I need shoes!

Jenny's first 3 word sentence.
It all started when she wanted to put on daddy's shoes and walk around. I knew she'd not be able to move an inch in them cause they weigh about 10 pounds each. She managed to stand in them, but had to cry cause she was unable to walk in them. So I went and got a pair of my flats that weigh much lighter. Still she was unable to make any progress. So I got out her barbie dress up "heels" that are about 6 inches long. Not stable enough. Lots of tears. I said "you are just not big enough yet i guess." She became very whiny so I took them all away and locked them in the bedroom. Big meltdown. My only solution was to put her regular shoes on her. She would not stop the bizzerko fit for me to put her boots on, so we rode her fit out to the bitter end. The highlight of the tantrum was an outstanding broadway worthy performance where she threw herself on the floor and cried "i need shoes, i need shoes!" about 100 times. it took me a minute to realize she was saying a sentence.
I said "when you are done spazzing out, then i'll put on your boots."
finally she surrendered her feet to the boring old boots.

here are some random thoughts for you

1--golly i love rinse aid for my dishwasher. i grew up without "the frills" of life, so when it came time for me to live on my own and start buying the dish detergent, well i considered jet dry a frill. years i did without it, not knowing how super clean my dishes could be. now i know the joys of rinse aid. i especially like these cascade complete powder packs i tried recently-- with a fancy green and blue gel ying yang thing on the top of them. the tupperwares came out sooooo clean!
they are so pricy but i think i'll add them to my list of "things i must buy a certain brand of".
currently this short list consists only of the following items:
ketchup, tampons, razors.

2--i opened up a box of barnum's animal crackers today and ALL the cookies were intact. no little headless tigers etc. i think that is a once in a lifetime sort of thing, and after careful consideration i feel we should celebrate this momentous occasion by going to outback.

Potty interest update

Well I am happy to report Jenny has further potty progress!
Thursday--
I was really relieved and surprised that the morning after Jenny's potty poo trauma she was willing to still sit on the potty. I invited her to join me and she first just stood and inspected her new chart further and talked alot about it and the sticker we put on Wednesday for the previous night's success. Then she decided to sit on potty. I decided to leave her in her diaper and pants that time so as to take baby steps back towards "potty comfort".
Then last night before her bath she sat on it again, and I had to strip her down anyway so I helped her put that bare hiney down on the seat. She peed in her potty! I just could not believe it! But just like the night before, as soon as she saw the pee she was upset. She got another sticker and was enticed again into the tub with the crayon.
Friday--
So far today..... I would not call it progress so much but ....there was an occurence that is definitely due to her recent potty time.

I rocked her a few minutes before her nap and laid her in there awake (more on her super sleeptime progress later). She was quiet for awhile and then started to cry. I waited awhile---- but then there is always the possibility that she has dropped her blankie in the floor (on purpose?) and that is why she is shrieking. I always use my super sleuth tactics to peek in and look for the blankie WITHOUT BEING SPOTTED. Well when I poked my head into the doorway I knew that the girl had pooed. So I get ready to lift her out for the clean up and ..........I discover that she's been inspecting it already. That has never happened before. She was either upset because she had pooed in the diaper not the potty or because she had gotten all ten fingers dirty!!!! She continued to cry til I was able to clean up 100% and rock her again. But I am thinking that is good. I mean hopefully she is thinking......
"I'm sure not going to do THAT again! GRROSSSSSS!"
At least I didn't come into the room and find her drawing on the wall with it and looking pleased with herself. ha ha!

Then after her nap she told me "pee pee" so off we went to the potty. But she could not tinkle and started to whimper. So I said that's okay. When I picked up her diaper to put it back on her, I noticed it was warm, so I think she was actually trying to tell me "I peed in my diaper". I told her that was good too cause she was a big girl and she knew when she had peed.

I really can't believe that she is growing up although I'd LOVE to have her trained by July!!!

Potty break thru.... and also a potential potty set back

Well well. Little Miss Jenny Raye has gotten interested in her potty in the past week.
Here is some background info first though....

I have been "playing potty" for months now...like 6 months or so. I would just here and there (not exactly every day) say "lets sit on the potty". We'd sit and read and it was always my idea. If she didn't want to, (she'd just keep getting up off of it) then I'd say okay no biggie---did not want her to be upset about the potty. Usually we'd sit before bathtime. I just tried to keep her on it as long as I could with her still content. That was about 3 minutes or so. All this time still she has done not one drop of pee or poo in the potty...but I was just wanting her to see that potty is a normal part of life, and potty isn't scary...it doesn't eat you alive or anything.

Well I had got into a lull... not really caring to play potty for awhile.
Suddenly --I think it was New Years Eve--Jenny sees me peeing (like always) and she comes toddling into the bathroom saying "Pee Pee!" and sits on her potty. You bet that I stripped down that hiney and I'm laying it on thick: "my big girl wants to potty like mama!" etc.
Since then she will do that at least once a day---each time her own idea! and each time she will now sit for 5-10 minutes---yippee!!
Then one day, maybe Jan. 4th, I was in the kitchen and she was in the den and I hear her saying Pee Pee! and walking to the bathroom to sit on her potty. I was loving that. She did not see me peeing and think about it that time. She had thought of it all on her own.
But still nothing had actually been deposited into our deluxe hot pink Bjorn potty.

And then tonight there was the official first deposit.
I had been thinking that poo was inevitable before she could go to sleep tonight. (no poo all day)
I was thinking that she'd probably do her thing in a fresh diaper while she was alone in her crib....so I made a mental note to hold on the fancy "overnite" diaper til after she had made me a brownie.
So she is in the tub (a tub that she has graced with a few floaters on occasion) and I see the signs. I'd say that when she gets into frog stance, then we have lift off. So I asked if she had to poo. She nodded and pointed to her potty! I plopped that soaking wet girl right onto that potty. She was staring down into it as usual and chilling out. I read about 3 books to her. She did her deed and when she looked down and saw it, suddenly she was very.....unhappy! (perhaps the first time she's ever seen her poo)
Me and Will tried to say whoopee! good for you! but she was so upset about that poo. I told her that was a good thing and we flushed it. She needed blankie for a bit and she was still crying a little when I said she had to get back into the tub soon. She calmly said no.
No she did not want to play with Shark.
No she did not want to play with da bubbles.
But yes thank goodness she was won over with a tub crayon!
She turned her frustration into art on the shower wall. She totally recovered. We gave her lots more praise and I told her again how she could now have her own potty chart and also her very first sticker to put on it. That was a hit. After she had her PJ's on, we put up the sticker.

We are thinking... and really hoping its NOT the case.... that Jenny is now going to hate sitting on potty!!! I think I will definitely let the next "sit-in" be her idea, and just provide plenty of gentle reminders.
Wish us luck!

Day after Christmas with my family

Well I'm pretty ashamed that I did not take pictures of our Williams party. As usual I have an excuse prepared .......and that is:
I was busy puking on the side of the road on our way to the party.
Is that a sufficient excuse? I think so.

I will try to make up for the lack of Williams pics in some way or another......let me pick my little brain.....

Anyway we had decided to mix it up this year and meet in a "central" location which is Huntsville. My brother knew of a nice restaurant there where we could eat--Rosie's (mexican).
Darin and Shannon traveled from Jasper, AL,
Bill, Sherry and Anna came from Unionville, TN,
Mom and Dad from Vernon, AL, and
we trekked down from good ole Soddy Daisy.

The morning started out pretty pleasant. We were running a little behind, so I nuked Jenny's tiny pancakes and took them on the road. I thought that was just another genius mom idea that I had cooked up. "I'll sit in the backseat w/her and feed her breakfast."
Bad idea!
By the time we got to Signal Mountain exit I said---okay I've got to get up into the front seat. Then I think it was another 45 minutes or hour, and then I said "pull over cause I'm gonna hurl".
Thankfully I've always had a solid 45 second puke warning. Not interested in messing up my new Rav 4. After that little pit stop, I felt much better and we continued on to Rosie's.
I mean in like 5 minutes I was thinking "yummmmm, what do I want to order" ???? that is messed up. That is progesterone poisoning though.
I was so glad to feel good after that so that I could enjoy our time together, cause those times are few and far between.
Jenny was a very good girl at Rosie's---not being stir crazy at all, which is fascinating since she'd been in the car 2 and 1/2 hours before the meal.
She got a ballerina barbie, phone, curious george, "really wooly" video, jack in the box, clothes, and a nice selection of hats. I'm definitely forgetting something......
Also we scored the usual stockings from my mom which are now 3 feet long with about a 10 inch diameter. Probably Jenny's favorite toy that day was the bubbles in her stocking.

Here is a new phrase she likes to say and she kind of sings it:
da bubbles, da bubbles, da bubbles? da bubbles, da bubbles, da bubbles?.......
it is so cute and I'm always trying to get her started on it (like a broken record) for my own entertainment.

After we left Huntsville, I was feeling normal for about 1 more hour and then feeling very narcoleptic so I had to konk out along with Jenny while Will drove.
Will stopped at a hunting store in Bridgeport, AL. I strolled Jenny around so she could see all the carcasses. She was in love with a cheetah.
When we got home I was on the couch for most of the night, trying to keep the puke feeling at bay. The next day was more of the same feeling, but I felt better by 7pm so that was a blessing.

Since that day I've not been feeling bad----woot woot! Really hoping that it is gone for good.

I've got about 50 more things to post about, so stay tuned.......

Christmas day at home

Here is a video of Jenny discovering that Santa came to bring her toys.
Check out that hair!!!
Watch her kick Dora to the curb so that she can get into that fancy chair herself.


This year we were so excited to have some portion of Christmas in our own home. It was so nice to be home on Christmas morning, and of course we were tickled to see Jenny's reaction to her goodies from Santa.
Santa left Jenny a Dora tent and Dora dolly, a dolly with open/shut eyes and doll bed, tea set, Lady and the Tramp big picture book, and a fancy red checked chair with her name on it from Pottery Barn---(worth every penny!).
Jenny loves it when she finds Dee sitting in her chair or hiding in her tent.
I catch her doing the cutest things in her tent like brushing Dora's hair (there is nothing to brush), or brushing Dee's hair, or giving her dolly a bottle, or giving Dee a bottle. Or pouring Dee a cup of tea.
After about 2 hours with the new toys, Jenny went into wild monkey mode....getting into everything that she is not supposed to. So we hooked her up to the DVD's and she sat in her new chair while we got party food ready. Will's mom, dad and sister came at lunchtime and we had a good time munching, opening gifts and chilling out. Jenny got lots of toys from them of course. Sit and spin, hot wheels, dress up gear, books, ballerina outfit for her teddy bear, magnets.... and the list goes on. By the end of the day it looked like a tornado hit Toys R Us in here. And we still had one more grandma to go visit the next day!
To be continued.....

Christmas Eve at Granny's

Okay so I have been not blogging for a couple weeks and I know that is so uncool.
I don't have to remind anybody how hectic December is, combined with a few days here and there of progesterone poisoning......I think my blog break was justified, that is my point.

But on to the more important things: pictures of Jenny. I know that none of you really care to actually read the blog, just come to see pictures of Jenny. Ha ha just kidding!

Christmas Eve we spent the day in AL at Granny's house. That is Will's Mawmaw, and Will's father's side of the family. A total of 3 munchkins currently running around there. The quarters are getting tight.... so either we've got to bust down some walls in Granny's house, or stop having kids. ha ha!

Granny got a microwave for Christmas --
Here Brayden is showing Jenny and Parker how it's done
(Brayden and Parker are Will's cousin's boys)

Having great fun in the microwave box with Parker
You bet that the box was just as fun as all the toys they received

Got a dolly stroller!!!!

Ooh la la!
I had to post this because when he is older he will hate this picture!!!

"I am so whooped-- I don't think I can open another one!"

Sitting with Phi Phi

Learning about more boy toys

Granny got me a horsey scooter with a special seat for my new Cabbage patch dolly!

The Christopher's Annual "Toy We Want To Trash"

I'll have to write a short note about the "toy of the year" at Granny's. There always seems to be this one toy that is usually given to Brayden..... that he loves and all the adults soon learn to hate! In previous years Will was guilty of picking out that special toy (sword, flashlight etc.) but this year it was Nina who gave Brayden the....... dart gun!
Needless to say we were all taking cover and the afternoon resulted in a black eye for Brayden. But in Nina's defense they were foam darts, they just packed a serious punch---but how could she have known??

After all the partying, we headed directly to Uncle Wesley's house to say hi and let Jenny open a gift. On that 10 minute ride, Jenny was so ready to conk out. We fought hard to keep her going. At one point I was vigorously shaking her leg and she was unresponsive. Then I started to tickle her leg and she was smiling and giggling in her sleep. Let me be clear that I have NEVER tried to keep that child awake! ha ha Anytime before this that she wanted to sleep I was saying thank GOD. We got a big kick out of her being so pooped. But she managed to kick it up a notch and make it thru a quick visit at Wesley's. They gave her a kissing Elmo, but also she would have gladly taken home their deer that was mounted to the wall.

Then we picked up Hank and said bye bye to Phi Phi, Pop Pop and Nina. Jenny napped on the way home but was awake for the last hour. So therefore I couldn't plop her into bed as soon as we got home. Besides she had to eat. So we got home at 9pm and I officially began "lights out" at 10:30 ---but girlfriend refused to go down until 12:15! At that point I was so so so whooped myself that I could hardly finish "Santa" duties. Ordinarily the night time is the right time for me but my bun in the oven was sedating me hard on that night.

To be continued..........