Woo Hoo!

We have now gone two days w/o the need of diapers and w/o any accidents. Today we went to Steven's Dr's appointment and I brought her seat with us, but she didn't need it. Then we went to my work for a meeting and she still didn't need it. She went 4 hrs w/o going potty and went as soon as she felt like it. Yipee! (yes I know I'm a nerd, but I don't care, this is exciting) :-)

IT'S A MIRACLE!

As far as motherhood miracles are concerned, today was pretty miraculous. Sarah woke up and took her customary first potty on her big girl toilet, and just for fun I pulled out all the "big girl" underwear we'd bought her and let her choose which ones she wanted to put OVER her diaper. (She chose Dora in case you're interested) The next two times she had to go, she told me, and then went in her potty w/o any problems. I took off her diaper and she proceeded to use the bathroom all day long. She even went poop once which was her first time. She went right before Mike got home and then was so proud she went right after he got home. She went well over a dozen times.

I'm writing this tonight because I don't know how tomorrow is going to go and I want to relish in this bliss. :-) I wasn't planning on starting her on potty training this week because I have a busy day tomorrow with Dr. appointments and business meetings, but I'll just bring her toilet with me. I really hope this sticks. I would LOVE to be down to one child in diapers. I'm just amazed at how well she did. She didn't have a single accident the entire day, AND I only hurt her feelings once when she was "helping" me cook, so this has been a great day.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. :-)

:-)

Well, now that I vented in my last blog I feel kind of bad, and want to delete it, but I'll leave it up so you all know that a lack of patience is one of my biggest faults. I feel bad because she has been sweet as can be all day and has even started going in the big girl potty a couple times a day. I know it can be frustrating when I'm feeding Steven and have a broken record asking/demanding chocolate milk, but I'm the mom and should be able to be all smiles all the time. Right? j/k

I feel bad when I complain because I do have it pretty easy. Steven is the easiest child in the world and I'm sure that part of Sarah's acting out is a cry for more attention coupled with her "terrific two's". I've giving her more one on one time lately but life is of course a work in progress. She got so used to having me all to herself that she struggles with me not being able to drop everything and rush outside when her friends come calling. Sometimes I wish for more time in the day, but I'm sure it wouldn't help. How on earth do people do this with 10 kids? ;-)

Anyways, sorry for venting, but thanks for caring.

AHHHHH!!

Before I get started I would like to proclaim that I love my daughter Sarah. I thank my Heavenly Father for her every day and I think she is wonderful in every way. I love her goofy smile, her sense of humor and her sweet spirit. I love it when her friends come to the door and she says "hey buds" to the boys and "hey girls what's up" to the girls. I love to hear her prayers when she says thank you for such things as kangaroo's, milk and birthday cake. She is a wonderful big sister and loves her brother Steven Douglas. (my dad came out last weekend and drilled that into her head so now that's what she calls him)

Having said that, I am having a REALLY hard time with this phase she's in. Sometimes I want to play hide and seek and hide really well. At times I have to give myself timeout before I get too upset because no matter how smart she is, she's only two and I need to remember that. Lately I can't seem to do anything right, and neither can Mike for that matter. No matter what I do she breaks out in tears and tells me I hurt her feelings. If I don't get her milk quickly enough I "hurt her feelings." If I don't read her five books instead of four before nap time she cries and tells me I "hurt her feelings." If I tell her not to touch the hot stove I of course "hurt her feelings." I'm so glad that she's able to talk well and express herself, but Oh My Heck!

Right now she is in her room crying for me to get her up because we read four books, sang five songs, snuggled with her, got her a drink, got her doll, said we loved her and gave her good night kisses.

I wouldn't trade any part of her for all the riches in the world, but I look forward to this period ending. (if it ever does)

She's still crying and asking me to "come snuggle," so I guess I will. Good night.

P.S. I just went in and said prayers, which we'd forgotten and she dismissed me right after. I know it's relatively early, but I want to go crawl into bed.

I love summer!!!

I am so glad summer is here! I love being able to go outside with my kids and not having to worry about bringing five extra layers for them. It's hard enough to leave the house with a young baby, but thankfully we can just step outside and only need to worry about putting on sunscreen.

I've always said that I love the four distinct seasons that Utah has, and I still do, but I haven't been able to take advantage of them as much with small children. I guess I'm kind of a weather wuss, but I worry about them being too cold or uncomfortable, so I stay in unless it's decent weather.

Last Monday we went to Liberty Park in SLC with my sister Kristal and sister-in-law Shannon. There were little ducklings all over and they aren't at all shy.


The water in their little water park wasn't turned on because of an issue they were having, but the kids still had fun splashing in the two inches of water that was there. It's free, so we couldn't complain too loudly. :-)



They also have these really cheap rides that Sarah loves, although I say a little prayer every time she goes on them since they're as old as the park. ;-) Here is her last year and this year on the little airplanes. When Mike and I took her last year we had to buy three rides because she wouldn't get out of it.



After that they rode the carousel and ferris wheel. We're going again next week if anyone is intersted and the water will be on.

Sarah's 1st time fishing

Today we had a lot of fun fishing with our friends the O'Mara's. Kathryn is almost exactly a year older than Sarah, and they get along great, so it was a perfect play date. Mike won Sarah's Barbie fishing pole as a white elephant gift at work and Kathryn had the same one but with Disney Princesses.


We went to a little pond in Murray that is stocked with fish and the girls appeared to catch more than anyone else. Kathryn caught 4, but let Sarah reel one of hers in and Sarah caught one of her own. I attribute it to the power bate Kathryn chose which was pink with sparkles. The fish couldn't resist pink!




Mike took yesterday and today off for my b-day, so we've been relaxing and enjoying having family time. Steven hung out in his pack for most of the trip and then I got tired and he rested in his carrier. Quite the difficult child we have. ;-)




Tonight Mike heads off to the Jazz game with his boss Jay. They'll be sitting in the Wells Fargo suite, which means that the only playoff game Mike has missed this year is game 4 vs. LA when they played on Sunday. Spoiled! :-)

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's day to all you hard working, wonderful mother's out there. Thank you to our mother's in particular, that do so much for us. I hope you all had a great day with your loved ones.

This morning Mike woke up early and made me pancakes and eggs. I was really impressed since they were not only the first I've seen him make, but they were delicious. :-) Most of my gifts this year revolved around chocolate, which was fantastic for me. Now my only problem will be rationing it so it lasts more than a week. ;-)I really feel so blessed to be a mother to my wonderful children and wife to my amazing husband.

Yesterday we celebrated Mother's day at Hogle Zoo. It was packed, but we had a lot of fun. Sarah has a new obsession with Kangaroo's and everytime we'd pass an animal she would acknowledge it and then say she wanted to see the Kangaroo's. When we finally got to where their exhibit should be they were doing construction and we couldn't see them. Oh well, we bought a pass so we should be able to see them sometime soon. Here are some of the highlights:

The baby giraffe in the background has the same B-day as Sarah, but is two years younger.


It's amazing how much she's grown in two years. The picture below was her 1st trip to the zoo when we entered her into the "cutest baby/crawling" contest before she could crawl. Oops! It was a fun day and most of the kids didn't leave the starting line so no one knew she was a fraud. ;-)

We ended the day on the train which Sarah gets a big kick out of.

If any of you are willing to drive up there with me, we get a free guest each time we go and kids 2 and under are free, so let me know if we can have a play date. :-)

Happy Mother's Day!!! Relax and put the men to work. ;-)