Potty Training 101

Justin took the whole last week of the year off from work...hoping for a relaxing week. That didn't turn out as planned for him. I decided to potty train Kaitlyn that week since Justin would be home to help out. Boy am I glad he was! The first 3-4 days were MISERABLE! She was terrified of the potty. I am pretty sure I barely even saw Brayden for about 4 days b/c I was constantly tending to Kaitlyn. She freaked out. She went into some sort of depression almost. I decided to potty train cold-turkey. No more diapers. She understood that she couldn't go in her underwear, she just wouldn't go at all! The first day she held it for hours...like 7-8 hours! She was so scared to release her pee on the potty and the only times she would pee were when she absolutely couldn't hold it anymore. She would just scream and all she wanted to do was cuddle and watch tv...which is VERY unlike her. She went through stages of hating the potty, to then never wanting to even get off of it! She would just sit there trying to go for like an hour. She actually fell asleep on the potty multiple times b/c she refused to leave it! But after about 5 days I am glad to say that she is now 100% potty trained with no more adverse side effects! She even wakes up in the middle of the night to potty and rarely will wet the bed! Even though those first couple days were HORRIBLE, I am so suprised at how well she did and how quickly she trained herself! She literally only had 2 accidents and that was the first day! So happy to be finished with that stage of life with her!

Here is a clip of Kaitlyn asleep on her potty:

Christmas Break 2011

My family LOVES Christmas, Justin may say a little too much. Since this year we were going to be down in Shallotte with his family for Christmas, we had several different Christmas's here with my family. The first started on the 22nd where we went over to my mom's house for Christmas with her and my brother. Then on the 23rd we had a family get-together at my house with my grandparents and aunt and uncle's family. And finally Santa came to our house the morning of Christmas Eve before we left for Shallotte. Justin was Christmased out before we even left. Not to mention we had another Christmas with my Dad when we got back! haha! Anyway, Kaitlyn loved it this year. She was really into ripping open presents, but still doesn't quite comprehend what Santa Claus is all about. On Black Friday, my brother and I went to Wal-mart and I scored an awesome 14' trampoline with enclosure for an early present. Plus she got a play kitchen and a bunch of baby doll stuff from my mom. I finally got an i-touch...yes I know I am way behind the times. Justin and I can't afford the data plans that come along with smart phones, so I wanted something I could carry around with me to access the internet, etc. Overall it was a great Christmas.

My fat little Reindeer

Our annual Christmas photo with Santa

Brayden-2 months

Brayden is growing like a weed. We had his 2 month check up back on the 16th and he was already up to 13 lbs! He was in the 80-90%. The doctor joked that he might break the scale. haha. So different from Kaitlyn who was either too small to even make the charts, or usually hovered around the 3% mark. He is still a wonderful baby and I couldn't ask for a better baby. He rarely cries and he can be consoled pretty easily. He is still not sleeping through the night and I don't forsee it starting any time soon b/c this boy likes to eat too much! Currently he eats about 4.5-5 oz every 3 hours. We put him to bed around 11:00ish and he wakes once around 3:30ish to eat and then goes back to sleep until 7:30-8:00. So not too bad. We are in the process of trying to push the bedtime earlier though b/c we are pretty worn out. I just don't want him waking up too early in the morning.

It has also been sweet to see how Kaitlyn interacts with him. She really does love him so much. Every morning if he is not up yet she asks where "baby boy" is. The other day we went on a walk to the park and Kaitlyn was fighting me to put her coat back on before we walked back home. Brayden's stroller started rolling away. VERY slowly...I wasn't worried, but I told Kaitlyn "Hurry Brayden is rolling away!" She screamed and ran after him crying and grabbed onto the handle and wouldn't let go! It was so sweet to see her trying to save him. She gives him kisses all the time and loves to help out with him.

We also had Brayden's Baby Blessing at church this past Sunday. All of Justin's family came into town for it, so that was nice. On Justin's side of the family there are now 3 babies all within 2 months of each other. Isaiah is two months older than Brayden and Ellie who are only 2 days apart. They will have so much fun playing together when they are older!

My Beautiful Baby Boy!

Blessing Day

All the new babies (Brayden, Ellie, Isaiah)

Kaitlyn Randomness

Kaitlyn LOVES to go to the grocery store. She knows them all by name. Without me telling her where we are going, as soon as I pull into the parking lot, she looks out and says "There's Harris Teeter" or Aldi, or Bi-lo. Harris Teeter is her favorite of course b/c she gets a balloon and a cookie. She LOVES balloons. Whenever she has a 'fresh' balloon she will literally carry it around until it dies. I am talking even when she is sleeping...she will not let go. At night time Kaitlyn is a really sound sleeper, but if we try and take the balloon out of her hand while she is asleep she immediately wakes up saying "BALLOON!" Too bad those HT balloons die the next day and she wants to go so often. A couple days ago she actually screamed for over an hour b/c she wanted to go to Harris Teeter. She just kept saying "Go Harris Teeter" over and over. I guess my couponing has created a little grocery store monster! haha!

What we've been up to these past 5 weeks...

It's been 5 weeks since our little baby boy was born and things have been going pretty smoothly. He is seriously the sweetest baby ever. He hardly ever cries and that is usually only when he is hungry. He is content just looking around with his paci when he is awake. It has been such a blessing to have such an easy baby after what we went through with Kaitlyn. He is a big eater. I have fallen back into my old habit of just pumping ILO nursing. But its not bad. He is already up to about 4 ounces or so per feeding and would eat more than that if we would let him. I do let him nurse in between meals if he is really hungry as a snack :)

He had his 1 month check-up this past week. He is already up to 9 lb 9 oz and 21.5" long, both in the 25-50%. He has adjusted pretty well to sleeping patterns as well. He goes to bed around 11:30ish and will wake up once around 3:30-4:00 to eat and then goes back to sleep until about 7:30 or 8:00 so not too bad! Kaitlyn has also been adjusting better since the first couple weeks. She is not quite as whiny and is happier now that we are up and about again. She likes to try and help out too which is sweet. Unfortuantly I forgot to take a picture of him at exactly 1 month, so here is a picture of us today before church on his 5 week birthday along with a few others of his first month here one earth.

Kaitlyn about to head out trick-or-treating

Crossing the bridge at Discovery Place

Kaitlyn and her BFF Brigham at the water factory

Brayden Thomas Wood

We are so happy to have our little baby boy here with us! He was born exactly 2 weeks early on Sunday Oct. 16, 2011. As you know, up until my last appointment before he was born he had been breach/transverse, but luckily he decided to turn on his own! Justin and I were watching Grey's Anatomy and I told Justin towards the end of it that I thought I was starting labor. I started having contractions at 10:00pm Saturday night. We stayed up until about 11:30 to make sure they were still coming regularly and they were. I decided to go try and take a nap since it would probably be awhile and Justin tried to clean up the house. Of course I couldn't sleep since I kept getting woke up by contractions, so I tried to start cleaning and packing as well. My mom was out of town coming home Sunday morning, so we had to call my brother to come and stay with Kaitlyn while we went to the hospital. We left for the hospital around 8 or 9 AM. When we first got there I was admitted into Triage. My contractions up until then had been painful, but not unbearable. Then all of the sudden he must have turned inside me and I started having the worst back labor ever. I literally felt like I was going to die! I was screaming and crying for an epidural, but the midwife was tied up in another delivery and I couldn't be admitted to the hospital room until she checked me again. The nurse made me walk for an hour to dilate to 4cm. I felt like my back was ripping in half. Literally the worst pain I have ever felt. I really don't know how I would have survived the entire pregnancy without pain meds. I was naseous from the pain. Finally my midwife came and checked me and I was at 4cm. I got admitted to my room and was able to start the fluids for my epidural. Unfortuantly the nurse couldn't get my IV in. It hurt so bad so she called another nurse in to put it in. Luckily the second nurse was able to insert it correctly and I was able to get my epidural about an hour later. After that everything was perfect! They broke my water and everything went quickly after that. I felt a lot of pressure like I needed to push but I guess they didn't think I would be ready so quickly. They kept waiting to check me even though I told them I was feeling pressure. Finally they checked me and said "Wow, the head is RIGHT there!" They paged the delivery nurse and suited up very quickly. They told me to push and he came right out on the first push!

They put him on me and I was immediately in love. It was different than with Kaitlyn. Not that I didn't love her, but I felt it more strongly this time. I think maybe b/c I already know what it was like to love a child now, when I didn't yet know with Kaitlyn. He immediately started sucking his thumb so they told me to let him nurse and he did for quite a while. They didn't even take him from me until like 2 hours later! I guess they could just tell that he was healthy. He weighed in at 7lbs 7 oz. and was 19.5in long.

Most all my family was out in the waiting room so they all came in right away. Kaitlyn did suprisingly well at the hospital. I think she really did understand that he was here and was part of our family. She has adjusted pretty well as far as acting like she loves him and doesn't try and hurt him or anything. But unfortuantly she is not taking the lack of attention as well. She cries a lot more now and whines all the time. If I am pumping or nursing she will just stand at my side and cry. She has also started doing a lot more bad stuff for attention. So hopefully that will all pass soon. I know it will get better, but I hope soon! So far Brayden has been a little angle and we love him so much!

About to head to the hospital

About 1 minute after he was born

Kaitlyn meeting Brayden for the first time

Welcome home!

Brayden's Room

So we are finally done with Brayden's room. Our house has been in shambles ever since we started converting the guest room into Brayden's room. We had so much storage in there and stuff that we needed to sell on craigslist and we are still trying to find places for it. I need a basement...or at least bigger closet or attic or something! Currently our loft area and master bedroom look like a tornado has went through with all of the random boxes and clutter lying around looking for a new home. But at least his room is now ready for his arrival! We went with a jungle theme. I am not as happy with his room as I was with Kaitlyn's, but mainly b/c I feel it is just too bland. But we didn't want to go through the hassle of putting up moulding to have two different colors and all that, and thought the green walls might be too much, so we just went with a cream color and I painted some letters for his name and a couple of canvases to hang up b/c I am too cheap to buy anything premade! haha! I thought they turned out pretty good, but of course it is a little hard to see on these small photos. My mom and I found this awesome giraffe on craigslist and then I bought some wall stickers of jungle animals.