Here is how last month went!
Adam and Ashley: We had a bit of a scare last month when Adam started getting pain in his leg that was very similar to when he had his blood clots last year. Luckily, he got an appointment as soon as possible and they scheduled an ultrasound. It turns out he did have a blood clot but it was a lot more superficial than the other ones he had that were deep vein thrombosis. So he is back on blood thinners for a month but that should be all. He is going to see if he can get an adjustable desk that he can stand while working too to see if that will help. But at least he wasn't laid up in pain as long as we was last time. I have been juggling the kids as always and dealing with something new with Eli which has kept me very busy and stressed out and you will read about it below.
Eli: The biggest thing this month is that we began potty training! This is one step of parenting that I had been DREADING! We probably put it off too long but we finally started. We had been reading a book (Oh Crap Potty Training) on potty training that we had for while to give us some kind of framework to work through. So we started with barricading the kitchen for a couple days and doing naked time. That worked for a bit until the novelty wore off for Eli. He got pretty good at pee but hadn't pooped at all. We decided to move onto the next step the book recommended which was commando time. Meanwhile, we put him in diapers for nap and bedtime. The book was so adamant about what you should and shouldn't do that it was starting to stress me out. Also, Eli would throw a fit every time we took the diaper off, plus he didn't like going commando. So we decided to look into other methods. A friend sent me information about a 3 Day potty training method, so we kinda switched gears. Instead what we did was put him in underwear, got rid of all diapers, bought some m&ms for rewards (the first book said no rewards), and hoped for the best. I definitely had to prepare myself mentally that there was going to be a ton of accidents and just have the carpet cleaner at the ready and keep trying. This seemed to click for him and he loved the underwear. He got pretty good at self-prompting whenever he had to go pee and accidents became fewer and fewer. The first book recommended waking him up to pee in the middle of the night and I am SO glad we didn't. Instead we just put him in underwear and expected to wake up to an accident. Instead, he kept dry the whole night but only had an accident when he first woke up and we didn't get him fast enough. We keep him in his room using a door knob cover because otherwise he'd never stay in his room and he calls for us through the vent because our room is below his. So I knew the accident was after he woke up because of where it was on the carpet. But every day he got better and better and now rarely has an pee accident. Poop however is 0% still. I don't know what to do to get him to poop on the potty and I'm so sick of rinsing his underwear but we are just trying to keep going with it. If anyone has suggestions, let me know! Sorry if this was all TMI but I'm also recording this for my memory and use for future kids. We are so proud of Eli and how he has transitioned to peeing in the potty though. On another note, he is also SUPER excited for Christmas and finally understands traditions and Santa which has been fun :)
Wesley: is 5 1/2 months old! He frequently rolls from back to tummy and desperately wants to crawl. He can scoot a little bit but mostly backwards and he pivots or rolls around a bit. It is just not enough for him to not get frustrated. We're thinking he will start crawling by Christmas. He has also begun the glorious and seemingly never ending stage of teething. He is constantly biting on everything, drooling a ton, and getting more fussy. Towards the end of the month we saw a little white corner of a tooth that has not broken through yet. Poor guy is so miserable sometimes :( But when he is happy, his smiles and laughs are magical. He LOVES Eli and constantly watches him while laughing and smiling. And Eli does great with it about 90% of the time haha. It is so hard to believe that we're coming up to half of a year that he's been outside of me! I definitely can't imagine our family without him.
Cat sitting: The first week of the month we took care of a friend's cat while they were out of town. I have never lived with a cat or dog so it was definitely a learning experience haha. Eli was OBSESSED and still talks about him. Luckily the cat was used to little kids so he was a good sport. He was a very social cat as well and loved following us around the house. The first night, we let him sleep with us and he decided to shove in between Adam and I or sit on my head and paw at my hair haha. Needless to say, we closed our door the other nights haha. But it was fun to have a cute kitty around for a bit!
Thanksgiving: We spent this year with my aunts and grandpa that live in Blackfoot! It was so nice to be around my family and the food was delicious. We played games, tried to keep track of Eli's potty training, and had fun watching my little cousin who is about 9 months older than Wesley walk around and wonder what this strange little baby was haha.
