and then she snapped: charlie pete

Showing posts with label charlie pete. Show all posts

feel free to insert witty title here. in the meantime: halloween photo dump

Oh hi.
I dusted off my big camera:
Harvest fest. Pumpkin "patch" (don't you dare tell my kids that the neighborhood market is not a pumpkin patch). Annual pumpkin carving. Done.

downtown in instagrams

This is Stella. Stella's big sister Rowan is really sick and needs prayers. Charlie and I got to play with Stella yesterday for a couple hours and (after she decided we weren't going to eat her) we had lots of fun!

Painting at the Children's Museum of Tacoma

Gluing is SERIOUS business.

We concluded our playdate with funny faces and spinning, because, obviously.

After we dropped Stella back with her family Charlie and I had some time to kill downtown while we waited for Chris' train to come in. I didn't have my big girl camera with me because who DOES that anymore?

But I do love me some Tacoma.

The Chihuly Bridge of Glass has some awesome photo opps. Big girl camera or not.

Waiting in the car for dad, crashed out listening to One Direction.

What's happening with you this weekend? Maybe I'll dust off my big camera. Maybe.

potty training. day 1. and done!

It seemed like EVERYBODY was potty training their kid. Or already had. And I was convinced mine was going to be the one kid who wears diapers to Kindergarten. So we went all in. Which means. All underpants. All the time. NO MORE DIAPERS. Diapers are for babies.

Charlie was a little hesitant at first. I told him he gets to wear underpants now and he said, "No, maybe later". So when I insisted, and let him choose which pair he wanted to wear (Batman, of course), I wasn't sure how it was going to go. Well, it went great. I let him drink as much chocolate milk and juice as he wanted and then asked him about every ten minutes if he needed to go potty and if he said no I would believe him. Unless, I could tell. (He'd stop what he was doing and get real quiet so I'd swoop in and run him to the bathroom). We had three accidents and three successes right off the bat, and from then on there have been very few accidents. (And no poop accidents, Thank God!). The first day he would go literally every 15 minutes. And he would actually pee. Just a tiny bit. Every day since then (we're now on day 5) he's gotten better, and can go to the store, or out to dinner, or to the park, and not have an accident. Now he'll tell me if he has to go (I still ask if it's been a while) and he always says, "Mom! I think I need to go potty!" Not, I need to, but I think I need to.

I'll admit I do put a pull-up on him for naptime, and for bedtime. And on day two when I sent him to school I sent him in a pull-up. But you know what pull-ups are? Diapers. And so he pees in them. No hesitation whatsoever. But he knows, underpants are NOT diapers, and so he really tries to keep them dry.

Other things we did that helped? A sticker chart. First five times in the potty got him this really cool toy airplane that he wanted. (Which I had already purchased). And five times isn't that many, I really wanted him to feel good about himself early on. We now have a big sticker chart that has maybe 25 spaces on it. When he fills that up he knows we are going to go to Target and he can pick out a new toy. 25 kind of seems like a lot, but he goes a lot, so it won't take too long. Chocolate chips for each time on the potty. Or M&Ms. And still lots of chocolate milk. We also have lots of fun underpants. Toy Story, Angry Birds, Superheroes. And I let him change them anytime he wants. (Not just if they get peed on, you know?)

Anyway, it was really not that difficult. He was ready (He turned three on January 28th). I was ready (so so tired of buying the diapers). And I really just dedicated one whole day to watching him like a hawk. After that he pretty much did it himself.

And skinny little diaper-less baby butts? So adorable. I could just pinch that little booty all day.

PS I should say that I was motivated by Mandey of Mama Mandolin (except she potty trained TWO at a time!) and that I skimmed and basically followed the 3 day potty training method. But if you have any questions for me feel free to ask!

toddler tonsillectomy

please ignore the boogers. I was trying (not very successfully, to get photo documentation of the size of my almost three year old's GINORMOUS tonsils)

If you're reading this you might be considering having your toddler get his or her tonsils out. I have three words for you:

Don't do it!*

Actually, I have a whole bunch of more words for you too, but those are the main ones. Charlie's tonsils were "ginormous" according to the doctor, and were impacting his breathing and sleeping (so much snoring)! And I figured since Charlie was not even three yet the surgery would be much easier on him now than when he was older. I mean, it's not like he was 38 (when I had mine out). Children heal faster than adults, or so they say. But what I didn't consider was that he's too young to understand what the fuck just happened. And why? And that the medicine will, in fact, help. Even though it's "spicy". (PS Tylenol with codeine are "spicy" to an almost three year old).

this was pre-surgery when he literally had no idea what was coming. I didn't want to worry him ahead of time, so we didn't tell him. I feel bad about that now.

Also, when the doctor says it will be 7 to 10 days of hell afterwards, don't do like I did and figure what he really means is five or maybe six at most. Wrong. He actually means a full TEN. Also, keep in mind that the antibiotics that they prescribe afterwards are merely preventative. If you can't get your toddler to take them don't stress about it. The pain meds are MUCH MORE of a PRIORITY, and you definitely want to keep on top of those. Speaking of pain meds, I found Tylenol meltaways (or generic, because that's actually what I found). They come in grape and bubble gum and they literally just melt on the tongue. So no swallowing is really required (when swallowing really hurts). When we began to wean of the codeine this is what we used. Also, FYI, Tylenol with codeine can be hidden in apple juice. Antibiotics cannot. And neither can liquid ibuprofen. Believe me, we tried EVERYTHING. And he caught on most of the time.

this was after 27 minutes of blood curdling screaming (and very nearly mama tears) in the recovery room, when we finally checked into the room we would stay over night. (patients under the age of three stay over night at our hospital)

Bring movies to the hospital if you'll be staying over. We watched the Lorax 2,545,345,809 times.

he actually ate that evening. maybe the heavy drugs from the surgery were still working, because there were quite a few days afterwards that he barely ate anything at all.

My three year old was deathly afraid of the blood pressure cuff, and the oxygen thingie that they put on your finger to make sure you're getting enough oxygen. The nurses would have to try to get readings on both of these things every few hours and while you and I know that they really truly do not hurt, telling a toddler who just woke up having had parts of his body very literally cut out of him did not bode well. He hated all the nurses (except the one that gave him a car that he could take home with him).

one of the few moments where he slept that night. New Year's Eve, 2012, YAHOO! PARTY in room 528!! (maybe, honestly I don't remember what room we were in)

When you do get home, if you can't get your toddler to eat, don't worry. He'll eat eventually. Spend your energy making him drink. That's much more important during recovery. And if he gets dehydrated he'll have to go BACK to the hospital (which also, is a really good threat if your kid WON'T drink).

*Disclaimer. If you decide to do it anyway, know that you WILL actually get through it. Just be realistic in how long you can expect your toddler (and therefore you) to feel absolutely miserable. We got through it. And Charlie doesn't hold a grudge either. He may have even forgotten about it. Probably not, but maybe.

And also? No more snoring.

charlie is three (and then some)

I figure if I'm not yet a month overdue then I'm still a good ~~blogger~~ mom, right? I'm just remembering the days when I used to have my kids birthday posts all scheduled, complete with annual slideshow PRIOR to their birthday so on the actual day I could have it automatically post. I do not know who that person is anymore. It is certainly not me. Now I have this whole entire LIST of things I need to do, I WANT to do and I can't seem to make any headway on it.

So here is me crossing one tiny thing off that list:

Way back on the 28th of January Charlie Pete turned THREE! We started off birthday WEEKEND with donuts at Legendary donuts. (Pao's is still number one in my book).

(Happy Birthday to me shirt was $2.97 at Old Navy, so he wore it all weekend).
Then we headed to the Childrens' "Mu-zoo-men" of Tacoma. Grace and Chris enjoyed posing (per usual). Camden and Charlie ~~ran around like crazy people~~ played.

Next we went to Wendy's for lunch and Charlie drank ketchup. Because duh. (Check instagram for pics of that extraordinary event). And then we topped it off with dinner at Blazing Onion. Because why ruin a perfectly good meal with anything other than french fries and ketchup?

On his actual birthday, a Monday, we met friends at none other than McDonald's for a roaring good time. Grace and Camden got to come too, because there was no school that day for some reason that escapes me now. The lighting inside McDonald's was atrocious. So black and white makes it look more like I know how to use my camera.

We rounded out the birthday weekend with cake and candles. And the birthday boy learning how to show three fingers. And still wearing the Happy Birthday to Me clearance shirt. (Which has now been retired). Who's turning three next? I'll send it your way!

Happy Birthday, Little Man! I love you to the moon and back!

I promise I will try to pay more attention to this blog, but just in case, make sure you follow me on instagram @andthenshesnapped so you don't miss a thing.

~~Charlie's Birthday Post.~~ Done!

show off your shot-Santa edition

It's Santa! I KNOW him!

I literally had to DRAG Grace and Camden to see Santa. And bribe them with Red Robin. When Camden ~~whined~~ asked, "but WHY do we have to go see Santa" I finally just pulled my mom card.

Because I'm the mom and I say so.

We got to the mall, the line was short (maybe 10 minutes?), we paid our Santa "rental" fee of $20 and I got what I wanted. Followed by a teriyaki chicken burger. YUM.

And doesn't Charlie look like a little angel? Seriously! He is doing his best listening ever! And his little crossed hands. Oh, it just kills me! THIS is what Santa is all about.

I'd LOVE to see YOUR Santa pictures, so link those up this week if you have them. If not, you know anything goes around here...

Won't you join me and show off your shot...it's easy!

Simply share any photo of your choosing this week. Link up (your blog post or flickr photo), and visit some of the other show offs as well!

I do ask that you kindly link back to my blog using this button (although a text link is perfectly ok too):