Sneak Peek

My grandmother (a.k.a My Nanny) came to Utah! My parents came too. here is a sneak peek. While they were here we blessed our sweet little babe, in our home - loved it.

More to come...

My Little Eater

Little C has been a great nurser.  I felt so proud of myself. 

And then, we went for a check up.

Not only had she not gained weight, she lost weight. 👎 Boo! so the doctor said, "Let's start cereal for her and some fenugreek for you to get your milk supply back up." So that afternoon I went to the store and bought some rice cereal. The verdict: We can't get it into her mouth fast enough. Literally. She cries in between spoon fulls.

Remember When?

Brad said to me, "Remember when you use to blog?" So something blog worthy, in my opinion. 

Home improvement. We painted the porch and the steps. I didn't realize just how bad it was until it was repainted.

You Will Miss This

i keep being told, "you will miss this." 

so I took a picture of it.
there she is leaving little finger and hand prints
on my fridge.
i will take a picture of it then clean off her hand/finger prints.

the filter i used makes them look vintage-y
it already makes me miss them.
but they will be back tomorrow
and i will happily clean them off again.
because it means she is active and alive and beautifully curious.

Dreams

I saw World War Z. Brad asked nicely. It is not my kind of movie. It isn't really a horror movie per se, but it does have zombies, and I have a tintsy irrational fear of zombies. 

So what did I dream about that evening? Harry Potter meets zombies. 

My fear of zombies was stronger than my fear of Voldermort (Maybe because I was not his target, unlike the undead). Since in my dream I was walking right next to the Dark Lord himself, as he blasted zombies, not a bad guy to have on your side during a zombie apocalypse. 

My unprofessional survival guide to potty training

She is wearing new attire these days...

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I thought potty training was going to be breeze. Why? Because I potty trained a ton of other kids working in a day care. But apparently, it’s a little easier when you aren’t in your house, you are not the one doing the laundry and there is someone who can come in and clean up the mess for you, and you are only doing for 8 hours of the day.

 Lesson learned life.

I read the books “potty train in a day”. I pinned all the pins, “How I potty trained my 18 month old in a day”. I thought, “I can do this, easy.” WRONG. But we did it, and we survived, of course I had to be given a nice big slice of humble pie before it happened.  My pin description wouldn’t be so awesome as the 18 month old, mine would say “how I potty trained my 28 month old in 6 weeks and kept my sanity”

My tools for the successful potty training:

~Potty Books

~Candy lots of it

~A potty chart

~A timer

~ Big kid underwear

~A beverage and treat of your choice (this is for you to keep your sanity)

~Low expectations or none at all

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 (This one is a long one)

I noticed when I was trying to do the one day potty training method I was turning into the mother I never wanted to be. I would yell get frustrated and it would end in tears (the Miss’ and mine). I finally admitted this wasn’t going to work. The method doesn’t fit me. So we took a break.

I received the second best advice from my grandmother. As I was on the phone with her telling her my problems with potty training she said, “Julie she doesn’t care about wetting her pants she has done it for 2 years. Get about 10 pairs of underwear and as soon as she goes in them take them off right away and put dry ones on eventually she will start liking how it feels to be dry.” Seems easy enough?

Want to know the best advice I received? Again from my grandmother. As we finished the conversation my Nanny said to me, “Don’t forget they didn’t build Rome in a day.” To which I said, “Well according to Pinterest they did and when they are 18 months!” There was a second of silence and my Nanny said, “Well, that’s just bull$@*!” Best advice ever.

Once I accepted it wouldn’t happen in a day, I have to say it went much better and smoother than I ever thought possible.

If you would like to know you can keep reading.

First, I bought some potty books off of amazon. Once they arrived I stopped changing the Miss on the changing table. I moved her diapers etc into the bathroom. Every change took place in the bathroom, and she would sit on her little potty. I didn’t care if she went, in fact she never ever went in the potty. I did this for a month. We would read the potty books in the bathroom while she sat on the potty.

After a month we went to the store and I let her pick out her big kid “unnies”. Then one week we had nothing scheduled we began. That Monday morning I put her in her big kid unnies. Also I bought one of those toddler toilet inserts as well so in case we were upstairs she could use that instead of dragging her little potty. Well, guess what? She loved it so much that on the Saturday before we began I showed her it she got excited and sat on it and actually went! She never sat on her little potty again.

That morning we had about 6 accidents. The beverages and treat of your choice are for those moments. She would go in her pants I would take a swig of my diet coke and down a Reece’s peanut butter cup and say, “Okay let’s change”. All with amazing enthusiasm. 

The first three says were the hardest. And really it was exhausting. I would set my timer for every 30 minutes and make her sit on her potty. She hated getting on it every time because it was excessive but I used bribery. (As I was talking to another mother about this she looked at me and said, “I don’t use treats or any bribery for potty training. We just sing a song.” [insert eye roll]. If I spoke my mind I would have said, “Good for you, wanna cookie? Oh, you aren’t into that sorta thing.” But I don’t, I just give the i-am-tolerating-you-smile and pretend nothing happened). Also we only stayed in the kitchen because it has tile floors – easier clean up. We watched a lot of movies, coloring, puzzles, dancing etc.

After three days she was getting a hang of the potty. I could go longer about 45 – hour between the sittings on the potty. By Friday, she was coming to us and telling us she needed to go – the beverage of choice and treats are for those moments too when you can pat your self on your back. Take a swig and say “Yeah, I am awesome”. Don’t worry your own offspring will bring you back down to reality when they have an accident 20 minutes later.  We also did a sticker chart. The Miss loves stickers so she loved getting to put a sticker on her chart after she used the potty.

By the next week we were able go out. She was staying dry through out the night and naps (However, for my own sake I would put her in a diaper – you know just in case).

So that’s that. My unprofessional survival guide to potty training.

 Oh, and what does she get for being potty trained? Her very own bike. She has wanted one for soooo long. 

Funny

 While going through my texts I came across this gem (I am blue Andrea is grey):

Confessions of a Young Mom : \

My life can be a little bit hectic at times. I find myself doing these that would have made my former pre-mom self wrinkle my nose up in a bit of disgust. (It’s not one of those you-wouldn’t-understand-unless-you’re-a-parent kind of post. That always drove me crazy when people would say that to me before I had kids. Its just things I never saw myself doing because I never thought about it.) 

•    Sometimes I drink out of the milk carton. Usually during a morning dash out the door after I inhaled a granola bar and I need just a swig to wash it down.
  
• If I have to give a person a ride in my car, and during my quick clean up of it, I find old cheerios on the ground (or gold fish); due to a lack of better place to put them I just eat them.
  
• I drank diet coke while pregnant with child #2.
  
• I nurse while making dinner or eating it (I have become a pro).
  
• I hate nursing; I only do it because it’s so healthy for baby and me.
  
• Some days I go to bed so exhausted that I can’t even remember the last time I showered.
  
• I sometimes go to bed without brushing my teeth and I have to think, “Did I brush them this morning?”
  
  
• I am still in my work out clothes from this morning.
  
•  I saw this on pinterest and it made me laugh when I saw it because I am so guilty. I will sometimes eat candy or a cookie in the closet so I don’t have to share it.
  
•   Most Dr. Seuss books annoy me.
  
•   Sometimes I read out loud the book I am reading and count it as reading time. (B has already had Pride and Prejudice read to her twice).

Summer Through My Phone

 

Lots of park days. She loves the swings. Brad is braver than me and will push her high (and I mean high) which she LOVES and will say "pash high".

 Sydney, she really is one of the coolest dogs I know.

 The first morning she slept from 9 to 4 am, then slept again until 8 am. It was a picture worthy morning, what can I say?

 Our little family on the holiday. Baseball and fireworks, and Miss B hates fireworks and she will let you know it even if all you say is the word, "firework". She has been traumatized.

 Lots of swimming this summer.

And what is summer without parades??

2 Months!

Life continues (at a ridiculously fast rate).

This little gal is still a sweetie. 

~When she is first awake and fed she is pleasant and friendly for about 10 - 15 minutes and then she is fussy for the next hour until she falls asleep.

~She loves the swing and that is what she likes when she turns fussy.

~ She prefers nursing. Doesn't like bottles (will take it only if she has to and is starving and only the minimal amount she needs. And if it's formula don't even think about it - good thing I started stock piling my milk from day 1.)

~ She tolerates her big sister's doting, in her face, pretty well sometimes I would go so far to say I think she enjoys it.

~Sleep didn't come as natural to this one. Training her to sleep (gosh, it sounds like a dog but really that is what you do... train them) took a little bit longer and more involved but she is doing great now. Two solid 2 hour naps a day, cat naps in between, and at night sleeps from 9 pm to 4 or 5 am. 

~Eats every 3 - 4 hours - we are currently working on getting her to every 4 hours (and when I say "we" I mean me.

We have adjusted to our family's new size. I love it. It is busier and requires more stuff but I am having a blast. And I mean that I really do, I have my shortcomings, but I love being a mother.