Potty Training & Wrapping Up Summer

This week was meant to be our low-key last week of summer, but somehow it felt so full!

 On Monday we got a call that Westin was drawn last minute for a spot in the Larimer County Fair Rodeo mutton bustin' rides... haha so Michael rushed home from work and saved notes for the next day, we ate a quick dinner, and took Westy boy to the rodeo for his cowboy debut. He was so excited to wear Michael's old cowboy hat and "be just like you when you were a boy right daddy, because you used to ride horses!" Sheep are almost the same thing. A year or so ago and up to that point I NEVER would've thought that cute kid would be up for something like this. He has gotten so much more confident and brave and open to new things, and it's just really fun to watch him grow up.

His ride might not look like much from the video, but he was proud of his 81 points and second place spot! The winner got a 4-foot trophy and I'd be lying if I wasn't grateful Westin got second place when I saw that thing. All the little mutton busters got a Culver's gift card, so Westy is thrilled to have some ice cream money burning a hole in his pocket. Camden was a stinker to entertain in that stadium seating during that super late night, especially after his late nights in Keystone all weekend, but we managed -- partly with help from the sweet older couple behind us who made him and Bennett laugh quite a bit. We learned later they go to church in our same building.

Tuesday the boys started swim lessons with their new place & new teacher -- 30 minutes together in a class with the two of them. We've got some major ground to cover before these boys don't drown but they're at least both way more comfortable in the water and having fun. Hoping these weekly sessions show some progress!

Wednesday was Michael's day off and we packed it full -- first my glucose test (my doctor told me to choose fruit punch instead of orange, which is the first time I did, and I'm sad that I learned this tip just in time to never need to take another glucose test. Oh well... at least it was the yummier choice for the fourth and final time). I found out the next day that I passed, woohoo! Keep the ice cream coming. After that I took the boys shoe shopping for school, and then we put Camden down for a nap and I picked up a babysitter so that Michael and I could do a temple trip for the first time in a LONG time, before the temple closes for maintenance until October. We did sealings and then drove out to Windsor so I could pick up a rubber leaf tree I found on Facebook marketplace out there. Then we stopped for an early dinner and came home to put the boys to bed. They had a blast with their babysitter. I don't take those outings for granted with a cute nursing newborn heading our way soon.

On Thursday Michael had a long day at work plus a meeting afterwards with some other dentists in town, and he didn't get home until 10:30pm or so. This would have been a very normal day in residency, and I can tell you that I am not made of what I was made of during residency anymore. That is a muscle that you use to keep, and I have really enjoyed not using it the last year. Having Michael home so much more is no small thing! 

Then on Friday Michael rode his bike home from work in time to meet us at the school for Westin's First Grade open house, then he had to ride back to catch up on notes from the busy week that had stacked up. Two dinners and bedtimes alone this week -- I was really disgusted with myself at how hard that felt!

So on Saturday to prove to myself that I still have some tough in me, I decided it was Potty Training Weekend. Michael took Westin and Bennett on some adventures -- out to the church farm to pick sweet corn, Costco for paddle boards (we're so excited to put these to use!), a Japanese restaurant for lunch where the boys tried Octopus and had ramen, and to our neighborhood pool. 

I spent the day crying with Camden and staring at him for any and all signs of peeing. It feels like the LONGEST days when you do nothing but stay focused on your toddler and try to catch all the limited teaching opportunities a day holds, even when you're pumping them full of juice. The first morning he peed on me multiple times and screamed when I tried to move him to the little potty. I showed him lots of videos of little songs of babies using little potties and it seemed to click, until by lunchtime he peed and pooped in his potty and felt so proud, before we both went down for a well-earned nap. Then he had some more successes and failures after his nap but wasn't so terrified of the potty again. Sunday morning he was mostly just so mad to spend the day naked again, and it was fun to start the day at 6:30 with 45 minutes of screaming... I seriously wonder about what our neighbors seriously wonder about us. We're doing our best over here but it still involves A LOT of screaming from this little guy. Breakfast finally calmed him down and he's only had one accident today and lots of successful trips to the potty. It feels like my next "shift" is coming up fro nap time to bedtime and then we'll have 48 hours of potty training under our belt. 

Tomorrow is the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! So hopefully Camden can handle his first short commando outings and the boys are really excited to see their friends and teachers and start a new year. I'm bummed they'll be in masks, because this is preventable now. But we'll keep doing what we need to do to give them as much normalcy as we can in a pandemic that allllllllmost felt over. I bluffed and asked Westin if he'd like to do school at home on the computer or at school in a mask, and he immediately said, "Mask at school!" So now he feels like he's getting a bargain when really the computer was not a choice, but, he's feeling just fine about the situation now :)

We'll spend the night eating dinner and doing Father's blessings and packing Westin's "get to know me" bag, and putting extra masks and snacks in back packs and here we go into First Grade and Preschool. And Potty Training continued.

It's a lot of work to get little people into functional big people! But it comes with a lot of love and rewards too.

"I made an alligator, and fish! And he's eating them up!"

So intrigued by the cows and horses at the rodeo

Vest on! Little toothless cowboy!

And a legit helmet.
We were feeling grateful that he lost his two front teeth BEFORE this experience,
or it may have helped with the process and added some traumatizing parts to the experience.

We got a solid 10 minutes of entertainment out of my sunglasses, so that was good.

Loading up!

Camden, Bennett, and I watched from the stands.
We were so proud of him!

Finally starting to put some things on shelves again after ripping this all down in April.
Red circles are where I told Michael to find some plants for,
because I'm not allowed to have fake plants in our house. 
I told him I'd put real dirt in the base of a fake olive tree and this only further offended him.

Camden is loving our apple tree!

When you finally get out on a date with your husband,
but the new tree gets to ride shotgun.

I did an intense Costco pantry stock up this week and I almost couldn't push the cart by the end....
These boys.

Then I did some pantry reorganization and it's feeling like full on nesting over here.

I'm saving this just in case heaven forbid I can't have dairy someday.
I bought it for when Becca was here last week and I've actually been loving it.
Still though, dairy and I belong together.

The new tree is bigger than I thought....
so it needs a different home than I originally thought.
But we like her.

Always wrestling.
Usually all 3 of them now.

Just brushing up on a book I never thought I'd read and reread and highlight and review.
Motherhood.

Our house is a little more challenging than Fresno for potty training...
so many rooms and stairs to follow this guy around all day.
But luckily our carpet is verrrry old so I've just told myself when all boys and future dogs are potty trained around here, we'll get it replaced, and all will be well.
It sounds far away, but it's going to come fast I'm sure.

Even potty training has to pause for the garbage truck.