Potty Training Take 2

Several months ago we gave potty training a go with Ella. Although she was only 19 months old, she had all the signs of readiness. The only problem was she wouldn't go. She'd sit on the potty for ages, she understood the difference between wet and dry, she would follow all our instructions, but she just wouldn't actually go in the potty. She'd just wait hours and hours until eventually she would just explode. After 2 days of this I bagged the potty training and decided she just wasn't ready, despite what the books said.

Yesterday, Ella decided she really wanted to sit on the potty again. She refused to wear a diaper and went and got her big girl underwear and put them on. I had no idea what to do. I really don't feel up to potty training right now, but unless I want to take out a loan to pay for two kids in diapers, this really is the best time. I don't want to squash her willingness, but what do you do when your kid says they are ready, but you just hate the hastle?

All day she stayed dry and sat on the potty several times, but alas nothing in the potty. I knew she was going to burst any minute so I started taking her more frequently. Then about 15 minutes ago she exploded all over my cloth glider! She was just on the the potty like 2 minutes before that. I can not figure out what to do! She's doesn't act scared to go on the potty or anything, she actually seems excited to try, she just won't actually go. HELP! HELP! HELP!

I'm not crazy, just in labor!

Yesterday proved to be a very long and yucky day. It started out normal until around 11:00 during Hyrum's computer class and I started having major pains around my stomach. I just assumed it was an IBS attack so a friend helped me to her house until Ben could come home for lunch to help me.

The pains started moving down from my intestinal area to my uterus, so I got a little concerned, but figured I'd just take a hot bath and everything would be o.k. I always go into labor early with my kids, but not at 21 1/2 weeks along.

Finally, around 7:00 at night I just couldn't take the pain anymore. I felt like I was having full contractions and was timing them about 8 minutes apart. So we once again had to impose on our friends to watch our kids while Ben took me to the hospital.

As usual, the nurses and doctors gave me the "oh you're not in labor, you're just crazy look", but they admitted me anyways. My uterus is so small at this point that the detector was only catching a couple of the contractions, but the nurse could tell my stomach was definitely tightening. She figured they'd probably just send me home, but after talking to the doctor, they decided to check if I was dilated.

Low and behold, I was dilated to a 1 already. Being dilated at a 1 after you've have 2 kids could mean you just started out your pregnancy already at a 1, but it also could mean I'm actively dilating. After all, I was a 2 at only 28 weeks with Ella. Fortunately, I'm not fully effaced (I can't remember the percent she gave me).

So, I got the lovely tributaline shot to try and stop the contractions and a prescription for some oral doses to try and keep this under control. I don't have to go on bed rest just yet, but I do have to cut back on what I'm doing. (As if that was very much to begin with)

I was so relieved that even though "women don't normally have problems at 21 weeks" and I sounded totally nuts, the nurses and doctor were willing to at least check things out, instead of just sending me home.

I've had trouble with every pregnancy trying to convince doctors that I was in labor, because I'm not a textbook pregnancy. When I went in with Hyrum at 35 weeks, I had to beg them to check me. They agreed, but kept saying it was probably nothing. I'll never forget the look on the doctor's face when he checked me and had to tell me I was fully effaced and dilated to a 4.

Ella was the same problem, only even earlier. We finally had to switch doctors because he refused to check and see if anything was wrong. Our new doctor checked me at my first visit and I was already dilated to a 2 and 80% effaced. That landed me bed rest for 7 weeks and 1 week of hospital stay before she was born.

Now we are on our fourth doctor, mainly because we keep moving or switching jobs, and I think things are going to be o.k. I still had to explain to the doctor that I knew it was unusual to go into labor at 21 weeks, but not necessarily for me. After I filled him in on my previous pregnancy problems, I finally convinced him to listen to me. Hopefully, people will take me seriously now. On to the next problem; trying to keep this kid in for at least another 3 months. I'm praying to avoid a three month bed rest!

New Beds

Our expanding family has finally forced us to to move Hyrum out of his toddler bed. He's four and a half and was practically spilling out of the toddler bed, but we put it off for as long as possible. We spent most of Saturday looking for and constructing bunk beds for his room. It actually looks really cute and Hyrum loves sleeping on the top.

Ella then inherited Hyrum's old toddler bed. We figure she can sleep in it until the baby comes, and then depending on how and when the baby sleeps through the night, she can alternate between her toddler bed and the bottom bunk bed in Hyrum's room. Eventually Hyrum and Logan will share rooms, but that's a long ways away.

Ella did great sleeping the toddler bed. We figured she'd do alright, but we weren't sure. It's so funny because my kids will climb into the toddler bed, but don't realize they can get out by themselves. I heard Ella talking Sunday morning, but she just stayed in her bed until I came and "lifted" her out. It took Hyrum months before he figured it out, and he still didn't get up until around eight. I figure I might as well take advantage of it.

It's A Boy!

It's a pretty sure thing that we are having a boy! When we heard Ben gave a huge sigh of relief and was so jazzed that he didn't have to buy a whole new wardrobe. Hyrum's birthday and this baby's due date are just a week or two apart. The baby will probably come early, but the clothes will still be in the right season.

I was excited because for once we had a boy name ready. We only had a girl name with Hyrum and a boy name with Ella. This little one is going to be Logan Cyrus Rohrbach. I've always liked the name Logan and I had the funniest little boy named Logan in my class my first year teaching. The middle name, Cyrus, is a family name that is passed down in Ben's family. It's actually Ben's middle name, which is ironic because he is also the third child/second boy.

Yesterday, I decided to go through the huge tub of clothes we saved from Hyrum, and then it hit me, we are having a boy! Augh! All the memories of how hard Hyrum was as a baby came flooding back, and I called Ben in a total panic. Hyrum was such a difficult baby, and continues to be much more work than Ella. I love him to pieces, but he sometimes just leaves me exhausted. I wasn't so sure I could do a "Hyrum" all over again.

Sensible Ben tried to calm me down and did the best thing a husband can do for a frazzled wife; he took me to dinner and then the mall. He reminded me that just because it's a boy doesn't mean he will have Hyrum's colic, reflux, puking after every single feeding until he turned 18 months old, or personality. I realized that it's true that each kid comes programmed a little differently, so here's hoping to a nice "Ella" version of Logan.

Ultrasound!

I was lucky enough to have a friend of mine do my ultrasound today which meant tons of pictures for me! I picked out my favorite ones to post. I drank a ton of orange juice before I went so the baby was all over the place. It was such a relief to hear the baby was totally healthy and right on track. My placenta was a little low, but they aren't too worried yet.

A nice little profile. Ah, they look so innocent in the womb! This was before the baby decided to start doing somersaults.

This is one of the baby looking directly at you. Pretty creepy actually. It looks like something out of the crypt.

Here's a good look at the baby's spine. All bones accounted for.

Check out those biceps. At one point the baby gave us a thumbs up, it was so funny!

This is when the acrobatics started. The baby is stretching his/her legs out as far as possible. Then he/she decided to switch to the other side of my stomach.

Can you guess what we are having?

The Week of Christmas

We left for Boise on Friday, the 21st, but unfortunately forgot our camera. Thank goodness my Mom took some pictures, so as soon as she emails them to me, I will post some pictures of the kids.

We had such a great time in Boise! On Saturday I went out to lunch with Karen who was visiting from Hawaii and my friend Rachel who moved from Saratoga Springs to Meridian. We went to my favorite place ever, Miss Tami's (formerly known as Cottage Expressions). It's this cute little tea room that has the best Monte Cristo sandwich and Cheddar Cauliflower Soup you will ever taste. It's in Meridian and I highly recommend it!

After the tea room, I picked up Ben and the kids and we went to Rachel's house to celebrate her daughter Brooklyn's birthday. Hyrum and Ella miss their friends so much and were so happy to see them again.

Right after the birthday party, my dad drove Ben and I up to this lodge place by Bogus Basin for our Christmas present. My parents got us this sleigh ride and dinner thing up in this cute little cabin in the woods. I've never been on a sleigh ride before. It was cold, but so beautiful. At the cabin they served everyone this amazing dinner. We had soup in bread bowls, steak, shrimp, potatoes, carrots, and cobbler. Then this hilarious guy did jokes and poetry. It was so fun.

Sunday we did a huge turkey dinner with the family. It was so good!

On Monday, we went out to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. The only other time I had been there was in Hawaii, so I was excited to go. Then we did our traditional Christmas Eve stuff, make cookies for Santa, look at lights, and open some PJ's.

Tuesday was so fun, but tiring. The kids got soooooooooooo much stuff. We had to take the backseat out of our van just to fit it all there and back. After we opened presents we had our traditional egg mcmuffin breakfast and got ready to go to dinner with the whole extended Braden Family at the church. I can't believe how much we've all grown. There were a million kids and our kids had fun meeting all their 2nd cousins.

We were supposed to leave on Wednesday, but it was snowing in Boise and Utah and we were all so tired, so we stayed another day. We still ended up staying up late playing games and eating pizza, but it was so fun. I was excited because I found this cute Christmas store that was selling everything for 75% off so I bought a million fancy stockings that will hopefully last for our current and future family.

We finally left on Thursday, thanks to the good weather. We were so sad to go, but happy to be home. The house just seems so empty now without everyone. Fortunately, all the kids million toys fill up some of the gaps :)

The Christmas Spirit

I've lost almost all feeling in my left shoulder due to the unprecedented amount of shopping I did on Saturday. Payday was on Friday so I went on Saturday to finish all the last minute shopping I had. I had the kids stuff pretty much done already, but no one else. So I headed to the mall since I would be able to hit a lot of stores in one place. What a nightmare! It was shoulder to shoulder shopping. I had to wait 30 minutes in line at the Disney store! It took me 5 hours to get everything I needed, but I'm done!

The interesting thing was everyone was still really nice. Christmas time brings out the charitable kind side in people, but it also has the tendency to bring out the ravenous rude shopping side as well. Everyone was all "please" and "excuse me" and people were very kind to pick stuff up for me whenever I dropped something, since I'm the size of a whale. So even though I was totally exhausted and sick of shopping (which is a first for me), I still came home with a renewed hope for the human race.