Big Boy Potty Update

We have made MAJOR progress since the last time I posted about the potty.

 After Bradys 3-3 1/2 days of rebellion, he gave in and has been doing so well. When we tell  him it is time to potty, he just goes to the bathroom without fussing or fighting and potties.

He is giving more clear signs that he needs to potty. He is having less accidents and going longer between potty breaks. He wants and asks for underwear or a pull-up instead of a diaper.

Thank you Lord!

He still has a ways to go, but I can see the light now!!!

(All I could see for 3 days was a lifetime of diapers!) During one point I was so close to giving up, when Caleb said, "Amber, we potty trained a dog, surely we can potty train a human!"

And he had a point, so we stuck with it. I am so glad we did, because that was about the time things started to turn around.

I am so proud of him and how far he has come in just one week.

Now when we walk by the bathroom, he says I potty in there! Such a big boy!

Since I have to go to work for 3 days, my mother-in-law is picking up with the potty training while I am at work. I have given her the rundown of what we have been doing to try and keep it as consistent as possible. Yesterday, he only had one accident and she said he was very cooperative about it all day. Yay!!!

We hope this second week will be just as successful, before he starts back at daycare after the first of the year.

I might, just might, actually get this kid potty trained!!!

Christmas 2010 Comes To A Close.

We have a had a wonderful Christmas! We spent Christmas eve with my parents opening gifts and eating supper. Caleb and I racked up on clothes and Brady got some great toys.
Then, we came home and Santa went straight to work. Brady woke up to lots of toys and presents. We opened gifts as a family before we headed out for our first breakfast at my parents house with my grandparents.
Brady got a HUGE gift from my grandma. He was so excited!!!  He did not want to leave! 
From there, we went to Caleb's parents and had a 2nd breakfast and opened gifts! Brady really racked up again. So much so that we had to leave one toy there because everything wouldn't fit in our car.
Then, we were able to come home and relax and check out all of our new stuff.
We are so blessed to have such wonderful family to share the holidays with.
I am going to be busy trying to decide where to put everything for a while.

Warning: Christmas Picture Overload Below

In no particular order



Me and baby Nonee(Noah)



My sister and I were trying on our new clothes and Brady wanted to model too!



Brady Christmas Morning. He immediately started playing!

 

Brady riding his motorcycle that his Great Grandma got him!



Noah and his four wheeler for his Great Grandma!



Brady handing out gifts.



Me and our niece Carleigh

 

Noah sliding down the slide we got him



Brady Opening gifts from Mommy and Daddy



Brady playing with his new toys while we finish opening gifts.

Our fashion show

Gifts from Santa!

Me and my new Kindle from Caleb.

 I have enjoyed having some time off and the Christmas fun! I only work 3 days this week, then I am off for 4 days for the New Year Holiday. Yahoo! I could get used to this work schedule. Ha!

Today we are taking down decorations and cleaning, before I head back to work tomorrow.

Bye Bye Christmas 2010!!!



Birthday Festivities

Since Brady's birthday is 2 days before Christmas, we have to work a little harder to make it special.  It is so easy to get caught up in the holiday stuff!

Caleb and I try to both be off for his birthday. We have been able to do this for both birthdays so far and hope we can continue this in the future.

I made breakfast and we asked Brady where he would like to eat. He came up with his room. So, that is where we ate! He put the towel down himself. Ha!

Then the 3 of us headed to a local pottery painting place and let him paint one piece of pottery. He picked a football piggy bank. He had a blast picking the colors and painting it all by himself. We just let him go at it. He thought he was so big!!! Caleb and I are anxious to see it when it is finished. Ha ha! There is no telling what it will look like. We pick it up next week.

We had a few more errands to run and a couple things to pick for his party that night.

We decided to just do a small party with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins that could attend. We had around 10 people over last night for Brady's birthday party.

I made dinner and we all had cake and ice cream. It was nice to have a sit down dinner and enjoy each other!

Brady opened all his gifts and made sure to hug and thank everyone! It was nice to not be overwhelmed with people and presents, especially since we are known to throw a tantrum here and there.

Brady got that awesome table above from my parents! It might be almost the size of our first kitchen table at our apartment. Just saying! The kid is loved!

Next year, we may try for a big party again, but this worked great for this year.

I don't think I will be hosting a bigger party in my house, though!  A bunch of 3 year olds and their parents in the middle of winter, I don't see that happening, unless we get a bigger house. Ha! I will have to start thinking and looking into ideas now.

Sweet Noah was the only other little one and he barely made a sound. He is such a cute, sweet boy. His birthday will be here before we know it! Ahhh!

All in all it was a great day! I am so thankful for that sweet boy and I hope he always knows how special he is. We may have to get a bigger house to hold all his new toys. Between birthday and Christmas, our house closely resembles a toy store right now.

I will update on all our Christmas fun and more on potty training later!

It's Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas from the Barrett's!!!

 We hope everyone has a safe, blessed holiday

And your homes are filled with as much love and fun as ours is today! 

 We are especially thankful for this sweet boy!



With Love,

Caleb, Amber, and Brady

Look who's 2 Today!

Happy Birthday Brady!



This is the cake I made for Brady for today. I was really nervous about it, but I think it turned out o.k.



I can not believe my little, bity baby is a big 2 year old today.



It seems like just the other day that Caleb and I walked into the hospital to have our sweet baby boy!

And now we are having breakfast picnics in his room!

He has grown so much and is so sweet and so funny!

He has blessed our lives beyond measure!!!

I love this little boy more than he could ever know and can not imagine one day without him!!!



Brady 12-23-2008





Brady 12-23-2009



Brady 12-23-2010

What a difference a year makes!

Potty Training! Whew!

We have officially started potty training.

Here is quick recap of how that is going!

The first day went well, Brady thought it was a game. The timer would go off and we would run to potty. If you went to the potty, you got a star. Accidents were minimal and spirits were high.

The second day started much like the first, until about mid-day Brady decided potty training was for the birds and began to rebel. He began yelling," NO POTTY!", he asked for a diaper to potty in (Really?!, If you can ask for that, then you can definitely use the potty, buddy), he cried, kicked, and screamed. I decided we would both benefit from a nice break and Brady took a nap.

After nap time, potty training continued much as it had before the nap.

 Once Caleb got home, Brady calmed down and began to potty once more. Boys and their daddies!

Today has been back and forth. Sometimes he tells me he needs to potty, sometimes he doesn't, Sometimes he doesn't mind going to the potty, sometimes he refuses and throws a fit, and he has asked me once or twice for a diaper.

Conclusion= Potty training is hard, really hard!!!  I am not giving up! It has only been 3 days, but feels like soooo many more.

Busy Weekend

We have been so busy for the past several days!

Thursday and Friday night we went to friend's houses for Christmas Parties! Both parties were kid friendly, so Brady got to go with us!

Brady had such a good time playing with his friends!!! (Caleb and I did too!)  I am so thankful Brady will have Christian friends the same age.

Saturday we helped with a dinner and providing gifts to needy families. I didn't take any pictures, but it went well and is always such a rewarding use of our time and money.

After that we headed to my parents house, because my brother s and sister-n-law were in town for Christmas.

We all went to my uncle's house for Christmas with my Moms side of the family. We usually do this about a week before Christmas so that everyone can make it. Brady got a Thomas the Train flash light and was so excited!

And sweet Noah got this ride on toy. He thought he was so big!!!

Then, we had Christmas with my brothers and SIL since this is the only time they will be here. Brady got an Elf on the Shelf and a new piggy bank. We don't have an Elf on the Shelf and have thought about getting one, so that was perfect and Brady's piggy bank broke because he carried it around, so that was also perfect. Thank you Cam, Drew, and Lauren!

Brady immediately started asking for money!! Oh boy!  We are going to have to work on that.

Brady spent most of the night with his aunt Lauren. He loves her! He is definitely a ladies man!

We stayed with my parents so we didn't have to drive back the next day. We spent after church hanging out with family until everyone headed home.

I am off this week for Christmas and Brady's birthday, so we are spending lots of time together. We are also going to attempt some potty training. Wish us luck!!!

Happy Holidays!!!!

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!!!

 I am linking up with Kelly's Korner for Show us your life- Christmas Tour of Homes.

I love Christmas decorations!

 I haven't been as excited about my decor this year, because I haven't really been able to buy anything new.

BUT, I am still very excited about them. I love the way our house feels when decorated for Christmas.

First, this is Brady's tree. He loves it this year. I did add the blue Santa's hat as the topper and I am really happy with it.

 Brady lined up his teddy bears around it. So sweet!!!

Next is the big family tree.

It is mostly green and red.

This is a new ribbon my mom gave me this year. It really makes my tree look different.

 We also put our travel ornaments on this tree. Everywhere we travel we pick up a Christmas ornament as a souvenir. I stole this idea from my sister. It is way better than getting shot glasses or magnets, in my opinion, and prettier. It makes our tree so special!

We also get a Hallmark ornament each year for this tree to represent the year!

I tried to get a picture without the flash, but it didn't turn out so good. Here it is anyway.

See not so good! It really is prettier in person! Ha Ha!

And not so blurry.

Lastly is the white/silver tree. I had this tree in our apartment.  We got the big tree after we bought our house, I decided to keep this one and use all silver and white ornaments on it.

I put it in out bedroom this year. ( Last year, it was in the kitchen)

I LOVE IT!

I didn't get anything new for this tree this year, although I wanted to.

I love having this tree in front of the window. It looks so good from the outside when the curtains and blinds are open.

Without the flash....

Notice I really need a tree skirt for this one.

I usually get really creative and fun with my other decorations around my house, but haven't this year.

I did put out this bowl of red and green ornaments.

And of course our stockings!!!

We only have 2 stocking holders and no fireplace, so this is the best I can do for now. I want to get Caleb and I pottery barn stockings to match Brady's, but that may be next year.

Come to think of it, I think I said that last year.

We have a few other snow globes and knick-knacks around the house, but they are kind of boring.

Thanks for visiting!

Merry Christmas!!!!



A message from Santa!

We made a video to Brady from Santa.

It is so neat!

All you do is go to this site, enter in the childs information(first name, good or bad, hair color, what they want from Santa), and they will send you a video from Santa. He says the childs name and tells them if they have been bad or good. You can also make one for adults.

Brady has watched it like 10 times since we got it. He loves it!  His eyes get soooo big when Santa says, "Brady"! I thought he would be too small to understand, but he understands more than I thought!

It is so fun that I thought I would share and I would like to remember it for next year.

Merry Christmas!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We have had a wonderful, busy weekend. This weekend kind of kicks off the Christmas season for us. We are now in full swing of Christmas!!! I love it.

Friday night, Caleb and I attended his work party. This is the first year Caleb has worked for this company and the party was so nice. The food was really good too! Brady spent the night with Caleb's parents, so we rented a movie after the party.

This is us before the party. This is the best place we could get a timer picture and we were in a hurry, so ignore the mess on the loveseat.

Saturday morning we went and picked up Brady. We came home, baked, cleaned, and all got ready to head back out. I attended a cookie swap at my sister's house, Caleb went to a friends house, and Brady stayed with my parents with his cousin Noah.

The cookie/ornament swap was so fun. I got a super cute purse ornament and tons of yummy cookies!

 For anyone who was concerned, I ended up making these no-flour cookies. That way there was no chance they tasted like biscuits. Ha! They turned out great. I was pleased.

The girls at the cookie/ornament swap. We were all showing our ornaments. They were all really cute!

Today we are all super tired. We have all taken naps this afternoon. It is snowing outside today, so we are hoping to stay in and eat all of our yummy cookies. 

I love Christmas!  

The most wonderful time of the year!!!

December is in full swing here at the Barrett household. We have sooo much going on this month. Despite the craziness of it all, I really do love it and am so thankful for all our friends and family for inviting us to spend time with so many of them!!

BUT, it does bring craziness! For example, today I went to work all day, did some Christmas shopping, baked 2 casseroles, got Brady to bed, wrapped gifts, and did some laundry and light cleaning! Whoo! Like I said I am thankful, but a little crazy!

This weekend, my sister is having a girls night cookie/ornament swap! It should be so fun, but I am not much of a cookie baker! Hello, break and bake!

The point of a cookie swap is to bake home-made cookies and share the cookies and recipes. Seeing as I am not much of a cookie baker, I decided last night to do a test run of my cookies.  I am all about planning and prevent unnecessary disasters, so I was pretty pleased with my brilliant plan.

I was in the midst of baking my cookies, when I noticed something about letting the dough sit overnight in the refrigerator in the recipe.

This should have been my sign!

I didn't have time for that, after all if these didn't turn out I was going to have to bake a new cookie the next day and I work during the day!  So I let the dough sit in the fridge for about an hour.

After finishing the first batch of cookies, my wonderful husband walks in and says, "are these supposed to look like hamburger patties and A1 sauce?"

NO!!!! The are definitely not!!!

Had this happened Saturday before the party, I would have cried!

A LOT!

This should have been my second sign!

He procedes to tell me he thought it was like at Halloween when I make food look like something.

Nice!

I reminded him it was no longer Halloween and told him I am never cooking for him again! Well, until I make my next batch of trial cookies, anyway!

Upon tasting the cookies, we both decided that the cookies tasted like biscuits with chocolate gravy on top.

Not bad, but not good for cookies!!!

Needless to say, I will be trying another recipe later this week!

If they don't work, I am making break-n-bake and shaping them into reindeer.

(No wonder my husband seriously thought they were supposed to look like hamburgers!)

Merry Christmas!!!!

Happy Holidays!!!

We had a great Thanksgiving at both my parents house and Caleb's parents on Thursday. I forgot my camera so no pictures, but we really did have a wonderful day. Brady didn't feel real well and wasn't his usual self, but he did o.k. We got to spend plenty of time with each side of the family and didn't feel rushed!

Yesterday, Caleb and I did our usual Black Friday shopping date. We have so much fun doing that each year. This year was no different. Every store we went, the employees complimented us on our niceness! Ha! We really did enjoy shopping that day and we got some great deals. After trying to ever shop with a young child, shopping without one, even on one of the busiest days of the year, seems like a vacation!!!

Last night, we started decorating for Christmas! Caleb and I always decorate our tree together and now we have added Brady to the mix! It is a lot of fun. I hope to continue to do this as our family grows in size and in age.

This is Brady last year  "helping" with the tree!!!

And this is Brady this year! It is amazing how much they change in one year!!! Brady kept getting in trouble for climbing on the ladder. So when I climbed up the ladder to put something on the tree, Brady said sternly to me, "Get Down Now!"  He is talking so much and repeats everything!!!!

Notice there are 3 ornaments on that limb he is working on.

Happy Holidays!!!!!