99

99 Days Left... Look what came to my door today in honor of the Double-Digit Celebration.

Carters.com + 11pm + Two Excited Parents + Nothing On Tv = :)

Notice: That pictures stinks. My carpet is NOT that dirty and those outfits are WAY cuter then they look.

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Sloanie and summer are something else. Summer to Sloanie is a time to either be in a swimsuit or naked. Both of which cause her parents to give her juicy strawberries and lots of Rootbeer. Sloane is one happy baby this summer.

Strawberries are basically the only fruit Sloane will eat. She eats a lot of them. Sometimes she eats them off the ground. Sometimes, after she leaves a trail of strawberry slobber, Matt has to go out and spray for ants. Ants love to follow Sloanie around.

Holynd's summer day includes a dip in the glorified bathtub. Sloane won't go near her because Holynd thinks it's awesome to spray Sloane with the hose. Holynd loves summer because it means her strawberry-lemonade filled sippy cup can float around in the pool and when she gets thirsty, she can just pick it up, drink and throw it back down in the pool.


I love summer because all of this occurs outside away from my kitchen.

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Do you know what else has happened recently?? Besides my inability to stop buying baby boy stuff?

Holynd is now a potty-pooper.

I think she may be potty-trained. Maybe. I'll be 100% convinced when she moves out on her own.

The only problem I have now is Holynd's new attachment to her Pull-Up Princess Panties. She doesn't want to wear her real panties. She says they're not panties. Guess what though? I don't care. Not even slightly. Really. Ask me if I care. I'm a parent who believe in picking your battles. This is not a battle I'm willing to fight anytime soon.

The Final Decision

Ok friends. It's been about three weeks since I received my pictures from PeekABoo. After many (many) hours of deliberation. (Yes, hours). And many more hours staring at my walls.... I've finally decided which ones will be printed and put up for all to see. This is very exciting for me because right now, most of my walls are still bare from when we moved.

The decision was a hard one because ALL the pictures we got from PeekABoo were wall-worthy. What made the decision even MORE difficult was the fact that I'm getting more pictures done in the Oct-Nov time period. (Little brother needs some wall space too!) So, after all things considered here they are!

The following two will be put on Gator board and displayed in easels.

The following four will be hung in my dining area. These ones seems appropriate because they're going next to a quote that reads: "In life you have two options, to laugh or cry. We choose to laugh. At ourselves. A lot." These will be framed. I'm actually thinking of attaching ribbons to my frames and hanging the pictures down from the ribbons, but we'll see. Sometimes my brain is a lot more crafty then I body likes to be.

The following three are the ones I'm most excited about. I'm actually having these done on Canvas prints. It's something I've seen other people do and I've coveted their prints every time I've seen them. I would've loved to do all my prints in canvas prints because I love the look so much, but you can't have everything. ;)

There you have it.

Believe it or not. I've already decided how baby brothers pictures will correlate in. I just hope he's as cute as my girls.... :p

We're off to play at the Splash Park. We had another potty training success and so everyone wants to celebrate. I'm starting to think that Matt and I want to celebrate as much as the girls do.

Happy Wednesday!

PS: My baby boy nursery stuff is here. I *think* I've found the furniture I'm going to order. I *think*. However, this will require many more hours of deliberation and staring at the nursery before a decision is made. (Loving husband, I would also like to have a few things measured and marked.) I would post pictures, but right now the nursery looks like a scene from Hoarders. I kinda made the mistake of unpacking all the baby girl stuff in that room when we moved in. So now I'm repacking that stuff for storage and replacing it with things that I've found for baby brother.

PPS: Pregnancy might make me EXTRA obsessive.... Might.

I Made It!

Oh... Potty Training...

What can I say about Potty Training....

I can tell you that I hate it. It sucks. I wish it would go away. I wish Holynd had never decided to be trained.

I liken potty training to a very strict diet. You'll feel better eventually. It'll do everyone good, but in the beginning, it basically sucks all the fun out of life. You feel awful and you miss your life before the diet started. You start to wonder if the diet is really worth it.

Have I made anyone want to jump-up and potty training their toddler yet???

Now, the problem with Holynd and potty training is not Holynd. She's amazing. As far as #1 goes, she hasn't had an accident in weeks. She goes without being asked. She even will ask to use the potty when we are out in public. She stands up and proclaims, "I MADE IT! HIGH FIVE!". The problem with Holynd and potty training is me.

I have the worst attitude about it. I lose sleep over it. I basically have non-stop nightmares about huge accidents that I have no control over.

The first time Holynd had a bad accident was Tuesday. We were getting everyone ready to go to the doctor for our ultrasound. I knew Holynd was due "for that", but I figured that she would wait until we had her "special" Princess panties on to go. (Pull-ups. They seem to be a swear word among the potty training community. Judge if you must, but they're the only reason I'm a functioning human being. Without them, I would be in the corner, rocking back-and-forth, muttering nonsense to myself.) Well, I was getting Sloanie dressed before putting her down for a nap. Everything was fine until I heard Holynd start to sob.

"There's poop on my leg!" She screamed.

I went into the bathroom where her princess potty is and discovered what had happened. Holynd had tried to poop on the potty. However, she didn't sit all the way back and pooped all over the potty seat instead, resulting in a huge p-double-o mess. This was VERY upsetting to her. In her panic, she had tried to wipe herself off with toilet paper. This created a bigger mess and a bigger problem.

I tried to remain positive. She had tried! This was a good sign! Right????

I turned on the shower and started to clean-up. I had to leave most of the mess behind while I went upstairs to get Sloane her bottle for her nap. Upon returning to the mess, with Sloane screaming in her crib because she can't figure out why Holynd is screaming in the shower, the smoke detectors all over the house start going off.

I will repeat. The house picked this moment to catch on fire.

I stop and look around. I trust my pregnant nose enough to determine that the fire is NOT in the basement where the girls are. I stand there staring. Do I get them out? Do I go try to find the fire? Where is my phone??? We're never going to find out where we're having!!! The Lord does NOT want us to know if this is a boy or a girl!??! Why else would He let my house catch on fire at this exact moment.

I decide to run upstairs and find my phone and see if I can determine what the heck has caught on fire!

I run into the kitchen. Nothing. I run into my bathroom. (Maybe I left my flat iron on?). Nothing.

I still can't smell any smoke. I call Matt. "The house is on fire and Holynd is covered in poop!".

Meanwhile, the smoke detectors are still going off. I keep trying to figure out what to do. Do I just grab the girls and run outside?!? Mental images of me carrying out Holynd, naked and covered in poop flash into my mind.

Then, the mental image of the fireman coming into my house and seeing the poop covered bathroom pops into my head.

Now, I'm nauseated.

As I approach the bathroom where Holynd is sobbing because she thinks she is a complete pooping failure, I realize something. There's smoke coming from the bathroom.... Wait, that's not smoke, it's STEAM! FROM THE SHOWER!

For some reason, the builder of this household thought that the perfect place for a smoke detector would be right outside the downstairs bathroom door. I ran into the bathroom, shut off the shower (Holynd still screaming) (Sloane still screaming), and grab a towel to fan away the steam.

It works. No more fire.

I sat down in the hallway and think to myself. "Heavenly Father, if there ever has to be a house fire.... Please don't let it happen when Holynd is covered in poop."

I. Hate. Potty. Training.

Since then, Holynd is, again, terrified to poop on the potty. We're working on it. Meanwhile, I am still using Pull-Ups when we go out into public and at night. She wears normal panties when we're home during the day. We have to coax/bride/beg/pray to get her to even think about pooping on the potty since this experience.

I fully expect her to bring up this experience when she's older in therapy.

What every girl needs...

A pink and purple Barbie jeep. Little brother will be so excited to ride around in this.







Holynd had to pay two binkies for this ride. It was pretty expensive in her eyes, but she went for it. She hasn't asked for a binkie in a long time. However, she has no idea how to steer. Matt has to chase her around the neighborhood to make sure she doesn't run into parked cars. Yay....


Sloane celebrated her first birthday last month. She was so cute in her birthday dress! We had mini-cupcakes from Cupcake Chic in Orem. They were delicious and they made Sloane her very own full-sized cupcake.






We have a new favorite hang out lately. The Splash Park in Highland. We love it! I love that Sloane can crawl around in the water and I also love that Matt and I don't have to put on our swimsuits to go.

We took the girls on the 4th of July. They had a blast and the overcast weather was perfect. I didn't swell up at all! Hooray!

I couldn't believe how much Sloane loved to crawl through the big sprinklers. Gotta love the 'jungle crawl'. My kids never crawl normal.

This river they have is my favorite. So much easier then a pool.

Perfect for the mom with 2 year old, 1 year old and baby-on-the-way.

After the Splash Park, we let the girls have milkshakes for lunch (yep) then we went to Best Buy and bought a new season of The Big Bang Theory (double, yep). We came home, cleaned-out the Volvo (cause it can't be ALL fun) while the girls played in the little pool with friends, put the girlies down for a nap and watched Sheldon all afternoon long. (triple, yep). Best. Day. Ever.

We are really getting spoiled with having a view. We watched fireworks from all over the valley from our deck. Sloane slept through it again this year. Holynd had fun though. She did not like it when they got "too loud!"

We made it official. We made our first baby boy purchases. (We waited a LONG time huh?!) First thing Wednesday morning, I took the girls to Target and let them go nuts buying stuff for baby brother. Holynd did try and buy a few headbands for him, but I talked to her out of it. We couldn't leave the store without this shirt though.

The girls and I were a little too excited about not having to shop in the pink sections. It was a new experience and we had so much fun.

I picked the little man's nursery out! Very cute, in a manly sort of way. :) It should be here next week. Now all I need to do is get my husband to the store so I can buy the furniture. You see, Sloane is still using our nursery furniture. I'm not about to kick her out of the crib she just BARELY claimed from Holynd. Plus, her furniture is white and a little girlie. That will just not do!

And lastly, many apologies to all those people who were offended by my 'fetus porn'. Our little guy was just not that modest, so I figured he wouldn't mind. If he wanted some privacy he could've been less willing to show everything off.

An announcement.

We were thrown a huge curve ball this morning.

Yep.

Day 2

No accidents.

Seriously, none.

She's awesome and loves the potty.

I take no credit. Holynd was ready and she's very smart.

Potty training is still terrifying to me.

**We did have one lactose-intolerance related emergency. This would've happened diaper or no-diaper. That's what you get for having golden-genes. :)**

(Have I failed to mention that dairy HATES my kids?? It does. It's awful. I pray everyday that they'll grow out of it. Meanwhile, I've become pretty accustomed to keeping the girls on a Miralax regiment and using suppositories if necessary.)

Did I just post about suppositories? Must be the pregnancy-related sleep deprivation. The contractions have begun people. 17 weeks of on-and-off labor here I come.

#2

I'm making potty-training attempt #2. The first time was a no-go because Holynd was REALLY not ready. She had no idea what was going on when she actually did pee in the potty, let alone knowing when she really needed to go. It was a mistake on my part of even try.

This morning she woke up and announced, "I need my Dora panties please!"

I looked at her and said, "Holynd, you understand that if you want to wear panties that all the diapers have to go away and never come back."

"Yep, mommy! No more diapers."

"Holynd, you have pee AND poop in the potty. You can't change your mind. You have to take lots of potty breaks."

"Mommy takes lots and lots and lots of potty breaks."

"That's cause the baby thinks Mommy's bladder is a squeeze toy."

"I'll take my potty break right now!"

It's 3pm. We've had one success and two accidents. Holynd is really trying to earn another trip to the Splash Park in Highland. I'm (obviously) NOT going to nighttime potty train her for a while. We've have special Princess "panties" to wear at night and during naps. I fully expect her to only want to poop during naps now. Oh well, you have to pick your battles.

Please send us lots of words of encouragement.

I've only cried twice.

Ok, THREE TIMES!

It's the hormones, I swear.

Posting about Sloane's birthday, Father's Day, the 4th and pregnancy updates NEED to be posted. I've set a goal. I. MUST. POST.

Just a taste G-Ma

These aren't even the best ones.