Scenes from the Potty Train

I started the week hoping to TOOT TOOT Sienna right out of Diaperville and into Panty Land. Two pees in Froggy Potty, one poop in undies, six pees on the kitchen linoleum, and one pee in Adam's carpeted closet sent me running at mock speed right back to Diaperville. Why would we ever leave this beautiful, convenient place? It's just not going to happen right now. We are going to give it a couple months and revisit it at a more pleasant time of year. We'll dip our toe into the grown-up world of Panty Land when she seems more at ease to visit there and even stay indefinitely.

A look back at a most exhausting week:

Monday morning, juice box in hand. We are ready to go!

 

Froggy Potty's bowl is really a cowboy hat, right mom?

 

The shoe game is always fun. Put on mom's shoes in her closet and walk them out to the front room and line them up.

 

Dolly takes a dump.


Watching "Maria" (Sound of Music) while sitting on a garbage bag covered by a towel on the couch.


Baking bread. Cuz what else are we going to do sitting at home all day as close to the kitchen floor as possible? She had this to say about the dough ball forming in the bread machine: "It's not poop, it's just bread." And then! The first victorious pee! Clapping and congratulations and celebrations ensue.
 

We walk down the street to Chuck's Hop Shop, The Land of A Thousand Beers, for ice cream! She is so full of juice and hot chocolate at this point that I know she won't get far on that scoop of strawberry ice cream.

 

Noah and I are merely puppets in this show. 

And I believe this is day four. We're winding down. And I'm having a panic attack that she's surely about to pee all over the fur in my new TOMS.

 

And the final activity before it all goes to shiz. She's putting her animals in the shaving cream cuz we're pretending it's snow (or I had initially instigated it for finger painting), then she decides to finally get into it for finger painting ... it's all over her hands and shirt ... and then she pees on the floor. AND WE'RE DONE. Because cleaning that up involved her getting her hands all over me, thus having to clean up shaving cream and pee and it was dinner time and that's just the worst possible time of day no matter what is happening.

The end. See you later, panties!

Noah Laughs & Sienna Sings

9 Good, 1 Bad - Snowed In Edition

1. Let's just get this one crappy thing out of the way: we are sleep training Noah. Two nights ago was the #2 worst night of my life. I drove around my neighborhood at 2 am to escape the unceasing crying. And the McDonald's drive-thru wasn't even open! Come on! #1 worst night of my life? When I drove around Irvine/Newport Beach, CA one night at 2 am when we were sleep training Sienna. Sleep training is a whole bag of horribleness. I only 50% believe in it, too, so that kinda makes it worse. Unceasing crying + hopelessness = haggard, tired, psychotic mom. 


2. Onto the good! I have Adam. Without him, you don't even want to know. (I was about to finish that sentence, but then just put a period on the end. Because you just don't. Want. To. Know. See #1: I'm off my rocker.) Did I mention today was his second Snow Day? Yay for school closures! Tomorrow will probably be his third! 


3. It has been snowing up a storm here! Have you seen Seattle on the national news? If anyone uses the words "snowmageddon" or "snowpoclypse" again, Adam and I will throw a snowball at you. 


4. I went driving in the snow this morning and did not die. You think Seattleites are all wussy-sauce when it comes to snow ... and then you understand why. No plows + hills = BAD IDEA! I was bound and determined to get to the gym and actually did get there, but couldn't make it up the final ascent into the parking lot! So I turned around (more like slid around) and came back home! It was funny and frustrating, but as I was sliding backward out of the LA Fitness parking lot all I could think was, "What in the $#*@*?7@ am I doing out here? Get home, get home, get home!"


5. So I went for a run outside. It was glorious. This is day 4 in a row of glorious, outdoor morning runs. I forgot how just 30 minutes of outside running equals a major shot of happiness. Seriously. Does wonders. Even if it's snowing and you have to run in the middle of the road in a car track and you're slipping and sliding and wearing two layers of Spandex pants (one of which is your husband's) plus leg warmers and a parka and two layers under that and a scarf and a hat and gloves. Love it!


6. During the kids' naptime, I trekked to the store with boots and backpack (because driving is just not an option, remember?)! Reminded me of my days in Washington D.C. ... not really the snow, but the walking to the store with an empty backpack and hardly being able to get everything back home because you grossly underestimated how much you could carry for how long.


7. I made S'mores in a Pan tonight. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


8. Adam cleaned the kitchen and the chicken tonight. No one likes either of those jobs! Good husband!


9. I was doing some extra shrill baby talk with Noah and Adam said I should probably tone it down. So what did I do? I turned it way up! 


10. We were doing some good old fashioned family dancing to either ABBA or Whitney Houston, can't remember which, and someone outside our window waved at us. Adam sat down on the couch. And I kept a goin'! What'd I tell ya? Turning it up! Not toning it down!

10 Good Things - Dreaming Edition

{Note to self: remember this, remember this, remember this.}

1. I just remembered that last night Adam said that right now was the apex of my craziness. I reminded him that he must have forgotten the first four months of Noah's life. Things are getting better the older Noah gets ... but, yes, I'm still on a bit of a crazy spree, especially come 5 pm.


2. Thinking about this quote from Jeffrey Holland, "God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream. In short, He can't if you don't believe.” 


3. Then comparing it to this quote from the song I Dreamed a Dream from Les Mis, "But there are dreams that cannot be, and there are storms we cannot weather."


4. Both quotes give me comfort in a weird way. The first one for obvious reasons, the second one because sometimes I just feel better if I think, "Life sucks, and then you die." Accepting being down sometimes brings me up ... you get me?


5. Noah squealed with a big smile when I hit a high note while singing On My Own from Les Mis. Unlike SOME people in this house who have asked me not to sing. Hmph. Noah is my biggest fan, I can already tell.


6. Remembering how funny Drunk Uncle and Lord Wyndemere skits were on SNL.


7. LOL-ing really hard watching Parks & Rec from last week. Best comedy on television if you ask me.


8. Sienna wore her pink tutu all day. I kept wondering why people kept smiling at us when we went to the mall play area. Ahhh, she just looked suh darling!


9. Eating a cookie just so I could finish the rest of my 64 oz quota of water I've made a goal of drinking daily for my Healthy Habits challenge!

10 Good Things - It Snowed Edition

Hey there. I had an excellent week of distraction from my normal routine in Wenatchee this past week giggling with my dear cousin, Carrie. But now I am back. And it is bleak. Let me tell you. So, I need to start up again with my gratitude journal to get me through this black tunnel I face.

1. It snowed. Last night and this morning. It's the first time this season for Seattle! I love the general uproar heard around Seattle when it snows. We former Uintah and Rocky Mountain dwellers loooooove to make fun of Seattleites relentlessly when it snows. Bwahahahha.

2. Noah slept an 7 hour stretch last night. That hasn't happened in .... ever?

3. Adam is gone Sunday mornings now because he just got called as the executive secretary. This morning was my second time getting the kids out the door alone for 9 am church. It went MUCH smoother today than last week. Maybe practice makes perfect?

4. Sienna was really good at church. So was Noah. Winning all around.

5. Lunch time was surprisingly calm as well. Noah went down easily for a nap (who is this kid?) and Sienna didn't put up too much of a fight.

6. Which meant I SLEPT. Nice.

7. Relished watching The Sound of Music with Sienna this evening.

8. Erased all the pictures off my iPod so Sienna won't get to look at it all day tomorrow like she did all day today. OBSESSED MUCH, CHILD?

9. The urge hit me to scrub and sanitize my bathtub tonight. I followed it, even though it was the Sabbath. Because, man, when you get the urge to scrub your tub, you just gotta go with it.

10. Cheerios with bananas for a bedtime snack, plus a re-reading of Elder Uchtdorf's ever-fabulous Forget-Me-Not talk. He gets women.

Goodnight!

Panic ... It's January!

I'm feeling so many things this new year. The top feeling is panic! I have nothing to look forward to this month and when I have nothing to look forward to, I panic. I need to create something that is coming up on the 25th or something so I can look ahead and be excited. Help! Anybody?


In the meantime, I've been mulling over life as it was, is, and is yet to be. Earlier on in November or December I was feeling another version of panic. It was this: YELP! I have done nothing important AND I have nothing to look forward to. Of course, neither of those things was true, and it was made clear to me only by getting a piece of paper and a pen and writing down some lists. Ahhh, that feels better. Somehow, categorizing things always brings a sense of relief, does it not? And, so, here is a short list that makes me feel as if I'm "IN" on the resolution-making with the rest of the world. (Sometimes I do things only because I don't want to be left out.) But in all honesty, I really do believe in goal-making and tracking progress by writing things down. If I fail, I fail! To have never tried would be the real tragedy. - Wise words from Me.


Cutting the hogwash now:


I have two New Year's Resolutions:


1. To make meal times more meaningful (read: cut out distractions)
2. And to finish the Old Testament by end of year


Elaboration on 1. At meal time, we are all over the place. In the morning, I'm checked out on my iPod until I can wake up enough to face the life that is yelling in front of me, "Mom, Mom, MOM, I want Cheerios! I want Malt-o-Wheel! I want oatmeal! I want a snack!" Sienna wants all of those things for breakfast almost every morning. It makes me a little crazed, as you can imagine. And Noah just wants to go back to bed. So, you know, I'm kind of on another planet in the morning. Then lunchtime comes and it's another frenzy. We're usually coming home from some kind of outing. Everyone MUST. EAT. NOW. OR. DIE. OR JUST CRY REALLY LOUD. Dinner time is just about the time I'm really ready to die. Can I stand the children any longer? NO. Can I make soup while Noah is completely falling apart? NO. Can Sienna make a bigger mess two hours before bedtime? NO. THEN. An actual joy cloud explodes as Adam strolls in the door and rescues us all. However, by that moment, it's usually time for our Nightly News with Brian Williams and we don't have Tivo, so on goes the TV and down we plop wherever we please to eat and watch TV while deflecting whining, hyper, and/or falling apart children. THAT sums up meal times. Can you say STRESSFUL? No, these are not the quiet, reflective, conversational moments that supposedly foster strong family bonds that last a lifetime. So, I'd like to get some of that strong family bond started. And it begins today! This morning actually went quite well... but I'm tired of this topic so onto number 2.


I started the Old Testament when Sienna was born. I am now in 1 Samuel 26. I'm not going to do any calculating here, but if you've got the ol' book handy, you'll look at your tabs and discover how LAME my reading has been for the past 2 1/2 years. I really actually like the Old Testament. It's true! Genesis and Exodus are the books full of epic stories I've always heard but never actually read. Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua I can't really remember except that I believe sketchier stuff I had not before known until these books. Judges was all judgy and stuff. Ruth is one of my favorite books ever. And now I'm at Samuel. Yep. 2 1/2 years. Samuel. Under-achieve much? And it's not like I was supplementing this with B of M reading I was supposed to be doing daily according to President Benson. So, yeah. I'm done with this topic because I'm tired of berating myself. 


Instead, let's start this year off fresh with pictures of my little 7 month old in a white onesie. Why I waited this long to get him in my favorite of all the baby clothes of the world, the white onesie, is lost on me. (Oh, yeah, it's cold here year round and he's lived in sleeper pajamas his whole life.)


Do you see him? There he is! And there's that same frame on the TV from the previous post. Can one watch "My Favorite Things" too many times? (I'm beginning to believe that YES.)

His little tongue comes flipping out.

 The little squirt has always enjoyed a bit of TV. 

And this is where he falls off the couch. 

Just kidding! Happy New Year. Now, off to finish the evening with some real, disconnected quiet time.

Christmas Was ...

... wonderful, amazing, epic, incredible, fantastic, perfect, magical and even ... white!

But we will get to that. First, our pre-Christmas in Seattle. The morning before we flew out to Denver, we let Sienna open her presents and Noah open his present. Heh. Then we lazied around watching two of Sienna's presents at once:

Her other presents included some books .. and other stuff I can't recall.

Do you like Adam's bathrobe? I got that for him. He loves it.

Noah had one present and Sienna fought him for it.

It was an owl. Our wise Mr. Noah and his owl! Isn't he sweet?

Onto Colorado! We went skiing two separate times, once just us two and once with Adam's brother and sister. It was perfection. I have not felt that free in ages.

I had to get a pic of Noah in the snow, just like I did when Bird had her first Christmas in Colorado.

We went sledding.

Sienna got snow in her face and declared sledding the worst activity ever.

I got snow in my face and felt fantastic about it!

 Sienna "helped" grandma make her famous, delectable shortbread. No shirt needed.

Diane planned a lovely night out with just us ladies to go to The Nutcracker! It was delightful in every way.

Noah slept most of Christmas day and opened his presents around 5 pm. Most pictures I took of him included this frantic look on his face that says, "MUST EAT PAPER."

Sienna got this great pink bus. You remember she's obsessed with buses? And now she has one of her own. She's in heaven.

Taking Santa in stride.

My Mr. Noah looked especially edible near the tree.

Isn't he the best? Yum.

Adam's whole family was together this Christmas! Hooray! It really was a lovely 10 days in beautiful and often SUNNY, warm and snowy all at once Colorado. 

Christmas Card

If you didn't get a hard copy of our Christmas card (we didn't send out many), here's your very own virtual version plus this year's blurb about 2011.

Happy Holidays to you, dear family and friends! In our own words, here’s what is brewing in the Ware house.

Adam: Never in my life has so much changed in such a short time. Before moving to Seattle I was sitting in a cube combing through financial statements (bleh). In the last 12 months I've had amazing experiences delivering presentations at places like Amazon and Zillow, and I finally feel I might end up doing something with my career that I can be excited about. Business school has been crazy and has come at the expense of things like cycling and watching baseball (oh... and my paycheck), but I wouldn't go back to the way things were for anything. Still, nothing makes me happier than the sound of Sienna and Noah giggling when I come through the door at night. I hope my kids stay babies forever. Fortunately, I've talked with them about it, and they've agreed not to grow up.  

Martha: Around this time last year we found out baby number #2 was going to be a boy! No surprise to me, I could see my little brother, Owen’s, profile in the ultrasound. In May, Noah Hullinger Ware was born and he does indeed look a lot like a Hullinger. The transition to two children continues to kick my hiney. I don’t know how people do this. My only goal at this point is to make sure we all live to see at least a few more birthdays. That’s about as far as I can see. (I’ve had my own conversations with them, and they’ve actually agreed to grow up! Thank heavens!) In my spare time, I continue to blog, book club and try to get in a few girl’s nights. I’m mostly happy when there’s good food in the house, Adam comes home at a decent time, and I can get to the gym a few times a week.

Sienna (2 ½): I bonk a my noggin’. You have a some throw up in the potty, mom? I have a some throw up in my crib. Oh, Noah, you so cute! Noah, that is a crazy growl. Daddy, we’re best pals. You see all the letters, daddy? See a bus? See that bus? Bus? See that bus? Airplane! Oh, that’s a big truck! Garbage truck, mom. Garbage truck, mom. Garbage truck, mom. Clock! I have a owie. I hurt a my ear in the bouncy house. Go to a park? Have a some slides and some swings? We go to a tiny park? I have a rock. I’m not scared of a vacuum. It’s just noisy. We go in the alligator (elevator), mom? I spill my hot cocoa on a table. No rip a books. Yes, that’s very bad. I’m happy. Jump on a couch, Dad? Where's my cashew nuts!? You have a big 'ol yawn, Dad? Whiskers! You better run... I'm a get you! (She’s just getting started…)

Noah (6 months): yee-yee, gee, ga-ga, wah-wah-wah-wah, grrrrrrrrrrrr

Thanks for tuning in! We hope you have a blessed season.

Christmas is Here

 Lately we've been:

Baking ... mint chocolate brownies to be exact ...

Getting lots of sweet smiles from this adorable child ...

Hanging out at the record store ...

Walking around Seattle Center and the Space Needle ...

 Showing Sienna the little train village downtown ...

Getting a family photo taken in fall leaves .... it's still fall here, by the way ...

Having John and Krista Malfatto visit with their new little Lola, plus their friend Cody ...

 Having a pre-Christmas before we head to Denver tomorrow for 10 days ...

Why Have Kids? or Could There Be Life After Kids?

{So you can cook your own version of Thanksgiving dinner [that's what I did on that Friday I couldn't remember] only to have them cry or jump on the couch while you and your husband try to enjoy it}

I stole this topic from this new blog that explored the question recently. I feel awkward leaving a comment on that blog because I used to date that guy. I actually don't read his posts and have stopped reading their love story emails because it's overall pretty awkward. But the other posts by his wife are inspiring and refreshing to me. Plus, her style? Come on!

Moving on. Why have kids? I hadn't thought about it before I had either of my kids. I grew up Mormon (and am still Mormon, of course) and it's what I was conditioned to expect as the normal course of events. I'd grow up, get married, and have kids.

But then! Noah came. And I realized I didn't want to do it anymore. Have kids. I can't wipe butts for 10 more years. I just can't!

So, since then, I've been exploring the question "why have kids" a lot. I still don't have a clear cut answer, but I can tell you about two things in my patriarchal blessing that have been keeping me going ever since I began the child rearing stage of life.

One part says, "To you will be born children that will be a crown of joy to you, and it will be your responsibility to teach them, especially in their early years, the great truths of the gospel to give them a foundation for life's challenges." I can't tell you how many times I get totally fed up being home all day with my kids. When I reach that point, I have one of two elaborate fantasies: running away to a deserted tropical island or getting a full-time office job. Neither of those things would solve anything, though. Running away would have so many bad consequences (mostly for my marriage - my kids would probably be fine), I wouldn't even get to baggage claim before I'd turn around and run right back home. Getting an office job (or just some kind of "out of the home" job) would also solve nothing. It would add one more huge stress onto my already full plate of stress. I don't need that. I can't handle that. And more than anything, I am a jealous mother and do not want anyone else being in charge of my kids. I would probably end up punching that daycare worker before I'd pay her. But here I am still, getting fed up on a very regular basis with all that comes with daily, never-ending childcare. So, what do I do? I cling to the phrase, "ESPECIALLY IN THEIR EARLY YEARS." This is a time frame I can deal with. I know that my babies won't always be babies. I KNOW that and yet I don't see it most days. But if I remember this phrase, I know I can do it. I can be here for them in their early, formative years. After that ... well, then comes me.

Which leads me to the next part of my patriarchal blessing, "You have your free agency to make your goals a reality." Ahhhh, if there's any part of God's plan that I am totally in love with and believe in, it's agency. I love it! I love that He trusts us. I need that kind of freedom, I thrive on that kind of freedom. So this line is rather empowering to me because I have goals. Goals that I am excited about. Goals that get me out of bed in the morning. Goals that remind me I'm not just an arm that can reach back behind the passenger side seat to reach a lost pretzel on the floor while changing lanes, shifting gears, and putting on chapstick. BOOM. AKA Supermom.

So, to answer these questions for myself: why have kids? I don't know. But is there life after kids? Yes, I do believe there is.

I'd love to know why you have or had kids. And are you that magical mother who can see the forest through the trees? Because I'm pretty sure I'm blind when it comes to that.

(And please don't comment on my Facebook page about this blog post because then Former Flame would see it [because we are friends on Facebook] and that would just be awkward because he'd know I stole their blog topic. All around awkward. And, yes, I could block him from seeing some things on FB, but I don't have time to figure that out because, you guessed it, naptime is over and my child waiteth!)