Foto Friday - Bundled

All ready to play in the snow on Christmas Eve!

She loved it!

Being a Mother is Glamorous

I went to post about my day on FB...and realized it was more of a blog post than a status update.

Today I had the privilege of cleaning up M's vomit.

In public.

Off her...and off her stroller.

While she screamed.

And I didn't have an extra shirt packed for some reason. (Mom-Fail!)

So I got to push my crying daughter around the mall without a shirt on until I was able to buy her a new one to put on.

And then I got to clean up M's vomit a SECOND time.

And, off her car seat.

But...even though most of today was pretty horrible.

For about 25 minutes this afternoon I enjoyed cuddling my freshly bathed babe while she ate saltines in her Yo Gabba Gabba nightgown, and we read her favorite books. And my heart was full of love. And that makes everythink ok.

Hopefully when she wakes from her nap she's feeling better.

Official OFFICIAL Potty Training - Part 1

(Warning: This post is a little dated (I've had it saved for forever)...and also something that many of you probably don't care to read about! And that's totally understandable! Haha!!)

Anyways, so I know I've mentioned a couple times that we were beginning potty training with M. Most recently in this post I stated what my plan was going forward.

And, then...I didn't do that.

So. Finally...after more persuasion from Josh...and after my daughter yelled at me across the store, "Mama...I poo poo in my diaper!" I decided to just go for it and see what happens. I decided to document this just because. LOL! I'm sure I'll read this someday to M and she'll roll her eyes at me. :)

So...beginning Friday the 14th when she woke up she went right into her undies. And, away we went. I kinda had a plan in mind...and kinda just figured it out as we went. So...here's our first few days. I'll try and be brief.

Day One - Friday (December 14th)

As soon as she's up her undies went on. Of course we talked about undies and where her pee pee needed to go and that she didn't want to get her new pretty undies all icky.

First accident during breakfast...while in her high chair. Gross! It didn't seem to phase her. I'm worried. I then set our oven timer for 20 minutes and made her sit on her little potty (it was in the living room) every 20-25 minutes. She had a couple successes and another accident before nap. Diaper at nap. And, back to undies afterwards until bedtime. Every 20-30 minutes she'd sit on her potty and was usually successful! Yay! No more accidents after nap.

Accidents for the day - 2

Day Two - Saturday

Same strategy as day 1. Except I set the timer for 25 minute increments. Sometimes she'd resist sitting on her potty. Annoying! She'd try to run away. This was frustrating for sure. I thought about moving it to the bathroom...but wanted it to be easy to access...so we started the 10 second rule. We only counted to 10 and if she didn't go, she didn't go. I kinda figured out that she could hold it for about 30-45 minutes. Successful morning/afternoon with no accidents.

Diaper at nap (she went #2 in her diaper) and back into undies until bed time. She ended up having one accident while we were all out in the shop. It was partially my fault. Her potty wasn't easily accessible...she had Nala as a distraction, and I was distracted as well doing something else when she had her accident. After that, she did great for the rest of the night.

Accidents for the day - 1

Day Three - Sunday

Quick trip to Durant for donuts right away in the morning. Our first trip away from home. I was SO nervous. But, we started the day telling her she had to potty if she wanted to leave the house...and donuts were a good reward so she went and then we left. It was about a 25 minute trip. Once home, I set the timer for 30 minute increments. She resisted a lot...but still had successes most times.

Accidents for the day - 0 (I think...or maybe 1?)

Day Four - Monday

Undies on! We went to Durant and went to the grocery store and to Subway after breakfast. I made her go potty before we left. This was probably a 45 minute trip. After she ate lunch though, we had a situation. I was waiting for her to have to go poo...I knew it was coming since she hadn't done anything the day before. I put her on her potty about 30 minutes after lunch - #2 success!! Her undies are off and I just leave them off since it's almost nap time and she'll get a diaper in a few minutes. I was so happy for her and immediately went to clean her potty. While I was cleaning it...I heard, "Mama, Mama, poo!!!" I was still cleaning her potty and no choice but to hold her on the regular toilet. Ok! Success...again. Yay! We celebrate. I clean up a small bit of #2 that didn't make it to the toilet. I still leave her undies off. Then after she is clean, her little potty is clean, the floor is clean, and I'm clean, we finish our tea party. I think to myself...she has to be done with #2. NOPE. Another tiny bit comes out before she can make it back to her little potty...but the majority makes it into the potty. Ugh. I'm so frustrated. Cleaning up poo is NEVER fun. But, I keep my cool as best I can for M's sake. After all this...I'm mentally exhausted. She goes down for her nap, and after nap, she does great for the rest of the evening.

Accidents for the day -  1

Day Five - Tuesday

We are really only using the big toilet. She likes this. I like this. We're all happy. I'm no longer using the timer...just my own intuition...and generally making her try at least every hour. After her nap we run an errand with Josh and eat dinner at Culver's. She goes potty at Culver's and I'm so happy for her.
Accidents for the day - 0

Day Six - Wednesday

We ventured out at 9am and didn't return home until a little after 1:30pm. SUCCESS! No accidents. We went potty three times while we were out. We got home and I just wanted to run to our shop quick. I knew we should have went to the potty first, but I pushed her and it had been over an hour and a half since she last went...so she had an accident. But, then...on her own...she ran to her little potty and successfully went #2. Yay! I'm so happy for her.
Accidents for the day - 1

Day Seven - Thursday
I basically control when she has to sit on the potty. She still hasn't really alerted me that she has to go. And then...right before bed as we were brushing teeth in the bathroom and she FINALLY told me, "Mama, Mama, potty!" I'm super happy for her. :)
Accidents for the day - 0

This has been such a huge learning experience for the both of us! I never did sticker charts or any type of tangible reward (candy) for M while at home. She's not really into that though. I would have totally done something like that if I thought it would help her. *I did bring a few M&Ms in baggies for when we were out and about...just in case she needed some extra encouragement to go while we were out in public.*

My thoughts after the first week.
-Start early! We introduced the potty to M a LONG time ago...she's been having naked time at night for quite some time and has successfully used her potty a LOT. (She has had a couple accidents. I always laid a big waterproof pad and blanket down on her floor in her room.) She was already comfortable with her potty and knew what the potty was for. I think this is what has helped us most. I think we got her the potty around 18 months or so. We also started reading a couple potty books around then.

-Don't get angry. Remind yourself a LOT to NOT to get frustrated when accidents happen. It's really challenging though!)

-Set a timer in the beginning. Time flies. Their bladders are tiny. It's hard to give them 100% of your attention. But you have to do it. While at first I was so sad about being 'stuck at home' all day for a few days...eventually, I enjoyed all the 1:1 time M and I spent. I also found that we played more together with all her toys and cuddled a lot more too. So. It's not all bad! :)

Overall, I'm so, so, SO proud of Madison. And, it's great just using 2 diapers a day, too!!! Wohoo!

Monkey Joe's with the Cousins!

Earlier this month Madison and I went to Monkey Joe's with our cousins (Erin (my cousin) and Luke and Grant (two of her her four children))! It was M's first time at MJ's...an inflatable fun place for kids.

There were two big areas for children 3 and under. M was a little unsure about being so unbalanced. She explored a bit, but I think she was mostly just humoring me.

M and Grant

On her way out...as usual.

Climbing up with Grant to go down the big slide!

Most of the time I had to go down with her. She'd climb up on her own...but would then yell for me. She did go down with her sweet cousin Luke a couple times, though!

But eventually...she just wanted to climb on and sit on the shoe cubbies. (Fun-hater! JK!)

 Me and my girl at MJ's!

Overall, she didn't LOVE it. But...we had fun and were so happy to spend the day with our cousins! After MJ's we all went to lunch together, too.

We LOVE our cousins!

Foto Friday - Nala

Nala has finally wised up and generally runs from M so she can't do this (see below) as much as she'd like anymore!

M still loves her Nala though!

Of Course the Sun is Green, Mom!

I noticed last week that M is beginning to attempt to color inside the lines!

This is what I first noticed. I looked down and saw she colored the sun I drew her with green.

So, I drew her a flower and she went to work coloring the petals!

I was SO proud of my girl!

Foto Friday - Photos with Santa!

M has had two photos with Santa this season!

One on her own...

...and one with her BFF, Sarah Grace!

P.S. She keeps asking for a 'fish' for Christmas. That's all she wants. I wonder if Santa is going to make that happen for her?! Can he carry live animals in his toy bag?!

Dance, Dance, Dance!

I enrolled Madison in her first dance class this fall. Her class was a 30 minute session, once a week, for 7 weeks at a dance studio in Blue Grass. It was SO nice not having to drive 20+ minutes for an activity for her! There were a few other toddlers in class with her. And, her teacher, Miss Savana, was great!

I had TOO much fun purchasing her dance attire...of course she had to have ballet shoes, a skirt, and a leotard. (She's already grown out of her leotard!)

Getting help with her shoe from one of the older girls that helped during class.

Green tutu!

Halloween week.

She always picked the furthest square as her 'spot' during the class.

She LOVED the trampoline! (And the balance beam..sorry no picture.)

I sat inside the dance class room each class...but by the end of the sessions she was too distracted by me (and the other family) and didn't participate as much as I would have liked. If we enroll her again next year, I plan to wait outside the room so the teacher can take more control and so that she is less distracted by me. Plus, I think it will be good for her to participate in a class-like setting without me present. So...we shall see how it goes! :)

"Ohhh! My painting!"

So...way back in October I had M complete a little art project. And, I finally hung it on her wall today!

This idea has been floating around Pinterest and I simply copied it using a blank canvas, painter's tape, and finger paints.

(Oh, and I applied 2 or 3 coats of modge podge over the whole canvas once it was completed to completely seal it.)

Now when she walks in her room she says, "Ohhh! My painting!"

Foto Friday - Grandpa Dave is 66!

Yesterday we celebrated Grandpa Dave turning 66!

Blowing out the candles.

Yay for Grandpa Dave!

Kayaking...in DECEMBER

DECEMBER. Can you believe our CRAZY weather?!

Josh purchased a new tandem kayak for his Christmas present from me this year (yay...I don't have to shop for him!) and we decided to try it out last Saturday with the temperature was in the upper sixties. There are two seats, plus room for an extra optional third seat for Madison. Josh really wanted the tandem because M loves the outdoors and loves kayaking, and he plans to take just her out kayaking as their special daddy-daughter hobby together. :) How sweet is that?!

So, just wanted to share a few photos from that day. We went to Lake Macbride is Solon, IA.

My view from the front. It was quite peaceful.

Learning how to paddle.

All three of us!

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Why do I love this new kayak?! It's quite relaxing when Josh does all the paddling. :)

Christmas Tree Adventure

Our Christmas Tree Adventure of 2012 goes like this.

We drive out to our favorite tree farm (Trees and Traditions in LeClaire) Monday of last week. They're closed! What?! Bummer...we should have called. So...we plan to go Wednesday of last week. I called ahead this time and know they close at 5pm. Due to our timing and traffic...we end up arriving at 4:57pm. We have 3 minutes to pick out and cut down our tree. Also...it's pretty dark out.

We promised the owners we'd be quick and we head out hoping for the best.


We can't be too choosy...and we can hardly see. Josh was so HAPPY during this picture. Can't you tell?! :)


On to the sawing.

Of course Madison wants to 'help.'

I love this picture of my two loves watering our tree. M thought it was so funny that we were bringing a tree into our house!

It took a while for me to finally get the tree decorated. This year I was happy to add some of my favorite childhood ornaments that my Dad brought over. (Some year I should take pictures of all my favorite ornaments for a blog post. Someone please remind me of this.)

(This picture reminds me that I need to update our photos on the wall, too! They are over a year old!!!)

Madison does a great job of just looking at our tree and hasn't really destroyed any ornaments (yet). She loves playing with the interactive train ornament and stealing the candy canes (just to open them...not eat them...silly girl).

We really do love cutting down our own tree every year! It's such a fun family tradition. Hopefully next year we'll have more than 3 minutes and can enjoy ourselves a bit more though! Haha!

Foto Friday - New Addition

We welcomed a new kitty cat (out in the shop) to our family.

M really loves her new kitty, Nala!

Wildcat Den State Park

A week ago (last Saturday) the temperature was forecast to reach the low 70s. We couldn't waste a November day like this inside, so, we invited our friends, the Sears, to join us in walking a trail at Wildcat Den State Park.

Just wanted to share some photos since I actually brought our regular camera with us!

At the start of our walk.

Daddy and M. (I love this photo...just wish my husband wouldn't have worn his hat!)

Best Friends! (I shrunk M's shirt. Made her wear it anyways.)

Exploring a bit with the Daddys. (Daddies?)

Checkin' out nature.

Family photo!

Ellie and me. Yeah...we're awesome.

Have a good weekend!

Foto Friday - Mama & M

I love our little girl more than words can explain!!!

TWSS - Hair

After bath last night we were in M's room and I was attempting to comb M's hair while she was trying to comb mine.

Madison: Me comb Mama's hair.

Me: Okay.

Madison: Me comb...um...Ellie's hair. (Ellie is Sarah Grace's Mommy.)

Me: Silly girl. Ellie's not here. You'll have to ask her next time we see her.

Madison: (silence...I could tell she was thinking) Mama, where'd Sarah Grace's hair go?

Me: Oh, Sarah Grace has hair, honey. It's just shorter than your hair. Her hair is still growing.

Madison: Oh. Growing.

M's bestie, Sarah Grace, is still working on growing herself some longer locks, so M's question seriously cracked me up!

We love Sarah Grace and Ellie...and their hair! :)

Discover The Dinosaurs

Last Sunday we ventured to the QCCA Expo Center to check out the Discover The Dinosaurs exhibit. I just wanted to share a few photos.

We caved and purchased $12 worth of tickets (after admission cost) for M to experience her FIRST face painting and she got to ride a dinosaur as well.

At least the coloring pages were free! LOL!

Madison really enjoyed seeing the 'dinos' (as she calls them). But, she was a bit too young to fully enjoy everything for the cost of admission and all the extra activities. I think we'll wait a few years before going back...but overall, we all enjoyed ourselves.