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| Emma LOVES to pick out her own clothes now. She is such a loving and happy girl. |
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| Addi is our goofy girl and will do anything for a laugh. We learned that she isn't a fan of the snow. |
2.13.2013
Wordless Wednesday: My Girls
2.11.2013
Addi's 2nd Birthday
We had Addi's birthday party a couple of weeks ago. I was so amazed with how smoothly it went. We had over 30 people at our house so it was a little crowded. That didn't stop our fun at all. The kids spent most of the party downstairs playing on the wii or with the toys. Everyone had a great time and Addi loved all of the attention.
When it came time to plan her party I went searching for invitations and found the perfect one at Tiny Prints. Addi has always loved Blue's Clues so I knew at once that we were having a Blue party.
A couple of weeks before her party I started making the pieces to her cake. I made most of the characters from the show and she was so excited. I made: Mr. Salt, Mrs. Pepper, Paprika, Side Table Drawer, Slippery Soap, Tickety Tock, Mailbox, Pail, Shovel, Steve in the thinking chair, and of course Blue. Both of the girls wanted me to make more and look at them everyday. Here's her cake all finished.
I'm very proud of that cake and was a little sad that we had to eat it. Seeing Addi's face light up when she saw it for the first time was worth it.
Now decorating our house was easy. My sister and I made some blue tissue balls to hang up throughout the house. I even had a great idea to put some on the ceiling in the shape of a paw print, or a "Clue". Goodies for the kids: I made little "handy dandy notebooks", crayons, play doh, fruit snacks and slinkies with paw prints on them.
On her actual birthday we took Addi out for a date night. First we went to a build a bear like store where she picked out every single stuffed animal and finally decided on a turtle. She was a little afraid of the stuffing process and refused to help push the pedal but she watched the lady stuff her new turtle. We took her to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner it was our first time there. Addi enjoyed her dinner and even got a special ice cream treat when she finished.
I still can't believe that she's 2 years old. I'm excited to see what this year brings and to see her grow and develop.
When it came time to plan her party I went searching for invitations and found the perfect one at Tiny Prints. Addi has always loved Blue's Clues so I knew at once that we were having a Blue party.
A couple of weeks before her party I started making the pieces to her cake. I made most of the characters from the show and she was so excited. I made: Mr. Salt, Mrs. Pepper, Paprika, Side Table Drawer, Slippery Soap, Tickety Tock, Mailbox, Pail, Shovel, Steve in the thinking chair, and of course Blue. Both of the girls wanted me to make more and look at them everyday. Here's her cake all finished.
Now decorating our house was easy. My sister and I made some blue tissue balls to hang up throughout the house. I even had a great idea to put some on the ceiling in the shape of a paw print, or a "Clue". Goodies for the kids: I made little "handy dandy notebooks", crayons, play doh, fruit snacks and slinkies with paw prints on them.
On her actual birthday we took Addi out for a date night. First we went to a build a bear like store where she picked out every single stuffed animal and finally decided on a turtle. She was a little afraid of the stuffing process and refused to help push the pedal but she watched the lady stuff her new turtle. We took her to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner it was our first time there. Addi enjoyed her dinner and even got a special ice cream treat when she finished.
I still can't believe that she's 2 years old. I'm excited to see what this year brings and to see her grow and develop.
12.18.2012
12.12.2012
Wordless Wednesday: Christmas 2012
I'm so excited for Christmas! The girls are old enough that they know what's going on and are loving everything about Christmas. Emma understands a little more than Addi, obviously, so she's been helping Addi get excited for the holidays.
I just hung up our hard holder that I created last year. I have been waiting until we received a few holiday cards sure enough it was time to hang it up. I haven't taken a picture of it yet but here's what our house looked like last year.
Hubby even hung a few lights outside this year. Keep in mind this was our first year hanging lights outside so we don't have a lot out there yet but I LOVE how it looks.
12.11.2012
Are We Really Here?
Even though I'm in denial about Addi turning 2 next month one thing is clear: she's ready to start potty training. I feel like this day sneaked up on us and I'm not ready to start training her. It's here and we decided to start potty training. Let me rephrase that, Addi decided she's ready to start using the potty. I knew this day was coming and I feel like it's too soon. I've decided to do the 3 day potty training technique with Addi since it worked with Emma. They basically go pant-less for 3 days with field trips on day 2 and 3 to teach them to stay dry and use public restrooms. Now this isn't a post about how to potty train your child or "do this and it will work". This is just me telling you what I learned from potty training Emma and what we'll be doing different this time around.
What's funny is when I was pregnant with Addi I wanted Emma potty trained so I wouldn't have two in diapers. Little did I know I was dumb and didn't realize what that meant for us as parents of 2 under 2. Feel free to read more about Emma's potty training.
Potty training really isn't any fun. Don't get me wrong I LOVE seeing the look on their face when they pee on the potty and how proud they are. The not fun part is when your wiping up the 20th accident that you stepped in or almost stepping in poop because they haven't figured out to go sit on the potty while they're pushing it out. I mean really, why is it so hard to walk an extra 2 feet and sit on the potty chair? Like yesterday I went to the bathroom and came out to poop on the kitchen floor. Really? I was gone for a minute and that's when you decide to go. I should be happy it was in the kitchen and not on the carpet. I just keep holding my breath that each day will bring less accidents.
Now let's talk about going out in public while potty training. If it was up to me I'd stay home until they were fully trained. But that's not an option at all. Part of potty training is for them to learn to go on the big potty in public. Now Emma was terrified of public restrooms. They were too loud and she would scream if I tried to put her on one. I even got her a potty cover so it would be smaller and less intimidating. No dice. She would straighten her legs and refuse to sit and scream bloody murder. I felt like an awful mom forcing her to go potty. I mean if you were in there with us it would sound like I was torturing my child. I began hating going out with her very quickly and wished I could go back to diapers. One day Hubby had to run errands and took Emma with him and worked his magic and after that she wasn't afraid of using the big potties. Now she just doesn't like how loud they are and from time to time she'll beg me to not flush the toilet.
Obviously accidents are part of the process but when you're out and about and you're completely prepared things go wrong. For example, you're in the back of the store and the bathrooms are in the front and your child says "I have to go potty!!" As we all know when kids want something they mean RIGHT NOW! You drop everything and grab your kids and purse and run to the bathroom and telling them "Just hold it, we're almost there". Sure enough you didn't make it and now have to change their clothes and you're hoping there isn't any pee on you. It didn't take long to learn to have her go potty right when we get to a store to help teach her to pee on demand.
On top of those things we are now dealing with a stripper. Addi won't keep her clothes on which is why we've started potty training. It's a good thing we don't have company all the time but with Christmas coming up we'll have to work on her keeping her clothes on at home. Right now we are on day 5 of potty training and she's doing well. She's starting to say she has to go potty sooner than two seconds before she does, which is great! Today's goal was to run errands with zero accidents. I'll consider it a win because she went potty twice at Target and her pull up was dry.
So word to the wise:
: when you're ready to potty train your child make sure they're ready
: don't expect your child to be perfect at first
: go potty before leaving the house, every time
: hit up the restrooms when you get to your location
: pack extra pants, 3 or 4
: when they say "potty" run like the wind to the closest bathroom
: have extra potty chairs, especially one in the room they spend most of their day. we have 2.
: have carpet/furniture cleaners and clean towels to clean up accidents
: have toilet paper by each potty chair
: don't be afraid to use a reward system to get the to go on the potty. with Emma we used a sticker chart and with Addi we're using candy.
:let them pick out their potty chair, might get them excited to start
I know potty training can be stressful but it can also be fun. Just keep in mind that you're almost done with changing diapers! So after you've cleaned that 10th pee spot or washed the 15th pair of pants just remember your getting closer to freedom and farther away from wiping your child's bum!!
What are some tips you've tried out?
What's funny is when I was pregnant with Addi I wanted Emma potty trained so I wouldn't have two in diapers. Little did I know I was dumb and didn't realize what that meant for us as parents of 2 under 2. Feel free to read more about Emma's potty training.
Potty training really isn't any fun. Don't get me wrong I LOVE seeing the look on their face when they pee on the potty and how proud they are. The not fun part is when your wiping up the 20th accident that you stepped in or almost stepping in poop because they haven't figured out to go sit on the potty while they're pushing it out. I mean really, why is it so hard to walk an extra 2 feet and sit on the potty chair? Like yesterday I went to the bathroom and came out to poop on the kitchen floor. Really? I was gone for a minute and that's when you decide to go. I should be happy it was in the kitchen and not on the carpet. I just keep holding my breath that each day will bring less accidents.
 |
| She's so proud! |
Now let's talk about going out in public while potty training. If it was up to me I'd stay home until they were fully trained. But that's not an option at all. Part of potty training is for them to learn to go on the big potty in public. Now Emma was terrified of public restrooms. They were too loud and she would scream if I tried to put her on one. I even got her a potty cover so it would be smaller and less intimidating. No dice. She would straighten her legs and refuse to sit and scream bloody murder. I felt like an awful mom forcing her to go potty. I mean if you were in there with us it would sound like I was torturing my child. I began hating going out with her very quickly and wished I could go back to diapers. One day Hubby had to run errands and took Emma with him and worked his magic and after that she wasn't afraid of using the big potties. Now she just doesn't like how loud they are and from time to time she'll beg me to not flush the toilet.
Obviously accidents are part of the process but when you're out and about and you're completely prepared things go wrong. For example, you're in the back of the store and the bathrooms are in the front and your child says "I have to go potty!!" As we all know when kids want something they mean RIGHT NOW! You drop everything and grab your kids and purse and run to the bathroom and telling them "Just hold it, we're almost there". Sure enough you didn't make it and now have to change their clothes and you're hoping there isn't any pee on you. It didn't take long to learn to have her go potty right when we get to a store to help teach her to pee on demand.
On top of those things we are now dealing with a stripper. Addi won't keep her clothes on which is why we've started potty training. It's a good thing we don't have company all the time but with Christmas coming up we'll have to work on her keeping her clothes on at home. Right now we are on day 5 of potty training and she's doing well. She's starting to say she has to go potty sooner than two seconds before she does, which is great! Today's goal was to run errands with zero accidents. I'll consider it a win because she went potty twice at Target and her pull up was dry.
So word to the wise:
: when you're ready to potty train your child make sure they're ready
: don't expect your child to be perfect at first
: go potty before leaving the house, every time
: hit up the restrooms when you get to your location
: pack extra pants, 3 or 4
: when they say "potty" run like the wind to the closest bathroom
: have extra potty chairs, especially one in the room they spend most of their day. we have 2.
: have carpet/furniture cleaners and clean towels to clean up accidents
: have toilet paper by each potty chair
: don't be afraid to use a reward system to get the to go on the potty. with Emma we used a sticker chart and with Addi we're using candy.
:let them pick out their potty chair, might get them excited to start
I know potty training can be stressful but it can also be fun. Just keep in mind that you're almost done with changing diapers! So after you've cleaned that 10th pee spot or washed the 15th pair of pants just remember your getting closer to freedom and farther away from wiping your child's bum!!
What are some tips you've tried out?
11.19.2012
Preparing for Family Pictures
We're getting our family pictures taken tomorrow so I've been trying to come up with the perfect outfit for all of us. I went from having the outfits picked out in my head and then pulling them out and putting them together and then realizing they looked funny or were off somehow. Last year I picked out the girls outfits first and then ours. This year I figured it would be easier to pick mine out first and then theirs. I'm glad I did that because it's always a million times easier to pick out clothes for them than it is for me to find clothes that work for me.
Hubby and I went shopping last night to find shirts for them. I decided to go with blues and tans. Like I've stated before Emma's favorite color is blue. I knew she would wear a blue shirt since it was a guarantee she would actually wear what I want her to.
This morning I showed the girls their tops and almost immediately Emma points to Addi's top and says "OOO I want to wear that one!" Me: Emma the blue one is yours. Emma: Well, blue IS my favorite color but I'm going to wear that one ::pointing to Addi's cream colored top:: Then of course Addi comes over and says she's going to wear the blue one. She then proceeds to point to the blue one "Mine" points to the cream one "Emma's" This goes on a few more times and then I finally say "Sorry to disappoint but you're not getting your way" hand them the shirts and walk away. Today it isn't worth my energy to argue with them but you better believe I'll get them in their shirts.
Now that we have our clothes figured out I'll be holding my breath that they'll cooperate long enough to get a few good pictures. I'm hoping for some pictures like these:
Hubby and I went shopping last night to find shirts for them. I decided to go with blues and tans. Like I've stated before Emma's favorite color is blue. I knew she would wear a blue shirt since it was a guarantee she would actually wear what I want her to.
This morning I showed the girls their tops and almost immediately Emma points to Addi's top and says "OOO I want to wear that one!" Me: Emma the blue one is yours. Emma: Well, blue IS my favorite color but I'm going to wear that one ::pointing to Addi's cream colored top:: Then of course Addi comes over and says she's going to wear the blue one. She then proceeds to point to the blue one "Mine" points to the cream one "Emma's" This goes on a few more times and then I finally say "Sorry to disappoint but you're not getting your way" hand them the shirts and walk away. Today it isn't worth my energy to argue with them but you better believe I'll get them in their shirts.
Now that we have our clothes figured out I'll be holding my breath that they'll cooperate long enough to get a few good pictures. I'm hoping for some pictures like these:
Free Treat Greeting Card!
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How cute are these???
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For my readers:
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Simply create your card and enter TREATBLOGR at checkout.
Which card did you pick?
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