Aubree and Potty Training

Last week I woke up on Wednesday and I was ready to potty train but I would have to wait to start until Monday.  I read a book and did some research online. I felt prepared and ready to do it a little differently than I did with Brigham.  I wanted to stay away from bribes and I read that loading a toddler under 2 years old up with more liquid than usual only hampers the process for some reason. 

Day 1 We had no pee in the potty until close to 4pm when Aubree walked up and said "pee pee" and pointed to the little potty.  She sat down and had a little dribble of pee. It was great! She then wanted to sit on the big potty every 5 minutes after that but most of her pee ended up on the kitchen floor. Bed time could not come soon enough. Ha ha

Day 2 (Nov. 12th) has been a little better. She is recognizing that she is starting to pee and we even made it to the potty a couple times.  She cries every time I put her on the potty today.  I decided to give her 2 smarties each time she pees since my cheers don't seem to be much motivation. Ha ha. Hopefully this afternoon will be better and have less crying.  

Day 3 (Nov. 13th) has been a good day. Aubree is beginning to recognize when she has to pee and is some times telling me. She gets really excited about peeing in the potty and the big reward is wiping, flushing, and washing her hands. Ha ha. Our break through moment was late this afternoon when she had a dribble of pee on the kitchen floor and I took her to potty. She dribbled a little more and then I asked if she could pee more. She said yes and then actually peed a good amount. I could see her belly contracting for the first time and her excitement was priceless. It was a great moment and has made the process worth it. We are getting there! What a great payoff. Oh, and she hates the little potty and refuses to use it. Awesome. Now I need a new plan for emergency bathroom breaks when in the car.

Day 4 (Nov. 14th) Another great day! We dropped Brigham off at Joy School and then went grocery shopping. This was our first outing other than dropping off and picking up Brigham from school this week. There were no accidents today and Aubree loves peeing in the potty. She is pooping during her nap each day so we haven't had to deal with that part of potty training yet. She is getting better at self initiating. She will hold her shirt up and walk to the bathroom when she has to go. She doesn't do this every time but she did it a couple times. This is awesome since it Norma,ky takes 2-3 weeks for kids to do this.

Day 5 (Nov. 15th) Today we went to visit Boppy and Gabby. Aubree did great and she told me when she needed to potty. I am just so proud of her. It is crazy to see this tiny little person doing so well at this.

Day 6 (Nov. 16th) Aubree and Brigham spent the morning with Scarlett and Carolina while I got my hair done and Mark had a meeting at school. Aubree held her pee for over 3 hours until I got back there. We were home the rest of the day and she continues to do great.

Day 7 (Nov. 17th) Today was rough but it was because of errors on my part. I forgot to put a diaper on her for her nap and she woke up soaking wet. She had a little leaking at church but nothing terrible. She made it through nursery with no potty breaks or accidents. She had an accident on the way home. She let me know she needed to potty shortly after we got home and she pooped in the potty! It was a great moment. It was our first non-nap time poop all week. Mark laid her down for a short nap before family dinner without a diaper and she soaked her bed, bumper pad, and the floor. She was so upset and I felt so bad for her. At family dinner she told me she needed to potty so that was a win to end the day on.

I am just so proud of our little Aubree.  She has made such great progress and she is doing so awesome.  I am so happy to have her potty trained and I hope I don't have to night time train her. Ha ha

Four!

The day started with a balloon avalanche falling on Brigham when he opened his bedroom door.

Brigham had his first friend birthday party this year. Mark and I decided that our kids will get a big friend party every 4 years. While preparing for this party I was so glad that we are not doing these more often. 

We rented a bounce house for the day and it came with a snow cone machine and cotton candy machine. 

There was a misty rain for the entire afternoon which made for very messy cotton candy. The kids had a blast and best of all Brigham thought it was the best day ever. 

Sweet Aubree

Back in September the sister missionaries had just gotten to our house for dinner. I ran upstairs to get Aubree up from her nap. She smiled when she saw me but continued sucking her thumb and she didn't get up from laying on her back. Then she heard Mark singing to her as he walked into her room. I have never seen that girl move so fast in her entire life. It was so cute to see her get so excited just hearing her daddy's voice. Me on the other hand am not worth the effort it takes to even stand up. Ha ha ha

Tonight as I was tucking Brigham into bed he was talking/stalling bed time as usual.  After prayers he gave me a big hug and then kept rubbing the side of my face.  He said he wanted to get me some flowers and then he thanked me for helping him with his third Article of Faith.  It was just so sweet.  I hope he always loves me this much. ha ha

Two weeks ago or so Aubree finally had 2 more teeth break through to bring her grand total of teeth to 6. Ha ha. This last week she had one more on the bottom come in. She now has 4 bottom teeth and 3 top teeth. She also has a molar on the bottom that we have been able to see for months but it hasn't broken trough yet. Aubree's lack of teeth has definitely not kept her from eating. Ha ha. She just swallows a lot of her food without chewing at all. It makes for some interesting and extremely stinky diaper changes!

She says a few words: boo, whoa, bebe (baby), & mama (but mostly only when she is mad. Ha ha).

She and Brigham have been playing together more and more and I love it. They really adore each other and it will be fun to watch their relationship grow. 

Brigham is a funny boy. He has taken on the nickname Magic Mike because of his face dance moves. He does a mean hip thrust that makes us laugh every time. He loves video games. Robots, rocket ships, and dinosaurs more than anything else. 

Lately he has been telling me things that happened to him when he was a girl. Most of the time he says he would fall down when he was a girl so he isn't a girl anymore. Ha ha. I laugh and ask questions about being a girl. I probably discourage him from saying he used to be a girl. It is cute and innocent to me but kids will not think it is cute. 

We started building our porch 5 weeks ago and it is finally almost finished. Today we had the wiring done for the lights and the fans. Now we just have to get the metal roof put on. I can't wait to have it finished and have furniture out there. It is going to be great! I figured out what I want to do with Brigham's room. My goal is the get it painted in the next 2 weeks. I put all the totes that were in the nursery side of his room in the attic this week. They have been there since we moved.i didn't think I would be able to move them up the stairs alone but it was easy and I am so glad to finally have them out of there. I kind of know how I want our room to be. It is next on my list after Brigham's. I have several ideas for downstairs. I really want to get it painted but I also really don't want to paint it. It is a good neutral color but I just don't like it. It looks clean but it doesn't match the vision in my head. I am trying to leave it tan until I just can't take it anymore. Our entire house is one color so maybe once I get our bedrooms painted it won't be so bad. I also really want to paint all the trim white. It is currently cream. I really don't like it. That will be such a huge task because I will also have to paint all the doors in the house. We only had 9 doors in our old house that I had to paint when I changed the trim color to white. This house has 8 just upstairs and then there are the folding closet doors. I'm just not sure I will ever be ready for that much painting. 

We had solar panels installed in June. We lost a lot of trees in the process and it was shocking to see our privacy go away but it really opened up our yard and we have more options now. Our plan is to close off part of the array and make it a chicken coop. I am pretty sure this will not happen before next year. We have to clear out all the limbs and logs from all the trees that were cut down. That is going to take forever.

Mark is doing great at his job and people love him. He is really enjoying it. We have been blessed with a great life! 

A couple weeks ago we drove to Gastonia to pick Raspberries. The swings were Brigham's favorite part. Ha ha He was great while I picked the raspberries. He helped a little bit but he mostly just watched me or played with Aubree or walked around. Scarlett and Carolina met us there a little later and he loved playing with Carolina. He threw a small tantrum as I drug him away from these swings. Aubree was beyond tired and I had a doctor's appointment to get ready for,

At least 2 times a month during the summer we have family dinner at Melanie  and Brandon's neighborhood pool. 

Brigham is really loving swimming this year. 

This is a selfie I found of our boy on my phone

He loves playing his guitar

Today he touched a pot of boiling water and burned his hand. He was falling asleep sitting at the table with his hand on the ice pack so I moved him to the couch. He slept with his hand on the pack for an entire hour. The best part was his hand didn't hurt anymore when I woke him up.

This made me laugh when I walked into the living room yesterday.

On the way to the pool/family dinner and Mark offered his sunglasses to Brigham but Brigham said he had his goggles. Ha ha ha (his hands are his "goggles" keeping the sun out)

Brigham's last soccer practice/game for the season. He loves practice and doing drills but he does not like being a part of the herd of kids chasing the ball during the games.

Fun at the Beach

A couple weeks ago we went to the beach with the Winn's. It was great! The week leading up to our trip I was worried a out the weather since a tropical storm was headed straight for the coast with landfall expected on Friday (the day of our arrival). We had to drive through the storm to get there but the weather was great while we were there! The condo we rented was awesome and the kids had a blast. 

On Saturday morning we were going to go to the Surf Shop for their delicious breakfast but our cars were over run with ANTS! I have never seen so many ants in my life. There were thousands of ants in both of our cars. It was a mess. Mark and Kenny cleaned out the cars and then drove them to a car wash in Wilmington that vacuumed them. There were still hundreds of ants left but by the time we left on Monday they were mostly all gone.  We had to pay for parking the rest of our time at the beach so that we didn't have to park beside the giant ant hill that was right beside our assigned parking spots. 

Brigham's First Soccer Game

Brigham has had soccer practice every Saturday for the last 3 weeks. Today they decided it was time for the 2 three year old teams to have a game against each other.  After 20 minutes of practice they played. I expected the kids to just all run after the ball and kick it. That is what most of them did. That is not what Brigham did. Ha ha. He was pretty much just standing on the field watching everyone else run. I spoke with him and told him he could have candy if he chased the ball and tried to kick it to the goal. After a little hesitation he began just chasing the pack of kids trying to get the ball. A few times the ball went right past him and he just watched it. 

He was just not into playing the game. He loves practice and talks about it all week but he enjoys drills better than just chasing a ball along with 18 other kids. 

I hope he begins to understand the game better and that he will enjoy it. I loved soccer. It is my sport of choice for our kids. Baseball takes up way too much time and it is such a slow game to play. Football comes with head injuries. I also enjoyed basketball. Maybe in a couple years if Brigham doesn't want to play soccer then we will switch to basketball. If he really wanted to play baseball or football I would support it but I will not be the one telling him about baseball. Ha

Today was also picture day. 

This is a picture I pulled from the video I recorded of the game. Brigham is on the far left.

This is a self portrait that Brigham drew a couple weeks ago. This is the first time he drew anything other than shapes, letters, or numbers (not that he purposely writes very many numbers or letters. Ha ha)

We sent Mimi and Auntie Becky hugs. Auntie hung hers in her hallway so she can see it Everyday. I love this picture.

Brigham helped me make laundry soap. This was our first time making it and I love it. It cost about $30 and made 2 1/2-3 gallons (you only need 1-2 tablespoons per load so it should last a while)

Brigham requested this picture be taken

Aubree-Rose and her Boppy

On Monday Aubree started really walking. She has been pretty sick the last 2 days but when she is playing or walking she has this purse with her most of the time.

The past few days Aubree has started taking more steps here and there on her own. Tonight while we were at a friend's house she stood up on her own in the middle of room and she took several steps and even walked around in a circle 3 times without falling. She was really proud of herself tonight. Usually she isn't very excited when she takes steps and she will normally "cry" when she falls. Tonight she didn't cry when she fell and she kept trying over and over to stand up and walk completely unassisted. We are getting so close to having a full time walker! 

Another thing she has recently started doing is giving kisses. Her kisses are full open mouth on yours like she trying to eat you. Ha ha. We love it! She has also started blowing kisses a little more consistently and saying bye bye. 

On Wednesday she saw mark pulling into the drive way and got so excited at just seeing his car. I was impressed that she knew it was him. She is still a mama's girl but she sure does love her daddy to pieces. 

Disney World

The other day I realized I never posted about our trip to Disney.  I went to Disney twice as a kid but I barely remember either trip.  I have been wanting to go back for years.  At the end of last year Mark got on board with going in the spring.  In January I started looking at our options.  The trip ended up being cancelled and un-cancelled a couple of times.  My last hope for fulfilling my Disney dreams was to get Nate and Scarlett on board with going.  Mark wanted to go with another family so that we could ride the grown-up rides together (riding rides with someone and about 1,000 times more fun than just riding by yourself.  I didn't realize this until we were at Disney and I said we could never go without other grown-ups again!).  Nate and Scarlett decided a couple weeks before our planned trip (that was no longer planned) that they were on board!  

Disney is the happiest place on earth and probably the most exhausting.  Scarlett and I read tons of blogs about how to "do" Disney and Mark got a run down from our friend Justin (they are Disney pros).  I had our days scheduled out so that we had a list of what rides to ride and when.  We got to the parks by 8:30 at the latest each morning.  Most of the parks don't open until 9. We went back to our hotels for naps on days 1 and 4.  Days 2 and 3 were spent entirely at parks.  Each day we went to 2 parks.  The earliest we got back to our room each night was 10:30.  One night we didn't get back until after midnight.  It was so hard to get out of bed on the 3rd and 4th day.  We were all exhausted. 

 Brigham and Aubree did amazingly well.  Aubree took naps in the stroller and Brigham would nap at the hotel.  

We never waited in a line for more than 20 minutes and we rode every ride at all 4 parks (except Splash Mountain because it was closed).  My favorite ride was Everest in Animal Kingdom.  Mark's favorite was Big Mountain Train (or something like that).  He eventually changed his mind and decided Everest was his favorite as well.  Brigham's favorite rides were Star Wars (Star Tours in Hollywood Studios), Buzz Light Near (Buzz Lightyear in Magic Kingdom), and the race cars/go garts in Magic Kingdom.  He tells me almost daily that he wants to go back to Disney World and ride just 3 rides: Star Wars, Buzz Lightnear, and the go carts/race cars.  Brigham was able to ride almost every ride with the help of some folded up paper towels in his shoes.  He couldn't ride the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and Space Mountain.  As far as I remember he rode everything else.  The Rock 'n' Roller Coaster was my second favorite.  It was so fun!

The weather was much colder than we anticipated so we were not quite as prepared as we could have been and that made the first 2 days a little bit less enjoyable.  We were just all so cold.  It was a great time of year for going to Disney and we will do it again but we will have coats with us next time.  The weather forecast said it would be in the upper 60's to lower 70's on those days but it never reached those temperatures.  Then on top of temperatures in the 50's it was windy and cloudy.  I forgot Aubree's blanket on day 2 so I gave her my sweatshirt.  Luckily days 3 and 4 were sunny and warm.  

Mark had more fun than he ever expected and said we should go back every 2 years.  That was music to my ears!  I am excited that this will be a tradition for our family. 

We stayed at a hotel that was just off the Disney property.  Originally we were going to stay at a Disney Resort but I cancelled our reservation after discovering that the bathrooms were tiny.  We needed a large enough bathroom to fit the pack and play in for Aubree to sleep.  We ended up saving a ton of money and getting a free breakfast each day.  We were on Disney property in less than a minute after leaving our hotel.  It was great!  I think staying at a resort would be fun so we could have the whole Disney magic experience but I don't think I will ever be able to justify the cost unless we are millionaires. ha ha

Now for the picture overlaod:

This is the first time we saw characters.  Brigham was star struck and so excited

This is from day 2 and it was midnight.  We were cold and so tired.

These 2 just kind of collapsed on each other.  It was adorable.  I couldn't believe they made it to midnight

This was our last ride on our last day.  It's a Small World.