Sorry there hasn’t been much posted up here in the blog lately.  We’ve been super busy and have been trying to get things ready for the new baby.  It’s hard to believe that we’re less than 2 months away (50 days).  That’s scary!  For a while we (or at least I know I) kept saying “well, hopefully when the baby comes the kids will be ____ by then.”  Well, I can’t say that anymore as I really don’t see them changing all that much in the next 50 days.

I guess other than Jen wrapping up tutoring, us getting our glider delivered and just getting into March so our childcare situation will work I think we’re close to being physically ready.  Now, am I mentally ready for another new tiny tiny baby to come home?  Not really.  It’s going to be tough for sure!  My main concern is how Alex and Avery will react and me/us trying to find the balance between the new baby and them.

I might even say that our picture taking has been a little light this month too.  I guess compared to all that happened in December with the holidays, the output from that month was much more than usual.  Unfortunately our photo album part of the site has been acting up, and is running super slow.  We haven’t uploaded January’s pictures yet this month, and will try to do that.  If you want direct access to our picture sets, you can use this link directly.  This will take you to Flickr, the photo hosting site we currently use (I’m going to be switching them to Google soon).

Other than being sick at the moment, Alex and Avery are doing great!  Avery is talking more than ever and now can belt out whole phrases of 2+ words.  She’s a little parrot and shows more and more of her personality each day.  She’s such a sweet and fun little girl and as smart as a whip!  Alex is doing even better with his potty adventures and has even become the proud owner of a few pairs of “big boy” undies.  He’s still fulfilling his role as the house helper too and is ready to tackle any little job you can give him.

I’ll save any more updates on the kids for Jen.  I just wanted to throw out a quick post to let you all know that we’re still here.  We’re all doing well and we’ll get those January pictures up this week.

As mentioned before, we introduced the potty around here right before Christmas, just as a fun thing. “Hey, look, you can sit on this chair and be naked!” Both kids love it, which is a plus, but Alex seems to have actually gotten the hang of the darn thing. He doesn’t tell me when he needs to go, but about 90% of the time he sits, he produces something, so that’s at least once a day at this point that he pees or poops on it, usually more.

This morning while I was getting Avery dressed, he sat on the potty in his diaper and pulled at it like he wanted it off, so I took it off. The kid sat there and peed a little, jumped up and looked and pointed into the bowl and yelled “YAY!” and then sat back down and peed some more, like a full bladder’s worth. I was thrilled with that, but then he sat on Avery’s potty and pooped too! Not just a little one like he’s done before, but like an actual normal diaperful of poop. He peed again after his nap, and then before bed he pooped a little more. It’s amazing. He loves to carry the little bowl part into the bathroom and dump it in the big toilet, wave bye-bye, and flush it away. Who knew excrement could be so exciting?

He’s thrilled to pieces with himself, and I am too, but I am so afraid of messing it up. I don’t want him to lose interest. I don’t know whether I should just keep going as we are, putting him on there when I think of it, which is usually after naps and one or two other times a day, or try to put him on there hourly and actually try to train him. I’ve read that they should be able to tell you they need to go, and take down their own pants, and he doesn’t do either of those things, he just knows how to push those muscles and make it happen once he’s on there I think. He’s only 18 1/2 months old… it’s so early. I never thought he’d have a clue yet. And what if he does train, but then regresses once the new baby comes? Am I ready to look for a bathroom in every public place and wrangle three kids into a stall so he can go? (Will I ever be ready for that? Scary thought!) We visited our friends Bill and Shannon last weekend, and Don had to take their 3 year old to pee behind a convenience store dumpster because the bathroom was broken. Another time, Shannon had to take him behind a tree at the playground because no bathrooms were around. Are we ready for those things? Is there a book of directions on when and where it’s okay to let kids pee in public due to lack of lavatory facilities?

Avery is very happy for him but totally perplexed about how he’s making it all appear in there. I thought girls were supposed to be earlier and faster to learn than boys?!? No matter what I am just happy that he’s cooperative and successful at all. I don’t want to push him but the thought of not having three in diapers is sooooooo heavenly!