Many Topics

Random catch-up post. 

Potty Training

Our adventures in potty training have been...well, an adventure. Harper has it down. And as long as I can get Piper Lee trained before college, we'll be good to go. That kid has no interest in the toilet. We've deprived them of chocolate. They only get some if they go potty. A lot of websites and books say don't bribe your kids into using the "big kid" toilet because then they think they should get a reward every time they use it. Uh, yeah. It's a huge accomplishment. I mean, when they're in high school, sure, don't give them candy for using the bathroom, but a 2.5 year old? They can have the whole bag of M&M's for all I care. (Btw, I DO understand what those books/websites are saying, but bribing has worked for us...well, I like to call it rewarding. Anyways.) We tried the 15 minute thing. We were gonna try the watch thing where they'd wear a watch that went off every 10-15 minutes and you sit them on the toilet to see if they could go. But, the 15 minute thing where I just set an alarm and asked if they needed to go didn't work, so I figured a watch wouldn't either. We tried a potty that played music and sang a song when tee tee or poop hit the bottom. They weren't having it. Then, one day, back in June, they come up to the gate to my office and say, "Momma. Chocolate." Usually they just get chocolate (M&M's or Hershey's Kisses) if we're on a loooong car trip and everybody is getting fussy. Or, if they've done something extra awesome like help Momma pick up their toys without me asking them to, etc. So, I say, "If you go tee tee on the potty, I'll give you some chocolate." Piper's response was, "Nope." And Harper says, "Okay." Skeptical, I lead her to their little training toilet and pull down her drawers. I sit across from her on the real toilet and we wait. She thinks and thinks and thinks and squints her eyes and then a smile..."I did it!" I pick her up and sure enough, there is one little droplet of tee. I figured that was good enough for a first try. I reward her with two Kisses. She downs those in like .3 seconds, then proclaims, "I tee tee again." We go back to the toilet and she fills that bowl up. I've set the precedent of giving her two Kisses, so she expects two again and this time, it's a real tee tee, so I was more than happy to reward her. I asked Piper Lee if she wanted to try and she shakes her head and said, "No. Harper did it." As in, "Harper has met the potty quota for today so there's no need for me to go."

A few weeks went by and nothing on the potty front. I thought maybe it was a one-time thing. Then, about 3 weeks ago, she asked to start pottying again. Chocolate deprivation will do that to you. So, Harper's been great about it. We've had a few accidents in the apartment. She lets me know if she's wet her panties. Oh, and they got to pick out their own big girl panties. Harper: Hello Kitty. Piper Lee: Tangled. Piper Lee insists on wearing hers OVER her diapers. Harper proudly displays hers for everyone. I think PL is genuinely scared of the potty, so we don't want to push her at all. I know she'll do it in her own time. She knows exactly when she's pooping. She has a little routine and she wants privacy. And she's let us know she will survive without chocolate. But, she's half me, so we'll see how long she can go without it. 

The Lake

We went up to the lake on Saturday. My parents drove up and stayed the weekend with Bryan, Sara, and Bryan's parents. So, we headed up early Saturday and spent the day. The weather was perfect. The water was so great. The girls went tubing again and loved it. Mom wasn't thrilled with it, but I rode one of the jet skis. I was super careful. The water was really smooth and anytime there was a wake, I either stood up or just slowed down. And Mom was driving another one with Sara riding, so we were going like 11 MPH anyway. I was so proud of Mom for driving, though. We all took a ride on Mr. Freddy's pontoon while Bryan drove the ski boat for David to wake surf. The girls took a nap. I snuck a little one in. 

Mr. Freddy (Big Daddy) sat on the dock with the girls and fished for brim. I asked the girls if they wanted to kiss a fish and they says, "No! Big Daddy do it!" So, he kissed the fish for them.

Sara tried to teach me and Mom how to stand-up paddle board. That was a weird thing. It looks SO easy. It is not. Mr. Freddy had fed the catfish that live close to the boat house. They are literally like small sharks. They are gigantic. And so gross looking. I'll eat them all day long, but they are freaky fish. After 30 minutes or so, they go on back to their little nests, but some of the pellets are still floating in the water, closer to where I was paddle boarding. I can see a few here and there beneath me. Sara's trying to tell me that a boat is about to pass by and to direct the board into the wake and paddle over it. I'm thinking, "These catfish are gonna bite through this board." Then, the wake comes and I lose my balance and fall in. My first thought is, "CATFISH!" I swim like I've never swam before. Oh my gosh, those catfish. They're coming after me. I can feel their whiskers on my feet. I grab the board and I realize I can't pull myself back up. I'm a pretty good distance from the boat house. Sara's laughing at me. Mom's asking why I'm breathing weird. I screech, "Because of the catfish!!!" Sara assures me there are no catfish around me. But, that girl is sneaky. I could have had one on my back and she would have said nobody was there. I make it to the boat house and decide paddle boarding isn't for me. And then I realized I pulled a muscle in my crotchal area from swimming so hard. Stupid catfish. 

Speaking of catfish, Mr. Freddy fried some that night along with hush puppies. Mrs. Karen made some amazing cole slaw and tartar sauce and we had a good ole fish fry. Oh my word, it was delicious. We told the girls it was chicken and they ate every bite. 

A very good day.

32 Weeks

Sutts turned 32 weeks on Saturday. Mom and I have a bet as to how big he'll be. Mom thinks around 10 pounds. I think that's ridiculous. Sure, he feels like about 10 pounds right now, but I'm guessing around 8.5. My man hands are back and they're just as awesome as they were the first time around. I now have 37 chins. My lips are very puffy. David says I look radiant. He's a liar, but a sweet one. That's why I'm going to keep him forever. 

I can't say more than two sentences without getting winded. It's ridiculous. I'm ready to be un-pregnant and very much looking forward to that. But then, I know that part also comes with a newborn and I'm okay waiting a little while longer. It was only 3 weeks and 3 days before the girls came at this point. So weird to think about.

The House

I haven't updated y'all on the house in forever. Long story short (ha)...this has been the most drawn-out ordeal in the history of anything ever. It's ended up being good and everything's worked out and we're happy. Every single thing has had to be approved by a set of lawyers and builders and committees. Like, "Oh, you want to add beaded board to the kitchen ceiling? Okay. We will write up the addendum and get the changed contract to you within 100 years." In the community where we're building, there wasn't a floor plan we liked. David and I liked the builder, so we asked if we drew up something, if they could maybe do it. They said sure. We came up with our own floor plan...something that worked for us...and they had their architect come up with blue prints. But, then, silly us, we wanted a little more square footage upstairs and asked for a few random things here and there and everything just took forever. My dad was saying that was normal with building a house from scratch. It was just frustrating, because it kept pushing our move-in date back, of course. But, in the end, it's all worked out. Contract is signed. They are breaking ground this week. I asked, out of respect to the architect, if I could put the floor plan online to show you guys and they asked me not to since it was a brand new plan for their community. Which is cool, I understand. So, I'll just tell y'all about it in another post. I'm hoping to take pictures of the whole process and I'll update as it goes along. I am SOOO excited. Mostly, I'm excited that we'll all have room again and a yard. At this point, we're sick of the swimming pool. And poor little Sutton won't have his own room until we get moved in. BUT, I have almost everything done for it. I cannot wait to show y'all how his room is gonna be. I decided to get everything done before he was born even though I couldn't do anything with a nursery until we moved. That way, all we have to do is set up his crib and decorate. And the builder will paint the room for us. Heck yes. 

Anyways. Here are some pictures of the girly girls!