Just had to share this image I snapped of the boys being a little silly today. They made sparkly tooth'd smiles in class today (subject was teeth)....
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
3rd Round of Potty Charts ....
I would have never guessed it but these sticker charts are a hit with my boys for the whole "immediate gratification" for potty training. We have now blown through 2 potty charts... the first being the tree they got to put monkey stickers on (and others, when I ran out of monkeys). The next was the flower that they got to put bugs and other various things on. And now we have moved onto an underwater sticker chart - which I have a TON of fish stickers for. They get so excited for the new chart that they visit the bathroom to TRY to pee every 5-10 minutes.... just cuz they want a new sticker for their new chart.
So anyway, I thought I would share their finished bug chart and their new underwater chart for posterity.....
Friday, February 18, 2011
Wow... it's been a while.
WOW. It has been a very long time since the last post… or at least a lot has gone on. I’m going to miss a lot of stuff here but will try keep to the big stuff as no one reads these long posts anyway… right?
We went down to stay at Gma Chris’s a couple weeks ago (Sat 2/5 – wed 2/9). Chris had to go to NY for business again and I had my Matilda Jane Trunk Show that Tuesday. We had a very nice visit and the boys continued to do well with their potty skills at Gma Chris’s. MacKay pooped there the night we arrived and had Gma call me (Chris and I were out for sushi dinner and to hang with some friends for a while) to tell me all about it. He told Gma “Mommy will be SO proud of me…. Call Mommy!” So they did just that and I went on and on about how proud I was over the phone – wished I could be there to see the pride in his face, but I really did enjoy my night out – or so everyone tells me – hee hee. It was just a nice visit at Gma Chris’s, getting ready for the big trunk show, making appetizers for it etc. At the last minute our babysitter had to drop out (flu) and after working out every option on how we could handle it we decided to bring the kiddos along and let them play … worst case scenario, my mom would have to leave early if the kids needed to be brought home. I was quite proud of my Mom too, she really stepped out of her comfort zone as she was going to have to pack them all up and drive them to my friend Heidi’s (where trunk show was) all by herself… as I had to go there early to set up and get ready. All in all, it went really well. The kids did well playing with all the other kids (MANY) that were there. I must note….. it looked like a bomb went off in Heidi’s play room… not even an inch to STEP in there to get around. And it was a really good turnout. Just days before I was thinking of cancelling it …. But I am so glad I did not. I can’t stress enough how nice, and even important, it is to see all these clothes in person. Things that don’t look that appealing online are completely adorable once you see them and start pairing them with other items to make a complete outfit. The show wrangled in over $1300 in sales… (largely due to a family friend who bought 4 full outfits for her granddaughters… I owe you one Barb) which got me $75 in MJ bucks to spend AND 6 items at 50% off. So on top of the two outfits I already got for Evie prior to the show (worried they would sell out), I got 7 more pieces for her and a pair of pants for myself. Add to that, a dress and shrug that Gma Chris ordered for Evie as well…. She is going to be one stylin’ little girl. I can’t wait to get the stuff. It is going to be mailed to my mom’s address and I will rush down there as soon as I can to run all the orders out to those of you that put them in. Can’t wait to see it all. AND … to top it off. The 2nd “round” of this new line comes out March 1st and I am doing a virtual or online trunk show for it. I’ll be sending out an evite shortly, so if you don’t get an invite and want the details, contact me over email or on Facebook and I’ll get that to you. Basically at your own convenience you can order through my virtual trunk show as long as it is within the 24-36 hour window my show can be open for. Can’t wait to see all the new items they are going to release…. I’ve heard it is 15 more girls pieces and 5 more adult pieces.
Onto the kiddos. Not much has changed. The boys are still doing very well with potty training. I consider Oscar completely trained now. He’s only had 1 or 2 accidents in the past 3-4 weeks and for the last week or so has been wearing underwear to bed as well. Since the beginning he’s been dry every morning so we figured he was ready… and I was right. On two occasions he has woke up in the middle of the night crying cuz he needs to go potty and wants help. Such a great thing that he realizes that and that it wakes him up. MacKay is doing much better now too and is much more consistent with his #2s in the toilet (vs his pants). His accidents are mainly surrounding the fact he’s being lazy about it. Either he is too engrossed in an activity or movie to follow his body’s cues …. He’ll then frantically tell me he has to go and just doesn’t make it quite in time. Thankfully he’s in the bathroom when he has the accident though. Other occasions are when he knows he has to go and will go in the bathroom and just dink around in there…. Looking in the mirror, playing in the sink etc… instead of getting down to business right away. MacKay also has a method to his poo’s. He will tell me he has to go (good) but then when I march him into the bathroom he will tell me he doesn’t WANT to go. It’s a good thing I don’t succumb to that cuz he ALWAYS goes each of these times he tells me he doesn’t WANT to go. Hopefully he’s learning that needs and wants aren’t remotely the same thing when it comes to most things in life. I’m trying to trust them both do more and more of it on their own … aside from the wiping etc. But urge them to go in the bathroom and take care of it themselves…. They know what they are doing. And many mornings I will hear them down the hall or on the monitor saying they need to get up and go potty and I will yell down to them to do just that…. That they don’t need to wait for me. And they do it. I’m very proud of them. They have come such a long way and are doing much better than I would have ever expected. And I’m proud to report that they now wear undies out of the house now too. Before I would change them into pull ups for shopping trips, school, playing outside etc. But for the last week or two I have left them in underwear and they’ve done fantastic. Heck, even this morning we went over to Shawna’s for a play date and they both pee’d there, and MacKay even pooped there. That shocked me, I thought he surely would poop his pants being in a different place etc. I’m amazed that they are still REALLY into the sticker charts though. They now get 1 sticker for pee and 2 stickers for poop… in addition I give them star stickers – they get 1 star in the morning if they wake up dry (which mainly is for Oscar’s sake) and another star at the end of the day if they have been accident free…. Or as they refer to it as “dry.” We’re almost done with our 2nd Round of Potty Charts too – this last one being the flower with the bug stickers. I’m running out of bug stickers anyway and making due with some others for them to put on there for the time being. Next … I think I am going to make an underwater/ocean-like sticker chart as I have a ton of fish stickers to use for that. I think we’re going to change things up a bit again though …. They will get 1 sticker for being dry in the morning, 1 for staying dry all day (accident free) and 1 sticker for poo’s as those are still a big deal.
Aside from all the potty stuff (which is a pretty big thing around here lately… so not to be taken lightly) the boys are much the same, though into some new things. They are learning more songs, mainly from their karaoke machine. They are doing more pretend and imaginative play. I will find them with figurines or toys where they are having the toys talk or interact with each other. They do it alone and they also do it with each other which is fun to see. Oscar is still quite the conversationalist… wanting to show how mature he is and how much he understands. MacKay still loves his Diesel 10 but is becoming a little less obsessed with him… will actually put him down for long periods and play with other things. They say some of the funniest things to me lately too … I can’t recall them all, but I don’t know where they get them cuz many of them are not regular sayings that I spout out. Just yesterday they showed me something they have learned…. The Pledge of Allegiance. I was sitting playing with Evie and could hear them talking behind me but wasn’t really listening… then all of a sudden the words sounded familiar and it hit me what they were doing. They were both, together, saying The Pledge of Allegiance. So I got all excited and asked them to say it to me again. They struggle through some parts but they have it down pretty well… I was so amazed. Then I remembered back to the first day of preschool when Miss Michele had us all stand for The Pledge and told us parents, “Now don’t be surprised if midway through the year your children are spouting off words from this, or sections of it, or maybe even all of it… they are little sponges and are going to grasp this quickly.” I so thought she was off her rocker… why would kids remember all the big words to this “Pledge” that they don’t understand. But they DO. They amaze me daily.
Evie is still our little diva of the house. I think she’s got us all wrapped around her little finger. She’s so hot and cold. She’s either little Miss Sunshine, all cuddly and happy and giving out the lovin’…. Or she’s little Miss Thundercloud (what my Gma used to call me) and can really give the boys, and us, an earful of what she’s got to say. Her little temper tantrums always get me laughing (though I try not to) and she’s got some fire to her …. Even Miss Leanne, her ECFE teacher, noticed that Evie has come into her own and has quite the personality now, compared to what she was like a few months ago in the other class we had. She’s a little sponge too… and talking up a storm now. Whas dis? Whas dat? Ere is it? Ere it is! Still tons of NOs.. even when I know she means yes. She’s learned the sign for “more” and uses it quite frequently… usually when she wants more JOOZ! (juice). She knows and understands so much more that she says… but she’s catching up quickly lately. Now that she knows so many of her body parts… she saying them. So far she can tell us the names of 5 body parts: eyes (ice), nose (with stress on the “s” sound vs the “z” sound), mow (mouth), toes and…. NECK? I don’t know why this one caught her attention … but she knows and says neck. She walked right into Shawna’s this morning and waved and said “He-DO” (Hello). She’s so proud of her new vocabulary.
Us …. Chris is still keeping busy at work (thankfully)… I’m still busy at home. Recently had a real fun bout with the flu bug. Man, this new flu stuff is nasty. Not like the old ones where you get hit hard with the pukeys one day, spend the next day sleeping and then are fine. No… this one lasts forever. I muddled through about 4-5 days of the pukey feeling and never amounted to anything … I would have LOVED to puke, I probably would have felt better to get it over with, but it just didn’t happen. Yuck…. Hate that stuff. I’m taking another photography class though … and happy to report I now know how to use my flash the correct way and am going to have some fun playing with lighting, angles, etc now. Have a couple more classes left and hopefully will continue to learn more. Otherwise, life at the Hoglund household is nice and relaxed … or as relaxes as it can be with 3 kids that are 3 and under.
Well… I can’t recall much else to fill you in on…. So let’s get onto the pictures.
We went down to stay at Gma Chris’s a couple weeks ago (Sat 2/5 – wed 2/9). Chris had to go to NY for business again and I had my Matilda Jane Trunk Show that Tuesday. We had a very nice visit and the boys continued to do well with their potty skills at Gma Chris’s. MacKay pooped there the night we arrived and had Gma call me (Chris and I were out for sushi dinner and to hang with some friends for a while) to tell me all about it. He told Gma “Mommy will be SO proud of me…. Call Mommy!” So they did just that and I went on and on about how proud I was over the phone – wished I could be there to see the pride in his face, but I really did enjoy my night out – or so everyone tells me – hee hee. It was just a nice visit at Gma Chris’s, getting ready for the big trunk show, making appetizers for it etc. At the last minute our babysitter had to drop out (flu) and after working out every option on how we could handle it we decided to bring the kiddos along and let them play … worst case scenario, my mom would have to leave early if the kids needed to be brought home. I was quite proud of my Mom too, she really stepped out of her comfort zone as she was going to have to pack them all up and drive them to my friend Heidi’s (where trunk show was) all by herself… as I had to go there early to set up and get ready. All in all, it went really well. The kids did well playing with all the other kids (MANY) that were there. I must note….. it looked like a bomb went off in Heidi’s play room… not even an inch to STEP in there to get around. And it was a really good turnout. Just days before I was thinking of cancelling it …. But I am so glad I did not. I can’t stress enough how nice, and even important, it is to see all these clothes in person. Things that don’t look that appealing online are completely adorable once you see them and start pairing them with other items to make a complete outfit. The show wrangled in over $1300 in sales… (largely due to a family friend who bought 4 full outfits for her granddaughters… I owe you one Barb) which got me $75 in MJ bucks to spend AND 6 items at 50% off. So on top of the two outfits I already got for Evie prior to the show (worried they would sell out), I got 7 more pieces for her and a pair of pants for myself. Add to that, a dress and shrug that Gma Chris ordered for Evie as well…. She is going to be one stylin’ little girl. I can’t wait to get the stuff. It is going to be mailed to my mom’s address and I will rush down there as soon as I can to run all the orders out to those of you that put them in. Can’t wait to see it all. AND … to top it off. The 2nd “round” of this new line comes out March 1st and I am doing a virtual or online trunk show for it. I’ll be sending out an evite shortly, so if you don’t get an invite and want the details, contact me over email or on Facebook and I’ll get that to you. Basically at your own convenience you can order through my virtual trunk show as long as it is within the 24-36 hour window my show can be open for. Can’t wait to see all the new items they are going to release…. I’ve heard it is 15 more girls pieces and 5 more adult pieces.
Onto the kiddos. Not much has changed. The boys are still doing very well with potty training. I consider Oscar completely trained now. He’s only had 1 or 2 accidents in the past 3-4 weeks and for the last week or so has been wearing underwear to bed as well. Since the beginning he’s been dry every morning so we figured he was ready… and I was right. On two occasions he has woke up in the middle of the night crying cuz he needs to go potty and wants help. Such a great thing that he realizes that and that it wakes him up. MacKay is doing much better now too and is much more consistent with his #2s in the toilet (vs his pants). His accidents are mainly surrounding the fact he’s being lazy about it. Either he is too engrossed in an activity or movie to follow his body’s cues …. He’ll then frantically tell me he has to go and just doesn’t make it quite in time. Thankfully he’s in the bathroom when he has the accident though. Other occasions are when he knows he has to go and will go in the bathroom and just dink around in there…. Looking in the mirror, playing in the sink etc… instead of getting down to business right away. MacKay also has a method to his poo’s. He will tell me he has to go (good) but then when I march him into the bathroom he will tell me he doesn’t WANT to go. It’s a good thing I don’t succumb to that cuz he ALWAYS goes each of these times he tells me he doesn’t WANT to go. Hopefully he’s learning that needs and wants aren’t remotely the same thing when it comes to most things in life. I’m trying to trust them both do more and more of it on their own … aside from the wiping etc. But urge them to go in the bathroom and take care of it themselves…. They know what they are doing. And many mornings I will hear them down the hall or on the monitor saying they need to get up and go potty and I will yell down to them to do just that…. That they don’t need to wait for me. And they do it. I’m very proud of them. They have come such a long way and are doing much better than I would have ever expected. And I’m proud to report that they now wear undies out of the house now too. Before I would change them into pull ups for shopping trips, school, playing outside etc. But for the last week or two I have left them in underwear and they’ve done fantastic. Heck, even this morning we went over to Shawna’s for a play date and they both pee’d there, and MacKay even pooped there. That shocked me, I thought he surely would poop his pants being in a different place etc. I’m amazed that they are still REALLY into the sticker charts though. They now get 1 sticker for pee and 2 stickers for poop… in addition I give them star stickers – they get 1 star in the morning if they wake up dry (which mainly is for Oscar’s sake) and another star at the end of the day if they have been accident free…. Or as they refer to it as “dry.” We’re almost done with our 2nd Round of Potty Charts too – this last one being the flower with the bug stickers. I’m running out of bug stickers anyway and making due with some others for them to put on there for the time being. Next … I think I am going to make an underwater/ocean-like sticker chart as I have a ton of fish stickers to use for that. I think we’re going to change things up a bit again though …. They will get 1 sticker for being dry in the morning, 1 for staying dry all day (accident free) and 1 sticker for poo’s as those are still a big deal.
Aside from all the potty stuff (which is a pretty big thing around here lately… so not to be taken lightly) the boys are much the same, though into some new things. They are learning more songs, mainly from their karaoke machine. They are doing more pretend and imaginative play. I will find them with figurines or toys where they are having the toys talk or interact with each other. They do it alone and they also do it with each other which is fun to see. Oscar is still quite the conversationalist… wanting to show how mature he is and how much he understands. MacKay still loves his Diesel 10 but is becoming a little less obsessed with him… will actually put him down for long periods and play with other things. They say some of the funniest things to me lately too … I can’t recall them all, but I don’t know where they get them cuz many of them are not regular sayings that I spout out. Just yesterday they showed me something they have learned…. The Pledge of Allegiance. I was sitting playing with Evie and could hear them talking behind me but wasn’t really listening… then all of a sudden the words sounded familiar and it hit me what they were doing. They were both, together, saying The Pledge of Allegiance. So I got all excited and asked them to say it to me again. They struggle through some parts but they have it down pretty well… I was so amazed. Then I remembered back to the first day of preschool when Miss Michele had us all stand for The Pledge and told us parents, “Now don’t be surprised if midway through the year your children are spouting off words from this, or sections of it, or maybe even all of it… they are little sponges and are going to grasp this quickly.” I so thought she was off her rocker… why would kids remember all the big words to this “Pledge” that they don’t understand. But they DO. They amaze me daily.
Evie is still our little diva of the house. I think she’s got us all wrapped around her little finger. She’s so hot and cold. She’s either little Miss Sunshine, all cuddly and happy and giving out the lovin’…. Or she’s little Miss Thundercloud (what my Gma used to call me) and can really give the boys, and us, an earful of what she’s got to say. Her little temper tantrums always get me laughing (though I try not to) and she’s got some fire to her …. Even Miss Leanne, her ECFE teacher, noticed that Evie has come into her own and has quite the personality now, compared to what she was like a few months ago in the other class we had. She’s a little sponge too… and talking up a storm now. Whas dis? Whas dat? Ere is it? Ere it is! Still tons of NOs.. even when I know she means yes. She’s learned the sign for “more” and uses it quite frequently… usually when she wants more JOOZ! (juice). She knows and understands so much more that she says… but she’s catching up quickly lately. Now that she knows so many of her body parts… she saying them. So far she can tell us the names of 5 body parts: eyes (ice), nose (with stress on the “s” sound vs the “z” sound), mow (mouth), toes and…. NECK? I don’t know why this one caught her attention … but she knows and says neck. She walked right into Shawna’s this morning and waved and said “He-DO” (Hello). She’s so proud of her new vocabulary.
Us …. Chris is still keeping busy at work (thankfully)… I’m still busy at home. Recently had a real fun bout with the flu bug. Man, this new flu stuff is nasty. Not like the old ones where you get hit hard with the pukeys one day, spend the next day sleeping and then are fine. No… this one lasts forever. I muddled through about 4-5 days of the pukey feeling and never amounted to anything … I would have LOVED to puke, I probably would have felt better to get it over with, but it just didn’t happen. Yuck…. Hate that stuff. I’m taking another photography class though … and happy to report I now know how to use my flash the correct way and am going to have some fun playing with lighting, angles, etc now. Have a couple more classes left and hopefully will continue to learn more. Otherwise, life at the Hoglund household is nice and relaxed … or as relaxes as it can be with 3 kids that are 3 and under.
Well… I can’t recall much else to fill you in on…. So let’s get onto the pictures.
Evie in a cute Matilda Jane top I got for a steal on ebay ... which match a pair of MJ leggings I had gotten a while back for another outfit.
My kiddos
The boys with their new "Chompers" or "Pinchers" (really, they are sand scoops) that Gma Chris got for them on our outting to Target while we were visiting. Newsflash - one of them is already broken and MacKay has pleaded to Gma to buy him another one.
Evie loves to sit in things.... here she tried to squeeze herself into an ice cream bucket and was rather shocked when she stood up that it was still suctioned to her rear end. And just a couple cute pictures of her hamming it up for the camera.
My Matilda Jane Trunk Show purchases .... can't share them all, but here are a few of the outfits/pieces I bought for Evie... and the pants I can't wait to get for myself.
Some fun outside with the kiddos when it was 40+ degrees .....
MacKay had a blast with his "pinchers", while Oscar resorted to some old fashioned tools... the trusty shovel he claimed he had dibs on while we were garbing up to go outside. Evie, a little unsure of her footing on the uneven hard packed snow, struggled at first but had a hay day playing with her brothers.
These pictures were very overexposed due to my angle and where the sun was... but they turned out okay once turned to black and white. They were having fun racing toward me to see who would get there first ... over and over and over again.
That's it for now .... hopefully this warm weather continues for a while. I'm sorta done with winter already. Take care and come back again soon.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Potty Training Chart(s) ..... and I'm addicted to Matilda Jane
Well I thought I should document as well as share this milestone.... we have finished the boys' first potty charts. I ran out of monkey stickers for their tree ... but for the most part, we were really running out of room on them anyway. They really seem to like the sticker part of it, otherwise I would just drop the whole idea as its intent was just to motivate them and stir their interest in going, and continuing to "go"in the potty. So I made some new ones and took the old ones down and wrote some detailed stats (first poo, first pee, when started underwear etc) on the backs of them and was getting ready to file them away with all their other stuff .... but decided to first capture a photo of the end result to share. The new charts have a big flower on them, and some grass .... and the stickers they have are insect/bug related. They've already got a few stickers on them and seem excited to cover the entire thing like they did their last chart. If they are still interested in the sticker chart I think we might move to having a sticker chart for staying dry all day vs for every time they go.... or might even start a "My Duties" around the house sort of chart and get them more interested in helping me out and taking more responsibility for themselves in the process.
I also have to share..... the new "House of Clouds" line from Matilda Jane is now available to peruse online and I am in love. I want almost all of it and wish money was not a concern. Although, I did purchase one outfit already, for fear that it would sell out before my Trunk Show next week. This was an outfit that caught my eye from the moment I saw some of the pictures they were leaking out on the blog and such .... I will now have to wait until my show (and see what sells out in the process) and purchase my other favorites, once I see what I can get at reduced cost based off of what gets sold at the Trunk Show. I can already say.... it won't be enough cuz I want it all. I figure if the outfit I already bought doesn't sell out by the time of my show I can always buy another at reduced cost and sell the other on ebay once it does sell out and make some mula for myself. But the number of items I can buy at reduced cost will be limited (based on sales) and I might need to save that up for the OTHER stuff I want. Mmuuaaahhh Haa Haa!
Also wanted to share.... little Evie just yesterday started in with three more new words. Doo Doo (Tutu), Uck (Yuck) and Deh-DOH (Hello). She is addicted to her doo doo's (tutus) which are now hanging from the edges of her bureau mirror... which just beckon out to her every time she's getting a diaper change, and she will throw a fit if I don't put one on her. I have always thought she was going to be tough as nails (which I still claim will be the case) and a bit of a Tom-Boy with her two older brothers to pave the way for her.... but I now am certain she will be girly as well. She SO enjoys the frilly and girly stuff.. the minute she gets on a skirt/dress or her tutus she gets on her tip toes and prances around and twirls and plays with the skirt... swishing it around and feeling quite pretty. So I guess it isn't shocking that one of her many words right now ended up being Doo Doo (Tutu). And whenever she is being unruly during a diaper change (wrenching her back, twisting around, crabbing etc) all I have to do is make a big stink (no pun intended) and tell her "Ish.... PEEE-YEW... Stinky!" and she erupts into laughter and is quite entertained at my expense. So now she is saying "Uck" (Yuck) to mimic what I am saying quite often during her diaper changes. Even if I don't say Yuck... instead say Ish or P.U. etc, she still retorts with an "Uck!" And lastly.... Deh-DOH! (Hello). She's so good at Hi and Bub-Bye/Bye... but now she's kicked it up a notch and can say Hello back to us. She even was saying it as we were walking into the ECFE building today at others passing by ... and to her caregivers in the sibling care room. She's such a little flirt and Chatty Kathy... even with her limited vocabulary.
Well that is it for now..... I only intended for this to be a short little post and it's already become longer than it needed to. But here are the pictures of the boys' potty charts (finished and new)... and the adorable outfit (Brittney Ballet & Jillian Big Ruffles) that I just HAD to buy now from Matilda Jane.
Come back again soon.... it seems I am on a blogging spree lately.
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