a quick surrender

after 4.5 hours of project potty training, we are waving the white flag and surrendering. i should have known it wasn't time when finn started to cry when he did in fact potty on the toilet this morning. i'm not sure what scared him, but the maniacal mixture of cries and laughter that was coming from his tiny body wasn't exactly what i pictured after our first successful potty. the final clue came when i asked him to put his underwear (pull-up) back on and he said, "no. i wear a baby diaper." um. i think we're done for now.

lions and tigers and dragons, oh my!

in attempts to get alyssa's contractions started again and let the first-borns enjoy every moment of this beautiful fall weekend, we had a jam-packed weekend of festivities. on saturday, we took the kids to the indianapolis zoo for the annual zooboo. basically, kids dress up in their halloween garb, look cute, get candy, and run around looking at the animals. it was adorable. and for once in my entire life, i was at the zoo when it wasn't 110 degrees and the animals were actually doing something other than sleeping. amazing, i know. who knew the zoo actually had moving, playing, noisy happy animals? i'm so used to the depressed, sweaty ones, but awake ones...blew our minds.



next up, pizza. i know. does not relate to fall in the slightest, but it was delicious. and then i realized finn and i had eaten pizza 3 of the last 4 nights. now if i ask what he wants to eat, he says pizza. mom of the year right here!

sunday. more fall festivities. we headed to the pumpkin patch for our annual picture taking session. seriously, i think i shouted, "finn, look at mommy! finn, say cheese! finn, no no no!" about 400 times. it was so much fun, especially because sweet baby finn rode on a pony like a champ. a live pony. and he didn't get scared. i nearly peed myself in excitement, though that could also be due to the large baby that presses on my bladder constantly. he still talks about simon the horse, and expects at all moments that i will take him there for another ride.




i highly recommend taking advantage of these beautiful fall days!

i may be crazy

i went to target last night for the sole purpose of buying some pull-ups. i know. what on earth was i thinking? after many many many many attempts at dissuading sir finn and telling him that he most certainly did not want to go on the potty, i'm giving in. at his little sweet 22 months old, we're going to give it a go and attempt potty training. part of me thinks we'll end the week with him totally uninterested in the potty and me totally okay with it, but there's always that chance that he is in fact ready and that our bank account will in fact be larger by each passing week (until the next set of diapering begins of course). it's crazy, right? he's still my little baby monkey.

thing is, i don't really even know what to do. pray for me. this is going to be one hell of a challenge.

google side note: while researching potty training, one site recommended that i teach my child to say the word 'eliminate' in place of 'pee, potty or poop' lest i want him to be a heathen and use such improper language. forgive me friends, this kid of mine will be saying poop and i'll be so dang proud!

book nerd

when finn went to bed the other night and was quiet, we thought, "whew! he finally has quit the crying and just accepts that he has to sleep at night." about 20 minutes later, i turned on the video monitor to find that he had fallen asleep while reading and the book was perched carefully across his face. he doesn't get it from me, but seriously. how cute!

gabba-fied

before i had finn, i had this pretentious idea that i would never let my child watch television. never ever ever! that quickly changed when finn was introduced at a very young age to the world of yo gabba gabba dvd's by i'm not sure who. one day, he just woke up and had the videos at his disposal and the rest is history. his occasional watching for a couple seconds while playing turned into "i neeeeeeeeeed muno" and he would sit with his full attention on the gang. naturally, when i heard they were coming through indy for a yo gabba gabba live show, i knew we had to be there.

after months of preparing to go with my sister-in-law and niece, there was a slight last minute change of plans due to the two-week long laboring of her second child that she's been a little preoccupied with. seriously little girl, just come out already. her substitute, brother jeff, was amazingly excited and looked at home in the crowd of mostly moms with their awkward/bored-looking husbands. anyway, finn loved it. he barely smiled the entire time, but the mouth open stare definitely made me think he was in awe of the whole thing.

biz markee was there with his "beat of the day"! finn could care less!

see! jeff's ridiculously excited!

poop talk

if you are one of those people, like my brother jeff, who does not like to hear any mention of the fact that people produce farts or god forbid poop, then discontinue reading. also, suck it up. everyone poops and it's weird that you get so disgusted.

anyway, there are many things that people don't tell you about motherhood, i think mostly to ensure that people continue to procreate. one of those things is that you never get another moment of private pooping. the second finn hears the fan turn on in the bathroom, he'll scream, "i'm coming." lovely. i was wondering where my audience was. i was hoping that instead of having 2 minutes to myself that i would get someone to narrate what was going on and discuss with me that i was stinky, yucky, poopy, etc.

luckily for me, this isn't happening too often, because people don't tell you certain things about pregnancy either. again, this is to ensure that women continue to procreate. when you realize that you haven't pooped in four days, suddenly pooping with a two-year-old audience doesn't seem so bad.

all this information about pooping has only arisen because of my sweet little finn. he has an appointment with a specialist in two months, but before we go, we have to have an adominal x-ray done to ensure that he doesn't have bowel obstruction and/or chronic constipation. apparently it's protocol before seeing a pediatric urologist. i literally laughed when they told me this, because seriously, it's like clockwork. if he doesn't poop immediately when he wakes up, i am fearful for the rest of the day, knowing it could occur at any second. then he likes to surprise me every once in a while with an extra poop, just for the fun of it. my favorite poop moment yet happened today, which just so coincided with me feeling backed up and poop-depressed. in the middle of babies r us, picking out which potty seat he wanted, he sat down pants and diaper intact, made one grunt, and exclaimed, "i pooped on the potty." he mocks me with how easy it is.

house guest!

it is beyond easy to tell that finn is thoroughly enjoying the fact that his uncle josh has moved into the mcdowell manor for the next week, month, or year. we're still not completely clear on the duration. either way, every time we leave the house, finn says he wants to go back to "our house PLAY WITH JOSH." and then he annoyingly pesters josh to let him watch animal shows on his computer. this shot was taken over josh's computer screen as finn giggled hysterically at foxes jumping on a trampoline. youtube it. it's the highlight of finn's night, perhaps his entire life.

and yes. it is completely confusing for everyone involved when i yell for josh. they both shout back and then i remember i have to use last names in my own house. a small price to pay to spend so much fun time with my little brother. maybe i should just say fun time and leave off the so much part, because at this point, we only spend the evenings together. he has this knack for waking up at 4pm. oh the joys of being single, young, and employed by online poker.

delayed appreciation

imagine those flowers weren't dead and that those starbucks cards had two other friends and hadn't been mostly used by now, and you would see how ridiculously sweet my mother is. after having a rough couple days, she surprised me with flowers in a cute fall mug. then a week later, surprised me with loads of pumpkin spice latte money! i could not have a more thoughtful mom.