Potty Training

*disclaimer.
If you do not want to read about Antonio's pooping and peeing; stop reading. That is exactly what this post is about.


So up until this weekend we have been VERY casual with the potty training. For awhile he was pooping on the potty somewhat regularly. We would watch for signs, then ask him if he had to poop and usually he would say yes. Then we would read his "potty book" and usually by the end of it he would have pooped! Rarely would he actually tell us he had to. We were using the treat system so sometimes he would sit on the potty not go and then ask for a treat anyway. Good try kid! :)  Albert started getting really frustrated when he would go in his diaper, Antonio not Albert (haha), and not tell us or tell us he didn't have to go when he really did. So Albert wanted to try the "no diaper, no pants, bottomless" route this weekend. Just to see what he would do, again, Antonio not Albert. Turns out it is working to our surprise. Yesterday he would pee a little or sometimes a lot before realizing he was going then run over to his little potty and try to finish. To my surprise he knew just what to do. He stood there, knees bent a little and peed! He even knew to aim! Clearly he has been watching all the bigger boys at daycare! His aim is pretty good too! So today again we are bottomless and he has peed in his potty all by himself BEFORE peeing on anything! I m beyond impressed! Granted he has eaten a TON of M&M's in the past couple days! :)

The HUGE bummer is that we never imagined he would do so well and so he has to go back to daycare tomorrow, and the rest of the week. Which in turns means diapers/pull-ups. I am pretty sure that will damage any progress we have done this week which makes me SO MAD!!!!!  I know that he isn't/won't be potty trained in two days but I bet if we had the week we *might* be. In know, wishful thinking but he is doing so good today that I just wonder. We will try again next weekend for the 3-day weekend and hopefully pick up where we leave off. Daycare is closed Friday and my Mom is watching him but she doesn't want to take the ferry over on the Friday of a 3-day weekend, can't lame her but 4 days would been AWESOME!

Wish us luck next weekend! It has been great not having to change a diaper all weekend! He has not pooped at all this weekend so we will see what happens with that! It would save us so much money not having to buy diapers AND having the price goes down at daycare! Besides, he seems so proud of himself when he does pee in the potty! I am so proud of him too! I am hoping going back to daycare does not mess everything up or confuse him. I know there is a big chance it will, which makes me feel badly. Please send us successful P. T. vibes this week and next weekend!!!

The Great Wolf Lodge.

This weekend my Mom, Antonio and I as well as one of my oldest friends, Erin and her Mom, Liz who is one of my Mom's best friends and little boy Patrick, who is 23 months (we left the husbands at home!) went to the Great Wolf Lodge. I had heard from numerous people how great it was. I was a bit hesitant about how "great" it would be for Antonio being so young but IT WAS!!!  He had a BLAST! They had a great area for toddlers up to maybe 7 year olds. They even had 2 little water slides for them! We all shared a suite that have a "living" area as well as two bedrooms so we had our privacy! It worked out perfectly. At night we put both boys down and were able to stay up and chat until past 11pm! It was great! Happily they have a Starbucks in the lobby! The water park was impressive! Like I said they had an area designated for younger kids but also had a wave pool that generated waves similar to the ocean, an actual pool and then of course HUGE water slides for the bigger kids and adults. Sadly, all I can say is that the big slides looked really fun!

This is the wave pool area (stairs in the background to up to the BIG watersides!) 

This is the younger kids area.

As some of you may know Antonio has no real fear of water but strongly dislikes water in his face. Whether it be when washing his hair in the bath or getting splashed in the pool; he just does NOT like it! So as soon as we got changed into our suits and went to check out the water park. I worried about how much he'd like it; there was water coming and going everywhere. From the side, from above and even from below. After maybe 5 sec he got splashed, stopped, went to turn around to leave and I picked him up to go explore more water. He got better and better with water in his face. In fact he fell in love with a water slide where almost every time he went down he would get water in his face at the bottom. He quickly learned to cope and LOVE it! I was so proud!

This place really was a blast and is set up for the young and old kids! They had scavenger hunts, story time, an arcade and even a "Cub Club" which was set up for smaller kids to play and do some crafts. Antonio got to choose at breakfast if he wanted to go back to the water slide or play at the Cub Club; he chose the water slide! So we never got to check out the Cub Club but Erin took Patrick there and seemed to really like it.  I think kids younger than Patrick probably would not have enjoyed it as much; I think 2 is right on the edge of the younger age, depending on the kid. Patrick did had a lot of fun Saturday afternoon when we first got there checking out everything and kept talking about swimming the next morning.  I think you really need a full day to be able to see and do everything. I think I would maybe go for two nights so you have at least one full day to do everything! I already can't wait to go back and take Albert! It is pretty expensive but looks like if you go in their off season it isn't *to* bad considering you never really have to leave! All in all, it was a fun time for the kids and us girls as well! If you are considering going; go, you will have a blast! :)

**And within 15m of being home he pooped on the potty!!!!! A good weekend for sure! Until tomorrow morning when there isn't enough coffee to get me going! ;)

The BIG three year old!

As I said to Albert tonight, "It's like a new chapter in Antonio's life. Chapter four." Tonight we took Antonio to he Well Child doctor visit and all went well! He was such a good boy! The nurse asked him how old he was and he said 3!! Granted with us he still says 1. :/  Oh well.  Anyways, the doctor was able to take his blood pressure, which Antonio said felt funny, listen to his heart, his back, check his eye, nose and ears all without any fuss! She said he seemed to be a healthy 3 year old and had no concerns!  The stats are as followed...
Blood Pressure: 98/44
Height: 39"(!) - 78.91% based on CDC 2-20 years height for age stature (up from 36.7" last year)
Weight: 37lb 9.6oz (!!) 92.77% (based on blah, blah, blah) (up from 34lbs last year.
BMI (yes they check that.): 17.38 85.49% (based on blah, blah, blah again)

Overall, keeping pace on being a big but healthy kid!

Last Saturday we had Antonio's birthday party which turned out well, thanks to help from my Mom and my friend Erin! The day before there were all sorts of thunder, lightening and rain so i was a bit worried about the weather but it turned out fine. It only started to sprinkle at the end when we were finishing up the cake and ice cream. Antonio had a blast playing with all his friends, Jack, Shaun, Logan and Patrick. They all had fun playing in the sandbox together! When going down for a nap that day Albert asked him if he had fun playing with all his friends and he said yes but William wasn't there. William is Rosemary's (the daycare lady's) youngest and apparently we need to invite him next year! So sweet!  Antonio got great gifts this year too! He got 6 games, all but one we have played already!! He loves them! I can tell he plays games at daycare because it isn't a complete mess when playing and taking turns. :) Again, thank goodness for Rosemary!

Three years ago today.

Three years ago today my life was about to completely change; more than I even could have imagined then! By this time 3 years ago I had been admitted to the hospital, given an epideral and had the epideral start to wear off and begin feeling the contractions again. I remember sitting in my hospital room having the epideral wear off and watching the Mariners play the Texas Rangers. How I remember that you ask, well I just remember watching Omar play. It helped with the contractions a bit. ;) Anyways, they (the doctors and nurses) didn't want to give me anymore meds because I was so close to 10cm. They were sure any min now I would reach 10cm and deliver. Well the minutes continued to tick by and I was tired! My contractions had woken me up around 4 or 5 that morning and well I couldn't go back to sleep. I remember dozing in and out and watching my Mom sleep with her head at a 90 degree angle in a chair at the foot of my bed and Albert sleeping on the couch in the room.

Finally around 1 or 2 am and after being at 9cm for a few hours they decided to do a c-section. I couldn't believe it; I was finally getting this thing out of me...err, I mean, I was finally getting to meet my baby boy! Sadly, with being so medicated for the c-section I don't remember feeling much emotion, just pain.  Looking back it makes me so sad; that moment of seeing him for the first time and I don't remember feeling ANYTHING. Regardless, from that day forward my life has changed for the better in so many ways. I love Antonio more than I thought possible and I feel so much emotion every. single. day. So I was "empty" in that one moment that means so much but I have so much love and emotion because of him every day.

I cannot believe he will be 3 tomorrow. It is just not possible. I have asked him repeatedly what he wants for his birthday and every time his answer is: cake, chocolate cake. So, we are having a chocolate cake tomorrow night after his requested waffles for dinner. Tomorrow will not be a healthy eating day for him or myself. Oh well, what are birthdays for after all?! I feel so incredibly lucky to have him in my life and to all him my own. I know there are so many women who cannot become pregnant on their own or even with "help" so because of that I feel even more lucky. He is such good little boy and I cannot wait to see who he becomes! I am so proud of him now and am so proud of the boy he is turning into! 

Then:

*please ignore the stain :)*

Today: