Future chores...

As I was cleaning behind the toilet I realized the injustice in this life. Why is it that mothers are "expected" to clean the bathrooms when it's the males that make them so stinky?

Roman is officially day time potty trained! We've gone 2 whole days without a single accident. This morning he even woke me up at 6am saying he had to go potty but since he had a diaper and it was too early I ignored him. Sure enough when we woke up for good he had pooed in his diaper- something he hasn't done a while. My smart boy. Anyways back to cleaning.

 Matt is a very clean guy but somehow there's always pee on/around the toilet. Now adding Roman to the mix and my bathrooms smell like urine 24/7! So I've decided that the toilets will be one of Roman and Matt's chores once Roman is a little bigger.

Roman's "chores" so far include:
*cleaning up his toys (which he's great at and loves to do)
*wiping his spot on the table after he eats (again-he loves!)
*helping feed Zeus (he either pours the food I scoop out for him or he holds the bowl. and he MUST be the one to carry it back to it's spot.)
*carries his dishes to the sink (if they have food he dumps it in the trash. thank you CDC for teaching him that one!)
*throwing away his diapers (yay for not needing that except 2x a day now!)

In our new home we will continue recycling soda cans, large plastic items, and paper. I think it'll be Roman's job to help with sorting (yay for educational skills)! I'm also going to teach him to put his dirty clothes in the bin and then he will help with sorting the laundry when it's done (probably just "find all the socks Roman" to start with).

Anyone else have chores for their 2 year old? Any neat system I should set up or avoid? I don't see the point in rewarding him since at this point he just plain enjoys doing it...

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Playmobil Fun Park

The last two weeks have been BO-ring! Roman wakes up any time between 6:30-8am. If he wakes before 8am I hand him the iPad and he plays with it in my bed until 8am. Unfortunately I've started a bad habit and he's been sleeping with me. Matt HATES the government issued double bed so he's on an air mattress and we had moved Roman's crib mattress to our room since we have A/C and his room gets HOT but instead of sleeping on his mattress he's been with me. Only because I go to sleep at the same time...ok ok we'll get back to normal in the new house. In the meantime I'm loving it.

Back to our schedule.

After we wake up we eat breakfast (cereal, bagel, or poptart during the week) then I put on "Chuck the truck" or "Yo gabba gabba" or "Barney". The 1st week we watched Chuck every morning :-/ I catch up on all things computer. Then we eat lunch and take a nap. Then we wake up and he watches a movie (usually "toy story" series) and I make dinner and clean. We eat dinner. We watch "Reba". We go to bed. Whoo. Hoo. Mon-Wed-Fri we go to the gym in the AM. I haven't been taking him to the playground because he refuses to potty when we're there so we end up spending most of the time changing clothes :-/ but yes I know I need to do it anyways *le sigh*.

 So to say yesterday was a welcome change would be an understatement. We took Roman to Playmobil Fun Park which is about an hour and 20 minutes away from us.

We had lunch and then went from exhibit to exhibit. Whenever we had to leave a water exhibit it was an almighty nightmare battle of screaming but once he saw the next fun thing he would calm down. Matt was downright annoyed but I just had to keep repeating that he didn't understand the concept of "there's more fun things to do!" and reminding us that he's not even two yet. I think we forget because he's so smart, he's big, and he's nearly potty trained!

Roman LOVED the water things which was really just wading around. He also loved the dinosaur that really roared and would even roar back at it! He also loved "milking" the cow (water) and taking the "milk" to the horseys. He wanted so badly to do all these "big kid" things, like rope bridges, etc and Matt let him do a few, much to my dismay. Matt even admitted that HE was nervous for Roman!

After seeing every exhibit and letting Roman play with the actual playmobil toys (where he collected every vehichle from tractors to planes) we were ready to go. It was HOT to us, 90F. We are going to DIE in the TX heat of 100+!! We hit up the store on the way out and Roman did NOT understand why he couldn't have the toys on display and why we were handing him boxes with pictures of toys on them LOL. Well we weren't really laughing then (he was belligerent) but finally we quit trying to ask him for his choice and just bought him an airplane from the Playmobil 123 collection. I plan to start purchasing those toys since they REALLY activate his imagination- even at such a young age! In all I think the park was a little too much for Roman's age because most of the active things were climbing ropes that he couldn't do. However if Gadi had been here I think we all would have had more fun. It was a nice experience though and we spent a total of 3 hours in the park.













Matt's dying to go to LegoLand next weekend but I'm going to try and talk him out of it since I think it will be a lot of money and a long drive and Roman will only be able to do a few things and we (Matt and I) won't be able to do the fun rollarcoasters since we'll have Roman. We'll see though...

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Terrible Twos?!

Why do kids misbehave for their own parents? I can't count how many parents have told me their children were horrible for them but I tell them they're angels for me! Now I see it in my own child. His teachers only told me of a couple times when Roman had stubborn moments but never tantrums. Why is this? I've heard the theory of they act that way because they know you'll love them no matter what but seriously?

I wish we could remember what we were like at two. I feel like I can understand my teenage siblings better than the adults because I remember those ages so stinkin clearly. I feel like I could empathize more with Roman if I could remember being two and wanting to exert my independence. *le sigh*

What brought this on? A silly  battle over chicken vs. caprisun. Oh well. He's sleeping and we'll start over once he wakes.

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6 months later (potty traning and new home!)

Wow so much for my new year's resolution to blog more. 6 months later and here I am to update. In just 3 fast/slow weeks Roman and I will be on a plane on our way to TX for good! Matt will follow behind in August. Today was our last day with Elvis has he was adopted by a wonderful, sweet family. He was getting way to aggressive with Roman and our new puppy Zeus. Plus Roman and Zeus would never leave him alone! The poor old guy deserves to relax in his "retirement years."

We just started potty training Roman 3 days ago. Today I broke down and cried because I felt like I was scarring him for life. I have to pin him down to the toilet when I KNOW he has to go and he screams "I don't want to" or "no potty!" and I'm scared he won't potty train til he's a teenager at this rate! However after that mini break down he had several hours of success which lifted my hopes and renewed my strength. The last 2 days we did the naked from the waist down method but today we put him in underwear. I'm hoping if he can feel the wetness it will help out. The last two days he's just peeing all over everything and not caring. Today though (after a crappy morning- literally) he went 3 whole hours without an accident. That includes a 1 hour trip to the legal office! However as soon as I posted the good news to facebook he wet in 3 pairs of underwear back to back. *le sigh* Then he went another hour with no accidents including a walk to Elvis' new home around the corner and back...hmm maybe that's the key. He won't have accidents out of the house! (HA. HA!) So for now the potty training experiments continue. I refuse to give up because I know he is ready. He's just stubborn and doesn't want to stop playing to sit on a boring potty! Tomorrow we'll try letting him stand on a stool and pee on some cereal...

 So why were we at the legal office for an hour? Oh you know, just signing some closing documents for our brand new house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to Casa del Barr! This beautiful 2 story, 4 bedroom, corner lot home is OURS! I never ever thought I would live in a beautiful home like this. I dreamed of it of course. Especially after seeing all my high school friends homes growing up. But me? Psh we were strictly apartment people! Or other people's homes people...but we won't go there. But this baby is ours. We have been saving and saving since Matt's first deployment for a home. And turns out with the VA loan we didn't have to put a penny down which means we will actually have a "cushion" in our savings for those oh-so-unpleasant home owner things like broken water heaters and busted A/Cs! *phew* Hopefully I can get things set up and nice so that way I can get my license as a home care provider! I want to keep 2,3,and 4 year olds and do preschool in my home. Then after school I want to have a few school age kids and do tutoring! I'm praying the Lord will provide this. My dream has been to own my own preschool for a while now and this could be the first steps...of course if things don't work out and money is too strapped I can go back to teaching. But I hope that we can make it at least 3 years until Roman starts kindergarten.





Another cool feature of this house? It's only a few homes down from my Aunt Stacy! Oh AND my "germany family" is ALSO getting stationed in Hood so I'm praying that they find somewhere near us as well. I'm VERY spoiled to having Jen across the street!!!




Hopefully with this whole "stay at home mommy" thing I'll be able to update more often. I just wish I had cool things to post about like my favorite bloggers Kelle Hampton (Enjoying the Small Things) and Jen Jones (iheartorganizing). Even my buddy Jen Parrish (Parrish Platz) posts about cool crafts she does!

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Make Over and Ketchup!

So Decemember was CRAZY in the Barr household! First and foremost- Daddy came home!!! I had known for a while that he would return early Decemember but couldn't say anything for security reasons. Roman had been horribly sick the week of Matt's return running high temperatures, diarhea, rash, etc. I stayed home Thursday-Friday with him much to the school's dismay. I took him to the Dr on Wednesday after having a high temp (103F!!!) for 24hrs but she said it was a virus and it'd run it's course but to bring him back on Friday if the fever persisted. Matt came home on Thursday and poor Roman was so out of it, in a feverish haze, that he wasn't quite aware that- wait, this is my Dad! Matt was bummed that Roman wasn't more excited but he quickly saw how yucky he felt and understood. Friday morning, Matt's first morning home, we were back at the Dr because Roman's temp was STILL up and he had developed a rash over his upper body. Well yes it was a virus but he also had an ear infection AND his tonsils looked "beefy" but since she was already giving him antibiotics for the ear she didn't test for strep. After 24hrs on the antibiotics my poor baby finally started perking up.

Once Roman was feeling better he wasn't quite sure of Matt. That first night home, even though he was sick, he was bringing Matt toy after toy as if he was showing his Dad all that he had missed while he was gone. He also let Matt give him a bath and put him to bed. But a few days later he went on a Mommy Only thing and he's still sort of there.

Roman will play with Dada happily, especially legos and cars which Dada seems to do better than Mama. But when Roman wants to read a book or chill out in a lap it's always got to be me. Matt will try over and over to call Roman to him but that only makes Roman cry harder for Mama. I'm still working on that...

When school let out for Christmas Break the Barr family headed to London with our friends the Lucas Family: Christa, Ryan, Madi (4), and Abbi (2). London ROCKS. Our favorite place we've been to. No it's not as beautiful as Rome or romantic as Paris but it is fun! And it's in ENGLISH!! It sort of felt like being "home" and the people are SO stinking nice. Like old men, ladies, and teenage boys all helping a woman with a stroller up and down many "tube" stairs!! Once again I was in love with the public transportation. I wish Texas had more subways and busses!

Highlights from London:

Buckingham Palace (although the Changing of the Guards was cancelled)
London Eye at twilight/night!
Tower of London (crown jewels were my favorite. Also seeing Tower Green)
Westminster Abbey (so beautiful and pretty. Plus I saw some of my favorite historical people's graves: "Bloody" Mary, Elizabeth I, etc. I was disappointed to learn that Henry VIII and Katharine of Aragon are elsewhere.)
Sherlock's Pub for some steak pie and fish-n-chips
Apollo Victoria Theater where I saw WICKED!!!
London Zoo (monkey exhibit is AWESOME- they try and jump on you!!)
Picadilly Circus/Oxford St for some window shopping and a short but psychotically busy visit to Hamleys, England's largest toy store.

We tried to hit up the British Museum but only a few minutes in there we learned it wasn't kid friendly. I had also scheduled us to see the National History and Science museum, Pollock's Toy Museum, British Library but we did not have enough time/ stamina with 3 kids under 4! Roman behaved VERY well I must say, especially considering he didn't sleep well ever. This is always a battle on vacations.

In Decemember Roman learned some new things. He mastered "no" and "uh uh" with a head shake. He can open doors that have handles (not knobs). He grew at least an inch! He knows most animal sounds and associates the names with him (though he doesn't say the names yet). We broke the paci once and for all after Christmas. This was hard because he had it 24/7 in London as "security". I snipped the tip off the paci hoping he'd just not want it and be fine. Nope. He was P.O.ed! He's chuck it and keep crying for HIS "ni-ni" but we held strong. A few nights of endless crying for 45 minutes and he's done with it. Now he'll still ask for it but I just tell him "No, you're a big boy." and that's that. However bedtime isn't as easy anymore. He wants Mama to rock him. Sometimes that doesn't even make him tired so he'll have to fuss for 5-10 minutes until falling asleep.

For Christmas Roman received lots of legos, cars, and even a four wheeler. I love watching him build legos over and over, drive cars around while saying "vrrrooooom" and lining all of his cars up, and he can even ride his power wheel's by himself (it has a button on the handlebars instead of a foot peddule). His face is ecstatic when he's riding on it.

We have also bought a new male Siberian Husky puppy named Zeus. He is still with his litter as he's only a month old but we got to go over and pick him out when he was 3 weeks old. Roman LOVED all those dogs. 6 puppies and 3 adults! He's so rough on poor old Elvis (banging toys on him and laughing evily) so we're hoping a young, energetic puppy that will soon outgrow him will give him a new friend to play with and grow up with.

No snow in Germany except once while we were in London and once right after Christmas. Both times the snow covered the ground but melted by night time. I'm torn between loving not freezing to death, slipping on ice, and having dry shoes but part of me loved snow- at least looking at it! Christmas didn't feel right without it. It also didn't feel right because I was vomitting on Christmas Eve and we'd just returned from London so we didn't do our "traditional" things. Oh twell.

So that was Decemember for the Barr's! Matt's still on block leave and I'm back at work and Roman is back at school. Check back for another update soon. By the way, how do you like the new blog layout? I'm still looking for something personalized but figured it was time to take down the stork since Roman was born 17 months ago!!!

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