Portland Highlights

Back in September for my birthday, my dear friend Tal and my husband planned quite a surprise present: a trip to Portland where Tal lives! I was very surprised and could not have expected to enjoy myself so much. Part of the gift would also be that this would be a trip all by myself (good for not having to travel with a two year old on such a long flight and deal with the time change with him).

And January worked out best for everyone! So off last weekend I went. And what a trip!

*Stumptown Coffee; this day also included some shopping - great little shops here and really unique towns.

*Infamous Voodoo Doughnuts: I loved the blueberry cake one but should have asked about the purple sprinkled one. The sprinkles were sour grape flavored...

*The Gorge: beautiful scenic drive and just on the other side of the river is Washington!

*Tal and I by Multnomah Falls

*Multnomah Falls: double drop waterfall. And there had been extra rainfall before and during my time there, so it was (apparently) bigger than normal!

*Bar+Arcade=Barcade. :) Super fun! (Downtown Portland)

*Downtown Portland has got to be one of the prettiest downtowns ever. The bridges, the shops, the trains are even interesting. 

I'd love to go back again if not just for my friends but to see Portland at a different season. The west coast has yet to disappoint me. :)

Thanks to Tal and her husband for wonderful hospitality, showing me the sights and food (oh man!), and letting me use their camera since mine died the first day there. :)

Attempt: Day 4

AM: Good morning. No accidents. As simple as that. :)

PM: A bit discouraging honestly. Good news is that we took a successful trip to Target which included a bathroom run. He even said he had to go peepee. That was a nice little surprise. But once we got home and started putting away groceries, it had been 1.5 hrs and there were two accidents (one shortly after the first change). And then another during dinner. My husband said that I shouldn't be discouraged because after all, it's been a great four days. I guess I just thought there would be progress to move forward and not backward. You know? But I guess you give and take what you get.

All that to say, I'm not going to be posting daily anymore. :) We are going to keep at the underwear, but no one needs/wants that many details of our life. So, this is how it went. Thanks for the encouragement and helpful tips. :)

Attempt: Day 3

AM: What a strange morning in general for our Hufford family. We woke to an undressed, poopy boy. Lots of clean up to be done. Then, I almost burnt down the house with butter dripping all over the oven. At least the cinnamon rolls turned out really yummy. As I've said, Timothy has been more dry lately in his diapers. So, it wasn't a complete surprise when he sat but didn't go on the potty this morning. I spread the time to an hour (trying no timer today since I could keep track of taking him once an hour). And two times in a row, nothing. We gave lunch and at the two and half hour mark, he had an accident in the high chair. We only knew once we got him out of the chair. Oh well, we'll move on after lunch.

PM: Good afternoon! We even went out, nice even though it was only five minutes away. We were gone for almost three hours, and Timothy made it accident-free and went on the potty twice while out! Yay! I feel like I can actually leave our house. :) But I still might take a friend's experience and try plastic pants during these first couple weeks (especially when I'm traveling alone with Tim on an airplane!). :) Hehe.

So, I think we're going to keep on keeping on. He's been really receptive to it, and it's been great to only use two diapers a day. Let me know if you think of something I may not have mentioned. :)

Attempt: Day 2

AM: Another great morning, and it was really nice having my husband home as a second "cheerleader" for Tim. I extended the timer for an additional five minutes; it's good for me to hear, too. I loose track of time. :)

*The whole story of the naptime diaper (and a bit of TMI) He has had a "poo" in the diaper the past two days of naps. 

PM: Great all afternoon. Pretty chill. Tim really enjoys saying the 'hooray' part of 'hip hip hooray' after he goes on the potty. About 20 min. after dinner, he did have an accident (poo). We "caught" him in the act and were able to finish on the potty. This has been a typical pattern for him before this weekend, so I guess we'll just try to be more aware. But we just reminded him that we keep the underwear dry and go in the potty. It actually wasn't frustrating, just had to run a load of laundry. (Thank goodness for free laundry at our place!)

We're actually going to try to make it to our small group tomorrow night. I'll let you know how it goes being out. :)

Attempt: Day 1

 See here first if you don't know what's being "attempted": http://ourhuffordfamily.blogspot.com/2012/01/potty-attempt-weekend.html

AM: It went great! I can't believe it. I decided to set the timer every 45 min. instead of an hour, and he kept his underwear dry all morning. I do feel like I'm asking him all the time the following: "Are you wet or dry?" "Do you have to go peepee?" "Want to sit on the potty?" I feel a bit silly and crazy, to be honest. But we've stayed dry. So, I can say 'yay!' to that.

PM: Umm...I kinda think today must be a fluke! He stayed in the same underwear all day. What?! That's crazy. Throughout the day, he's been very receptive to the ringing of the timer and usually runs to the bathroom door. I don't know what else to say (please ask if you think of something). I'm encouraged by today, but I'm not sold yet. And eventually, we'll see how he does being away from home. I think I'm most worried about traveling in the car and him just going in his carseat. I guess time will tell. Be back tomorrow. :)

Potty Attempt Weekend

Initially I was calling this 'Potty Training Weekend,' but it's more of an attempt at using the potty for Timothy.

*This is not intended to make us or our kid look great. I just thought that either way, I could share our successes and failures with those who want to know. Having friends with kids around the same age as Tim, I know for sure one thing: all kids are different. They will progress at different stages at different rates. Some will succeed in one area and struggle in another. I'm just glad that I'm not alone in this.

I have constantly heard people say not to rush potty training or push it before your child is ready. So, we're really trying not to. He just seems ready. He already goes when we put him on the potty, no crying involved. He prefers a big (adult) potty to the kid potty. He's been more dry throughout the day in general. He can say pee and poop. He's able to get clothes off easily, and we're working on getting them back on. :) He hasn't "needed" rewards to go on the potty, just goes when he's sitting there.

So I say, why not try. A friend, and former nanny of multiple children, recommended going cold turkey. We're going mostly cold turkey. Starting tomorrow morning, he will wear underwear any time he is not sleeping (nap and nighttime). We will do a four day trial. I'm trying to take a non-frustrated approach. Trying is the key word. (I assume we'll be washing some clothes and maybe throwing some away.) I want to encourage him when he goes on the potty, and remind him to go on the potty when he's dirty. He hates being wet, so I'm pretty sure that when he is wet, he will loudly let me know. I have a timer to remind me to take him to the potty every hour and as a auditory reminder for him. If at the end of the four days, we're all exhausted, we'll just go back to diapers and try again in a month or two.

So, I'll let you know how it goes. :)

journal weeks 17 through 20

wk.17: I honestly feel like this has been a pretty normal week. Nothing too new going on. I'm starting to notice the pull on my belly while I'm sleeping, so it might be time to bust out the wedge pillow to help support the growing belly (which some people say just looks like a normal belly). We really are slacking in the picture department.
My appetite is currently the size of: Texas. 

wk.18: Timothy officially thinks he has a baby in his belly. And I'm noticing that the bump doesn't go away when I lay on my back. :) This little one is definitely kicking/elbowing throughout the day, mostly before bed and sometimes after I eat.

wk.19: Not much happening this week. We're just getting very excited to find out the gender during wk20.
The thing I miss most from life-before-the-belly: a normal-sized bladder.

wk. 20: Wonderful week of news that we are expecting a baby BOY! He's super, super active. Seems to enjoy kicking me around 4a and 6a. There are points when the kicks/elbows hurt, seriously, hurt me. Amazing how such a small guy can hurt someone as big as me.
*Baby size: sm. cantaloupe