My Potty-Trained Boy

We officially have a potty-trained boy in our household.
It's been a good week since we've had even a small accident and I have to say that I am so, so, so proud of my boy.
Have I told you the story of how Henry potty trained himself? No? Well let me get to that then...
When I was setting up and participating in my first craft festival, we ran out of diapers. Well, we didn't run out...we just forgot them at home in the rush to get ready and go that morning. Jeremy was gone, working on a customer car, and I couldn't leave. The festival was out in the middle of a cornfield at a local farm so there was no where close for me to go to get diapers either. We were stuck...and I knew it was going to be hours before we'd be able to get him anything to wear.
He had just about soaked through his pants when I explained to him that I was throwing away his current diaper and he'd have to tell me when he needed to go potty because there were no more diapers for him to wear and no change of clothes either. (I seem really unprepared, don't I?)
Surprisingly, he did great!
The entire weekend at the farm he began peeing on the ground. While this may seem a little rough, I was just glad he wasn't going in his pants. This, however, caused quite the ruckus when we got home. Instead of sitting or standing at the potty to go, he wanted to pee on the ground. We compromised and let him go in the tub...but we knew we eventually had to break him of that too! It took some convincing, but we eventually did.
Then there was the issue of #2. He had no interest, and even when he was telling us every single time when he had to go pee, #2 was still a no-go for him.
I went to the store, I spent about $25, and I bought him 1 big toy and 2 small toys for him to earn by sitting and then ultimately going on the potty.
Believe it or not - it worked. It took almost two weeks, but eventually he said 'Mommy, I really want my new play-doh firetruck so I go on potty, okay?' And he did! He sat right down, did his business, and then immediately ran to get his new toy.
For almost two weeks now we have had a fully potty trained boy!
He often wants us to go with him to the bathroom, but I've noticed more often in the last couple of days that he will go on his own when he needs to. He's getting pretty good at dressing and undressing himself too when he makes his little trips. I'm so proud!
Did you struggle with potty-training? How did you finally potty-train your little boy or girl?

Creative Crumbs {{September}}

I really hope you guys were more organized this month than what I was! I felt so bad as I was emailing Amber from Take No Thought at 11 p.m. last night to tell her how my post and things were coming. Seriously - that's bad!

Our theme for September was {Everyday} and I honestly took about 20 different photos that would fit the theme. I had a really hard time narrowing it down to one but I finally did.

Top - Amber's photo from Take No Thought
Bottom - Jenn's photo from These Ripples and Waves

There was just something about that photo of the bathtub - bath toys everywhere - that screamed 'everyday' to me. Not only does this tub get a LOT of use daily, but typically the toys get pushed aside and are left to reside in the corner of the tub until I get motivated to clean them up. Such rings true for so many things in my life - dishes, laundry, errands - they get pushed aside until I can find the motivation and time.

I loved Amber's photo! If you know Amber, you know she cannot live without her planner - perfect for her everyday!

I've left the link-up for this month open until the 2nd of October - so take your 'everyday' photo and link up with us! If you don't quite make it for THIS month, make sure you link up with us NEXT month on the 31st instead. The theme for October is:

{Autumn}

I can't wait to see what you guys come up with!

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<a href="http://www.theseripplesandwave.com" title="Creative Crumbs"><img src="http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee322/JennOvenshire/f54a707c-68d3-4786-9eda-f80b47725581_zpsd1838039.jpg" alt="Creative Crumbs" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Oink, Oink

Ya know how sometimes you make really spur-of-the-moment decisions without really thinking them out?

Yup, that was us this weekend!

We visited a local animal swap-meet with the intentions of just letting Henry enjoy seeing all of the animals and came how with this.

Yes friend, that is a PIG.

He was cute, he was cheap, he was promised not to get bigger than 25 pounds...

And Sunday when we woke up to a pig running across our living room floor, we looked at one another and said the thought out loud: what in the world were we thinking?

We had the best of intentions.

So, I would like to formally introduce 'The Pig' who is temporarily staying with us because we have ultimately decided that we probably shouldn't keep him, mainly because we are clueless as to how to take care of a pig, mini or not. Thankfully, there are plenty of people around who would be happy to take him for us and we want to see him go before anyone (cough, Henry, cough) gets attached to him.

This may go in the books as the worst spur-of-the-moment decision ever. Tell me, what was yours?

Lemons

Sometimes life gives you lemons.
We've all heard that, right? "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." I'm sorry to break this to whoever came up with the phrase, but you need a lot more than lemons to make good lemonade. Otherwise, you're just going to be choking down sour lemon water.
I haven't blogged in a good while. I haven't blogged because life has been throwing me lemons, and while, I don't mind sharing those lemons, I hate when someone thinks they have to pick up a slice and get a bite themselves just to relate.
I don't want to share the bitterness, I just want to work through it and come out stronger on the other side. These lemons just keep coming, however, and I think it's due time to share a bit.
{Lemon #1} My entire family is mad at me because my brother is getting married (spur of the moment) this weekend and I can't get off of work. Also, apparently I'm mean, selfish, and a complete bitch (thanks mom) and my brother thinks that I want nothing to do with any of them so therefore he didn't even tell me - had to hear through the grapevine, as usual.
{Lemon #2} Henry has been an awful, needy, demanding handful since being sick. While he was sick (and sick he was - horribly, horribly sick) we waited on him hand and foot. When he said jump we said 'how high' simply because he was miserable and we were miserable and we wanted to do ANYTHING to make him feel better. Now that he's well again he's been expecting the same treatment and it has been quite the challenge to try to break this demanding, give-me, behavior.
{Lemon #3} Jeremy and I have hit a rough spot - and by 'rough spot' I mean I don't know if we're going to survive this. Sad but true. We're working on it because that's all we can do. We haven't told anyone so I would appreciate any of you that know me outside of this blogging world to keep it to yourself and just pray for us. This lemon alone is enough to drag you down day after day.
So there you are, my current big lemons - the ones that keep pelting me on the head and reminding me that I've been long out of sugar.
Tell me, how have you guys been? I'm sorry I haven't been able to keep up with your blogs. One day I'll be a good blogging friend - I promise!

Crochet-It Like it's Hot {or cold}

It's been several years now since I took up crocheting. At first it was mainly just because I wanted those cute hats you see all over Pinterest for Henry for photos, but over time, I really just loved how relaxing sitting with a skein of yarn and a crochet needle could be.
Crocheting is almost like magic. It's like one second you have nothing but a string and the next you have this beautiful creation. I love creating things, especially with my own two hands.
So...I've been crocheting like crazy lately mostly because I've been sick and Henry's been sick and it's a great thing to do when you can't really do much more. But also because fall and winter is right around the corner and it would really, REALLY be nice to make some extra money by crocheting because I have a fall bucket-list that's like 10 miles long and Jeremy keeps reminding me that we probably can't afford to do it ALL. I'm going to prove him wrong: one yarn over, single, double, or triple crochet at a time.
Now for a shameless plug: check out the 'sales' tab at the top of my page for already-made, ready-to-ship items and some custom orders I've already completed this year and if you're interested, shoot me an email and I'll make something especially for you!
Here are some really adorable hats that I pinned in the last week that I would really love to make this year!

Seriously? Does it get any more adorable than this fall pumpkin hat?

What does the fox say?

I'm thinking this is a must have for any little boy who is going to be watching their favorite football team this year!

I'm thinking a Monsters Inc. Halloween costume may be in our future with this one!

Henry is not going as Mike this year, but I have an equally cute idea already stirring in my head: crocheted and all. It may just be as cute as the lion costume I made him a couple of years back.
What kind of hat would you want for your little one for the upcoming colder months?

Labor Day Woes

Today ends an 8 day work stretch for me, immediately following the week and weekend that I participated in my first festival (more to come on that later).
Needless to say - I'm pretty exhausted.
Throw in the death of my nephew, the fact that I've been fighting a sinus infection for a week, and that Henry's been under the weather since Friday night, and I'm pretty much done for. Finished.
After my dreaded 5-10 pm shift tonight, I don't work again until Friday and I absolutely plan on enjoying my week. Jeremy was a saint and did the dishes for me this past weekend (I made a bunch of food for various things and didn't have time to clean up that mess) and let me sleep in until 10 today since I was up half the night with Henry.
He's a keeper.
On the plus side, I know that there is a time for all things, and that this too shall pass. So I'm looking up and moving forward and standing in God's truths in order to pull me through.
Also, I've been crocheting more lately, which is good because I've missed it so...check out the sales tab at the top of my page in the coming weeks for some really fun crochet items! I also take custom orders so if you don't know someone who crochets, consider me for your kid's next crochet hat!
I just finished a cupcake hat and a cute little monkey hat for two little girls, I'll post photos soon!
I hope you enjoy your labor day, I'm going to enjoy my day with my favorite boys up until work tonight!