Valentine's Day

Emily with her new Ariel mermaid and Pinkalicious book

Decorating and eating cupcakes with Cousin Cooper

Yummy!

With Mommy after church

Kisses for Uncle Stephen

Chillin' with Pop and Cooper.

Ok, so lots of photos with Cooper this time. We will have to get some with the other cousins soon!

This year Jeremy and I enjoyed a nice early Valentine's dinner double date with Becca and Stephen at The Brickyard in Bowling Green. Mom and Dad watched Emmy, Cooper, and Madelyn for us so we could have an uninterrupted meal and adult conversation. It was great! Wish Laura and Will could have come, too, but I'm not sure the parents are ready for 5 kids at one time and Laura's little ones had recently been sick so they decided to pass. We had a nice weekend in BG--our first since Christmas. Time files by. I could especially see the growth in the littlest niece and nephew.

This year Emily really liked helping decorate cookies and cupcakes. When I asked her what her favorite thing about Valentine's was, she said, "Making cookies at Miss Katy's." She decorated cupcakes with Mom and Cooper on Sunday, cookies with Katy, Bailey, and Kendra on Monday, had a Valentine's party Tuesday at church school (more "PINK" cupcakes) and also decorated cupcakes at Dinkney's house on Wednesday. I guess I was kind of a slacker because we didn't make cookies this year. I made chocolate covered strawberries and did it while Emmy napped! But, she did enjoy making Valentine's with Daddy on Valentine's night while I cooked our supper. (My Valentine was super cute and I may have to keep it forever except art director Daddy did most of it!)

We got Emmy a Pinkalicious book and a large Ariel the mermaid doll. It is the first doll she has with "real" hair to comb and play with. It sings songs and talks and can swim in the bathtub with her. She enjoyed a few other gifts from her grandmothers who know her well and spoil her, too. Ironically, Nancy got her the smaller version of Ariel the mermaid because she had noticed Emily pointing it out in one of her toy magazines. I am very thankful and blessed to have the love of a wonderful man and precious daughter!

Progress at one month...

I wrote another potty training update a few weeks ago and thought I saved it as a draft, but I couldn't find it the other day. Oops. Now we are almost one month into potty training and things are going really well. We have had 5 days with NO ACCIDENTS at all. Several other days she has only had one pee accident. We have made it through a church service and a birthday dinner (Poppy's) in fancy dresses and tights with no accidents! We've been to Miss Katy's house twice all day with only one accident on each of those days. The only thing I haven't been brave enough to try with her is a half day at "church school" aka Parent's Day Out. Emily doesn't talk much to her teachers there so I'm not sure how well she would communicate her potty needs. Also, the bathroom is down the hallway and she has to sit on a "big girl" toilet (which of course she has had to do when I'm out and about with her, but it still makes it harder for her.) Anyway, she has more accidents in the 4 hrs. at parent's day out class while wearing her pull-ups than she does all week at home. Her teacher encouraged us to give it a try next week without the pull-ups and we will see how it goes. We still use pull-ups for naps and bedtime. Sometimes she wakes up from her naps pretty dry so we may be able to ditch the nap time pull-up in another month or so. I think we will be using a pull-up at night for a long time.

Emily has really gotten so much better at taking herself to the bathroom. I no longer have to set a timer and she pretty much takes herself when she has to go. I still have to insist that she go to the potty before we leave the house which sometimes doesn't go over so well! :) She likes to be alone for her poopoos. She frequently tells me, "I do it MYSELF!" I keep the door cracked and I can listen for her in the other room for when it is time to check on her and wipe her. She is very proud of herself when she makes her big poops in the potty! Our reward system is still in place, but now she doesn't need positive reinforcement every time. Most of the time, she gets a small piece of candy. Occasionally, I also give her a big sticker to add to her potty chart which is getting quite full! When we are all really happy, we do our "PeePee in the Potty" song and dance. Sometimes she initiates it on her own which is hilarious.

The best reward is not having to buy diapers! We only go through two pull-ups a day at most. I love that! However, I don't love packing clean clothes wherever we go. I always keep something in Emily's bag, but I think it would be helpful to also put an extra outfit in the car, too. For anyone seriously thinking about potty training, getting rid of the pull-ups is what works. It is way too much like a diaper for them to notice any difference or change their habits. I knew that this was what was recommended, but it just took awhile to work out several free days in my schedule to initiate the potty training. Also, it was around Christmas time when Emily really started to act like she was ready and of course that was not ideal due to all of our travels, special events, and general holiday busyness.

I'm so proud of our big girl. We still have room for improvement and consistency, but overall it is going very well! Good job, Emmy!

Waking up from nap. A little sleepy-eyed.

Reading material--Calico Critters wish list.

Emily's sticker chart. There is no rhyme or reason to sticker placement as you can see. She puts them wherever she wants!

Day 5

Potty training update: Emily is doing better. Today, she has only had one pee accident and that was first thing this morning after taking her out of her pull-ups. I think it takes her a bit to realize she has to wake up and go to potty. She stayed dry while we went to the grocery. I also took her to the park for about an hour and she stayed dry. Yeah! However, she has not made it to the potty for either of her BMs. The first time I was giving her verbal reminders every few minutes after breakfast reminding her to go to the potty when she needed to poop. That didn't work. Oh well. One of these days we're going to get it all together. Some days she does better at going to the potty for her poops and other days does better with the pee.

I deserve "mother of the year" for this past Sunday (sarcasm). We decided to continue with her potty training so we would not use pull-ups at church. I figured surely she could make it an hour during Sunday School and Jeremy and I were assigned her 2 yr. old class for worship care and could help her. I packed up some changes of underwear, a change of stockings, and a whole outfit change, plus a few pull-ups if we were having a really bad time. I LEFT IT ALL AT HOME! Aggh! I realized it as soon as we got out of our car and her bag wasn't in it. Luckily, I had a pull-up in the car and one in my purse! As soon as we walked into church, she peed in her underwear and stockings. Well, that lasted 30 seconds! I took off her stockings and explained to her teachers why she was bare legged in January (at least it was a warm January day!) We had to use the pull-ups for the rest of Sunday morning, but she did go to the potty 2 or 3 times while there.

Nan kept her at our house yesterday while her sitter was on vacation. She had a few accidents, but mostly successes. One of my favorite quotes from Emily during this whole potty training week was from Friday. After 2 pee accidents in a row and I'm still cleaning up one while she does another one on the floor, Emily starts climbing upstairs. I ask her, "Where are you going?" Emily says, "To get my diaper." The way she said it was hilarious, especially since she doesn't really pronounce the "r" in diaper and her timing was spot on.

First Day Potty Training (for real)

For several weeks, Emily has been able to pee in the potty fairly regularly, but since she wears a pull-up or diaper, there was never any rush for her (or me) to get her to a potty to do her business every time. For about 6 weeks, she has been pooping in the potty with average success. It is a whole lot easier for us to make it to the bathroom in time for her 2-3 times/day poop than the 10+ times she needs to go pee. We recently hit a plateau where she is able to go to the bathroom, but I we weren't getting any closer to truly being potty trained. It was time to ditch the pull-ups.

Let me just say that it is very inconvenient to potty train a child. (This is possibly the understatement of the year!) You need several days where you do nothing but pretty much stay at home. Also, Emily's schedule is different each day. Mon: with sitter, Tues: with mommy, Wed.: with grandmother, Thurs: with mommy, but at parent's day out 1/2 day, Fri: with mommy. Most weekends we have plans big or small, travels to see family, church events, etc. There is never a good 2-3 day period to really work on potty training. So, I always have ample excuses to avoid it. This week we will be in Louisville all weekend. Jeremy and I are keeping Emily's class at church on Sunday and Mom is going to keep Emily at our house Monday. Basically, we have from today (Friday) to Wednesday next week to focus on potty training when she will either be with us or with one of her grandmothers.

Today hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. I had planned to let Emily run around in her underpants and leggings, but after her first accident at 9 am, I decided I was going to have way too much laundry to do! So, she's been wearing only training underwear, a warm shirt and house slippers. She looks absolutely adorable running around in her underwear and slippers! I love those strong little trim legs. Also, it has been easier for her to get to the bathroom in time when she doesn't have to mess with pants. I think we've been through about 5 pairs of underwear so far. I've cleaned up three small pees on the carpet and one on the kitchen floor. She's made it to the bathroom every time for her 3 poos (3 already!) Even though that is a lot of accidents, she's also had a lot of success. I've been setting the kitchen timer and taking her to the potty every 30 min. It has helped. We have a rewards chart over the potty and stickers to give. She also gets one piece of candy for a pee and 2 pieces for a poo. I'm learning that stickers are not much of a reward compared to a piece of candy. Then, we do a little happy dance and song. It is kind of fun when she gets it right! She's so proud of herself!

I'm hoping she naps now. I'm exhausted and need a break. She's procrastinating falling to sleep and singing all of her favorite songs.

I'm going to try to make a few posts this week about how it is going.

First Trip to the Dentist

Today was Emily's first trip to the dentist! I am so proud of her. She did great! We've already experienced most of our "firsts" these days, so I totally ran off without a camera this morning. (The appointment was pretty early at 8:45.) So, forgive the poor photo quality, but I'm just thankful to get a snapshot. Emily's dental hygienist took a couple of photos with her phone and e-mailed them to us. Originally, today was just going to be a cleaning check-up for me. I called yesterday to see if they could change it to an appointment for Emily instead and they were kind enough to work us both in this morning.

Last night and this morning, we talked to Emily to let her know she was going to the "tooth doctor" or "dentist." We tried not to sneak this one in on her! She sat quietly on the floor and watched a "Thomas" movie and ate some snacks while I got my teeth cleaned first. (I really couldn't believe that she wasn't running wild all over the office. Thank you, God!) Every so often, the hygienist and I would encourage her that mommy was doing fine, the equipment wasn't hurting me, etc. When I was finished, she actually started climbing up into the chair and said, "It's my turn." I sat at the end of the dental chair, but didn't hold her. For part of the time, I held her movie up in the air so she could be a little distracted with that. I can't say enough praise about how patient her dental hygienist was! She let Emily feel the "spinning tooth brush" on her finger before she put it on her tooth. She let her see her teeth in the little mirror, etc. Emily has 18 of her 20 primary teeth. The top 2 yr. old molars are in and the bottom ones are just starting to make an appearance. I think everything checked out fine. Dr. C. didn't mention that anything was wrong. I am just so proud of my little girl today! We stopped by the library to play and get new books on our way home. I'm thinking a trip to the toy store is in order, but we haven't made it yet. We went to the park instead since it is almost 50 deg. in Louisville today! Blue skies and sunny January day! Yes, please!!!

Dr. C. counts Emily's teeth

First trip to the dentist.

Quotable Emmy

Me: So, Emily do you know where we are going today? (It is Sunday, church day.)

Em: To Dinkney's house? (her grandmother)

Me: No, but we will see Dinkney after church.

Em: And I'll see all my fwiends?

Me: Yes, you will see your friends.

Em: And I'll see Mawey (Mary), Joseph, and Baby JESUS!

Me: Well, yes. I guess we will. At least we'll learn about them.

Love that girl She is really catching on. Doesn't miss too much these days. Yes, we go to church to worship Jesus, but also to see our friends!

Christmas Celebrations

Christmas through the eyes of a child is a wonderful thing to see. Emily loved the Christmas lights in our neighborhood. It prompted Jeremy and I to step it up a little bit with our outdoor decorations! This year Emily was still at the age where she didn't ask for anything for Christmas and although she knew it was a special time of year, she really had no expectations. We tried not to overdo it with the presents from Santa and Mama and Daddy since she was also getting so many presents from aunts, uncles and grandparents. By the end of December, Emily was pointing to the manger scene and naming Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, shepherds and wise men. Now when we read any Biblical story book, she will ask me, "Is that Mary?" whenever she sees a female. I'll tell her, "no, that's Mrs. Noah" or "no that's Eve..." It is so cute.

A few things I will cherish in my heart about this Christmas:

~Rocking my nephew, Hudson, and niece, Madelyn, to sleep Christmas Day

~ Emily's eyes lighting up when she saw the Christmas lights.

~ Festive little girl Christmas dresses

~ Emily, Hunter, and Cooper chasing each other around the house and running circles around the kitchen island.

~ Many people's sweet compliments about our Christmas card this year.

~ Emily's adorable Christmas hat!

~Emily discovering some of my favorite childhood movies like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman

~Stephen playing with the three oldest grandchildren with the same game at the same time and patiently teaching them to take turns and play together. Is this my little brother? Father of two? Uncle to three?

~Finally using the good china for Christmas Eve brunch. What have I been waiting for? Life is special. Use your good china!

Christmas Eve Morning

Brunch with Jeremy's parents

Emily helps Dinkney with her gift.

and now helping Poppy...

Getting excited about her new Thomas trains!

Girls have the best of both worlds--baby dolls AND trucks and trains!

Silly family photo as a plane flies overhead

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning in Louisville. We enjoyed our church's candlelight service and it was the first time Emily managed to stay in "big church" for the whole service. We hosted Christmas Eve brunch at our house for Jeremy's parents and had dinner at their house after the Christmas Eve service. We arrived in Bowling Green at around 1pm Christmas day. We were able to see much of our extended family at Memommy Meisel's. (Somehow I have no photos of this?) We spent the rest of the day at my parents home with my siblings and their kids. We had 5 children 2 1/2 yrs. and younger. Dinner around the big table was a bit chaotic, but not as as crazy as anticipated.

Christmas morning

New baby doll...

Emily went straight to her Calico Critters house and animals.

Finally got a photo with Nan and Pop and all the grandkids on the night we left to go back home.

A rather dashing gift for all the guys

Cooper

Mom and I enjoy flipping through the 2012 grandchildren calendar.

My little nephew, Hudson. He deserves a Mr. Congeniality award!

More Calico Critters and a convertible from Nan and Pop

Cuddling with Uncle Stephen

A visit with Memommy Lee