Potty Trained!

Ok this has been like a year and a half in the making. Bailey was so stubborn when it came to pooping in the toilet. I tried bribing and everything, nothing seemed to work, so when we had Hattie I just couldn't do it anymore and we put her back in diapers. A few months ago I found a strategy in a book that worked!

The Poopy Place!

I printed off a sheet with "Poopy Place" written on it. So the goal was for her to just poop in the bathroom in her diaper. Give her candy and viola! she did it! Afterall it's not that different than what she was doing. Needless to say it was in the bathroom behind the door so she could "hide" from me.

After she got this down, I put her in panties and she had to tell me when she needed to go poop so I could put her in a diaper. This was easy for us because I spent 11 months last year pee-training her. It was just the pooping she couldn't do.

So after about a week of doing that we moved it closer to the toilet - not much different but the heat went up a little.

Then she had to be standing on her stool next to the toilet that she used to get on it. She was fine with that.

Then she needed to poop sitting on the toilet fully clothed. Well I found out the problem! She didn't know how to poop sitting down. OK she just didn't want to. But after she did it once and realized that the poop wouldn't stick to her bum, she was all for it. So the next time she said she needed to go poop, I just put her straight on the toilet. She started to go and realized - Oh I need a diaper! I said, "No you don't you can't hear the splash if it goes in the diaper!" And that was that. She has been potty trained ever since.

For her, I didn't need to show her every time that the poop goes into the toilet. She knew that. I didn't need to watch Elmo's potty time a million times for her to get it. She just needed to know that the poop wouldn't stick on her butt after she did sitting down. Afterall, who wants to sit in their own poop?

And now, I get to treat myself to putting her in preschool! 5 hours a week break and my reward!
Eating ice cream after pooping for the first time in the toilet!

The body of Motherhood

This is to all my sisters in motherhood. I wrote this in my journal a few days ago and wanted to share it with you.

As I was getting ready for bed one day, I caught a glimpse in the mirror of a true mother. Understand, I did say true and not perfect. I am far from the perfect mother. My patience has its limits. My temper occasionally rises. My three year old isn't potty-trained yet. My house is messy, and I hardly do crafts with my preschooler. But my body reflects what is on my soul. My hair is cut short so it won't be pulled. I don't wear earrings in fear of them getting ripped out. My eyes have bags from late night feedings and too-early mornings. My face and arms are sunburned from taking the kids to the park. My stomach is marbled with stretch marks from my oldest baby, and painted purple from the love my youngest wanted to leave on me. I have a fine line at my bikini line where my two gorgeous girls came into this world. I have saggy milky boobs that keep my baby alive. I have a deflated stomach that housed my babies for nine months. I have scratch marks from temper tantrums and broken nails from car seats  Needless to say I am no swimsuit model. But my body is a tapestry of motherhood that I want to keep and remember. These are scars I want to keep for the eternities. I'm sure when I get older, the smile lines will stick. The worry wrinkles will make their debut, and the crows feet will appear. I will gladly take those on knowing that the smile lines came from every hug my kids gave me. The worry wrinkles will come from every sleepless night worrying how to better raise my kids  and the crows feet will come from every, "I love you mom" that brightens my day. When the kids have grown and gone, to some I may look old. But to me, I will look like a mother.

So when we are looking in the mirror, let's realize how beautiful our bodies are. They show where we've been and remind us of who we are.

Last few months...

So I don't know where the time has gone! Is Hattie really almost 4 months old? Have we really lived in Utah for 2 months? Seriously time flies. So just an update. We moved to Utah the end of January and bought a house!
 
We love it and it has been a good addition to our family. Not too big to clean but perfect size for our family to grow. Our neighborhood is seriously booming. We have 10 houses around us going up so hopefully kids Bailey's age will move in. Not like we don't have enough in our ward, we seriously have like 700 people in our ward! Anyways we love our neighborhood and the friendliness of everyone here. This is the view from my kitchen window. They will eventually build houses here, but at least for now it's a great view!

Kyle's been working crazy hours at work so me and the girls have been trying to keep busy. We started Bailey in dance class, and if she learns to listen to her teacher, she will be able to keep going :).

 Hattie's getting to be so big! I can't believe how fast her little life is going!

 3 month picture.

 She's always so happy!

We celebrated my 24th birthday this year by spending time as a family ending the night with me and Bailey getting the stomach flu ugggh!

But all in all it was a great day and Kyle and Hattie didn't get sick!!!! We have just been trying to slow down a little but being parents of two and homeownership is seriously so busy! At least we're enjoying the ride!