Kinda krazy about pinterest

I've recently gone onto this website and I'm kinda crazy about it.....

Pinterest!!!

http://pinterest.com/kathleen_dela/

Stories from the potty

I think I can officailly saw we have done it!! After a long year, ups and downs we have mastered the toilet.

What worked for us.....

~3 day system: A method of training that supposedly only takes 3 days. While it worked for the most part, the keep up definitely doesn't stop there.
~Bare bottom baby: During the day, while at home, allowing are daughter to go naked from waist down was a big help. You just need to make sure you vacuum every morning.
~Musical Potty: My daughter was so thrilled and it gave her that extra encouragement she needed. It was like play time to her!
~Staying in: Is a lot easier then going out. You know exactly how far and how long it takes to get to the bathroom.
~Carpet cleaner: It's a messy deal. The first couple of days I felt like I followed her around with a squirt bottle. Make sure the cleaner is child friendly.
~Big girl undies:She is always looking to be like mommy, and explaining that this is how big girls do it gave her that motivation. We bought underwear with her favorite characters: Dora, Minnie Mouse.
~Just letting it go: Realizing that it wont happen all at once and being able to laugh about it is always positive.

What didn't work...
~Training pants: They are the same as diapers, when I put them on Bella I found they only encouraged her to pee in them.
~Musical potty: It became a game after awhile and she would tinkle just a little bit to make the music go off. It got pretty annoying so we took the musical part off.
~Over exciting events: she would become distracted and forget she had to go potty. In the beginning we limited these event or put a diaper on her just in case. It's a losing battle in the beginning of training.
~Daycare: We had to put her in daycare about mid way through and that only back tracked her. how do you really know if they are paying attention. you would hope, but it didn't look like it. She didn't have a single success with a trip to the toilet while she was in daycare for 4 months.
~3 day system: It takes a lot longer then that and the up keep of it all is for months!!!

Things to keep in mind...
~Trial and Error
~It's a messy deal
~Patience, patience, and more loving patience
~Negativity in any form (feedback and punishment) is only going to discourage and make them fearful of a natural thing.
~Make it fun
~There will still be set backs even after your think you have done it
~Always keep an extra pair of undies and pants with you at all times
~If you first don't succeed, try, try again.
~It's harder than changing diapers

Minnie Mouse Costume!

Halloween is coming up and I like to start thinking about things early... even thought they don't get done until the last minute. I'm a big planner but not executer. I love seeing homemade costumes, this is the heart of what dressing up is about.

My daughter loves Minnie Mouse, how could she not? We are such a Disney family!

I thought it would be cute to make a Minnie Mouse inspired petti skirt! Yeah, great idea, but seeing as how I have never attempted to make a petti skirt before, I thought I might be biting off more then I could chew.

So last weekend we caved and took a trip to the disney store!!!!

I fell in LOVE with these shoes and Bella did too!! She is a shoe diva! However, the minnie costume we chose was pink and these wouldn't match. That's not to say that she won't get them later.

So instead we fell in love with these!!

We got this costume with the matching Minnie Ears!

She was very excited to put on her costume when we got home!!!

She threw a fit when I made her take it off.

Maybe I will get around to making the minnie pettie skirt someday.

Pregnancy Journal: 22 weeks

(I'm starting this journal a little late.. well really late. I am already half way through my pregnancy.)
I am 22 weeks pregnant and I remember how not so great it feels to be pregnant, physically speaking.

This baby is active, that's for sure. I felt little movements at about 19 weeks, but now I can feel kicks!!! I remember with my last pregnancy feeling them a lot later?

The queasiness has subsided for the most part!!! Yay!!! The excruciating head aches have also tampered off! I felt pretty good for a while but now
My hips have been bothering me so much that it keeps me up at night. Its painful, but the part that bothers me is unexplainable. Its like this uncomfortable feeling of pressure. I know not a great explanation but like I said I can't explain it.

My weight has kept the same as before I even got pregnant, but my belly is expanding and from what the doctors tell me the size is normal, if not even larger.

We had a level two ultrasound a couple of weeks ago, which determined the gender of the baby!!!! Some women can feel what they are having. For baby # 1 I knew it was a girl... Baby # 2 I thought it was a boy.

IT'S A GIRL.... another girl:) Poor daddy, another female in the family to push him around.. haha it really is like that. At least we wont be lacking in the baby clothes department.

We had a fetal echo done very recently. Because of Bella's heart condition they wanted to go the extra measure to make sure. Everything came back normal!!