November Winner

A winner has been chosen for our November giveaway.  Congratulations to















Lisa B!!!  Please email me to claim your prize.

Holiday Season

The holiday season is upon us and I feel so guilty.  After being quarantined in the house since October 27, I am stir crazy and my kids are going crazy.  I feel bad because the normal me would be filling our calendar with lots of fun things to do to celebration the season.  So far we have done barely anything and my oldest boy who had 1 week away from school spent most of his time inside.  The mommy guilt is huge.  I know that it isn't such a big deal to them but it feels horrible to me like I have let them down a bit.  The elf hasn't even had the energy to show up at our house this year.  I just don't have the time to make sure that "Elfie" has a hiding place at night.  My mind is mush and I can barely remember anything so the elf would be a huge holiday fail.  Our tree isn't even up yet and I am a Christmas girl through and through.  The tree normally makes an appearance by now.  Hopefully this mama can get it together soon.  I know regardless of how I am feeling that the things I am feeling guilt for don't make the holiday.   So I decided to try my best to not give myself grief about what I can't do and just enjoy what I am able to accomplish.

Adding Another Child to the Mix

I have 2 boys at home and I am a little tentative about adding another child to our family.  The delicate balance that we have had taken quite some time to achieve but it is already in motion.  We have another baby on the way.  I know it is going to take some time to integrate her into our boy laden family but after some time I am confident that we will find our groove again.  I am not as worried about our 7 year old's transition, he is pretty independent.  I am more worried about our 3 year old's transition.  He is truly a mama's boy and has a hard time in general being away from me.  I am hopeful that everything will go smoothly.  He had a difficult time with speech so I am hoping that it not delayed or effected in the process.  Things are really getting serious now as the time goes on.

Here is my after the baby is home update:  After some initial attachment from my boys who I was away from at the hospital for 5 days.  We are adjusting into somewhat of a schedule.  When my 3 year old met his new baby sister he was excited.  Until he exclaimed, "She is eating mommy."  "Put her back in the seat."  But now he is okay with having her around as long as he sits next to me during feeding and is able to cuddle and hug.  My oldest, who is 7, is very excited to have a baby sister.  After asking for a good year for one and praying every night he finally feels he got what he wanted and he couldn't be happier.  He wants to constantly hug and kiss her and be near her.  When he is picked up from school he says I have to get home to my baby sister.  So cute.  To help matters my little girl is such a good baby.  I can't get over how much different she is from the boys.  My boys were always so unhappy.  I couldn't put them down they would scream.  She lets me put her down and normally only cries when hungry, gassy, or changing diapers or clothes.

My Magical Adventure

Crayon Crunch through Kickstarter recently delivered some personalized books for my boys.  I backed their project to receive these books and my boys were excited to receive them.  They are a personalized story with an adventure to find a key with lots of different scenes throughout the course of the book.  You can not only personalize the name in the book but you can also personalize the character within the book to look like your child.  There are many attributes to choose from and they even have options for special needs children personalization as well.  At the end of the book there is also a personalized note that you can write to your child.  The illustrations in the book are colorful and attention getting for my boys.  The book also has a lesson that your child will be presented with through the adventure in the book.   Both of my boys were very happy to see the character that looked like them and then to see their name throughout the book was so exciting for them.

If you are interested in getting one of these adorable books for your little one, go to http://www.crayoncrunch.com to order one.  Would make a great holiday gift for the upcoming holiday.

***This post is completely my opinion of this product.  An additional book with support of the Kickstarter was received.  Other than that no additional compensation was received.  

Potty Training my 3 year olds saga

My 3 year old has decided that he wants to try to go potty at the most inconvenient times of day.  This would not be an issue if he actually peed or pooed in the potty.  Normally he has already gone in his diaper but is motivated to try by getting a piece of candy.  So my desperate boy sits on the potty and tries to squeeze out some pee to get a piece of candy.  He pushes so hard to get something out and gets so frustrated when nothing comes out.  He says to me Candy?  and I reply did you go potty? Him: No No Candy???  Heartbreaking.  My oldest was hard to potty train as well he wasn't potty trained until he was 4 so I think we might possibly be on that road with my boy as well.  Hopefully we will be able to find the magic thing that clicks with him. My oldest we tried a lot but when we finally found the special motivator it did the trick.

Update:
After a couple of days, if I keep on top of him he will use the potty.  If I wasn't all consumed with the care of my newborn he would be further along.  Mommy guilt....  He is really close though.  So glad we are making progress.  Candy for my boy apparently is him motivator.  He definitely has a sweet tooth.

The Isolation Post Baby

In the first few months of having a new baby I always feel isolated and lonely.  Especially since you are bound to the house with little to no human contact.  Those crazy post birth hormones don't help the situation either.  I have only been home for a few days after being in the hospital for 5 days with my little one but knock on wood, I am feeling pretty good.  It helps that I have a baby that is pretty easy going.  My boys were both very demanding babies.  It is a little odd to have such a content baby so thankful though.  I haven't really felt too isolated as late but we are just over a week in so time will tell.  My husband who is normally asleep during the day has altered his schedule to help out which has been nice.  My mom has been around to help as well.  Fortunately though I have been able to handle a lot of things on my own.  It makes me feel good to know that I can handle it better than I thought I could.  I am definitely looking forward to my healing so I can feel like a person again.  The demands from my boys at times seem more than my newborn baby girl.  I have been feeling a little stir crazy to get out and about.  But my girl is not a fan of her car seat and screams hysterically when riding in the car so that alone has deterred any thoughts of leaving the house too often.  We do get out the house twice a day to drop off and pick up my 1st grader.  It definitely takes a lot more work to get 3 kids going in the morning and ready.  We have some what of a system down.  Looking forward to getting out and about soon.

November Giveaway

We are giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Code to one lucky follower of Learning to Pee with the Door Open.
  a Rafflecopter giveaway

***This giveaway is not sponsored or affiliated with Amazon.  Winner has one week to claim their prize and winner's actions will be verified.  You must email peeingwithdooropenmommies@gmail.com to claim your prize with a valid email address.

Week 1 Down

I strangely feel like I survived some kind of war.  My baby girl was delivered on October 23rd at 5:42 am and it was my longest labor to date.  They decided to induce me with Cerphadil twice to get labor going.  After an exhausting round initially with little progress I was feeling pretty defeated.  The second go was much more aggressive and not friendly at all.  But fortunately I did not have to go the full 12 hours on the second round because 6 hours in I was in full labor.  At 5 cm I got my epidural which I can't say I was totally ready for but I knew I needed to get it.  We had the main epidural guy administer it by request of us because with my last pregnancy I had a student administer and it went horribly wrong.  I had a huge crash with my 2nd pregnancy and things were a little touch and go.  After the epidural was taken care of 30 minutes later it was time to push.  But surprise, surprise as many of my fellow moms have experienced the doctor was nowhere in the vicinity.  So my baby girl was still in her water sac awaiting her delivery and I was constantly informed not to push.  When the doctor finally arrived and popped my water it exploded it on her which was actually really funny.  Then one contraction and push and out she came.  Everything was great and due to having gestational diabetes they had to test her sugar for 12 hours.  Unfortunately this turned into a 5 day stay in NICU to get her sugar levels evened out.  Sugar test prick upon sugar test prick my poor little girl had to endure.  Meanwhile, my boys were at home with Grandma and not dealing well with my husband and I not being around.  Finally we were able to get everything under control with our baby girl and return home to our boys having a hard time with adjusting to a new baby in the house.

I am very lucky my baby girl is a really excellent baby and sleeps really well especially when compared to my crazy sleepless boys.  She is pretty content as long as she is fed and needs are taken care of.  Many of her crying fits are brought on by changing of clothes or diapers.  So happy to be home and have her as part of our family.  My oldest is excited she is here but is really understanding what it really means to have a baby sister.  My 3 year old is not excited at all and even commented with horror at breastfeeding that the baby was eating mommy and to put her back.  Hopefully with time and getting on a schedule of some kind it will make things more manageable.