the brower bunch

4/9/12

Easter with Friends!

Easter this year once again was better because we have such wonderful friends here in Denver. Cody and I were going to cop out and do Easter the day afterwards to get the half-off sales at the store, but our friends the Warners asked to do a egg hunt in our backyard since ours is flat and theirs is sloped. So their five kids, plus two cousins, plus Gage equaled about 250 eggs hidden. Gage wasn't very focused on the egg hunt and mostly wanted to fill his egg bucket with water to watch the eggs float but he enjoyed the initial run out of the gate to get the eggs. He also got very distracted by filling the dog bowl with water and drinking out of it. Remind anyone of someone? I know, he's totally my son! And I love seeing him in undies. It makes him seem like such a big boy! Training is still going well with less and less accidents. Unfortunately, the biggest accident happened on Cody's watch and he had to clean all the poop from the carpet. Poor Cody! It's amazing what a kid can do in a few minutes away from you.

4/7/12

Potty Training and 26 week picture

It's only been a couple of days but I'm just so proud of Gage that I can't wait to blog about it. He's potty training! I don't know what pushed me to start this week but I just kept thinking "I don't have to wait till he speaks in sentences before I start training" so I started two days ago and it's gone great! The hardest part was figuring out how to get him to use the toilet for the first time. Gage has a curious personality so I knew if he used it once he'd be hooked. So I filled him up on liquids, started curious george on my Kindle and we waited it out locked in the bathroom. The minute he started peeing on the ground I got all excited and made a big deal about getting it in the toilet. The first attempt went EVERYWHERE and was quite a clean up but sure enough he thought it was the coolest thing ever. And the candy as reward was pretty awesome too. I'm so glad that I started him standing up right from the beginning. A friend advised me to do it this way because sitting down was really hard for her son. So I built a platform that fit up against the toilet so he could be at optimal firing range. This morning we had our first poop episode. He pooped on the ground so I explained that poop goes in the potty too. So later in the day when he said poop to me we ran to the toilet and got the kid seat on in time for a quick drop in the toilet. That was equally facinating to Gage. So I'm thinking I'll leave him naked for another week while in the house and try undies once he gets it figured. Babycenter claims that leaving them naked at home is the best way to start so I'm going with that. Once again we have beautiful weather so he's happy to be pants-less. In fact I think it's his favorite part of potty training, even over the candy. Twice he's just gone on his own and has come up later to show me what's in the potty and I think that's the most encouraging thing of all. He likes it. And what little boy wouldn't? One site suggested putting blue food coloring in the toilet so with his urine it turns green and I thought that was pretty cleaver. The aiming at cherrio's might work for Gage but he hasn't missed the toilet for a couple of times so I don't think he needs it. So that's my rant about how awesome Gage is and how proud of him I am. Hopefully 4 months of potty training before the new baby is here will keep him from reverting back to diapers. I'm pretty sure it will. I just didn't want to be training with a new baby in the house and with my exhaustion level through the roof. Anyway, hopefully things will keep going good for us. The new baby is doing fine and I'm curious to see if I still measure 3 weeks ahead at my appointment on the 16th. I'm also super pumped because some friends are doing a shower for me May 19th and my mom is coming down for it, which really makes it all that much more special! The invitations we've decided on are to die for and I can't wait to get them ready and post a picture. K- I should probably go get Gage down for a nap. Just wanted to share.

4/2/12

Lots and Lots of Visitors

We had such a fun week this week with guests in town! It was spring break for a bunch of our friends and what started out as just a couple of families coming turned into five families and a bunch of kids. The house was packed and if it weren't for our 1500 sq ft of unfinished basement we never could have done it. Everyone did such a good job pitching in and helping to clean and cook. Plus after Cody's brother and girlfriend took off yesterday Cody helped me clean the house while we listened to conference and that made all those visitors even more worth it. Cody's such a great husband! The weeks activities consisted of being outside, all the time. The weather was beautiful. We had a bounce house that we borrowed from and friend and the jungle gym in the back yard so it was the perfect way to keep the kids out of the house. We also went shopping and took a trip to the state dog park so the kids could play in the river and see all the dogs. They had a blast and the cutest part was teaching Gage and Atreyu to hold hands (which they wanted to keep doing throughout the week). It was pretty disastrous at times cause one kid would run ahead, jerking the one behind him and causing him to shoot ahead, fall and then trip the kid that had lunged in the first place. Both kids usually ended on the ground at first and then they got the hang of it. Denver has all the leaves and plants blooming right now and it is transforming this place into the gorgeous green heaven that it is in the summer. I'm so glad the summer is coming on, although it's making it seem so close which is making the babies due date seem so close. Yesterday was 85 degrees and it made me realize I don't have a ton of time left in this pregnancy. In two weeks I'll be into my third trimester and I can't believe how quickly that happened! About this time last pregnancy I hiked angel's landing at Zion's and although it was a fraction of the effort I managed to do a smaller hike on Saturday. We took Cody's brother and girlfriend to Red Rocks and it was pretty cool. It's a huge amphitheater built into the rocks with some pretty hikes all around it. Someone was even getting married while we were there. Gage had a blast playing on the rocks and he was filthy covered in red dust by the time he was done.