A day in the life of...

Potty training - I was a little nervous to embark on this toileting journey with my little son. Friday we took up the challenge. Bright and early he was in his Thomas the Train underwear and we were in the bathroom every 30 minutes to try. We had some ups and downs. Our first success came early in the morning with pee-pee in the potty. Miles got his first, special M & M as a reward.

Throughout the day we had 3 successes and 4 little accidents. Miles put in a valiant effort - even dutifully sitting on the potty while playing outside. By the end of the day though, he told me in his sweet, little voice "I'm all done trying mommy." While he did very well after a long day we decided to back off a bit on the potty training. He notices right after he goes to the bathroom in his diaper but he can't yet feel ahead of time when he needs to go. I've been a bit torn whether or not to be hardcore and do potty training boot camp - just take away the diapers and don't look back. Mike and I have a more laid back parenting style so we've decided to take the pressure off. Our plan now is to continue to encourage going potty in the toilet and to be diligent about putting him on the potty first thing in the morning, before and after nap and before bed.

Sweet, little Hads. I bought her a few new hair bows and have loved dressing her up all week.

Our girl is getting louder and wigglier lately. Today during mom and baby yoga she was "coughing." She has this little, fake cough that she pulls out when she's trying to get attention in our noisy household. She also loves to shake, rattle and roll. Last night, Mike and I were watching a movie and she was kicking and wiggling constantly. She loves to move!

These days everything she can get her hands on goes into her mouth.

Including her new, little dolly.

Being a sweet, little cherub is exhausting!

One of my favorite fall activities is raking and Miles is getting into it too. We took advantage of this wonderful, summer-like weather to play outside all weekend.

We had fun crunching in the leaves.

Ahhhh, fall!

We tried out the potty chair this week and retired the highchair. Miles is enjoying his new booster seat. He likes to do things like "a big boy."

So, this blog is to keep our families and friends in the know about the kids but I also think of it as a little time capsule that Miles and Hadley will open one day and hopefully know how much I love them and loved every moment of their lives.

This week, let's take a look at a day in the life of daddy!

• 6:20 am - Every night Mike is on Miles duty - if Miles gets up in the night Mike will be the one to respond. He gets up each morning with Miles and gets him ready for school.


• 7:00 - He has both kids once I head to work. He packs the car and loads the kids and takes them to school each day. We joke that he's the "pack mule."


• 7:30 - Drops the kids off and heads to work.


• Some days at Kroll he's very busy, some are a little slower. Life as a DBA...


• 4:15 pm - Picks up kids


• 5:30 - Mike usually occupies the kids while I make dinner.


• 5:45 - Family dinner and then Mike is on clean up duty - unpack all of the lunch bags, wash bottles, do dishes and unload and load the dishwasher.


• 6:30 - Get Miles in his pjs and start the bedtime routine.


• 7:00 - Prepare bottles, lunches and school bags for another day.


• 8:00 - When we're not doing laundry and late night projects around the house Mike's interests these days include: beer brewing, football, baseball and reading.


• 10:00 - Fall into bed exhausted and start again.

When asked off the top of his head, what's his favorite thing about being a dad he says "I like spending time with the kids. They make me laugh."