He's a Big Kid Now!

Riding his big boy bike!

Peter's parents were out of town this week at the beach on a much needed vacation, so Peter took the week off. We decided this would be an ideal time to really focus on potty training, since one of us would be home with him every day for a week.

Well, we got off to a rocky start the first few days going back and forth between underwear and diapers for naptime, church, fro-yo runs, doctor's appointments... But, Tuesday really seemed to be the turning point. He had one accident in the morning, then for the rest of the day every time he went to the bathroom was in a toilet. I think the first time was during his naptime. He was probably using it as an excuse to get out of bed, but hey, whatever works! Wednesday afternoon he didn't have any accidents until I got home... He was showing me how good he is at riding his new bike (more on that later) and when he got done said he needed to go potty. When he went in to try he wasn't able to go, but I still made him wash his hands. Sticking his hands in water was definitely not the best idea!

But, from Thursday to today he has not had one single accident! At first he really seemed to do better when he decided to go on his own; he wouldn't go when we prompted him. It was kind of cute... He would be playing with his toys then all of a sudden say, "oh" and head to the bathroom. Those were the times that were successful. But for the last two days he has finally started to be successful about going when we ask him to try sometimes. This is good so that we can have him go before we leave the house... so we can leave the house.

Pete bought three books for him as prizes for going potty and he got all three of them on Tuesday! After that we had to come up with other ideas for rewards... So Wednesday he got to come visit me at work as a treat! Then Thursday he got to go to his Nana and Grandpa's house (which was a treat, I guess, even though they weren't there). We have also been trying to just give him high fives and verbal rewards and let him know how proud we are of him.

He seems to be proud of it too. When we were at his Nana and Grandpa's house Peter's sister Cindy and two of her daughters came by. I told him to tell them what he had been doing all week, tell them about the new thing he'd been wearing all week. Well, instead of telling them, he decided to show them! He also likes to announce when he's doing something. I think part of this comes from him usually being by himself when he's going to the bathroom. When he actually goes to the bathroom he shouts something like, "Mommy, I'm doing something!" or "Mommy, I'm going potty!" He is so excited.

We haven't started night time training yet. He still wakes up wet most mornings, and I have just started getting to sleep more than 3 hours at a time. He gets upset sometimes that he has to put on a diaper after he's been wearing his underwear all day, but I told him that we need to really get the day time potty training down before we worry about the night. But we have maybe 3 weeks worth of diapers, so we might just try when we run out.

He also got a new bike! It has training wheels, but it is a BIKE, not a tricycle... When we got it in the store he didn't even want to ride it because it was so wobbly and kind of scared him. But Peter took him out to ride it on Tuesday and he rode it no problem! He fell off one time trying to take a turn a little too tightly, but had no problem getting right back on. Such a big boy!

Already riding away from me... :(

Four months!

I totally missed last month's update, but I would have just been guessing with the stats anyway. So, here you go!

Me and my beautiful girl... Yeah, I know I look like crap, but if I didn't post pictures I look bad in... well, there would never be any!

Four month stats
Height: 25.25" (90th percentile)
Weight: 14lbs,7oz (75th percentile)
Hair: Still red, and people keep asking where it came from! She hasn't really lost any, but only the one front section seems to be getting any longer. Seems like a littl mohawk.
Eyes: Still her beautiful blue!
Sick: Poor baby girl has thrush! (A yeast infection of the mouth mostly found in infants or older people because of their weakened immune systems.) We have to give her droppers of medicine every time she eats and re-sterilize all of her bottles and binkys. We thought she might be teething, and even thought we saw and felt her top teeth poking through, but the doctor said she didn't notice any tooth activity going on, so it was probably just this making her cranky. Also she had to get two shots today. She screamed until I picked her up, then she was happy and fell asleep right away in the car.
Clothes: It depends. She can still fit into most of her 0-3 month stuff, but the PJs and onesies are getting a little snug and the pants and dresses a little short. We've pulled out the 3-6 month stuff, but she normally just wears the 0-3. I'll probably pack up all the 0-3 months stuff next week though, just to make it easier to organize.
Eating: This girl definitely loves to eat! A few weeks ago she must have been going through a major growth spurt because she went from eating about 18oz per day while I was at work to like 30! She slowed down for awhile, but seemed to pick up a little again last week. We got a new (fancy!) breast pump hoping that would help, and it has a little. But she has worked through our stash and I have, incorrectly, assumed a few days would be the day she ended up having formula. A couple days last week I had Peter come pick up what I get in my first pump of the day and I've started trying to do some a little in the evenings and last weekend. The doctor suggested that if she's not getting full on the 7oz every 4-6 hours she should be eating we might want to try her on some solids... I was hoping to make it to six months with no formula and no food, but I might need to weigh which is the lesser of two evils. She is starting to show interest in food though, and Nate started early and is pretty healthy, so I might just have to give in. I even froze our first batch of carrot cubes over the weekend.
Sleep: Well, for awhile I was back in the chair with her most nights (or letting her sleep with us in bed when she would), but over the last week she's actually slept through the night 3-4 times either in her own crib or the pack'n'play. Don't tell anyone, but this has happened since we have accepted the inevitable and put her to sleep on her belly. Since she is a rolling machine and can lift herself up no problem we feel comfortable doing this. She also took two long naps this weekend which she's never done for me before, but apparantly does for Dianne all the time. The dr said she shouldn't NEED to feed overnight anymore so I might need to start having Peter get up with her now so her food source isnt so easily accessible. I would also like to add that both of my children have loved me enough to sleep through the night on their first Mother's Day - a wonderful gift for this sleep deprived mom!
Awake: She is getting very curious! She likes to check out and reach for the bears on her swing and has recently started playing with the toys on her car seat. She loves bath time with her brother. She will splash and smile when she's in there. She also doesn't seem to mind his splashes too much. We have also put her in her rolling chair some to mixed results. She seems to like it a lot... sometimes... for about 20 minutes. But that's really all she should be in it anyway.

Reaching for the stars... or the bears... whichever are closest!

Maybe she has a thing for bears...

Rolling: About a month ago she rolled from her back to her belly! Now she pretty much gets around by rolling and rolling and rolling.
Scooting: She definitely doesn't crawl yet, but she has done some army style crawling. It's very slow and over very short distances, but it has been done!
Laughing: Around the same time she rolled from back to belly she also laughed! I thought I heard her laugh one day, I can't remember what I was doing. But she really seems to like when I put her on my knees, she kicks and I pretend that she kicks my face. Today she laughed when Nte made an elephant noise at her. I love baby laughs!
Nate: He seems to have gotten over the worst of his sibling rivalry. He still acts like a baby sometimes to try to get attention, but has gotten a lot more independent in the last few weeks. He now calls her Mia instead of just Sister, but sometimes I'm not sure if he's saying "me" or "Mia". He loves to give her hugs and kisses and today he was teaching her how to dance. He's pretty much just a great big brother!

Cousins!

Well, this was going to be a post with Mia's four month stats, but we decided to skip that appointment... no big deal, right?

Last Friday I found out that my brother and his family were in Atlanta. Say, what?! It's only a four hour drive, why the heck didn't they tell me they were coming? Supposedly he thought he remembered from the last time they were out here (two years ago) that it was more like six hours away. Turns out they flew into Atlanta, but were going to do a sort of Southern tour and were heading out the next morning for Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama before heading back to Atlanta on Thursday. So we planned on meeting up there yesterday after we had Amelia and Copper's check ups. I guess Montgomery isn't as exciting as one might think, so they got into Atlanta Wednesday night and we decided our "family emergency" could push back Mia's appointment a few days. (And thankfully Peter's dad was willing to take Copper to his!).

We met them for lunch at an Atlanta institution, Mary Mac's Tea room. Unforunately I didn't see anyone all dressed in black, or even any silver buttons! It was just a cute little place with all the famous southern food: black-eyed peas, collard greens, chicken and dumplings, peach cobbler, etc. Then we went to ImagineIt: The Children's Museum of Atlanta. The kids had a lot of fun, but it was fairly unimpressive to me. The last time we went to a Children's museum Nate was a little too young to enjoy it, though it was much bigger, but he loved this place! I'm sure being with his cousin helped a lot.

This is the kind of sand they need at the beach - perfect for sand castles.

Clifford, Emily Elizabeth and Nate

Fishing in their super cute rain coats!

After the museum, we headed right across the street to Centennial Olympic Park, home of the 1996 Olympic Games. It has a couple of playgrounds, a water feature, a burger restaurant, and is just a nice place to hang out in the middle of downtown. From there we went to their hotel for a little breather before a very disappointing dinner and the drive home.

Lulu and Nate, sliding away

These kids were holding hands and giving hugs and kisses to each other all day! Then right when we left the restaurant Nate "called" Lindsay and told her she's his best friend. :) Too cute!

Madison and Amelia - Cruising in style!

Pooped

Mia and Maddie, just hanging around

Luckily Mia traveled like a champ. She got fussy a few times on the way there, but as soon as she got her binky back (thank God for Peter's long arms!) she was fine. We stopped one time for a quick bathroom-diaper-feeding-break, but otherwise she slept the whole way there and back. Nate didn't sleep on the way there, but crashed HARD on the way home and didn't even wake up when Peter carried him uupstairs, put him in pajamas and into bed.

We all can't wait to see them again in July for Mia's baptism and our trip to the beach with my sister, her daughter and my mom!

Check back in about a week for Amelia's four-and-a-half month stats. I imagine we will actually make the next appointment.