md and mama

a promise

hide-n-seek

just isn't fair when you're playing against a very-close-to-being-two year old.

peace and quiet...

and all i wanna do is continue watching him sleep.

i love fruit!

especially the kind that's gummy and sugary and isn't really fruit at all!

"catch fishy"...a favorite for md.

my boys and i took a little fishing trip the other day. michael and i tied with two fish each. md was too distracted throwing rocks to catch anything.

we took a picnic of cheetos and cokes.

it was an evening of fun for our family of three!

(and, as is par for the course, there were plenty of pictures taken, not one of which had my smiling face...or the back of my head...or my foot...or a tiny strand of my hair.)

50+ miles!!!!

we were dedicated.

we were consistent.

we pushed ourselves.

we worked hard.

we didn't just run the 50 miles, we ROCKED the 50 miles!

dyslexia dash 5k...

welp, we did it!

jenny and i ran in my very first 5k.

it was hard. it was fun. it was incredibly motivating and i felt like a super hero when i finished.
 

no, i didn't finish in 16:10 (which some very fast man did) but I felt good about my 32:37. that's me, 4th column, 3/4s of the way down.

i had a blast! thanks, jenny, for everything (and thanks to my sweet boys for jumping on the golf cart and cheering me on throughout the course and at the finish line!)!!

i have one problem with this pile of dirt...

(shown on 16x16 tile!)

i swept and mopped this floor saturday.

that was 3 days ago, people. THREE!!

we did have guests this weekend but still, that's just too much mess for me!

day's end...

was no better than the middle.

we finished off the accident sequence with peeing in his high chair during dinner and, later, poop on the bathroom floor.

delightful day, if i do say so myself.

irony ...

md has been potty training/trained for about a month now.

i finally posted about it 3 hours ago.

between that time and now, md has peed in his underwear, pooped in his backup underwear and peed in the backup pair of shorts without underwear.

are you kidding me?! 3 accidents in 3 hours since posting about how well it's gone?!?!

just my kind of luck.
(i'm just gonna blame this on you pearl wisdom!! :))

the potty training experience

as requested, the potty training post:

around 22 months of age, md became really interested in the potty.  when anyone he was around would go potty, he would want to go.  he'd always want to sit on the potty, although nothing ever happened while he sat there.  i started to really feel the pull towards potty training.

i spent about a week doing online research on different training techniques and picked one i thought would work well for md and i.  then, we made a trip to the store.  i bought about 20 pair of underwear.  he picked out some of them.  i showed him the choices for potties and he chose this one:

we made our way to the groceries where we got plenty of kid-friendly full fiber foods and lots of yummy juices, water and milk.  we got food that would make him thirsty.  the more thirsty...the more he drinks...the more he has to go potty!! then, the most important part of the process: CANDY!! md chose jelly beans.

we got home on thursday evening and he helped me pour his jelly beans into a lidded jar.  i did not give him a jelly bean then but told him he could finally have one when he tee-teed in the potty.  then we washed all the underwear and put the potty out in the living room.  i know it sounds like a weird place, but i thought we needed a central location we could reach in a hurry.

after all of that, i helped md take off his diaper and i set him on that potty.  he sat there for a while, watched a little tv and then got up and started playing.  i stayed on the floor right by the potty and it wasn't long before i heard a stream hitting the floor!  "ah! you're peeing on the floor!!" my exclamation stunned him and in the brief second the stream paused, i was able to pick up the little white bucket and  hold it to where his tee tee would fall straight in.  as soon as he was done, i jumped up and down and screamed over and over, "YOU DID IT!!! YOU DID IT!!! YOU TEE-TEED IN THE POTTY!!! HURRAY!!!! AHHH!!! YOU DID IT!!! YOU TEE-TEED IN THE POTTY!!!!" with excitement dancing in his eyes, i led him to get his first two jelly beans (also a great time for teaching colors)! then we dumped the tee-tee into the big potty and i let him flush it.  we washed hands and kept the excitement going for quite some time. :)

i put him in a diaper for bed and we started again the next morning.  for about the first 3 days, we didn't go anywhere and md was naked from the waist down.  i gave him plenty to eat and drink and every 20 mins or so, i'd ask him if he needed to go potty and i'd sit him down.  i'd let him watch tv or read a book, anything to keep him sitting long enough to actually pee.  then, every single time he did it, i freaked out with excitement and followed it up with candy!   it took him only about 3 times before he started going to the potty all by himself.  it was easy because he was naked and since he didn't first know to communicate that he needed to potty so i could pull his pants down, he could just walk over, sit down and go all on his own.

the third day, he started waking up from naps and night time with a dry diaper.  a day later, he started taking naps in his underwear.  i've been putting him in diapers at night until we depleted the diaper stash we already had on hand.  nighttime diapers end tonight!

he had a few accidents but i make sure to carry with me a change of underwear, shorts and a ziplock baggie.  that way i have something to put the wet stuff in.  i've thrown away a pair or two of underwear too.  :) there's a reason i didn't cloth diaper, people.  i made sure anytime we were out and about to pay close attention for the signs, like grabbing. and i asked and took him to the potty often, even if he didn't end up going.  i was willing to go back and forth a lot to prevent an accident.

he's  been doing amazing and now tells me when he needs to potty or poo poo.  he's even, in the last week, started standing on a stool and using the big potty for all potty needs.  it rocks! there isn't any cleaning the little potty at all.

i've been so proud of him and am glad that we started potty training when the time felt right for both of us.  i know he'll probably still have the occasional accident, but i think that just comes with the territory of having a less than 2 year old who is potty trained!

way to go, md!!

growing up with catcher...

many friends i know who own ipads, have named them. named them like they have named their own children.

when I got mine last september for my bday, I could do no different.

md is just beginning to fully enjoy the benefits of having "catcher" in our lives.

ready...set....go!

i'm proud to say that jenny and i have been doing really well at running.  well, i guess it's no surprise that jenny is.  hello...she's a runner.  but i've been doing really well too!

last week i finally ran a mile straight without stopping.  that was a big goal for me.  it was hard but it felt so good and i was so proud of myself.  we did the mile straight, plus more walking and more running for a few days.

over the weekend, i got it in my head that i wanted to try TWO miles straight. when jenny and i were texting our running plan for monday, i informed her of my goal and asked if i was being totally stupid? to go from running one mile to two miles in just a few days.  i'd die. i just knew i would.  i'd be a tenth into the second mile and just fall over dead. jenny would continue running, not even realizing i was dead on the ground until she reached my house.  it would be humiliating for my husband and son.  "wife died on the ground by running barely over 1 mile." ugh.

anyway, jenny assured me that i would not die on the ground as my visions proclaimed, but instead would run my 2 miles and succeed!  she was proud of me for even coming up with this goal on my own (probably because the 6 mile runner that she is was going crazy running intervals for 3 miles, poor thing).

monday morning, 6:30am, i walk out my front door to the very sleepy face of my friend.  we start walking down my street and start our nike gps apps at the very same instant.  practice has perfected the art of exactness. :)  we briskly walked for .75 of a mile.  then...jenny looked at me with eyebrows raised..."ready?!"  and i was.  we started running and just like i thought, the first mile was hard.  then, 1 thousand years later, the first mile was over.  and before i knew it, so was the second! i was elated! i did it! i ran two miles straight! we walked a bit, then we ran a bit, walked a bit and ran the rest of the way home.  our total run equaled 4.16 miles.

tuesday...not so easy.  i almost didn't make it through mile two but jenny coached me through it.  then she told me why it was so hard. we'd run a lot faster than we had the day before! hurray!

on wednesday, day 3, we walked half a mile, ran two, walked half a mile, ran one, then walked the other tenth mile home.  we ran a total of 3 miles total with only a short break in between miles 2 and 3.  we also decided that we would for sure run in a 5k this weekend.

WHAT?!?!

yup. i can hardly run and i'm running in a 5k this weekend.  i don't expect to finish anywhere near first, but i do expect to finish.  i'm nervous and excited and so happy to be doing something for myself and my health.  it feels good and i actually like it.  go figure. :)

much thanks to jenny and many props to myself (if i may say so)! i'm pumped!

road trip participants: part three

the nagrivator.

(i'm really not that bad. i prefer sleeping to nagging.)

road trip participants: part two

the rider.

(first long drive in big boy underwear. no accidents!)

road trip participants: part one

the driver.

girls with goals...

lofty goals!
jenny and i have been running. our goal for july is 50 miles!!!
monday, my screen said 21 miles. goal accomplished at 71 miles.
i'm pumped!

freedom day.

we started the early morning with the two of us reading the Word of God and praying.  it was the first step in a long journey ahead of us.

after some time of unhappiness and one issue after the next, we finally decided the problem was...us.  in a long discussion the other night, we were brutally honest with each other, about ourselves.  we didn't say anything about each other.  we didn't need to.  we had enough to say of ourselves without having to have any one else's add-ins.  we've felt like we're sinking.  one thing after the next bogging us down. weighing on us.  messing with our lives.  i didn't even realize until 2 weeks ago that michael wasn't the only one feeling this way in our family.  so was i.  we've been negative, depressed, unmotivated, messy, disorganized, rude, fake.  we've been fixing up the outside of our house, while the inside remains messy.  our actual house...a representation of our lives. we know that our joy has been stolen from us.  or that we've given it away.  we haven't been searching wholeheartedly, as we should.  we've been preoccupied and misguided.  we've lost our focus and lost the love of Jesus in our hearts. 

we decided that our first step would be prayer and a commitment to make Jesus the Lord of our lives.  to truly live for Him and seek Him in all that we do.  we decided we'd wake up early, sacrifice my beloved sleep, for the sake of the One who died for me. we would also verbally apologize to some friends about our negative attitudes and trying personalities. and try hard, from now on, to keep our focus straight ahead.

monday morning, sitting with the sunshine streaming into our back patio, my husband opened his Bible and read aloud a very applicable scripture.  isaiah 54.  he then held my hand and led us in the most beautiful and simple prayer where we confessed our sins and asked Jesus to once again be Lord.  my love, leading me straight to THE love.  it humbled me.  it filled me with joy.  it gave me incredible insight into what our future holds.  i am honored to call him my husband.

we know that this doesn't wipe out any bad situation in our lives.  we know there will be more to come in the future.  but we also know that where our hearts are, there our treasure may be also.  we are looking forward to a committed life of following Jesus and having His love in our hearts.  we are looking forward to our son being witness to these things in us.

Crusin' in the golf cart...

after a 4th of july golf cart parade and swimming at the pool with friends, the ramirezes and the honeas!