And Here's the Part Where I Jinx Us

I was afraid to celebrate too soon and jinx us but now that it's been two days in a row I'm going to chance it.

We have had 2 - count them TWO - accident free potty training days in a row!  There is light at the end of the toilet - er, tunnel!

We have been taking the long, slow approach to potty training. I know there are plenty of experts who tout the 3 day method for potty training but we are going with the 3 month (plus maybe a few more) plan. Much like the (non)sleep-training approach we took.  

Read: The Lazy Method. 

BUT...

It appears to be working!  The non-sleep-training thing also worked for us so we will go with it. Essentially the lazy method is to ease into things and not push anything too fast and go with instincts (or sometimes with whatever is just easier in the moment). For us it has minimized crying and in the case of potty training accidents.  I know this might not work with all kids so as with anything parenting or child related it isn't universal but things seem to be looking up for having a potty trained kid at (or around, we aren't pushing remember) his third birthday.  

And once I stop high-fiving myself, I'll go pick FrenchFry up from daycare to get the news that he had 15 accidents and refused to go near the potty today.  Because parenting is usually a one step forward, half a step back process. 

But for right now- we are accident free for two whole days! We will take it. 

:)

How did you approach potty training?  Was it the same for each of your kids if you have more than one?  

There Is Always Someone...

FrenchFry and his dad after a night in the ER.

A few nights ago, FrenchFry (2.5 year old) fell and landed with his mouth on a small wooden table.  There was a horrible, horrible sound and then the silence of a kid in shock and pain before the loud screams and cries.  I held him as his mouth filled with blood and we immediately knew this was a bad one and that his teeth were likely damaged.  After just a few moments of holding him, we jumped in the car and drove the excruciatingly long drive to the Children's Hospital.  (Why do we not live closer to the hospital?!)

By the time we got there he was mostly calm and watching videos on my phone.  The bleeding had stopped and he would only cry intermittently. We saw the ER doctor who couldn't find any damage to his mouth except for the clearly bent back front teeth.  She consulted with the on call dentist and we had an appointment for the next day at the dental clinic.

That night we had FrenchFry sleep in our bed so we could stay close and monitor him.  He woke up moaning a few times and we gave him some Tylenol.  The next day I stayed home with him and we cuddled on the couch and he watched way more TV than I'd care to admit while I took care of some work before his appointment.

Holding hands while he watches Umizoomi and I get some work done.

The dentist appointment was more traumatic than the actual ER visit for both FrenchFry and us.  He screamed through the exam and then had to get x-rays and since I'm pregnant I couldn't be in there with him. I feel bad for the other kids in the waiting room having to listen to him scream bloody murder for ten minutes.  Not exactly a great introduction into going to the dentist.  And then the dentist came back with our "two options:" either pull both his front teeth right then and there or wait a week and most certainly have to pull them then.

That's the point when I lost it.  I know they are only baby teeth but the news that they wanted to pull them was shocking.  I said no way to pulling them onsite, asked a few more questions and we left with an appointment set up for ten days later.  I've since come to terms with the idea that they may need to remove his teeth and it will be okay, but in the meantime we are also going to get a second opinion just to make sure it's really necessary.

So it's been a rough couple of days in the Ketchup house... but through it all and certainly now that we've had some time to see that he is going to be okay and to adjust to the possibility of losing the teeth, I know that it could have been way worse.   It can always be worse.

It was scary and hard, and it is sad to see his swollen little face right now, but he is okay.  There are parents who go through much worse with their kids.  And there are people who have tried to become parents and would give anything to be in our shoes with a healthy, normal kid who is going to have some accidents in his life and at worse might be without his front teeth for a few more years than we expected.

It's good to remember that there is always someone who would love to have your bad days....
 

Reveal Cake #FAIL

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Flashback to a few weeks ago when my mom asked me if I wanted to have a gender reveal party for the baby...

My first thought was that I wasn't interested but then I thought.... well I do really like cake so.... maybe?

Once I gave her the yellow light of a maybe she let her imagination run wild.  Before I knew it, she was planning a party where we would FaceTime friends and family across the country.  And we would mail them all petit fours (mini cakes) with the blue or pink on the inside for them all to enjoy while they watched us cut the cake for the reveal over 1000 miles away.

The more I thought about it though, the more it just didn't feel like me (or my husband).  First of all - I'm a data/input person.  If there is information out there I want to know it RIGHT NOW.  I don't have the patience to wait for a party and for a baker to make a cake to find out something like this.

I also thought about how I really want to stay away from using the term gender at this point (really we were just learning the baby's sex) so what would we even call the party?  "Sex Party" doesn't have quite the connotation we would be looking for...

My mom suggested we call it a "Blue or Pink Party" but then that brings up a whole slew of other issues I have with pushing gender stereotypes on our children and the consumer culture of pink vs. blue for children.  (Yes, Mom, I know it can be exhausting to be my mother but at least I have convictions!)

So at that point we put the reveal party idea behind us.  I told my husband about my mom's ideas and he immediately said "no - that's not us."  We may have a party to celebrate this baby's impending arrival but it will be just that - a gathering of friends to celebrate Tater Tot.

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Now to the day we actually found out Tater Tot is a boy.  I already shared the corny, but sweet way I shared the news with my husband here.

My mom called to to find out if I had heard and again I just didn't feel right telling her over the phone so I told her I knew but wasn't ready to tell her.  I had to make her squirm a little, you know.  She actually threw an "it's not like I gave birth to you or anything" at me, but I held strong and didn't let on.

I called my husband and we hatched a plan to give my mom the reveal cake she wanted.  I invited her to over for dessert and stopped at two different stores to find cake mix and blue food coloring (yes, I have convictions but I also was short on time to come up with any other ideas and I knew my mom would enjoy it).

And thus begins the creation of the ugliest reveal cake in the history of reveal cakes...

It started out well enough...

That's me: Suzy Homemaker.  Ahem.

We had our bright, blue cake batter ready and even cooked perfectly.  Then we tried to transfer the cake....

Oops.  :-/

Okay - we can work with this.  Let's just cut it into a smaller cake and ice it.  No big deal!

This is going from bad to worse... The blue from the cake came through the icing, and I made the mistake of heating up the icing in the microwave to make it more spreadable but instead turned it into liquid icing.  

Sigh.

Should've bought an extra tub of icing.

Thankfully I got the funfetti cake so the sprinkles helped camouflage the blue and well... maybe helped make it look a little better?  Maybe....

At least it tasted good!  Any my mom got her "reveal party" after all.

Yum.

And it's a......!

This week we found out the sex of this little baby (Tater Tot To Be)!

Unlike with our first (FrenchFry), when my husband and I found out together during our 18 week ultrasound, this time we found out through a phone call based on a blood test done at 14 weeks.  It's amazing to see the medical advancements in just a few years between pregnancies.

I got the news over the phone while I was working from home and my husband was at work.  I just didn't feel right telling him the news through a text or phone call so I hatched a last minute plan to surprise him at work.

I quickly ran over to the grocery store to get some flowers and to find something to help me share the news.  And I settled on some petit fours that had the familiar color (I'm not too into the blue is for boys and pink is for girls thing, but I  like convenience and this was the easiest plan I could hatch in the few minutes I had).

I drove over to my husband's office and texted him from the parking lot that I got the call.  He immediately called me back and said "Aaaaaannnnnnndddddd????"  So I told him to come outside.

And then I gave him the bag with the petit fours to open and inside he found...

Tater Tot is a BOY!!!

The plan was a bit corny but it in reality it was also very special and sweet.  My husband was very surprised by the visit and it was great to be able to tell him the news in person.

I don't know why but I've always thought I would be the mother of boys.  And now that's going to be true!  TWO boys!  And FrenchFry is going to have a little brother.  We can't wait until this little guy is here and have our two little boys together.

Parents of BOYS.  :-)

Linked up with Momster's Link!

We're Going to Need More Ketchup!

Big news in KetchupLand...

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FrenchFry is going to be a BIG BROTHER! 

I am so excited to be able to share that I'm 14 weeks pregnant with my second child!  It has been really hard to keep this news from the blog for the past 10 weeks.  (Somehow those 10 weeks have both flown by and seemed to crawl at a snail's pace at the same time.)  It has also caused me to have total writer's block as I couldn't find anything to write about except for the ONE THING I COULDN'T TALK ABOUT.

But we are ready to share our happy and exciting news with the world, and boy do I have some stuff to say about being pregnant a second time!  Expect to hear a lot more from me as we prepare to go from one kid to two and navigate pregnancy with a high energy toddler in the house.  (Spoiler Alert: It's exhausting!)

FrenchFry has NO IDEA what is coming!

Say Hello to Tater Tot:

Expected Arrival: January 2016

And of course like any good family photo shoot, there were outtakes.  :-)

Linked up with #momsterslink!

Quotes That Keep Us Grounded - CandidCuddles Linky Post

After quite the hiatus from the blog - for good reason, which I will be sharing very soon - I'm back!  And for my first post in a long time, I'm linking up with the #CandidCuddles linky!

My quote for this week is one that helps me stay grounded as a parent:

This picture was taken at Fall Creek Falls State Park in Tennessee where we are vacationing this week.

 "The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice" by Peggy O'Mara. 

This quote has always spoken to me, even before I had my son.  It's one of those things that I read and it just made sense to me.  And it's a good reminder when things get frustrating - as they tend to do with small children (and older children too I imagine!).  A reminder that how we react to them and the that things we say, and maybe just as importantly how we say it, matter.  Children are a blank canvas when they come to us and we are forming the world for them with everything we do and everything to which they are exposed.

My family and I are on vacation right now and all of our routines are turned upside down.  We are also here with my brother and his family including his two young children who have their own routines and set of rules.  This can definitely cause more than our normal share of toddler meltdown moments and can be a little less than relaxing... to put it mildly!  But quotes like this remind me to take a breath and try to stay patient because moments like this matter.  Plus I want to enjoy my vacation and letting myself get too upset or worked up because of some extra whiny-ness because of a missed nap isn't going to help me (or anyone else) enjoy this time together.

Do you have a favorite quote that helps you stay grounded as a parent?

Check out the CandidCuddles quotes linky  and the rest of this week's quotes here:

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Quotes That Mean More Now That I'm A Parent

I started thinking  about some of my favorite quotes and sayings for Candid Cuddles Quote Linky from Cuddle Fairy and it made me think of a few quotes my parents used to say to me that mean so much more now that I'm a parent.

The one that stands out for me right now is:

Why yes, that IS butter covering my toddler.

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff.... And It's All Small Stuff!

 

My parents used to say this when I was a kid (I think my dad had a book by that name) and it has always been helpful to me.  It helps you keep things in perspective when things are going wrong or when you're having a bad day.  I know it was especially helpful for me as an angsty teen and early twenty-ish something, and I needed some perspective.  

And of course - it now comes in handy VERY often as a parent!  There are so many ups and downs as a parent, and life with a baby or toddler (and I can imagine older kids, tweens, teenagers...) is full of stressful stressful situations.  Sometimes it's easy to let the craziness get to you - particularly if you've had a bad day at work or have been cooped up with a cranky toddler all day.  The straw that breaks the camel's back is the soda your kid knocks over onto the new carpet or the "butter incident."

Sometimes your toddler gets his hands on the tub of butter and proceeds to grab handfuls of it like it's Playdoh and smear it all over himself, his high chair and the floor! (See photo above)  And it's okay.  It's small stuff.  Butter can be cleaned up (though you will still find it in the crevices of that chair for weeks) and clothes can be washed.  When things like that happen (because there are going to be countless examples) sometimes you just have to shake it off and laugh.  Because in the grand scheme of things these are small things and life is still full of those ups.  And it could always be worse...

It could have been poop!



If you want other useful, inspirational and/or funny quotes, check out the CandidCuddles quotes linky:

#candidcuddles