* On Tuesday, I once again had the pleasure of speaking at MOPS. This is my 3rd year, and my speech was called, “Saving and Spending God’s Way.” I think that it was well-received, and I enjoyed my time there. I was very exhausted when I got home though, because I woke up that morning at 3:00 A.M., fretting over my speech, and was never able to get back to sleep. I crashed on the couch for a little while that afternoon, and when I woke up, I felt the familiar beginnings of pinkeye (which, you may recall, I just had two weeks ago). My left eye was all filmy, and was just beginning to turn pink, but fortunately I still had drops leftover, and so I treated it right away. I think the problem is that it didn’t occur to me to wash my makeup brushes, since I rarely wear makeup, and then I reinfected myself when I applied makeup for MOPS. So, I threw out my eyeshadow (I don’t wear mascara, so I didn’t need to worry about that), wiped the tip of my eye pencil with alcohol, and washed all my brushes in hot, soapy water. Ah, the joys of cold and flu season!
* After my husband had his tooth extracted, he developed dry socket which, if you’ve never had it, is evidently painful on the level of childbirth. It’s now healing, but he had to make several trips back to the oral surgeon to have it packed, and we’ve been unable to paint the girls’ bedrooms as planned, because he’s been so miserable. His entire face and head felt like it was throbbing all the time, and he was taking so much Tylenol for pain that he was having stomach problems. Fortunately, he appears to be on the mend now.
* My parents are watching the kids on Saturday so we can actually get the girls’ rooms painted. We sold their loft bed last week, including the mattresses, and made exactly enough money to buy them brand-new, twin mattress/box spring sets. I originally balked at the idea of selling the loft, because I was afraid that not only would we lose money on it (furniture is one of the worst depreciating investments….even worse than cars!) but we’d also have to spend money to get the girls new beds. I wanted to just divide up the set and continue to use it, even though it wasn’t ideal, but God is so good to us, and as always, He worked everything out perfectly. Long-time readers will remember that the girls used to have separate rooms, before the advent of DJ. We bought them the loft bed when we moved them into their shared room, in 2009, before DJ was born. At that time, we put their twin bed frames and headboards in our back shed, with the intention of selling them, but I’m so glad we didn’t because we’re putting them to good use again!
They were so excited last week because my long-time reader and friend, Becky, sent them fuzzy pillows for their new beds, all the way from Texas.
Since they’ll now have their own private spaces, and big closets, they want to divide up most of their toys, instead of keeping them in the playroom. In preparation for moving everybody around, I sorted and organized all the playroom toys. The little kitchen set and toddler table/chairs went to the consignment store, because the girls have outgrown both, and DJ doesn’t play with them. I put the Lego table and storage bus in DJ’s room, and packed up the rest of the toys. I told the girls that when they want to play with something, they need to ask me for it. Then, it must be put away before they can get anything else out, because I don’t want to do all that work over again. We also agreed that anything they haven’t asked for after 3 months will be taken to the consignment store. This was 2 weeks ago. So far, they’ve requested exactly none of it, and I’m pretty excited about the prospect of getting rid of a whole bunch of stuff. Also, it’s amazing how much cleaner my house stays!
* On Saturday night, after we finish painting, we’re planning to go out for dinner to celebrate our birthdays which, not to put too fine a point on it, kind of sucked. Virulent pinkeye and excruciating tooth pain don’t exactly put people in a celebratory mood, if you know what I mean. Also, since the kids are staying overnight with their grandparents, we can actually relax and not worry about getting home to give baths and handle bedtime routines. It will be wonderful!
* The laundry room is completely framed up!
We’ve added 158 square feet to our house with this project, and I’m so excited about it! My husband needs to do the electrical work now, and then the drywall can go up.
* DJ and I are working on potty training. With all 3 of my kids, I’ve used the same, Dappi waterproof training pants in the early stages, when they’re still trying to figure what they’re supposed to do, which means I have a lot of extra laundry right now. The girls were both trained at this age, but DJ is particularly resistant to sitting on the potty, for some reason. People tell me it’s just because he’s a boy. Whatever the reason, it’s quite frustrating, but I don’t believe in pushing children when it comes to potty training, because I think it just makes matters worse. So, we’re taking a pretty laid-back approach right now.
* DJ’s 3rd birthday is coming up, and he’s very excited about it. This morning, he was chatting away to Pumpkin, and I asked what they were talking about. He said, “Oh, I was just telling Punky that my birthday is coming everywhere!” I thought this was hilarious and cute, not only because he was talking to the cat, and the cat actually appeared to be listening, but also the way he phrased it. It’s like, “DJ’s birthday! Coming soon, everywhere!”
I’m excited about my plans for his birthday. He requested a “Kee-Kee” (his name for his battered orange cat, which is his favorite lovey) cake, and after some research, I found a nearby library that has a collection of 236 cake pans (!!!), so I was able to check out this Wilton “Kitty Cat” pan.
Since this library is located in a town about a half hour from us, and my husband had to appraise a house there last week, I asked him to stop and pick up the cake pan. You can only check them out for a week, so I went ahead and baked the cake, wrapped it in several layers of plastic wrap, and put it in the freezer. It couldn’t have worked out better, because last weekend we had to be in close proximity to the same town for a birthday party, and we were able to return the pan on time. I can see this library service saving me a lot of time and money over the years! I LOVE libraries!
DJ love love LOVES cars, and he badly needs a new spread for his bed, so I bought him a Hot Wheels comforter and pillowcase. I also got him his very own blue flashlight (he’s obsessed with flashlights), a 39-piece set of Hot Wheels track, and a Hot Wheels semi-hauler and car. We’re also going to take him to Chuck E. Cheese, since we don’t have friend parties for the kids until preschool. Chuck E. Cheese makes my head pound on even the best of days, but the kids love it, and I found a great coupon deal online.
* Cakes has her first loose tooth! Last night, she was determined to do whatever was necessary to ensure a visit from the Tooth Fairy, and after we tucked her in, she got up 4 times because she was positive that the furious wiggling she had just given her tooth was enough to loosen it up, and it was definitely ready to come out (it wasn’t). Apparently, she solicited the advice of all her teachers at school yesterday about just how and when she could get this stinkin’ tooth out. She’s persistent, I’ll give her that.
* I’m working on some eBay auctions this week, but I’m feeling really tired, and not like myself. Not sick, necessarily….just worn out. I’ll be glad when all this remodeling is done, and I have everything rearranged and organized, and my to-do list, which currently seems to go on forever, gets a little bit shorter.
I hope you’re all having a wonderful week. God bless!
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I have a little boy who will be three next week. We are also working on potty-training, but aren’t really getting anywhere. I’d love some ideas/tips from someone going through the same thing! He’s my first child, so I’ve never done this.
Go cold turkey on the diapers. For the next two weeks or so, wake him up an hour after he has gone to sleep. Walk him to the bathroom and tell him its time to potty. Show him how to lift the lid and pull his own pants down. Help him aim and not touch the toilet with his skin. This teaches him how to go to the toilet during the night if he has that pee pee feeling coming on.
Do this every three hours during the day as well. Be prepared for accidents with carpet cleaner. All 4 of 5 of my kids were trained with this method and it took a few days with few accidents. If they wet themselves, explain that was the pee pee feeling coming on and they need to go to the toilet when they feel that. My fifth baby has not turned 3 yet. I wait till all my boys were nearing three. Any earlier, they really arent ready for this method. Girls are ready earlier though. My girl was 2 and a half years when I started her.
With my girls, what finally worked was to just put them in dresses, with nothing underneath. They didn’t like it when they peed down their legs, and that was enough motivation for them to train. With DJ this won’t work, obviously. People have suggested waiting until summer when he can run around outside naked, but he’s going through a phase where he’s very shy and uncomfortable when not wearing clothes, and he gets very upset. What will work very much depends on the child’s personality, I think. The waterproof training pants get very wet, so DJ feels it and is uncomfortable. He doesn’t like them, but I’ve made it clear to him that he will not wear diapers during the day anymore, and he’s accepted that now. When he does have an accident, I make him take his wet clothes off by himself, which he hates, and then I insist that he sit on the potty, and we discuss how before the pee comes out he needs to tell Mommy so he can go in the potty like a big boy. So far, he doesn’t seem to get it at all, but this is only the first week.
Always a pleasure to read a new post from you. Such exciting things going on!
Thanks for sharing!
I do love to read your posts! I recently got my laundry room on the main floor as well, and I couldn’t be happier. I potty trained both of my boys at about 27 months. I’ve found that warmer weather worked best for us, so we could be outside (less mess in the house), and we skipped the training pants. None of my kids liked the feeling of wetness running down their legs! Both trained in about 2 weeks, but obviously that depends alot on the personality of the child. I’m still trying to figure out how to get my almost-three year-old daughter to stay dry through the night. Good Luck!
Love your posts! Hope your pink eye is better. Besides makeup and brushes, I always change my pillow case too. I’m sure you already have, but I use a fresh one each night just to be sure! Pink eye is horrible! So excited to see how your new laundry turns out
also, I would love to read what you shared at MOPS. I am sure it was very inspiring and encouraging!
So much going on there — exciting to see the laundry room taking shape! The picture of DJ talking to the cat is adorable. Thank you for the training pants recommendation. We’re getting ready for potty training, too. A friend recommended waiting until summer, when there wouldn’t be as many layers to remove…of course, procrastination when it comes to this issue always sounds good.
All 4 of my boys were just past there 3 yr birthday before they got it. My 2 girls were younger. And most of my daycare boys were 3 . You can train yourself earlier to take them all the time. But it really wasnt worth it to me to be trained. I would just wait on them to get it. I used m&Ms for treat if they went or even tried. 2 if you went 1 if you tried . It worked on colors and it was so small a treat I didn’t feel bad handing out many in a day. Most of the time boys are too busy to be bothered with it very early.
My sympathies to your husband! I can attest that childbirth is a walk in the park compared to dry socket. I’m glad he’s feeling better now.
I have 4 children and what seemed to work best for me with potty training is the dress idea. However because I can easily give up when there are tons of pee spots on the carpet, I always put my girls in leggings with panties. It’s the same idea, they don’t like the cold pee on their pants so they go in the toilet after a few accidents. But with the leggings there are no pee puddles to deal with! You can do this with boys too, the thin sweat pants work. Don’t use thick pants, the lighter ones stay colder and just work better. Good luck!