♥ Pee Pee Potty

Day 1: Mission "No More Diapers" began on Friday. Armed with panties, paper towel, M&M's, and a very big pep talk (to myself), we were ready to start potty training. After reading the "3 Day Potty Training" manual several times and adapting it slightly to suit our needs we said good-bye to daytime diapers.
After talking up her "big girl panties" and showing her all the stickers she could have and the special m&m's I promised her after each pee or poop on the potty I finally took her diaper of and she proudly stepped into her cool princess panties. With a gentle reminder to tell mommy when she had to pee pee potty and to keep her new panties dry, I waited for the first puddle. It took about 10 minutes. I scooped her off and ran her to the potty and watched her face carefully. I was waiting for that light bulb moment and for some reason thought I would be able to see it actually blink to life. That was basically our day. Scoop and run over and over as I started hand washing panties in the sink in order to keep up with all the dribbles, pees, and poo's that never quite made it to the potty. I thanked the previous home
owners for the laminate flooring that made clean up a little easier and sorted through the toy box taking out the poor toys that got more than they bargained for when Lily decided to climb in and take test pee. By the end of day one I was a little worn and really starting to second guess myself. Maybe she is too young ...
Day 2: Fresh with renewed determination and having Curtis home to help in puddle control we took off Lily's night diaper and made a big deal about wearing panties and promised more m&m's. The morning started out just the same as Friday. By 11:00 Curtis was second guessing my brilliant plan. Then a shining moment ... a pee on the potty!!! We danced, we sang, we high fived, and we handed out m&m's. It was great. My heart swelled with pride. Then we had another and another. The light bulb went off. We still had to change underwear with every pee but she was learning to stop and finish on the potty. A couple more accidents later that afternoon/evening but all in all a great day.
Day 3: Only 3 accidents all day!! We are on the road to being diaper free! 19 months and 75% potty trained. We all came out alive and sane. I highly recommend the 3 Day Potty Training Method to everyone and anyone. We still have a few kinks to work out (pooping on the potty and getting to the potty before we start pee'ing) but all in all I am a very proud momma.

♥ From The Mouth Of Lily

"My brains fall down" - On the way to Red Lobster with Grandpa P Lily was digging for gold. I told her if she picked her nose her brains would fall out. The rest of the way she kept singing "My brains fall down" and any time you ask her what happens when you pick your nose she tells you very seriously "brains fall down"

"Mommy a hippy" - Curtis asked Lily if mommy was a hippy since I didn't like to wear shoes. For about an hour mommy was a hippy.

"Careful Lily" - Said anytime she is either a). doing something that is not exactly the safest b). she slips, trips, or comes close to falling. She will also tell the daycare kids to be careful throughout the day as well as inanimate objects that she is playing with or about to drop/throw.

♥ Not So Long Weekend & ...

The camper was packed, campfire menu planned, campsite booked, excitement high, and forecast ... to be blunt, crappy. After almost 2 weeks of 20+ temperatures we started the highly anticipated weekend with a high of 15. Still not terrible, but not great. The next day a high of 12 and it rained alllll day. This brings us to today with a balmy high of 9 and a gentle breeze of 70km/hr. By 9:00am we decided to pack it in and leave a day early. The idea of waiting the day out in the tiny camper only to wake tomorrow to more rain and cold temperatures was not appealing. It was a tough pill for me to swallow at first as I hate being the camper who runs back to the safety of the city when the going gets tough, but I quickly got over it as the screen house started to lift and I envisioned trying to keep Lily entertained in the bathroom size camper. She was already banging on the door asking us to open it up. She didn't quite understand that her tiny 22lb body could be air lifted to another province if she wasn't careful. Of course I had to smile at her determination to make the most of it and enjoy the camping experience, as I once did, no matter what dear Mother Nature dealt out. She wanted to walk in the rain, jump in the puddles, and play in the cold wind. She was excited about everything she came across, from the rocks to the bird poop that she had to stop and study. I do look forward to getting out there again soon and hopefully next time Mother Nature is in a better mood.

... It's a GIRL!!!! On Thursday we had our big ultrasound and we were delighted to find out that Lily is going to have a little sister! Now to let the name game begin.

Baby#2 was looking good and measuring on time. She is sitting very low which explains the pleasant punches to my nether regions and I have an anterior placenta which is why this little one has been a little gentler on mommy. Even at this ultrasound she has a much calmer disposition than Lily did during her viewings. We will have to wait and see if this proves true outside the womb.

♥ Let The Sun Shine!

Yay for sunshine!!! After an odd heat wave in April, we have been not so patiently awaiting some nice weather again. After enduring rain, snow, and just plain yucky type weather, I almost felt like I had slept through summer somehow, and woke up back in fall. But alas, as with all weather in Saskabush, if you wait long enough it will pass. We are now basking in not only double digits again, but +20 temperatures! It has been so nice to get outside with the kids again, shake off those winter cobwebs. We've been enjoying picnics, walks to the park, bubbles, and just being able to run around without layers upon layers of clothing. It's been bliss!!

On top of the great mood that the weather has already brought me, we got a wonderful surprise on Tuesday. While enjoying the first really warm day outside I heard someone at the gate, thinking it was a daycare parent picking up early I just barely glanced over towards the gate only to be totally taken aback. It was my father in law!! We haven't seen him since Christmas and I/we were totally not expecting such a wonderful surprise. It has been so great having him here to visit and watching Lily interact with her grandpa.

As an added bonus my parents were also staying here on the weekend. Lily is on Grandpa overload. I don`t know how she will survive the week without a grandpa following her. All weekend it as been "granpa" "granpa". She sure loves her grandpa's.

♥ Let's Play Catch Up

I know that it has been a week since my last post and I swear I have good reason. After my last post, where I so boldly announced that Lily was on the mend and feeling much better, we ended up in the hospital. Apparently those Pedialyte Popsicles didn't save us a trip after all. We are still at a loss of how things turned so fast. Monday morning I awoke to what I thought was the sound of more vomiting coming from Lily's room, only to discover she was violently dry heaving. After her stomach settled she downed a fair amount of water which she promptly threw up. At this point we knew something was wrong. Our normally energetic morning girl was completely lethargic. Almost unable to hold her head up at times. After a quick call to the health line that confirmed what we already knew, we headed to ER. In less than 10 minutes we were in a room and within another 10 minutes had been seen by the ER doctor. He assured us with confidence that yes, she was dehydrated, but after a couple hours with some IV fluids she would be 100%. Sounded easy. Fast forward 3 hours later and 11 IV attempts. We are now being admitted to the pediatric ward. Her veins, that are already very small (she takes after me in that department) are collapsed from the dehydration. Even the anesthesiologist gave up after 7 attempts and this guy is supposed to be able to get an IV anywhere. It was truly heart breaking to help hold my baby girl down while they jabbed her with a needle over and over. All the while she is fighting with all her strength and repeating "No" "All done" "mommy" "daddy". I would have easily taken 100 needles if it meant not a single one for her. We started orally hydrating her by syringing Pedialyte into her mouth and hoping that would be enough to hydrate her enough to eventually get the IV in. In 8 hours we got about 6oz in her and could already tell the difference. Then the torture started again. The pediatrician decided we still needed to get an IV in her since her blood work was still not satisfactory. Four more attempts and countless tears later we finally had an IV in. It was sadly in her head and worse, it was in the wrong spot and had to be removed. At this point Curtis and I said no more (as well as the nurses) and hunkered down for a night continuing to get as much liquid into her as possible. Thankfully by the next day there was mass improvement and we started to see glimmers of our little girl. One more night in the hospital and she was back and as peppy as ever.
It was by far the most terrifying experienced I have had as a parent yet. It was also humbling. Especially since on ward there were pediatric cancer patients. Quickly reminded us that it could be so much worse. We saw parents that had obviously spent may weeks if not months in that hospital but their child's side.
Amongst the trauma Lily was still able to be cute and entertaining at times. The way she would say "bye" to the lab techs and nurses after screaming/crying during their whole visit. Or standing at the door trying to convince us it was her turn to ride the bike that a little boy kept passing by on (she was in isolation). And my favorite was her repeated reminders to us "I all better", which have continued.
Since getting home on Wednesday our time has been basically spent cleaning (we bleached every surface in the house), getting Lily back into her routine, helping her forget the trauma (I think it was a lot more traumatic for us but she did seem to have night terrors for a few nights and ended up sleeping with us), and just going about our daily lives again. Lily is 110% and wearing us out .... thank god.

♥ The Weekend Of Puke, Poop, and Snuggles

Normally I would be whining like a tween who's mommy just said no to a belly piercing over the weather, but since we spent 99% of the weekend inside, I didn't mind the snowy rain that fell all weekend. Honestly if it had been a beautiful sunny weekend I would have been more than disappointed. Selfish? Yep.
Lily spent all day Saturday feverish and needing nothing more than a lot of snuggles and sleep. Thankfully we got some Pedialyte freezes in her which saved us a trip to the hospital. Part of me enjoyed the time, especially since she is usually about as cuddly as a cactus. The other part of me was almost overwhelmed by this suddenly needy child. I had moments of selfishly thinking of all the things I needed to get done. But when I paused and looked down at the sweet girl that laid curled up in my arms, I realized that this was the only thing I needed to do. Come Sunday she seemed much better but still quite whiny and clingy. Unfortunately I made the mistake of letting her have a bubba before bed, which she promptly threw up. Ah well, what's a little puke.
On a positive note I actually got myself a little organized for the week. I got my butt in gear and started menu planning again. After 8 weeks of Curtis being gone I got a little lazy in the supper department. Having a meal plan not only saves me from standing in front of the open fridge door trying to come up with meal out of carrots, mayo, and last weeks rice, but it also saves a ton of money. I even stepped out of my rut and made sure there was one new recipe. I am looking forward to trying the Asian Pork Salad/Fresh Rolls from Kathy's Kitchen.
Well, tomorrow is a new week and I better get rested for it.