Wednesday, January 28, 2009

She did it!!!

Okay, so yesterday was MONUMENTAL!!! Addison FINALLY went popo in her big girl potty!!! Seriously, this is like on the 10 happiest days of my life list. I realize that we have a long way to go before she's potty trained, but we just took a HUGE step in the right direction. YAY!!! The only reason there isn't a picture of poop in a little potty posted is because:

a) I waited a day to post, so although the excitement is still very high, I am not quite as irrationally excited as yesterday.

b) (and this is probably more the reason) Bart forbade me to post a picture of poop on our blog.

I guess it's a good thing we have spouses to let us know when we're getting a little out of line. ;o)

For those of you who really couldn't care less about the experience, feel free to stop reading now. For those of you who will indulge my excited rantings, continue.

So for the past few days Addison has had a dirty diaper right after I put her down for a nap. So I have to get her up, change her, and put her back down. Today when we got home I let her watch letter factory (something I will write about in another post) while I made myself some lunch. I sat down next to her to eat my lunch while she was watching. All of the sudden she jumped up and said, "I need to hide mom." Something she always does when she needs to poop.

I said, "Hey! Let's go poop in the potty." She is always very excited to do this AFTER she's gone poop in her diaper and is very disappointed when we don't let her because she's already pooped, but whenever we try to get her to do it before, she refuses. Today was no different. She said no, but somehow I was able to coax her into the bathroom. Unfortunately, she wanted to sit on the big potty, not the little potty.

Now, this may not have been a problem, and I would much rather her go in the big potty than her little potty because it's less clean up for me. But, as she sat there, holding her self up so she wouldn't fall in, legs dangling, I remember one of the two pieces of advice the doctor gave me when I asked him about potty training. He said, "It's hard to go poo with your feet dangling, so get her a little potty that allows her to put her feet on the floor, or get a step stool of some sort so she can push on it with her feet."

After attempting to turn the little potty into a type of step stool I was very relieved when she said, "Here mom, you too." And jumped down from the big potty and sat on the little potty. I obligingly sat on the big potty and tried to keep her occupied long enough to go poo. She kept getting up and saying, "All done." I would ask her, "Is there poop in your potty?"

"No"
"Well then it's still in your bum! Sit down until it's in your potty."

I could tell she really needed to go and she was getting kind of squirmy and looking around nervously. Then I remembered she always goes and hides when she has to go poop, so I asked her, "Do you want mommy to wait outside while you go?" "Yeah!"

So I went outside and stood behind the open door. "No mom, close the door!" So I closed the door, and laid on the floor (as much as my big belly would allow me anyway) so that I could see her legs through the crack under the door to make sure she was actually sitting on the potty. She sat for a while, then stood up and said, "All done." I asked, "Is there poop in your potty."
"No."
"Sit down until there's poop in your potty."

She reluctantly sat down again. A few seconds later, "All done!"
"Is there poop in your potty?"
"No."
"Go ahead and sit down again until there's poop in your potty."
She sat down again. This time I heard little noises that made me think she might actually be going potty.
"All Done Mom!"
"Is there poop in your potty?"
"YES!"

Sure enough, when I opened the door, I saw that her little potty had been christened! And let me tell you, she was praised like none other. I gave her all the chocolate she wanted...well, maybe not all that she wanted, but I distracted her, so she didn't miss the rest of it. We called daddy so she could tell him, then we called grandma so she could tell her, then we called papa at work so she could tell him. She wanted to call a lot more people, but it was getting to be late and she needed a nap, so I convinced her that she wanted to read her favorite book instead. We read it and she went down smoothly for a nap.

Ah, it was a great day!

And since I didn't post the poop picture, I will post this one. It's my big girl taking care of her little baby, and wearing her purse. I love this picture. Her smile in it is so weird it makes the picture not look anythign like her, but it makes me laugh, so I love it.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Spilled Salt

So while my parents were here a few weeks ago they got us some yummy grapefruits. Ever since then I've been taking one every day to work to eat (it's hard for a pregnant woman to go nearly 5 hours without eating!!!).


I like my grapefruits with salt on them. Sounds weird, I know, but don't knock it before you try it. It takes away the bitter edge and enhances the flavor. :o)


Anyway, I have been taking our salt shaker and a little knife to cut up my grapefruit to work every day. I am always very careful about turning the little top to closed so that I don't get a purse full of salt.


Well, either I wasn't so careful yesterday, or the little spinner top got turned in my purse because when I grabbed the salt today it was considerably lighter than yesterday. Are you still supposed to throw some salt over your shoulder if the spilled salt never touches the ground? And are you supposed to throw it over your right or left shoulder? Normally I am not a superstitious person...but it was a lot of salt.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Hot Hot Hot

Yesterday I was taking a nap. I had just woken up from a nap when I heard an urgent knock on our bedroom door. I opened the door and Addison said, "Mommy, daddy gave me (some unintelligible word), and it was hot hot hot." I said, "Oh really? Shall I go tell daddy he shouldn't do that?" "Yeah, come on."


We headed downstairs and I said to daddy, "Daddy, Addison says you gave her something and it was hot hot hot." Bart just laughs.


He had been eating some hot chips and Addison asked for one. We've given her hot things before and she actually liked them. So Bart broke off a tiny piece and gave it to her. She liked it and asked for more. Eventually Bart got tired of breaking her off tiny pieces, so he gave her a whole chip and told her to break off her own little pieces. Apparently she didn't have patience to break them off into little pieces either.

The Peacemaker

So lately if Bart and I ever begin to raise our voices at each other, Addison comes over immediately, and with a very serious look on her face and her hands in the air says, "Stop guys! Stop!" She always achieves her purpose, and makes us laugh at the same time.

Well, today Bart was really frustrated at something that had happened during the day and was venting to me. I was enthusiastically agreeing with his point of view. Addison runs in, serious look on face, hands in the air, "Stop guys! Stop!" We both just burst out laughing. She is our little peacemaker.

A New President

I have to say, I am proud of America. I also like our new president. I don't agree with him on a lot of things, and I would probably like him a lot more if I did, but he seems like a good man. And as a result, much like I liked Bush when he was first elected, I like our president.

I know we will have our disagreements, and that I will most likely rant a lot over the next 4 to 8 years, but I do wish the best for him. I am glad that my children are living in a country that, as Dr. King said, judges people not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

When I listened to President Obama's swearing in and inauguration speech today I was dang proud to be an American, and I am glad to have had the opportunity to have lived to see such an awesome historical moment. Good luck Mr. President.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Sick Sick Sick.

Well, I must say, this week has been pretty horrible. Addison and I both have been sick with a miserable cold!

You know how sometimes when you've been sick...especially if it's just a cold...if you just get up and do something outside of the house, you feel a little better. I had been working from home, and feeling worse each day, so I started to think it was just because I was couped up in the house all day and not really doing anything but working and feeling sorry for myself.

So Thursday, Addison seemed to be considerably better. She has been asking me to go to day care all week, so despite my feeling worse on Friday, I dropped her off at day care and headed off to work. I was sure I'd feel better once I was out of the house not thinking about being sick. Boy was I wrong! I felt worse than ever! What a miserable day.

I've been really trying to take it easy the past two days and feel better at times, but if I'm up and walking around at all I start to feel HORRIBLE! I swear my stomach is like constantly full of flem I'm coughing so much! I never really feel hungry even though I haven't eaten, and when I do eat I can only eat a tiny bit before feeling so full I feel like I'm going to throw up...which has happened a few times...I think more because I'm gaging on my coughs than because of the actual sickness...but it still stinks!!!

And to make things worse, I'm losing weight!!! (Te he he, under any other circumstances I might be happy with that, but not while I'm pregnant!!!) I had lost like 10 pounds while I was morning sick and had finally gained that back and even gained a pound and a half more before I got this cold. Now I'm back down to two pounds below my weight when I got pregnant! And I'm almost 5 months along! My belly is definitely bigger and nothing else seems smaller so I really don't know where that extra weight has come off. Oh well, I'm sure I'll make it up in the next four months. I hate being sick.

Addison hates it too. She is considerably better, but her nose was still running a bit, so I wasn't sure if I wanted to take her to nursery. I finally decided to just take her home after sacrament meeting, but she wouldn't have it. She threw a fit when we tried to get her to put her coat on and go home. She kept saying she wanted to go to Nursery. So I finally gave in and told the Nursery leaders to come and get me if her nose seemed bad and I would take her home.

At least she loves nursery. I can't believe that a year from now she's going to be a Sunbeam! SOOOOOOOOOOO crazy!!!

Meeting Santa

At this year's ward Christmas party, Addison met Santa for the first time. We knew he would be there, but weren't sure how Addison would react because we hadn't told her much about him.
Well, as soon as she saw him come into the room Addison's eyes just lit up. She pointed and started yelling, "Santa! Santa! Santa!" Thank you once again Robyn and Nyla for teaching my daughter all the things I miss. :o)

We stood semi-patiently in line, and while we were doing so, Addison noticed Santa was giving everyone that sat on his lap a candy cane. She gladly hopped on his lap and, when he asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she was ready, and exclaimed,"A Treat!" Santa was happy to oblige.

Thanks to the Wilsons for taking the picture and sending us a copy! We are glad we have a picture of Addison's first Santa experience.

New Year's Eve

Okay, with this post I feel I am up to date on my holiday blogging. This New Year's was actually very nice. My friend Christa was in town from California, so she, Tabitha, Jonathan, and their family all came over to celebrate over dinner. I think we were all planning on it lasting until 7:00 or 7:30 so that the kids could get to bed and not be cranky, but the kids were doing so great and it was so much fun visiting it was closer to 10:30 when they finally left.


This was the leaving cue:

I was sitting on the couch and Benjamin climbed up on me and laied down on my lap. Addison followed (I think more because she didn't want to be left out of anything than because she was tired, but we still took the hint).

And Christa, I just realized I didn't get a picture of the three of us togeather. Can you email me your copy? It was a great way to ring in the new year!

Happy Faces at Sam's Club

So for a while we've been going to Sam's club, and on our way out, Addison has jutted her hand out to the person checking our receipt. We never really understood this, and sort of just hurried her on until a few weeks ago. Addison looked very determined and got to the front of the cart. As soon as the receipt checker was within reach, she shot her hand out to him. He immediately smiled, took her hand, and drew a happy face on it with his highlighter. She sat back, and smiled at us with a look of triumph on her face.

I was blown away. I had no idea how she would know that they would do that.

Then I remembered that sometimes Robyn and Nyla take the kids out to run errands. I ran into them one weekend at Sam's club, so I knew they went to Sam's club sometimes. So the next day I asked them if they ever took the kids to Sam's club with them. Sure enough, they do, and when they leave, the receipt checkers always give everyone a smiley face on their hand...the mystery is solved!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Other Christmas Antics

So here are some other fun things we did over the Christmas Break.

Sledding: I didn't get any pictures of the actual sledding, so family, if any of you have pictures of Addison, Bart or I sledding, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, email them, I want to scrapbook them.
And this is just a random picture of my daughter's crazy hair. I must document these things in case people don't believe me.
Bart's Uncle is the head Ranger over dead horse point, but he's retiring this year, so we all headed up there to visit one last time before he retires. it was beautiful!

Grandma with her two grand babies. Next year at this time there will be two more to add to this picture!

All the Girls...well, except one. The week after we left Moab, Bart's Brother Sam got engaged to Holly. We LOVE her so much and are SOOOOO excited to have her as a sister in law! She's going to be an AWESOME addition to the family! Congratulations guys!!!And finally Our little family. It was a great Christmas.

Christmas

Okay, so I finally am going to try to catch up the blog. I got Christmas eve in, but I didn't get to Christmas day. So here goes.
Christmas day was wonderful. I just love being with family. We all got wonderful presents, but I'm not going to list the boring details for you. Instead, here are some cute pictures:
Addison loved getting a back massage from uncle Charles.This is the one present I will mention. Grandma got Addison and McKenna Baby Dolls. Addison's was a little baby with a baby carrier, and McKenna's was a toddler with a stroller. I was really excited for this present because I really wanted to get her a baby before the baby comes. When I'm holding the baby, I want Addison to be able to hold her baby, and when I'm feeding the baby, I want Addison to be able to feed her baby, etc. Hopefully this will avoid any jealousy issues. :o) For a second, when they first brought out both babies, we though we might have a problem because Addison went straight for the toddler, and McKenna went straight for the baby. But when we showed them which was theirs they loved it...as you can tell by this picture.
I think McKenna loved the stroller even more than the toddler. :o) It's a good thing she's still so small. Okay, this picture isn't the best, but I just love the story that goes with it. So every year, Zeke would make the Christmas roast. This year, the three oldest took it upon themselves to make sure the Christmas roast tradition lived on...and let me tell you, it was quite the undertaking. After extensive searching by Sam and Charles, Sam found a great deal (something very important in keeping the tradition alive) on roast at Macey's. It was like 13 pounds...and that was just one of them!!! Bart went on the internet and searched for hours for the perfect roast recipe. He finally found it. But, the recipe was for a roast about half the size. However, after much analysis, they worried that if they doubled the recipe, it would be too salty or something like that...I can't remember exactly what, but, in the end, they didn't double the recipe at all...except for the pepper. This was probably not the best move. The roast was wonderful anyway...even if the crust was a bit peppery. :o) We love you boys! One of my favorite memories will always be you three gathered around the roast debating so earnestly what to do.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Oh Where Is my Addison?

Okay, so one of the games I always play with Addison while she's taking a bath is "Oh where is my Addison?" I made it up and it basically involves me closing the shower curtain and singing (to the tune of Larry's "Oh where is my hairbrush" from Veggie Tales):


Oh where is my Addison?
Oh where is my Addison?
Oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where...is my Addison?


At which point I throw open the shower curtain and we both laugh.


Well, since she's been sick the last few days I've been giving her a bath in the morning while I get ready. Yesterday she pulled the curtain closed and started singing:


Oh where is my Mommy?
Oh where is my Mommy?
Oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where...is my Mommy?


At which point she threw open the curtain and looked up at me with a huge smile. Oh my gosh, I LOVE my baby!!!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Viva La Vida

So I remember a while ago Bart telling me that you can tell when a song is truly good because you get goosebumps when you hear it.

I thought that was rubbish. The only time I got goosebumps was when I heard certain church songs, and that was more because of the meaning of the lyrics to me personally than because of the music itself. (The only possible exception was when I went to the Symphony in Vienna...I don't really remember whether or not I got goosebumps, but I could see it happening). Anyway, there were a lot of songs I thought were really great songs that I never got goosebumps when I heard.


Well, I have now experienced my first goosebump song. Every time I hear the opening bars of Coldplay's Viva La Vida, I break out in goosebumps! Crazy! Maybe there is something to what he says.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

We had the ultrasound. It's a...

Alien/Skeleton!!! JK, this is the baby's face...if it's the face I'm seeing, I'm glad the baby's not coming out yet. It'd be a scary looking thing.
Here's the gender picture! It's a girl, can't you tell? If you can't see anything, don't feel bad, neither could I. Maybe that's why it's a girl. If we saw something, it'd be a boy. ;o) The two kind of bold white stripes in the middle are the leg bones.
Here's her cute little foot....and happens to be the one picture I can definitely tell what it is.
And the little profile. I can also see the little hand up by her face...cute.