January Highlights...

Don't be deceived by the happy smiles. The crown picture was taken just after primary on the first Sunday of the New Year. The kids had a GREAT time in Sunbeam class and although they were nervous for singing/sharing time, they sat close to each other and got through. We almost had a potential meltdown when another little girl was assigned to sit in between Leah and Caleb. Caleb could hardly control his emotions. Luckily we got that resolved and all was well. So the first Sunday went dandy but now that the second and third Sunday have passed, we are totally bummed. The kids do NOT want to go to primary anymore. Zachary sprinted out of the room last Sunday (luckily I was walking by in the hall) and he was crying hysterically. He said he was sad that no mommies or daddies were in there. I think it's a lot of new people and no familiar faces. What's funny is that when he was a baby he was sooooo overly sensitive to EVERYTHING. He would cry if I opened the microwave. Any loud noises or chaotic places would upset him. I can still see that trait in him every now and again. I think the chaos of primary overwhelms him. Big room, lots of adults, none of whom he recognizes, and no toys to play with. As always, it's a ripple effect with those three but luckily Leah has been more melancholy about the whole thing.  She at least agrees to go and sit quietly even though she's nervous. So a new game plan has been put in place for this upcoming Sunday and we're crossing our fingers. I know it'll get better but I did not expect the resistance. I really wish the transition had been treated with more attention (since there were 13 Sunbeams going in) but oh well. Every ward is different. If I am ever in the Primary presidency I suppose I'll be sure to do that. Anyway, they did like their 'Child of God' crowns and are still wearing them three weeks later.

I'm excited to be doing this post because I finally get to write down that after ONE YEAR OF POTTY TRAINING, Leah is finally there! It's surreal. Seriously. Sometimes I think 'I'm all done with potty training' but then I shake that thought away because it just can't be true. The boys were a breeze. They still are really. I don't have to accompany them to the bathroom. They just go and do their thing with only needing help every once and a while. It's awesome. Until Caleb uses every washcloth available as toilet paper and then throws them in the sink. Like...why did he even think to do that? He's one of those kids that will try to solve or fix a perceived problem on his own before consulting an adult. He does it all the time. Like when a piece of carpet was coming off our stair he thought he could help by pulling at all the strings and eventually removing it all together. He claimed he was helping.

Anyway, so potty chronicles with Leah may just be over. After the new year I was just getting super annoyed by her inconsistency. I can't blame her for it though because she would sleep in underwear but use a pull up in the day. Sometimes I'd forget to get her a pull up in the morning and she'd do her thing right in her underwear probably thinking she had a pull up on. I knew she could keep her pull up dry but she just wouldn't because that takes time and effort. So after going through six pull ups one morning I told her they were going bye bye and she was going to do everything in the potty from now on. I had been patient for a long time and really wanted to assess where she was anyway. During all the potty drama last year she started withholding for 5-7 days at a time. As a result, she would experience lots of pain when she finally did go and every time was so dramatic. On about day 3 or 4 she would get really lethargic and whiny and would lay by my feet all day. She refused to go in the potty or a pull up. It was a nightmare. The biggest nightmare because she was in control. I couldn't do anything. I had used Miralax at a certain point but never felt like it was getting positive results for her. That, among other reasons, I decided to stop using it. I looked for other alternatives (fiber gummies, suppositories, etc...) but NOTHING was working. She had too much will power. Then I stumbled across the product MagO7. Magnesium, in the right form and delivered in the proper way, can have a stool softening affect and this product had apparently worked miracles for many a person. Plus it can be used long term. So I cut the dose by about 80% and tried it on Leah. I also read that it takes children 6-12 months to forget traumatic experiences so....I knew we were in for the long haul. I started her on the Mag in August, immediately saw positive results, and stopped talking about the potty with Leah all together. We never talked about it and I just kept up the medicine. Then at the end of December I was ready to try again and luckily she seemed mentally ready. I'm giving credit to two things: Mag07 and the movie Frozen.

Frozen is such a cute movie. We saw it as a family on New Year's Day and I knew I had to get the soundtrack. The songs in the movie were phenomenal. When it comes to music, I tend to get kind of obsessive. Like I have to have the lyrics memorized as soon as possible and listen to my favorites all day everyday. I did that all through high school and I do it still now. Just not as much because the kids don't like when I turn the music up loud in the car and sing. But with Frozen, they love the music too so we all sing loud together! One Christmas I printed off the lyrics to Baby it's Cold Outside because I fell in love with a new rendition of the song. I wanted Clark to learn the male part so we could sing it together...like at our house or in the car. Ha. He was totally not on board so I had to learn the male part myself. Whatever. Point is, I obsess if I like a certain song or album. So we started listening to it and realized how much we loved the movie. 'We' meaning me and the kids. Maybe me more than the kids.  Caleb of course took to the silly sidekick of Olaf and Zachary couldn't decide between the snow monster and  Christoff.  He's in a constant battle between wanting to be the bad guy and the good guy...so we let him take on both those characters in Frozen.  Leah is Elsa and I'm Anna.  Clark's role is still undecided although he could be a troll or the reindeer.  Depends on what the kids want that particular day.  :)  So I decided to bribe Leah with an Elsa doll if she would go in the potty. So she did...and I gave her the Anna doll. I said she could get Elsa if she went again. So she did. So I gave her the Elsa doll. But then I had a different Elsa doll I showed her and bribed her again. So she went again. This was all in a span of about a week and a half. Then I ran out of dolls and panicked that she might not have the motivation anymore. So she got a jump rope for her fourth time, marshmallows the fifth, and by the sixth time I was able to bribe her with some little Frozen figurines from a 'My Busy Book.' She took the bait and has since had about nine successes. I hate just buying and giving her stuff but at this point I will do ANYTHING to make all this a non-issue. So far so good. Frozen has been a lifesaver. Couldn't have come at a better time. Clark's been listening to the Frozen soundtrack at work to make sure he stays in the loop with us when we blast it in the car. :) Don't want him feeling left out. I'm so grateful he humors me during my obsessive musical periods.

This month has been really chilly (for Texas) and as always, we have coughs and runny noses being passed around the family.  As a result, we stayed home and inside as much as possible although Caleb begged and begged everyday to go out to the sandbox, go for a bike ride, or go to the park.  Usually I tell him yes and let him out in the backyard.  He comes back in after a minute and concludes it's too cold to play out there.  Then he doesn't ask again until the next day.  But as with any Texas winter, one day it's in the teens and the next day it's in the 70's!  When that nice day does show up, the trio always request to go on an 'expedition.'  So we put on our explorer vests and head out to see what we can see!  Lots of rocks, ants, acorns, leaves, litter, sticks, and even a spaceship (or so we pretended)!  Good thing they have binoculars to spot the birds and planes in the sky too!

Another couple randoms thoughts from the month include Caleb's morning hair. It never ceases to amaze me. I'm never sure how it gets the way it gets but some questions are better left unanswered.  On the topic of Caleb, he has this weird fascination was being in front of everyone all the time.  It doesn't matter what he has to do to get there, he'll do it.  Whether it's on foot or on a bike, you better watch out.  His stiff-arming skills are what you would see in the NFL and the funny thing is, he has NO idea he is doing it....usually hurting someone in the process.  Then he turns around totally oblivious to what happened.  Which brings us to Leah's first black eye. Boy was it a doozy. Although there was no stiff-arming, Caleb was still involuntarily involved.  He and Leah were in a very intense clean up session which involved very fast running up and down the hall. Caleb rounded the corner out of his room and BAM! Right into Leah's eye. You don't go up against Caleb's head and win. It is rock solid. We've all been victims at one point or another. He did have a goose egg but nothing compared to Leah. Her eye swelled up so big she couldn't open it for a couple days. It was black and blue and looked horrible. After a week and a half, it finally returned to normal size and color. For a couple days in there I really thought she had a concussion because of how tired she suddenly was. She has NEVER fallen asleep at church and the day after her accident, she totally passed out on Clark's lap for the whole Sacrament meeting. Very weird. No other symptoms other than sudden fatigue but weird nonetheless.  On the topic of Leah, she as a serious knack for tying knots.  She does it all over the house....on door knobs, around toys, on chairs, between cupboards, etc...  Not sure what it's going to equate to in her adult life but it's quite the talent!  Sometimes I can barely get them untied!
 

I recently watched this awesome video about a family who started an online business with hair-braiding tutorials. Long story short, the four daughters confessed that they loved having their hair braided in tons of different ways and saw how it impacted their self-confidence and self-esteem. It was something that they could think about, work towards, learn how to do, document, and contribute to the family.  I have said for years and years that I wish I knew how to french braid.  So I was totally inspired after that video and plan to become an expert.  Apparently there is a section on the website for 'Daddy-do's' so that Dad's can be involved in simple hair braiding and use that time with their daughter to talk and bond with them.  I mean, it's pretty comical when Clark attempts to put Leah's hair in a pony tail.  I can't imagine him sitting and braiding it but I love the concept so we'll see where it takes us.  Here's my first attempt at a french braid.  The picture makes it look much better than it actually was.  It was really loose and lopsided. 

Besides braiding and exploring, we've had a couple other fun things up our sleeves this month. The trio LOVE the sandbox so I finally got rid of the RaceTrac cups and decided to buy them real sand toys. They did have a couple small buckets but that was it. We busted out the new shovels and rakes, labeled them with the letters C, Z, and L to avoid any potential fighting, and they all went to work. Luckily during the 5-7 hours that Clark gets to spend with the kids all week, the weather was decent so they hung outside for a while. Because Clark is working so much, my friends and I decided that eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches alone for dinner was not working anymore (their husbands are in the same line of work). So we packed up the kids and met for a pizza/pajama/popcorn and movie party! The kids loved it, we loved it, and there was no peanut butter anywhere in sight. We watched Toy Story 2 and the night flew by. 

I'll end my post with a little funny tidbit from Zachary.  Clark recently purchased some tin banks for them because they like to collect and count pennies but have no where to put them.  The banks are awesome and have three different labeled slots.  One for fun, one for tithing, and one for a mission (got them at Deseret Book).  Zachary was organizing his pennies into his bank and we were explaining each of the slots and he said, "No Dad, I want my slots to be FUN, FUN, and FUN!"  Totally Zachary all the way.  He's all about the fun.



Until next time...