Potty Training Continues

So I just realized I never finished my post about potty training Em...I know, I know, exciting times!

So by end of day three she was 90% pee and POOP (I hear this is a huge deal) trained!  We have, however, hit a few speed bumps since then.  She has done AMAZING at home and has had maybe a couple accidents since our 3 day bootcamp.  At home she uses her "little potty" on her own and doesn't need to tell me when she needs to go...she just GOES...Praise Jesus!   However, venturing out of the house has been a different story!  She will NOT go in a public restroom, and I know it's not because she's afraid of the "big potty" in and of itself.  Every once in awhile she will TELL me she has to go and I'll put her on the "big potty". I do have a couple of rather large purse (I call mine the Barney bag), but I'm not willing to shove a training potty into the mix!  After the doozy that happened Monday, I'm honestly quite surprised I still have all of my hair!
  As part of our local MOPS committee, I volunteered to head a community service project that involves creating quite a few fleece tie blankets.  SOOO, another friend on the committee and I met at JoAnn's to pick out some fleece.  We had been there a while, they have about umpteen million different choices of, so I start thinking to myself "hmmm, better check and see if my daughter needs to go potty".  Stomach in knots, I take Em to the bathroom where she continues to scream, cry, and stiffen up her entire body so I can't even sit her down on the toilet.  She basically makes a gigantic scene, everybody stares, and I feel like curling up in a corner with a sign that says "STOP JUDGING ME"!  She does this EVERY time I try to take her in public, which is why my stomach was in knots.  Anyway, I digress...
So we get back to my friend, who is waiting in line while our fleece is being cut, and I kid you not, no sooner than 3 minutes later Emery stands and pees on the floor in the middle of JoAnne Fabrics (sorry Em, don't hate me when you're older).  I was MORTIFIED!  I rushed her off to change her clothes, went back to clean up the puddle and then pretty much high tailed it of there.
Needless to say, I need to figure out how to get Emery comfortable with doing her business in public. HEELLLP!
On a more serious note, I really found myself wishing away this phase in both her and our lives and then I came across this quote:  "Don't waste the season of life you are in now because you want the next one to come".  Oh how true that is!  I already find myself missing my children and they are nowhere near grown yet! What a great reminder to cherish EVERY moment with my children...even the hard ones.

The things I never knew...before I became a mom

I never knew the things I disliked most about myself would be reflected right back at me through my child...how humbling an experience that has been.

I never knew how much my child's giggles could quickly become one of my most favorite sounds on the planet!

I never knew an "I love you mom mom" could erase the weariest of days from my mind.

I never knew I could long for bedtime all day long...and then miss them the minute I laid them down.

I never knew how concerned I would be with the color, consistency, and occurrence of someone else's poop.

I never knew I could feel like I had everything and nothing  figured out all at the same time.

I never knew I would gain super human powers...super duper human hearing powers!

I never knew that my feelings would be enhanced to such great proportions.  That I would share every emotion of  fear, joy,  sadness, and excitement my child has and that it would be magnified beyond what I ever thought possible.

I never knew there would be such a community of women (all of you other moms) routing each other on...this brings on a whole new meaning to the phrase "it takes a village"

I never knew that, while I fully expected to teach my child things, that I would REALLY be the one who was learning.

I never knew that it all would come full circle and I would finally "get" just how MUCH my own mother loves me...what do you know she was right, AGAIN :-)

I would LOVE to hear about what you 'never knew' before you came a mom! Ready...GO!

Highs and Lows

There have been lots of interesting happenings going on around here!  These past couple of weeks have been kind of a whirl wind, filled with many different emotions.  To be completely honest, I'm feeling a little bit more like a mentally deranged gal (perfect with Halloween right around the corner, right) and a lot less like Jessica Carlson!

My little Leyton Grace got her first tooth. We were visiting mi familia in Minnesota while Kenny was away on business.  Can I just say...WARNING: proud wife moment...that my husband ROCKS!  He was personally requested by the branch in Canada to come with the VP of Garmin!  <insert theme song from The Jefferson's>...movin' on up babe!!

Leyton also got her ears pierced!  Hopefully now those dummies who thought she was a boy, even though she was wearing a bow and her head and was dressed head to toe in all pink, will now stop asking me what "HIS" name is.  Now does this look like a boy to you?!?

I also experienced my WORST parenting moment thus far!  On Saturday, I was making Emery her gourmet lunch: macaroni and cheese (no judging ;-D).  Since she is an EXTREMELY picky eater, and I have discovered that if I let her help me make her food, she'll usually eat it.  SO...she was being SUCH a big girl, helping me stir the macaroni and BOOM, she leans over and places her hand on the burner.  She cried, I cried...it was HORRIBLE!  I cannot BELIEVE I made such a "rookie mom" mistake.  I ended up having to take her to Children's Mercy. My poor little Em-Jem; this sure broke your mama's heart! She does look awfully cute with her little bandage though!

Then today we started the ever dreaded, anxiously awaited, dooms day...aka potty training day.  Ever since Leyton was born, I had been anticipating the day we would start the potty training journey.. I did NOT want to have two in diapers.  So, I made up in my mind that Emery was ready to potty train before she was and it was a DISASTER and a half!  She screamed every time we were going to try and go potty and after a day and a half of no success, I decided to call it quits.  Needless to say I was REALLY nervous about starting this time around.  

This morning I woke up ready to face the day head on and then the screaming began. Then accident after accident...there was absolutely no peeing in any potties.  We even had a poop meets carpet episode...CALGON!  It was de ja vu all over again. But then, AAAAAAAH HALLELUJAH CHORUS, after nap-time something must have clicked because she went without prompting 7 times (yes I remember each time I DIDN'T have to clean up a puddle of pee)!  Only one accident...SUCCESS!  For those of you who care about my potty training saga, I'll keep you posted about Day #2!  

I did it!  WAHOO!  I finally started a BLOG!  Okay, okay...no big deal, right?!?  Well for me this is like a MAJOR milestone! The neurotic girl in me had to start at the PERFECT moment.  First, it was going to be after I got married (this came and went), then when my precious Emery came into our lives, then after her first birthday...fast forward five years and two precious babies later and here I am...FINALLY!  My little family is embarking on the new, exciting, scary, adventure of home building!  We packed our little behinds up and moved on out to Gardner, KS!  Hope they're ready for us...

I'm sure no one will really care about whether or not I choose dark cabinetry or white, or if I loose sleep over picking paint colors...BUT I want to document this experience (the good, bad, and the ugly), and all of the other experiences my little family will live throughout this new chapter in our lives!

I can already feel the tiny details of my life slipping away into the corners of my mind (must be mommy brain :-D).  Hopefully this blog will help me remember...a way to look back and hold onto the present...