The Unbelievable

Last night I came very close to losing what I hold most dear. Shortly after 11pm, I woke to the sound of a blipping baby monitor. The audio was not working so I checked the visual monitor (we have 2 set up). It said "No Signal." After flicking the buttons off and on a few times, I decided I should get up to check the monitors in the little guy's room so I could get back to sleep. I trudged across the hall and noticed the light on from under the little guy's door. Odd, I thought to myself. Was my husband in there with him?

I opened the door expecting to see the two of them, but instead saw the oscillating fan on fire, a room full of smoke, and my son, lit by the light from the fire, screaming in his crib. I screamed downstairs to my husband, grabbed my son, ran to my daughter's room and grabbed her and ran downstairs. I plunked my daughter outside the front door, ran to get the fire extinguisher in the kitchen and called 911. I stayed outside with the kids while my husband tried to contain the fire. The extinguisher did not work and neither did a pillow. He thankfully had the smarts to use our kids' water bath buckets to get the fire out. The fire men ran into our home with a hose right after the fire was put out.

It was a blur.

We had a few fire trucks and an ambulance here. The street was blocked off. My son was checked out in the back of the ambulance after being put on an oxygen mask. We had many neighbors standing with us in solidarity on the front lawn. My friends across the street took the babe to their place so she could rest on their couch in peace.

When everyone was gone, the kids and I read some books in the living room while my husband tried to clear things up enough for us to sleep (there were traces of soot all over the second floor, and the firemen -- bless them -- and their firehoses had tracked in mud). We all snuggled together in our room, with the babe between my husband and I and the little guy back in the co-sleeper which was pulled down from the attic.

Needless to say we did not get more than a few hours of sleep last night.

Today has been a battle to control my mind. We were minutes away from the worst fate I can imagine. I am struggling to keep a strong face for our two children (who are now, finally, fast asleep).

I will write more on this later, but for now I need to say this: if you do not have a fire extinguisher on each level of your home, go buy them. You should also consider having fire alarms in all your bedrooms. We have an alarm in the hall outside our bedrooms, but as the little guy's door was shut, the alarm did not go off because the smoke had not yet reached the hallway ceiling.

Never make assumptions about your safety. Bad things do happen to good people, and we all need to do what we can to minimize the risks in our lives, while also trying to stay sane.

We are all safe. And I am thanking the powers above. One minute can change your life.

Day 1

Today I had a first. I cleaned a very large poop out of my daughter's panties. Not diapers...panties, because today was Day 1 of "Project Panties."

The first half of the day was pretty miserable. We had three pee pee accidents and one poop accident by 11:30 am. That is a lot of accidents for half a day (especially as we were putting her on the potty every 30/45 minutes). The running dialogue in my head wasn't very positive and we were beginning to think we had rushed things.

After a long nap, the babe stepped it up. She woke with a dry diaper and didn't have any more accidents for the rest of the day. In fact, she let us know she had to pee during her shower and got plunked on the toilet naked and soaking wet. How awesome is that? The fact she told us she had to go is what is making me smile right now.

We'll see how things go tomorrow.

In other news, we had a lovely time at the Canadian Embassy for Canada Day on July 1st, and my husband and I celebrated 4 years of marriage on the 1st and 2nd (we had 2 separate ceremonies). We even ventured out to a local Japanese restaurant for some sushi (a friend from across the street baby sat for us). It's been an action packed week which has involved lots of potty talk and lots of celebrating our love talk. Right now, my night is about to involve some eating of the chocolate torte cake talk.

Summer 2009: Season of the Potty

Summer camp. Swimming in my back yard pool. Outdoor concerts/festivals and frosty drinks on patios.

Summer has meant different things to me at different phases of my life. This summer feels like the summer of the potty. I am counting down the days (4) until we go hardcore: no more diapers. I keep writing about this challenge, because that's what I'm finding it to be, a challenge.

I mentioned to a friend today that I may have to go on medication just to make it through this experience. I try to remain upbeat and positive, and I try not to freak out when the babe decides to do a big, stinky poop in her diaper, but it doesn't always work. I now officially hate the term "potty" and asking "do you need to go sit on the potty?" I asked my Mom about it, and she didn't remember potty training my sister or I. Perhaps it is something best forgotten once complete.

In other news, it seemed to be baby day in my facebook account: my lovely cousin just had a healthy (and huge) son, a high school friend also had a happy, healthy son, and an old friend just let me in on his wife's pregnancy. Much congratulations and love to you all. And good luck with the potty training!

Rolling

My husband has been worried as the little guy hasn't been rolling these days. He went through a phase where he would roll from his stomach to his back. Lately he has just stopped rolling when placed down for tummy time. He does a swimming kind a move where it looks like he's going to take off. I haven't been overly concerned, but I figured we'd ask at his 6 month doc appointment in a week and a half.

I am currently trying to get the little guy to take a nap. He is exhausted and needs some quality zzz's and is unfortunately up there crying (his sister is peacefully asleep in the room next door). But here's why I'm writing: it was a little quiet up there for a second so I flipped on my video monitor and the little guy was on his stomach! That means he rolled from his back to his tummy. I know this is a good thing, but now I'm freaked out about him getting stuck in the position at night when I'm asleep. I suppose he'll let me know.

Now, if only he would take his nap....I've been on the nap mission for over an hour straight and it's been quite dramatic. Perhaps we missed a sleep window and I will be waiting a long time. All I really want to do is take a cold shower and wash my hair. Although I think I may have to go another day with gross hair so I can monitor the nap meltdown which is currently underway.

So Much to Say

Where does the time go? All I can say is that neither of my kids like the computer. I'll admit I can get easily sucked into its charms. I think about blogging every day, but after briefly checking email and whatever other nonsense I deem "critical" (like online banking), there is no time left for my dear blog. As most of you are my friends and family, I know you won't hold it against me!

So, a belated Father's Day! We had a lovely Sunday which included blueberry pancakes, a trip to Rock Creek Park to visit the horse stables and Nature Center, lounging on the porch reading while both kids took a nice long nap, and some BBQ action before an early bed time for all. Thanks to my hubby and all the very awesome Daddies out there who make our world turn.

We've been tackling potty training around here, big time. We have a (free) potty training chart taped next to the toilet and we put 1 sticker up for pee pee and 2 stickers up for poop. It's going fairly well. Although some days are certainly better than others. It is an extremely trying and messy business which requires more patience than I have. But it has to be done, and I'll admit the feeling of pride I have after the babe has a nice poop on the potty is pretty hard to beat! To celebrate the Fourth of July weekend we are going all the way and will be putting the babe into real panties. No more diapers and no turning back (well, pull ups when we travel next month are acceptable). I decided on doing the big switch over the long weekend for the back-up support my husband will be able to provide as I know it's going to be intense. I will keep you posted.

In other news, the little guy is 6 months old today. I cannot believe it. I am thrilled and sad at the same time. In many ways, Christmas Eve feels like a zillion years ago and I can't imagine our life without him. In other ways I can close my eyes and easily remember when it was just the babe and I, and part of me misses that as well. Balancing between 2 kids is trickier than I imagined, but it's all worth it. The little guy continues to be scrumptious and I am so looking forward to watching him grow. Happy half year!

So Long, Farewell, Up to the Attic You Go

You'll be proud of me. I finally packed up the co-sleeper in our room. I guess I just had to be ready, which means I had to be sufficiently tired of scooting to the end of the bed to get out of it, and sick of banging my arms and legs on the side of the co-sleeper in the middle of the night.

The kids and I did a photo shoot to capture the beauty that is our co-sleeper. I then unhooked it, took off the sheets for the last time, tried to break it down and failed, and hauled it into the attic still fully assembled. It really cleared up some space and made getting out of bed way easier last night.

The funny thing is that my husband didn't even notice it was gone. We all get attached to different things, and for me it was definitely the thing that kept my new babies close to me at night.

Farewell to my beloved co-sleeper.

Broken Record

I am getting sick of the sound of my own voice. I feel like a broken record these days. If you hit play, these are some of the things you will likely hear:

• Be careful please
• Are your ears open? Are you doing good listening?
• Did you hear what I said?
• Out of your mouth
• Soft touch please
• No hitting
• No, we don't do that
• Did you hear what I said?
• Good girl!
• We don't play with our food, we eat our food.
• OK, I'm going to count to 3
• Do you want a time out?
• Can you take it down a notch? Inside voice please.
• Good listening monkey!
• Do you need to do pee pee on the potty?
• Fait nice do do (this is part of our sleep time ritual). I'll check on you soon (this is another part of our sleep time ritual). Back in your room (also part of the sleep time ritual)!
• Please don't touch your brother that way
• Please stop whining!
• Can you wait just a minute/Can you give me a second?
• I'll be right back
• Is that how you talk to me?

And my favorite:

• I love you SO MUCH!!!