The Rock Climbing Wall

I vaguely recall a conversation with Chad about how he thought it'd be cool to have a rock climbing wall in our home for Liam.  Next thing I know, a mysterious package from ebay shows up on our doorstep containing a bunch of rocks.  This truly is proof that my husband is young at heart and that I should win Best Wife of the Year award for letting him drill holes into the wall to attach rocks. Below, the before and after pic.
Oh well, they say if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. You can see where Liam gets his mad climbing skills and dexterity. We must be distant cousins to spiderman.

Potty training

I think potty training is one of the worst parts of being a parent. With that said, I think he's about got it! Yay!! A friend swore by the 3 day potty training method, so I googled it. It involved eating lots of salty snacks, drinking plenty of fluids...and, well...letting them run around commando. It sounded weird, but peeing in his pants didn't seem to be phasing him, so I gave it a try. Later my friend told me that she skipped the commando part of the potty training method. Oh well. I think it did some good. And it was really cute seeing that cute little bum in all it's many activities.
Here Chad is enjoying one of our favorite treats- Dairy Queen Georgia Mud Fudge blizzard with a base of chocolate ice cream (very important to specify that when ordering!). And Max, true to form is begging for a bite. The kid LOVES food!
Oh, how I love my boys...all three of them! And here's the part of my blog entry where I wax philosophical. I've thought about the process of Liam learning to be in tune with his body and when he needs to go the bathroom. In the beginning of potty training Liam didn't always recognize when he needed to use the bathroom and he'd have an accident. To prevent future mishaps we did many things- repeatedly asked him if he needed to go and I'd remind him that he needs to say "Mama, pee pee". We also replayed "and when you go pee pee in the toilet you get candy!" And then of coarse sometimes you just make him sit on the toilet despite any protests. Now he's to the point where I seldomly have to ask or make him sit on the toilet. He comes to me "Mama, pee pee in toilet!" We excitedly run to the bathroom. I wait to hear the trickle of pee and then we do a celebratory dance all the way to the candy jar.

Now, please forgive me for finding an analogy out of potty training, but I can't help it. I'm a mom! This is what I'm exposed to all day. Oh the things I get to ponder on. :) Anyways, I've thought about how this learning process for Liam is a lot about the learning process that we go through with hearing and feeling the Holy Ghost. In the beginning, we may not always be in tune with how the Holy Ghost speaks to us. We may not know what it feels like. We may even deny when we are feeling it. But with practice and multiply experiences, we too can become more in tune with what it feels like when we are being prompted by the Holy Ghost.

Happy Birthday Liam!

We now have a 3 year old! And, this is what we did to celebrate. Yay!

And before you write us off for bad parents for not having a party, cake & ice cream, balloons, etc., I should add that we all had some sort of bug and were feeling a little sick. Besides, who needs cake & ice cream at every birthday anyways?
Max was quite excited about all the gifts too.
And, in the spirit of birthdays, here are some 3 year old pictures for Liam...
...and 10 month old pics for Max.
The brother pictures, unfortunately, didn't go as smoothly.  Oh well.  Maybe next year.