Potty Time!

So we took the plunge yesterday. We started potty training Levi. I was reluctant to be honest but Levi had started to ask to wear his big boy underwear and Eric pointed out that there will never be a time when I'm excited to do it. So we busted out the chocolate chips and the sticker chart and I downloaded the Elmo Potty Training app and Saturday morning when Levi woke up I took him potty and put his big boy underwear on him and we started. We set a timer and take him potty every 30 minutes and any time in between that he looks like he's going to go or if he has an accident- which happened 6 times yesterday. Thankfully we managed to only have to clean him and his clothes each time except once and Eric took care of that one because he's a super rockstar daddy and husband. Anyway, I'm not sure how well Levi is catching on or if he just likes treats haha. He gets one chocolate chip every time he sits on the potty, two if he goes pee and three if he goes poop on the potty. He loves chocolate so he pees pretty much every time he sits on the potty which makes me really wonder how it's even possible that he has accidents since he goes pee every 30 minutes but he must be holding back because he still manages to. He also gets a sticker every time he can go 30 minutes keeping his undies dry or if he tells us he needs to go potty and then goes without getting his undies wet. Today for church we put him in a pull-up and still took him potty pretty much every 30 minutes. He still peed in the pull-up twice though. And we are still doing diapers for night time and nap time. So that is the big thing going on in the Martino household right now. Not sure yet how I'm going to approach grocery shopping tomorrow!

In other news, Emery had a bad cold again last week which meant very little sleep for us and lots of worry for me. One of the nights she was up every hour and a half! And I get so anxious when my baby has anything going on that affects her breathing! I check on her all the time and I have a hard time sleeping. But thankfully after a couple pretty bad days and nights, the saline drops and nose frida and humidifier helped out and she's doing pretty well now, just a little residual congestion. And thankfully she's back to at least 4 hour stretches of sleeping at night (knock on wood!). Two weeks ago she actually slept through the night (down at 8 and slept till 5) so I know she has the potential to get back to that.

Poor sick baby!

Our family has been embracing fall. We went to an apple festival last Saturday and got to go on a tractor hay ride and drink delicious apple slushies and eat apple donuts. I especially appreciate these things this year since I was too sick to do so last year. Levi especially liked the giant apple bounce house.

How Emery and I enjoyed the apple festival. I'm glad she still likes to be worn even as she is getting bigger. 

 Then on Friday, I took the kids with Ashley and her kids, Liam and Macey, to the zoo and we got to see the giant squash squashing! Aka the zookeepers gave the elephants giant pumpkins and let them squash and eat them. We actually didn't even know this event was going on, we just wanted to go to the zoo and it was perfect weather and then when we showed up we were like, "why are all of these people here?! And what's with the news crew?" Haha.

Levi, Macey and Liam watching the harbor seals.

Also last night we got to have the missionaries and Meredith and Elijah over for dinner. That was fun even though the boys were absolutely crazy. They get along really well and have a blast together.

Levi and Elijah snuck into Emery's room and were jumping like monkeys in her crib!

I get stressed having my house all wild but I think it's worth it. I hope Meredith keeps listening to the missionaries and finds out the truth for herself because I know it will help her and help her with Elijah. She does a great job with him but it must be so hard as a single parent! And I know the scriptures and prayer help me sooo much when I am trying to raise Levi. He tries my patience and I need every bit of help I can get! Haha. Speaking of, here are some more actual things I said to Levi this week that sum up parenting a toddler boy:

* "Don't lick the car!"
* "Please keep your mouth off of the shopping cart!"
* "We don't eat things off of the toilet seat!" (I know! Soooo gross!)

I tried Emery's Halloween costume on her and its soo dang cute I can't even! Of course, right after I took this picture, Levi tried to pick Emery up by the green tuft on her head. *sigh*

These smiles are my favorite thing in the world right now!

I got Levi a lunch box this week and he came to me while I was feeding Emery on the couch and he was like, "Got my backpack, got my lunchbox, I'm ready for an adventure!"

The jumping game!

We were passing the card section in target and of course he found one shaped like a guitar!

And this is why my kids get sick a lot! They've always got their hands in their mouths! 

Love this sweetie! 

General Conference

Me: Levi, what would you like to say about our week?
Levi: Maybe Katie and Daddy? Maybe go to the park with Daddy and Katie and Baby and Mommy? That our plan?
Me: What would you like to say about what we did last week? What's been happening?
Levi: Umm..  *then turns to Katie* You play with me?
Obviously, Levi is not super into journaling yet haha.

Fall has officially arrived now with chilly, rainy weather and gradually changing leaves. I've gotten both kids' Halloween costumes already and Levi's was free so I'm extra super excited about them. Also, Emery is going to be THE CUTEST little pineapple ever!

After going through a really rough week or so of 4 month sleep regression and waking up every 2 hours at night (ack!) Emery is now doing better with her sleep again the last couple days. Two nights ago she actually slept through the night! She was down by 8:40ish and slept till 5am! It was amazing! I am so proud of her for learning how to connect her sleep cycles and self-soothe. I'm sure it will still be up and down with some bad nights along the way but I feel like she's got good potential to be a great sleeper! Along the way to her being a good sleeper though, I have gotten pretty sleep deprived which makes me say some pretty crazy things. For example, Eric wrote down these conversations we apparently had recently while I was falling asleep. I love that he plays along!

Eric: you prayin'?
Me: ... eating bread.
Eric: Then you better put some peanut butter on it.
Me: Noooo.
Eric: Ok well honey is good too.
Me: *yelling* Nooo!....Only on toast.

Me: It takes two to drive the truck, not one.
Eric: What about three?
Me: No.
Eric: What's in the truck?
Me: *semi-angrily* I don't know!
Eric: Well you're the one that brought it up.
Me: ... oranges.
Eric: Are they tasty oranges?
Me: *semi-angrily* How should I know?! I haven't eaten any yet!
Eric: When will you eat them?
Me: I don't know.
Eric: What about tomorrow?
Me: *excitedly* Yes!

Anyway, this has been a busy weekend! Friday night Eric and I went on a double date with Ashley and Michael and did an escape room. Unfortunately, we did not escape, but it was still really fun and we were super close! I love that kind of thing. I am a big fan of puzzles and logic games and it was fun to spend some time with Ashley and Michael without our kiddos even though we ended up talking about them a lot anyway haha.

Then yesterday and today have been busy with General Conference. Last night was the first night of general women's meeting being part of general conference. General women's meeting was definitely my favorite session of Conference, probably because I actually got to pay attention to it and be still and listen uninterrupted by children. That was the only meeting I really feel like I was able to get personal inspiration. Anyway, during that meeting, President Nelson invited us to do four things: read The Book of Mormon before the end of the year, participate more fully in RS, do a 10-day social media fast, and establish a pattern of regular temple attendance. I want to be obedient and put these challenges to the test and see how my life will benefit from them. I feel like it is a great opportunity to grow my testimony and put the word of God to the test. I've been feeling even more lately that it is so important that I know The Book of Mormon is true and that the Gospel is real and true because this is what I'm teaching my children! I need to be firm in my convictions if I am going to be able to teach them well and feel confident in the things that I am teaching them. But at the same time, I feel like these challenges are so daunting- particularly to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. The prophet promised that it is possible if I start with full purpose of heart and I'm trying to have faith in that but when I think that I have to read at least 7 pages a day I just don't know how that's going to happen, particularly when usually I can only get in a few verses tops! It's obvious that I am going to have to change the way I use my time pretty significantly if I am going to do this. I'm worried that I will get overwhelmed and that it will make me feel anxious or stressed. I'm worried I will resent the time I spend and wish I was doing something else. It's intimidating but I am also hopeful. I just hope that it will be worth the sacrifices I will have to make. I hope that my faith will grow. I hope that I will get that confidence in this Gospel that I feel I need in order to teach my children and know that what I am teaching them is the truth. I feel like I'm stepping out on a limb a little bit with this. I don't really want to, I would rather stick by the trunk and continue doing what I've been doing, but I want to be obedient and I want to see if the promises given by the prophet will come true. I want to grow in faith and I want to get the blessings that I've been told I will get. It's scary because what if I don't see the blessings? What then? But also, how will I know if I don't try it? It's almost like starting a new exercise routine. I want to be fit and healthy and look nice but it's hard to make the sacrifices of my time to make that happen. In the past, I've stuck to what I'm comfortable with. I push myself a little bit, I've been able to get into a routine of exercising about 3 times a week consistently. But I've never really thrown myself into it. I've never been strict about setting and following a routine that will involve significant changes. This is a bigger challenge and I just pray it will be worth it. I want it to be, I hope it will be. Heaven knows I need as much help as possible to fill my role as a good mother to my children. Especially to Levi who always seems to be able to push me over the edge and frustrate me like crazy! I love him so much and he is soo cute and smart and I love so many things about him but also, I forget sometimes that he is only 2 and my expectations become unreasonable and then he and I both get frustrated. Thank goodness children are quick to forgive and also hilarious! Here are some real things that I said to Levi just this week:
* We don't put bell peppers in our ears!
* I'm sorry son, the fireman costume doesn't come with a firetruck.
* I can't move the sun dear.
* No, you can't have those. Those pink Elmo underwear are for girls.

This morning we had the missionaries and an investigator (Meredith) and her son over to watch the morning session. I made blackberry sweet rolls for us with the last of the berries that we picked and froze back in July and they turned out delicious. Levi and Meredith's son Elijah hit it off right away and had a great time playing together and being crazy the whole session which was awesome but also incredibly distracting. I don't know how much spiritual benefit Meredith got out of the meeting because I didn't feel like I was able to concentrate and get much myself but hopefully she still felt the Spirit even if she didn't get to pay that much attention to what exactly was said. And we exchanged numbers so that the boys can do play dates together in the future because they really did get along great.

Anyway, that's what's been going on. I feel like time is speeding right along. Baby girl is getting closer and closer to rolling over and is growing bigger by the minute and I feel like the holidays will be here before we know it. Time is a funny thing. The days are long and some minutes feel like hours (like when I'm putting a struggling Emery down for a nap too late and she's overtired and fighting it or when I'm sitting with Levi while he tries to use the potty) but the weeks and months fly by! I know that this is a unique and special time in my life and I'm glad that Eric has helped me to have this time every other week to journal these things to have to look back on.

Kind of a random picture but I feel like it captures a typical Sunday afternoon well. Emery just chilling on the floor watching her brother and Levi in half church clothes half play clothes playing with his trucks and diggers. 

Her outfit was so cute I had to take a picture! 

Ashely and I took our kids to the pumpkin festival at Lee Farms two weeks ago and Levi had fun driving the big tractors. 

We moved baby girl into her crib last weekend! It was hard for me to do because she's my little baby and I just worry about her and want her close to me, but it was time. Eric especially was feeling the need to have our room and personal space back and now that we've moved her and she's doing well with it I have to admit that it is really nice to be able to hang out together in our room in the evenings again and get ready for bed not tiptoeing around in the dark! 

Levi and Liam being two little monkeys swinging in a tree at the park

Katie is the best auntie ever. We went to Salt & Straw with her last Saturday.

Eric and I love to read books to the kids while Emery does tummy time. She really likes to look at the books too. They're very engaging to her. 

Levi with his new friend Elijah. Notice my poor sad plant in the background? I am pretty much the worst plant mom ever haha.