Potty Training Update

It's going great!  We haven't had a single accident and she even left the house twice in underwear.  For short trips only because she's still too afraid to sit on the toilet without her big potty seat.  She's quite happy with her new skill and went potty 11 times yesterday.

Oh and Baby Legs sure make potty training easy.  The kids all got a bunch of new ones for the holidays (I got them during a 75% off sale) and Phoebe's been wearing them instead of pants around the house.  It's too cold to go without pants around here right now so I'm loving the Baby Legs.

Finally Potty Training

Phoebe has finally become ready to potty train.  I believe in waiting for them to be ready for this, after going through it with John where waiting for him was the only option.  Of course waiting for it can be frustrating at times.  I'm certainly sick of stinky diapers, and have had two in diapers for much of the last 6 years.

Anyway we've talked a lot about using the potty over the last several months.  She was a lot like John in the beginning and wouldn't go near the toilet.  Then she got to where she'd sit on it but never actually go.  About 2 months ago she peed in the potty but didn't want to do it again.  Then she kept saying "tomorrow I'll use the potty" and yesterday was finally "tomorrow."

She sat on the potty a bunch and actually went twice.  Today she's peed everytime she's sat down.  And I don't have to remind her to go, she comes and tells me.  Now all we have to do is get this pooping thing down and we'll be good to go.  During the day at least.

Happy Holidays

We had a great holiday.  The kids loved their presents and like always we took our time and made it last all day.  After having opened a few in the days before.

John and Bella each got an iPod Touch.  It was the first time we had bought them an electronic toy really.  They've never had gaming systems or anything like that, and I don't even replace batteries in toys.  They love them and have been going around taking pictures of everything with them.

Phoebe was so so cute this year, just so excited about everything she opened.  We had a laundry basket in the living room for each kid to put their stuff in as they opened it and Phoebe kept taking things out of other people's baskets and putting them in hers.  And she tried to claim all of Hazel's toys as her own as well.

And as you can see Phoebe is a big fan of Toy Story.

So as usual here's the video of our day.

From the grandparents

Both sets of grandparents sent money this year for us to get the kids presents from them.  So here is what you bought.

From Pappy and Jeanne

We went to the Disney store and they were having a big holiday sale.

Jammies







"Cars" cars





And plush Toy Story dolls



Then we went to Toys R Us and got...

Schleich horses and dinosaur





And Sesame Street toys



From Grandma and Grandpa

We went to Ikea and got 3 of these chairs to go in the playroom in front of the TV. The kids have been needing something to sit on down there and these are perfect.



And then...

The only thing Bella asked for this year was a grown up doll. I came really close to not getting one because I didn't realize how badly she wanted it until the end. She got one, and it's wearing horse riding gear which makes it all that much better.  I guess this is an American Girl knock off.  I don't think I could spent $100 on a doll even if it was with someone else's money.



And this is the extra outfit we got to go with it



Lots more "Cars" cars for John



And this doggy guitar for Phoebe. She's been wanting a guitar for a long time. This one is super cute.



And lastly for Hazel a toy smart phone



I guess I forgot to get something for Hazel from Pappy, she didn't notice though.  I had a hard enough time finding stuff to get her from us.

Happy Winter Solstice

Anniversary Weekend

This weekend Corey and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary.  So we booked a local hotel with a small indoor waterpark and surprised the kids.  Apparently people think we're odd for taking our kids on our anniversary trip but since we have no one to watch them we didn't have much of a choice.  And we got connecting rooms so we have some space to ourselves at least at night.  Sharing a hotel with small children and babies is torture so we were happy.  They even let us sleep until 9am this morning before they started knocking on the door saying they were hungry.

Quote of the Week

So I just overheard John and Bella in the basement talking.

John:  When we're big Mommy will still be our mom.

Bella: Yeah, she'll be our mom forever.

And I thought, oh how sweet is that.  And then...

John:  Even when we're dead.  When you're dead you remember everything.

Bella:  No, when you're dead you don't know you're dead.

And then they went back to watching The Brady Bunch.