Sometimes Being A Mom Sucks

Sometimes it's really hard. It's messy, it's trying, and it definitely takes your patience to levels you didn't know existed. Sometimes it sucks and I don't feel guilty one bit for putting that out there!

Austen and I haven't really been seeing eye to eye this week, hence the lack of blogging. I didn't really have anything good to say. He's been uncooperative, disobedient, and not so successful in the potty training arena. (Yes we've had a major setback there, so for everyone hating me for how easy it was going and my smugness about it, rest assured, I've cleaned up more human waste than I care to talk about.) The one thing that saved us was that he's at least been sleeping good. Well, that and we finally had a nice day today.

I think he's just really bored and he's 2, so he's pushing the limits of everything! Including my patience......I think he's even a little frustrated too.....

But I can't stay mad at this:

Getting out of the house and letting him run around was all he needed! He's been an absolute angel today! Obedient and everything!

The other day he pulled his tool bench in front of the curio cabinet, climbed on it, and sat there to eat his snack. I thought he was just being silly until I realized why he had done that.

He totally wanted to watch himself in the mirror. Like father like son! They can't get enough of themselves!!!

I'm A Genius

My sister taught Austen to say that yesterday so he's been running around all day yelling "I'm a genius". The fact that it makes me laugh hysterically only perpetuates it.
This kid will do anything for a laugh.
You can just see his little face light up when he makes someone laugh.
Sound like anyone??? His Dad just a little???

On a totally unrelated note....I take baths a lot.
And I usually read while I'm in there relaxing.
Sometimes Brian will bring Austen in to say hi....I'm pretty sure that's where he got this idea:

He emptied out the ottoman, grabbed a book, and got in.
He calls it "taking a bath tub".
This is the face I get when I tell him to smile.
Never gets old!

Monsters Inc

Monsters Inc is Austen's new favorite show. Toy Story has moved down in the ranks.

The other day we were browsing through Target when Austen saw this shirt and threw it in the cart. I thought it was cute that he wanted a "mike" shirt so I bought it for him.

That's mike the monster from the movie.

He wanted to wear it immediately so I did something I NEVER do and let him wear it before it was washed. That was a bad idea. He broke out in hives everywhere, really bad ones too. He had big raised welts everywhere, even on his face. It was so sad, but he was only sad about me not letting him wear the mike shirt until it could get washed. He seriously waits by the dryer for this shirt to come out and then he wants to wear it immediately. So cute that he's starting to pick favorite things!

So Happy He's Back

Brian was gone all weekend golfing and even though he was having a well deserved break, we were missing him a lot!!!

Especially the little man.
Needless to say we were so happy to see him last night!
We're glad you're back!

My cute boys watching youtube together.

I think this is a cute pic even though Brian looks a little stoned.

Prepare Yourselves......

What I'm about to share is life changing!!!

Especially if you are as addicted to cookies and milk as I am.
I'll just preface my new discovery by saying this...
I really like oreo's with milk.
Probably too much.
It is absolutely necessary to eat oreo's only when they have been fully saturated in milk, but this can create problems.
Mainly it's that my fingers get too cold, so I pull out the cookie before it's reached optimum levels of saturation.

Well not any more!!!!

I've discovered that a fork fits perfectly into the filling and now I can dunk away.
No more messy, cold fingers!

Now I can eat twice as many cookies as before!

(I didn't come up with this on my own sadly, I stole it from another blog.)

I've Been Collecting Evidence

Since Austen is such a clone of Brian sometimes I forget that I contributed DNA, but sometimes I catch little bits here and there that definitely come from me. I've been gathering these bits for two whole years just to come up with enough to actually make a list. So here goes......

He always has to have two passas
He likes vegetables
He loves to read books
He talks to himself
He is the world's easiest kid to potty train
and
He is a wild sleeper
(These pics were taken about 5 mins apart.)

Notice how his feet aren't even on the couch and he's still asleep???
And the crazy arm that looks broken.....that's definitely from me.

Words Of Wisdom

Yesterday I overheard Austen sharing some important life lessons with Woody. They are as follows:

"Don't touch the poop."
(We had an unfortunate dog poop incident the other day and it apparently left quite an impression.)

And my personal favorite:
"Don't hit your mother."

At least I'm teaching him the basics right?

Potty training is still going very well. Way better than expected. He had a teeny tiny accident last night, but it was totally my fault. He told me he needed to go, but my hands were covered in meatloaf and I didn't get him in there fast enough. Oh well, it was bound to happen.

Austen comes up with some pretty funny stuff to entertain himself while I'm cooking. Sometimes he cooks in his own kitchen, but sometimes he does this:

Or he "ice skates" on hot pads.

He came up with that one on his own.
I'm still trying to figure out how he even knows what ice skating is.....

I personally think he's the most creative kid ever!

Time To Get Our Workout On......

I have a new workout buddy......

He lifts weights with me.....

and he even likes to go running.

Austen really wants to do whatever he sees grownups doing, so when he sees me doing my arm workout with my weights, he wants to do it too.
He'll pick them up, count to 6 or sometimes higher, and then let out a big sigh and say "holy cow".
I guess I say that when I'm done.....I never would have noticed that without my little shadow.

He even put on some of my running gear and tried to walk down the stairs in my shoes to go for a run on the treadmill.
He only made it to the first stair and then decided he didn't need the shoes after all. They were a little too big. :)

One Of Austen's Favorite People

Austen REALLY likes his Grandpa.... a lot!!!
It might have something to do with his really awesome tools.
Or
It might be his seeming endless supply of M&M's.
Either way, Austen thinks Grandpa is the coolest.
He pretends to talk to him on his cell phone all day,
and he recently informed me that Grandpa can fix anything.

Oh, and Grandpa always lets Austen help with projects even letting Austen use real power tools.
and
He lets him do things that I don't, like play in the sink.

Happy Happy Birthday!!!
We love you!

(Isn't a whole blog post better than a birthday card?)

Potty Training 101

I am kind of clueless about the whole potty training thing. Housebreaking a dog, well that I know.......doing it with a little person is totally foreign. I just have to say that Austen is actually the one teaching me how it's done. He is practically potty training himself!!! He went a whole 24 hours without going in a diaper......he held it all night even though he had a bunch of water before bed.

That being said, I had no idea it was going to be this exhausting. He has to go every 10 or 15 min and in between I'm constantly watching him for signs that he has to go. I had a million things on my to do list yesterday and even though we did not leave the house once all day, I didn't get any of them done. In fact, I only managed to put away 1 measly load of laundry and empty the dishwasher.

That stuff isn't as important obviously, but it's just surprising how time consuming it has been.

I've discovered a few things along the way.

1. If he says he has to go, he means it! Even if he just went.
2. Pants take a long time to get off.....it's better to just skip the pants.
3. Bribing with skittles might not be the best thing with him. (He has realized he gets a skittle every time he goes in the potty which makes him think he has to go A LOT!)

Here he is in his big boy pants.....how cute is that?

This morning he put on some of my running gear so he could go run too.
With no pants it's extra funny.

I'm so proud of my little guy!! He is doing so well with all this and it makes me realize how grown up he's getting. I am seriously the luckiest mom ever!

I Hope I Don't Jinx Us........

I've been trying for three days to get Austen to pee on the potty with no success. He's only had one accident in the big boy underwear, so that was encouraging, but when I set him on the potty he would get stage fright and not be able to go. Until today!!!! He just went for the first time. He was so shocked, proud, and excited all at the same time. He was practicing making it stop and go, stop and go. I think he finally gets it!!! I know it's a process and he isn't potty trained yet, but it's a good start and exactly what I needed to reassure me that I hadn't started too early.

He just came in and told me he needed to "pee so bad" so I took him in and he did it again!!!! I am super excited!!!!

Not to mention that boxer briefs on him are seriously cute!!!

Yay Austen, Mommy is so proud of you!!!

A New Favorite Food and A Traumatic Event

Austen had his first hot dog the other day and he absolutely LOVED it. I grabbed him one as we were leaving Costco along with a root beer and I'm pretty sure it was his favorite dinner ever!!! He ate the entire thing (they are huge). I'm considering entering him in a hot dog eating contest.....I know he could at least beat me. I asked him what he wanted for dinner last night and he said "hot dog and root beer". I tried to tell him that's a special thing and we can't eat it all the time, so he settled for hot dog and milk, but he pretended his milk was root beer.

Yesterday I dropped Austen off at the childcare place at the gym while I did yoga. It was his first time being left anywhere like that. (I very rarely leave him and when I do it's with my mom or my sister.) He was fine and totally happy when I left, he never even looked back once. I even went back and checked on him before my class started and he was just having a blast with all the new toys. Apparently that didn't last long....they had to come get me from my class to come get him. He was crying and crying and they couldn't distract him. He was so sad and I felt awful for leaving him with a bunch of strangers. He stayed mad for a good 2 hours after we got home......I thought he'd never forgive me!!! He eventually did forgive me, but he kept talking about it and even told Brian about it when he got home from work. I think he was a little traumatized!!!