More progress

Last week Oliver took many steps backward in his potty training. On Saturday he started going back in a positive direction. The last five days he has had one accident a day. It is possible that he didn't have any accidents yesterday. His underwear and pants were wet yesterday when I picked him up from the nursery at the end of ladies Bible study. His shirt was also wet, and Nadia told me he spilled his water at snack time. So I am not sure if all the wetness was from the water he spilled or if he also had an accident. The thing that made me REALLY happy yesterday was that for the first time EVER he told me (with enough advance warning) when he had to go #2 so I got him on the regular toilet in time. WOOHOO! He did it again today! He has also been telling me when he has to pee about 50% of the time (he says "froggy potty"), and the other half of the time he goes because I take the initiative to put him on the potty. He hasn't peed on the regular toilet yet so I still have to take the froggy potty in the van all the time.

Daddy Daughter Date

The last couple of years we have been enjoying taking the kids to see productions put on by children at the Community Theatre League in Williamsport. Usually we've gone as an entire family, but this time I only bought two tickets. The 2:00 Princess and the Pea show wasn't at a good time for Oliver due to his nap or for me since the Steelers' game started at 1:00. In hindsight, the game was not a good reason to skip the play because the Steelers played a most horrible game, but Oliver took a longer nap than usual (2 1/4 hours), which made me glad the boys and I stayed home. When Paul and I go on a date, often at least part of our time out involves shopping, and they also did some shopping on their date today. First they stopped at a consignment shop to pick up a birthday gift for Ian (Mike costume) that I had paid for over the phone a few weeks ago, and then after the play they stopped at Aldi's to pick up some groceries, as we haven't been up there in awhile. The date meant a lot to Nadia. She kept talking about how she had been with Daddy ALL day (actually including driving time it lasted less than 4 hours).

On Friday I wasn't sure if I should take Oliver to church today due to how many accidents he had, but since he did much better yesterday I decided to take Oliver and his frog potty to church. His diaper was wet when he woke up, but we couldn't get him to go on the potty during the almost two hours he was awake before we left for church. I also tried getting him to go after the choir ran through the song before I took the kids to their Sunday School classes. Nope. I was definitely nervous at that point. Paul tried to get him to go in between the two services. Nope. Paul told me this at 11:30 when the choir left the stage during the second service, and I decided to go up and have him try again because at that point he had been in underwear for five hours without going to the bathroom. It was a bit tricky because they lock down the children's area during the service, but I was able to get up there, and he peed right away for me. Whew. I was very proud of him for staying dry for five hours. I really don't like taking a potty to church, but I keep reminding myself this won't go on for very long. In the grand scheme of things it will be such a short blip of time. He pooped on the "big" potty today and earned his first prize; he chose a rubber ducky that looked like a pirate! Way to go, Oliver!

One year later

October 11, 2013 was the day I started miscarrying our last baby. A friend at church who is the same age as me was pregnant at the same time, but she didn't find out she was pregnant until she was 20 weeks along. Shortly after she found out she was pregnant she found out that due to a chromosomal abnormality, her fifth child would likely only live a few hours. They held a sort of baby dedication on Sunday morning a couple of days after her daughter died, and then the next week they had a funeral on Sunday afternoon. Many people were praying for the family, talking about their loss, sending cards, etc. I have never been through that experience, and I realize it's not at all the same as an ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage (which I have gone through three times), but still the contrast struck me on the stark differences between a baby living for two hours and a miscarriage. The grief is much more private and seems to be only experienced by the mother whereas so many cry over the death of a baby who lives for two hours. With my first miscarriage in July 2005, I felt that Paul and I were grieving

together, whereas in October 2013 I think Paul only felt a sense of relief and not any grief. So I haven't talked about my feelings with anyone. I miss that little baby whom I prayed for since January 2012 after he/she was frozen. Over the past  year I have wished we could do our fourth fresh cycle to try one more time to have a fourth baby, but Paul hasn't been open to that idea given our ages and also how difficult Oliver's pregnancy was. My brain understands his viewpoint, but my heart does not. I would go through another 10 weeks of bed rest for a

fourth baby. The truth of the matter is that God wanted us to have three children. I had a total of ten embryos transferred to my womb between five transfers (3, 1, 3, 2, 1). That could have resulted in anywhere from zero to ten children, and God's will was for us to have three. If we were younger I think we'd try a fourth fresh ivf cycle, but it seems our family is complete. I am extremely grateful for our three miracles!

It was easier to keep Oliver out of trouble during Nadia's soccer game today because her game was from 11-12, and I brought food so the boys could eat lunch during her game. Today went MUCH better in terms of potty training. Twice this morning he told me when he needed to go (once at home and once on the soccer field). Woo hoo! He had a total of four successes and one accident today. His accident was around 6pm, and again it happened about two minutes after I had him on the potty. I bought some treats (cars, coloring books, rubber duckie, etc.)

at two dollar stores this afternoon to use as an incentive since the candy isn't working. He will receive one of those treats if he pees on a regular toilet or poops on any potty. I'll continue to give him Goldfish for peeing on the froggy potty. I'm taking it to church again tomorrow. I didn't want to do that again, but I haven't been able to get him to pee on a regular potty yet. This afternoon he stayed at home with Paul because I took Nadia and Ian to the Woolly Worm Festival. They enjoyed playing a very large version of Chutes and Ladders (they had to

walk around the board), decorating woolly worm cookies with icing, painting woolly worms from egg cartons, watching a magic show, watching a puppet show, etc. They wanted to do some of the things that cost money (face painting, large inflatables, etc.), but I told them we plan to go to Knoebels soon, and that satisfied them. The magic show was excellent, and Nadia was pleased that she was up on stage during part of one of his rope tricks.

Bread and Butter

Nadia is studying American history this year. We started with the Vikings and then progressed to Columbus and then to the Pilgrims, Jamestown, etc. Next week we'll be focusing on Ben Franklin. I've been reading books to her about this time period, and I have learned (or maybe relearned) a few things along the way. For example, did you know that young children wore a pillow around their middle called a "pudding" to protect them when they fell down? Today Nadia had a slight glimpse of how much harder life was during the colonial period because she helped to make some butter. She wanted to know if she'd ever have to do that again (because it was so hard). All she did was shake whipping cream in a jar, but it did take a lot of shaking to turn it into butter. She also helped me make yeast bread, which also tied in with our theme the past two weeks of Jesus is the Bread of Life, Nadia enjoyed seeing everyone eat her rolls with butter at dinner. Naturally, she also wanted some apple butter on it, but that was very fitting since our jar was cooked over a fire at the Heritage Days event last weekend. She enjoyed punching down the dough after

it had risen the first time. I think she enjoyed making bread much more than making butter. The recipe we used was from a cook book that my Grandma gave me for my 12th birthday (1984). 99% of the time I use the internet for recipes, but that is one cook book I plan to keep for the rest of my life because of its sentimental value. My Grandma taught me to make yeast bread, and now I am teaching my daughter. Priceless.

Oliver has been regressing the last several days in his potty training. He's been having more and more accidents (5 today), and he's actually making puddles on the floor, which he hadn't done in almost two weeks. It's been rather frustrating. Right after he has an accident he'll tell me "froggy potty." The most frustrating times have been when this happens less than 5 minutes after I just had him on the potty. I have no idea why he has been regressing, but I hope he gets back in gear because I don't want him to do this in the nursery on Tuesday morning or in his class at church on Sunday or Wednesday. Thus far he hasn't had any accidents in either church, and he's been

wearing underwear for 18 days, but I'm nervous about Sunday morning. The positives would be that he sometimes tells me when he needs to go soon enough that I can get him on the potty before he has an accident (that happened again this evening), and he stayed dry last night (and then peed on the potty as soon as we came downstairs this morning), and he stayed dry during his nap (but then didn't go when I put him on the potty and shortly after that had an accident). I've bought M&M's and Hershey kisses as the reward for pooping on the potty, but neither of those have done the trick. He loves getting Goldfish crackers after he pees on the froggy potty. I am going to try buying some small toys to give him as a reward for peeing on the regular toilet OR for pooping on either the froggy or the regular toilet. Hopefully that will help. I got really spoiled with how easy it was to potty train Ian, but on the other hand, it is a million times easier to feed Oliver. As long as I do the laundry every other day, I have enough "wear" (as he calls it) and pants for Oliver.

Thankful Thursday

1. Last Friday was Nadia's second spiritual birthday! I bought a carrot cake at the grocery store, which the kids and I all enjoyed. I also pre-ordered a copy of the newest VeggieTales dvd and cd that is due to be released next week ("Beauty and the Beet") as her spiritual birthday present. In the next year I'm hoping that she will start to develop the spiritual discipline of having a personal time of prayer and reading the Bible now that she can read it!

2. On Sunday the kids started working on a Christmas musical. They've never been in one of those before. I love Christmas music, but I usually wait until November to start playing Christmas cds. Now we have an excuse to listen to Christmas music in the van so the kids can learn their songs. :)

3. On Saturday afternoon the kids and I had a great time at the Heritage Days event only 10 minutes from our home. Ian and Nadia have been asking for apple butter to be on their sandwich at lunch instead of jelly the last few days. I should have bought more than one quart of the stuff. YUM!

4.  On Sunday evening I attended a wonderful concert at our new church with my friend, Cheri. The artists were Matt Maher and Tenth Avenue North.

5. Sunday morning I enjoyed singing On This New Day with the choir. The flutist did an outstanding job!

6. One of my recent yard sale purchases was two belts for Ian. He loves using the belts because he said he looks more like Daddy, and I like that he's using the belts because then his pants don't fall down. Win Win!

7. This morning we're going to a program on chipmunks at the RB Winter State Park. I am grateful for these opportunities.

8. Paul has lost 20 pounds so far! Woo hoo! This has me motivated to shed a few myself. For the next several weeks I've decided not to have any ice cream or cold cereal. I bought more apples and baby carrots to provide healthier options.

9. Paul asked his department chair to observe him so that he could have a letter from Bucknell from someone who observed him, and she did so on Monday. We're working on his application that is due next week at Muhlenberg. I'm praying that it takes FAR fewer applications and interviews this time around than it did the past two years.

10. The Steelers and the Giants won on Sunday afternoon!

11. Although I've had to put away my capri pants, I still have been loving this fall weather we've had lately. I'll take the 60's and 70's every day of the week (unless we're going swimming and then I prefer it to be in the 80's or 90's).

12. I got a LONG overdue haircut yesterday afternoon, and I think she did a great job! As an added bonus, someone (my new friend Nikki whom I met at ladies Bible study) noticed and gave me a compliment last night, and this meant a lot to me as typically no one says anything to me.

13. We had a nice dinner at Friendly's last night. It was Nadia's turn to pick this week, and that was her choice! Ian never eats the ice cream that comes with his kid's meal, so I ate his and tried a new flavor - apple pie ice cream. It was delicious, especially with caramel on top! Nadia also tried a new flavor that had both Oreo cookie pieces and chocolate chip cookie pieces in it.

Wordless Wednesday

26 Months Old

1. There are now two fresh fruits that Oliver enjoys - apples and red grapes. He continues to a great job eating almost everything else. The list of foods he doesn't like is very short. One example would be waffles.

2. He's come a long way with drinking from an open cup. He rarely spills any although we still only give him a small amount at a time, especially if it's milk. He mostly drinks water. It would be good if he drank more (of something!) each day.

3. He's talking more and more. His favorite word is "again" and he usually says the word twice in a row. I read him a book and hear "again again," or I sing him a song and hear "again again." I always give the kids a warning a few minutes before we leave the playground to make the departure go more smoothly. This is not effective with Oliver yet because when I try to leave he says "more slide" and if I do let him do one more slide it doesn't help because then after that he still says "more slide." I love it when he says "more kiss" when he wants me to give him

more kisses. I never turn that request down! His siblings interests have influenced his vocabulary because some of the words he uses very regularly include: princess, monster, Woody, Buzz, etc. For some odd reason he never attempts to say "pirate" though. Whenever he sees a picture of a pirate he says "boat." Yes, they do have boats but.... If he wants us to pray again, he says "amen again."

4. He's made huge strides with potty training! He now tells me sometimes when he needs to go #1 (although he refers to that as poop). He had only one #1 accident within the past 9 days, although I am not counting the times when a little spot of his underwear gets damp. He has been inconsistent when he's sleeping so I put a diaper over his underwear for his nap, and he doesn't wear underwear during the night. He still has one #2 accident almost every day. So the two things I am really hoping he gets the hang of next with potty training is #1 going on a regular toilet (I don't want to have to keep taking the froggy potty with us all the time, especially to church) and #2 telling me when he has to go #2. He runs and hides before he does it so I know he's capable of going to a potty instead. Cleaning up a #2 accident in underwear is NOT fun. It's much worse than changing a poopy diaper. Ick. But overall I am very pleased. On Sunday I brought the froggy potty and he stayed dry for more than 90 minutes until I came up and had him go potty at 10:30, and then he stayed dry during the second service and peed again on the froggy potty at 12:20 before we left the church. Way to go, Oliver! Thankfully he hasn't had any accidents while in the care of other people.

5. He is starting to count. He says one, two, three, and then some other random numbers (ex. six or ten).

6. He sometimes wakes up as early as 5:45, but the earliest I will get him is 6:15. If I don't get him at 5:45, he usually goes back to sleep for 45 minutes. 6:30 is his most common time to wake up. About once a month he'll sleep until 7:00 (even 7:25 once!). His nap is at least one hour long. A typical nap is 75-

90 minutes long, and every once in a while he'll sleep two hours (or three hours if I let him finish his nap in my arms).

7. He's still a messy eater, but he is starting to use utensils more (although he still reverts to his fingers some times). He feeds himself things like yogurt and a bowl of cereal (with milk in it) or a cup of ice cream for dessert. Considering how much this boy eats, I continue to be amazed that he hasn't gained weight in quite a few months. He's plateaued at 27 lbs, but it's not for lack of eating as this boy packs away the groceries! He's by far the fastest eater of the three kids. He polishes off a slice of pizza long before his siblings do, and then he wants to get down and play.

The boys were doing this while I was doing school work with Nadia. 

8. He's learned how to do what my dad called "skin the cat" when we were growing up. He holds an adult's hands and then proceeds to use his feet to climb part way up your body and then flips himself around and ends up on the ground facing the opposite direction. Neither of his siblings could accomplish this feat independently when they were anywhere near this age. He seems to be the most athletic of the three kids. He's also an excellent climber, which sometimes puts fear into other parents at the playground.

9. He's not generous with toys (frequently is heard screaming MINE!), but he is very generous with sharing food. When I give him a handful of Goldfish crackers after he goes on the potty, he always gives some of his crackers to his siblings.

Heritage Days

A historical society in our school district puts on a two day event called "Heritage Days" the first weekend of October each year. We went to it once before, but I can't remember exactly which year we went. It's been at least three years as I know it was before we had Oliver. Everyone is in costume, and they re-enact many different things such as making wheels, making bricks, a blacksmith, making candles, making a variety of foods and drinks, etc. Oliver especially loved feeding the goats and eating the food samples. Nadia said her favorite parts were eating the food samples (homemade ice cream, potato candy, homemade bread and butter, apple cider, buttermilk, popcorn, apple butter on crackers, pie, etc.) and making a corn husk doll. Ian said his favorite parts were eating the popcorn and talking to the Indian in the Native American Village. The man made a comment about how many questions my kids asked him. Yep, they ask lots of questions, and I certainly am not going to discourage that! We have been talking about Native Americans lately as I've read them books like Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims, Sign of the Beaver, and Skippack School.

The wagon ride (pulled by two horses; we didn't ride the one pulled by mules) was another highlight, and Ian spent a lot of time playing the violin. They want to return tomorrow. I said we'll come back next year if we don't move next summer. I'm glad they had such a great time! It only cost $7 for the four of us to attend as kids under the age of five are free. In addition to all the free food, they were selling food (funnel cakes, hot dogs, etc.), but the only thing I bought was a quart of apple butter because after sampling some, we really wanted to take some home with us. The jar was still hot as it had only come off the fire an hour before I bought it. It was the best apple butter I've ever had. Nadia and I both love apple butter so that will be a treat for us to enjoy. I took LOTS of pictures, but I haven't gone through them all. The first few pics in this post are from trips to the playground on Thursday and Friday. I'll put a few from the Heritage Days at the bottom and will share more in the coming days. I was very glad the rain stopped this morning so we were able to go.

Ian's soccer game was rained out this morning, but Nadia played her game in the rain. I stayed home with the boys as it's hard enough keeping Oliver out of trouble during a soccer game when it's not raining. Paul was pleased with Nadia's performance today on the field. He told me that she did a better job with running faster to keep up with the other girls and that she came very close to scoring a goal. Yay! I wish I could have seen that, but on Thursday night I had a hard time watching much of her game even though I was there because Oliver wants to run onto the fields, and it's hard to keep him in a stroller for an hour. I was proud of him that night that he announced to me when he had to go to the bathroom. First he tried going in the portapotty (nope) but then he went on the froggy potty in the van. On that same topic, his diaper was only a tiny bit wet when he woke up yesterday morning, and this morning he woke up dry! Wow! This boy used to wake up with a VERY soaked diaper. Maybe we'll have him totally toilet trained sooner than I thought!

Thankful Thursday

1. We are all healthy again! I took a chance and didn't give Oliver the nebulizer treatments like I had the last six months whenever he got any kind of runny nose or cough, and that ended up being the right call as it wasn't necessary. Far more importantly, Paul's mom hasn't come down with pneumonia following her chemo treatment last Thursday. Thank you, LORD! I was SO nervous about this, and it's such a relief that she made it through treatment #2 without a visit to the ICU.

2. Potty training took a turn for the better on Friday! Tuesday was his best day so far (no accidents!). He also did fine in the nursery at ladies Bible study on Tuesday morning and in Puggles last night at church. Whew.

3. Last Friday and Saturday our town had their annual yard sales. We got a lot of great bargains - mostly clothes, books, and toys for the kids. The downside of the kids joining me for this was that we came home with more stuffed animals than we would have if I had gone alone. One lady was trying to entice Ian into

buying one of her stuffed animals, and she lowered the price to 25 cents. She then pointed to me and told him to ask his GRANDMA if he could have one. Ian immediately informed her that I was his mom. Ouch did it hurt to be called his grandma. The kids have already been wearing some of their new clothes (including the ones in these pictures). At one place the lady charged $10 to fill a grocery bag with clothes. I packed a LOT of clothes for Ian and Nadia into my bag, and many of them were new with tags!

4. The weather has been simply beautiful. It's been a bit warmer than usual (even up to 80 degrees) for this time of year in PA, but it has been absolutely perfect in my opinion. The leaves are also starting to turn beautiful colors, which I always enjoy.

5. Births of my nephew Micah Justin (on 9/20) and Paul's great nephew James Logan (on 9/25).

6. I wasn't exactly sure what to do on Sunday morning since Paul stayed home with Oliver
due to potty training. Usually the choir is up on the platform for the first 30-45 minutes of the service. Thankfully a woman who is one of the pianists for choir rehearsals saw that I needed help and she and her husband came and sat with Ian and Nadia until the choir was dismissed from the platform during the second service. I greatly appreciated their help! I love singing in this choir. Last Sunday we sang "Cornerstone," and this Sunday we're singing a song with a beautiful flute solo (it feels strange not to be the one playing the flute as that had been my role for the past ten years at the previous two churches). I like that the music pastor selects a nice variety of music - different styles (which was also true of the church choir I was in the past 6 years). I love this one that we're singing in a few weeks, for example.

7. Oliver and Ian both slept until 7am on Monday, and then on Wednesday Ian slept until 7 and Oliver slept until 7:25. I actually started to get worried about him! Now if only the boys could do this on a Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, or Sunday when it would benefit Paul. He gets up between 5:00-5:30 on MWF so it doesn't help him one iota if the boys sleep in on those days. They usually only do this about once a month so I was shocked that it happened twice within three days. I was awake when Paul was getting showered and dressed, but I fell back asleep yesterday at 6am and was very disoriented when Ian came in at 6:55. I couldn't believe they had slept that long. Maybe this potty training is wearing Oliver out, ha ha!

8. The Giants had another decisive win last Thursday night! I wish I could say something nice about the Steelers, but the end of their game on Sunday was utterly painful to watch. I'm trying to block it out of my memory.