Stalled

We had 3 terrific potty-training days. We only had 1 or 2 accidents each day despite running around completely bottomless all day long, and most of them happened on or around the toilet. Suddenly on the 4th day, however, Abby decided she no longer wanted to sit on the toilet. I don't know what happened. The novelty wore off and she suddenly became scared to sit down. We haven't been pushing her too hard since because I don't want to end up with the first kid to ever graduate high school wearing diapers because her Mommy gave her a fear of toilets! We still ask her every so often if she wants to go sit down, but she always answers with a scared little "no." Oh well, we'll just give her some time and try again when she's ready.

This is what happens when Mommy's snowed in for 2 days and is going stir crazy!

This Potty Training Thing is Easy!

Ever since I bought that cushion yesterday, Abby has wanted to do nothing but sit on the toilet. All. Day. Long. She didn't have as much time on it as she would've liked yesterday because we were busy, but today we're homebound. I've been letting her run around the house bottomless because it's too much trouble to help her out of her pants/diaper every 3.2 seconds when she wants to sit on the toilet. So far, we haven't had one accident yet. But I'm sure I've just jinxed myself. Not only have there been NO accidents, but she's peed in the toilet TWICE! The second time I knew it was coming because she stopped watching The Wiggles to sneak into the bathroom. I followed but stayed outside until she was done. Then I was able to do the happy pee-pee dance and cheer her on.

UPDATE: The only accident of the day so far happened after I put her in panties. Bottomless is best. Also, she just POOPED IN THE TOILET!

UPDATE2: I had to run to the design studio this evening and while I was gone, Damon said Abby successfully peed in the toilet AND WIPED HERSELF AFTER! We're nowhere near ready to get rid of diapers completely, but I'm amazed at how well this first day has gone.

24 Months

It's been a long time since I wrote a big update. Her 2-year checkup was on Friday, and she's now 29.5lbs. and 35" tall. She finally seems to have quit growing by leaps and bounds in height since she only grew by .75" this time. She's around the 80th percentile for both weight and height this time.

Friday was a busy day around here. After her checkup, we met with the project manager for our house and he walked us through the entire construction process, but that's a post for another day. That afternoon, we had a birthday party for her at a local pizza place. We ended up having 8 kids there, which was a nice manageable number. I wish I would've been able to take more pictures, but I was too busy.


Late last week, I was letting her run around naked after her bath when I noticed her squatting as if she was about to have an accident. I scooped her up and sat her on the toilet, and she loved it. Now she wants to sit there all the time, so I bought her one of those cushions today. I'm so not ready for this! I was planning on waiting until at least the summer, once we're well settled in the house, before even thinking about it but she seems to be ready now. I can't get her off the toilet now that she has that cushion! She was having such a good time sitting there today, she decided to make herself comfortable by grabbing the magazine off the counter.


I took her to see the mall Santa today, and she did a lot better than I expected. She kept trying to get off his lap, but she never cried.


Her vocabulary has grown like crazy recently. She started putting two words together about a month ago, and since then she seems to learn a ton of new words every day. While we were visiting family during Thanksgiving, she finally started calling me "Mommy" all the time. Before that, she'd only scream "Mommy" when she was ready for me to get her out of the bath. It's music to my ears. The last few days, she's been testing out "Mom" and "Mama" too.

She's become very maternal toward her dolls recently. When we first moved here, the residents threw a little welcoming party for us and gave Abby a doll. She's been sleeping with it in her crib since, but she's never been particulary attached to it. A couple months ago, she became attached to her Po doll again. She insisted on taking it everywhere with us, and she'd lovingly sit it next to her in the grocery cart. Shortly after, she found a small Po I'd bought awhile back in the hopes of leaving the big one at home, but it backfired. Suddenly, she had to have both of them with her. They all sleep with her too. Now, she has to sleep with both Poes, the baby doll, a big doll that's supposed to teach her how to button/zip/tie her shoes (thanks Susie!), and a giraffe we bought her at the zoo when we went to the Electric Safari. She also has one of our pillows, a down comforter, and 2 quilts that Damon's grandmother made. She refuses to sleep without any of that stuff!


Before Abby was born, I was prepared for all the changes we'd see in the first year. Everyone always talks about how much babies grow in that time. What I wasn't ready for, however, was how much she'd change during this second year. She went from a toddling baby who didn't understand much of what we'd say to her to a full-fledged little girl.

Santa Cheated!

We took Abby to the "Electric Safari" at the zoo tonight. I told her we were going to see Santa and that she'd get to sit on his lap, so she'd be prepared. The entire way over we heard "Santa. Santa. Santa." from the back seat. When it came time to sit on his lap, though, she got scared, so Santa had Damon sit in his seat instead.


We stopped to see the giraffes while we were there because it's Abby's favorite exhibit. This was the first time she got to feed them, so we were surprised that she loved it!

Yay!

We spent Thanksgiving week in Iowa, and we came home to find a hole in the ground! After 6 long months, they finally broke ground on our house.

Happy

She was thrilled to be outside despite the fact that it's so windy and cold!

My little fashion diva

Abby loves clothes, but we've been fortunate so far that she still lets me dress her. If I'm holding her while I search her closet, she'll tap her chin with her finger and say "Ummmmmmm." CUTEST. THING. EVER. She is starting to want to put the clothes on herself, though. It makes for frustrating diaper changes because I'm trying to wipe her butt while she's trying to put her pants back on. She's gotten really good putting on shoes.

Oh how she loves shoes! Whenever I tell her where going somewhere, the first thing she says is "SHOES!" She'll repeat it over and over until I get her shoes on. She especially loves to try on my boots, so she was thrilled when I bought her her very own pair of boots. She hasn't taken them off since.





She's also fascinated by hats all of a sudden. I lived in fear of winter all summer long because refused to wear hats. Now, she will gladly wear them all the livelong day. I just bought this one for myself, but she decided it looks better on her so I'll probably never get to wear it.

We have a start date!

Sort of. The permit date on our house will be the 17th, but they could break ground up to 3 days before or after that date. It's progress! They estimate 5 months from start to finish, so we should (hopefully) be in our house mid-April.

I had to go to the Design Studio to finish up some things and I finally remembered to take my camera!


Left to Right: The little bit peeking through will be used in the main-level bath; slab granite countertop in the kitchen with the stone as backsplash (it doesn't look as yellow in person). That little square is a coppery colored glass that will break up the backsplash every 18 inches. Middle-bottom is the slate tile that will surround the fireplaces. Carpet, obviously. Maple, Shaker-style cabinets everywhere. Right: master bath. Granite tile countertop. The big tile will be used on the floor, around the tub, and on the shower walls. We have his & hers sinks on opposite walls with the tub in the middle on the adjacent wall. The backsplash will go under the mirrors and above the tub, so it goes all the way around the room on three walls. There will also be a big rectangle on one wall in the shower with the big tile at a diagonal inside.


Main-level bath. The big tile will be the floor. There will also be a generic 4x4" "bone" colored ceramic tile on the countertop and above the tub, surrounding the shower. The backsplash will be under the mirror and in the shower surround.


Abby's bathroom upstairs. The big tile on the floor. Sea Blue glass will be the backsplash under the mirror and in the shower. Generic white 4x4" tile on the countertops and above the tub, surrounding the shower. Disregard that other backsplash on the left.

It Still Fits!

And with much better results than we had last year too.

Congratulations Damon!

He's at his annual conference in Kohler, WI, where he was named Executive Director of the Year! We are so proud of him.

First Snow of the Season

Really the first snow was last week, but it was overnight and melted off by late morning. This time, it started to snow in the afternoon so we went out to the patio to check it out.

Damon's parents came to visit us a couple weekends ago (and I'm just now getting around to posting pictures. Bad!). Abby had so much fun with them, but she adored their dog, Molly. As soon as she'd wake up, she'd ask for "DOG! DOG!" Whenever Molly would try to climb up somewhere that she wasn't supposed to, they'd say "OFF!" Abby would be right there shrieking "AUF! AUF!" She'd even taunt Molly with one of her toys and climbing up onto the furniture. Now, any time we come across a dog, she says "Dog. AUF!"

A few weeks ago, I bought Abby an adorable faux suede coat with a fur lining. It terrified her! She'd stroke the fur lining and say "Shah!" (soft), but she'd run away screaming any time I tried to put it on her. I cried when I returned it because it was so cute! I so wanted one for myself.

I should've learned my lesson.

I bought her this duck costume for Haloween thinking she would look adorable and it would keep her warm. After several laps around the house, I've given up. It's going back tomorrow. She thinks it's a neat toy, but I couldn't get anywhere close to her to get it on her.

Abby made a liar out of me. I tried again after her bath, and she let me put it on her with no problem. She LOVES it! I thought I was going to have a fight on my hands when it came time to take it off.










I took a bunch of pictures outside this afternoon. You can see them on flickr.

First Haircut

Abby's bangs were to the point that they got in her eyes. Since she refuses to keep anything in her hair that would keep it out of her eyes, she got her first haircut today. I just take took Damon's eyebrow scissors to her bangs.

BEFORE





AFTER

We ended up back at Urgent Care this afternoon. Abby's been doing much better the last couple days, but her face and chest were covered in a rash when she woke up from her morning nap today. I called first this time, and they told me to bring her in. The pediatrician on call said she has roseola, which is what triggered the high fever. There's nothing to do but wait it out. It doesn't seem to bother her even though it's now spread all over.

Our night in the ER

When I opened the car door yesterday afternoon, Abby walked toward it at the same time and bumped her head. Once I got her calmed down, she was fine the rest of the day. She only has a small bump and a scratch; she's definitely had worse. We got her to bed like normal, and I left to run a couple errands. Damon called me later and told me to come home now. The worst thing you want to hear when you're out! When I got there, she'd stopped screaming and was sitting next to Damon on the couch drinking milk. She started up again when she saw me, though. She was burning up, and acting weird. Very limp and sort of drunk. Damon told me he heard her whimpering, so he went in to check on her, and she barely acknowledged he was there. He lifted her arm and it just fell limp, but he thought she was probably half-asleep. He stayed until she fell asleep (which is strange for her because she can't have an audience), but she suddenly started screaming about 20 minutes later. She was completely unconsolable and weird. When I got there, I went straight into "Mom Mode." I gave her some Tylenol and stripped off her sweatshirt and put her in a t-shirt. Since she'd hit her head earlier and she was acting strange, we decided to head straight to our doctor's Urgent Care. The pediatrician had just left, but they talked to him on the phone. The nurse told us he said she was going to need a CT scan, so we'd have to take her to the ER. WHAT?!?! This is when I started to panic.

At the ER, they checked her vitals (whle she screamed the whole time), and the doctor there said she would definitely need a CT scan to be on the safe side. The nurse came in and gave her a shot to sedate her, and we waited for it take effect. It never did. She got a little stoned, but never fully sedated. The doctor finally said to just go ahead and take her into the scan. She sobered up quickly when they put her in the machine! That was the hardest thing ever to watch. We could only see the very end of the machine, but we could hear her screams and several nurses come in to try to hold her down. It was horrible! They managed to get a couple images, so we hoped they would be clear enough that we wouldn't have to try again. Luckily, one was, and the doctor said she was fine, so finally got to go home after midnight.

The thing is that Abby's teething too. She's cutting a bunch of molars and canines at the same time. If she hadn't hit her head and acting weird last night, we would have figured it was from teething, given her Tylenol and did our best to make her comfortable. It was the other stuff that had us running to Urgent Care. She woke up this morning with a fever but definitely alert, so I gave her some more Tylenol and we laid on the couch together. Abby doesn't usually sit in one spot for more than a minute, so I knew she wasn't feeling well when she wanted to cuddle with me on the couch. About an hour after she woke up, she even fell asleep next to me! She's doing much better now. Still a little warm, but running around like normal. Damon stayed home with us today. I think he needed that reassurance that she's ok; he needed to see it for himself and be here for her. They're now taking a nap together in our bed.

We have dirt!

Labor Day weekend, we went out to where we're going to be building to walk around a couple of the completed versions of our house. They have a couple for sale, so we go and dream about where our furniture's going to go someday. While we were there, the sales office told us that we now have an address! Before, we had a street, but the house number was our lot number. Now we have a real house number! On our way out, we drove by where our lot is going to be and were surprised to see the lots and streets clearly defined. Since our lot sits at the edge of a culdesac near the road that will lead into the neighborhood, it wasn't hard to find. We were so excited we went back Monday and took pictures. They should (hopefully) be breaking ground toward the end of this month/beginning of next.





The view from our backyard. That's Cheyenne Mountain hiding in the haze.


The view to the west from the side of the property. Eventually, there will be houses there, but our house sits high on the hill. One of those mountains is Pikes Peak.


This is looking into our backyard from the lot behind us. That hill is where our house will be. We have the highest lot in the neighborhood.


We have a street...sort of! I think I was standing on the western edge of our property for this one.


She loved it out there.











The poles on either end mark our property lines. It's shaped kind of funny. It's narrow up front, then the western side widens out quite a ways, and the eastern side goes out just a little more. At the widest points, it goes straight back to that wall.