Adventures in Potty Training

For several weeks now, Littlest Miss has been on the verge of being potty trained.  I know, I know, what does on the verge mean?  Well, let's just say that approximately 75 percent of the time, she'd be dry, let you know she had to go, and go on the potty.  Especially at school.  Which is great y'all. 


However, she refused, refused, refused to give up the diaper.  If you didn't put one on her, she'd scream her head off and likely pee on the floor.  Even attempts to bribe her by going shopping for "Minnie" or "Mouse" or "Anna" panties did nothing.


The kid just wanted her diaper.


Until yesterday.


Not sure what changed, but she woke up dry and immediately went pee on the potty.  Which earned her a candy treat at 7 AM.


And then said, "no diaper.  panties."  (thankfully, we had bought her some mouse ones on Thursday) and this Momma happily obliged (albeit with sissy's old ratted panties).  Momma also proceeded to put 10 changes of clothes in her backpack and sent her off to school with the parting words of "Good Luck." 

In my skeptism, I may have even posted about it on facebook.

And much to everyone's delight (and surprise) she only had one accident during the day (and it was during the transition from one class to the next).   So needless to say it was a huge success on her part.


Although there was a Momma fail to report..its a well known fact that my girls are dress girls, or at least Little Miss is.  I don't think she's ever worn a pair of shorts, so there's never been a need to teach my girls how exactly to put them on.  However, somehow someway we've acquired a pair, which I sent to school with her.  And after she successfully used the potty at home, she tried to dress herself again:

Clearly a fail as again these are shorts, not a skirt.  But ya know what?  Given the rest of the day, I'll take it!


Here's to day # 2 of no diapers.  Fingers crossed we are as successful today

Weekend Recap: Relaxin...Until it Wasn't

So as I mentioned Friday, I was looking forward to a low key weekend relaxing with the family and working on the house.   It definitely started out that way...

Donuts and gymnastics Saturday morning.

Followed by some sister cuddling that afternoon.

And a surprise monster attack.

And errands.  Lots of lots of errands.  Not sure what's scarier - these two driving, or the three of us in Home Depot without the Husband.

I was even able to sneak away and get in an hour of Pure Barre before the husband headed to the airport.

Oh and who can forget the silly lunch with our favorite yogurt

But that's about where the fun and relaxation ended.  Much of Sunday (despite the smiles during some of the above pictures) Little Miss complained of a headache.  By Sunday night, she was pretty inconsolable, started complaining of her stomach hurting and even throwing up.  Needless to say it was pretty scary and even a call with the afterhours nurse didn't calm our worries, the three of us girls headed to the ER to be safe.

And after lots of waiting, moving watching and cuddling, we were finally discharged with an apparent ear infection.  This momma thought we were winning since we got to walk out with a full week's worth of Rx and fairly manageable diagnosis.

I even thought I was winning when I woke up to this:

I couldn't believe what a difference one dose of antibiotics and a decent night of sleep meant.  Sadly, this was just a short stint of energy and by 11 AM (after dropping her off at 9:30 AM), she clearly still felt awful.

So we headed to our actual pediatrician Monday afternoon, who basically told us that it was just a nasty virus and that Little Miss just needed to rest, rest, rest.  So that's what we did for the rest of the day.


And now, its two late nights for this Momma.  Hopefully, we all get some sleep...although I may have to first figure out where I am going to sleep:

Happy Monday!

Fri-Yay!

Between a full week of work, Littlest Miss coming down with some kind of stomach bug and the husband working silly hours this week, there is really only one thing on my mind.

It's Friday!


Looking forward to a much needed, low key weekend hanging out, relaxing and working on the house.


What about you?  Big plans this weekend?

Welcome Home Wednesday (on a Thursday...AGAIN!)

To say that this post is long overdue would be an understatement.

I mean, the contractors finished up their work in late June.  It's only the middle of September.  But what can I say...we've been busy enjoying our new space!

So if you recall, the house originally looked like this.

And we had a media room that we couldn't use once the girls went to bed and no outdoor living.  That is no longer the case and we are loving, loving, loving our new spaces.  Check it out for yourself.

And if you are in DFW and need a contractor, please ask.  I can't say enough about ours!

The new outdoor kitchen

A view of the outdoor area from the house

A close up of the "living" area

A view of the pergola (we hope to eventually add a LARGE concrete dining table)

A view of the house from the yard

Close up detail of the fireplace

Daddy's hammock. Love the addition.  Don't love the color.

And upstairs is done as well.  We still have a lot to do in terms of decorating, but its already been such a great room -- whether for family movies or (more importantly) gymnastics practices!

Weekend Update: Let the Brainwashing Begin

So this past weekend, we packed up the car and headed down to College Station to visit some friends who recently moved there and to go to an Aggie Game.


It's been entirely too long since we've been (i.e. before Little Miss) so needless to say everyone was super excited about the weekend as a whole. 


Even watching a movie Friday night with friends was exciting:

And thankfully all of the kids went to bed a decent time as we got up EARLY (as in 6 AM on a Saturday) to get donuts before the football festivities.  For those of you in College Station or visiting, I highly recommend Kai's Donuts.  So, so, so good.  And super cute donuts.  They even had Elmo and Cookie Monster donuts which shockingly neither girl choose.

As soon as our tummies were full, it was off to campus.  Clearly the girls were super excited for the tour of their future school (only if Daddy gets his way).

It was great to show the girls some of the things that make Texas A&M so unique.  I mean what other schools have a "working" cannon that they roll out before games and let you sit on...

And horses.

\

And the Corp...

Being silly before "yell practice"

Watching the Corp band

And having the tuba player offer to let you play it after you yell to your daddy, "Look a tuba!"  So what if the tuba is bigger than her!

The girls also got to participate in their first yell practice.   Apparently if they go to school here, its a really big deal.  For mommy, though, it was a great picture moment :)

Both girls loved it, although Littlest Miss was definitely more into it and may have the cutest little "Whoop" in all of Texas (so what if I am biased).

Again, I cannot say enough about the "kids" in the Corp.  They definitely took the time to make the morning special not only for our girls but for all of the kids who were there!

And once yell practice and pictures were done, it was time to head back to the car as we sadly did not have game tickets for the girls.  However, in hindsight, it all worked out perfectly for them. They got to "experience" the campus and be a part of game day, but didn't have to sit through the game, which given the heat may have been rough on them!  Plus, we totally forgot that after each score by Texas A&M they sound the cannon.  Given that Texas A&M scored over 40 points in the first half and the cannon was loud enough to make the adults jump, its a good thing that she was there since Littlest Miss is afraid of thunder and the almost constant booms likely would have meant constant tears!

Once the kids were back at our friends house and settled with the sitter, the adults did go to the game.  And thanks to our friends, we had some great seats! 

But more importantly, we were so grateful to spend time with these people:

And clearly, the kids didn't miss us one bit...

So all and all, a great weekend.  Even if Littlest Miss may be part dog?!?!

Weekend Recap Part II: Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights.  A term so many people know, but I am not sure people fully understand.  I know until Friday, I didn't.


As a non-Texan, I don't think I fully understood how "big" football was in Texas.  Even at, or especially at, the high school level.  In part because we don't yet have any Little Dragons in our house (the district's mascot) yet.


But that all changed.  And it may have changed as early as 8:30 AM when our friend sent me this:

and moments later, another friend said we may need more spots.  So given that I was in the area to scope out where we needed to go and avoid the bickering fight in the car, I may have reserved two more spots using, yup, you guessed it, floormats:

Needless to say, by time 4:30 rolled around we, I, was pretty excited.  And have no fear, I was most definitely not let down.  Everyone had so much fun, even the girls...both in terms of the actual tailgating part and going into the game.  The Emerald Belles (i.e. drill team) were definitely the biggest hit of the night in our house.


Actually, the girls had so much fun not only were they asking when we could go again, but Little Miss was excited to let us know that one day, she'd too be a dragon...which is a huge improvement over a year ago when her response was, "I'll never be a dragon, I'm a princess."

 

All the moms

The Husband and Andy

Littlest Miss, their bestie and Little Miss

Family Selfie (just missing Little Miss)

She was too busy having fun with her bestie

New friends

Walking to the stadium for the first time

Again with her bestie

Three future dragons taking it all in

Not having any fun

Friday Night Lights

And one last family selfie to top of a great night

Is it Friday yet?!?!