A monumental day for my son!

Paul went tee-tee on his potty....twice!! This evening after I got him out of his bath and dried him off, I asked him if he wanted to sit on his potty (which he has done before, just hasn't gone potty on it...except for the first time we ever sat him on it when he pooped...but that's another story...and he hasn't done it since). He agreed to sit and I talked about going tee-tee, and after a few minutes I noticed a tiny droplet of tee-tee coming out. I asked if he could make more and a few minutes later, he went! Then, we poured the tee-tee in the big potty, flushed, washed our hands, then he promptly sat back down and made more tee-tee - I think it was so he could flush the big potty again- lol. I am so excited for my growing boy, and this on the eve of his first day at montessori school...such a big week for him!

New Year's Resolution update/ kids update

Part 1: New Year's Resolution Update

1. Read the bible - I'm about 7 pages behind schedule, but that's better than last month at least.

2. Read 50 books - I have read 9 so far, so I am a little ahead of schedule.

3. Eat salad twice a day - I am doong great with this one seeing as I buy a box of salad weekly, so I eat from it almost every day.

4. Save $100/month ($1,200/year) in coupons - This month was only $75.30, but for the year, I am at $275.07, so quite a bit ahead still.

Part 2: kids update

Paul: terrible two's full swing, now we even get full on laying-on-the-floor-kicking-and-screaming tantrums, for no good reason. But other than that, he's such a great kid. He's a really sweet big brother, too. He will bring Camille toys to play with or her pacifier if she's upset. He still doesn't talk much, but he has made up more sounds and signs for words so he gets his point across. His new trick this month is being able to open the refrigerator and freezer doors by himself, so now he can help himself to whatever he can reach in either of those. So that's been a new interesting challenge. We picked a montessori school for him, so he will hopefully start going next week, all day, two times a week. Next month's "kids update" will be all about his new school! I can't believe he is already old enough for school.

Camille: she changes so much every day, it seems! She crawls really fast now and can finally go from laying down to sitting without having to pull up on something. She can also walk by holding only one of our hands and she's getting pretty fast at that, too. She might be walking on her own by the next update! She babbles more and more each day and is also becoming more and more playful. She has been trying all kinds of new foods - her favorite new snack is graham crackers. She has also tried lentils, baked potato, white kidney beans (those make her too gassy and upset), a couple bites of our foods here and there, I can't remember it all. It seems she is trying a couple new foods each week, most of which she enjoys. She doesn't have teeth yet, but it sure hasn't slowed her eating down. There's rarely a time when she's not eating it seems!

Well, that's pretty much it for this month. See you in March!

2012 resolutions update - month 1

1. Read 50 books - I've read 5 so far.. slightly ahead of schedule.
2. Read the bible- I am about 5 days (15 pages) behind ...guess that's why I am ahead on my book reading.
3. Eat salad 2x a week - definitely meeting this so far - I buy a box of pre-made salad at least once a week so it's enough for several salads.
4. $100 in coupons/month - this month's total was $199 - double my goal! It would be awesome to keep that up! I must give credit where credit is due on this one. If it weren't for the fact that Paul's mom (Tia) and grandmother (Grammy) give me their Sunday coupons each week, I wouldn't be nearly as successful. :-)

I think I am doing pretty well overall. I will update again in a month! :-)

All About Camille

My little second-born sweetheart rarely gets a moment in the spotlight all to herself, so this blog is just for her. She's been changing and maturing so much lately, within the last month or so, that I wanted to write it all down before I forget.

1. Started "crawling" - it's more like a trench crawl - she still doesn't pick her belly up off the floor, but boy can she move fast these days.

2. Babbles a lot - she says things resembling "bubba" (for brother) and dada among other random and super-cute baby noises.

3. Eats 4 food groups now - she eats rice & oatmeal, a growing selection of fruits & veggies, and as of last week, meat! She's tried turkey & chicken so far. And, today for the first time, she got to try plain whole milk yogurt - her first dairy food! Also, of all these foods, the only "baby" food is the rice & oatmeal - I make everything else for her. Sometimes we just hold out some of our meal and make it separate for her without seasonings. She has also never had to have formula as I have been very fortunate to be able to continue nursing her.

4. Feeds herself snacks - we introduced her to "puffs", "mum mums" and "yogurt melts", which all pretty much just melt in her mouth. We can now put some on her walker tray and let her cruise around feeding herself. She is also beginning to use a sippy cup. We give her water in it and she is getting pretty good at using it all by herself.

5. Physically stronger - she sits up on her own for long periods of time and she can go from sitting to laying down, and then can roll & trench crawl all around. She can also pull up to standing if she is holding on to something really sturdy. She will also reach out for our hands so she can pull herself up and then walk, or almost run, us all over the house. Now it's only a matter of time before she lets go!

Can't you tell I'm so proud of her? :-)

Just when you think things are getting good...

So I recently bragged that my kids' nap schedules were aligning and I got 2 breaks during the day because of it. (Read - opportunity to finally take a shower!)  This hasn't been the case since Camille was born (not the lack of showering - the break time, I mean).  Now that she's getting in to a more predictable eating and sleeping schedule, she is syncing up with Paul's nap schedule, too.  It was going great the past few days.  But, then today happened.  Actually it started last night.  For some reason, both of the kids woke up twice during the night at different times.  So, that meant no sleep for anyone!  Paul (husband) was already having problems sleeping because he can't shake this cough he has and I am having my turn with it now.  So, we got two hours here and there of sleep which threw off today's schedule completely.  Camille is currently on her third nap, she had two short ones earlier for less than an hour each.  Paul only had one nap that he fought for over an hour to take, but finally gave in.  So as you can imagine, it's been a pretty rough day.  It's days like these that I appreciate when I do get my two "nap breaks" and remember not to take them for granted! :-)

20 Bites To Go

In order to get Paul to eat, I usually follow him around with bites of food while he occupies himself with his toys. Ironically, it is often his & Camille's kitchen set and FAKE food that has him more interested than the real stuff. Now, you may wonder why I am not making him learn to sit at the table and properly eat. Well, he does know how to do this, and will for very short periods of time before losing interest in the mundane task of chewing & swallowing bites. But, to make it more peaceful for everyone, and to pretty much guarantee he will eat as much as I want him to, I let him play while eating. Ever watched A Christmas Story? Remember how the mother got her younger son to eat by letting him eat like a pig and snort and not use his hands? This is what us mothers do to make sure our babies stay well-fed. As long as he eats a good portion of his meals, I am happy.
This is where my personal game, "20 Bites To Go", comes in to play. At the beginning of the meal, I set a goal of how many bites I need to feed Paul, most often 20, and I count as I go. If I get all 20 bites down it means that I won my game and Paul has most likely eaten about 90% of his food, if not all of it. If he eats more, then great, if not, thats ok too. I know the game sounds silly and maybe like a lot of work for me, but it keeps us all happy, and that's really all that matters, right?

A peaceful moment

The kids have been napping at the same time twice a day as of late. I should say, Camille is finally syncing up her schedule with Paul's. It's nice I finally get a "break". Sometimes I use the break to be somewhat productive, like spending the last two days compiling a scrapbook on shutterfly, which I got free with my pampers rewards (hey! Free coupon...that helps with one of my resolutions this year). Other times, I do less than productive things, like facebook surfing. I should do some dishes or laundry, but when I get a quiet minute, that's usually the last thing I want to do. I usually just want to read or nap, too! Now that the kids' schedules are allowing me these breaks, it would be good to work on a balance of fun & chores. It will be nice to have a more organized house and schedule again. Camille sleeps through the night, usually, but still goes to bed really late (11-12:00). Once we can get her to bed early, then it will really be nice. Well I guess I should use some of this free time to help get this house back in shape. Off to my chores!