First Potty Trained Road Trip

For Memorial Day weekend, we took a road trip up to the mountains to visit Nate's aunt (trying to get a post up soon). It was Grant's first potty trained road trip and I'm happy to report he did great! No accidents! It was, I think, a little over 4 hours to her house and we only had to stop once and the same on the way back. We were pretty jazzed about how it went.

On the way home when we stopped at a rest stop, Grant wasn't asking to pee. We asked him and he had to go. All was well. We figured we'd have to stop at least once more before getting home. But that didn't seem to be the case...until we were about 15-20 minutes from home. We hear "I gotta go pee-pee..." from the back seat. I told him we were almost home and asked if he could hold it. "Yeah, I gonna hold it" he told me. We got to our exit (which means only 5 more minutes) when Grant started crying that he had to pee. I was trying to distract him with funny stuff and songs but nothing was working. Then Husband asked if Grant wanted him to pull over so he could go in the woods. Grant said yes - but we didn't. So we get home and I quick jump out of the truck and I'm getting Grant out telling him we're heading to the potty.

Grant: "I wanna go in the woods"

Me: "We're going to go inside and sit on the potty"

Grant: "I wanna go in the woods!"

Me - pointing him toward the backyard: "Fine. Go back there and pee in the woods."

He walked about 10 steps past the front of the truck, dropped trou, and peed right there in the yard.

I couldn't miss the photo op, it was too hysterical. But lets hope he doesn't demonstrate this new found skill on the playground at school. *fingers crossed*

Moving Forward

On August 1, 2009, I sat in my Gram's nursing home room with my husband, sister, mom, and aunt. We had driven home for the weekend because I knew my Gram was very sick. I watched my mom holding her hand telling my Gram it was ok to go even though she wasn't ready to let her mom go. My Gram died the next morning.

I remember hoping that I could be that strong if we were ever faced with a situation like that with my mom. Just a few weeks after Gram died, mom was diagnosed with cancer. And not even one year later I was holding my mom's hand, telling her it was ok even though I was anything but ready to let go. That was now three years ago. Sometimes it seems like yesterday, sometimes like its been forever.

But here's the thing: good things can come of such sadness if you let them. I still get sad. Sometimes it seems harder with Grant because I want so much to tell my parents about the things Grant is up to. Or send them pictures. Or ask about the things I did when I was his age. Or watch them play with him.

But when I look back on the three weeks I spent at home while Mom was on hospice care and then passed away, rather than seeing the things that frustrated me (and there was a lot of that) I'm seeing more of the wonderful ways people helped us and the people in my life that continue to do so.

Hehehe...I love this one!

One day after my mom "got bad" as I refer to it, I was in the living room with mom and my aunts and we saw a car pull up that wasn't familiar. I stared out the window because I knew the car but couldn't believe it was in the driveway. My dear friend Elizabeth (accompanied by her brother - I'm so glad she didn't go alone) had driven all the way from NC to my parents house in NY (an 800 some mile/14 hour trip one way) just to be there for me and my family. She will never ever know how much it helped to have her there with me and there is no way I'll ever be able to thank her.

Or my cousin AJ's wife, Melanie, who is a teacher and was still in school while all this was going on. She came over every evening after she was done at work and always made sure we had something yummy to eat for dinner. I remember once while I was sitting with my mom by myself she came in and sat with me and just talked. I don't remember what we talked about but I do remember that it was just nice at that moment to have company. 

My boss here in NC was on vacation in Massachusetts and drove up to NY to go to my Mom's funeral. I had no idea he was going. It shocked the hell out of me as I was standing in line greeting people to see him there. He decided to drive back that afternoon and got a speeding ticket on the way back to MA (you know what they say about good deeds...)

One of the best things to have happened in all this, is that my sister and I have developed a relationship with my Dad's brother [Uncle] Kevin. He called often while Mom was home those two weeks and my sister and I talked to him a lot. At the gathering after her funeral, he asked for my phone number and asked if it was ok that he check in on me (we've never been super close to my Dad's side of the fam). Since then, we talk relatively often (usually on a Sunday night and the conversation is never less than an hour long) and I send him pictures of Grant so he can see how he's growing. It's nice to have him to talk to and sometimes it's a lot like talking to my Dad. I'm so glad that we've kept in touch.

There's more, of course. Lots more. My Aunt Bonnie and Aunt Betty who were always with my Mom. My cousin AJ who was always at the house with us and who spoke at both Mom & Dad's funerals. All the friends, neighbors, and family who sent cards, flowers and brought meals (and coffee!) to us. My hubby who never once said a word about how much coffee I was drinking even thought I was 6 months pregnant and shouldn't have been drinking it. My Mother-in-Law who took care of our dog and house for three weeks while we were gone. The Hospice staff that came were, of course, wonderful women who were very honest with us and sincere. 

There were so many people who helped us through that rough time and so many people in our lives who are still so supportive and helpful. Because of that I've been able to keep moving forward and that I am able to see how lucky I am inspite of everything.

High Five for Friday

Today I'm linking up with Lauren to share some of my favorite things from the past week. (P.S. I have more than 5 this week)

1) On Saturday, Grant and I picked my sister up from the airport! She usually comes to spend Mother's Day and the week after with us. Grant so loves her visits!

2) Mother's Day! We had a very low key day this year. I wanted to wander around the flea market for a bit, then we stopped in to see my Mother-in-Law, and we went out to dinner after that. My sister and I topped it all off with hot fudge sundaes that night toasting our mom. Mother's Day is always a little rough and this year hit me harder for some reason. But the sundae sure hit the spot :)

Grant made me a card at school!

Pretty flowers! Husband knows I love tulips :)

Sundaes for Mom

3) CHEESE! With visits from my sister come goodies from home. Including my favorite chocolate covered pretzels and CHEESE CURD! Cheese curd is THE BEST and I've been snacking on it all week.

4) On Monday, we packed up and drove to the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher! I had never taken my sis here before and Grant loves "the fishies" so we did a little day trip down there.

ROAR! (says Grant)

I never knew they had a little shark petting tank!

5) Playtime at the park! We have some great parks just down the road and I haven't had time to get there lately. This week we took a nice long walk around both parks and worked in some playground time for Grant too.

6) Family movie night! We do that every once in a while and I really wanted to try to do it while my sis was here. So we rented Brave (super cute movie, by the way) and popped popcorn on the stove (so good!) and cuddled up for movie night.

So much that we needed two bowls!

7) We got a pool! Ok, so it's just an inflatable one. BUT it's deep enough that Grant can really play in it and it's big enough that I can sit in it :) Grant loved it the second we started putting water in it and we had to drag him out when he was so cold that he was shaking from head to toe.

Yes, he's in his undies.

HAPPY FRIDAY and I hope you have a great weekend :)

Three Bears Acres

Warning: Picture Overload!

A couple weekends ago we decided to check out a place in Creedmoor called Three Bears Acres. I had gotten discounted tickets through Living Social (I'm loving that site!) and they were expiring soon so we went one Saturday afternoon. 

It's a huge area out in the middle of nowhere that encourages kids to play, play, play. Grant eyed their jumping pillow immediately so that was the first "station" we hit. 

They said we could play too, so I did.

Grant got a little nervous with all the bigger kids on there so he didn't stay on the jumping pillow too long. We hit the paint wall next (and I'm pretty sure he could have stayed there all day.

Learning to use a stencil with Daddy.

It's a huge washable white wall and they keep all their paints, brushes, and stencils in an old crib. They also have a bucket with sponges to wash off your masterpiece. I think Grant had just as much fun wiping it off as he did painting on it.

Mud kitchen - Grant didn't play much here

A sandbox of course. I'm pretty sure Grant could have stayed here all day too.

So I had noticed this big plastic tubes in their main field. I figured they were for kids to run and/or crawl through and I honestly thought that was pretty lame. But then I saw people rolling in them and realized that's what they were for. So fun! Grant absolutely loved rolling in the big tube. He laughed the whole time, it was so funny!

And then we went over to the sling shot station. Grant loved shooting the tennis balls with the big sling shot. 

The flags are their targets.

 Next up was the archery station. Husband and I played more here than Grant did. We did let him try to do it because there was little chance of him getting hurt but he's just not coordinated enough yet to do something like that.

Then we went into the woods for more fun.

They have a huge toboggan slide and Grant would have ridden that until they closed. I went with him each time and I'll admit it was really fun. It went a lot faster than I though it would and it had a little hump in the middle to go over. We had a good time with that one.

They also have a large "tree house" area with slides, rope nets, and swings.

And hanging under the tree house area were all these fun swings. Grant's favorite was what we the spiderweb swing. It looked like so much fun and Grant loved it.

It was a great afternoon. Husband and I had so much watching Grant play outside having such a good time. They also had paddle boats but we didn't make it down to the lake. After the tree houses we had a picnic in the back of the truck which Grant thought was so great because he saw them have a picnic on Jake and the Neverland Pirates. "We gonna have a picnic like Jake?" So cute.

My thoughts on Three Bears Acres:

• It's not cheap entertainment. $13 for kids, $7 for adults. I'm kinda cheap about stuff like that so a $13 admission for a kid is steep to me. Since I got our tickets through Living Social, it was much more reasonable and I will keep an eye out if they have tickets on there again.
• Pack food (snacks, lunch, drinks, etc.)! Thankfully I did. There are no restaurants nearby and only a small concession stand at the park.
• If you're not into letting your kid get dirty, don't go. And if you're not into letting them get into stuff on their own while you sit on a bench nearby, don't go. 
• Plenty of places for parents to sit if the kids are playing on their own. I liked that because once we got to the tree houses, we parked it until Grant wanted to swing.
• The bathrooms were surprisingly clean when we went. Especially for an outdoor play place.
• Not for very small children and not stroller friendly. We brought our stroller but didn't use it. And I'm so glad. I saw so many parents struggling to push their strollers around. 

So, would we go again? Yes. Again, I was put off by the price at first. But looking back at those pictures and how much fun Grant had, I would definitely go again. I think we'd probably make a day of it, instead of an afternoon. 

High Five for Friday

I've seen my friend, Elizabeth, do this on her blog for a while a now so I'm going to give it a shot too.

Today I'm linking up with Lauren to share five of my favorite things from the past week.

1) On Saturday we took Grant to Three Bears Acres and had a wonderful afternoon of playtime and fun followed by a yummy picnic in the bed of Husband's truck.

2) I went on a mini cleaning spree (it didn't last long) and found some old pictures of Husband as a kiddo. Including this one that shocked me with its resemblance to Grant!

3) I declared Grant officially potty trained!

Seen here very proud of himself after going potty alone - with crooked  pants.

4) Grant and I made yummy treats for the well-deserving staff at Grant's school for Teacher Appreciation Week.

Browned Butter Nutella Swirled Blondies - yum!

5) I ordered Grant's school pictures! While I've never been the biggest fan of school pictures or the posed studio Sears type pictures, I loved this and had to have it!

Happy Friday! 

I'm looking forward to next week when I'm on vacation :)

Potty Trained

If you read my last post about potty training then you know that a few weeks ago Grant was in the neighborhood of being potty trained. Well now, I am officially declaring him potty trained. I'm sure that putting this in writing is some sort of bad omen, but there it is. Potty trained. 

The peeing has been good for quite a while but now he's got the hang of number 2 too. He's almost always wearing real underpants unless it's bed time (or a weekend morning and we haven't taken him out of the pull-up yet). Day care sent home all his pull-ups so he's napping in underpants and going to the bathroom well there too. We're even brave enough to put him in undies when we go places.

So...hooray! Potty training, well, sucks. But potty trained is pretty freaking awesome.

The above picture is one of my favorite recent pictures. I took it right after Grant woke up from a nap. He had gotten up, gone to the bathroom, then came to find me. His pants were so crooked and his shirt was not only tucked into his pants but his undies too. He doesn't want to ask for help, he likes to find us and show us that he did it himself. That's usually how mornings go too. He still needs some help with number 2 so we're trying to get him to call to us when he's done. We're working on it (because it's no fun chasing a toddler with poopy butt around the house!).

So that's that. I can't believe it. Accident-free for weeks now. I probably could have made the delcaration sooner but whatever. Potty trained - woohoo!