Potty training 1 diaper 0

Ok so maybe that count isn't very accurate in the long run.... buuutttt in the short run (and by that I mean the past week or so...) it's totally right on!!! Lately our big hurdle has been Hailey going #2 on the toilet. It seemed like she was either deathly afraid of it or just couldn't control herself enough or... really who knows because she's 2 and I can only understand 1/2 of what she says lol.

So she does very well keeping her pull-up dry until about one or so-- and that's even when we go out and run errands!!!-- and then our battles usually began. Of course she isn't very good at telling me when she has to go potty yet, but she is doing very well at holding it for the potty so that's definitely a step in the right direction! Well a few days ago she went poopie on the potty (sorry kiddo talk there, lol) and I told her I would buy her a bag of skittles for it. Well I did and I also bought some flushable wet wipes because she said owie when I was wiping her and I was worried that might be another reason why she wouldn't go on the potty. Well today was a total breakthrough day for her~~~~ She's gone #2 on the potty 3- yep that's right- 3 times today already!!! She's getting her reward --I bought a giant bag of snack size skittle bags at the store for treats for her-- and TONS OF PRAISE!!!

It's still a very strange experience for me to watch my baby grow up. As much as that little monster drives me nutso at times I love her sooo much!!! I can't believe that she's 2 and starting to become such an amazing little girl :)

On the mend =)

It's been about a week since the last post. I had this horrible cold that lasted for almost 2 weeks- come on didn't it realize that I'm THE MOTHER and keeping me from my mom duties for that long is not good?!! I spent most of my time on and off the couch when I wasn't feeding kids, changing diapers, picking up toys so that I didn't step on them, and making dinner. Unfortunately at the same time my poor little Hanners was sick :( I wasn't sure about her though because I know teething can produce the same symptoms as a cold, especially if Hannah was anything like Hailey and never showed signs of things like ear infections. And Hannah was VERY miserable at night because she would wake up every 2-3 hours like a newborn, which left me virtually no time for good sleep to kick my own cold- fabulous right?!! So Wed night I woke up to deal with Hannah and my ear started to ache a little... nothing unusual so I asked Tim to find out at work about getting me back on his insurance so I could go into the dr. The reason I wasn't on in the first place is by my own personal choice. I get state med for my pregnancies so in between having babies I've chosen to not pay the $120 per month for my insurance because I'm usually a very healthy person. Well Tim came home and told me that because I hadn't had continuous insurance I would have to wait until his company's open enrollment time... fabulous...

Luckily Tim has most fridays off unless he's offered over-time so Thursday night he got up with Hannah once to help me out, which was such a blessing. Then friday morning there was no doubt to me- I had an ear infection and Hannah was still fussy so it was time to make the dreaded dr appts. I called around about places working with low income families because though we budget our money well, we definitely fall into that category. Most places couldn't get me in for a few weeks so I was left with the urgent care option. "Great" I thought, but hey it was still probably cheaper than me paying the monthly insurance cost each month totaled. So anyways Hannah and I both ended up having ear infections. I'm super happy to be on meds cause I feel 200% better now and I can tell the little Hanners does too :)

And to leave with the happy part- my whole urgent care visit PLUS the cost of my prescriptions cost the same amount as it would for only 1 month of insurance!!! So... that was a fabulous day in my books!! Plus now that I'm feeling better my house is starting to look better too, lol.

Bath time

She's starting to sit up really well by herself, but I don't let her sit up the whole time yet or else she just slides all over the place. And I totally forgot to mention that we got to watch Hannah sit up all by herself on Sunday afternoon!! She's not crawling yet, but she can turn in circles and scoot... sooon!!!

Our very own "Mufasa"... gotta love morning hair!

I bought this sweater for her when I was still prego with her on clearance and she's finally big enough to wear it!!

And of course Hailey wanted in on the action.

Help please!!!

I'm really not sure who actually reads this, but I know of at least a few people who do so here goes nothing...

I'm about going out of my mind with the whole potty- training thing. Hailey acted like she was totally ready a few months ago so we hit it really hard... and then we realized that she had turned around and had no desire so we completely stopped to give her a break from everything. I've tried just about everything and nothing seems to get through to her from offering candy every time she goes, to letting her read books, to giving good praise, to emphasizing "big girl", etc. . The only time she asks to go to the potty now is when she is around older kids and they go. She even asks for candy now and we tell her that she needs to go on the potty to get candy and then she just doesn't care about the candy anymore!

Tim and I both think that she's regressing since we've had Hannah. She keeps doing baby things like eating with her hands, sticking her fingers in her mouth, and of course, not wanting to potty train at all. I can tell when she has to go #2- for example last night we were hanging out in the living room and at first she tries to hide behind the couch. I asked her what she was doing and if she needed to go poo and she said no. Then she kept trying to run out of the room and I asked her to come back and what she was doing and she yells no again. Then she left the room again and we didnt' notice this time. I yelled for her to come back and we asked her if she had gone poo and she said yes and of course she did.

So... for those way more experience parents than I.... or those who have just had way better luck at this than we have had please help!!! Any advice, suggestions, or anything??? I'm going out of my mind changing 2 sets of diapers for this long and would like to be on the path for changing that very soon =) Thanks!!

One man with 3 little ladies

I love this guy SOOO much! He's a hard-w0rking, fun-loving goof and I couldn't have picked anyone better to share eternity with.

He does absolutely all that he can for us girls and has taken that one step further now....

Next quarter he will be a student again. He's finally found the strong desire to attend school so in April he will be at SCC to work on his AA and then on to Eastern??!! Who knows maybe somewhere else depending on where life goes for us. I've always tried to urge him into school, but he needed to want it for himself. Yep the next few years will probably be difficult, but that's just life in general and either way we always find a way to make it work. His plan for now is to take as many online classes as he can and then work his schedule around school when that doesn't work any more. I'll probably have to pick up some work from home if I can as well, so if anyone knows anything that I can do from home let me know! I'm not willing to work out of home though I know I could. I just feel like I would be away from my family too much, plus Tim is going to need plenty of time to study...

Anyways, this is where life is taking us over the next few year... so much for letting things calm down, lol.

xoxo

Dear honey,

Our daughter loves country music just like her mama ...

It's quite evident from her crazy laughter and dancing the minute I put it on...

She just can't help herself and neither can I...

So today the monster and I boogied our hearts out to my new Josh Turner cd...

It's time you just gave in and admitted how awesome it is...

Lots of love,

Your wonderful "country- music- lovin" wife!!

Another glimpse into my daily life

Me: Honey when you empty the roll you need to put a new roll of toilet paper on

(This is what the roll looked like)

Tim: But it still has some on there

Me: That is not enough to wipe with

(Yep that's 3 squares and I'm a girl so basically if I used only that I'd probably end up using my hand more than the toilet paper)

Tim: Well you buy the toilet paper so it's your responsibility to change the roll.... (ummm ok?!!)

Enjoy my true "femininity"

Conversation as follows:

Me: How do you like that...?? (very sarcastically right after he had just rubbed my very hairy bare legs, hehe)
Tim: What do you mean?
Me: Well it's been about a month since I shaved my legs (once again hehehe)
Tim: (After he looks closer at my leg) Wow! The hair is so long that they're smooth now

All I can say is ' yep that's how I roll'... Nothing that a long skirt or knee high boots doesn't fix. Plus it's winter time and I can use the extra insulation.

Things that I'm thankful for

Hailey waking up before she usually does and crawling into bed with us =) My little Hanners who is scooting and rolling all over the place right now. She always gets herself into the strangest places.

These two precious little girls who like to play together.

They really do adore each other and Hailey still asks to "hold the baby" all the time... though Hannah only weighs about 10 lbs less than her so it's not really holding her anymore haha!!

Our Heavenly Father truly has blessed my family this last year. So many wonderful things have happened. The addition of Hannah to our family, celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary, selling our first home so quickly, wonderful in-laws who let us live with them for 5 months, finding our new house that fits our family so perfectly, and, of course, going to the temple for the first time and being sealed to my husband and family for all eternity. Though I know that things aren't always easy, I'm so very grateful for the loving husband and daughters that he has given me. This last year was busier than I could have imagined it being, but I wouldn't change anything =)

My new favorite finds

Now I'm not much of a crafty person. I'm starting to get more into gradually, but it just doesn't come naturally to me as it does to some other women I know. That's probably why it took me so long to make my first trip into this wonderful place, but I can't wait until I can go back again.

As promised here are my 'bigger' finds from my new favorite place... HOBBY LOBBY!!!

I fell in love with these lamps the minute I saw them. Our new house doesn't have overhead lights in our living room so for the first while I've only had the stand up light that you can kind of see in the background here. I've needed some more lamps, but anyone who has ever bought lamps know how freakin expensive they are. Well I found these- yep I got to buy both of them because they were half off!!
We wandered up and down many aisles and I found this also. It hangs on the wall and I just thought it was too cute... and it was half off too =) And seeing as how many of my walls are still bare because we have way more wall space in the new house it was a "must buy" too!

And... ta-da!!! This was the most expensive purchase. I just can't stand how expensive furniture or even decorating itself is, but we had to look at it as an investment piece that will stay with us for a very very long time. This is in my entry way now where the ottoman was. It all just worked out fabulous because I wanted a mirror, coat rack, and somewhere to sit. Voila- all in one! Plus it even has the storage wicker baskets for things like gloves, scarves, etc which is just perfect for this time of year! All their furniture was 30% off and I got them to knock another 10% off becuase there was a nick in the wood. And to make this even better the ottoman that I was using there is now in the living room serving as the kids "toy box"! Yay I've been wanting to find a cuter way to store the toys that find their way downstairs!!

Merry merry Christmas

Girls at the end of Christmas day =) Hailey after a very very long day... yep she's in the middle of a major tantrum

And this is why... she wanted this sucker- go figure, lol!

By the end of the night she was a pro at opening gifts- see the determination in her face?!!

So I totally realized why I haven't blogged much... I've had my nose stuffed into the Harry Potter series, which I finally finished- can you hear the applause, lol?!! I'm not sure why I never read them, but I finally decided to. It took me about 3 weeks and I LOVED THEM!! Yes I've stayed up way too late and missed a lot of sleep to make that happen so here's to catching up on some must needed sleep. This year was a tad on the crazy side with trying to do every family activity and make everyone happy. Christmas is supposed to be a wonderful time of year where we remember the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and it just felt a little too hectic this year so we'll probably be making a few changes next year.

Anyways... we had my dad, brother, and sis over for dinner on Thursday night. My first time making a ham and scalloped potatoes and it turned out pretty good. Guess that's what happens when you have so much family in town- you get really good at making side dishes and not much experience at the big stuff so this was a great learning experience for me. Then Christmas Eve morning we had the Waite's over for breakfast- love them so much and I'm so glad that we're making good friends in our new ward. It's been a tradition for as long as I can remember to go out to my grandma's place on liberty lake for christmas eve so before we went out there we went out there we stopped at Hobby Lobby for our first time and I have one word for that place- WOW! I loved it!! I'll have to do another post with just my purchases. Let's just say that Tim and I treated ourselves to some pretty sweet stuff! After hitting up my grandma's we went to Tim's parents for their traditional "picnic" and It's a wonderful Life!

My awesome x-mas socks I got this year- aren't you jealous?!!

So sweet =)

Christmas day was even more hectic. We opened presents with our girls first, then went to my mom's for breakfast, and then back to Tim's parents for dinner. My house was destroyed for a few days and it's finally starting to look back to normal. I'm quite crazy with mess in my house so I couldn't wait to get things back in order. In fact this morning we took our tree down. Now usually I try to keep it up a few weeks after Christmas- it's just so cute and festive, but this year my girls just wouldn't leave it alone at all so I wasn't sad to see it go back in the box at all.

Poor thing was so tired

The girls were spoiled big time and though I didn't spend too much thanks to clearance sections, black friday, and my good eyes for a good deal there was still a ton of stuff! Whew- next year we've vowed to not buy as much. Luckily we have a bigger house now so finding room for new toys wasn't a problem at all!

One of Hailey's bigger toys this year. This was right after we got done setting it up! Probably her favorite gift- Pillow pet! I think almost every kid wanted one and every time we were in the store she would point them out and say "piddow". Giant vanity that I got an awesome price on!! But the thing took 2 1/2 hours to put together... never again! My cheese ball. She doesn't even care about the presents- just wanted the candy