I know. I've been MIA.

But there is a good reason . . . or excuse rather.

I'm 10 weeks pregnant. That explains it all. Yes?

I've decided that maybe I'm not as big of a baby as I thought. Morning sickness . . .AKA "ALL THE TIME SICKNESS" is no joke. I'm just going to say this once: IT SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But hopefully this means a healthy baby (due May 25th).

I'm hoping and praying that it will indeed pass by week 13 . . . just a few more weeks to go - as it did with Mary.

I've taken to reading my scriptures in the early morning hours when I can't fall back asleep for hours. And today it talked about being patient. I decided to look up the word for more insight. And in my Webster's dictionary it said, 1. Enduring pain,trouble, etc. without complaining. 2. calmly tolerating delay, confusion, etc. 3. diligent; perservering.

I reflected on myself and realized that even though I have made improvements in the area of patience - I know - it is difficult to see me as even more impatient than I already am - I still have a LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGgg way to go! It was pretty easy to remember right away how much I complain to Jeff and how annoyed I get at other people driving or having bad concert etiquette or dogs barking and waking me up. I'm not too good at this one.

But I really am going to try to not complain anymore - or as much- at least not about this.

I am grateful to be pregnant. Grateful I can get pregnant. Grateful for a very helpful husband. And grateful for the spirit in our home which seems to descend when a little one is on the way. I think that is God blessing us.

I will try to soon update our recent goings on - Mary's birthday and Halloween festivities.

The Spooky Wheels on the Bus

Mary has a book called The Spooky Wheels on the Bus and she LOVES it! She asks for it year around (she doesn't care when the holiday is). She also has a favorite Easter and Christmas book too that we enjoy year around.
Anyway, this video was taken at the end of August and I've been waiting to put it up. Sorry the quality isn't great, but I think you'll be able to enjoy it anyway.

Here is a breakdown of what we are singing:

ONE spooky bus goes rattle and shake . . .
Two white wipers (skeleton arms) go creek creek creek . . .
Three noisy cats go Meow hiss hiss . . .
Four glowing wheels (jack-o-lanterns) go round and round . . .
Five big spiders spin their webs . . .
Six singing mummies hum hum hum . . .
Seven silly monsters wiggle and waggle . . .
Eight wacky witches cackle and howl . . .
Nine magic brooms go swish swoosh swish . . .
Ten goofy ghosts say booo ooo ooo . . .



I think my favorite part is Mary's pointed fingers on the wiggle and waggle part.

So stinkin' cute.

Botanic Gardens with Grandma

A couple of weeks ago, when Jeff was in Vancouver, Mary and I met my Mom at the Denver Botanic Gardens. I figured we'd count it as our FHE and it was also a free day - so it worked out nicely. Let me tell you what we've discovered about free days (at least at Botanic - though I'm sure it is this way at the zoo too). It is a madhouse going during the day. I'd honestly rather just pay the money and come a different day. BUT, if you go in the early evening, it is perfect. We met at around 6 and it was lovely. Perfect temperature. Not too busy. Beautiful. We enjoyed ourselves. My Mom used to have a membership at BG so she knows it so well that we know which paths to take to maximize the fun.

Take time to smell the . . .petunias? That works.


Grandma helps Mary feed the fish


Mary loved the fish.


These are happy times to remember always. I love my little girl.


We had a picnic for dinner.



We ended the evening gathered around the sloped hills where we watched other kids and rolled in the grass and observed the beautiful sunset. We did have one very bad head bonk unfortunately. Otherwise it was perfect.

U O Q F G H T X M W

These are letters Mary knows. Last week I had Mary's letters all lined up in order on the refridgerator. So I decided to see if she knew some of them. I knew she knew a few from things she had said. So I'd say, Mary which letter is "O" and she'd pick up the "O" magnet. She did that with all of the above letters. Isn't that awesome?!! I didn't test her on all the letters, but I think I asked her about 5 that she didn't know. The others I didn't test her on. So she might know a few of those too.
She isn't as good though if you want her to say the letters. But she obviously does know some of them if she can pick them out without my help.

And this morning Mary came into our bed for a bit and she recited the alphabet up to G. She is starting to get her numbers too.

She also often sees words or lettering somewhere - like on a truck or something - and will say, "ABC!" Cute eh?

Other kids are further along physically I think. She can't actually jump when she says jump - it is more of a bounce. Still adorable though. And I am quite shocked that she doesn't really sing yet. Probably because her mother will just do it for her : ). She does love it when I sing. At this point though, she loves dancing. She sees a dance calendar I have and says, "dancers!". Or hears some music and says , "dancing". So I guess we'll see if that turns into anything. And of course she'll break out into some random moves where ever we are if she hears music. I wonder where she possibly could've gotten that? : )

Just thought I'd share.

Thanks!

A Splendid September Day

Has is not been so nice out lately? September for the most part has been pretty cool. But just when we think Fall is here, the first day of Fall comes officially and it is in the 80's! What better thing to do then, than to spend the day with my sister and her kids at a farm and apple orchard. I got some really good pics. I hope you like them!

Ya Ya Farm and Orchard in Longmont. It was a bit of a drive, but worth it.


Just what you hope a farm will look like! My baby with the huge horses and their baby.


My sister, Jennifer and her kids, Emma and Joe with Mary


I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but Mary always takes time to smell the flowers . . . at the grocery store, in our neighbors' yards. So cute right?


Mary checking out the chickens


Joe petting the colt, JJ



Emma peeking in on the baby chicks


Such beautiful flowers!


Mary and Joe

A perfect apple - with the leaf on even!


Feeding Minny


Squealing with delight


Two donkeys. Does it not make you think of Donkey from Shrek???


Momma and Mary. Mary loved the little baskets. She is into baskets. She has one at home that she keeps her stuffed animals in.


All ready for the hay ride!


Beautiful, perfect angel.


Mary's first hayride and mine too I think.

Great picture!


All of us in front of one of the apple trees. Reminds me a bit of my Mom's father who wrote books - two of which were called Apple Blossom Daze and Apples of Gold. And yes, btw, you are seeing cds on the trees correctly. Apparently they deter wildlife.


We were just down the rode from a little pumpkin patch of sorts. It wasn't really a patch, but they had it sort of set up that way.
Here are Emma and Joe. Great kids. Festive eh?


My little punkin holding her own little pumpkin. And a rock. : )


A great of pic of Mary and Joe

Mommy and Me Pedicures

I don't normally pay money to get a pedicure. However, my last pedicure that I got (on my birthday) lasted over a month! And I thought, "That might be worth it to spend $30 if it lasted a month". So though I probably won't do it every month, I was in dire need of a pedicure yesterday and didn't want to wait until the evening. So I went and brought Mary too. I asked how much it would be for a new coat for Mary as well and it was only $5. So Mary and I sat in the salon next to each other whilst getting pedicures and then when she was done she sat on my lap the rest of the time.

It was quite fun really. Mary was very intrigued by it all. And she got to have pink sparkly toes. She was so well behaved and cute of course. I was pretty proud.

It makes me so happy to have my little girl tagging along with me wherever I go - holding my hand, sitting in my lap, talking to me, showing me new things she's just discovered . . . It's like she is like my little buddy or sidekick or something. I've actually been feeling a little sad that when it comes time for another baby, it won't just be her and me anymore (during the day at least). : ( Know what I mean?

Anyway, I think I will always remember this day . . . sitting next to her whilst getting our feet worked on, how I got to hold her in my lap while her cute little chubby toes dried, and her wanting to try on the throw-away flip flops when Momma was done with them. I love you Mary! You are just so scrumptious and sweet!!!

Looking so small in her chair.


Checking it all out.


The lady next me commented on her yummy fat feet.


Momma is happy. Looking old but happy. : )


P.S. Mary also wore her pettiskirt yesterday. She was getting so much attention for how cute she looked.

Our Journey Through "Elimination Communication"

Warning: This is an extremely long post.

So as you probably know from previous posts, Mary is potty trained!!! Woo hoo right??! Well . . . I guess she isn't completely - she still wears a diaper at night. But she doesn't even wear one for her naps now!

We are still also working on learning to go on toilets outside of the house and so I sometimes will put her in a pullup if we are gone for several hours at a time - such as at church. {But even Sunday at church, Mary told me she needed to go potty (she just says "potty" and shows me the ASL sign). So I took her to the regular bathroom and put her on the potty. Nothing. I pulled her pullup and tights back up and we went back into church. About five minutes later, Mary says again, "potty!". So I'm thinking, "I wonder if I should even take her". But I felt like she needed the practice and the consistency, so up we went. This time I thought, "I wonder if I can find a small potty somewhere in this building"(we were at a different building than we normally go to). Lo and behold! we did! - a little potty made especially for little tykes like Mary. I'm glad some of the newer church buildings provide this. It only makes sense in a Mormon church for heaven's sake! So I took her in. No success. So after that, Mary found a babydoll and stroller to play with and she decided to spend the next 1/2 hour at least pushing that in the hallways of the church. I decided to have Jeff come take over so I could hear at least a bit of the sermons. After awhile Jeff and Mary came back in. A few minutes later, Mary says, "potty". I sigh, and take her back to the little toilet. But this time . . . drum roll please . . . success!!! Mary went on the potty.}


So because she is potty trained, I thought I'd share with you - or at least record for myself - how we did it. I chose an alternative method called "Elimination Communication" or "Infant Potty Training". I decided early on that I would be judicious about how I share this because I think it would be easy for people to be judgemental without really knowing the circumstances. Let me just say here that this method is not the same as our grandmother's generation. There is no force or punishment or anything like that involved. It is often actually compared to breastfeeding as a way that you can bond with and communicate more effectively with your baby.

Before I go ahead though, I'm sure some of you may be wondering what the heck EC is. Wikipedia has a pretty good explanation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elimination_communication
Basically, with EC you start when the babies are infants (or later) and you try to figure out by picking up their cues when they are going potty (or eliminating) and associating an aural signal that can be used as a cue. And let me just go ahead and say that I didn't follow it exactly at all. I sort of thought of the whole thing as an experiment and took certain parts and left others. Mostly I followed it - but it was hard for me to pick up on any cue when Mary peed. Pooping is easier to figure out. So I sort of did it my own way. Also, some people who do EC don't use diapers much at all. I kept Mary in diapers a lot of the time - most of the time. But more about that later.

Background - Why did I decide to try this method?

One of the benefits of waiting to have children is that you get to observe different kinds of parenting. In my observation, I learned lots about the kind of parent I wanted to be and also what I felt worked and what didn't work. I had known since I was young that potty training can be really tough for some kids and parents. There was a few experiences/thoughts I had that shaped my decision to try an alternative method.

1. As an adult, I remember once hanging out with my sister. Her cute little 2 1/2 year old boy was playing in the living room with his siblings and disappeared into a quiet corner in his room or some other place and came back and told his mom that he had pooped. That is totally normal. And I'm NOT placing judgement on her for that or anyone else. But the reason I share that, is that in my head, I thought, "that kid knows enough about what is going on, to go into another room, fill his pants, and come back out and tell his mom that he needs a diaper change."

2. I also remembered hearing over the years that it is so much easier to establish a good habit than to break a bad one. To me, it makes more sense to teach early about the potty than to try to break a habit that has been ingrained in a child's head for its first 3 years of life. Know what I mean? It's no wonder so many kids have a hard time with it.

3. One day, the Sullins were getting together and I noticed that my neice, R -who was just over one year old- was potty trained. I was shocked and amazed!!! She was 13 months old and potty trained! So I asked my SIL Jenny all about it. She had experienced a lot of frustration potty training her first two children, and tried this for her third child. She is the only other person I know who does this method and she has been my go-to gal for all my questions, support, and small victories . I have REALLY appreciated her guidance and support!

So I saw with my own eyes that it was possible to do something different.

When I was pregnant, Jenny lent me a very small book called "Infant Potty Training" by Laurie Boucke and that was how I learned the basics of the method.

So now that you know the background, here is what I did . . .

Being a new mom with no other kids around I had all the time in the world to spend on Mary. So starting around I think 4 months old - maybe a couple times a week, I would take off Mary's diaper and sit her in my lap with a towel underneath her and read to her. When she would pee I would sign "potty" and make a "psss" sound. That was about all I did for a couple of months. Even very early on, I noticed that Mary understood some of what was going on. Initially, I noticed that Mary seemed to wait until her diaper was back on before peeing - because that was what she was used to doing. But it is hard to say definitively. One thing that is part of EC is using your intuition. So it would be easy to doubt that. But I don't because the more I've exercised acting on that intuition (or maybe the Spirit?), the more I feel like I understand what is going on. And it is empowering. But either way, she would usually end up going on the towel and I'd be able to do the cue sounds and sign.

At about 6 months, I wondered what I should do next or how we could progress. I had talked to Jenny and she emphasized that she'd try to always catch the first pee of the day. It was always a pretty easy one to get because it is easy to predict. She mentioned that with her baby, she'd open up her diaper while she was still in her crib. So I transfered that a bit. I had always taken Mary into the bathroom whenever I needed to "go" and I always had done the sounds (pssss for peeing or a grunt for pooping) and the sign too. Well, the VERY first time that I actually opened Mary's diaper while I was going and did the cue sound, she went!!! I couldn't believe it. And she often did it for me after that.

She started sitting up around six months and was sturdy at 7. So at 7 months old, I bought her a potty and one of the very first times she sat on it and I gave the signal, she was successful. I couldn't believe it!!! I was so proud. I felt Mary was so smart and it was such a joyful experience - so unlike the frustrations that people typically experience with traditional potty training. I do think Mary is smart. But I am fairly convinced that most kids could do the exact same thing.

Shortly after that Mary also was pooping in her potty chair. And though I didn't really recognize it at the time, I think she was signing potty for me early on as well. We just continued like that for several months. I'd just take her to the potty with me or set her on there every so often. I didn't spend huge amounts of time with this. But it was easy for example, if I was going to the bathroom, to just take her with me and set her on her potty. Yes, it probably took some extra time. But I didn't do it all the time - just a couple times a day. That is the thing with this method - you don't HAVE to do it all the time for the baby to understand.

Here are a few pictures . . .
Mary at around 8 months


Mary looks in this next picture like she needs to go to the bathroom


And in this one I'm pretty sure she was signing "potty" because I changed her diaper right after that pic was taken(the sign btw is the alphabet letter "t" - thumb inbetween index and middle finger in a fist and then you shake it)


I had struggled during all this time to figure out what her cues were to me and never really did figure that out. But in an effort to be more aware, I bought Mary some training underpants and started using them around a year. I don't know if this is what most kids do, but I just felt like Mary experienced huge growth right around a year. She started signing like crazy. Anyway, right at that time she also would actually tell me when she needed to go. I wish now that I would've trusted more and just gone all the way with the potty training (meaning do what I did recently which was to just start having her just wear her panties all the time except sleep times), but I just wasn't sure she could do it. But I don't beat myself up too much about that because I always said this was an experiment and I'd be learning every bit as much as Mary. So I'd probably do that differently next time.

So she was going all the time and telling me much of the time. I started giving her stickers when she went to try to motivate her to always tell me. But it pretty much just stayed like that for awhile. Around 14 months though, she started to seem resistant to it. I never wanted her to have any negative feelings about potty training so if she didn't want to sit, I wouldn't make her. I backed off quite a bit.

Then in late spring, I really wanted to get back to it more. So I just encouraged her and shortly she was back to going for me fairly often, but she didn't usually tell me like she had before. I had planned a trip to visit my sister in June and I wanted to take advantage of Mary being able to see her bigger kids using the potty. I had planned in my mind that right after we got back from my trip, we were going to really start focusing on it again. I had planned to stay home for a week and just dedicate that to getting Mary to the potty whenever she went. But this was probably the hardest part of the whole thing - finding a week to be more of a home body and actually following through and staying home. Well, after we got back, I didn't quite do that well, but I did have Mary ALWAYS wear panties when we were home. We did this and it wasn't long before Mary started telling me when she needed to go. Yes we had accidents, but it wasn't a big deal - they were only pee and then I'd just give her a new pair of underware. (I usually at home just kept her in a tee shirt and panties). BTW, at some point I did also introduce candy as a motivater too. One Skittle every time she went in her potty. Also at this time, she would go pee for me all the time, but wouldn't poop. She eventually did start going poop in the toilet. One more thing, Mary's panties are Hanna Andersson training unders - which are really great and more absorbant than other panties. So they worked well.

So then I knew that the next step was just to go for it full force - no turning back. I knew she was ready. I wanted to wait until the weddings in August were overwith so that I could make sure there was consistency. The week after Annabel's wedding, I dedicated to potty training - and NOT going anywhere. Again, that was the hardest part - staying at home. But even that week - that Monday morning rolled around and I thought, "Gosh, I REALLY need my walk". So I just decided that I'd have Mary go right before we left. And if she wet her pants, big deal. Well she didn't wet. And even later that day I went to the grocery store and again had her go right before we left, and Mary was fine. It really went pretty easily. We had a couple of accidents a day the first few days. Then the next week - almost none. We also started going out of the house with no diapers (almost exclusively), but I would always take her right before we left and just do one activity at a time - meaning I wouldn't go to the park, library and grocery store. I'd just pick one. And that worked well.


I think that second or third week after that initial week there were a couple of times when we were out that Mary told me she needed to go - one at the park and one at the library. I took her to the public potties but she wouldn't go in them. So I thought, oh she'll probably pee her pants, but that's okay because we were going right home after that. Well she never did wet her pants those times.

Poop Disasters
We have had a few "poop disasters", but they have happened when Mary has gone down for her nap, pulled OFF her diaper and pooped. I guess she knew she wasn't supposed to go in her diaper and it's not like she could get out of her crib and run to the potty. So I saw these accidents actually as a good sign. The first time it happened was really the worst time. Since then, I've been aware that I need to listen to her as she is going to sleep and I've caught the other poop disasters early before poop has gotten smeared on the posts, etc. : ) I think what probably needs to happen now is that we need to convert her crib into a toddler bed so she can go into the bathroom should she need to go potty. So that is something we are planning to do soon.

Mary being very proud of herself after pooping in her crib. : )



Also, she started just taking off her diaper completely during her naps last week and I often walked in later to find her completely naked. So last week we switched to panties at nap time and she has been waking up dry.

I think with future babies I will probably do this same method. To be honest, I'm not sure it is the easiest. It is more a marathon than a sprint. I have heard that the baby doll method can be very quick and easy. But you just don't always know what will work best for your individual child. And I like that this method teaches from early on. That feels right to me. Some kids- maybe most kids- would be okay just all of sudden being potty trained. But I fear that others might have the habit to go in their diaper really ingrained and it would be a difficult journey if you just started them at 2 or 3. The nice thing about this method is that you don't have to be perfect. It is like you just teach them a bit all along and they retain that for when you do eventually go for it (at least that is what I think).

So, I'd love to hear your thoughts. What do you think? What potty training method has worked for you? Do you think your method was easier? Do you think I'm totally weird??? : )Please let me reiterate that I am not being judgemental about other methods. Also, I know every child is different and that makes each parenting journey unique.

But I am a proud Momma! I'm happy Mary is potty trained. You know, some people really loathe the whole diaper changing thing. I never minded it. But I'm glad to not be contributing as much to the landfill. And happy that Mary is doing so well. She makes me so happy and I'm grateful every day to have her!

My big girl - happy girl, Mary. 22 months.