Just another weekend

This weekend was anything but normal, I got an idea in my head and it would not go away. I was on a mission this weekend and Summer was my target, or rather her diapers were in my line of fire. Several mommies I know have successfully potty trained their babies, some as young as 18 months, and if they can do it than surely I can do it too because I am super mom after all!

At first I thought we would give panties a shot. Mimi had sent several and most of them are adorable, so Friday night I put Summer in a pair of panties and told her not to pee on them. She peed on them and her bedroom floor and never batted an eyelash so on Saturday I decided the panties were too much like a diaper and we would go bare bottomed instead. Every 10 to 15 minutes I would ask Summer if she needed to go pee pee and every 10-15 minutes we would run to a toilet, sit there for a few minutes, throw a few sheets of toilet paper into the toilet and get up because we were "all done". This went on for most of the morning and after 2 hours of nothing happening I was ready to give up, Summer was not ready, this was hard, I was bored, but I kept going. Finally we had some spray, that isn't politically correct is it? Summer was standing near the coffee table and started to pee (some of it on my foot) and as soon as I noticed I told her to hold it and run to the bathroom. She did hold it, we ran to the toilet and she finished. I had the biggest success smile on my face and so did Summer. I guess a light bulb clicked because we did not have another house accident the rest of the day. I also quickly realized that Summer doesn't pee every 15 minutes like I initially thought and I eventually stopped pushing so often.

We went out of the house to visit friends around lunch time and I put a "bye bye" diaper on. As soon as we arrived at our destination we ran to their bathroom and sat on the toilet, but nothing happened. We spent 2 hours playing with our friends and tried their toilet again before we left but nothing and the diaper was wet. Summer fell asleep in the car on the way home so we used the "bye bye" diaper and called it a "nap" diaper and slept. For only an hour (I could have used another hour myself) ... but after the nap again I was ready to quit. I didn't take the diaper off right away and Summer appeared to be pooping. When I went to change her she hadn't pooped so I left the diaper off and she did have to go so we sat on the toilet (for the 100th time that day) and she successfully plopped one into the pot! YAY for not quitting, I started to think maybe she could do this after all.


We sat around the house bare bottomed, running to the toilet every so often, most times resulting in nothing but magazine reading and toilet paper ripping, but occasionally she would go and we would smile and hug. By Sunday things were off to a bad start, we went on a hike and put on the "bye bye" diaper and when we got home we were playing out back, bare bottomed, and she peed down her legs. She told me right away and we used the hose to clean up - at least it was outside. Then around lunch time we were standing inside and she peed a little again, on the floor, but we ran to the toilet where she finished. She took a 2 hour nap (lucky me) and when she woke up her diaper was dry. Again - I was ready to call it quits when she went and sat on her toilet by herself and went pee. I didn't even realize she was going until she got up and said look - to which I did and saw pee! I almost quit three times by this point and she was showing promising sings, so we stuck with it. Later in the afternoon she started crouching near the couch making her noterious poopy face so we went into the bathroom to try to go, she wasn't into sitting on the toilet but I knew she had to go and I was worried she would get constipated so I started to sing to her to keep her entertained, and by the way, the new song is "Take me out to the ballgame" she loves it. After sitting for a few minutes ...


She went. She was tired, we had just gotten up from our nap and she wasn't thrilled about sitting on the toilet but she didn't resist and once she went we both had big smiles on our face. I kept telling her over and over how proud I am of her and that she is such a big girl and she seemed to like hearing it.

The rest of the evening went fine, no more accidents and less unsuccessful trips to the toilet. I relaxed from taking her so often, I really think she understands and is letting me know when she needs to go.

Today I had to pass the toilet paper off to daddy and papa, they have accepted the responsibility to train. Papa took her to McDonalds wearing panties and she was dry during the entire trip. She has not had any accidents this morning so I feel like we are on our way. Daddy and papa did go to Best Buy and they put her in a "bye bye" diaper but I told them to try to pee when they get to the store. I don't know how dramatic diaper wearing is, I might try to get some plastic pants to use with the underwear at least for day time outings, but I feel good about the progression, a little amazed that it can even be done so early. I thought most kids were trained right before kindergarten, I never realized they could be trained so early. I realize most of the work is on my part, all we are doing is teaching Summer a new trick, and she is smart enough to learn if we stay consistent.

Great Ending

I forgot something - before we went to the beach on Saturday we sat out back and took some cute pictures, mostly because the sun had finally come out and the grass, flowers, trees and sky were so colorful - we really had no choice.



The pictures were nice, we were all in a good happy mood! Ok back to where we left off - Saturday afternoon, Summer had just started her nap.

2 hours later, while Summer was napping our friends showed up to play, Tina & Aubrey and Lauren, Thomas & Josiah. I walked to meet them and we came back to the room where I had to wake Summer. All the kids went out back and saw the bunnies and played in the grass for a while. Then we suited up and headed to the pool. The water was nice and warm, well to everyone except me ... I thought it was cold and I was freezing. Summer and everyone else enjoyed it, the Montage has a nice pool for babies, it is only 1.5 foot deep and the water is salty, not filled with chlorine, so it was nice and different. We spent over an hour at the pool and were starting to get hungry so we headed back to the room to get dressed. Before we went across the street to find food we decided to take the kids out to this grassy spot and let them run around so we could get some pictures. Apparently someone else was going to use the grassy area to play but our kids still had room to run around for a while and we did get a few pictures.


Right near this grassy spot was a nice bench that overlooked the ocean where we snuck in a few more pictures. Can you see Summer's eyes, she either had a rash from where she kept rubbing her eyes earlier at the beach or she had a little bit of sun burn, or maybe both, her eyes were all red but she was still so cute!


After the picture taking was over we went to find food. We found a nice Asian place across the street called Asian Fusion, the prices were good, the food was good, the conversation was excellent. After dinner our friends left and we took some leftovers to daddy, who was back in the room raiding. I took Summer out to the fire pit one last time to enjoy the night air. It was so dark and warm outside and the fire was relaxing. We didn't stay out long, just long enough to get chilled so back inside we went where I decided we should take a bath and light some candles. The bathtub was so deep and Summer had a fun time with me. I let her stay in after I got out and snapped a few cute pictures because she looked so little in such a big tub.



After the bath it was around 9:00 and Summer was ready for bed, I think it took her a whole 5 minutes to sing herself to sleep. I followed quickly after her.

On Sunday we were awake by 7:15 and had packed and were on our way by 8:00. We had fruit and water for breakfast and 20 minutes into our drive home Summer puked all over herself. She didn't seem or act sick and was fine after so either the fruit didn't settle right or the bumpy California roads caused something to shake around and come back up. We pulled over and cleaned everything off as best we could and headed back to Las Vegas. Around 11:30 we were about an hour from home when Summer announced that she was hungry so we stopped at McDonalds but ended up having to wait over an hour to order and get our food, apparently we stopped when everyone else did and they had a huge rush. It was very annoying but we finally got some food and headed home, arriving around 1:00. We unpacked everything right away and started laundry, it seemed like all of our clothes were covered in beach sand.

Summer and I took another late afternoon nap and woke up feeling refreshed and ready to face the new week. It was an amazing vacation, we we can't wait to do it again real soon.

Saturday

We finally made it to Saturday, and we got to sleep in! Summer woke up around 5:30 whining but I put her in bed with us and she didn't wake up again until around 7:45. We got up and got dressed and since it was very foggy outside decided we would take a drive, get some breakfast and head to Dana Point to check out the boats. We asked the valet guys where we should eat and they mentioned a place called Coyote Grill about a mile and a half away so we went there, paid $3 to park and had a wonderful Mexican style breakfast. Kris had the traditional omelet, Summer had pancakes and bananas and I had a fried egg, enchilada, beans and taters and it was so good! If you are ever in the area I recommend eating there, they serve lunch and dinner too. When we left the restaurant it was raining (or drizzling) so we headed about 15 minutes south to Dana Point. We had to drive around for a while because I didn't really know where we were going, but we finally found the Harbor, saw some boats, no one was impressed so we didn't stay long - plus I was really cold!


On the way back to the Montage we stopped at the grocery store across the street and stocked up on snacks, we had such a late breakfast we figured we would just eat snacks on the beach for lunch. When we finally got back to the hotel and got everything packed to take to the beach the sun had come out and the weather was much warmer. We could hear the waves roaring from our room and knew they were much stronger than the day before. We found out when we got to the beach (which was around 11:00 ish) that the waves were so strong no one was in the water. There were a few kids playing in the sand so Kris took Summer to the edge of the waves to play. A lifeguard came over and warned him about the strong currents and told him the best places to stand so that he and Summer wouldn't get swept out to sea.


Even if we didn't get as far into the water as the day before, the sun was shining and it was warm out so Summer still ended up having a blast! She knew what she was in for and I think she was way more excited to be back on the beach.





Oh and at least she had her swim suit on and I had her hair all braided to try to keep it out of her eyes, it never works but at least it looks cute! They continued to enjoy the strong waves, some of them were so large that they got soaked, and for a while they just waited on the beach for the waves to build and explode. I think this picture below is my favorite from the entire trip, here they are, waiting, anticipating, getting ready for the next big wave!


After playing in the waves for at least an hour they headed back inland and we played in the sand. Some little boy wandered over to our area and ended up spending quite a bit of time playing in the sand with Summer. His dad was near by and made sure it was ok, he was 3 and had long blonde hair. He was really cute, he wasn't happy that Summer did what she wanted but at least Summer could care less about him. She seemed to like his toys when his dad brought them over, and she tried to do whatever he did, it was cute to watch. While Summer and this boy, was his name Nathan ... anyway while they played together Kris and I combed the beach looking for small sea shells and pieces of polished glass. I thought it would be neat to make a frame around the edge of a picture from the shells and glass we found. We found some but there really was not that many, I am not sure if I even have enough to border a frame so I may have to get creative and try something else.

Before we headed back to the hotel Kris and Summer played in the waves one last time. Kris had me hold Summer and ventured a little further out, enjoying the strong waves push him around. Secretly I was scared he was going to get pulled away but he won and made it out without a scratch. We headed back up to our room, Summer was getting sleepy and needed a nap, and we had our cafemom friends coming to play with us at 4:00. We still had so much left to do and only half an afternoon to do it, I can't believe how much fun we packed into such a short amount of time, and I can't believe how many photos we came home with! We are almost through the journey, I should be able to finish it up tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Better and Better

After we enjoyed our wine and sparkling apple cider and had a moment to relax in our amazing room. A little while later we decided to go for a walk and check out the rest of the property, and find food! Once we arrived in Laguna Beach but before we even arrived at the Montage we stopped at a Jack in the Box for a quick bite to eat and while sometimes hamburger joints are fun and the food can be good, I don't think any of us enjoyed our lunch, so we were a little hungrier than we normally would be and after hanging at the beach all day, really hungrier than normal.

While walking around we noticed kids playing in a large grassy area and Summer looked interested so we let her go run around. She kept running and running and smiling and she tripped once or twice but got right back up and continued to run - oh and she was barefoot, because the grass was so soft there was no need for constricting shoes!

After spending some time watching Summer run we decided to go eat at the place near the pool area. They had a bunch of tables right outside and in the middle of the area was a big fire pit. We chose to sit close to it, because the weather was a lot chillier than normal and I was cold. Summer was extremely tired by the time we sat at our table, the long drive and time spent at the beach was enough to make this girl, who only had a 40 minute nap, very sleepy. She was so worn out she kept putting her head on the table while we were waiting for our food.


To help pass the time and keep Summer awake Kris thought it would be fun to give her a lemon. Lemon photos are the best kind of photos, Summer went for the lemon, seemed to enjoy it at first, at least she enjoyed it enough to get a few really cool photos!






She was done with the lemon after a few nasty looking faces and dinner arrived soon after. We ordered the hot dog for Summer with a side of fruit. She wasn't really into the hot dog, maybe because it was huge but I cut it up into small pieces and she still wasn't really into it.


She did eat most of her fruit and quite a bit of the avocado from my sandwich wrap, which was excellent! It was a spinach wrap filled with grilled veggies and it was oh so yummy, I think it had red pepper and mushrooms and cheese, avocado, sprouts, and maybe something else - it was delicious and tasted so healthy. It came with a side of chips that also tasted healthy yet delicious and a side salad that was just as good. Kris ordered the cheese burger with sauteed onions and fries and he really enjoyed his dinner too. They had some amazing looking desserts on the menu but the plan was to come back later or tomorrow and try some, however I forgot - but that's ok, not like I really needed dessert!

Since I was freezing after dinner I decided to get on my swim suit and get Summer in one and head to the hot tub. Sorry no pictures from this event, but we had a nice time. Summer enjoyed the hot tub because it had seats and she could walk around the entire tub yet still be "in" the water. She called it her "pool" and did not want to get out. I spent the max amount of time I can stand to stay in a hot and when I was ready to get out Summer was not. In fact she almost threw a little fit when I finally decided we needed to go back to the room to settle in for the night.

Once we were back at the room I made Summer a little bed on the floor next to my side and set her up with the DVD player and a movie. I figured she would be asleep within minutes but around 9:00 I finally turned the DVD off and told her it was bed time, said prayers and within 5 minutes she was out. I think Kris and I were out around 9:30, it didn't take us long to fall asleep after such a wonderful day, and we still had an entire day to go!

The Vacation Continues

Yesterday I forgot to mention Rocky the turtle, when we arrived at the Montage and as soon as we were greeted just inside the hotel was a red wagon filled with stuffed fish and a single stuffed turtle. Summer was able to pick one of these stuffed animals and of course she picked the turtle. We asked her what she wanted to name her turtle and somehow collectively we came up with the name Rocky. She hung on to Rocky for most of the day and we even dropped him and ran him over with the stroller at some point yet he still looks good!

After Summer and daddy had spent a few hours splashing around in the waves, we noticed Summer's lips were blue and she was shaking uncontrollably so we decided to come out of the water and sit on the chairs and enjoy the sand for a bit. This way Summer could warm up and rest. She only had a 40 minute nap earlier on the car ride and was so exhausted and cold playing in the waves but she still didn't want to get out of the water.


After sitting for a bit on the beach chairs we figured we should try the sand toys and see if we could build anything. We scooted to the wetter sand and started building castles but as you can see Summer and I were drawn to the waves behind us.



Back to the water we went, this time her and I decided to give it a try, and yet the water was just as cold as it was a few hours earlier, colder maybe? I hung in as long as I could, Summer was still extremely cold and shaky but enjoyed every single minute. She wanted to be held and then sat down to get her feet wet, what a work out, it was all I could do to keep picking her up and setting her down, I decided daddy was much better suited for this job and this cold water!


We headed inland once more to dry off and before we headed back to our room I decided Summer needed to be buried in the sand, because - after all, that is what you do on a beach!


After we spent a few hours on the beach we headed back to our room to shower and rest and it was time for the wine. I am normally not a big wine drinker but maybe it was the fresh salty air or the cool breeze that helped me enjoy this glass. Since Summer was with us they also gave us a nice little bottle of sparkling apple juice. They didn't have any plastic cups so she had to drink her juice out of a glass and she managed not to spill or break it.


Kris was figuring out the wifi and Summer and I were chilling on the patio. When we first looked out the patio we noticed a bunny! There ended up being about 5 or 6 bunnies living outside our patio door, of course they didn't want anything to do with us but it was still fun watching them munch on the grass just right outside our room.


We had already done so much in such a short amount of time but there is still more, you have to wait until tomorrow thought, stay tuned!

Relaxed & Ready

The vacation was really a dream, it was as good as I had envisioned and more. We had such a wonderful, relaxing, exciting, interested time - I was worried we might not come back, but we did. We ended up with over 800 photos and they were all so amazing, I could not be more thrilled. The new camera lens arrived just in the nick of time, we used it to capture some beautiful images of us, the beach, the waves, and other random cool beautiful things. Since I took so many pictures I decided to break this vacation photo montage up through the week. That will be easier to explain and get some stories out there for you to enjoy and see.

I guess we can start with our arrival to our beautiful hotel, The Montage Resort! It is hidden away along the beach and caters to some really snazzy people - including us. We arrived on Friday around 1:30 in the afternoon, the weather was beachy, you know kinda overcast and humid? The staff at the montage greeted us when we arrived, took our bags, parked our car and escorted us to a fabulous room. I mean fabulous. We could not have had a better room! The front door to the room opened up to a large grassy area and just around the corner was the ocean. We also received complimentary wine, but we saved it for later, we were anxious to get down to the beach and check it out. We were not expecting to actually get in the water yet, we really wanted to scope the area and see what we would be getting ourselves into but plans don't always work out like you expect. We grabbed a bath towel, beach toys, the camera and headed down the stairs to the beach. The Montage had a little station on the beach and set up lawn chairs and umbrellas for us - they even came by at some point and offered refreshments.

The ocean was amazing, like everything you can imagine, a bright turquoise blue with white fluffy waves crashing on the beach. I won't lie and say it was warm, the water was FREEZING, when it hit my feet it stung. The sun was hidden behind clouds and the weather was a little bit cooler than I liked but as far as taking pictures, we could not have gotten luckier, the overcast skies made for some beautiful pictures.

Since we had not planned to get wet we were all still in our normal clothes. Kris took Summer down to the edge of the water and let Summer check it out. At first she was frightened of the large loud waves.



But after a few more waves the shock wore off and she started enjoying the water spraying her legs. They put the toys down near the chairs and went out a little further, getting a little more adventurous. From where I was sitting I could hear the squeals of delight as the waves crashed into her legs. She did not want to be down, she wanted up up, "up up daddy" but daddy didn't mind, he kept swinging her down into the waves where she would squeal like a little girl.


Even soaking wet and cold, lips were blue, shaking uncontrollably, she did not want to get out, the ocean had her and she was never going back!




Luckily for Summer Daddy was enjoying himself just as much as she was, of course he did get soaked and had no other shorts to wear, again we weren't planning on getting wet just yet. We easily spent a couple hours out there playing in the water, the sand, sitting on the chairs, it was simply incredible.


I had more fun watching Summer smile and laugh and have a blast. The vacation had begun and so far it was starting out incredible. It doesn't stop here - more to come tomorrow, to be continued ...

Vacation

We will be headed to the ocean tomorrow and this will be the first time Summer will be able to put her little feet in the sand, build sand castles, play in the ocean waves, taste the salty water, be constantly slathered in sun screen, asked to keep her hat on, wear swim suits and little swimmers all day, eat at new and exciting places, sleep in a strange place, skip naps - or not, be photographed on the beach with the sun setting, or this is the plan anyway and as most ideas are not exactly they way you plan them in your head I have high hopes for this trip. We are also going to meet up with some of our mommy friends and their babies, or I guess they really aren't babies anymore now are they?

To prepare for our trip tomorrow we started getting things ready this week. We had to clean off all the sand toys so we could take them to the beach. This required us to play with the water hose in the back yard to wash off all the old sand and leaves. Normally Summer does not like to get wet but on this day she happily helped wash everything, including herself. I even told her to wash off her face and she actually stuck the water hose up to her chin and let the water soak her off, it was fun to watch, I only hope she enjoys the ocean waves as much as the water hose!




Papa won't be coming with us on this trip but he did prepare Summer by getting her a new pair of shoes to wear, she needs to look super cool when we walk around and her new pink converse shoes are a winner!


She really likes them too, if you ask her about her new shoes she will gladly raise her leg in the air to make sure you can see them, she will tell you Papa got them for her and let you know they are pink!

So we will be gone this weekend, I won't have any updates until we get back, look for some cool beach pictures on Monday!

Green Beans

Summer loves most of the vegetables we put in front of her, except a small few such as zucchini and squash, sometimes she will eat them raw but she doesn't like them cooked at all. She loves peas, carrots, spinach, cabbage (and sauerkraut), okra, beats (sometimes), corn, ok she doesn't like asparagus or brussel sprouts yet but we will work on that again later. Summer likes green beans too - sorta. She will eat a few whole but then she start to get picky and will sit there and open them up to get the little seeds out, or as she likes to call them, bean beans.


I am glad she eats so well, I started giving her daily multi vitamins just because I started taking them. Oh and if you can't tell I got the new camera lenses! I will play some more later tonight and get more neat photos!

Our Sunday Hike

Yesterday we went on another hike at Mt. Charleston. This was a new hike, the weather was perfect, in fact it was almost cold when we got to the top of our trail. Summer fell asleep right before we arrived but woke up shortly after we started our adventure (and not in a happy mood I might add). I still haven't got the new lenses in the mail but I did use my iPhone to take some pretty decent photos. Of course this would be one of those days when Summer decided she would be good and actually smile and pose for me, of course, on a day I didn't have the good camera.






Our hike was amazing and challenging. We ended up walking over 4 miles, 6000 and something steps, to the top of a mountain edge that ended with a beautiful waterfall. We almost didn't make it because it was strenuous and we are still not in the best shape. Can you believe there is water running in mountains so close to Las Vegas? I think we were all really surprised to see water dripping from the side of a mountain and the water was really chilly too.


By the time we arrived at our final destination Summer was so dirty, she had fallen earlier all the way on her stomach but got right back up and pushed me away, however her white shirt was evident that the rocky trail she fell on was full of dirt and dust. Plus her poor little hair had seen better days and was not pulled back like I had planned. She didn't seem to mind but I know that hair had to be annoying.

We keep saying we need to get a backpack for her, carrying her most of our hikes ends up killing us, but deep down I think we both enjoy the extra challenge of hiking with and extra 30 pounds. We take turns carrying her until we can't go on any further, sometimes it may only be a few steps, some of those trails are steep and there are steps a lot of the time. Summer really seemed to enjoy this hike yesterday, she actually walked and ran a lot of the way and played with some of the rocks and sticks from the trail. She also saw a really big ant and was amused that it was trying to get her - because it was walking in her direction.

One of the new lenses should arrive today so I hope to have some time tonight to play with it, test it out, make sure it works as good as the old lens, or better. I am so excited, who would have thought a stupid lens would make a person so happy. Of course having such a cute little girl to take pictures of is even better.

Woe Me

Still stuck with the same cheap camera, waiting for my new lenses to arrive, yet I am smiling because at least I still have a camera right? The lenses should arrive by the middle of next week, I hope because we are going to the beach next weekend and if I don't have my good lens I may just die.


Summer doesn't seem to notice the missing large camera, she has still seen a camera in her face most days, and she still doesn't really care nor does she ever look at the camera when I ask her too. This shot was of her looking at me because I told her I had a book in my eye and her trying to figure out what I was talking about because there was clearly no book in my eye.


I wonder why we love color so much for our kids but as adults our house becomes very dull, well dull compared to all the color in Summer's room - look at those vivid colors.


So back to reading she went, or back to taking out each book, one at a time, and handing them to me so I could stack them up and wait until she finished taking them all out of her shelf so I could then put them all back in. We play this game a lot. OH and will you check out those piggies, we painted our piggies before we went up to her room, a nice bright pink color. They make her feet look so girly, which is a nice change from her large wide caveman feet as think of them. She really liked the bright pink and showed them to daddy right away. She was so proud to have pink piggies like her mommy, right now our piggy color matches.


After the book were all taken out of their home and placed in large piles on the floor her interest switched to her People and the books were forgotten, which gave me a chance to put them all back up on the shelf, in no particular order, nor were they all turned right side up. They won't stay there long, they belong in the hands of a little child and then on the floor anyway.