She went pee-pee in her potty...

I was shocked, and honestly i think she was too. Tonight as i was getting her bath ready I said "do you want to sit on your potty". Which of course she did, it's her new favorite thing, so i stripped her down and she sat on there and to both of our amazements she peed! I got all excited, which in turn got her all excited and we clapped and just in general acted silly. I dumped it in the potty and let her flush which got her even more excited. I don't know that this is going to be an all the time thing yet (she's only 18 months) but it was so exciting to see the look on her face when she realized what had happened. She proceeded to sit back down and look down there to see if it would happen again. LOL

2 new babies to love this week....

I'm very excited, two of my dearest friends will be having babies this week. I can't wait. Both are having girls which I am equally excited about. One is waiting on mother nature to do her thing, the other is waiting for a scheduled c-section, both nerve wracking situtations in different ways. Faith will love getting to see the babies too i'm sure, she thinks babies are dollys, but she's gentle and loving, just have to be careful she doesn't try to pick them up, burp them or change their diaper (like she does her dollies).

*edited to add*
Kara was born this afternoon at 1:17PM. I guess she knew how excited i was and wanted to come out :-)

The Potty

Well yesterday we had to break out the potty chair. It wasn't even my decision, it was Faith's. She kept trying to climb up onto the big potty and got mad when i wouldn't let her. So I said "do you want to get out your potty chair?" So I got it out and put it together and it's her new favorite thing. She goes in and sits there with a piece of toilet paper wiping herself. She hasn't actually done anything on it but she just loves her potty chair. She got really mad at me yesterday when after 1/2 an hour of "playing on it" i made her get up and put her diaper back on. Don't get me wrong, i think it's great she excited about it, but I know it's just cause it's a new thing, not cause she really understands yet to actually do anything on it. I'm not ready for this, i had no intention of trying to potty train her until she turned 2, she's only 18 months. I'm not ready!!!! I admit it, it's me again wanting her to stay a baby. But it's not just that, i know that at 18months even if she did use it occassionally it's not going to be a totally learned thing this early. I don't want to just keep struggling with it, going back and forth. I dont' know maybe it's selfish of me, but I really think there's no point to doing it until she's ready. I don't really think she's ready, is she??

Faith's 18 month appointment

She weighs in at 22 lbs 7 oz and is in the 25th percentile for weight, she's staying pretty steady there. They said she's still 33" tall but I know she's grown since her last appointment cause her pants are getting to short again, but that's what they said her height was last time? Of course the way they do it is by marking her head and foot on the paper on the scale and she's squirmy so maybe last time was a little off, or this time was, who knows...regardless she's long and skinny.
Her development is ahead and she's got all her teeth except for the 2 year molars which i hope don't start coming in early. Her eye teeth are all popped through and just finishing coming in. I'm thrilled that maybe we won't have the teething issues for a while now. Knowing my luck though she'll start getting her next molars next week or something...LOL
Pediatrician said she anticipates she will potty train early, not sure why she thinks that but she does. I'm not ready to try yet, i don't feel she's truely ready and I don't want to start early only to really struggle with it. The pediatrician suggested getting a book about the potty to read, and maybe getting the chair out and let her just sit on it sometimes to get used to the idea. So maybe we'll try that.
We do need to cut out her last bottle. She still has one bottle of milk at bedtime. The doctor wasn't too concerned about it, just said to try and change it over to a sippy cup as i can. I have decided that when this batch of bottle inserts (we use playtex drop ins bottles) is gone we won't buy anymore, we'll be done with "ba ba's".
So that's that...no shots today, she was done with shots at 15 months, our pediatrician does them in a way that once 15 months comes they are done till they go to school, not sure if all peds do that but i think it's great to be done with shots for a while.

"Daddy not..."

I realized today that Faith really gets more than i think. She's not a baby, she understands what's going on and she can't be fooled into thinking otherwise.
I thought it was especially adorable when Daddy got a phone call last night saying that they had to cancel someone's run and if he wanted he could take the night off, since he had plans today and the weather was questionable for last night he figured it was a good opportunity.
So i said "Faith, Daddy's not going to work, yah" and clapped. So then she kept saying "Daddy Not" and clapping. She was very excited, she knew it meant Daddy would be staying home, and that he could play and give her her bath. She loves it when Daddy does her bath cause he plays more in the tub than mommy, mommy's more about business in the tub. Daddy plays with the toys and does this little "motor boat" thing that she finds hilarious. I just thought it was so adorable that she clapped and got excited about "daddy not" LOL

Faith's vocabulary is really picking up...

All of a sudden she's really making more clear words, yeah. She's always been chatty (no clue who she gets that from LOL) but it's a lot more so in the last week or so, and I'm noticing more and more clearness to her words. For example after dinner last night she said "all done" very clearly. I also pick out "thank you" a lot more as well as many many others. Now if I can get her to always call me mama in stead of 50% of the time that she calls me "kitty". She'll hug me, pat my back and say "Hi Kitty". LOL crazy girl!

Death.....

I know not the most bright and cheery topic for this lovely Saturday morning, but i've been contemplating it a lot lately, not for myself or anything (don't call the nut house LOL) but just in general.
It's amazing to me how one minute someone is here, and the next they are gone. It really makes you want to stop worrying about all those little things that bog you down and get out there and enjoy life. Just within the last week or so there seems to be a lot of death of not people i know, but people i "know of". You know what i mean, i am not friends or family to them but i know them in one way or another. One particularly tragic death this week was a man that was trying to do something to his roof during that horrible wind storm, fell and died from a severe head injury. Really makes me want to not let John get on a roof, ya know?
Another very tragic death was that of a local 20 year old man serving in Iraq. His body is coming home today and my hometown of Carthage, is going to get out and show support to his family, i'm sure many from surrounding areas will as well.
Someone else we know had their elderly mom pass away after a long illness. Sometimes people say things like "well she's no longer suffering" and i know that's true but it's still a loss in this case of his mother. Makes me realize that some day i will lose my parents, i can't imagine how i would deal with that, not well i'm sure.
Anyway what's the point of this blog? Well i guess my point is that death surely does have a way of making you appreciate life and take the time to let those that matter to you most know it.

Holy Wind Batman...plus other ramblings

Boy was it windy yesterday....we were lucky no damage, only lost power for a short time. So all in all we fared very well.

I sure would like to figure out what to do about Faith's sleeping problems. Feel free to comment with advice if you have any. I've gotten her to the point that I can put her in her own bed initially, granted she gets upset and cries, but she's down to crying less than 2 minutes and goes to sleep. But she still wakes up about 1/2 way through the night crying and will only settle for getting in bed with me. Now at 2 am I am just giving in and putting her in bed with me, and I know i shouldn't be doing that. But since i know that's what she wants, it gets everyone back to bed much quicker. However neither one of us sleeps all that well, so the second 1/2 of the night is pretty restless sleep for us both. I hate to make her cry it out in the middle of the night too but i think that might be what i end up having to do. sigh.

Well I have been doing pretty well on one of my New Year's Resolutions, which is to try and live more thrifty and to de-clutter. Of course I started with one of the easiest things which is Faith's clothes and toys. I've given clothes to 3 friends, sold some of her Gymboree stuff and have a pile of clothes and stuff for the thrift store. I am hoping to get enough store credit at the resale shop to get her quite a few clothes for summer. I've had very good luck at this thrift shop finding really nice stuff at really cheap prices. They tend to have a lot of name brand stuff too, which of course i know doesn't really matter, but i do like it more, can't help it, i admit it. So that's a start, i will continue to grow my huge garage sale pile and this spring there will be a major sale, i've come to the realization that i just have way to much crap that is of no use (like decorative crap that just collects dust).

Well my monkey is jumping up and down at the gate, not sure why, must be Tigger & Pooh is not entertaining her anymore.

Feeding my emotions...

My dad is getting more and more depressed. Yesterday was the worst of it, when I called to say "we are on our way up, is there anything you want?" he replied "yes, go home." and the bad thing is he meant it. I could tell by his voice that if I was to show up (at first i considered just going anyway) he would be angry and so my broken heart just went ahead and didn't go. So we went ahead with our other plans (we had planned for after visiting dad) and went to Watertown to meet up with the "in laws" for dinner and to do a bit of shopping. We went to Texas Roadhouse and the "in laws" said they were going to get dinner - big mistake on their part because i was so upset that i was definately "feeding my emotions. I had a steak & rib combo. Man was that steak excellent, i could have eaten another one. Anyway then in the afternoon i ate a peanut butter cup, can't remember the last time I actually ate a candy bar. Then some fig newtons. Then at dinner time I went and got subs, those big ones from nice n' easy. Ate a whole one of those. I mean why do i have to be the kind of person that feeds their emotions? It's no wonder i can't ever seem to lose weight. I really wish I could be one of those people that don't eat when they are upset, jeepers I'd be doing awesome losing weight. And I certainly don't want to take up smoking or drinking to "feed my emotions". I just wish I could deal with things in a better way than stuffing my mouth with food. And i sit here thinking to myself "well duh obviously you realize you are doing it, so why don't you just not do it" and i bet you might be thinkign that too. Answer to that is i sure wish i could but it's like i just can't stop myself, even as aware of it as i am, i do it anyway. I swear food is a total addiction.

How can someone so small take up so much space?

As you know, Faith has been having issues sleeping all night in her own bed. I've gotten pretty successful at getting her to go to sleep in her own bed, it's been hard but she now cries just a bit and settles down to sleep, but she's still waking in the middle of the night alot of nights. I let her come into bed with me because I don't want to deal with two issues at once, when i finally get her settling down easier i will work on the middle of the night issue. So anyway my point is that she came into bed with me last night and i can't get over how much room someone who weighs a grand total of 22 lbs can take up. I mean she's a bed hog! Normally she sleeps really close to me, but she also sometimes spreads herself out all over the bed, i get more room sleeping with John, LOL.

-18 That's Cold

Even for me ...
Sometimes i don't know which is worse, the snow or the cold....
I always say i'm used to it, which i am, but when it gets this cold i seriously wonder how some people can make it, that are cold when it's say 10 degrees out and i'm wearing a sweatshirt and no coat, of course if you know me well you know i never wear a coat. I really do think that after 0 it's just cold no matter what the actual # is.
So we are just gonna stay inside today and be nice and warm. I have a touch of what i think is the flu, so Faith stayed at Grandma's last night, i feel bad she's gonna have to be "out in it" but it'll only be from the door to daddy's truck so like 2 seconds.

Happy New Year

I resolved a long time ago to not make New Years resolutions because they always seem to fail and then it's there hanging over your head, ya know? So instead here are some things I would like to do this year. I would really like to improve our diet, yes i need to lose weight but i'm not gonna stress over that, but improving our diet I'm gonna try to do. So less junk food, less fatty food, more veggies & fruit, more lean meats instead of fatty meats, more water. That kinda thing. I'd also really like us to get more exercise, again not gonna stress about it, just try and incorporate walking and stuff where i can, maybe later this year when the weather is better Faith and I can make it a daily activity to take a nice walk.
Also this year I would really like to make use of all the craft supplies i have, I am hoping to do a lot more handmade gifts and things for Faith. We got her several handmade items for Christmas and I just love them. I have so much fabric here and I really enjoy sewing so i'm hoping to do more of that.
My one final thing I would really like to do most of all is to get organized and STAY organized. I always have so much clutter around the house and I'd really like to not have to dig all over for things when i need them.
Oh wait there is one more big thing I'd like to do this year and that is to start living more frugally. John and I have really seen a trend in our spending and we are just wasting a lot on things we don't "need" but just simply "want" or are a convenience, i would really like to lessen that so that there is more $$ for savings and home improvements and such.
Okay so remember these aren't resolutions, just things I'd like to do :-)
Happy New Year all!!!