Notes On Isabelle

Isabelle continues to be such a smiley girl!  She weighs around 12 lbs, so she remains to be quite small but she has a couple rolls!   She is still able to wear some of her 3 month clothes.

Isabelle is also pretty talkative these days once she gets going and really likes to be loud! 

She is still rolling over, which she has two different ways to get there.  1)  Stick her butt really high up in the air and then let it drop to the side, thus pulling the rest of her body over. 2) Put her head up and drop it to one side to roll over. 

Isabelle is also very wiggly - I can tell she wants to be more mobile so I think it won't be long before she starts rolling the other way.

Diaper changing is quite a process.  Isabelle does this leg smack down, where she sticks her legs straight up in the air then smack them down as hard as she possibly can!  Usually, she manages to get either poop, butt paste or anything else around on at least one foot!  I have had a learning curve with her!  Of course the whole time, her eyes are dancing with pride and smiles often!

Isabelle is also getting used to the jumperoo a little more and is starting to bounce a little more!

We are still working on the nighttime sleeping, she ranges anywhere from 5.5 hours to 7.5 hours so I like those long nights! 

Isabelle also loves her sister, you can tell whenever she looks at Amelia!

Poopy Situation

Lately, I haven't been doing many stories that would otherwise be forgotten as the years pass.  So on that note, here is a story....

 

Today has not been a good potty day.  We've had more misses than hits which after 6ish weeks of the whole potty training thing - its just frustrating.  I'm hoping its just an off day.  We started with a miss on the floor (normal location) - Amelia told me after she went; which I didn't know so told her to run to the bathroom and she tracked it the whole way.  We had a hit (#2) in the potty and about 10 minutes later we had another miss.....a big one....on our bed!!!  Really not happy.  At this point the plastic covers went back on. We had a hit before nap time and before falling asleep there was another miss.  As I go running into Amelia's room, she is in the process of taking off her plastic cover which causes pee to splash all over the place.  AHHHHHH!!

The rest of the afternoon went pretty painless (she slept most of it).

After describing my day to my sweet husband, he throws out the idea of having a picnic for supper!  What a fabulous thought!  So we got some food and headed to the park, with strict instructions for Amelia to tell us if she had to go potty.  We eat, we start to play....I am delayed by a massive blow-out, compliments of Isabelle.  As I am working on cleaning up Isabelle, Patrick goes running by...'throw me the keys, Amelia has to go potty - she told me!'   Can I get a 'Yay' out there?!  I am feeling quite happy.  Unbeknown to me - Amelia is also taking a dump.  So here is the picture - both Patrick and I are dealing with the poo in a park.  There is no shame left.  Amelia is done before I finish cleaning Isabelle (did I mention hers was massive?!).  Evidently, so was Amelia's.  Patrick left to clean her travel potty (nearly loosing his supper while doing so).  As I watch Amelia play, I notice she has a streak of poo down her leg....hmm...daddy missed a spot.  I clean it up and notice some more poo on her shorts top and bottom.  Oh well, at least she actually went in her potty.  As we went to leave, Patrick notices a small little lone turd sitting in the parking lot, not far from where the original poo site was.  Hmmm, how odd.....could that have been a little straggler and also the guilty party of the streak from Amelia's leg.....we think so.  We decided to 'pop the hood' to make sure we are in the clear.  Hmmm, I would love to say it was a 50/50 chance, but the odds for today just aren't stacking up that way.  Well, PLT (parking lot turd) was not alone....it was a poopy situation - a smushy poopy situation and had to be dealt with before leaving.  Patrick told Amelia to pull her pants down and as she got her undies down, she managed to step in the smushy - luckily she had socks on.  Patrick said we have to throw the undies away.....my optimistic self said - I can salvage them.  His response?!  Kathy, there are accidents and then there is that.  I'm throwing them away!  You can salvage the sock!  

And with that he tossed the undies, we said goodbye to PLT and headed for home. 

Oh how I hope tomorrow is better than today.

 

Off to Dodge

Instead of going home after the week at gramma and grandpa's we headed to Nana and Papa's house!  The reason was Great Grandma Lillian, LuAnn and Bob were coming up from Kansas.

We also got to see Auntie Awesome, Unkie Cool, Paige and Alaina.  Alaina loved holding Isabelle, which required Nana and Auntie Awesome to give up some of their snuggle time! :)

Seeing the Safly's also worked out well in respect to potty training.  Both Paige and Alaina were super encouraging to Amelia and cheered at every success.  Paige sat and read books to Amelia and Alaina, she was in it to win it!  So.....couple stories.....

Patrick was helping Amelia go potty and Alaina was watching.  She had a success and Patrick said, Oh Amelia I'm so proud of you!  Alaina tucked this away in her brain.  
Later on, Alaina comes running downstairs, Unkie, Unkie, you need to come upstairs, Amelia needs help going potty.  As they are going upstairs Alaina says to Patrick, Amelia is not making me very proud - she is not going potty.  Patrick finds Amelia with the bottom clothes missing and trying to get on the pot.  Alaina had been helping her and if she could have, she probably would have lifted her up there.  So Patrick gets Amelia on the potty and she has a success.  Alaina starts cheering saying....Amelia I'm so proud of you! Yay! 

It was so so sweet how Alaina was totally helping.....she would run and get Amelia her treats after successes and would come tell me when she had one with such excitement in her eyes!! 

Thanks so much girls for helping Amelia!

Alaina and Isabelle

Amelia opening up some birthday gifts from Nana and Papa and the Safly's

Great Grandma Lillian with Alaina and Paige

Alaina, Isabelle and Unkie Cool

So sweet!

Papa in the kitchen making salsa

Nana and Isabelle

Paige and Alaina were playing a game with Amelia where Paige would cover up Amelia and then quick take off the blanket.....

Then Alaina would tickle Amelia.  Oh how she laughed!

Great Grandma Lillian and Isabelle.  It was so crazy, pretty much every time Lillian picked up Isabelle, she would cry non-stop.  She would hold off a little longer if she wasn't facing her, but would still figure it out and cry.  We all laughed!  Luckily Lillian still was able to get in some snuggles and was so understanding of Isabelle.

Great Grandma Lillian playing baby with Amelia

LuAnn and Isabelle

A cousin picture!  All we are missing is Olivia and Baby In-the-oven

Great Grandma Lillian and the girls.

And one of Isabelle figuring out who is holding her!

A group picture, minus Patrick, Amelia and me

Auntie Awesome and Isabelle

Yay!  Some snuggles from Great Grandma!

Amelia learned how to ride trike.  She was starting to get the hang of it on the littlest one, but was still working on the whole coordination thing.

Here she comes!

Amelia leading Papa around.

Amelia with the littlest trike

Nana and Great Grandma Lillian on the porch swing

LuAnn

Isabelle and Great Grandma Lillian

LuAnn and Isabelle

Great Grandma and Amelia

It was so good to see everyone, it has been such a long time.  Thanks for making the trip! 

Amelia is Potty Training!!!

The last week in July was mainly spent in the bathroom with Amelia potty training!  I never knew sitting next to a toilet entertaining a child could be so exhausting; however, I have to say it was worth it!  And we couldn't have done this without the help of Gramma.  

My thought for potty training was mainly to load Amelia up on liquids and take her to the bathroom a lot.  She has been showing most of the signs for quite some time, so I kind of thought - 3 days - we'll be good to go.  I realize now a few things:

- its a process, not a 3 days and done thing

- my relationship with Amelia has gotten stronger by spending so much time together

- potty training requires trust between parent and child

- both mommy and child need to be ready!

- I am and need to be my child's biggest cheerleader

- this is the biggest thing Amelia has learned in her short 2 years of life

- its a lot of work for both mommy and child

- I am so grateful for my mom's help

- accidents happen!

- I'm so so proud of my smart girl



Amelia on the potty!  Elmo helped immensely in this process.....Elmo potty seat, Elmo undies, Elmo books, Elmo youtube!

When Amelia goes to the potty successfully she gets such a huge proud smile on her face!

 Isabelle attended the potty party by having a growth spurt (aka lots of sleep) and adding to her development skills.  Here is one of her skills.

 Amelia had her choice of any and almost all drinks....load up time!

 Miss Isabelle

 Isabelle and one of her famous smiles!

 We spent a lot of time outside...easier to clean up accidents.  Amelia loved sitting in the mustang; however, it wasn't quite the same without her cousin Emma.  Emma gave her rides during Tulip Festival and Amelia just isn't quite ready to drive it herself.  She thought maybe her baby could drive it, but to no avail.  Amelia kept patting the driver seat saying, Emma, Emma over and over again.

 On occasion she would sit in the driver seat, but nooooo actual driving.

 We also went on the deck

 Gramma and Isabelle

 Grandpa and Amelia

 Time to grow some more!  

Amelia is wearing a dress that was my grandma's.  I am not sure of the full history, but the dress is very old and has been worn through generations.

It has been about 4 weeks since Amelia started potty training.  We are not 100% yet, but Amelia is doing really well. It seems she will go every couple days and have only 1 accident and then she'll have about 3 accidents in a row.  On these days, I am lucky to have gramma remind me that accidents happen!  So its definitely a process, but we are still going strong!  The amazing thing is Amelia has woken up in the morning with dry pull-ups a few times now!  This is a huge bonus, because I did not plan of focusing on this part at all until after we got the day time thing figured out.  She also continues to do well during nap time and has only had 1 or 2 accidents total. 

Amelia - I am so very proud of how you are doing!  I can't believe how smart you are.  Keep up the good work - we'll get this.



Isabelle's 3.5 Month Pictures

Below are Isabelle's 3.5 month pictures!  I can't believe she is getting so big and these were taken a couple weeks ago!  Today Isabelle is actually 4 months old.  She is still our smiley girl and starting to show more and more personality!  I think she has the potential to be our spunky one!