POTTY TRAINING DIARIES

"Rome wasn't built in a day," so naturally potty training Atlas has been 5 months in the making. Luckily, I diaried it all in action, photos and screen shots included.

9/6/23 Day 1: Amazon, for the win and Elmo was the choice over the Target budget bundle of undies that went back after he immediately said “No no no.”

This morning we started off with a couple hours, education and asking every five minutes to go potty. After sitting on the potty for a little bit, we were able to get enough to celebrate, and a sticker to go on the chart.

I also put a post up on Instagram asking for advice tips tricks. Prayers, books., etc . Will share responses:

Day 2: Okay! Magical Checklist:

• Stickers for reward

• Books and mags for reading materials

• Grunt, relax, breath, feel it here ( point to bowels )

• Routine: put back on undies, hand wash, get sticker on the chart, run and tell dada!

• Lots of praise! 

Only pee and lots of it so far! “Try again” one more time”. No poop yet …

Day 5 : The past few days have been a blur. I think he is nap rebellion because of potty training, but I am no child psychologist. This morning before we sat down for breakfast he stood up and pointed to his belly, and I asked if he wanted to go potty and he said, “Yes,” so we started off really good and really early. Still no poop yet just practicing reading relaxing.

I thought maybe he was getting poop shy so started to do laundry while he was sitting there and then he got distracted.

Day 9: starting right out of bed in the potty  is a huge win! Let’s Keep it Up!

1/26/24 Day 109 or Day 10? Operation Weekend No Pants!

After off and on tries since September we are commuted to a no pants weekend and really getting this done!

Friday and Saturday we had events and dance class so although we used big boy undies he never “went” when we were out. 

Monday allergies hit hard so with an extra runny nose we are staying in and really going pantsless. 

I left Monday morning for work so were singing all day Daniel Tigers’ “When you have to go potty stop and go right away,” song, I came home immediately to “look mom!” Straight to his potty in the bathroom to show me he can go and wash and dry and he was so excited. 

 2/5/24 The Final Days: School started and we knew that this was the final piece in the puzzle of potty training… seeing other kids like him use it! 

So we loaded up on PullUps and sent him off to school with a few changes of clothes. 

Teacher was impressed and said he was using it with the other kids. 

At home the Pullups turned into another diaper so we are back to no pants and home! 

2/25/24: Today I am getting rid of the changing table in his room. We no longer use it. We potty in the potty or change in the bathroom and need to associate all those things n that room. Time for a mini big boy room update. 

3/2/24: Big boy undies all day.

Pottied at the Home Depot Public Bathroom! 

Went Poo Poo in the potty at home later in the afternoon.

Pottied for the baby sitter while mom any dad were rearing a podcast.

I think I am ready to post our diaries and frame the last diaper ever! 

I know we will have plenty of accidents but the days of diaper genies and the grossest changing tables in public restrooms are in the rear view! 

XoXo

Britt

BABY PRODUCTS WE SWEAR BY (& ONES WE SWEAR AT TOO)

This blog is LONG over due! But the best part for you is maybe you're not due yet and you just discovered the post you have been searching for your whole pregnancy! With all the baby options out there how do you really know if it is right for you and your family? You dont, unless you try. Good thing we tried a bunch and have our faves and lames list to share!

I linked all the Amazon finds so you can be the Christmas Hero!

Should I get it? Why does every new parent have this? Why is it on everyone list? The answers to your deepest questions answered bellow. Also these products are in no favorable order.

YAYS

• Pack and Play. Why we love it? You need a place to play in a designated area while we are out somewhere or mom needs to do something and you cant get into anything so take some toys and chill in here for a bit. Also it doubles as a bed when we travel!

• Door Jumper- Why we love it? Have you seen Atlas’ quads? Those leg muscles! He didn’t get that way overnight. Practicing jumping and walking at the same time.

• Rocker- at first I was like why are all these expensive gliders and rockers in nurseries? Now I get it! We have a vintage rattan rocker that was in my nursery but it has become one of my favorite chairs and its so sweet to part of the bed time routine.

• Nuuk pacifiers & Doc Brown bottles - know you pacifies and know you bottles - aka know your nipples. Lol. Dont steer from them and when you are ready to size up or switch to sippy or straw, keep the same brand!

• Large Play Mat- Why we love it? It is a clean, soft, foldable play mat that we can unfold everyday for playtime. We can travel with us and it make mom feel safer about floortime play when you cant vacuum, mop and sweep 24/7.

• Touch and Feel Hard Books - Why we love them? They encourage interaction through the touch and feel panels and the hard pages are durable for our avid reader. He will read the same book 10 times a day flipping the pages, feeling the nooks and crannies.

• Kick & Play Piano Gym - You have seen every baby with it. The fisherprice animal piano is the bees knees. Starting week 1 with tummy time all the way through month 15 with the piano colors and numbers. It is used daily and we only had to change the batteries 1 time. What a winner!

• Sleep Sack- Atlas was a swaddle king. He loved it! Once he could get his arms out he kept himself up all night. We quickly got a sleep sack with velcro swaddle sides and could easily transition the arms out. Now we are in the Halo and haven’t looked back. We have a nap time one and a thicker night time one.

NAYS

• Tummy Time Mats- you just need 1- or none, lol. A blanket or mat will work just fine. We got caught up with fun ones to stare at but why?

• Mobile- its distracting and gets in the way of putting your little one in the crib. Why would you want to encourage play time where bed time is?

• Footed Pajamas - Atlas hated his feet confined. Any footed pajamas had to be cut for freedom. He is like his mom, he can’t sleep with socks on I guess.

• Push walker- these are so flimsy. Our muscle man was knocking his down using it to stand up. We had to go straight to a sit in walker for our guy.

If you have any you swear by, comment bellow. Hope this helps any new parents or event second timers wondering what to invest in. Happy Holidays and remember as long as there is love at attention your baby just needs you.

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, ATLAS

Our baby is ONE! And because the first year flew by we though a proper theme would be : Donut Grow Up. We gathered family and friends and most importantly the littles in our backyard to celebrate over sweets. An early, Sunday morning in January in Arizona called for temps in the 60s. The coffee was hot, the donuts were fresh and the company was all smiles. It was perfect and I wouldn’t have changed any of the hiccups or hurdles. The pure joy this kid shows us everyday it’s almost like it’s his birthday everyday. Cheers to many more!

Shout out to

Material Girls Rentals for the only Donut wall in the Phoenix Area.
Amazon & my handy helpers for the balloon wall and decor set up.

WARM HOLIDAY WISHES

Merry Christmas 2021 from the Acevedo Family. Atlas’ FIRST Christmas and we had to make a statement for this year’s Christmas card. His face says it all. Scroll through and let me know your favorite.

I found the inspo on Pinterest. I scored the suits on Amazon #FTW ! I sourced out my parents who were visiting that week as our photogs. I edited the photos in Lightroom and used Canva to design the card from scratch. Easy-coming from this full time worker full time new mama. Don’t let the matching sweaters, fancy foil and pre-made templates scare you from creating the most perfect holiday card.

Also, while I have you. Do me a favor and watch this SNL skit about family holiday cards.

We would love to get your family holiday card and display it on our wall. Send us your warm wishes too!

XoXo

Britt

ITS A BOY!

I recieve the best birthday present last week- knowing that we are having a baby boy come January 2021. Once people find out you’re pregnant, they immediately ask girl or boy and what I am hoping it is. Honestly, I would respond, and still wish for just a healthy baby. With my first, and now second trimester being so rough- dealing with so much nausea uncomfortableness and I can pray for is my baby is healthy and growing strong. After several ultra sounds we were being reassured that, but last Wednesday, for my (31st) Birthday we had another anatomy scan and were given the news about the gender, it’s a boy!

We scheduled an anatomy ultra sound for the first thing in the morning. After about 45 minutes of measuring heart, brain, lungs, kidneys, and more, we got down to the legs. And the tech goes “this is the right leg, this is the left leg, and this is a boy.” Jose was ecstatic! We quickly had another appointment with the midwife right after and we were happy to share the news with her too. Also the 20 photos the tech printed for us, she was amazing.

After the appointments we rushed home, safely, to finish icing the gender reveal cupcakes for my office meeting. The night before i baked 48 funfetti cupcakes. Once cooled, I scooped out a small section from the center, food colored vanilla icing in pink and blue and filled 24 each. I covered the tops with swirled white vanilla icing and packed the blue ones in Tupperware to share with my work team.

Calling the parents was probably one of my favorite things about the experience. We called the Acevedo’s separately as they were at work. Then we faced timed my parents who were costing my uncles at the time. My mom said “I knew it.” And assured my dad we have another little cubs fan joining the team soon.

An episode of our VLOG was dedicated to this announcement and you can check it out here. make sure to subscribe to catch all of them.

Every day after I have felt little flutters/ bubbles where our little boy is at knowing that he is just as excited as we are to meet us. Few more months of cooking to go and now it’s time to focus on the nursery. Excited to share more as we begin this next project.

XoXo

Britt