potty trained!

adalyn deserves her own little post for this because she literally potty trained herself! bless her! she wanted to potty train long before i let her. i made her hold off until after disneyland because i couldn't wrap my brain around a road trip with a newly potty trained two year old.

but bless her heart, when i told her she was done with diapers, she just did it! because of that, she got to pick special prizes. mostly anything with elsa on it! this girl has been a very difficult toddler but she earns ten gold stars for this!

adventures in potty training.

i've dreaded this motherly duty since the first day i started potty training brooklyn and i was pregnant with kendall. i knew with every child i had, this came as part of the territory. i jump in feet first when we decide it's time and it is quite a couple of days. i will say this time wasn't nearly as bad. i wasn't in tears at any point. i call that success!

we prepare for the fun (ha ha) by letting the child pick out drinks and treats. in kendall's case, she chose blue squeeze its and an olaf drink, and suckers, licorice, and kit kats. day one a timer goes off every ten minutes, sometimes 7, sometimes 5. it's killer and makes for a veeeeeeeeeery long day. she had 5 accidents day one and 1 accident on day two. however, i will say that i think the more the accidents they have, the faster they learn. it helps them learn what it feels like. so, who knows how long it'll be until she's actually 'potty trained'.

mom's treats...

she always apologizes really sweetly when she has an accident, which tends to happen most often when she's outside. way too distracting the outdoors are! i've been really proud of her and we've been able to run errands without any problems. the only accident she's had in public was during a photoshoot we were doing for a friend of mine. i had extra undies which was a miracle and i'm hoping that'll be the last 'out in public' accident we have.

kendall kate, mommy loves you even through this difficult little stage of life. i'm so proud of how well you're getting this potty training thing down. you are a smart girl and just so dang cute! i love you tons and tons!

pre-valentine's

normally, i can handle winter until after valentine's day. but boy, mother nature was super sneaky this year and made me want spring just the day before valentine's day. it felt like a spring day (a little bit of a chilly one) at our house and brooklyn and i spent a good hour and a half enjoying the fresh air.

day three of potty training went well. we had one accident and brooklyn made it through a morning of running errands with dry undies. i was a proud mama. we're definitely still taking her every 15-30 minutes just to be careful. 

right before dinner one of brooklyn's cute friends showed up at the door with this darling cupcake and some valentine's cards. brooklyn was in heaven and scarfed down her green beans and chicken just so she could dive into this bad boy.

i really wish we would have timed her. i'm guessing she had it gone in fifteen seconds. no lie.

(the cinderella on her high chair is what she chose to spend her valentine's $ on from her grandma and grandpa)

and valentine's eve just kept getting better for brooklyn jayde. she pooped on the toilet and right after, her auntie googs called to say she was on her way to our house to fulfill a promise to her: if she would poop on the toilet, she'd buy her a barbie. so james and i quickly fulfilled a promise of ours to her: a donut for a job well done, and then we met up with auntie googs to get that barbie. brooklyn's spoiled right now to say the least. her choice was not suprising. she went with a rapunzel barbie.

we are so excited to celebrate this day of love together as a little family. as per tradition, we'll be ordering dinner in, dressing up a little, decorating, and just relaxing at home. james and i now just have to agree on where our dinner is going to come from. decisions decisions. 

and i can't wait for brooklyn to open these couple of gifts. i'm dying to show her the fairybirds book. i'm already feeling a birthday theme coming on.

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p.s. if you haven't watched this yet, DO IT RIGHT NOW! brooklyn and i are obsessed and have watched it a million times. we love alex boye around these parts, and the girl in it is amazing!

we've been busy

tuesday night we were busy doing fun stuff like watching haley cheer (and be honored as a senior) at good ol' north summit high. it seriously blows my mind that she's a senior and that she'll be joining the adult world in just a few months. 

brooklyn and liv sat like this for maybe 15 seconds and for the rest of the game they were everywhere. glad to have documented the quiet moments like this.

she loves her auntie hay!

the other 'busy' has been potty training. ya know, the take the toddler to the potty every ten minutes for two days kind of busy. wow. i'm not working from home anymore so being able to give brooklyn my full attention AND check potty training off the list totally made sense. 

i strapped on my apron and stuffed the pockets full of dum dum suckers and starbursts (only the fave reds of course!) to be able to award a potty in the potty at any second. we also stocked up capri suns and clifford juice boxes, her choice.

after the first two hours and three accidents, i was ready to cry and give up. i didn't care if she was in diapers until high school, this was miserable. 

but slowly, it got better. by the end of the day she had the hang of it...for the most part. she loved running around in undies all day and getting to play with a little squirt bottle. she was in heaven.

day two was so much better. we still did the ten minutes increments and we had no accidents. she even did #2 three times! the first time was awarded a krispy kreme donut. 

when james got home we started trading shifts and moved it to every fifteen minutes. it felt like such a huge difference those five glorious minutes. brooklyn kept herself busy with markers, stickers, and decorating our front room wall for valentine's i'm guessing...

after feeling guilty for about two weeks while i was working from home, it's so nice to be able to wake up and know that brooklyn is my main priority during the day. with another baby coming into her world, i'm so happy to have these next few months to just focus on her. a huge shout out to those moms out there who work from home or outside the home. you are super woman and i honestly don't know how you do it. go get yourself some chocolate! me, taking care of a toddler, keeping up on my house, and making meals is about all i can handle during the day. and i'm not ashamed to say it. 

let's hope for an even better day tomorrow! (today/thursday)

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