My Big Brother's Wedding

My older brother Michael is now officially a married man. He and his wife Melissa, were married on June 7th up in York, PA. It was a beautiful wedding and everyone had a wonderful time. It was such a pleasure seeing my brother so happy and marrying such a wonderful woman. We've all waited a very long time for him to find the right person and he finally has!

Kristian, Hunter and I were all in the wedding party which made things a bit chaotic at times, trying to figure out who would watch Hunter while we were doing our bridesmaid/groomsmen duties but it all worked out in the end thanks to family and friends.

The rehearsal went well and Hunter did great at dinner even though it was about 3 hours long and lasted until past his bedtime. He was very well behaved and just the cutest thing, everyone kept commenting on what a good boy he was.

 

The future Mr. and Mrs. 

I love this photo which was taken by Melissa's brother with is fancy camera.

 

Hunter got a little fishing kit including a vest as his ring bearer gift. 

Hunter did pretty well going down the aisle. Being that he's only 2 1/2 you just never know what to expect. He did great in rehearsal but got a little overwhelmed once the pews were full of people. I really couldn't even see him from where I was standing at the front of the church but I'm told he walked most of the way and then ran towards the end. Once he saw me he ran over, grabbed my legs and cried. I tried to get him to quiet down but he wouldn't. Fortunately the organ was still playing very loudly so it wasn't too noticeable. My other sister-in-law came over and grabbed him real quick and tried to settle him into the pew with her but he wouldn't calm down so she took him and my niece (the flower girl) who is 6 out to the lobby of the church. Not sure what we would have done if she hadn't been there to take them out. As for formal pictures, I haven't seen them so I'm hoping the ones that he is in came out okay. The photographer said she got some where he was looking but not really smiling. So that's not too bad.

 

With my new sister-in-law right before going down the aisle. I LOVE her dress. The lace at the top of the dress actually was a separate piece that she took off during the reception. I also loved my dress which I was able to choose myself. All the bridesmaids had different style and color dresses. It was a vintage theme. 

The cutest little ring bearer ever. He has his GQ pose down pat!

Me and MY Groom. It was so nice getting to walk down another aisle with him. Brought back so many wonderful memories.

The reception went well. Hunter got a bit antsy at dinner but once the dancing started and he could get up he was fine. Since he decided to start finally using the potty right before the trip there were a lot of trips to the bathroom. He was wearing a diaper the whole time, just in case, but he did well with going on the potty despite his diaper. And even though he wasn't able to nap all day he partied until he was in the car at 10pm where he proceeded to pass out and sleep until 9am the next morning.

The Happy Couple!

My brother and his groomsmen which included my husband, my other brother, his best friend from childhood (who flew in from Namibia for the wedding!) and Melissa's brother. 

Me and my gorgeous mama. I loved her dress as well!

After MANY MANY attempts this was the best family photo we could get.

 

The photo booth was a blast!

I kept having flashforwards of us dancing together at his wedding one day. I know the time will go by way too fast.

 

I think this if officially my favorite picture of Hunter from the end of the night in our hotel room. I plan to put this in his senior yearbook. 

The whole weekend was pretty exhausting and non stop but we all had such a wonderful time with my family. Hunter really enjoyed his first wedding and even now a few weeks later says "Go to wedding?" Now we get to look forward to the newlyweds moving into their new house just up the street from us and hopefully a future niece or nephew in the near future. 

Potty Training part 2

A few months back I wrote briefly about how potty training had been going and the fact that Hunter had been using the potty at school but for whatever reason refused to go at home. Well I'm happy to report that as of last week he has FINALLY started using the potty at home as well and is doing so well with it that I think he will be fully day trained within the next few weeks (fingers crossed)!


He had been doing really well at school, using the potty almost everytime he had to go but still wouldn't go at home and then one night right before bathtime, while I was in his room putting clothes away, he sat on the small potty and peed. He usually would sit on the potty while the tub filled with water but never actually did anything so when he yelled "mama, I did it" I didn't really believe him until I saw it for myself. We cheered, danced around and gave him some candy. Then two nights later he did the same thing but this time pooped. I couldn't believe it!

Since then we've been able to transition him from the little potty to going on the toilet (with an attachment on top so that he won't fall in), which is SO much better. Seriously, cleaning poop out of those small potties is pretty nasty. As I had suspected he just needed to go once and then it would be pretty smooth sailing from there, he just had to get over the big hurdle of going that first time and then realize it's not so scary and actually fun!

For now he's still wearing diapers or pull-ups but he hasn't pooped in his diaper in over a week and he usually pees in the toilet unless we are out somewhere and don't make a point of asking him if he needs to go. Even last weekend when we were out of town for my brothers wedding he had no trouble going in the hotel bathroom or having us take him during the reception. He's gotten pretty good about telling us he needs to go but we still have to ask him frequently. I've put him in underwear a few times for short periods of time and he's done with that and starting next week he's going to be solely in underwear during the day at school (and pull ups at naptime), per their request. Obviously we will have to pack several pairs of underwear and extra clothes each day.

I'm so proud of how quickly he's caught on now that he got over that first big hurdle. It's like something in his brain just clicked and I really think that waiting until HE was ready was the best way to do it. We didn't push him and tried to keep the whole process casual so as not to traumatize him or have him regress shortly after. We still have a ways to go before we are completely diaper free but I definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel now and hope by summer's end he will be totally day trained (and maybe night trained as well if we're lucky)!

Life Lately- Catching up

It's been a few weeks since I posted. There wasn't any specific reason why other than just laziness and not having too much to share. But the past few weeks have been fairly busy and since this blog is pretty much the way I remember everything I figured I should put something down before I forget everything.

Kristian and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on May 22nd. Hard to believe it's been 4 years already. We went out to dinner the next night. Nothing fancy but it was nice to get out just the two of us for a quick bite.

We got to dogsit my mom's new puppy, Annie, for a week while she went on an already planned vacation. Annie is a miniature long haired dachshund just like Moxie. My mom is so in love with our dog that she finally broke down and got one of her own. Annie and Moxie hit it off great and became best buddies. Annie was Moxie's little shadow following her everything and they were constantly chasing and wrestling each other. It was pretty stinkin cute.

For Memorial Day weekend we went down to my in-laws beach house which is pretty much tradition. Hunter had a blast digging in the sand and playing with grandma and Papa. He absolutely loves the beach house and we are so excited to watch him spend summers and holidays down there as he grows up.

There have been some major developments and advancements in the potty training department but I will save that for a separate post. We also just got back yesterday from my brothers wedding! It was a beautiful, wonderful day and I have a ton of pictures to post, hopefully later this week.