Fearless

We spent the day playing in the pool with some of our very sweet friends. The pool we were at had a fairly good sized tunnel water slide.

Jake said he wanted to go down the slide so I walked with him to the top. Getting ready to get in with him for us to go down together...he says "my do it by myself."  So I let him go 1st and then a minute later I came down the slide.

As soon as he was out of the water enough to talk he said he was going to do it again.
This time I stayed in the pool while he walked up the hill to the top of the slide. (can you see Jake walking up the hill?)
And went down again....

Honestly he probably went down the slide, climb the steps out of the pool, & walked back up to the top of the slide close to 100 times!!!

He LOVED IT!!!

He had no fear and even when he would come down side ways, or on his belly, or facing backward...and even when we heard a loud thump inside the slide as he was coming down....

Every time he got to the end of the slide he would say "I am going again."

It was great to watch him have so much fun...and I will say the water slide is a ton of fun!!

Rubbermaid Clean Little Secrets

I finally was selected for my very 1st house party. If you have never heard of house party click the link to get all the info. But basically they host different types of parties featuring different products and you can apply to be one of the host for a particular house party item. I pretty much apply for every single one because I really want to do it. My best friend got to do an awesome William Sonoma one and that is how I found House Party.

Finally I was chosen for my 1st one. And it is totally up my ally....
Rubbermaid Reveal Mop

I received my party kit last week and was so excited to open it and start using my mop. I literally could not wait to mop my floors.

However, I also had a 2 year old who was equally excited(if not more so) about our new mop. He couldn't wait for me to take it out of the box. And he kept saying "can I mop?"

Being a nice mom, I mixed up our floor cleaning solution into the mop spray bottle and let him try it.

Little did I know I would literally have to fight him for the mop just to try it out.

I LOVE it!!!
And best of all it is super eco-friendly.

You can use whatever cleaning solution you want. No using the swifter poison cleaner in a bottle. For us that meant vinegar, water, and a little bit of method dish soap.(the same stuff we have always used...except now it sprays out of a bottle attached to the mop)

Then the pad that you use to mop the floor is-WASHABLE! Hello money savings.

The handle swivels nicely making it easy to use and get into hard to reach spots.

It probably won't be the best choice if your floors are super dirty with a lot of caked on grossness. I had a sticky spot on my floor and it was a little difficult to scrub. But after a few more squirts of the cleaner and pushing down kind of hard it did come off the floor. 

I am hosting a Rubbermaid Clean Little Secrets party later this month. Where several of my friends will come over and have a chance to try out the mop. As well as, compete against the mop with their own mops right here in my house. And they each will  walk away with a few little party favors of their own.

For now I will keep blissfully mopping my kitchen floor...at least when I am not fighting the 2 year old for it. Seriously...he has asked me every day since the mop arrived if he can mop the floor. My floors have never been cleaner!

Of course when you are 2 and have spent 30 minutes mopping the floor. The only other logical thing to do would be get all your little people figures and line them up on the floor. Then spraying them with the mop and mopping them up. This lasted another 30 minutes at least. He is too cute!!!

Daily Moments(8/2-8/8)

I did better taking pictures this week. So here we are with another Daily Moments Project Life Tuesday with The Mom Creative.

Monday-August 2nd-Mondays are family days for us...and we love it! Jason wanted to walk around Toys R Us. Of course Jake loved this. I think this was the 1st time Jake actually walked around & didn't ride around in the cart. He (well, we) had so much fun walking around and playing with all the toys.

 Tuesday-August 3rd-Sometimes life isn't all rainbows & roses. And honestly sometimes when Jake does this I have to turn away and laugh. Sometimes when he doesn't get his way he will slowly lie himself on the floor facing away from us and kick his feet. Today I decided to capture the moment.

Wednesday-August 4th- Sometimes I find Jake lying or sitting on the back of our couch. Usually I ask him to get down, but today I decided to take his picture. He thinks he is big stuff when he is up there!!
Sometimes life isn't all rainbows & roses. And honestly sometimes when Jake does this I have to turn away and laugh. Sometimes when he doesn't get his way he will slowly lie himself on the floor facing away from us and kick his feet. Today I decided to capture the moment.

Thursday-August 5th- I was selected by House Party to host a Rubbermaid Reveal mop party. Today my party kit came in the mail & Jake was just as excited about our new mop as I was. In fact I had to fight him for a chance to try it out myself. He spent a good 30 minutes mopping the kitchen floor.

Friday-August 6th-Lasagna Rolls....don't they look so pretty with the frilly lasagna noodle edge. This is one of Jason's favorite meals and was made by his request. (full recipe coming soon)

 Saturday-August 7th- I love this tan lined back....too cute!! We spend all summer in the pool. Usually Jake wears a swim shirt....always has tons of sunscreen on. A few times(literally like 3 or 4) he hasn't had his swim shirt on. Still covered in sunscreen and some how his little back has gotten so tan. Love it!!

Grown

Just yesterday he was a baby
and today it seems he is GROWN!

It started with a hair cut. Mind you this is not the 1st, but with each hair cut he has seemed older. Then Jason took him a couple weeks ago for another. When they came home he was GROWN!

We have been talking about getting rid of his pacifier for months now. Really it was more me holding back then anything. He loves his paci (and was super attached). I didn't want to be the one to make him sad.

We were down to 2 pacifiers left in the house(I promise those things disappear). Both the pacifiers had been chewed and were left with a hole in each. Last week Jake bit the end off his most favorite paci. But he was ok with it he still had the little bit favorite. (his words)

But really it was time to let go....I was having a hard time just giving it up.
And so was Jake. You couldn't even mention "get rid of the paci" if he  was a around. He would yell from where ever he was(because his ears were on radar for those words) "no, it not time to get rid of my paci."

I knew this road would not be fun...I am not a cry it out kind of parent. And what do you do when your sweet boy is crying for one of his most favorite possessions(the other is his blankie...which he still has)?

Finally the inevitable happened.....

While at my mom's and of course being the clown he is & trying to show off...
He bit the end off the VERY last paci we had(well really there was one at my mom's but we were done).

Before he did this we gave him full warning..."if you bite it off your paci will be gone and you won't have it any more."

When he did we all acted super excited and told him what a big boy he would be without a paci.

Too cute Caleb even gave him a high 5 and said "yeah, you a big boy no more paci."

Jake was proud!

For the 1st time ever he let you call him a big boy when talking about his paci. In months past he would say he was a big boy until you said "well, big boys don't have pacis." Then he would revert and so "no, my a baby."

I was not....literally I had to hold the tears back (even now as I write this post and recap the end I am holding tears back....ok, maybe a few rolling down my cheek).

This was the last thing holding him at being a baby

This was it....

From here what do you get?

GROWN!!!

That is the only word to describe my sweet baby boy this week...GROWN!! He just seems so grown without it. Although he had stopped walking around the house with it. He did still have it pretty regularly.

Some how he just seems GROWN!!!

They have tricks

All the boys love jumping off Nana & Pawpaw's diving board. The bigger boys have mastered their "tricks" even Jake thinks his jump is a trick. Caleb is still a little too scared to jump off. It is a little hard to see who is who but I couldn't get any closer without it being super blurry. Austin jumps 1st then Tyler, then Jake, & Caleb is last standing on the board.

Another year...another inch

The past 2 years we have taken a picture of my parents 4 grandsons looking out the back door of their house. The 1st time was really totally spontaneous, but then we loved it so much we decided to continue it every year. Although, 2 new grandsons have been added to the bunch this year we still just have the 4 boys in the picture. It is so much fun to compare the pictures each year.

                                                                2008(Caleb, Jake, Tyler, & Austin)

                                                     2009(Jake, Caleb, Tyler, Austin)

                                                  2010(Jake, Caleb, Tyler, & Austin)

And at the request of Oma here is a front facing picture from this year.

It is so much fun to see how each of the boys have grown. And at the same time so sad...my sweet boy was just a baby when this 1st picture was taken. Amazing how much bigger Caleb was then Jake 2 years ago and how they are almost totally caught up with each other this year. Also too cute that in 2009 you can see the top of both Caleb & Jake's diapers and this year they are both all grown up wearing underwear.

Love these memories and that we can go back to see the change every year. Hopefully when the boys are teenagers they won't get too mad when they have to look out Nana & PawPaw's back window for a picture.

S'more Goodness

Several years ago we would spend 4th of July weekend camping. I loved it...almost everything about it...including sleeping in a tent. The bugs I could do without, but I loved camping. We are thinking about taking Jake later this summer and looking around for good places. I love camping and want Jake to experience the fun of camping(in a tent).

But whenever I think of 4th of July I think of those years spent camping and remember the fun of roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. Although, we weren't camping I thought it would be fun for Jake & my nephews, plus a girl(the older boy's cousin)(ok, and me too) to roast marshmallows and make s'mores even without the camping.

We had to be innovative since we didn't have a fire pit or a place to build a fire....so what is a girl in a back yard to do? Hello, my new friend gas grill. I will admit I have never cooked on a grill before. Jason is the master of the grill and enjoys cooking on the grill. So all of our meals on the grill are left up to him. But it might be my new favorite outside toy!!

They s'mores weren't as good as the original over the fire roasted marshmallow kind, but they still had their gooey deliciousness to them.

At one point it became more fun to just add a piece of chocolate to the marshmallow skewer and it that way. Forgot about the graham cracker. 

It ended with a *boom*

We had such a great time over the 4th of July holiday weekend. It was so relaxing, but fun to be around our family all weekend.

Sunday of course we started the morning at church(with a fairly light crowd). Then we headed straight over to my parents house. Since they have a pool in their backyard this is where we spend all most all of our weekends during the summer. So off we were to spend the afternoon in the pool. Loving the water and soaking up as much sun as we could.  Plus eating some super yummy all american food...hot dogs, hamburgers, baked beans, & pasta salad. mmm....so good!

Then Sunday night we headed to our small town down town area for some fun festivities and of course ending the night with a great fireworks show. Jake loved the fireworks(well for at least 5 min., but what can you expect with a 2 year old attention span). He kept pointing them out and shouting that was my favorite one(to each one). While we were waiting for the fireworks Jake played with some sparklers and kept asking for more.

Once we were done there we headed back to my parents for our own personal fireworks show. Of course they were just the Georgia legal ones that don't do much but spark or make noise. Again Jake loved these and sat in a chair watching as Daddy lite fire works one at a time...and seeming completely mesmerized by them.

Water Boy!!

It is official...Jake LOVES the water.

We started the summer a little slow. He refused to wear any type of float and would only go in the water if someone was holding him. Well, really he had to be holding you. He would squeeze your fingers so tight to ensure you wouldn't be able to let go of him.

He did enjoy sitting on the steps and was perfectly content to get in & out of the water at the steps.

But something happened about a week ago....

He ASKED me to put his arm floaties on him. Still he wanted someone holding him while he wore them.
I started letting go of him and he would cry and freak out(yes, I know mean mommy). After about 2-3 times of this he realized he was floating even when no one was holding on to him. He was fine just being in the water (as long as I was close by).

Over the weekend he got totally brave and just wanted to be in the water ALL.THE.TIME.

Then the inevitable happened he said he wanted to jump off the diving board. So he would climb up the diving board and once on top I(or pawpaw) would drop him off the edge into the water. I was worried he wouldn't jump out far enough and hit his head. We did this a few times. Then he was jumping off the top step. And really pushing off and getting out in the water.

The next day of course he asked to jump off the board again. This time he jumped out all by himself(see video here) And then he was on repeat. He would jump off the board several times in a row, then was back to jumping off the step several times. With some swimming in between.

He is officially a water loving, swimming boy!!! My next plan is to slowly let the air out of the arm floats(yep, mean mom again). He kicks great and moves his arms when he is swimming with them on. I figure by slowly letting the air out he might be swimming by the end of the summer.

Diving Superman

I used to be able to post videos on the blog...I can't figure out for the life of me where the stinking button went that allowed me to upload a video. If anyone in blog world can help please let me know.

I am really hoping this will work...but we will see! Here is a video(click on the word...I am hoping it will take you to the video) of my little Jake jumping off the diving board. He will be swimming without arm floaties before to long. He is so big and brave!!

Daily Moments

Welcome to our Tuesday Daily Moments. Where I join up with Jessica of The Creative Mom & share a picture from every day of the previous week. This week sure was a busy one(I even forgot to take a picture of anything on Wednesday)

Spent this week with a group of great kids during our churches Surge Camp(our version of VBS)

Opened up my bill pay drawer to get stamps & found 2 pacis...when it comes time to get rid of this I am going to have to search the house...very well.

Wednesday didn't get any pictures today...we did spend the afternoon with great friends at our neighborhood pool...just picture us there!!

Jake is officially potty trained...it has been over a month since we have had to buy diapers ;)

Tonight was Mommy date night!!! Here we are ready to go.  We went to "our favorite place"(jake's words when we arrived at Panera)

2 swimming cousins! Both little fish in the water at just 2 years old!

Here is Jake at his 1st movie Toy Story 3 (yes, I was the crazy mom with my camera in the theater) He loved it!!

Potty Trained!!

For several months now(like 8 or so)...we have been kind of working on potty training. I am sure doing everything every book has said not to do. Wearing a combination of pull-ups, diapers and on some days underwear. Sitting on the potty when I remembered to ask Jake if he needed to go. And on a few rare occasions taking him when he said he needed to go.

About 4 months ago he stopped wanting to sit on the potty at all. He would through a fit and not sit. I was afraid of what the books say...if you make it a negative experience they will never be potty trained...let them do it at their own pace...never force them to sit on the potty. So we took a step back and went to just wearing a diaper all the time. The potty was still out and occasionally I would take him in there.

I was seeking the advice of every parent I knew who had potty trained a child...especially the boy parents. After all the books say boys are harder then girls. Most everyone was telling me the same thing...you'll know when he is ready...just let him decide...don't push it....he'll get it before he has to go to kindergarten so don't worry about it! I really wanted someone to say "this is what you do and it will work." No one was telling me that...so we just kept with the sit back and wait.

One friend of mine loaned me a copy of the ebook "potty train in 3 days," I read over it and really it was one of those things that seemed too good to be true. So I stored it away for when I really thought I was ready to potty train.

One of my biggest fears has been how do you take your child into a public bathroom? I can't stand them & avoid them at all cost. But a child (especially newly potty trained) wouldn't understand the concept of holding it.

But the beginning of this month I decided I was done buying diapers it was time to get serious. We took a lot of the advice from the 3 day potty training guide and went with it.

Woke up one day & we got rid of a few diapers(I was too afraid to throw them all away as she recommends) but we did throw some away and hid the rest. And we started wearing underwear. The 1st day we had a few accidents, but each day got better. We even did underwear at nap & bed time. And he was dry when he woke up!!

So I have waited a couple weeks to write this post (a little fear that once I hit publish won't be true) I think I can officially say Jake is potty trained!!! I still remind him throughout the day to go, but he always tells me when he has to go. And I still help him get on the potty. We have had a few accidents, but I blame myself for them. Like, when we had been gone shopping and as soon as we got home I ran in to use the bathroom...not even thinking that he would have to go. And sure enough he peed right outside the bathroom door. But we are doing great and it has been a month since we even looked at a diaper or pull up (with the exception of swim diapers...I don't want to be the mom who gets blamed when our neighborhood pool is shut down for 3 days because of poop in the pool). I was able to give a package of diapers (minus 2) to a great friend of mine and I have a stash of pull-ups I need to give to another friend next time I see her.

Jake is a BIG Boy...with underwear on!!! (we are going to work on the paci next)

So here is my question for you seasoned potty training mommies....when do you start teaching your boy to stand up? ( he has done it a few times, but prefers to sit & it is less mess for me ;) ) And when is it ok to not put a swim diaper on them?  I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!