1st Disney Vaca Pics/Video!!

In May we took the kiddos to Disney World!!! YEA!! It was sooooo much fun!!! They had a BLAST!! I'm so glad I achieved my goal of taking Lil' Chris to Disney before his health may decline(hopefully never;) Of course, I did tear up a couple of times when I was watching his face light up with excitement! It's hard not to when you think of what could have been these last 4 years and what may be in the next...who knows how many years.

This was our first "real" family vacation!! I can't wait to do it all over again!! Hopefully we'll get a chance to do it once every year;-)

Thanks to a fellow CF mom, we got a letter from our CF clinic so that Lil' Chris wouldn't have to stand in long, hot lines which may cause him to become dehydrated. It truly was a blessing, b/c we would not have been able to go on half the rides we did if it wasn't for the pass we got. It allowed us to stand in the handicap line instead of waiting in the long lines, and there was never anybody in the handicap line, so we usually got right on the ride. It was soooo nice!! Although I would MUCH rather Lil' Chris didn't have CF and have to wait in the long lines with us all being healthy! ;(

Ayla did a GREAT job! She is potty trained, but we weren't sure how she was going to do at Disney where you might not be able to find a potty right away. She wore a pull-up in the long car ride there and back, but at the parks she DIDN'T!!! WooHoo for no accidents!!! Way to go Baby Girl!!

Special Thank You to my sis and her fam for letting us stay with them on the way up and back from Disney. It cut the long ride in half which was VERY nice!! Plus we got to visit with them for a couple of days, which was AWESOME!!!

I hope you enjoy this video...beware...it is like 19 minutes long;) There was just too much good stuff to cut out ;-) Although I did cut out a lot b/c it WAS over 30 min long;-) LOL! What can I say...I like capturing precious moments:)

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
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Coming soon....more Disney pics that the professionals took(way better than mine;-) lol

M

PS. Don't forget...CF Fundraiser at Wooster's CiCi's Pizza tomorrow Tues 8/16 from 5-8p!!

CF Update / Ayla's Potty Training

Lil' Chris has a CF clinic visit coming up on 3/16 and his cough has gotten much better! Some days he coughs a little and others he doesn't cough at all...weird, but I'm just glad that it is sounding better than before. Thank you all for your prayers and keep 'em comin;-)

Week 1

Week 2

Ayla has been doing GREAT potty training!! She got 7 stickers yesterday!! WooHoo!! She's been only having about 1 accident a day! Not bad for a 25 month old and only being trained for a week and a half!! I'm so proud of her!! She even likes going on the BIG potty already:) One problem though....she's too smart!! She learned pretty quick that in order to get Mommy's full attention, all she has to say is "Poopy on the potty, Mommy!" So of course I put my fundraising stuff away and jump up to go put her on the potty.....and.....then....she....directs me to the couch instead. She just wants to sit with Mommy and play:) She's too funny! She gets me every time, b/c the one time I don't....well...YOU know;-) LOL

Been making good progress with fundraiser stuff:) I just need another day without the kids so I can make some phone calls for the walk. Got some good raffle prizes and Chris and I are almost done making the CF commercial!! Once the commercial is done, I will put it on my Great Strides page and then be emailing everyone on my email list for donations, soooo....get your checkbooks ready everyone;-)

I have a request, my nephew Nathan could really use your prayers. He has Leukemia and his counts are low which is dangerous and he isn't able to take his full chemo. Please keep him in your prayers.

Thanks for all your prayers!!

M

PS. Don't forget to join us on Monday, March 21st at CiCi's Pizza in Wooster between 5-8pm for my first fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis for 2011!!!

Venting / 1st Fundraiser of 2011 Coming Up

YEA!!! I got my first sponsor!! Thank You Aunt Mar!!!! You won the 1st sponsor of 2011 award;-)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I've updated my Great Strides video with a couple of new pics, but kept the rest the same. If I had the time and energy, I would redo the whole thing, but my plate is kinda full at the moment. I made a list of all that I have to do to get ready for the walk, my fundraisers, and to get raffle prizes ...and....well...it's a lot!

Organizing a walk takes a lot of effort and time. Something I don't have either of right now. I don't have the time that I used to anymore, b/c Chris and I are hardly ever home together anymore. When it's just me and the kids, I can't seem to get anything done b/c they just want to play with Mommy instead of Mommy "working." I hate that I have to tell them, "Mommy has to get some work done right now, I'll play with you when I'm done." I feel like that's all I say to them at this time of year, b/c if I'm not busy "working" on the walk or fundraising, then I'm busy "working" on the laundry or dishes or vacuuming or cleaning and organizing their drawers and closets for the change in sizes and season!! I do all this AFTER working a full time job!! Oh yeah, and my back still hurts;(

Not only do I have a list of fundraising stuff, but I have a list of other things that need done around the house too that I just can't seem to get to or have the energy for... like take everything out of the fridge and clean it, steam the hardwood floors, make some sense of our messy basement, clean out my own drawers and closet, clean out the junk drawers, etc....

I think I get like this every year right before my first fundraiser, b/c there is so much work. I have to make new flyers, new poster, new signs, get raffle prizes, etc. Once I get that first one done, then the next ones are a breeze. It's just all so overwhelming right now!! I think that's why I don't have the energy! This time of year, I wish my husband was a stay at home dad so that he could help by doing all the day to day chores, so that I could concentrate on fundraising since he doesn't seem to want to do that kind of stuff, but not too many guys do;) LOL

I know I'm just stressed out now, but once I get more things for the walk and my first fundraiser done and more donations, I'll feel a lot better:) Luckily I'm the type of person that can walk into work and forget about all my stress at home. I "leave it at the door" as they say;-) Many coworkers didn't even know my son had a fatal disease until I did our first A-team(AIA) event for Cystic Fibrosis when he was about 1 year old! I'm not one to talk much about my personal life at work, I'm one to work and see what I can make better:)

Thanks again to Aunt Mar for starting us off this year, and thank you to Panera Bread for donating 100 bagels for the walk this year!!! This makes me start to feel better:) YEA!!

Join us for our first fundraiser of the year on Monday, March 21st at CiCi's Pizza in Wooster between 5pm and 8pm to help find a CURE for Cystic Fibrosis!!! There will be a raffle for a 1 hour massage at Tips, Toes, and Beyond, and a percentage of your receipt will go towards a CURE!!

Thanks for letting me vent, I needed that;) LOL
M
PS. Lil' Chris' cough seems to be getting better, so thank you to everyone for all your prayers:) We started potty training Ayla this past Saturday night, and she hadn't gotten any stickers on her chart(actually gone peepee on the potty) until Monday night. Hopefully she trains faster than Lil' Chris:-)

YEA!!! LIL' CHRIS IS ALL POTTY TRAINED!!!

Guess what?????


LIL' CHRIS IS ALL POTTY TRAINED!!!!! YEA!!!!!!


He has been waking up dry at nap time AND in the morning!!! He has been wearing his undies too instead of pull-ups!!! I know he is only 3 1/2, but he seems like such a BIG boy now!!! ;)

Now if only we could get his sister potty trained;-) LOL!! I tried for a day a few weeks ago, but she had 8 accidents(on my FLOORS!!) and didn't go on the little potty at all. I could get her to sit, but as soon as she would stand up, she would pee on the carpet;( I was too stressed at that time already with Thanksgiving coming up, so I decided to wait til after the holidays. She's so funny though....when I tell her to go pee pee on the big potty, she goes and stands in front of it and holds her shirt up....one problem though....SHE'S NOT A BOY!!!! LOL!!!! She want to do EVERYTHING like her big brother;-) When I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING!! LOL!!!! She'd probably be easy to train if she was a boy, but....well....she's just not;) LOL

This was her first time wearing big girl undies:)



I've been getting questions as to how I potty trained Lil' Chris, so I thought I would share my secrets;) Every kid is different, so this technique may not work on your kid and it may not even work on Ayla. I guess you just have to know your kid and their likes and dislikes.

1. Click here to find out how we potty trained him during the day. We started potty training him in August of 2009, he was 26 months old. You can look at my archive on the right hand side of this blog(down a bit) to read all the potty training posts from then.

2. To potty train him during the night, we used the same potty chart as we did when we trained him during the day. This time he got 2 stickers when he woke up dry....one for his shirt, and one for his potty chart.

3. Every time he woke up dry he would get his stickers and a "small gift." I went to the Dollar Store and bought about $20's worth. Sometimes I would just give him one, or I would let him pick which one he wanted, or I wrapped them and gave it to him. He liked opening the "present." I think that's when he really started waking up dry every time;)

Here is a pic of him playing with one of his "presents" after waking up dry from a nap(he likes crafts;)....

4. Another thing that I think really helped, was him hearing me talk to one of the babysitters one day. I was telling her that he just wasn't getting it YET, but pretty soon one day he would just realize "OHHHH, I'm not SUPPOSED to go in my pull-ups!!" It seemed like after that conversation, he started waking up dry every time, except for that one time when he was up all night throwing up.

He has only had one accident in the last couple of weeks, so not bad!! All in all, it only took maybe 2 weeks to train him and one of those weeks he was waking up dry but in his pull-ups. He caught on pretty quick! I'm just sorry I didn't try it earlier;-) LOL!

Now for a CF Update:

Lil' Chris is still doing GREAT!! No coughs or colds for any of us yet!! YEA!! You know what that means though, right?? We are probably going to all be sick for Christmas;( Lol! Oh well, as long as we are all healthy by the time Nathan comes for a visit!

BTW, Nathan(my nephew who has Leukemia) is doing well. His hair started to fall out from the chemo, so my SIL got him a buzz cut...I like it!! If it wasn't winter, I would do it to Lil' Chris! :) Please pray for Nathan and my SIL and BIL as they will have to give him shots at home the next couple of days and then I think 4 days next week too. That's gotta be hard. "WE LOVE YOU NATHAN!"

Thanks,
M

Video of Ayla locking us out / No more Pull-Ups YEA!!

Here is the video if you couldn't see it in my last post where I explained how Ayla, my one year old, locked us out of the house the other day;-)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I still don't know how she did it, b/c she can barely reach the deadbolt!! I can't believe how fast that hour and 10 or 15 minutes went by!! Good thing it was 50 out instead of freezing cold;)

Lil' Chris has been doing so well with waking up dry, that I just put him down for a nap with his undies on instead of a pull-up. I sure hope he wakes up dry;-) LOL!! I'm praying for NO MORE PULL-UPS!! YEA!!
M

Ayla locked us out / Bad Night / Potty training

So, my lovely 1 year old locked us out of the house tonight! We were coming home from Oma and Opa's and I took Ayla into the house, put down my purse, and went back out into the garage to get Lil' Chris out of the van. When we went to go back into the house, the door was locked!! Ayla had locked the deadbolt! If I had my purse, I would have had the key, but I took it in when I took her in! Luckily I had my phone in my pocket, so I called Chris to come home. I also called a neighbor to come help us. Thanks Andrea and John for all of your help!!

After about an hour, Ayla was spent and said she wanted to go "night night." Since she didn't have her blankie, she took off her jacket and curled up on the floor with it in front of the front door and started sucking her finger. I tried to get her to get up to continue to help get the door unlocked, but she wasn't having it. She did a good job though the whole time. She stayed in the foyer where I could see her through the front door. She cried a couple of times b/c she wanted me to hold her. So at 9pm, I finally called the fire department and they came and couldn't get it. Then a police officer came and tried it and he was able to get it open!!! YEA!! I gave him a BIG hug and told him I loved him;) LOL!! I was just glad that Ayla was fine and that we didn't have to break a door or window to get in.

As for an update on Lil' Chris...He is still doing great!! One more day of November and still no cold, cough, or antibiotics YEA!!! We officially broke the curse of an antibiotic every other month in 2010 WOO HOO!! Now lets see if we can go all December too;-)

A couple of nights ago, Lil' Chris was up for about 3 hours throwing up off and on. We think he may have had some soy protein, b/c that is what usually happens when he has anything with soy protein in it. He was fine the next day though.

On a good note....Lil' Chris has been doing GREAT with potty training at night and nap time!!! His pull-up was only wet like 2 times all last week!!!!!! That's morning and nap time that he has been waking up dry!!! I can't believe my lil' 3 year old isn't so little anymore...but I sure am glad not to have to change sheets anymore, esp now that he has a full size bed;-) LOL!!!!

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving, we sure did!! Please continue to pray we make it through cold and flu season with no problems!

M

Bad Night / Good Day

The kids(meaning Lil' Chris, Ayla, Chris, and our friend Spencer;-) got to meet Sponge Bob the other day at Panera Bread. We LOVE Panera Bread, especially since they supplied a TON of bagels for our walk for CF last year;-)

Lil' Chris didn't have a great night last night. He ended up coming in our room around 1:15am. He came to my side of the bed and wanted me to put him back in his bed. This isn't new, b/c lately he has been doing this b/c we are trying to potty train him at night time. I've been getting up to put him on the potty in the middle of the night, and now he wakes up by himself and comes and gets me, but he sometimes won't go on the potty, he just wants to go back to bed. I think it's b/c it's too late. At least he is waking up though and realizing it!

Anyways....last night I put him back in bed, and then about 5-10 minutes later, he came back to my side of the bed and BAM!! He threw up all over my side of the bed and floor before I could grab the trash can!! I thought he was going to be up all night throwing up like he used to when he was little, but he went back to bed and fell right to sleep for the rest of the night. He has been acting fine today, thankfully. It must have just been something he ate yesterday???? IDK, but today it's 61 degrees and beautiful outside, so we had a lot of fun at the soccer fields running around and kicking the soccer ball!! We were going to go to a Kohl's A-team event, but I didn't think he should go just in case.

The dietitian from BCMH came to our house today and said that Lil' Chris is doing GREAT!! His weight is 35.8 and his height is 40!!! He is in the 95th percentile for height and 75th for weight!! YEA!! She gave me some titles of a couple of children recipe books to order. Hopefully he will start eating more different foods soon, so it's not always just hot dogs or lunch meat or french fries.

More good news....The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has teamed up with Warner Home Video and CVS Pharmacy again this year!! They are donating $5 for every DVD purchase of one of these holiday movies to the CFF:

-"The Polar Express"

-"How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

-"The Year Without a Santa Clause"

-"Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales"

I went to go buy The Polar Express today, but our CVS was all out...hopefully that's a good sign!! Please spread the word!!

Thank you all for all of your prayers!! Please continue to pray that we all have a very healthy Fall and Winter:)

M

Carving Pumpkins / New BIG Boy Bed!!!

Last night was soooooo much fun!!! We had a couple of friends over and we had fun carving pumpkins!! YEA!! BTW, Chris won with his spider web;) It was pretty cool looking and it didn't even take him as long as I thought it would! Thanks Andrea and John for bringing your carving kit over and helping us carve the pumpkins:)

After that, John helped Chris put together Lil' Chris' new BIG boy bed!!! I can't believe he's actually big enough for a big boy bed!! He was starting to out grow his toddler bed. Lil' Chris was sooooo excited(pee pants excited;), he even tried helping put it together;-) Once it was all done, we weren't sure if he was going to be able to get up there all by himself or not, but before we could all make it up the stairs to see if he could climb up or not....he was already jumping up and down on it!!! It was great seeing his face light up!! I love watching him reach these kinds of milestones!

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We told him that he can't wet the bed in his big boy bed, so we'll see if this helps with his night time potty training. He still wears pull-ups to bed and nap time. Hopefully this does the trick;) We are also hoping that he won't get out of bed so much anymore. Sometimes when we would put him down for nap or bed, he would get up and sneak downstairs and peak around the corner or he would just stand outside his bedroom door waiting to get yelled at. He's too funny, but it was only funny the first few times...if you know what I mean;-) Now with his new bed, maybe he won't want to get out of it since he likes it so much!! I know...wishful thinking:) So far, so good though! He didn't get out at all and went right to sleep, then again...he did have a very busy day and it was pretty late by the time he got into bed:) Only time will tell, I guess!


Although he is having a great night sleeping away in his nice big bed...Mommy lies awake worried that he may fall off or pee through. I was supposed to pick up a water proof mattress cover beforehand and I forgot. So I got up at 2:30 to put him on the potty and, well....here it is 5am and I am still awake! Oh well, who needs sleep anyways;) At least I can get this post done with no interruptions;) LOL!

Thanks again John and Andrea for all of your help carving pumpkins, putting the bed together, and for always watching the kids and being so good with them!!! You guys ROCK!! I don't know what we would do without you guys!!
M

Updates on the Kiddos:)

Lil' Chris has been doing ok without his binky so far. We had a few rough times getting him to go down for a nap, but hopefully that will get better soon. What am I saying....it's been a NIGHTMARE!!!! Just kidding:) LOL Sometimes it can seem like that, but then other times he goes right down! He'll ask for his binky once, and then that's it!! He even did a GREAT job for the babysitter yesterday! He took a nap AND went to bed for her with hardly any problems! When he doesn't do good, he likes to play a game with us..."Potty! Potty!" Take him in there... "No potty." Put him back in bed..."Potty! Potty!" Take him in there..."No potty." He just keeps doing it over and over. He knows we are trying to potty train him, so I am hesitant to not put him on the potty when he says he has to go. This kid is just too smart!!! Any ideas for me before I go completely grey???? Or bald??? You know, before I pull all my hair out;-) LOL

In other news....he continues to do a GREAT job with potty training. We took the little potty out, so now he only uses the big potty. He still is not potty trained for nap and night time, but we'll get there eventually:)

I've been worried lately that Lil' Chris hasn't been eating enough. We have a CF clinic appt on the 30th and I don't want his weight to be down. We usually try to give him real food and then if he doesn't eat a lot, we give him some baby food. Well...I took him off of baby food for a few weeks and he lost THREE lbs!!! Food has always been a touchy subject when it came to Lil' Chris. We never tried to push or make him eat, b/c he will just gag and throw it up or we would be afraid of making eating time an unpleasant time. Eating is sooooo important for him that we didn't want to do that, but.....it has come to the point that nothing else is working, so we have no other choice but to be harder on him to eat the food that is put in front of him. If he won't eat it, we say "take 3 bites than you can have your yogurt." He always wants his Danimals or Go-Gurts. So far, we have been shocked that he will actually eat the 3 bites after a little bit of fighting. I figure that getting the food in his mouth will get him used to the taste and used to eating those kinds of foods. I'll keep you updated on how he progresses. Click here to see some weight gaining strategies if you need them too. Let me know if you have any ideas for me:)

Ayla has been crawling around EVERYWHERE!! She can even go side to side now and turn around:) She also can pull herself up on the couch so she is standing! Pretty soon she will be scooting herself around the couches:) Then she'll be walking and running ALL over!! She's so cute:) Oh yeah, she's been trying to climb the stairs!!! Won't be long now;)

She now says "night night" when she gets sleepy, claps when people clap on TV, claps when anyone says "Yea!", shakes her head "no" when someone says "no", shakes her head "yes" when someone says "yes", and is always standing up in her crib when we go in to get her;) She also has been eating so much more! She eats all the stage 3 foods and eats ALL the snacks that Lil' Chris eats! If I try to feed Lil' Chris something, she crawls over and starts whining until I give her some;-) Too funny! She eats it FASTER than him too! Even Chris and I can't eat something without her wanting some;-)

Ayla also likes to dance to music too;) Her brother definitely rubbed off on her;-)
M
PS. Do you like the new header pic??? More to come this month;-)

New Things The Kids Are Doing:)

Since no one guessed what new things the kids are doing....lol...here it goes....

Lil' Chris has been peeing standing up the last couple of weeks!!! YEA!!! He is doing a GREAT job for his age, I think:) Lately he has been having accidents only when he naps, is doing his Vest, or when he is eating in his high chair. Not sure why??? We are working on it though. He doesn't do it every time, just sometimes. He usually never has any accidents while he is playing or watching TV. The other day he woke up from his nap dry!! That's a good sign!! The only problem is that he is only learning when he takes a nap when I am home. My hubby still puts him in a pull-up and we have the sitter put him in a pull-up so she doesn't have to clean up the mess. He'll get there eventually. I gotta say...it has been sooooo nice saving money on all those diapers!! Having 2 kids in diapers was rough! I can't believe they are like $42 a box now!! Crazy!

Lil' Chris can also catch a ball now!! Daddy did a great job teaching him. He caught 8 in a row for me the other day! What a kid:)

He also started bossing around Ayla...I didn't think this started so young!! LOL If she grabs a toy of his or something that she is not allowed to have, he says "No Ayla!" and takes it from her. He is so cute:) He is such a good big brother...he gives her toys that she can play with and he helps mommy out by taking the small toys away from her so she won't choke. The only problem now is that he keeps giving his food to her. He sees us giving her food, so he thinks he can too:)

Guess what word Lil' Chris picked up..."crap"...I don't know where he got that from;0 Ok, it was me;( It's cute hearing him say it every time he drops something. LOL

I got him to finally eat some Mac n Cheese the other day!! I tried it again and he wouldn't eat it:( I'll keep trying. We had a dietitian come to our house to help us to get him to eat more foods. Hopefully it helps. He was drinking the Resource Breeze Orange juice(250 calories), but now he won't touch them. Weird. Sometimes he will drink a Scandishake(600 calories). We are still working on getting him used to them so he can get extra calories.

Ayla can now clap her hands! YEA!! It's so cute. I tried to get it on camera, but no luck. Someday I'll get it:) She is now eating more foods. She loves pretty much everything!! Whatever Lil' Chris doesn't finish eating, we give it to her. Sometimes this trick will make him want to eat more;-) Smart huh?! lol

I finally dug out the bouncy seat for Ayla. She LOVED it! She isn't bouncing yet, but she loves to swing in it! Lil' Chris LOVES to push her;-)

Ayla is rolling around more and more everyday! One minute she's here, the next minute she's way over there!! Too funny:)

Guess what??? Ayla has another tooth coming through! This one is the top front left tooth. The right one is about to come through any day now:) I can't wait, b/c I love it when babies only have the front 4 teeth;-) lol

Enjoy the video...
M
PS. Coming soon...Birthday and Dedication pics;-)

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Chris' 30th Birthday Montages

I made these montages and forgot to post them...oops;) The first one is when Chris opened his birthday present and realized that we were going to the Kalahari(indoor water park) for his 30th birthday;-) Yeah, he pretty much had the same reaction when I told him I was pregnant with Ayla. I should dig up THAT video!!! Anyways...this video cracks me up how many times Ayla tries to put the paper in her mouth;-0 LOL

The second montage is of Ramseyer Farm. It's our lil' tradition to go there on Chris' birthday every year. It's fun...Lil' Chris had a BLAST!! Somehow the camera got switched to black and white half way thru...sorry about that;-) lol

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Guess what Lil' Chris can do now??? Ayla is doing something new too. Can you guess what it is???
M

Potty Training Chart/2nd Hair Cut/First Bath With Ayla

Potty training is going GREAT! Today he got the most stickers EVER!! He got 12 stickers in just one day! Our system seems to be working pretty good! I had made a potty chart by hand, but my wonderful hubby made a potty reward chart on the computer for him:) Thanks Honey:) He gets 1 sticker for going pee pee on the potty and 2 stickers for going poo poo on the potty, but he gets a sticker taken away if he has an accident on the floor or in his bed. After he gets a sticker, he gets to color on his paper for a minute...he LOVES that part:) He's really into having us trace his hands;-)


He is still having accidents at nap time and we haven't even tried night time yet. Lately he has been having accidents while doing his Vest. Not sure why, b/c he used to ask to go potty even during his vest treatment, but ever since he had that last fever he has been having accidents during vest time. Weird. We're working on it though.


He now is going more on the big potty too! Maybe we can do away with his little potty soon:) Hopefully, for Mommy and Daddy's sake;-) LOL


His favorite part about going to the potty used to be flushing the toilet, but now he LOVES to wash his hands:) We were using a little step stool where he could barely reach the water, but now my hubby put a little step ladder up to the sink, so now he can reach the water perfectly. He LOVES IT! Sometimes I think he makes himself go on the potty just so he can wash his hands! The whole time he pees he says "Wash hands, wash hands?" Too funny:) Anything that works, right? lol


Tonight he got his hair cut for the second time! So exciting! I didn't get any pics, b/c I was getting my hair cut at the same time. I did however get some "after" pics though;-)


Also, tonight was the first time we put both Lil' Chris AND Ayla in the tub together for a bath! They loved it! It only took Lil' Chris 5 seconds to dump water on her head;-) Good thing she likes the water:) LOL

BTW, Lil' Chris' cough is much better and no more fevers so far with the Augmentin:) Yea!
M
PS. The Kalahari pics are coming soon, I promise;-)

Cold and Fever #2/Potty Training Update

Lil' Chris' cold is all gone! YEA!! All of our colds are gone! YEA YEA!! We have all been well for a few days now, but I haven't had a chance to post:)

This past weekend we had a BLAST at the Kalahari Resorts for my husbands birthday and as soon as we got home, Lil' Chris wasn't himself. He woke up in the middle of the night with a fever of 101.8. He had a fever all day on Tues and then Wed morning, but after his nap he was all better and back to his normal self! Thank God!

We think the fever was from the Augmentin(antibiotic for his cough). He got a fever the last time he was on it too. It seems to happen after the first couple of days of taking it. The clinic wanted us to still give it to him. We stopped it for a day, b/c he wasn't eating anything and we didn't want him to take it on an empty stomach. Now he is back to taking it and hopefully it kicks his cough out for good!

Lil' Chris is doing great with his potty training! He asks to go pee and poo on the potty! He even asked to go potty when we were at the water park this weekend! I couldn't believe it!! There he was out in the water with his swim diaper on having fun and then all of a sudden he comes running back to say he has to go pee pee on the potty! He asked a few times while we were at the water park and he was going on the big potty in our hotel room too! I couldn't be any prouder! Now if only we could get night time potty training going;-) That's more our fault for not wanting to get up in the middle of the night;-( We're so bad, but we both work full time and it's hard to get up in the middle of the night. I know, I know...we just have to do it one of these days. Maybe once he gets nap time potty trained 100% then we'll try night time;-)

Here is the video of him playing at the water park and then running up and saying "Pee Pee on the Potty?"

More pics to come:)

M

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300 Hours on the Vest/Cough Update/Chris' 30th Birthday

I can't believe my lil' guy has done 300 hours, yes that's HOURS, on his Vest and he is only 2!!! Poor guy...and he almost never complains about doing it too! I give him a lot of credit! I couldn't be prouder of him:) He hit 300 hours on 8/29 and the last time I posted when he hit 200 hours was on April 8th, so in under 5 months he did another 100 hours...it's hard to believe! We just do like it's nothing. It's just part of our morning and night routine. Here are some pics I put together over the last 6 or 7 months...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

His cold is almost all gone I think. Yesterday it didn't seem like his nose ran at all, but today it was running a little bit. Over the past few weeks, I've noticed a little cough coming on. Since he got this cold, it has seem to hit him harder. Therefore, today I called our CF clinic and they prescribed an antibiotic over the phone. He will begin Augmentin again starting tomorrow and will take it for 21 days. Hopefully it kicks it out pretty quick and it doesn't come back again for a loooooooooooong time:)

A day after Lil' Chris got his cold, I got a cold, then Ayla got a cold the next day, and now my hubby has it;-( I don't know how she got it too! I was wearing my mask and sanitizing like crazy!! Note to self: Next time wear your mask BEFORE you get sick, so you don't get sick and spread anymore germs to the rest of the family!!

Yesterday was my husbands 30th birthday!!! This makes me sad, b/c that means I'm right behind him;-( We had a fun day off together and took the kids to Ramseyer's farm again just like last year(I think we are going to make this a tradition;-) I will post the pics soon. I'll also post the pics of his BIG birthday present!! I thought 30 was a big deal, so I wanted to do something special for him...a 2 day stay at Kalahari Resorts...it's America's largest indoor water park!! We can't wait to go, he was soooooo excited and surprised!! It was soooo hard for me to keep it a secret for so long! We usually tell each other EVERYTHING!! I feel so relieved now to finally talk about it with him and how I went and talked to his new boss to get him those 2 days off and everything!! He had NO CLUE!! So much fun:) Pics coming soon! Oh yeah, and I got him a Dairy Queen ice cream cake too...his fav;-)

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY DADDY;-)

WE LOVE YOU!!

M

3 Days With NO Potty Accidents!!!!

Lil' Chris has now gone 3 WHOLE DAYS WITHOUT ANY POTTY ACCIDENTS!!! YEA!!! I can't believe how once it clicks, it sticks;-) LOL!!

It's soooooo nice only using ONE pair of undies a day compared to the 10 or more the first few days;-)

Guess what?? He even went potty on the big boy potty today(the real toilet that is;-) I was soooo proud of him!!! AND he even went #2 on the big boy potty tonight!! YEA!!! Mommy was very happy b/c there was no clean up;-) LOL

You're never gonna guess what else he did today.....he took a nap with his undies on for the first time and he didn't even have any accidents!!!!! I was shocked!! What a BIG boy he is becoming:)

Today was his first day with the babysitter after being potty trained. He did GREAT!! He didn't go for her, but he didn't have any accidents either. I think he was waiting for us to get home. Luckily I was home by 12:45;-) Like I said before, sometimes he doesn't even go until after nap time anyways.

We also went outside today and he didn't have any accidents! We were out there for awhile too! He was helping me pull weeds. He was such a big helper too!! When did he grow up so quick?

Things we still need to work on....
1. Continue potty training at nap time
2. Start potty training at night time
3. Start potty training for when we go out to places.....I DREAD this one! Public restrooms are SOOOO GROSS!!! All I can think about is all the germs :( But I need to get past it and just do it, otherwise he will be 30 years old and still wearing diapers when we go out....that would be funny;-) LOL

Tomorrow both the kids have dr.'s appointments with the pediatrician. I think they both get shots unfortunately:( I'll let you know how it goes.
M

No Potty Accidents ALL Day!!!!

I can't believe it...Lil' Chris didn't have one potty accident ALL day today!! He even ASKED to go potty twice!! Surprisingly he asked to go potty during his 30 minute Vest treatment! Not bad for only a week and a half:) I guess now it's time to start potty training him at nap time and bed time....this is the part I think I'm going to dread the MOST! I hate changing his crib sheet! I think he is ready for it though and it might not be as bad as I think. We started putting Pull-Ups on him at nap time and when we go to get him, it is on the floor along with his shorts. I guess he thinks they are like his undies...if he pees in them, they are dirty and need changed. He hasn't taken off the diapers at night time yet.

These last couple of weeks while we were potty training him, we haven't needed a babysitter so it will be interesting to see if he will tell the babysitter on Monday if he has to go potty or not. We are going to need sitters a lot more now that my hubby is starting his new job on Monday(that's another story). Hopefully all goes well and he continues to go on the potty;)
M

Day 7 of Potty Training/Clinic Tomorrow/Ayla Pics

I can't believe it! Lil' Chris went #2 on the potty today!! I think I was more excited then him!

We were thinking of giving up b/c it seemed like he was not getting it. Maybe he is now! Hopefully:) Although he did pee all over the couch today:( We have decided to continue until the 24th. That's when we will be needing a babysitter more, b/c my hubby starts his new job then. I feel bad having the babysitter clean up pee and poo. If he is doing much better with it at that point then we will continue with it, but if he still is not getting it then we may hold off until he starts showing some signs that he is ready. We started this whole potty training without him really even showing any interest, so maybe that is why we are having such a hard time:( Although it has only been one week!

Tomorrow we have a CF clinic appointment. I really really really hope his weight is back up. He is not sick this time and he has been eating much better, so hopefully we'll get good news. I really hope that he stands on the scale by himself this time too. Last time he refused. I think it scared him b/c it was his first time on the big scale. My hubby had to hold him on it and then they subtracted his weight to find out what Lil' Chris weighed. Not the best method I think. That's probably another reason why his weight was so bad last time. We've been practicing standing on our scale at home, so hopefully he'll do it this time all by himself:)

Our dietitian brought us some more supplement samples to try this weekend. We tried the Scandishake in Vanilla, b/c that was all she had but it comes in chocolate and strawberry too. The first time he drank about 6 oz.!!! I was SO excited! I thought that maybe we found something that he likes and scandishakes are awesome b/c they are 600 calories for just 8 oz.! But today when I tried it for the second time, he only drank maybe 2 oz. and then kept pushing it away:( Then I tried the Resource Boost Breeze juice box that she gave us. Yeah, he definitely didn't like that one. He only took 1 or 2 sips. I think he just doesn't like that flavor that she gave us, it was Wild Berry. I think he might take to the Orange better. I'm going to try to get some different samples to try tomorrow if they have any. I'd hate to order a week or months worth and him not drink any of it. She also gave us Pro Cal packs. They are packets of powder that you can add to certain foods like mashed potatoes or pudding and it just adds extra calories, but doesn't change the taste of the food. We are going to try that tonight to see if he'll take it.

I'll update you tomorrow on how our clinic appointment goes.

Ayla has had some first this week:) We finally dug out Lil' Chris' old exersaucer for her to play with:) She LOVED it!! She was checking out everything! Today she sat in Lil' Chris' high chair for the first time! I couldn't believe how she sat like such a big girl! I usually feed her in her bouncy seat, but I guess we don't need that anymore:) Speaking of feeding....it finally clicked for her! She doesn't spit her rice cereal out at me anymore! YEA!! She eats it right down now and so quick too;-) She is close to sitting up on her own now too, I think. Pretty soon:)

This is my favorite bib that Nancy made for her. It's a cute lil' bear with roses above it's head and it says "Ayla" underneath. So cute! She also has a burp cloth to match it:) If you want the BEST bibs EVER too, visit http://giftsbynancy.blogspot.com/

So tell me....when did my baby grow up??????? It's not fair, can't they stay little forever??? ;(

M

Day 3 Potty Training

Yesterday's potty training didn't go as great as day 2. He didn't go in the potty at all! Somehow he doesn't need to pee from the time he wakes up until the time he goes down for a nap. For nap and bedtime, we put him in a pull-ups. So after he woke up from his nap I had to go to work, but he only had 3 accidents my hubby told me. Not bad!

I'll let you know how Day 4 (today) goes later tonight:) But I can tell you that so far he HAS gone on the potty at least once;-)
M

Day 2 of Potty Training

Well day 2 didn't go nearly as bad as day 1 thankfully! Today he went THREE times on the potty!!!! I couldn't believe it! After yesterday I thought he was never going to get the gist of it! Today I tried something a little different which seemed to work pretty good;-) Thanks everybody for all your advice and keep 'em comin;-)

He had 5 accidents today (that I can count from all his dirty undies;-) I think at one point I just let him run around with no undies, so there could have been more accidents;-) LOL I figured...he's just going to dirty them, so why not?!!! Plus, he had an accident b/c he couldn't get his undies down fast enough. We need to work on that a little bit more;)

Anyway, I feel like we are getting somewhere, b/c when he was having his last accident, he looked up at me and said "Uh oh" with a worried look on his cute lil' face:) I couldn't help but smile and laugh...even though that was his biggest accident of the day and it was on my hardwood kitchen floors! I was just glad that he was finally starting to realize that he was supposed to pee in the potty and not his undies. YEA a breakthrough!!!

Hopefully tomorrow will go even better;-)
M

Day 1 of Potty Training!

Guess what we started today??? We started potty training Lil' Chris!! So far it's not going so well. He had 7 accidents today and didn't go on the potty ONCE!! Hopefully tomorrow goes much better. I'll keep you updated:) If anybody has any good advice, I'd love to hear it! =)

Ayla is getting SO big!! She unfortunately likes to spit her rice cereal all over me though:( But I can't stop laughing, b/c it's so cute:) Did I tell you that she is rolling over front to back and back to front now? She has been for a few weeks now. She is even starting to craw a little bit to get to her toys;-) It won't be long now;-0

For now, check out this cool CF fundraiser...