Adventures of potty training

I always knew I would be very laid back about toilet training. I wanted to wait until Sofia initiated it, she is a people pleaser and doesn't like to disappoint so I wanted to wait until she showed me she was ready. For me the signs of readiness include her understanding when she is about to go or when she has gone and being able to communicate that to me. Every since she was a little baby she has gone in the bathroom when I do so she has observed the process many times. Sofia first went pee on her toilet a few days after Thanksgiving. It was definitely more of a novelty than anything. Tim and I let it go because of the craziness between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

In the past two weeks she has shown more and more interest in the toilet. A little over a week ago I bought some underwear for her. Sofia absolutely loves wearing her underwear and is almost able to pull them up and down when she doesn't have other pants on. She also usually tells me when she has gone poo poo or pee, sorry for the crude vocabulary but it's what she uses. In the past week she has been truly amazing. She has peed in the toilet 1-3 times per day and got very close to pooping in the toilet. Her biggest challenge is getting her pants down and cloth diaper off, we mainly use snap diapers and they can be difficult for her to undo. Her other obstacle is the fact that the boys tend to take my attention right after her meal time (which is when we try the potty). She loves her little toilet, we have a seat adapter for the big toilet but she doesn't care for it because she likes to get up and grab books while she's waiting to go. Today she got up to grab new books about 6 times, I was feeding Everett lunch while she did this. Every time she walked by I asked her if she went and she said no. After I was done feeing Everett I checked on her and she had gone in the toilet again. I don't use any reward system with her, I just praise her a lot and I allow her to be very involved in the whole process. She likes to wipe, help dump the pee in the toilet, flush, wash hands etc. As you can see below, Sofia needs an extensive collection of books with her before she is ready. 

I'm not expecting to completely lose diapers any time soon, although it will be nice to go from 3 in diapers to 2. I will be more willing to let her go around in underwear all day when the weather is a little warmer and when we hopefully have hardwood floors in the house instead of carpet. Accidents on hardwood floors are so much easier to clean up, I never feel like carpet gets totally clean.

Clothes

I'm still working on Sofia's big two year post but I had a quick question to put out in the blogger world. With three kids we go through a LOT of clothing every day. Thankfully, a few friends gave me a ton of gently used clothes for the boys. Over the last 7 months we've been able to use mainly the clothes that were given to us and we've supplemented a little bit with things I've found on sale. Anyways, the boys have grown quickly and are now in 12 month and 12-18 month clothing. This is also where my supply of used clothes runs out for them. As much as I'd love to go out on a shopping spree and buy them a bunch of cute stuff our budget doesn't allow for that. I've always heard of people buying big groups of used clothing and having good experiences. Where is the best place to do this? I definitely don't mind gently used clothes but I want to make sure I don't spend money on clothes we can't use. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

Sleepy baby

Just a quick post with a video of our dear Sully who just couldn't stop jumping, even though he was falling asleep. Excuse my husband's voice in the background, he was on the phone with his brother.

Big post to come later this week on all of the celebrating we did over the weekend for my sweet girl's 2nd birthday!!

Ev & Sully at 7 months!

Wow, I can hardly believe how quickly your first year is going by. You guys are really growing up quickly now. It's amazing to me how different you guys are from your big sister as a baby. Sofia was so content to sit and play with toys around her whereas the boys are major movers. You are both really getting the hang of the whole solid food thing, too. We are giving you a combination of pureed foods and solid things like apple slices, avocado pieces, pizza crust, teething biscuits, etc. We're trying our own little version of baby led weaning. You guys generally eat at the same time, right next to each other in your high chairs. You both crack me up because when you try something new you like to look at each other's reaction. Everett, you have started to steal food off of Sully's tray, you are also very encouraging to Sully. You give him lots of smiles and even touch his arm, Sully isn't quite as sure about pureed foods. This past month you spent a week with your Granddad and Grandma Rainey in Baraboo while your Dad and I took a trip together. We got home at 2:30am from Chicago and pulling into the driveway we both said, "I bet Everett is awake". Sure enough, we walked in the door and heard you babbling. You were so excited to see us and snuggle. Both of you still love your bath time, but your days in the baby tub are numbered. You both pull up and sit up and have attempted climbing out of the tub. Although you can both sit unassisted I don't trust you sitting in the tub quite yet. I can only imagine the fun we are going to have when you two are in the bath tub together, or better yet when you are in the tub with your sister! We have started taking you guys swimming in the big pool at the YMCA, you both love it. One of the cutest things you two do now is your post nap reunion. I have you nap in separate rooms so you don't wake each other up. When I feed you lunch after your nap you guys both look at each other and just smile and babble like you're catching up after not seeing one another.

Everett 7 months

-You are an eating machine, you love all solids. You get so excited about eating. I would say your favorite food is definitely carrots, today you really loved the puree of avocado and banana that I made for you and your brother.

-You still wake up once or twice per night. Your Dad and I are just used to it by now and we rotate nights. You always down 7 oz so we know that you are actually hungry. You reward us for waking up in the middle of the night with sweet sweet snuggles and kisses.

-One night this month when I got up with you I snuggled you for a while after you ate, when I laid you down in your crib you looked at me and said, "Mama". And then you farted 3 times for good measure. I was laughing so hard I woke your Dad up to tell him what happened.

-We have started calling you monkey man. You are starting to climb things around the house. You also wrap your legs around anyone who gets near you, it's hilarious. 

-You still love giving kisses.

-You are a social little man, you babble constantly and sing/screech. Sometimes I hear you mimicking the sounds Sofia makes.

-You don't miss anything, you watch every little detail that happens around you, you love staring outside in between bites of food.

-You can crawl backwards, you crawl in a circle, but you still use rolling to get across the room and acquire objects. You have started rolling over to the swing when your brother is in it and you put your feet up to kick the swing, Sully doesn't really appreciate it.

-This month you got your two top teeth, we can just see the edge of them.

Sullivan 7 months

-You eat solids, but you still aren't quite as sure about them as your brother. You love chewing on actual solid things like apple slices and teething biscuits.

-You normally sleep from 8-6:30 every night, you even sleep through your brother's nightly waking.

-You are still our easy-going, sweet little man. You are so ticklish and LOVE to be tickled and kissed.

-You are also very mobile, you roll around to move and we have seen you start to push yourself backward. You also use your hips to push yourself around.

-You finally got teeth! Your two bottom teeth came in this month.

-You have become more vocal this month and you chime in more when Everett is babbling nonstop.

-Sometimes we call you "Chewy", short for Chewbacca because you can do a dead on impression of him. We still need to record you doing it.

We love you both so much! You two are a lot of work but every night when we kiss you goodnight your Dad and I go on and on about how lucky we are to have you in our lives. I can't imagine life without your two sweet faces.

Vacation/Battery Recharge

Tim and I were fortunate to spend five nights in St. Lucia this past week. When we made the decision to move back home to Wisconsin we said that we needed to make a sunny vacation a priority every winter to help get us to spring. This winter has actually been extremely mild and spring like but it was still nice to take a few days to enjoy each other and sleep through the night. On our way down to St. Lucia we had an overnight layover in Miami but it worked out well because we were able to go out to dinner with Tim's cousin, Dan, who lives in Miami right now. We started out booking a bunch of excursions and activities for our trip and then we scaled back a bit so we could actually spend some time just relaxing. We spent our first full day doing a tour of the island by boat. We visited a volcano, sulphur mud bath, a gorgeous waterfall, we snorkeled under the Pitons (famous mountains in St. Lucia), had an awesome Creole lunch and then went to Marigot Bay and saw an area of the island where Pirates of the Caribbean II was filmed. On our second day we booked another boat out to a different snorkeling area. We saw a lot of fish that were different from the first area we snorkeled. We returned late and spent a few hours reading oceanside and body surfing in the huge waves on our beach. I actually finished four books while we were on vacation!! I couldn't believe it, it was so weird to be able to read for so long uninterrupted. On our third and fourth day we went to a more northern part of the island that had a calmer beach so we could do more water sports. We were finally able to try SUP (Stand Up Paddle) boards. I have wanted to try this for ages, it was just as much fun as I imagined, and a great workout. We'd like to purchase a board in the next few years, we have a ton of lakes around us where we could use it. We also spent time sailing a catamaran, jet-skiing, and just lounging in the ocean. It was so nice to be able to spend time with Tim and get some rest. We missed the kids dearly but they had a great time staying with Tim's parents. We got daily update emails from Tim's parents giving us the run down of each day. I don't know if we'll do this every year or not but the past year has been packed with so many crazy and exciting events that it was nice to slow down a bit and celebrate five years of marriage and doing so well with our three kids under two this year.

On our boat tour

The Pitons

Our mud bath

Sulphur springs 

Rinsing off in the water fall

Paddle boarding

Our last view before departure

Love Story

What's Your Love Story?

I got this idea from my good friend, Lea, who is participating in a link-up with Becky...

Here's our love story...

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

We met during the fall of of freshman year of college. We started dating the following year, October 2003. So we've been together a little over 8 years!! We got married on October 27th 2006. 

2. How did you meet?

We met in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Tim lived in Drake Hall next to some guys I went to high school with. Tim and I started to get to know each other more seriously during the spring of our freshman year. We were both serving as RA's in Wentz Hall during our sophomore year when we started dating.

3. If married, how long have you been married?

We got married on October 27, 2006 and celebrated our five year anniversary this past fall. We will really be celebrating our anniversary starting tomorrow while we vacation in St. Lucia kid free for a week!! A big thank you goes out to Tim's parents and brother Christopher who will be taking care of our kids and my friend Connie and her family who will be taking care of our dog, Frodo.

4. If married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?

We got married at Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin. We had about 250 guests and it was a very low-key Wisconsin wedding with lots of friends, family, beer and dancing. We were able to put the whole thing together pretty inexpensively. We have since been lucky enough to go to some fancier weddings of other friends of ours.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another?

Sometimes I call Tim babe, sweetie, baby etc. 

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

One: Tim is so easy going and brings great balance to my intense personality. He is always game for any adventure we think of, I LOVE him so much for this. I can't imagine being with someone who wasn't willing to take risks and have adventures on a daily basis.

Two: Tim is an incredible father. This doesn't surprise me at all. When I started dating him I always knew he would make an incredible father, I love watching him with our children. I think a lot of guys would be a little intimidated by our current situation of three babies under the age of 2 but Tim doesn't back away. He rushes home from work every day and jumps right in to help.

Three: Tim is one of the most genuine, caring guys I know. He always goes out of his way for other people. Sometimes he is a little too nice and people take advantage of him or take him for granted, but I'm impressed that Tim is always willing to see the good in people.

7. How did he propose?

My Mom had been visiting us in La Crosse on a Friday so we went horseback riding and hiking that day. The next morning we took her out to breakfast before she had to leave. After breakfast I told Tim I needed to study and get some homework done. I had just started studying when I heard a knock on my apartment door. I opened the door to find a dozen roses and a folded origami crane (which was something he did for one of our first real dates). The crane had a funny little poem/clue that led me to my next spot on a scavenger hunt. It sounds awful but I can't remember all of the locations but Tim had about ten locations on the hunt that covered memorable places for us and our relationship. The locations varied from campus, coffee shops, etc. Eventually it led to Tim's apartment. He said "Happy Anniversary, I fixed your mountain bike (someone had stole my seat), let's go for a ride". So I really had no idea he was going to propose since this was a dating anniversary. We biked up the TNT trail in the bluffs of La Crosse up to the to. The top of the bluffs has a spectacular view of our college and the entire city of La Crosse, on a clear day you can see the Mississippi river and Minnesota. We biked out to a lookout point that was surrounded in birch trees where Tim had a picnic set up with all sorts of goodies and wine. We had a wonderful picnic and shortly after Tim asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. I was overjoyed. 

Yes, I was proposed to wearing bike spandex, I wouldn't have it any other way.

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for Valentine's Day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

Ha! Tim thinks Valentine's Day is a "Hallmark holiday", I have to admit that I kind of agree with him. Tim is really good about bringing me dark chocolate and flowers various times throughout the year. Sometimes he will even do this for Valentine's Day. 

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or a pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

Sunset dinner on the beach, rather a sunset hike on the beach with a picnic. But since we have three kids under the age of two we have learned to love a bottle of wine and a movie. 

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant other one day.

We have big dreams for retirement. We love to travel and want to continue taking trips together every year and start taking the kids when they are old enough. We also have a "'dream house" that we'd like to build some day. However, it may be quite a few years before we get the chance to do that. We have definitely made our family and kids a priority over being able to afford a bigger home.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing this Valentine's Day.

Tim and I plan to go horse back riding on the beach of St. Lucia for Valentine's Day. We'll probably follow that up with some snorkeling and a nice dinner.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's Day?
Already got it, I wanted a new necklace from "The Vintage Pearl" with all three of my kids names.

13. Give one piece of advice for keeping a relationship strong and full of love.
Understand that men and women are wired a little differently and guys just don't always think the same way women do. I try to look at things through Tim's perspective. We also keep our relationship strong by playing together. By playing, I mean we genuinely enjoy each other's company and the same hobbies. We both love to bike, hike, play cards, play board games, drink wine, brew beer, the list goes on. It's awesome being married to my best friend who also happens to love almost all of the same activities as me.

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

The guy who always makes me laugh and have fun.

Tim on one of the best days of our life, when we met Miss Sofia Lorraine.

Tim holding both of his boys, Everett James & Sullivan Jeffrey.

Body Post Twins

Disclaimer: This post talks a lot about bodies post pregnancy and may come across as an extremely vain post. If it is too much for you, please disregard this post.


Since the boys decided to come early and my water broke around 1am we didn't get to take a great pre-delivery photo.

This was over a month before the boys arrived, carrying them was thrilling but exhausting.

A few weeks before the twins arrived.

About an hour before I met my little boys.

This is exactly how the boys were in my belly. They did flip a few times but they were almost always in this position.

I am pleased to say I lost all of the weight I gained with the twins within 12 weeks. This was due to nursing, pumping, and trying to take care of all three babies and not having time to eat. Fast forward to now, the twins are 6 months old and we have a great routine that allows me time to work out regularly. I spin, run and do "Body Pump". If you haven't heard of Body Pump it's an awesome class that is great for toning your body. Now I am almost 10 pounds below my starting weight in the beginning of the pregnancy. I'm very happy with this but I'm discouraged by one thing....TWIN SKIN. With my daughter, Sofia, I was lucky enough to not have any stretch marks and my body bounced back quickly since I trained for and ran a half marathon shortly after she was born. My pregnancy with the boys was another story. I gained the same amount of weight that I did with Sofia, but I was also carrying twice the amount of baby, placenta etc. By the time I hit week 30 of the twins pregnancy I had substantial stretch marks despite using oil, lotion, etc.. I know these marks are considered a badge of honor and all but let me be selfish and say that I miss my tight tummy and being able to see my abs! I talked with my doctor and she said no amount of ab workouts will make a huge difference with the stretch marks and wrinkly skin that the boys left me with. She said my only option was a tummy tuck. I'm not really interested in this since I don't want to have another major surgery, I can't deal with another 12 week recovery period of not being able to pick my kids up, and I'm not sure if Tim and I are done having kids yet. Tim and I are going on vacation and I ordered a cute one piece to hide the skin but I just don't feel as comfortable in it. I like the movement a two piece allows you. So I'm debating bringing my bikinis and making my fellow beach goers become witness to the "twin skin". Anyways, I am grateful my body was able to carry the boys for so long and that I had such healthy babies. I just wanted to vent and see if any other mothers of multiples have this issue.

Here's a video Tim took of my belly exactly one week before they arrived.