Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's 2009 already! I'm not a huge fan of January (except for my dad's birthday, of course), and even though I love winter there's so much of it ahead with not much to look forward to. Easter is late this year and no one recognizes Mardi Gras as a holiday here, so there's nothing to break up the monotony between now and then.

My resolution this year is simple.....to have no resolutions. They're always the same so I've decided instead of the typical losing weight and exercising that all of us always plan, it would be best to make a permanent change to eating more healthfully and staying active. I think if those two things can happen then everything will should fall into place.

I can say that, aside from the three trips we were fortunate to take, 2008 was not our best year. I think I had a cold for more of the year than not. They've been messing with my Synthroid for the past seven months and even though it's the right dosage on paper, it's not agreeing with my body. The refrigerator broke and we lived out of coolers for over a week. Our dear "friends" at the auditor's office made an error on their part which resulted in us owing them thousands of dollars. Both of the cars needed major repairs. Xander had stitches twice. We've been fighting with United Behavioral Health for four months over some of Xander's bills and Jason worked for almost six months without a contract. You get the picture. Maybe I should make a resolution not to be so negative???

In retrospect, even though 2008 was not such a great year I've been able to come up with a lot of things that were worth remembering.

1. Louisiana trip Jason hadn't been home in almost six years and I just love it there. Plus we got away without the kids and could come and go as we pleased for the first time in YEARS. We indulged to our hearts content and got to do some (albeit quick) visiting with family and friends as well as partying with fans from both of our favorite college football teams. It doesn't get much better than that.





2. Jason was able to come home/be home both times Xander needed stitches, so I didn't have to take care of it myself (which would have been bad, bad, BAD).


3. Blizzard We got a TON of snow, the most I've ever seen in one day. We took the kids sledding and they loved it.

4. I showed the kids how to plant strawberries We didn't get that many but they got excited when we did and there's something nice about knowing where your food is coming from. Hopefully better luck this year.

5. My cousin had a new baby I haven't had the chance to see her as much as I'd like, but I love getting my baby fix now and then since we don't plan on having any more kids. I held her today until my arms fell asleep.

6. Kids posed for photos in fancy clothes This is a rarity.

7. Jason's brother and his family came to visit for the 4th of July and we had a really fun weekend

8. My flowers grew (even though some of them were the wrong color)

9. Ten years of marriage and a weekend away to celebrate.

10. Got one of the kids potty trained and the other is half-way there

11. Finally got Xander into the special needs preschool and he LOVES it

12. Florida trip Who doesn't love Disney World?



What blessed your life in 2008?

Booty Camp

I never thought we were going to get Xander-man potty trained. He's almost 4 1/2 and we've tried just about every method under the sun to get him out of diapers, to no avail. Finally his OT suggested the "in-a-day" method. Then we saw a woman on The Today Show who does the same thing for others, so when Jason's schedule permitted we worked in a 3-day weekend and figured we might as well train both kids at the same time. Here's the link to the story about her if you're interested.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25057503/

The idea with this method is that you spend the whole time in the kitchen. The kids eat salty snacks to make them thirsty, and then you give them sugary drinks because they don't quench your thirst, resulting in them drinking all day long. They were really excited about the Fritos, potato sticks and Kool-Aid because they don't normally get to eat these things, so we were off to a good start.





Jason made sure he wore an appropriate shirt for the event.



Things started off okay until dinnertime when Xander was dancing around the kitchen and fell against the corner of a baseboard. Lots of blood and 3 stitches later he was back home hanging off the kitchen table, apparently having not learned his lesson. Jordis helped me make him some of his favorite corn casserole, so I think that made him feel a little better.




The potty training didn't quite work in one-day, but overall it was really successful. We've had very few accidents and even a few completely dry nights, as well as an afternoon out of the house to run errands where the kids used a public bathroom and came home dry. Hopefully we can keep it up.