POTTY-TIME!!!

*Warning, there is some potty-talk in this post, don't read if you're squeamish about that sort of thing* :)


Well, we've been at it for a week now and I would call it hugely successful! I went by the "Potty-Train in a Day" book without actually reading the book. My SIL has done that with two daughters and has seen great results. So she told me all about it, because she actually read the book, and I used the tips and methods given in it. (The ironic thing is that I gave her the book since she had an older child, but I didn't have to read it.)

Anyway, so Saturday morning, March 19th, Libby and I camped out in the bathroom with books, toys, my phone and my computer. Oh and also lots of liquids for her to drink and candies for rewards. After waking up I took off her diaper and dressed her with panties on for the day. And then I put her on the potty for about 15 minutes at a time hoping to catch her going so that she would get a feel for what she was trying to accomplish. No bueno. We did this for a good two hours with nary a sprinkle. Then she was playing on the floor and she looked at me with a desparate look in her eyes and said "MOMMY! I go potty!!" So I jerked off her pants and stuck her on there and she went! She was thrilled, I was thrilled, and then she was even more thrilled with the candy reward. The rest of that day went really well. I asked her a lot and made her sit on it but she still told us a couple of times when she had to go. The next day I was home alone but it wasn't bad at all. I knew she needed to do some #2 and kept rushing to the potty every 15 minutes or so until I was in the kitchen and she was in the bedroom. I heard her scream "MOMMY!! I GO POTTY!!!" so I ran into the bathroom where she was literally hovering over the potty with a freaked out look on her face. I figured she hadn't made it but she had! She went all by herself! She was pretty freaked out so I gave her a huge treat of icecream to reward her and let her know how happy I was.
Since that first weekend she's done a great job!! She pooped once in her pants but the rest of the time has made it to the potty in time. We've gone to Bible study and the gym and she went at Bible study but not at the gym. She's gone a few times in public places but she's also been freaked out by those automatically flushing toilets. I think she felt like pretty big stuff because yesterday she had me take her four times to the bathroom at Pappasitos. I won't ever refuse to take her though because that would potentially be pretty traumatizing if she went in her pants because of my laziness. We also went straight to panties because I wanted a clean break from diapers. I didn't want her to think it was okay to sometimes go in her pants and sometimes not.
At night and at nap-time we still put her in diapers, usually cloth during nap-time. And a lot of the time, even at night, she's woken up dry! We put her in the diaper right before putting her down but a couple of times after she has her diaper on she still tells us when she needs to go.
She's very proud of her big-girl panties and loves the candies she gets. We've also given her ice-cream at times and took her out to eat last night to celebrate. The ladies at Bible Study even commented on how she seemed to have more confidence with panties on. I was so proud. :)
She still has an accident every day at least but that's why I have 18 pairs of panties and plenty of pull-on pants. :) She'll only get better at it and I'm so excited not to have to buy so many diapers!! I really can't believe how big she's gotten! Seems like yesterday she was my baby but now she loves trying on my make-up and is wearing panties! YIKES!

Big girl!

My aunt and uncle came up a couple of weeks ago and brought a very special package. They gave us my cousin's old bed for Libby! They set it all up and had everything ready and when we walked in the room I was just blown away! It is so adorable and precious! Libby is doing so well sleeping in it. At first she loved it but then got nervous when it came down to spending the whole night in it. We didn't push the matter but gave it a couple of days. From the very beginning I told her that she was not allowed to get out of bed until I came and got her in the morning. So she climbed up in the bed and said, "I call you mama, I no get out until you come!" and yep, she hasn't gotten out yet! She just calls for me in the morning when she wakes up and I come and get her. She cried a little in the middle of the first night but I went in and comforted her and she was fine. Every night we read to her and sing and pray and if it's not too late we let her sit up and read for a little while. She looks so cute propped up on her pillows "reading" her favorite books. Seems like yesterday she was just slobbering on some board books. And now my baby is a big girl! Next thing I know she won't be in diapers anymore and she'll be asking for my keys. YIKES! That's a scary thought! But for now moving into the big girl bed is enough. :)

Liberty Ann - 2 years old

I cannot believe I have a two year old!! Libby is so much fun and a real job to be with every day! I wanted to write down all the things that she's doing so I will remember later on.
Libby can talk quite a bit in whole, complete sentences. She repeats a lot of what we say but also comes up with her own original thoughts. At Christmas we were in the truck with Papa and Suesue and Suesue said that she forgot her phone at home so Libby looked at her and said, "well you'd better go back and get it!". She can tell us details about what she's doing or what has happened to her. Such as, yesterday she hit her head on something and was crying so we asked her what happened and she said, "I hit my forehead on the corner of that counter." It's helpful for when she's sick or hurt!
She's still working on counting but the other day she counted to six all by herself. Sometimes she forgets a number but sometimes she gets them all right.
She can recognize some of her letters like: F, E, and Q and sometimes gets other ones right but that's something else we're still working on. :)
She sometimes gets her colors right but she gets mixed up on them too. A lot of times she just says something is "pink" because that's her favorite color.
I always tell her to touch my car while I'm loading Cecily up so that she's not roaming about in parking lots and so I can keep an eye on her. A couple of weeks ago we came out of the gym and I headed to a silver SUV (which I thought was my car!) and told Libby that she needed to touch mama's car. She looked at it and said, "That's not mama's car." And I told her that it was and I said, "see, my key fits, it's my car." Yep, my key did not fit! It wasn't my car! Too funny!
We're also working on obedience (which I know will be an ongoing lesson!) but she's showing a lot of little "breakthroughs" lately.
Since we moved to the 2nd floor of an apartment complex I've made it a rule not to jump on the floor. I told her she can jump on the couches or futon but not the floor because it will bother the people living under us. Sometimes she forgets but the other day she caught herself as she was starting to jump and she said, "I no jump on the floor, mama, because you told me not to. I go jump on the futon." I praised her and told her thank you for obeying and she happily ran and jumped on the futon. :)
She also loves to clean. She finds the wipe containers and pulls out a wipe and just starts wiping things down. Oh thank you, Lord!! I'm so glad she likes things tidy!
We've also made it a rule to take off our shoes before we come inside and the other day we couldn't find her shoes anywhere! Finally Tim looked in her closet and she had taken them off and put them nicely in her closet! Well, that's where they go!
She also likes things to be in their proper place. I've come across so many funny things where she has stacked like items together or put things in places that made sense to her. My friend Bethanie visited recently and broke me a wok she didn't need and she also took off her shoes by the door. Libby saw this and put her shoes inside the wok next to Bethanie's stuff.
She's also getting a lot nicer to Cecily and will give her a pacifier or a toy when she's fussing. We're still working on her being nice in the car because Libby hates it when Cecily touches her car seat or her toys. She is getting better and this too, I think will be a long battle.
We're going to start potty-training soon. We talk about it a lot and she's sat on the toilet a lot without a lot going on. I need to find some more "accessories" and then I'll be ready to go. We're going to go all out and jump into it with both feet so we'll see how that goes. Thankfully her cousins have gone before us and their moms can give me lots of good advice.
She calls Tim "daddy" and she is definitely a daddy's girl. Lately since he's been working so much she's really missed seeing him but when he's here he's definitely the star of the show! Tim is a great dad to her and loves teaching her things and hopes she grows up to be an engineer or physicist. But lets remember she also has my genes so we'll see. ;)
Her new favorite toy is Mr. Potato Head. I got a Toy Story 3 set on clearance and so she can make two of them into either Woody, Jessie, Buz, or a traditional one. It's a lot of fun and we've really enjoyed playing with it.
We still don't watch much tv but she has started really enjoying Sesame Street. I watch it with her sometimes and it really doesn't bug me like kid shows in the past have. That bald kid Kayoo or whatever drives me bananas! There's a tv at the gym day care but she doesn't watch it, she'd rather play with the toys. Same if we're at someone's house and the tv on. She usually just plays instead of watch it. Although she loves Robin Hood and the Jungle Book and will stop doing whatever to watch those shows. So I can have a break if things have been really hairy. ;)
Libby has always been a good eater and that's still the same. Her favorite breakfast is granola, plain yogurt, and blueberries with a sprinkle of cinnamon. Her favorite treat is "Chick-a-lay" (as she calls it) and will cheer if we pull into one. But thankfully she knows that she won't get it for every meal and is grateful for the treat and then will eat her pasta and green beans for dinner.
Well, this is all I can think of now. I've been working on this off and on for a few days and I need to hurry and post it as it's almost a month after her birthday!
I'm going to try to be better about posting more stories of my babies, they're growing so fast!!

2 years ago...

Two years ago tonight I was in labor with my precious first born, Liberty Ann. The labor was long and at times very difficult. You can read about it here. Long story short, I woke up with labor pains early in the morning on the 29th of December, 2008. I hoped this was "it" because my due date was the 20th. The labor stopped then re-started that evening for real about 6pm after laboring at home in bed, in the shower, and on my birthing ball we headed to the hospital around 1am. The longest ride of my life! After getting settled into my room and spending hours in the shower my precious baby girl finally made her appearance at 11:21am. I pushed for 2 1/2 hours. Without pain meds. It was HARD! But holding my tiny newborn for the first time made everything worthwhile. She looked up and around and immediately stopped crying when she heard mine and Tim's voices. She also was able to instantly latch on and start eating. It was truly a magical time. After she spent some time in the nursery they brought her back to us and we reveled in her preciousness.
We brought her home and we were so happy to have her with us, we felt like we had always needed her with us.
The last two years have been wonderful and fun. We've had some rough times with our headstrong little girl, but she has a sweet heart and a desire to do the right thing. She is an amazing addition to our family and we couldn't ask for a better little first born child. Oh and for her birthday she requested: pizza, cake and icecream, and hats (because one of her best buds Miles had hats at his bday party). We were going to have a little party with our best buds but I've been horribly sick and don't want to share the germs. Poor girl, she was sick for her first bday and now mommy is sick for her second. :( Oh well, we'll still make it a blast!!
Here are some recent pictures of our darling:

One Bear Lost

Since this blog is a baby book of sorts for me to remember stuff about Libby I just had to post this little story real fast.
For Christmas this year my mom got Libby this book.




Seems harmless, right? Its a sweet book about 10 bears who wake up from a long winters nap and go out of their cave. Throughout the day, one by one the bears go off and do different things, I guess helping the kid practice counting down. It's a sweet, well-illustrated book. Anyway, so at the end it says, "Nine weary bears have gone back home. But Look! one poor bear's left all alone. One Bear Lost." And it shows a picture like the one above with the bear all alone.
The first time I read the book to Libby nothing happened but this afternoon when I got to this page she started BAWLING. Like seriously crying her eyes out! I thought Maddie must have scratched her or something bit her to get this kind of a reaction. So I put the book away and didn't think much of it. Then this evening I pulled it out again to read to her before bedtime and again, on this page WATERWORKS. I mean HUGE tears rolling down her face and she just sobbed and sobbed! It was so heartbreaking!! I quickly turned the page and showed her how the other bears came looking for their friend and they all went back to the cave together. She was still upset and it took a couple of minutes for her to calm down.
So I got Tim to come into the room, I still couldn't believe a book could get this kind of reaction from her so I asked her if she wanted to read it again. She said yes so I read it again with Tim in the room. He watched her and said on the page before that one her lip started pooching and when I read, "One Bear lost". She burst into tears again! We showed her the end where all the bears are reconnected and it shows them all happy and sleeping in their cave again but she was still upset. It took a little while for her to be able to relax enough to go to sleep.
Wow. Lesson? I guess she understands a whole LOT more then I ever realized! I didn't know she knew the concept of being alone and that it was sad. Very interesting.
Needless to say, I think we'll put that book back on the shelf for a little while.

Libby + Kittens = ADORABLE!!!

A few weeks ago we went to Houston to see my family and go to one of Libby's future best friend's birthday party. That make sense? Little Maya's dad is a friend of Tim's since 5th grade so their girls are sure to be best buds. :)

My family also had a fresh batch of kittens (if you know my family you know how they have a cat population problem. ;) Libby loves cats and I just can't wait until we have a yard and can bring our cats back up here with us.

Libby and I after church on Sunday, we were almost matching. :)


I love this face!


I think that kitten needs some help. :)

Its ok, kitty.




My younger sis "Auntie Yeffie" who showed Libby the kittens and made a best friend in the process.

14 month check-up

A quick update on the Libster and a few pictures as well.

So I missed Libby's 1 year check-up and then when I called back to re-schedule there wasn't an opening until March. Boo hoo! Oh well, better than nothing. Anyway, so it went really well!
Libby knows 10 body parts: eyes, nose, tongue, mouth, ears, head, hair, tummy, hands, and feet. She also knows a few animal sounds: cow, horse, dog, cat (sometimes), fish, monkey, bear (hilarious!), lion, and elephant. We're still working on a few others like sheep and duck. I still need to get all of that on video, I have a short clip from when she was one and I don't think I've posted it yet, yeah, bad mama blogger. :)
Anyway, the doc was impressed, she said at 18 months they look for them to know 2 out of 3 body parts and to say 2 words. Libby doesn't speak a lot but she understands almost everything we say. It's amazing! So developmentally she's doing fabulously, it's so fun seeing her learn new things every day!
She was 30 1/2" long and 20.3 lbs. That's the 75th % for height and 25th% for weight. The doc was quite pleased as Lib was only in the 10th % last time we went. And she was still on the mend from her stomach flu so I'll bet she had even lost about a pound. Doctor also confirmed that she was getting her molars in and that it was what was making her grouchy, irritable, and a picky eater. Poor kid! And, I might, add poor mama! ;) I'm just glad that's over for now! After our fun weekend at Tim's family's ranch Libby woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed Monday morning. It was so great seeing her back to her perky self.
So there's a quick Libby update for my little baby book of sorts on here. I'll post a pregnancy picture soon and maybe even a sono pic if I can get it scanned somehow.



Our little family with Tim's grandmother Mimi


"Aunt" Kristin. Actually Tim's cousin and one of my life-long friends





Libby still had a bit of a tummy ache so she wasn't quite up to par but we still got some cute pics!

Libby with her cousins: Kelsi P., Ellie W., Halie W., Annabelle P., and Lib

Back at home...

Libby found my Latin notebook from college and started "reading" it in her chair! yes, it's upside-down. :)

LIBBY!!!

I'm sure you all are dying for a Libby update. And I've been needing to post some stories and updates of Libby. So be prepared for an onslaught of adorableness. :)

My little Libster is now almost 14 months. Hard to believe in roughly five months she'll be a big sister!! I think she'll do great at it. She's still around 20 lbs. and I still need to measure her. I want to get a thing that hangs on her wall so I can track her height. She's in sz. 3 disposable diapers and in a sz medium cover in her cloth ones. She'll wear anything from sz. 9 mo. to 18 mo. in clothing. One of my favorite outfits for her is a layered skirt that's 6-9 months, and she still fits it!

There are two little girls at church who are both one month older than Libby and they're both long and skinny but they're not a lot taller than her. And neither of them are walking yet.
Speaking of church, we love being back in our home church, it's really fabulous! They have a great nursery but I've been teaching Lib how to sit through the service. Thankfully they have a cry room with a monitor so that helps. I usually keep her in the service through the music (her favorite part) and then when it gets quieter I take her into the cry room but I still make her sit still. She has her good days and bad days but I'm going to start working on it at home by making her sit still on my lap. I know other people have been able to do this so I'm going to keep trying. :) I would love for our family to all be together during the service.

One of Libby's big new things is her sheer dislike of trash. If she finds a tissue or piece of paper or whatever lying around she wrinkles up her nose and brings it to me saying "ehh, t-ash, ehh" and we have to go through it away. Too funny!! And if I wipe her nose or her face while she's eating I can't just leave the napkin or tissue on the table, it has to be thrown away before she can finish eating. I managed to get a few pictures of her "eww trash" face so here you go. :)



Ugh, I cannot believe there is trash on my table.


Please take care of it, mama!!


Mama, I can't finish my snack until you throw your trash away!
(also notice the blue bow, whenever she wakes up from her nap or whenever she happens to see them, she always asks for a bow. We let her pick one out so this is what she chose. :) )

See how gross it is?


Here ya go.

On Valentines Day I dressed Libby up in red and tried to get a few pictures. Here are some decent ones. Outside ones turn out way better but the weather has been either yucky or cold recently.

This one below really reminds me of when she was a tiny baby!

Now she looks like such a big girl!!

She's got some big boots to fill!


And finally, yes, we got snow!! And a lot of it!

Libby didn't really care for it much.

Doesn't her outfit coordinate beautifully? I just layered her up and hoped she didn't get wet!

This is about as close to the snow as she would get.



So that's my Libby update. Hope you all enjoyed and if not, oh well! :) This is my on-line baby book of sorts and I want to remember all of these sweet and silly little things.

This and that

Libby and I have been so sick for the last week or so. Libby longer than I was. She ended up having an eye and an ear infection. Poor kid! It was so pitiful I almost took a picture of her sad eyes but I decided not to. So you'll just have to take my word for how horrible they looked! So with all of that we had to give her her first medication. Boo!! I've been giving her tons of natural yogurt so hopefully that will counter-act the antibiotics. Oh well, thank goodness for modern medicine, huh?

Anyway, the weather was horrible but on Friday and Saturday it stopped raining so we got to go to the park! I didn't take any pictures on Friday but since Tim was there on Saturday I snapped a few. So here are some cute pics!

A little scared of the slide! :)






Little girl and her dad.



OK so since blogger takes FOREVER to upload pictures that has taken up all of my blogging time. Gotta clean while the Libster is napping.