No Accidents!

Oliver didn't have any accidents today! Well I had to change his underwear three times, but I didn't consider any to be "accidents" because one of the times was during his nap (I was glad I had the diaper on over his clothes so I didn't have to wash his bedding again) and the other two times he sprayed his clothes (and the floor once) while peeing on his potty. Potty training boys is definitely harder than potty training girls. That never happened with Nadia! I took our potty to ladies Bible study, and I went back twice during the two hour span to have him sit on the potty. The first time he didn't go, but the second time he did. At that point it had been about three hours since he had last peed. Similarly, I took the potty with us in the stroller to the playground this afternoon, but he didn't need it. He was able to wait until we got back albeit we were gone for 90 minutes. There are times when he does go once an hour, but I am noticing that most of the time he can go at least two hours. Yesterday he never went #2 so his one accident yesterday was a pee accident, on Sunday his one accident was a #1

accident, and today he went both #1 and #2 on the potty and had NO accidents. I know he is far from being fully potty trained, but in my opinion the worst is over. Whew. The next thing I hope he learns is to tell me when he goes #2. I can't watch the clock with that one. I have to be watching him, and there's just no way to watch him all the time. I happened to be looking at him at the right moment today to get him on the potty in time. I won't always be that fortunate. He needs to start telling me. I know he's capable of it because he usually runs and hides before he's about to go #2 in his diaper or underwear.

Even though we didn't actually move, in some ways it feels like we did move because we need to find a new dentist (the one we've used the past 6 years isn't in the network of our current insurance), I'm going to a different church for ladies Bible study (a Mennonite church in Milton), the kids are going to a different church for AWANA than they went to the past 3 years (because Paul will be teaching on Wednesday nights next semester), and we're going

to a different church (which also means new Sunday School classes, new choirs for the kids and I, etc.). Speaking of moving, I need to get myself in gear because Paul's application for Muhlenberg is due in two weeks. I admit I am having a hard time getting psyched up about starting this process up again after having sent out more than 100 applications over the past two years.

P.S. The last two pictures at the bottom were ones Ian wanted me to take. Actually he wanted me to take them of JUST the stuffed animals, but I said I wanted at least one kid to be in the picture also. I got the Count plush at a yard sale on Saturday for Oliver and now each child has two Sesame Street characters. The Grover is a puppet, and the Cookie Monster is a toy that talks and can be fed what you put in his mouth ends up in his back pack.

One Week

I considered today to be "day seven" of potty training with Oliver although technically I didn't start it until noon last Tuesday so it hasn't quite been a week yet. Overall I am pleased with his progress. Of the twelve days he took a nap in his underwear, ten of those he stayed dry. Today was the second time (the other was on Friday) that he soaked his sheet and mattress cover. I've decided tomorrow I'm going to put a diaper on over his underwear during his nap to protect the bedding. Yesterday there were two times at home that his underwear got damp, and he had a #2 accident on the playground at church yesterday evening (less than 5 minutes after I had him on the froggy potty in our van). Not counting his nap, his underwear stayed dry until about 5pm when we were at the library. While he was awake he had only one accident yesterday and only one today as well! The library incident was a reminder to me that for the time being I need to keep a spare pare of underwear and pants in the van. Oops! He had stopped himself because after I discovered his damp clothes I put him on the potty and he peed some more. I've decided I'm going to bring the froggy potty to ladies Bible study tomorrow morning because I don't think he's ready to use an unfamiliar potty yet. I will try to work on getting him to use a regular sized toilet by Sunday.

This morning I took a few videos of the kids. There is one of Ian singing the chorus of the song "Where I belong, " and the other two are of Nadia. Last week I started teaching her the song "America." We're supposed to be learning the second verse this week, but she actually hasn't fully mastered the tune or the first verse yet, but she really wanted me to take a video of her singing it, so I did, and then since Ian had done so she also wanted to sing the same chorus. Throughout this year of home schooling we will be studying various names of Jesus. A couple of weeks ago we did "light of the world," and now this week we're starting on "bread of life." To that end I was going to read to her from Exodus 16 about the manna, and I thought Nadia could probably read this and I turned the Bible over to her and as you can see she could read almost all of it herself (NIV). What a thrill it was to my heart to hear her reading the Scriptures all by herself. I hope she will make a lifelong habit of reading the Bible each and every day!

Much Better!

During the first attempt at potty training in July days 1-4 went pretty well, and then day five was such a disaster that I decided he wasn't ready to be potty trained yet. I was afraid the same thing was happening on day three this second time around (Thursday). With Nadia and Ian the first day was definitely the worst. I wasn't expecting to have a day three or five be far worse than day one in terms of number of accidents and such (on Thursday he had four accidents before 7:30am just to give you an idea). Maybe I shouldn't have jumped ship back in July. Who knows. I am glad though that I didn't give up this Thursday because he did much better yesterday, and today he went 11 hours without an accident (and then proceeded to have three accidents within less than an hour but then did fine the rest of the evening). The weather has been really pretty this week. It's been rather cool in the morning, but then it has warmed up to the high 70's in the afternoon. We didn't go to the playground Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday due to potty training. Yesterday I decided it was time to venture out into public with Oliver in underwear. We were out of the house for quite a few hours yesterday between going to yard sales in the morning and then to the grocery store and playground in the afternoon. He stayed dry! Today we were out and about again this morning with yard sales and Ian's soccer game, and he did a great job again. Both days I brought his potty in our van and he used it a few times. I think though that church tomorrow would be too much since we're there for four hours. I will take him tomorrow night when Nadia and Ian have choir, but he's going to stay home with Paul in the morning. I'm assuming that next Sunday he'll be ready to go to church, and I'm also hoping to take him to Puggles on Wednesday night this week. Time will tell. It's another hurdle for a child to pee for someone else on an unfamiliar potty.

The big steps forward is the good news. The bad news is that I haven't been able to train him to tell me when he needs to go like I did with Ian. Unlike Nadia when she was first potty trained, he has told me a few times (and also given some false alarms which of course I take seriously) when he needed to go. He always talks about needing to poop, even when he actually needs to pee. Mostly I have reverted to watching the clock and putting him on the potty at least once an hour, like I did with Nadia. I definitely preferred the method that worked with Ian, but it just didn't seem like that was going to happen with Oliver. I will keep working toward that end though because it's difficult for me to keep a close watch on him at all times to read the signals that he needs to go to the bathroom (such as running behind our mauve chair when he has to poop). The first eight days that he took a nap in his underwear, he stayed dry. Ironically yesterday (when in general he made big steps in the right direction), he totally soaked himself during his nap. Today his underwear was a little damp, but I didn't have to wash his sheets again. I might start putting a diaper over his underwear just for his nap to protect the bedding. He's waking up soaked in the morning so I have no desire to work on night time potty training yet. The last four days I had to do a load of laundry every night so he would have some clean underwear for the next day, but that wasn't the case tonight! Here's to hoping I can go at least every other day with the laundry due to fewer and fewer accidents. My baby is down to one diaper a day! I'm also in the process of teaching him how to pull up and down his underwear and pants. There are SO many different skills involved with potty training!

Thankful Thursday

Potty training didn't go very well today. Cleaning puddles of pee off the floor isn't exactly my favorite thing to do. Tomorrow I will hit the one year anniversary of our last FET, the first day of my final pregnancy. I keep wishing we still had one more embryo that we could transfer, but we don't. Although I've been doing better with getting rid of baby things and the clothes that Oliver has outgrown, I still can find myself on the verge of tears at the sight of a pregnant belly or a newborn baby or a mom nursing a baby. Hopefully in time this won't be the case, but my longing for one more baby hasn't faded away yet. In my Bible study Beth used the definition of joy as happiness without the moodiness. I kept reminding myself of that today when I was tempted to be moody, and it's also very helpful to count one's blessings.

1. Both the Giants and Steelers had decisive wins on Sunday. We enjoyed watching the games. We had our cable reinstalled on September 9, and how long we keep it hooked up will depend on how well our teams do this season.

2. Normally the kids don't see Paul on Mondays, but we had dinner with him at Perkins on Monday this week. I had signed the kids up for a Pete the Cat program at the library at 6:30pm, and Nadia has gymnastics from 4:00-5:30 so I figured we could all meet for dinner a little after 5:30. The pumpkin pancakes I had were delicious. I want to find a recipe and try to make some myself! The kids were well behaved during dinner. I think we should do this one a month the rest of the semester.

3. While we were at Perkins, I had a hankering for caramel apple pie (because theirs looked scrumptious) so yesterday I finally started dealing with our apple trees. Most of our apples were in bad shape this year. We didn't spray the trees, and it shows! Anyhow I filled a small bag with some good apples and two large bags with bad apples, and then I made some apple crisp last night, which we were able to enjoy today. Yummy!

4. I went to a ladies Bible study at a church I'd never been in before on Tuesday morning. The kids had fun playing with other children in the nursery, and I enjoyed the discussion group and video session. I have been praying to make at least one friend either at the Bible study or at church, and on Tuesday I met a lady whose husband is also a professor at Bucknell (in Management). She is planning to home school her boys (who are currently 15 months and 4 years old).

5. I finally found a fruit that all three kids enjoy. Ian and Nadia eat bananas, Oliver and Nadia eat grapes, but all three will eat apples! Considering how Oliver begs for MORE green beans (in contrast to his siblings who want me to give them as small a portion of vegetables as possible), I am not concerned that he doesn't eat much in the way of fresh fruit yet, but still it's always nice to find a healthy food they all like!

6. I discovered the library has Nest Entertainment's set of 20 Animated Hero Classics dvds! These are excellent; each one is about 30 minutes long. So far we've watched the ones on William Bradford and Pocahontas, as they have correlated to what Nadia has been studying in history. We've also been checking out LOTS of books lately. Some funny ones (such as Pirates don't change diapers) and also ones that correspond with what Nadia is studying in history and science (such as Sarah Morton's Day, which is a true story of a Pilgrim girl).

7. Ian has done fine with me cutting his hair the last two times it has needed to be cut! The beauty salon doesn't charge much to cut his hair, but still we save a little money if I do it myself.

8. Nadia has gotten back into the habit of listening to books on CD in her room. She's been flying through the Ramona series. It's her third time through those books because it's her second time listening to all the CDs, and I also read all the books to them. Right now I'm reading them The Sign of the Beaver since it corresponds with what she's learning about in history. I learned a few things when I read Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims to the children recently. One of the perks of home schooling is that I get to learn some new things along the way as well!

9. The kids enjoyed the Pete the Cat program at the library on Monday night.

10. Oliver's naps have been a bit longer lately. He's been averaging about 90 minutes, and sometimes they have been as long as two hours long! He also has stayed dry in his underwear during his naps.

Trying again

Over the last several days Oliver pointed to the bathroom door and told me he had to go poop. I didn't pay much attention at first, and then a couple of days ago I put him on the potty and was thrilled that he went right away. For a few weeks he's been going behind a chair in the family room and hiding while he poops, and then he would come out and announce what he had done. Sometimes I caught him "in the act" and got him on the potty in time. I knew this meant it was time to start the potty training again, but I struggled to find a time in our calendar when we'd have three days where we could stay home all day. Once I realized that was impossible, I decided that starting potty training at noon on a Tuesday (after we got home from ladies Bible study) would be the best option because if I left him at home with Paul on Wednesday night instead of taking him to Puggles, he could stay home all day on Wednesday, and he can stay home until 5:45pm on Thursday  (until it is time to go see Nadia's 6pm soccer game).


On our way home from Bible study we stopped at the grocery store and I bought a bag of M&M's (the reward for going #2) and a large container of goldfish crackers (the reward for going #1). I put him in underwear at noon, and he stayed dry until 1:15 when he had an accident. I put him down for his nap right after that accident, and he kept his underwear dry during his 90 minute nap. Over the course of the next four hours he peed on the potty five times and had one minor accident (his underwear got wet but that was it). I put him in a diaper when I put him in his pjs at 7:30pm. He wore underwear for 7 1/2 hours today. Tomorrow I plan to have him in underwear for 13-14 hours. I am pleased with how things went today, and I'm hoping for continued progress tomorrow. I'm trying to train him so that he will ask me to go (like I did with Ian) rather than going the route of watching the clock and taking him every so often like I did with Nadia. I am only going to work on day time training at this point. Hopefully this time will go better than it did in July!

For those of you who pray, I would welcome prayers for it to go well. Potty training is one of my least favorite things to do as a parent. I have a few more important requests on my prayer list. I am praying for my friend, Jo, who had a frozen embryo transfer today. We're hoping that this will result in her third child! Her oldest turned 7 in July, and her youngest will be turning 2 in November. Later this week we will hit the one year anniversary of our last FET. Jo already went through two miscarriages this summer. I really don't want her FET to turn out like mine did last year. I'd also greatly appreciate prayers for my mother-in-law who will be undergoing a chemo treatment in two days. Please pray that she won't get pneumonia after this treatment. We haven't seen her for four weeks. I was wanting to see her before this next treatment, but since the kids and I have some cold symptoms, that doesn't seem wise. Paul plans to go over and visit with her during her treatment since he is healthy.

Need not knee

Ian says that "We Believe" is his favorite song. The other song by the Newsboys that he loves is "God's Not Dead." Lately he has been singing Building 429's song "Where I belong" quite a bit, but the song I hear him singing the most often is definitely "Standing in the need of prayer." As I was listening to him sing in this evening, I realized that he was singing "It's me, it's me, O Lord, standing in the knee of prayer." I tried to explain to him that it was "need" not "knee", but I think it will take a while for him to stop singing "the knee of prayer" because he's sung it that way for quite awhile. Cracks me up!

I was in need of a nap today. I have been going to bed earlier lately due to not feeling well and also due to the fact that Paul gets up to shower VERY early on MWF (he often is out the door before 6am those days). The Steelers have only played three games thus far this season, and two of those three have been night games. Night games are good for my father because he gets to see those even though he lives in Redskin/Raven territory. I don't like night games because they keep me up past my bed time. Two weeks ago I was not tempted to stay up for the end of the game because it was obvious we were going to lose. I still didn't stay up for the whole game last night, but I went to bed before it was over because it was obvious we were going to win. I would have stayed up to the end if the outcome was uncertain. Even though I went to bed before the game was over, I still was up later than usual and so I was very tired today. Several days ago I started requiring that Oliver stayed in his crib for at least 90 minutes. If he wakes up after one hour (as he often does), he fusses a little and then he just lies down and jabbers away in his crib until I get him. I have been trying to get him to take a longer nap because he's only sleeping about 11 hours total per day, which is not enough for a 2 year old. I can't say for certain because I was also taking a nap, but I *think* he slept for a little over two hours today! I can say that when I woke up at 3pm he was still asleep. Nadia and Ian woke me up a few times (I was sleeping on the family room couch) to ask me random questions, but I felt a million times better at 3pm. I had been sitting on the couch doing my Bible study after I put him down and as soon as I finished my lesson I thought I'd just rest for a few minutes and it turned into a nice nap. I was very grateful.

Sunday Dinner

Some people call it soda, and others call it pop. Some call the evening meal supper, and others call it dinner. Growing up we used the term "dinner" to refer to the evening meal. The one exception was on Sunday. We ate our big meal after church (around noon time), and that was our dinner. The evening meal on Sunday was a very light meal, and I think we called that supper. When we have company, we have our large meal after church, but most of the time we have dinner in the evening on Sundays like we do the other six days of the week. We typically don't get home until about 12:40 on Sundays, which means we are eating lunch much later than usual, and now that the kids have children's choir at 5pm on Sundays, it means they have to eat an early dinner. Usually there are about five hours in between when we eat lunch and dinner, but only three hours passed in between those meals today. Dinner was definitely a challenge, and so I decided that starting next Sunday we will be eating our large meal (dinner) at lunch on Sundays and will eat a very light meal before heading back to church. I think this will work out much better. Since I have no idea how to use the timer on my oven, I need to either have dinner ready in the crock pot or serve left overs. Today we ate lasagna that I made yesterday. I guess we'll introduce the word "supper" into the kids' vocabulary and use that term for our third meal (large snack) on Sundays. This evening I stayed for a service they have one Sunday night a month that focuses on hymns. During their choir rehearsal I sat outside and worked on my Bible study workbook while Oliver was playing on the playground.

The adult choir rehearses at 8:25 in the sanctuary and then sings in both the 9:00 and 10:45 services. The three kids sat in the sanctuary very nicely during our brief rehearsal. Then the choir goes to a room to pray for 15 minutes. I had to skip that prayer time to take the kids to their classrooms. Paul and I went and got the two older kids at 10:30 from their rooms to take them to the sanctuary for the 10:45 service. The choir stands on the platform for the first about 30 minutes of each service. I went to Sunday School after the choir was done with the first service, and I joined Paul and the kids in the second service. After that service was over I got Oliver from his classroom. Eventually I plan to attend the first service and go to a class during the second service, but for a couple of months I have to attend some classes that are mandatory for those who participate in the music ministry. Nadia likes to sit on the bleachers during the worship service, but my back would definitely prefer to sit on the chairs on the floor, especially after standing on a riser for more than an hour between the two services. The kids seem to be adjusting well to the change. I love singing in the choir, and I'm still praying that the Lord would help me to make at least one friend.

Soccer Saturday

Although I had a lot more energy yesterday than I did on Wednesday or Thursday, I still don't feel 100% back to normal, and Oliver definitely is not back to normal yet, although I haven't started the nebulizer treatments yet as I had the last couple of times he came down with some something. Nadia's soccer game was at 10:00 in Selinsgrove, which was farther than any game she'd ever played in before. It took almost 40 minutes to get there. Considering how much time we spent in the van on Wednesday (and how much Oliver doesn't enjoy being in his car seat), I decided the boys and I would skip Nadia's game today. Ian's game was at 11:30 on our home field. Paul and Nadia had to leave her game a little early, and they arrived JUST as the games were about to start whereas the boys and I had been there awhile so that Ian could participate in the pre-game warm-up activities. I had a difficult time watching Ian's game because Oliver wanted to run on the field. Before the fourth quarter I bought him a bag of goldfish from the concession stand, and that definitely helped. I need to bring the boy more snacks next time.

It had been cooler the past couple of days, but today it was warm again (almost up to 80 degrees). It was very comfortable weather for being on the soccer fields. Nadia had a referee in her game. That was a first! It seems that most of the time they do use refs in the U8 games. She has to work on building up her endurance as the girls on her team have to play almost the entire game each week. During each quarter three girls play on offense while the other two play on defense. If all the girls showed up for a game then three of them would be on the bench each quarter, but the first two games they've only had one girl on the bench each quarter. Ian needs to work on focusing on where the ball is at all times. He is very easily distracted. Oliver recently learned how to say the word "soccer." His vocabulary continues to expand on a daily basis!

Yvonne gave birth early this morning (at 36w6d) to her fifth boy (seventh child). When I told Ian this news he first asked me if Aunt Yvonne's belly was smaller now (yep!), and then said he hoped the baby wouldn't pull Oliver's hair like Julianna does. I assured him that a newborn baby was not going to be pulling a cousin's hair. LOL!

Foto Friday

Thankful Thursday

1. Paul's Dad came up and watched Oliver and Nadia at our house while Paul coached Ian's soccer game in the rain, and then he spent several hours with Paul and the kids while I attended a Beth Moore simulcast (along with 190,000 other women) from 8:30-4:30.

2. At that event I learned about a ladies Bible study that I'm planning to join next week. I am going to pay to listen online to the first session I missed this Tuesday. I'm looking forward to studying I & 2 Thessalonians over the next nine weeks and am hoping to make at least one new friend.

3. I attended a lovely welcome breakfast at our new church on Sunday morning.

4. We went to AWANA and choir rehearsal for the first time at the new church last Wednesday and again yesterday. Oliver is in Puggles, Ian is in his second year of Cubbies, and Nadia is in her second year of Sparks. I loved both choir rehearsals. The rehearsals end with a time of prayer, which is something I missed at the other church choir the past six years. As I looked through all the anthems we'll be singing over the next nine months, I saw one is an arrangement of the hymn "The Love of God," which happens to be one of my five most favorite hymns, and it's not sung very often.

5. Sunday afternoon I took Nadia and Ian to a Monarch butterfly program at the Montour Preserve (see photo at left of Nadia doing a craft at that event).

6. Sunday evening Oliver played on the playground while Nadia and Ian sang in the church's children's choir, and then we had a very smooth drive to Maryland.

7. On Monday morning my sister and her family came over to our parents house to spend three days together. It was wonderful to have the time together. My kids didn't want to leave, and her kids didn't want us to leave either. The cousins were arguing at times as to whose turn it was to sit beside Nadia at a meal. We plan to get together a few more times before they return to Turkey in early January. Nadia really connected with their four oldest kids (ages 5, 7, 9, and 11). She asked me today if she could email Andrew (age 9). Ian also enjoyed playing with his cousins. Oliver needs to wear a hat the next time we're together, unless Julianna (18 months old) has broken her hair pulling habit. Between the two families we have a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 11 year old. Their cousin Susie (in Chicago) is 10. Wendy's other three are 1, 5, and 7 years old. Joe commented that between age 1-11 we are only missing an eight year old. It hit me later that the baby I lost in 2005 would be eight now. The eight year old is in heaven. When I look at Jenna sometimes I think that our eldest would be 11 right now if it had taken months instead of six years for us to hold a baby in our arms, and their seventh baby is due four months after our last baby was due. Those cousins would have been close in age if we hadn't lost a baby last year. Jenna is a very sweet, responsible girl. I will be thrilled if Nadia is as sweet as Jenna is when she's eleven.

8. The trip home took longer last night due to traffic, but we made it to church on time and safely without too much crying from Oliver thanks to a nap in the van plus dvds.

9. We had a wonderful time at the Maryland Science Center on Tuesday. One of the perks of home schooling is taking a LOT of field trips! We were able to enjoy the three floors of the museum, an IMAX show about the Star Spangled Banner (recently had its bicentennial), and a planetarium show for about $6 each thanks to a special rate for home schoolers (normally that would cost over $20 each). The seven kids obviously loved the place because the ten of us were there for six hours! I took LOTS of pictures. More to be shared in future posts. Yvonne, Grandma, Julianna, and Oliver stayed at home.

10. Oliver and I are under the weather, but Nadia, Ian, and Paul are still healthy. Hopefully they will stay that way and Oliver and I will be feeling better soon. I'm thankful Paul picked up a pizza for dinner since moms don't get sick days. I decided to hold off on mowing the lawn and cleaning the bathrooms until my fever goes away.