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Potty update.

So, I bought the potty seats and the boys have overcome their fear of sitting on the toilet (thank goodness!).

I decided to start out easy...  The boys go potty at bedtime.  Right before pj's go on, or right before the bath if it's a bath night.  They get undressed and take turns going peepee (no poop yet, we'll get the pee down first).  They'll go a little and need cheers and applause before going some more.  This will repeat a few times and then it'll be the others' turn.  I love that they both clap and cheer each other on.

After a couple weeks of this routine I thought maybe we should make an outing of it and go buy some underwear.  I helped the boys pick of some underwear at Target and talked it way up for them...

They were excited to get something new, but I'm afraid that they were a little confused about their use.  They were excited about new Lightning McQueen and Toy Story "stuff".

Later, (after naps) (and after I washed the undies) I wanted the boys to try them on...

 They both didn't really like the new under garments and wanted them off.  Being the "mean" mom that I am, I made them wear them for a little while. 

Jonas kept pulling them down around his ankles and enjoyed strutting around the house that way.  (He'll probably kill me for taking this photo someday, it'll be a good one to show his future girlfriends).

After a little bit the boys were content to wear them (barely) and had some fun jumping on the couch (mostly) naked.

(for some reason this photo reminds me of Tom Cruise in Risky Business...  haha!)

During this time, Elliott wet 2 pairs of undies and Jonas 1.  They totally don't quite "get" the underwear and knowing when they have to go potty, so we'll put the undies aside and stick with our bedtime potty routine for now.  I think we'll re-visit the underwear in the Fall.

They know what to do on the potty, just not the don't-go-potty-in-your-pants idea...  We'll work on that.  Here's a couple of closing photos for you... 

Potty time!

It's Potty Time!

Yikes!?  Really?!?!?!

I just bought a potty seat for the boys (they were on sale at Babies R Us recently).  We aren't full on hard core potty training yet, we are just warming up to the potty.  Up til not the boys would freak out if I sat them on the potty, but this new seat is really helping.  We are working on going potty before bath and/or bedtime.  They have both gone pee-pee a few times, we'll work on poop later :)  So far so good.  I still think we need to get a little better about communicating before we go full on potty training.  Baby steps, I guess.

Stroller

I know this probably gets annoying, but I just have to give another (yes, another, sorry...) shout out to my stroller and the Baby Jogger company!

We have the Baby Jogger City Mini Double stroller and I absolutely LOVE it!  It is by far my favorite baby/toddler accessory!  We were blessed to have been given a couple of strollers when we found out we were having twins.  We started off with the double snap 'n' go stroller (given us by the lovely Woolley family).  It was the perfect way to start!  Being just a stroller frame it was lightweight and small.  But babies grow and another friend had twins so it was time to pass the snap 'n' go on.  Then, we used the Graco tandem double for a bit (thank you Jimenez family) and it worked for us, but it was big and heavy and after a few months I started considering a side-by-side.

Up to this point I had yet to spend any of my own money on a stroller, so I was trying to justify the purchase (which was hard because we had the Graco and it was in perfect condition...).  I did some serious research before deciding on the City Mini Double (I watched every single double stroller video on babygizmo.com more than once).  I was torn between the Bumbleride Indie Twin and the City Mini Double.  Both had advantages and disadvantages over the other, but in the end I chose the City Mini because it cost less (over $200 less, so big deal), it folded more compactly and it weighed less.  I couldn't be more happy with my choice!  And a huge thank you to the baby boutique, Shower Me With Love, I was able to get it 30% off!  Most of the bog box stores (Babies R Us, USA Baby, Buy Buy Baby...) have some nice 20% off coupons, but in the fine print at the bottom all "luxury" stroller brands are excluded, bummer, so again check out the boutique stores, they have coupons too without all the big corporate fine print :)

I love this stroller for so many reasons, but here are my highlights.  It is a dream to push!  Even with my 25, 27 lb boys I could push it with just one finger and I can maneuver it with one hand.  It is super easy to fold, just a little yank and it collapses flat.  It fits in my car perfectly.  I leave it in the car most of the time.  I can even get a huge Costco load in my car with the stroller in there too.  And it's as lightweight as they come for a double.

Unfortunately, lately we have been experiencing a little problem with the stroller.  One of it's front wheels kept locking in the "straight" position (you can either have the wheel swivel, or lock in the straight position) all the time.  The lock position is really annoying when at the grocery store or mall, or just walking to the park).  After a particularly frustrating Target shopping experience (not all the frustration was brought on by the stroller wheel...), I loaded the groceries and boys into the car and immediately (while parked in the Target parking lot) called Baby Jogger Customer service.  After zero wait time an actual person answered and I explained my problem.  It turns out that the stroller had a 1 year warranty, but unfortunately we've had the stroller about a year and a half.  Bummer, except that the fabulous customer service rep said that they would replace the wheel for me at no charge anyway!!  And, they would also send me a second on in case the other front wheel started acting up!  What an awesome company standing behind their products and helping out their customers!  I'm not sure how much it would have cost to replace the wheel, but I'm guessing it'd be around $50 or so!  I was already emotional that morning and I teared up a bit.  A few days later the new wheels showed up and we are back on track.

If you are on the market for a stroller seriously take a look at Baby Jogger!  Yes, it'll cost you a bit more than a Graco and it won't "match" your car seat (yes, it has a car seat adapter thingy), but you won't be sorry!  And look how cute it is in purple!!!

Sorry, I'm going to go on one more little soapbox here...  If you aren't planning on seriously running, like running, running do not get a "jogging" stroller!  I know it's like the "hip" thing to do, but they are SO bulky to get in and out of the car and heavy and awkward to fold and they really don't make good mall or grocery shopping companions.  Sorry...  just saying.  This particular model is not a "jogging" stroller (even though it's made by Baby Jogger brand...) and I'm not a runner, but I have taken my stroller on brisk walks and even a light jog and it performs wonderfully.  So for me, it's perfect!  Perhaps for you too :)

Name

Clair had this idea to "find" our last names in the New Orleans landscape...  Here's mine:

It was a fun project.  We spent about a half of a day wandering around the French Quarter looking for letters.  "Knox" (Clair's last name) was much easier.  The "N" was the hardest to find, but there were some amazing "O's" and "X's" all over the city.  My favorite is the Fluer de Lis for the "A" (it works right?).

Colorado

I never thought that living in Colorado, again (you all know that's where I was born and raised...  19 awesome years!) would ever be an option for my family.  First of all, my husband hates the snow and cold weather and more so, keeping us from my home state, would be that he has chosen a career in NASCAR, which is deeply rooted and headquartered in the South (pretty darn far from CO).  With all that working against us, a NASCAR job in DENVER, CO has landed in our laps.  Crazy!  I know!  We were in negotiations for quite a while and my stress levels of a possible move and major life change were sky high (fueling my lack of blog posts lately...sorry...).  Matt has now officially accepted this new position and given his current team his 2 weeks notice.  Matt will start his employment with Furniture Row Racing in January 2012.  He will be back and forth between CO and NC until we are all settled out there.  The plan is to pack and find a renter for our house in January and we are hoping to all be in Colorado in February.  We will be keeping our house here in NC, selling right now wouldn't be optimal and there is a chance that we could be back in North Carolina in the future sometime.

While I am sad to be leaving North Carolina (and Matt's parents, and lots of great friends... sad!), I am ecstatic to be moving "home".  None of my immediate family lives in CO anymore, but I have lots of extended family still there and many friends I will be excited to reconnect with.  We will be a 1 day car trip from my parents and my brothers and sisters (YAY!).  We will be back in Mountain Standard Timezone (yay for 10 pm news!) and close to great skiing.  We are all excited for this new adventure and looking forward to living in Denver.

p.s.  If any of you follow NASCAR you will now have to root for the #78 Furniture Row Racing car driven by Regan Smith.

Swahili

While in Utah, my brother-in-law, Chris asked if I was teaching the boys Swahili.  The answer is no, I am not teaching them to speak Swahili even if that's what it sounds like.  They don't speak English, but they do have this fascinating language between themselves.  It's so funny to watch them communicate with each other.  They both use their hands a lot when they talk too.

I'm interested in teaching them sign language so I've borrowed some Signing Time videos from a friend.  I'll let you know how it goes.

New look

I've know for a while that I was in need of spectacles...  I haven't worn glasses or contacts since I was 8 years old!  When I was a baby I had a couple different eye surgeries and needed the glasses to help heal from them.  When I was 8 the eye doc told me my vision was all good and I didn't need to wear them anymore.  That was the best day of my life, up to that point!  I remember being SO excited to ditch the dreadful things.  But over the past few years I could tell my eyes needed some help.  I finally took myself in for a check-up.  And, yep, I need help.  I tried on just about every pair of glasses they had in the place and my favorite frames were some super cute Coach ones and a fab Fendi pair.  Unfortunately, I have these 2 crazy, grabby almost 2 year olds, so $500 specs were completely out of the picture.  I found these babies at Costco and the price was definitely right.  Not too bad, eh?

 

Bedroom

I've been wanting to put up some vinyl up in the boys room for a very long time.  My friend Amy came in, did all the work and made it happen.  I think it turned out great!

I LOVE that Dr. Seuss quote.  I think it's perfect for twins!  My boys are definitely unique and their little personalities couldn't be more different.  And I love that they are so different, it makes everything more fun.

Wind

I hate the wind!  It's my least favorite natural element.  I'd rather it be dumping snow than blustery and windy.  Hurricane Irene is getting close.  So far we've only had some light (relatively light that is...) wind.

TTFN!

Ta-ta for now!  It's time to head back to North Carolina.  We'll miss you guys!  We had a GREAT time with you all!

Bahahaha!  JUST KIDDING!  Leave it to Delta mess up your travel plans.  We're staying 1 more night (at least we are not stuck in some crappy Atlanta airport hotel.  anyone remember this or this and this?)!  Pizza at the park anyone?

Sparklers

I have been wanting to do some long exposure photos with sparklers.  Matt hates being in my photos, but I talked him into it.  While we were waiting for the sky to darken Matt mesmerized the boys with the sparklers, but truthfully they were more interested in his truck...

Check out Matt's mad sparkler-drawing skills...

Super STAR!

I {HEART} you!

It's supposed to be a car...