Last Days of Summer

Summer is coming to an end here in South Carolina. The autumn chill comes every morning but by the afternoon it's back up in the 80's. We're trying to get in as many trips to the beach and pool before fall comes full time.

And we play with the hose in the backyard most days because it's still Currier's favorite way to cool off. I'm going to miss our hot, lazy summer days but my pregnant body is craving some cooler weather already!

Potty Prize

Captian Caca made a marvelous comeback this week. Currier did numero dos in the potty several times! Of course I had to bribe him with a trip to the Isle of Palms Fire Station, a solution to the sub-prime mortgage mess, world peace and a hot dog.

Hope Your Hair Wins

While some pay top dollar at a salon for this look,

Currier just wakes up looking like this!

Captain Caca Chronicles

The first week of potty training was spectacular. We just let Currier roam the house naked and he had no problem getting to the potty to do his "thing". If we put him in a diaper or big boy underwear, he had a few accidents but most of the time he would tell us he had to go and needed our help. I was beginning to think that potty training was pretty simple and Currier would have this mastered in no time. I even said to Trent, "This potty training thing isn't as hard as everybody says!" (Note to self: Coleen, keep your big mouth shut!) Then during week two of training, Currier was still peeing in the potty (and all over the floor and wall!) no problem but when he had to poop he began to cry and beg for a diaper. We don't want to traumatize him and we don't want to rush him if he's not ready so we obliged. I've read this is actually pretty common—after all, a diaper is all he's ever known for the past 28 months of life. I also read that potty training takes 3 to 12 months! I have a feeling this is going to be a long process for us. Wish us luck and stay tuned for the next installment of Captain Caca Chronicles.

Who's Alpha Dog Now?

If only we had one of those rubber gag balls and some leather chaps for Bruco, a better title for this post would be "Bring Out The Gimp!" Bruco is in his third week of obedience training and we're already seeing amazing results. The first week we did a refresher on sit and stay. The second week we worked on walking Bruco without any pulling or walking ahead. This week we're establishing dominance. The obedience trainer said that within five minutes of meeting us she could clearly see that Bruco was in charge. In order to turn that around, I need to become the alpha or pack leader. Since Bruco has a history of snapping, he has to wear a muzzle, a choke chain and a weighted backpack during these sessions. It's been a difficult and emotional week, but once I got Bruco in a calm, submissive state an amazing thing happened—he started listening to me. I'm so drunk on power right now.

On The Other Hand

It looks like we might have a lefty on our hands.

30 Weeks Pregnant

Ten weeks left to go! Hopefully that's enough time to potty train Currier, redraft the will, set up college funds, finish Bruco's obedience training course, go through Currier's baby clothes for unisex outfits, wash 50 loads of baby clothes, scrapbook two years worth of pictures, take a refresher course on breastfeeding, set up the co-sleeper in our bedroom, pack my hospital bag, choose a name for the baby, get a facial and a mani/pedi.

Big Brother

A few nights ago Currier crawled into bed with us in the middle of the night. Trent and I were both too tired to be bothered by it. Not long after Currier joined us, I woke with horrible lower back pain. I was scared that I might be going into labor, which caused my heart to race with anxiety. I began to pace the bedroom floor and cry. Currier shot up from the bed and yelled, "Daddy help Mommy!" How my two-year-old child can say just the right thing at the right moment baffles me and it makes me feel proud and protected. He's going to be a good big brother... even if he does occasionally push Bruco or Paolo off my lap and shout, "No my Mommy!"

A Reward For The Big Boy

This morning Currier did poop in the potty for the first time! I was so ecstatic and proud that I told him he could pick out any prize he wanted at Target (Thank God he chose something under $25) and he could get a hot dog and drum roll please... his very own Coke with lunch (Note to self: Never ever let Currier have his very own Coke again unless you don't mind a napless afternoon with an insane person!).

We actually haven't officially begun potty training yet. We just talk an aweful lot about using the potty and we read a lot of books about using the potty. Although some say he's too young to potty train, I'm going to give it my best shot before the baby's arrival in November. Wish me luck!

Move Over Michael Phelps

There's a new Olympic swimmer in town!

Go Carts

After being cooped up in the house all week preparing for a hurricane that never came, we got out for a little bit on Sunday for some much needed fun. We went to Blackbeard's Cove Fun Park to ride the go carts and dump a mortgage payment into the arcades.

Survived Hanna

Tropical Storm Hanna passed through last night around midnight. Currier, the dogs and I were all fast asleep in bed together while Trent stayed up to keep one eye on the weather channel and the other on us. The eye of the storm never made land fall in Charleston so we were lucky enough to only get rain and wind. This morning, we woke to sunny skies, warm weather and a home intact. After a week of disaster preparation and a lot of worrying, we feel relaxed this morning. As I'm typing this I can hear a scurry up in the attic which means that "something" decided to take shelter in our home during the storm. I just added "Gently remove creature(s) from our attic" to Trent's weekend to do list.

Preparing

We're watching the weather channel closely as it looks like Hurricane Hanna could hit Charleston on Friday afternoon. I've bought all the emergency supplies, put our photo albums in plastic bins, gathered our important documents and now I'm packing our suitcases for a possible evacuation... and we thought it was so cool to live so close to the ocean.

Labor Day Weekend

Aunt Carrie came and spent Labor Day weekend with us. We kicked off the lazy weekend with a movie/popcorn night. This has become a little family tradition once a week. Currier's toddler attention span has improved drastically in the past month and he's finally able to sit through an entire movie (mostly!) and I mean a "real" movie without animated characters. We watched the Water Horse, a cute movie about the Loch Ness monster, which we all enjoyed.

A few weeks ago we bought a blow up pool for Currier but it just sat in the box in our garage because we never had the energy to blow it up. Aunt Carrie quickly became Currier's hero when she pulled the pool out of the box, blew it up, filled it with water and threw in 100 plastic balls... and you can't have your very own pool in the privacy of your backyard without skinny dipping!

It wouldn't be Labor Day without some grilling. Trent made blue cheese stuffed burgers, a recipe we got from our friend Nicole's Pinch My Salt blog. You've got to try this recipe—yum. Happy Labor Day!