Mommy's Big Girl!

Potty Training is going way better then I thought! We have sat on the potty a few times to see what M thought about the whole thing and to see what she would do in the past months. She has gone pee in it a couple of times but other then that hated it. Every time I would ask her if she wanted to sit on the potty she would say no and pout. I would tell her she would get M&M's is she went pee, nope, not interested. I was really thinking this process was going to be super difficult. I wanted it to happen this summer since I am home with her and I wanted to be the one to do it, but was starting to think it wasn't going to happen. I knew she was showing signs that she was ready, like telling me she had just gone pee, waking up dry from 2 or 3 hour naps, and even recently told me she had pooped. That is a big one for her because EVERY time she would go poop and we would ask if she had she would tell us NO and run away. So I knew she was ready but wasn't sure if she was really ready, if you know what I mean, To me, it didn't look too good when she refused to sit on the potty.

But, this weekend when I went to Walmart, I took the plunge and bought little girl panties. I showed them to Morgan Sunday night and told her that in the morning she was going to pick out a pair to wear and she was going to pee on the potty, not in her panties. I explained to her that she was a big girl and we didn't want her panties to get wet. And I told her she would get M&M's if she went pee on the potty. She didn't seem too thrilled.

Monday morning, I let her pick out her panties and told her to tell me when she needed to go potty. I took her the first time and she peed. I was very surprised and so was she. She smiled from ear to ear and was so proud of herself. We did a little jig, sang a little song, flushed the pee down the potty, washed our hands and got M&M's. She was excited! Thank goodness!!! About 30 minutes later, she peed on the floor. Ok, ok, I wasn't too discouraged yet. I already knew it was the first day and this was to be expected. We ended the day with peeing in her panties 4 times, but peeing on the potty 9 times. Yay for M!!!!!!!! I was pretty proud of her. Her whole attitude changed. I asked her all day if she needed to go poo and even told her if she went poo in the potty we would go get some ice cream. That night she would go running towards the bathroom and say I need to poop, I need to poop. But when we would get in there she wouldn't do anything. I'm not sure if she wasn't quite sure what to do or if the urge kept going away but she never did poop. She ended up pooping in her diaper in the middle of the night. Darn!

Day two went even better. By lunch she had no accidents and had peed on the potty 4 times. At the end of the day she hadn't had any accidents at all and pooed in the potty!! We went and got ice cream because we told her if she pooed in the potty we would. She was so proud of herself.

Day three was quite different. The family cinema has free movies throughout the summer and I wanted to take Morgan to see how she would do in a theater. I was very nervous since we were only on day three of potty training, even though she didn't have any accidents the day before. Half way through the movie she said she needed to go pee. I took her and she decided she didn't need to go anymore. 7 trips later, she then decided she wanted to go home. I really thought she was just scared of the big potty and knew she probably really did need to go pee so we rushed home, and she went. Little did I know, she was sick! She woke up from her nap crying, as soon as I got in there to get her she threw up everywhere. At first I thought it might just be because she was crying and got choked but then I felt her and noticed she was super hot. She had 103 temperature. After throwing up 3 more times and talking to my neighbor who is a nurse, we headed to the doctor. They said it was a virus, nothing we could do about it, except give her anti-nausea medicine to hopefully make her quit throwing up. Five days later, a 104.7 temp, and another trip to the doctor, she was back to normal. When she got sick I thought we would have to start all over with potty training, (because you know we had been doing it for so long!! lol!!) nope! She never did have an accident, not once. She has not had an accident for almost two weeks, until today. I'm not sure what happened, but when I picked her up to put her down from her high chair, she was wet. She seemed surprised that it had happened, so who knows.
She even wakes up sometimes at night to use the bathroom. We are debating whether we should make her crib into a toddler bed or not. I am hoping that if we do, she will start to learn to get up and either come get us or go straight to the potty. I'm not sure how long this will take and I am very afraid it will cause other sleep problems. Remember this is the kid that HATES to sleep. She has never tried to climb out so I really haven't seen a need to move her out of the crib yet. But I am such a hard sleeper and she has started to pee a couple of times on the way to the potty in the middle of the night. I still put diapers on her at night, but she is very adamant about not going potty in her diaper and I feel bad that she has to wait on me to wake up so she can use the potty.
I think she is still learning her body and what it feels like when she really does need to go, especially number two. She will make 5 trips to the potty before she actually goes poo. And lately she will tell us 10 times that she needs to go pee and does nothing. I'm not really sure what is going on.
I just can't get over how amazing she is doing with this. Three weeks ago she would absolutely refuse to sit on the potty and didn't care to go in her diaper. Now she is almost a pro, and only after two weeks. I keep waiting for the reality to set in and her start having accidents. Maybe that won't happen and she will continue to do well. What a big girl I have and she made it so easy on me!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

This girl is talking so much lately. She says new words all the time and comes up with stuff that I didn't even realize she knew anything about. A lot of times she is so funny and doesn't even know it. The other day she came and sniffed me and said "you stint mommy, go take a bath". Oh man, I couldn't stop laughing.  She can't say the k sound, instead it comes out as a t sound. The same with l. She says it with a y sound. I love to hear her say "I yuv you mommy"!! Melts my heart! I tell her I love her all the time. Yesterday I said I love you Morgan and she said "I yuv you Morgan". I tried to explain to her that when mommy says I love you Morgan, you say I love you mommy. I said say I love you mommy. She said I yuv you mommy, and a couple of minutes later she said I yuv you mommy, Morgan. Oh my. Obviously she didn't understand that conversation. Haha!
Right now she is also in the habit of repeating everything you say to her, everything! If I say no baby, you need to stop. She will say no baby, you need to stop. Such a mess! She asks a lot of questions all the time, but her main question is asking what something is doing, even if it is a person. She will say what it doing? Or what that doing? I have tried to explain to her that when it is a person we say who are they or what are they doing but she doesn't seem to understand that concept yet. And she'll ask what anything and everything is doing. There could be a washcloth laying there and she will ask what the washcloth is doing.

I did ask her the other day if she was a boy or a girl. She looked at me like what are you talking about? I explained to her that her and I were girls and then asked her if daddy was a girl or a boy. She said a boy. I was impressed. Apparently she has some understanding on the difference between girls and boys.

Yesterday I told her she was a little turkey. She said no I'm not, your a little turkey. I said I am not a little turkey. After thinking a few minutes she said your a big turkey??  Crazy girl of mine!

Birthday Fun

Morgan's birthday party was scheduled on her actual day, but because of the weather we were unable to have it that day. They were calling for strong thunderstorms, hail, strong winds, and tornadoes. Since it was an outside party, I knew this would not work.

However, I still wanted her day to be special. I meant to put balloons in her room the night before so she could wake up to them on her birthday, but I forgot so I did it during her nap instead. She was thrilled! She loved them and played with them for a good 30 minutes and days after. 

For breakfast we had birthday pancakes! They are delicious cake pancakes with confetti sprinkles in them! They were so fluffy and delicious that I might make them for MY birthday!! ;) Morgan loved them AND blowing out the candles!

That morning Cory went hunting. He said he wouldn't be back until 11:00 or so, but surprised us both and showed up around 8:00 with flowers and little presents for Morgan. She loved it all and I was so surprised with his thoughtfulness! I knew he could be sweet when he wanted to be! I love that he thought about Morgan and tried to make her feel special. Maybe those special flowers from daddy will become a birthday tradition.

After lunch, I made Morgan's cake and then I let her help me decorate it. She loves to help and lick the beaters. Then we went to out to eat, Morgan's choice, McDonald's of course, and then headed to the Bounce House. We had never been before and she loved it! She was a little scared to climb up up the stairs to the slide by herself and a little scared of the slide so I ended up having to help her. She would turn around and try to cling to me and I would say "it's ok, I've got you" so she started saying "I got you momma, I got you". It was so funny and so darn sweet! I'm sure she meant I'm holding on tight, don't drop me momma but it was so funny. Now she asks to go all the time and when we pull up somewhere she doesn't recognize she will say "what's that? the Bounce House?". So funny!!!!

After the Bounce House we headed home and had cake and ice cream. When we lit the birthday candles I had to tell her to wait to blow them out until we sang Happy Birthday to her. She was not happy with me. Oh my, it was so funny! Then after she would blow them out she would say "again, again!". We did it about 10 times.

I think her actual birthday was wonderful! Just the three of us celebrating this sweet little girl! Love her forever and ever and can't wait to celebrate many more birthdays with  her!

Happy Birthday sweet girl!!

Two Years Old

Where has the time gone? It feels like just yesterday we were bringing home this screaming bundle of joy from the hospital. Now, my baby girl is going to be two! I can't believe it! Since I haven't blogged in quite a while this post might be pretty lengthy. She's changed so much and is doing so many new things since I last posted.

Physical:
-We go to the doctor for her 2 year appointment on Monday. But I just took her and found out she had RSV. Thankfully it wasn't that bad and she didn't have to do breathing treatments or go to the hospital. She weighs 26 pounds.
-She wears 18 month, 24 month, and 2t. The size depends on the brand.
-She is wearing a size 6 shoe, but will be in a 7 before summer is over.
-Still wearing size 4 diapers.
-She now has 14 teeth, and I believe she is working on number 15.
-Her red hair (strawberry blonde) seems to be sticking around. It is absolutely gorgeous!
-Her eyes will be blue one day and seem green another day.
-She still has a birthmark on the back of her neck, which can't be seen because of her hair. She also still has the one on her head, which you also can't see because of her hair. She had a very noticeable one on her eyelid when she was born, but it quickly went away.


Eating:
-Thankfully, for the most part, she is not a picky eater. She will eat just about anything, at at least try it. She still loves anything green, most vegetables and most fruit. Some of her favorites are apples, pears, grapes, green beans, spinach, and zucchini. She also loves cottage cheese, chocolate, chips, rice, pasta, applesauce, waffles, pancakes, and anything on your plate.
-She refuses to eat meat, except bacon. She loves bacon! But no other meat. She even knows when you try to sneak meat in on her. She will immediately spit it out.
-She still loves milk and juice.

Sleeping:
- She sleeps through the night, most nights. Unless she is teething. Then, you can forget it. She will not sleep through the night until they are all the way through.
- When she is not teething, she usually goes to sleep about 9:00 and gets up between 5 and 7.
- She still loves her pink blanket and cuddles it at night. She is not sleeping with anything else right now.
- We gave her a little travel pillow about 2 months ago and she took to it right away.
- She was cup free and went straight to her bed and went to sleep. I'm not sure what happened or how it happened, but we are just about back to square one. She is now back to taking a cup before bed while I rock her AND I lay on her floor, holding her hand through her crib until she goes to sleep. I think it's completely ridiculous that this is happening again, but I just keep reminding myself that she will not be little forever and one day I will be begging for these days back (and wondering how I am going to break her..........AGAIN!!!!!).
- her nightly routine was bath, read books, pray, and go to bed. Now it's bath, rock and take cup of milk, and then bed. Some how the books and prayer went out the window. She loved both of these things forever and then all of a sudden one night she started crying because she didn't want to read. The only thing I could think is that she was correlating reading and praying with going to bed, and she hates going to bed. I am determined to get both of these things back into our routine soon.

Play:
- Morgan still loves books! I love to find her in her room with a pile of books "reading" by herself. We have books everywhere; in her room, in the living room, the bathroom, and in both cars. She loves them! Some of her favorites right now are One Duck Stuck, No David, Good Night Gorilla, Guess Who, Minnie!, and The Pout-Pout Fish. We both know most of these by heart because we read them so often. It's so cute to hear her spout off the parts she knows.
- She loves trains so we found her a pink train set for her birthday. She LOVES it! She loves to go to the Library because she wants to play with the train.
- She is really starting to do more pretend play then ever before. She will feed her babies and have tea parties with them. She also likes to play with her doctor set and work on her zebra or give us check ups.
- She still loves anything to do with art. She loves to color, paint, play with stickers, or just make a mess. I am excited for this summer so we can do lots of outside messy art activities.
- Her favorite thing is to go outside. She loves to take walks in her stroller, play with Abby, do bubbles, sometimes color with sidewalk chalk, play in the dirt, and play with the neighbor boys. She has a little bike that she got for Christmas but she refuses to play on it.
- She still loves her cell phone and can maneuver around on just about any cell phone.
- She LOVES to watch "DV" and throws a fit when you turn it off. Her favorite cartoons right now are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins. Some of her favorite movies right now are Cinderella and Frozen. She can quote Mickey Mouse Clubhouse has a Farm because we have the DVD and she will ask for "EIEIO" when she wants to watch it. I hate that she watches so much TV and I am hoping to change that this summer.

Random:
- She is talking non-stop! She just started really talking the past 2 months or so. She says more and more words everyday and I am always so impressed with what comes out of her mouth. Sometimes, I think why do you even know what that word means?! She talks in three and four word sentences and talks pretty clear for a two year old. She says a y sound for l's and a d sound for t's. Some phrases she says often include "are you done now?", "more molt" (more milk), "I want my toe" (Phone), "I yuv you momma!" (talk about melt my heart!!!), and "I do, I do , I do!" when you ask her a question. So stinking cute!!!!!!! She also tells you she's sorry when there is absolutely no need for her to be sorry. Funny! She just started this babbling random sounds the past two weeks. I think it's when she is wanting to back talk you but she's not sure what to say. It's so funny, but so wrong. And she likes to tell us no. She has been getting in trouble for this and is starting to learn, but still does it sometimes.
- She loves to ask me to sing our songs and after I sing one she will put her finger to her chin in concentration and say hmmm what else, what else. I love it! Her favorite songs to sing right now are the ABC's, Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, I'm Bringing Home My Baby Bumblebee, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and Jesus Loves Me. She will sing parts of them with me and will do motions to some of them. It's super cute!!!
- She can locate and name all body parts, and tell name and give sounds for a lot of animals. Stinking cute too!
- She loves women, but is not big on men. She will run up and talk to a women way before she would ever even think about talking to a man.
- She is not potty trained or even close and is not interested at all. When we ask her if she has pooped she will almost always tell us no and run. She hates to get her diaper changed.
- She is very inquisitive and asks what EVERYTHING is!

This little girl is so amazing and I am a better person because of her. I thank God everyday for her!

I've Got Baby Fever

AGAIN! I know, I know M is only 2, well not quite 2, but almost. I wondered how I would feel after having Morgan, if I would want more. Before Morgan I most definitely wanted more. In fact I wanted three. But, I had heard of other people who felt that way and then got the first baby and changed their mind. The first few weeks of Morgan's life I did not want more. I was chained to a couch, with bleeding _______, and wondered if life would ever feel normal again. Don't get me wrong, I loved her, but it was pretty tough in the beginning. I wasn't quite sure how I would do it with two. But now that M is almost 2, I want more. I have always wanted more then one. I do not want her to be an only child. I was basically an only child and I did not like it. I want to her to have a playmate. I want to know that if, God forbid, Cory and I both died at the same time, she would have someone. Someone who understands and can help her and someone she can help and know she is not alone. I want to experience that special bond between siblings and M's love for her baby brother or sister. I want my pregnant belly back, to feel those precious kicks again, and those hiccups all the time. I want that newborn baby smell and look, cooing, baby sounds that some how mysteriously left my daughter, and I didn't even know it. I want that firm grip from that tiny little hand, and the one on one time and bond that you can only get from nursing. I want to see my husbands eyes when he holds that baby for the first time, again. I want bottles and pacifiers. I want to experience all those firsts again. I love my daughter more than anything or anyone in this world. But, I do feel we need one more. (or maybe 2) I am praying that if this is not God's will for my life, He will take this feeling away. And if it is God's will for our life, that he will soften my husbands heart.

Growing too Fast

Miss M has finally learned how to say "pee"!! Which means please. Sometimes she refuses to say it, but I refuse to give her what she wants until she says it and she will soon say it.

I thought I was going to wait until this summer to break her from taking a cup in the middle of the night, but she hasn't had one for over a week. I read an article that sippy cups with a spout could and would mess with their development the longer they took one. So I went right out and got her new spout-less cups. She will take it fine during the day, but refused to take it in the middle of the night. The only thing I can think is maybe it's not like drinking out of a bottle so maybe not soothing to her? But, I'm not sure. Breaking her was way easier then I thought it would be. Now if I could just get her to sleep through the night. I think she's on that track, hopefully anyway.

Now that she does not take a cup to go to sleep or in the middle of the night, her nightly routine has changed. First thing we do is watch either Henry Huggle Monster or Gaspard and Lisa. Then she takes a bath, gets dressed, I dry her hair, brush her teeth, we read 3 books, pray, she goes and gives Abby kisses, and we put her in her bed. I have to cover her up with her blanket, give her some books and her flashlight, and make sure she has Elmo. That's the routine this week. It could possibly be different next week. She is one crazy girl!

She constantly asks for juice and "chee", cheese. She would drink only juice and eat only cheese if we would let her.

I am working with her right now on sorting things. We have been using her alphabet puzzle to sort the letters into the different colors. Once I do a couple she can usually catch on to what I am asking of her.

She said her first 3 word sentence yesterday. Where's the ball? I was super proud. She has been saying words for a couple of weeks now but yesterday was her first time to actually connect them.

I am so thankful she is growing and developing but I am also sad to see my baby girl leaving me day by day, minute by minute. It's going way too fast!

Morgan's Random Words

Morgan is learning new things everyday, and it always amazes me when she busts out with something new. I often think is that what she said, or how did she know that? It proves the point that they listen and pay attention more then we think. Little pictures!! (anybody know what that's from??)

Her vocabulary is growing and growing and although a lot of it only Cory and I understand, I know eventually she will be able to say things correctly.

Some new words or phrases she has learned in the past couple of weeks are;

tone: phone

it's coooooold: while putting her hands up in fists and shaking all over. So stinking cute!!

outide: outside

momma dadda, dadda momma, momma dadda, dadda momma. Not sure why she says this, but she will say it over and over. Funny!

um here: come here, while motioning her hands at you

shoos: which can mean either juice or shoes.

Abba: Abby

I no know or I not know: I don't know

mmm: please. Ya, she doesn't even try to say it. When I tell her to say please she does her head up and says mmm. Guess please it too hard.

momma: momma OR Grammy

One thing she been doing the past couple of days is sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. I guess she is so use to hearing it on her talking Violet. That's the only thing I can think. I sing it to her, but not often enough for her to know the tune. None of it is understandable at all. The only reason I knew that was what she was singing was because she started babbling when it came on one day. Too funny!

I'm so glad she is starting to figure this talking thing out. There are some days when she gets so frustrated with us because we don't understand her and don't know what she wants. Sweet, sweet girl. Learning every day and I am so glad I get to watch it.