Potty training Take 2

We had a long weekend at home, so thought it would be a good opportunity to try potty training again.

Connor started the day off in the buff. He realized quickly that he ran much faster without his diaper between his legs!

Mommy put "magic potty juice" in Connor's cup & told him it would help him go potty on his frog potty.

Apparently, Connor has the bladder of a horse.

He held it...and held it...and held it...

After 4 trips to the potty, lots of reading what Connor calls his "Mercer Mayer books," sucking down his "magic potty juice," and even eating ice cream out of the tub while sitting on his potty...

No potty success!

Connor waited until 11:00am to go potty....on the living room floor about 1.2 seconds after we got out of the bathroom after sitting on the potty for 15 minutes.

Connor came to me and asked for a wash cloth to clean potty.

Bless his little heart.

I'm pretty sure he grasps when he's pottying and where he should go, but he just doesn't want to. Just lovely.

We will keep trying...

Fun afternoon at home

Its easy to run out of fun, creative ways to entertain a two year old. Today we tried a few new activities that made a boring day at home a little more exciting. We started the day making jello jigglers. No photos of that fun activity, but I'll sum it up for you. Mommy made strawberry star & heart jigglers. Connor was very excited to hold the star & heart, as well as flop it around and shake it over and over. Although when it came time to eat it, he handed them over to me and said "Mommy taste it." Guess he wasn't too sure about the texture of the new food. Owell!

After jigglers, we got some chores done around the house. Since I always feel like Connor is deprived of all things fun when I have to do housework, we decided to plan some fun activities once I was done. First stop---trying out his Sesame Street game on the Ipad. This beautiful piece of technology has all sorts of entertaining learning tools for tots & Connor got a kick out of being able to touch the street & pick out letters, colors, shapes, and songs. It was pretty darn adorable to watch his excitement while he played...

His fresh haircut and apple cheeks are irresistible!!

We then pulled out the good ol' Dora tent & decided to camp out on Mommy's bed. Connor spent a good half hour just launching himself into the tent openings, crawling out, jumping off the bed, then launching into the tent again! It took some convincing to get him ready for nap time. He grabbed my pillow, plopped it in his tiny tent, then said "Tonta sleep tent." (*For those that are unaware, "Tonta" is how Connor says "Connor." His C's come out T's. Just so you don't get too confused if we mention this "Tonta" in future postings" ;) ).

Since Connor wasn't hurting anything napping on my bed and in his tent, I agreed to it! He rolled around in it, pointed out "Dor-da" (Dora), "Boots", the oh-so-masculine "hearts" and other fun pictures printed on the side of his tent for a while. He wasn't settling long enough to fall asleep and it was getting late for our nap time window, so I helped reposition the tent so I could cuddle (aka hold Connor still) to help him fall asleep. While we were snoozing, Matt grabbed the camera & snapped a few photos...

I live for our cuddle time together! I'm pretty sure we're in need of a bigger tent if we plan to 'camp out' again during nap time!

Our evening concluded with a trip to the Chickfila "pe-pound" (playground). A day of cheap entertainment at it's finest :)

A few more photos...

Some cute professional photos we had done on our trip...

I know its odd to have a post without pictures of my munchkin. Just bare with me...photos are to come! I'm working on some home videos providing you an up close view of Connor's rendition of the ABC's, "Wonder Pets" intro, "Happy Birthday," and "Rain, Rain, Go Away." He will crack. you. up. :)

Vay-Cay 2011

Connor had a fabulous vacation with his World's Greatest Nana & Papa! They went everywhere from the zoo to fishing to bounce-housing to playground hopping...you name it- he did it! He's still talking about how much fun he had :)

While Connor was enjoying himself, this lady was enjoying my first vay-cay post baby. It was very strange to only take care of myself and do activities that sounded good to me. Toward the tail end of our trip, I was going through some serious Connor withdrawal. Despite having an amazing time in Alaska, I was happy to see my precious little guy when I got home! Here are a few pics from our get-away (the scenery was beyond words...the pictures don't do it justice!).

Headed on our way...

Dining room :)

We be dancin'

The amazing sunrise (at 4:00am). Matt witnessed it...I was snoozin' :)

The beautiful view from our balcony

By far, the best part of our trip....kayaking! We saw sea lions, seals, and eagles!
You know we look good in our kayaking get-ups! :)


The view of the Mendenhal Glacier from our kayak






Train ride through mountains


Train ride ended at the top of the mountains in Canada.


The view from the front of our ship--Sawyer glacier.
It was stunning (and frah-reeezing!)




Formal night


Final stop in Victoria, B.C.
It was pretty, but didn't compare to the mountains & views in Alaska!






I got to see oodles of whales, sea lions & seals...so I was happy! :)
LOADS of pictures, but my munchkin has risen from his nap...so my time is up!
We had an amazing time!

Today...

After a long weekend working & with little time with my #1 munchkin,

I've been feeling pretty emotional & have been missing him terribly!

I thought I would take a minute to reflect :).

Although I've experienced some 'turbulence' over the past few years,

there are a few people that have helped me through it all.

Today (and always) I am very very grateful....

For my precious little boy that will forever have my heart...

For my amazing, selfless parents that I will forever owe for all their love and support...

And for this good looking gentleman, that taught me that 'gentlemen' really do exist :).

I love you all very much! :)

xoxoxoxoxox

An afternoon on the causeway...

A trip to the beach sounds thoroughly exhausting with a 2 year old. All that runs through my mind is...

1.Packing ridiculous amounts of sunscreen, snacks, lunch, drinks, change of clothes, toys, camera, chairs, towels, etc etc etc.

2. Fighting for a parking spot

3. Lugging everything listed in #1 a good mile from your parking spot to the beach

4. Sneakily trying to apply sunscreen on a child that HATES sunscreen.

5. Trying to not let your child roast in the sun by applying sunscreen oh-so-sneakily every half hour.

6. Peeling your child out of their wet clothes & swimmie diaper, and into dry clothes for the ride home.

7. Trying ever so hard to leave all the sand at the beach and not tracking it in Mommy's car.

So when all those lovely images run through my mind, I decided to opt for a trip to the causeway where you can park right by your beach spot and reduce some of the beach day stresses with a child. Matt's cousin, Sarah, was in town, so we had her join us. Connor loves him some "Sare-sah," so we all had a great time together! We were very successful & had a wonderful afternoon throwing shells, watching nearby water skiers, and splashing.

Its been a while since I've had dog company in my house, so we had the pleasure of having Emma & Lily visit (Sarah's pups). Connor loves to be the controller & make the dogs chase him around the house. My tiny child was able to run these pups to pure exhaustion as proven below :)

Connor the Comedian

Let me just tell you that my child is hilarious.

I'd like to think he got that fabulous gene from me :). He is quite the parrot, repeating random things at random times. Here is a list of some of my favorites...

--A saying I hear about every day (ever since its been raining so often) is:

"pwainin' na'more....Niiiiice daaay!"
(translation: "It's not raining anymore. It's a nice day!" My favorite part of this saying is that "niiiice daaay" is done in the best lispy, Australian accent you've ever heard!)

--Connor likes to announce anytime he "toot toots" or when anyone else "toot toots." He also likes to announce anytime you go "poo poos." His favorite place to broadcast that is usually in a crowded public restroom, so he can echo throughout the room. Beware if you use the potty in his presence.

--Connor will miss a basketball shot or drop something, then he'll say "Awww Man!"

--Connor will point out your best blemish on your face & let everyone know you have a "timple."

--Connor loves to sing the Wonder Pets theme song. The original version begins like "Wonder Pets, Wonder Pets, we're on our way, to help baby animals & save the day"...where Connor's remix goes a little like "Under Pet, Under Pets, on Bombay, help bebe amimals, on Bombay!"

--Connor is an excellent counter from 1-20, although his thirteen through nineteen go a little like..."tin, leleven, pwelve... boobeeen, boobeeen, boobeeen, boobeeen..." :)

I know he has many more adorable sayings, but this is all I can come up with right now. I'm sure there will be many more to come! He's a hoot!

Happy happy happy happy...

Happy Birthday Mom (aka Nana)!



We love you so very much!


Hope you had a wonderful day!

XoxoXoxoXoxoXoxoX!

Happy Homecoming!

Guess who's officially done with college & living in the same area code as muah?!

Congratulations my Love for kicking some college pat-tootie!

Yay for no more long distance stuff!!

"Distance is not for the fearful, it is for the bold. It's for those who are willing to spend a lot of time alone in exchange for a little time with the one they love. It's for those knowing a good thing when they see it....even if, for a period of time, they don't see it nearly enough.

ALL boy!

My blogger friend, Danielle, and I have been trying to get the boys together for a playdate for over a year! We always seemed to tell eachother that our boys had so much in common & we were interested to see them together in action! Well this past week, we got our schedules to align & had a long, awaited playdate. Boy, were we right! Our precious little monsters had a good time together, although we are at a stage where sharing is not our strong suit! Connor randomly had his end-of-the-world-devastating tantrum when he noticed that Ryder had the same monkey tube that he has at Nana & Papa's house. Keep in mind, Connor could really care less about the tube when he's at Nana & Papa's, but since Ryder had it, Connor had-to-have-it. Distracting and removing ourselves from the scene seemed to help and we tried to get the boys involved in activities that didn't involve sharing :). Ryder and Connor made great 'racing' buddies, as they flew around the living room and kitchen area after one another. They are definitely all boy with their not-so-gentle handling of one another, but they both seemed to tolerate it well! This Mama was able to sneak in a little baby time with Ryder's new baby brother, Landon. Overall, we had a great time and look forward to getting the boys together again in the future!

You have no idea how much bribing and wrangling it took to get these two busy bodies to sit still next to eachother for a picture!

This picture makes me laugh, because this face is Connor's hulk face! He clinches his teeth together and appears to want to hurt someone, but I'm pretty sure its harmless ;). Its more like his I-love-you-so-much-I-could-squeeze-you face!

The little jailbirds at the top of the stairs

"Racing"

Thanks again for having us over, Danielle!