Potty Training

So, my sweet, sweet little girl has been ready to potty train pretty much since she turned 2. It was just hard to push with her being so young and me not being with her all day. So we have been trying to potty train on and off since April or so.

She was probably more ready than I was. I never used Pull-Ups with any of the boys but I decided I would use them with Halle since she was so young. I think it was a huge mistake. I think it confused her more than anything.

I kept saying that as soon as summer hit, we were going to start potty training hard core. Well, it is really, really hard to potty train when you are on the go constantly and in a pool the rest of the time. I can't not put a swim diaper on her when if there is ever a time that she wouldn't want to stop doing was she is doing to go to the bathroom...it would be while she is swimming. I definitely couldn't take a chance on her pooping in someone's swimming pool.

Long story short...she has been doing really good when she has panties on. She has had very few accidents and it is usually at night when I forget to ask her if she needs to go. I decided today that we are completely done with diapers and Pull-Ups...no matter what! Every single week there is something that prevents me from having her wear panties full time. So, no more!! She will only wear a diaper during nap and bed time.

We went to dinner tonight and she didn't have an accident. We are going to try church in the morning with panties. We have to try sometime....why not now?

Wish me luck! We also climbed out of her bed this morning. I guess it is time to convert her bed into a toddler bed. Yikes...I'm not sure I want this to all happen at once. I am seeing visions of Connor getting married and Halle going off to college...ugh...I think I'm gonna be sick.

Swimming, Swimming, and More Swimming

My kids are seriously fish. There is question about that! They would swim all day, every day if I let them! So for about a week and a half all we did was swim. We swam in about 3 different friends' pools. We were sooooo tired, but we had so much fun it didn't matter. Here are a few videos of the kids swimming!

My sweet 4 year is fearless. He had no problem, actually he loved jumping off the diving board. He would come to the surface and I would just say, "Head in and swim", and he would do it!


Halle is doesn't really get that she is 2 and not able to do every single thing the boys do. She thinks she can swim. She actually does pretty well without her floaties on. She will jump off the diving board with her floaties on and swim to the side of the pool!


Jax has been doing so well this summer. He never wears his floaties and he can swim all the way to the bottom of the deep end of the pool and back up. He is really becoming a great swimmer!


I feel bad. I never got a video of Connor swimming. He is a great swimmer and has been for a couple of years now. We hope to get many more fun-filled days of swimming in before school starts and we have to go back to our "real world".

Kaden's Birthday Celebrations

Kaden has had his last two birthday parties at the city pool. This year he wanted a Chuck E Cheese birthday party. He kinda got 1 1/2 parties. His cousins, Kennedie and McKenlie, had their party at Chuck E Cheese the weekend before his birthday and involved him as well. He got to do the ticket blast and they put a candle on the cake for him. We had a blast at their party and it was so nice that they included Kaden on their party. He even got to go home with a Chuck E Cheese balloon.



On his actual birthday, we met dad at El Fenix for lunch!
After we ate, we went to see the movie "Rio". It was a great movie and the kids loved it.


The day after his birthday, we had Kaden's Chuck E Cheese party. Of course, he had a blast! Somehow, I have misplaced my camera and can not post pictures from his party. I will update this post as soon as I find it....

Happy 4th Birthday Kaden Samuel

My sweet baby boy is 4. Wow! I can't believe how fast my kids are growing up. I get so bogged down in the day to day "stuff" that comes with having 4 small children, but I definitely thank God every day for all of my blessings. Kaden is one of them!

Last night I laid in bed exhausted from a full day of swimming. We went to a friend's house to swim. We were there from 11-3 and then we went swimming again from 5:30-9:00....so I was exhausted. As I laid there, I thought back to Kaden's "beginnings". I previously called Kaden one of God's blessings, but he was also one of God's surprises that I didn't think I was ready for. Brock and I had two kids and we were unsure whether we were going to have another child or not. Brock was determined that our kids would be about 4 years apart because of the cost of college, so we definitely had no plans of having any more kids for awhile. Jaxson was only 18 or 19 months old. So, one November day, I was not feeling all that well and we were eating dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. Brock and I started talking and I couldn't remember exactly when my cycle should start, but I thought that I might be late. So, Brock begged me to stop on the way home and get a pregnancy test just for peace of mind.

I stopped at CVS to buy the test, of course I saw one of my student's parents and tried desperately to hide the test because I definitely didn't want everyone talking about it before I even knew if I was pregnant. I got home and took the test and it was a faulty test (or so we thought). It just never turned to anything. Brock was desperate to know at this point and wanted me to go out and get another test. I was not driving back to Rockwall so I told him that I would go in the morning. That was not good enough so he decided he would go up to the Dollar Store in town right before closing to get another test. I took it and it instantly showed that I was indeed pregnant. I was really scared...I didn't think that Brock was ready to have another one, I didn't think that we could afford another child, my worries were plentiful.

It didn't take me long to get out of the shock that I was indeed pregnant and start getting excited that I was being blessed with another baby! This pregnancy wasn't as easy as Connor and Jaxson's, but I didn't have any big issues.

I desperately wanted to have a vaginal birth with Kaden because I had one with Connor and it went perfectly, then I had a c-section with Jaxson and it was horr-i-ble!!! Well, that didn't happened so I really wanted to have my c-section scheduled for 7-7-07 because I thought that would be a really cool birthday for him. Well, that didn't work either and they scheduled it for 7-13-07...FRIDAY, the 13TH. Okay, that doesn't sound like a big deal to most people, but I'm not most people. I am the biggest wimp and scaredy cat and to get completely cut open on Friday the 13th didn't sound like a good idea! It ended up being fine and it wasn't nearly as painful as it was with Jaxson.
All of it was worth it because I was blessed with this little one. The minute I saw him, I noticed his chin...Brock affectionately calls it his "butt-chin". We instantly thought of my grandfather...I have an "indented chin" but my mom's dad really had one. I wanted to show him to my mom right away because my grandfather had passed away a few years before and I knew that my mom would get a kick out of it! We named him Kaden Samuel Callaway. Connor actually came up with the name Kaden. Samuel is my grandfather's name and he is one of my very favorite people, I was so happy for my son to carry his name.

I won't lie to you...the transition from 2 kids to 3 kids wasn't easy but it wasn't because of Kaden. He was a great baby. Jax acted out quite a bit when Kaden came home. He would go into Kaden's room when I was pre-occupied and take all of the wipes out of the container...one by one. This happened quite often and drove me crazy!

Kaden has always been a good boy. He is loving and a bit ornery.

On his 4th birthday, he is sweet. Everyone loves his voice and he makes us laugh every single day. He does not try to be funny, he just is. He loves to swim. He is a little fish. He took swimming lessons this year and Mrs. Laura said that she has never seen a kid as young as Kaden do the things he does in water. He loves to watch Wow Wow Wubzy. He loves to do anything his older brothers do. He has beautiful eyes and dimples and some times it is just way too hard to say no to him. He loves to be naked.all.the.time. We are constantly having to tell him to go put underwear on....seriously! He does by many names...Kaden, K, K-dog, Samuel, Sammie, K-dog squarepants. He does not like to wait his turn and he has very, very little patience. He eats pretty much anything. He loves pizza, chicken, green beans, macaroni and cheese, chocolate milk and he LOVES donuts.

Tomorrow, we will celebrate Kaden's 4th birthday at Chuck E Cheese with his friends and our families!

Kaden Samuel I love you so much and I am blessed every day by your sweet smile and your big hugs. I love you to the moon and back!!!

4thof July

We have been so busy so it was so nice that we had nothing to do all day until 7 or 8. It was a nice restful day! We have a great view of the Rockwall fireworks from the lawn behind our church building, so every year on the 4th of July, we go and watch from there with all our friends from church.

We had a good time. Connor went to Harry Myers Park (where they are setting off the fireworks) with one of his friends, so that is why there are no pictures of him!

Family Day

On the Sunday before July 4th, my family went over to my parent's house for a cookout and to swim. We always have a great time when we go to swim! My kids are fish and would stay in the pool all day, every day if they could.


Jaxson and my dad playing in the pool.
Jax and his cousin Kennedie. She is only 4 months younger than Jaxson.
McKenlie (almost 2), my dad, Briona,Charlie, and Halle.
Brock and 2 of his little boys. I have some handsome boys in my house!


My niece, Charlie, with Halle in the pool.

My other handsome son, Connor.


My pretty little girl, Halle.After swimming and eating, we waited for the Rowlett fireworks. They were the best I had seen in a long time. There were several fireworks that I had never seen. While we waited, mom and dad had bought sparklers for the kids.

This was the first year in a long time that no one cried! Kaden and Halle had both been scared of fireworks before. Halle is very scared of thunder and lightning. I really thought she would be terrified of the fireworks. She was scared when they started, but as soon as she saw how pretty they were, she was fine. We were excited and ready for fireworks the next day, which was the 4th of July.

The 4th Week of Summer

After the crazy week with swimming lessons, baseball camp, and basketball camp, we didn't make a lot of plans. I didn't want to have to be anywhere at any certain time.

We went and saw Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2. Connor loved the movie. Of course, he had already read the book...read the book in probably 2 hours and had been waiting patiently to see it.

We also went swimming at my mom's house one day, but I didn't get any pictures! :(

We had a class social with our Sunday morning class at church. It was Harry Myers Park. We reserved the pavilion and the kids played at the sprinkler park.

3rd Week of Summer - Swimming Lessons/Baseball Camp/Basketball Camp

So, I'm a bit late on this....but the 3rdweek of summer was C.R.A.Z.Y. Our daily schedule went a little like this...

4:45 - Schauna wakes up to go run the bridge. I return by 7 to shower. This is only on M, W, & F.

8:00 - Connor and Jaxson to baseball camp.

11:00 - Pick up the boys from baseball camp.

11:30-12:00 - Jaxson swimming lessons.

12:00 - Connor to basketball camp.

3:00 - Pick up Connor from basketball camp.

4:10 - Halle swimming lessons (only W & Th)

4:50 -Kaden swimming lessons

As you can see, I was a little overbooked! I am so thankful for my friend, Kandi, who helped me with Connor quite a bit. I usually picked up Jaxson, Connor and his friend, Colby from baseball camp and took them to Kandi's house. She would feed them lunch and then take them to basketball camp so that I could get Jaxson to his swimming lessons.

I was exhausted by the time the week was over, but the kids had a good time, so it was worth it, I guess! lol The boys had a great time at both baseball and basketball camp.

I was thoroughly impressed with Jaxson and Kaden during their swimming lessons. The kids take lessons from Miss Laura every year. I think this is Jaxson's 3rd year of lessons with Mrs. Laura. Jaxson could already swim a little and is definitely not scared of the water. He did great!!! He was diving off the diving board and swimming all the way across the pool. I was really proud of him! I can't wait to see what he will be doing by the end of the summer.

This was Kaden's first year in swimming lessons. He did incredibly well. Miss Laura taught him to swim under the water, tread water, and jump off the diving board and swim to the other end of the pool. On the last day of lessons, Kaden asked Miss Laura if he could do something that Jaxson did in his lessons. She would put the pool in the deep end of the pool and throw rings to the bottom of the pool. They would shimmy down the pole to the bottom of the pool, get the ring, and then swim back up. She doesn't generally do that for kids his age (3), but he said that if he wanted to do it, he could...and he did. Incredible! He amazed all of us. She told us that she's never seen a kid as young as him do so well.

Halle on the other hand, didn't do so well. I thought that she would do great. She is not afraid of the water at all and she will even put her head in the water. She pretty much cried the whole time, but I do believe that Miss Laura taught her the most important thing of all. She knows how to get to the surface and how to float. She also knows "the side is safe".

We love Miss Laura! Thank you!

I did take several pictures and videos. Unfortunately, during the week, my phone took a swim as well. So, I can't get to several of my pictures. Also, I am having a hard time getting my videos from Brock's phone or from youtube.com onto my blog.