to potty is divine

We had another 4:30am bout this morning. I was afraid she had dirtied her diaper, so I checked it, and it was dry! Did she wake up to use the potty? I sat her down, and she went! But she did not settle back into sleep very easily, so I don't think it was connected. She woke up again at 6:30am, and her diaper was VERY wet--and I don't think she cared.

We met some friends at the food court in the mall for lunch today. April was due with her second baby two days before I was due with Rachel. At first, they found out they were having a girl. We immediately began planning our girls' first princess birthday party together. Then they found out they were having a boy. We immediately began planning their wedding. Alex was born about two weeks before Rachel. He joined his big sister Ruby to make a cute little American dream family!

Rachel has become quite the snugglebug lately. She often will climb up to me (or Daddy) just to rest her head on my face and stroke my hair for a second. Sometimes she'll offer a big sloppy kiss, or she'll look right into my eyes like she's trying to tell me something. It's so sweet, and it makes me feel so loved. It is amazing how much that little thing means to me.

Aunt Mamber came over after bedtime so Jarrad could go to a basketball game with Landin, and I went to see my cousin Bethany. It's so nice to have family so close! Rachel is a very blessed little girl to be loved by so many people.

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	10	3	<---woah!
poop	0	0

Another couple of days like today, and we're going to be shopping for tiny training pants! Rachel went diaperless while we were home today, except during naps. She woke up dry from her afternoon nap! In fact, she was dry when we got home from our 3-hour outing in the middle of the day, and when we came in from our late afternoon stroll. Amazing!

cute moment

When Aunt Julie came on Sunday, she and Rachel listened to the radio in her room (the one I usually use only to play her night-night CD). Hmm, why don't I ever play the radio? Rachel loves music! So, today, remembering what fun Aunt Julie had shown Rachel, I turned on the radio, which was already set to the oldies station. "GOOD GOLLY, MISS MOLLY" WOOOO! Rachel danced and danced! She also lay with her bath towel over her face and slammed her feet on the floor with great rhythm. She'll be a musician for sure! Check her out on her piano she got from GiGi at Christmas...

non-toy toy of the day

We plug in Rachel's moniter and put it right under her crib while she's sleeping. Usually, as soon as she wakes up, I go in her room, turn off her CD player, and unplug her moniter to put it away before I get her out of her crib. This afternoon, I forgot to pick up the moniter. As soon as she caught sight of it, she sprint-crawled under her crib to have a taste. I unplugged it and stayed right by her while she played and played and played.

to bathe is divine

Bath day! Rachel loves taking a bath. She has two CareBears bathtime bubble books, which I alternate in the tub. She likes to hold onto the book with one hand and a washcloth with the other, and her favorite part of bathtime is dripdry. Ever since she started taking tub baths, I made a habit of picking her up when we were finished, holding her high over the tub, shaking her gently from side to side, and saying "dripdry dripdry dripdry." She always grins so big--I think the cool air feels funny on her skin, and the sound of "dripdry" over and over is kind of amusing too. Then I wrap her in a cozy hooded towel and we have some cuddle time. The doctor recommended that we use Cetaphil brand cleanser and cream (not lotion) for her dry skin, and it has done an amazing job getting her skin back to baby soft!

Rachel woke up this morning at 4:25am. Rub your eyes and read it again: 4:25am. I was terrified that she was up for the day. She was sitting up in her crib, crying because she couldn't fold herself in half to go back to sleep (I figured out her zip-up blanket won't allow that maneuver). I tried to put her back down a time or two, but she screamed. I rocked her a few minutes and calmed her down, then put her back in the crib, vowing to leave her alone and let her figure out what to do next. By 5:15am, she was back to sleep, and she slept until 7:20am. And so did I. Finally, she is well-rested, and, as a result, took a good 1.5-hour nap this morning, and a 1-hr nap this afternoon. We enjoyed some fresh air before dinner, and Rachel was in a great mood when Daddy got home tonight!!

Progress Report

	potty	diaper	floor	highchair
peepee	7	4	1	1
poop	1	0

Today's pottying was...haphazard. Feeling really [over]confident, I let Rachel go diaperless, sure that she would let me know if she needed to go. And maybe she tried. How in the world would I know??--she doesn't have a set sign for potty yet. What was I thinking? I guess, as most parents, that my child is more advanced than she actually is. At lunchtime, I decided to take her down to the kitchen, no diaper, and bring the potty with us. I set it within her line of sight, so she could show me if she needed to go. I put a doubled diaper on the seat of her highchair, just in case. Rachel was thoroughly amused by the potty being in the dining room. She laughed at it and waved and squealed. So, when she might have been telling me she had to go, I disregarded it, and she wet her chair. Then, don't you know she was whining and showing me the potty! It'll be awhile before we try that stunt again. So, my wet, carrot-stained baby got her bath, after which she was crawling around her room as naked as the day she was born. She crawled over to me, but I was trying to pick out her outfit and I didn't pay her any mind. So she peepeed on the floor! Man, we were off today!

cute moment

Rachel LOVES her daddy. Tonight, she was in an especially good mood, and she and Daddy played and played. When we were getting her ready for bed, Rachel lay patiently on her back for us to dress her. Jarrad, standing above her, started dangling one of her garments and then lowered it to tickle her face. She burst into squeals and laughter. He kept pulling it back high and she would look at it, then at Daddy, and grin and tense up in anticipation. Then Daddy dropped it down, and she kicked her feet and flailed her arms all around, laughing hysterically. Sometimes she grabbed it, and Daddy shook gently and said "Gimme that, gimme that." She found that even more laughable. Rachel has the best Daddy in the world!

non-toy toy of the day

Yes, it's the same award-winning "toy" as yesterday, but isn't this a cute picture??

tomorrow is another day

Mondays are recovery days for Rachel and me. The weekend is always packed with visitors and going places, so I try to keep Mondays clear for us to just chill out. Today, we definitely needed it. Rachel woke up this morning at 5:45. I like for her to stay awake until 9:00am for her nap, because I find that she won't sleep as long if I put her down before. But today, she would not last, and I ended up putting her down at 8:45am. And, sure enough, she was back up at 9:30. I held her off until 1:00 for her afternoon nap, but she woke up at 1:45. What is going on with this child? Poor baby--she's so overtired she doesn't know what to do. Needless to say, it was early to bed tonight. Maybe we'll recover tomorrow.

Our friend, Carla, gave Rachel a new book yesterday. It's called No More Diapers for Ducky!, and it is adorable. Rachel thought the pictures were funny enough to laugh out loud. I guess it is funny to see a pig sitting on a potty!

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	8	4
poop	2	0

She had such an amazing potty day, that I let her go diaperless almost all afternoon!

cute moment

Rachel's current favorite game is to drop her paci while I'm holding her, and I lower her way down to pick it up and then pull her back up again. She grins and does it all over again. This morning, I had Rachel in our bedroom and she was playing this game, and she was also looking all around (we're not in there very often). She apparently spotted a pair of my socks on the floor, and she wanted them. So, she dropped her paci so it would land right by the socks. When I lowered her to pick it up, she immediately grabbed a sock instead! What a stinker!

non-toy toy of the day

A few onesies, a couple of outfits, three pairs of socks, and two washcloths: the contents of Rachel's laundry basket. She played there for a really long time today. She pulled clothes out and handed them back and forth to herself, pulled them over her face, sat on them, rolled on top of them, swung them around, and pulled on them. The basket itself was fun too. She tipped it over, examined the weave, and played with the ribbon.

stand up, sit down, shout shout shout

Rachel slept until 6:45 Saturday morning! We went to visit her great-grandparents (NaNa and PaPa), along with Great Aunt Jan and Great Uncle Billy, Great Uncle Steve and Ms. Candy, Aunt Mamber and GiGi. She did not take her regular afternoon nap. She fell asleep easily on the car ride home, and put herself back to sleep in her crib after we got home. We had a fun day visiting family and showing off Rachel's tricks.

Today she was greeted out of her slumber by a dirty diaper at 5:15am. I changed it and we played for a little while until she was nearly nodding off from exhaustion. I put her back in her crib around 7, and she slept until 7:45. Church was almost too much this morning; she was whimpering when I picked her up from the nursery, perhaps the beginnings of separation anxiety? She fell asleep in the car and actually stayed asleep when we got home (something she hasn't done since she was tiny). She slept almost an hour and a half, right through lunch. Aunt Julie and Mr. Landin came to hang out for a few hours this afternoon. For dinner, Rachel had some HOME-COOKED chicken mixed with rice cereal and carrots, and, although it clearly wasn't her favorite dish, she finished it willingly. She got some Gerber "banana orange medly" for dessert. She had only one nap today, so early to bed tonight!

Progress Report (Sunday)

	potty	diaper
peepee	4	4
poop	1	1

Progress Report (Saturday)

	potty	diaper
peepee	4	5
poop	0	0

cute moment

Jarrad walked into the room this afternoon, and Rachel looked up at him and said, "DADAAAAA" through a big grin on her face. Her first word??

non-toy toy of the day

All day Saturday, Rachel played with a Gerber food lid. On our day trip, I only grabbed a couple of her toys, because, somehow I knew she'd find something else to play with. On Sunday, she loved chasing Aunt Julie's half-full water bottle.

the fabric of our lives

Rachel's cloth diapers were finally delivered today! They have to be washed and dried 4 times before use, but we are well on our way to chucking Target diapers for good. I went to EarthFare and bought some Seventh Generation brand disposable diapers for when we're out and about and I don't want to tote back soggy cloth diapers, or for when someone else is watching her and doesn't want to be cloth diaper trained (although it's not as difficult as I thought it would be). With all these changes, I hope Rachel's bottom will stay healthy!

Today was also toy rotation day! Rachel has been bored with her toys for a couple of days now, so I did a switch-out. She was very excited to see her old friends. She crawled from toy to toy, not sure which to play with first.

PopPop and Uma has graciously been letting Jarrad use one of their cars to drive to work. This afternoon, it broke down. We feel terrible that a car that we were blessed to borrow actually died in our care. PopPop was kind and didn't blame us, but we still feel pretty bad. Looks like the Buick, dubbed "ButtUgly" by its owners, will be retired sooner than we thought.

Tomorrow we head to Lumberton to celebrate February birthdays with Jarrad's extended family. I'm looking forward to it; it's always fun to watch people dote over Rachel.

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	6	4
poop	2	0

After a discouraging potty day yesterday, we started off with a bang today. There is no doubt she knows what's going on. When we say "potty," she looks at the potty. We're even fairly certain she's tried to communicate her needs to us a time or two (both potty poops today came after we set her on the potty when she seemed to be indicating she needed to go). I hope it sticks (so to speak).

cute moment

Rachel woke up this morning at 5:45, but she was a happy baby. She entertained herself peacefully in her crib until about 6:15, while Daddy and I listened on the moniter, "dadadadada, dadada, dada, dada, dadadadada." She seemed to be having a real conversation with herself; maybe she was giving herself a potty peptalk!

non-toy toy of the day

Rachel is amused by bare skin. When I'm in her room, sometimes I lie down on her floor and stretch out, causing my shirt to pull up higher than my waistband and expose my belly button. No matter what Rachel is doing, she lets out an excited coo and sprint-crawls over to give my belly a sloppy kiss. Then, she giggles and dances.

deep thought

This morning, my wonderful husband got up early so he could hang out with Rachel while I took a much-needed 30-minute nap. When I was up again, I wanted to thank him for babysitting. Wait, babysitting? He's not a 14-year-old girl who's gabbing with her friends on my phone and trying to keep my baby happy at the same time. I would never refer to what I do daily as "babysitting." I mother Rachel. So, then, I should thank Jarrad for fathering Rachel. NO no that's not right either. How is it that "to mother" and "to father" mean such completely different things??

how 'bout them peas??

Rachel woke up at 5:00am today. I had hopes that she would go back to sleep. She didn't. And, even though I slept horribly last night, I somehow didn't feel too tired. I think my sleep has lapsed. She went to sleep easily for her morning nap (1 hr 15 mins) and woke up with a dry diaper, and then slept as pictured this afternoon for a whole hour. (I didn't put the doll there--that's how these two were when I peeked in!) We went for a walk outside today before dinner...

And, yes, how was dinner? I tried giving her the peas. She liked them, I think, more than the carrots, but not crazy about them. After a few bites, it was clear I should break out the pre-packaged Gerber peas. I will be trying again, but with dried peas I think. I used fresh-frozen--maybe not the best choice.

Aunt Mamber came over for a visit late this afternon. Rachel was so excited to have another person to climb on!

Progress Report

	potty	diaper	floor
peepee	4	7	1
poop	1	0

Rachel was very obstinate when it came to pottying and diapering today, and I'm pretty certain we had our first protest "accident." She hopped off the potty and, before I even had a chance to hold her down and diaper her, she scooted under her crib, where she peepeed on the floor.

cute moment

Rachel rediscovered Monkey today. Monkey was given to her by Aunt Julie at Christmas. He wears a lovely red NC State shirt, and Rachel LOVES him. He's been away for a few days (out of toy rotation), and when she found him, she could not stop giving him kisses. She laughed and kissed and laughed and kissed. It was a happy reunion.

non-toy toy of the day

Rachel played with one of her BabyLegs socks for a really long time today. It stretches nicely, so she could pull it and sling it around. What great fun!

what's in these carrots??

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY PopPop!! In honor of PopPop, I tried to cook carrots for Rachel again. My first several attempts failed, even though she likes the Gerber carrots. When PopPop and Uma were last here, I tried again, this time cooking the things to death, hoping that was the problem. Of course that wasn't the problem at all, and Rachel entertained us with various crazy faces. Believe me, the video camera was out. PopPop suggested I use baby carrots (which are sweeter) instead of the big kind I'd been using, so, today, I did. And Rachel still refused them. She still likes Gerber carrots though. Tomorrow I'm trying peas, which she's loved coming out of the little plastic Gerber pack. If she doesn't like those, I'm contacting WRAL 5 on Your Side to investigate...what in the world is Gerber doing to that food?? The ingredients say: "carrots, water." There must be something else in there, or they'd taste like carrots. And, here I am again, regretting I didn't start doing what's healthier from the beginning instead of putting it off. Sheesh.

As for sleep, last night was great until about 5:45am. She went down relatively easily for her nap this morning (1.5 hours), and then took over an hour to go to sleep this afternoon. I'm trying hard to let her figure this out, but after an hour, I had to help her along. I finally put her down, asleep, around 3.

Progress Report

	potty	diaper	floor
peepee	7	6	1	oops!
poop	1	0

I tried two potty experiments today (are you figuring out that this is not really work for me, but more like a project?). Late this morning, I put Rachel on the potty as usual, and she pooped. I was very happy because it's been several days since she pooped on the potty. I knew peepee was coming shortly, but I didn't have the heart to make her stay seated until it came. So I dangerously left her diaperless, wondering what she'd do. She pulled herself up at the window, so i shoved a towel between her legs on the floor (just in case). Sure enough, a couple minutes passed and she looked away from the window, gazed over at the potty, and peepeed. She gets it! Am I going to throw her on the potty now every time she looks at it? No--she also loves to play with the potty. But at least I know she's aware of what her body's doing (something toddlers often have trouble with after ignoring it for so long), and I know, eventually, she'll be able to communicate that to me with the sign for potty or whatever.

The second experiment was this afternoon. I put her on the potty and she protested even more than usual (she was sleepy). I set her on it twice and she got up without trying both times (believe me, I do know when she's tried). So, on a whim, I put her Eeyore stuffed animal on it, made the psspss noise I usually make when she goes and to signal her to go, got him up and said, "Yay, Eeyore peepeed on the potty, yay!!" as Eeyore jumped up and down. I sat her back on there, and she went, no hesitation! Weird!

cute moment

Rachel has decided it's more interesting to play with her bib than eat (especially my home-cooked carrots, of course). She yanks on her bib and pulls it up over her face. She puts it in her mouth (Aunt Mamber says she's wiping off her tongue), and she finally pulls it off and waves it around. Really, the bib has become more of a mess-maker than a mess-preventer. She also found the bear on the back of her highchair, and she turned often to give him a kiss or to wack him and laugh.

non-toy toy of the day

Rachel played by the windows a lot today. She has two sets of windows in her room. One set is really tall, starting almost at the floor, so it's the perfect place for Rachel to pull up and look outside. There she found a little plastic piece that is supposed to attach to the blinds so you can twist them closed or open. It had fallen off, and it was the perfect size for Rachel to pick up and hold tightly in her hand, which she did for a loooong time. Even when she wasn't actually playing with it, if she dropped it, she immediately looked to pick it up again. I stayed close by her, but I only had to keep her from putting it in her mouth a couple of times. I think she just enjoyed having it in her hand.

Here is Rachel, concentrating on the task at hand.

sleep, please sleep

We may have had a potty break-through today! Although her count is a little low (I think due to her lack of sleep last night), this afternoon, she got kind of still and stopped playing, looked at the potty, vocalized and waved. Potty? You need to sit on the potty? (I use the sign for potty too.) So, I removed her dry diaper, sat her on the potty, and she immediately peepeed...a LOT. A coincidence? I hope not!

We've been having sleep issues at our house. Not Jarrad, of course; that man will sleep through a hurricane (he really has before). Rachel is having a tough time figuring out she can't be standing up and fall asleep at the same time. at 11:14pm last night, she stirred around, and she woke up enough to sit herself up, which led straight to pulling up and looking around her room. Now what? She's sleepy and can't fall asleep! So she fusses, and I lay her back down. Up she goes. Down I lay her. Up she goes. She finally falls asleep folded in half, but that won't last long. We start all over again, until she finally falls asleep sort of on her side with her legs halfway folded underneath her. Whew! Unfortunately, she also regularly stirs around at 5 or 5:30am. In the past, she has easily fallen back to sleep until 7ish. Not now...now she stands, she sits, she stands, and there is NO more sleeping for her (or for me). That does mean she is exhausted by her 9am naptime, and she easily rocks to sleep (avoiding the standup-sitdown routine) and sleeps at least 1.5 hours. We made a Target run with some friends today, and took a nice stroll around the neighborhood late this afternoon. It was early to bed tonight.

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	6	5
poop	0	4

cute moment

Rachel always gets hyper right before bed. Tonight, she insisted on playing with her new diaper I had out. She would start to put it in her mouth, and I'd grab and gently shake and say, "Hey, cut that out, cut that out." She absolutely cackled. We enjoyed this game for no less than 15 minutes.

non-toy toy of the day

Rachel loves to handle one baby wipe. It's best while she's on the potty because it occupies her so well. She looks at it with furrowed brow, pulls it out of one hand with the other, shreds it to bits, and ultimately holds tightly to the last big piece for awhile as she plays with other things. I like to give her one when I think she needs to wash her hands.

today's life lesson

Rachel's #1 desire at the moment is the stand up. She'll try to pull up on anything and everything, and if she falls, she tries again. But it's interfering with her sleep, as previously mentioned. The sleep books say, "She's stranded herself standing and doesn't know how to get down." But that's not true; Rachel does know how to get down. I think she doesn't know she needs to. Her #1 desire is to stand, but her #1 need is to sleep. She doesn't understand that she can't do both, and, consequently, her #1 desire is obstructing her #1 need. How often is that true for me? My #1 desire is to be right all the time, but my #1 need is to be close to God. But I can't do both, can I? I can't hold on to my pride and have a good relationship with my God at the same time. And, as usual, my #1 desire (the fleshly) stands in the way of my #1 need (the spiritual). They can't coexist. Furthermore, how often do I think I want something so badly, and I keep saying, "please, please." God will quietly correct me over and over, but I'll keep standing back up, saying, "but I don't understand why not!" But He knows, just like I know Rachel needs to lie down. And, even though I don't understand what God is doing or teaching me, and even though Rachel doesn't understand what I'm doing or trying to teach her, eventually the lesson will be learned and we can move past this hurdle and on to the next one.

Blog Day One

I've spent most of my alotted blog time setting up the blog, but I should at least include Rachel's potty log, cute moment, & non-toy toy highlight, don't you think?

Progress Report

	potty	diaper
peepee	8	3
poop	0	2

cute moment

Rachel has a new game today. When her favorite elephant-rattle toy jumps out and shakes about, she squeals and sprint-crawls to mommy or daddy for cover. She also chased her shadow today.

non-toy toy of the day

Today, Rachel enjoyed playing with an empty Kleenex box. I put blocks in, and she shook the box to make a great noise, and then she'd fish the blocks out.

I'm a mommy with a blog now.

I think it's because I'm staying home now that makes me want to blog. I have a need to gab, but I don't see and talk to people on a daily basis like I did when I was working. Not only that, but I am learning so much from being a mommy, and it's such a fun little adventure, that I need to spill it sometimes! So here it will be spilled. And it might get messy, but please bear with me...