Potty Training and the Terrible Twos

I just want to start out with this... I love my son. He is amazing. Even though most people can't handle is not stop movement or his full fledged energy, I love it. It wears on me and I am exhausted most days but he is able to wear himself out and I never have to fight sleeping or eating with this kid.

But I think its fair to say that we have reached the point where this age is the toughest we have ever experienced so far. Even when he had a bad case of reflux we at least knew how to sooth and make him feel better. But he has reached the age of independence. And the age of disobedience. Oh and to top that off we have started the slow process of potty training.

We know this stage doesn't last forever and we know that for the most part he is a good kid but man oh man I cannot stand the constant tantrums that begin the moment the word NO comes from our mouths. We don't have a kid that takes his frustration out on us. He doesn't hit or bite or scratch, but he throws toys. And that has been awful. But on the bright side, slowly we see the self control that comes with the discipline of making sure he knows throwing toys are not allow. The biggest part of this discipline is introducing Nathan to the idea of not just doing what he told but to honor and obey us because that is what Jesus wants of us. So there are a lot of "I'm sorrys", kisses, hugs and prayer time after every disciplinary action that takes place. I'm sure its easy to get a kid to just do what he is told but we want more for Nathan than that. We want to be honored, obeyed and loved through this. And we want Nathan to feel loved by us through discipline. Its tough and hard to stay consistent and to always keep our cool but I really believe it will pay off.

Now onto potty training. We have just started introducing him to sitting on the toilet. Nathan is a little scared of it but he sits on it and tolerates it. Even though he has yet to do anything on it he knows what it is for and that if does go it will be a good day. But we have already encountered a few mishaps. The "poke it down" model for boys doesn't work on Nathan because he is extremely ticklish in that area. I mean its bad. So now we are trying to figure out if the best course of action is to teach him to stand right away and sit for the #2s. Any advise out there for me would be awesome!

The first time said he actually wanted to sit on the toilet.

My mom said I would always grab a paper to read during potty time,  I guess followed suit.

Again, Nathan is amazing and sometimes a mom needs to  vent. I don't hide that we are imperfect and that my kid has issues. By no means, my kid is far from perfect and sin is setting in and we are working hard to show him the life Christ has for us. He is a boy that is "all boy". He loves to run, jump, dance, play, read, talk, sing, eat, sleep, pray, and laugh. We have a blast together most days. He is a joy in our life. We can't imagine life without him and hope we don't have to for a very very long time!

A new year and a new change coming...

I don't have new year's resolution. Mainly because as a substitute teacher and  until recently being married to a teacher, our year starts in August. So we are still getting use to the change of the year starting on Jan. 1 for us. The other reason is because I am not a long term planner in that sense. I can make a goal but then for some unknown reason at the time, it won't work out or needs to change into something else and God shows me that there is always something better.

But this year changes are coming whether we are ready or not for them. A new baby in a 3 bedroom house means no guest room. Less space on the floor and the need to rearrange things to turn our guestroom/office into a kid's bedroom. Its going to work. We have been able to move things around slowly. We sold our guest bed and in turn will buy a roll away bed for guests. Nathan has been out of the crib for a while so baby #2 is ready for it. And our desk and computer has been moved into the living room. We would have put it in our room but the baby will be in there with us for a couple of months so that move will wait as well.

Another big change is planning a vacation. This is new for us because we always had to save our pennies to make sure that Joel wouldn't lose too much money by taking time off of work. Now he gets paid vacation and we can go guilt free without losing $$$. Its a very nice feeling. We've got the dates planned now we are waiting to see what we are going to do.

We are excited about this year and the possibilities it will bring. God has provided and will continue to provide. We trust that completely and that has allowed us to not be worried about what may happen or even if something does happen the ability to know God will provide all we need to make sure we have a roof over our head, food to eat and clothes to wear. Thank you Lord for that. (Last year a big leak in our roof happened and we were able to temporarily fix the leak because we didn't have the funds for a new roof but the Lord provided the $$$ right before monsoons and we are truly blessed).

Happy New Year!

Birthdays, Holidays and a baby

Joel has turned 30 this year and on his birthday we got the great news of 2 pink stripes on a pregnancy test. Which means some time next summer around early to mid July we will be welcoming baby Zehring #2 to our home. We are so excited for this new phase in our life but before that time life has gotten crazy.

It all started in Sept. with the weekend visit of my sister and two of her kids for my nephews baseball games. Then we took a trip to Sedona with Joel's family. Then the following weekend we celebrated Nathan turning 2. From there we celebrated Joel turning 30 with his family. Next came Thanksgiving and now we are headed into Christmas.

Don't get me wrong, I love this time of year but what has changed has been the onset of morning sickness. I have never had an ounce of this with Nathan and I didn't know what to expect. With this has meant that I don't get to eat some of my favorite things and all the scents that I love to have at this time of year make me sick so I can't make a bunch of stuff. And shopping wears me out. I am one of those crazy people that waits until everything is crowded. I love that time to shop. The hustle of people trying to get gifts for people and the salespeople trying hard just to be pleasant. And I love being the one customer that makes life a little easier. (I worked retail and Joel is in retail) This is super important to me.

So as much as I love this time of year, I am tired and sick all the time. But I am choosing to let the birth of our Savior reflect in our home as much as possible. I am working hard to be there for Nathan and let him know my love for him as not changed at all. But one of the things that I love about Nathan is his understandable compassion. Whenever I am sucking on a lollipop or lying of the couch, he always says that Mama has to do that because of the baby. And then he pets my belly and gives it a kiss. I am so proud of him.

My dream home

Some day I hope to decorate my home like the woman from this website and right now she is giving away items to help me do that... Check it out here...


http://theoldpaintedcottage.blogspot.com/

Nathan has turned 2

So the weekend came and the weekend went. It was Nathan's birthday. My boy is 2. My mom came into town and we went to Apple Annie's Orchard in Wilcox, which was a blast for Nathan. He loves being outside and he loves running. The two things he did the whole time we were there. My mom came out for the weekend and she came with us. It was perfect weather and we got a few apples and pears and had some lunch there. The best part is that its far enough away from our house that on the way home Nathan, Joel and my Mom slept the whole way home! Great nap time!

Then on Sunday we did a two in one party for Nathan. We invited some of Nathan's play friends to the park for a little birthday party. I loved seeing the kids actually play together. Even Nathan played with them (part of the time) my kid loves to explore and the play ground only lets him do some much of that, at one point I was looking for him and I see him across the park pushing his new toy truck on the side walk while Joel follows him! But for the most part all the kids were together. My favorite time was watching the kids actually sit at the table together and eat! It showed me that Nathan is hitting that new stage of wanting to be around other kids more! It warmed my heart.

Then after that, our family met back at our house and we had a dinner and ice cream and present opening. I would of had more pictures of that but my mother in law's camera battery died and my flash broke on my camera (later that night it started working again) Lame. The best part of that time was the present opening! Nathan's reaction to anything with wheels was "Woooooowwwww!" and then signing please for us to open it up so he could play with it. Then signing "Thank You" thinking this would prompt the opening of the toy, so we would quickly bring out the next gift to open and the same thing would happen all over again. Nathan ended up with about 20 new cars and trucks of all sizes! His 2nd birthday was so fun to be a part of and watch! We don't do parties often but I am so glad that we did it this year!

No Longer A Baby

I think its fair to say that Nathan is no longer a baby. He has always been in the 90% for height and the 75% for weight. But in 3 weeks he will be turn two. And that makes me sad. I think more sad than when he turned one. And I think its because he has learned so much this past year. Things that have made him a little person. He walked before he was one so the things that came the following year were things that made me so excited about the little boy that he is becoming.

Here are some of those things:

• Drinking from a straw
• using a fork and spoon
• sliding down slides all by himself
• climbing up ladders
• kicking a soccer ball and scoring in a goal
• talking (this took a while but we are finally getting words)
• learning techniques to swimming
• blowing 
• kissing with his mouth closed
• his first haircut
• driving his sit and push cars all by himself
• being an amazing cuddler
• taking gymnastics
• climbing stairs
• jumping up and jumping forward
• reading his ABCs aloud
• learning numbers
• doing the right dance moves to certain songs (If You're Happy and You Know It)
• praying at dinner with us
• eating without making a mess
• playing with other kids and making friends

And the list goes on and on. There were not that many things in his first year. So to show you all some of those things, I put together a video of the last 12 months of Nathan's life.

Joel's New Job

Ok, its been over a month and Joel has officially been done with his training for a couple of weeks now. So I thought I would update every one on how its going.

First, Joel is enjoying it. We both never thought retail would be his thing but he is really enjoying it. The reasons are that he is still leading and teaching and training people to be the best at what the job requires. And he gets to be a part of something that implements change. These are two things that Joel always wants to be a part of. No matter where it happens. And right now Target is the place for him to do this. He was able to do both of those things with teaching (which is why it was so hard for us to say goodbye to it) but the paycheck didn't allow him to do those two things to the best of his ability.

The cons so far to this job are the hours. We are getting use to them but they are taking quite awhile for us to adjust to them. To give you an idea why its so much harder now than when he was training is because of the store he has been placed at. He is at the only high risk store in Tucson. By high risk, we mean that it has the most potential for theft and asset loss. Also, this is the only store that stays open until 11 PM. So when he was at other stores and they closed at 10 he would be home by 11:30. But with the store closing an hour later and being a high risk store, there is more to do at closing. So Joel won't get home until 2-3 in the morning. Which also means he sleeps the morning away before he has to go to work again or on his day off. The other reason he comes home so late on his closing days is because the routine of having a manager and store manager at this store hasn't been in place for very long. Before Joel's store manager came on the scene the store had gone without a store team lead for a while and Joel's dept. had gone without a team lead for 10 months. So people slacked off and didn't get the job done. Now the bosses are here and its going to take some time to whip them into shape. So the light at the end of the tunnel is that Joel won't be staying that late forever. Hopefully 12:30/ 1 AM will be the norm.

The pros to the job besides the first stuff I mentioned are, first the paycheck. We are able to make the same amount of money in one job that we had with all five of our jobs combined. And there will be a raise. The whole time that Joel was teaching there were budget cuts every year, so there was never a pay raise. Also, days off. We have not known what that was like for 3 years. Joel worked every day and I did too. We now have 2 days off a week together. Its amazing that we are able to have a day where we hang out as a family either at the zoo, the children's museum, the park or at home. Its been a wonderful adjustment. Even with the hours that Joel is working now. I should say that he is not working any more hours than he did before but they are just at weird times.

Well there is the update. I am sure there will be more stories to come. But I wanted you to know that its going well and Joel is enjoying it. Even if Nathan wakes him up after 5 hrs of sleep, he just naps while Nathan naps and then goes to work.

This is one of the ways we spend a day off. Nathan loves to wear his life jacket so we just filled up our little pool and left him in a diaper. He had a blast!