Chicago, Chicago, that Toddlin' Town

We're leaving this morning for Chicago to walk in the March of Dimes' Walk America. For those who don't know, March of Dimes is the leading organization whose purpose is to prevent prematurity and save the lives of babies. As you know this cause is close to my heart since Cameron and the girls were all born 2 months early, and I went into labor with Ty 2 months early as well. Ty was the only one of my babies who listened to me and stayed inside as long as he should have, and he hasn't listened to me since! But that's okay, because that was when it mattered the most.

I've tried to explain to the boys as best I can what we're doing tomorrow and why. I explained, with elementary wording, that people were giving us money to take a long walk with a bunch of other people, and that money was going to be given to scientist and doctors to buy medicine and medical equipment for tiny babies who were born too early. I knew they still would probably not understand since what's happening with the money isn't something I can physically show them, but Ty had a pretty good idea in his head about what was going to happen. Last night he told me how he can't wait to go to Chicago "to see the little babies, because I've been wanting to know how they cut you open and took me out." Back to the drawing board.

The only glitch in our plan for the weekend is that late this week Dayne and Tara decided to finally get serious about potty training. They've been wearing big girl underwear for 3 days and have been doing a pretty good job at making it to the potty most times. Dru is still ticked that she hasn't figured out how to "make it happen" like her sisters, so she's digging her heals in and isn't interested in trying anymore. The problem is that with the 2 1/2 hour car ride and all the excitement in Chicago there are going to be a lot of wet pants if I keep them in their underwear. The simple solution is to obviously put them back in pull-ups for the weekend, but I've been trying so hard to get them potty trained, I don't want them to regress and think that diapers are an option anymore now that we've made such a huge leap. But I really don't feel like packing 15 extra outfits and cleaning up accidents all weekend, so I'm going to have to.

The hightlight of my week was yesterday when I came upstairs from the laundry room and found Dayne sitting on the toilet going poop - ALL BY HERSELF! Only a mom can appreciate the excitement in this. For those of you who are tired of reading about poop and pee on this website, I apologize. Sadly, it's a big part of my life right now, but I think I can finally see an end in sight and I'll soon be able to clean up the contents of my blogs.

Have a great weekend, everyone. I'm sure I'll have some interesting Chicago stories to share with you next week.