Tuesday, November 30, 2010

One of the Hardest things I have ever done!

Well, we did it!
Here is our story about Potty training, if you feel like reading it all.
The day we got home from the ultrasound of baby #2, Kaitlyn decided she wanted to go on the potty. She successfully went #2 and I thought why not keep going from there. We had already bought this Potty (pictured below) little panties, and stickers and of course Dum-Dum Suckers, her favorite.
So we just went for it.
That first day I rolled up my nice rug and we just learned that we "go"... a lot.
It was a tough 1st day but not too bad, knowing that I shouldn't expect much.
After the first couple days we just kept at it.
She after a couple days of being naked, just would stop playing and "go"
I thought this is great, so I put panties on her and then she would consistantly "go" in her panties.
5 steps backwards, I felt.
I am not going to lie, I wanted to quit 100 times, and I called my Mom and Sisters almost in tears because it was getting so hard.
They kept telling me that she was actually doing great and I was 75-80% done.
We knew the Thanksgiving holiday was coming and we were kept thinking it would be too hard to be away from home and try to potty train, and we almost quit, right about the time I was going to throw in the towel, she had a bunch of accidents that Saturday and Sunday before we left, she came up to me and said, "Go Potty Mommy?" and then she went.
I am so glad she did this because we were about to quit!!!
I talked to my mom about traveling and my worries about her regressing, and she assured me that it would be ok and it might even help her, since she is not at home.
While at Almas Parents house, she did ok. Not great, but we actually felt pretty proud of her, and then at Almas sisters house she was progressing more.
I think her cousins helped a lot. When she saw Branson, (Kaceys 3 year old) go potty, on the Big Potty, she was done with the little potty.
And all of Almas sisters kids were a great help, making the Potty seem like the coolest thing in the world!! And after they would go they would say, "Kaitlyns TURN!"
From Thursday on, she has been going on the Big potty and since Saturday morning it was like it all clicked and since then we have not had 1 accident.
NOT ONE!!!!!
She even slept in the same room as us and one night she woke up at 4am and said, Gotta go Potty Mom, and so I took her and she went.
She did great considering we were at my sister-in-laws house and traveling home and going to church and being in Nursery.
She even was a little sick and had to go #2 a couple times during church and she would always tell us and then we would take her.
I am feeling so grateful for my family who supported us through this. It was seriously one of the hardest things I have ever done, But I finally feel like, we are done with daytime Potty training. It is like it just all clicked with her and she can hold it now almost 2 hours and as soon as she sits on the potty she goes. She does great with #2 also which I was expecting to take a little longer.
It is great progression from even 4-5 days ago.
And now, looking back, it doesnt even seem like it was that hard. Tomorrow is the 3 week mark of starting and it was totally worth it.
Once we move we will work on nights, we started to kind of introduce it at the beginning, but since she is still in a crib we are going to wait till after the move so it isnt too much all at once.
Here is her awesome little Potty that we don't need anymore!!

Here is my big girl who is a ROCKSTAR!
We are so proud of you Kate!!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Lots to Share

Here are some pictures of the last week or so.
Me and Kate



Alma won his huge National Competition that was held at the end of October. It was a National Tax competition and his team of 4 got 1st place!!! There were about 40 colleges that he competed against.

We are so pleased of him and his hard work.

He found out he was going to be a part of it last April,so there has been a lot of studying and anticipation about it.


Here are some pictures that I took of him getting presented with his Trophy and Prize.


Him with his Award.




I love this picture bc Kaitlyn actually looks proud of him!
Like she helped win too!


For Thanksgiving we decided we would spend Sunday-Wednesday in Nevada with Alma parents and Brother Spencer.

Here are some pictures taken at their place.

Kaitlyn loved the swing that they have in their living room.






She and her Grandpa Bates searched for Spiders... she was actually not scared of the spiders.

She loved looking for them.






Then we drove back to our place for Wednesday night and Thursday and spent Thanksgiving with my sister Kacey and her hubby and 2 boys and my brother Jared.
It was yummy food and it was great to get to spend time with loved ones, we ended up video chatting with my sister Kenna, who had my parents at her house, so we were "all together" for Thanksgiving.
Here is Zach!

Branson and Kaitlyn standing by their tower.


I love the way she looks in this picture. So sweet and innocent!



Then we spend Friday through Sunday morning at Almas sisters house in Kaysville.
There was yummy food, and games that we played and loads of fun. I didn't get any pictures there :(
Hope your Thanksgiving week was as great as ours and you all made it back home safely!
Lots of crazy snow here in Utah!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

IT"S A...

GIRL!!
We are super excited!!
I really was secretly hoping for a girl, a boy would be fun but I feel like I know what I am doing with a girl... at least till the age of 2 so far.... and to have two sisters close in age will be fun and a lot cheaper and well... we JUST love having a girl! So we are excited to do that again.
We do want a boy someday though. But we are super excited that we are having another girl!
Alma will be outnumbered.... BIG TIME!
I had to take a picture of the Ultrasound pictures so sorry they are not the best quality.
This picture is showing she is a girl
This is a shot of our New Baby Girls Face!
For FHE last Monday, we had a fishing pole (stick) with a hook (paperclip) and we set up a Blanket on chairs and had Kaitlyn go fishing. Each fish said a trait about being a good missionary. We were becoming "Fishermen of Men"
We had this for dessert...
Blue Jello with Gummy fish in them... YUM!

And this was the other day. I opened the fridge and Kaitlyn ran up to me and said, "Shhhh Mommy! Big bird and babies are sleeping!!"

They took about a 3 hour nap in there.

Monday, November 8, 2010

We find out Wednesday Morning!! Make your guess!

We go in on Wednesday at 9am to find out what Baby #2 is, so make your guess over to the right side of my Blog!

Friday, November 5, 2010

I love my "almost" 2 year old

Well, this girl gets more fun with each day!
Here she is posing for the camera.
***Excuse the Mario on in the background.
She kept asking for it and and wanting to play it all morning.
It was really cute to watch her pretend to play***


Here is a picture of me today at 20 weeks with baby #2!
1/2 way there!
After Alma took my picture she wanted one of her, right in the spot where I was standing!
So fun!


She takes my camera quite often and has us turn it on and then turns it around pointing at her and says,
"SAY CHEESE!"
So these are the fun pictures you get randomly on your camera with a 2 year old.