Florida Trip

Wow! I have some blogging to catch up on!

In February we took the family to Fort Walton Beach, FL for various assemblies and the Danny Wuerffel (it has been 6 years and I still have to look up how to spell his last name!)Trophy presentation. By the time I arrived, Joel III was pretty much back to his normal behavior and schedule, however, the first 2 days were pretty horrific, so I heard. He took a late flight with emily and had a hard time sleeping and getting back on schedule supposedly..lucky for me, I didn’t get to experience any of the crankiness! Judah didn’t have a hard time adjusting at all and soon it was just the 3 of us in a foreign land… with no GPS. We did have a great condo on the beach, and an awesome car to get all of us around. Joel just loved going to the beach and every time we would pass the elevator to go into the condo he would say “Go Beach! Go Beach!” and then he would often cry in disappointment when we came into the condo instead. (no amount of preparing/explaining would prevent this) The condo was really nice but we didn’t bring many toys from home and so Joel III kinda hated it in there. Judah however, getting bigger and older was having a hard time falling asleep in his new car seat. He preferred being in the condo and specifically in his crib..asleep.

It was tough to please them both. Ultimately, as always, I think Judah lost the battle and by the end of the week he was falling asleep in his car seat just fine.

Joel had 3 full days of assemblies and evening concerts, so although I was in the same state as him, I still did not see him until Thursday. (got there with Judah on Sunday, and we did have some time together that day) Thursday and Friday were great. We got to spend some time with friends with whom we have much in common.

The banquet seems to get bigger and bigger to me but everyone said it was the same size as the previous year. Judah didn’t do great at the banquet ..he likes to go to bed earlier now and so keeping him up until 10 just didn’t work too well. Ultimately he fell asleep with a large amount of rocking both nights and all was well. Joel did just awesome on the potty when we were in florida and seems to now be fully potty trained. We are still a bit nervous to take away his reward (usually a skittle or a teddy graham) but we will tackle that soon.

We were able to take Joel to the heated pool one morning and it was fun. Here's a video of Joel in the pool.

The last day Joel and Daddy had some fun on the beach and Joel III finally got over his fear of the waves..turns out he actually loves waves and was having a blast right up until the time we had to fly back!

Joel and Judah's First flight!

Joel left on 2-11 with Emily Holliday to Fort Walton Beach, FL. He was so excited for his "air-pane trip wif Em-bulee" that he only slept 1.5 hours for his nap instead of his normal 2.5. I warned Emily that he was a little sleep deprived. Here is a pic of him holding his 'care-we on bag' and waiting in anticipation for his trip. so cute.

Emily wrote the following about Joel's first flight:

Joel did very well on his first flight. He was excited to ride in the stroller and loved looking outside at the airplanes. The only time we even came close to a cry was on the way into the first plane. It was a super small plane with small isles so I grabbed his hand to follow me. He didn't want to come on and kept saying "no, no." All the way down the isle he was letting out tiny whimpers. He wanted to sit on my lap when we got to the seat, but the cheese and gummy bears quickly distracted him. He was very good about keeping his seat belt on.

He loved the take off. We talked about it going fast and with wide eyes he said "again" when the loud noises stopped and we hit cruising altitude. The layover in Memphis was tricky. When we got off the plane he said "see Daddy!" and I had to explain to him that we had to get on another plane, and then when we got off that one we would see him. In Memphis, It was very quiet and he was a bundle of energy! He wanted to continually spin the stroller around and say "Hi" to everyone around him. He also wanted to pick up the things that people had with them..... hat, water bottle, etc.

Soon he was back in Daddy's arms and very tired in Fort Walton Beach airport. Here's a pic taken minutes after their reunion.

On the way back to Columbus Joel did ok on 1 out of 2 flights. I think that is how it went for Emily. So all in all, 2 out of 4 flights went well for Joel III. I guess thats not too bad for a 2 year old. However, these were short flights!

Judah also did well on the flights. I took him in my baby bjorn carrier and he loved being able to see the action and everyone's faces.

We were able to rent two great car seats at FWB so we traveled light. Judah likes to be awake when he is held so he can laugh and smile and play. Of course that means he does not want to sleep. This caused some problems on the flight there. However, on the way back, I think he was so exhausted from the week and he got used to sleeping in odd situations that I was able to nurse him to sleep on both flights. So, overall Judah did well on 3 out of 4 flights.. but He's only 5 months old so he's much easier to deal with!

Crazy start of the year!

Neglected Judah.


January was insane. I mean crazy. In the past January was a nice and slow month for us. Definitely not this year. Joel's traveling picked up mid-January and has not slowed since. I have been judging quite a bit .. at least 2 times a week. We had Joel III's birthday. Then Potty training. I started a kickboxing class and church bible study. Joel III started a gymnastics class. And discipleship meetings for our church have taken up any available 'free time.' Insane. Something has to suffer when things get this busy for sure. I would say our spiritual life for one. We make time to read the Bible each day and are going through Bible in a Year for the 2nd (for me) and 3rd (for Joel) year in a row. However our readings and prayer time gets cut short when there are so many other things to do. It is times like these I am thankful for things like Discipleship, which continually pulls us back to the Word and making time for our Lord. (who, of course, deserves so much more than 20 mins of our daily lives.. right?) Especially since we are supposed to be 'leading' the relationship so we need to set a good example!

Another thing that has suffered: Judah. Poor Judah. He has discovered that life goes on around him and is therefore less interested in feeds. Joel is usually loudly playing while I'm trying to nurse him. And pretty frequently when daddy isn't home I have to interrupt a feeding for discipline or to clean Joel up after a meal. He also doesn't nurse too well on the go because he hears different sounds around him and is curious. And of course the colors of my nursing cover up are just so intriguing and it must be grabbed at all times. At his 4 month dr. appointment we discovered the consequences of these problems: Average weight gain from months 2-4 is 3 lbs and average height is 1-2 inches. Judah gained only 2 lbs and grew 3 inches. Hm.. His Dr. wasn't too concerned because we talked about how we might have just caught him after a height growth spurt and he hasn't put on the weight. I am hoping that his reflux symptoms will also get better, because that seems to hinder his nursing quite a bit as well. Poor little guy.



This video is one of my personal favs.




January 17th we celebrated Joel III's second birthday.


We had a few close friends over and the grandparents for lasagna and cake and presents. It was nice and laid back. I think Joel though was a little overwhelmed by all the adult attention and was acting up a little bit. (making mean faces, crying, and not listening very well) But that is to be expected I've heard. With the exception of his not-so-stellar behavior the night was a great success.





The next three days we began another potty training adventure that soaked up both parents time in huge ways. We literally got nothing done other than taking care of the boys. I guess that should have been expected too. Ohwell. At least this time it worked! seriously. I am shocked myself. It has been 2 weeks since we started and Joel has gone 5 days in a row without an accident. He doesn't like to go in front of other people (i.e. babysitters) and he doesn't like to go on the 'big potty.' Oh yeah, and he also doesn't tell you when he has to go. I have to put him on the potty at the right times. But other than all of those things we are doing very well! Next week we will all be traveling to Florida for assemblies and the annual Danny Wuerffel trophy extravaganza. I will not be bringing the little potty with us.. shocker. So, I am going to put the little potty away and see how it goes with the big potty at the beginning of the week.



Next week will be our first time flying with either child. I am kinda clueless about the whole process. I am excited to see how Joel will do. I think he will really enjoy it, other than the loud sound at take off and landing. Emily Holliday (who is in her 3rd trimester) will be flying down with him and then Judah and I will come a couple days later. (Don't ask me how I got away with that one!) The whole family will fly back together a week later. We decided a man-to-man approach might be best since we are all new at this. Thanks Emily!!

Joel III is soaking up new information like crazy! He is starting to put together sentences and even express his own ideas! The other day in the car he asked me to repeat a song, which he frequently does, by saying "do gain, do gain" but then he said out of nowhere, "like dat song!" I was blown away. Joel says he can even tell a difference in his language when he comes back from a long 4-5 day trip. It is so fun. Right now we (we this time being Joel III and I) are learning a Bible song to all of the new testament books of the Bible and he knows the first 6! Which, sadly is probably better than a lot of Christian adults. pop quiz/guilt trip: can you name them?

Please pray for safety during Joel's travel right now and the upcoming 2 weeks - he will be/is in: California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

Potty Training Attempt #2 Day 3

Joel III has had it. He's sick of being in the house for sure. This morning he woke up with a huge rash from an early morning diarrhea. The culprit: too much G2. I did see this coming... however I wasn't sure how else to get him to drink a lot. I was hoping the G2 would not give him diarrhea like juice does.. I was wrong. Somehow he must have known what caused it too bc after breakfast he refused to drink any G2. But really he wouldn't drink anything. I accepted that. I was kinda sick of potty training also. Oh I forgot to mention - we have been doing some "Potty Scotty" training as well. Each day we have played with "Potty Scotty" at least 3 times, giving him water, then having him sit on the potty, he pees, then we reward him. The 'we' being Joel III and I. He really enjoys this. However, the doll leaks quite a bit.. so we don't do it a ton. I do think though that this helped Joel figure out what was going on, especially day 1. We began the morning like the other mornings with nothing happening until around 11am. Then 3 hits then lunch. Then nap. Good Start.

After his nap Joel took him on a short trip with sweatpants on. He returned with the same sweatpants on... no accident! However, we knew that would be a good time to go based on his history. (pees in diaper during nap, doesn't pee again until around 5pm) The Joels came home around 4:15 and I promptly had Joel III sit on the potty. I decided that since he had been doing so well and had a huge butt rash that he could keep his sweatpants on. Also... poor kid has been pretty cold I think. We continued sitting on the potty every 20 mins or so until 545 when he had another hit. Another big accomplishment during this time: learning how to pull down and pull up his own pants. You are thinking: "He's 2 years old and he doesn't do that on his own yet?" yep. that's correct. no interest in dressing/undressing himself whatsoever. I have tried. he says "Mommy do it." So I do it. At the time it wasn't really a necessity. Now it is. So I made him do it. And he did.

Then dinner. (the past 2 dinners he has had accidents) Before we eat I remind him to tell me if he has to go potty. About halfway through a fabulous dinner (meatloaf + mashed potatoes and gravy + dried strawberries for Joel III) he looks at me and whines. This one of the first "warnings" that he has ever really given, I whisk him off to the potty and he sits for a few minutes but does not go. We return to dinner. He says loudly "Dizzy Dizzy, go way go way." (he wants the dizzy feeling he has to go away. I mean it should be clear.) Joel and I look at each other quite confused and I whisk him off again just in case. He sits for a few minutes but does not go, I say "ok it's time to go back to dinner" and he says, "Dizzy Dizzy" again... and sits back on the potty voluntarily. At this point I figure he is just trying to get out of sitting at the dinner table but.. Sure enough... this time he pees! I guess I shouldn't be surprised.. "Dizzy" is one of the few 'feelings inside' that he has articulated to us. and he knew he wasn't hungry or sleepy I guess. ha. We end the day with one more hit and then Joel cuts his hair and then bath time. .. An Accident free day! wow.



Totals From Day 3
Successes 6
Accidents 0

Now what? Honestly I didn't expect this much success. Fellom recommends another 3 months of pantless days around the house to 'make it stick.' Ok it is the dead of Winter. I felt bad enough making him do 2.5 days freezing his little privates off. Not to mention the difficulty of climbing into and out of seats .. (putting his unprotected privates into a scary position) However, I do think there is something about the comfort of close-fitting diaper/panties/pullups that will encourage peeing. I think we are going to stick with sweatpants and no underwear around the house and when out and about. I'll keep you updated on the results.

update 10-30-11: This update comes to you almost a full year later, woops! This second trial (done at exactly 24 months) pretty much 'worked' and we considered this the time that Joel was fully potty trained. We kept Joel in sweatpants with no undies for 3 months.  Babysitters and child care workers did find it a bit weird, however it was super easy and it worked.  We did, however, have to take Joel to the potty at his specific times in order for him to not have an accident.  If we forgot, he wouldn't say anything until after it happened.  We learned this pretty quickly and it wasn't hard to remember to take him at 11am, 5pm and 7pm.  Thankfully, though, when he had his accidents, they were usually very small as he would realize what was happening and then hold it and then say something.  We did have a few problems with other people watching him who forgot to take him at those specific times and he, like clockwork, would have an accident. We still put a diaper on him for naps and nighttime.  He still goes pee in the diaper.  He actually learned early on that we would do this and so he would hold his poops until nap time or nighttime.  Just so he could poop in the diaper.  This hasn't been too much of a problem, except of course when he poops at the beginning of the night.  We give Joel a special treat for going poop in the potty and he does occasionally.  We are not pushing that area too much.  Since about age 2 1/2 (30 months) Joel has gotten much better at telling us when he needs to go potty, which is helpful.

Potty Training attempt #2 Day 2

Things have been going very very well. We are so impressed with Joel. Last night I had to leave to judge a gymnastics meet so Joel was on his own with both babies for an hour or so until Joel III went to bed (with a diaper on of course!). During that time Joel III had another success and Joel was thinking 'man he's really getting the hang of this!' To add to things, Joel had a small meeting at our house that was starting right after Joel III got in bed. Joel left Joel III alone for about 5 mins as he checked on the rest of the house to straighten things up. Sure enough when he returned he found Joel III sitting on top of one of our storage ottomans with a large dark ring just below his bottom. Apparently the feeling of something soft on his bottom was the cue or something as Joel III acted like nothing had happened. Joel felt a little overwhelmed at this point as he had about 30 minutes to give Judah a bottle, get Joel III to bed, clean up the accident and clean up the house! I think he survived.

totals from Day 1
Successes 6
accidents 3


Day 2

This morning we had a similar story to Day 1. Joel did nothing until around 11am. We were sitting him on the potty around every 20 minutes.. more frequent around 11am because I knew it was coming. Sure enough we had a hit at 11am and then another hit shortly afterward with a surprise - watch the video to hear about it -



I was so pumped and then we had lunch. During lunch at some point he peed in his booster seat. He did say to me "Go potty Go potty" near the end of lunch and I whisked him off to the potty only to discover he already went. We put a diaper on and I put him down for his nap.

Joel woke up from his nap pretty cranky and not happy to take his pants and diaper off. I let him sit on the couch next to me (sitting on a towel) and watch a video while I nursed Judah. We had one more hit then it was dinner time. Near the end of dinner he said "Go Pee Go Pee" and I whisked him off to the potty to discover the same pool of urine in his booster seat. Hm.... something about that seat feels comfortable to him I guess. In the evening I knew he should have one more pee so I was sitting him on the potty frequently. The timing didn't work out and while playing with a toy I heard him exclaim, "Pee! Pee!" He was pointing at it on the floor in front of him with a surprised look on his face. Then it was bedtime. Hm.. he does much better in the morning I guess.

Totals from Day 2
Successes 3
Accidents 3

Overall I'm pleased. We are starting to get a feel for when he goes and he is feeling more comfortable with the whole thing. Hopefully tomorrow he will give us some warning before an accident ... most of the hits are from times that we mandate him to sit on the potty. However there have been a few times that I say "ok Joel, your time is up, do you want to keep sitting on the potty?" and he says "Go potty." and he stays there and pees.. maybe he just wants me to leave him alone.

Potty training attempt #2 Day 1

Ok. So I'm not gonna lie. I/We were not excited to do potty training this time. Perhaps it was the failed attempt from last time, or the thought of cooping up a 2 year old inside for 3 days, or the thought of pee everywhere, or maybe the reality of a more opinionated child... or perhaps just the combination of all of these.

Looking at the calendar this seemed to be the best time to do it, and I didn't want to wait too much longer as Joel is still eager to please us and curious about potty things. Fortunately we just had Joel's 2 year birthday party yesterday so we have plenty of new toys to keep him busy. More positives: Joel is realizing the privilege it is to have the full attention of his parents (he gets less and less of it these days) so the bare-bottomed method definitely gives him more attention. oh and lest I forget - we have been working on drinking from a 'real cup' which he really enjoys, this will give us the chance to perfect drinking from a 'real cup.'

Morning of Day #1
Successes 5
accidents 2

Woo Hoo! Joel spent the entire morning playing half naked and drinking 'juice' (full strength G2.. yummy treat for him!) by 11am still nothing had happened. We were getting a little nervous. We sat him on the potty a couple of times for about 5 mins each to no avail. Then of course while playing, he looked at me with huge panicked eyes and started wiping his legs with his hands. He had peed on his legs - nothing major, just a few drops. I could tell he did not like it though. I reminded him that his pee goes in the potty and we tried siting on the potty again. ..no luck. I pushed more G2 in the 'real cup' which he really enjoyed. By this time he's had about 12 ounces and only a few drops of pee so I know something will happen soon. Joel and I start to take turns sitting him on the potty for about 5 mins each, every 20 mins. Joel III and Daddy were playing in the other room and I hear "Belly Belly!" in kind of a whiny voice from Joel III. Joel says "I know your belly is big does it hurt?" Joel III says "Belly Hurt." So Joel takes him to sit on the potty for a little bit. Sure enough a few minutes later I hear "uh oh." from Joel III in a loud voice. We looked with anticipation inside the baby potty. ... a few drops of pee!! yeay! we gave him 1 skittle and then did a big song and dance. (To 'The Lord's Army') He had so much fun and was so bewildered that he got all that attention and a candy from just a few drops that he quickly returned to the potty after the dance and deposited a few more drops. We rewarded him again and Joel and I looked at each other thinking, "how much longer can we do this?" Secret: that time we cut the 2 minute song in half. after the second success Joel shouted 'Go Potty!' again.. and so I returned to the potty with him.. wondering and calculating how many drops it would take to = 12 ounces of G2/milk. This time a huge flood of pee came out. Mommy and Daddy were relieved.

One more accident and one more success and it was lunch time. Great job Joel III.

Here's a video we took this morning

Christmas with 2 kids = more than twice as hectic!

We had our family Christmas a few days before we left for Cincy. I received the coveted Dyson Vaccuum that I have been desiring for a few years so I was pretty excited. I gave Joel a monogrammed shave bag and some new running shoes. We gave Joel III a 'latches board' and 2 things in his stocking - a $1 plastic snow globe and a $5 small firetruck. Judah didn't know it was Christmas so he didn't get anything. Here's a video of Joel opening the fire truck.



We have always traveled to our parents houses for Christmas. We don't mind the drive.. Most of Joel's family lives in the NW Ohio area and most of mine in Cincinnati. It is a great time to see everyone and celebrate. I enjoy it thoroughly. 2 years ago I was about to pop with Joel, and traveling to Cincy and Van Wert was a nice to get my mind off the fact that my feet weren't fitting into my shoes anymore. 1 year ago Joel III took his first steps in Cincy and it was pretty easy to cart him around from place to place. However, this year I never thought introducing just one more family member could increase the 'stuff' level by so much! The amount of diapers and Christmas presents alone would barely fit into my little Corolla with the 4 of us. The thought of then adding our luggage was laughable. So we reluctantly took the huge Moose to Cincy and Van Wert. Hm.. I guess it's time to get a minivan.

This brings me to another 'stuff' issue... TOYS. Joel and I have mixed feelings about toys. We have already decided to not do Santa Claus. We will wrap presents for our children, but they will know the gifts are from us. I love the fact that I can stay at home with my kids. However, a house has a ton less toys and is generally a more difficult environment for a 2 year old than, say, a day care center. Plus, in order to get anything done, the kid needs to entertain himself safely (and maybe even learn a thing or two). Hence the need for toys. The con side - toys take up space (this is my beef) and well lets face it, the good toys usually take up the most space. Joel's beef - more and more toys fuel the consumeristic lifestyle that we would like to discourage both in our own lives and in the lives of our children. Romans 13 speaks of this "Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have" Even so, we knew that we at least needed a few trains and cars for Joel because apparently, rattles just won't do it for an almost 2 year old. So we are very grateful for the toys we received for the boys.
Here's a pic of Joel opening up one of his most favorite toys from Christmas - a train set from Gamma. He has been obsessed with his train set, magnadoodle, and matchbox motorcycle. (Side note to family members reading this blog - don't worry if he's not obsessed with your gift this week, I'm sure he will be next week.)




Here's Indy, Joel's cousin 1 year older than him opening a gift. A highlight in Cincy was attending the show Awaited which we attended last year. This year, we encouraged Joel III to watch the 'show' and he stayed attentive for the entire hour and 15 minute program!! He loved it. When we asked what his favorite part was he thought about it and said "Camel." This was a huge deal to us because normally after asking him a question like that he would reply, "part?" but instead, he actually answered the question with a word that he came up with on his own, and he answered it appropriately! go Joel III!


Here is a pic of the Awaited program put on by Crossroads church in Cincinnati. After Cincy, we woke up the sleeping babies, packed up the enormous amount of stuff we accumulated, drove through some scary snow, and dealt with a cranky boy in the back seat for the 2.5 hour drive to Van Wert. Joel was anxious to see his cousins and Gran and Grandad, I was anxious to take a nap.
Here's Joel with his Gran and Grandad and his closest cousin in age - Lizzie Spath.





Here's a pic of the aftermath of the Penton Christmas present opening extravaganza and a video. Above is Joel's sister's youngest child Kate Crummey, amidst some boxes, Emily's dog Gyver and some other presents in the background.

We had some quality time with our family especially Mike and Lindsey (engaged on Groskopf side) and Matt and Mollie (married with 2 little ones on Penton side) so that was really nice. But, wow, we were excited to return to 4507 Braithway st. I am hoping that next year will be a little more relaxing because we won't have a 3 month old sporadically waking up in the middle of the night, but I fear the relaxing days are over. ohwell. We had planned on another 3 day potty training fiasco, however Joel wound up having some serious diarrhea and green snot So I figured it wasn't the best time.