Pottytraining Is Not for the Weak of Heart

I keep meaning to upload more Christmas pictures and updates on our Christmas activities... but I just can't catch a break around here!

Seriously, between the spit up, baby poop blowouts, and big boy poop problems... all three of us were in tears at some point yesterday.  I was having one of those days that you never tell to people who don't have kids because then they may never have any of their own after hearing your story type of day.

Will is nearly completely potty trained!  That is HUGE!  He can wear underwear at night and naps without an accident.  He made it through a trip to McDonald's and to the Mall without an accident either!  I am so happy... HOWEVER- somehow he has become extremely constipated.  (This will be poop talk- so if you'd rather not read about poop, go ahead and move on)  Anyway- I don't know if he was holding it b/c he just didn't want to poop in the potty or if being on an antibiotic stopped him up or just a result of poor diet lately, but the boy can't poop.  He keeps going little bits here and there, but nothing substantial.  We tried to do this in underwear and were having to wash them constantly.  Then a few times he's been naked and gotten the carpet and couch "dirty".  It also ended up on my jeans and pjs.  Oh, and in the bath.  He can't hold it in, but can't go either.  We started a bit of Miralax yesterday.  PRAYING IT WORKS.

He keeps wanting to sit on the potty, but nothing happens and he says, "I can't poop!   I don't know how!"  Poor guy is so sore and walking funny.  Pray for poop!

Anyone else's kids ever have this problem?

Then you add to that a 4 month old on antibiotics (ear infection) as well...

My house is a "stinking" mess.  In all senses of the word.

Good thing Steven and I get a night out and grandparents get to deal with it!  Pappasitos Christmas party!!!!  If I weren't breastfeeding... margaritas....

I'm pooped!

 

4 Months!

My Olivia is 4 months old! 

Well, she turned 4 months on Dec.2.  I'm a little behind.

Her stats were:

16 lb 15 oz - 90th%

26.5inches- 99th%

That's still two pounds lighter than Will was at this age, so to me she's small! 

Actually, my back does not think she's small at all.  Seriously.

This little girl is incredible!  She is such a sweet, sweet little girl.  She is so happy, laid back, and just so squeeze-able.  

She does have her moments of being not happy- when she's hungry or just overtired.  Or if I change her on a hard public restroom changing table- watch out- little sister does NOT like those!

She is so much easier than her brother ever was!  She naps better, eats better, but spits just as much.  This girl spits up high volume and high frequency, but it never really seems to bother her.  We just have a whole lot of laundry- hers and ours!  It's amazing that she's so fat b/c otherwise I wouldn't think she was keeping any milk down at all.

We moved to a four hour "schedule".  Which means I just try to feed her every four hours or so, but no necessarily at the same time every day.  Again, I'd like to be on a consistent schedule, maybe this is the month!  We haven't started rice cereal.  She seems content with what she's getting for now.

She has rolled a few times from tummy to back, but not much.  Tummy time isn't hated as much and she is beginning to try to use her legs to move forward.  That is very frustrating for her though.  She is really good at grabbing toys and holding them in her mouth to gnaw on.  She tries to chew and bite on everything- those little teeth aren't far away!

Standing up is her preferred position these days!  Don't try to cradle hold her- she does not like it and will stiffen her body so that she can stand.

We are obviously done with the picture taking here...

This little elf has also stayed in the church nursery a couple times!  She can thank my hurt back for that.  I just can't hold her the whole time and if she' going to just go to sleep anyway she might as well be in a crib or someone's arms.  I don't worry as much about leaving her like I did with Will b/c she's so much more easy going and is ok with other people holding her.

This month she started spending time in her exersaucer.  She likes being up and looking around at what's going on, but her time in there doesn't last for really long periods b/c it tires her out a bit.  She is really strong and big so sometimes I have to remind myself that she's only four months and her little body still needs rest from this kind of activity. 

She made some new friends this month too! 

Abby & Cooper Pennington

My little pumpkin head- her noggin is as big as theirs!!!

The great thing about babies is that they love you even when Momma's lookin' pretty rough!

She loves her daddy!  I'm hoping she'll be a Daddy's girl for sure!

She had her first trip to Mimi & Pa's this month and did AWESOME in the car ride.

Every day she is more and more fun!  

Will keeps telling me she's getting bigger.  This morning I caught him offering her some of his tortilla!  I had to remind him to NEVER put anything in her mouth and that she only get's Momma's milk.  yikes!

She just continues to bless us more and more each day.  We are so grateful God chose us to take care of her!  This will be such a special Christmas because of our precious girl!

Oh, and her nicknames so far are:

Liv

Sister

Little Sister

Peanut

Muffet (Little Miss Muffet)

We love you Muffet!

Lentz Christmas Edition 2

I am just not doing a good job posting all I'd like to about Christmas at the Lentz house!  

I have the time, I just don't manage it well.  For instance, right now the baby is sleeping and there is a MOUNTAIN demanding my attention and what am I doing?  Updating the blog.  

I'll add "time management" to my NY Resolution list.

Anyway, here are some Christmastime quick shots.

Me and my two little elves.

Daddy making trips into the attic for Christmas decor.

Will hanging ornaments on the tree.  

Canvas in the kitchen.

A Christmas craft

Our fantastic Nutcracker collection!  We pick out a new one each year and usually get one from my parents.  It has been very difficult for Will to learn these are not toys.

We went to my Dad's work's children's Christmas party.  Liv looked adorable in her little dress!

This pic is out of order... but here is our Conan Baby Jesus from our Nativity.  

Will in his Christmas outfit waiting in line for the absolute biggest and best bounce house I've even seen in my entire life!

The "Wave of Fire" was huge, but not even the BIG ONE. 

Cotton Candy of course!!

Dad works for Southwest, so they brought Santa in on an airplane!!!  And I didn't even get to see it b/c I was sitting in a stairwell nursing the baby.  It was extremely loud though!

Will was so excited!

Grandma and Liv

 This isn't a great picture of my family, but you can see that giant bounce house in the back.  That is all one big bounce house!  It had all kinds of crazy tunnels, ladders, ropes, and a zip line inside of it.  Needless to say Will wanted to go through a million times, but he couldn't by himself so the adults were super tired!

A photo opp station... Let me just ask... Who in the world are they thinking is going to be able to stick their face in the top hole!?  My husband is 6'6" and it's too tall for him!

Ok, I've wasted enough time this morning.  But there are still more pics to share, so check back soon to see what other fun things we've been up to!

Happy Wednesday!

Lentz Christmas Edition 1

"...It's the most wonderful time of the year!..."

Yes, I was singing that in my head.  We love Christmas here at our house!  The spiritual and the secular aspects.  Although we try very hard to make all of it meaningful, some of it is just plain fun.  I was so lucky to marry someone who gets as giddy as I do about all of it.  We listen to Christmas music, watch Christmas movies, and decorating of course is a family affair. 

Last year we finally upgraded to a 9ft skinny pre-lit tree.  Praise God for those!  Our old one was gigantic, 5ft in diameter at the bottom, and took us like 3 hours to put lights on.  

Our tree is beautiful and so meaningful to us.  Since our honeymoon Steven and I have picked up ornaments everywhere we go.  It's become a tradition to find Christmas ornaments when we go on trips, vacations, or just special places.

Here are some of our special ornaments:

1.  Guitar- I bought it for Steven in Nashville
2.  Elmo- the first ornament Will picked out himself
3.  Mickey & Minnie Wedding-  got on our honeymoon (cheesy.. or should i say "goofy")
4.  Nutcracker- got at Nutcracker ballet at Bass Hall
5.  Tricycle- Will's ornament pick this year (I already had to hot glue it back together)
6.  Pooh Bear- Steven's special ornament from his childhood
7. Sonogram frame-  our first picture of Will we put up when I was pregnant with him
8.  Peas on Earth-  just a favorite!
9.  Fuzzy Santa-  Steven made this when he was little.


*A funny note about Steven's ornaments- HE is the only one allowed to hang them and they must go right in front.  

This is Reggae Santa.

He's huge.

My Dad bought it for us.

He always goes straight to the back of the tree. 

Every time.

Sorry Dad.

This is Olivia's first ornament.  I lights up and I picked it mostly b/c it's shatterproof. 

There are just too many to share!  We love our tree tradition & would love to know if any of you have cherished ornaments as well!

Merry Christmas!

Updated: 3 Months!!

Ok, here is the updated full post on my baby girl who is 

3 months old!

15 weeks 

She actually turned 3 months on November 2nd, so she's really 3.5 mo now.  Almost 4 months!  It's hard to believe b/c it seems like she's still so young and I remember starting rice cereal with Will at 4 months.  I can't even imagine doing that with her in just a couple weeks.

First of all, is that not the absolute sweetest little face ever?!  She really is just such a little girl. She's so quiet and calm and sweet.  She doesn't cry much at all, and even then it's usually a weak little "meh".

Can you imagine how hard it is to leave this little face in the crib?  She's supposed to be sleeping, but flashes you this big grin in the middle of the night.  It's impossible not to pick her up for a quick snuggle.

This doll baby is super smiley, observant, and very interested in the darn tv.  She will basically do a back bend out of your arms to get a glimpse of it.  

She's not real chatty.  Most of the time she's quiet and just moving her mouth a lot like she wants to say something, but just can't figure out how to.  If I squeeze her cheeks or pull her little chin down I can work some talking out of her.  She was talking like crazy last night while looking at a book with my mom and will chat with the dangling animals on her activity mat.  

She's a pretty big girl too!  I'd bet she's around15.5-16 pounds by now and who knows how long.  6 month clothes fit the best.  We have a few 3 month outfits that still work and even some 9 m Gerber onesies that are just right. (Gerber stuff always runs small on my kids though)  At 5 months we moved Will from the carrier into a regular carseat, that's only 2 months away, but I think she'll still fit in the carrier for a little while longer

She is still nursing every 3-3.5 hours.  Occasionally sooner, occasionally later.  We're not really on a schedule.  Things are stressful enough around here right now with some health/back problems I'm having so everyone is just surviving!  Soon though, I'd love to have a set schedule.  

She isn't sleeping through the night, but I'm not surprised. I've just accepted the fact that I don't make babies who will.  She does go to sleep AWESOME!!  I can just lay her down, let her fuss for a minute and then she'll sleep!  I can't believe it and am amazed every time!  

Seriously, any time someone else is around when it's nap time I'm like,"Can you believe she'll just fall asleep?  No screaming?  Isn't she incredible?!"  Of course most other people have babies who do this so it's not really a big deal.

But when you've been through one baby who would scream himself sick for hours for months, THIS IS HEAVEN.

She's rolled over 3 times.  It was an accident and completely surprised her.  I think because she's so laid back it will take her awhile to roll.  She's really content to just look around and watch everything.  Of course if it meant she'd get a look at the tv she might!

Big brothers and flash lights don't really help with the picture taking.

Speaking of Big Brother... Will is interested off and on.  He doesn't really pay a whole lot of attention to her.  He loves to help her if she's crying by putting the paci in her mouth.  I try to make sure he's gentle, but he always gives it an extra pat to make sure it's in there good.

Look at that chubby baby!!!

One thing Olivia loves is her hands!!! Oh my goodness, I should have a pic of this easy b/c that's all she does- chew those hands.  She will watch them come together and then put them in her mouth and chow down.  

These are pics of her watching her feet kick.  She must have done that for half an hour during dinner one night.  It was so funny how intensely she watched her foot go up and down.

Overall we are having so much fun with her.  Weeks 11,12, & 13 were pretty rough.  We experienced a witching hour where around the same times every night, 5-8pm, she'd be really sensitive and have a crying spell where she was just inconsolable.  It always freaked me out and I would just walk the house with her for about 10 minutes while she screamed.  

12 weeks was a "wonder week"- a big mental leap was supposed to be taking place and I read we would see the 3 C's- clinginess, crankiness, and crying.  We did.  Not fun. 

Then week 13 seemed to be when she hit her 3 month growth spurt and wanted to eat all the time and just wasn't as content.

I'm so glad we're through that and have our happy baby back! 

My heart is full.

SWAGBUCKS!!!

I cannot tell you enough how much Swagbucks has helped the Lentz's out!  We have used our earnings to buy diapers, wipes, and last month we bought a new garbage disposal b/c ours went out.  What a blessing!  Between Steven and I, we have earned about $130 in Amazon gift cards.  That is a lot of free money!

For tips on how to use Swagbucks, see this post.

Below are screen snapshots of both mine and Steven's gift card balances!  I'm tellin' ya- it's legit!

Here is my referral link:
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/klentz1

Sign up and let me know if you get some sweet stuff besides stinky ol' diapers!
 

My Babywise Beef...

So I figured out what my beef is with Babywise.  For two and a half years now something about it has really rubbed me the wrong way.  And I know lots of good moms who swear by it, so I felt like I was insulting them by saying it bothers me.  But I couldn't figure out what really bothered me exactly.  Well, a big part was that I had a baby who I just couldn't get on a schedule to save my life. It really stressed me out.  And he didn't sleep.  So I kept going back looking for answers and feeling more and more like a failure every day.


I did the same thing the other day (since I have a three month old who isn't STTN) and found this on their website:

On Becoming Babywise is not a book of luck but of principle. Luck has nothing to do with the benefits described above – right parenting does. What you do in the first days, weeks, and months of your baby’s life will impact the rest of your parenting years.


The "benefits" described were a happy baby who sleeps through the night.  THAT's IT!! I figured out what keeps rubbing me the wrong way.  The phrase "right parenting".  


Yikes.  


That's bad.


It's basically saying everything else is wrong parenting.  And that may not be exactly what they mean (although I believe it is).  It's how it makes you feel anyway if you aren't successful getting your baby to sleep through the night by a certain age.  I'm not against the principles of parent directed feeding or the Eat Awake Sleep cycle. Those are reasonable and apparently work for thousands of moms.  And I'm still trying to do it.  


You just can't claim that your way is the right way to parent.  I mean how did the world even make it to this point without Babywise?  It's amazing we're not all ax murderers who never sleep.  THANK YOU BABYWISE FOR SAVING US.  


sorry, just a little rant.


but guess what?  I'll still look at the Babywise Mom's site for info b/c there's a lot there.  It's a good source of advice and information.  


And you're probably thinking, (especially if you're a BW mom) "c'mon Kristie, it's just their opinion."  Well it's not just the authors' opinion.  Most BW moms that I've read subscribe to the same idea.  I've read it multiple times on Chronicles of a BW mom and from comments by her followers.  Lots of back patting.  Which is fine!  Please pat your own back, bc you won't get it from many other places.  But don't make other moms feel like their way is wrong.  


Here is a link to a really great article.  It basically says that we give ourselves way too much credit for how kids turn out and don't give God enough.  He says that we should not be asking ourselves " Am I parenting successfully?", but "Am I parenting faithfully?".  


THat I can do!  I can't promise I'll be successful.  There is no way I can guarantee my son or daughter is going to be happy, sleep, make straight A's, or make all the right choices.  I just have to be faithful in teaching them what I can and pray God will take care of the rest.  


There.  I feel better.  


Now, to get that baby to sleep....

My Lil' Pumpkins