A few random pictures with mommy

Is it me, or do other moms look up and realize they have no pictures with their children? I am always the one behind the camera, taking pictures of Grace or of her and her daddy. Dan has been good about snapping a few lately, reminding me that she will want pictures of her and mommy one day, too. So while six and seven month pregnant pictures aren't exactly my favorite, Grace, I want you to look back one day and realize your mother was very much in your life!!

As of late...

Wow, the last several weeks have been crazy. We have an official potty trained two year old in our house and if I am being perfectly honest, I never thought diapers were all that bad. It's probably because I am seven months pregnant and tired of all the up and down potty trips (she has penchant for taking what would be one big potty trip and dividing it into seven) but I am proud and she is proud and her daddy is most certainly proud.

Our life seems to be most easily described in pictures, so here's what you have been up to, pumpkin:

The week we started potty training you woke up every night at least 2 or 3 times to tell us you had to go potty. One such morning at 3 am you realized you were hungry and had to go to the bathroom so we had a bagel and banana snack. It kind of worked out because I am always starving in the middle of the night. 

After several stressful weeks at the store (which, unfortunately, is not getting any less stressful) I took a Friday off that I was supposed to work and hung out with you and Nana all day. We had so much fun running around town shopping and buying you girls matching dresses for church (sqqquuuueeeeallllll)! That morning before we left we had a blast trying on several of your new outfits we bought  for spring. I believe my exact words after this picture were, "I need girls in my life. This is too much fun."

A few of my favorite things you are saying these days:

"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry. You okay, honey?" as you rub my back.
"Well hello there!"
"Mama, thank you so, so, so, so much. You're welcome, honey!"
When you wake up in the morning and your eyes have been tearing up from allergies you say, "Oh mama, my eyes are just terrible. I need a tissue."

You had so much fun riding in the fire truck when we went shopping at the mall. You kept saying, "I'm so high! This is just awesome!"

We bought you a Disney princess bed and matching toy chest to put in the guest bedroom. The plan is to move the baby into your nursery and move you to the guest bedroom for a short time until you girls can share a room. Then I think we may go nuts with a princess themed room complete with full wall mural. I can hardly stand it I'm so excited!

This is your favorite chair that you sit in while you watch Toy Story. You usually sit with one fist under your chin and your legs crossed just like this.
Mimi bought you Toy Story and we have watched it at least once a day for three weeks. You love to say, "To infinity and beyond! There's a snake in my boots! Way to go, Idaho! and Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!" You also asked me for a Buzz Lightyear backpack. You sit for the entire 79 minutes of the movie and watch every second of it. It cracks me up.

You still have the cheesiest smile ever when I ask you to smile but I love it.

We spend nearly every day laughing so hard and saying, "She is so cute!" at least five times a day. You have the funniest personality and love to make us laugh. We are so blessed to have you, sweet pumpkin!

Potty Boot Camp

 Last weekend we decided to embark on our greatest adventure since becoming parents: potty training. My friend Jennifer told me about the 3 day potty training boot camp and it sounded right up our alley. The basic gist is to quarantine yourself and child for 3 days and focus solely on the potty. We have done some potty training when we thought Grace was ready several months ago but looking back, the trouble was with being consistent.

To say that Saturday was stressful would be a grave understatement. Grace refused to use the potty and would scream and cry anytime we asked her if she needed to use it. She was excited about "big girl panties" and her reward of m&m's but not much else. She spent the day running into the bathroom and acting like she needed to go, then standing up promptly, declaring, "I'm done!" and asking for a "bean" (m&m). She also had at least seven accidents- it was so frustrating to watch her look right at us and then go on the floor. I believe I had two meltdowns and was ready to take her to PetsMart to see if they could handle her.

Sunday started out very stressful with her refusing to go to the bathroom. After hearing her yell, "my belly hurts," and watching her cross her legs for two hours, we decided we were going to tweak the system and make her sit until she went. (This is a big no-no according to the system, but I believe Dan's exact words were, "That book is fairies and unicorns and unless someone else is going to come in here and clean up all her accidents, we are going to sit here until she goes." That sentence pretty much sums up why I love my husband).
She screamed for 10 minutes and we basically held her down until she finally went. We repeated the process once more and from then on out, the child has been a potty-going machine. Something clicked that morning and she has only had one accident in six days. She is excited about picking out her panties every morning and has finally stopped asking for rewards. We have had a lot of success with number two since Monday night and she even used the bathroom at United one morning during a shopping trip.

We are still using pull-ups at night (another no-no according to the book) but she has been waking up dry so I think we may start trying to go all night soon. She has been waking up at least twice a night to go potty which has been hard on us, but I am grateful we can finally say we have a child that is potty trained.

If you want me to forward you the e-book, leave your email on the comment and I will send it to you. I may rename it "fairies and unicorns potty training manual" but I digress...

Mexico Trip

Ready for some serious catching up?
We took an awesome family vacation in OCTOBER to Cancun. (I told you it was serious catch up!) We spent the week at an all inclusive resort and because we were there two weeks after hurricane season (it only rained one morning we were there) the resort was at 15% capacity and we had the entire place to ourselves! To say it was amazing and relaxing would be an understatement. Grace had such a blast playing in the sand, catching "gworms" with Papa, chasing the seagulls, entertaining the staff, swimming, and eating ice cream.
I will let the pictures and captions tell the rest of the story!

I found out three weeks before the trip that I was pregnant. All the food was a bit lost on me. I alternated between nausea and cramping most of the week but enjoyed it as much as any seven week pregnant woman would!

She loved making sand castles with Papa

She was not particularly fond of the ocean but as long as someone was holding her she was okay. She would shout, "big wabes!" over and over.

We seriously had the pool entirely to ourselves until the last day. It was almost eerie how empty it was!

The pool had these designs in the tiles that Grace would call "wheels." She asked all day long if she could go "pway wif da wheels!"

We ate at several different restaurants, all five star quality. We had to make very early dinner reservations to make sure the princess was in a happy mood and not too close to bedtime. The staff treated her like a princess and their first question was always what they could do to make her more comfortable and happy. It was amazing.

We may or may not have put our child's crib in the bathroom every night. It was so bright in our room and we didn't particularly want to go to bed by 9 each night so she spent the weeknights close to the bathtub!

This was our view from the room

One morning we forgot to change her into a swim diaper before she got in the pool and this was the end result.