Potty training

I am trying to potty train Ben mostly because I do not want to have two in diapers. Charlotte potty trained fairly soon after Ben was born and it took just a few days. I did the old keep the potty in the living room and strip her down. It was easy and wonderful. My pediatician said the ideal age is between two and two and a half. And Ben will tell us when he is pooping. So I started. If he is bare bummed and I ask him every 40 minutes or so, he will go sit on the potty and pee. He will not use a small potty because that is not what Charlotte uses. I have tried rewarding him with candy after he pees. Then Charlotte pees every half hour so that she can get a candy too. Every once in a while he will tell me that he has to pee. I get really excited then. His absolute favorite thing to do is pee outside in the grass. Yes, I'm a bad mom and I let him do that. But I feel like the only person being potty trained is me. I am the one who has to remember to have him go pee. And it's been going on for weeks now and I do not feel like we are any closer to where we were. If I strap a diaper on him, potty training is done. But I don't want to go anywhere without having one of them on. And I can't stay home all the time. I did it for a few days, but this has been going on for weeks. He will poop on the potty sometimes, but mostly he asks me for a diaper when he has to poop and I do not want to force him, so I will let him do that. Anyone have any ideas? Even if you do not have any experience but just know something from your cousin's aunt's sister. Especially you women with little guys, I'd appreciate knowing if this is normal. I would like to be done with this sometime. My friend told me it took her son an entire summer to potty train. If I stick a diaper on him, am I regressing the whole process?

In other news, I am 32 weeks and no bedrest. This is so different from my previous pregnancies. I actually have swollen feet. Yeah!! I have an appt on Tuesday but I doubt I will know anything since he doesn't check me. I like my new dr ok, but when he couldn't remember that I actually had a cerclage or know the right time to take one out, I will admit my faith was shaken. If I didn't think I would be such a jerk for switching again, I might. But we are nearing the home stretch and things are going fantastically. Charlotte and Ben play together so well I could cry. I love seeing the two of them together. They are so fun with each other. Charlotte is amazing and does so much to help me. Ben is going through a pinching and biting and poking stage. At least we hope it is a stage. Life is going to be rough for him when this kid is born. Warm weather has been appearing lately and I love it. Below are two pictures. I was going to do some more and videos but the computer and I are not getting along. I will try again later

no more cavities

This morning I finally got my last two cavities filled. It seems as though all of my teeth should now have fillings. All 10 are now done!

Names

I still do not know what I am having, yeah Doug! But I like thinking about girls names more cuz they are just more fun. I have vetoed any names that appeared on the top ten list for 2008 because I don't want my kid to be the 3rd Emma in her class. But I really like some of these names. Tell me what you think. Do you think it is important for a child to have a unique name? Mostly not too popular I guess is what I mean. Do any of you have a common name and did it bother you? How do you feel about your name? I love Sophia and Olivia and Hannah but all of them are on that list that I have banned. Any thoughts would be appreciated. And if you can't comment on my blog, just email me!

This and That

Here are some pictures. No particular order.
The kids were showing me different emotions. Can you guess this one?
How about this one?

One more The kids made their crowns and were proud to call themselves King Ben and Queen Charlotte


Here is the letter X, their favorite one.

C for Charlotte. We couldn't figure out B for Ben

This one is just kinda creepy.

It has finally be warm enough to go outside the past couple days. Man, have we enjoyed it. Ben received a bike for Christmas but has seemed to have forgotten how to pedal so he scoots around on it.

Although not a very good picture, this is Charlotte's new party dress. She has worn it three days in a row. I, being the mom that I am, don't care. She talks about how beautiful it is. She loves how it flows out when she spins. I guess I should edit to add that Charlotte does not blame Mickale for things that she does wrong. Charlotte just explains imaginary scenarios where Mickale has done something wrong. It shows that she knows what is wrong, at least. She tells the oddest stories. The other day Mickale has lost the bones in her arm and had taken the bones from her unborn baby brother to fix her own arm. I don't think Charlotte realized that that would be an unkind thing to do. But it really is funny what she comes up with. Her other friend is named Potty. Again, no idea where that comes from.


Last but not least is a video. It's a little dated as they are singing Jingle Bells, but I love listening to them sing together.

Jazz Game

So I was finally a good wife and I went to the Jazz game with my husband. And I had a blast. We got my wonderful sister to watch the kids. When she was younger, I never would have guessed that she and my kids would get along so well, or that she would volunteer to watch my kids. How growing up changes people. It was against the Lakers, and was a great game. My favorite part was watching my husband. I don't really understand it, but men love sports. He had the time of his life at that game. He yelled at the refs (really, what good does that do?) and told the players what they needed to do to win (again, completely pointless but I loved it!). It was so loud! I would honestly go again in a heartbeat.
Charlotte has already begun her birthday countdown as all her friends are turning four. To a child, 8 weeks seems so far away! I have been very bad about taking pictures. I wanted to post some pictures with this post, but I've got nothing. I am done with winter. I am sick of being stuck inside. Why do people like the changing seasons?
Nothing on the pregnancy front. I don't have another appt or ultrasound for another two weeks. I hope everything stays okay. I have reached 28 weeks, which is a big milestone because the baby has a much better chance of survival. We are almost all done being sick, thank goodness. Ben will say prayers now for dinner. They are the same every time. Heavenly Father, please bless food. That's it. At least he gets the gyst. Charlotte has an imaginary friend named Mickale who does everything naughty that Charlotte can think of doing. Mickale always hits people. She talks mean to her mommy. She doesn't share. I never had an imaginary friend growing up, but it isn't the way I thought imaginary friends work. I thought they played with you and you had to pretend they were right there. All Charlotte does is tell me things about Mickale, but she's never there. I'm ok with that because I do not lie very well. Anyone had any experience with imaginary friends? I hope everyone had a Happy Valentines Day!

Nothing like a little trip to L and D

to help put things in perspective. The last few days have been challenging with Ben. I had my appt with my new doctor today. I liked him and the office. It reminds me of my old office. He was attentive and understanding. He was also personable. His nurse was really kind too. All in all I am happy with my decision. I had a hard time getting Ben to sleep this afternoon which was not what I needed, especially since I was cramping. I laid down for a while and nothing changed so I called my new doctor. He suggested I head on down to L and D. By the time I got there the cramping had pretty much stoppped. They did a FFN test, which was negative. And they couldn't really find a cause for the cramping. I am ok with that. I stayed 15 minutes extra and had my ultrasound with the perinatologist. My cervix is still long and closed, believe it or not. It's weird to have my body being so cooperative. I didn't realize how much I had taken it for granted until I was driving down to the hospital. Things can change in just an hour. I am really grateful for it though.
While I was in Labor and Delivery I realized that I was bothered by the fact that the staff and nurses kept going on with their lives, talking about mundane irrelevant things. It seems like their lives should hang in the brink like mine did. I know that's unfair, but oh well. Anyway, things are good. I am very lucky that things ended the way they did.

Random

One day we were driving up to Doug's parents house and he said look at the cool reindeer. It wasn't Christmas time and so I said you're kidding, right? He asked me what I meant. That was when I learned that reindeer were real. Santa's not real, and neither are the elves and since I had never seen a reindeer I figured they were a made up animal cuz really, animals like that can't fly. After watching Elf I figured that Narwhals were made up animals. Turns out I was wrong about that too.



If there is any other real fake animal I ought to know about, please let me know. I have an appt with a new dr tomorrow. Cross your fingers I actually like this one (yes, it took me this long to finally switch) And then after that I have an ultrasound in the afternoon. So hopefully, magically, tomorrow holds good news and not bad. We are all still recovering from the fun cough bug that has been going around. Charlotte and I are almost all better but Doug and Ben are hit pretty hard right now. Someday I will sleep!