Ahh, Sweet Success

Miles is finally potty trained! I say finally, but really he isn't even quite three yet, which for boys is about average I guess. He has been perfect for about two weeks. I started running low on diapers, so we just went for it. He was ready, and he is even staying dry all night!

He was doing pretty well back in November, so we went to Wal-mart and I just put undies on him. I took him straight to the bathroom right when we got there. Well, as I was about to check out, I looked down at him and his pants were completely soaked, as were all the groceries in the cart.

What do you do when your kid pees on your groceries? Put them on the conveyor belt? Hand them to the cashier? It is a very tricky situation. The produce bags had beads of pee all over them. I decided to just get some kleenex and wipe them off as much as possible then just go through the line. Ewww. But what do you do?

This put the potty training on hold for a bit. *I* was the one who was clearly not ready! Diapers were just so much easier. I had a similar experience with Monet. But with her she was standing next to me when diarrhea started pouring out of her shorts and pooling on the tile next to the checker. I actually left Elise with the checker, ran Monet into the restroom, and had to somehow get the diarrhea soaked clothing off of her but keep her from being naked--it was a challenge. But us moms, we can do anything!

It is really nice to have only one in diapers. The new challenge is getting Miles to stay on the toilet so I can wipe him. We tried to explain that if he touched his poop, he might get worms in his bottom. Well, that worked for a little while. Jared bought some fishing worms last year when he took the girls fishing, and Miles loved to look at them in their little box in the fridge. So I am sure that visual stuck. But he still doesn't seem to care too much about getting stinky poop on his hands, maybe we need to go buy some more worms.

Anyone remember this really exciting day? Miles decided that poop made a great artistic medium. What better way to make mommy squeal. We had to start putting him to sleep in these little sleep sacks to limit the access to his diaper because it became quite the frustrating habit, especially for my poor babysitter!

Check out the hand in this one!

The sleep sack (and his favorite stick he used to beat up the walls)

In this last one, his legs are totally covered. This was the age when we just started documenting all the crazy things this little guy would think up. Laugh or cry moments. My life is filled with them!

Looking Forward to in 2008

So I am very excited for a full year of not being pregnant or postpartum! Yay! I caught a little virus and felt mildly nauseated a couple weeks ago and it just reinforced how happy I am not to have to go through morning sickness ever again. I love my kids, but I really could do without being pregnant. It is nice to be able to plan the next year's races and not have to think about whether or not I'll be able to do them.

So I caught the New Year's spirit this week and started looking ahead to what I wanted to do this year, and where I want to focus my attention. Here are some things I am really looking forward to:

1. In June I am running the Wasatch Back Relay with 12 great friends (which is probably the most exciting part). I love sharing the race experience with friends. It is just such an adrenaline rush. This race runs from Logan to Park City, and covers 178 miles. My three legs are about 14 miles total, but the last leg has an 8% incline for 4 miles. This race is going to push me out of my comfort zone. I found a route near my house in November that is about the same distance and elevation gain and ran/walked up it. It was incredibly hard--I have a lot of work to do! But it is fun to have a new challenge. I am really looking forward to it. One of my favorite things about running is facing something that looks so difficult, and then that great feeling of accomplishment after you've conquered it. I think I've learned a lot of great lessons about life through running. One of the things that always amazes me is how much ground you can cover in a relatively short time by just putting one foot in front of the other and consistently moving. I love to look back at the canyon behind me when I am almost home and see just how far I've gone!

2. I am also going to try for St. George Marathon again. I've registered three times already in 2003, 2005, and 2007 and never been chosen in the lottery. So I am hoping the fourth time is the charm! I have heard it is a beautiful marathon. I loved Chicago with all the huge crowds cheering endlessly throughout the race. But St. George is nice and close and a great race by all accounts.

3. Another skill I want to learn is photography. I took a mini class this summer and it was so helpful! I learned how to use the manual settings on my digital camera. It was pretty cool. I'd love to learn more so I can take beautiful pictures of my kids. I also want to learn Photoshop so I can edit the pictures and do cool things with digital scrapbooking.

4. The last thing I want to do is to learn 24 new raw and vegan recipes. It is always nice to have more healthy options. Jared and I took a raw cooking class a couple years ago and learned some easy and delicious healthy staples. We especially loved the coconut chocolate smoothie, and the green smoothies. We need some new ideas and flavors. We like eating meat, and I am not giving up cooked food (no way :) ) but I like having the variety. If anything, we eat too much meat and need to cut back. In order to do that we need some new ideas.

I am excited for 2008! Jared loves doing goals, and I have over a hundred things I wrote down a few years ago. I've crossed lots of big ones off the list in the last couple years, but these are four things I want to focus on for 2008.