Challenging yet Rewarding

Today has been absolutely exhausting! And yet, it has been awesome!

Today we started hardcore potty training. Well, there's not really anything hard core about it. It just involves me actually doing the potty training instead of saying, 'eh, he can just go in his diaper this time. I'm too tired to get up.'  At the consignment sale yesterday, I bought a potty chair for brother to use. We had previously used potty seats that go on the big pot. 2 problems with that: 1) I had to usually help him up on it and 2) I had to stay there in the bathroom until he decided he was done. Now, I keep the chair in the kitchen (since we spend about 85% of our awake time in there) and he can go whenever he feels like it. Also, when I make him try to go, I set the timer on my microwave for about 3 min and tell him that he can get off when it beeps. Day 1 verdict: It is working perfectly. No accidents yet (unless you count when he excitedly jumped off the chair and spilled its contents on the floor!). Hopefully he will get the hang of it quickly. It has been so nice not having to lift him up on the changing table to change his diapers today. I could get used to this.

For some strange reason, he didn't want me to take his picture while he was on the pot. Go figure.

Today we also started our preschool homeschooling! Overall it went very well. This week we are learning about the Letter A and the color Red!  Some of our activities included.....

Coloring our Red picture to hang on the fridge for the week. He also learned how to spell RED.

We searched the house for RED things we could label. 

We practiced tracing an uppercase and lowercase A. (FYI, you can put paper inside a sheet protector and use dry erase crayons. Then you can erase and try again as many times as you like!) (another FYI, I LOVE dry erase crayons! so much better than the markers b/c they don't rub off if your hand smears across it, and they are washable!!)

He is so proud when he gets the hang of it! 

I made an A book (from a free online printable) for him to color. He also enjoyed sounding out a lot of the words. 

He did really well with all of the activities and kept wanting to do all the other "games" in my box. I had to explain that we have to leave some fun for another day. We did make some paper sack puppets, but I didn't get a picture of those. I think Brother is going to be a bit of a challenge because he is an EXTREME perfectionist. This works well for him in some things. For example, he speaks very well, because he will repeat a word over and over until he gets the exact pronunciation down. But when it comes to learning new things--especially things that don't come to him very quickly (or immediately!) it could be a problem. This morning, I don't know how many times I heard him say, "Mom, it's not good enough! I can't do it!"  I will really have to work on motivating him to LEARN, and PRACTICE, because he doesn't like to fall short. What a blessing though, that I get to be the one to figure him out like that! 

We did some major furniture swapping/rearranging yesterday. My Husband's aunt decided to get some new furniture which started a huge ripple effect. They gave their old furniture to my inlaws, who gave their old furniture to my brother-in-law and us! We got a "new" loveseat and chair/ottoman, to put in our office so that it can function as more of a multi-purpose room. My Hubby never quite got over the pain of turning his "Man Cave" into Brother's big boy room. I think this helps ease his pain a little bit. Now he has one more place where he can comfortably watch sports. :) 

Tonight, we are going to a flooring store to pick out some finishes for our bathroom remodel! Since my degree was in Interior Design, stuff like that is right up my alley. When we decided to do the remodel, I immediately had to draw up a dimensioned floor plan, elevations of all our cabinetry and a 3D rendering of the space. Yes, I am a very big dork. But its fun! So picking finishes should be fun (assuming that my hubby and I agree on everything! :) )

Bella has just been hanging out lately. Nothing too eventful. I have resigned myself to the fact that I am probably just going to have contractions for the entire rest of my pregnancy--just like with Sister. I am ok with that as long as I know that I am not actually "in labor." That's when I FREAK OUT!!  ha ha.  One thing I had forgotten though is how exhausting it is to have contractions all day long!  It just wears your body out.  But I can be tough. Bella has been moving quite a bit still and packing on the pounds (at least, I'm packing them on!). I should be getting my maternity pics back from our awesome photographer soon! I can't wait to show them off!  Well, I'm off to pass out take a nap! I hope ya'll have a blessed day!