Well, it has been a full week of hard core potty training with lots of messes and ups and downs.
My biggest failure this week has most definitely been my lack of patience and the presence of frustration. This has brought me to tears as I saw it cause stress in Hannah Kate and regression in making it to the potty.
Friday night I sat in my bubble bath lamenting my failure as a Mommy to my husband and he tried to help me think through the best way to proceed. We had a long weekend ahead with my partner here to help.
I began to think about the most difficult or frustrating aspects of our weak and explained them to Ryan.
- I can't get anything done because she will have an accident if I'm not right there with her (She was going naked.)
- We can't leave the house without lots of stress and mess which makes for very long days. (We were using thick training panties when leaving the house, and HK always had several accidents)
- HK has a terrible diaper and yeast rash from the wet panties and just very sensitive skin which is near impossible to treat when she runs around naked sitting all of the floors and sofa and potty.
- But above all I feel like the number one set back was me. I just couldn't seem to handle the emotions as a mommy trying to potty train and I'm hoping a lot of that is pregnancy hormones.
SO, with all of these things in mind and my sweet and patient husband behind me with full support and a long weekend available to work it all out; we decided to move forward in potty training and move forward with an off brand of Pull Ups!
This would make leaving the house a lot easier but still allow HK to learn how to take off and pull up her pants. It also takes the pressure off of both of us to force pottying and stressing about "if it's time to pee pee" and makes it easy it brush off accidents. It ALSO makes it where I can slather HK's little bum in ointment without it getting all over the place. (Not to mention it keeps her more comfortable and helps keep her hands off infected areas.)
I struggled with this decision because of bad reviews about how this delays training and is expensive. However we didn't want to give up and this Mommy was hating the emotional toll on both me and HK so longer wasn't an issue for me as long as we could both relax a bit more.
To my surprise Hannah Kate embraced the "Pull Ups" She seemed more relaxed and confident immediately but didn't stop telling us when she needed to go, in fact she communicated even better. Everyone has been more relaxed and stress free and HK has only had accidents twice this weekend, and that was when she was with Gigi and in the church nursery and she still had successes in both environments! This is the best break through we have had this week with no signs of letting up!
Once her accidents stop nearly completely we will move to the training panties and then the normal cotton ones. Hannah Kate seems to do better in smaller steps rather than drastic changes.
We are ALL very excited about this and feel like we can resume normal activities this week.
In other news!
Hannah Kate met her new cousin for the first time, and she is obsessed with her! She asks to hug her when she is around and says hi to her and "I wudge you Bebe" and lays her head on her little tummy. :) This was SO encouraging to me as HK is a little easily excited and ... well boisterous. We have been working with baby dolls a lot lately to prepare her for her little brother and it seems she is learning very well! She was SO sweet to her baby cousin and likes to talk about her now. She will be so excited to see her again today for her naming ceremony. :)
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Potty Training Days 2 and 3 (and other stuff)
I'm pretty sure Potty Training is THE hardest thing I've had to tackle as far as parenting goes.
This has been a very emotional (possibly hormonal) 3 days.
Yesterday felt like a bust, I felt like a complete failure as a Mommy and really just wanted to give up. Hannah Kate had more accidents than victories and stopped communicating about her need to go. I got frustrated and impatient with the regression as day 1 seemed to go so well and unfortunately I failed at hiding that frustration and my poor girl got stressed out and emotional. (I cried about pressuring her and worried about damaging her emotionally.)
This morning I began with prayers of patience and endurance but most of all a light hearted, care free attitude to focus only on the positive achievements of the day and not to be upset by the set backs.
Last night Ryan and I had discussed what might have caused the set backs and it seems it was the underwear that either delayed or completely did away with HK's communication. She seemed very confused and stressed out by it. Especially when accidents happened. It was also worsening a rash we are trying to get rid of so I decided to let her go naked again this morning and she did great.
In the first few hours she had one or two accidents and 6 or 7 victories! But it wasn't long before I noticed some symptoms that made me feel like Hannah Kate might be sick and need to see a Doctor. I waited until nap time and as that drew nearer she seemed to go down hill. Clingy and fussy and very congested, rubbing her face and eyes and falling asleep nearly instantly.
While she was asleep I made an appointment with her pediatrician and packed a diaper bag full of training pants and waterproof covers and also moved one of our potties to the van.
My poor girl has two nasty ear infections and possibly pink eye in both eyes. Two antibiotics later and several stops and tries on the potty and wet undies later; we were back home and at it again. She is doing pretty well and the pediatrician recommended we stick with being naked at home if not just to clear up her poor rash.
Tomorrow I have my mid pregnancy sonogram scan and I WAS going to let HK play at the YMCA and now I'm forced to make a last minute decision about whether or not to leave her based on what her eyes look like in the morning. Its possible it's all just the ear infections, but what if she did/does have pink eye?
AND what do you do with a very active, potty training 18 month old during what could be a long wait and long appointment at an OB office?
oh that we had a trusted sitter who would be willing to come to my house and patiently work with HK on potty training while being aware of her discomfort of ear infections while I go take care of her little brother at my appointment.
We are working on finding a good sitter like that. In the mean time I'm trying to come up with several game plans for the morning.
In other news! ....
I have yet to get sick again and feel like the odd chance of this mysterious illness running it's course and leaving me alone might have actually happened!
Yay!
This has been a very emotional (possibly hormonal) 3 days.
Yesterday felt like a bust, I felt like a complete failure as a Mommy and really just wanted to give up. Hannah Kate had more accidents than victories and stopped communicating about her need to go. I got frustrated and impatient with the regression as day 1 seemed to go so well and unfortunately I failed at hiding that frustration and my poor girl got stressed out and emotional. (I cried about pressuring her and worried about damaging her emotionally.)
This morning I began with prayers of patience and endurance but most of all a light hearted, care free attitude to focus only on the positive achievements of the day and not to be upset by the set backs.
Last night Ryan and I had discussed what might have caused the set backs and it seems it was the underwear that either delayed or completely did away with HK's communication. She seemed very confused and stressed out by it. Especially when accidents happened. It was also worsening a rash we are trying to get rid of so I decided to let her go naked again this morning and she did great.
In the first few hours she had one or two accidents and 6 or 7 victories! But it wasn't long before I noticed some symptoms that made me feel like Hannah Kate might be sick and need to see a Doctor. I waited until nap time and as that drew nearer she seemed to go down hill. Clingy and fussy and very congested, rubbing her face and eyes and falling asleep nearly instantly.
While she was asleep I made an appointment with her pediatrician and packed a diaper bag full of training pants and waterproof covers and also moved one of our potties to the van.
My poor girl has two nasty ear infections and possibly pink eye in both eyes. Two antibiotics later and several stops and tries on the potty and wet undies later; we were back home and at it again. She is doing pretty well and the pediatrician recommended we stick with being naked at home if not just to clear up her poor rash.
Tomorrow I have my mid pregnancy sonogram scan and I WAS going to let HK play at the YMCA and now I'm forced to make a last minute decision about whether or not to leave her based on what her eyes look like in the morning. Its possible it's all just the ear infections, but what if she did/does have pink eye?
AND what do you do with a very active, potty training 18 month old during what could be a long wait and long appointment at an OB office?
oh that we had a trusted sitter who would be willing to come to my house and patiently work with HK on potty training while being aware of her discomfort of ear infections while I go take care of her little brother at my appointment.
We are working on finding a good sitter like that. In the mean time I'm trying to come up with several game plans for the morning.
In other news! ....
I have yet to get sick again and feel like the odd chance of this mysterious illness running it's course and leaving me alone might have actually happened!
Yay!
Monday, August 25, 2014
Potty Training and Other Things
What a Day!
Well, after weeks of watching, listening, and really paying attention to Hannah Kate's "readiness signs" extensive research and encouragement from our pediatrician we decided to take the plunge into potty training! Yes, at 18 months old!
Hannah Kate has been interested in the potty for months and she first started connecting the dots by watching the dogs go out and hearing us use the word "potty" and singing Tank's "Potty Chant" with Daddy. She observed Mommy and Daddy go potty and after a few catches from near bath tub incidents, really enjoyed the "success" of being help over a toilet to poop. From there it just escalated. Her "Potty vocabulary" grew and she began telling us when she had a dirty diaper and when she was going number two etc. She even began adding a bed time trip to the little potty before her bath and was successful every time! After that she began randomly telling us she had to potty and we took advantage and let her try to go on a potty whenever we could, and most times, she did! (Even in Houston this last weekend, without a little potty!)
So; as soon as we got home yesterday at about 4pm, we decided diapers are only for sleep times until we tackle those as well. We put HK's potty in the living room and stripped her down to a t-shirt and began the messy and stressful task of potty training.
She did okay the first night. But given all of her random success and her readiness signs I think I had unrealistic expectations and I felt very guilty for the feelings of frustration I had.
After a long bath and more reading/research about potty training I realized this was a process and I needed to remind myself that the first few days were going to be rough with up and down progress.
I felt better before I went to bed and started today brand new!
The morning went great! We tried a mixture of cotton panties, training underwear and nothing at all. The first few hours were very successful, but after that Hannah Kate seemed to lose interest and had several accidents where she even told me "uh-oh" I held in my frustration and echoed her "uh-oh, let's try to get the pee pee in the potty" I reminded her. At nap time I lamented to my husband a little, and my sister, and was helpfully reminded that this was the first real day of potty training and we were fairing pretty well.
After her nap HK went potty and I put her in training pants with a plastic diaper cover over it and we went to find some books to read about pottying! We brought her potty and I put her on it every time we arrived at a store and before we left. She had several accidents and one GREAT success of keeping her pants dry and going on the potty in the van!
The potty books are really helping and from about 4pm today and on into the evening HK went hours without accidents and lots of successful trips to the potty! We ended on a really great note and I'm feeling very encouraged.
In other news; I realized today that I left my wallet in Houston! We were going to have to drive overnight and back to get it when my Mother-in-law rescued us by asking a friend to run over to her house and get it to have it express shipped to us!
SO glad we don't have to make a round trip to Houston!
AND!!!
I have a new niece! She is so adorable! And I've only gotten to see her once because Ryan was working late last week, and then we went out of town and now I'm homebound to potty train Hannah Kate BUT I get to bring tem a meal Friday night and I hope to get some snuggles in :)
Well, after weeks of watching, listening, and really paying attention to Hannah Kate's "readiness signs" extensive research and encouragement from our pediatrician we decided to take the plunge into potty training! Yes, at 18 months old!
Hannah Kate has been interested in the potty for months and she first started connecting the dots by watching the dogs go out and hearing us use the word "potty" and singing Tank's "Potty Chant" with Daddy. She observed Mommy and Daddy go potty and after a few catches from near bath tub incidents, really enjoyed the "success" of being help over a toilet to poop. From there it just escalated. Her "Potty vocabulary" grew and she began telling us when she had a dirty diaper and when she was going number two etc. She even began adding a bed time trip to the little potty before her bath and was successful every time! After that she began randomly telling us she had to potty and we took advantage and let her try to go on a potty whenever we could, and most times, she did! (Even in Houston this last weekend, without a little potty!)
So; as soon as we got home yesterday at about 4pm, we decided diapers are only for sleep times until we tackle those as well. We put HK's potty in the living room and stripped her down to a t-shirt and began the messy and stressful task of potty training.
She did okay the first night. But given all of her random success and her readiness signs I think I had unrealistic expectations and I felt very guilty for the feelings of frustration I had.
After a long bath and more reading/research about potty training I realized this was a process and I needed to remind myself that the first few days were going to be rough with up and down progress.
I felt better before I went to bed and started today brand new!
The morning went great! We tried a mixture of cotton panties, training underwear and nothing at all. The first few hours were very successful, but after that Hannah Kate seemed to lose interest and had several accidents where she even told me "uh-oh" I held in my frustration and echoed her "uh-oh, let's try to get the pee pee in the potty" I reminded her. At nap time I lamented to my husband a little, and my sister, and was helpfully reminded that this was the first real day of potty training and we were fairing pretty well.
After her nap HK went potty and I put her in training pants with a plastic diaper cover over it and we went to find some books to read about pottying! We brought her potty and I put her on it every time we arrived at a store and before we left. She had several accidents and one GREAT success of keeping her pants dry and going on the potty in the van!
The potty books are really helping and from about 4pm today and on into the evening HK went hours without accidents and lots of successful trips to the potty! We ended on a really great note and I'm feeling very encouraged.
In other news; I realized today that I left my wallet in Houston! We were going to have to drive overnight and back to get it when my Mother-in-law rescued us by asking a friend to run over to her house and get it to have it express shipped to us!
SO glad we don't have to make a round trip to Houston!
AND!!!
I have a new niece! She is so adorable! And I've only gotten to see her once because Ryan was working late last week, and then we went out of town and now I'm homebound to potty train Hannah Kate BUT I get to bring tem a meal Friday night and I hope to get some snuggles in :)
Monday, August 18, 2014
Catching Up / 18 months old!
Okay I fell off the blogosphere!
And doing so led me to realize how much I am NOT documenting! And I want to be able to recall all the fun things Hannah Kate is doing and learning.
She turns 18 months old tomorrow! Her check up is Thursday and then I'll have some stats but she is so darn beautiful and adorable. (Which serves her well because she certainly isn't still, or easy.)
She is fun and funny.
She loves to have people's attention and make everyone laugh. She has an extensive vocabulary but the phrases I hear the most from her lately are "I wudge you!" and "I howed you?" (Translation: I love you, and, I hold you, or basically, will you hold me?)
She has become VERY affectionate although not so much in the quiet snuggling sense as much as the loud and active. She wants to be help so she can force a rocking motion and sing our family song that ends each phrase with tickling, or throw herself back to hang upside dawn out of our arms. She wants to be chased and she wants to climb... on EVERYTHING!
She is a pinball bouncing energetically from one thing to the next leaving little hurricane messes in her wake. She is very girls and seems to exclaim "Pietty!" every time I do her hair or put her clothes on, but she is not dainty, nor is she gentle. She is a rough and tumble adventurer and keeps her mommy on her toes!
She is growing and developing so much and so quickly I think her development, especially in the emotional categories, gets a bit overwhelming.
We are working on age appropriate discipline and praying that God meets us where we are and compensates for our weaknesses and covers our family and parenting with grace.
This last week was rough on us all. After 2 weeks of on again off again illness, I got a really bad spell of it on Wednesday which led to dehydration and premature contractions, and inevitably a trip to the ER. I was quickly sent to labor and delivery to make sure Levi was fine and not trying to come 18 weeks early. He wasn't, and I was given ant nausea meds and IV fluids and sent home, where I ended up sick all night and made arrangements to see a specialist the very next day.
I went through extensive interview questions with the doctor and underwent several blood tests before finally getting home Thursday evening.
Friday morning began with vomiting and I quickly took my Zofran and was rescued by my brother who lives down the street and took Hannah Kate so I could rest.
The weekend was recovery and I spent a lot of a time on the couch but definitely felt like I was on the mend. Today I felt back to normal and was feeling like I might finally be over all this miserable illness when I got my results back from the doctor. It turns out the some enzyme in my pancreas is low and some protein is high and my blood test shows an infection somewhere and inflammation. However because the blood test is so broad they can't pin point what kind of infection and inflammation or where it is in my body or how to treat it without further testing. Testing that they can't do until I get sick again, and given my blood tests, I most likely WILL get sick again... not the news I was hoping for.
Ryan has also been working a lot of over time this summer, so with Mommy being sick and Daddy being gone Hannah Kate sure has been feeling the upset in her normal routine.
But she is so strong and tough and she is bouncing back and hopefully with the foresight of knowing more sickness is ahead for me, I can prepare with hydration, get the tests done and get on the meds again quickly with as little discomfort and family upset as possible... Pray for us...
And doing so led me to realize how much I am NOT documenting! And I want to be able to recall all the fun things Hannah Kate is doing and learning.
She turns 18 months old tomorrow! Her check up is Thursday and then I'll have some stats but she is so darn beautiful and adorable. (Which serves her well because she certainly isn't still, or easy.)
She is fun and funny.
She loves to have people's attention and make everyone laugh. She has an extensive vocabulary but the phrases I hear the most from her lately are "I wudge you!" and "I howed you?" (Translation: I love you, and, I hold you, or basically, will you hold me?)
She has become VERY affectionate although not so much in the quiet snuggling sense as much as the loud and active. She wants to be help so she can force a rocking motion and sing our family song that ends each phrase with tickling, or throw herself back to hang upside dawn out of our arms. She wants to be chased and she wants to climb... on EVERYTHING!
She is a pinball bouncing energetically from one thing to the next leaving little hurricane messes in her wake. She is very girls and seems to exclaim "Pietty!" every time I do her hair or put her clothes on, but she is not dainty, nor is she gentle. She is a rough and tumble adventurer and keeps her mommy on her toes!
She is growing and developing so much and so quickly I think her development, especially in the emotional categories, gets a bit overwhelming.
We are working on age appropriate discipline and praying that God meets us where we are and compensates for our weaknesses and covers our family and parenting with grace.
This last week was rough on us all. After 2 weeks of on again off again illness, I got a really bad spell of it on Wednesday which led to dehydration and premature contractions, and inevitably a trip to the ER. I was quickly sent to labor and delivery to make sure Levi was fine and not trying to come 18 weeks early. He wasn't, and I was given ant nausea meds and IV fluids and sent home, where I ended up sick all night and made arrangements to see a specialist the very next day.
I went through extensive interview questions with the doctor and underwent several blood tests before finally getting home Thursday evening.
Friday morning began with vomiting and I quickly took my Zofran and was rescued by my brother who lives down the street and took Hannah Kate so I could rest.
The weekend was recovery and I spent a lot of a time on the couch but definitely felt like I was on the mend. Today I felt back to normal and was feeling like I might finally be over all this miserable illness when I got my results back from the doctor. It turns out the some enzyme in my pancreas is low and some protein is high and my blood test shows an infection somewhere and inflammation. However because the blood test is so broad they can't pin point what kind of infection and inflammation or where it is in my body or how to treat it without further testing. Testing that they can't do until I get sick again, and given my blood tests, I most likely WILL get sick again... not the news I was hoping for.
Ryan has also been working a lot of over time this summer, so with Mommy being sick and Daddy being gone Hannah Kate sure has been feeling the upset in her normal routine.
But she is so strong and tough and she is bouncing back and hopefully with the foresight of knowing more sickness is ahead for me, I can prepare with hydration, get the tests done and get on the meds again quickly with as little discomfort and family upset as possible... Pray for us...
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