french braiding

I have been practicing my french braiding on Ellie. Today was the first day that I actually french braided her hair w/out her watching a movie to distract her! I can't wait until I can do two french braids in her hair. It's been so rewarding to learn something new! I watched a tutorial online to learn the basics and then just started practicing!!

on to the poops

I bought some fruit leather and put it in a jar 2 weeks ago (kind of looks like poo itself, come to thinkf of it). Nothing happened for the past week except for Ellie continuing to go to her corner in the playroom and doing here "business" there. Finally, just a few days ago, Ellie was in her bedroom taking her rest and I was my bedroom napping. I didn't have the monitor on so it was awhile before I heard her yelling. I finally woke up and rushed out to see that she had climbed out of her bed and ran to the potty. She didn't make it in time but I praised her for her efforts and we've had 90% success since then! I really have to watch her when I know it's "time" and keep her from running to her familiar spot. But most of the time she is going all on her own w/ no coaxing from me. She waves "good-bye" to her poo-poo, which is always going to where mommy & daddy's poo-poo goes! And the treats are working great as incentives! Once we are going to the potty chair 100% of the time I plan on transitioning her to the BIG potty (we've got a seat for that).

I do not miss changing diapers ONE BIT!

potty training #2

so we had 2 days of successful #2 in the potty chair and then it's been back to pooping in her panties. I figured out that she likes to go into the playroom and poop in a particular corner. At least she's consistent BUT it's kind of gross!

That being said this morning I knew she was due for a bm and was trying to make sure to "catch" her before she went in her panties again. I was changing Josiah's dirty diaper when she ran into his room and announced that she needed to go poop. OF COURSE she would need to go when I was in the middle of changing a diaper! I told her to go to the potty and ran out to see how she did as soon as Josiah had a diaper on him. The potty chair was untouched and there was Ellie in her favorite "pooping place" in the playroom - again!

I've decided that tomorrow I'm going to get an "incentive jar" filled with fruit leather . . . I'll see how that goes!

Potty Training

I really thought successful potty training was never going to happen. Ellie loved the various movies that we've watched over the past few months and she seemed interested from time to time but I could always tell she wasn't "ready". I was lamenting my situation to some moms who had made it through the potty training years successfully and one of them highly recommended the dvd "Once Upon A Potty" based on the book by the same name. Finally 2 weeks ago I rented it from our local library. Ellie LOVED it! She sat on her potty in the livingroom while watching it and even went and put her pull ups on after watching it. It is about 15 minutes long with the story as the first half and a "potty song" as the second half. After a few days of watching it she was going pee a few times a day, but wanting a diaper on when she had to go #2. We went 2 days with no pee in diapers, except naptime and nighttimes and then on Sunday she went #2! I was amazed and she's been only using the potty since then! It's like the lights just came on and she realized that she was ready! Today she hung out w/ Grandma and they went around town doing errands. She used the "porta-potty" in the back of Grandma's car and did just fine! No accidents!!

I'm using "potty scotty" underwear (decided that potty patty wouldn't be good for Jo to wear when he's potty training) and they are so easy for her to pull up and down. She will go all by herself w/o me reminding her - most of the time! If she's too busy with friends then I do have to remind her. I'm so happy that it's going this well so far!

Next up, I have to figure out what panties will be most comfortable for her . . . we had purchased some Dora ones awhile ago and they were cheaply and poorly made. Any recommendations?

so tired

I'm so tired. Ellie has been up since 5am. Her 2 year molars are STILL making their appearance as she informed me after an hour of trying to get her to go back to sleep. She was in our bed and said, "my teeth hurt - I need motrin". Gave her some motrin and gumomeal but the girl wouldn't go back to sleep. I hope that this day goes by quickly (and that we all get a nap).

nap strike

I fear that my nap times have come to an end. We are on day 5 of Elizabeth's nap strike. This is the longest one yet. In the times before she would scream the whole time or not be content she is now perfectly content to read books in her crib with her stuffed animals for an hour! She's a bit of a brat in the evenings, hitting her brother and throwing tantrums more readily but she's starting to mellow out.

I am still getting my alone time, just can't count on a nap anymore - which means I should probably go to bed earlier!

Elizabeth Rose

A good friend of mine takes amazing pictures.

'Tis the Season

It's been a lot of fun this year to watch Elizabeth light up as she sees the Christmas decorations all around her. We haven't decorated the house, besides putting a wooden nativity that she can play w/ out. But Grandma Burton has gone all out and Ellie loves the decorations at her house. We've chosen not to play Santa so as she sees the Santas at the mall and in front of houses she doesn't give more than a second glance. I know that we'll have to explain it to her in the future, but for now saying nothing works fine.

She's really into baby Jesus - she talks about him a lot and wants to see the manger scenes that people have set up out in their front yards. She enjoys playing pretend with her nativity set that we gave her today. She is also enamored with snowmen. Grandma Burton put out 3 snowmen in front of her house and Ellie insisted on bringing the littlest snowman inside last time we were there. She carried that little snowman (almost as tall as her) all over Grandma's house!

no more naps?

Ever since we took the paci away from Elizabeth (it's been over a week now). She is not consistently taking naps anymore (and she's only 21 months). It was last Sunday (the 19th) that the paci's were taken away and last week she took a nap every other day. Today was the day she should have taken a nap (based on the way things had been going). But no, she refused to take a nap. I could leave her in there for 2 hours and she would probably cry the whole time (no exaggeration). Today I tried a new tactic. When it was evident she was not going to be going to sleep I told her she needed to stay in her room and play quietly by herself. We have a toddler gate - which is the only way this can work. It's kind of working. She's been in there for 10 minutes now . . . but not really happy about it.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm not ready for her to give up naps, but perhaps that's not entirely up to me. . . however if she does give up naps how can I encourage "quiet time" w/ one so young? I know I could get some quiet time by sticking her in front of a movie - but I don't want to make that a habit. Help!!

toilet time

Ellie went poo in the toilet this evening. She only went a little bit and then when she saw what she had done she cried. She was very upset so we had to put her diaper back on so she could finish the job!

baby's coming sometime THIS month!

Went to the doctor's today . . . we're making progress, but no baby yet! It seems like I'm moving along a bit quicker than I did w/ Ellie, so that's good news b/c this time I'm not being induced!

Elizabeth's been a bit sick . . . upper-respiratory junk. I'm hoping to see her better before I go into labor :)

is it June already?

It was a busy week . . . Chris was home, but out of commission from Tuesday - Friday. He was sick and in bed - so I felt like I was soloing it again! But he is better and both Elizabeth & I are happy to have him back, again!

Elizabeth is very much into kissing. Kissing us, asking us for kisses, kissing inanimate objects . . . today she was kissing the wall. Her hands are healing up very nicely . . . we took the bandage off off the right hand yesterday!

Ewwie

Ellie said her own name for the first time today! I asked her where her name was (she has a drawing of her name hanging on the wall) and instead of pointing to it like she usually does she said "Ewwie". It was so awesome to hear her say her own name. And she even did it for her daddy when he got home!

BTW - I received my stroller last week that I won . . . it's so nice. I'll write more about that later!

Burton update

Ellie had a great day today. She was very aware of her "owies" all day and she received lots of kisses from us both. But she wasn't very cranky at all and did remarkably well when we took her into Urgent Care and they put some amazing ointment (Silver Sulfadiazine) on her and bandaged her up. We almost left w/o one tear.

Chris said the left hand had a blister on it the size of a golf ball during the night before popping on it's own. It still has quite a blister, but is healing up nicely.

Ellie "helped" me clean her new dresser today. A neighbor gave it to us . . . unfortunately it has a little bit of sun & water damage since it had been in his truck for 2 weeks and then it rained last night. So in the future I may refinish it - but until then it's great for 2 kids and I already filled the drawers up w/ the new baby's clothes!

This week's task is to set up the bassinet and make sure my bags are packed and ready to go - we're going to have another baby again soon!

baby burns

Ellie had her first major accident last night. Chris was holding her while BBQing and before he had time to think she smacked her hands on the BBQ lid. Poor baby. Her right hand isn't so bad, but the left hand has blisters on it. I had her the first half of the night and Chris has been sleeping w/ her in the recliner since 4am. She cries out in pain every so often. I called my nurse friend before bed to see if there was anything more we could be doing for her - but she let me know besides topical ointments, bandaging and alternating tylenol & motrin there wasn't a whole lot to be done.

The worst of the pain seems to be almost over - then the healing process will be in full swing. It's been a sleepless night - but one I'm glad to have if it means she is being comforted.

missing daddy

Little Ellie Rose wakes her daddy up most days by going over to our bed, asking to get up and then giving him hugs. Of course, he's not here so we haven't been doing that. Today Ellie took me in there by the finger w/ her moose-puppet on one hand and motioned to be put up on the bed. I put her up there just to see what she would do. It was so sweet - it almost made me cry! She could see he wasn't in bed, but she lifted up the pillow trying to find him.

She's so sweet - I miss him too and can't wait for him to come back . . . soon!

almost the mid-way point!

I am tired . . . Chris has been gone for 6 days now . . . only 5 more days to go.

It's been good. Ellie has a hard time in the evenings . . . she misses her daddy time - but I've had SO much wonderful help! My friend Amy came over twice this week to take her off my hands for a few hours. What an absolute blessing it was! Our friends Mark & Marcy took us out for dinner last night and this Monday she is spending the night at Grandma's. I've had so many other offers of help and am so grateful for them all!

Ellie's sleeping pretty well. I think she may be going through some night terrors b/c she wakes up screaming at least once in the middle of the night and it doesn't take long to calm her down and rock her to sleep - but I hope this doesn't last too much longer!

I've almost accomplished all of my diaper making. Yes, I am making hemp/fleece diapers for the new baby. Prefolds, so they are pretty easy to make and not too time consuming. I think I have about half a dozen to make and I'll be all done!

Now it's off to bed, as soon as I finish one more diaper!

Priceless

First time giving Elizabeth a yogurt pop . . . she LOVED it. Check out more pictures in my gallery - in Ellie @ 15 months!

"Oh Wow!"

That is Ellie's favorite phrase right now. When she gets excited she says it and it's so absolutely adorable.

Ellie LOVES to give kisses - to everyone she sees. When she hurts herself she also comes to me or Chris for kisses . . . so SWEET!

When we ask Ellie to turn around she turns around, and around and around until she gets dizzy and falls down!

And how cute is it when we ask, "where's Elizabeth?" and she covers her face! Today I asked her, as we were walking home, "Where's Elizabeth's house?" and she covered her face . . .

eating

Ellie LOVES to eat frozen whole-wheat mini bagels from Trader Joes. They are GREAT for older babies/toddlers when they are teething.

She also absolutely LOVES hummus . . . loves to dip pita bread into it, loves to eat it w/ her fingers!