A Heart Walk THANK YOU!

The Heart Walk 2012 numbers are in! This year $360,000 was raised to support pediatric cardiac care at Children's in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. That is AWESOME! Awesome awesome awesome.

We had a number of generous family members and friends donate money in Elijah's honor and we want to thank you all from the bottoms of our hearts! This cause is so near and dear to us. Thank you for supporting our boy and our family. And an extra thank you to those of you who walked with us last weekend. We love you all so much and appreciate your generosity and kindness more than you will ever know!

And in honor of our special-hearted boy, here is a series of bare-chested dance moves that I captured with my camera the other day..

What a week it has been! Honestly, I am glad it is done. I had a crazy deadline that I managed to meet (yay!) and we got some other annoying stuff out of the way, too.

Elijah had a BIG potty success today, and then an accident at the very end of the day. Baaaay-beeeee-steppppps.

I hope you are all doing well this week. Thank you for checking in on us!

Hot hot Minnesota day!

It was a super hot day today! The rest of the week is expected to be the same, if not hotter. I LOVE IT. I love the days of water and outdoor adventures and flip-flops and t-shirts and popsicles.

The little boys and I visited a very fun nature center this morning, thanks to a kind blog reader's recommendation. What a fun place! We will definitely go back!

It was obvious so many times today that despite Sammy's adventurousness in certain areas, he is definitely the most withdrawn of our two boys. 

He still had a great time with his brother, running and climbing and exploring in the hot sun.

Elijah thought this frog statue was pretty fun. :)

We were all exhausted when we got home, so we ALL took a nap and then continued the outdoor theme by splashing in the blow-up pool in our yard. Well, Elijah did, anyway.

Sammy wanted nothing to do with the pool. He has something against water these days.

He stayed far far away while Elijah made silly faces at my camera and splish-splashed around for literally hours.

In case you are wondering about the P word, we had ONE success today and ZERO accidents! Even despite our adventures and not being inside much.

Tomorrow we will be out of commission all day, so you won't hear from us again until Friday or Saturday! Have a good rest of your week!

Thanks for checking in! I hope you are enjoying your hot summer days as much as we are!

Here is a quick video of Elijah's pool dance moves and his claim that it is cold out. :)

Family time

This is my favorite photo of the day. Once in a while they actually do look out for one another.

Dan was HOME today! We had a fun morning together at the zoo. The boys absolutely love that place. Elijah flaps his arms like crazy and Sammy stomps his little feet on the ground out of sheer excitement. On hot days, the zoo splash park is a great place to hang out.

We checked out the farm animals today, which was a bit of a treat. We typically bypass this part of the zoo since it requires a tractor ride and a considerable time commitment. It was fun!

We even treated the boys to an ice cream cone at the farm. Sammy loved the ice cream and Elijah loved the cone. :) 

See? Brotherly love happens on occasion! (My second favorite photo of the day.)

Here is a typical image of our boys. Sammy is trying to climb over the fence while Elijah stays grounded with a toy (security) in his hand.

I love this! Sammy looks so cute with his little lamb. :)

E looks like a good (slightly tired) farm boy.

I can't even think about all that I/we need to accomplish this week. I am hosting a dinner party tomorrow night for my food blog and I don't even have my menu nailed down. I'm such a procrastinator! Why do I do this to myself?!

Here are a few more photos from our niece's baseball game yesterday. They come courtesy of my mother-in-law. Look at Sammy and his "Bames!" I love this!

Here are the boys with their cousin Alyssa and the Twins mascot, T.C. Bear. I love Sammy's expression.

Elijah loved the bear and couldn't get enough of him. :)

We had a couple mild potty accidents/partial successes today. We are constantly working on it! :) Thanks for checking in!

Busy day!

We had another fun and busy day today. Thankfully Elijah saved pooping in his pants until 20 minutes before bed tonight. :) We were able to go to our niece Kayla's baseball game, which was super fun for the kids. Sammy and Elijah were all over the place! Wanting to see aunties and Grandma and cousins and the people and the playground. My head was spinning trying to keep track of two zooming little monkeys!

Sammy formed a sweet little bond with his oldest cousin on Dan's side of the family, James ("Bames"). When we left, he let out a sad little cry and said, "Baaa-aaaamess....see Bames 'gain?!" I love that our boys have cousins so close in age and that they are all such good pals.

After we got home from the baseball game I put Sammy down for a nap and Elijah and I had quiet time in the living room. He was watching Despicable Me and I was dozing a bit on the couch. All of a sudden I heard, "MOMMY! I have to poop in the toilet!" I sat straight up and said, "YAY! GO!" So he did. He was proud of himself. When Sammy woke up from his nap we immediately redeemed Elijah's #8 "prize," which was a dinner trip to Davanni's. The boys enjoyed it. Then we redeemed his "prize" that he received from Grammie and Gramps last week, a McDonald's cone!

I snapped this photo just as Sammy stole Elijah's last bite of cone. "OH NO!" :) And then 30 seconds later, Sammy thought it would be funny to run through McDonald's so I would chase after him. When I finally found him he was IN THE KITCHEN. Seriously. I had to run back behind the registers and into the kitchen. There were about 10 people, jaws to the floor, looking at me like, WHAT THE...?!?!

We got home from this excursion and had some "bucket-time" outside (it was a hot day!) and then....poop in pants. I did my absolute best not to let my frustration show, which is seriously one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life. 

I had a dream last night that a doctor was handing me a note. As he handed it to me, he said, "Medically, everything is fine here, Megan. This is just a matter of Elijah's development and it goes along with the trend that everything he has ever done has taken considerable time." I grabbed the note from his hand and said to myself, "Duh." 

And so we continue to be patient and do our best. We will get there, I know we will!

Elijah has been quite the artist lately. He spends huge chunks of time at his easel in the garage, not speaking to anyone and concentrating on his masterpieces. When he is finished, he will give me detailed accounts of his "works." 

Dan has not been home since early Thursday morning! I am hoping this is not an indication of what the rest of the summer will be like. Not that the little boys and I don't have a great time together. We would just like to see Dan once in a while! While sitting at a stop light today, Sammy said, totally out of the blue, "Daddy be hoooommme!" and started crying. :(

I'm sure we will have all sorts of new adventures and news tomorrow (laughing crazily)! Whoever knows what is in store, right?! Have a good evening, everyone.

Heart Walk 2012!

The Heart Walk today went great! Elijah and Sammy sat nicely in the stroller while I pushed their 70 pounds for 3 miles. :) It was honestly such an awesome event to be a part of. There were literally thousands and thousands of people there, walking and running and raising money in honor of loved-ones, just like we were. We had a few friends walk along with us, and it felt incredible to have their support! I can't help but get teary thinking about the fact that my friends Kendis and Chris drove 4+ hours from Bemidji to be a part of our day. And then they prepared the most delicious picnic lunch for us, complete with chicken-avocado wraps, PBandJ roll-ups for the boys, juice boxes, cheese sticks (E's fave), berries (S's fave), chips, water and brownies. Holy cow! We felt so special and blessed! We have the world's best family and friends, and I will always stand by that statement. (I don't have photos of the picnic because my phone died!)

I talked with Elijah a few times today about the meaning of the Walk. I think he somewhat understood, but not fully. It will be another year or two before he comprehends the true meaning of having a "special heart."

When we were just getting ready to start the Walk, we were approached by none other than our very own Dr. G (and his three beautiful children...holy cow)! As always, it is always nice to see him. That man has taken such good care of our little boy's heart. He will always have a very special place in all of our hearts. He pointed to E and he told his children, "Hey, see that little boy?! On his 18th birthday, the two of us are going to make our first skydives together!" Dan and I have bugged him for years to go skydiving, so it was fun to hear him say that. I told him I would draw up a contract and have him sign it at our next visit. :)

And here are my silly boys this evening, wearing a colander and pan on their heads. Of course! By the way, the pan you see on Sammy's head is the same pan I wore on my head as a child. :) (I apologize for the underwear-clad boy. It was too cute of a photo not to post.)

I won't get much into potty woes tonight, but I will say that it was another disappointing day. Two accidents (thankfully post-Walk), loss of dropzone-visiting privileges and a few tears. Hopefully some lessons were learned. We did a lot of positive talking about it all. Consistency WILL pay off, dangit! I am determined.

And that is all I have for tonight. Thank you for checking in and for being a part of our lives!

Moooooore potty woes, yes indeed!

With any great success comes great setbacks, right?! This is what I have been telling myself for the past two days. Elijah has basically reverted right back to where we were at two weeks ago with his potty business. It is sad. When this ordeal is all said and done, I will be writing a book that will be titled, How to Potty Train Your Strong-Willed Child. I'm already taking mental notes for it. I'm not joking.

(Quick intermission...look at this beautiful boy!)

Whatever his reason for regression is, we are holding strong with our rules and rewards. Eventually (we hope) he will learn that we will not back down. Pooping in pants? Loss of privileges. Pooping in toilet? Fun things! Wooo! He obviously knows this, as he lived "the dream" for eight consecutive, glorious days.

(Could our boys be any more handsome??)

Today we had really fun plans to visit a nature center north of the cities (thanks for the recommendation, Lacey!), and Elijah was really excited about it. Thirty minutes before we were going to leave, Elijah pooped on the chair he was sitting on! Ugh! It is so so so so so very hard to keep my emotions in check when things like this happen (after sooo much time and work). This will be one of the chapters in my book. KEEP YOUR EMOTIONS IN CHECK (and yes, it will be in caps). I immediately directed him to the chart and showed him that because of his decision not to go in the toilet, we now couldn't go on our fun trip. I was just as bummed as he was, but I tried not to let that show (another chapter).

That was at 8:30 this morning, so all day he had basically no privileges aside from playing here at home. He had two more accidents today, one of which was a big ordeal.

Painting on the driveway with sidewalk paint was permitted. This was our fun activity for the day!

At this point we are just going to stick to our plan because I believe it is a good one. Elijah LOVES his "prizes," and he hates not having privileges. Consistency will show him that life is better when we poop in toilets. Maybe that should be the title of my book. Life is Better When We Poop in Toilets!

Tomorrow is the heart walk, which we are all excited about! I'm praying that E does not poop in his pants in the morning. Another book chapter will be, How To Make It Seem Like a Fun Trip Is Not a Fun Trip (when canceling a fun trip is not possible). We have a few friends and family members joining us for the walk and we are so thrilled about that! What a great opportunity to raise money and awareness for congenital heart disease while honoring our brave monkey and seeing friends all at the same time.

With the days being so long, Dan is away from home a lot, and working hard. We miss him. We are hoping to get out to the dropzone to see him this weekend at some point.

By the way, the "recipe" for fun sidewalk paint = 1 cup water + 1 cup corn starch (keeps the final product visible) + food coloring, as desired. Hours of endless fun!

Sammy loved the experience way more than Elijah, who was more concerned about the driveway being "tooooo hottttt!" Hence, the towel you see under his bum in the photos. :)

Thank you for checking in!

If you have an open spot on your prayer list, would you mind adding a prayer for this potty thing to fall into place for good? Thank you!

Potty news and a fun new dz trip!

E had a super teeny tiny poopy accident in his pants today. It was little, but enough that we considered it an "accident" for the first time in nine days. We were bummed! He felt terrible about it. He lost the privileges listed on his potty chart for the day, and he was very upset about that. We are hoping this shapes his day positively tomorrow, and for the (20 million) days that follow.

We visited some good friends of ours yesterday at their new dropzone. We are so happy for them and their new venture! The boys had a great time playing with the two sweetest little twins ever! We have such amazing friends.

Is this love?? You decide.

Look at this cute little boy, Bodi! He is just the sweetest thing.

Sammy was drawn to his friend Sofi's pink chair. When he got off, he would carry it around with him wherever he went. :)

Our friends Tammy and Doug have such an amazing story. We love them and their beauties!

"Look! Daddy is skydiving!"

And here is the beautiful Sofi!

What do you want, Mama?!

Chillin'. Waiting for skydivers to fall from the sky.

We are hoping for good weather tomorrow so Dan can work! I am hoping to get a productive day in, too, while the boys play with their friends at daycare for a few hours.

I have to end with a conversation I overheard Elijah having with himself tonight:

"Hi! Do you want to have a pic-mick?"
"Yeah! Sounds great!"
"What do you want to put in the pic-mick back-set?"
"Uhhmmm, let's put in some sandwiches and apple slices and cheese and Red Bull (um, my weakness lately) and water and milk and beard (I think he meant "beer") and buffalo chicken pants!"
"Great! Let's go have our pic-mick!"

:)

Thanks for checking in! If you live in the area and would like to join us on our Heart Walk on Saturday, please let me know!