Swimming! Rettger Party

First, I'll start with my favorite photo of all:



No.Fear.This.Child.

 We love going to Pittsburgh for the annual pool party.   One of our favorite parties of the whole year.   This year, the boys pretty much played on their own.   Ares was first in, he jumped off the wall.  Connor, I think was second in, and Atlas was third.  He just walked around the pool to the slide, and went right in.  No one else had used the slide yet, so it's not like he watched someone.  No fear. 

Or this one, when it comes to water.

Ares on the diving board, Atlas on the slide. 

Atlas had been potty trained for an entire week by this trip (which, I might add, is nothing).  While he rarely wet his pants, he often thought he had to go but didn't.   Fortunately, he made it about 2 hours of driving before he said he had to go, gave us about 10 minutes to find a place, and then went the first time, and we then made it to the house with no issues.


Funniest story ever:  He had us take him down the steps from the pool, into the house about 4 times EACH (me and adam) because he had to use the potty.  But none of the times he went.  So I started taking him down the stairs to let him pee in the bushes, but he didn't do that either.  So the next time he had to go, we didn't go down the steps, we just walked over to the trees, which were by the shed near the pool.  Still, he didn't go, even though he says he has to.  So the next time he said he had to pee, we just pointed to the trees by the shed, and told him to go there.   This child comes out, saying "I pooped in the trees!".   *sigh*  He totally pooped on a cement block.  He's so funny!

Atlas' mess

His butt was sticking to the potty chair.  So he decided he'd make it better - with baby powder.   A LOT of baby powder.  

Naturally, on a morning where I woke up 10 minutes later than I would have normally been leaving for the office - AND Sue (the cleaning lady) was coming, so I couldn't wait until after work to clean it.   I did the best I could, then sent a text to Sue apologizing, but stating at least the room smelled good.

How my Husband Won the Internet

This guy is hilarious!   This is a conversation via IM through our office system. 

Athena M Miller 10:13 AM
I'm going to leave in about 5 minutes to walk in the development next to PGR, alone.
just letting you know in case I come up missing
Adam K Miller 10:13 AM
ok

**Adam K Miller 10:26 AM
Are you alive?
did a panel van offer you candy
are you now in the human trafficing industry
hello
HELLO

I'm calling the Marines
and TSA, they have good tools for finding things
do you think you'll be back in time to pick up the kids?

**Adam K Miller 10:30 AM
NASA is realigning the hubble telescope to search the area
GOOGLE is bringing over their mapping satilites to plot the area
I contact Benidict Cumberbatch about finding you... he said it was only a character he plays on TV and not real.

**Adam K Miller 10:35 AM
soooo... if you're kidnapped.... can I buy a motorcycle?

**Adam K Miller 10:38 AM
The KGB said I would have to be a spy for them to help, I told them no and yelled "YEE HA! 'murica." The sales floor wasn't amused by my patriotism
this might be my last msg... security is walking towards me
security told me if I do it again I'd be promoted to "customer."
I also asked them to help find you. they said they could only search the campuses. I gave them boarder patrol duties
called Donald Trump. He's going to build a wall around Mayfield. I think he's lying, but if it comes true. It will be a great wall. a huge wall. and mexico will pay for it too.
I've started to pray...
i've stopped
the Magic 8 ball wasn't nice, it "fell" down the steps.
trying the Ouiji board.
it wasn't any help, but I met a friendly demon... he's going to come over for diner and a conversation about my soul.

**Adam K Miller 10:50 AM
the demon told me there's a special place in hell for me. I answered, "I know, it's called a throne."
have the marines found you yet?

**Adam K Miller 10:53 AM
the airforce is re-activating the SR71 spyplane and are scrambling all their current U2s (not crummy band).

**Adam K Miller 11:01 AM
Sold the house to finance the same people OJ is using to track down Nicole's murder
Ballpark is going to be sad, called the vet to get anti-depressents
this isnt some variance of "gone Girl" is it?

**Adam K Miller 11:07 AM
You'll need to be back by Feb. 10th for the release of Fifty Shades Darker.
I'm having my new hire class make posters to hang around town

**Adam K Miller 11:11 AM
Contacted Trish, she's closing down campus 1 due to safty conserns and asking everyone who is able bodied to start a radial search for you. the media has labled it "prog. pride" it has a nice ring to it.

**Adam K Miller 11:16 AM
ISIS just took responsiblilty for your disappearence. France has united with the US in our search efforts.

**Adam K Miller 11:19 AM
I searched for you on Google too, it wasn't much help

**Adam K Miller 11:21 AM
I'm afraid to tell your mom you're missing, I'm just going to text from your phone and make up excuses as to why you aren't visiting until she figures it out.

**Adam K Miller 11:25 AM
Jared Leto is shaving his head to raise awareness of cute girls going missing in subdivisions.

**Adam K Miller 11:27 AM
Contact Hillary Clinton about this issue too. She PROMISED to make it better if I swore allegance to the darkside... she then tried to use the force on me. Odd... she might be Emperor Papatine.

**Adam K Miller 11:30 AM
I just checked the background of those private invetigators I hired. They still haven't found Nicoles murderer. I think I'm going to fire them and get 100 monks to meditate and attempt to find your aura and locate your exsistance.

**Adam K Miller 11:34 AM
so, all the searching is yeilding results. We've found Bigfoot, proof of ghosts, Carmon Sandiego, Dora the Explorer, the Lost Arc of the Convenant, an entirely undiscovered civilivation that lives on the ocean floor... but not you.
the olympic athletes are protesting until your safe return. This is the first time in history!
Chuck Norris said you'll be found safe. He's never wrong.

**Adam K Miller 11:38 AM
the monks are having a hard time locating you. they tell me Miss Cleo is trying to return from the afterlife through their chanting and they have to Crouching tiger/hidden dragon her back into the spirit realm. they are a little preoccupied, but will return once they're able.

**Athena M Miller 11:47 AM
I"m back I'm back I'm back.

**Adam K Miller 11:47 AM
oh good, soooo I was thinking sloppy joes for dinner

A Little Wrestling

I really wish that this program would let me put more than 15 seconds of video up.  This might have been cut off before anything even shows, I'm not even sure.  One thing I know for sure.  These boys love wresting, and these boys love their dog.  (At the end of the video, they both run over to kiss the dog.)    These two kids still do everything together, and absolutely love each other, even though, Ares, is now starting to be a little more rough with Atlas, and rightly so.  He's let Atlas beat him up so many times, it's time to get him back.  But he's still so super gentle.  I love these kids so much! 

It's the Little Things

I am unbelievably shocked when it comes to my oldest son, and the amazing heart and love he has for his brother.   Yesterday I was at a register paying for dinner, when Atlas said he had to go potty.   Ares offered to take him, and he had to lift him up onto the potty, wait for him to go, and then pick him up off of the potty again.   Not only that, but he had to hold Atlas while he washed his hands, because he's not tall enough for any public restroom sinks yet.  (or, our sinks for that matter).   All without complaining.  Now, since I wasn't in there to quiet them down (men's room), the entire restaurant heard Atlas singing and whooping and hollering inside the restroom.  But we were only at Steak 'n' Shake, so most people just found it entertaining.  Of course, walking out of the bathroom, Atlas exclaims 'I peed in the potty mommy!!'  loud enough for China to hear, haha.   I love my boys so very much.  


Got home, and they ran around in the sprinklers, played on the driveway, and wrestled.

Paw Patrol Bedroom!!

I never realized how obsessed Atlas was with Paw Patrol until I got him Paw Patrol underwear a few months ago.  He wasn't ready to potty train, but I had heard him mention them if he saw someone wearing a shirt, and realized that this was going to be the thing that pushed him to take the next step. 


It's nice that Atlas finally has something that he likes, that Ares isn't really into.   Previously, Atlas only mentions Spiderman (his 2nd birthday party theme), Avengers (Assemble!  But not Hulk - Hulk's bad.  But bad people can become good people).  He says all of that, it's crazy coming from a newly turned 3 year old.  So prophetic.


I didn't want to buy him a bedroom that he would grow out of so quickly, so rather than going out to purchase a ton of Paw Patrol things, I got him a pillow case, a toddler throw blanket (the softest thing I've ever felt) and decided that I could use things around the house to make him posters.  Then I thought about the canvas and paint I had, and decided to use some mod podge to make him some wall hangings.    After I started painting, I saw a poster on amazon that had paw prints in the background, so I took a new sponge for a mop that we no longer had, and cut out a paw print.  (It took me forever to figure out if the paws have 3 pads on top or 4.  I

had to get it right, I didn't want to ruin these, since, he'll probably get over the show in a hot minute and I'll be stuck trying to sell these on the mommy swap groups.  


Anyhow, I did the first one in one night (the one above) and all of the other ones the next evening.  In a whopping 24 hours, Atlas has a brand new bedroom.   I took down the changing pad, the diaper caddy, the diaper genie type thing, and it's amazing how his little room is looking a lot older.  I can't wait until he gets a bigger bed so I can sit on it, and get rid of the rocker in there.  It's nice, but hard for all 3 of us to sit there at once when I read to Atlas before bed.  (Ares often joins us).  

Ares puts Atlas to bed - Kinda. VIDEOS!

This child absolutely loves his older brother, and the feeling is mutual.   At this moment, they're obsessed with sleeping on the floor.  Both of them slept on their floors last night (in their respected rooms)

We had an awesome rain storm one day, and it was super warm outside (mid 80's with the rain).  Atlas would have been out here too, but Grandma was holding his little 103* temperature body on the couch.

Potty Training Atlas - Mom and Dad's 60th

So you all know what a *ahem* stubborn child Atlas can be.  I decided on Wednesday (his 3rd birthday), that I was going to take Friday off, and potty train Atlas.  We need a full 3 days, with no plans (OK, so my parents' 60th birthday party was Saturday night, and we had company coming in on Sunday), but compared to the next 8 weeks planned, that was nothing.  So it was now or never.  


Thursday after daycare we were going to start, except I forgot that Ares had soccer practice.  (Where I stepped on a bee, reminder, it hurts, a lot, and if the kids are stung, give them more attention than a 'suck it up' I probably would have done if I hadn't just experienced it myself.)   So we got home from daycare, and just put him in underwear and hoped and prayed he'd stay dry.   He did.  He also went to bed with a slight fever, but we had him throw away his diapers anyhow.


Friday - !   The big day!! Atlas woke up with a 103* fever.  It was a battle inside my head.  Do we grab the diapers and potty train another time, or do we just go at it?   I decided that if I pulled the diapers out, he'd always think we could do that, so I pumped him full of Tylenol (the recommended amount) and we started.  This kid.  THIS KID!  He was soo ready.  He had 2 accidents, 2 made it to the bathroom but not to the toilet and a few tiny dribbles. A 2nd night dry, waking up once to go at 4am (well, he woke up crying, and we assumed that he had to go.) 

Saturday -: Great day, 1 accident when at a party and he was waaay too far from a bathroom. Made it to the bathroom but that's about it - needs to start practicing his sprints. In his defense, it was during my parents' 60th birthday party, where there were tons of distractions.  He was dry again at night. But he seems to forget how to sleep through the night.  He woke up crying multiple times, but never had to go potty.  In fact, he didn't go potty until about an hour after he woke up (I think he was just being stubborn, because we told him everyone goes to the bathroom right after waking up.) 


Sunday: 1 accident (again, that sprinting issue). 1 dribble.   The accident happened when he was in the basement with Davis and Ares playing (Darah, Davis and Danica came up on Sunday to hang out, on their way to Pittsburgh) It was awesome seeing them, and Atlas had done such a great job, that we even went out to dinner.  He went to the bathroom there, too!
 
No gross accidents. I'd say it was a compete success and that after 1 day he was fine. His school really helped get him ready.  I am absolutely shocked, at what an awesome weekend we had.  His fever broke Saturday, late morning.  Even with the fever, the kid wants to play, laugh, and just have fun, which we did. 

A mustache like Grandpa Doug!

 

 

He did so well, we didn't mind him sitting on our laps!

Pump him full of liquids, keep him close to a potty.

 

Love this kid!

Break during mom & dad's 60th party

 

 

The cake was done by Sweets by Christine. 
I found the cake picture online, and she replicated it. Perfectly.

That's a cake.  A cake!!!  it was ALL edible (except for the wires that the little planes were flying on)

Cookies - they even tasted good

My mom (purple) with her (L to R) Mother in law, Mom and Step Mom.  We are SOO grateful to have them all in our lives!

You'd have never known these two hadn't seen each other in months.

Atlas' 3 year Bbirthday Questions

1. What is your favorite color?  Blue and geen and red
2. What is your favorite toy?  motorcycle red
3. What is your favorite fruit? blueberrries
4. What is your favorite TV show? paw patrol
5. What is your favorite movie? Pets & Nimo (finding Dory)
6. What is your favorite thing to wear? Ohio State Go Buckeyes
7. What is your favorite animal? Dinosaurs
8. What is your favorite song?  
9. What is your favorite book? Jippy
10. Who is your best friend?  James
11. What is your favorite food? Cheese
12. What is your favorite snack? Muffins
13. What is your favorite drink? Paw Patrol cup!
14. What is your favorite game? 
15. What do you like to do outside?  Play outside!
16. What do you sleep with at night? with Ballpark and with my doggy!
17. What do you want to be when you grow up? not a baby
18. What is your favorite sport? I like basketball and I like football and I like baseball
19. What is your favorite restaurant? Steak and shake is my restaurant
20. What do you want for your birthday?  Candles!  WIth fire on the top!  and I blow it out and then lick it!
21. What is your favorite thing to do with daddy? playing
22. What is your favorite thing to do with mommy? playing
23. What is your favorite thing to do with your brother?  playing
24. How do you know we love you?  
25. What kind of birthday party are you going to have?  Paw Patrol!

Happy Birthday Atlas! 3!!

My little guy is turning 3 tomorrow!  I can't believe it!   In fact, it came upon us so fast, we didn't plan a birthday party for him.  No fear!  Grandma Karen kind of did!  She got him a cake, with his favorite characters (Paw Patrol) for him, and a pool party with Parker and Landon (Adam's cousin's kids). They all had a blast.  Naturally, Atlas nearly killed himself by jumping in the water immediately after he said he was done swimming - without his life jacket on.   I was there to watch, I yelled at him telling him he can't swim, and then jumped in to get him.  He was nearly treading water pretty well.  He came up and kept apologizing, haha.  He'll do it again, no doubt, little stinker.   Hopefully someone is there to watch.  We need to teach this kid to swim. like - now. 






This might be my favorite pic of them.  They both wanted their photo taken together. 

Tissue paper was probably his favorite part of the gift.  He got shoes, clothes, fake mustaches, cars, legos... there might be more, I forgot.  (From the inlaws)


The funny thing was, I had no idea what to get him for his birthday.   I asked him, he was no help:


Atlas: "I want candles - with fire on the end" 
Me:  "OK, what else"
Atlas:  "And I blow it out!  And then I *with movement to match* lick it!" 


OK, so he wants a birthday cake.  Done.

 

They played together all morning. 

Adam and I remembered to make something to
 bring to his class! 
And it wasn't last minute!