as a family and sing and read books in hopes that some would magically come out while we were there.
Only Panties: She'd only be allowed to wear panties for the whole...so she'd just pee her pants.
Praying: We'd sit on the potty and pray that God would help the peepees to come out.
Videos: We watched a potty-training video with her that showed other kids peepeeing. She thought they were cool...but still no peepees.
Mouse House: We promised a trip to Chuck E. Cheese if she poopooed in the potty.


Exhausting, right?


So what worked? Leaving her alone! We put her on the potty one night and left the room. She cried for 30 minutes...and then it went silent. I peeked around the corner to find Margaret staring in-between her legs with a HUGE surprised look on her face--SHE PEED IN THE POTTY. After that...she gradually worked her way to "no tears"...and within about four days she only was wearing panties and no accidents. Bliss.


The poopoo came a day or so later...and the whole family met for a poopoo party at Chuck E. Cheese!


We've been accident free since then...and lovin' that no-diaper feel.

Moral of the story: If at first you don't succeed, leave the kid alone to pee!!

Hellllllllloooooooo?

Okay...I have been gone too long, people! I haven't even OPENED blogger in over a month. So, I will probably not be able to catch up will all the funny-ness that has occurred...but I will at least make more of an effort to write in the next few months. I feel conflicted--cursed with lots of ideas and life-happenings to write about...but having a newborn and a three year old at home and not having the time to write.

Alas, here are some titles/story starters that will probably be coming:

Ross
Fat and Phat
Busted
Ross
Margaret: The Big Sister
Ride That Pony!
My Sister
Friends
Ross
Things Margaret Says
Honeybees
Flag Cakes
Diet Coke
Panties

Gotta go for now...baby Ross is fussin'.

My Wonderful Husband

Okay...so if you read this blog and you're not a Facebook friend...you really need to become a Facebook friend. That is where Jeremy and I have put updated pictures of Ross...I'm just sayin'...it would be helpful.

But Facebook is not why I sat down at my computer...I wanted to let my world know about my sweet husband.

I have a husband that would gladly sit for hours playing Out of the Park--a computer baseball game where he gets to be a GM or something and control the sport of baseball. I don't know. I just know he's won the pennant like 100 times...so I don't know why he's still a television producer and not a GM for a baseball team. I'm just sayin'...we could have a much bigger house, people. If it weren't baseball season this man could easily spend a day watching horror movies or zombie movies or Star Trek movies or Star Wars movies or reading about movies. He has a deep love of most things movie-music-or baseball related. And yet...I've entitled this post "My Wonderful Husband?" "Why?" you're surely asking yourself...

Well, let me tell you...
He really is the best husband. As I was sitting in the hospital and thinking through a day, I was touched by the amount of helpfulness and "being there" that he provides. I know his love language his Words of Affirmation...and mine is Acts of Service...so as he's doing sweet stuff for the family, I always try to genuinely praise him and his efforts (you know, as he speaks my language--I speak his). However, what he contributes to our family goes so far beyond him simply speaking my language. He is a huge help...and I really think it's just because he's wonderful.

When I was restricted to my hospital bed this weekend, I would have a moment where I would need him to go "fix" stuff around the room: pick up the straw wrapper on the floor, close that door, move the umbrellas, etc--general anal stuff that I was fixated on because I was stuck in bed. He'd always do it whenever I asked him to. Your tolerance to stuff like that amazes me.

I am breastfeeding Baby Ross. Jeremy gets up at every feeding and tag teams with me. He does the stuff that he can do--change the diaper, employ waking up techniques to the baby, grab a burp cloth, etc. He even does this now that we're home. It's hard to wake up so many times in the middle of the night...but Jeremy does. He knows this is a team effort to get our baby fed and back in bed. I appreciate that.

When I am feeding Ross, Jeremy will make sure I have a big glass of water to drink. I appreciate that, too.

While I was feeding Ross this morning, Jeremy asked me why a towel was on the floor in the hallway. I told him it was because I needed to sort the laundry and get that going--the hamper door wouldn't stay closed anymore (a sure sign that laundry should be done). Next thing I knew, Jeremy was sorting the laundry and had started a load. Thank you...you know bending down is still hard for me...you doing the laundry without being asked is a huge help.

Clutter annoys me. While we were tidying the house the night before we were to have Ross, I noticed a huge pile of stuff (bills that needed to be filed, papers, etc) was gone. I hollered out a thank you to Jeremy for sorting that stuff and moving it off the counter. He hollered back that he hadn't sorted it yet. Wha? I looked around...he had picked it up and placed it out of the way--in a spot where he'd see it next bill paying time and have to sort it then...thus, he got it out of the way because he knew it would bother me to come home to all that clutter. That was very thoughtful of you, Jeremy.

When Jeremy knows I've been doing too much stuff, he'll get me to stop working. He'll either make a deal with me: Sarah, I'll set the time and we'll see how much we can get done in 20 minutes and then we're going to sit down for the rest of the night...Or, he'll simply tell me that I need to take a break and we're not going to work anymore for the day. No bargaining...just telling me to stop. Thank you, Jeremy, for balancing me out.

Even though I love to cook...he beats me home by about 10 minutes most days...so he starts and/or cooks the family dinner about 80% of the time. Thanks for being helping the family be able to eat before too late.

Truthfully...there are numerous other reasons that contribute to why I think Jeremy is a wonderful husband...and even more truthfully, I could write a book on the ways that Jeremy is an amazing father. However...I hope from what I've said so far today that he knows what a great guy I think he is.

Thank you, Jeremy, for all of these things. You make having a newborn do-able. :c) I love you. P.S. Even though Ross now has "the best hair in the house"...yours still looks good.

Wondering...

How many pieces of cake is "too much" for one day?

I'm Asking for It!

Okay...so I have less than three weeks left...and I'm going to go ahead and ask for it. I've heard it's really, really, really hard to convert from one to two. I AM EXCITED ABOUT HAVING TWO so please don't be completely negative in your comments! BUT, I would like to hear from my faithful friends and readers:

• What's it like having two?
• What do I need to be thinking about/pre-planning?
• What's something you wish you'd known three weeks before the second one came?

Some details you may not already know:

• My six weeks of maternity leave takes me right up until the last day of school. So I don't really have to go back to real work / the daily grind until I report for the new school year.
• Margaret will be in school until the second week of June...so I will have about eight weeks at home with just me and the baby during the day.
• Margaret is almost three...so she's at the "big helper" stage. She follows directions really well (except when she gets distracted...but come on, people, Clifford books are really enticing when you're supposed to be getting your hairbrush for mommy).
• Jeremy will be at home with me and Ross for about the first three weeks. And, he has a flexible enough schedule that if I'm having a freak-out day, he can come home and help.

Okay...that's all the info that I can think of passing on at this time. Now it's your turn to comment with some reality statements of which I need to be aware!

Julie Riggins is a GREAT Photographer

Please visit: http://www.jbellephotography.com/

Then look for "Clients" in the lower right corner. Then submit our password: upchurch3.09

Jer and I had maternity pictures taken when we were pregnant with Margaret. That was the first time we'd used Julie to take our pictures. I cannot believe it's been three years!!

My personal disclaimer: try to remember that I waited until my eighth month to take these pictures. There is some evidence of pregnancy "fat face." Oh well. :c)
Second disclaimer: Margaret is two and has a mind of her own. The photographer titled this shoot "The Many Faces of Margs" because she's not making the same face in any of the pictures. I love that girl.

All jokes aside...the photographer, Julie, is able to spin gold out of straw, people. I hope you enjoy them as well.

Julie, thank you for capturing so much of our family "growth" through the years! We appreciate you!

Today is March 25, 2009. These pictures will only be available for viewing through April 15, 2009. If you're reading this post after that...just come by and see the real thing. Baby Ross will be here on April 17, 2009.