choo choo

Get on the train, the potty train that is! I am really hesitant to post this since it seems that anytime I post something about how great Megan is doing she almost always goes back to her old ways, but I really wanted to brag about Nathan, so I'm taking my chances. Nathan has been using the potty for the last week. Last Saturday I finally had enough of the diapers with him and I put them all away. I put underwear on him and just decided to deal with the mess because it is time for him to stop being stubborn and get on with using the potty. We had plenty of messes those first couple of days, but he got the hang of peeing on the potty by day 3. Pooping on the potty, now that's another story. He simply refused to do it. I think he was scared more than anything. We finally got him to go on the potty once and we made a huge deal out of it. He got a bunch of M&M's and we bought him a new matchbox car and we called grandma. It was a big deal, but it didn't last. We kept trying to bribe him with another new car or some other toy, but he just wouldn't go on the potty. We had lots of poop "accidents" this week, but finally last night he used the potty again. So we put everybody in the car and drove to wal-mart and let him pick out another new car. He was pretty excited and now today he has pooped on the potty 2 times. I know we are still going to have accidents, but this is major breakthrough for him since I figured at the rate he was going he'd be 5 and still wearing diapers. I know none of you are probably half as excited as I am about Nathan using the potty, but I couldn't be more proud of him. :)

6 months

Holy crap, Megan has been part of our family for one half of a year already. It's so sad how fast time goes by now. I feel like there aren't enough hours in the day to really enjoy my kids while they are little and snuggly, and it makes me so sad. I took Megan to the doctor today for her checkup and she is 15 pounds 1.5 ounces and 26 inches long. She is growing as she should be. She also got 3 more shots today. I hate when the kids get shots because they look at me with those sad eyes and I can tell they are thinking "dear God mom, why are you letting them hurt me?!" I know it's better that they get the vaccines than end up with some horrible disease, but I hate that it hurts them.
Megan is pretty mobile now. She doesn't crawl in the traditional sense of the word, but she can get wherever she wants to go pretty easily. She is also still working on that other tooth on top. It is so close to being all the way through her gum, and I'll be glad when it is, because I have a feeling that's why she's been so fussy lately. I'll be heading back to the photo studio for pictures soon, so keep checking back for some new cuteness.

don't count what?

oh that's right, don't count your chickens before they hatch! Of course the night I posted about Megan's great sleeping she went back to her waking up a couple times a night. We are getting better, but it's a very slow process.
In other news the cloth diapering is going great. The only issue I'm having is our super efficient washing machine doesn't get all of them completely clean the first time through the wash. It's mainly because our washer uses as little water as possible, which is bad for cloth diapers because they get cleaned better when circulating through large amounts of water. The big problem is I can't adjust the amount of water it uses because it's an autofill machine, so there isn't a water level adjustment button anywhere on the machine. I'm tweaking my washing routine and changed my detergent and I'll have it all figured out soon. I can't believe I miss my old washer!

It's a miracle

ok, not really, but it is pretty amazing. Megan has slept for at least 11 hours the last 3 nights in a row. I'm really hoping it sticks this time. Isn't she cute!

babysitting

Saturday night we watched my cousins kids while they went out for the first time in forever. They are such awesome kids. They are 6 & 8, they will be 7 & 9 next month, and they entertain our kids and listen so well, it's almost easier having them here. This kids had such a great time playing outside with their cousins and our neighbor, and then we all came in and cleaned up and they watched happy feet together. I'm so glad they have cousins they are close to and get to be around so much.

If it weren't for bad luck...

we'd have no luck at all. Some days I really think this saying is directly linked to me. I do realize a lot of other people have it much worse than we do, but it's so frustrating when things keep happening that cost us money we don't have. On Friday I took the van to the auto repair shop to have them look at the drivers side window. It had been sometimes working, sometimes not for a while, and I finally had enough of getting stuck in the drive through having to open my door because my window wouldn't go down. I thought maybe it was a short in the connection since it would work occasionally, but I was wrong. They called to say that the motor that makes the window go up and down had went out, and with parts and labor it was going to be $330 to fix it. Plus, they had checked our transmission fluid and it needed to be cahnged. Don't ask me why they checked the transmission when it was in there for an issue with the window, but whatever. Anyway, we told them to fix the window, what other choice did we have, and to flush out the transmission since Sean knew that needed to be done anyway. So $460 later our van is back home.
Then today Sean called to tell me he got pulled over and the cop said our car was unregistered. I said "That's odd, I thought we got a two year renewal in 2006, and I know we didn't get a renewal notice this year, so what the heck." Turns out we only got a one year renweal, but even though we never got a renewal notice this year, we are still responsible for getting it done. How many of you look at your plates to see if they are expired when you don't get a notice? Anyway, at least the car doesn't need any inspections, but it still sucks that we are going to owe late fees, plus have to pay for this ticket and court costs. Luckily this is a no points violation, so at least our insurance won't go up.
By the way, has anyone won the lottery and want to share with us? :)

new discovery

I found an awesome cloth diaper. I only bought one to try it out, and now I can't wait for the store to open tomorrow so I can go buy more. It is a bumGenius! one size diaper. This thing is so cool. It has a pocket that you put the absorbent pad in and then it straps on just like disposable diaper. You can even add extra inserts to make it more absorbent for over night. The best part is it is so adjustable in size that Megan can wear it from now until she is potty trained. Check it out!


I realize I've become way to excited about cloth diapers, but this is my newest obsession, so just go with it! I also found a really cute wet bag to store the used diapers in while we are out. I really like this fabric because it's not completely baby like.

I'll continue to update as I find more awesome diapering stuff. I'm sure you all can't wait!