On Heckuva Week

This week was a pretty tough week for us. We were back to reality, and had to get down to work quickly. The kids and I spent a lot of time amusing ourselves at home. With Soren totally mobile, it made it extra challenging to try to potty train Keira. Ryan also had his big century ride, One Helluva Ride, which went through Hell, MI.

Monday was our first full day back at home and I spent it mostly trying to get the house back in order. As usual, I didn't get as much done as I had wanted. The goal for this week was to get Keira using the potty, so I had a few things I wanted to make sure I did before we were stuck at home, and didn't get them all done. We did make it to Maybury as a family in the evening. I was able to run and Ryan rode.




Tuesday was our first day potty training. It went horribly, to put it lightly. We did have a few humorous things happen. With Soren's new mobility, he was able to get into Keira's left over snack and chowed down on a bunch of princess crackers and saltines. I guess it could have been a lot worse. We had to institute a new rule- all food is to be eaten at the big table if Soren is awake so he doesn't get it. He is beaming in the picture over his accomplishment. You can see 2 crackers in his mouth.

Since our kitchen area is fairly "waterproof", we moved a great deal of the toys in there to help cut down on the clean up. As if eating Keira's crackers wasn't enough of a torment to Keira, Soren also was able to knock down her towers with his baseball bat. I thought it was hilarious; Keira didn't think so.

Wednesday gave us a glimmer of hope with potty training, but it was still mostly bad. Keira used the potty a couple of times, but mostly just tried to hold it all day. Since we had a little success, we plowed ahead, but stayed in the kitchen again pretty much all day today.


Thursday was bad again. We did live dangerously and go to the library today, but we were back to 100% accidents. Thankfully, we didn't have an accident while we were out. Keira waited until we got home. I took a much needed break from Keira and was able to ride at Lakeshore Park with Cristina to train for our upcoming relay race.


On Friday, we went to see a special Magic Show at Linda's school. Keira was excited to see Nana at work, and I put her back into a diaper for the show. Too bad she had been holding it so long that it still leaked out, and I was totally mortified! We did have a much better afternoon, and things improved from here on out.


We were quickly running out of things to do at home in the kitchen. Here are a few attempts at inexpensive amusement.

The junk mail was a hit with Soren. He just had a blast spreading it all over and crawling through it. He has so much fun that when we had to relocate to another room, I brought it with us for him to continue his fun.

Since we were running out of things to do in our kitchen, we also played outside a bit and went on a bike ride. On this ride we saw a bit too much wildlife. We saw a skunk crawl into someone else's patio, so we had to change our route.


Saturday was a big day. Ryan left before we all woke up to drive out to Chelsea for his One Helluva Ride. He and his friends Kent and David did the full 100mile ride. They did it with a ride time of just over 5 hours, and averaged 19mph. Ryan also burned over 6000 calories!

Keira also made it all day without an accident. While Ryan was gone, we went to her friends' Katie and Luke, third and first birthday party. It was quite the event, complete with bouncy castle. We had a great time. Keira loved "Bouncing on the Bouncy Castle"- Dwight, the office.



Soren was probably happiest chilling in the shade.

On Sunday, we were happy to make it through church without incident. Keira got to see Papa, who was attending our ward today, and that was a surprise to us. We also got a slightly surprise visit from Grandma today, who will be staying for at least a day or two before heading back.

Keira loves being photographed while jumping. Here is my favorite shot of the tons we took.
This is probably the first photo of Soren that really shows his 2 teeth.

Up for this week, we will be getting used to having Keira out of diapers and have a few playdates planned. Hopefully the accidents will become fewer. We also hope to get some riding in and more exercise for me. I didn't get much in as a result of being nervous about being too far from our potty.