Can It Be?!?!

Next time we go to the store I am buying 2 packs of "pull-ups" (which I say in quotes because we never buy the name brand of those golden bum huggers). Not two packs for Riley. Oh no. A pack for Riley and a pack for...Naomi!

That's right people...no...more...diapers!

Naomi pretty much potty trained herself this week, or at least she is super duper close. She's been "using" it on and off for awhile now with absolutely no pressure from us. Every time she used it was completely self-initiated since she saw Riley doing it and she rarely made any deposits, let's say.

Well, the last few days she has been taking off her own pants and diapers and using the little Elmo potty all on her own, and then comes to me with her diaper and pants to tell me she went. She has done both #1 and #2! This evening she started taking off her jammies and we kept telling her to put them back on until we realized she was trying to use the potty, haha.

I have done nothing to motivate this girl since potty training Riley has been oh so fun, and I haven't been in a rush to get to her. I mean the girl isn't even 2 yet! So I'm a little in shock! Can it be this easy? I didn't really do anything...no routine sitting on the potty with books, no stickers or rewards, never made a big deal out of it, no reminding over and over and over.... Now that she's removing her own diaper (and obviously can't get one back on by herself although it's not for lack of trying) she is ready for a pull-up since she can be as independent as she wants with those. And maybe we will even start to try big girl underoonies...but let's not get ahead here. I'm probably jinxing it just by writing this.

Riley is down to using a pull-up only at sleepy times since he still tends to have accidents at nap/night when we don't put one on, but I think we are getting to the home stretch a bit earlier than I expected!

Oh the money we will save! :)

OH AND as if this can't get any better...LOST premiere tonight!!! It's been a long time coming and from the previews I've seen (although I've tried to be so good and not watch any spoilers!) this looks like the best season yet!!!

Little Artist

You can imagine how much I love the fact that my children enjoy coloring and drawing, and that I do all I can to foster their further enjoyment of it. The two of them spend hours a day working very hard at their creations and I just love to see what they come up with, especially now that Riley is getting very detailed with his drawings. He brought home a coloring page from Cubbies last night, and I noticed he had drawn a picture on the back. I was immediately excited to see he had drawn two figures with heads, bodies, arms, legs, and facial features! (Totally thinking back to my child development classes from college here, haha). I asked him who was in his picture and he proudly said it was himself and daddy. So daddy asked him if they were swinging from ropes because each had one reaallly long arm. He looked at him like, come on daddy what kind of question is that!? and said very enthusiastically with his arm in the air, "no daddy those are our swords!!!" :)

The second picture here is one he drew today (that was originally supposed to be a card for Poppy's birthday tomorrow before Naomi got ahold of it and added her colorful expressions to it - so glad I took a photo of it before that happened!). I sat with him as he drew it, and was so interested to hear him tell the story of his picture as he drew it. I also encouraged him, when he was unsure how to draw something and asked for my help, to look out the window to see what he wanted to draw and then decide on his own how to do it, and he did great! He started with the tree, then did the grass and sky, to which he added a bird and sun, then mommy is in pink and a playground is on the left. The big black thing in the middle was funny...he started drawing it and I asked what it was. He said, "I don't know yet, we'll just have to wait and see." When he finished it up he said, " There! It's a cow!"

I also have to mention that my big boy finally decided today that he is going to use the potty!!! (Hopefully this lasts!) He went the whole morning telling me he had to go and running to the potty and kept his clothes all dry and accomplished that with both #1 and #2! Yay!!! Today may go down in Riley-history as a big day! I told him that all I wanted for my birthday was for him to be a big boy and start using the potty on his own, and it may have worked! After all, 3-year olds take birthdays very seriously. Mommy is very happy. Hehe!

Let the Race Begin...

So I am starting to really believe that it is true what they say...girls DO potty train faster (and easier) than boys! Since we've been working with Riley, Naomi the past couple weeks has shown a lot of interest in the potty. So I've been letting her sit on it a couple times a day, which she does very willingly (the first big difference...). And she will sit on it for quite a long period of time (the second big difference...). Riley is just too busy all the time, which is the biggest issue. He can't be bothered to sit down and let nature flow if it takes more than 5 seconds especially if it is interrupting his play time. Naomi is also very aware of when she has to go, or at least is willing to communicate with me about it (the third big difference!). So she will say, "diapie change" and get the wipes herself....I'm surprised she doesn't just change her own diaper! LOL (On a side note, when Riley needs his pull-up changed, she goes and gets a new one out of the pack and brings him the wipes and would try to change him herself if he and I would let her...such a little mommy!) Anyways, this week she has been telling me "poo poo, mommy" before she actually goes and wants to go sit on the potty. So far she hasn't made any successful despoits, but it hasn't been for lack of trying. BUT, she DID go peepee in the potty! Hooray! And I have been using mini-M & M's as a reward for successfully going and now that she actually got one she walks around saying, "Potty M-uh-M's, Potty M-uh-M's" Yeah she definitely has got that connection. I'm starting to think we may have Naomi out of diapers before Riley...let the race begin! :)


I did have to include a couple photos of her from today (we picked up a new camera - yay!) and as you can see, even blankie is included in this rite of passage :). She is a true girl and even coordinates her outfits with her potty...what can I say, the girl loves Elmo. :)

Potty Training Progress & 15 Month Check-up

So potty training is a learning experience for both myself and Riley since I have never had to potty train an animal let alone a child before. I haven't been in a big hurry either since that was the last thing on my mind when Naomi came along. But Riley has been doing great using his potty with help for the last several months now. I feel like we are at a point where he can start doing it on his own. I decided to take the plunge today and put him in big-boy underwear during the day (he has been asking for awhile now to wear them anyways). We had a nice little talk about it all and he has already told me twice this morning he needed to go, but was a little wet already by the time he made it to the potty. I probably should have started doing this awhile ago because it hit me that he can't feel he is wet in the pull-ups, but like I said, we are all learning. I am a proud momma of my big boy though for wanting to do it :).

I have a feeling Naomi will learn pretty fast...she already carries the wipes container over to me to tell me she has a messy diaper hehehe. Here she is this morning sitting on the potty. I think she likes it because it's an Elmo chair just her size :) You can see her "boo boos" from her shots at her 15 month check up yesterday. She gained about 3 pounds and grew about 3 inches in 3 months (23.5 lbs, 30.5 in). And all was healthy and well!

Some updates

Since I haven't been keeping up with our other website lately, some people have been asking for some updates on things, so here's the latest scoop:

Brad is on Internal Medicine right now, one of my least favorite rotation schedules. He leaves in the morning by 5:30/6 am (way before we are up) and every fourth day works till 10pm. The rest of the days he is home around dinner time, which is nice unless we have meetings or things in the evening, which happens a couple times a week these days. He finishes Internal up on Sunday at 10pm and then begins OB, another schedule not so high on my list of favorites, but we always manage :). He is also preparing for his annual trip to Honduras with a medical team for two weeks at the beginning of May.

Riley is doing well with potty training. We are keeping it pretty low key, not pushing anything, but we do have him sit a couple times a day and he has been able to put quite a few stickers in his book! He still hasn't reached the point where he asks to go sit on it, but I'm still happy with how he is doing at this point. His imagination is just gone wild. He is always making up stories and games with his toys and various items around the house which is a lot of fun to watch.

Some funny "Riley-isms" from this past week:
He absolutely loves to wear his sunglasses everywhere. As we were getting ready to leave the house one day...Riley walks into the kitchen wearing them...Mommy:"Riley you look cool!" Riley (in all seriousness): "I AM cool, Mommy."
I was a working on a baby shower invitation design last night and he was looking at the pictures on the computer from when I was pregnant with him. Mommy: " Riley, that is a picture when you were a baby in my tummy!" Riley (eyes widened): "I'm too big to go in there now. Mommy you eated me?"

Naomi is doing new things every day. She is so full of giggles and smiles, especially when playing with Riley. She knows about 10 words now. She is walking more and more every day. She has taken 8-10 steps across the room at a time and is getting a lot braver, but still prefers to crawl or "gimp" around as we call her signature move of sitting on one knee and scooting everywhere - she can go pretty fast! She is definitely a climber above all else - she LOVES the stairs and anything else she can climb on. In fact if the stairs are blocked and someone is upstairs she will cry to go up. She had her one year check up on March 10th. She had a couple shots and blood drawn, so it was pretty rough, but she survived and of course she and Riley entertained all the nurses while there and left with a boat load of stickers as usual :). She finally broke 20 lbs so we were able to turn her front facing, yay! She was 20 lbs 8 oz and 27 inches, still a peanut on the charts, but growing nonetheless!

Brad and I are enjoying the Financial Peace class we are taking at our church. Our whole community group decided to participate which was pretty cool. We have already made some major changes to our budgeting and have a plan of attack for the school debt we have accumulated. I highly recommend the class if you get the chance to take it!

I am having a lot of fun with our MOPS@ group too. Lynda, Jayne, and I decided to continue in leadership together again next year. We have had several playdates and mom's night outs which have been great. We are anxious to see how all the details will come together for next year as a lot of other groups are transitioning leadership or lacking it, and that will be affecting our group in a lot of ways.

I think that's all for now! That should get you all pretty up to date :).