Notty Training and My Valentine

For the past 2 months or so, we've been trying to potty train Charlie. I tried last summer but he just wouldn't do it. A few weeks ago, he decided to take it up again and he did so well for a week or two. Now, I can barely get him to pee in the potty more than once or twice a day much less poop! It's really frustrating. He is so stubborn so if he doesn't want to do something, he just won't do it.

I tried giving him a potty chart and that did help. Every time he used the potty, we would put a sticker in one of the squares. Once he filled up all the squares, he'd be able to go pick out a little toy. It took him a week and a half to fill out 16 squares, but at least we made it. He picked out a "Tormentor" Mater monster truck. He really wanted a "Frightening McMean" one too, so I went ahead and put a picture of it on his new chart to motivate him.

So far, it hasn't worked. He keeps asking for the toy but doesn't want to work to get it. Sigh. He can do this he just won't. "Notty" training, indeed.

As far as my health goes, things have been pretty crummy again. In December, I was feeling better than I had felt in a long, long time. My levels were perfect and my doctor was like, see you in a year! I thought I had finally gotten the right dose of hormone to control my hypothyroidism. But after Christmas, a lot of hypothyroid symptoms started creeping back into my life. I finally called my endocrinologist a few days ago and they said I needed to have my TSH tested. I had the lab done Friday so I'm hoping to hear from my doctor soon. I'm really hoping my levels are off because I feel off. If they aren't right, they'll prescribe me a higher dose of hormones. I'm really hoping that's what will happen since that is the easiest and fastest solution. If my levels are normal, I'll have to go in for an appointment where the doctor will likely sigh and stare at my chart trying to figure out something to tell me. I don't like that. I just want him to fix me pronto! I was diagnosed about a year ago, and so I would really like to finally get better, thank you. My doctor believes this condition came after my pregnancy with Charlie (which is the most common way for women to come down with this if they have a family history of thyroid disease), since I've never felt quite the same after I had him. So technically, I've been struggling for over 3 years. I'm done. Over. No more. Just make me better so I can enjoy my life instead of having to just drag myself through it.

On an uplifting note, I had a great surprise on Valentine's Day this past week. John and I didn't even realize that Valentine's Day was coming up until a day or two before. He had to go out of town Monday through Wednesday and since we got to go on a date the weekend before, we agreed to not do anything on Valentine's. I was feeling very sick that weekend and was not looking forward to not having backup for Charlie for 3 days. After I dropped John off at the rental car place, I took Charlie to Walmart. I got a little sad when I saw all the flowers there and I was seriously considering buying myself a bouquet since I was feeling so sorry for myself. When we got home, there was a package at the front door for me. I was expecting a book in the mail but this box was not book-shaped. I opened it up to find this bouquet and this note:

It was so sweet I just cried and I'm not usually a crier when it comes to stuff like that. I just felt so loved. I've got the most amazing husband!

Defying Gravity

One of the many perks of being married to John is his photography skillz. Yes, skillz. I now for a fact that if I didn't have him as my photographer, my Etsy shop would not have done as well as it has. I'm so grateful he takes pictures for me . . . especially because I know he doesn't like to do it!

I've had my shop for almost a year now, so Charlie has become accustomed to Daddy taking pictures of Mommy and her purses. Now, he wants to be a part of it. He loves to take pictures and even more, he loves getting his picture taken. So much so that he demands John take pictures of him during my Etsy photo shoots. He's even started to pose and act things out for John to capture. This week, he was obsessed with defying gravity by throwing his snow leopard and bouncing on our bed. I have so many adorable pictures of him so I'll just start out with ones from this week. I hope to post some more soon!

Snowed In

A few weeks ago we had a HUGE snow. Well, huge for here. We got 8-10 inches, which is double what we got at Christmas. There was so much, we couldn't sled or do much of anything. It was so deep, Charlie was up to his knees in it!

This WAS sun dial . . . this gives you an idea of how much snow we really got.

We couldn't get out of the driveway for two days. We had tons of fun being lazy at home together. We watched movies and hours of "Tabitha's Salon Takeover" (which is strangely addictive). By Wednesday, however, I was going crazy. Like I said on Facebook, I was feeling very Overlook Hotel. Luckily, I was able to get out of the house on Thursday. By the time I got home, the walls had stopped bleeding so all was well.

This month I started to write on my new screenplay. It's a challenge to try to find time with Charlie around but it's worth it. I'm hoping to be done in time to enter the Nicholl Fellowship Competition in May. I'm still a little nervous that I won't finish in time but at least I have another script to submit . . . I earned a spot in the quarterfinals with that one in the 2009 competition. Hopefully, one of these scripts can get into the quarterfinals or even the finals this time. Fingers crossed!

My Etsy shop is also doing pretty well. I was afraid that once Christmas was over, I wouldn't sell anything for months. But I've been doing just as well this month as I have previously, so yay!

Christmas Day

Other than the snow, there were tons and tons of presents and stuff to do. I like to get Charlie Christmas pajamas to wear Christmas Eve. It's another one of those traditions I use as an excuse to by myself or Charlie new clothes and he sees right through it. However, we found this set of Christmas Lightning McQueen PJs with a matching robe . . . John caved in because he agreed that the robe was adorable. Charlie likes it too, but for other reasons . . .

Remember how I said in my last post that Evans' Christmases are chaos? Here's a taste:

Charlie got a huge haul as usual. We mostly got him small things like a little tool set, a Mr. Potato Head and some other toys that require some amount of imagination to use. His biggest present was technically from Uncle Nathan. They had one of those huge Thomas the Tank Engine trundle tables and wanted to get rid of it. I was very excited for Charlie (but not for me having to keep up with all those little trains and parts) and decided to give it to him for Christmas since it was such a big gift and would never live up to our small presents. He was SUPER excited about it and plays with it constantly. My parents got him tons of books, Batman stuff and a dog pillow pet.

John and I exchanged presents and we both wound up giving each other some weird presents. I guess when you've been together for almost a decade you start to run out of present ideas! I got John a 30 year old bottle of Coke. No, really. It was a Coke bottle from 1980, the year Georgia won the National Championship . . . Coke printed a commemorative bottle in celebration and I found one on Etsy. I put it in a display case and everything. And yes, it still had Coke in it.

John had warned me ahead of time that one of his presents was weird. I didn't worry since he is an amazing gift giver. He can pick stuff out for me better than I can for myself. However, this year he got me a tool kit. I seriously didn't know what to think at first. It was a pink and yellow kit so at least it was in my favorite colors. He said he thought it would be useful for making purses and actually, it has come in handy. They are really nice tools and I like that I don't have to steal stuff from my mom or John anymore. Of course, now they are starting to steal tools from me . . .

We got a bunch of other stuff so we are happy and blessed. It was a good Christmas.

White Christmas 2010

Christmas morning, we woke up to this:

Isn't it gorgeous? I've only had one other White Christmas as a kid and it was more like a Wintry Mix Christmas. It was more slush than snow but still exciting for Tennessee. My brother and my sister's families somehow made it over in the snow and everyone played in the snow. Unfortunately, I had come down with a flu/cold virus thing (that I'm STILL trying to get over!) the day before so I didn't feel up to playing outside. Though, it was nice to have an hour or two of peace inside the house . . . Christmas (just like everything else) is total chaos with my family. John was a good sport and took pictures (after everyone nagged him over and over).

Ethan's girlfriend Lauren lives the next street over so she came with her dog, Jammy. Charlie LOVES Jammy so he was excited to play with him. He would make little snowballs and toss them in the air for Jammy to catch and eat.

Our road was covered in snow so it was perfect to sled on.

My niece Eloise hugging the Chinese snowman. My family is not racist they just think it's funny to pretend to be . . . which kind of makes them sort of racist. I don't know . . . I had no part in the making of the snowman!

Christmas Eve 2010

John, Charlie and I spent most of Christmas Eve at John's parents' house. Before we left, I went ahead and gave my nieces their presents: I made them these candy wrapper headbands and bows. They came out kinda cute.

I have no idea what these kids are doing. My side of the family is so weird. I love how Charlie is doing a loser "L" with his hand, though.

At the Flynns, Grandpa helped some of the grandkids read the Christmas story from the scriptures. Then, it was present time.

Charlie and his cousin Ethan got these cool wooden trucks and cars. They were busy the rest of the night! Scott got John a super nice Georgia polo and I got a gift card to Ross from Jarom. Uh, yes, it's already gone! Hee!

Charlie's cousin Ryan (left), Charlie and Ethan in the background. I love how much Charlie and Ryan look alike. Though, Ryan is a much sweeter kid than Charlie, I must admit!

The weather had been calling for lots of snow on Christmas, even though it really wasn't that cold Christmas Eve. There wasn't any moisture in the air either. As we drove home we said that maybe we wouldn't have a white Christmas after all. Little did we know . . .

December, Part 1

December was a fun, busy month. I had lots and lots of work to do with my Etsy shop and of course, for Christmas. We got two decent snowfalls in December, which is really freakish for here. Charlie really enjoyed them.

Then we had our Branch Christmas party. I love our church activities. It's so fun to see everyone together, and obviously, to eat. I made these red velvet brownies with a cream cheese swirl for the party. I combined a Southern Living recipe with a BHG one and man . . . best brownies ever! I guess they're technically reddies . . . either way, they were gone fast!

Since Charlie goes into Primary in January, he got to go up front and sing with the "big kids." He didn't know any of the words but I think he liked being in front of everyone. He's a ham. :)

My brother Ethan and his girlfriend went to a Christmas party where everyone was supposed to wear ugly Christmas sweaters (I wanted to do that for the branch party but John wasn't feeling it). Ethan took it one step further and made his own ugly Christmas sweater featuring the leg lamp from "A Christmas Story." And yes, the lamp lights up. As if you had to ask.