Hey there! (Two months later)

Wow I guess I really suck at keeping up with this whole blogging thing.
Quick run down of what has happened the past two months.....
We traveled to NY the end of September to visit my family. It was seriously the best ever! Josh was able to come this time around! So in my Nitro it was me, Josh, Aunt HeyHey (You're welcome), Roman, Milo and a partridge in a pear tree. It. was. packed!
I saw my bestie since 4th grade!! This is how she greeted me when I first saw her. (As she steps out of her car, doesnt even say hey) "SOOOO I am due in May".... UHH EXSQUEEZE ME?! lol At least she got right to the point. I am SOOOOO excited for them though, She is a really great mom and I know she will be double great the next time around.

Roman and Corbin

Me and Mandy

October, we ..... ummmm.... well we trick or treated! DUH! Roman was the big bad wolf. He had his roll all figured out, He "  ah puff and ah puff and I bwhoa your house daown".
This is actually the first year we took him trick or treating. It was interesting. All week I made sure he watched the Halloween episodes of all the toonies he loves. Of course the one that stuck with him the entire night was Little Einsteins. (For those of you who don't know what Little Einstiens is, it is a cartoon that incorporates famous classical music, art and certain geography into each episode.) My neighbors probably think I am some educational freak because all roman would talk about is the Buckingham Palace, and the Palace of Versailles.

On top of that, here is basically how the night went.

First house:  
Roman: "Trick or Treat"
Nice woman handing out candy: " Aw, Hey there, do you like Lollipops?"
Roman: "No" (and walked away)

Second house: He walked into!!!! No lie, straight up walked right past the guy with bins full of great candy and into his living room.
The rest of the night he wanted to just pull the wagon, haha. Out. Of. Control!

Now that November is here, I think it is time to start the potty training thing again.  The things I do for this kid, there should be some sort of reward. I would even settle for him just using the toilet!

A couple of weeks ago I was doing something in the other room and when I turned around, there was roman, with his potty seat around his head. "Look mommy I'm a lion, RAWWWRRRR!!!" I was mortified. I looked at him and said "Um, that's not even funny. That is just gross."
Then, I did what any sane mother would do. I sanitized his face. Luckily with the right brand because not long after I noticed I was cleaning his poor hands with Clorox kitchen wipes! Yep. Mother of the year award goes to me.

Also, I have never felt so encouraged to use the toilet. Now I receive applause, praise, and a "Good job mommy, you get a skittle now?" But all the praise also comes with a little head by my butt making sure that everything is going fine? Who knows, I don't question his technique.

Monday is when we start and I refuse to go back. I told roman tonight that he has to start going pee and poop all the time on the potty starting Monday because they stopped making diapers, and there is a sever diaper shortage. So that means all we have now are undies.

Good thing he isn't too smart, because I would be questioning why all of a sudden there is a mysterious shortage in diapers. I guess he will never know. ;)


Oh and I will leave you with one final thing.... you should probably watch this video:

CLICK ME!

It's roman's new fav video, haha! Thanks Aunt HeyHey!

Ranting and raving.... but mostly ranting.

Well, lets see.... Not much excitement has been going on here. Roman decided that I need to continue changing crappy diapers after-all. What a bummer. Not exactly sure what happened with all of that, but he was all gravy then just randomly decided he was over the whole potty situation. Most people would just keep on pushing it but the way I see it as he just really isn't ready for all the fun the porcelain god has to offer. We will try again in a couple of weeks.

We recently discovered this sweet new playground just up the road from us. I am pretty sure it is the best playground I have ever been too. Like, its a little inappropriate all the cool things our children are getting to enjoy now compared to what was available back in the early 90's.  Who am I kidding?! I am totally jealous because when I was young all we had was a wooden, wasp infested one. It was complete with those little pebble stones that would sneakily find there way into the bottom of your sneakers or jellies. Annoying.

Just so we are on the same page, let me share some pictures of the new park.

View as you are walking in

This. Park. Is. AWESOME! There are areas that have bells, drums, a color wheel, kaleidoscope, and tons more. Not going to lie, I can get a little edgy when I have to wait in line for the roller slide. I constantly have to remind myself that this is all for the kids, ha ha.
The only negative thing is there really is no place for parents to sit and NO SHADE (unless you like to hide under the playground its self). But lets be honest, I can only slouch like Quasimodo for so long.
It is hardly ever busy when we go there. I think people are just starting to hear about it since it is new. If you live in Wilmington and haven't been to Olsen Park, I highly recommend checking it out. Just make sure to sunscreen your little's up nice and good, and bring lots of water!

Oh and here is the park I grew up playing on....

Yeah, yeah, yeah... its big, and I did love playing on it. But when you leave with a couple of wasp stings, probably a few splinters and jellies full of rocks, you will start to question how much fun you really had. ;)

Face Yoga

I have been starting to notice the small signs of aging. I won't bore you with the details at this moment, but I have decided to start trying this facial yoga.
I hope this works! ha

The Joys of Potty Training.

I have been dreading this point for a very long time now. To the point where I was sort of prepared to just let Roman wear diapers the rest of his life. The positive part of that would  be he eventually would be able to change his own diapers and it would definitely keep the ladies away when he gets older.


On a serious note though, it hasn't been as bad as I imagined. I was planning on waiting until we got back from our trip to NY at the end of the month (Could you imagine two 14 hour drives with a newly potty trained toddler?!). Roman however had different plans and randomly asked if he could go pee on the potty. His ambition to keep going was that he loved putting toilet paper into the toilet. Well one roll, and a clogged toilet later I knew it was time to come up with a new potty plan if he was really going to do this thing!

Toilet paper in hand, and very excited about it.

A while ago we received a bulk size box of skittles from a good friend. They have become our new reward. He goes pee, he gets a skittle. He goes poop...... I plan on giving him a present and tons and tons of praise!

On the first day, he had a couple accidents as expected, but then he learned that if he went on the toilet that he would get a skittle. It got to the point where he would go a little, get a skittle... go romp around for awhile until he wanted another skittle and would go again. He would go a little and hold it over and over so he would keep getting more and more skittles. Sometimes I think he is a little too smart. But whatever gets him to go!!

The second day he did sooooo good! He woke up dry from sleeping and his naps. No accidents except for pooping in his underwear. OH MY LANTA!!! I wanted to gag. No way was I ready for this shit. Literally. I will spare you the details. You're welcome!


We are only on day 4, but things are still as good as day 2. My major obstacle right now is figuring out how to get him to poop on his porcelain throne. Here is what I have tried so far......

We started a poop band... yes you read that right, a poop band.
I really thought this was going to work BUUUT it hasn't.

Here are some of our top hits :

Roman had a Little Poop (Mary had a little lamb)
Twinkle Twinkle Roman's Poop
American Poop (American Baby- DMB)
The Itsy Bitsy Poopy
and many more!

My good friend was giving me some tips on potty training and it came up that kids like to feel grounded so I should try to keep his feet on something.

This is what I came up with lol... there is a small DVD player with Little Einsteins on it. Good news... he got to watch a whole episode of toonies. Bad news, he didn't poop.




We read books, played with iPhone apps, and consumed an inappropriate amount of skittles and chips. Hopefully something will work soon.

UPDATE--- as I was typing all of this up, you will not believe what happened! He pooped on the potty! WHOOP WHOOP!!!

What an overachiever. ;)

How funny is it that we get so excited over our children taking a dump on the toilet? The show and praise that goes on is pretty comical. I don't remember it, but I hope my first crap was just as fun and rewarding as Romans. (MOM- feel free to NOT share. Seriously, I won't approve your comment) haha

We just had a moment!

    Roman has been boycotting the pedals for as long as I can remember. He Insisted on scooting the bike with his feet no matter how uncomfortable or awkward it was.
Today was our turning point, Roman now uses the pedals! WHOOP WHOOP!! I think we may celebrate with some cookies and ice cream, and no not just because I have an unruly sweet tooth today. That just happens to be a crazy coincidence.

Here is a small video I got.







Today the tricycle, tomorrow a car and off to college. :(
Time needs to slow down

Dino Waffles

Sitting here looking through pictures from this week I find myself wondering things like why kids choose to eat random things like glue and Play-Doh?! Roman isn't a glue eater yet, but I have no doubt in my mind that one day this child will pick a bottle of Elmer's over a good home made dinner.

I am slowly but surely beating this picky eater stage. For awhile there he was living off Cheerios and  crackers. I would say last week was the paint where I became completely fed up with making him yummy meals, for it to only be dismissed as "yucky" without even taking a bite.

My tactic now? I make EVERYTHING into a sandwich! So simple and I'm sort of pissed at myself for not coming to this conclusion sooner.

So yeah, not a glue eater, but definitely a Play-Doh licker. Sounds nutritious right? HA! I first discovered Roman's Play-Doh problem when I came out of the kitchen and his teeth were mysteriously blue. He looked up at me, smiled his big toothy grin, and said "Yummy", as he proceeded to lick what was left of it.
Needless to say, I am still working on his 12 steps to recovery but we just can't move forward until he admits he has a problem.

This is how our progress is coming.... these were taken three days ago.

Side note: Who's brilliant idea was it to make a little winder thing to make it look like spaghetti?! I suppose in the end it's my fault because I let him play with it and choose to take these pictures rather then stopping this behavior.


There are times though when I can get a bit creative in how I sneak veggies into his diet.
For example, Veggie Waffles. Yes, you heard that right! Veggies... in waffle form, and topped with honey. I honestly don't think eating healthy gets any tastier than this!

What I do is puree two or three vegetables and mix it in with buckwheat pancake mix. I only will use half the milk they call for and substitute the rest for puree. God I am good :). You can do it with pancakes and whatever else too but not going to lie when I say I eat this shit out of these waffles too!
You really can't taste them in there at all!
I can't take all the credit for this brilliance though. I got the idea from this Veggie Muffin Recipe by dana-MADE-it . Roman is also obsessed with the muffins. I definitely recommend both sneaky recipes ;)

I know, I know... My photographing skills are pretty amazing. Try not to be too jealous.

WARNING:  If you make these amazing waffles, make sure to lockup all dinosaurs. Veggie Waffles are sort of a dino fav. ;)

Long lost friend.

OH HEY THERE! Long time no see.

I know, I know, I really suck at this whole blogging thing. Maybe third time is a charm? I can only hope.

Obviously a ton has happened since I last posted. I have started my own small sewing business, RoLeeJo, we bought our first home, and are in the process of trying for baby #2. (Crazy right?!)

Right now we are in the terrible two's stage with Roman. It honestly hasn't been horrible. I have only wanted to scream at the top of my lungs a handful of times. Shamefully I have done it twice and it was pretty amusing. Roman stopped his whining and leaching to my legs to look at me and be all "What is your deal woman?!". The nerve of this kid, I tell ya!

His Birthday (back in May) was pretty fun, and by the end of it, he could have opened up his own bubble lawn mowing business, ha ha!!! Seriously was the funniest thing ever! He got three or four of the same bubble lawn mower, lol. Everyone knows he loves playing outside and bubbles so it really made the perfect gift!

Recently he has taking up a position as a lead singer in a scream-o band. You know the type, heavy metal, and instead of singing they scream at the top of their lungs in attempt to break everyone's ear drums. How delightful.
Roman's scream-o band is a little different though. Instead of electric guitars and such, he prefers the violin and this wooden Indian flute my mom gave him. He says its a clarinet though.
So there you have it folks, your very first classical scream-o band. I have a feeling this type of music genre is going to get pretty popular so prepare yourselves.

Here is a sneak peak of what you hopefully soon will be able to enjoy.

Would you just check out that form?!

It totally looks all cute and innocent, but trust me when I say it can get rather disturbing. I will make sure to get a video of this and update you all on this newly invented music. :)

Until then, keep on rocking!