Oy with the Potty Training Already!

Being a parent is stressful. Period. There are times when I wonder if I'm not failing at my duties. I mean the stakes are really really high. Although I realize that the only really important thing is my children knowing their identity in Christ and loving Him, there are other more "worldly" things that consume my thought process. For example I wonder things like "I hope they don't turn out to be sociopaths" or "Maybe they could graduate from Harvard or be a professional athlete". I don't believe most of these things happen by chance, but that they are cultivated and nurtured. Here's where my mama anxiety clicks in. Am I doing enough? Am I going to ruin them for life? Don't worry, I'm not too hard on myself, but like I said, the stakes are high, and these things cross my mind from time to time. 

All that to say, there are things that are really stressful about parenting young children. Breast-feeding and sleep-training are high on the list...and Potty training. Ugh. 

A good friend of mine decided to potty-train her almost 2 year old with a tried and true 3-day method, and graciously offered to send me the book so I could try it too. Yay? 

With Holden we waited far too long. Listened to so many people tell us to just wait, it's much easier after 3. Well, it was a nightmare. Let's just say that 3 year olds are really stubborn and really strong-willed. So anyway, this time around I did want to do things differently and getting it over and done with before Adelaide was a strong-willed 3 year old seemed like a fantastic idea. 

Maybe starting a 3-day program when you only have 2 days available isn't the greatest idea, but I decided to give it a go. 

Day #1: Pump full of liquids, put on underpants and rush them to the bathroom every time they get the "look" or tell you they have to go. 
Day #2 & #3, exactly the same. Did I mention this goes for day and night? Oy.

She is the sweetest thing in underpants.

She enjoyed the joose all too much considering she gets it very rarely

In true Colleen fashion we cleaned out the toy boxes in between the big moments.

Seriously the cutest little butt-cheeks ever. So all day I tell her what a big girl she is and to tell me if she needs to go. This goes pretty well for day #1 with a normal amount of accidents and successes. Day #2 we backtrack and have a billion accidents. Day #3 my parents arrive and we went to the zoo. (Brilliant, right?) This girl held her bladder from 10am until we arrived home at 1:30. That's some serious bladder control. Meanwhile I hit up every toilet I see. Maybe I should do the 3-day plan? 

Well, with some back-tracking from company being in town, I think we are doing much better. We are on day #6...which was inconveniently not outlined in the 3-day plan. One day at a time. It's only pee and poop, right?

Puerto Rican Atun Guisado and Rockstar Status

I love to cook. Okay, let me rephrase that. I love to BAKE. Unfortunately, my family cannot survive on baked goods (this is a travesty). So, I have to cook, and I enjoy the obligation as long as there isn't too much attention to detail or chopping involved. 

We like to keep our diet as gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar free as possible. Although we have a weakness for pizza....who doesn't? Being that our diet is restricted, really good, really easy, really inexpensive dinners with leftovers (these are all criteria of mine) are hard to come by. We love swapping dinner ideas with friends and tonight's was a hit! We recently met and became friends with our across the street neighbor's Abi and Miguel. Abi and Miguel are Puerto Rican and are more than willing to teach me how to expand my cooking horizons. What I have learned so far from our short friendship is Abi is an awesome cook and I have a lot to learn. She made us some Puerto Rican rice and beans last week that was ridiculously good. Tears were shed when it was all gone. By the kids...or maybe me too. ;) Anyway she shared this recipe with me for Atun Guisado (stewed tuna), and it is so so good, easy, healthy, inexpensive, and provides leftovers. Check.

Puerto Rican Atun Guisado

1-2 tbsp olive oil

2-3 tomatoes, cubed

5 cloves garlic, smashed

1 pkg frozen pepper/onion mix (Abi uses fresh, but I avoid chopping at all cost)

1.5 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp oregano

1tsp onion powder

salt & pepper to taste

2 tsp red wine vinegar

3 cans tuna in olive oil

1/3 small can tomato sauce (Goya spanish style if available-in ethnic aisle)

Cilantro

1. Heat oil in pan

2. When hot, add tomatoes to pan and let soften. Once soft, smooth with fork to make a chunky sauce

3. Add garlic, cook until fragrant (about 1 min)

4. Add frozen pepper mix and cover, stirring frequently until soft

5. Add cumin, coriander, oregano, onion powder, salt and pepper, and vinegar to veggies

6. Once all is combined, add tuna including the olive oil

7. Let tuna soften with the heat and then add tomato sauce and gently combine all ingredients

8. Once done, add fresh cilantro (I added about 10 leaves or so) and cook 1 more minute. 

9. Serve hot over rice. 

In kid news, Holden was sure to show me his rockstar looks today:

Bourge-WAHM

What is bourge-WAHM and what the heck does it have to do with me and my blog?

Bourgeois - One of my favorite words, fun to say, fun to spell and means 'middle class'. 

We are middle class. There is really no way around it. We live in Nashville in a teeny tiny home with both children sharing a bedroom. I wish we could say we live here because we love the humble size and close proximity of the neighbors. As much as I love that I can clean from top to bottom in 3 hours or less and I love LOVE our neighbors, we thought this would be a "starter home". Seven years later and a crashing economy, has turned our starter home into our starting-a-family-and-raising-our-kids-home. That's okay. We are comfy, or at least I keep telling myself this. ;)

Nicholas is a wholesale auto-broker, which means he goes to auto auctions, buys the cars that dealerships cannot resist, and sells them. I'm super proud of all of his hard work to provide for us. Nick loves traveling, fancy-pants beer, NASCAR, football, Australian V8 Supercars and anything James Bond. 

Nicholas and I fell in love really quick (second sight?) and got married right after I turned 21. Our relationship is fun and real. We love to travel and were so fortunate to be able to take a trip to Australia in February. More on that later, let's just say it went to quickly and I'm still missing it. Here's my stud husband.

WAHM - Working At Home Mother 

Pretty self explanatory, I work from home and I am a mother. I work for a local non-profit called the Ordinary Hero Foundation. Ordinary Hero encourages and inspires ordinary people to make an extraordinary difference in the life of a child in need. We work with kids and families all over the world. I am so blessed to be able to work from home. It's crazy and stressful at times, but keeps those pesky childcare bills low. Working for OH is a constant reminder of how 'middle class' in America means 'really really rich' in most of the world. We are abundantly blessed, no doubt.

I work anywhere from 20-40 hours per week depending on the season. Pretty much spring time is INSANE due to fundraisers and mission trips, and the rest of the year is "normal". Ordinary Hero is growing quickly, which is awesome and I'm blessed to be a part of it. I try really hard to work during "non-mothering" hours. If you are a mom you know there is no off-time or break, but naptime and bedtime are as good as it gets. Let me introduce work distraction #1 and #2:

#1 Holdenpotamus

Holden is 4 years old and lovingly referred to as Holdenpotamus. He was due December 19th, so we started singing "I want a holdenpotamus for Christmas..." Thanks to this song. Holden is full FULL of life. To be completely honest, he wears me out. BUT he is so so fun and never fails to says things to crack me up. Holden loves books, Thomas train tracks and playing outside. He is super affectionate and gives hugs and kisses all the time, which are two of my favorite things.

#2 Adelaide

This is Adelaide (not Addie - for the record). She will be two next month and I could eat her up. Really, it scares me sometimes - she's so sweet and I almost eat her. I don't, thankfully. She is like a sour patch kid...first she's sour, then she's sweet, so you have to watch our for her. She's just learned to give huge squeeze hugs, which is awesome. She can count to 10 - leaving out 7 and 9...those aren't important, are they? She is busy busy like any kid her age, but we are really enjoying that "girl thing" of playing quietly on her own. She climbs and is fearless, very unlike her older brother. Adelaide has a dairy allergy which keeps us away from our beloved pizza...we love her anyway. :)

This blog:

My goals for this blog are to keep anyone who is interested up to date on our life and the growings up of our children. I want to be real and transparent. I'm not really one to sugar-coat anything and I have a lot of opinions, so I'm sure this blog won't be lacking on those either.