Big Girl

I'm popping in today to brag about our big girl Paige!

We are going on 2 months of no diapers during the day and 1 month of no diapers at night - woohoo!!!

I was never brave enough to go diaper free at night even though she was dry 98% of the time in the morning, but leave it to Daddy to just go for it one night when I was playing bunco. And so here we are a month later and she has had only one nighttime accident so far and will frequently call out for us if she has to go in the middle of the night. Such a big girl!

She has also gotten better with dressing herself. We are definitely in the "I do it myself" phase - which means we need an extra 10 minutes to get out the door. If you start to help with something she wants to do by herself, she will say "No I do it" and will start all over (ie. put her pants back on and then take them off) - it's exhausting - ha! Paige has finally caught on to the "tag in the back" concept for putting on her pants though so that's good! She can take her shirts off but has yet to put them on by herself, but she does pretty good with her socks and puts her shoes on by herself almost all of the time.

And then this has also happened within the last few weeks:



 Once again leave it to Daddy to make this change while I am gone. We had been talking about it, but never really decided whether or not we should convert her crib yet.

Well, Luke and Wally apparently decided it was time. I was freaking out. I wasn't as worried about the night as I was about her napping. She has always been a fabulous napper! Naps have been going ok though. It takes a little bit more effort to get her asleep sometimes, but other days she goes right down.

We have been having a little girl sleeping in our bed at night at least 5 out of the 7 days of the week though! She goes to sleep on her own just fine. We read a book, give kisses and say I love you's and she falls asleep on her own, but she usually wonders her way down the hall to our room and just stands on the side of the bed until one of us notices her and bring her up by us. I know we probably need to make a bigger effort to actually walk her back to her room but we are tired and honestly it isn't worth it (and who doesn't like to cuddle with your kid all night!). Sometimes she comes in at 11 PM, other nights it's 3 AM. We eventually carry her back to her bed before our alarms go off at 5:30.

The only "baby" thing that is left is her "bobby" (paci). And we are down to 1 - yikes! She has thrown all of the other ones away on her own once they got a hole in them. I'm considering getting a backup to at least get us through the plane ride to Disney next month. We will make a push for no pacis once we get back from vacation!

Paige is turning in to such a little girl though. No more baby Paige here :(

Bottoms Up

We are working on Paige dressing herself after going to the bathroom! 

She was very proud after this attempt.  I thought she looked goofy from the front, but then she turned around and I got this!  I died!  LOL!

Our Big Girl

I can't believe it, no seriously, I can NOT believe it! 

Miss Paige is officially out of diapers!!!

After what was the loooooongest weekend ever, Paige has now been accident free for going on 4 days!

I seriously can not believe it! (Did I say that already???)

Between playing cowgirl and painting our toe nails,







we went through 14 pairs of underwear on Saturday - yes, 14! 

She went on the potty first thing in the morning so that gave me hope, but then it just went downhill and after naptime was the 2 worst hours ever!  She started to give us some hope again before bedtime, but I was ready to call it a night and start again on Sunday!

Sunday we passed the time with some quiet activities



but I still didn't feel like we were making much progress.  Both Wally and I were feeling very defeated and wondering if she was truly ready.

Monday morning was the most nerve-wracking drive to daycare ever!  She had gone on the potty first thing in the morning and then again right before we left so I was hopeful it would be a dry ride - it was!

And then wouldn't you know, she was accident free ALL DAY!!!  I swear the teachers at Punky's think I am lying about our hell-ish weekend! 

Paige came home in the exact same clothes she had on when I dropped her off!



We continued to have a great night with no accidents.  She still wasn't telling us when she had to go but she was holding it until we would put her on the potty.

Then there was Tuesday - another accident free day!  This is our gymnastics night so I was nervous about venturing out with her, but she did awesome!  She actually told me she had to go before we left for gymnastics and then she went right before and after class at the gym (which means she went on a big potty - woohoo!).  She was doing amazing!!!

She woke up at 5 AM on Wednesday morning calling out for us.  Wally started rocking her when she popped up and said "Poopy!" (she says that for everything - even pee - it's confusing!)  Wally took her to the bathroom and she went AND her diaper was dry!  Seriously I am in disbelief! 

Paige had another awesome day at daycare on Wednesday.  They didn't even put a diaper on her at naptime and she stayed dry! 

She woke up again at 5 AM this morning telling us she had to go potty and was dry AGAIN!  But, I still don't think I am brave enough to keep her in underwear all night just yet.

We are so proud of Paige!  After the weekend, I never thought she would be doing as well as she is today!  I guess it really does just "click" for the kids!

Another example of how big she is getting - she actually sat still long enough for me to put pig tails in her hair this morning!



Not to mention she is talking so much now.  She is cracking us up lately! 



Such a big girl now - so proud but I still can't believe it :)  Love her to pieces!

The Last 2 Months...

There has been a lot of transitions going on in our household over the last 2 months. It started with the potty training in mid-January, which I of course blogged about. I have to tell you that Luke has not regressed one bit (yet!). He is doing so awesome. I can say that I 95% trust him. He will go when he has to go. I only 'make' him go before we leave the house or before he takes a nap or goes to bed. He actually worries me sometimes because he goes so infrequently. He has a really great bladder and is too stubborn to take time from playing to go potty.

He now sits forwards most of the time, but he still straddles hence why the pants have to come off (or at least one leg anyways)!


One funny story is that just this past Monday Luke was at the park a couple of blocks from Punky's house when he ran up to his teacher Jaime and said he had to "go poo poo". She quickly gathered the kids to walk back to the house. He did so great 'holding it' all the way back to Punky's. I have to laugh though because he probably didn't have many friends the rest of the afternoon since he made everyone leave the park - ha!

Another transition is the one to Luke's new room, which I posted pictures of previously. The first night in his big boy room was Sunday, February 20th (the day we came back from Key Lime Cove). He was more than excited to sleep in his big bed and fell asleep with no problems. He did not wake up once during the night! And that is pretty much the way it has gone since. Not once has he gotten out of his bed in the middle of the night or given us issues going to sleep at night.

Our nightly routine goes like this: put on jammies, brush Luke's teeth (which he has gotten so much better about!), go potty, he climbs into his bed and turn his lamp on, he crawls under the covers, grabs his paci, we all lay in his bed together and read 2-4 books, he crawls out from under the covers to turn his lamp off (he must do it, we can't), we sing songs, we giggle, we give kisses and say 'I love yous', mommy and daddy leave the room and Luke drifts off to dreamland.

Luke and I have a 'thing' at bedtime. It goes something like this:

Me: goodnight
Luke: goodnight
Me: sleep tight
Luke: sleep tight
Me: don't let the bed bugs bite
Luke: ok mommy

Most mornings Wally and I are awake already getting ready for work and Luke will get out of bed and come walk into our room (at the beginning he would call out for me, but not anymore). One morning though, Wally and I were both still sleeping when I could feel this 'presence'. Sure enough, I opened my eyes and Luke was just staring at me. It was very startling and funny though because I remember doing that to my parents when I was little. I wouldn't say a word, but just stare at them until they realized I was there.

The next big transition was to wearing big boy underwear at nap and bedtime. Our daycare makes the transition at naptime after they have started potty training for a couple of weeks. Luke did great aside from maybe 1 or 2 accidents at the beginning. I was never brave enough to make that transition at home. It was just 'easier' to put a pull-up or diaper on him. Finally, after 2 straight weeks of him waking up perfectly dry in the morning, I decided to go for it. We did nap time first with no problems at all and then on Saturday, March 12th, we went for it at bedtime too. I reminded Luke a million times before he went to sleep that he was wearing his underwear so he needed to call out for me if he needed to potty. The first night was a success!!! Night 2 was our first and only accident. I checked on him when I woke up at 5:30 and he was dry so somewhere between 5:30 and 6:3o he had an accident. That night I began sending Luke subliminal messages in the middle of the night. I would wake up to check on him and remind him that he had on big boy underwear so he needed to wake mommy up to go potty and in his sleep, he must have really heard me because he said "ok". It was too funny! But he has been great since! I just make sure to remind him every night.

Luke has also been making the transition himself to being Mr. Independent. This of course is a Jekyll and Hyde thing though because sometimes he MUST do everything himself and other times he acts completely helpless. One thing he is very independent about though is dressing himself. Ever since we started potty training he puts on his own underwear and pants each times he goes potty (he actually has to take everything off completely when he goes). He knows and repeats to himself and us that Big Bird or Elmo or Thomas (whoever he is wearing that day) goes in the back and that the tag goes in the back too. That is how he learned how to put his pants on. He does a really great job of this! Luke has also gotten pretty good about putting his own shoes on too. While I am loving how independent he is, it also makes it that much longer for us to get out the door. We definitely have to 'plan accordingly'!



It was pajama day at daycare!


We have started reading a "Big Brother" book a couple of nights a week. Luke is learning that things will change a bit when the baby gets here, but it is all for the better! He basically knows the book by heart already and will tell you that he has to put his toys away so the baby doesn't get hurt and that he is going to teach the baby to play basketball - 2 things that are mentioned in the book!

I am 100% aware of how lucky we are that Luke has met so many of these milestones already and that he adapts so well to whatever change we throw his way. I am also 100% aware that all of this could go out the window when the baby comes. I know there may be some regression, but I feel really good about how things have gone so far. We want the transition from an only child to a big brother to be smooth and fun for Luke.

I am just so proud of Luke and so amazed at how big he is getting. Both mine and Wally's parents are so amazed and proud too, but they keep warning us that we are going to be "in for it" with baby #2. Is it possible to be this lucky 2 times in a row?!?! Time will tell!!!

(I have been really bad about taking pictures lately...I need to get back into the swing of things!)

I Hate to Say it Out Loud...

for fear of being jinxed, but I think it is official...LUKE IS POTTY TRAINED!!!

This morning sealed the deal for me. I had planned to shower before Wally left for work, but the sleep was so good this morning that it just didn't happen. So...I tried to confine Luke into somewhat of an enclosed area while I took a quick shower, but he can open doors so there really is only so much you can do. He stayed within my view the whole time and just as I was turning the shower off, I saw him run out of the room. I walked into the bathroom down the hall, and what do you know?!?! He was climbing off the toilet saying, "I pooped Mommy!". I seriously have never been so happy :) He went all on his own (luckily I got there in time to wipe!). He knew he had to go and went - yippee!!!

Today marks 2 full weeks of no diapers! He has not had one.single.accident at daycare and has pooped on the potty there just about daily. The teachers are constantly telling me how impressed they are. They have all been doing this a long time and not once have they ever had a child (especially a boy) poop on the potty the first week, let alone the first day. He woke up from a nap early the other day because he had to go and proceeded to give the play-by-play as he was going - hilarious story!!!

We were brave last Saturday night and went to church and out to eat and he did AWESOME!!! This was his first time using a public bathroom and he had no qualms about it, in fact he was fascinated and went 3 times (ugh!).

As soon as we hear him in the morning we had been going in his room and always asking him right away if he needed to go potty. Now, I say good morning and dilly dally a bit, but the first thing he says is "I go pee pee." He seriously is dry most mornings so I am contemplating going to underwear at night, but we'll see.

He gets it! He knows when he needs to go and knows he needs to go on the potty. And he absolutely LOVES flushing so that's a bonus :)

So proud of my little (BIG!) boy!!!

He's pretty proud too :)


I will save you from any further potty stories (unless they are just too good not to tell)!

15 Weeks and 5 Days

Further PT Update: I had to get back on here, Luke redeemed himself tonight from the poop accident! Literally minutes after I posted this, I heard the potty music. I figured he was playing in there, but sure enough, he went all on his own and he was using a kleenex to wipe the toilet seat...LOL!

PT Update: I was going to avoid posting about potty training for a bit, BUT I can't help but be bursting with pride! Luke has been nearly-accident free since Tuesday. He had an accident this morning, but we truly believe it was in spite! Wally wouldn't give him a muffin so he literally peed right in front of him (yes, that is what we are dealing with with this feisty little 2-year old these days). And tonight, he pooped in his underwear. But, let's not focus on that right now because he truly is doing awesome! Luke hasn't had a SINGLE accident at daycare and he has pooped on the potty there and once at home! He really understands that he needs to hold his pee until he gets to the potty. Poop we nearly have, but I know that can take a bit. He has stayed completely dry at naptime all week too. In fact today, they didn't put a diaper on him at naptime and he literally ran to the potty the second he woke up! He has been nearly dry at night too (we got rid of the pull-ups and are just using diapers now). I am so proud of him and those first two days of hell were worth it!

Onto other things!

I am now 15 weeks and 5 days pregnant! It's hard to believe I am that far along already. I honestly feel great. I actually forget from time to time that I am pregnant, thank goodness for the growing mid-section to remind me :)

I had my most recent appointment last Wednesday. This was the first appointment that Wally was able to attend with me so he was pretty excited to hear the heartbeat. It is always so nerve-wracking for me the second my doctor puts the doppler on my belly...and then I hear the heartbeat and all is perfect in the world. There truly isn't a better sound! And this baby's heartbeat was strong and FAST!!!

Everything is going smoothly so far. My next appointment is February 12th and then we will get to schedule our anatomy scan for around 20 weeks, which is the halfway point - crazy! Just in case you didn't know, we won't be finding out the sex again (sorry Mom!). We love the surprise and hearing the words "It's a _____!" We have a gender neutral baby room all ready to go and will be moving Luke to his new big boy bedroom hopefully in the Spring sometime!

Here are some pics of my progressing baby bump :)




15 weeks and 3 days - this isn't the best picture. My eyes look a little miserable. This was taken Tuesday morning when I thought I was well enough to go to work and ended up being miserably sick for the past 3 days. I will try for a better belly shot this weekend!

Tales from the Potty - Day 4

Today went pretty well up until the last few hours.

Luke peed on the potty right away when he woke up in the morning - SUCCESS!

Around 11, he showed Barney how to pee on the potty too - SUCCESS!

Just before 1, he peed again and seemed to attempt to poop (he was pushing, but I think he got scared) - SUCCESS!

At this point I was actually hoping he would just poop in his pull-up sometime during naptime so I could quit worrying about it. Well, he did! He was playing in his crib for a bit rather than napping and then he yelled, "Mommy, I poop!". Hey, at least he told me he did! After I changed him, he wasn't digging naptime so we decided to try our first outing in big boy underwear - the grocery store. NO PROBLEM!

As soon as we got back from the grocery store, he peed on the potty - SUCCESS!

I tried to put him down for his nap then with underwear on thinking we would give it a whirl since he just went and was dry during naptime yesterday; however, Luke really wasn't in the mood for a nap. It was getting late so we decided to just forgo the nap and do an early bedtime.

Unfortunately the next few hours didn't go so well. Luke had 2 accidents. Both of which probably could have been avoided if we would have put him on the potty, but I was trying to let him take the lead and tell us. He does, but not until it's too late. He just says "Elmo all wet" or "Thomas all wet" and then runs to the potty when we tell him. Sigh! So he is pee-trained so long as WE put him on the potty when we think it's necessary.

Luke really hasn't been eating well at all for the past week. Breakfast always goes well so we try to fill him up as much as we can, but lunch and dinner has basically been zippo! I know he is battling a bad cold and most likely a loss of appetite (we are all struggling with this in this household), but he is starting to really stress me out about not eating...he has NOT had a fever at all with this cold and it is a runny nose and cough. He doesn't seem miserable at all, but it is going on a week, and I am thinking a call to the doctor might be necessary - I always struggle with this...so anyways...dinner was a disaster, bathtime was a disaster and it was just meltdown city. Luke went to bed at 6:55 tonight!

We are back to daycare tomorrow so we will see how potty training goes there. They usually follow the method of putting the child on the potty every half-hour to an hour, but at some point the kids have to decide they need to go on their own right?!?! That is what we were trying to do all weekend, but especially at the end of today. My thinking after going through 3 days of this is that you do need to put the child on the potty every so often to get them used to the idea of peeing in the potty at first, build their confidence, and wait for them to understand when they need to go. I will let daycare know how we did it all weekend and our results and we'll see how it goes. I certainly don't want to say "screw it!" and put the diapers back on because he is doing really well and I think he will get it within a couple of weeks, but I will not be potty training my child for months...if he doesn't get it, we will revisit it in the spring sometime.

Thanks for reading my long-winded potty tales...I know they aren't all that interesting and it's mostly me just putting my thoughts in writing! So if you have made it this far, here are a few pics from our weekend (I forgot I did take some pics on Friday).



Yes, that is a sleeping bag over the dining room chair. Look, I knew there would be accidents so I was trying to make clean up as easy as possible. I also had a huge blanket sprawled across the area rug in the living room and a "special blanket" for him to sit on on the couch :)


This was Luke at 'naptime' today. At night lately, he asks to "rock-a-bye baby" so we read books and rock for a little bit before laying him in his bed. He has been wanting to rock for longer and longer and I'm not complaining about the cuddles. However, today, he wanted to "rock-a-bye baby" Barney on his own. I thought for sure he was going to fall asleep in the chair, but it didn't happen!


And some video!

Tales from the Potty - Day 3

Dare I say it - Luke was ACCIDENT FREE today! I woke up feeling much better, Wally not so much, Luke still had his runny nose, but he was 5 for 5 today - NO ACCIDENTS!!! But also no pooping :( I worried this would happen. It isn't completely unusual for him to go one weekend day without pooping so we'll see what tomorrow brings.

#1 - Luke woke up just before 7 with a very full pull-up so I knew it would be a bit before he had to go again, but he had breakfast and lots of juice and water. It wasn't until noon that he went for the first time IN THE POTTY! He sat on the potty (without a fight) a few times between 7 and noon, but every time said "no pee pee" so we would just go back to playing. Finally when I put him on the potty at noon, he went! He didn't even pee just a little bit in his underwear! Those nearly 5 hours were torture for me though - I couldn't and still can't help but wonder if he has really good bladder control or is just refusing to go?!?!

#2 - We had success again before naptime just before 2. I put a pull-up (we are calling these his big boy sleeping underwear) on him for his nap.

#3 - He slept for 2 1/2 hours and I whisked him out of bed immediately when I heard him talking and we went straight to the potty - success again and his pull-up was completely dry!

#4 - 5:45 another successful pee!

#5 - 7:45 He put up quite the fight about being "all done" on the potty and not wanting to try to go one more time before bedtime. He eventually gave in and after a few minutes on the potty, he went!

We are so proud of him - this is quite the change from yesterday! Is this how it works? Do they just get that they shouldn't go in their underwear overnight??? I am hoping tomorrow goes just as smoothly, but I am also hoping he gets to the point where he tells us when he has to go or just goes and sits on the potty on his own. Wally and I are both off tomorrow for MLK day so we have one more day at home and then it's off to daycare to see how he does there!

I'll try to take some pics of the cute little guy in his big boy underwear tomorrow. All of my energy has been sucked up by the flu and potty training so I haven't gotten around to getting the camera out!

Tales from the Potty - Day 2

Well, yesterday could have went better - for many reasons! I woke up with a stomach ache which ended up being the flu, Luke didn't actually pee in the potty until almost 3:30 PM (4 accidents before that). He then went again at 4 PM, but had 2 more accidents before bedtime, and then Wally caught the flu bug around 5 PM and was up all through the night. Luke also has a bad cold that he just can't seem to shake! So seriously, yesterday could have gone better!

Luke still isn't telling us (with words) when he has to go, which is the way the 3-day potty training method works. I feel like maybe we made some progress though because he would pee just a little in his underwear and then he would be grabbing himself - obviously his way of saying he had to go so we would go to the potty. It was a success twice, but a few other times, he would sit on the potty for a bit, say "no pee pee", get up and not more than 5 minutes later, he would have an accident.

On to day 3...

Tales from the Potty - Day 1

This morning started off AMAZING! Luke woke up, we ate breakfast, and then he threw all of his diapers into a garbage bag (don't worry - I didn't actually throw the diapers away...are you kidding??? those things are expensive! They will be put away in the basement for the next baby). As Luke was putting the diapers in the garbage, he was laughing and we were singing "Lukey is a big boy, NO MORE DIAPERS!" He was getting a kick out of this song! Then it was time to put on the big boy underwear. His first underwear of choice was a Mickey Mouse pair. We talked about going pee pee on the potty and keeping Mickey Mouse dry. We headed to the bathroom where he sat on his potty and I encouraged him to go pee. I knew he just drank a whole lot at breakfast so he should be ready to go! He actually said, "No, Mommy" when I was sitting in the bathroom with him...he wanted me out. I walked away for one second and then I heard the music...Luke had peed (his potty plays music when he goes). I couldn't believe it - I made a HUGE deal out of this and was so excited! Lukey got a Thomas sticker to put on his potty chart and lots of praise from his Mommy. This potty training thing isn't going to be so bad....

And then the next 5 hours happened :( Let's just say we've gone through 5 of our 27 pairs of underwear so far. I would constantly remind him to tell me when he had to go potty, we would check to make sure Mickey Mouse or whatever character he was wearing on another pair of underwear were dry and he would gets lots of praise and another reminder to tell me when he has to go (we are somewhat following the 3-Day Potty Training Method). Unfortunately, on the times we would sit on the potty, he wouldn't go even though I knew he had to and within 5 minutes, he would have an accident. The problem...he didn't care about these accidents. Sigh! I was beginning to wonder what we were thinking...

After lunch and more potty visits with no success, Luke told me he was tired and wanted to go to sleep. He went down for his nap around 12:15 and is still sleeping (it's 2:30 right now). I will say he has a pretty bad cold, but he is still playful and acting fine so we decided not to postpone the potty training that we had planned for the weekend. After an unsuccessful morning, I did put a pull-up on him before his nap. Our initial thought was not to do this, at least at nap time, since he usually wakes up pretty dry, but I knew he was going to sleep for a long time and a pull-up at this point was probably best!

Maybe a nap is just what Luke needed - we'll see...Tales from the Potty to continue....

So he woke up around 2:45 and I put him on the potty right away. He sat there for quite awhile but didn't go - his pull-up was pretty wet when he woke up. So...we put on some underwear and headed back downstairs. After drinking water & juice, numerous potty visits and nothing happening, he FINALLY went again in the potty around 4:20! We had the biggest potty party ever! I thought maybe this was a turning point because I decided to give Luke a Thomas sticker AND a dinosaur I picked up as part of my big bag of potty rewards the other day - he was very excited about the dinosaur!

Wally got home just before 5 and Luke was excited to show Daddy how he goes potty. He pulled his underwear down and sat on the potty, but nothing - at least he was excited about it. That was about the last time he was excited about it for the night. It was a fight the rest of the night to get Luke to do anything - eat, go potty, even watch a movie. I don't know if he isn't feeling well or if he just isn't digging this potty stuff. Right now, I'm not digging this potty stuff either. I feel pretty defeated today, but we will give it another go tomorrow. Stay tuned...

We were 2/8 today - 2 pees on the potty, 6 accidents - hey, that's like batting .225 right?!?! Could be worse!

Adventures in Potty Training Starts...

Saturday! But I had to share these pictures right now!





How cute is he?!?!

Our daycare likes to start potty training right at 2. Well, I wasn't ready to start then, especially with the holidays. But this week is Luke's first week back at daycare in almost 2 weeks so I thought we'd give him a week to get back into the swing of things and then start. We start at home Saturday and Sunday and then they will carry it on during the week for us! I am still not 100% convinced that he is ready, but it's worth a try right now. They are convinced he will do great! I hope so!

So the underwear...Wally had to run to Target yesterday so I told him to pick up some underwear for Luke. When I walked in the door from work, I saw a little boy in no clothes, but 2 (yes, 2!) pairs of underwear on over his diaper. He was running around like a crazy man so excited about his Thomas underwear! Hopefully he'll be just as excited on Saturday and want to keep Thomas clean and dry :)

(I am still trying to figure out the look of the blog...so please bear with me!)