Shelly, the mommy

It has been along time since I posted. Who knew raising 3 children and a husband (heh heh, love you honey) would take all my time and energy?!?!

I have a grand story of success to share. My 2yr old (soon to be 3) is finally POTTY TRAINED!!!!!! It feels great only having to change one set of diapers. I wasn’t sure if we would reach this milestone with C, but she is now the proud wearer of big girl pants that are dry and clean.

So how did this event transpire, you might ask. Was it my awesome parenting/potty training skills? Of course not! I have no idea what happened, I had given up on the kid and put her back in diapers. Then one day young C proclaims, “I am going to poop in the potty.” She walked into the bathroom and got on the potty. After 20 minutes she did the deed, and from that day forward she has used the potty. (disclaimer: with a few accidents here and there) I don’t know what happened to make her change her diaper using ways, but she has joined the ranks of big kids. My babes are growing up before my eyes. (proud and a wee bit sad all at the same time)

So proud of that girl! My strawberry eating, necklace and headband wearing girl.

Here is my first attempt at writing about my misadventures from the past week.

I did not slice my finger open this morning on a pair of kitchen tongs, making it extremely difficult to type. Who knew they are incredibly sharp! I also did not just ask my hubby how to spell tongs. No I would never do something so silly.

I absolutely did not drop a large container of yogurt in the grocery store and it did not explode all over floor. And the wonderful stock boy did not tell me that he would clean it up and not to worry about it. (Love Pick N’ Save)

Finally, I obviously would not take my kids to the library when they are wearing dirty mismatched outfits that they had picked out by themselves. And they weren’t shooting video at the library for the local cable channel that day. (I hope they didn’t get on tv but I won’t know because I don’t have cable. )

I wonder what other adventures I won’t be having this week?

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

That’s my gang of perfect angels, I can say that because they are sleeping. In all honesty I am extremely blessed to have 3 healthy children despite the gray hairs they cause. (I’ve found a few and I’m only 27) My life would be utterly boring without them.

My 2 year old C was helping my load the dish washer today. I would give her a dirty spoon and she would say, “Eww, Icky, yucky” in her cute high pitched voice. This went on until all the dishes were taken care of.

H, my 4 year old, loves to make her little brother laugh (and her little sister cry). She is always coming up with new ways to get a giggle out of the little guy. Lately it has been throwing herself on the couch while V sits in his jumperoo and watches.

My baby V just makes my heart smile every time he smiles and giggles.

Yes, I am truly blessed.

Today marked another milestone in my son’s life, he tried food for the very first time.

As you can see from the picture, he didn’t find it very appetizing.Yet I found it a small victory he kept it in and didn’t spit it all out. we gave homemade sweet potatoes a try tonight and I think in time he will come to love all the foods I make like his big sister C. H unfortunately is a picky eater but she has been that way since birth, while C has always enjoyed eating.

I didn’t give C or V any baby cereal and I think that really helped in getting C to eat a variety of foods. The girl will even eat broccoli and fish willingly. H gave me all kinds of problems with nursing so I had to resort to formula which she would only eat with cereal. Now she will only eat a few foods and you can forget about her trying anything new.

My little girl C spent the weekend being sick. If she is still running a fever and complaining  of an earache, I will be taking her to the doctor tomorrow. My poor baby just isn’t acting like herself since she’s been sick. Please say a prayer that she recovers quickly.

This sweet little girl has a dark side. She absolutely refuses to use the potty. I started the training process about qa month ago by going cold turkey on the diapers and putting that kid in big girl tinker bell pants. At first I put her on the potty every 3-4 hours and make a big deal when she succeeded. For a while she would pee in the potty all the time and mostly poo in her pants. I thought we were making great strides because my husband and I caught her twice when she was about to make a stink in her pants and got her to the potty on time.

But lately she has been hiding from us and peeing and pooing in her pants. Today I found her in the playroom with wet pants. So I cleaned C up and sent her to her room to get some new clothes. After 15 minutes I went to check on her to find poo on the floor. ICK!! After that was cleaned up I found that she had peed  on the floor. At this point I was ready to pull my hair out. I felt like

I can’t believe how resistant  this little 2 and 3/4 yr old is to using the potty. When her older sister was that age I was able to train her in a week using the same method.

What is a mommy to do?? Hoping for a better tomorrow.

With my third baby, I have finally seen the light and am now using clothe diapers. Why didn’t I use them with my first two? I was honestly scared. I thought they would be a huge pain with all the laundry and gross factor. But my sister has educated me and now I am so excited that there is no huge pile of diapers filling up the landfill from my son.

My sister so kindly set me up with a whole clothe diapering system and I am forever grateful. The diapers that I have used are extremely easy to operate. I used the prefolds when he was really little and didn’t move around a lot. It was quick and easy getting those diapers folded on him with a cover, and then the dirty ones go into a wet bag. Then every 2 days I throw the whole thing in the wash. I am currently using the motherease all in ones. They are easier to get on V because he has become quite the squirmy wormy, but these aren’t as cute as the covers for the prefolds.

Right now I am breastfeeding so everything that comes out of V is washable. In a couple of months I’ll be starting him on purred food and that will add a step to the diaper cleaning process. My husband will be making a trip to our local home improvement store to buy a sprayer that attaches to the potty. Then I’ll just spray the poops into the potty and throw the diaper into the wash. Not too overwhelming.

My reasons for going clothe diapers are: 1) not filling up the landfill 2)I’m saving cash (Ohh Yeah!!) 3) There is a lot of bleach used in manufacturing disposables which gets into the environment 4) all the other icky chemicals that are in the diaper and aren’t great for baby 5) They are so darn cute.

V in a prefold with the leopard print cover.

Sometimes my kids do the cutest things. Littlte instances that make my heart smile, and brighten my day.

Scene: We just finished dinner and are getting ready to head out the door for our family fellowship group at night.

Me: Time to find your shoes so we can go. Do it quick, like a bunny rabbit.

C: (Gets off her chair and starts to hop away) Ribbit, ribbit.

That was when my husband and I started laughing. She was too funny.

These are my babies, H is 4, C is 2, and V is 4 months. H has a bump on her head from a van door accident.

Let me start by saying I love my children dearly and would step in front of a bus for them.  They are wonderful young people with budding personalities and I love to watch them grow and change.

Lately my 2 daughters have decided that listening is optional. For example I will tell my little angels it is time to pick up their toys, leave them to the task, and return to find them playing, not picking up. Another example: today I was making cookies with the girls and I told my lovely 2 year old to not touch the raw cookies that I had just cut out perfectly. Of course dear daughter repeatedly picked up the cookies and a big mess ensued.

I am a fairly calm and laid back person, but when my children stop listening, my frustration builds until I shout STOP. I know that the girls are just growing and testing their limits, but they feed off of each other, and I feel that they are ganging up on me. What is a mommy to do?

Lets just hope I survive these growing pains my children are going through with a full head of hair.