Happy Easter!

Our Easter was crazy and fun. We had the whole Ellis clan (minus Preston who we missed of course) at our house. Saturday we dressed them alike and attempted to take pictures. Jackson was the hardest because he is WAY too busy for pictures. We finally got a cute one when we had grammy and papa step in.

Later we had a little Easter egg hunt INSIDE because it was so windy and cold! I couldn't believe it! I remember last Easter Lydi was playing in a pool in the backyard. This is Arizona for heavens sake. Oh well, the kids had fun regardless.

The next morning they woke up to their goodies. Jackson was actually really excited by this whole Easter thing. It was so cute. Too bad he opened his plastic eggs to find Gerber cookies- he wanted the good stuff of course. Lydi ate so much candy I thought she would throw-up. She did get sick, but just a cold. We gave her a little Triaminic and between that and the cold symptoms coming on, she was completely dazed at church. I am SO sad that my camera ran out of battery when we were taking pics of them in their Sunday clothes- Jack looked so cute in his sweater vest! All I got was this one stoned pic of Lydi before it died! haha- she looks so miserable. I know Cassie and my mother-in-law got some- so email me those guys!

Pax, Kaybri, and Trista looked so cute too and all the cousins got along really well this time. Its so great to have cousins close in age. It was a great weekend.

Potty Training 101

For most this will be a boring post, but I thought it could help anyone who is about to start potty training.

About 3 weeks ago I woke up and thought, today I am going to potty-train Lydi. People always made this potty training thing out to be rocket science so I was a little nervous but I was pretty confident Lydi was ready.

We started out the day watching Elmo's Potty Time DVD and making a potty chart. I put some Disney Princess underwear on her and showed her the potty and we talked about "Lydi's special potty day" all day. Day 1 goal: pee in the potty. Bribe: Snow White Barbie. GOAL ACHIEVED- after 3 pee-pee accidents and a lot of juice- she went! She looked up at me and said MOM! Snow White Barbie!

Next day's goal: Poop in the potty. Bribe: All I had was candy at this point and this along with Barbie stickers worked well enough for her. She had a couple of accidents but was getting used to sitting on the potty and going pee. Finally at the end of the day she actually did it! GOAL ACHIEVED. At this point I am totally gloating in my head, wow my kid is a genius and I am the best mom ever... haha, HUMBLING came next.

She spent the next week not going very often in the potty and choosing her floor to do her business- only one poop accident that happened to be when Jarom was watching her! Hahaha! I thought that was hilarious. BIGGEST MISTAKE: getting overly frustrated with the accidents. It really set her back. I guess she figured why in the heck should I go in the potty and wear panties when it makes mom and dad get mad! It took a few days of us not getting upset and explaining what an accident is while celebrating excessively when she went successfuly to get her back on track.

She got back on track with the pee but wouldn't go poop. We knew she needed to go. So the bribe: BELLE BARBIE. She knew we had one and we constantly talked about it. She could only get it for poop. One time she squatted and pooped right by the toilet -I totally thought that counted but Jarom was more strict. He said - no way she has to go in the toilet. After about a week, she DID IT! She did it all on her own! We were in the other room and she ran in screaming, "I GO! I GO!" Sure enough, there was a present in the toilet. So we screamed and hugged her and ran and got the Belle Barbie. I think she stared at it for hours.

Since then she consistently tells us she needs to go and does a great job. She even does it in public toilets! I am proud of her because she did learn pretty quick. The last hurdle is staying dry during nap and night time. She hasn't quite done that yet.

THE FUNNIEST MOMENT was before a nap. She had on a pull-up and she had a nasty accident. #2 EVERYWHERE. I put her in the bath and rinsed it off. Then I started to fill the bath water and left her for a sec to rinse out her dress. When I came back she was swatting the water and saying "no!" and then she would move really quickly to the other side of the bath and repeat. I asked her what in the world she was doing and she said, "MOM! I'M SCARED OF MY POOP!" I guess there was a floatie. Hahaha...

Its been an adventure. I can't believe what a big girl she is.

The Longest Day...

4:30am- "mommy!! Wake up! I need a kleenex! Mommy, clean my ear, my ear is bugging me!" (Lydia- she never went back to sleep)
5am-movie on the couch with Lydi
7am- realtor 1 calls to say an offer for my buyer has been accepted, woo-hoo! Here comes the work!
7:45- realtor 2 calls to say that my listing has been approved, woah this day is getting busy.
8am- call to make a dr.'s appointment, put on hold during breakfast, clean-up and getting dressed time- finally get a ten o'clock.
9:15 drop Jack off at Aunt Mary's so I can take Lydi to the dr. (Thank goodness for Aunt Mary).
(driving, driving, more driving)
10a- dr.'s appointment, Dr asks, "Lydi, do you have any owies?" Lydi answers, "yes right here" and points to her right ear, dr. confirms the ear infection. Good job Lydi! Who needs a dr?
10:45- rush to work
11a - teach 10 dramatic teenagers a dance to 'Disturbia' while Lydi is hanging on to my shirt
12- drop off prescription, grab lunch for the Goose on the way to Mary's.
driving, driving, driving...
1- pick up Jackson, head home for naps
1:30- Jack is down, aaaahhh, oh wait Lydi's crying, and crying and crying. "Mom my nose is bugging me!" a little Triaminic and a few Lullabys, time to get to work!
2-3p- real estate stuff, lots of it
3p- Jack wakes up, play with him for a minute, entertain him with a piece of paper and a highlighter and back to work.
4:30p- a little cuddle time with Jack while I nurse and feed him.
5p- start dinner, while its cooking have a lesson on the resurrection for Family Home Evening and get the leftover eggs ready to dye.
5:30p- eat dinner
6p- meet my real estate clients at their new house for paper work.
7p- rush home to nurse Jack and help Jarom (what a good man I got!)
8p- rush out the door to H&R Block for a quote- I know I am the biggest procrastinator!
8:15p- find out it will cost us at the very least $600 to do taxes! Thats highway robbery!
8:30p- Grocery shopping time.
9:30p- unload and start doing MY OWN taxes on Turbotax- stupid H&R.
1am- ok I'm tired, my contacts are stuck to my eyes and I look like the crypt keeper. Time to go to bed. I'll finish taxes tomorrow.
3:30am- "mommy I need some milk, wake-up! Please some milk mom?" (Lydi standing by my bed) a little milk, her primary cd, back to bed.
6:00am- There is Jack, why is he up so early? Here we go again!

Its not normally THIS busy, but when you have your hands in as many pots as I do- these days happen. But its a new day and I actually feel really good, energized by accomplishing a lot. I could never do all this without Jarom. I wonder when the sleep thing is going to hit. Stay tuned for Easter and potty training posts... need to load pics.

Confessions of a Naughty Mommy

My sister and sister-in-law heired their dirty laundry so I decided to let mine all hang out. Here are my not so brilliant moments and habits:
1. I am anal about brushing my teeth but I don't brush Lydi's very often. I have been better since Aunt Rachel told me she was going to be the kid with the yellow teeth and bad breath.
2. I full on smack Jack in the head when he bites me while nursing, I can't help it, it hurts so bad! He doesn't cry, he just gives me the sad lower lip and it breaks my heart.
3. I mop, hmmm... about once a month. (spot cleaning is good enough right??)
4. I leave diapers everywhere. Then, before Jarom gets home, I pick them all up! Quite a system!
5. I call my kids farts and turds and then when Lydi says, "mama I am a fart!" I laugh really hard so she says it over and over again.
6. I only wash the kids' sheets when an "accident" happens. (poop, pee, throw-up etc...) So when we are having a good month, the kids sleep in their own body ash (sorry mom, she used to wash our sheets once a week!)
7. I am on a hair washing schedule, Tues, Thurs and Saturdays. Thats it- I don't deviate.
8. During our latest potty training episode (I'll post on this later) Lydi has peed a couple of times and I never found the spot... (ok and once I never looked) hopefully our house won't start to smell.

Ok lets hear 'em, I know I am not the only one who doesn't brush their childrens teeth and smacks their nine month old!

Jackson crawling...

This is WAY late- Jack's been crawling and cruising furniture for about a month now but its still a cute video. He crawls with one foot and slides the other leg which rubs his little shin raw! He is such a monster getting in to EVERYTHING! NOW I know why its hard to have more than one kid! I love his explorative personality though. Its fun to have a curious little boy!