Just call me frustrated....

We are in the process of potty training Max. It is a frustrating process. It seems to be a never ending process. It's a process I am tired of having.

We actually started potty training last year right before I had Emma in the hopes that we might get him trained before Emma actually arrived. Hah. He was so not ready for it. So we waited. Then about 6 months ago we really dug our heels in and started. We bought him big boy underwear, even let him pick them out. He did really great for two days, not on single accident then he just didn't care anymore. He would sit in wet/dirty undies and not even tell us.

We reverted to pull-ups thinking maybe that was too big of a step. He did OK but would still not ever tell us he had to go. The last month or so I have been setting a timer and telling him when it goes off it's time to use the bathroom.....when the timer goes off he will go pee if I take him in there but won't voluntarily tell us he has to go. He has gone poop twice and has not done it again since then.

He will crawl away into a corner and I can tell he is getting ready to go, I get him all hyped up by laughing and playing and I  get him to go in the bathroom and he will sit on the toilet for about 20 seconds and then say " no poo-poo"....I try and bribe him to sit and that lasts for about 10 more seconds and he starts to scream so I let him down. Not 30 seconds later he will walk by me and I know he went....ugh. I am so frustrated. I feel like I have tried everything.

We have done stickers, fruit snacks (which he loves..), this past weekend we even went out and bought this big dragon and set it on top of the entertainment center and told him when he goes poop in the potty he can have it. The first day he cried because he could not have it, it's been three days and he could care less. What am I doing wrong. I am a complete loss....should I just continue to let him wear diapers and stop trying.

I am in desperate need of some Mom advice. HELP!

Splish, Splash...

Max loves to take a bath...if we ask him if he wants to take a bath he drops whatever he is doing and makes a mad dash for the bathroom. Here is a pic of Max just about a year ago getting ready to take a bath...

Here he is tonight, getting ready to take a bath....he almost couldn't wait! It just amazes me how tall he has gotten. His official height is 2'8"....not even 2 yet. :)

Standing Tall...

Max has become obsessed with doors. He is constantly wanting to open or close, which means I am constantly trying to keep his little fingers from getting crunched. Enjoy my latest batch of Max Photos...

Hey Ma', are you listening to me!

I told you I don't like vegetables!

I AM the king of the jungle!!

Shock and Disbelief...

I am writing about an event that happened in the Rudolph family home last night. I am sure that you will be just as shocked and disbelieving as I am.

I have decided that Max can no longer be held in order to get him to sleep. It's amazing how fast these little ones grasp a routine and it's even more amazing it is of how hard it is to break them of that routine. I know, I know another battle with Max. I am sure that you are all thinking that I have nothing better to do with my time than battle with him but I can assure you I don't.

Yesterday I put him down for his afternoon nap in his crib fully awake. He did not like this one tiny little bit. I have to say that my strength was waning when I saw him lying there with his little chubby arms out to me just screaming pick me up, pick me up. But I held fast and finally after 8 full songs on his sleeping CD (thanks for that little trick Val) he was asleep. Roughly that was about 35-40 minutes. What fun! Unfortunately he only slept like that for about 20 minutes. I could see that he was still exhausted so instead of picking him up to get him back to sleep I did the next best worst thing and put him in his swing. He slept from 6 pm until 8 pm. Relief.

When Karl I got home I told him of my latest venture and he just chuckled. We both figured that putting Max to bed was going to be a chore and Karl decided that he would take the first round. So at 8:30 pm we got Max his dinner, cleaned him up, and Karl settled down in his room and gave him his bottle. At this time I was in the bedroom trying to take the worlds fastest cat nap so I could be ready for round 2 and less than 5 minutes after he finished his bottle Karl comes strolling into the bedroom. I opened my eyes and asked if it was my turn. He said no, he is asleep.

I just about fell out of bed. Wait did you just say he was asleep??? How can that be. I fought with him for almost an hour and you get less than 5 minutes. He replies, "I have the touch." I had a few choice words for my HOTY at the particular moment. I would like to also say that he slept all night but he didn't. He slept until 1 am or so and then spent the next few hours rolling around, fussing, talking to himself, etc. I am not a real fan of morning these days.

I am happy to report that this morning when I put him down for a nap it only took me 7 full songs from the CD. Progress is slow coming I guess!

You Can Call Me Martha...

As many of you know we recently started Max on some solid foods. Of course the basic rice and oatmeal cereal, which he does wonderful with and just this past week or so we started on some squash. I bought a couple of little packets of Gerber food because I wanted to see how he would do with it first before I broke the bank on food.

Then one of the Mom's from The Little Yellow Duck Club (that is the Mom's Group I go to) suggested that I make my own. I was of course immediately intimidated by this because I am not the worlds greatest cook. Learning but nowhere near great. But she tells me that it's super easy and there is this great website called WholesomeBabyFood.com and it tells you exactly how to make food, what to mix together, what babies can and cannot have in each stage. In the back of my mind I was like yeah it sounds great and easy but really me...I just don't know. But curiosity got the better of me and I took a look at the site. It was fantastic!

It had all kinds of information, different products, suggestions for food, etc. Soooo.....I went to the grocery store yesterday grabbed a couple butternut squash and headed home to whip up some homemade baby food. First I put a call into my cooking guru a.k.a my Mom. One because she knows how to make everything and two because I don't know how to make anything, especially squash. Which I happen to like but have never made....go figure! After getting a few key points on how to bake and or steam the squash I am actually excited to try this homemade thing.

I decided that I would bake this first batch just because it seemed a little less daunting than trying to steam it. I set the oven for 375', cut up the squash, tossed them in the oven for about 35-40 minutes an wallah they were ready to puree. And boy did my house smell yummy! Karl came home and asked if that was what we were having for dinner. I told him no - it was for Max...he looked a little disappointed and then realized what it was and said he didn't like squash anyway.

Next I scooped out all the yummy smelling goodness out and dumped it all in my handy-dandy blender and pureed away. Added a touch of water just to get the right texture and wallah I had a bowl full of homemade, ready to eat, no preservatives, full of nutrients, good food for Max. I divided it up into some little freezer bags that I have and tossed it in the freezer. Now for those of you out there that don't know about baby food let me give you the rundown. Gerber sells baby food in packets of 2 2.5 oz containers. They typically run anywhere from .89 to about .95 depending on where you shop. Max can eat 1 container in one day. Some for lunch and the rest for dinner....soooo that is 5 for the week, equalling 12.5 ozs and costing anywhere from $4.50 to $5.00 again depending on where you go. I spent $2.74 on 2 squash and made 15 ozs. Hmmm what should I do....spend more money on food that might not be great or spend less money and know exactly what he is eating. A no brainer! GO ME!

Max's first snow fall....

We got our first hint of winter today. It snowed! We are supposed to get about 2 inches, which for me feels pretty normal because of living in Michigan my whole life. I heard today that from one of the girls in my Mom's Club that they are not real good about plowing out here. I told her that they aren't in Michigan either!! lol!

Anyway being the new Mom I had to get pics of Max outside....and of course Miss Magoo had to join in the fun!

The Joys of Motherhood...

Tuesday was Max's 2 month check-up visit at the pediatrician, as well as his 1st set of vaccine shots. :(

He got 4 shots, all in the leg and boy was he not happy. He did ok on the 1st one, started to get a little annoyed on the 2nd, started to whimper on the 3rd, and downright wailed on the 4th! Needless to say Mommy had a glass of wine when she got home because she was sooo stressed about it. Other than that he is doing great. He now weighs 12 lbs 10 ozs (75th percentile), and 24 inches long (60th percentile).

On a side note, and this may be because of the shots, but Mr. Max slept from 10 pm last night until 4 am this morning....talk about a miracle! I woke up at 4 and could have run a marathon - I felt like Rip Van Winkle waking from a long nap!! I would love to say that this is the start of a beautiful tradition but I have a feeling that we will be back to sleepless nights again very soon, BUT I will take what I can get!!

3 weeks old...

Well Little Max has hit his 3 week mark and Daddy and I are still hanging in there! :)


I have not weighed him recently but he is starting to chunk out a little bit...getting cute little rolls on his arms and legs!! Love to pinch them!! He is really starting to focus on us more when we talk to him and he is becoming a little more vocal, doing some cute coo's and grunts throughout the day. Things are going ok...still really tired but that is to be expected. I think that I have finally given up on the breastfeeding - he just really doesn't want to latch on so for the past week and a 1/2 I have been pumping every few hours so that he can at least get breast milk. I am hoping to be able to keep that up until he hits his 6-week mark and then most likely I will move to formula - it really is a burden to keep pumping all day long!



On a side note Karl and I had our 1st date night and it was very, very nice! We went to this great Italian Restaurant in town and had an absolutely AMAZING dinner. I had a couple glasses of wine and after 9 months of no drinking I am pretty sure that I was buzzed! Karl thought it was pretty humorous!


This next week ought to be interesting because Karl is going out of town for the entire week on a business trip and I am a little nervous to be here all alone - thankfully Karl's mom is down for the week to help out and I am sure that I am going to need it, being that Max doesn't like to sleep for more than a few hours right now! I will keep you all informed as the week goes on! Here are some new pics that we just took! Love the outfit (Got Milk!).

Here is a really cute close up of Little Max!! Do you think that he could a little more like his Daddy!!

The joys of motherhood!

Ok so when you get pregnant everyone wishes you congrats, ask tons of questions about what your having, names you might have picked out, etc. Then they start saying how different your life is going to be - less sleep, endless diaper changes, bottle or breast, etc and you think "We (hubbie and I) can handle it, I mean we are adults for gosh sakes, how hard can it be to adjust to a change. HOW WRONG COULD I BE!!!!!!

No ones really tells you about the changes you will go through with your spouse....it's amazing that I can see Karl every single day but I miss him. I feel like my whole life right now is consumed with Max, and although I love him with all my heart and soul I also love my husband. I have the feeling that Karl is a Saint in disguise because he has been absolutely amazing these last few weeks. He is incredibly patient (not only with Max but his emotionally charged wife!). Let's just say that he has had to be put on the back burner since our little bundle of joy arrived. :) He keeps telling me that is okay but you have to wonder how much a person can take before they really start getting their feelings hurt??

I think that if people really told you all of the things that you give up to have kids there may not be so many people having them. Besides all of the aforementioned things (sleep...) you don't realize how different your relationship becomes with your spouse. I have talked to a few friends and they all say that what we are going through is completely normal and they assure me that things get better, our relationship will get even better than before - with time. Because I know that my friends all love me dearly I know that they are telling me the truth, now I just have to have the patience to wait it out! Or maybe I should say that Karl has to have the patience to wait it out!!! LOL! I am one hell of a lucky woman to have such a fantastic husband!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On a side note here a couple of cute pics of Max...I told you my life is consumed with him!! LOL!!!!!!!! Do you think that he could look a little more crazed in this first pic?? LOL! The bottom one is for my mom...she bought him this onsie when she was out for his birth...too cute, and yes Mom I will send you this one for your own copy!