Follow-up

Camden was accident free today!  YAY!  We have both gotten better at reading his body cues.  He is happier, and each day I have backed off a little more to give him the chance to show he can hold it!  And I just remind him occasionally that we need to go in to the bathroom.  He doesn't always want to, because he doesn't like to stop what he's doing, but when I bring him in anyway, he knows now what he needs to do, and does it!

I think it will still be a bit of time before he is telling me he needs to go on his own, or even before he gets to a point where he can just go in and do it all himself without any aid or prompting from me, but I think he is making progress, so we are just going to keep it up!  AND, he's been doing all of this with a 101 degree fever, so he's definitely a trooper!  I actually think it's a bit helpful because he isn't as active, so we can take things slow.

The first day, we went to the potty every 15 minutes.  The second day, we went every 30 (and on this day, I started showing him a movie while he was trying to go).  The third, it was about every 40 minutes.  And now, we just go in when he start giving his shifty cues and he is able to go right away, so we don't have to sit on the toilet for 5-10 minutes each time.  We still "take a break" at night, so he wears a diaper, but I am getting better at slowing his fluid intake a bit before he goes to bed, and I think that will help him to get control of himself at night.  It's awesome that we can see measurable progress and that he is happy about it!   Hopefully it will all keep up! :O)

On Potty Training

Yesterday, I wrote about Camden beginning his potty training process.  He interest has been there in the past several months, as he likes to follow both parents into the bathroom and look in the toilet while we're doing our business, but I'm afraid that maybe I missed the "window-of-opportunity" with him.  I am a believer that each child has certain time periods which are their optimal time to learn various things.

After yesterday, I really just thought we were going to have to wait until we got to the age of 3 to start potty training again, because we had 7 accidents (including one on the kitchen table), a TON of visits to the toilet, and only 1 time actually getting pee in the toilet.  This only happened when his dad was home and set him on the toilet for a while.  It seems a lot of things I try to teach Camden don't sink in until his dad (or a peer--already?!) suggests it as well.  That's why I'm glad I have a spouse--I need the reinforcement; so I can have the emotional support for me as well as the teaching reinforcement for the children.  I'm also SO very glad Camden at least went ONE time in the toilet!  But because things went so badly overall, we just decided to quit the cold-turkey-from-diapers during the night and put a diaper on (Camden has NEVER, ever in a million--or I guess just 2.5--years woken up with a dry diaper, so I think it will be some time before we can get him fully potty trained at night).  I had almost decided that maybe he wasn't ready to potty train yet, but I feel like I have to give everything 3 days before I can really know, so I think I will give it until Friday.  If there is improvement made, we will just continue, but if it's just not happening at all, we'll wait until 3 YO, which is the age I've heard is USUALLY best for little boys, since they tend to train later anyway.  Camden still isn't quite 2.5, but it would be nice to not purchase diapers for two children come June.

However, today, we have had NO accidents so far. On the other hand, the poor kid hasn't gone to the bathroom at all (and it is almost 1:00PM!!!!).  I'm not really sure how he is maintaining himself.  He has figured out that it makes mommy sad when pee ends up on the floor or in his underwear, but he hasn't figured out that it makes me HAPPY when pee ends up in the toilet.  Poor guy!  I know he is getting some of it at least.  I have also backed off a lot today.  He still gets rewards for doing what he's supposed to (for now, it's just going in to sit on the potty every 30 minutes or so--yesterday it was every 15 minutes), but yesterday may have been a little traumatizing for him because he REALLY DID NOT want to sit on the toilet; especially that many times.  I also went to check on him at 2:00 this morning (I had just finished baking bread I've been pregnancy-craving. Usually, I don't do that, promise) and he had a fever of 101.  So maybe yesterday was just an unusually difficult day anyway.

And now, as I'm finishing up this post, I am proud to announce he has still had no accidents on my floor, but has FINALLY gone in the toilet today!  WOOHOO!  Let's see how this keeps up.  Today is already a million and a half times better than yesterday, even though I have zero desire to clean the house, get myself ready, or even work on the other projects I have going on.  Potty training takes enough of my mental and emotional energy I suppose.  It has been, by far, my most aggravating parenting moment of Camden's existence.  Overall, I never had the "sticker" shock with anything of being a parent (except health-related issues such as peanut allergies, hospital stays, and the normal worrying-about-a-fever concerns. Oh and don't read this as I've never had sticker shock with ANYTHING, just because I haven't had it with parenting, doesn't mean I haven't had other difficult things. I'm not claiming any sort of perfection here), but this could have (and still may) do me in.

For you, Lindsay:
We have an Elmo potty chair that I splurged on just for the occasion.  It has the little dish they can pee in closer to the floor, but then it converts into a step stool so they can access a larger toilet or stand up at the sink, and the seat from the little potty can be moved (easily and quickly) to the big potty if you (or they) like it better.  I like it because it seems to have the best of both worlds--the little potty they can get used to at first, and then the full ability to switch it to a BIG toilet.  Don't know if it's helpful, but I think it cost us about $12 at Walmart (you're paying a little bit for the Sesame Street brand, of course, but Camden has always really liked Elmo, so it has helped us).  There are other chairs there that probably do the same convertible thing as the Sesame Street one.  Good luck!

It went through!

The documentary, "Shamed," got enough funding to begin the project!  I'm so thrilled!  Keep your eyes out for it next year around this time!


On another note, today, we begin potty training.  I had to bribe with Sesame Street to get him to wear the underwear the normal way (and not on his head) after many refusals to put them on at all.  He is now happily watching the show dedicated to the letter 'R' and we try going to the potty every 16 minutes.  Yes, 16.  He gets an M&M each time he sits on the potty (for now) and will get two for actually going while on the potty (again, for now).   If all goes well, I'm hoping we can start weaning him from that many M&M's in 2-3 days.  If all doesn't go well, let's just say I have another full box of diapers waiting for us on the top shelf of his closet.  (Before you judge me, there is nothing else that would have worked besides cookies, and one little m&m is much smaller than the cookies I make, so we're going that route)

Yesterday, for Valentine's, I made Devin breakfast pizzas for lunch and from my Facebook post: Our Valentine's dinner consisted of (everything homemade): Flat enchiladas, Pao de Queijo (Brazilian cheese bread), feijao (black beans), and authentic Brazilian lemonade. For dessert: French crepes.  It was SO. so good!  And we were absolutely stuffed.


And just because I am terrible at taking video and pictures of Camden, I never include them, but whenever my sister is in town, she gets a few things.  Here is one of her videos from about a month and a half ago.  There are several songs that are never-ending in Camden's world.  'Follow the Prophet,' 'Clean-up,' 'Sing, Sing, Sing,' and this one: (He definitely LOVES songs and we regularly go through the primary songs while I'm playing the piano--one of our favorite things to do together).

I promise!

I know a lot of people aren't looking for places to donate money, but please go to this site http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/141091137/shamed-a-documentary-feature-film (it's important enough that I'm actually listing the WHOLE site) and view both videos (and while listening to the song on the first video, read the captions regarding various statistics and quotes regarding pornography and sexual addictions--as they often go hand-in-hand).  As I am a mother, spouse, sister, friend, and child, there are so many unfortunate opportunities for this to affect my own life, and I know, unfortunately, it affects many of your lives (or will) in some way or another, as well--yes, even if you don't realize it.  Please, consider making a small donation if at all possible.  This is something I believe very strongly in, and realize that there are drastic changes that need to be made in our society to help those who struggle with such addictions.  I cannot express to you enough how much I fear for our young ones who will be raised in a world where these behaviors are normalized and/or shamed; even much worse than the world in which we were brought up.  But, if we are prepared, we shall not fear (D&C 38:30), and so, I hope we can put in the necessary means NOW (namely time, attention, money, spiritual and relationship uplifting activities, etc) that will catapult us into a prepared state when dealing with this issue.  Even if you cannot donate, please spread the word to those who can so we can make sure this project gets funded (it only has 7 more days to be funded or else it is dropped).  And when the documentary arrives, make sure you get out and see it! I promise, it will be enlightening and enabling if you make that effort.

*Make sure you watch the videos!  They aren't long and they give the information to you so much better than I ever could.  I am just not very profound (as if that wasn't obvious).*

100%

Well, so far, I'm 100% for guessing the gender of our babies.  

We're halfway done with the pregnancy 

for Miss Jadyn Marie!!

*Nicole, you are the winner!

4.5 carts later

I'm not your typical food storage type girl.  I just don't like spending money on items I will not use (and will have to learn to use if, for some reason, we need to start living off of our food storage--wheat grinder, anyone?--Ok, I know there are some of you out there, but it's not me).  I homemake pretty much everything, but I just can't/won't do certain foods--not until I have to, I guess.

What I did yesterday, is a way I make up for my lack of zest in wheat-grinding and pasta-making (though I do that on occasion just because it's GOOD).  And because we live primarily on one person's salary--Devin's-- I feel it's my job to spend as little money as possible (I work teaching 12 piano lessons weekly to pay for my health insurance--and I LOVE it-- and do an elderly couple's finances because we have been working for them for a few years and they are just so close to passing it would be so difficult for their family to take it on, but in essence, I am home taking care of the child(ren) and home).  The hang up?  Couponing takes me WAY to much time. And that's time that I don't want to put in when I work what I do and want to be a mommy the rest of the time.

I started using this site and this site to make my efforts worthwhile-->minimum time that yields the maximum results. And I mean VERY little minimum time...absolutely NO MORE, and probably significantly less, that what I would do anyway to plan out meals and a grocery list for the week (I shop once per week. That is my max. I will not go more than once to the store in a week--saves money AND time, as long as I plan well).

Sorry, no pictures, but I left Smith's yesterday with 3 FULL TO THE BRIM carts (yes, they closed down an entire lane for me, and yes, they were super annoyed to have to be checking me out), and then added another from Food4Less and a half of one (which is actually a much larger cart in comparison) from Costco.  I used no coupons, but bought 285 items for $369.05.  That comes to roughly $1.30 per item.  I am sure you have watched Extreme Couponers, and they have much better percentage savings than what you are probably calculating in your head (even though I estimated saving at least $130 from what I would have spent going to Walmart for those same items), but what I have found is that they don't count the money they spend in getting those coupons, the amount of time and work involved, and the fact that much of the stuff isn't always that usable (some of them have LIFETIMES of certain product just sitting in their garage)--at least for OUR FAMILY.  Not to mention, I don't find nearly as many great coupons in the Western US as I have seen in the East.....but, like I said, I don't spend that much time on couponing.

What you don't know is that despite the fact that my husband looks almost like a stick figure, he eats as much in one sitting as my ENTIRE immediate family did at a meal during my growing-up years.  He just eats and eats....and eats.  He is often referred to as the human garbage disposal (and rightly so).  For that reason alone, we have to have SUBSTANTIAL meals to keep up with our family.  We only have 3 of us, right now, and we better watch out if we have several boys that eat as much as him.  He already eats 4+ meals per day.  It could be exhausting to keep up with; not to mention, it would literally eat us out of house and home.  We need to be able to stockpile, not wait for coupons and build up the pile over time.

But last night, I bought enough pasta noodles, canned vegetables, sugar, canned fruit, canned beans, tuna, canned tomatoes, spices and seasonings, canned chicken, and deodorant to last us a year (until next year's case-lot sales).  And enough quaker oatmeal, ramen, cheese, apples, rice, potatoes, bell peppers, onions, bananas (and I means TONS), ground beef, chicken breasts, milk, tortillas, cases of water, and butter to last us several weeks to several months (and I would have bought more of some of this stuff if I already had an additional freezer in the garage).

These are all things I use (and can therefore rotate) in meals I make or meal recipes she offers on the website, which is also a HUGE time-saver.  This also means I will have to shop for a LOT less throughout the year.  I do these HUGE shopping trips, for certain items we use regularly, a couple times per year, and then only need to purchase our produce, dairy (though not even all of it once I get an additional freezer in my garage and can start freezing more of the things that freeze well--catching my hint, Dev :O)), bread (if I don't end up making it myself--this is something I DO NOT like eating after it's been frozen), some meats, and other perishables that we need for certain meals that week.  But I plan the meals around the things with the best sales, so we continue to save money.

I'm sure some of you are saying "well, I could do better than that," but it works for us, we end up having a food storage, I don't have a lot of anxiety over it, it's quick and simple, and for us, it just works!

What things do you do to save you time and money? I am all about efficiency!

P.S.  I spent about 45 minutes (with a toddler, so that makes it take longer) planning the grocery list and meal plan, 2.5 hours purchasing, loading, and unloading the items (again, with a toddler), and 1.5 hours organizing it all (AGAIN, with a toddler, and that will NORMALLY be MUCH less because I will eventually have a very set system in our house for where all the food goes. I just haven't done my large shopping spree yet since we've been in the new house and needed to figure out exactly what I wanted to do).  Also, I do SOME coupon shopping at times using Hip2save and just by quickly going through the ads I get in the mail (we get many coupons for free in NV) to get coupons for items I buy regularly, like Silk, that never go on really good sales, and we have to have it for Camden's milk allergy.

Also, see this interesting clip if you haven't yet: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=15514795.  Either way you do it, you're saving BIG!

And see my sister-in-law's website for garage sale tips and ideas.  I bought pretty much every item of furniture we have in that way and have saved THOUSANDS.  I also buy clothes, shoes, toys, etc.  Saving money is FUN!  garagesalesrus.blogspot.com/

Happy 5 years!!

So, basically, the last 5 years have been filled with their ups and downs, great days and bad, difficult and easy, but most of all, LOTS of change!

In 5 years, we've......

1. Upgraded from a 550 sq ft apartment, which we rented, to a 2460 sq ft house, which we own

2. Moved 7 times

3. Held approximately 15 callings between the two of us

4. Had one child, and one on the way

5. Graduated both of us from BYU

6. Had 10 different jobs (again, between the two of us)

7. Learned to like football (Meg) and learned to play songs on the piano (Dev)

8. Spent over 1200 hours doing dishes

9. Played A LOT of sports (and won one intramural soccer championship at BYU)

10. Changed close to 3000 diapers (give or take 500)

11. Gone on a cruise and to Monterrey, Mexico

12. Gone from swearing we would never live in Vegas (Devin) to embracing it; almost moving to NEW Mexico

13. Gotten only 2-3 speeding tickets (this is GOOD for Devin) :O) and one accident (just today actually--not his fault, luckily!)

14. Received two brothers and one sister home from a mission

15. Stayed in the hospital 3 times

16. Lived with, and took care of, an elderly couple who influenced many goals for our own future

17. Gone on at least 6 hikes together, and I can't even count how many apart!

18. Each had at least one very distressing hair cut/color mistake!

19. Won our apartment door Christmas decorating contest with dollar store decorations (well worth the money because we got a good prize!)

AND

20. most of all, grown closer together and deeper in love!
(Among many, many other things)

I love you Devin!  Happy Eternity!!!

Girl or Boy

I've basically had the next baby name picked out forever.  (You know how you make those "Future Baby Name" lists in high school??)  I tried to throw some new ones in the mix when we actually found out about this pregnancy, you know, for Devin to choose from, but it seems he loves these names as well.

Note: We decided at Camden's birth that we would continue the Kevin and Karen Romney tradition of the 'in', 'en', 'yn', 'an' ending sound in the names of our future posterity.  You know, since my name fit (Meghan) and Devin's was obviously already a part of that tradition.

So without further adieu, here are the names we have narrowed it down to (yes, I do this very early on in pregnancy.  I like to feel like the baby is already a part of the family--I don't like to call it 'the baby' for very long.

Girl--- Jadyn Marie Romney   (probably call her Jade for short; and it's Mom and my middle name)...always, ALWAYS loved that name since the Jaded song by Aerosmith
Boy-- Landon Miles Romney (Yes, because I LOVE 'A Walk to Remember'; now you're probably thinking I'm crazy because these names are based off of pop culture, but I have my own DEEPER reasoning) OR Larson Dean Romney (After my mother's maiden name/grandparents; Devin's dad's middle name.  I'm still trying to convince Devin of this one--he seems to be scarred from a certain friend of his being shortened to LARS and he just can't bear the thought of his child being called that)

I'm betting it's a girl, Devin has no opinion on the matter yet, and my mom thinks I'm crazy for trying to guess at all.  Well, there's a 50/50 shot!  What are your guesses (yes, yes. It's a full 10 weeks away, but I'm giving you plenty of time to think about it)?

Ghost Candy

This is a sucker that Camden found in his trick-or-treat candy.

He calls him 'The Holy Ghost.'

I have no idea where he got that. 

(I'm even his nursery leader, so I know he didn't learn it there, and

 I PROMISE I didn't even call it a ghost when he took it out of his bag in the first place)

Made me laugh!

Halloween pictures

 Getting ready for the trunk or treat

He kept saying scary, but just wanted to sit and stare at it!

 Our little dinosaur.  Devin is goofy and I am an elephant

 LOVED seeing his grandma and trick or treating at her house!

 But he has especially been obsessed with Grandma's pumpkins this year

 Camden would not wear his hat unless I wore this one....I guess it's a good trade--I pick his costume, he picks mine.

 Halloween Day outfit.  We went to my first baby Dr. appointment together on Halloween!

Getting home--checking out the spoils!