Advice, please!

OK, so several weeks ago I posted about potty training Avery. She was doing really well with it, even when went on our little vacation. She was hardly having any accidents during the day, and was keeping her pull up dry about 75% of the time at nap and about 50% of the time at night. But in the past week or two, things have taken a downhill turn. I think she has had a least one accident a day since we came back from our trip and it is totally whipping me! We can't go back to pull-ups now that she has been wearing panties for almost a month, so I am at a loss for what to do. Hopefully it is just a little regression phase and she'll get over it soon, but advice from any of you moms that have done this once or twice (or more!) would be appreciated!

On a sidenote, the rice cereal at bedtime seems to be doing the trick for Kendall. She has slept until around 5 AM all this week before waking up to eat, and last night she slept right through until 7:00! Yea! I've still been giving her the cereal in a bottle, but I think I'll try the spoon again soon, so maybe we'll snap a few pictures of that. Sorry no pictures today!

More beach pics and Father's Day

Just wanted to share a few more pictures from our Corpus Christs trip and from Father's Day today. My parents took a lot more pictures in Corpus Christi than we did and theirs turned out better than ours.

Avery and I at the aquarium

For Father's Day, my parents came over to Ft. Worth for church and then we went to eat at a BBQ place in Sundance Square downtown. Then we came back to the house and gave Scott and my Dad their cards and gifts. My parents and I (heavy on the parents part) went in together and got Scott a new grill. He was really excited about it and is already talking about going to the store later today to pick up something to grill for dinner. Lucky me-- I knew a new grill sounded like a good present :)

The Beach

Last weekend we took a trip with my family to Corpus Christi. Probably 6 months ago, Avery developed this little fascination with building "sandcastles", which were actually made of all sorts of toys and objects around the house. Ever since then, my Dad decided he wanted to take Avery to the beach. So my parents planned the trip and Avery finally got to experience the ocean and build a sandcastle on the beach. She got so excited playing in the waves and the sand along the shore. It was fun to see. We also got to go to the aquarium there while Scott, my Dad, and my brother-in-law Chris went fishing. They had a pretty good dolphin show at the aquarium that Avery really enjoyed. Then Sunday night we went to a restaurant that cooked the trout they caught-- it was delicious! Thanks so much Mom and Dad for a fun trip and for the memories! Here are a few pics from the beach. Unfortunately, they didn't turn out too well with it being cloudy and the fact that the camera wasn't too fond of the humidity. Scott and Avery watching the waves

playing in the water

Avery dancing on the shore with aunt Amy

I don't really have any pics of Kendall from the trip since she stayed inside the hotel a lot, but I do have a few from this past week that I took in honor of her turning 4 months old. She is becoming more alert and interactive everyday it seems. She also just started rolling over from back to front, which she practices just about any time I lay her down. She likes to grab her feet now and is reaching and grabbing toys too. Just in the past day or two she has started raising her head up in the car seat and trying to sit up when she's in the bouncy seat. Crazy girl! She is busy just like her sister was, that's for sure! I took her for her check up today and she was 13 lbs 5 oz (50th percentile) and 24 1/2 inches (50-75th percentile). Our pediatrician recommended starting rice cereal since she was previously sleeping until 5 or 6 before needing to be fed and is now waking up earlier in the night-- sometimes several times until i finally give up and feed her--ugh!! We tried cereal from a spoon tonight before bed but she didn't really know what to do with it, so I ended up giving it to her in a bottle. I'm doubtful that it will help, but we'll see. She is such a joy though most of the time and we are really enjoying her squeals, "talking", and laughter! happy girl trying to sit up

Wow Mom, I just rolled over!

A Fish Called Wanda

Avery and her new fish "Wanda"

Last Saturday Avery spent the day with my parents so that Scott and I could get some projects done around the house. One of the special activities that they did with her was to take her to this pet store called Pet Land that has all kinds of animals that you can actually pet, hold, and of course, buy. They let her choose a Beta fish and got this neat little do-it-yourself fish tank for it to live in. I had agreed that this was OK ahead of time since a fish requires minimal care-- I definitely do not need anything or anyone else to take care of at this point in my life! After a few different suggestions from her Daddy, Avery decided on "Wanda" for the fish's name. She is still alive-so far- and Avery is really enjoying her. I have been meaning to write this blog post for almost a week now, but we have been extra busy this past week potty-training Avery. She had already basically trained herself to go #2 in the potty, so we decided it was time to tackle the whole shebang now that school is out for a few weeks. The first 2 or 3 days she had a lot of accidents and just didn't seem to be getting it. I was discouraged and tired of cleaning up messes and washing panties and clothes, but then it was just like everything clicked and I think she has only had 2 "partial" accidents since last Wed. She is doing great with it and I am so proud of her! Yea Avery!

The story behind the bottom pic is that on the last day of school (last Thurs), Avery got this
sun visor as one of her little last-day gifts. She was playing with all the stuff she got while I was picking up the house or something. She says "Look Mommy, Kendall's wearing my hat." I go into the living room to find this. I just chuckled a little and complimented her on sharing with her sister:)

Lil' scooter and sandbox fun

Now that Kendall's reflux is improving a little and she isn't sleeping quite so much during the day, she is able to have more time down on her floor gym or on a blanket to stretch out and kick around. We are supposed to keep her upright for 30-45 minutes after she eats, so for the 1st couple of months, it was hard to squeeze in play time on the floor. She would eat for 30 min or so, then be upright for 30-45 min. and then it would be about time for a nap. Now she is eating every 3+ hrs and can stay awake for about 2 hrs before needing a nap. One day last week I put her down on a blanket while Avery and I were reading books on the couch. After a few minutes I looked over and Kendall was in the position below! She had managed to turn around 180 degrees and had almost scooted into Avery's room! It's so funny how much they can manage to move around when they can't even sit up or crawl. I guess that's good evidence that you should never leave a baby unattended on a bed, changing table, etc!

"I'm just gonna go in here and play, Mom."

New sandbox!

We spent some of our family time this weekend getting the materials to make Avery a sandbox under the fort of her swingset. Needless to say, it is a big hit! She played out there for a couple of hours on Saturday and Sunday and again tonight after dinner. I used to LOVE my sandbox as a little girl, so I was pretty excited for her. I can still remember driving my Tonka trucks in it, playing ice cream store, and getting the hose in there to make mud pies and sand castles. This week is her last week of school at Richland Hills C of C until the summer session starts on June 19th. She is going to have the same awesome teachers over the summer, so we are really glad about that. Today I stayed at the church for a while after I dropped her off so that I could feed Kendall before running some errands. All of a sudden I hear kids and musical instruments and what sounds like her teacher's voice. Turns out they were having music class and were having a parade. I decided to kind of hide so I could just be a fly on the wall and watch her in action. She was the leader of the "parade" and was marching so proudly and shaking a maraca. It was fun to see her having such a good time. Too bad I didn't have my camera! Here are a few more pics that I took of the girls this afternoon.

Avery thought baby Sally and baby Anne should have a photo op too

Day of 3's

My girls and I on Mother's Day (notice their matching dresses- so fun!)

My mom, Avery, me, Kendall and my sister Amy

Kendall- 3 months old

On Sunday, Kendall was 3 months old and I celebrated my 3rd Mother's Day. My parents came over to Ft. Worth to go to church with us and then we went to their house in Coppell to have a Mother's Day lunch that my Mom so graciously prepared for us. My sister and her husband and my aunt were also able to come, which made the day really special. Even though I still miss living in Edmond sometimes, having family so close and being able to see them so often makes living here so worthwhile. I don't know how much Kendall weighs or how tall she is since she doesn't go back to the Dr. until 4 months, but I do have a few things to report. She is consistently sleeping from 9:30 or 10:00 until 5:00 or 6:00, then right back to sleep until around 8:00 after she eats. She also rolled over from front to back for the first time last week! She has only done it one other time since then, but it's a start toward all the milestones to come over the next several months. I am so excited for her to be old enough to start interacting with Avery a little more. I think that will be neat to see. She still has a bad reflux/gas day here and there, but she is doing much better overall. Even on her bad days, I no longer feel like she is a bundle of misery, probably because she smiles so much in between the tummy aches and heartburn episodes. It also seems much more plausible to me now that she won't be taking reflux meds forever. She is becoming more and more like the smiley, happy, easy baby that I always knew was hiding behind that miserable one!

Newborn photos-- 2 1/2 months late!

This is really, really after-the-fact, but here are some of my favorite shots from Kendall's newborn photos. We had a lady come to the house just 5 days after she was born to take some pictures of her and our family. We were really pleased with the way they turned out, and it sure was nice to do it right here at home rather than try to take a newborn and a small child to a studio. The photographer gave us a CD with all the pictures on it and then we had prints made at a photo shop in Dallas. They messed up our original order, so we had to take the CD back to them, and that's why I'm just now posting these. Yesterday my Mom and i took the girls to Kiddie Kandids in BabiesRUs to have some pictures done. They turned out really cute. They are supposed to email them to me, so I'll try to post them soon and you can compare and see how much Kendall has grown and changed!

Safe in Daddy's arms

Our "new" family of 4

My angels

Proud Mommy and Daddy

Tiny Kendall

"I love you, you love me"

We managed to avoid Barney for Avery's entire 1st year of life, but we made up for it in her second year. I don't know exactly when or how she got so hooked, but the purple dinosaur and his friends are high on the list in our house. I recently snapped this photo to have as a momento of what Avery does probably once a day while I am nursing Kendall or taking my shower. Barney (the stuffed one) has also made an appearance on our swingset, as have the imaginary versions of his friends BJ and Baby Bop, whom I have the pleasure of doing the voices for :) Although Barney is a little annoying, I do have to admit that he is a lifesaver in many situations--i.e. on long trips in the car, when I am nursing or showering as already mentioned, and the imaginary Barney sure is good at getting her to do things she doesn't really want to do (don't even get me started on that topic!). One other cute little thing that has come from her love of Barney is when she holds hands with Kendall and sings the "I love you, you love me" song. I for sure need a video of that one. While I am on the topic of songs, I have to list a few of Avery's other favorites that she likes to sing while coloring, riding in the car, swinging or just running around the house: You are My Sunshine, If You're Happy and You Know It, Jesus Loves Me, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Build a House for Jesus (taught to her by Memaw), and the most precious song from school called "Love is Like a Circle." It goes like this:
Love is like a circle
A circle big and round
Whenever you see a circle
The end is never found
It's like the love of Jesus
It goes on eternally
Forever and forever
I know that he loves me!
How lucky am I to get a daily or near daily reminder from my 2 yr. old about the nature of God's love and how we should love others!
The picture above shows my other daily reminder of God's love. I love to make her smile and coo. It seems like she is having more good or average days than bad days lately, and she's just growing and changing so much. She is getting pretty consistent now with not waking up until somewhere between 4:30 and 5:30 AM for a feeding, then right back to sleep until 7 or 8. And she has been going down for the night around 9:45 or 10:00 the past few nights instead of 10:30 or 11:00. Hopefully she'll be sleeping right through in a couple weeks or another month. She is really noticing toys more now and even tries to swat at and grab the ones on her floor gym and tummy time mat. I am getting so anxious for her to get more active and really start playing and interacting. When you've already done it once and know what fun things are to come, it's hard to be patient!

Pics and Kendall stats

I don't have anything big to say really, I just wanted to post these pics that I took today. Kendall was wearing a new outfit today and was really smiley in between her bouts of reflux-fussiness, so I had to break out the camera. And then Avery wanted to play in the tent she got for her b-day after school today, but we collapsed it about a week ago. So the compromise was to get out the tunnel part, and as you can see she got quite creative with it. It's funny the things a 2 yr. old can amuse herself with. Oh, and more for my records than for your information, Kendall had her 2 month check-up today and was 11 lbs. 2 oz (50%ile), and 23 1/4 in. (75%ile). She got 4 shots--ouch!-- plus the Rotavirus vaccine, which is administered orally. The doctor also switched her from Zantac to Axid to see if that would be more effective in controlling her reflux. I guess time will tell!

2 months

Kendall- 2 months

Kendall was 2 months old this past Friday. She celebrated last night by sleeping from 10:30 to 5:15 before waking up to eat. Yea Kendall- keep up the good work! I take her Thursday for her 2 month check -up, so I don't know her stats yet, but I can tell from the double chin and the rolls she's getting on her thighs that she is definitely growing. Despite her continued fussiness at times from her reflux, she smiles just about anytime someone smiles at her and likes to try to carry on a conversation. She is holding her head up pretty well now and is gaining control over her legs. She is also beginning to take an interest in toys now, which Avery really likes. We are still holding out hope that in another month or so when her digestive system is more mature her reflux and gas issues will begin to resolve themselves. In the meantime, I am trying my best to cut out dairy to see if that helps and we just began giving her this homeopathic medicine that has been highly recommended to us called "Colic Calm". Since we have only given it to her twice the verdict is still out.

On a non-kid related sidenote, Scott was recently able to outfit the front space of his office with cabinets, counters, equipment, dental chairs, etc. Eventually, these spaces will be used for hygenist(s), but for now they kind of use it as overflow. Previously, he just had 1 surgical operatory outfitted in the back and a large open space toward the front of the office. So it looks a lot different now and it really feels like he is making some progress in this business that we started from scratch about 9 months ago!

Miss Bright Eyes

smiling while taking some "Colic Calm" (vegetable charcoal makes it black)

my 2 year old cutie-patootie

Smiley girls

Just wanted to share some pictures of my smiling girls. Kendall has been sharing her precious smile with us several times a day lately and just coos and talks back to us. This isn't the greatest picture of her smiling, but I'll blame that on Scott since he took it :) I should just be grateful that he was up with the girls Saturday morning while I was still in bed and that he actually thought to get the camera out. What a great husband and Daddy! Sometimes, Kendall gets so excited she almost laughs! Of course we think it is super-cute. The other pictures are from Sunday night when we went over to my parents' house to celebrate my Dad's birthday. I can't remember what Avery was cracking up about, but it's rare to get a picture with her smiling this big, so I had to include it.

Avery and her Poppi

blowing bubbles with Daddy

Kendall getting some Mimi time

Happy 2nd Birthday Avery!

Avery is 2!!!

Avery had her 2nd birthday party Saturday night and she had a great time! Scott grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and then we had Baskin Robbins ice cream cake. Avery loved having everyone sing happy birthday to her and she did a great job blowing out her candles. When we sang to her she just looked around at everybody and soaked up all the special attention. She got some really neat gifts (as you can see in the pics) that are still strewn about the living room. Besides the things in the pics she also got a ride-on toy car, books, a CD, a blues clues that plays hide and seek, 2 mr. potato head sets, a big set of foam blocks from Mommy and a little set of play golf clubs from Daddy. Needless to say, I am going to have to reorganize the toys once again, but it is all worth it to see her have a great time and enjoy her special day!

ladybug tent from Memaw and Dedaw

interactive Barney from aunt Sheila and Uncle Doug

puppet from Mimi and Poppi

dress-up trunk from Mimi and Poppi

Avery's 1st Egg Hunt

This year was Avery's 1st year to actually hunt Easter eggs. They had egg hunt at school and then after church Sunday we hid eggs in the front yard for her. Not very fancy, I know, but she had a good time and I don't think she missed the cotmpetition of other kids in the least. Here are a few pics of our Easter.

We have been busy gearing up for Avery's birthday party on Saturday. We are just having a family party here at the house with hamburgers and hot dogs that we'll throw on the grill and an ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins. Ice cream is her favorite dessert-- like mother like daughter!-- and last year that is all she ate at her party. She wouldn't even touch the cake, much less eat it. So I decided ice cream cake was definitely the way to go.

As far as Kendall goes, she is growing and smiling more these days. Her little smiles just melt my heart and she is so sweet and cuddly. I just wish I had more time to sit and hold her. I don't know that the higher doses of meds have really helped her reflux, plus she's been having even more gas and tummy aches lately. Thankfully, she has good days and good moments mixed in with the bad. I just keep reminding myself that this too shall pass. I've also become convinced that God is using her not only to make me a better mother, but also to mold me more in His image. Last night it hit me just how many opportunities I am getting as I care for and raise my girls to practice many of the fruit of the Spirit-- kindness, gentleness, self-control, peace, patience, love and joy. Children truly are a blessing from God!