Potty Training....for real!

WARNING: This is going to be a sappy Mom post...and it's going to get real. Viewers beware!

***Just realized I never mentioned in here that this is Heather posting :)***

So, I'm sure you have heard of books or heard friends and family tell you how they have potty trained their children in 1 week...3 days...24 hours! I do not doubt that this could be true, however, this is not the case in my situation. I knew going into this it would probably take a little bit more time since we are dealing with a speech delay, however, no one told me how incredibly hard this would be!

I'm not exaggerating when I say this is one of the hardest things I have done in my life (in fact those words came out of my mouth to my husband "This is the hardest thing I have ever done!" I get the look of "really? REALLY?" Um...yes...REALLY!) I never thought I would cry, pray for, celebrate, clean up SO much urine/feces in all my life...but I did all of those things. The first 2 days were terrible and I really wanted to quit, but we stuck it out. We are now going on week 4 and there is still a learning curve, but I think he is getting it. He now likes to tease me and say "go potty" because he gets such a good reaction out of me - "You need to go potty?! Ok, let's go!" and then he says "NO!" but one time he told me "go potty" and didn't  respond "NO!" so I took him and he went! Oh, the miracles! (See, my life revolves around that porcelain throne!)

What I have learned:

1. I could sing you a bunch of songs about going potty because little Owie bears new favorite video is Potty time (from the makers of signing time).
2. He is almost completely potty trained with me because when I am with him, I won't let him out of my sight until he has gone potty. Then, I give him an hour break and start following him around the house again.
3. Going out in public the first time in underwear was terrifying, but we made it through!
4. I never thought I was the kind of person that could deal with/clean up someone else's bodily fluids, but apparently when you love someone, it isn't so bad. 

The biggest thing I have learned:

EVERY CHILD IS DIFFERENT.  Ok.. her comes the sappy mommy part. the biggest lesson I have learned from having a child with developmental delays is this: Developmental delays does not mean limits.. it just means a different time table. I don't know if my sweet little boy will get this potty training thing in 2 days or 2 years, but I know he will eventually get it. He has taught me so much patience, and believe me, I am anything but patient! This has been a great life lesson for me because I always want everything to work out in my own way and in my own time table, but that is not always the case.

Being a Mom is hard. Being a Mom of a special needs child is hard. Being a Mom of any child is hard. Being a working Mom is hard. Being a stay at home Mom is hard. Not being a Mom when you want to be is hard.

I just want you all to know that I think you are all awesome! I have had the privledge of working with some of the strongest, smartest, most empowering women I have ever met and I am so grateful for that. Thank you for sharing in this journey with me and listening to all my stories about my life!

And so we go on...Stay tuned because one day I will post that potty training is complete and I won't have to think about the potty again... Until the next kid is ready! haha. Potty training = good birth control :)

This is Freakishly Accurate of Us...

In honor of Waffle Monday and Flipping Friday...

Miss you all!

-Kada

My Grand (Abrupt) Exit from Graduation

Well I guess this is really happening! For those who don't know, my last day in Graduation was Friday! The charter school I was interviewing with back in March had a teacher back out a week before their classes started. 

Wednesday 4:00pm: the longest final interview of my life

Thursday 6:00pm: the principal called to offer me the position 

Thursday 10:45pm: I sent my letter of resignation to Margaret and Stacy

Friday: I gave Alex a crash course on reissued diplomas and tried to enjoy my last bittersweet moments on campus!

So Saturday morning I tried to throw my classroom together and get my first weeks lesson plans prepared! Is this for real? I still can't decide.

I am teaching two periods of 9th grade composition, two periods of 9th grade literature, one period of 8th grade composition, and one period of student success (which is basically a study period ). 

I am still working on beautifying my room! The last teacher didn't leave much to work with, but I have ordered a few things so far. I can promise the first week will be crazy overwhelming, but hopefully I can hit the ground running and keep up!

I already miss the people in Graduation so please update the blog and keep having the girl's night dinners!!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Rodeback

English Teacher Extroidinaire  

THE Top 10

 My assignment for the day...Check! (special shout out to THE Gatekeeper and the new owner of "THAT chair")

THE Top 10 Things About Marriage That No One Told Me

1. With marriage comes the  obligation to not hit your husband in the head while you are sleeping at night (Nick’s been considering a helmet as his next purchase).

2. The ammount of chick flicks you watch decrease drastically- Should this have been common sense to me? Most likely! Still was a hard hit and the withdrawals aren’t getting easier. On the other hand it is so much fun stocking up your movie collection. Take the hunt for Bourne Legacy for example. This magnificent movie came out while Nick was on his mish so obvs he needed to see it. Good movie, full of action. You’d think it’d be at your local Wally World right? Wrong! Two Wally World trips…..nada. The one. The only. The Best Buy!.....failure. On our last attempt, energy lagging, we find it! Where you ask? TARGET! Chalk one up for the red team!

3.  Making your husband happy means you can’t just feed yourself chocolate and nut bars anymore. I actually have to think of somewhat healthy meal ideas and well…. It ain’t easy!

4.  That your husband could possibly become your dad’s fave. That’s right. We went to Bear Lake last weekend and what does Nick get when we arrive home? Well a happy thank you text from my dad telling him what a great time he had with him! So what do I do? Well I wait for the same text a course! Does it come? No. No it doesn’t. Does my dad still love me? Yesh. Does he just love to text my hubby now? Yes yes and yes. It’s actually pretty cute :) 

5. How much fun it is being able to dress your husband however you want! It’s like having your own life size Ken doll! And how happy he is that you bought him something when really it was my lil treat because I got to go shopping!

6. Target shopping trips could possibly be a lone deal. Who woulda thought not all men like to shop at Target? That’s okay I Target on.

7.  That your husband could have an opinion on the Bath and Body Works scent you choose to have in your apartment. And all this time I thought men paid no attention.

8.  How much fun it is trying to get your hubby to like the same food you like…..like popcorn for instance! I have been going to drastic measures to make this happen. Like….eating popcorn every night….and everytime it’s raining….. or whenever we go to a movie…..and any other time I feel it is necessary.

9. Okay this next one’s a little hard to hear so if any of you are havin a rough day you may want to skip this thought and continue on to numero ten. I continue……That your hubby may not like Disneyland (GASP)! But don’t worry ladies! I have not given up hope! One day he will like that place. If it’s the last thing I do!

10. How much you fall more and more in love with your hubby erday! Seriously I thought I loved him before. With each day I gain more and more apreciation for the wonderful man I married and for the joy he brings to my life.

Anyways! Life is good! Love ya gals!

-         -  the Gski

Dylan's Story

Dylan Gehrig Swenson's Story

I am a little slow at posting this, but I am still getting used to life with two kids (and I had no idea how to post on a blog so I had to ask Kada!). A few days before Dylan was born Colby and I still didn't have a name. We finally decided to each list our top 5 names and compare our lists. We both had Dylan because we had previously mentioned it so we went with that. His middle name is from the baseball player Lou Gehrig (also where the disease came from but I don't really like to think about that). 

On July 22nd I went to the doctor for my appointment and  I was at a 4 almost 5. I was asked why I hadn't been induced. I said I would rather it happen on its own but if nothing had happened early the following week we would she file something. I went home and had more consistent contractions all night but they were really mild. At about midnight I had a bad contraction when I got up to go to the bathroom, and somewhat fell back to sleep for another half hour. At 12:30 I had another contraction and decided to wake Colby up to give him a warning. If I was really going to keep having contractions I wanted to take Jack to Colby's parents. I didn't want to be dropping him off at 3 in the morning or something. After being awake for about 10 minutes I found the contractions were about 3 minutes apart, so Colby said we were just going to the hospital then instead of waiting. He tried calling his family to give them a heads up that we were bringing Jack by and nobody would answer. He finally got ahold of his sister and when he told her we were dropping Jack off and heading to the hospital she asked why. Colby was so annoyed with her.

We checked into the hospital about 1:40 AM, and they said I was only at a 5. I was thinking at that point I would get an epidural because it seemed it would take a while. Within 10 minutes I was almost at an 8, so they called the doctor in and started to get everything set up. They asked one last time if I wanted an epidural but said it probably wouldn't kick in before the baby came. The doctor also said she wouldn't break my water until she was dressed and ready to catch him because it would happen that fast. She got ready, I was at a 10, pushed for 5 minutes and he was here at 2:35 AM. Very painful and terrifying, but I am glad it was fast and I didn't wait for the epidural. She said Dylan got here before they could process my paperwork! We had about a half hour alone then my parents showed up and then no more visitors until that afternoon (still didn't get much sleep though). We left the hospital on Pioneer Day and were greeted by parade crowds lining the streets when we got to Spanish Fork. 

A few things I have learned/re-learned having two children:

*I only had to get pooped on twice in one day to re-learn how to change diapers fast. 

*Maybe be a little more discrete about getting milk for a baby when you have a 2 year old. 

*The delivery without and epidural was an amazing experience, but I didn't realize how bad it hurts afterwards when they press on your stomach and do all they have to do. 

*I have an amazing husband who I wouldn't trade for anything. 

*Jack and I would not have survived without a nearly finished basement because I hardly dare take two kids to the back yard. We are both a little stir crazy.

*I will never dare live far from a hospital while I am having children. 

*I am hopelessly addicted to Dr Pepper.