Potty Wars

I had to share this little story because I haven't been able to stop thinking about it all day...

Casey and I live in a two story house, so Aiden's room is too far away to hear if anything is wrong in the night and since he tends to have nightmares every now and then, we use a monitor during the night in our bedroom. Most of you are already aware that Aiden loves trains (huge understatement), and very often we hear him in the night making the very realistic "wooo-wooo" sound of the train in his sleep, or saying "the train is coming..." or something else train-related. Well last night I was up in the night feeding Pierce at about 2:30am when I heard Aiden talking in his sleep. I figured he must be talking about trains again, so I turned the volume on the monitor up so that I could have a laugh at his expense. It took me a second to understand what he was saying, but this time he wasn't talking about trains and he sounded VERY distressed. It was obvious he was having a nightmare, and by this time he was screaming. This is what he was saying: "NO Mama-I not. NO! I no like potty. I not go potty Mama!!" He went on a little longer battling his potty-training determined mother in his sleep, before he and his size 6 diaper must have won the fight and he calmed down.

I sat there laughing so hard, and decided maybe I needed to back off the little guy a bit for the next few days. But fear not-I WILL win the potty training battle eventually, Mama always wins!

LET'S TRY THIS AGAIN...

Okay. Here we go. This has to be the third or fourth time that we've tried to start one of these, so hopefully this time will be different. Our lives seem so crazy right now, but we know that this is a great way to update our friends and family with what's going on with us, so we're going to try it one more time.

I guess we'll start by updating everyone with our most recent exciting event. On August 3, 2006, we welcomed our second son into the world! Pierce Ebeling McKown was born at 12:23 pm, at 7 lbs. 10 oz. and 20 inches. The delivery couldn't have gone any smoother, but it became evident during his first night that Pierce was having some problems breathing. His lungs had quite a bit of fluid in them, so they admitted him to the Newborn ICU at about 3:30am. He spent the next week there, getting worse before he would get better. He was diagnosed with Respitory Distress Syndrome, but thankfully made a full recovery and came home eight days after his birth.

The adjustment from one child to two has definitely been challenging, to say the least, but completely rewarding at the same time. The lack of sleep is much harder to deal with this time around. Getting up in the middle of the night multiple times to feed Aiden wasn't nearly as debilitating or exhausting, knowing that I could take naps the following day with him. This time, on the other hand, my days are spent chasing after a three year old, who conveniently grew out of his own nap time when Pierce was born. It's definitely not all bad, though, not even close. Aiden has adjusted so beautifully to having a baby around. He isn't jealous at all, and loves to be near Pierce, constantly talking to him and singing him songs. I pray so strongly that they will grow closer and closer together as they get older.

So that's the latest update on our little family. Casey still loves his job as a Financial Advisor, and I am enjoying being at home with Aiden and Pierce for the time being. We are really excited about this fall season because of some new bible studies and small groups that are starting up. We can't wait to see what God has planned for this season of our lives!