Potty Training 101

Don't we all just love potty training!! I think I would take the newborn stage of no sleep over potty training! It's horrible! I have totally cried because of it, and not just once! I can't remember if I have ever posted anything about the potty training adventures so I will just give a short review. For a long time (so long I have no clue when but I know before I got pregnant with Aspen) we have had Hunter go potty before he gets in his bath at night. Otherwise he would pee in it every single time. We got sick of having to get new water for him and what a waste, I mean my dad and my husband both work for water companies :) Anyways... he took to that pretty quick and he knows that that is what happens at night, he very rarely ever forgets and even rarer ever complains about it. We thought that would get him interested in the potty. It didn't but we didn't really push it, we really didn't do much of anything else at that point.

After I found out I was pregnant though I really didn't want to have to bummies (yes that's what I call them) in diapers. So we tried the 3 day potty training thing. It didn't work out so well, we even did it for 4 days. I had Friday off, so we did Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We were both scheduled to work on Monday but were so wanting it to work that on Monday Ben got of work a little early so I could go to work and we could tag team and still keep to the training. All that really did for us though was made him realize he could hold his pee. The 1st day he peed every 20 min, by the 4th it was more like 2 hrs in between. So we gave up.

Then a little after I had Aspen decided to try again. I took him to the store and we picked out a new candy he had never had (a bag of mini airheads) and named it his "potty candy." This was advice from our neighbor, and also reconfirmed to be a good way by a friend I saw while at the store getting the candy. So we were pumped! Well it didn't last long. He didn't really get excited about it and it was hard since he would want it at night when he went potty before his bath which was not at all the point of the candy. He already knew how to do that, and we were trying to get him ready for bed and he is a super slow eater, it just got frustrating! So we again gave up.

Well a few weeks ago I decided to try the potty chart method. So we went to the store and I let him pick out a toy and some stickers and explained what they were for. I don't know why but for some reason I just always felt like he wouldn't care about a chart. Well he did end up liking it. He would get excited every time he got to put stickers on:

I kept the toy up in the window so he could see it as a reminder but he couldn't get it. And the chart is taped right over the toilet.

Here's a close up. I found the chart online, but it only had 5 times going potty on it so I shrunk it and put 6 little ones. Then we made his name in paint, we were pretty excited to find a lightning bolt :) And I let him pick the paper and he helped me glue it all on too. All the different characters had a thing to do by them, they were pulling your pants down by yourself, sitting on the potty for a while, going potty, flushing the toilet, and washing your hands. So he loved that he got to put 5 stickers on every time!

Here's his toy. It's pretty cute, you push the top and his eyes change, then push the wheels and his mouth changes. I thought for sure he would do so good so he could get him...

Well he was excited when he finally got him but it took a while. The first day he went 5 times, then 6, then 1, then 4, etc. He started out like a champ and would have a few good days here and there but lost interest pretty fast. Again I was stubborn and didn't want to give up so I told him the last one had to be a poop one which made it drag out a few days longer and we started just putting 1 sticker instead of 5 when he would pee. Once he got it I have kept asking him through out the day if he needs to go pee but again gave up.

The pee diapers don't bother me too much but the poo ones really frustrate me. He has such big poos that quite often it will come out the back, of course it doesn't help that he is wearing those slip on diapers right now since they have had several sales on them I've been getting those. I also figured they would be good to be like a pull up during the potty training. An example of this was when me and Brandi went to watch Kira dance (she is on the Badgerette team at Snow college) the day before her birthday. That was Oct. 8th, it was at their football game and we made a huge sign (one letter per poster board) that said "Happy B-day Kira Sue" (although the e got lost so it said su instead) that we had people hold up while she danced. Afterwards we went to her apartment and visited with her roommates then went out to eat and came home, it was way fun. Well while we were at her apartment Hunter went poo and you could smell it through the whole apartment! It was very stinky! He started to lay down and I have come to know to check the back of him before he lays down when he has those diapers on so I rushed over and barely stopped him from laying down. Which was very lucky! It was clear up his back, so I took him into the bathroom to get cleaned up.... It was the most poo I have ever seen!!!! It wasn't just up the back it was also up the front and the entire diaper was completely full too! It took most of my wipes to get him cleaned up. And luckily I had brought extra clothes! I never bring extra clothes, it's probably been since he was 6 months or less since I've brought extra clothes on a day trip. It had been raining all week and he can't stay out of the puddles so I had brought them in case he got soaking wet at the game (which ended up not raining on us at all, just cloudy.) I almost wanted to cry on this one, until I saw that it was up his front too, then I almost laughed. I was amazed that little body could produce that much poo at one time. Sorry if I'm grossing anyone out but it was just so crazy!

Well the moral of this huge story is that I think we have finally found some advise that works. It is the hardest advise ever (or at least for us) but it seems to finally be working! Drum roll please......... Just wait til they do it on their own! For the past 3 or 4 days Hunter has done every poo in the toilet! The pee is still not hardly ever but I personally think the poo is a HUGE step! And of what I've heard, that is usually the hardest part for most kids, so I'm totally OK if he learns that first! Almost anytime we are at a store he will end up going pee in the potty, he must think that it's fun there or something. So hopefully he is finally on his way to potty training!

Wild Woman!!

My wild woman Aspen is 6 months old!! Half a year, it's so crazy how fast it goes! She had her 6 month check on the 4th and she was 15 lbs exactly which was in the 30% and 25 1/2 in which was in the 40% I can't remember what her head was but it's percentile had gone down to the 74th or something. So she is starting to grow into her head :) Her are the proof that she is a wild woman:

She now eats baby food! And this weird girl seems to like the veggies better than the fruits!

She is also trying new fashions....

Here is her handsome designer.

She started out with a pillow above her head and one to the side and when I went to check on her this is how she was sleeping!

That crazy nap left her with some crazy hair too!

When I try to put her on her knees this is what she does! And then rolls over.

And she is getting quite a bit of hair on top but not enough to really do much with. I love this picture!

She is a fun little 6 month old girl!!

A few hours after I posted this I noticed that Aspen has her first tooth! I've been wondering if they were coming for a few days now. Last night I was sitting there rubbing her gums for a while and thought for sure that it would be coming soon and today I can now see a little white spot and feel it!!

Sandhollow Family Night

2 weeks ago we got invited to go out to Sandhollow for family night with Ben's parents, sister, and the Young's. Our kids had a blast!!

Hunter was rubbing mud all over his legs.

And as he walked by Aspen he splashed mud on her. The pic is fuzzy but you can see the mud on her chin. Oh and she is now sitting up! Now that she can do it she gets mad at me if I lay her down, she wants to be up!! She started sitting up a little after 5 months.

Here are Aspen and Suzy! Such cuties!

P.S. only one post away and I will be up to date!

Scrabble and Loving "Idiots"

Now for my family I know all of you knew exactly what this post was about from the title, to all friends you are about to hear a few stories about an amazing woman. That woman is my Grandma Robinson. She was the ripe ole age of 92 and going strong just a few months back. She definitely didn't get out and about much but she was still just as feisty as ever. Just a little bit before I had Aspen (I think a week before) she caught her foot in a chair as she was turning the lights off for bed, it tripped her, she fell to the ground and wasn't able to untangle herself. That fall caused her hip to break. They sent her to St George for surgery and then about a month of physical therapy before she was able to go home to Kanab where she checked into the nursing home. She spent the next few months there up until Sept 6th. She passed away peacefully, but not before having a few rough months. She ended up falling again while in the nursing home and breaking her arm, it was really hard to see all of this unfold. She was already so tiny (she claimed she was 5' 2" but by the time I stopped growing also at 5' 2" I towered over her, so I don't know if I ever even saw her at that height) but somehow she managed to get even smaller.

It was even hard for us to get her to play Scrabble with us. That was one of our families favorite games to play with her, she was amazing at it and it was always my goal to beat her, I could have cared less if someone else won as long as I had more points than her then I felt like the winner, but... I only ever beat her once. This was one of my favorite stories to tell just because of her reaction. I won the game because of 1 word. Fet. Most of you are probably thinking that's a typo. It's not. You see I always struggled with the option of trading your letters in for your turn. Ya, sometimes you really do have crap letters, but that's your turn! No points! Just new letters! So instead when in that situation I would make up a word and hope she wouldn't challenge me. It drove her crazy. Most of the time she would challenge me, every now and then she would ignore it, of course the times she ignored it she had 50 to 100 points more than me and something big to lay down. So naturally when I put fet down she challenged it, especially since it would give me a ton of points if she didn't. I was extremely overjoyed, excited, shocked, and a million other emotions when we found that it was a word! It means to fetch, it's the abbreviation of fetch. The rules of Scrabble say no abbreviations. But...it was the official Scrabble dictionary that said it was a word, so all because of my made up word I finally beat her!!!! After we finished the game she did pull down the Webster's dictionary and fet is not a word in that dictionary. She was very very mad about it. Just imagine a used to be 5' 2" lady from England that had lived most of her live in Kanab (an awesome English/southern accent) mad, she was so funny mad! I think we all loved when she was mad especially for the "idiots."

The word idiot is like a legend in our family. You aren't a member of the Robinson family until you have been called an idiot by Grandma! Somehow even though she was calling you an idiot you could still just feel the love seeping out of her! Over the weekend after she passed we got to share memories of Grandma as we gathered for her funeral and I don't think anybody missed telling an "idiot" story!

Grandpa passed away 11 years ago. That's a long time to be without your one true love. I don't have a ton of memories of Grandpa. I can remember sitting on the porch just watching the cars go by, and tripping on his oxygen cord, and that he wouldn't ever let you leave without a hug. And I can remember how he smelled. Kind of crazy the things you remember. I grew up with them living next door to me my entire life. They were always so good to me and they will both be so missed!

They had 3 children. My dad, Uncle Al, and Aunt Darlene.

For all I knew my Grandparents only ever ventured away from Kanab to go gamble in Mesquite, and in their younger years went to the horse races. It was really fun when Darlene found all these pictures! There was one of my Grandpa at the beach (we were all guessing it was probably close to when they met) and his swimming suit was barely more than a speedo! One of my Grandma she was in Paris (if I'm remembering right) and she was totally striking a pose! It was so fun to see these glimpses into their past!

I got to come the day before her funeral and help dress her. At first I didn't think I could and I told them so, but my sister convinced me to come and it was amazing! I didn't help, they really didn't need any but it was so cool to get to see her before! I thought it would be scary or creepy and it was the exact opposite. My sister cut her hair and my mom and Darlene dressed her. The Mosdell's did an amazing job! Everything was so perfect and my grandma looked so peaceful. There were several times that I looked at her and could have sworn she was just taking a nap on the couch like she always did.

I don't think you could ask for a better Grandma. She always helped with anything and everything. Even if was letting us borrow the car that she never learned how to drive.

All of the great grandkids were given paper and crayons so they could write or draw Grandma one last picture.

They all gathered around and put them in the casket with her. It was such a sweet moment to watch them all gathering around her.

The funeral program was wonderful! All the great grandchildren and 3 youngest grandchildren sang some primary songs. Hunter hid in and played with the plant next to him the whole time. After their song he sat on my mom's lap with Talee and ended up falling asleep just sitting there! He stayed asleep through the whole thing even with Talee occasionally trying to talk to him and then having to be passed to Al so my mom could get up to sing!

My dad, Al, Gregg, Paul, Derrick and Ryan.

Dad and Al saying their final good byes.

Grandma and Grandpa's head stone. My dad also got to do one last service of his own. He was the one that dug her grave. He used to dig most of the graves but doesn't dig any of them now. I thought it was so cool that he chose to dig Grandma's.

Of course when you get all the family together their is going to be a bit of craziness! We gathered to say our good byes to Grandma and realized that it was the first time in years that we had all been together. There was mourning for Grandma but also so much laughter!

It isn't a Robinson gathering without some handstands. And for the record I always won... Although I did always have the wall to help me and nobody else needed it. :)

And there is ALWAYS wrestling!!

We all gathered in my parents living room and really just chatted while the kids entertained us! This is Hunter and Talee if you couldn't tell.

I loved this picture of Aspen. I actually forgot my camera so thanks to Gregg and Jennifer I have tons of pictures without ever having to take 1, thanks you guys!!

Grandma passed away leaving behind 3 children, 9 Grandchildren, 15 Great Grandchildren and 1 more on the way!

P.S. The spellchecker doesn't think fet is a word either :)

Birthday Cakes!!

At Hunter's party Ben's brother asked who made Hunter's cake, which kind of surprised me that he would ask considering his other 2 birthday cakes. Then I remembered he had been on his mission for both of those, so I jumped on here to show him what his other ones looked like. I hadn't ever posted either of them! I was shocked and I thought both of them were so much fun that I had to share so here are pics of all of his cakes:

Birthday cake number 1, and really my first attempt at ever even making a cake that wasn't shaped like a 13 x 9 pan!

As I was finding these pics I just thought it was so cute to see how he changed over a year so you get to see a pic of him with his cakes! He was SO cute! And still is!


Number 2. Can you tell who this is?


How about now? To this day if he sees a picture of this he still gets really excited!

Just one year ago he was trying to blow the candles out by waving his hand at them! Look between his face and hand, you can see the streaks from him waving his hand while I was taking the pic! This year he blew them out like a champ!

And here is this years! I had a really fun time with it, and right when his cousins walked in the door he immediately took them to the fridge to show it to them! It made me pretty happy to see him so excited about it. It took quite a bit longer than I thought it would so I ended up not ever getting ready for the day as you might have notice from my last post :)

I don't know if you noticed but all of these cakes had the frosting with the colored chip things in it. It's my favorite frosting and the only kind that Ben will eat, but I tell you what, it is a pain to try and get the stuff through cake decorating tips!! The red frosting for the track was the kind you get in a tube but everything else is that frosting, I think next year I might just go with vanilla cuz it's been really hard to deal with that frosting every year! They do always taste good though!

Hunter's Party

We did Hunter's part on Monday, we just had family come, but he loves all of his cousins and really they are all his best friends so it was perfect! I made his cake Monday morning and he was so cute he kept coming in and out of the kitchen trying to steal a bite here and there, he was SO excited for it! Here are a few pics of his fun day:

Someday we really will get a bigger table so everybody doesn't have to sit on our floor. It will have to happen soonish too because one of the chairs broke (it has been fixed several times and nothing is really holding) so we are down to 3 chairs, and our 2 stools for the island. Not much seating for our families!

At least the living room seats a few more! For the first several presents he opened he just kept wanting to actually open and play with them. We had to keep convincing him to put it down to open the next, but after the first couple he got into and was so excited to open all of them.

And there were a ton! He got spoiled!

It's so fun to watch all the kids get excited when he is opening their present!

He loved his cake, and was very specific about what part of it he wanted!

After cake and ice cream he got a little help from everybody to put his new toys in action! After everyone left he couldn't decide what he wanted to play with. He would play with one for a couple min then switch to the next, and was not very happy with us when we told him it was time for bed!

I think he would have stayed up playing all night if we would have let him! And first thing he did the next morning was head into the living room to play with everything again!

I finally figured out how to put a video on! Actually I tried the exact same thing as always and for some reason it worked this time!

Hunter's 3!!

I can not believe he is 3!! It has gone by so fast! The night before his birthday I blew up a ton of balloons and wrapped his presents I had those all ready for him in the living room, Then I also hung steamers from his doorway. He was so cute in the morning he came in my room and said "look mom! It's my bur-bay, you made those for me??" He was so cute, he thought the streamers were so cool! And I LOVE how he says birthday, Ben kept trying to teach him how to say it right and I kept telling him to be quiet cuz I think it so cute!

We had him open his presents from us right after his nap so he is a little groggy.

Since I didn't wrap the presents til the night before he got Christmas wrapping paper, I could have sworn I had birthday paper but it was nowhere to be found!

He absolutely loves this movie! He wants to watch it all the time! And it's even cooler since he has a lot of the trucks that are in the movie!

Second one getting a little more awake.

This is a playdoh backpack with a bunch of playdoh cutters and playdoh in it. He plays with it all the time!

And his new tool set so he can be like dad! He goes out in the garage and plays (loses) Ben's tools all the time. So he was pretty excited to have his own!

All ready with his tool belt and hard hat!

His Birthday is Labor Day weekend which is Peach Days in Hurricane so we headed over there for dinner and let him ride some of the rides. He is the blur to the right, this was the only picture I got that you could even kind of tell it was him. I think he had a pretty good day, even though he didn't get his cake (which is what he was most excited about) since we were waiting to do that on Monday when all the family could come. I did make him rice krispies so he at least had a birthday treat of some kind.

We had also gone to Peach Days the day before his birthday and got him a cotton candy on the way home. I think you can tell he LOVED it!!!!