Potty Training

So I have always wanted to potty train my children around the age 2, luckily, being pregnant has given me another incentive to potty train Kailah because I don't want two kids in diapers either.  

I have been using the 3day Potty Training Method and I really love it.  It definitely was a VERY hard first few days, but it has almost been 2 weeks now and we have been accident free for the past 6 days! I am so proud of Kailah.  We are still working on night time training, so we have resorted to using pull-ups right now after a long week and a half of night time accidents.  I am actually against pull-ups and the book recommends not using them either but I don't think Kailah is quite old enough to control her bladder at night time yet, so we are doing this at night and then going to try the whole night time situation in a few months when she's a bit older.  As long as she is fully trained by July I will be happy.  And at the rate that she is going I'm sure this wont be an issue.

I've realized how much of potty training is actually training the parent, not the child!  I've loved learning how to teach your child to tell you when they need to and not forcing them to try and go.  Reading this book has been a huge eye opener for me, and I'm so glad I found it.  I really needed the guidance because every one potty trains so different these days and I needed to find something that was right for me AND Kailah and that I agreed with.

Kailah and I have bonded so much since starting potty training.  We have spent way more quality time together and it's been all about her. This love and bonding was something I wasn't expecting to get from this experience at all, and I love it!  It's almost like nursing all over again, you have to be at your childs every need during this period.

Leaving the house was a huge really scary experience for me, so before we made our way out I made sure I bought all the potty training gear to-go.  I bought a pottete plus potty that allows Kailah to go potty anywhere! We also got a piddle pad to put on her car seat for any accidents that might happen there.

Oh wow! These two things have made life SO easy!  Kailah does awesome outside of the home and she isn't scared of using public toilets at all, and she always goes when she needs to.

I can't even express how proud I am of her!  I love you Kailah!

Raleigh Baby 15weeks

This week I am 15 weeks pregnant.  Because I have been so busy and focusing all my attention on Kailah, this pregnancy is going by very fast.  I can't believe I'm almost half way done and we find out the sex the first of March.  

This pregnancy I started showing a lot sooner than last time, and just this morning I was feeling like I popped a bit! And my belly button is starting to flatten out too.  The bottom of my stomach is really hard and I no longer can suck in,  It's not going to be too much longer when I really can't hide the fact that I'm pregnant.

Every thing seems to be happening a lot quicker with this baby.  I have been getting heart burn a lot lately and already feeling anemic.  These symptoms didn't show until month 7-8 with Kailah.

So far I have been feeling like I am losing my mind a little bit.  I know you kind of do when you are pregnant and I did with Kailah, but this time my patients is out the window and anything can cause me to become upset.  It's interesting that even though I am aware of these things happening and I know it's not OK, I also cannot control it even though I want to.  Poor Jason has been having to deal with me for the last 3 months and it has not made being together easy.  Luckily Jason and I have weekly talks and have been able to communicate with each other about how I am feeling and the effects this pregnancy is having on me, and I think he has more of an understanding of whats going on.  It's crazy the things us women go through and give up to have children. 

I'm really looking forward to finding out the sex and being able to plan.  I have a lot to do before July and I can't really do anything until I know what I'm having.

Big Sis

While in Utah we surprised our family with our big news by having Kailah wear this shirt when we got together.  It was fun to see the reactions of people. Who got it right away and who it took awhile to get.

  I took a dollar store pregnancy test during the beginning of November and what do you know, two pink lines!  Jason and I decided just in September that it was time to start adding to our family and we were blessed with getting pregnant right away.  I had my first appointment in December and saw our little one's heart beat.  It is unreal seeing a new little being, being created inside of you.  This time around I was not ready at all to give my body away to all the changes pregnancy makes on your body, where getting pregnant with Kailah was so exciting and everything was new and I embraced every moment.  I am going to try my best to embrace this pregnancy and enjoy it too, but I feel like this time its like" been there, done that"  Can I just have kids with out having to get pregnant?!?!  I have been pretty sick this first trimester so it has been hard for me to enjoy it this far, and that's probably why I have been feeling this way.

My doctor is a very in and out kind of doctor he doesn't like to sit and chit chat.  He just comes in, does what he has to do and then he's out again... This is very different for me and I have heard about people having these kind of doctors before and they love it, but I don't know if I'm ready for it yet. I still feel like I have so many questions and need to refresh my memory on what is going on...

I am committing to changing my priorities a bit this year and cutting back in things that I can so I can make more time for this baby and make it a more stress free year.

Christmas 2010

The weekend before Christmas we celebrated our own little Christmas together as a family.  It has never really mattered to me which day I celebrate Christmas as long as we get to celebrate.  It was so much fun watching  Kailah open her gifts this year.  She is much more into it and enjoys ripping the wrapping off her gifts.
Kailah got some Elmo jammie's and a DVD player and a few movies for the car, which was a lifesaver when we made our road trip to Utah this year.
Jason and I don't really buy gifts for each other.  We always get whatever we want throughout the year so there is never a need to exchange gifts.  Although I do think it's nice when couples do exchange and can surprise each other, especially if their love languages are gifts, then that is HUGE.
I did however buy us a fondue set which I was really excited about and we got to use over the holiday.

We spent the actual Christmas Holiday in Utah and of course got sick! We get sick every time we visit Utah.  And I will say we are SiCk of being SiCk!  Kailah and I even got our flu shots this year in hopes it would help not catch the flu, which I don't know if it did or didn't help, really since neither of us really got the flu but rather all sorts of different sicknesses one right after another.
It's always nice to see family and that is all we did while on Holiday.  The first half of the trip was spent with Jason's family and the second half we were able to see alot of my family.  I always get to see a lot of my sister Lisa and her kids, but I really miss being able to see all my other nieces and nephews on my side more often.  We were able to see Amy and Tino's kids which was a lot of fun and it was my first time seeing their youngest Markus who is just a month older than Kailah.
Kailah got to spend a lot of quality time with her grandparents one-on-one, which is so important to me since she only sees them a few times a year.  She did spend some quality time with a few cousins too.

 Kailah of course was spoiled this year with lots of babies and Elmo stuff.  She is really starting to find things that she likes and the grandparents knew just how to surprise her.

Jason and I spent our 5th anniversary at the Anniversary Inn.  It is tradition for us so far to go there every anniversary.  We really love checking in early and ordering food in and watching movies and enjoying our themed room.  It was an adventure getting to the hotel that night, It was a snow storm and the roads were pretty bad.  The hotel is uphill a block which doesn't seem bad but in that part of salt lake the hills are pretty steep so Jason was pretty much flooring the gas the whole way up 1 block and it took us about ten minutes, we were literally moving SO slow. Next time we will have to remember to use our chains, which we bought for emergencies but haven't used yet.

We had a New Years Day party with girls and their spouses from The Dating Divas and it was fun. The party was thrown together and everyone pitched in a little with decor and food and it ended up turning out really cute.   It felt nice to be able to spend the Holiday break away from my computer and not work on Dating Diva stuff, however it was always in the back of my mind because we just launched a new website called www.thedatingdivas.com  So far it has been getting a great response and I think all of us are very hopeful about the future of this blog and where it will go.

On our drive home to California we hit a snowstorm in Victorsville, CA, which is unheard of in that part of California.  They literally closed down I-15 because they didn't have snow plows or the equipment to clear it.  Needless to say, we ended up booking a hotel room, luckily getting into a decent hotel before all the ones in that town booked up.  So our trip home took a little longer than planned, but Jason and Kailah were still feeling pretty sick so it was much more comfortable to stop.

Even though I love being in Utah and seeing the snow during Christmas time, it is always so nice to come back to California and be in a better climate. I love the small bits of humidity we get here, it keeps our mouths moist and our skin feeling not so dry.  I am already looking forward to our first really warm day of the week so I can go to the beach.  The beaches during off season are amazing.  I'm also already getting an itch for a tropical vacation this year.