Welcome back sewing..

Wow, I'm a sewing slacker. I realized today I haven't sewn anything since last September! I'm hoping after today, I will make more time for it! It's been about 6 months since I saw this tutorial on making a grocery bag holder. I cut out all the strips and sewed them together and then for some strange reason, I just stopped! And the piece has just been sitting on top of my machine. I've been keeping our sacks in one of those nice reusable bags from Aldi and that big thing hangs on the wall in a closet. Being the grocery bag hoarder that I am, the bag just kept growing and growing, taking up over half of the stinkin closet! Sweet hubby finally told me I needed to get rid of some or do something else with them!! So I decided to finish making my grocery bag holder! I'm not digging the fabrics together so much anymore but 6 months ago, it was the only 3 I had at the time that went best together. Hey, it beats an Aldi bag!

Adventures in Potty Training 2

I am going on my third day of insanity...oops...excuse me, I mean potty training Brylee Kate. I finally went to the store and bought some pull-ups, got candy ready, printed out a sticker chart, and we started 1st thing Monday morning. I took her every 20 minutes all day long. (Until she went to her Mimi's while I went grocery shopping, though Mimi still tried to put her on there a few times.) I got nothing out of her until after dinner that night. She started crying and grabbing at her diaper so I thought she had to poop or something. We rushed to the potty and SCORE!!!!! She peed! Which I was very glad for because I was seriously about to give up the first day!! Unfortunately I'm the type person that wants, needs, HAS to see results immediately! I think you might call that impatience?

Tuesday, again I took her every 20 minutes. My friend Chelsea and I always work out on Tuesdays and I'll tell ya, it could have very well been the longest workout ever having to stop every 20 minutes. Good thing Chelsea's a wonderful gal who understands! When I saw that she was wetting her pull-up and eventually pooped in it too, I changed the time frame to every 15 minutes. Boy did that make for a long, disappointing, exhausting day!! I got absolutely NOTHING from her yesterday! Like I said, it's a good thing she peed Monday evening. Otherwise, I definitely would have given up by now!!

Almost everyone I've talked to about potty training, swears by just putting them in big girl panties and seeing where things go!! This morning, I decided to brave it out and just do it! I changed the time to every 10 minutes though! Not long after changing to panties, Brylee came running up to me pointing towards the floor on the other side of the room saying "Juice, Juice!" I thought maybe she left a cup in her toy basket the day before and she wanted me to get it out or something. Well, no. There was a huge puddle of urine near her kitchen set. So I got her all cleaned up and then the floor and her little kitchen. Eventually, she finally peed in the potty!! Not sure if this was because of the whole "panty thing", or the fact that I moved her potty chair into the living room. Because today she has sat forever in that potty chair just watching TV. I don't know, either way, she did something!! The next thing you know, she had another accident. This time, she was sitting in one of her little chairs. Her chairs open up, and I store some of her toys in there. Well the pee had gotten all inside the chair and all over her dress up clothes! Once again, I cleaned up! And once more, she peed in the potty. So far today, 2 accidents and 2 scores! And probably a BIG F now.....

I've had a little trouble this morning with her pooping in the potty. Several times, I've caught her going to another room (which means she's going to poop) and I immediately put her on the potty. I'm sure I've given her "stage fright" everytime because she ended up not doing anything. I waited and waited until I couldn't anymore. So we got in the shower and then I was going to lay her down for a nap. About 5 minutes into the shower, I saw the "poop face" going on. Fortunately, I thought ahead and set the seat right outside the shower door. I quickly set her, soaking wet, on the potty as she cried. I wasn't quite quick enough because a little turd had fallen in the floor right in front of her. As my soapy body is standing there, trying to figure out what to do with this turd in the floor, Brylee goes to try and pick it up. "Ew chocolate!" I suppose she thought! Well I did what any mother would do if they saw there child about to pick up a piece of poop!! Yeah, I may have been a little louder than normal as I told her no and SHE FREAKED OUT!!!!!!!!! She jumped up from the toilet and ran back into the shower and grabbed hold of me. Which by the way, she had pooped the rest of it out in the potty. Yay! SCOOOORE! But I'm pretty sure she is scarred and will be too freaked out to sit on the potty now. She wouldn't stop crying and shaking (not sure if that was from fear or being cold). But after that, I laid her down for a nap and she is still sleeping. Not sure how she is going to react with the potty now. But with all our hard work the past 2 1/2 days, I'm hoping we can still continue! We shall see!

Happy 2nd Birthday Brylee

Of all days for you to sleep in (which you rarely ever do), you decided to do it on your birthday when we had your 2 year checkup that morning at 9! Mommy had to finally go upstairs and get you up so we could make it on time! You acted like a little sleepy head at first but quickly got up and started doing what you do best. BOUNCE!


Dr. Phillips said you looked absolutely perfect! The only questions I had for him were the bumps you had on the backs of your little arms and thighs. He gave it some fancy name and said it was normal and to just buff it. You were 28lbs (50-75 percentile) which I think the nurse was just in a hurry when she took that because I weighed you just a couple weeks before and you were 25lbs and I know you haven't been eating THAT good! You measured 34inches (50 percentile) and your sweet little head that you can't seem to grow into was 49.7 cm (a whopping 98 percentile!) You just have so much brain in there! I took some pictures with my phone while we waited because you looked so dern cute sitting there making faces in the mirror. I also took a short video (at bottom).





After your appointment, we ran a few errands and then met Aunt Chelsea for lunch at Subway. When we got home, Aunt Crystal and Uncle Lynn (Gavin fell asleep in the car and couldn't come in!) came by and brought you some balloons!


You took a good nap after that and while you napped Mommy made you cupcakes. As soon as you got up, you saw them and would not stop bugging me about eating one! I kept telling you we had to wait on Daddy to get home from work! When he got home, we immediately sang Happy Birthday. Which by the way, you sang that to yourself all day!!!












































Look how much you've grown!!






After "dessert before dinner" and dinner, we were off to watch Daddy play softball. One of your favorite things to do.






This year, Mommy and Daddy got you a trampoline since you love bouncing/jumping SO much! We weren't able to give it to you (put it together) on your birthday but 2 days later, on the day of your party, Daddy was able to get it done!





You also got Mommy's old table and chairs from when she was a little girl. Mommy was able to fix them up and paint them for you. Something she's been wanting to do since you were born! And I finally completed it. Since you love chalk so much, I made the tabletop a chalkboard! From the looks of it the past 2 days, I think you're really going to enjoy it!! You've already gotten in trouble once for writing on one of the little chairs with chalk and once for using a crayon on the table!! We'll see how it goes!!




In this blog, I also wanted to include the message Daddy and I left in your photobook.

Happy 2nd Birthday to our sweet Brylee Kate!
We cannot believe how fast your 2nd year has gone. Please, stop growing up so fast! Our sweet girl, we are just simply amazed by you! You keep us laughing and on our toes constantly! You are a funny, sassy, smart, sweet girl whom we love more and more everyday! You have such a precious and caring heart that has started shining through this year. We see it in the way you run up and squeeze our leg and say "aw". The way you take such good care of your baby dolls as you bounce them up and down and say "Sh sh sh." And how willing you are to be such a good little helper to others. This year you have started talking so well! And you don't seem to stop!!!! You have learned to count to 10 and you can identify your shapes, colors, and the number 8. You have also started trying to sing your ABCs. You have the end down pat and you say "XYZ" real fast! You are so smart and we are so proud of you! We cannot wait to see what God has planned for you this next year. We pray that He will bless you with another year of good health and protection! We love you so much beautiful girl and we are so blessed to have you as our daughter! Love, Mommy and Daddy!