The calm before the storm...

I know, I know...I have been neglecting all of my blogger fans out there. You are all wondering if my three kids have overtaken me, but alas I'm back! And I have one less child to diaper every day!! Yes, Austin now has almost 3 weeks under his belt at potty training and we have finally conquered the fear of pooping on the potty. Let me back up a bit - ever since we started the potty training Austin has done amazing. He was totally ready and pees like a champ. We have hardly had any accidents (peeing) and he even lets me know when he has to go now. You would think pooping would be no biggie, but let me tell you, the books are right. Kids have some crazy fear of pooping in the toilet. Why? Well, the research says they are "losing part of themselves". Whatever. I find it to be just plain gross and annoying. Luckily Austin has caught on fairly quickly and we have even pooped in the potty 3 times in a row!! And all three times he has TOLD me he needs to go!! (Now would be a good time to visualize Austin telling me he has to poop and then me dropping EVERYTHING instantly and grabbing him as I sprint like I am in the Olympics up to the potty while frantically throwing he clothes off on the way). Anyway, potty training is quite the experience, but hasn't been too bad. But, I've only got one down, I still have 2 more to go so things could get worse by the end. I will say it has been so fun to see how proud Austin is of himself. He thinks he is such a big boy now. It only took a week of "peeing like papa" before he would say to me "mom, I don't need you to sing me the song every time I pee." This comment hurt a bit and I had to hold back my tears as I have kind of taken a liking to the peeing in the potty song (if you would like copies of the lyrics I'll have to ask my friend, Kim, as she and her girls are the original song writers and I believe they have a patent on it.) Anyway, the potty training has gone well - for those of you wanting to start it up I would suggest LOTS of praise, never getting mad (which is the MOST difficult part as you clean poop up quite often) and just laughing a bit as you get through it all. Oh, and maybe a few bottles of wine...
Let's see, what else is going on? Well, we had Gabriella baptized over this past weekend which went very well. The proud Godparents are my sister Kimberly and her fiance Nick. We had such a great weekend with them despite the random snow storm that came on Friday night (to be followed up with 70 degree weather on Sunday). Gabriella had her 6 week checkup and she is growing like crazy! Jumped up to the 90th percentiles in everything - chunky little monkey. She is resembling a little old man now as she is balding on top but not on the sides. She sleeps awesome at night and finally my other two are too!! Austin has quit the stripping ever since we started potty training. Ashlyn is finally starting to really talk which is exciting and absolutely adorable.
I also had my 6 week check up and the doc said everything looks great! Of course he also said to me on the way out, "Stephanie, you and Shawn DO know where babies come from right??" Had to laugh at that one. Having three under three has definitely shown it's challenges, but I have to say I have the cutest three kids in the world! I am missing going out to run errands like I use to. I can't just go to Target or Costco - I have too many kids and they fill up the cart before I buy anything. A few days ago I decided I would try and go to Target - how bad could it be? I pulled in the parking lot, turned around and looked at my kids, took a deep breath and then drove home...I choked. Oh well, someday I'll get back out there! For now I'll just have to do the errands at night or on the weekends. Shawn and I have kind of an unspoken rule that if you go anywhere you have to at least take one kid with you - seems to work for now.
Bath time is about to begin so I better go get my rain gear on -

Hope you are having the time of your life!!
ST
ps - my camera is down at my parents house, but as soon as I get it back I will post some pics for you all -