Somebody Pinch Me

It's officially been a week now.

One week of NO DIAPERS being used in this house. (I still have half a box of size 5s if anyone wants them)

Do you know that I have been buying diapers non-stop for NINE YEARS?

But do you know what the most surreal part of all of this is? It's how EASY it was to potty train Audra! In fact, I don't feel like I did anything at all. She's done it all on her own.

Now, before any of you hate me for what I just said, let me remind you that my sweet 4 year old more than qualified me to write my new book, "How to Potty Train Your Child in 365 Days or More." Look for it in stores in early 2013. I know it's going to be a best seller!

Not only that, but my 7 year old gave me a run for my money, too. That child was supposed to be completely potty trained before going to preschool at the school where I was teaching at the time. How well did that work? Well, let's just say I spent the month before school started working on appropriate, surprised sounding responses to finding out he'd had an accident...or two, while I was teaching. I only taught 4 hours a day. I suppose I should also add that the boy wore a diaper up until we got to school, where I would change him into underwear in the bathroom outside the preschool room. And yes, my friends, that went on for the whole, entire school year.

Oh and lets not forget this potty training moment of his that happened when I was 7 months pregnant.

And if that weren't enough, I'll remind you that my 9 year old wore pull-ups at night until he was 7 and even then only stopped because I discovered that he was intentionally peeing in them in the morning and I refused to buy them anymore. I had been trying to be a supportive mom, telling him that it was normal, that some kids just take longer (because they do). I even had his pediatrician tell him the same thing. All of that for years, only to learn that he was just being lazy and peeing in his pullup because he didn't want to get out of bed.

In light of all that, it BLOWS MY MIND that my 2 year old could just "decide" that she's going to use the potty and be dry during the day and be dry at night for the last week. Without me doing anything. She even got out of the pool twice to go potty when we went swimming! She can even hold it for 10 minutes after telling me she needs to go potty! She even "puts her yuckies in the potty!"

Somebody pinch me. I must be dreaming.

Holden Beach 2012

I may have been just a *little bit* busy recently...which is why it has taken me so long to put up pictures from this year's trip to Holden Beach. Well, that and our computer died so John had to do a bit of finagling to get our pictures off of the old computer. Details.

Anywho...it's never too late for beach pictures!! :)

Now, the possible downside to me not having so much time is that I did not weed through my hundreds of pictures like I usually do. So, this slideshow is quite a bit longer than usual. But at least you know up front so you can plan for it.

I suggest popcorn and a drink. :)

Pre-Fourth of July Celebration

We all gathered at my moms for our usual 4th of July celebration...only this year we did it a few days early--we wanted to make sure Brooke, Ryan, and Candida got to share in the fun! The kids had a blast, as usual, and the blackberry cobbler was delicious, as usual. :)

Smokies All-Star Game

For those of you who are on Facebook, you've probably already seen these pictures. For the rest of you...

On Tuesday, we (meaning, my mom and Sue, Karen and Bruce and me and John) took all the kids to the Smokies game. We got there just in time to watch the home run derby! Josiah enjoyed the whole game, but he REALLY liked this part.

Here is the line up of kids. From left to right we have: McCain, Timothy, Josiah, Emilia, Audra, Brooke, Micah and Ryan :)



The guy in front of us with the light blue shirt was terrorized a bit by the kids. He had ice thrown down his shirt and nacho cheese flung on his back. Thankfully, he was a good sport about it, but he did make several comments about sending us his cleaning bill...



After the game there were fireworks! They were pretty awesome, and the kids seemed to like them, too. :)









This is my favorite picture of Emilia. I love how she has her hands thrown up in the air with excitement!

Life in a Box

I spent this past weekend at my doula training in Georgia and helping my friend her celebrate her upcoming wedding with a Jimmy Buffett concert. It was so much fun and I learned a ton in my class!

It would seem that Josiah did some learning while I was gone this weekend, too. On Saturday, John asked Josiah to help with getting the sheets off the beds. The nerve of that man. Expecting a mere 8 year old to do something so strenuous. Or at least that's what Josiah was thinking (something along those lines, anyway). He walked over to our recycle bin, pulled out a box and said that was fine, he was just going to go live in a box.



I'm not sure if he got hungry or had to use the bathroom, but somewhere along the line he figured out that even with all the housework, having a house is preferable to not having one at all.