Adventures in Potty

Tanner sure is interesting! For the past few months at least, he has been stripping out of his diapers at night and nap time. At first it was when he would wake up. He would take his wet diaper off shortly before I would go and get him.

For the past couple weeks though, he's been going commando right after I put him down for bed. We have tried putting the diaper on backwards, but the rear of the diaper isn't as absorbent as the front so he would leak all over the bed. Then I tried doubling up the diaper. Putting the inside diaper on front ways and put a backwards diaper over the top so he couldn't get it off. That worked for about 2 days then he figured out how to get the backwards diaper off too.

When I would see on the baby monitor that he had taken his diaper off, I would go in and put it back on. But then he figured out that if he took his diaper off Mommy would come in. So now I am to the point of just waiting for him to fall asleep and then put his diaper back on.

A few days ago I decided to start potty training because of the signs he's been showing that he's ready. 1) the stripping out of his diapers. 2) stopping what he's doing and going into a corner to poop. 3) I was watching him on the monitor during a nap one day and he got up out of bed, leaned over it and peed on the floor then got back in bed and went back to sleep. I know that sounds gross, but I was impressed that he was aware enough to get up and not just sleep through it and wet the bed.

I started the "potty train in 1 day" method yesterday. I know it takes more than one day, but the results I have read about it takes much much less time for them to get the idea down. We were doing ok... we had 2 underwear changes and 1 success in the toilet. I was getting worried that he wasn't peeing often enough to have it click though.

Doesn't he look so cute in his little undies?

When Kollin got home from work he said he was thinking all day that since Tanner isn't really talking yet, maybe it's not a good idea to start training him since he wouldn't be able to tell us when he needs to go, or if he did, we wouldn't catch on to his way of communicating it until it's too late.

I had actually been thinking this same thing for a couple days before I started training him. I even mentioned it to Kollin and he didn't say anything to agree or disagree with me. So I figured it was just in my head and that it would still work out and that Tanner is really ready.

So we decided to quit training for now and wait until he is talking more. I've always heard that once you start to never go back or the child would just get confused. But Kollin made me feel better since it was technically just half a day of training and not much progress.

Anyway! Tonight, of course, he stripped out of his diaper again. I was so tired I dozed off before I could go put his diaper back on. Well, at about 2:30am I hear him up and moving around and kind of whimpering. I went to check on him and he had a big accident on his bed. Usually if he wets his bed it's just a little spot. But this one covered about half of his bed!

He was laying on top of his blankie and Monkey. They were both saturated. I cleaned him up and changed his clothes. Changed his bedding and got a new blankie out. At this point he was trying to pick up Monkey and hug him. I told him I had to clean him up and then he could have him back Only he can't see me "clean up Monkey" because I was smart and got 2 Monkeys! 

I took wet Monkey and his box to the kitchen sink and put both in. And then clean Monkey came out! Tanner took him and hopefully hasn't noticed clean Monkey is a lot softer and a lighter color from wet Monkey since he hasn't been put into the rotation yet.

Can you tell the difference?

Tanner and Monkey are now back in bed and snoozing away. 

**Update**
 5.11.13 We have a poopy in the potty!

Heart to Heart ~ a Gathering of Women Affected by CHD

This weekend I had the privilege to attend the Heart Mom luncheon. This is the one big Heart Mom get together of the year and it was just as good as last year's if not better. The heart moms that put this together did an amazing job. We went to the Hailstone Event Center at Jordanelle, and it was absolutely beautiful. The building was perfect, the decorations were amazing and most important the women I was surrounded by were exquisite.

Our new IHH President Mimi gave us a sweet message. She is the mother of Mia who passed away last October. She is so beautiful, strong and caring. I was so happy to see her! By the time she was done speaking I don't think there was a dry eye in the room.

The speaker we had this year was Tiffany Peterson. She is a life coach and speaks at many different types of events. She said she is usually speaking about sales and corporate/leadership training. When she came to speak to our group and knowing what we were about she mentioned she felt intimidated when she usually never is. 

She asked us what we would like to hear from her before she started and there were many women that gave her some great thoughts. She said that some of the comments she received were already so inspired and that she was surrounded by "spiritual giants." I absolutely love that term, because it is so so true. While going through this heart journey it is almost impossible to not be closer to your spiritual self and whoever you call "your maker."

There were so many wonderful little tid bits that she said while speaking I had to write them down so I wouldn't forget.... 

While speaking with us she said that we had heightened senses and with what we have all gone through it is as if we are experiences "emotions on steroids."

Event + resonse = outcome

We are stronger than we ever knew we could be.

Adversities are gifts wrapped in unattractive paper.

Has your capacity to love grown? (I think so, YES)

If you're going through Hell, don't stop and build a house.

After Tiffany was finished we went outside to have a group photo. It was pretty cold, but I think the love that was surrounding all of us kept us all warm and cozy. The photographer that took our group picture was also taking pictures throughout the entire luncheon. I cannot wait to see them!

We had amazing food and got to visit with friends and I met some new friends. 

It is so wonderful and inspiring to go to these events and have the opportunity to meet and be surrounded by such amazing mothers. I can't wait until next year!

Tanners Annual Cardiology Apointment

Today we had Tanner's annual cardiology appointment. It is so nice to only have to do this once a year. But it also gives you way too much time to build up anxiety in your head for what they may or may not find.

On the way to clinic. The anxiety has kicked into full gear now.

We got to clinic about 45 minutes before his scheduled appointment and it worked out wonderfully! They were able to get us back to do his x-ray right away, and didn't have to wait at all to go back for his EKG.

See the sternal wires holding his sternum together? Cool hu?

He did so well and cooperated much better than I thought he would! I had packed my purse with movies, suckers and a blanket that he could snuggle to try to bribe him to hold still during the tests.

Waiting to start the tests.

We did not need any of them! We only gave him a sucker before the nurse even started putting the stickers on him to try to distract him from taking them off. But I don't think he even put it in his mouth until everything was said and done.

Goof ball.

It's octopus time!

Peeling off the stickers like a pro.

The only little issue we had was with the blood pressure tests. Those are always the worst part and he has always hated them! The sucker wasn't working, but the awesome nurse had bubbles. That did the trick and we were able to get it done. He absolutely refused to put the pulse ox meter on his finger though. When Dr. Minich came in, she said he didn't even need it. So it was ok that we didn't get test done.

Bubbles!

When she first came in the room she mentioned how active he was and I was wondering how she would know that? Then later on she mentioned the bruises on his shins and it clicked. She said his legs look like any other kid his age, which is great!

She said she was happy with how he is sounding and looking. She did not have anything specific to say about him which I guess no news is good news.

I had some questions for her about some research I've been doing and other stories I've been hearing about his sub-aortic stenosis and she helped answer them and ease my curiosity and mind. At first she seemed a little mad that I was getting answers about things from our heart group and not her, but I explained that I understand that no 2 stories are the same even with the same defect. 

If there was anything that I was really worried about I would have called her and gotten the answer directly from her. But since I wasn't losing sleep I was just fine with waiting for his annual appointment to ask my questions. I just feel that I don't want to bother her unless it is something that I feel she would really need to be bothered with. Like any new symptoms or a worry in my mind that just won't go away. She seemed happy with my thought process for that.

All in all, everything was fantastic. While I was asking my questions I asked if she had any kind of statistic or percentage on where she thinks Tanner's heart journey will go. She said that any need for further surgeries or procedures is a very low, but not zero.Of course I could let that mull around in my brain and get me worked into a ball of stress. But I'm hoping that I won't let that happen.

After the appointment we went to Target to let him pick a prize for being so good at his appointment. I think this will be a good tradition to have so these appointments will hopefully not be so scary.

Of course. His favorite guy ever!

I think Buzz will be a new favorite for a while.

We are happy and excited with where we are. We are taking things a day at a time and enjoying every bit of it! I wouldn't have ever asked to join this Heart World, but now that I am a part of it I wouldn't ever take it back.

It was a perfect rainy day to wear these.

Easter 2013

We had a pretty low key Easter. Kollin and I figured that we weren't going to do anything this year since Tanner still isn't quite aware of what's going on.

We relaxed at home and then went to Grandma and Grandpa Cannon's house for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. Tanner loved hunting for the eggs and putting them in his basket. Makes me wish we did something at home. Oh well.

It took him a minute to pick up on the idea

He got the hold of it though!

He had so much fun and was quite proud of his basket.

Posing with his haul.

We had fun going through his eggs to find scriptures, money and candy.

After dinner we took it easy and visited. Aunt Chicken (Kiersten) and Uncle Andrew came with the Moses puppy and the boys just loved playing fetch with him.

Aaaaannnnnd the video won't load. So you won't be able to see Tanner throwing the ball to Moses and screeching when he runs after it. Sorry!

It was a great day to spend with family.

Tanner watching "Rise of the Guardians" on Uncle Scott's phone with cousins Ben and Cole.