Monthly Archives: June 2016

Father, Dad, Papa… you get the idea.

I woke up unusually invigorated and chipper this morning. I remember at some point last night I woke up in Phoebe’s bed and she wanted to switch to our bed, so this morning I woke up with little toes burrowed into my side and the sound of Josh already in the living room with Enzo who decided to wake up early today. I don’t think Josh was amused by all of our unexplainable energy. Maybe (just maybe) I’ll let him sleep in a bit on Sunday since it is Father’s Day after all. And because of that, I thought I’d throw a little love his way.

Dear Josh,

While it may be annoying that the kids probably think of you as the fun parent, I appreciate so much that you are fun with our kids. It’s the moments where you all play silly games together that they will look back on one day. Even when they are teenagers and think you are so embarrassing and we all try to pretend we don’t know you, they (and me) will always be grateful for your sense of humor and fun loving spirit.

Love,

Your super awesome and humble wife.

Through the ups and downs, we’ve been a fairly decent team when it comes to parenting and I’m glad to have you as my partner in this whole raising kids thing. You’re the yin to my yang and the peanut butter to my jelly… or maybe the frosting to my cupcake. Either way, you’re necessary and together we made some pretty adorable kiddos who think you’re pretty awesome too.

Last, but certainly not least, a thank you to my own dad who gifted me my first camera and instilled in me a sense of wanderlust and appreciation for the beauty that is all around us. Some of my favorite memories will always be of waking up early to go on explorations and long drives.

Potty Training and a vague Disney film reference

“A whole new world… ” Sing it with me everyone!

Completely cheesy, but I really do feel like we’ve entered a whole new world in parenting. A world without diapers! Okay, we still have pullups for naptime and overnights, but I have a feeling we won’t need those for long with how well Phoebe is doing. I think being the second child has helped greatly.

I feel like we may have pressured Enzo too much with potty training – in true first parent fashion we were uncertain whether we were making the “right” choices and I especially was overly worried about being a good parent when I should have walked away from Google and Mommy forums and put a little more faith in myself. There is no right or perfect way to parent and the firstborn is unfortunately the guinea pig.

So, even potty training seemed like a stressful milestone when it really shouldn’t have been. Who cares if you use the 3 day method or use pull-ups or whatever? Part of the problem was also the pressure from day care to have him trained and I think it was before he was truly ready. With Phoebe, I felt the same pressure initially, but then with so many other things going on didn’t think about it again. We would ask her if she wanted to use the potty, but never pushed it and then suddenly she said she wanted to wear underwear and there was no turning back!

It’s been a little over a week and she’s been doing great. She still doesn’t always want to poop on the potty, but we’re getting there. I caught her making “the face” and ran her to the bathroom despite her protests and she was excited when it happened. She’s even going through the night without peeing sometimes! Accidents are happening less and less often and it’s fairly exciting… almost too exciting.

I hate public bathrooms and the germs and it is not easy taking kids to a public bathroom. Phoebe, however, has been crying wolf a lot this past week simply because of the novelty of getting to pee in a restroom. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to rush to a bathroom because she has said she needs to go potty, only to rush inside, set up her potty seat and have her sit down, smile, shrug her shoulders and say, “No pee comin’ out!” Sigh.

*The pictures have nothing to do with potty training, I just wasn’t going to post pictures of that*

Week In Review – Car Trouble and Potty Training

Happy Monday!

Linking up with Meghan from Clean Eats, Fast Feets for another Week in Review!

WEEK IN REVIEW (in no particular order)

I feel like this past week wasn’t really all that productive, but it went by quickly and I don’t remember much in particular.

Phoebe is officially potty training, though I can’t really take credit for that. She decided on her own that she was ready to start wearing underwear – more on that later, though it has been the biggest event of the week. Parenting!
We made due with one vehicle this week as the van was in the shop. I’m incredibly grateful for friends who are mechanics.
Got some cleaning done, and even talked the kids into helping me dust. You can turn anything into a game at this age, and I love it.
Got a used bike trailer and very briefly broke it in with the kids… it was 90 degrees out and too hot for anything more than a trip around the block. The kids loved it, though, and it’ll be another nice way to get outside with the kiddos and for Josh and I to get a little exercise. It felt really weird to get on a bike after so long.

I know there was more to the week, but it felt completely dominated by car trouble and potty training, and I’m going to say it… potty training is not my favorite. Ha ha.

And now for a Snapchat Sunday recap on Monday!

Snapchat-4821868525201798014 from Heather Shoberg on Vimeo.

Dinosaurs!

The dinosaurs are back at the Minnesota Zoo and this year we decided to walk through with the kids. It costs extra, and I’m still not sure if it’s quite worth the extra cost. I think if it was just Josh and I we would have felt it had been a waste, but the kids seemed to enjoy it and watching their reactions was worth it.

Enzo was stoked when we saw the first dinosaurs, but then his focus became more about seeing a T-Rex and only a T-Rex. We had a hard time getting him to slow down and not skipping everything in between. Phoebe took some warming up. We had to convince her that the dinosaurs were not in fact real, but because they were animatronic she didn’t quite believe us at first.

If it hadn’t been for the baby dinosaurs, I think Josh might have had to carry her the whole way through, but as soon as I saw one, she scampered over and was all, “Ahhh, cute!”

There was Jurassic Park music in the background and various facts along the trail that we didn’t really have time to read because… kids, but it was fun to walk through and not overly crowded or hot thanks to shade here and there.

Once we finally made it to the T-Rex, Enzo was excited for about 5 seconds while Phoebe jumped into Josh’s arms and had to once again be convinced that she wasn’t going to get eaten or anything.

By far the kids favorite part of the dinosaur exhibit was the end wherein they got to crawl in big dinosaur eggs and we all got Icees because it was so hot out. So, all in all the kids gave the dinosaurs exhibit a thumbs up, but more so for the Icees.

Things they say and do…

I can’t remember every little thing they do, but it’s nice (for me) to write down what I can now and then so I can look back later.

Enzo
- Wants to be a dinosaur when he grows up.
- Has nightmares now and then, but has been able to tell us about them in more detail. The other night it was monster faces in his room. Only occasionally does he end up in our room, though.
- Huge imagination! We’ll have a conversation about wildlife and suddenly he’s telling a story about how when he was a baby (how most of his stories begin) a skunk sprayed him and a squirrel stole all of his candy. Yesterday it was a giant who tried to eat him (and apparently succeeded) but then he also looked at Enzo afterwards and said, “Time for dessert!” and ate him again…
- Quite the bossy pants and I have to often remind him he isn’t the parent when he tells Phoebe she can’t have any more TV if she does such and such. This morning he told her she couldn’t watch TV if she kept laughing. Yeah, not so much, Buddy.
- Has discovered my least favorite game of all time – the Copycat game. I turn the tables on him, but he usually just thinks it’s funny and it doesn’t stop him.
- Was worried we might move the other day and said he only wanted to stay in our house and anxiously asked if we would move. I told him not to worry about it for now. Poor boy likes change about as much as I do. 😉

Phoebe
- Peeeeze!!! Just a little bit (Don’t forget the thumb and pointer finger pinched together for the full effect). Also the outraged scream when you have to say “No” for one reason or another.
- No longer stays in bed when I leave her room if she’s still awake. Instead she climbs out and curls up with her head against the door, so when I try to go put her back in bed I can’t open the door… not until her demands are met and I agree to lay in bed with her again.
- Loves My Little Pony and she has a ton now thanks to Josh’s thrift store finds. I had to go out and buy some new outfits for her because she became obsessed and NEEDED pony shirts.
- Wants yogurt all day every day and every morning sits in my lap while she drinks her chocolate milk.
- Is in the midst of potty training! It’s going fairly well during the day time, and yesterday was the first day without accidents!

I know it’s said all the time, but they really do grow up so fast. I can’t believe we’re not going to have any diapers to change soon and that soon Phoebe will be moving up into the preschool room at day care. They won’t be in the same class, but will be seeing a lot more of each other. Sigh. Slow down!!

Dino and Bunnies

Every day adventures