fall getaway: Tuesday

On Tuesday, the kids and I went to a local orchard. We had so much fun in the pumpkin patch and running through the hay bail maze! I really wanted to get a good fall snapshot of the three kids together, but this was the best I got... The kids picked out carmel apples for a treat. It was their first carmel apples - or should I say - it was their first carmel.

Later, we met Bryan in Red Wing and went to a playground. Then we went to The Pottery Center, which is an old pottery factory that has been converted into a shopping center. When I was a kid, we vacationed to Red Wing many times and I remembered going there. It has old pianos that play songs when you put quarters in them. We were all very entertained!We survived our first getaway with the kids and are not afraid to try another one, so it was a success! I wouldn't say it was relaxing, but it was fun and a nice break from the routine!

fall getaway: Monday

While Bryan attended training, the kids and I explored a park, gathered leaves, and did fall-themed activities. In the evening, we had a cookout and went for a walk along the lake.

fall "getaway": Sunday

Bryan is doing a week-long training in Red Wing (1 hour south of St. Paul) this week, so for a change of pace, we decided to pack up the family for a little fall "getaway" for a few days. ("Getaway" is not quite the right word since Bryan is still working and I brought my work-the kids-with me.) Nevertheless, it is our first trip that isn't a family gathering since we've had kids.

We left after church on Sunday and made it to Lake City, south of Red Wing, just in time to board the paddle wheeler to tour the lake. It was a 90 minute tour - which was about 15 minutes longer than our kids' attention spans even with lots of snacks, exploring, and steering the boat. But everyone had a great time for the first 75 minutes!

After the tour, we checked in to our condo rental. It way surpassed our expectations for the price with two bedrooms, a full kitchen, and a deck that overlooked the lake. When we discovered it also had a walk-in closet big enough for a pack-n-play and a washer/drier, we changed our reservations from 2 to 3 nights!


After supper, we toured the town and had ice cream at the dairy queen. Brett had his first ice cream cone.

quote of the day

My little girl, who is always looking out for Number One, says "Lydia turn" all day long. But today, when I instructed her to put all the cookbooks she had scattered around the kitchen back on the shelf, this was her response:

"Momma turn."

fitness program

Yes, this is a picture of Reggie in the drier, and yes I did run to grab the camera after he climbed in. Reggie is my little fitness program. Never mind the other two, he is the one who keeps me moving all day long and if I am not chasing him, it is because I am wearing him in our ergo carrier! Reggie is high-energy, tough, and fearless. Combine that with the reality that- him being our third one-year-old in two years, we aren't quite as paranoid cautious as we could be - and life is quite an adventure...

Something really cute that Reggie does right now is he sings "B-I-N-G-O" and "Ring around the Rosie". I've been unsuccessful in capturing that so far.

batting 500

My aunt promptly responded to my last post wanting to know how potty training went, so here is the status report!

A couple months ago, after expressing frustration on Brett's lack of progress with potty learning, my friend Shannon (a little free advertising for you!) sent me an ebook called 3 Day Potty Training. I was skeptical, but I read it. And I thought about it a lot. I passed it on to another friend, she tried it, and it worked for her. I thought about it some more and decided we had nothing to lose, so we gave it a go.

The basic principle is that kids learn from their "accidents" more then their "successes". So, there is no having your child sit on the potty for long periods of time or on 20 minute intervals hoping they will by chance make a deposit. Instead, we put them in undies on the morning of Day 1 and basically wait until they start to have an "accident" and then rush them to the potty.

And, yes, I did say THEM! The book suggested toddlers 22 months and older are ready to learn to use the potty. Lydia is 21.5 months, so we decided to try to train both at once and see if we could be down to only one in diapers!

Saturday morning, we woke up, fed Brett and Lydia breakfast, and then told them they were now "big kids", diapers were for babies, and they would be wearing undies and using the potty. We then proceeded to throw all their diapers away. They had a lot of fun with that part!

And since I gave them juice to their hearts' content, it didn't take long for the "accidents"/learning opportunities to start happening!

Lydia got the mechanics figured out within a couple hours. Unfortunately, she was quite terrified by her "mechanics" and as soon as she started to feel an urge to "go", she would start to cry and cling to me, refusing to sit on the potty and holding it until she's couldn't hold it any longer...while clinging to me.... The book has some suggestions for such a reaction, so we pressed on through Day 2, when we came to the conclusion that she was creating such a distraction that it was holding up Brett's progress - and he was our primary goal. We retrieved Lydia's diapers from the "garbage", but she tells us whenever she "goes" in her diaper now!

I'm very happy to report that Brett's 3 Day Potty Training was a success! Today was completely "accident" free! I'm so proud of my "big boy" and excited that we only have two in diapers now!

(No more rugs in our bathroom until Reggie is at least 12.)

three is WAY more than two

The summer was coming to an end... Bryan had a three-day-weekend...it was time for the diapers to go for good.

My parents agreed to take Reggie for four straight days so we could give all our attention to potty learning (more on that later). It was the first time Reggie had stayed away from us overnight- it was the first time we have had *only* two kids overnight since we brought Reggie home. And what a difference it was! On Friday evening, I got home with Brett and Lydia after meeting my mom and Bryan got home from a business trip. Frozen pizza was on my mind, but in light of *only* having two toddlers, Bryan was eager to eat out (at a buffet where there is no actual waiting for food involved of course). We almost enjoyed our food and made it through dessert without any major mishaps.

We had a couple intense days of potty learning ("boot camp" style), but still were in awe of the dramatic decrease in noise and activity level. And it's not Reggie in particular - it's just all three together that create a constant state of unavoidable chaos. Even with the extra laundry and cleaning up after messes, keeping up with the housework was manageable! And I did something I have never had the chance to do - Lydia and I walked to the playground. Just the two of us and no massive strollers - no 25-pounder attached to my back. With all that freedom, I got to go down the big slide with Lydia - over and over again! Brett and I baked raspberry bars - uninterrupted! And on Tuesday, when Bryan went back to work and Reggie was still at Grandma's, Brett, Lydia, and I laid on my bed and watched Sesame Street together. This stuff seems really small, but with the constant flurry of activity around here, it's hard to carve out time to just enjoy the company of each of my children.

And I know it wasn't just the fact that we were short one toddler. It was that we had no plans or ambitions but to spend time with the two kiddos. That doesn't happen often enough.I'm afraid I'm going to blink and they will be all grown up.

300th post

For the 300th post, a little list of the 10 posts with the most "comments". This doesn't take into account the comments that I get in person, through email or facebook, etc.




1. Welcome Lydia June Wedan

2. Our Little Christmas Gift

3. Introducing Reginald David Wedan

4. Wedan Family Grows...Again

"Life is full of surprises...our Little Surprise is due November 22nd!"

5. Sleepless

6. Bryan and Joy Plus Three

"Walking out of the dinner to go pick up our kids from the nursery, Bryan grabbed my hand, and said, "Let's do it." And Friday morning Bryan called Debbie. I used to believe in coincidences. Now I mostly just believe in miracles. We have three of them"

7. The Nuk

"What I love about the nuk is it helps my baby go to sleep. What I hate about it is it's got me running upstairs a dozen times during a restless nap to pop it back in. Do you know how much damage my son can do...in 20 seconds?"

8. All Baby

9. Lord Help Us

"It's a girl!"

10. Brett Theodore Wedan

Lydia is 1.75 and Brett is 2.75!

Lydia is 21 months and Brett is 33 months old! It seems appropriate to post their updates together since they do everything together. Above: Digging up potatoes in "MeeMaw's"/"Pita's" garden.

Lydia is wearing mostly size 18m clothes and 5 shoes. She cut her 4 cuspid teeth in the last couple weeks. Since the last update 3 months ago, Lydia's vocabulary has dramatically increased and she is starting to string 2-3 words together, like "Daddy work". She loves to sing songs and does a pretty good job of getting several of the words. One of her favorite words is "playground" and I don't think she'd ever get tired of swinging and sliding. Hopefully fall weather will linger. Lydia also loves to play with legos and color. Lydia is learning to drink from a cup and take her shoes off. We are also trying to have her start wearing a barrette in her hair - but if I get her to leave it in, one of her brothers will pull it out!

Above: Eating "pizza-on-a-stick" at the state fair.

Brett is wearing size 3T and 4T clothes and size 10 shoes. Brett has done a wonderful job with his glasses, although they are constantly getting dirty and bent up. Brett is making progress in his speech development, but not at the rate of an average two-year-old. A few weeks ago he started private speech therapy - he seems to like it and be helped by it. Brett enjoys books, painting, music and dancing, the playground, pretend cooking and pretend being baby doll's daddy. I love to see how God has given him a caregiver's heart. He is very sensitive to Reggie and Lydia's needs and always thinking of them. He is a wonderful big brother!

Above: Checking out the butterfly garden at the zoo.

Below is a video clip of Brett and Lydia dancing. This was of their own volition and I just happened to catch it, but the camera didn't pick up the music...