A Quick Potty Update

     So Sam has been potty trained for about 4 months now (it seems like a lot longer than that). In the last potty post I had made a few goals that we were still looking to hit. As for now, he will mostly say when he has to go to the bathroom, but if he's doing something really fun he'll totally lie and say "no" even if he's doing a full on potty dance.

     I'm working with him now on pulling his pants up and down but he still needs a lot of help. It's hard to watch him trying to do it on his own when I know that I can just do it in two seconds, but it's part of the process.

     He hasn't had any accidents in a long time. at one point he did regress for the better part of a week and had, like, three accidents a day all over himself and the couch, floor, kitchen chair, wherever. We went back to basics and did almost a "toileting schedule" and put him on the potty every 90 minutes and we fixed that problem in about a day.

     I still put a pull-up on him at night and a nap time, though nine times out of ten he's dry after nap and in the morning, so mostly its for mess prevention and convenience.

     Our biggest problem right now is poop. Most of the time, he out right refuses to poop on the potty. At the beginning of last week, some wind of fortune blew in my direction and he went on the potty for about three days straight and of course we made the hugest deal ever about it. Since then? Nada. At least he is considerate enough to go during nap when he's wearing a pull-up instead of messing his whole outfit. I've tried to read some things about kids who refuse to go #2 and I'm not finding anything definite or really helpful. I'm hoping he'll just grow out of it at this point.

     Next is Abby. I was hoping to train her by the end of the summer before the weather got too cold. I let her run around the house for two days with no pants like I did for Sam, but she didn't seem to be making the connection and we stopped. She picked out her own potty and underpants (yup, Despicable Me boy briefs), and she is definitely still interested in in so I'm thinking about trying again shortly.
   

Our First (real) Vegetable Garden

     I've been planting vegetables since I was a little girl. It was one of the benefits of having a HUGE yard and massive amounts of super private land which we had when I was a kid. After I moved out, me and Jeff lived in little apartments and places that either didn't have a yard or had one that we couldn't dig up and honestly I kind of forgot about growing. 

     Now that we have kids and have been thinking more and more about eating healthy food and the safety in organics over the past few years, I started getting the itch to start having a garden again. Buying organic all the time is expensive, so last year I bought a few seeds, and a few strawberry plants and we had a very small little crop of just a few things (squash, tomatoes and strawberries I think) in a little 4'x2' plot near the porch. 

     This year we cleaned up a big section of the yard, tearing up the rose bushes that were here when we bought the house, which I was a little bit sad about. I had this big plot (possibly I think 10'x10', maybe more) and the small side plot. I added a few bags of soil but honestly the soil that was there was pretty good. It must have been a garden before that just needed a little help.  I got organic seeds which were a little more expensive but worth it, and we planted two tomato plants, a patch of rhubarb, onions, garlic, two long rows of corn, one zucchini plant and a small patch of broccoli in the big garden. In the small plot I planted carrots and what I thought were strawberries since that's what it said on the BAG, but turned out to be butternut squash. I really wanted the berries but hey, We like squash too. We also planted blackberry and raspberry bushes on a whim, which shriveled and died.  I also had one cantaloupe plant that I thought was dead, but then gave one delicious melon. 

What We Learned

     

     All summer I was griping that my rhubarb, onions and garlic never grew. Last weekend I bought a Farmer's Almanac and found out that, well, that's possibly because you're supposed to plant them in the fall. My plan is that I'm just going to leave them there and hope they come up in the spring. Ewps. 

     My broccoli did come up but never turned into anything that looks like broccoli and then was eaten by some type of creature. I probably won't waste my space trying to grow it again next season since even organic broccoli is pretty cheap. 

     The zucchini plant looked good all year, grew one huge perfect zucchini and then died. I always remember zucchini being super easy to grow and having more than we knew what to do with. I'm not sure what happened here. 

     The two rows of corn yielded about four full sized stalks and these were the only ones that gave cobs. I think it has something to do with the sun falling differently on the plot but I'm not sure. I have to research this and figure out how to fix it because the corn that we harvested and ate was delicious. 

     A few weeks ago I found a packet of cucumber seeds and lamented never planting them so I planted a small patch and had Jeff make a little wooden apparatus to hang strings on so they would grow up and not all over the ground. I know I had a slim chance of actually eating cucumbers this year (my real intention was to can them which would be another first), and thanks to the short growing season up here and a sudden drop in night time temps, I have a 3' square patch of dead 1" long mini cukes. 

 My Plan for the Coming Season

     Even with the learning curve I managed to pull out a pretty good little crop. The basket in the picture above was just one harvest. I also got about six more ears of corn and carrots and tomatoes every few days through out the summer.
     This winter I plan on educating myself more about vegetable gardening in general so that I can get a higher yield on my small plots of space. I probably won't plant the broccoli or rhubarb next year and use that space for something else. I hope the garlic and onions decide to come up because we use a lot of those cooking. So next year the plan is:

• Plant only the things we grew successfully and eat regularly: tomatoes, corn, butternut squash and carrots. 
• Figure out what was up with the corn rows and how to get more to grow to full size. 
• Plant the cucumbers early and grow enough to can, which leads me to
• Learn how to can (lol)
• I also really want strawberries since the kids love them, they're cheap and easy to grow and buying organic berries is expensive. Maybe buying already started plants and keeping them in planters? 
• I also was thinking about planting a patch of pumpkins, but it's possibly just because it's fall now and I'm seeing them around because I have no idea where I would put them. 

     After looking at my list I think my big problem was that I just tried to plant too many different things in a too small place. I also think we have a few branches to take down so that more sunlight can get to the plants. 

     SO I'll be doing some light reading all winter on general gardening with the goal of a larger crop. Maybe adding pumpkins next year and selling them in the fall for a little pocket change.  Then I'll be able to hopefully adjust my shopping list and buy only minimal amounts of produce at the store and that will be organic especially if it is on the list of the Dirty Dozen, which is a list of the produce that is the most contaminated with pesticides EVEN after it's been washed and peeled!

Boomerang!

Where have I been?

Oh my goodness I did not expect to take the WHOLE summer off from blogging. Honestly the time that I spent on this thing just got overwhelming, especially the photos, which I suck at editing.

I really did like writing here and am planning to come back but mind my pictures because they will be strictly unedited lol.

So just a quick preview of whats to come: what we were up to all summer, how the first season of growing our own food went and plans for next year, a quick potty update (hint, he's doing fantastic), our continuing prep for possibly baby #3 (!!!), Sam's home schooling schedule.

52 Weeks of Toddler Experiences Week 12: Boston Museum of Science

    It's no secret how much Sam loves dinosaurs. Just before his birthday I was looking for places close by to take him to see some dinosaur bones. 

     Last year I took the kids and my sister into Boston to the Harvard Museum of Natural History because it was a part of the Blue Star Museum program and relatively close by. As is anything in Boston it was a pain in the ass to get to and there was on street parking only. Nightmare. Sam was satisfied with the bones and stuff they had but it was so stressful other wise (no parking, no AC, no elevator, no strollers allowed) that I wanted someplace different this time. 

     I found the MOS online and remembered going there as a kid in school but the prices are astronomical. I held on to all of Sam's birthday money and decided that instead of spending it all on one trip to do a lot of smaller ones. I was kind of bummed. 

     Fast forward a few weeks later and I get my cousin's wedding invitation in the mail. And lo and behold, its AT the Museum of Science, and included in the invitation is a free pass for each guest for that weekend! Obviously we had to go. 

     Jeff absolutely HATES going into the city so I took my sister (again) instead since she was staying at my house anyway. I had in my head the idea of how to get there and honestly should have just gone with that but for some reason turned on my GPS that suddenly decided to yell TURN LEFT NOW in the middle of our nice easy route, propelling us into the bowels of the city. I had no clue where we were, we were lost for a half an hour. At one point we were on some piece of highway that was seriously hundreds of feet in the air, over treetops and buildings. Awesome. 

    So finally somehow we get there. Obviously we went directly to the dinosaur room and stayed there for the majority of the time. Sam and Abby both loved it. There were a few fossils and skeletons and a huge model T. Rex. They also had little games and activities for kids. 

     We finally wrestled them out of the dinosaur room and they had so much other stuff; The Science of the Park, The Hall of Human Life, a movie theatre, live animals, taxidermy local animals in little fake habitats, and a Discovery Center play area for little kids to play in. 

     Of course we had to go in the Butterfly Garden (which was 22 freakin' dollars for 15 minutes). Abby seemed to like it and it was good for cute pictures but Sam was ready for nap and he didn't like anything at that point. 

  At the end of the very long tiring city day, I'm glad we went. I love doing new and interesting things with the kids especially if they can learn something. 

My Return to Health

     I've been working on this post for a long time, not quite sure how to begin. So let's just do it: I was fat. Really fat. 

     I've struggled with my weight basically my whole life and I've never been what I'd call a thin person, or even a healthy person. 

     Right before I got pregnant with Sam, about four years ago, I was in the best shape of my life. I was following Weight Watchers, working the evening shift and going to the gym for about an hour after work. I was within 8lbs of my high school weight and 13lbs of my first semester of college when I was at my lowest from walking all over a huge spread out campus all day. 

     Getting pregnant with Sam was super easy, it really took only one try. Thanks to my all-day sickness which lasted the entire 39 weeks, I gained no weight and was the same after he was born. The picture to the right is me at 7 months pregnant.

For my First Birth Story, click here.

     The minute he was born the nausea was gone. And I was hungry. And I ate. I put on I think 30lbs between when Sam was born and when we started trying to get pregnant with Abby, a time span that is under a year. Getting pregnant the second time took much longer. Every month that went by that I wasn't pregnant I would wonder why, why was it so easy the first time and not now? In the back of my mind I knew it was because I was overweight. 

     After Abby was born I was slightly heavier than I was when I got pregnant. I had read that if you are breastfeeding, it's super easy to lose weight and you're supposed to eat more. And I did. I was FAMISHED all the time, an absolute bottomless pit. And I just got fatter and fatter. 

     In July I went to my cousin's wedding and took a group shot with my cousins. And I was the fattest one. But I was still in denial. I seriously thought that the dress I was wearing was making me look bigger. 

     That September, I was the Maid of Honor in my friend Megan's wedding. I was so honored and happy. The event was breathtaking, the dresses were beautiful and I knew there would be a hundred billion pictures. I was still in the deep river of denial about my weight as I ordered the biggest size the company carried and prayed it would fit. It barely did and was a 16/18.

     I knew I was the fattest bridesmaid and I was so nervous to see the pictures, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw when they came out. I looked awful. There wasn't enough hair and make up in the world to make me look good.  Their wedding video was more like a film, it was a work of art, and I couldn't even finish it because I wanted to barf looking at myself. 

In the months that followed, I knew what I had to do. I needed to lose weight. I entered my height and weight in a BMI calculator and it said I was obese. Not even obese, but obese class 2. None of my clothes fit, not even my scrubs, which are basically pajamas. 

Full disclosure: I want to have another baby. I've always known I would want a lot of kids. I know that if I want that to happen I would have to lose this weight. When I finally realized that this weight loss needed to happen, I made a list of a ton of other things that needed to happen too, but I knew that this would take the longest. I'll talk about the other things on my list another day; this post is just about me getting healthy. 

     Come January, I saw a commercial for Weight Watchers on TV saying that they'd wave their new member fee for new sign ups. The start up cost was the one excuse I'd been using to justify not really being serious about eating better and now that was gone. January 6th I started my weight loss journey. 

     I started seeing results on the scale right away. I didn't take any pictures initially because I couldn't bear looking at myself and now I'm bummed that I didn't. I had a huge amount of weight to lose. I knew that setting my end goal initially would just overwhelm me and increase my chances of giving up. So I set small goals. I wanted to be under 200 by Valentine's Day, under 190 by Sam's birthday party and under 180 by my cousin's wedding which was a few weeks ago. 

     Excuse the bad quality of these pictures, but these are the first ones I had taken and I'd already lost a few pounds. These are the jean's I'd been wearing. They're a size 16 and I don't have to tell you they barely fit. I had to wear super long baggy shirts to even wear them in public. I think taking these pictures and coming face to face with myself made me realize no, its not the jeans, or the dress, its me. And I got to work.

     I preplanned what I would eat the night before so I wouldn't feel rushed and make bad decisions out of hunger and lack of time (huge for a busy mom). Even though I hate it, I exercised a few times a week by either doing some DVD's at home or walking all over town with the kids in the double stroller. I definitely could not afford (either financially or free-time wise) to step foot in a gym.

    Valentine's Day came and I surpassed my goal by three pounds. 

    Sam's birthday party came and I had surpassed my goal by five pounds. 

     I knew that I wanted to lose weight the natural way (this is Natural Mommy after all) through healthy diet and exercise and it was working. No pills, no potions, no crazy restrictions on carbs or other foods being completely eliminated because I knew I would set myself up to fail. Sometimes a girl just needs carbs and shouldn't be punished for having them.  

     I'm not trying to say I didn't fall off the wagon once or twice or more times. I'm not trying to say every week was a huge loss. But consistently, every week, through nothing but mindful eating and some light-moderate exercise (because I really hate exercising) I lost weight. Even if it was a half pound. And over the past five months the amounts have really added up. 

     Those too tight size 16 jeans? This is what they look like now. 

     Now I'm in a size 10 and they fit comfortably. And that gorgeous bridesmaid's dress I squeezed into? Now I would be in an 8/10 according to their size chart. Two sizes smaller. When I hit my ultimate goal I was considering re-renting it and taking pictures again. And the goal of being under 180 for my cousin's wedding? I forgot to weigh myself that morning, but I got on the scale the day after and was 166. That's 14lbs below my goal for a total of a 52lb loss in just over 5 months. My BMI has gone from a shocking 36.3 to 26, which is still overweight but much closer to a healthy range. 
  
      I have less than 10lbs to go to hit a healthy weight for my height, but I would love to be a size 8. A single digit dress size once seemed so out of reach for me but I feel like with a few more weeks of hard work I'll get there. 

    As is everything in my life, my weight is a work in progress. I'm giving myself until the end of the summer to get into the 150's and those still too tight size 8's. If I can get the courage together, I just might wear a bathing suit on the beach for the first time in my adult life. When I DO hit that goal, hopefully just around the time the New England leaves are turning, I'm going to reward myself with something big. I'm going to commission my photographer cousin for a family portrait. That would be a 60lb weight loss after all! As much as both of my kids combined!

   So the theme of this blog is progress. I've come a long way but I still have a bit of a journey ahead of me. So in order for me to be able to cross off "Get to my Goal Weight" from my Master To-Do List, I still want to:

• Be under 160 by the fall
• Fit into size 8 jeans
• Maintain that weight (forever but immediately) until January 6th

One more just to hammer my progress home for myself. No my gorgeous bridesmaid gift bracelet didn't fit. Yes it does now. I've come a long long way but I still have far to go. And I have the cutest photobomber in the back.

And the bedroom is still a mess. Some things never change.

Potty Journal: Week 3

This is probably going to be the last potty journal. He really seems to get it. 

At the very beginning of the week he had two accidents. I don't know if we were too confident or just forgot or what, but he peed once on the floor and then once sitting on my lap!! Ugh! I'd be more grossed out of I didn't have the professional body fluids conditioning that I get 3-4 days a week at work. 

He acknowledged the accidents and seemed a little upset, so I just reminded him gently that pee only goes in the potty and not on the floor. He hasn't had an accident since. We've been out to stores, the lake, Grammie's house, no pull up on just-in-case. I just watch for him to start dancing, bring him to the bathroom with the Prince Lionheart Potty Ring I got ages ago and he goes. 

Today he even started telling me he needs to go to the potty which is another huge step I think. He's never been huge on sharing his thoughts and feelings with words. He even sat and tried so hard to poop on the potty. I'm not sure if he just didn't have to go or what because after sitting for a little while and a little talking about it he gave up. 

So the only to-do's left in Sam's potty training are:

• Saying he has to go with consistency
• Walking over to the potty himself without being prompted
• Pulling his pants up and down
• Nap and night time dryness which really only comes with age

I'm so proud of us. I feel like we're battle worn now; that I've actually done some real parenting and everyone has come out of it feeling positive and our goal was accomplished. I'm putting a damn sticker on his chart for myself. 

Next up is going to have to be Abby. She's so ready to learn. She pushes Sam off the potty and wants to sit on it a thousand times a day. She hates being wet and tells me when she wants to be changed or when she's going to poop. And now she has big brother to watch. According to the readiness checklist in the Elizabeth Pantley book I mentioned in the last potty post, she's more ready than Sam was, but I didn't know what self esteem issues I'd cause by training little sister before big brother. Like I said, this one was touchy and scary for me. I wouldn't want to screw up and make Sam a serial murderer. 

And lets be honest, even if I was the worst potty training parent ever and Sam grew up to become a mass bomber or mall up skirt video taker, I'd still love him as long as he came home and told me about his day. 

52 Weeks of Toddler Experiences Week11: Lake Swimming

We've been planning a trip to the real beach at the end of the month for a while now but until then, I'm using the lake in our town as beach methadone.

We went early in the day on a weekday and since school isn't out yet we were the ONLY people there.

Look at Sam's face. All morning as I was packing and getting ready and all the way there he was saying "Beach time!! I'm so excited!" This post is mostly pictures of the kids playing and the day. I forgot how nice this lake really is since usually when we go its way too full of people.

And just one of my favorite no-nasties sunscreen.

11 Great Things about MY Preschooler

A few days ago on Facebook, I saw a link to an article (I think posted by Daily Mom), about the great things about preschoolers. I read it and its so sweet. 

11 Great Things About Preschoolers

I definitely got what the writer was saying about wishing away the littleness of her first child and being excited to move on to the next stage. I did the same thing with Sam. I couldn't wait for him to roll over, walk, talk, sleep through the night or whatever. Looking back, I think this is why I felt like I needed to have another baby so soon (they're only 20 months apart). I missed the little baby stage that I had wished away, but I think this is natural for first kids. 

A brand new parent wants to see her baby's first steps and first words and experience all of those firsts that are so exciting and we put so much value on as a society. Parents LOVE to compare at what age their kid hit all of these important milestones vs. other kids. It's nice to be reminded to live in the moment and suck up all of these little things while they're around forever. 

So without further ado, here are 11 great things about MY preschooler. 

___________________________________________________________

1. He thinks I can fix anything. Even broken sidewalk chalk. Which is not, in fact, fixable. 

2. He states the obvious. "Mama! I'm eatin' cookies in the bathroom!" "Mama! You have claws! And       bears have claws!" "Mama! Abby stinks! She pooped!"I get squeaky voice news bulletins about every 10-15 minutes on average. 

3. Everything is brand new, even if its not. Every time we go outside is like going to Disney World for the first time. Same with car trips, the store, toys he's lost and re-found. He sees life through perfect un-jaded rose colored glasses. 

4. He negotiates. He has an idea of what he really really wants. But he's open to negotiation. Two cookies ("Two cookies mama! One two!") can easily become one granola bar, or even string cheese if you make him feel like it was his idea the whole time. 

5. He's a teacher. He loves learning new things but more than that, he really loves showing them to Abby. So far he's taught her how to sit on the potty, wash her hands, and take the leaves off of strawberries and throw them in the trash. It really makes my life easy. 

6. He still cuddles. I mean obv. He's my 'best boyfriend.' I relish his hundred million hugs and kisses a day because I know there will come a time when it'll be like pulling teeth. 

7. He's a bookworm. Every night before bed we read. And read. And read. At times there is a pile of books next to his bed, and I can' ever tell him no more. He can also recite the Very Busy Spider and Brown Bear, Brown Bear. I'm so grateful he has a love of books and not screens. 

8. He knows how to relax. A man needs his rest. Sam's main chill spot is right in the middle of the couch, with a drink, and usually with his legs crossed. The latest addition of the all white briefs makes it perfection. 

9. He loves animals. Having compassion for creatures that need caring for is such an amazing quality to have and I think it shows so much more depth of character than holding only human interests at heart. 

10. He finds joy in little things. Bubbles, a hot bath, a handful of M&Ms, a really cool bug on the window screen, all still hold wonderment and happiness. He's not yet moved into the realm of material possessions or needing knock out over the top activities to make his day. I'm hoping to hold onto this for as long as possible. 

11. He's compassionate. If anyone sheds a tear of makes a sound hinting at distress, he's there with as many hugs and kisses and "it's otay"s it takes to make you feel better. He has a huge heart, and wants everyone to be as happy as he is. 

Potty Journal: Week 2

The last time I wrote about Sam on the potty I was aaaaalmost at the end of my rope. Frazzled. Frustrated. And I had no idea what to do next. 

Over the two days that followed, he had more accidents on the floor than he had been having initially. Lysol and paper towels were our best friends. 

Something has happened over the rest of week though. Something clicked for him. 

That peeing every ten seconds problem? Gone. 

The frustration and discouragement? Gone.

The really huge problem I thought we could never get over: peeing in his pants and not knowing/ caring? Gone.

It took the better part of a week of peeing on the floor and in his (super cool) new underwear, but with gentle reminders he now seems to know that pee doesn't go all over the floor or in his pants, but ONLY in the potty. He gets it. 

He now refuses to pee in his pants. In the past three days he has been totally accident free except overnight, which isn't really an accident as overnight dryness is about physiological growing, not understanding or executing a task. 

I still put a pull up on him at nap time and obviously at bedtime. Today though he did wake up dry from his nap but I'm still using pull ups just in case. 

Today we even went out to the store with my mom and brother, potty seat in tow. He started jumping around and wiggling so I knew he had to go. We went into the big, scary, (even for adults) public bathroom and he went! Right away! No sitting and coaxing for 15 minutes. It was awesome.

I feel like I'd been dreading this particular milestone since he was a baby. Its like, a BIG one. I know he still has a long way to go; he doesn't pull his own pants down or say that he needs to go using words, and poop is pretty much luck if it goes in the potty or not (but we haven't really talked much about poop yet) and I know that he still may regress and go back to having accidents, but I feel like we have a good foundation. He gets the concepts, he seems proud of himself for learning and I think now I have SOME clue what I'm doing. 

Things that Helped and Things that Didn't

*I loved the book The No-Cry Potty Training Solution. It totally goes along with my stress free, gentle parenting approach. Rereading certain parts really helped get through those initial dark potty days, after the initial enthusiasm wore off and before the success started to kick in. 

*A lot of places talk about hyping the whole new underwear thing, but honestly, Sam could take them or leave them. He really doesn't care about clothes and prefers being naked to anything. It definitely wasn't a huge catalyst to peaking his interest, but now he really likes wearing them.

*He did respond to the whole sticker chart thing. It's just a piece of paper taped to the bathroom wall. I got books and sheets of all different kinds of stickers and he gets to pick whatever one he wants. It's a nice little reward that doesn't cost a fortune or fill my house with junk. 

*TMI but the watch-and-learn method really works too. He watched both of us and we told him what was going on and then I propped up the mirror so he could watch himself and that helped him out too.

*Lastly and most importantly, the best decision I made through this whole thing was letting him run around naked and pee on the floor. Sure it was a mess and stressful, but n hindsight, I think this is what really got him to get what's going on with that "need to pee" feeling. 

Now he's free to relax like a little man. Tighty whities, chillin' on the couch with a beverage. 

52 Weeks of Toddler Experiences Weeks 9 (1/2) and 10: Blowies and Backyard Zoo

Some how last weeks just got away from me. I've been working extra to try to save up and take the kids to the beach at the end of next month, the weather was bad and I was in a funk. I wanted to make up for missing last week so we snuck outside before this afternoon's thunderstorms roll in to blow some of those puffy dead dandy lions around (I used to call them "blowies" when I was a kid) and to look for some friendly animals.

Blowies!

    I thought Sam was going to be more into this than he was as he's usually my little nature boy, but honestly how adorable are these pictures of Abby?

    She loved the "blowies" and only ate a few. When blowing them off was too slow she pulled the rest off and let them fly before moving them on to something else.

Back Yard Wild Animal Encounter!

     This one was almost purely luck. I knew if we hunted around the yard long enough we would find some type of creature to look at (we live near a brook and theres always something around). But what we found was totally perfect. Snakes are one of Sam's favorite animals (after sharks and dinosaurs of course) and we found a nice big fat, yet pretty docile, garden snake. 

     I tried not to aggravate it too much as I'd really like it to stick around for a while and get rid of some of the chipmunks digging huge holes in all my gardens. Sam loved it, and cried when it crawled back into the grass and out of sight and even tried to tempt it with a little frog we found later: "Here snake here! A frog snack!" Lucky for the frog, he didn't bite.

   Now that it's nap time and the clouds are getting thicker I'm glad I got them out before it rains for the next two days. So much for the lake day I wanted to do this week.