Potty Training Fun!

So, the verdict is out, Hunter was ready to be potty trained before Mommy was ready for him to be! My plan was to wait until our cross country move in June, unless he showed signs that he wanted to start earlier. And that he did! On Saturday late afternoon, he decided we would start. And let me tell you, I am still completely shocked how this all went down. So let me give you the run down.

Hunter and I got home around 4pm on Saturday. I changed his diaper and didn’t immediately put his pants back on, just left him in a shirt and diaper. A little while later, I turn around and he is trying to take his diaper off. I was a little annoyed by this and asked him to put it back on. He said “No! Hunter go potty!” He had never said anything like this before.

So, I grabbed his potty chair from upstairs. (I got it months ago and he only sat on it before and after bath time, but never had actually used it.) I put it in the living room and let him go naked. Within the next half hour, he had sat down and went pee. I was floored! I made a huge deal about it and gave him a Dum Dum sucker as a reward. I still thought this was just a onetime thing. Boy was I wrong! By the end of the night he had gone four more times and had no accidents! And yes, I did give him four more suckers. I figured I could give him way too much sugar one night to encourage this awesomeness! I put him to bed with a diaper on.

The next morning, the diaper was wet. But… I took it off right away and once again let him run around with no pants or diaper on. He didn’t have any accidents all day! I did have to run to Target to get pull-ups and a potty chair for my parent’s house, so I put him in a diaper for that little outing and then again when we made the forty five minute drive to my parent’s that evening.

He had one pee accident at my parent’s house on Monday, but THAT IS IT! He went poop on the potty Tuesday, Wednesday and today. I am SO proud of my little guy. He just goes and sits on his potty when he needs to and goes. I am simply amazed by this. I’ve taken him out twice for short periods of time in his big boy underwear with no accidents and for a couple hours yesterday evening in a pull-up, only to find that it was completely dry when we got home. Five days ago I had a little boy that had never gone to the bathroom outside of his diaper.

We have switched to small treats, like one tic-tac. I think the next step will be to not use pull-ups at all unless he is sleeping and to move the potty seat into the bathroom instead of whatever room we are in.

Any advice for this momma who was not planning on potty training this early? J What is the next step?? I’m just clueless about how to get from this stage to being fully potty trained.

I guess Jesse and I have a big boy now!

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Week in Iphone Pics(and video!): Week 3

It's that time of week again to link up my week in iPhone pics with Amy over at A Good Life Blog. If you haven't checked her blog out, do it, she is great!

It was a pretty eventful week for us! Lots of good family and friend time with lots of smiles and laughs! :)



On Monday night, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings in Tacoma. They just opened their first one in Washington in the last few weeks. Jesse and I LOVE it! :) As always, Jesse got the boneless wings with Caribbean Jerk and I got mine with Mango Habernero! HOT! Jesse put a little bit of his sauce on Hunter's tongue. Poor guy kept trying to brush off the spicy from his tongue with his hand. Mean daddy!!



Nighttime cuddles, wrestling,teeth flossing with Hunter, and more cuddling with Henry. He saw me flossing and insisted that daddy floss his teeth. So cute. :)



Hunter loves Henry and Henry tolerates Hunter. Looks at these boxes in the living room! Grrr, these are boxes of goose decoys that Jesse left here for several days. I was rather annoyed and daily, no hourly, requested that he removed them from our living area.



On Friday, we met up with a blog friends, Jill and Corbin, for a play date at the parks and rec center. Hunter had a great time!! (And so did I!)



Good morning, Hunter! I scored a sweet deal on Tory Burch boots that I picked up for myself for Christmas, whoops! Hunter playing in his playroom. Day 3 of the advent calendar with Hunter.



Jesse kicked me out of the house on Friday for a girl's night! I had such a great time with six of my favorite ladies! We went to Bellevue Square for some holiday fun, Cheesecake Factory, and then drinks at the MunchBar and Piano Bash. It was much needed!



Saturday morning, Hunter and Jesse shared another goodbye. Jesse left for a short mission to Germany and the middle east somewhere, but will be back next weekend sometime! Hunter started potty training last night, which is worthy of a blog post in it's own! So proud of him!

And now for a video!



I took this last night. I love how Hunter and Henry are really able to interact now. But Jesse better watch out, Hunter is in training to become the new master to the dog!

Fabulous Holiday Blog Challenge: Days 1-4

I am a few days late, but decided that I wanted to join Amber & Neely in their holiday blog challenge! Check out their Blogs! A Complete Waste of Makeup and Brunch with Amber.

So let me catch up on all the FABULOUS Holiday fun ;)

Day 1: Fave gift received EVER

I was talking to Jesse about this last night and it was really hard for me to remember my gifts as a kid. What the heck is wrong with me?! He immediately started rambling on about some pump up sneakers that he had gotten as a kid.

It took me a few minutes of taking a trip down memory lane… but I finally thought of the present I was most excited about opening as a kid. It was an American Girl doll… Addy. I LOVED her. I loved history as a kid and was really interested in slavery. Weird, huh? I loved Addy’s story and what she represented.

I got Addy in her pink dress, but I also received her birthday outfit. I loved this brown and cream dress! Sadly, I don’t know where she went. I wonder if my dad has tucked her away in some storage box in the shed, if she was given to Goodwill, or if one of my siblings cut off all her hair to make me mad and then my parents quietly disposed of her so I wouldn’t freak out. I should ask them where she went!!







Day 2: Fave holiday tradition, old or new

This is a hard one for me. Most of the consistent traditions were from growing up. Since Jesse and I have been together, 5 Christmases, he’s only been home for a couple of them. This has made it pretty difficult to make our own traditions.

Growing up, we always went to church on Christmas Eve night, and then afterwards we would have a late dinner and then open presents until late! It was so much fun. In the morning, after everyone was up, we would get to open our stockings. I LOVED stockings. My mom filled them up with awesome things! That afternoon the extended family would come over for dinner and more gift opening.

Since Hunter has been born, we have started some of our own traditions. I get Hunter a new pair of pajamas to open on Christmas Eve night so that he can sleep in them that night and have them on for Christmas morning. I also have started to make a big deal out of stockings again because I loved them so much as a kid. This year I’ve already stuffed Hunter and Jesse’s stockings with great things.

Check out Hunter in his PBK Spiderman pajamas last year:




I’ve heard of people making a cake for Jesus’ birthday on Christmas. I really like this idea and think I might adopt it as a tradition for our family starting this year. I just think it’s a great reminder of what we are really celebrating, the reason for the season!

Day 3: Holiday decorations/décor

I LOVE special Christmas ornaments. I try to get a new one every new place we go. This year, I got a cool one from New Zealand. I SO look forward to decorating the tree every year, because it’s so fun to reminisce of the fun times in the past when I look at the ornaments we have collected over the years.

I haven’t taken pictures yet of our tree this year, but here is my post from last year.

Day 4: Favorite holiday movies/TV specials

Surprisingly, I don’t have a huge list of Christmas movies or shows that I watch every year. I’ve just never really gotten into watching the same things every year. Lame, I know. But, my two favorites that remind me of being a kid are Home Alone and The Christmas Story.



They are just classics that make me giggle still as an adult. Home Alone 2 was just on TV last week and Jesse and I were in such a good mood watching it and laughing.

My Least Favorite Time of the Year

I love Christmastime, so it's not because of that. It is because it is hunting season. This means I get to spend even less time than usual with Jesse.
I'll be honest, hunting season seems to be the biggest struggle in our marriage. I feel like Hunter and I take a backseat to shooting ducks and geese and I just don't get it. I want more family time. It just seems like Jesse is gone so much for work and then to throw this on top of it, it's just too much. :(
Jesse does stay home when he needs to. And he's gotten better about not going all weekend every weekend. Maybe I am just being needy. But I really do not like November-January all that well.

Week in iPhones Pics - Week 2

So yeah, I know I have been a bit absent in my blogging. But I swear, I have a great excuse! Jesse and I had our 2 nephews and niece from Tuesday evening until Saturday. So yeah, that made our hands full with FOUR kids! It was so much fun. The kids played together so wonderfully and it gave me an excuse to plan fun activities!

Jesse came home last Sunday after being in New Zealand and Antarctica for a month.




Monday and Tuesday were pretty uneventful, as they were long work days. fBut come Tuesday night, things got eventful! :)







I managed to only take one picture on Thanksgiving... and of course it was of dessert!



On Friday, we spent the day decorating the tree and then went to Fantasy Lights! The kids loved it! :)

My Week in iPhone Pictures

I'm linking up with Amy over at A Good Life Blog with her week in iPhone pictures. I love this idea because it keeps me taking pictures throughout eachday and it will be neat to be able to look back at the everyday moments in our lives. Check out her blog, you'll love it and her! :)

I realized that I really only take pictures when it's just Hunter and I. I promise I wasn't a hermit all week! I did actually go to work, see my family, and hung out with a few friends! I promise I will get better at this. :)




The stockings for all my nephews, neices and Hunter came from PBK in the mail! There are going to be going up at my parents house every year. :)