Potty Training: Success!

This past week I decided to start potty training Kallie. I wrote about it here earlier last week. I didn't read any books about potty training, I literally threw myself into it! I don't know how many times I thought about giving it up and trying another time but I stuck to it and now she's pretty much trained! Yay Kallie!

Somewhere around October 2011 I started putting Kallie on the toilet to get her used to relaxing her muscles and going on the toilet. Since October she has probably gone pee on the toilet a total of 5 times so I wasn't too sure how this whole potty training business was going to go. I decided that for the entire week I wasn't going to go out at all during the day and really try and get her trained. It was a colder week so at least we didn't miss out on nice weather! 

Monday

First thing in the morning while I was changing Kallie's diaper I told her that we weren't going to use diapers anymore. I told her to say good bye to the diaper and then I took her to the toilet to go pee. After a good 30 minutes of sitting on the toilet and drinking her milk she finally went pee! The rest of the morning I was continuously handing her juice to drink and would take her to the toilet every 30 minutes to try and pee. She had a total of 3 accidents between 9am and 12pm. I put a diaper on her for her nap and then ended up leaving her in the diaper the rest of the afternoon. But, even with a diaper on she went pee on the toilet 2 more times. I know I had told her that we weren't going to use anymore diapers but I have 2 daycare kids in the afternoon and I wasn't feeling up to cleaning up puddles of pee with kids running through them all afternoon.

Tuesday

Tuesday morning started out with Kallie peeing on the toilet and then having 1 accident. But, around 10am, thanks to her dress up princess shoes, she started freaking out and crying because she had an open blister on her toe. I felt bad thinking about her having an accident and pee going on her open sore so I put her in a diaper the rest of the day but continued to put her on the toilet. She had a total of 3 successful toilet trips all day. By the end of Tuesday I had decided that I needed to buy a portable potty instead of just having a potty toilet seat. Then I wouldn't have to spend my entire day in the bathroom with her! 

photo source
This was the potty seat I ended up buying for $10 at Walmart. I was looking for a potty with the least amount of nooks and crannies where pee or poop could hide. This was the only one that Walmart had that fit that criteria. 

Wednesday

I was so glad that I had bought a portable potty for her! I wish I had started out with one in the beginning! Throughout the entire day Kallie had 2 pee accidents and 1 poop accident. Not too bad considering the day before she was in a diaper the whole day! 

Thursday

First of all, she woke up dry! That's right, DRY! This was the first and only day that she's woken up dry but I was impressed! This was also the first day that she really started to catch on to the whole potty training. She had 1 accident in the morning but as soon as she realized she was peeing she stopped, started crying, and kept saying sorry. Whenever she's had an accident I've told her that it's ok and then put her on the toilet and tell her that the toilet is where her pee needs to go. 

Friday

Kallie went from 8:00am to 12:30pm with no accidents. I put a diaper on her during her nap but as soon as she woke up around 2pm I put her right back into underwear (Strawberry Shortcake underwear of course!). This was the first full day with absolutely no accidents!

Today (Saturday)

This morning we went out shopping and it was Kallie's first time out of the house since being potty training. I was going to put underwear on her but at the last minute I chickened out and put a pull up on her. We were out from 11am-3pm and she didn't have a single accident! Not to mention, she also went pee on her first public toilet... no stage fright at all! :) 

Kallie has mastered peeing on the toilet, now we just have to work on the pooping. It seems that when I put her in a diaper for her nap that's when she poops. Next week I think I'm going to stop the diaper at nap time and see what happens! 

I guess I can say that I'm half way there to having a potty trained toddler!

Shopping, A Princess Dress, and a Handsome little Man!

Sundays are busy around here.

 Jon has to be at church for 9:00am to help with set up and then worship practice (we go to church in a school and have to set up/take down every week) and then it takes us 40-45 minutes to drive to our church. We plan to leave (I say plan because it's usually more like 8:15) our house at 8am in order for Jon to get to church on time. Church doesn't start until 10:30 so I usually go shopping with the kids to kill time.

We recently switched Bronson from an infant car seat to a bigger car seat and now in stores he gets to ride in the cart with Kallie. Kallie usually isn't too thrilled about it because he likes to pull her hair... but that's life with a sibling!

Every single day when Kallie wakes up she asks if she can wear a "princess dress" and everyday I have to say no. Then, finally, a Sunday comes along and I can finally say yes to her princess dress!

 She loves her dresses!

Bronson is slowly learning to like eating solid foods. Usually he'll gag and throw up anything that's not cheerios but, this week I finally got him to eat some carrots and even a few small pieces of pulled pork!

Way to go Bronson!

Last Sunday afternoon Kallie and I ate outside on the patio. 

That's unheard of in March around here!

 She had to wear her sunglasses on her head like mommy and had soo many stories to tell me! 

I love one on one time with my kids!

Linking up as usual with

I hope you have a great weekend!

Embrace the Camera: March 28, 2012

I love coming across new blogs! 

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon one called The Anderson Crew.

First of all, I liked it right off the bat because of our similar blog names and secondly, I love how Emily writes because it's real.

Every Thursday she has a link up called Embrace the Camera and the point of it is to get yourself in a picture. I have so many pictures of my kids but very few of my kids and me. 

Genius idea!

Do you know how hard it is to get 2 kids, 1 adult and 1 dog to all look at the camera at the same time??

My dog was the only one looking at the camera in every picture! Go figure.

3 out of 4 looking at the camera... not too bad.

Even though 3 of us are looking at the camera I don't think that Bronson and I should count!

And, this was the best picture I got! 

Ha Bronson is all smiles2 and Kallie is about to freak out. 

**********

Ok, I just had  to add this to the post. 

This post doesn't have a lot of text but it literally took me 15 minutes to write. 

I thought that my computer was about to crash because my screen contrast kept going black and my curser kept tabbing to different icons.  

Then I burst out laughing.

 I saw Kallie standing on the other side of the room playing with a wireless keyboard that must have connected to my laptop! 

Needless to say, my computer is fine and it's not going crazy!

*********

Day 28: Grow Up!

I can't believe that March is almost over, which means our 31 day challenge is almost over as well! 

I haven't done a post about the challenge in over a week... sorry to those doing it with me!

All of my spare time has been going towards a little project that I'll share with you in the next couple of weeks!

But as for the challenge, I've only missed 3-4 days since we started and the days I didn't read my bible were on the weekends. I know, not a good excuse, but I find that the weekend and schedules don't go hand in hand! 

**********

I think I mentioned in another post that I had started to read a devotional on my iphone by InTouch Ministries and the other day was based on this verse: 

When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

 We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. 1 Corinthians 13:11-13

It's telling us that we need to keep going after God and getting to know him more. When everyone is a child we have a small vocabulary. If, as adults, we were still speaking like we did when we were 4 years old then we most likely wouldn't be in the jobs we are today. Our relationship with God is the same way. We need to keep spending time with him and reading our bibles and praying in order to get to know him better. 

I knew all that before doing this challenge but I think that I just understand it better now and realize how important it really is.

How has everyone else been doing with the challenge?

Potty Training Here We Go!

 Sunday night I decided that this was the week to start potty training Kallie.

So, yesterday morning we started.

Yesterday morning wasn't bad and she was getting the hang of it but I spent all morning in the bathroom and poor Bronson didn't get a whole lot of attention.
She went on the toilet twice and then had two accidents.
Not too bad, right?

I put a diaper on her for nap time and kept it on for the afternoon because I have daycare kids then and I wasn't looking forward to cleaning up pee with kids running through it. 

I'm still working on potty training her this week but I think I'm going to buy a portable potty tonight to make it a little bit easier. 

I can't wait to only have one child in diapers!

Bronson's 10 Month Old Update

I've been really bad keeping up to date with Bronson's monthly progress updates. I totally forgot to post his 9 month old progress update and I'm two weeks late with his 10 month one... but better late than never, right?

I gave up trying to get him to stay still long enough for me to take a picture! This was the best I could get!

At 10 Months Old:

He loves to babble and make noises. He can do sounds like ba, da, ma, and oo. He also loves to blow raspberries, spit, and make a motor boat sound. 

About two weeks ago he finally figured out how to pull himself up from a laying down position into a sitting position. His core muscles are a lot weaker than normal because of his liver transplant surgery so this was a big deal for him to finally do! 

Two days after he learned how to go from laying to sitting he figured out how to pull himself up in his crib. Now he's pulling himself up to standing all the time and has just started to slowly walk around the furniture. I'd love for him to start walking soon because if we're at the park all he wants to do is get down and follow the other kids and crawling in stones is kind of difficult. Not to mention, they apparently taste really good too!

He's drinking 3.5-4 bottles a day. The dietician has had me fortifying his bottles ever since he started drinking orally at 4 months old. Right now he's getting 5 scoops of formula in an 8 oz bottle. 

He's eating cereal or baby food 3 times a day. He loves cheerios, french fries, and Baby Mum Mum's but any other "real" food he spits out. I've tried all different vegetables cut up small, cheese, bread, muffins, pasta and he still won't eat it. I'd like to stop buying baby food sooner than later! (I make it sometimes but I don't always have the time)

He's wearing size 3 or 4 diapers. Size 3 fit better but Kallie wears size 4 so sometimes I just buy one box of diapers for the two of them. It also  makes finding the right diapers in my diaper bag a lot easier.

This week he started to wave hello/goodbye. It's so cute to watch him wave! :)

He loves playing with anything that his sister is playing with, which usually ends up in Kallie getting mad at him...typical sibling relationship!

For the past month he's been sleeping through the night! FINALLY! I usually put him down to bed at 7-7:30pm and then sleep for 12 hours. He's not the greatest at napping but if it's a good day he'll sleep for 1 hour straight. Last week he napped for 2 hours 2 days in a row! It was great! :)

And, that's Bronson at 10 months old!

InstaFriday: March 23, 2012

We had a busy week and I took a ton of pictures on my iPhone! 

I really need to start getting back into the habit of taking pictures on my real camera but my iPhone is just so handy!

Here's what our week looked like:

Last Saturday my brother, Bryant, came home for a visit. We went to my parents to celebrate his birthday and, as usual, it was a fun get together!

In case you're wondering... he didn't turn 115!

Bryant gave Kallie a bubble gun for her birthday and with the gorgeous weather this week it's already got a lot of use!

We were outside every day this week thanks to the very warm weather! Yesterday I even put out my patio furniture! It's hard to believe that other years at this time we sometimes still have snow!

Me and my monkey enjoying the sunshine! :)

Five minutes before I took this photo there was no fog at all!

Along with taking out my patio furniture I also brought out the water table. Yesterday the kids had fun playing in the soapy green water and were soaked head to toe! Have I mentioned yet how much I've been loving this weather??

Look my Day Lillies are already coming up!! If the weather all of a sudden goes back to normal spring weather I hope they don't die. 

I just want to mention that if any of my readers have received spam emails from me yesterday or today please don't click on the links! I'm sorry if you received spam from me.. my email got hacked! I've changed all my info so it shouldn't happen again! Sorry!

I hope everyone had a wonderful week!!

Happy Weekend!

As usual I'm linking up Here Today:

The Last Thing Thursday

I stumbled upon a new blog tonight called The Life of The Wife (check it out!). Every Thursday she does a fun blog link up called "The Last Thing Thursday"and today I thought I'd join in, so here I go!

The Last Thing I...

Watched on TV

was Breakfast Television.. well I'm not really watching it but it's on in the background right now!

Drank
was coffee!
I'm currently using a bag of coffee beans from my sister-in-law and brother-in-law's coffee shop in called Coffee Cravings. If ever you're in Napanee, ON or going through and need a good coffee or latte then check it out!

Did

was set up Kallie's Play doh Mr. Potato Head.

Every morning after breakfast she asks to play with her play doh. She loves the stuff!

Pinned

was a picture I found of how to untangle a doll's hair with softener.

There are quite a few Dora dolls with crazy fro's in my basement that can now look presentable!

Sang

was Hands Up by Ottawan.

Whenever I take Kallie's top off I sing this song and she immediately puts her hands up for me!

Whatever works! :)

If you want a flash back of the song go HERE!

Laughed by myself

was when I was being humped by my dog at the park.

We have two dogs. A male Golden Doodle named Dupree and a female bich-poo named Georgia.

Neither of them are fixed.

We were planning on getting Gerogia fixed before she went into heat again.. but apparently we weren't on the ball and she's in heat. At the moment keeping my dogs separated is a full time job.

I'm going crazy!

The other day I thought that I would take Dupree with me and my kids to the harbour to get him away from Georgia. Everything was going great. Kallie was playing on the playground equipment and Bronson was chilling in the stroller.

Then it happened.

All of a sudden Dupree (did I mention that he's 75 lbs?) jumped up on me and started going to town humping. He somehow got his legs wrapped around me and I couldn't get him to stop.

It took everything in me to pull him down and then bribe him with a Tim Bit to get his mind off of humping!

Once my leg was free I laughed sooo hard and then wished that it was on video... or at least wished that someone else was there to laugh with me!

Linking up here today:

Octopus Lunch

Through my blog I've been blessed to be able to meet and connect with so many different people. One of the people I've got to know through email is Lisa. 

Lisa runs a home daycare and has tons of creative ideas!  Last week she sent me some great pictures of a lunch she did and, after I asked her, she agreed to do a guest post! 

**********

An Octopus Lunch

"I saw this on Pinterest a while back and thought it looked like a fun lunch for my daycare kids.  So over March break I decided to try it.  It was a huge success!  The kids loved it.  It was fun to make and fun for the kids to eat with their hands.  The kids thought they looked like an Octopus once they were cooked!   You just use spaghetti noodles and wieners.  It's really quite simple!" - Lisa

Take 1-2 pieces of uncooked spaghetti and stick it through cut up uncooked hot dogs.
Boil. And you're done!

**********

I think I'm going to have to give this lunch a try! :) 

Lisa doesn't blog but you can find Lisa on Pinterest HERE!

DIY Chalkboard Plate

I was really busy last week so today's craft is one that I did over a year ago and then gave as a Christmas present to my parents.

 It's such an easy craft and also makes a great present. I haven't got around to making one for myself but I really need to!

All you need is:

Dinner or Serving Plate in any shape (circle, oval, square)

Sand Paper

Painter's Tape

Chalkboard paint

Paint brush

Picture Frame Stand

What to Do:

1. Use sandpaper to scuff up the area where you'll be applying the chalkboard paint.

2. With a dry cloth wipe off any dust that the sand paper might have left behind.

3. Apply the painter's tape to frame the area where you want the chalkboard to be. 

(Make sure the edges and corners are stuck down really well or the paint might leak under it)

4. With a paint brush apply a smooth layer of the chalkboard paint.

A second layer of paint might be needed. (mine did!)

5. Remove the painter's tape before the paint is 100% dry (this stopped my paint from peeling up with the tape) and then let the paint dry according to the manufacture recommendations. 

 The directions on the chalkboard paint that I used said to wait at least 48 hours before writing on it with chalk but other manufactures may be different.

6. Place your new chalkboard in the picture frame stand and you're DONE! 

I hope that everyone is having a great week with all of the gorgeous weather we've been having! :)

Please Keep Your Poop Where it Belongs

Dear Kallie,

You are the smartest and most adorable little girl I know. 

Maybe even too smart. 

But, I'd really like to know why you feel the need to pull poop out of your diaper?

This habit has got to stop! 

I could understand if it only happened once but, one to two times per week is a little bit excessive.

Picking pieces of poop out of your shag rug was gross.

Finding pieces of poop in your bedding was disgusting.

But, finding poop on your fingers and in your Play Doh this morning was the worst.

It's really difficult to tell if the red play doh has black play doh mixed in it or if it's just poop.

Every time I find your hands and shirt and other objects covered in poop you say sorry,

but I'd love it even more if your sorry included keeping your poop in your diaper. 

I know that you're only two and you might not understand the entire concept of an apology,

but please please please try to keep your poop where it belongs. 

It would definitely make my life a lot easier. 

Love, 

Mom

InstaFriday: An evening Walk

This past week has had absolutely gorgeous weather! We've been outside almost every day enjoying the sunshine. I live in Ontario, Canada so when it's 15 degrees celsius in March (that's 59 degrees F for you Americans!) it almost means wearing shorts. Ok, maybe not wearing shorts... but it's much warmer than normal and I love it! 

My husband recently found a conservation area near our home (I wish we knew about this place a couple of years ago!) and he wanted to show it to me. So, after dinner Thursday night all four of us went out walking. Once we got there I realized that I really looked like a "mom" and probably should have swapped out my skinny jeans for a wider leg pair when I put my running shoes on. Oh well, we were in the woods so no one saw.. except for you!

When Kallie was little I bought my Sleepy Wrap (now called Boba Wraps) with the intention of using it a lot. It was a great plan until I ended up getting pregnant when she was only 6 months old. Last week I was cleaning out closets and found my wrap.. needless to say, I've been doing a lot of baby wearing since. 

I know I said that it's been warm weather and in these photos I have Bronson all bundled up with a hat and mitts. It wasn't that cold out but he's been really sick the past two weeks and because of the immunosuppression drugs he's on it takes him forever to get over a simple cold/cough. He's finally starting to get better and I didn't want him to get chilly... hence the crazy winter get-up. 

I love this picture. 

(See the shorts... it really wasn't hat and mitt weather..Poor Bronson and his crazy over protective mama!)

Kallie has an obsession with ducks and birds. She was so excited when we stopped at this bench and saw a whole bunch of Canadian Geese. Look to the right of Kallie, there were about 20 geese just chillin' in the pond.

This is how excited she gets about birds! :) 

Not only did I have skinny jeans and running shoes on but it also looked like I had boobs that hung past my belly button. 

My boobs are neither this big nor this saggy. These are not my boobs. 

Bronson's mitts kept falling off so I stuffed his hands into the wrap. They were still warm and toasty by the end of our walk!

Jon decided to shave his head this week.. just for fun. I prefer hair. 

When I first saw his bald head it reminded me of five years ago (5 years ago next month to be exact) when he was going through chemo and lost all of his hair before our wedding. I can't believe that it's almost been five years. crazy. 

As usual, I've linked this InstaFriday post up with Jeannett over at Life Rearranged. 

Have a GREAT weekend! :)

Day 15: Half Way Through!

We're half way through the 31 Day Challenge! 

I can't believe that March is almost over but that means that Easter and summer are on the way! :)

My 31 Day Challenge

Originally I told you that for the entire challenge I was going to get up earlier every morning and I was doing that ... until this past Sunday. 

Honestly, the time change is kicking my butt and I haven't been able to pull myself out of bed in the mornings. It was so much easier to get up when it was brighter out! 

I've still been making time to read and pray, it's just been later on in the day. 

Out of the 15 days I've only missed one day when both of my kids were sick. I know that's not a good excuse but I'm being honest.

So far, this challenge has taught me about being intentional. Whether it's with God, friends, finances, family, or (sigh) even laundry I know that I need to be the first one to make the effort. I already knew that but I've just been doing a lot more thinking about it lately.

Your 31 Day Challenge

I've received emails and messages from some people and it sounds like everyone who is doing the challenge has been enjoying it. Even if some of us have missed a couple of days I think the important thing is that we're still doing the best that we can. 

**********

What have you learned from the Challenge? 

Am I the only one having trouble getting up in the morning since the time change this past weekend??

Out in the Sun

The past few days have brought gorgeous weather to our area. Yesterday has been the nicest so far but, of course I couldn't find my camera for our outing. 

Sunday afternoon we went down to the harbor in town with our coffees, went for a walk, and of course made a visit to the play ground. I love making memories like these! :)

**********

**********

I've wanted to mention this all week but I haven't had a post that was appropriate to add it to.
My Aunt Manuella is participating in a 1/2 marathon on June 3rd and she also has the opportunity to raise money for the Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO) at the Toronto Half & 5K run the week prior. POGO was a huge help for us when Bronson was in the hospital and I know that because of this group many other children with cancer, and their families, are  able to receive the best medical car available whether it be through clinics, home care, hospital care etc. HERE is a like for more information about the marathon and donating. Don't feel any pressure, I  think it's a great cause and just wanted to raise awareness!