A Week & A Half Later...

I have a newfound appreciation for all parents who have ever potty-trained a child.  As if I wasn't exhausted before.  Carrying around at least two types of potty seats, one potty in the car, at least three pairs of tiny underwear, a change of clothes, and more wipes than I had in my bag when MiniM.E. was an infant have tested the limits of the bags I have and the arms to carry them.  We've added in at least another (if not two or three) load(s) of laundry per day.  AND there's the occasional clean up.  Not to mention the mental strain of constantly examining my child's facial expressions and body language to determine whether or not she might be gearing up for something I have to remind her to get to the potty for.

love that she picked Thomas the Train underwear

But honestly, it is STILL 1,000 times better than diapers.  I am more than thrilled and excited and I'm extremely proud.  We've come so far from the first couple days ("Hey! I just peed on the carpet!!") to days with just a couple "oops, we were a couple seconds too late...".  I must admit, the first few days I thought we might never be able to venture out of the house again in fear of having an accident in a public place.  But like all other parent-related tasks that seem daunting at first, after the first time we had a huge accident while we were out and I realized, "hey, that wasn't SO bad..." we went back to our normal routine.

MiniM.E. is doing great, I'm adjusting fairly well, and overall, everyone is much happier than we were two weeks ago when a diaper change resulted in a full-on high-speed chase around the house, four or five failed attempts to get the diaper off, one screaming child needing to be cleaned up, and a repeat of steps one and two to get a clean diaper ON.

And with that, here's what we've been up to now that we're back to enjoying the last weeks of summer.

Playgrounds & Our Yard:

Look at her swing!

The Peerless Pool

Quality Cat Time:

Breakfast at the Track:

Followed by A Morning at Congress Park:

Dancing at a Concert in The Park:

Lake Moreau:

The Sandbox:

An Evening at Polo:

what a cute divot stomper!

And we're off... to a last summer week in New Hampshire.  The plan?  Swimming, swimming, swimming, ice cream, the ocean and a boat on Lake Winnipesaukee. Hope you're all enjoying the last weeks of August.

Guess What We've Been Up To?

Throwing rocks in the stream

Saying "Hi" to our favorite puppy

Playing in the sandbox

Taking a bath with shaving cream 

Painting the yard with chalk paint

Swimming

 

And biking.

Notice something about all these photos?  Somebody isn't wearing diapers... We have all new big-kid underwear!

THE cutest baby bum

We aren't out of the woods yet, but she's got it down.  Congratulations MiniM.E.!

C & H in Saratoga in July

Last weekend C & H drove over from NH to spend a long weekend with us.  Unfortunately, C. is working this summer (summer school...) and didn't have a whole week to spare, but at least we squeezed in a weekend so they could do some of the things they just missed when they came in the spring.

Seems like every time we get together I take fewer and fewer pictures... I suppose it's because every time we are together are kids are running faster and faster... and are hardly ever in the same location-- even when they are, they are rarely still enough for photos...

We spent a lot of naked time in the yard:

And enjoyed time wearing clothes too:

We treated ourselves to a special treat at Stewart's:

We drove to Moreau Lake (no photos from the lake though... two kids + water was too much for a camera!)

The kids were happy just sitting around:

Or going grocery shopping:

We went to the playground at the Spa Park (and the pool, but again, my hands were busy keeping our kids from drowning):

We had to make a visit to Congress Park:

And you can't come to Saratoga in Racing Season without going to the track, so we did our first Race Track Breakfast of the year!

Happy 4th of July!

Late, of course.  Hope everyone had a great time.  We ate burgers and went to sleep...

And, I did it again.  We went on a vacation and I didn't even post about the things we did BEFORE the vacation... such is summer.

Here's a recap.

We finally filled up our sandbox, and MiniM.E. would probably stay in it all day if we let her.  Not sure how I feel about so much sand on my child.  And in my house.  And in her bed...

sharing with Baby E. 

and Baby O.

 We spent a lot of time in the yard.

And went to the playground.

MiniM.E. decided she likes to get her face painted.  It would be a lot easier if she stood still, didn't grab the brush, and didn't continuously touch her face while the paint was still wet...

We went to the Peerless Pool at the State Park.  MiniM.E. was adorable in the water, but I had to be in too, so no photos :(

And we had a relaxing afternoon at Congress Park.