We're back!

We just got back from Michigan, and first and foremost, I must shout from the rooftops and let you know that JAKE IS POTTY TRAINED!!!! WAHOOOO!!

As you all know, I was up to my witt's end with trying to potty-train Jake. When I went up to Michigan, my mom graciously decided to take on the enormous task with me - thank goodness for mothers!! Together (and with Grandpa's help teaching him how to pee standing up) we tag-teamed the effort and he is officially out of diapers!! I'm pretty sure Joseph is mostly thrilled that he didn't have to do any of it! :)

This picture was taken right after one of his successful potty attempts. I know you're all thinking, "What a cute kid...and is that a blue toilet?" Why, yes, it is. We're pretty sure it's original to our 1970's home. Don't worry, our bath is blue, too. We're living in style over here.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Michigan. I got to see some wonderful friends and family and witnessed my niece's blessing (she is 6 weeks younger than Eli and just a doll!) Originally, Joseph was going to come up for the weekend of my niece's blessing and take us back to Iowa, but the road conditions were pretty severe that weekend so we decided to fly home instead.

We happened to get our tickets on Jake's birthday, and he was beyond excited to fly in an airplane. The trip started off great. The pilot knew it was Jake's birthday so he let him sit in the cockpit! Then he made an announcement saying that it was Jake's birthday and he had the whole airplane sing to him. Jake was thrilled. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera (I know, it's a problem) but fortunately, we happened to be sitting across from a photographer who took pictures of the whole thing with his fancy schmancy camera! He is going to send them to my e-mail, so stay tuned.

Anyway, the trip started out well, but it just went downhill from there. You all remember this picture? It was taken when we were flying to Orlando a couple of years ago.

That's Joseph with the barf bag on the plane. He gets REALLY motion sick. As it turns out, Jake inherited Joseph's stomach. In the middle of the flight, Jake kept telling me he was really tired. I thought it was because we had to wake him up from his nap in order to make our flight, so I didn't think much of it. I just had him rest on my lap while I was holding sleeping Eli. Then, just as we started our descent into Chicago, Eli woke up and started crying, and Jake spewed. Big time. The plane emptied, and the flight attendants and the pilot all came over to help me clean up. Just when we changed Jake and had everything cleaned, he threw up again. All over. And, of course, Eli was screaming the whole time. And we were only halfway done with our trip!

By the time we got on the second plane, Jake's stomach had eased and he was completely excited to be on the plane again. Until it took off. As soon as it started to ascend into the air, Jake got very lethargic and I hurried and grabbed the barf bag and got it there ALMOST in time. This one made it mostly into the bag, so there wasn't as much to clean. To make a long story short, he threw up 2 more times for a grand total of 5 for the whole trip. And we were in the air for only two hours. Oy...it looks like our family may single handedly keep Dramamine in business from now on!

I just realized that this entire post revolved around Jake's potty habits and throwing up. Sorry guys...