Guess who is a big boy???

Another big milestone in the Baird Household. Bentley is a big boy and wears big boy undies (still working on saying undies and not panties)!!

We did the same potty training method with Bentley as we did with Presley. We put a 3 day weekend on the calendar. We got rid of the diapers and filled the treat jars! If I recall correctly, Presley had it down in a couple of hours. Bentley just about took the entire 3 days but he did great!

I have to say the "boy" training was a bit of a challenge. He is too small to stand up and when he sits down he has to point it down or stuff goes everywhere!! He also likes to sit far back on the toilet so he had to take his shorts and undies off every single time. And his number twos take FOREVER.

He chose a ring pop after one of his successful number twos!

I do have to say, the outside thing is a lot easier with a boy! We are just working on him not pulling down his britches in the middle of the front yard while everyone is playing! This picture is actually in our neighbors front yard.

When we first started shopping for big boy undies, I took the approach of how I dress him. No characters and only wear what Daddie would wear. Well he insisted on the characters. I have to admit that it did make the training easier because he had to keep spider man dry, or batman dry. He also looks super cute with a spider man tooshy! I couldn't resist taking this picture!

As I write this blog, he has been trained for about a month and has done pretty well. Mikey and I went on vacation and he regressed big time. I spent a couple of days retraining him and we still have to retrain him for the nighttime. We did decide to put him in a pull up at night for now. He doesn't have a bathroom connected to his bedroom like Presley does and there is no way we could let him have free reign of the house at night. We will night train when he is a little older. In the meantime, we are SUPER proud of our little man! I haven't had only one child in diapers since before Presley was born. Pay raise! And we are praying that some day we will be able to train Kiley and be diaper free!! Two down and one to go!

Sonoma

Every other year, my girlfriends and I go on a trip together. The last two times, we have gone to Destin. This time we decided to go to wine country. We rented a house in Sonoma, California and had a wonderful trip. I was so excited about this trip. We go to wine country in Upstate New York every Summer, but I love my California red wine. We flew into San Francisco. After a long wait for our rental, we headed towards Sonoma. I had never been to San Francisco and I was so excited that we got to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge!

Once out of San Francisco, we stopped in a little town called Sausalito and had lunch at a place called Bar Bocce. It was on the bay and had a beautiful view.

After lunch we drove to the house. It was so cute. We figured out sleeping arrangements and settled in. Here are a few pictures of the backyard.

We freshened up and then went to dinner. It was a place called the Depot Kitchen and it was an old hotel that was turned into a restaurant. We sat outside by the pool and it was great food and great atmosphere.

The next morning we had our first wine tasting at 10am. Lucky for us it was a private tasting at our house. We set the table outside and cut up some cheese. The man was from the Robert Hunter Winery. All of the wine tasted amazing!! I surprised myself and like the Pinot Noir better than the Cabernet. Looking back after all of our tastings, this was my favorite one! You can't beat wine tasting in PJs!

After that tasting, we got ready for the day and went to eat lunch at a hole in the wall mexican place that turned out to be delicious and one of my favorite meals! After lunch we headed to Domaine Carneros for a tasting. We walked up big stairs to a beautiful building and had our tasting outside.

That night we went to dinner at a place called Harvest Moon. The people that we rented the house from recommended it and got us in at the last minute.

Our first tasting on the last day was at the Arrowood Winery. We had a private tasting and added a cheese pairing.

Our last tasting of the trip was at the Hanzell Winery. We drove up a long windy road to get to it. The scenery was beautiful! We took a tour with this tasting.

We had such an amazing trip. When we weren't wine tasting, we sat around the house and talked and played games. We had a lot of laughs and made a lot of memories. We woke up early the last morning and headed to the airport. Once we said goodbye at the airport, I went over to my gate and the roller coaster began. My flight was delayed which meant I would miss my connection. I made a smart move and when they announced the delay I went to the gate next to mine to get on another flight. I sent Mikey this picture of the line at my gate.

I got a ticket on a later flight which would put me home 3 hours later than before. About 15 minutes later, I went back up to the gate to see if I could get on standby lists for the flights in between mine and I miraculously got on a flight that was leaving in 10 minutes. I grabbed a sandwich and got on the plane. I sent Mikey this picture because I was so excited!

Right after I took the picture, the pilot came on and said we were having mechanical difficulties and they were working on it. We sat on the plane for over an hour before we took off. It was a roller coaster of a ride, but I made it home safe and sound and only 15 minutes after my original flight was supposed to land. Mikey and the kids were waiting at baggage claim with roses. We stopped for dinner on the way home. I think they missed me...they all wanted to sit with Mommy.

Thank you honey, for taking care of the kids and letting me go on a wonderful girls' trip for my 35th birthday!!