Potty Training!

Say hello to a mom who only has to change one babies diapers now!! Yayyyy!!! I can't tell you how overdue that was! Sheesh!

When Damon was like 2 and a half I attempted to potty train him. He seemed like he was ready. He showed all the signs so I thought, let's do this! Yeah, he wasn't ready. He would go just enough to get a treat and keep me happy then would go and empty his bladder somewhere else. So I waited for a few more months. Tried again, same thing. Then we moved to Texas and my pediatrician told me not to worry about it until we had settled in. We have been here a month so I decided to try and again and this time it went great! He's had a few accidents here and there, but the last 2 days there have been no accidents and I don't need to remind him to go! I'm so glad it's finally stuck! And another cool thing is that he doesn't pee at night, so there's really no potty training at nighttime needed! The last three nights he's gone all night with no pee in his pullup. He usually always had pee in his diaper so I figured I'd potty train for daytime, and work out night time later. But it's like the better he does in the day, the less he goes at night. And I even do the big no no and give him a sippy cup of water at bedtime. It's just something I've always done and since he was in a pull up I just didn't care. It's so dang hot here and the last thing I want is for him to be dehydrated. That was my first thought when he stopped peeing at night, but he drinks a lot of water during the day. We can go out and get groceries or whatever and he holds it until he can get to the bathroom. He was scared to death to go in a public bathroom the first time I tried to potty train. But this last time I made him go in the regular toilet, and I think it's less intimidating when we go in a public bathroom now. So it's no problem to him, although he hates the loud flush! haha

I'm so glad he's finally potty trained! I finally feel like I don't have to worry about him being 8 and in diapers;)  Rafe watches Damon's every move, so maybe I'll potty train him sooner. Like in a year haha. I'm not ready to do this all over again. I can't wait for the day when there's no more diapers! That'll be weird!

Comforting Pink Line

Let's get a little up close and personal shall we? Here's a little fun fact about me.....
I love this....

It's comforting. Stress relieving. It makes me sleep better too.
About every month right before shark week, I convince myself I'm pregnant! Seriously almost every month. Then Dan freaks out a little, and we convince ourselves that it will be ok! And we can handle 3! Right???
Then I break down and go buy a test.
Take the test.
Freak out for the longest 3 minutes of my life.
Then do a little happy dance and squeeze my kids and laugh at how ridiculous I am. Then I get just a little sad. Maybe another one wouldn't be so bad? Then Damon pokes Rafe in the eye with my mascara and I snap back to reality and think, yeah I'm good.
I'm not on BC because it makes me feel all weird and emotional. So we use.....alternative methods. And it hasn't failed us yet! But it's never 100% and that makes me nervous. We don't have insurance right now and our kids were both around the 25k range. Plus I'm just not ready to add another one. Damon isn't even potty trained yet...that's a whole post in itself, stubborn kid! My signs of being pregnant are usually pretty similar to when I start my period. Sore boobs, I'm tired, hungry, and cranky. Sounds like a blast right? So that's why I always freak out, because the signs are so similar!
There are definitely days when I think I could be done having kids. But then I think how fun it would be to have a girl! And I think I want one of those. SO down the road in probably a year or two we will think about it. But right now.....our kids are a little crazy and are a two man wrecking crew. They tag team me all day long. And I can't wait for bedtime to come so I can take off the mommy hat, then I see them sleeping and just want to wake them up and squish and kiss those chubby cheeks and realize how lucky I am to be their mommy and how much they have changed my life! Who needs to pee with the door closed anyways?

Toddlers Sharing Rooms!

Hey Mommies!!! So we just moved to TX and I have had my boys sharing a room for the last month of two. It's been working out pretty well, but there are times when it drives me crazy! I put them in the same room to help with the transition. I tried it after a few weeks at my parents house when my kids sleeping sucked! Bedtime routine would take like an hour, then Damon would be awake forever, Rafe would just cry and cry, and they would both wake up during the night and super early. So we all started sleeping in the same room and all the issues went away. I could tell they loved having eachother in the room. So when we moved we put them together. Bedtime has been cut in half for sure, and they are normally pretty good about just going to sleep. Naptimes are pretty impossible. Damon always wants to go wake Rafe up and play with him when he's napping, and I think Rafe has gotten used to having someone in the room with him, so now it's harder to fall asleep on his own. So he rarely naps. Right now he's passed out on the couch, which has been good so far haha! We'll see what happens in five minutes though. So nap times have been rough and now at bedtime Damon will cry for us if he's not tired and it keeps rafe awake, making both kids fussy the next day. You know how it is. Crappy nights sleep, cranky babies the next day!
Any advice? I've started giving them quiet time during the day in their room and will put a movie on for them. Sometimes they fall asleep, other times they just watch. Which has been nice to just have some time for myself.  But I don't like playing movies at night for them to fall asleep to. Theyve been getting lots of tv lately! Should I play music? Keep a light on in the room? or seperate them until they are older? We talked about getting them bunk beds, but I think they're still a little small for that. Mostly Rafe. anyways, any thoughts on how to make Damon be better about having Rafe in there with him?

Toddler Bed Drama for this Mama

Alright, basically this whole toddler bed thing is NOT working out for me. I just want to put the crib back together so he's trapped again. haha But I know since I've already got this far, I need to keep going and be consistent. It's taking a while, but I can see an improvement. The other night we put him to bed at 8 and he went down great and slept all night! Last night he fell asleep in the car, and when we got home and changed him into his jammies, he was wide awake and played for an hour and a half. We have to leave his lamp on in order for him to stay in his room. Which bothers me. I want him to learn how to sleep without that, but baby steps right? So he will stay in his room but is noisy and keeps opening and closing his door and wakes up the baby. Last night he came in our room at 4:30....and slept there all night. If that becomes a habit, I'm going to scream. haha I want him in a toddler bed, I just want him to stay there and sleep well all night! Wishful thinking, right mom's? I guess overall the fact that he stays in his room, and eventually falls asleep and usually stays in his bed all night will have to do;) Any tips for this transition? Earlier bedtime? no naps? Sleeping on his floor with him? Or do I just let him kick and scream until he gets it?

Toddler bed Drama!

If you haven't read my post on our family blog about Damon being in a toddler bed....and the pain in my you know where that it's been, read it here!
www.meetthemorleys.blogspot.com
I could use some advice!!

National Breast Feeding Week!

So, I had no idea that there is a week dedicated to us breast feeding mothers. But I'm glad there is!
Check this out!
www.uddercovers.com  You can get free 10 pairs of reusable nursing pads OR a free nursing cover. (those things save my life!) All you have to pay is shipping. You can also get one of their gift packs which is 2 pairs of nursing pads and a cover. It ends up being like $16. Great deal!
www.sevenslings.com   I have one of these slings and I love it! it's a little tricky to figure out at first, but it comes with a guide on how to fold it and all the different ways you can wear it. It holds kids up to 35 lbs. But I've never tried to put Damon in it;)
So if you are in need of either of these, go check out these sights! They have lots of super cute patterns! And they are good quality!


Speaking of breastfeeding, Rafe is 7 months old today. I nursed Damon to a full 10 months but he had 8 teeth at that point. (I know that's crazy, but he teethed so dang fast). So I stopped at 10 months because the teeth were so big, they were kind of catching me when he nursed, and he was super distracted, and wanted to eat table food. So I stopped. I was excited to start it back up with Rafe because I had such a good experience with Damon. ( I know not a lot of moms can say that, Nursing can be painful and pain in the butt) But since Rafe was tongue tied, it made it a lot more painful. So now that that's gone and it's doing much better, he has decided to start biting. Thankfully he has no teeth. But he is teething. So I'm debating if I should stop nursing and just start more solids and formula.
I have a TON of milk saved up so he could probably keep getting breastmilk for the next month or two a few times a day. And I can keep pumping, but that's a pain! But unless he stops biting, then I'm done. I'm not one of those moms who wants to nurse my kid until he's 2 or even past 1. There comes a point when I'm ready to be done playing mommy cow.
The other thing I'm concerned about is I'm getting my tonsils out on Sept. 25. I think all the drugs and pain killers that I take after could affect my milk. I don't want that to transfer to him so maybe it is time to call it quits. What would you do in my situation? Is there anything you do that has worked to stop your baby from biting and gumming you while you nurse? I've squealed so loud and scared the crap out of him, but he still does it. Every. Time. HELP!

Nap time is the best time!

So the last few days I've let Damon skip his naps so we could put him to bed earlier. It's been weird to see the change in him. He has actually been better than when he gets naps! How is that even possible? He's so sweet that we let him stay up late just so we can be with him. Usually we are counting down to bedtime! He usually goes to sleep around 9:30 and sleeps until about 9 A.m. then gets his nap at 2 and sleeps for 3 hours. But lately it seems like the time he's awake in the evening isn't long enough so he's never ready for bed so he stays up and talks to himself for like an hour an a half at least!
I put him down for a nap today so lets hope he wakes up happy. Maybe he's been so good without a nap because the worst of the fits are over? Or he's learning how to deal with his anger better? Either way we are leaving for Florida in 5 days and I want to have this worked out a little better. And I like having nap time! It's time that I can have to myself and even if D is ready to ditch the nap...I'm not...too selfish?
It's always the best when Damon and Rafe nap at the same time. Like right now...AMAZING! It's so quite and I can just relax and not worry about them for a few hours. Rafe's sleep was getting thrown off but has gotten much better the last few nights. He went to sleep last night around 9:30, right after Damon, but then he woke up around 11 and was just inconsolable. So I just let him cry and after about what seemed forever, he just stopped. and went right back to sleep. It was so weird, but then he slept until about 6 then woke up at 8 and was wide awake for a bout half hour then went back to sleep until 12. What in the world. It's the weirdest thing.
Does it drive anyone else mad trying to get their kids on good sleeping schedules and same nap schedules? This is getting better, lets just hope it stays that way!