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The sage continues. We are now potty training both our toddlers.

You can check out my previous potty training posts here:

• Potty training twins: Part 1 {No plan}
• Potty training twins: Part 2 {The next step}

Weve been potty training one of our toddlers, C, for 22 days now. His twin brother decided this past weekend that he wanted to potty train as well. We are on day 5 of potty training O. The first couple days of potty training both toddlers were crazy. It almost felt like C regressed some when O started potty training. In my previous posts, we were considering potty training C for overnight. We arent exactly sure of the approach we want to take on nights right now. Both toddlers are waking up with somewhat wet diapers-- not really, really wet, but still a little wet. Here are the three options Im considering for potty training them on nights:

1. Training underwear and waterproof training pants.
I feel like this is the most aggressive approach, the one to really get them to potty train overnight. I used these Gerber All in One Waterproof Training Pants with our oldest son, D, when we potty trained him. When wearing the Gerber Training Pants underneath these, they are pretty waterproof. A child can have an accident in these and it will hold really well. I like this combination because it really lets the child feel wet. I feel like pull ups are basically diapers and so there isnt too much incentive for the child not to treat it like a diaper. These Gerber training pants feel like underwear and so they arent comfortable to be wet in. I would also do the mattress trick I mentioned in "Potty training twins: Part 2 {The next step}."
Downside to this option: waking up in the night if they feel wet to change training pants; waking up in the morning to change training pants to regular underwear (which I do now from diapers to underwear).

2. Pull ups
I feel like this might be the easiest option. If I do this, there is a good chance that they will keep sleeping through the night when they use the pull up. In theory, they could also pull up and down the pull up in the morning when they need to use the restroom, perhaps even if they wake up in the night and need to use the restroom. I really feel like, even if I decide to go with the first option, I will probably start with pull ups first and then move to the Gerber training pants after they are even better about waking up dry.
Downside to this option: we go from buying Target diapers at $24.99 for 138 to pull ups at $19.99 for 52. The nice thing about the Gerber training pants is that they are reusable and washable; you have to keep buying pull ups.

3. Diapers
This is what we are doing for nights now. When they wake up in the morning, they run to the restroom and I change them from a diaper to underwear. Sometimes this is at 6:45 am, sometimes at 7:30 am. They sometimes wake up shortly after we put them to bed demanding to use the restroom, but never in the middle of the night. I dont feel they are necessarily learning to potty train nights this way and they throw a fit every evening when we change them into their pajamas and diaper, "I wear underwear, Momma!" The Target brand diapers, while we have generally been happy with them after switching from Pampers, dont have the best Velcro on the side. Once you pull apart the Velcro to allow the child to use the restroom, it doesnt stick back together well. Taking on and off the diaper to allow the child to use the restroom generally means changing his diaper as well, regardless of how dry it may be. Im kind of feeling like we need to do something else than diapers.
Downside to this option: we are almost out of diapers, so I would need to head on over to Target to buy another box of diapers.

We havent made up our mind yet on what we want to do for nights. I mentioned it before, but Im dreading the idea of giving up sleep. At 22-weeks pregnant, the last thing I want to be doing right now is wake up in the middle of the night to change sheets and give quick baths. That is why I think we will switch-- next week (ever the procrastinator)-- from diapers to pull ups, try it out for a week or two, and then move up to the Gerber Training Pants option if it is going well. Otherwise, I think we will linger in pull ups. (This is kind of a big deal for me to be considering pull ups as I swore up and down when potty training our oldest that I would never buy pull ups! Ah, motherhood... you end up eating words so often.)

Before we started potty training O, C really had potty training under his belt. Very, very few accidents. He had reached the "rebellious stage" of potty training: "Okay, Ive got this. Now Im going to see what I can get away with." He wasnt very happy the day he told us that he was going to use his underwear as a diaper and then did-- only to be confronted with consequences instead of treats or "Its okay." We didnt always have a change of clothes with us when we left the house, because he was so reliable. Wed left him with a sitter; wed run errands all day; wed visited friends houses and the like. If he was doing nights, I would have considered him potty trained. And then we started potty training O. The first day of potty training O passed uneventfully. The second day, Cs potty training went out the window. Not sure what happened. O only had one accident, but C had 3 or 4, very surprising to my husband and me because we had started thinking of him as very reliable and trustworthy in underwear. We had mini panic attacks. Are we starting over at square one with C? Are we doing something wrong?

The other problem we had was the treats were well out of hand. Anytime anyone used the bathroom in the house-- myself, my husband, our oldest son, one of the toddlers-- one of the toddlers would leap up and have to use the restroom. They were getting to the point of producing a drop or two just for treats constantly. I wrote in the blog post "Potty training twins: Part 2 {The next step}" that we were out of treats by noon. I was constantly in the bathroom telling the toddlers to stop playing in the sink, stopping playing by the toilet, asking them if they actually had to go potty, perpetually bombarded with demands for "Treats! Momma, treats!" It was ridiculous. If one toddler used the bathroom, the other would as well. So the first toddler would genuinely have to go potty. I would help him in the bathroom, wash his hands, come out and do treats, only for the second toddler to see the first toddler get treats, run to the bathroom, have me help him wash hands, come out and get a treat, for the first toddler to dash back in the bathroom... Constantly, constantly, constantly. Our system wasnt working.

So what does every logical woman do when faced with a tough problem? Call her mother. My mom said we needed to do away with treats for every time they use the restroom-- totally agree. I printed off a sticker chart for both of them, each a table I made on Microsoft Word. The table has 5 rows and 8 columns. The first row lists the days of the week in each column: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and a special column for Week. The next four rows are for stickers. If they go the entire day without an accident in their underwear, they get a sticker and a special treat (O got a cookie his first day without an accident and last night they both had their pick from the leftover Valentines Day candy). If they go the entire week without an accident (a concept they havent grasped yet and we havent fully explained yet-- we will when we actually have a weeks worth of stickers on the chart), they get a very special treat, like a bowl of ice cream or something.

Happy toddlers celebrating getting stickers on their potty training charts

I think it was because we had just started potty training O, but he caught on to this system very quickly. The first day we implemented this (day 3 of Os potty training), he was on board. He went the whole day without an accident. C did not catch on the first day. This was during his potty training regression after we started potty training O, and he deliberately had 2 accidents that day. That evening when we were putting a sticker on Os potty training chart, not intentionally in front of him, just with O to celebrate going a whole day, something with C clicked. The next day, C told me first thing in the morning, "I not have accidents today. I get sticker and treat." O piped in, "Me too!" And they did-- they went all day without any accidents. We spent a long morning/early afternoon picnicking at the park and they had no accidents. (I gave them each a small treat when we got home for being dry the whole time and for using the potty once we got home. They celebrated, "Yay! Dry at park!") They both took a long afternoon nap and were dry the whole time during their nap. When they woke up, we went to dinner and ran an errand all together as a family. I was so glad my hubby was there. When we pulled into the gas station, O yells, "Have to go potty!" He took O in to the bathroom. While he was in there, C says, "Have to go potty, Momma!" I pumped the gas and told C he had to wait. When my husband came out of the gas station, he went back in with C while I buckled O up in the car seat.

I havent entirely taken away treats. I generally give them a treat for performing the larger functions in the restroom. Out of all the accidents they could have in their underwear, pooping is the least pleasant to clean up and so I feel it should be amply rewarded for being done properly in the toilet. They seem satisfied when I tell them they dont get a treat every time they go potty in the toilet. I try to emphasize that they need to do go all day without an accident. Our oldest will always add, "Or if you go poop!" That has produced several small functions in the toilet for which the toddlers demand a treat, "Tiny poop, Momma! Treat!" Overall though, the treat system is far less abused as we are doing it now than when we were freely handing out treats every time either of them used the restroom. I also try to hand out surprise treats so they feel rewarded and noticed during the day for their efforts. I gave a treat yesterday for going the entire park playdate without any accidents. Ive given treats for running errands and using the potty while we are out. I just try to keep them small and casual, not make them feel like they are entitled to a treat every time they do this. After all, potty training really is something they should learn at one point or another to do without praise or compensation. I do ponder how the treat system crumbled so completely having twin toddlers potty training simultaneously. The treat system worked great potty training our singleton and when we were potty training one of our toddlers, but not potty training both of them.

This morning both the toddlers were admiring their sticker charts. They have counted up the stickers they have earned and plan on getting another sticker for today. After using the restroom an hour or two ago, one of the toddlers came in the family room and announced, "No accidents, Momma! Sticker tonight!" Im really starting to feel that some of the darker days of potty training are behind us... well, until we start nights! :)

Im sure other moms feel this way, but I am frequently reminded of Lord of the Flies by William Golding when parenting 3 children. So heres my upbeat potty training quote: “He found himself understanding the wearisomeness of this life, where every path was an improvisation and a considerable part of ones waking life was spent watching ones feet.”

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So our very first day of potty training our twin boys was February 6th. I wrote this blog post four days later: "Potty training twins: Party 1 {no plan}." This is part 2, day 18 of potty training.

Potty training our eager toddler C has been good-- actually, almost easy; I think because he really wants to potty train. When I potty trained our oldest, I was very stressed leaving the house with him in underwear. I had a system and a fully loaded diaper bag, ready for every possible scenario. The other day I decided to take the boys to lunch. I made it halfway into the restaurant when I remembered that I didnt have a diaper bag with me (I usually leave the diaper bag in the car since our twins are now toddlers). I took the boys back to the car and scoured around the van trying to find a change of clothes and some spare diapers in case of an accident. I feel like it has been one of those times of what you do with your first child compared to what you do with your second child. While the idea of potty training twins caused me serious anxiety, I havent been as stressed now that weve actually started.

As for our other toddler, O... I dont know if he is ready to potty train. This past weekend, a little over 2 weeks of potty training his twin brother, he insisted on wearing underwear. I actually took him to church in underwear yesterday (another example of something I never would have done with our first, "Oh, you want to potty train? Okay, well lets leave the house then."). I am not entirely on board with this because I dont think he actually wants to potty train right now. I feel like it is almost like his brothers are getting a lot of attention for potty training or being potty trained and so he is trying to jump on the bandwagon. However, he actually did pretty good yesterday. Today he has again insisted on underwear. While hes doing well, I think a lot of it is treat motivated. He keeps using the restroom and then demanding a treat, "I went again, Momma! Treat!" And then because hes using the bathroom, his twin brother C is stepping up his bathroom usage, "I went too, Momma! Treat!" Let me tell you, I thought I was in the bathroom a lot during the first week of potty training a couple weeks ago. I feel like this has become a game for them and, honestly, it is driving me slightly crazy, not to mention we are out of treats and it isnt even noon yet. Im hoping that today is just a novelty and that it will wear off soon. I am trying to be supportive of it (while tempering their desire for treats) since the end goal, even if it is just a game, could mean fully potty trained toddlers.

I am not sure of the direction we are heading with O. I feel comfortable taking C places with us in his underwear, like to our neighbors house or to the park. I feel comfortable with him in his car seat and he did great with a baby-sitter. I dont know about O... I dont know if I would want him in underwear out and about right now. He didnt have an accident in the church nursery, but I think that was because he had just used the bathroom. I dont know if he would have told them that he had to go. He seems 100% motivated by whatever he has to do to get treats, not the desire to potty train. Today we are hanging around our neighborhood and so Im letting him dabble in potty training. If he has accidents on our walk or at the park, Ill probably put him back in a diaper until he actually is ready to fully potty train-- for reals.

As for fully potty training C, he is acting like he wants to take the next step: nights. While not having 2 kids in diapers during the day is excellent, I dont really consider a child fully potty trained until they are going days and nights in underwear and are trustworthy in those underwear. These are the questions I ask myself to determine if our boys are trustworthy in underwear:

• Would I let him sit on our couch in underwear?
  O- yes, but only if supervised and we know when he last used the bathroom
• Would I let him ride in his car seat in underwear?
• Would I let him watch a movie in our guest room in underwear, on our guest bed for an hour and a half?
  C- not quite there yet. Ive been keeping him out of the guest room
• Would I let him hang out on my husband and Is bed in underwear?
• Would I let him hang out on my parents Tempur-Pedic mattress in underwear?

I feel like these kind of questions get progressively more difficult and require a greater degree of trust. Obviously only our oldest is a "yes" to all the questions.

The idea of potty training C during nights right now doesnt thrill me. When we potty trained our oldest for nights, he was just waking up every morning with a dry diaper, so, really, there wasnt much potty training required. We told him what to do if he had to use the restroom at night and it pretty much happened from there. We did do the whole protecting the mattress trick. The mattress was protected in a zipped vinyl mattress protector. Then I made the bed with a fitted sheet and a loose sheet. Over that I put a fitted waterproof mattress protector. On top of that, I again made the bed with a fitted sheet and a loose sheet. On top of the loose sheet, I laid a waterproof mattress pad. On top of that I put his comforter. The idea was that if he had an accident at night, the comforter would be protected by the waterproof mattress pad and I could just strip the bed of the first layer of messed sheets and have a second layer already made on the bed (no making a bed in the middle of the night). It worked great. The few times he had an accident, it was usually just a little bit, enough to wake him up and alert him he needed to use the restroom, and it didnt happen more than once in the night.

C is not waking up in the morning with heavily wet diapers, but they are still not dry. However, every night when we put him in a diaper before bed he gets quite upset and insists he wants to wear underwear all night. He is taking his afternoon quiet time in underwear. Some days he just stays in his room and plays for an hour, heading to the restroom if he feels he needs to go potty; some days he actually takes a 2-4 hour nap and is dry the whole time. Im completely on the fence about whether or not he would do well in underwear at night. Even more so, Im concerned about how well his brothers would handle him using the restroom at night. Since they all 3 share a room, would he wake up his brothers? Would I have 2 toddlers playing in the bathroom at 2 am? Would I be struggling to get 3 boys back to bed after changing sheets in the middle of the night? Im just not sure how it will go. I think I would feel more adventurous and cavalier about trying out nights if I wasnt almost 22 weeks pregnant. Sleep has become quite important to me.

My husband and I talked about it and we feel like if C is really wanting to do nights, we should let him. He may surprise us, just like O may surprise us by actually being ready to potty train. Im at a point in this pregnancy where I feel pretty good. I have energy during the day. Im taking it a bit easier than usual, so we are home more. Why not let them potty train if they are ready? They will be turning 3 mid-April and so the alternative is to wait and potty train them when I am huge pregnant in my third trimester or, even less desirable, when we have a newborn, who will most likely be arriving this June.

We have already decided to go into this with our plan thrown out the window and this is just another example of seeing where the potty training road takes us...

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Weve been juggling a lot over here at our house this past week. One of our twin toddlers, C, has decided that now is the time he wants to potty train (read "Potty training twins: part 1 {No plan}"). We started this past Thursday. By Saturday, our other toddler, O, had a major asthma flare up. We were worried for awhile that we would need to take him to the childrens hospital, but we managed to make it through the weekend. He had come down with a cold a couple weeks ago that he just wasnt shaking. I had actually taken him to the pediatrician on Thursday because, while the cold wasnt affecting his breathing, it was alarming because it made his chest sound... wet? I dont know, thats what it sounded like to me. Anyways, we left the pediatrician appointment feeling good about heading into the weekend, a follow-up appointment scheduled for the next week if the cold still hadnt left. As it happens with toddlers, things changed for us quickly. He started Saturday morning sounding fine. By Saturday evening he was wheezing and coughing; he stopped eating. We kicked off Albuterol nebulizer treatments and had to continue them every 3.5 hours. Monday we talked to our pediatrician all day. We started him on Orapred immediately. We had tried weaning him off his Pulmicort, which he had handled fine for almost 3 months now. However, this flare up let us know that he was in no way ready to be weaned off Pulmicort; we started him back on twice a day nebulizer treatments of Pulmicort. Until Tuesday afternoon, he needed Albuterol every 3.5 to 4 hours. We were able to space his last Albuterol treatment on Tuesday 6 hours and then we went through Tuesday night without an Albuterol treatment as well. O even slept in until 7 am Wednesday morning.

But what about our other toddlers potty training through all this? Well, C was insistent on potty training. During the weekend, my husband was home to help, so it wasnt too difficult. We stayed home and took care of our boys, helping C master potty training and monitoring Os asthma. By Monday it was apparent that we werent going to be leaving the house anytime soon so I continued with Cs potty training. O is good about holding his nebulizer mask in place. I spent a lot of time standing in the hallway outside the boys bathroom watching C use the restroom and O do his nebulizer treatment on the couch. It all just kind of fell into place.

Homeschooling activities at the kitchen table

Wednesday morning, day 3 of Orapred, I woke up with the vague idea of writing a blog post about our last couple days at home. I wanted to touch on Os asthma, Cs potty training, our oldest son Ds homeschooling-- basically about balancing life as a family. Before I actually write a blog post, I let the idea roll around in my mind for awhile. I figure out the direction Im going to write, the underlying message, and attempt to capture that moment in our lives. That afternoon, when I went to sit down and write the post, opening the laptop, situating myself on the floor next to our 5-year old, he looked over at me and said, "Hey, Momma, do you want to play Sorry?" I thought for a moment and realized that I really did, so we played Sorry a couple times before our power went out. Here is an idea of what I wanted to write before our day was flipped upside down:

Weve spent a lot of time at home the past couple days. This morning when I heard my bedroom door open at 6 am, I sat up in bed and blinked at the time. Had I really slept that long? Did our asthmatic toddler actually sleep through the night? But it was our potty training toddler, tip-toeing across the floor, "Momma! Have to go potty! Want treats!" I helped him struggle out of his zip-up footie jams and use the restroom, rewarded him with his treats, and tucked him back into bed. While I was in the boys room, I checked on our asthmatic toddler, who was tossing and coughing in his bed, but asleep. I debated waking him for a nebulizer treatment, but decided against it. He has been sleeping so horribly and I wanted to let him get some much needed rest. So I went back to bed and stole another hour of sleep before I heard the boys up, O making his way to our room coughing. Our day had officially begun. As we fell into our morning routine, I despaired of what we were going to do today. While potty training has been going well, another day spent in the boys bathroom didnt sound appealing. Our 5-year old has been feeling cooped up in the house with his brothers and was starting to bounce off the walls. I have spent the last couple days tackling that overlooked cleaning list and I was running out of projects. Weve played board games, card games, made up games, and have been making our way through the boys library of books. Another day? What would we do? 

As often happens with our 3 boys, they figured it out. After our morning routine (changing Os diaper, taking C to the bathroom and putting on his big boy underwear, Pulmicort nebulizer treatment, breakfast, Bible story, Albuterol nebulizer treatment, clean up breakfast, get the boys dressed), the boys ran out of the room and threw on pirate costumes. They spent seriously 3 hours having elaborate pirate battles. What I love about homeschooling preschool is how easily our "lessons" can fall into place of real, organic play. We worked on phonics while they played pirates. "Pirates say ar. What letters do you think are in arrrrrrrr?" Obviously he guessed "r," but I showed him the two letters together and we started coming up with words that had ar in them. Star, far, car, bar... He sounded the words out as we chatted. He wrote some down on pirate maps... It just all works together and, honestly, it is fun. I love doing this stuff with them. Of course, beyond homeschooling, they spent a lot of time sword fighting. However, even that had an educational slant as they built their pirate swords out of KNex. They searched for the right pieces to engineer certain designs of pirate swords. They counted how many pieces their swords had, the colors of the KNex they used. Once the pirate game took hold, my doubts of another day at home dissipated and we just had fun. 

The hard part about being home for days upon days is that in between activities, before the boys energy is channeled into an activity, it can be wild. Not manageable wild, just straight up Lord of the Flies wild. They roll on the couch. They hide behind couch cushions and throw all the pillows off the couch. The Legos are scattered in every room of the house-- how, I know not. Outside of expected places, I find them in the washer and dryer, my bed, under all the furniture, in the guest bathroom-- just everywhere. It can be hard to figure out what our next activity should be when the boys are fighting over toys and going, going, going. I really dont know how I expect them to behave when we are home all day. I dont mind them running in circles around the kitchen loop. I suppose this vague notion of picking up your toys before moving on to the next toy comes into mind, but thats not always how it works, is it? They need Legos to build walls for their KNex sword fights and Matchbox cars drive through their war zone with supplies as their Buzz Lightyears and stuffed animals stand guard at their forts and, of course, they are all wearing costumes... just a mess of toys for one game. Really, it is those moments of wild time that make being home all day hard. When they are wild on normal days, we head outside to the park, play in our driveway, or take a walk.

On Wednesday South Carolina was bracing for an ice storm. All Wednesday morning we had freezing rain and ice outside. While I was playing a round of Sorry with our 5-year old, our power went out. I wasnt too concerned at first, just started closing up the house and hanging blankets over some of our windows, when it hit me: our nebulizer! How would we run Os nebulizer without power? He was coming due for his next Albuterol treatment and the power was out for about an hour when I decided we needed to leave the house and find power. I debated allowing our potty training toddler leave in underwear when I realized that he should probably wear a diaper in case we were forced to intrude somewhere very inconvenient. I didnt know where we would find power, but I was sure it would be an intrusion with 3 kids; I didnt want to keep adding requests. "Could we borrow a power outlet for a bit? And a bathroom? And could you watch these two while I take this one to the restroom?" I convinced our potty training toddler to wear a diaper, granted he insisted on wearing his underwear underneath his diaper, but at least we had protection in case of an accident. When I started putting together our bags and blankets for leaving the house, I remembered our van was parked in the garage, not in the driveway. I know there is a release for the power garage door, but I could not get the dang thing to release. I pulled and pulled on the red cord before the panic started setting in. If I couldnt get the van out, was there somewhere I could walk to get power? I poked my head out the front door and it was bitterly cold outside and raining freezing rain. I decided against that; the cold weather would be too much on our asthmatic toddlers lungs. What else could I do but call my dad? He talked me through opening the garage door and in no time at all we were backing out of our driveway, discussing where we might find power. When I pulled up to the stop sign leaving our neighborhood, a security car drove by and a light bulb went off: the fire station! I drove to the fire station and was excited to see their lights on and hear their generator humming away. The fire man was beyond nice. We sat in the office overlooking the fire trucks as I gave our toddler his nebulizer treatment. I was so relieved that all our boys were behaving. When we left, he gave me their office number and told me that I more than welcome to come back if we need to do more treatments.

The rest of the afternoon was spent peacefully enough. We played lots of board games. I started getting concerned as we were heading into the evening still without power. Our toddlers breathing was acting up, I think largely due to our outing in the cold weather. He was going to need another treatment soon. My husband came home shortly after that and we decided a hotel would be our best option. I started calling around to the Residence Inns nearby and they were all booked. We tried Hyatt Place, but they didnt have any pet rooms still available (we have a small dog). I called my mom who lives several states away and was asking her if she could book us somewhere on her computer-- it was impossible searching Residence Inn like hotels from my phone since we arent overly familiar with the area-- when the power came on. Immediately we gave O an Albuterol treatment and his evening Pulmicort treatment. My husband and I decided that we needed to solve the problem of running the nebulizer when the power goes out as soon as possible; for that night, we came up with a plan that if the power went out again, I would take the asthmatic toddler and stay in a hotel with him. We are able to keep our home warm even with the power out, so he would be comfortable at with our other two boys and the dog. Thankfully the power did not go out again on Wednesday.

Thursday morning our power went out again, this time not for long. When it went out, my husband had just finished Os nebulizer treatment and was turning Monsters Inc. on for our boys. I knew we needed a back up plan for Os nebulizer today. While my husband got ready for power school, I called my dad and asked him to look at Best Buys site to store for some sort of power option. (My husband loves doing these types of things as well, but had to leave for work and we didnt have any power for him to do it before he left.) Best Buys site to store option is wonderfully convenient. I gave my dad my credit card number and he did all the ordering. After my husband went to work, I bundled up the boys and we set off for the store. This time I did let our potty training toddler wear underwear. On the way to Best Buy he chirped from his car seat, "Momma! Have to go potty!" Being in South Carolina, there isnt a surplus of stores to stop at on any given road. I pulled off onto the shoulder and tried to convince him to relieve himself in the woods. This was far too silly for him (and possibly too cold outside); he assured me he could wait until we got to the store. Not a moment too late we pulled into the Best Buy parking lot and he announced again, "Momma! Have to go potty now, please!" We unloaded as quickly as possible and high tailed it into Best Buys restroom. We spent probably 10 minutes in there between letting our toddler use the restroom and washing all 3 of the boys hands (how many times do I have to tell them not to touch anything in a public restroom?). Unlike all the wasted time in the restroom, the customer pick up line was a breeze. I went to the customer service desk where it was marked customer pick up and showed them the email Best Buy sent me with the product information. They looked at my credit card and ID and then gave me a receipt to sign and my battery thing-a-ma-bobber that my dad had selected. Super easy, even with 3 kids in tow, one of them a newly potty trained toddler and the other an asthmatic.

Now we are home and Im charging this battery back up thing, the APC Battery Backup. Here is a picture of it:

The instruction manual is very technical, but my dad says that we will be able to run our nebulizer while the power is out and charge our cell phones and such. Apparently it is also a surge protector. I know my husband will like checking it out when he gets home from school today. I feel a huge sense of relief knowing that we have a back up plan. The instruction manual says it takes 24 hours for the battery to fully charge; knock on wood our power doesnt go out before then!

March 2014 cover
Image courtesy of Realsimple.com

Real Simple knew that I would be needing some helpful tips this week. This months Real Simple, March 2014, included "5 Ways to Keep One Bad Thing from Ruining Your Day." In their "Life Lessons: Expertise" section they have 5 tips from experts dealing on a topic. This topic just happened to be highly applicable to life at home with kids. Making firm plans when you have kids requires a crystal ball (read "Of children and plans"). Our days never go as planned. Now we are balancing potty training and an asthma flare up; our days have been far outside of what we normally would expect for a week. My favorite tip in the Real Simple article was "Expect the worst." Under "Expect the worst," written by Ari Fleisher, a former White House Press Secretary, it says, "Expect that on any given day, something unexpected will happen. Then it wont rattle you, and you can stay calm as you deal with it" (pg. 56 of the March 2014 magazine).

Im not sure what else today holds for us. So far our potty training toddler hasnt had any accidents. Our oldest son is a little tired of being cooped up in the house for the past couple days (it is still rainy and cold outside). Our asthmatic toddler, on day 4 of Orapred, still isnt sounding as great as I hoped he would and is on Albuterol every 4-5 hours right now. Im not really sure what a "normal" day is when you have kids. Just like the Real Simple article recommends, I can always expect the unexpected.

And while our days never go as planned, they are far from boring.

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