Potty Training 101

It's that time, yep, it's here, time to potty train my sweet Olivia. We've had a potty for quite a while and she's used the "big" potty a few times but we decided that it was time to buckle down and seriously potty train Olivia. What better time to start but when I'm on spring break, not like we've got anything else to do but hang out around the house for 9 days and use the potty, right?!?!?

I had Mom start last week with the whole potty thing and it's worked out GREAT, to say the least. We did encounter a little "hard headedness" last week when this whole thing started. We were going with the potty training idea of quit the diaper cold turkey, we moved right into panties on the first day...aren't we brave?!?! Monday went great, Olivia used the potty many times. Mom kept putting her on it every 15 minutes or so. This worked great for oh, let's just say 1 day. Not kidding, by Tuesday afternoon I was literally dragging her to the potty to use it. I was ready to throw in the towel and head straight back to diapers. Instead of doing that I decided that we should try a new approach. Olivia doesn't like to do things on anyone elses terms but her own, I have no idea where she gets that from. We started just asking her if she had to go every few minutes. Eventually she started going and was beginning to learn what it felt like to had to go. This method worked much better for us, YAY!!!

We are now on day 9 of no diapers and I have to say that it's wonderful. We have had our accidents, what potty training toddler doesn't?? Olivia has really started to understand the whole concept of using the potty and gets so excited about it. She even has her own little potty dance when she goes with her arms waving around in the air and singing. I'll have to keep the camera ready for the next time she does her potty dance, so you all can get a peak at it.

Being a parent is a learning experience and I've learned that we've got to do our own thing when it comes to somethings. We've taken the advice of many other mommy's and made it work for us. Here's to being diaper free after Sunday when Mommy goes back to work:)

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY OLIVIA!!!!!

Today is Olivia's 2nd birthday. Wow, I can't believe my baby girl is 2 years old already. It seems like just yesterday.....

Here are some of the highlights of Olivia at 2...

*we are in the beginning stages of potty training, it's going alright so far. You don't really like being made the sit on the potty every 15 minutes or so but, when asked you'll go and try to potty. We'll get there, my goal is to be diaper free by the time spring break is over. We can do it!!!

*your vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds daily. Some of the things you are just amaze me. Right now one of your favorite things to say is *so cute* when you see something you like, especially clothes.

*reading is a must have at bedtime everynight, at least 4 books. It's a good thing they're short books.

My goodness I could go on forever about my sweet girl but I won't. Here are a few shots of Olivia on her big day each year.

April 2, 2008
April 2, 2009

April 2, 2010

My how you've grown!!! Happy Birthday Olivia!!!!!

Been Slacking In More Ways Than I'd Like To Admit

I haven't been a very good blogger lately. Everyday I come home from work cook dinner, play with Olivia, and clean up around the house. I even take some time to read some of my favorite blogs BUT, I haven't taken the time to update my own blog...I know pretty pathetic and lazy. I've also been pretty bad about taking pictures of my darling daughter. Life as a working mom can be pretty hectic sometimes and somethings tend to get pushed to the back burner and taking pictures is the first thing I neglect, especially when a certain blonde blue eyed girl wants to go outside.

Things have been pretty normal around our house...work...play...housework. Although we are getting ready for a pretty special day coming up on Friday....it's Olivia 2nd birthday!!! I can't believe it, my baby is is going to be 2.

Here are some random shots I got of Olivia over the past few weeks....
She was practicing getting dressed as she says *self* with my clothes. I think she was hiding so I would catch her but it made for a really cute photo. A few weeks ago Paul was hired to build a cabinet for china and of course Olivia had to be in the middle of it. She joined him in the garage to help paint, of all the things she wanted to help with it is probably the messiest. Look at her using the roller like a pro and the big smile on her face that Daddy let her use it. I think I took about a hundred photos of her painting. She was covered in paint from head to toe and even left a few cute little paint hand and foot prints on the paper he laid out.

These two shots are out of order but she got a new piggy bank from Nanny a few weeks ago, so we just HAD to put our money in it. She put all of her coins in then her dollar bills. After she put in her last dollar she started looking for them and asked if they could come out, no such luck honey it's stuck in there until you go to college.

Putting her dollars in. I was folding it up them up and putting them in the hole for her and she would yell *POP* and slap her hand down on the bank to push the dollar in. She had a great time until she was out of money.

Olivia can always find something fun to play with in the pantry. This time she grabbed the plastic champagne glasses from New Year's past. Look at her face, I think she was so proud of herself for getting them out. I was actually pretty impressed that she found them, I haven't seen them in about 2 years. Maybe next time I lose something I'll have Olivia look for it.

23 Months and 1 Day

This post was meant for yesterday but sometimes things happen beyond our control...better late then never right???

I can't believe that in less then a month Olivia will be 2 years old. Where the heck did the time go?!?!? As we celebrate Olivia's 23 month birthday we're dealing with the croup. Let me just tell you it SUCKS!!! to be blunt about it. Olivia has done nothing but cough, whine, cry, scream, and want to be help for the past 3 days. Notice how I left out sleep, anyone getting rest in our family is completely out of question.

What else is going on at 23 months....a lot!!!
Olivia you amaze me everyday and I love, love, love to watch you learn and grow. Here are some of the amazing things you can do right now...
*You can now put together 4-6 words to make a sentence. I just love it!!! You can now ask for something instead of cry or whine for it. It's great, when you want something or need something you can just ask for it:)
*You are a wonderful singer. You can sing many of your favorite songs, at least parts of them, and I just love it. Some of your favs are The Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Patty Cake, and the Barney Song-I love you, you love me. I just love it when you sing---I love me too and give me a BIG kiss. It just makes my heart smile:)
*You are still not a great eater. You have your favorites-mac & cheese, string cheese, mashed potatoes, hot dogs, ham, and most fruits. I sure wish you would expand your repertoire of foods, maybe some day but not today.
*Books are an absolute must in our house everyday. We probably read 4 or 5 each night before you go to bed. I think I know the words to all the Gossie books by memory, we read at least one of them everynight. You also love the If you give a...books, especially If you give a pig a party.

I'm just in awe of you everyday and the things you do. I can't believe you are mine, all mine!!!

And what's a Wednesday post without a Wordless Wednesday photo, well almost wordless...we took this picture when Olivia rushed in our room and said "sleep in mommy's bed, watch Barney in mommy's bed" She hoped up in the bed covered herself up and grabbed the remote. How cute is she?!?!?

Let's Go To The Zoo

The weather is finally getting better so what better to do then head out to the Jacksonville Zoo. We took Olivia for the first time last month and she loved seeing all the animals, today was no exception. We decided not to go alone we met up with Kelly and Grady so mommy and Olivia would have a friend. The kids had a great time. The main reason for the trip was a sneak peak at the new penguin exhibit, Olivia thought it was cool-pictures below..
Our first stop ofthe day was the sting rays. Olivia leaned right over the wall and splashed and tried to play with them. She really liked it, we'll definately have to stop here next time we go. Kelly had to get in there too and play with the sting rays, who says

fun at the zoo is just for the kids. Riding in Grady's wagon, this only lasted for about an hour.

We'll pull it Mommy you guys take a break.

Checking out the ducks in the nasty water. Like we can't see ducks at home

I was so excited when we got to the giraffes because the line was only about 5 people long, which meant we could feed the giraffes:) Olivia was pretty impressed with it and pretty amazed with the size of its tongue.

My girl loves a penguin. The penguin exhibit is pretty cool, there is an underwater viewing area you can crawl under and see them in the water.

Olivia just wouldn't look at me to take a picture of them in the nest, but Grady was all smiles:)

We had a GREAT trip today, I can't wait to take Olivia back again.

Wordless Wednesday

LOTS of Catchin' Up

So I've seem to fall of the blog wagon but it's time to pick myself up and hop back on and keep all you faithful readers up to date on our family happenings. We've been so busy that I just haven't had time to share all of the excitement going on around here with you. So here it goes, try to keep up

** First let me confess, I've somewhat become addicted to the Twilight books. Ashley and Kelly convinced me to read the book and that it wasn't just for the teeny popper set, and was she right. At first I had a hard time getting into the first book and it took me about a month to get halfway through it but then all of a sudden I got into and couldn't put it down. I'm almost done with New Moon and can't wait to start the next one. So that's the real reason I've haven't blogged lately, not that I've been too busy. I've been using my blogging time to read.

**We took Olivia to the zoo for the first time about a month ago. I posted the pictures on facebook and will soon post them here for you. I've been too busy reading to post in both places. She absolutely LOVED the zoo. We didn't see everything but she was happy with what she did get to see. We bought a year pass so we're planning on going back often. We're hoping to go back during spring break with Olivia's friend Grady, she always asks to play with him, so why not. It also gives me a Kelly time to hang out other then on the playground at work:)

** Paul and I went to the Daytona 500 this past weekend. This was Paul's Christmas present from Mom and Stacy. We had a lot of fun but nothing for us goes off without a hitch. Let me start with how stupid the city of Daytona was with their planning of this race. They had the exit ramp into Daytona closed on 95, without any warning. We drove up on the exit and saw a state trooper and orange cones, seriously how the heck did they expect people to get to the race. To make a long story short we got off the next exit and were directed to free parking, which also turned into a nightmare. They had everyone lined up for busing to the track then you had to take a tram to the proper location of the track for your seats. We arrived in Daytona at 9:39 and didn't actually get into the track until 11:30, boy was I ticked off. I got Paul fanzone passes where you can see the cars in the garage and try to get autographs. No such luck, which pretty much meant I wasted a lot of money. We did have pretty good seats, the 4th row at the beginning of pit road. If you've ever been to a NASCAR race you know that it's the feeling of the cars rather then watching the race. We could feel the cars as they drove by us and at some points of the race we had tire rubber on our clothes. How cool is that?!?!?! But the race was delayed for a total of 2 hours due to a pot hole in the track, come on NASCAR get your act together. For the price of the tickets that track should be in excellent condition!!! We made it through the entire race, more then I can say for some of the other fans. Although I was frozen solid by the time we left and waited over an hour to get back to the truck. I officially quit racing, Paul's just going to have to bring a friend next time because I'm staying home.

** Our Daytona trip was our first getaway without Olivia. It was a big deal. She's stayed the night with Nanny and Poppy before but never while we were out of town. She survived and so did we:)

I wish I had some other exciting news for you guys but no such luck. I don't even have any pictures for you since I'm trying to blog and cook dinner at the same time, how's that for multitasking?!?!?! I'll be posting some soon of our zoo trip, the race, new photos of Olivia we had taken, and just our daily lives.