January Cold Front

Yikes we've had a cold weekend. Today the wind blew all day and the temperature is estimated to get to -17 next morning, but with the wind chill will feel like -45. I don't know if I ever remember it being so cold here. Thankfully they cancelled church today, so we enjoyed a low-key Sunday at home. The Nielson's invited us for dinner today but between the family all getting over colds and us being snowed in we agreed to try another time.

Beckham has totally rocked his potty training. He's holding it through the night from 7PM to 6AM. Hopefully he'll get that last hour figured out so he goes back to his regular wake time. We are so proud of him! Next obstacle to tackle will be peeing in toilets away from home - that big potty is still pretty scary - but he did pee at the church for Justin on Saturday, so he is on his way.

Colby had his first bath (besides the bath he took when he was born LOL) and I scrubbed off his cradle cap. His skin is perfect and beautiful! He has been a lovely newborn. He only cries upon waking when he's ready to eat. He has a fussy time in the evening when he goes down for the night but truly aside from that he is very chill.

Logan had cavities filled this week and poor guy has a pulpectomy next week. He had fillings done a year ago and one fell out; over the course of it falling out to now it developed into a baby root canal! Ugh poor guy. I've been his hype man trying to get him excited to be extra good for the dentist and he'll get to pick out a Lego set. 

I went to see Tabitha for my last postpartum visit. She is an angel and I love her so much! I told her "I can't wait to do it all again!!" She's truly such a good friend along with the most amazing midwife. Colby is growing so well. He was too big for her infant scale! He's 13 lbs 3 oz as of last week. Newborn clothes aren't fitting anymore. Precious baby.

I went to school to pick up more work to grade and Justin helped me crank out all my January grading this weekend. That felt so good to get done! I also worked hard this week to get the rest of my maternity leave plans put together neatly for subs to access. My goal for the rest of leave is to get the rest of the school year planned out so my return to work is as stress-free as possible.  

Aside from that, it was a pretty slow week. Now that January is over, and we're on to February...we'll be at March soon; I'm so ready for some warmer days.

Snow drifts blowing into the house through the cracks in the door frame.

Sooo much blowing snow.

Emmett inviting his kindergarten class to have a party at the church gym next Friday 

Final checkup at the orthodontist before I get my braces off next week.

Tabitha weighing Colby - but he was much too big for the scale

Perfect scalp after his bath

Cradle cap before

We had a play date at the church and Beckham didn't want anything to do with the other kids. Buddy just sat on my lap the whole time. Here he has his hand protectively on Colby after he was done eating.

Boys playing splendor

Collecting "fossils" and bringing their loot back to the porch.

Beckham is so posh - he needs his cozy blanket during breakfast.

Add to the list of things I never thought I'd be doing as a parent...Beckham is still too scared of the big potty so for our trips to Idaho Falls this week we brought along his potty chair. He did great!

Beckham playing at my feet while I feed the baby.

Helping me fold the laundry

Boy's Weekend and Potty Training

Last week Justin joined the Beal brothers for an ice fishing weekend at Gabe's cabin. He took the two big kids with him leaving me home with the littles. He was able to carpool with Dad which was great (Logan ended up getting car sick and thankfully didn't get any puke in Dad's new truck!). I decided to take the opportunity with most of my household out of the way to begin potty training Beckham boy.

Beckham is only 19 months old, so this is the youngest I've ever potty trained, but I knew he was capable and I also knew I was up for the reality of it taking longer. We had lots of accidents in the beginning and SCREAMING on his potty (that was a first for my kids hahahaha!) but here we are over a week later and he is actually telling us when he has to go (I didn't expect that to happen so fast). He's also staying dry for his naps and he's waking himself up in the night to go potty (no diaper for naps or bedtime). Soon I'm sure he'll be holding it through the night but I think it's' monumental that he's waking up and holding it so Justin will come get him to take him pee. I mean, come on. Basically this is a brag post on how brilliant and capable my little guy is. He is still scared to go on the big potty, so that is what we're working on for now, but overall he's "got it" and I'm so glad I listened to my intuition that it was a good time to get it done. I really enjoyed the first four days we had without the big kids where I could focus all my attention on him. I felt connected to him and I feel like it was really healing for him after having Colby around - it restored our bond. I think the overall process has made him feel more secure: Granny and Gramps came to visit and for the first time he didn't scream in fear that we were leaving him. 

Meanwhile, the older guys had a total blast in McCall. Emmett managed to catch a fish while ice fishing (one of the three that did so), along with the video games and the cousin time. Justin was able to make it work taking Friday and Monday: as long as he can take a couple laptops with him and connect to wifi at some point.

In house news: they got all the dry wall up! It's exciting to see the rooms come together. We are 5 months in and 5 months out from finishing construction.

Justin and I managed to go on a date night to a high school basketball game last Friday night. I'll include pictures of our trip to the aquarium in Idaho Falls along with other random things we've done this month. I started my "return to weightlifting" program to rehab my body to get ready for regular lifting/crossfit. I can already tell my body is in much better condition compared to doing this program after delivering Beckham. I've also hired a life coach who is teaching me to create new pathways in my thinking. I can't change the people around me (wouldn't that be nice?) so it's on me to change me so I can be secure in who I am regardless of what other people say or think...this is harder said than done when dealing with toxic/immature people but I'm so hopeful for the outcome.  

We've never had so much snow!

dry wall is up

he was being so cute looking up at me

Logan taking pictures all around the house

the two boys painting snow while Emmett was at school

Logan and I play splendor while Emmett is at school

Beckham figured out how to climb up the bunk beds

dry wall ready to go up

truck rides with Granny to check on the house

the roof is up and looking great!

potty training day one!

Logan helping make dinner

Emmett likes to create puzzles

I brought the potty chair in from the shed - hahaha lots of gunk after years of sitting in there

We had a warm day (30 degrees and no wind) giving me a chance to clean out the coop!

I love his long toes!

1 month old

aquarium time

the two big kids making dinner

Logan playing his "Jesus song" for me

Not sure what this face is for but I love it!