Adventures in Potty Training

I knew the time was coming, but I was dreading potty training. I was looking forward to not changing diapers (at least for now!) but not looking forward to the actual reality of potty training.

I did some research and reading and we came up with a strategy we thought would work for her. The first morning (pictured above) I sat with her in the bathroom for 2 hours. She ate Cheese-its and crackers, Cheerios and drank milk. Nothing. We waited. We read books. We sang songs. I finally pulled out the laptop and found some clips of Elmo singing on YouTube. We waited. Nothing. I went to the bathroom twice waiting for her to go once! She had finally had enough and her little bottom had a red ring from sitting so long. I decided to let her stand for a minute. Of course, immediately after standing she goes potty. Luckily I was able to get the laptop out of the way before we had a short circuit.

Ahhhh, the joys of motherhood.

That first day she went on the potty twice. I cleaned up a lot of accidents and changed a lot of panties. I praised her for going twice. Oh how big a deal I made of it. She got M&Ms as a reward.

The second day was a lot better. I think we went from only going on the potty twice, to only having 2 accidents. She got LOTS of M&Ms that day. I was so proud of her and was feeling a bit smug about how spectacular she was doing.

Then the stomach virus hit her. My poor sweet little girl. During those hard 48 hours, she did have some accidents, but she truly, truly made an effort to let me know she needed to go. It was just A LOT harder to make it to the potty in time. Bless her heart.

Now, about a month later, she's doing great. She is not by any means completely trained. She still has accidents and we're still wearing a pull-up to bed and if we have to be out of the house for a long time. I'm scared of the first in public accident. It will come though. I feel it's absolutely inevitable.

She no longer gets candy for going, and she no longer sits on the little potty. She has graduated to the big potty only. She's doing great.

Potty Funnies:
After she went potty at church last week, I also decided to go while we were in there. She stood back against the stall door and clapped for me. "Good job Mommy! You went potty!" she said. (I've GOT to write that one in her book...)

Yesterday at church she used the small potty made for kids that is in the nursery. (It's an actual toilet that flushes and everything, just smaller and child sized.) Anyway, she calls it the baby potty. We were about to leave the room and she bent down and put both arms around it. I thought she was going to kiss it, so I cried out, "Don't put your mouth on it!" She didn't. She did, however, hug the potty and say, "Oh, it's a baby potty. It's so cute."

My daughter, the ham.

One is Silver and the other Gold

We've been having a great summer so far. I do feel the need to clarify though that we don't have a pool. It totally seemed like we did when I reread my last blog! We have some very close friends who do and we are luckily able to swim with them often. We thought about buying a house with a pool, but decided against the responsibility. I would be a paranoid mess worrying about other children falling while at our house. So, no pool for us.

At the end of May we were able to meet up with our good friends at the beach one day for shopping and dinner. It was so wonderful to see them and catch up on their life and catch them up on ours. We loved spending time with them and truly wish we could do so more often.


We have shared so much with those two over the years I could tell story after story. Good times, bad times, hilarious times, emotional times...you name it, we've shared it. She and I grew up together...then she went off to college a year before I did...met a guy...I came along the next year...her guy introduced me to Aaron and the rest is history. They fixed us up. It was a lot like that Colin Ray song, "One Boy, One Girl." The lyrics..."he finally gave in to his friend's girlfriend when she said there's someone you should meet..." are very close to what happened to us. The Lord truly blessed us with friends such as these. We love y'all...and miss you so much.

Moving here 5 years ago was a hard transition for me. There was a time I felt I would never have any friends here and I felt sorry for myself. I was wrong though. We have some wonderful friends here. People who love us and love Caroline and would do anything for us. I'm so thankful for each of these in my life.

Our collective kiddos. Caroline has so many wonderful examples to look up to!

In other news...my pregnancy is, well, somewhat difficult. I'm fine and the baby is fine, but I've had a much harder time this time around than I did with Caroline. I think having another child to look after has definitely played a part in the difficulties, but I have been struggling. Struggling to keep the house clean, the laundry done, the meals cooked. Energy has escaped me for the last 7 months, and now as I have 8 weeks left, I pray that I will be energetic and happy. I have been more of a complainer lately and I don't like that color on me. I want to milk my last few weeks with just one child for all it's worth. I want to hear each of her laughs, be melted by each of her smiles, and catch each of her falls. I pray for patience and energy.

Playing Catch Up

I know, I know. Many family members want to strangle me for not updating in over a month. I really am sorry and have no excuse other than we've been super busy and I just haven't had time. Please forgive me!

We've moved into our new house and really love it. I cannot begin to explain how wonderful everything has been and how blessed we are. We are so thankful for this home.

Summer is in full swing around here and we're loving every minute of it!





Oh how excited she was when she realized she had drawn a triangle by accident. She gasped and exclaimed, "Look Mommy! A triangle!" She tried to draw another one, but couldn't quite get it. The teacher in me was remembering all the lectures and power-point presentations I've seen about Early Literacy. I remember seeing some very similar drawings and scribblings from other children around her age and learning about how this is the beginning of being literate. W-O-W. My sweet baby is growing up.



She loves this tricycle. LOVES IT. Her legs are not quite long enough to reach the peddles, but she's working on it as often as she can.



The pool is another favorite summer activity for her. She can now "swim" with her water wings on. I think she's going to be a little water rat. She loves to be in the pool!




All in all, we've had wonderful start to this summer!

Coming soon to The Craig's Corner of the World:

Fun with Friends and Adventures in Potty Training!

Memory Lane

We're getting there. As we spend our last few days in this house, I'm having such mixed emotions. I'm very thankful and excited for our new house, but I'm also saddened as I remember all that made this house a home. I'm very aware each time I put Caroline to bed that soon she will have a new room, and her sweet nursery will be painted over to suit the new family. She's very excited about her big girl room. Last night we drove by the new house and she squealed out, "My big girl room!" We were happy she remembered the house and remembered what we'd told her about it. I've been concerned about her reaction to the move. Because of the move, we've put off moving her out of her crib, but I know it's time. Not just for her, but for me as well. It's starting to physically hurt to lean over and put her down in her crib. I'm certain this is because of my ever-growing stomach, but now seems like the right time. So many changes.



2 weeks old....her first Thanksgiving. My friend Jenn gave us this bib and yes, it was HUGE on her, but I loved having her in that bouncy chair in our dining room while we ate.



Her first Iron bowl. We won--War Eagle! Aaron said she was his good luck charm. :) The Grotto has been our family room, and I know we will miss it.



Her first Christmas, she fit inside her stocking. She had no clue anything special was going on, but I loved carrying her out on Christmas morning.



Napping with Daddy in the Grotto.



Daddy with his two little girls. I won't be able to see Caddy running around the new house. Every once in a while, I can picture her napping in the Grotto or eating in the corner of this kitchen. She was such a big part of our life for a long time.



First Easter. I loved taking pictures of her in the pink chair in her nursery when she was little.




Following her surgery, she wore braces on her arms to keep her hands out of her mouth. She got good at crawling around. I told Aaron we needed to make sure no Evolutionists saw her like that. She seriously looked just like a monkey when she crawled around keeping her arms completely straight.



She loved having her hand stuffed in her first birthday cake.



What's cookin?







(That's a turtle in the yard!)








These pictures just represent the surface of memories we have in this home. That's exactly what it is too...a home. A house is just walls and a roof. Laughter and love make the home, and we have treasured the joys we've experienced here, and we've learned from the heartaches. We're moving on, and will miss the memories, but that's what's so wonderful about memories. They're always right with you. I am so excited about the new memories we'll make in our new home. We'll have the pitter-patter of another little one in this home and we'll meet each day with prayerful hearts and keep our eyes open for the little things that make a house a home.

life happens when you're busy making other plans...

I've been sort of dreading posting this for a while now. Aaron and I have been prayerful in our efforts to be content with what we have...and something very unexpected came along.

In January (about a week after I posted about trying to utilize our house instead of thinking of what we don't have) a co-worker of Aaron's approached him to see if we would be interested in selling our house. She and her husband were wanting to buy in the neighborhood we lived in and she knew we weren't planning to be in this house forever. When he came home and told me that...I think I almost dropped the chopping knife in my hand, which would have meant a trip to the ER for a possible toe re-attachment, but somehow, I was able to keep my hands around the handle of said knife. So, we prayed about this new development and thought about it A LOT..making pro/con lists and wording more prayers to our Heavenly Father. In the end, we decided to let the family come look at the house and from there we would decide what the best decision was. So they did, and the liked the house, but ended up buying a different one. We moved on, thankful for what we have and forgot about it.

Mid-March rolls around and Aaron comes home and says someone else wants to look at the house. The family who had already looked but didn't buy told their sister and brother-in-law about it and now they wanted to come look. We prayed again, and gave it some thought, and decided to again let them come look and then make a more definite decision. This time we were presented with an offer within an hour of them leaving. We were in shock, to say the least. We prayed more and again went over the pros and cons, and Aaron contacted them with a very set price. We weren't looking to sell, so we weren't pressured. That day, the other family decided not to buy. We again thanked the Lord for all that we have and got back to life as usual. Until a week later, when out of nowhere Aaron received a text message from the family saying they had changed their mind and would meet our price, should we still be interested in selling. We were on our knees again, and in the end, we decided to sell. So, we're moving in 2 weeks. It's crazy, but fun and exciting at the same time.

Barring a move to another city...we don't want to move again. We plan to be in our new house for a long time and we went into house hunting with that in the forefront of our minds. We had discovered over the last 3 years that we were not older-home compatible. We are just not good at home repairs and never ending to-do lists, and that's ok. We wanted something relatively new. In the end...we ended up downsizing slightly in square footage, but the home we purchased we are completely in love with. Coincidentally a very good friend of ours build the home for a family we know a few years ago, but they are a military family and were transferred. We didn't know all that at the time, but it turned out so perfectly we know prayer played a part in our finding that specific home.

It's going to be hectic around here for a while...but we're excited about our new corner of the world!

Spring

We've been enjoying the beautiful weather lately. It's so wonderful to see the flowers blooming and the trees beginning to bud and come back to life after the cold winter.

We had company for Easter. I did ok with my eat-from-the-pantry challenge. I didn't go grocery shopping, but we ate out a few more times than I had allotted for. Oh well...not a total bust, I did get several items used up from my freezer and pantry. We had a good time with Aunt KK and Uncle Jud for the holiday. It's always fun to be with family!

Easter Eggs and a Challenge

Today has been a fun day! Caroline and I dyed Easter Eggs! Aaron helped by taking the pictures. :)




(I was really excited to have something to use those birthday cups for! Those are leftover from her 2nd birthday...not her first. The company sent me the wrong ones! Anyway...glad they got put to some use!)






I really enjoyed dying the eggs with her and I think she enjoyed it too. Well, she liked it except for the part where she accidentally spilled the cup of yellow on her leg. She did not like that one little bit! We got through it though. :)

So...now the challenge. I've read a lot about this on Money Saving Mom, but I've never actually attempted it myself....an eating from the pantry challenge. Basically, you try not to shop for groceries for a scheduled amount of time by eating from your pantry, fridge, and freezer. I love to coupon and shop sales, so I do have a pretty well-stocked kitchen most of the time...and right now we're bulging at the seams. My last trip was a week ago. I was able to get 2 HUGE boxes of Corn Flakes for very cheap...not remembering the exact amount at the moment, but cheap enough that I bought them. We don't normally eat Corn Flakes, but Aaron will eat almost any cereal, so I'm not too picky and buy what I can get a good deal on. Anyway....since I have 2 ginormous boxes, I'm on the lookout for recipes that use Corn Flakes. We're having company this weekend (Aunt KK and Uncle Jud!) so I'm going to make Corn Flake cookies. Tonight I'm making a potato casserole I got from my friend Becca years ago when we used to have a supper club. I'm so excited to make it. I had all the ingredients except cream of mushroom soup, but I do have cream of chicken, so I'm going to substitute and hope it turns out ok! :) I'm making sausage balls and eggs to go with it. I've had the sausage in my freezer for a while...it's time to use it!

I also found this recipe for a chicken meal that sounds good. Did you know you can go to All Recipes and search for ingredients you have and it will pull up recipes using the ingredient! I also found this for french toast, so we'll probably be having that for breakfast next week. French toast is one of Caroline's favorites so I know it will be a hit!

As for my Eating-From-the-Pantry challenge...I'm starting with dinner tonight and I'm going to try and avoid the grocery for a week. Yes, that includes having company this weekend...but we're planning to go out for one meal while they're here.

Meals Ideas:

Breakfast:
Cereal and milk
French Toast
Pancakes
Scrambled Eggs with Toast
Oatmeal
Frozen Pastry
Fruit (grapes, apples, strawberries)
Peanut Butter-Banana Muffins

Lunch:
Grilled Cheese sandwiches
Peanut butter sandwiches
Fruit (apples, strawberries, grapes)
Leftovers
Totino's Pizza Rolls (never had these before...got them for free a few weeks ago at Winn Dixie)
Cheese and crackers with yogurt/applesauce

Dinners:
Sausage balls, eggs, and Potato casserole
Spanish Chicken and Rice
Pork Chops with Mashed Potatoes
Baked Spaghetti
Honey Mustard Chicken and Sweet Potatoes
Crunchy No-Fry Chicken
Layered Enchilada Bake

OK...thats all I've got for now! Wish me luck!