My big booty

So, my sister is staying with us for the summer, which puts us in a crunch when we all want to go somewhere. One of us has to sit in the back between the carseats, which is a very tight fit. Anyways, tonight, as I was squeezing myself in, Carter laughs and says "your big booty is too big to fit there!". Love it. It is time to either pick up running again, or get a bigger car.

He did it!

So that feeling of satisfaction was tripled today by the plunking sound of poop hitting the water (who would have guessed my blog would be so graphic?). It happened today before nap time. I had resigned myself to a lifetime of cleaning up "accidents" (I'm not sure how accurate this term is for these, I swear sometimes he does it to get back at me for something), but now I can truly see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now I just have a box of size 5 diapers to find a home for... I don't think I have ever been so proud.

Potty Training!

I never imagined that I would experience such a feeling of personal triumph over such a small stream of urine flowing into the toilet, but here I am, feeling like I'm on top of the world, because Carter is almost potty trained. I say almost because we still haven't had the big "number 2" in the toilet and he did have a couple of accidents today. But he is telling me when he has to go now, and is making huge progress. I am hoping by the end of the week we will be good to go. Potty training probably isn't something that you should decide to do on a whim, but Monday morning I decided it was time, went to Target and picked up a bag full of $1 goodies and decided that it was going to happen this time. I think the stink of too many of his diapers may have affected my thinking at the time. Anyways, he is so excited for his treat bag, which he gets at the end of the day if he has done a good job of staying dry or if he fills up his sticker chart. I swear I have never seen a person get so much satisfaction out of a Reese's PB cup. It was super cute.

On another note, I finally found someone to cut my hair out here. Amber was a little bit offended (she usually does my hair when she comes out to visit), but I think she understands that I should probably cut my hair more than twice a year. It really shouldn't be that hard to find someone, but I want someone who is cheap but good. This girl does hair out of her home, but she does a great job. She used to cut hair at a salon in Utah. Now she is a stay at home mom with a husband in dental school. So if you don't mind getting your hair washed in the kitchen sink, she did a fabulous job on my hair and it was only $25! I'll take that any day. I have been in a serious slump lately and I need to get out of it. I went shopping yesterday and spent way more than I had planned (it's a lot easier to spend money without Mike there asking me how much everything is). Hopefully with some new clothes and a new haircut I can start feeling like myself again.

Really, in comparison to the potty training, the rest of my life is just ok. Samantha is getting better every day (for those who don't know, she was quite a stinker for a long time). She doesn't like to go to bed at night, though and gets this incredibly high pitched squeal which gets louder and higher as she gets more and more tired. I may have permanent hearing damage.

Lastly, I just had my first Frosty Float from Wendy's. YUM.

The Chaplins take on the Windy City

How sad is it that we live 1 hour away from Chicago and have only been down there maybe 3 times? We went down a couple of weeks ago to visit Mike's brother and sister in law when they were there for work. It was a blast! It was about 100 degrees, plus humidity (hence Carter's rosy cheeks). We did Navy Pier--Mike even braved the Ferris wheel (really, who's scared of the Ferris wheel? I would be more worried about those little chains on that swing snapping...). That is Mike on the aforementioned swing.

Carter loved the carousel and had a pretty hard time understanding that we had to get off when it stopped. His favorite part had to be the children's museum, although I hear that his uncle Jon may have had more fun than Carter.

Jon and Christine completely spoiled the kids, with some seriously cute outfits, and pretty much anything else they wanted. They also bought us all sorts of Korean treats (Christine is Korean). Although I couldn't tell you what most of it is, or what it is called, I can tell you that Mike can eat Pocky like nothing else, and the little chocolate mushrooms are fabulous. We haven't braved the shrimp flavored snacks yet, but one day they will be just what I am looking for.

After Navy Pier, we headed back to their hotel to cool off. They were staying at the Knickerbocker hotel "in the heart of the Magnificent Mile" (every time I hear the phrase "Magnificent Mile" I am reminded of the little blurb at the end of the Oprah show about how the guests of the Oprah Winfrey show stay at the all suite Omni hotel...). Anyways, the mile is not meant for strollers and I am pretty sure that I gave more than one sad pedestrian a flat tire.

Christine then introduced us to the Ghiardelli's store. I'm not sure how we missed that last time we were there. We got ice cream sundaes--YUM! Carter ate most of Christine's and then came after mine (better luck next time, kiddo).

Overall, a long, hot tiring day, but it was so fun to see Jon and Christine, and we had a great time. My only regret is that I let Mike go to Sullivan's--quite possibly the best steakhouse in the city (alright, the only one I have been to in the city) without me.

Carter with Jon and Christine

Welcome to my blog

I have been reading my good friend Karen's blog religiously for a while now (mostly because I secretly sometimes wish I had her carefree, adventurous life), and it never really occurred to me that maybe there was someone out there who would want to read about my life. But I have realized that as our families are getting bigger and our friends are spread out farther it is harder to stay in touch and let people know what is going on in our lives. So, if you are interested in this little piece of crazy that has become my life, stay tuned... more to come :).