Potty Training day 2.

If you have kids to potty train ... I hope you like your bathroom!

Okay... so the first thing we do now is sit on the potty. This a.m. when I said, "Let's go potty" (all sing songy like it was the most exciting thing to do in the whole wide world) I was greeted w/ two kids saying, "I don't want to sit on the potty." Jason cried. Poor guy. He wakes up fairly slowly and generally just wants to snuggle... not be forced to remove his pants and sit on the potty. Neither of them peed and Lily was dry... ???

All-in-all it was another good day. I didn't even mind being sequestered here. I actually got some stuff done that I normally don't get to b/c we're out running around. The kids don't seem any worse for the wear either. I thought they (well, we) would be going bonkers. They do start to get a bit punchy/antsy mid-morning then we just go out in the yard and roll around and we're all good!

Jason had a couple of pee accidents in the a.m. - two of which were when I said "Time to go to the potty" after the timer went off. He was dry when the timer went off, but by the time I got over there to drag him into the potty (he doesn't exactly come running) he had peed his pants. Learned my lesson. Go get kid then mention that it's potty time. :) He did poop in his pants... no biggie. Caught it once and he did some in the potty - oh, and one in the bath tonight. I think both kids are bit nervous about the pooping in the potty thing... which apparently is normal. He had NO accidents this afternoon. He was even drinking quite a bit and I was trying to push the visits to the potty a bit further apart bc he was freaking about going every 20 mins and he started holding it and wouldn't go on the potty every time. I know he needed to go b/c he was drinking juice and water, but still no accidents. So he's clearly figured out how to hold it. Yeah Jason!

Lily had no accidents this a.m. (same as yesterday), but she doesn't seem to like to drink too much in the a.m.?? She id pee almost every time she got on the potty though. She had two poop accidents today, but both times she ran to the potty. I'm pretty sure she realized she needed to poop and started running and didn't make it, but who knows.. she may have pooped and run into the bathroom afterward to be changed. All she said was, "poop goes in the potty." Bless her heart she tried. She had a couple of pee accidents in the afternoon. She too was drinking a lot of water and juice. She doesn't seem to mind being wet either. I had to drag her in the house to change her pants.

I know you are have been waiting all day w/ baited breath to hear all about my kid's bathroom habits! :) So far it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but I am having a hard time getting my mind around how we will ever be able to leave the house again. The guidance I've been following has me putting the kids on the pot every 20 mins. Hmmm... how does that transition to "you go to the potty when YOU have to go not when Mommy puts you there."??? Anyone have any advice to share on that aspect of this!?/ I want to leave my house again some day!

The potty training run down.

So this a.m. went great! As well as I could have expected! Lily was dry all morning ... Jason wet himself a couple of times, but every time he did he knew he was supposed to go in the potty. The kids didn't really love going to the potty every 20 mins, but they peed most times they went. Jason caught himself mid-pee poop and did the majority of his morning poop on the potty. I was amazed and very excited/encouraged. I did notice that the kids wouldn't take any fluids. Do you think they get the drink/pee connection at this age????? Lily did poop in her pants, but I pretty much expect them to do that for a couple of days or more before they figure it out.

They then took nice long naps and Jason was dry when he woke up. (after about 2.5 hours) He then peed on the potty... they had juice after they woke up and proceeded to wet themselves the rest of the day. Guess I need to move it to every 15 mins after they drink like that. I had near misses w/ both kids for their afternoon poops. Or rather near hits... we just missed it and they both pooped in their pants.

All in all I feel pretty good about how today went. No one got mad... though there was some kicking and screaming on the way to the potty when they had to come inside to do it... but they came, hey calmed down and they peed. :)

I'm beyond happy to be diaper free and plan to power through and not go back. They are in cloth diapers tonight so we'll see if they hold all the pee. It could be a while before they get the nighttime thing done.. they are both hooked on water at bedtime and Jason guzzles it... he's just too busy to drink during the day! :)

Today when Lily woke up from her nap I had painted my toenails and she wanted red toenails too so I painted her nails..then she wanted her finger nails painted. I have NEVER seen her sit so still. :) She talked about it all day and was VERY excited to show them to Jason when he woke up. He didn't share her enthusiasm. I was sure he would want them too!

So Lily is a big girl times 2 today... big girl undies and big girl nails. :) Surely she'll be requesting her own credit card soon. She did steal Tom's at dinner last night and wouldn't return it.

We're big kids now!

Day one no diapers. It's only 9am and Jason has peed on the potty twice and once in his pants... nothing from Lily...

We are happy to be diaper free and I'm excited to go through this. (Talk to me again at the end of the day and I might be singing a different tune!)

An amazing day!

We had an amazing day today. This a.m. we went for a run... got out of the house by 8:45am. The kids were great during our 30 min run to the park. We played at the park until we heard the lion roar and J and L both HAD to go see him. I told them we could go, but they had to stay in the stroller (we had quite the debacle the last time I took them myself). We walked around for while (w/ no screaming I might add) and I noticed that the new park inside the zoo was virtually empty - it's huge and scary when it's FuLL of big kids (scary for me) so we usually don't go - so I decided that we should check it out. The kids had a blast and did tons of climbing. Jason did squeeze/climb his way up to the tippy top and was hesitant to come down the big slide - it's nearly impossible for me to get up there and almost as hard for a little kid to come back down the climbing apparatus that you use to get up. Thankfully a dad standing next to me heard me trying to coax Jason down and asked his daughter (about 8 years old) to ride down w/ him... and thankfully he happily excepted the offer. Jason wasn't freaking out, but he was struggling a bit. All the while Lily was doing her usually slide loop like she does almost every time we go to the park.

When they were done there they noticed the carousel (well, Jason saw it from the eagle's nest of a slide he was on) and ran in there to check it out. It costs a dollar per kid and I didn't have any cash so I promised them that we would come back next week. At one point after I said, "mommy doesn't have any money right now." Lily responded, "Mommy get some money." It was cute. They whined a bit and kept asking to go on it, but NO meltdowns. I was shocked. I fully attribute this to the fact that they went to bed a bit earlier last night and slept till their normal wake up time instead of getting up at 6am like they have been the last week. Then Jason saw the new train and we went back and forth on that for a bit before I told them it was time to go have snacks in the stroller and go home. They chatted the whole way home.

We got home, they played in the yard while I made some smoothies. While I was cleaning up they got into the mud (see previous post). They took a bath, watched some shrek while I made lunch, ate lunch, more shrek while I cleaned up, stories and naps. They took nice long naps and when they got up Tom was home early from work so he could hang w/ us before he goes out of town.

They peed on the potty and off we went to Target for them to pick out big kid underwear and a new potty seat for the downstairs potty. We then hit our favorite restaurant and ran around at the near by mall. It was a great day.

This is a PERFECT day in the day in the life of Jason and Lily... and Mommy had a good day too!

Moral of the story... when you do what's fun for the kids they are happy, you are happy, when you let them watch tv while you clean up and/or cook food they are happy, you are happy. :)

Wish us luck on the potty training front... it might be a LOOONNNNNGGGG long weekend! :)

The painter and the paintee

Our newest thing is hanging in the yard... ALL THE TIME! So I usually let them play out there by themselves while I'm fixing things like snacks and lunch. Today I was making smoothies after a long morning of parks and the zoo (Mom, no one got out of the stroller until we got to the play structure!) when Lily came in SO PROUD and said, "Look Mommy!" I turned to find this....

(sorry it's blurry... photographing a moving target is tough!)

Shortly after Jason (the painter) ran in w/ his muddy hands. :) Good times.


So to add to their 'best day ever' they got to have a bath in the middle of the day... we topped that off w some Shrek while I made lunch! ha We had a, uh, bad day yesterday so today is all about them! :) haha

Which discipline

Which discipline do you think I like the most? ha Not the best photos, but it's what I've got.

Prerace w/ Mama Marie (kate and coco's mom)








A picture is worth a thousand words that's for sure! :) I think it's a toss up between prerace/friends and biking. :)

Quick drive by...

trying to order some prints to send to my Gma before I hit yoga this a.m.... but wanted to share a few photos...

Jason and Lily trying on daddy's bike shoes (good thing he has two pair)


Jason's new shirt from our friends the Bryants (there is s theme going here) this one is my favorite! It is very appropriate for this age.


And our new deck and french doors.


I LOVE both the deck and the doors. As I sit at the dining table typing the sun is filtering in through the window and it's so nice. Even though it's rainy and overcast outside.

Accenture Race recap

I'm back and it was GREAT! My swim could still use a lot of improvement and Accenture is truly like swimming in a washing machine. This year I started in a mixed wave w/ men and women and I just got clobbered. Kicked, hit, climbed over... it wasn't awful, but it did piss me off here and there. I got kicked in the goggles twice and a big clydesdale guy almost drowned me by swimming right over top of me. I was LESS THAN amused. I still managed to get out of the water 7 mins ahead of last years time so I guess I'm happy about that. If I had swam freestyle straight through like I managed to do at Lk Stevens I'm sure it would have been faster. I would like it to be at least 5 mins faster, but that will take time and dedication on my part. Maybe next year. Clearly I improved and that's what matters. I loved the bike again this year... I wasn't sure if I was going to go out and try to kill this race, but I always say that once I get out there I always have to give it my all. :) I ended the bike a minute slower this year, but that's fine. I felt really good - so I'm happy. I did a hamstring issue that persisted on the run, but as long as I kept going it seemed okay. It was walking through the water stops that was tough. It wasn't as hot this year, but there was a bit of wind. Thankfully you got one part w/ the wind to your back and one w/ it to your face so it was even. :) My run was faster by 3 minutes (though it never feels fast after the bike) and I had the same problem I had last year.. I had to pee so bad I thought I was going to vomit. Last year it was early in the run and I stopped at a port-a-potty. This year it came later and by the time I resigned myself to stopping it was too late.. no more port-a-potties. If I could have relaxed enough to pee on myself I totally would have, but I couldn't do it.

MOUNT, LAURA Bib #4944 F F30-34 MADISON , WI 53726
Swim Trans1 Bike MPH Trans2 Run Pace Final
37:12 02:29 01:13:10 20.3 01:58 51:11 08:15 02:46:02

While I don't plan to do Accenture again b/c of the sheer spectacle of it I do plan to do more tris... duh! Accenture is huge and crowded and just a bit much in my opinion.

My friend Marie rocked the race too! She loved it and I'm SO glad she joined me in the journey. We had a lot of fun in Chicago ... it was nice to have a mini-girls weekend. We missed the fam damilies though.

Here's a cute shot of Lily ... she fell and hurt her lip the other day and wanted to put her own band aid on. Works for me. ha

Go Time...

I leave EARLY tomorrow a.m. to head to Chicago for the Accenture Chicago Tri. I'm so ready and feeling so NOT ready at the same time. Mentally I'm ready for it to be over, but I'm feeling like I've done a 2.5 month taper since my botched 70.3 attempt. I'm hoping that I'm only feeling that way b/c my workouts for the 70.3 were so long compared to what I needed to do for the Olympic. I guess we'll find out on Sunday. I'm trying really hard not to think about last years time and just focus on this year and go out and have fun.

Based on my 1200 meter taper swim the other day I have slacked way too much on the swimming. Oh well. It is what it is at this point.

I wish I was more mentally there..... I wish I was just anxious to conquer this thing. Blah. We picked up our new tri suits (shirts and shorts) from the TNT office yesterday and that did put a little pep in my step. Nothing like new gear to get you motivated (right Gena?).

I AM excited VERY excited about heading down to Chicago for my 'girls' weekend w/ Marie. This is Tom's first weekend alone w/ the kids so send him some good juju. :) I'm sure they will be fine.

I miss my workouts! I thought I would feel relieved to not have to do them anymore. I don't miss the coordinating so much as the actual exercising part. My body is feeling it. I"m a bit softer than I was a few months ago. Oh well, a goal for the winter right? I hope to do lots of yoga, swim and weight train w/ some outdoor runs until it's just too damn cold.

I'll report back when I return on Monday.. yep staying an extra day to visit my friend Kelly and meet her new baby girl.

Summer continues...

We are soaking up the last bits of summer and spending every waking minute in our yard. :)

Here are some photos of the last couple of days...

Lily and Jason are a bit small still for their walking bikes, but Lily loves hers none the less... we had to 'ride' (while I held the handle bars) up and down the street.


If you can't tell by this photo Jason and Lily are playing "bus"


Hanging w/ daddy while mommy did her last weekend workout w/ the team. (they all had animals around their waists.)


A trip to the water park w/ Kate and Coco.... I wish I had known about this place earlier in the year.. we'll probably go back again soon. It was GREAT!




We are getting new neighbors today and I offered to watch her dog while they packers unloaded there stuff. Milo has been hanging in the yard w/ us this a.m. ... the kids are enjoying him.. well they were, now they are doing their own thing. I'm enjoying him. Tom's in no rush to get another dog. Maybe after the kids are potty trained. :)

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

With my pending long drive to PA and back I really wanted to get a good book (hoping against hope that I would actually be able to read in the car). As I meandered through Borders I just couldn't find anything that seemed even remotely interesting. I was thinking of the days that I used to be able to walk into Borders and drop a load on tons of new books. It had been so long since I read a book cover to cover... uh, approximately 2 years and 2 months. Then I remembered that my mother in law Lynda had mentioned Three Cups of Tea while I was out in Seattle so I picked it up.

AMAZING book. I HIGHLY recommend it.

I've never agreed that we should be at war right now, but never really formed a full on opinion about it and never spoke about it when people got on the topic, but having read this book... WOW! I certainly have an opinion now! We (Americans) - I even hesitate to say "we" b/c I certainly don't feel a part of the 'we' that is in Iraq right now, but WE none the less are going about this all wrong.

Education is the answer to the problems over there - not guns and bombs. If we truly want to make a difference and secure safety for ourselves we need to work harder to make friends there not enemies, to empower the people and provide them options in their lives. Options to make a good living to feed their families w/o having to go to the Taliban and Madrassas to provide them security.

Greg Mortenson is doing what so many of us feel we can't do. The least we can do is support his mission and cause. Check out his schools (Central Asia Institute) and read the book!!!! Donate now. We can make a difference... we can be part of a 'we' that we feel aligned with.

I will leave it at that for you to pick up the book and read it for yourselves.

We're back.

We have returned from our trip to PA safe and soundly. We had a great time and the kids were amazingly well behaved. Not sure if it was just the way it was or if they are getting older. :)

Here are some photos from our trip... I didn't take too many b/c I didn't take my computer and had no way to unload the photos from my camera.

4 generations... 92, 62, 32 and 2... :)


reading w/ Great Grandma (Lily called her pinkie grandma most of the time b/c of a pink shirt she wore the second day we were there)


talking to daddy on the phone:




a fashion show of some new clothes we bought.




on the way home:


had to wear glasses like mommy:


our stop over in Indiana:


blowing off some steam after a long day in the car:




We are glad to be home and are looking forward to a visit from Gpa Pat to work on our electrical box and help install the new french doors in the dining room... hopefully the last two projects for the year! ;)

We are NOT looking forward to Gma and Gpas departure back to Texas this weekend. :(