New Chompers & New Skills!

This week has been of course focused on The Training - potty training that is! It has gone amazingly well - there have been accidents to be sure, but we've also had days in which Zachary was completely dry all day, so all in all, this is going very well. Very well except (there's always an except, isn't there?) for going poopie in the potty. Apparently this isn't something that Zachary is quite ready to do. However, one day this week while working, Amy receives the following email from Karis - which as a caveat, this struck a funny bone when she read it and she couldn't stop laughing - so decided that this email from Karis definitely needed to be this week's post!

As the parent of a 34 month old, I have found out that we have many times of joy/ happiness..... and then life has a way of bringing you back down. I continue to think with optimism that one of these times the joy will last longer then say ohhhhh 10 minutes. But alas, today is not one of those times.

I bring the boys home and tell Zachary that he needs to go potty. Which he obeys. The happiness sets in. I go in there to make sure everything is going well. I step out to prepare Kaleb's lunch. So far so good I think to myself. Then I hear one of the sweetest sentence a parent of an almost 3 year old could say, "I WENT POOPIE! I WENT POOPIE!"

Now after changing 534 poopie diapers over the past 3 years, my happiness level was near a 10. I ran in there to confirm, because as a parent of a toddler, it is a rule to not quite believe what they are saying. Sure enough, I see a poopie flushing down the toilet. Ahhhhh, the happiness is upon my heart. The wiping was breeze! The smell was minimal. I believe the good life is upon us or at least very close. I'm so happy and proud of Zachary at that moment that I would have given him 10 gummies if he would have asked.

He proceeds to get dressed and then wants to brush his teeth. Which as I'm feeding Kaleb I thought was okay for him to do. Zachary called for my help and so I went in to the bathroom to see what he needed me for. I looked down at his feet, and wondered why the stool he was standing on was a bit wet and then I noticed that the front of his underwear and his socks lying by the stool are wet. The sadness hits me like the humid airs hits you in the middle of summer and I thought to myself... I'm going to cry...... He apparently can not poop and pee in the same sitting.

It would appear that even though it has been Amy's job to write this post every week, that there is a hidden talent - Amy has suggested that perhaps Karis should be the one writing this blog! :)

On the Kaleb front - we have a new tooth! Yeah! This is the first one for Mr. Kaleb and he's none too sure about the whole thing. It is just barely peeking up out of the gums, so once it is out a little more we'll be sure to post a picture of his new pearly whites! He is rolling around everywhere, and has figured out that he can get across the room now by rolling. Our sedentary lives are definitely gone in terms of Mr. Kaleb! He is also figuring out how to move across the room even if he's sitting - he basically moves his legs and pushes with his arms and scoots his little rear across the floor (kind of like rowing a boat I guess!). It may not be long until he starts crawling!

Amy has to go to Montana next week for a conference - this is our annual ski trip - but Karis cannot come this year as his therapy clinic is installing a new electronic charting system and no time-off requests are allowed. Karis of course is sad and depressed. Amy is sad and depressed that he's not coming, but not so sad and depressed from the "ski" aspect as she now intends to just hang out the hotel and catch up on work and do some fun reading and perhaps a spa visit! Amy's mom, Grandma, is coming to stay for the week to help Karis out as well as just spending quality time in general with the boys. So they'll have great fun!

Last but not least, we've finally posted some of the beach pictures in last week's post plus pictures of the Valentine's kids! We'll keep at the picture posting, so we'll update you as to when we've added pictures to the posts!

Phrase of the week: "I need to wipe his bum" - Zachary decided that he needed to wipe Kaleb's bum - even though he was fully dressed and diapered, so got out a wipe and began to rub it across Kaleb's bum to clean him up! I guess Zachary knows how it goes after having 534 dirty diapers changed (by Dad at least - I'm sure that Mom's changed just as many!) Oh for the days that Zachary learns how to wipe his own bum! :)

Kaleb's 10 month picture

Cribs, Potties & Rolling!

The lack of a post last week was the result of just too much going on, but now that our lives has quieted down a bit we're going to be back to normal! There are some new dedication pictures that have been added to last week's post. We'll try and add pictures to both posts as we have time to cull through them all (there were close to 2,000 pictures (the beauty of digital!), so it is taking a while to go through!

First off, last Sunday show Karis' brother Kent and his family flying back to Canada. We ended the week with going to Animal Kingdom on Friday and the beach on Sabbath. Both days the weather was perfect, we really couldn't have asked for better temperatures! We don't go to the beach very often, but thought that it would be a fitting way to finish our visit with the Canadian relatives as they had never been to the Atlantic Ocean before. We really were in for a treat - we saw star fish (ones that were still alive!), and dolphins playing in the water! How fun! The kids had SO MUCH fun playing in the sand - and the sky/sun setting was so beautiful - it was such a reminder of the beauty of God's creation to be sure. Zachary really had a great time with his cousins, after the initial "mine, mine, mine" phase - he started to relax a bit and enjoyed playing and following them around. We're hoping that they loved Florida (at least Florida in the winter) and will be sure to come back to visit again!

Various pictures of Kaleb (yes, we had him completely covered to prevent burns on his fair skin - between the swim shirt, trunks and hat - the rest of him was covered with the SPF50 sunscreen!), Zachary, Emily, Connor & Kaylie enjoying the sun & surf.

Gramzie left on Thursday, so now our house is back to only a house of 4! It is always sad when everyone leaves, but we're looking forward to another visit from Connie and Dennis when they come down to celebrate the boys' birthdays in April.

Monday, February 9th saw the final accomplishment of a major milestone in this house that Amy has been anxiously awaiting - Kaleb has mastered rolling over both ways! He did it in his crib, so of course no-one was there to witness the big event! He now finds it "no big deal!"

Zachary then decided that his brother shouldn't be the only one who came up with a new trick, so he decided to show his parents that he could now crawl out of his crib unassisted. It was bound to happen at some point, so we've enjoyed the long track record that we've had of the peace of knowing that when we put him to bed, we would control when he got out! :) We're fortunate so far in that he does not get out until after he's slept, so at least we aren't having the fight trying to get him to bed.

The BIGGEST news is that we're now potty-training in earnest! We were waiting for everyone to leave (apparently major life changes can set you back in potty-training, so we decided not to attempt it until after the relatives left). Friday was our first day, and he did really well - first day was a charm - no accidents but it was only in the afternoon so we're clear that we're on a long journey and that there will in fact be accidents. We did lots of clapping and celebrating for our big boy! Sabbath, we had a couple of accidents, but only one situation in which he stood in the middle of the room and just peed to his heart's delight - so not bad. We went to church, where Amy was very anxious that he would pee on the pew, but instead, Kaleb took us unawares to claim that prize by having a diaper failure all of Kelli on her lovely Sabbath skirt! Oh well, all you can do is shake your head at that point!

Lastly - Happy Belated Valentines! Take a moment today to do something nice for your loved ones!

Photo 1: "Hoppy Valentine" to you from Zachary

Photo 2: "Toadally Lovable" - (I guess we had a frog Valentine's theme this year!)

Phrase of the Week: "You look nice Daddy" - this was so precious - Karis walked in wearing a collared shirt, and Zachary very seriously told him that he looked nice!

Zbaraschuks Arrive & The Dedication

Kent, Lorie and the three cousins - Emily, Connor and Kaylie arrived late Wednesday night - to a frigid Florida! It's too bad when you leave Canada hoping for lovely weather only to find it just as cold where you arrive! Connie and Dennis came in without incident on Thursday night. It has been great fun to visit and catch up. Zachary has had a struggle with the "mine-itis" but hopefully this will subside. He does seem quite interested in being near Connor now, so that is a good thing. Kaleb is enamored with Emily and she can quickly get him belly-laughing, so it is a precious sight. Kaylie is such a cutie - such big blue eyes and beautiful curly hair! We're having a great time with everyone and the visit will sure fly by too quickly.

We went to Picture People yesterday to attempt to get some pictures of the grandparents and the grandkids and we were pretty fortunate to have a couple turn out. We actually even captured one of each family that turned out well - amazingly so as Zachary usually refuses to take pictures! We have one of the five cousins that cracks me up - Connor has a fun expression on his face and is doing crazy with his hands and Zachary is sitting straight-faced (the I will NOT smile look!) beside him. The girls have a very sweet smile on their face and Kaleb is kind of got a goofy-smile and waving his hands in the picture - it is definitely a lot of character captured in the shot, so it makes me chuckle which I think is always a good thing! :)

Sabbath, we had Kaleb dedicated by Pastor Morris. It was really special as he talked about the Caleb in the Bible and what his name means etc. Kaleb did very well - no real embarrassing moments - although he did make a swipe for the Pastor's microphone but luckily didn't manage to grab hold. Zachary on the other hand was too busy looking around at the stage to answer the Pastor when he asked Zachary if he liked having a baby brother, and then during the prayer he started whispering....Oh well, it could have been worse, and it does make for a memorable time! :)

2/21/09 - New pictures posted below of the dedication

Tomorrow we're heading off to SeaWorld, so hopefully everyone will have a grand time. The weather has been beautiful this weekend, and the rest of the clan has gone up to Blue Springs Park to see the wild manatee while Amy stays home with the sleeping babies (Zachary, Kaleb and Kaylie).

Kent, Lorie and their bunch will be heading down for a Disney vacation extraordinaire for part of next week before they come back for two nights to our house and then jet their way back the cold country.

Phrase of the Week: "Why?" - yes, it has begun - it was bound to sooner or later but we could have hoped to avoid the endless "Why, Why, Why??" questions. Alas, it was not to be!

I'll post some pictures in a bit as I haven't had a chance yet to wade through all of the pictures that we've taken thus far.