Potty Training

WHEW!!!! No one warned me about this!!! Beside the fact that I am exhausted, let me say I have an amazing son!! So Eric left town today for the week and my mom came to spend a few days so I thought, well, maybe since I will have an extra hand I will see if I can get Caleb potty trained! Keep in mind, he has wanted NOTHING to do with it! I kept telling him when he turned three that big boys had to go on the potty and he would say ok, then he turned 3 and I would ask him how old he was and he would say 2 because he did not want to potty like a big boy! He said diapers are for boys and the potty is for babies!! (yes you read that right) So yesterday mom and I made the trip to target to stock up on potty prizes!! I searched and searched and finally walked away feeling like I had picked a few great things to get him interested. We got home and set it all up in the bathroom in a treasure box and when he woke up from his nap we brought him down and showed him what he had to look forward to on Sunday (today) when the fun would begin! He was excited and of course wanted to touch all the different prizes! So Sunday morning comes . . . Eric leaves for the airport and we are off!! At first he was totally against it then as you can see above I found the perfect outfit for the day!! (He will never forgive me for this one) He likes the grinch and Eric had a fraternity shirt with the grinch on it so we tied that up and since he did not want big boy underpants on I found a pair of diaper covers that look like a duck well, that was it he could not wait to put those on. So we were off . . .

Our mission started around 10 a.m.! Can I just say the only accident he had was the first tee tee of the day and he had the accident in front of the bathroom door while trying so hard to get the door open (we have to keep the door closed because Parker loves to splash in the toliet water). AMAZING!!! By the end of the day he would walk away from a toy or tell me to pause his movie because he had to go potty!!!! He struggled a little with the idea of pooping on the potty but yet again by the end of the night had gone on the potty!! He was so proud of himself he kept chasing Parker around the house trying to tell him about it and Parker would not stop and listen and cheer him on!! I can't believe it!! I am so proud of him! I know that I will have many days ahead with accidents but for the first day he really amazed me!! I did not have to clean pee or poop off my floor today!!! YEAH!!!!

I can honestly say this was one of my biggest fears as a mom so it feels good to have day one of this behind me!!! Thanks to my mom for all her help and encouragment today!!! There is no telling what Parker would have been into if I did not have her help!

A FEW FUN PICS!

Circus trip

Ok, the kids LOVED the circus! Most would be amazed at how much Parker loved it at age 1!! Caleb told us when we left that his favoite part of the whole thing was the human canonball! He said that was his favorite but to quote "it scared me to death!" We had such a great time and Eric and I enjoyed it just as much as the kids. It is so fun to do that as a family. Nothing like family outings! As for me growing up family outings seemed to always have some type of drama, thank goodness we have not reached that point yet. I will include a few pictures, I would love to post them all but I have no idea how to do that yet!

Thanks for those leaving comments, it encouages me to post because that is the only way I know you guys are actually reading and I am not just blogging for myself :)!!
We are off tomorrow to Dalton to see Dr. Shirley for Caleb's post-op appt. Eric is off to another state for a few days so we will be very lonely around here!

Oh, and of course we were not at the circus 5 min. before the guy walked up to us selling the swords (as pictured) we must have had SUCKER written on our heads! All of you know, unless we wanted to make our own circus scene we had to hand over the cash, Caleb was not letting that guy walking away with giving him a sword.

Road to Recovery

Hey everyone!! I have had many of you tell me I needed to post, some of you had been checking in a realizing that I was slacking. Not much new here, we have been stuck in the house all week while Caleb healed from his surgery. He has done great, he does not like doing the drops in his ears, he screams the whole time and some days for an hour after. Why?? You might ask . . . I have no idea, you would think I was killing him. Other than that everything has been pretty smooth, he had a really rough dayFriday with fever and the whole bit. But has been great this weekend. Friday night I got to go to the movies to see Fools Gold it was really cute. Tomorrow is the highlight of our weekend we are taking the kids to the circus for the first time. Caleb is so excited!! He can't wait to see the elephants! Caleb asked tonight if the circus was next to where we saw elmo (keep in mind that was back in August) he said we have to go a long way tomorrow (it is downtown). He is so funny! It amazes me what comes out of his mouth. Today I was telling him that I woke up at 7:00 this morning to get ready for church and he looked at me as serious as he could be and said "well, go back to bed GIRL" it may have been one of those "you had to be there" moments but just think of that coming out of the mouth of a 3 year old to his mommy!! He has conquered putting a 50 piece puzzle together all by himself which amazes us!!! there have been times I would give him a piece and tell him to put it in a certain spot and he says "no mommy that doesn't go there" and of course he is right!! AMAZING!
Parker, I have to say, is the cutest little thing. Tonight he walked back and forth to Eric and I about 10 times so he is so close to walking, he finally got some confidence so it should not be long before he is off. I am really ready for that, this crawling stuff gets old!! We were at dinner last night and he got so upset he could not get down on the ground and crawl over to Caleb. I keep telling him if he started walking he could go everywhere and I wouldn't have to carry him all the time. At dinner tonight he sat at the table and we would say "GO DAWGS" and he would do the ruff ruff afterwards it was great! He can now tell you what the puppy says and he tries to tell you what the bear says!! To finish off the night he tried to say "go dawgs" of course being his proud mom I understood exactly what he was saying. Now if you were sitting at the table you may not have understood! :)
Well guys, until after the circus tomorrow this is it!! I will be sure to give you pictures of that one!!

Caleb's surgery!

Whew what a day!! I think this has been one of the longest days of my life!! We packed out bags last night and went over to our friends Bobby and Tish's house so that we would be a little closer to the hospital today and so that Tish could keep Parker for us. I owe her big for that one!! It was nice to not have to take him with us and be able to give Caleb our complete attention. I knew he was in good hands so I was able to focus on the task at hand . . . getting my little boy better. I knew it would be hard and emotional but you can never prepare yourself for it!! As I sit here with the worst headache, I am sure it is from the tears and emotions that I felt today. So we arrive at the Calhoun hospital at 8am this morning and are immediately shown to our room. Caleb really had no idea what he was in store for. My big fear was him wanting to eat and drink before the surgery since the instructions given to us were NOTHING after midnight. So I was not sure how I was going to explain that to a 3 year old. To my surprise he never once asked to eat or drink. I took plenty of things to keep him busy while we waited, puzzles, books, games etc. So they come in and give Caleb some "Medicine" better known as "Loopy Medicine." It was so funny (as sad as it was, we all needed a good laugh to take the edge off) he kept telling us "daddy has funny hair" and he would laugh so hard and fall over. Then he stuck his hands up and started grabbing for a pole that was not there, he was obviously seeing things that we weren't. Then the Dr. comes and wheels him away! Let the tears begin, there is nothing worse than seeing your baby in his little hospital gown on a big hospital bed wheeled away from you as you sit and wait and wonder (and watch the clock). It truly breaks your heart because you can't help your little one. The surgery went great! Recovery was hard, waiting for him to come too and then once he was back with us he cried for about an hour and a half. He hated the IV, was begging to see his little brother, and they say the drugs make then freak out a little. We were back on the road around noon. He has done awesome this afternoon. You wold have never know he went through all that this morning. He was such a trooper and so brave!!! Thank you all for all of your thoughts, prayers, calls, text messages etc. They all mean so much!! It was a hard day but the Lord got us through it with no problems. God is GOOD!! One last thought before I close, as I sat in the surgery center today and saw sweet Caleb in that little boy hospital gown it made me stop and thank GOD for how truly blessed we are. I could not help but think of all the parents that spend their days and nights sitting in a hospital room with their child that has a Terrible illness. It makes our little procedure look like nothing! But is was truly a moment to praise the Lord for how blessed we are!!!

We Are SO BLESSED!!!

WOW!!! We are so BLESSED!! Look at all these adorable children in this picture! There are a few that did not make it over to the picture but I can say, it makes a mom really proud to have her kids surrounded by so many of their friends that love them. First I want to say it was so nice that my sister and her little boy could make the 9 hour drive to Cumming from Ohio to be here for this special party. I know to work on Friday and then make that drive with a 5 year old and then turn around and do it again on Sunday that had to be tough!!! It was so great to have all of my siblings together and of course my mom being there is always a huge help and very special!! Eric's family was able to celebrate with us and as always we are so grateful for their involvment in the boys lives!! It was so neat to take a step back and think about all the different relationships that were represented in that room. Family and friends some that we have known forever and some friends that we have not known that long. Each one so special though!! Thank you to everyone that was there!! It really means a lot to us! As we got home after the party and began to open the gifts, we were overwhelmed by how generous you all are!!! Those of you that have kids that were there on Sat. thank you for bringing them and letting them share this special day with us!!! Those of your that could not make it to the party, we missed you!!!

We ended the evening by having our families over for dinner and to let Parker do the traditional smashing into the cake so I will leave you with a picture from that!! And believe it or not as soon as he was done filling his little body full of his own little cake he went right to bed and fell right to sleep. Now that is a good baby!!

Before I close I want to ask everyone to say a little prayer for Caleb tomorrow morning around 9 he is going in to have his tubes redone and his adnoids removed. We hope that all goes well and that he recovery is not too bad. He has gone through the tubes part before and did great with that! The hardest part will be that he can not eat or drink anything in the morning before his surgery!! Now trying to explain that to a three year old is not going to be easy! Especially since the first thing out of his mouth in the mornings is "I want a pop tart." I will try to post tomorrow night and let you all know how he does!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALEB!!!

Well, I realized I have not posted for Caleb's birthday yet!!! Caleb turned 3 on Friday as most of you know!! It was a great day! Friday night we did a little cupcake celebration for him before the big party on Sat. It was a lot of fun and as you can tell he was really enjoying his cupcake. Parker missed out on this celebration because I knew he would get plenty of sugar the next day at the party! He was so tired by the time we got to the cupcakes that he was fast asleep and never knew what he missed.
I will post again about the birthday party, just wanted to add this quick post for Caleb's big day like I did for Parker!! Those of you who have two or more know, you don't do for one that you don't do for the other!!

It has been a few days since I have posted! These boys are keeping me busy! We are getting ready for the big birthday party!! Caleb turns 3 on Friday and he is so excited about it. His class at school is throwing him a birthday party tomorrow so he will be celebrating the next three days and eating LOTS of cupcakes! I am sure there are more cupcake eating pictures to come. Here is a little story from our day . . . so today we took a trip to target to pick up a few last minute things for the party and to get the cupcakes for Caleb to take to school tomorrow and as we pull the cart up to the section where the beautifully decorated cupcakes are displayed I was going to ask Caleb which ones he wanted and what happens . . . Parker spots the cupcakes!! I did not even think about it but all of a sudden he starts pointing and saying "MAMA" as fast as he could waving his hands, pointing, he wanted those cupcakes so bad!!! As I am standing there trying to have a conversation with Caleb about which ones he wants Parker figures out how to stand up in the cart. He was willing to do whatever it took to get to those cupcakes. It was funny, Caleb and I just stood there and laughed together!!! I am telling you, he is changing so fast. He and Caleb are having a blast together. Parker loves to have sword fights with Caleb and Caleb makes him dress up like Captain hook. I know what you are thinking . . . post pictures of that . . . you would much rather see that then hear my boring stories!! There are so many moments throughout the day that I wish all of you could see and hear some of the amazing things that go on here! That said, I will try to be better about capturing those moments on camera and posting them for you all to see!!
One more quick story, Caleb has a little friend from school, her name is Emma and he informed Eric and I tonight that he Loves her and that she is his girlfriend! Isn't he too young to be thinking like that??? I guess he is a Kenyon! I have to say she is a cutie though!
For those of you still reading, thanks for hanging with me!!
Oh, and if all of you could say a quick prayer for Mr. Caleb next Tuesday he will be having his tubes redone and his adnoids removed!! Never easy to see your child put to sleep!!!

CRAZY PEOPLE

Ok, so I am new at this blog stuff . . . for those of you who may have noticed there were comments and a crazy link added to my blog. Some moron had commented how interesting my blog is and wanted us all to check out his crazy site with all these videos on it. So . . . that said, you all probably received a special invitation today to check out the blog because I went in and made it private so only people I invite can view it. So sorry to overload you with emails about my "special blog" just consider it a reminder to check it out!! I just got a little freaked out when I got on here and saw that. Anyway, if you know someone that might want to check out our blog email me their email address and I will add them otherwise, they will miss out on the Wild Kenyon stories!!
Now on with the stories . . .
Today was another normal day, the highlight of our day is that the temperature went about 50 degrees YEAH!! And tomorrow I think we are supposed to hit the big 62!! Oh, and for those of you who don't know . . . that wonderful groundhog says spring is on it's way YIPPEEE!!!
We were able to go outside today and let the boys ride their John Deer tractor, that was tons of fun. I will try and get some pictures of the boys riding and add them, they are priceless!! Well, I guess that will do it for tonight! Thanks for all your sweet comments on here, I love reading them! Ya'll are all so sweet, I have the best FAMILY and FRIENDS ever!

Parker had a great 1st birthday!!! He must have known it was a special day because he started it bright and early!! We had some friends over to play and then Caleb and I sang Happy Birthday to him and we danced and sang as he enjoyed his first taste of pudding!! He loved every minute of it. Tonight Eric's parents came up and we had his birthday dinner (which he would not eat, the child refuses to eat anything except chicken nuggets). As you can see in the pictures Brenda made birthday cupcakes which both boys could not get enough of!!! Parker would eat a bite, look at the camera and say "CHEESE!" It was great!! What a great day, these boys are such blessings!!
Caleb began the day singing Happy Birthday and would only sing it to himself but by the end of the day he thought it was kind of fun to sing it to Parker and watch Parker dance and smile while we sang to him!

Parkers 1st Birthday