A new nickname

When Abby was born, we called her the Bug. Rarely did we actually call her Abby. When Dave called home he'd ask "How's the Bug doing?" and it was sometimes hard not to call her that at daycare or other places. To this day, I call her Little Lady, which is short for Little Lady Bug. The boys never really had nicknames, other than Bud or Buddy. But now Ava? Well, I think she has a nickname that will stick. The other day she was crying a little and I said, "It's okay sweetie pie." And Max, the parrot that he is, said, "It's okay, Ava Pie." Ever since then, I've been calling her Ava Pie and I think it fits her!

Now, if you want to end this post on a nice, positive, non-disgusting note, stop reading now (Nicole, this means you!!). But, if you'd like to hear the adventures in potty training today, read on. Max has been doing really well lately, and I think it's been over two weeks since he had any accidents, and doesn't need pullups or diapers at night or naps, even. But the kids have been sick lately. Abby came home early from school Tuesday and Wednesday, and after a trip to the doctor Wednesday we found out she has a double ear infection. Max woke up last night screaming, so I took him to the doctor today, and he, too, has an ear infection. And for Max, the sickies make him a little out of sorts. He went down for a nap today, and I heard him wake up screaming. By the time I got up there, he was on the ladder of the bunk bed, and was peeing all over. He tried to get to the bathroom, but couldn't quite make it. So, instead of peeing in his bed (which is easy since there's a waterproof mattress pad on it), he peed all over the ladder, the floor, the frame of the bed, and into the pull-out drawer underneath the bed that has all the clean sheets in it. Now THAT was a mess!

But the sad thing? It's not the worst. (Nicole, seriously, stop reading now.) After I got that all cleaned up, we went to the doctor and came home and I was getting everything out of the car. Max had climbed into the front seat and as I went to get Ava out of the car, I smelled something. I thought she had pooped (which would be great... the girl goes five days without pooping, I'm drinking prune juice which is disgusting and it's not helping, but that's a poopy story for a different day!) but it wasn't Ava, it was Max. I asked if he pooped and sure enough. And it was runny. And the really bad thing? He had one foot on my seat and one on the console. And there were thank you cards and daycare paperwork inbetween that were just full of poop. I managed to get him out of the van, poop running down his legs, and into the kitchen sink and got him cleaned up. Then went to the van. Through the crack in the seat, down into the bin with the kids' extra clean clothes, the diapers, everything I had in that area of the van got hit. Bleah. And it smelled. Bad! I managed to get it all cleaned up, but I still remain skeptical. It's not easy making sure that I got all the nooks and crannies.

Fun times around here! (And Nicole, you can't say I didn't warn you this time!)