Potty Training Update!

Potty training can be a little overwhelming! Yesterday I THOUGHT we were doing really well. No major accidents, so I thought to myself 3 days must be some kind of a record...then I was going to bed and we smelled something awful. Uh-oh.

Ruark has been getting really embarrassed when he has an accident. Plus he gets really upset because he doesn't get any candy if he doesn't make it in the potty. So apparently he pooped somewhere in my house and then stashed it under my bed because he didn't want us to know. GROSS! Yes, I WILL be sterilizing my carpets thoroughly this weekend!

My sweet friend Amy sent me a message with so many GREAT ideas for potty training, I thought I would share for all you moms out there who are embarking on this same journey with me!

First idea was to figure out what motivates your child. Ruark was easy CANDY! This kid LOVES LOVES LOVES sugar, I don't know where he get it. :) So for me it was an easy thought to use that for his treat when he goes potty. When he goes potty, you hear a big shout "YAY....CANDY!!" He knows every time he goes potty he gets some candy. Amy gave her kids 2 pieces or candy if they "tried" to go and 5 pieces of candy if they went potty.

One of her friends went to the dollar store and picked up a bunch of random toys like cars, stickers and candy and then wrapped them all and put them in a basket. The first time they went potty they got a prize then it was every two and so on. I LOVE this idea.

She said jump, cheer and praise them when they go. Call grandma, anything to get them excited to want to do it again. Another thing that helped her was to have another child who is about the same age and is potty trained to come over and show them how to do it. It helped her kids to see other little people being potty trained.

Another thing she did was go to the store and pick out a prize, for her daughter it was a doll. The doll had to stay in the bathroom but she could hold her in the package if she was sitting on the potty. She only got the doll after she went poop and pee on the same day. I'm going to the toy store tonight!

Also give them A LOT of liquid to encourage them to go, and don't get too stressed. Potty training is like a roller coaster. Some days I am so happy and other days I am so frustrated I want to cry and give up. But I'm looking forward to a few months without doing diapers! Even if it does mean I'll be doing more laundry!

The Blessing Dress

We tried for a girl. For months I read up on all the old wives tells, all the methods people use and combined everything to try to get a girl this time around. I balanced my pH through diet, Chase balanced HIS pH, we used the Shettles method and everything else we could read. Now we're just waiting to see if all of our hard work paid off! My doctor thinks in might be a girl from her heartbeat, as does the ultrasound tech. Ruark's heartbeat was 110 bpm and this baby is 172bpm. Huge difference. In a few weeks we'll see if it's a boy or girl.

Well at the start of this pregnancy my mom, sisters and I were all looking at flower girl dresses. We buy flower girl dresses for my nieces every year because they are usually the best prices and most beautiful, plus we can get them in every size we need. You can click here to see the dress we picked this year. On all these sites they are co-mingled with all these blessing dresses. So we all kept browsing through these beautiful dresses when I came to this BEAUTIFUL dress called the "bianca". I was in love, until I saw the price $405.00! There is NO WAY I would spend that much. But it was perfect, it was just like my wedding dress, but I quickly killed that idea. Late one night I did some searching trying to see if I could find it on any site for less, finally I searched ebay.

Lost of the dress came up, but it wasn't until I search for it more specifically that I found it!! It was brand new and marked down to $60.00. I bought it! I was so happy with my purchase I called my mom and sent pictures to all my sisters. No one could believe the deal I got! My hopes were crushed when I looked on my paypal and it said I was receiving a refund. I opened the message and was about to start my search again when I read the words, "you probably didn't notice that it was a buy now or best offer sale, I would have accepted $20.00 less. So I am refunding $20.00 to you".

$40.00 for a dress costing over $400?!? I'm so happy! I have had the dress home with me for a few weeks now and it is perfect. I hope this baby is a girl because I can't wait see my gorgeous daughter dressed in this beautiful gown!

Potty Training!

This is an OLD photo, that Binky was taken away MONTHS ago. But we bribe him with the Ipod so he will sit there :)

I have been so excited to start potty training Ruark! We started back when he was 14 months and he did really well. He went 3 days without any accidents and then I realized that he was still too young to really understand the concept. So the diapers went back on. I told myself as soon as he turned two we were going to start again.

Last week he got his MMR shot and was feeling really yucky. There was no fever but he just whined and cried and wanted his diaper on. So we postponed for a week. Yesterday went AMAZING! He even went all by himself when I was doing laundry! Everything was going great until this morning, which I think was mainly my fault. The nausea settled back in and I asked him if he needed to pee and he said yes. So I took him in and gave him about a minute and took him off so I could run go get some yogurt. I set him on my bed and when I came back about 30 seconds later he had peeed everywhere. He kept saying "uh-oh" and when I pulled him off the bed he ran and sat down on his potty. I'm hoping day two picks up and does better! I am already ready for this part to be over, and I kinda wish I could postpone it again until the first trimester is done. One thing is for sure, he MUST be potty trained before I have out second baby. I don't want two in diapers!

So wish me luck, because I sure could use it!

Christmas 2010

Our own little Rudolph :)

He LOVED his tent and kept hoarding all of his presents in there.

I woke him up a little too early, I was excited to see him open his presents.

I put on a happy face when Christmas came. I did as much as I could, which I still feel like was not enough. I didn't make Christmas cookies, but luckily my sweet neighbor delivered us some as well as our other neighbors so we ended up with quite a stash of Christmas goodies.

Christmas Eve was stayed home, I was exhausted from the past few days of Christmas preparations and parties. I hadn't even wrapped ANY presents yet. Then an angel, my mom, flew in to save the day. Within an hour everything was wrapped beautifully with gorgeous bows and name tags and placed lovingly under the tree. I was emotional, it was such a relief.

Our usually traditional Christmas Eve dinner is homemade clam chowder...but seeing as how I'm allergic to seafood this pregnancy Chase made lasagna instead. It was delicious and we all retired to bed early. At 7 the next morning I couldn't sleep, I was so excited.

I woke Ruark up early and he was not happy about it, but he was so excited when he saw all his presents. We had a great day, it was so nice to have our sweet family all there with us. That night Sadie & Devin and William, Mom, Mark & the boys, Chase, Ruark and I all settled in for a delicious ham dinner will all the fixings and splurged. It was the most I'd eaten in a month! We finished the night with the Iona light show. A family puts on a HUGE light show every year, with their own radio station that synchronizes all of the lights. It was a perfect ending to our Christmas this year.

I am so glad Christmas is over and two days later my decorations were all down. Christmas was hard this year, especially feeling so sick. So many traditions and plans were put aside, craft projects are still in bags waiting to be finished. I guess it's a great way for me to get a jump start on Christmas 2011!

Mexico

I took absolutely NO photos on our trip, and part of me is really glad that I didn't. I remember crying and crying when I looked at myself in the mirror. I kept thinking about the movie Hitch and wished I only looked that good.

So at 5 weeks pregnant and 2 days after I had the stomach flu, Chase, Mom, Ruark, Joyce and I all climbed aboard the plane to sunny Mexico. The plane went great, I was really nauseous and the only thing I had been able to keep down for 3 days was Sprite. So by the time we got to Phoenix, picked up our bags, took the shuttle and got our rental car. I WAS STARVING. My mom has a favorite seafood restaurant named Paupadoux's. We got there and I was eating all the complimentary bread I could grab as well as all of the club crackers and saltines that were on the table. By the time the food finally came, I was pretty comfortable. You can imagine how little I had to eat with my stomach shrinking from no food. Thankfully that's probably the thing that saved me. "Thank you Heavenly Father for the stomach flu!"

Within minutes after the seafood platter was sat down in front of Chase and I, my throat started itching. My mom noticed something was wrong right away, whereas I complained that it was just because of my dry skin. Immediately my appetite was gone, and I started feeling really woozy and felt like I was going to pass out. So we paid the check and got in the car...I was itching and scratching for two hours when we finally stopped at a gas station and I was able to look in the mirror and everyone got a good look at me. I was covered in welts, my face, neck, throat, ears, arms and torso were all inflamed and swelling. By the time we got to Yuma I was sure it would be out of my system. Morning came and it was so much worse, my tongue was swollen. So I called my brother, the doctor. That's when I started telling everyone in my family that didn't know I am pregnant. He told me what to take and when I asked about just going and getting a shot at the hospital I found out, it could kill the baby. But if your throat closes off I guess the same thing happens, only we would both die.

So I covered myself in Benedryl cream and downed pill after pill of Benedryl and Claritin...For three days in Mexico it continually got worse. My eyes were swelling and to be honest everything was in a daze. I remember how warm it was down there but thank goodness everyone took care of Ruark so that I could sleep. At one point I remember my stomach swelling so much I looked like I was 7 months pregnant. I felt awful.

It wasn't until 5 days later that everything was out of my system and it started to die down. This was the day we got home. The next day when we had a family dinner it flared up and got even worse, apparently now I'm allergic to a certain protein which causes it to flare up. So I was sick (food poisoning sick) for the next 2 days. I lost 7 pounds and I spent the next 2 weeks on the couch, which really cut in to all of my Christmas plans.

I am so lucky I didn't have to get a shot, and I truly believe it's because my husband is a righteous Priesthood holder who was able to protect our little baby through all of his blessings he gave us along the way. I can't wait to be a mom to this little baby, I just feel so bad, he/she has already been through SO much in there and we've only just begun.

Baby #2

Chase and I are so happy to finally be able to announce to all of our friends that we are expecting our second bundle of joy around August 7th! We couldn't be happier to be parents again and to give Ruark a sibling. I'm dreaming of pink, ribbons and bows this time around. Although having another little boy would be GREAT!

This pregnancy has been SO different.

@4 weeks I was nauseous

@5 weeks I got the stomach flu

@5 weeks 2 days I had a major allergic reaction and nearly went into anaphylactic shock. I still have hives on my stomach.

With Ruark 3 days before I took a pregnancy test, my ribcage moved about three inches. It did the same thing when I was pregnant early of 2010 and miscarried. My ribcage hasn't moved AT ALL. I am nauseous the ENTIRE day, I wasn't with Ruark. I was starving with Ruark, now the only reason I even eat with this baby is because I get sick if I don't. With Ruark I had TERRIBLE migraines that would leave my left side numb and force me into a dark room for a few hours, I've hardly had a headache with this baby. I was EXHAUSTED with Ruark, and I'm WIRED with this baby. It's so different, which is why I'm so desperately hoping it's a girl. I guess we'll know in about 8 weeks!