Released From Primary

I got released as the Primary chorister a few weeks ago actually but I did my last day on Sunday. It actually felt really nice to be released. I liked that calling but it defiantly has it's challenges. Coming up with something new and exciting every week was really hard. I still hope I get to see them do the program. I've worked on almost all the songs with them and it will be fun to sit back and enjoy them. Now I get to dedicate more of my time to a little baby. It has been fun finding things to do to keep myself busy until she comes. I am getting excited for her to come. I know that she is a special daughter of God who's been waiting a long time to come to this Earth. Here is my big shout out for a great delivery and all the rest that will follow!

Just some fun pictures

Anna loves the spray bottle. She found it one day and well she pretty much soaked herself. She wasn't having so much fun I couldn't take it away from her.

Kisses...she loves to play with little baby dolls lately. I'm afraid this is what she is going to want to do to our new little one.
This was on one of those crazy potty training days. We were dancing to music and she had to hold all 3 dolls at the same time...pretty cute if you ask me.

My new craft

So I've been finding fun things to do before this baby comes. I'm getting nervous. Just last night I was trying to go to sleep and this little girl wouldn't stop kicking me and so I just sat there in awe at this precious child of God that I have inside of me. Being pregnant is unlike any other feeling. I hope for the very best with my delivery and also with nursing but either way I'm sure the Lord knows what is best for our family. It will be interesting to see how Anna responds to her. I hope she will learn to love her. I only have 4 more weeks until I will be as far along as I was when I had Anna. CRAZY!

This little skirt is for Anna. I just saw one similar and decided to go for it. My sister helped me figure out the measurements but I sewed the whole thing. I am not very good at sewing so I think it turned out great!

This is for the new baby. The ruffle bum is sewn to a onesie. This is the back side.
This is the front of the onesie. I'm excited to take pictures of my girls in these fun outfits!

Potty training fiasco

So I officially decided not to keep trying to potty train Anna. I dedicated all my time and energy into potty training for 5 days and she never once acted interested. She never once told me but like 2 seconds before she was going that she needed to go. If I tried to stick her on the potty when she did need to go she wouldn't...but 1 minute later she would be going all over. It didn't make sense. I tried to stay very upbeat and not get mad or frustrated and I think I did a good job overall but Anna didn't like it one little bit. She wouldn't go to bed, she wouldn't take naps, and she was very clingy. Besides that she has a few emotional breakdowns the last few days. So today she has pretty much been back to her normal happy self. I put a pull up on her last night and she actually slept till like 8am this morning. It was a very hard decision and to be honest I almost feel like all that work was for nothing but it wasn't. I know I learned a lot about potty training. I also learned that I have a few short weeks left with Anna, somewhere between 5-7 and I have to do all I can to enjoy this time together. She is such a fun loving girl and it is good to have her back, in a sense. Don't get me wrong, I wish it would have worked out, but sometimes in life things aren't suppose to work out the way that we want them too. Those people who have success potty training a 20 month old, you are amazing! I can't believe you did it. Anyone who is potty training a child of any age, best of luck!

Day 3 potty training

So today was interesting to say the least. I feel defeated, yet I feel in a small way that maybe we are getting somewhere. Anna is so sick of this and to be honest I kind of am as well. You see she never made it to the potty once today. I mean she would start going and I would rush her to the potty but she won't ever actually go to the potty before she has to go. In the e book she says that in there way they will tell you. Well the only way that Anna tells us is she gives you that look and then it all comes out...well I can't ever get to the potty before she's almost all done going pee.

Night time was a joke tonight again. I know she had to go but when I have her try before bed she won't ever go but then right after I put her down she goes, it's very frustrating. I try to catch her but it's hard. That and she doesn't ever want to stay in bed. She gets up and wants to be outside with us. I tell her if she isn't going to the bathroom then she has to go to bed but that back fires almost every time because then she goes pee in her room after I leave. I guess I'll have to come up with a plan, and figure out what is the difference between bed time and letting her get out to go pee? I'm really not sure.

Now what am I going to do this week. Well I really can't go anywhere with Anna like this. She won't ever hold it and she would go every time. I am going to try to make this work. I think between Zach being home all day and me leaving for a few hours to do Primary didn't help. The author does recommend that the child is 22 months, and if they younger than that it may take longer. Well if it takes longer than tomorrow, I will have to come up with a different plan, i think. I don't want to go back to diapers because we've worked so hard for this but honestly I'm not sure at this point what to do.

Well that's about it. I really do like this lady's method a lot and I feel that it would work so much better for an older child. Anna is 20 months old but a few months can make a big difference.

Day 2

Anna woke up dry today, can you believe that? I couldn't, I'll have to say that was about the most exciting thing that happened. Today was better than day 1 but it was still very challenging. I think mostly Anna is realizing that this isn't very fun for her or me and she doesn't like it. I try to stay up beat and have a positive attitude but it can be challenging. She runs in circles and tries to hide when she has to go, I think in part because she doesn't want to have to go to the bathroom. She did much much better at getting everything out at once today though. A few struggles but I wasn't glued to the bathroom as much.

Anna's also went poop in the potty today. The 1st time it was just a little but it really did end up in the potty which is like an absolute miracle to me. The 2nd time I knew she had to go and I could see it in her face but whenever I would try to set her on the toilet she wouldn't go. Well I finally decided to let her start going and then dump what was in her underwear in the toilet and then let her finish, so that is what we did and it worked out. She really liked getting praise for doing it. I still think she has to go some more but hopefully with time we will figure this whole thing out.

That being said the hardest thing about today was bed time. She didn't want to go to bed. Last night she didn't want to go to bed but when she finally went pee she went down fine. Tonight she was up till like 11, and I know she was tired, yet I think she was afraid to be by herself and have an accident. I don't know but this potty training thing is really hard on her. I wasn't sure if I should force her to go to bed or let her stay up. I left to go to the store for a bit because this is the only time that I could go and Zach made her cry a little and she went everywhere. I feel bad but it's a battle between bed time and Anna not wanting to go to bed. You see Anna goes to bed so easy usually. Zach even said last week I think that we are so blessed that Anna goes down so easily...and it's true, but I just hope it gets better.

Potty training DAY 1....WOW!

OH MY WOW!!!! What a day! Well I decided it would be a good idea to post about my experience trying to potty train. Today was crazy! Anna woke up at 7:30 and we ate breakfast and I got a few things done I needed to do before Anna's last diaper came off and we were off to potty training. We threw away any old diapers laying around and then talked about the potty a little bit after that. Well between about 8 and 10:30 Anna had had at least 20 accidents. Seriously I would think she's done for a while and then she would go. The worst was when she would be on the potty, not go, then off the potty and as I'm in the bathroom trying to clean up the mess from the last accident she would pee again...so back onto the toilet and the same thing for like 2 hours. I was cleaning up messes left and right. Oh and this ladies method recommends you don't just let them try to sit on the potty all the time cause then they start to think of it as a time out spot. I had to do laundry in between because I only had 30 pairs of underwear. I had used up all the clean underwear and needed more from the drier so I went outside to get the laundry after putting Anna down for a nap and then the next thing I know she is hitting the door and going pee...so I ran inside and took her to the bathroom. I didn't have any underwear for her to wear so I went outside again and the same thing happened....why didn't she get it all out the 1st time? By this time I'm pretty much laughing...I'm pretty frustrated but I know getting mad won't help...I just tell Anna over and over "Let Mommy know if you need to go potty okay Anna."

Because Anna woke up a little earlier than usually she got to go down for a nap early...about 1030ish. Well she woke up about 12 and didn't take another nap all day. I thought she would go to bed early but she didn't. At 9 she didn't want to be in bed and didn't stay. Well needless to say I'm very tired and wanted her to sleep. Well about 930 she had an accident which I picked her up rushed her to the potty and put her to bed soon after.

Btw she did make it to the potty a few times, sometimes with little dribbles in the underwear but I was still proud of her for making it. When I could get things cleaned up fast enough in between messes, if she went at all in the potty she got a M&M. She kept asking for them but only got them when she went pee in the potty. She hasn't gone poop yet and I'm worried that she will tonight but hopefully she will be okay. Also we will see if she wakes up dry or not?

Oh and Zach hasn't been home since Thursday, he gets back tomorrow afternoon and I am so ready for him to come home. He's been on a scout trip with his young men. I think today would have been a little easier with him home but I'm glad Anna and I could have time to focus together.

Well WISH ME LUCK WITH DAY 2...hope it goes better than DAY 1 but I'm so grateful today is over!