Potty Training: Round 1

Okay potty training - it's been pretty much the worst experience in my parenting life. I joke with Larry that I can officially prove that time travel doesn't exist or I would've traveled to past me at this point and stopped myself from trying this so soon! When I say it felt like a big punishment, I'm not being dramatic (or at least not entirely so).

Our picture on the first day...filled with such naïve joy

The good part? I think we learned quite a bit for when we feel Cara is ready (and what we can use for future kids). So here are my takeaways from our first week attempting potty training Cara:

• Nothing worked! Not pull-ups, not being naked, not being outside (naked), not underwear, not shows, not snacks, not praise, putting her on the potty every 30/60/90 minutes, NOTHING! It got so frustrating constantly changing up how we were going to train her and taking all the tips and yet she still would have constant accidents. And the worst part: she had no shame in the accidents. She'd actually start to play in her "puddles" and splashing in them, which made an even bigger mess!!
• Screen time is just never going to be my method! It absolutely killed me watching her brain melt while watching something on a phone. I knew it wasn't working when I asked her if she wanted to go potty and she'd sit down and say "show" while reaching out for our phones. I immediately stopped letting her just watch anything (even though I did try and make it somewhat educational, she still turned into a zombie).

If she wasn't in front of the TV...

...She had a screen (of some sort) on her lap

• There got to be a point where she actually stopped pooping unless a diaper or pull up was on. Even if we put her on the potty at her usual pooping time, she just wouldn't go. I got a little nervous that this would cause even bigger issues.
• It got even tougher when we hit Wednesday (which was 5 days in) and Larry mentioned she wasn't getting any better and he couldn't keep up with putting her on the potty every 30 minutes. Not that she was going every time we did that, but there was just no way he could do that AND work AND take care of Gwen. I got a little frustrated, but looking back she should've been better at this point and we should've seen this as a sign that it wasn't the right time. But I wanted to keep strong because I had heard that it's always tough in the beginning so I figured that's what we needed to do - keep with it.
• Good news is: She never had an accident when we left the house. We ended up leaving for a few errands and we'd put a Pull-Up on her, but when we got home she'd be dry. Another win was that when we'd say potty she knew exactly where to go.  

One of our "we're going crazy, lets just get out for a minute"
Errands that she stayed dry throughout.

We ended the dreaded week with a trip to the aquarium
At least we could say we had fun at one point.

My end result and how we're moving forward is that I think we need to wait till she can answer basic questions. For example, if we ask her if she's hungry, if she likes what she has, if she wants to go outside to play, if she slept well...right now she doesn't respond to questions like that. If we say outside, she'll say "side!" and run to the door. She also will say "go go go". But any yes or no question she just doesn't know how to respond to right now.
So I'm hoping when she's closer to 2.5 she'll be more ready for round 2. I just know I'd really like her to be trained by the time she's 3 so that we can get her registered for preschool next year (for Fall 2020). Fingers crossed we can do that (and that I don't have PTSD from this time at that point haha...but for real)!

Mid Year Goals

So I know we're quite a few months into the year, but I've realized there are some new goals I'd like to add to my list for 2019. I'd like to document these so I can have a reference to go back to when we get to the end. They aren't big ones, but here goes...

• Make cleaning a bigger priority. I'll admit that since becoming a mom (although to be honest it was since we moved out on our own really), cleaning has taken a back seat on my priority list. I feel I've been able to do everything else (I read, I see movies, we get date nights, I work out, we get home made meals, all important things), but not cleaning. I would really like to find a way to make this happen, but also still spend time with my girls (that's the biggest reason I don't do it. I hate that I only get a few hours with them and I don't want to spend it telling them to go away while I clean, but at some point it has to happen). I then found out there is a trend on YouTube called "#CleanWithMe" that is just videos of people cleaning their homes. Some are just certain rooms (bathrooms, kitchens, bedrooms, playrooms, etc.), some or quick cleaning, some are heavy cleaning - just everything. I became obsessed (and even found a few new pages to subscribe to) and they make it look so easy. Plus I found a few new tips and tricks to use for my cleaning that I am excited to start using.
  
• Continue to get a handle of my eating habits. I really need to learn to add more to real meals (more vegetables, healthy sides, etc.) to fill myself up so that candy/sweets/extra snacking isn't as important or turn into bad habits. I would like to take this year to be VERY stern on how much extra food I'm eating to get my body used to less (not a diet, but an eating change all together. I'm pretty sure I'm eating way too many calories and since I'm finishing up my pumping I can get rid of any extra ones) so that it doesn't want more just because it's there.
  
• Be more in the moment with my family and ONLY take pictures of important things. Not 100 zoo pictures of the same zoo and same animals (why do we need that much?). I think this one is really easy to accomplish...I've already stopped getting on social media as much as I was...I think I get on Instagram maybe once a day on average. That has really helped me not feel I need to take a million pictures to post.
• Being a better planner! I always make plans to write down in my planner, but then I never actually follow up and pre-plan thing before that thing comes. For example, I'll plan a get together and then it'll be a day before the event and suddenly I have nothing REALLY planned for it. Or for holidays, I wait till the week before and then get too lazy to really do anything. I'd like to be a better planner for all those moments. 
• Final plans for blog revamp. I have plans to give this blog the update it deserves. I'm hoping for 2020 to have a more organized blog and make it more of a lifestyle-type blog. This blog will remain private (for now) so this is just for my viewing. I see it as very messy and would like to have it have a better flow. More details to come, but I have 6-7 months to get used to how I want to do it and get this old stuff archived.

So those are my new goals for the year. I will update on how they did with my usual end of year post about how my goals went and what my 2020 goals will be.

Gwen is SIX Months

I am SIX months old!

I like: my toes, having my clothes changed, when we make silly faces at her (pretty much seeing our faces after a bit she gives the biggest smiles), when I see my bottle, watching Cara play around (she really giggles when watching Cara), being put in walkers or the bumbo over laying down, being outside in the dirt, and sucking on both thumbs (she's been doing this for a couple months, but it's so cute to see it's her preferred way of sucking on fingers).

She really does love to smile! And be outside in the
Shaded sunshine!

Getting so big in her walker!

I dislike: Being hungry or tired...that's it. She smiles and is happy the rest of the time. Sometimes being in the car seat for a long time she doesn't love, but she's such an easy going baby otherwise.

The onesie I got from Hooters back in Georgia/Florida
She pulls it of REALLY well :)

That sleepy face!

I am now: We had our doctor appointment today (for both girls actually and this super mom took them all by myself...it wasn't fun haha) and she was measuring 26 inches and 16 lbs 14.5 oz...quite a bit more than Cara and the nurse kept making comments about her being a chunk haha. She wears size 6 and 6-9 month clothes (definitely nothing smaller at this point) and size 3 diapers! We don't get percentiles anymore on the paper they give us, but she is just over the 50th percentile so she's growing so good!

Hanging out with mom while she was working from home one day

A Typical Day looks like:
7:30) Start waking up for the day (now that she's in her room she actually sleeps better and more into the morning)
7:30 to 8) Breakfast time. I changed diapers, outfits and then make her bottle (usually about 5 oz of breastmilk and 2 of formula).
8 to 9:30) Gwen hangs out while I do finishing touches on the morning things (my lunch, the bottle makings for Larry, Cara's breakfast and morning setup, and getting my work stuff put together). I leave for work at 8:15 and Larry stretches her to last as close to 9:30 for her nap.
9:30 to 11) Nap time. She usually wakes up between 10:30 and 11. He'll usually do some tummy time or bumbo seat time so that he can avoid spit ups later (she's officially outgrown her swing and kept rolling out of it so we took that away).
11 to 12:15 ish) Diaper change, eat a 6.5 ounce bottle (usually 1.5 oz is formula, the rest is breast milk), get burped and more wiggle and giggle time. Although she's starting to stop eating as much so we're probably going to stretch feeding times to every 3.5 hours rather than 3.
12:15 to 2) Nap time. If she gets up early then she hangs out until her next feeding.
2 to 3:30) Diaper change, eat 6.5 oz bottle again, get burped, wiggle and giggle time and then she'll end up going down for another nap.
3:30-4:45) She naps while Larry and Cara go downstairs so he can work out and she hangs out in the play area. After his workout and he showers she is usually up and ready to hang out again. (We're lucky if she'll make it to 4:45 though)
5-5:45) Diaper change, eat 6 oz again (though usually it's ALL breastmilk), get burped, and usually hang out with Larry and Cara until I get home
5:45-6) Dinner time! I usually feed her one container of baby food with some oatmeal in it. I think she really likes this time because she gets to be in the high chair and we all eat together so she's finally part of some family time haha.
6-7:30) Family time! We go outside if it's nice weather, if it's not we stay inside and just hang out (usually teaching Cara some flash cards and letting Gwen wiggle and giggle or play in the walker/activity table). Around 7 we start our nightly show. 7:20 she gets her last bottle of the night (usually 5 oz of formula).
7:40) Get ready for bed. She gets a diaper change, lotion, book, and put in pajamas. We do a bath on Sundays and Thursdays (switched from Wednesdays), but we start that at 7:30 since we do both girls. she's usually very ready for bed at this point.

She started planking one day and we knew
She's so ready to be moving!

This Month I: Started scooting...backwards, just to keep my parents on their toes haha. I love moving around any room you put me in. I also celebrated Mother's Day with my mom and gave her some good sleep and smiles.

I also like to get up on my knees, but I'm not quite crawling yet...I wish! Watching my sister run around really makes me excited to run around with her. I love watching her play and will try and get in on that by pulling on her hair (which I'm sure she loves!).

I got to go outside quite a bit and I love when they just let me sit or walk in the dirt. I love to rub my hands against new textures and feel the differences that are out there. I also love to hold and look at books, I'm probably going to be a book worm like my sister.

I also have gotten to try some tastes of foods of my sister's and parents' plates. I have tried pizza, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, watermelon, and one of dad's smoothies from this month!

No filters on this one. Tell me this isn't a SUPER
Photogenic baby!!

Sitting without support (but only for a few seconds)

Parent's Notes: Gwen has been such a ball of sunshine still! We moved her to her own room about a week after her 5 month milestone. She just seemed like she was outgrowing her bassinet. I mean when I walked out of the bathroom and saw her head pop up over our bed (the top of the bassinet lines up with the top of our mattress) looking around the room I knew she was too big for it. Plus she was having issues with rolling over and not being able to roll back. We still kept her owlet going up until last week, but this just shows me more about how each kid really is different and you have to treat them according to their own needs. I was also reminded that the kid will tell you when they are ready for their next transition. It might not be verbal (in fact it probably mostly won't be), but you'll be able to tell if you are watching their little cues.

Moving her to her own room has been SOOO  nice! We are back to having movie date nights on Saturday's. We've been doing those for a while, but to have the option of having them in our room again has been so exciting! Not to mention going to bed and not feeling like we have to tip toe. And not having such a bright room to put her down in (the nursery has room tinting on the windows to keep it more dark).

Gwen also has loved to be upright to interact with everyone. She likes to lay on her belly and get up on her knees or do a bear crawl-like motion, but mostly she just loves feeling like she's part of the crowd in a walker or bumbo chair. I'm also convinced she likes to figure out how things work. If things spin around she will spin them and just watch it and it's like she's trying to figure out how it works. I joke that she's probably going to be an engineer or techie - she'll just want to build. It's interesting seeing how she really likes to take in the details. Cara just learned something and then wanted to move on it seemed, but Gwen likes to touch and feel and really just absorb as much of new things as possible. 

I mean...My heart!!

She went from planking to this...we're SO close!

Update on last month's goals:

• Get her moved to her new room: She moved over seamlessly! We are all very happy with our new room assignments :)
• Work on sitting up more on her own: she will sit for a second on her own, but depending on her laziness she might fall over quickly or try and stay up a bit longer. This one I will continue to work on.
• Work on scooting: if you count backwards this girl has got it down! We try and encourage her to go forward for a toy, but she just likes to go backwards haha.
• Keep trying new foods: she seems to like trying new foods. She's starting to get to where she opens her mouth more when even our food is around her. She always looks concerned at first, but so far we haven't had any spitting out because it's gross scenarios.
• Get her outside as much as possible: we've done this when the weather has been nice and she seems to really like it. It's a bit more difficult for us since we have to either lay her down on a blanket or carry her with us, but it's worth it when she gets really excited!

Goals for next month:

• Keep working on sitting up and scooting
• Work on tasting more foods that aren't just pureed baby food.
• Take her out for a family date night that's at a normal time (I think she's ready to be out a little later...maybe)
• Read to her more
• Do more sensory friendly activities when we aren't outside (she seems to like those).

Mother's Day 2019 (as a mom of two now)

Mother's Day is still a special day I like celebrating. I've found that my love language has really become words of affirmation. I absolutely love when people acknowledge me and any hard work I've done (whether that's as a mom, an employee, a wife, a daughter, anything) so that was one thing I kind of requested for Mother's Day (that and my new birthstone jewelry that represents adding Gwen to our family). Oh and by kind of I mean I mentioned to Larry that I told other dad's they should do that for their wives and he responded in an "uh-huh...I'm sure you are saying something else with that" sort of way haha.



Someone likes feeling the dirt between her
Fingers and toes



Larry did very well for Mother's Day. I mean, the girls let me sleep in so they did well too, but Larry did VERY well! He got me a very beautiful birthstone necklace (topaz for Gwen's November birthday), some really pretty Puma shoes (he's always getting me clothes so he mentioned it was time for him to get me some shoes haha), some chocolate covered strawberries (of course this was before I told him I was swearing off sugary treats for 5 weeks haha), and this "basket" of dehydrated fruits, which I really like and it had all new fruits to try (I'm all about trying new things lately). I wasn't expecting so much and he kind of forgot the "only jewelry on new additions Mother's Day" deal (I don't need anything else if I'm getting expensive jewelry) so it was kind of way more than I needed, but he's so thoughtful when he gives gifts.

And this one just likes to help out wherever she can

The highlight of my weekend was easily pulling weeds in our yard. I know that sounds silly, but Larry was working on our new edging for our backyard (which we need put in before we can get our grass put down), Cara was playing around in water, Gwen was sleeping, and I was just walking around. I made a joke about how if there weren't so many weeds I'd pull them out, but Larry made a joke about why wouldn't I want to help make our yard look good so I figured what else am I doing and grabbed a bag and started pulling. I forgot how therapeutic it is to pull weeds up by the root! My mom loved doing it and would always talk about how great it felt and I'd do it every once in a while, but it's been a long, long time. It was so cute when Cara saw me doing it and came over to help me. I get excited for doing gardening with her. I think when we get all the weeds pulled (or so much that I'm just maintaining it at that point) I'm going to move on to planting flowers in planters to add some color.

In addition to all this, Larry made sure to point out things he loves about me or appreciates that I do throughout the day, which was the cherry on top of my whole weekend. I was hoping to get flowers at the store when we went grocery shopping this morning, but there were so many last minute shoppers that nabbed all the good ones so I'm going to get some this Sunday to put on our table...because they are pretty and I love how they smell!

Anyways, happy Mother's Day to all the mom's, soon to be mom's, trying to be mom's, and the mom's that are mom's in their hearts. You deserve a ton of appreciation today for all you deal with on a daily occurrence!

I'd like to think I worded it best on Instagram: "Motherhood is the craziest, most contradictory thing ever. You want to sleep in, you want more freedom, you want to stay out as late as you can, and you want quiet moments...but on the flip side you don't want to miss any moments, or boo boobs to kiss better, or times they learn something new (whether skill or word). You want to complain about all the tantrums and attitudes, the teething keeping you up, the messes they make, and the neediness, but you wouldn't trade these amazing little humans in for anything in the world." I love my family and how we have formed over the years!

Cara's Birthday Party

You know what's really exciting about having Cara's birthday party today? It marks 2 years of her being home with us! We brought her home from the hospital 2 years ago today. Looking back at those pictures it's funny how I can remember the feelings of new parenthood like they were just this morning (that first night was AWFUL!!).

Anyways, onto party details:

Even though we didn't have any of Cara's grandparents at the party (and I was a tad worried we wouldn't have enough people there) it ended up being a good turnout! We ordered a cake and sandwiches from Costco, picked up a mixture of mini chip bags, a fruit and veggie platter from Smith's and then some ice cream from Coldstone (we had a bunch of $$ on a gift card so we went a little fancy). We didn't really have a theme (do 2 year olds need a theme for their party?) but the cake had a unicorn and we had a bubble machine (because Cara LOVES bubbles) so I joked that unicorn bubbles was the theme.

The food was really good, the cake and ice cream were a big hit, Cara didn't cry while we sang "Happy Birthday" to her (unlike on her actual birthday when it was just Larry and me singing haha), she blew out her candle like a pro (it was just a single "2" candle), and she did end up having so much fun with all the kids. In fact, so much so that she wouldn't come in for food except for a bag of chips I handed her at one point. All the kids seemed to love jumping on the tramp and all the younger ones ran right over when I started the bubble machine haha. She got SO many gifts that I have no idea what we're going to do with all of them. Gwen even got a few outfits from people and now I wonder if we have TOO much of one size that she won't be able to get through all of them before she grows out of them haha.

**The two pictures on this post are apparently the only pictures we got of the party. We have video of singing to her, but it's from behind her so you don't really see her face...apparently it was a very busy day**

I think we did a good job with pulling off a good second birthday for Cara, although I think it'll be the last one we throw in our house...cleaning a house right before just to have to clean it up again after everyone leaves feels defeating haha.

So to everyone who came (if you're reading this) please know it really meant a lot to us that you were there and celebrated with us! Even if you sent a gift from afar or before the party because you knew you couldn't be there. We really appreciate all of the family for loving our girl! In fact, it means more to me that people acknowledge her birthday over my own. And once again, Happy Birthday Cara! We love you sweet girl!