Potty Training No More

So, McKay is back in diapers. It's better this way. I mean, it's really too much to ask that my last child, who was never forced to even try to pee in the potty before he was three, would be easy to potty train. That's just not the way the world works.

He was very good at peeing in the toilet and he would happily do it anytime I asked. Because he was peeing so often, he was also quite good at staying dry when we had things we had to do. But he never once went on his own. And he never once felt the urge to poop before it was too late. He would try to squeeze some out if I asked him to, but that was the extent of it. He just doesn't have the bodily awareness yet to be able to figure it out.

On Saturday, he had been really good at staying dry, even during the kids' soccer games. When we got home, I had him constantly on the toilet, hoping that he'd be able to figure it out if I was really consistent. He just didn't need to go. Finally, about 5:30, he was playing and I asked him if he wanted to try again (it had only been about 30 minutes since had had tried before). He got a funny look on his face and said, "I need to be changed." He had peed and pooped in his underwear and was happily sitting in it on the floor without a care in the world.

I immediately stuck in him in the shower and told him he needed to clean himself off. And, contrary to everything I promised myself, I was mad at him. I couldn't blame it on my inattention. I couldn't blame it on not trying. I could only blame it on him. He started crying while I yelled at him to scrub the poop off his legs. It was at that very low mothering moment that I decided it just wasn't worth it. He clearly isn't ready, and going back in diapers was the best thing for us all.

Since then, he hasn't complained much at all. A couple of times, he has put underwear on, and complained when I told him he needs a diaper instead. He says, "but I'm three now!" To which I respond, "but you're not ready. When you are ready to start going poop on the toilet, you can wear underwear again." Now he has stopped trying. And we're all fine with it.

I guess he really does want to be my baby for a little while longer.

Close Call

Today was a busy day. One that needed to go smoothly, because Jeff is working in New Mexico. After school, Allie had soccer practice from 4-5, and then we had to go back home to pick Damon up to take him to his Images of Greatness performance. He has been working on a display board, bio riddle, and costume for tonight, as he portrayed Vincent Van Gogh.

We were on a tight schedule, because Kyla had tumbling at 5:45 and Allie had dance at 7:00, so there wasn't really time for things like eating. And accidents.

After Allie's practice, we drove home to pick Damon up. I drove into the driveway and turned the car off. I didn't take the keys out of the ignition, which I should have done. I ran in to get Damon, and he needed some help printing something. Carter and McKay were waiting in the car, and the next thing I knew, I heard Carter crying. I walked outside and saw the car across the street, in front of the neighbor's house. Luckily, it was just next to the curb and not five feet over next to their mailbox (which had just barely been repaired after a delivery truck backed into it), and nothing had happened to the van or the neighbor's yard.

But Carter was crying hard and I noticed his legs were scraped up. After a lot of questioning, I pieced together that after Carter had put the car in reverse, he had panicked, opened the door, and jumped out. The tire marks on his calf told me that he had been run over by one of the tires. He cried and cried and told me that he couldn't even stand up. 

My heart dropped. I was pretty sure that he had broken a bone--his ankle looked a little red and swollen already. But we were on a tight schedule, so I threw him into the car and drove Damon up to the school.  Sitting in the parking lot, I called Jeff and told him what had happened. I wasn't freaking out, but just trying to figure out what I was going to do if I felt like he needed to get an xray. We both decided to give him a couple of hours to see how he recovered. I couldn't tell if he was crying more about the scrapes, or if there was something else wrong. So I carried him into the school (after we dropped Kyla off at her tumbling class) and we sat through the Images of Greatness performance. After about 30 more minutes, Carter was finally able to put weight on his legs, and we all heaved a hugh sigh of relief. 

Somehow, he managed to escape without any major injury. I'm not sure if the car ran over him completely, or just grazed him, but either way, I am super thankful tonight. I feel really blessed and watched over, and I know my prayers will be a little longer and a little more heartfelt tonight. 

Birthday Boy

On Monday, we got to celebrate McKay's third birthday. It's hard to believe he's already three. It seems like he should still look like this:

But he's growing up, and couldn't be happier about turning three. I love how easy he is to please.  A couple presents, some cupcakes and peanut butter pie, and Colleen's family and BOOM. Party.

Massage line

Love my baby boy

There are so many things I love about this boy. He is the sweetest thing ever. He wants everyone to be happy, and is always giving things to his siblings. I've never had a three year old who is so good at sharing. Maybe it's because Carter has such a strong personality, but McKay will let Carter have whatever he wants.

He still loves girl stuff, but has really worked hard to convince himself that he doesn't. He told Tara that he couldn't sleep in her girls' room, because he's a boy. He has somehow lost all the ponies he used to play with, so my mom bought him a family of horses while we were in Mexico. He really loved them for a few days, but hasn't been playing with them as much lately. 

He still sucks his thumb and loves his bunny, Kenzie, although he told me he wants it to be a boy now, so maybe it will become Jonny now. 

He never gets to make a decision for himself. If I ask him what he wants, he'll let Carter or Kyla answer for him, and he almost always agrees with what they say. He likes Paw Patrol and Daniel Tiger on tv. He likes to sleep in in the morning. He still tells me all the time that he wants to be my baby.

On his birthday (when he and Carter were wearing their St Patty's day shirts), I told McKay it was time to get potty trained. He has been fighting me about this for a while now, telling me he wasn't ready because he wasn't three yet. He had even started changing his own diapers for me by wiping himself and leaving poop streaks all over the carpet. Yep, it was time to get him potty trained.

He has done very well so far. The first day, he had one pee accident in his underwear, so I took them off and had him run around bare butt. He was getting really good at peeing in the toilet (he's highly motivated by candy), and stayed dry the rest of the day. BUT he had a hard time with the pooping. While he was bare, he pooped on the carpet. Seriously?? Just pooping on the carpet like a dog? He also pooped in his underwear later in the day. That was fun. I had him dip his undies in the toilet to clean them out, but he was crying, saying he needed to be back in diapers.

Tuesday, he woke up dry and did really good all day staying dry. I had stuff I needed to do, so I put him in a pull up (so he wouldn't have an accident at the neighbor's house), which he managed to keep dry. He did poop in the pull up later in the afternoon, which was kind of a bummer. I wasn't sure if he was getting it or how long it would take him. But at least it was much easier for me to clean up. I am typically against pull ups, because I think they are just like diapers, but since he was doing so well with the pee (and I had a bunch left over from when Carter used to wet the bed), I decided to use one. 

Today, he woke up wet, but no big deal. After breakfast he told me he needed to poop (which he has said several times) and Allie took him to the bathroom. Surprise, surprise, he did a big poop on the toilet. Celebration! We made a big deal about it, and I gave him a box of Mike and Ikes. Which he "shared" with all his siblings because they asked him to. He has done really great today. He loves candy (he gets one every time he pees), so he goes every hour or so. Even when we had to go to soccer practice and Damon's class performance, he stayed dry. I'm so happy, and relieved, and proud of him.

The other night, as I was getting the boys in bed, I had a tender moment with them. I often dread having to put them to bed, just because I know that it's going to take a half an hour or more. I go down, brush their teeth, read to them and then we turn out the lights and sing songs. I was holding their hands and singing primary songs, and I was just really struck with a sense of how lucky I am to get to be their mom. These two boys are the best of friends and I know each one would be lost without the other. They really are so sweet and love me so much. I love to watch them grow and learn new things, but they are my babies, and it won't be long before I don't have a small hand in mine as I sing songs about heaven and Jesus.

I'm just really glad that right now, I do. 

St George Wedding Weekend

Jonny and Kenzie got married on March 8th and it was a great opportunity to get together and celebrate! Carter started the weekend off with a bump on his head, courtesy of Grandma Karen's trampoline. We thought his turban holding ice was a great look. 

It was a gorgeous day for a wedding. I didn't take that many pictures, but here are a few that I got. Love McKay's little photo bomb in this shot of Allie.

The girls are so happy for Jonny and love their new aunt Kenzie

I loved spending so much time with my sisters. We all stayed with Tara, which meant a lot of time for the cousins to play!

The wedding colors were yellow and navy blue, which looked really good in pictures. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to get pictures of everyone together. But here are a few of our family.

Because we had so many people in one house, we had the boys spend the last night in a tent in the backyard. They surprised us all by staying out there all night long, even though it got a bit chilly!

The kids didn't have school on Monday, so we stayed an extra day to spend more time with the cousins. We went to ride horses at the corral and get really dirty.

Brilliant idea to put McKay in a white shirt, huh?

These girls love horses

Allie drank a whole bunch of water when we first got there, and she was a little sick. Finally, after about an hour, she threw up in a barrel. Just before I was getting ready to make the drive home. I gave her an empty peanut can and headed home. She threw up once along the way, but no one else ever caught anything, so I'm pretty sure it was all that water she drank.

We had so much fun with the family, and can't wait to see them again. 

On Sunday, the kids were all wearing their Mexican clothes to church (except Kyla, who really wanted to wear her yellow scarf again, stinker), so I got a pic. LOVE the boys in their guayaberas!

That's Why You Always Wear a Ring

McKay's birthday post to come, but I wanted to document the bizarre experience I had a couple weeks ago at the Redbox kiosk at Walmart. I was looking for a dvd for the kids to watch on our drive to St George for Jonny's wedding. This guy was at the kisok next to me and he asked me if I had seen any good movies recently. A bit odd, but whatever. Maybe he's just a friendly sort. I told him about a movie Jeff and I had seen on the airplane that was pretty good, but that I really hadn't seen anything else lately.

He then told me that he thought I was cute, and he had just moved from California and didn't really know anyone yet. He introduced himself as "John," and shook my hand. He complimented my handshake and asked if I worked out. At this point, I was ready to bolt. He was a normal looking guy, not particularly handsome, but not ugly either. He was perfectly friendly and didn't say anything creepy or inappropriate, but it's been so long since I've been hit on, that it felt so awkward.

I wasn't wearing any makeup, nor was I wearing my wedding ring. Apparently, that was my mistake. Because John asked me if he could give me his number so that we could hang out sometime. Ugh. I had to break the news to him that, not only was I married, I also had five kids at home. Talk about awkward. He apologized repeatedly, but mentioned that he hadn't seen a ring on my finger.

As I walked away, feeling far more uncomfortable than flattered, I made a mental note to always wear my ring to Walmart. You never know who might be at the kiosk next to you.

**Sidenote: I promptly forgot my own advice and didn't put my ring on before we left for my brother's wedding. Luckily, McKay had found a plastic "diamond" ring that looks fine from a distance, so I wore that the whole weekend. Just to be safe. :)

Old Mexico

Our trip to Mexico really had two parts. The first part was the cultural/historical part and the second part was the relaxation/touristy part. We told the little boys that we were going to Old Mexico so they wouldn't confuse it with New Mexico, where Jeff goes every month.

We flew into Cancun on Saturday night and got our rental car. Instead of driving to Merida that night, we decided to spend a night at the Comfort Inn and drive on Sunday. We got up early Sunday morning and started the long drive. Our first stop was Chichen Itza, which is probably the most well-known of the Mayan ruins. We got there before the crowds, which was nice, and we had plenty of time to wander around and see all the ruins. It was partly cloudy, which helped with the heat. We had a pretty clear shot (no people in it), but it was the back side, which isn't as restored.

Human sacrifices were common to the Mayan people, and one ruin documented all those who had been sacrificed with carvings of skulls all the way around. Some were pretty cool.

Here's a better shot of the famous ruin from the "good side." Jeff is planning on editing his photos, but I wasn't willing to wait for them to be finished, so here's one of the unedited ones.

Chichen Itza has become a huge tourist destination. It's about 90 minutes from Cancun, and buses roll in by the dozens. There are vendors everywhere, all over the property, trying to sell cheap trinkets. We were talking about how different things would be run in the United States, and that is one of the main things that would be different. 

We took the back road (free road) the rest of the way to Merida, through all these small towns. We pulled in late afternoon and checked into our hotel. Merida is a rather large city (we heard there are over a million people that live there), and the downtown is super crowded, especially on Sunday when the people are out socializing (we couldn't get over how social the Mexican people are). 

We visited a Mayan museum in a cool old colonial building and stopped by the temple for some pics, but the gates were locked. 

We also got acquainted with the downtown and its' unique feel. On this building you can see the architecture paying homage to the Conquistadors who conquered the Mayan people. If you look closely (maybe blow the picture up), you can see the Conquistadors standing on the heads of some disturbed people. Interesting to say the least.

Sunday night was filled with more culture with the people of Merida. Really cool city that is unlike anything I had ever seen before.

Monday morning started a little weird. I have a history of occasionally doing funny things while sleeping (changing clothes, unscrewing light fixtures, etc), although I haven't done anything in a while. But for some reason, the hotel room in Merida brought it out in me again. Jeff and I were in separate beds (full beds just aren't going to cut it for two people who need a little space to sleep) and there was a painting above my bed. I can kind of remember something like I thought the painting was moving and going to fall on me, and next thing I knew, Jeff was standing next to my bed, taking the painting from my hands, and tucking me into bed. Apparently, I had gotten on the bed and removed the painting from the wall and was muttering incoherent musings that woke Jeff up. All we could do was laugh about it, although Jeff reiterated his concern that I will one day do something really crazy in my sleep. 

The offensive painting

We got up and drove down to Uxmal, another famous ruin that is farther away from Cancun, and thus less touristy. Jeff enjoyed heading off the beaten path to find all the ruins that aren't completely restored (or even excavated much at all).

Uxmal was a city where the people actually lived, not just a place of religious worship like Chichen Itza. It was also very cool, and we got to walk on a lot of the ruins there, including the tall temple with 65 steep stairs. The view from on top was really neat.

Again, the clouds provided some relief from the sun. It is hot in the Yucatan!

After we left Uxmal, we started the drive to Homun, where we heard there were some good cenotes to visit (cenotes are sink holes filled with fresh water that are popular places to swim). We found a little guide, Francisco, with his scooter cab outside the city and he took us to three cenotes. The first was pretty big, with a rope swing. We stayed for a while and then headed to one that hasn't been open for long (only seeing visitors for six weeks now). It was really neat. We climbed through tight openings in a cave with amazing formations down to the water.

The last cenote we visited was behind a barbed wire fence that was locked. Francisco just raised the fence for us and under we went. It had a high point that Jeff jumped off of, then we both jumped off the rock together. It was so fun and such a cool experience.

Francisco was a very good tour guide, and when he took us back to our car and I took this pic of him and Jeff, I realized why he was able to slip through the caves so easily. He's tiny!

Probably our best adventure happened on this day. As we were driving around through all these small Mexican towns, we came across David's Guayabera shop. Guayabera's are shirts popular in Mexico, and we had been looking for some for the boys since we arrived in Merida. Some were reasonably priced, but they didn't have the sizes we needed for the boys, and others were not so reasonably priced, so we hadn't bought anything yet. But when Jeff spotted David's shop, he was excited.

We parked the car and went inside this tiny little shop where the shirts were being made right before our eyes. There were fabric, patterns, scissors and finished shirts everywhere. Jeff asked about the shirts and found out that they were only 80 pesos (less than $7), instead of the 120 or 180 they were selling for in the city. David told us (well, he told Jeff, since I didn't understand anything) that his father had been making the shirts for 50 years and he had taken over 15 years ago. They sell all over the Yucatan, and we happened upon them in the tiny town of Mama, Mexico. After a while, we ended up with four shirts--one for all the boys in our family. What a wacky experience that we never would have dreamed would happen.

David totalling our bill

 

Jeff holding the shirts

Me with the giant scissors. Look at that cool shop, with Jesus watching over everything. :)

We ate at La Chaya Maya (again), which served authentic Yucatecan food, and it was so good. Really good. We talked about it the rest of the trip, how nothing else could compare. 

Tuesday was our last morning in Merida, and we stopped by the temple for a quick pic. It's so funny to see the temple, with the beautiful grounds, in the middle of a crowded city where space is at a premium. We didn't get to go inside (the limited operating time just didn't work with our schedule), but we enjoyed seeing it. 

We headed back to Cancun on the back roads with a couple of stops along the way. The first was a hacienda south of Merida. When hemp was a hot commodity in the 1800's, haciendas popped up all over the  Yucatan. They are the Mexican version of the plantations in the southern US, and many have been restored. The one we went to was pretty much left as it was, and was really cool to see. These arches are the entrance, and this pic made us laugh (the bikers were the perfect inadvertent photo bombers).

We also stopped at a little Mercado for a refresca and some butter (for the bread we had bought at Walmart). I had to get a Cristal, because it was made for me.

We drove to Valladolid and stopped to see yet another cool cathedral and plaza (this was probably the nicest one we saw on our trip, and there is one in every town). I also got a pair of leather flip flops, which are the hot item in Valladolid (there are a lot of leather goods produced there). Because it's fairly close to Cancun, Valladolid was full of tourists. Funny how that happens the closer you get to Cancun.

Finally, by evening, we made it to our hotel in Cancun. Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday were pretty much the same every day. We would get up, eat a quick breakfast (from the food we bought at the grocery store and kept in our room), and head down to the beach. We'd sit there for a couple hours, until we started to feel burned, then go to the gym for a workout. Then we'd go back to our room for our homemade lunch--chips and guacamole. Avocados are super cheap in Mexico, and so we bought a bunch, along with a couple boxes of salsa, and we'd make guac every afternoon. It was so great. Then we'd shower and go back outside or hang out on our amazing balcony (we upgraded to an ocean front room for $100 more for the week, and it was totally worth it! We spent so much time out on our balcony and loved sleeping with the door cracked open so we could hear the waves crashing all night long).

Marriott Casamagna--our room was on the fifth floor right on the end

Sandcrab I nearly stepped on during one of our morning beach walks

Robe selfie

The ocean and the sand were simply breathtaking. We loved every minute of the time we spent at the resort, even though we got a little more sun than we really hoped for. Jeff had some weird sun rash, where he got red and splotchy the first day and never really recovered. By Saturday, he was spending most of his time in the shade.

Friday was different. We took a day trip to Tulum, which was the "visually stimulating" part of the trip (according to Jeff). The ruins were pretty cool right on the beach.

My hair was sure a lot of fun--frizzy and in the way all the time, so it spent a lot of time in a ponytail

Tulum selfie

We also went to Akumal, because we knew that we could snorkel and see a lot of turtles. But we didn't end up staying, because it is a total tourist trip. The worst of anything we saw on our trip. Although the beach is public, you are charged for parking, charged for a life jacket (which is "mandatory"), and you can't even go out and see the turtles unless you pay for a guide and go with 7 other people. Ugh. So annoying, and so not our style. So we bailed (I grudgingly paid the 50 peso toll to use the bathroom, because I had no other option), but they didn't get any other money from us (we parked a ways a way and walked, so we could avoid the parking cost). Win for us!

We stopped at a cenote called Jardin del Eden, which was awesome. We snorkeled (the only time) and saw a bunch of tropical fish (in the mostly fresh water) and had a really fun time people watching and hanging out. That was actually the perfect place--enough tourists come that they keep it up nice, but it's not overrun with people, and it's not so regulated. Awesome.

We also went to Playa del Carmen, which wasn't all that impressive. I know there are nice resorts down that way, but the main beach area was not very nice. Small hotels, small beach, tons of people...not our scene, either. The main street downtown was cool, though, and I'm sure if you are looking for a party, it would be awesome. We just got spoiled at our resort, which was not crowded at all. We loved it so much!

Getting Jeff to take a pic was not an easy task, but I'm really happy about the way it turned out. 

A panoramic view of the hotels to the north of us. So pretty it looks fake.

Last night at another Yucatecan place in Cancun, Labna. Not quite as good as Chaya Maya, but still pretty good. And way better than any of the Tex Mex places in the hotel zone.

Before we even knew it, it was time to go home. We had an early flight, so we had to get up at 4:30 to get ready. That wasn't a lot of fun. We flew to San Francisco, where we had a marathon layover. We tried to get on an earlier flight, but there was nothing available,

 so we decided to extend our vacation by taking a day trip to San Fran. We took a train downtown and then got off and walked. We stopped in Chinatown for some yummy food and cool sight seeing. We walked around Fisherman's Wharf and really got a cool mini tour of the city. We walked up Hyde to Lombard St (the crookedest street in the world), which was a lot harder than I expected. It was a long way up and you climbed! It was cool to walk down Lombard St, though. 

Chinatown selfie

After a fun day exploring, we got back to the airport and found that our flight was delayed an hour. Of course. As if the day wasn't long enough...we did eventually make it home, though, and got to bed by 1:00 am. Which meant that we had been up for almost 22 hours. Totally worth it, and I already miss it!