never know when you need to go...

Venturing out in panties

Lilli Jane has done it, we are in the carseat now with panties on, she is doing so well.  We are still sending her to school in a pull up so they don't have to worry all morning about an accident, but maybe next week we can start that.  She even pooped int he big potty tonight, that is so wonderful, just a flush and no more poop!!!  Yay!  I got an applause in the public restroom tonight after I went form her with others in there, I am sure they were laughing.  She tells us when she has to go, can hold it a short while to make it to the potty and she will go when we put her on it before we leave or have a bathroom break, it's so wonderful!  She gets the funniest face when she starts to go (won't do it if she doesn't).  I know it's outside, but it is the south and pretty warm!

Potty Training for the 3rd time!

I wrote a very simular blog to this that I read this weekend.Delaney potty training.  Come to find out, Lilli Jane is ready at 20 months just like her sister!  She has gone consistently for the past two days when we have been home and diaperless.  The first few times we had a struggle to stay sitting on the potty, wasn't sure what was going on, but once it came she was so happy for herself.  Flushing is the favorite part of course!  And you can't forget the M&M!  Of course the big kids like the dumping part (from the little potty to the big one).  Delaney has kind of taken this on herself, she cheers for her, grabs her toliet paper, and asks if she needs to go all the time.  She still is fine with a diaper at nap and night and on the go, Delaney just got out of a pull up at night just before Christmas, so we are a ways from that and I know now you just have to wait on them to be ready for that.  Having her trained during the day would be great!  I don't think we will stop training, she is well on her way!  Yay!!!  Pictures to come later...my phone won't download them tonight.

Potty Training?

Lilli Jane is 18 moths old in 2 days...is she ready?  Delaney got a potty out for her and tried to show her...she went once just before bath, but nothing else YET!!!

Potty Trained

I have not written in a while, I plan to catch up with them over the next couple weeks, we have been so busy with Come-See-Me, a beach trip, Easter, Campaigning, potty training, and the terrible twos that I just haven’t been blogging much.

Both kids I can now say are potty trained!  Blake wears a pull up at night still, but stays dry 99% of the time.  We started at the beach two weeks ago and he had one accident at the beach and one on the playground here at home, other than that it’s all been in the potty.  We had a few tears, well, screams the first few days, not for a diaper, but just that he had to go and didn’t want to let it out.  He knew he was ready and we did too, kept pushing along and he did it!  We all made it! 

Delaney started in November, did well, regressed, and now I can say she is done too.  She wears a diaper (doesn’t like the pull ups) for nap and night time, but if she pee pees in it or poops, she takes it off usually and calls us or goes back to sleep.  Aw man, does that mean she needs a big bed now so she can get up and go when she needs to?  Not sure I’m ready for that! 

It’s interesting on the go, but with two of them, I’m getting it knocked out at once.  Pretty cool!

The MacDonald Family

We went to Conway twice this week while we were at the beach to visit Gertie and Pops, Kevin’s grandparents.  Pops was diagnosed with cancer that has spread throughout his body last November.  After some treatments he decided with doctors help to stop treatments and go home.  We are all very saddened by this news and visit them every chance we can.  Don’t take your loved ones for granted.  We are not promised tomorrow, but we are promised ever lasting life.  I don’t know how we could get through times like these without faith.  Thank you God for sending your son to us for us to all have ever lasting life even as sinners. 

Kevin and all the grandchildren have always shared a close relationship with their granddad.  Grandma Jane has always been there to bake her famous sugar cookies for them and passionately love them with all she has.  They treasure her.  I love to watch them all love them both dearly.

Cole and Delaney are only 4 months apart, they had fun together in a short period of time.  I wish they lived closer to us instead of TX.  Charley and Blake enjoyed electronics together and making a train track with the blocks Poppie hand crafted many years ago.

Kindermusik

We love Wednesday afternoons and nights, gymnastics, supper at church with friends, Kindermusik, and Mission Friends (Blake only goes to Mission Friends, and only if he takes a nap during the day because he has to stay up later).  Kindermusik is so much fun with all 4 of us in there singing, dancing, and playing with our friends.  Blake is so grown up now with his new haircut too.

Fun afternoon in the fort

We built a fort again in the dining room yesterday, got the flashlights out and piled the toys in, what fun!  I think the kids enjoyed it too.

Taylor baby-sat tonight while Kevin and I were crossing paths getting home from work and going to an appointment for a couple hours, it’s always fun to see what pictures I’ll have on my camera that she loves to play with when we return.  These two of Blake are SO CUTE!!!

The day ended in another…

…she went on her own twice today, in the potty!!!

Such sweet siblings

The kids are so sweet together most of the time.  They play together and teach other things.  Believe it or not Delaney seems to teach Blake more than he does her.  She figures things out and just knows how to play with stuff.  They are both starting to be more imaginative and Blake pretends that he’s doing stuff, going places, etc.  Delaney changes the dolls clothes, and loves to be creative with stickers, drawing, chalk outside, etc.

Today Blake told me he was going to work and he had his computer with him, I asked him where and he said the Cotton Factory with Granddad.  I said ok, what are you going to do?  He told me collect money.  So funny!

Notice Delaney doesn’t have on pants, potty training is not going as well as it was, hopefully she on the up hill again with it though.  Lots of messes to clean up lately.

Blake turns 3

Blake is now 3 years old and he'll be the first to tell you that. He is so proud that he is 3. His personality is coming out more and more each week. He knows what he likes and doesn't like. If it's orange, he likes it, if it's green (food) he doesn't touch it. He does like to eat though and takes a while at mealtime. He still sucks on his food to eat unless we remind him to chew.

We visited Santa a couple weeks ago and after waiting in line about an hour, he was warmed up and sat on his lap and even smiled, he doesn't smile for pictures very often, he's so shy. When he's around his older cousins he tries to do everything that they do, like wrestling, shooting basketball, he's pretty good at that, playing soccer, he's getting a goal for the back yard for Christmas, and enjoying a juice box, which is a special treat.

Blake is still so sensitive and compassionate. He takes care of his little sister and others. He tends to have special relationships with many adults, keeping a close hold on their hearts.

He is learning so much, at home and school. He has gone 4 days a week for 2.5 hours this fall and will continue that until May. He enjoys the books and songs the most in class and especially the snacks! He breaks out in song at home all the time, we love to sing together. He is about 37 pounds, and wearing 3T clothes now. He still takes a 2-3 hour afternoon nap and sleeps from 7:45pm-6:45am each night in his bunk bed. He’s recently had his first friend spend the night, they had so much fun.

He loves matchbox cars and balls. Those are his favorite toys right now, he also enjoys watching Curious George and Elmo on TV, but he doesn't watch it much. He LOVES books the best out of everything.  He loves to play outside and has been sad that it's been a little too cold to go out lately. We went to the beach in late August and for Thanksgiving and he is a good swimmer so far. He was jumping in and going under in August, I hope he'll remember how in the spring. He knows how to behave and hardly ever gets in trouble. He still isn't potty trained. He will let me know when he needs to go poopie, but doesn't want to go in the potty. He doesn't talk much about the pee pee. His little sister, Delaney, is trained though, that doesn't seem to push him, but he does encourage her and is so proud of her. He loves her more than anything else and they are already best friends. Tonight in the back yard as they played in the sandbox they had a whole conversation about something with the balls and the buckets, she wasn’t making much sense, but he sure understood her.

They love playing outside with the bikes, in the sandbox, in the park, on the playset, on the swings, and with cars, trucks, balls, etc. He is afraid to try new things most of the time, but after watching a couple times he’s ready to give it a whirl. We started gymnastics this week and he had to take 30 min just to get used to everything that was going on, after that he was ready to try. He hangs on to our legs and stays right beside us until he’s comfortable.

We talk about Lisa, his birthmother, to him and he knows how special she is to him. He understands that he grew in her belly while he was growing in mommy and daddy's hearts. He knows he was born in Las Vegas and is proud to tell others that. He still talks about his mole on his ankle that is his "kiss from Lisa". We tell him that is from her and she left it there to always remind him of her and how much she loves him. We look at the picture of her and his 1/2 brothers and we say prayers for them often.

Another update from the potty

Delaney went poopie in the potty yesterday!!!!!!!!  She had only done a little bit before, but this was a full time!  Go Delaney!  I am so excited, one is almost out of diapers.  We are going to take a break with Blake and not push for a couple weeks and start over again after a break.  But Delaney is about 90% done.  She will tell us when she needs to go, even if it's driving down the road, I have a pot in the back, and she'll try when I put her on there.  Yea!!!

Blake and Delaney potty training update

This morning Blake woke up and said, "I'm not going to wear diapers anymore" and was proud of himself, so he went to school after not needing to go at all at 8:30am in a pull-up.  He cried a little and wanted a diaper about 9:15am, but went and sat and went pee pee a little bit with Ms. Nikki his teacher.  She said it wasn't all of it though, he tried again at potty time about 10:30 and didn't go, but did come home with a wet pull-up.  He wanted a diaper on for nap time.
Delaney was pretty wet this morning when she woke, we put panties on her and she peed before we went out the door on the potty right when she sat down.  We tried again at school at 8:30, but nothing came out.  She told Ms. Leane, her teacher, she needed to go during school 4 times and went each time!!!  She loves the M&M reward!  However, about 11am she was uncomfortable, tried to go, didn't, and went poopie in her panties.  They changed her and put on a pull up.  After lunch, she sat on the potty and went pee pee!  She's sleeping in a pull up, but I think she's well on her way!!!  Not even 21 months yet, who would have thought?

Another update...poopie!!!

Delaney pee peed in the potty this morning before we left for church!!!!!  She had a wet and dirty diaper after she woke this morning, but that is good, I don't want her to hold that poopie in.  She tried to go on the little potty at church, but didn't go.  We ate breakfast at church and had the ride home, she said wet when we got out of the car and she was, she had wet her pull up.  That's ok.  She sat on the potty right when she got home because I put her that and she started pushing, there came the poopie!!!!!!!!  Holy cow!  I don't want to think this is it, she's only 20 months old, but she sure is doing well.  Yesterday in Columbia at the condo we had the potty on the porch and she went up there in the open air one time!!  She had 1 accident, went int he diaper twice and Go D!
Blake is proud of her to if you are worried about him, but he still doesn't really want to try.  He is ok with her getting the praise and attention with it. Maybe it's encouraging him.  He does check with me to make sure he has on a diaper before he pee pees and tells me he has to sometimes.  He's almost there.

Potty Training update

I know, Delaney is dressed crazy, she likes playing dress up
and puts all kinds of things on herself, plus she undresses
herself and dresses herself.  WOW, go D!

 So, on the afternoon of day 2 that Blake decided that he wanted to wear underwear and try to go potty Delaney decided that she wanted to sit too.  The bathroom just isn't big enough, so we sat in the den.  Neither of them went so we got up, both in underwear and played a little, Blake all of the sudden said he had to go.  So as I'm making a full of myself encouraging him, I'm keep an eye on Delaney out of the corner of my eye and I watch as she pulls her own pants down and sit on the potty, then stands up and smiles.  I look over and there is pee pee!!!!  Blake didn't go, but he was very proud of her and clapped and sang with us.  She got her M&M and we pulled up pants.
Both of them tried a few more times during the afternoon/evening.  Delaney wet just a little like 3 times in a row, i think she stopped herself each time and didn't finish, so the last accident I put her on the potty and she went and good bit!  We cheered!  After a bath and no more pee pee we put on diapers getting ready for bed, about 5 min later she said "Mama" and pointed at her bottom, I asked, "pee pee?"  She nodded yes and I put her quickly on the potty, she went again!!!!  She told me she had too!!!
So this morning we tried and tried.  Blake finally decided he wanted to put on a diaper and went pee pee in it pretty quickly afterwards, but kept cheering on Delaney.  She successfully went twice before lunch and only had 1 accident.  She doesn't go when I put her on it, she tells me and she sits.  It's crazy to think, but I think she's on the way!  Blake just isn't quite ready and that's ok, I don't want to push him, he's too sensitive for that.

Potty training update

So this morning Blake decided that he wanted to wear underwear and when it was time he peed on the potty!  We were so excited, he usually says no he doesn't want to go every time we ask!  Even if Delaney goes it doesn't motivate him.  So when we left for Wal-Mart, I'm not putting my life on hold right now for it, we put a pull-up on.  He was just as excited about that too, so I went with it like underwear explaining not to pee in it.  We stopped by the ladies room at WM, with Delaney too, that's tough in a public restroom when you are training and have an extra kid, but he didn't go.  When we got out of the car he said ut-oh, I'm wet and teared up.  I explained it was ok, accidents happen, we'll go to school and put another on and try again, but he lost it.  He was so hard on himself for messing up, I felt bad for him.  He just wanted to put a diaper on, so I did and left him crying at school.  She said it didn't last too long though.  I thought that is it, he won't try again at all now, but he wanted to wear a pull-up for his nap and sat on the potty before he went to sleep too, but didn't pee.  I hope this is it, I hope he's ready, I sure am!  Maybe Delaney will give it another try too!  She actually has peed on the potty several times in the past month!  There is hope with both!  That's the update, not much more to say, I don't plan to push him though, he's not a kid that can take that, it'll be a slow process I'm sure.

Come on, really?  I am starting to think she is more interested in pottying than Blake.  Maybe she'll train with him this summer, or maybe before him!  He could care less!  Waiting on him to be ready, not pushing it by any means.