The Chronicles of Potty Training

You may have noticed either on Facebook, Instagram, or previous posts that we are attempting potty training. My original goal was to have Charley potty trained (sans nap and nighttime) before Liza came. So I ambitiously researched the "3 day method" only to give up after day 1.1 back in November. It was just too hard for me to sit on the floor all day long with Char while I was 9 months pregnant constantly cleaning giant puddles of pee.  (Well, that's my excuse anyway!) 

So fast forward to 2014. I honestly had no intention of really initiating any sort of training since seester Liza is still so teeny tiny. But Ms. Jessika at Tiny School one day asked us how potty training was going at home...and my response? "Oh we put her on the potty throughout the day (lie) but she just doesn't go. She doesn't have accidents, but she doesn't go either (half-truth...an accident in a diaper isn't considered an accident, right?)". 

Ok friends, I lied. I panicked under the pressure that oh my gosh is everyone else potty training in class already and my kid is the only one still in diapers? And I fibbed the truth a bit. The truth is, I would daily put Charley in her diapers and maybe 3-5 times throughout the day put her on the potty. Here were the problems with this: 

1) mommy was being lazy and opting for a diaper rather than panties because, well duh, it's easier to throw away a diaper than clean pee all day. 

2) mommy was not letting Char "feel" what it's like to feel her pee and be successful. 

3) mommy was inadvertently telling charley that it was ok for her to pee in her pants even though that was the opposite of our goal. 

When Ms. Jessika and I were talking, she suggested bringing Charley to school on Wednesday in panties. Panties? At school? I was frantic! (especially since Charley only goes to school on Monday and Wednesday...meaning I had one full day to prep!) 

As soon as we got home on Monday night we threw the diaper out, and put on panties, fully expecting lots of accidents and piles of laundry! Since then, we haven't turned back! (We do put diapers on for naps, nighttime, and extended trips out of the house). 

Here are "The Chronicles of Potty Training"

-the time Charley came running into the kitchen with a soaking wet shirt front and said "potty". We ran to find the inevitable puddle, only to be puzzled by pee-foot-prints leading to an empty potty. Charley kept exclaiming, "Bowl! Bowl!", then continued to pick up Addison's (the dog!) food bowl to which she poured out a large amount of pee. Yup, she peed in the dog bowl. 

-the time we didn't make it to the potty fast enough and pooped in the panties. Then mommy proceeded to pull the pooped in panties down her legs, smearing the said poop all over the said legs! :( THEN, mommy accidentally spilled the turds on the back of the potty chair! A load of sh!t + being everywhere = mommy sayin lots of "@$:!@$!" type of words! 

-the time Charley was curled up next to mommy on the couch and peed. On the couch. 

-the time we were playing on the floor with Mickey Mouse toys and Charley kept saying, "Momma, Mickey bath?" while she dipped him into the puddle of pee she was sitting in. 

-the same time ^^^ she also dipped her hands into the pee and made back and forth swaying and clapping motions in the pee! 

-the time I put Char on the bathroom counter with me so I could get ready for the day and she peed all over the counter. 

-the time Charley said, "daddy, poo poo potty" and then really pooped in the potty!!! 

-and all the other times she has successfully told us "potty" and went either pee or poop! 

...and all that's just been within the last week! It was a week ago Monday we threw those diapers to the wind! At first I seriously wanted to cry and just put a dang diaper on, but by golly, it's a very rewarding and freeing experience to flush the poop down the potty rather than stuff yet another gross diaper in the diaper genie! 

We still have a ways to go to meet mastery (having 1-2 accidents a day), but I feel confident for the first time that my child won't go to kindergarten in diapers ;). And for that, I must thank Ms. Jessika! 

(Yup, that's us multitasking while learning to potty! Snack, milk, and Mickey on Disney Jr!)

***also, just a side note, rewards work like a charm for our little chubster! She knows when she goes potty she gets "chocley", or chocolate...just a tiny bowl of m&m's! And daddy also gives her money...a few coins to put in her bank. 

Year Two::Charley Cate

 

January 4, 2014 marks the beginning of the second year of life for our sweet Charley Cate. I wrote this to her on the actual bday day and still stand behind every single word! 

As toddlers go, we have a great gentle spirit that is rambunctious, sweet, kind, and often times whiney :)

To celebrate the big birthday we had family and friends over for a very "Minnie Mouse" party! I opted for simple store bought decorations over tons of handmade things because, well, we had a one month old sister!!

Here are some of the cute pictures from the event: 

Some of my favorite moments from the day: 

-all the kidlets playing with balloons and bubbles! Precious! 

-Charley being able to actually blow out her own candle. 

-Charley getting excited and oh so happy when everyone sang her "happy birthday"

-Crecia sitting in the tiny chairs and playing "Mickey Mouse" with Charley

-Liza sleeping through the whole event! 

It was a fun time and I am definitely looking forward to this year. Charley Cate, you make our world go round and always surprise us with that sweet little spirit! 

Shameless plug!

I have a dear friend who does photography on the side. Her daytime job is teaching little kidlets at a local private school here in town. She has a great eye for capturing sweet, honest, "non-posey" moments. 

After Baby Liza made her debut I knew I wanted Mindy to take her newborn photos and pictures of the girls together. Here are some of the loveliest images of our girls! 

I have more on our MacBook but for now, these precious three images will just have to do! 

::sigh:::::::gosh, I just love these babies! 

http://mindydrummond.com

Christmastime :)

 Christmas time with a newborn and a busy, rambunctious, overly excited toddler = one extremely exhausted set of parentals! 

This year taught us so much as a family: 

1) never underestimate the power of a spoiling grandparent. Like, seriously! Wow. 

2) it's the best thing to see the excitement on her little face over something so small and random as Minnie Mouse house shoes :) 

3) exclamations such as: "wow, pretty, wear-wear, and woooow" are all good indicators that the child enjoys opening gifts! 

4) two babies are far more fun than one. Especially when the older one loves to snuggle the newbie :)

5) it truly takes a village to raise a child. So thankful for our family that creates our village! 

6) sleep when they sleep. Holidays are exhausting enough, now doubly exhaustive :) 

Christmas was awesome! We enjoyed opening our home on Christmas Eve and spending time with family and friends near and far! We are ever grateful that so many people love on our girls as much as we do! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

random...

I have BlogGo on my phone and have a few posts hoarded on there {ahem-BlogGo people, fix your app issues, and start letting me publish my posts from my phone! soooo frustrating!} that are about the arrival of our sweet new baby sister, Liza Jo, Christmas, and other fun times!

In the meantime...

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^^^random? Yes, but that's just how my brain is working these days. So in the spirit of randomness, here are twenty random things I'm experiencing, thinking about, and/or doing at this point in my life.

1. I cannot focus. My brain jumps from one thought to another, never making sense, making those ADD kids I taught in junior high look like rocket scientists. For reals. Right now I'm thinking: cannot is one word-pet peeve deluxe when people write can not... {{{update: according to this website, cannot and can not are interchangeable. whomp, whomp}}}
2. ^This is not from sleep deprivation, believe it or not. Liza is an excellent night sleeper, most nights only waking up one to two times to eat, then giving momma four to SEVEN hours of uninterrupted sleep. Hallelujer! Now lets just get her to sleep in her own crib and not next to momma :)
3. Beer...yummmm
4. I miss my sister. A ton. :(
5. I'm conflicted about dieting. I desperately want to lose weight. However, I'm not desperate enough to jeopardize my milk supply. This plexus pink drink does intrigue me though... 
6. Also conflicted about returning to work. Do I go back to work and regain some of my identity and the consistency of a routine? Or do I stay home and raise my girls? Guilt. Guilt. Guilt. Either way I feel guilt. ahhhh
7. Addicted to coffee. I would drink it all day, every day if the caffeine were good for Liza. Alas, it is not, so I will stick to my one treasured cup a day. 
8. Ok, I lied. Sometimes I drink two treasured cups :)
9. My kids are beautiful. Gorgeous. So stinking, flipping pretty. :)
10. Sometimes when Charley says "momma, momma, momma, momma, momma...." over and over again I wish I had a bank that would spit out money to me for every time she said momma. 
11. I honestly don't think I've slept an entire full night in my own big comfy king size bed since Liza's been home. No harm done, I can sleep anywhere. 
12. I love breastfeeding. 
13. Tiny school is so helpful to Charley. She surprises me daily with things she randomly picks up at school and home. 
14. Other things Char picks up at school? Germs. Yes, thanks for strep throat :(
15. Most amazing baby invention ever? A baby swing similar to this. Moms, dads, grandparents, babysitters...GET one! You'll be happy you did!
16. Potty training must be God's way of punishing me for that one time I told my dad I didn't love him. 
17. I now watch "Dance Moms". ::sigh:: maybe not for the drama (or maybe so), but why, why on earth was I not born a dancer? Those tiny little dancers are ahhhhmazing!
18. I'm becoming more obsessed with my silhouette cameo paper cutter. Don't know what that is? Google it, then buy it on amazon, then prepare to be totally geeked out by the coolest printer on the face of the earth! 
19. Sometimes I want to write very frank, honest, "not-so-happy" blog posts. You know, the stuff people are going through but don't want the whole world to know about. The things we are ashamed of or don't think people would understand. The times a mom wants to just throw the towel in or pull hair out versus the "we just made these ten thousand crafts from pinterest" posts.
20. Not that I cook much, and when I do I use simple, redundant recipes, but lately I've been enjoying the craft of cooking. Shocking. 
21. I spend way too much time on my phone. 

Pregnancy: Charley vs Liza

Warning: This post will be filled with pregnancy related topics and occasional TMI subjects. If that offends you and/or is not your cup of tea, don't read on :)

I'm no shy girl when it comes to telling my story about the birth of Charley Cate. It was tough, recovery was hard, and all the yucko stuff definitely happened to me. Now pregnancy? Piece of cake! I felt great throughout. So I'm going to do a little comparison in hopes of a wonderful delivery!

Charley's Pregnancy:

Right before we went to the hospital to deliver! January 3rd, 2012

• I was substitute teaching my first trimester (the spring semester of 2011) and therefore was able to take it easy and work when I wanted, then rest when I wanted. Much needed for the fatigue that inevitably comes with the first trimester. 
• No morning sickness! (Yay!)
• I had summer of 2011 off. 
• No trouble sleeping :)
• Big time cravings: fruit (pineapple, strawberries, smoothies), salad, WATER, and wonton soup. 
• Weight Gain: total of 37 lbs. (not too shabby)
• Zero stretch marks! (except on my boobs after my milk came in, but those have since faded)
• Mood: I feel like my mood was relatively good. I don't recall crazy mood swings and I wasn't weepy. Maybe somewhat irritable.
• Overall feeling: GREAT. I felt good. I think working helped since I was on my feet all day and socializing daily.

Liza's Pregnancy:

My friend Davina at her bridal shower in October 2013. Barf. I'm huge.

• I was teaching full time at Goddard JH and trying to make it day to day. Most nights I would come home from work, play with Charley for like an hour, get dinner/bath/bedtime routine stuff done, then conk out myself. All by 7 pm. 
• No morning sickness, however, after the above chores were done, I would feel sick most nights during the first trimester. Thankfully, though, I never GOT sick. (Yay!)
• I decided not to go back to work and to take a year off, so summer (and then some...) of 2013 off. 
• Insomnia in the third trimester. (Is it normal to wake up at 4am and want need a bowl of cereal!?)
• Big time cravings: carbs!!!! (bread, tortillas, french fries....), sweet tea, dark chocolate, SWEETS, and cereal.
• Weight Gain: SO FAR...40 lbs...and I still have 2 weeks to go. 
• A stretch mark on my side :( and a few appearing at the very bottom of my belly. I can tell this is a BIG girl already!
• Mood: OMG, get a grip already Brandi! I'm like a complete basket case! I can laugh hysterically one minute then cry the next. Crazy hormones don't even explain it...
• Overall feeling: BLAH. This pregnancy compared to Charbear has been hard. I just don't feel myself, my body aches, new (and not improved things) are happening down there...eek! I've been depressed, my hands swell at night to the point I can no longer wear my wedding ring (I would seriously wake up in the middle of the night with my hands hurting because my rings were so tight!), and I feel like a huge fat girl since every time I get off the couch I huff and puff like I'm 500 pounds. 
• Bonus Con: I'm assuming I had this disorder with Charley too, they just didn't catch it. But with Liza, early on in my pregnancy, my OB sent me to a hematologist to check my platelet count and figure out why they were always so dangerously low. His answer: I have a rare blood disorder called ITP (Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura). Essentially this just means my body is living off of the platelet count that it creates each day, low for most people, but it's ok for me. I create large or giant platelets in return to compensate, which on most lab work, shows up as a low number. Since the volume of the platelets is what matters (not the actual count), my giant platelets allow me to remain healthy and function properly. The really stinky part to all this?  To get my accurate platelet count I have to have a blood smear, so I've had to get blood work done every two weeks for the first half of my pregnancy, and every three weeks since about week 26. No fun to get stuck all the time...especially when you HATE needles. In hindsight though, this was a good precaution to keep an eye on my levels and make sure that baby Liza remains healthy! 

SO, as you can see, Charbear was a breeze to be pregnant with, although her delivery was rough. I'm hoping that since Liza has been much harder to carry and create, that her delivery will be smooth sailing!!!!!

TWO WEEKS LEFT! Hallelejer!