I couldn't help but click on a link that I stumbled across the other day titled 10 Signs Your Child May Be Gifted. I couldn't resist checking out how our two little ones measured up.

Of course I already think that my monsters kids are the cutest, smartest, most talented kids in the world, just like every other mom out there thinks her kids deserves those titles. I'm pretty sure though that my mom is the only one that can give Emma and Squishy a run for their money...

::: cough cough ::: 

::: pats self on back :::

::: giggle snort :::

 

::: get it...I'm her kid :::

::: wishes I could spell :::

But I digress....

Since Squishy has been on this world all of a whopping three months, he couldn't really be measured against some of the categories. But my baby girl sure can! Check this out...here are the 10 signs that your child may be gifted, according to some lady who writes articles for Yahoo! a very scientific person.

1. Retains Information: The term "in one ear and out the other" seems to apply to most children. Those who are a cut above when it comes to intelligence actually retain a wide variety of information and are able to recall it at a later time.
2. Wide Spectrum of Interests: Gifted kiddos display an interest in a wide variety of topics. They may like dinosaurs one month, space the next month, and so forth.
3. Writes and Reads Early: If your tot is a smarty pants, she may be able to read and write very early on and without having had any real formal teaching.
4. Is Musically or Artistically Talented: Children who display an unusual talent for music and/or art are often considered gifted. Tots who can draw things to perspective, have perfect pitch, or display any other higher perception of forms of art usually fall into the gifted category.
5. Shows Periods of Intense Concentration: Children are not known for their long attention span, but gifted wee ones are able to have longer periods of intense concentration.
6. Has a Good Memory: Some gifted tots are able to remember things from when they were smaller. For example, a two-year-old may remember and bring up (unprovoked) an occurrence from when he was 18-months.
7. Has an Advanced Vocabulary: A tot who's early to speak is not a sign of giftedness alone, but if your lil talker is using advanced vocabulary and sentences, then he or she may be as bright as you think. 
8. Pays Attention to Details: A gifted child has a keen eye for details. An older child may want to know specific details about how things work, while a younger child will be able to put away toys exactly where he got them from or notice if something has been moved from its usual spot.
9. Acts as His Own Critic: In general kids are not too worried about themselves or others, unless their friend has something they want. Gifted kids are the opposite and are concerned with others, but are most critical of themselves.
10. Understands Complex Concepts: Tots who are highly intelligent have the ability to understand complex concepts, perceive relationships, and think abstractly. They are able to understand problems in depth and think about solutions.

 And here is how Emma Kathryn measures up....

1. Retains Information: I am giving this one a big thumbs up! Emma has always seemed to develop mentally at a faster rate than physically. When she was a year old, she could tell you about ten sounds that different animals make. She knows her first, middle, last name, her address, Mommy and Daddy's names, the sounds of about fifty different animals and can recognize probably seventy five different animals (and weird ones like hyenas and wildebeests).
2. Wide Spectrum of Interests: This one, I'm not so sure about. She has a large interest in animals (loves all things animals), but I wouldn't necessarily say she has a wide spectrum of interests. At least not yet.
3. Writes and Reads Early: She doesn't quite know how to write or read yet, but she does know and can recognize and tell you the sounds that the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, H, J, K, M, P, S, T and W make.
4. Is Musically or Artistically Talented: This one is a question mark too. She certainly didn't get any of this from Mommy. :)
5. Shows Periods of Intense Concentration: A big yes to this one! Granted her intense periods of concentration usually revolve around TV, but she would sit and watch an entire hour and half movie when she was a little over a year old.
6. Has a Good Memory: Another big yes! She will meet someone new and play a game with them for one night, not see them for six months, and when you mention their name again she remembers and will tell you what game she played with them.
7. Has an Advanced Vocabulary: Another yes here! So despite the fact that it took Emma almost 7 months to roll over, she certainly didn't waste her time talking (and she hasn't stopped since). She always blows away the "guidelines" for her age group at the pediatrician's office when it comes to words. For example, when her pediatrician asked if she had a vocabulary of at least 5 words, she was up to somewhere between 40 and 50. She is up to putting five words together now.
8. Pays Attention to Details: Umm...not so much.
9. Acts as His Own Critic: Umm...definitely not so much.
10. Understands Complex Concepts: Although Emma is a pretty good problem solver, she doesn't really get relationships. For example, she doesn't get that Nanny is Mommy's grandmother, just like Mimi is her grandmother.

So on the scale of 1 to 10, I'm scoring Emma as a 5. So, sorry Squishy, the title of smartest kid in the world is clearly already taken by your big sister, so you are going to have to settle for the most talented or most athletic kid in the world. No pressure. kthanks.

Disclaimer: Yes...I am fully aware that bragging about your kids is annoying and no, I do not actually think that Emma is a young genius, but she is at least brilliant at a minimum. :)

If I Can't Go to Bora Bora...

...then I will bring Bora Bora to me (or at least a stone patio in my backyard where I can sit and drink my wine and imagine that I am in Bora Bora while holding an infant that is probably spitting up on my shoulder while my toddler runs around naked in her baby pool).

That's probably just as good right?  :)

Coming to You, Summer of 2011

Houston: We Have a Problem

And by "Problem", I mean "Thumb Sucker".

DOH!!

One of the ways that Wes and I are very similar in the way we "parent" is that we have both have always said that we wanted our kids to get rid of the pacifier early and not be thumb-suckers. The thumb sucking thing comes from when I was a kid and had a friend that would always suck her thumb, so much so that it affected her teeth. I certainly don't think there is anything wrong with other little ones sucking their thumb and having a pacifier, it was just one thing that Wes and I agreed that we would at least try with our kids (even though we both know that they really wear the pants and make the rules around the house).

We got really lucky in a lot of ways with Emma, in that she never really was interested in sucking her thumb and it (surprisingly) was a piece of cake to take away her pacifier.

But I'm thinking that Squishy is going to be a different story.

He already is almost constantly sucking his thumb. Whenever he is on his belly and after about 10 minutes of trying to roll over with all his might, he gives in and goes right for the thumb. He will actually spit out his pacifier just so he can stick his chunky little thumb in there instead. So because I opened my big mouth and said that Wes and I aren't big on the thumb sucking, we will probably be the parents of the 16 year old that still sucks his thumb. Crikey.

Today I Feel Like Supermom

On a "typical" day, I loath SuperMom. I know she is out there somewhere, looking down and laughing at us moms that don't quite have all of our ducks in a row. Most likely because one of our kids took a duck and threw it in the toilet while the other kid was feeding a duck to the dog. She is out there somewhere in her extremely clean and organized house, sitting in her skinny jeans folding a fitted sheet into a perfect square while her apple pie is baking in the oven, her kids are just finishing up counting to 100 in Spanish and she is on the phone with her boss who is giving her a big promotion at work.

But not today SuperMom!

I don't know what it is, maybe it's the new anxiety medication kicking in, maybe its the fact that we had an awesome weekend where my baby boy became Catholic and my baby girl turned two. Maybe it's because I am finally seeing the scale move in a downward direction, maybe it's because today is a good PPD day, who knows. All I know that is today, I feel like SuperMom and I am going to ride this wave as long as I can.

My fitted sheets aren't folded in a perfect square, Emma ate a microwaved hot dog for her Birthday dinner last night followed by a piece of cake (healthy I know), Jackson spit up all over my shoulder as we were talking to a salesperson about a new stone patio just prior to finally pooping for the first time in four days, I was so exhausted I didn't have the energy to go for a run and I ate left over salad and ice cream from Emma's party for dinner while Wes polished off the pasta salad, some Melba toast, two pieces of ham, leftover fruit salad and a freezer pop. I have no idea what we are going to do for dinner tonight, my clothes hamper is full, we have a ton of ironing to do, the heel of my shoe snapped off yesterday at work so I bobbed my way out to my car which has no gas in it, the only beverages I consumed yesterday were coffee and a Corona. My bedroom is a mess, the baby pools from Emma's and Jackson's party are still filled with water and filling up with more grass and dirt by the minute, our carpet is already dirty again after just having it cleaned, my toenail polish is completed chipped off from a pedicure that I had the week of Mother's Day and did I mention how exhausted I am?

Despite all of that, I still feel like SuperMom.

You know why?

My kids are healthy and thriving.

Emma had the best weekend of her life.

Jackson is growing like a weed and is as manly as ever.

I have a loving and incredibly supportive husband.

Tonight is our first Mommy and Me Gymnastics class with my cousin and her baby Jillian.

I have a job. A job that I actually enjoy (most days). :)

My family is healthy.

I lost 3 pounds.

We are getting a new stone patio.

I got up this morning, and walked into Jackson's room and was greeted with the biggest and brightest smile in the entire world.

Next week is a four day week and we have an awesome holiday weekend planned with friends and family.

We are able to provide a financially stable life for our babies that fortunately allows us to do fun things like Mommy and Me Gymnastics class.

My baby girl says Please and Thank You.

I am getting back into my Photography hobby.

I ran three times last week.

I am going to kick Postpartum Depressions rear-end.

Emma slept in until 7:15 this morning.

Jackson has gone to bed before 9:00PM the last three nights and has slept until 6:00AM the next day. He actually went to bed at 7:00 on Saturday night and slept until the next morning.

Emma and Jackson are now at home with a Nanny during the day. A Nanny that we love, which allows me to get two hours of my day back that I didn't have when Emma was in daycare (plus it's actually cheaper).

Emma and Jackson haven't been sick for months (knock on wood).

We just got to spend some great time together (although too short) with Emma and Jackson's Gigi and Papa who live on the West Coast, and we got to check out the National Zoo with the E and J's big cousins Kevin, Shane and Aunt Adrienne who we unfortunately don't get to see very often (we miss you guys!!!).

And even though my bedside table has a book about anxiety along with anxiety medication, it also has a pacifier and baby monitor on it that reminds me how truly lucky I am that I am a mom to two amazing babies.  

Take that to the bank and cash it SuperMom.



To My Husband...

     I will never be able to thank you enough for how wonderful you have been through this Postpartum journey that we have been on together. I was having a particularly rough afternoon and popped in a Leona Lewis CD to listen to, which I haven't listened to in a long time. Although, quoting song lyrics seems to be a funny way to express your feelings, when I Will Be came on, it described perfectly how I feel about you and how much you mean to me.

Thank you for being amazing. Thank you for being there for me.
Thank you for understanding. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your support.

Thank you for letting me have bad days and for not trying to "fix me" all the time,
even though I know inside its killing you that you can't.

Thank you for crying with me.
Thank you for being an amazing Father and for being there for our children when I couldn't.
 
 

I Will Be

by Leona Lewis

There's nothing I could say to you
Nothing I could ever do to make you see
What you mean to me
All the pain, the tears I cried
Still you never said goodbye and now I know
How far you'd go

 I will be all that you want and get myself together
'Cause you keep me from falling apart
All my life, I'll be with you forever
To get you through the day and make everything okay.

I thought that I had everything

I didn't know what life could bring

But now I see, honestly

You're the one thing I got right

The only one I let inside

Now I can breathe 'cause you're here with me.

And if I let you down, I'll turn it all around
'Cause I would never let you go.

I will be all that you want and get myself together
'Cause you keep me from falling apart
All my life, I'll be with you forever
To get you through the day and make everything okay.

Squishy at 3 Months Old

I can't believe that my little (okay...so not really little) Squishy is 3 months old already. He turned three months on Sunday, June 19th, which was also Father's Day. Here is a little bit about Squishy at three months old...

I don't actually have a weight for him since he hasn't been to the doctor's recently but we are thinking he is over 16 pounds. He is a big boy! He is pretty much squeezing into his 3 months clothes, most of which don't fit unless they are from Gymboree where the sizes run big. I have been holding off buying him clothes because he is growing out of them so fast, but I don't think I can hold off much longer.

His colic is almost completely gone at this point. He only has an occasional freak out which has made the evenings much more tolerable. Now that the colic is pretty much gone, Jackson very much resembles his big sister in personality. He is our sweet, happy baby. He has the most adorable giggle known to man, and he laughs all the way down to his belly. He has the biggest, brightest smile that lights up his entire face.

Just like his big sister, he has the most incredible blue eyes. His are a much deeper blue then Emma's, but you get just as lost in them. He loves to "talk" and continues to laugh mostly at himself. He is a mover and will be crawling much earlier than Emma (at least we are guessing). He rolled over for the first time from his belly to his back on his 3 month birthday. He loves Tummy Time and already pulls his knees up under him and scoots around like he is ready to move!

Squishy is an eater!! He now eats six ounces of formula pretty much every three to four hours without fail. He is consistently sleeping through the night unless something drastic changes his routine. We typically feed him about 7:30/8:00PM and then put him down in his crib. We then wake him up at 10:30/11:00PM to give him his last bottle and he is usually good until about 6:00AM. He doesn't have much of a schedule yet during the day, but we are working on it. He clearly thrives on routine, and doesn't appreciate many changes. He sleeps the best all swaddled up in his crib, but he also LOVES his little lamb swing (although that baby is working hard trying to swing around that big baby)! Ha! Almost every morning when we go in his room to get him up for the day, he has wiggled himself all the way down to the bottom of his crib and has his feet sticking out through the slats. He also loves bathtime and splashes everywhere! I am pretty sure that he soaks Mommy even more than Emma.

Jackson is all man already. There is no mistaking that he is a boy, from the thick body, to the manly grunts. He loves to stand and can support his own weight for about 30 seconds already. He loves to "march" while standing and really prefers to be up and moving. He has lots of nicknames already, but so far the ones that have stuck are "Squishy", "Manly" and "Fushy" (from big sister who tries to call him Squishy but can't pronounce the "S"). :)

At three months old he is really fun to interact with and you can already start to play with him. He loves to be tickled (he is very ticklish just like his big sister) and we can already see the bond building with his big sister. He loves to watch her run around and play and he gets the biggest smile on his face when she walks by him in the swing. Whenever Emma sees him sleeping she yells "Wake up Fushy!!" because she wants to play, and she is already very good as bossing him around. :)

Today I Feel Lost

One of the hardest things about Postpartum Depression (PPD) are all of the ups and downs. Everyday is different. Some days, I feel like supermom again and I feel like I beat this thing or that its only a matter of time before I'm back to myself again. Then there are days like today, where I feel like the PPD is getting worse, instead of better.

Today, I feel very lost.

I don't think that I will ever be able to thank everyone enough for all the support, and kindness, and offers to help. It truly means a lot. This may sound terrible, but on the bad days, it's actually overwhelming. It's so hard to explain most of the time because it's so confusing in my own head, that its near impossible to articulate it clearly.

I know I am probably going to scare the daylights out of my Mom with this post (don't worry Mom, I'm not going to jump off a bridge) but it helps a lot to just get it out. This blog is very much like a journal to me, and although sometimes it's hard to talk about my struggle with PPD openly, I just hope that someone reading this who is also struggling with PPD, will know that someone else is out there and that "I get it".

So here goes. Today....

I'm physically exhausted from trying to put on a front. I don't want anyone to know how much I am struggling because I won't look like the perfect mom. At work, I put on my happy face. At home, I put on my happy face. At parties, I put on my happy face. It's exhausting.

I feel very overwhlemed. Not the "Having two kids under two is hard" kind of overwhelemed. More like the "Am I ever not going to feel like a failure as a mother?" kind of overwhelemed.

I feel very guilty, because I feel like I should be handling this better. I'm an organized person. I'm a strong person. I'm an intelligent person. Why can't I just think of what I have to do, come up with a strategy, and do it? I feel like I have no control over anything. I feel guilty because I feel like my babies and my husband deserve better. Wes deserves a better Father's Day than he got.

Luckily, I am feeling more and more bonded to Jackson. He is no longer a stranger in my house. He is my son. The bad part is, now that I feel bonded to him, I am very paranoid that something is going to happen to him.

I don't understand why this is happening. I don't understand why I feel like I am getting worse, instead of better. Why can't I just snap out of this fog?

I constantly feel irritated, and have very little patience.

I feel like I am a weak person. Like all of this came about because I can't handle being a mother of two young children. I feel like a failure.

I can't concentrate, or focus on anything. Some days, making the simplest of decisions is hard.

I feel disconnected, like there is a big wall between me and everyone else.

My thoughts are constantly racing. I feel like I have to be doing something all the time. Cleaning bottles. Cleaning baby clothes. Cleaning the house. Entertaining the baby. Checking on the baby. Brushing the dog. Watering the flowers.

I am worried. All. The. Time.

Jackson is being Baptized on Sunday, and we are combing that with Emma's 2nd Birthday party and everyone assumes that it will be too much to handle. It's actually a relief. I can fully throw myself into party planning mode and I don't have to think about anything else. Could I just order a pizza and call it a day. Sure. But I want that distraction. I need that distraction. The longer I make it last the better. I need something to be excited about. I need some way to show my babies when they are grown and reading about all of this, that I did love them. I loved them so much that it hurt. They are going to be the ones that pull me out of this hole. I know it. I want them to know that even with all of this, they are my top priority. Even though they won't remember anything about Sunday, I will. When they look back at pictures, they will see that even though Mom was going through a rough time, she still loved us.

101 Ways to Embrace Summer

I came across Organizing Your Way through the Simple Mom blog that I love so much and I thought this might be helpful to all of my fellow mom's out there with kids that you don't know what to do with during the summer.

Check this out: 101 Ways to Embrace Summer!

Fun in the Sun!

So despite my past couple of posts about PPD, we actually do still have some fun sometimes. :) It's really important to me to try to minimize any impact of the PPD on Emma, whether that's just her seeing Mommy during one of her spirals, or when the anxiety is full blown, so on the good days, we really try to capitalize on the fun stuff.

It's been pretty warm here lately so time outside has been somewhat limited, but Emma LOVES to be outside. She would stay out there all day if we let her. So a couple of weekends ago we decided to have some fun in the sun, we broke out the sprinkler, slathered Emma up with sunscreen, slapped on a swim diaper, a bathing suit, a big floppy hat and some orange flip flops. The outfit was one of a kind for sure. It even matched her pink and green skull tattoo. Muwahahaha.

After I downloaded the pictures, I realized that I really didnt have any pictures that showed her face! That's life with a toddler! She is on the move so much, it's nearly impossible to get in front of her since you are always chasing her!

Even Squishy was in on the action, and despite getting a few squirts of water in the face, he had a great time. :) Although he didn't last too long and passed right out while hanging out in his car seat.

After breaking out the sprinkler and being a little afraid of it, Emma decided that she needed to try the hose.

Oh.Boy.Watch.Out.

Since she was all ready to get wet, we said go for it and she had a blast! She kept yelling "Firt Daddy!!" (Translation: Squirt Daddy)

 

And if the flowers needed to be watered...that must mean that the grill needed to be watered too right?

Despite the giant pool of water in the yard that soon came about, Emma thought she better get to work on mowing the grass. You can't have all play and no work right?!

Labels

I really try not to label people, but I can't help but label my baby boy...

   

"Handsome Like Daddy"

An Update on PPD

Well, I finally had a few minutes to update the blog with how things are going, but I still don't have updated pictures of the babies because they are still sitting on my camera. But when I do actually get more than 5 minutes to myself to download the pictures, I have a lot to post about like hot summer days spent running through the sprinkler in the backyard and our first trip to the National Zoo. But for now, it will have to wait because we are busy enjoying a great visit this week with Emma and Jackson's Gigi and Papa. Soon, I will have pictures to post about Jackson's Baptism and Emma's 2nd Birthday too!

Overall, things are going well with us. I'm still struggling with the PPD but seem to be managing it a little bit better now. I ended up switching medications recently so the transition was a bit tough but hopefully that will help get me back on track until I can kick this thing. For the most part, my week seems to be normal, at least from the outside. I tend to struggle with concentrating at work and still get a lot of anxiety at night, but most of the time, I'm able to keep it under control. Then there are the days where I can't keep in under control. On those days, something will send me into a downward spiral and about half of the time, I can recognize what it is, try to deal with it and start to bring myself back up from the downhill slope. The other half of the time, I tend to cross a point of no return, where there is nothing to keep me from falling down that slope and it's just an indescribable feeling. I get overwhelmed. I get so overwhelmed where I fall back into the early days of PPD where the smallest tasks are overwhelming, where I am so emotional that I can barely keep myself together, where I don't want to eat, and its all I can do to try to make it through the day. Over the past month or so, I have really been working on identifying what my triggers are that send me into those spirals and because of that and continuing to go to therapy, I can step outside of the situation when I feel it starting to happen, do what I can to reduce the triggers, and move forward. I am also getting better at prevention as well. For example, one of my main triggers is noise and chaos. Two things that are always present with two kids under two and one with colic. Ack. However, we have made some changes at home that have been helping, like making sure the TV is off while eating dinner, keeping the TV at low levels of volume, making sure that our TV isn't on at the same time as Emma watching a movie on her little TV, running the dishwasher in the morning or when we aren't home. Although it doesn't fix everything, it helps me to manage better.

I also just bought When Panic Attacks by David Burns which got great reviews on how to handle and deal with anxiety (med free). Hopefully I will make the time to sit down and read the book!









I still find it very difficult to really explain what it's like, but anyone who I talk to who has had PPD or anxiety completely understands. But if you haven't had it, its incredibly hard to explain. PPD ends up throwing you into this vicious cycle of needing help, but then feeling like you are getting too much help, then you end up being resentful for all the help, then being angry for people feeling like they have to walk on eggshells around you and thinking that you are about to break or that you are fragile, but then more frustration when you realize that you need them to walk on eggshells around you because you are fragile and you might break. It's something that you need help and support to get through, but it's also something that no one can fix for you. There is no magical answer to fix it, and I think that's one thing that Wes is now realizing. You can't just sit down and relax when you are overwhelmed, you can't just "let things go", and there is nothing that he can do to fix me. But as my husband, that's what he wants to do. I never would have expected the little things to mean so much with PPD. There are little things that get me through the day, and there are little things that send me into a complete breakdown. Like the fact that I forgot sunscreen on our trip to the zoo (even though I found it 2 hours later because I spent 30 minutes the night before packing the diaper back because of the anxiety that I might forget something).

The little things mean a lot. If someone brushes off the little things, it hurts.

The medicine and therapy aren't answers. They aren't automatic cures for PPD, but they help you manage it, and get through the day. I remember sitting in my doctor's office when my mom took me to see him for the first time and he diagnosed me with PPD. I was scared to go on medication, but now I'm almost scared to go off of it just because how I felt during the switch. I need it.

I think another hard part about PPD is a lot of times you can seem "normal" on the outside, so your loved ones may think there isn't anything wrong, but inside your mind if whirlwind. Your loved ones don't know whats going on with you, unless you tell them, and that is certainly a lesson that I am still learning myself.

A lot of times, I even know in my brain how irrational I can be, but it's like your body doesn't get the memo. That's where it gets back to the little things. It took me days to try and decide what strollers to take to the zoo, I lost sleep over it, I thought about it at work. Should I take the double stroller so it's easier to push both babies around? If I take the double stroller, there isn't as much sun protection for Jackson. But if I take two strollers, it's going to be more to keep track of. I played it over and over and over in my head for days.

For me, the main things that I am still struggling with is the anxiety and OCD part of PPD, but lately, I started feeling paranoid. Paranoid that someone was going to take Jackson, paranoid that someone was going to break in and hurt my babies. That's one of the reasons for the medication switch.

But, we are going to end this on a positive note because today has been a good PPD day. I have been feeling much more bonded to Jackson lately, and that has really been amazing. There are times where he is crying and upset, and gets passed around the room with everyone trying to comfort him, but when he gets to Mommy, he settles down, lays his head on my shoulder, and falls asleep. He has the biggest, and brightest smile ever, so much so that his entire face lights up when he smiles. His giggle is infectious, and you can't help but get lost in his deep blue eyes. He is my manly.

Oh, and get this. I figured out how much PPD costs a month, at least for me. I finally got back on track with our budget and between therapy co-pays, medication, our new alarm system monitoring fee (thanks to the PPD paranoia) and the amount of wine I need to get through the week, PPD costs $247 a month. If that's not motivation to kick this thing, I don't know what is. :)

Giggles & "PeePee-Da-Potty": What a Combination!

I know I am really late with posting updated pictures of the little monsters but I almost made it last night. At about 9:00PM I finally got a chance to boot up our home computer (which only takes a whopping 15 minutes ACK) and downloaded some pictures off of the camera. But of course, why would that be easy and quick? Nope! I was having both camera and computer issues so needless to say, at 10:00PM when I finally got the pictures on the computer I was spent! But hopefully soon!

It's been a big week though with a lot of "firsts"! Squishy has finally found his giggle! I heard that little tiny giggle for the first time this weekend, on his 10 week Birthday and he hasn't stopped since! I have to get a good video of him talking because just over the past week he has been much more vocal and he must be a funny guy because his giggles always come after he says something! Then, after every single time he lets out a giggle, he gets the hiccups. Ha!

On Emma's side...she had a big first too!! Yesterday, she went pee pee on the potty for the first time!! With her VUR, we were told that potty training will probably be a little bit delayed because its really important for her to sit down, take her time and empty her bladder fully. Well, even though she is turning two in a month, we decided to just buy her a little potty to start getting used to, thinking it would take a few weeks for her to even start thinking about it. Well, I don't know if it was Elmo on the front of the potty or what, but she was so excited to try out her potty, that she hopped right on! She sat on it a few times on Monday and she even demanded to take her diaper off but no pee pee that day (which I wasn't surprised and wasn't pushing at all). But we pretty much couldn't go to the bathroom alone because she had to come too and use her potty. Well, I got a call from home yesterday that she actually went on the potty!! She was soooo proud of herself it was adorable!! She came running and bounding over to Wes and I when we got home screaming "peepee-da-potty!!!" Then, she ended up doing it three more times that night!! Of course, we have a lot to do, and I sent a note to her urologist because they said that whenever she was ready, they would give us some advice on how to do it right with her VUR, but I can't believe my baby went peepee-da-potty! :)

At one point, she sat down to go peepee-da-potty and she went a little bit, but was so excited that she jumped up! She wanted to do it again, so she sat down again, went a little bit more, and jumped up with excitement! I asked her if she was done, and she said yes, so I went to empty her potty and she peed right on the floor haha! So needless to say, we haven't gotten the take-your-time memo quite yet. :)