Paci Free and Potty Training

When I started this post 3 1/2 weeks ago, I thought potty training would be over...But, it's not.  We said goodbye to diapers cold turkey on Good Friday.  Those first 3 days were rough.  The potty went with us everywhere, including the driveway.

He also enjoyed being naked down below while playing outside.  That sign on the trampoline was perfectly placed!

By day 4, Lachlan had really mastered peeing in the potty and has done great ever since. 

Poop, however, has been a much bigger challenge than anticipated!  He is not usually my stubborn child, but on this issue, he wins the prize! He refuses to go on the potty and tries to hold it as long as possible.  He can get pretty cranky because it's hard work concentrating on not pooping for 6 days.  We added a little milk of mag to the routine to help prevent the holding, but all that's done is lead to some yucky accidents in unfortunate places. I'm hesitant to go back to diapers, so I guess I'll just be patient...He's very excited about getting a new car and going to the ice cream shop when the poop lands in the potty; just not excited enough to do it yet.

In other news, the week before the potty training, Lachlan decided to go pacifier free. He was by far our easiest one. Just one night of crying and he never looked back.  A sticker chart and promise of a new car helped the process along.  I'm happy that our house is now completely paci free since Poppy never took one!

Easter

Easter this year was busy, as usual.  We kicked off the festivities the week before Easter with our church's egg hunt.  I even managed a group photo.  Everyone is smiling; that never happens!  Gigi bought Poppy's first Easter outfit and bow.  We decided to put it on her for the church hunt since that's when I take the most pictures.  As you'll read later, it's a good thing we made that decision!

 Lachlan was the first to hunt.  Don't let that look fool you; he was crying 2 seconds before.

 Making sure no one's going to steal his egg.

 I zipped home with the younger 2 plus Liam while Troy stayed with the big guys.  This picture makes me laugh.  I can see a similar one being taken for years to come.

 Jonas.

 Reef loved a good challenge instead of going for the obvious ones.

 On Wednesday, we had our annual playgroup hunt.  5 years in and we're still trying to get that perfect group pic.  Gavin was out before the camera were even turned on.

 Poppy was also a challenge.  Gentry is also missing from the picture...

 Poppy got 1 egg; it was all she needed.

 Easter weekend brought Troy's birthday and potty training for Lachlan.  The boys enjoyed egg dying and would've done hundreds if we had them.  I didn't boil them this year since we weren't hiding them and don't eat boiled eggs.  You'll be impressed to know that only 1 broke.  Our hands are still pink, in case you were wondering.

 The night before Easter brought a 102 degree fever for Jonas.  No other symptoms, but this guy seems doomed to be sick on Easter.  Last year he had the worst stomach bug EVER; I'm thankul it wasn't repeated this year.  So, no church for him...or Lachlan since the potty training still hadn't clicked...or Poppy since Daddy she was napping and Daddy had to do the communion meditation.  I'm glad Poppy wore her outfit the week before.
The Easter bunny enjoyed packing their baskets this year.

 All the boys got summer shoes; hero flip flops for R and J and green crocs for L.  They were loved.

They also got a hero shirt and angry birds fruit snacks.  Also loved.

In spite of the fever and stress of potty training, we still enjoyed our long weekend together.  The boys are really good at telling the Easter story.  I love hearing them tell me that the "tune" is "empty!"

10 months

Our "little" girl is now 10 months old.  She has changed so much in the last month.  She is now crawling everywhere and doing it fast.  The one step in our house didn't keep her contained to the living room for long, and she now races the her brothers' room if she spies the door open.  She can also crawl down off the back porch.
She is pulling up on everything but hasn't made any attempts at taking steps.  Troy especially likes it when she pulls up on his legs and rips the hair out.  She is getting better at cruising on furniture and used a laundry basket as a walker the other day.
Diaper changes are a nightmare these days since she just wants to do go go go.
We are finally enjoying some better sleep around here.  We cried it out through night feedings twice last month.  It was ROUGH but well worth it.  Erin loaned us her video monitor and it has been a life saver; if she's not standing up, I just don't go in there and she will almost always go back to sleep.  Poppy goes to bed about 7, wakes up between 5 and 6:30 to eat, and then goes back to sleep until 7:30 or 8.  Her morning nap has also improved; it's been 1 1/2 hours the last several days!  So much better than the 30-45 minutes she was doing.  Her afternoon nap is 2 hours and at the same time as her brothers'; this is heaven for Mommy!
This girl really knows how to eat and loves her food!  She is really getting into finger foods right now and loves to sample what the family's having for dinner.  We finally discovered a straw cup that she likes, so she loves to drink water from that.  We plan on introducing cow's milk soon.
Here are some of the cute random pics of her in the last month:
Who doesn't love a naked baby?  We were mid-diaper and clothing change when she raced off.  She definitely knows how to pose for the camera and thinks she's always the subject of pictures.

 Enjoying some driveway time.  She is my only baby who ever kept a hat on.

 At the Easter playgroup.  I love the addition of a pink basket to our collection!

She was dying to get in the sprinkler at Liam's house the other day.  She loved it...

 for a few minutes anyway.

 Then she decided to explore the grass instead.

 She is a mess!  We definitely aren't raising a girly girl here; she loves to be messy and can give those boys a run for their money in the dirt category!

Soccer

After much debate on what extracurricular thing Reef should do this spring, we decided on soccer.  He wanted to play with Ethan, but E isn't playing this season.  He said he still wanted to play.  We picked i9 because they play and practice on the same day.  Reef was excited until a couple days before when he started to get anxious said he had changed his mind.  We reminded him that he had asked to play and needed to at least give it a try.  His main fear was that he had no friends on his team.  Troy is helping to coach the team.

The whole family headed out for the first practice and game.  It was hard work with the other 3, but I'm glad I got to be there to see him play.  Reef even scored the only goal for his team!  He asked a boy named Henry to be his friend, so now he's good to go.  He even said he wants to play soccer every season for the rest of his life!

Here are some shots from opening day (Reef is #6)

 He's in the white on the far left of this one:

 Poppy took a short nap and then enjoyed crawling around in the grass.

 This guy was so done by the end.

Note that there are no pictures of Jonas.  He found some other 4 year olds and spent the whole time with them.  He was devastated this week that he couldn't go see his "friends"!  Maybe that will tempt him to want to play next season.

Cake Decorating

For her birthday, Chris signed Erin up for a cake decorating class.  She got to bring a friend, so she invited me to join.  Every Monday in March, we headed to class to learn how to make flowers and use fondant. 
This was my final project:

I thought it turned out pretty!

BFF's?

We had our friends, Tim and Misty, over for dinner last weekend with their twins, Rhett and Rhys.  Their babies are about 3 months older than Poppy, and it was fun to see them all interact together.

We think Rhys and Poppy may be BFF's.  I'm sure their conversation went something like this:

Rhys: Oh, Poppy, your monitor tastes even better than mine!  I love coming to your house!

 Poppy:  Let me throw this otter on your head.
Rhys:  Mommy!  Poppy threw an otter (but I really think it's a rat!) on my head and is taking my monitor!

These girls were too funny!  Can't wait to get them together again!