On May 20, 2010, Daddy and his buddy Linc took on the fun and adventurous caper of taking Joseph camping. They rented a large, two room tent, packed up blankies, animals, LOTS of unders, and tons of FOOD. They picked up Joseph from school around noon and headed north into the Prescott National Forest.
I think pictures and video will really tell this story best: Here is a view of the campsite and tent set up
Here is a tour of inside the tent:
The first S'Mor ever!!!
Early morning rocking out at the camp - brace yourself, this is really cute!
Classic daddy and son shot:
We are going to plan another trip soon. The next time we will take Giules and mommy! Not sure when it will be considering the summer heat has started in AZ.
Giuliana turned 5 months old yesterday! Where in the world does the time go?
She is a sweet little thing, weighing in at 12.5 LBS. She is 25.5 inches long. Her latest tricks are to roll over, drool everywhere, spit up A LOT, and chatter away! She also LOVES her Daddy and her brother. The minute one of them walks in the room, she just lights up. She loves her mommy too, especially at 10Pm, 3AM, and 6:30AM -- the times she gets up to eat. She usually begins her day at 7-7:30. She takes two naps, first around 9:30 and then another around 1PM. And her day is OVER by 5:30PM. Yep, folks. She is our sleeping little thing.
Although several of her birth-buddies have moved (Igna and Matias), she still has her closest girl friends around: Quinn, Gabriela, and Lexi. She gets to see them at least once a week. But, we are preparing for the departures of Quinn and Lexi. Fortunately Gabi will still be around for playdates.
So, what everyone has been waiting for... some pics and some videos.
She is getting used to the bows. Mommy is a little nuts with them:
And here are a couple from our little 5mos photo shoot:
Yep, you guessed it, Poo! We all do it and there's a book for children about it. It's aptly named, Everybody Poops Our household, being a musical one, would not really be OK with letting this one slide. We saw Everybody Poops listed on Joseph's daily activity sheet last week and immediately thought of nothing else... but the REM song "Everybody Hurts"
So, here's our rendition of everybody poops for J to the tune of Everybody Hurts by REM. Another note is that we are battling with poo... it's not really happening in the potty... it's staying in the pants. So, maybe this song will help get it where it belongs.
[Best read with the video playing in the background and these words inserted]
When the day's begun and the pot-ty, the potty is yours alone, When you're sure you've got to go to pot-ty, well hang on. Just let yourself go, everybody does and everybody poops sometimes.
Sometimes it's tough to go. But put it where it belongs. When your potty is alone, (hold on, hold on) If you feel like ya gotta go, (hold on) Run for the seat and wait and, well hang on.
Everybody poops. Get comfy on your thrown. Everybody poops. Don't throw a fit. Oh, no. Don't throw a fit. If you feel like ya gotta go, go, go, go, go on the pot-ty.
If you're holding it all in then the days and nights are long, When you think you've gotta go to poo, just hang on.
Well, everybody poops sometimes, Everybody pees. And everybody poops sometimes. And everybody poops sometimes. So, go on the pot, pot-ty. pot-ty, pot-ty. So go on, pot-ty. Go on, potty. (repeat & fade)
Over the past few months, Joseph has been asking us to go on the potty or to "potty train". We think this is because he was hearing his buddies at school talk about it AND we also think it was because he truly was ready!
Since this is basically like our children's baby book online, we will recount the whole escapade...
About a month ago, mommy and daddy decided that a week after daddy graduated from his program, Joseph would begin his training to graduate to big boy underwear! The week before the big day, his teachers were very supportive and started to chat up going in the potty ALL the time. He was taken more frequently to the bathroom with his pullups on. Oh, he has been wearing pullups for about 3 months now. He only wears an overnight diaper for night time.
On Friday, Mike went to get Joseph and stopped by the grocery store. He picked up a blue poster board and some stickers along with a package of Matchbox construction trucks... way cool for Joseph right now because of the road work they are doing in our neighborhood.
I was sooo impressed with Mike! He had a plan to turn the poster board into a race track and every time Joseph used the potty he would get a Cars sticker to place on his race track. He hung the poster right in front of the potty, for inspiration.
Joseph came home from school and we made a BIG deal about hanging the poster and showing him the stickers. He immediately wanted to try the potty... and he went! Thus began our weekend!
Saturday we were a little nervous because it was a gorgeous day but we had heard you really needed to stay inside and focus on going to the bathroom every hour or so. We did that in the morning, but for the afternoon, we decided to have our friends come over (they would be leaving for Chile in just 4 days so we needed to spend as much time with them as possible). We hung out at the pool and the boys played outside... and we just continued to take him every hour. And he went every hour.
By Sunday, we were starting to wonder about something... where was number 2? He didn't ever mention it and we would ask him and he would say no. Sunday, being Mother's Day, we also had a couple plans... another BBQ and more friends over to swim. We also conquered another hurdle: public potties!
One of the reasons me and Mike had been delaying potty training was mainly because the thought of having to take him into the public bathrooms, etc... just seemed like a big mess! Well, we ran a couple errands and Mike took him on a potty "tour". Now, there was no successful public pottying but he did check it out. Maybe next time!
All in all, by Monday we felt pretty confident in his pottying capabilities... minus the poo! He has not had a pee accident yet... but he has had quite a few poo ones at the writing of this blog. We are going to have to work on that! I mean, really work on it! We live in AZ, we can't be doing this much laundry every night.
Here's a couple pictures of our proud potty-trainer!!!! Joseph, we are sooo proud of you, big boy! You have done so well!!! Stay tuned as we continue to question, "who does number 2 work for"? And prepare to turn 3 in about a month!
We have been enjoying a wonderful Mother's Day. We are also potty training this weekend, but more on that later...
Mother's Day.
Last night I had a wonderful time with some dear mommy friends out here. As we sat and enjoyed some delicious chocolate fondue and some wine, I was struck by how all we really talked about was our children. I have been thinking a lot about this lately... mommy-hood is just such an all consuming adventure. And, the more I do it, the more I realize it is the most important job, task, adventure, occupation, filler-of-time that one can do. No other thing in life holds the weight that being a mom does. We are shaping the lives of the next generation. We are leading, molding, and releasing people into society. It's a big job! I know I am often caught up in the monotony of it at times, and can even lose sight of the bigger picture. But, the big picture is right there, in front of you... I mean, it's in the mirror. It was our mommies who brought us this far and have been examples of what we are raising.
So, here's to ALL the mommies out there! Thank you for all you do! Love Me
