Friends

Addisyn is very fortunate to have a ton of friends close in age to play with. Some of her closest friends are her cousin, Kylee, and Haylee, the daughter of one of my closest friends! This week we were able to get the girls together for roller skating, and again today with Haylee for a picnic at the park. They always seem to have so much fun when they are together and talk about each other when they're not around. Here are the three of them on skates. Our friend Alaina was there also, but was later getting out on the rink.

Addisyn and Haylee at the park.

"Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow.Don't walk behind me, I may not lead.Walk beside me and be my friend."

I've been blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful friends, and I hope Addisyn will have the same!

Ben is 2 months old!!

And what a handsome little man he is!! Ben had his doctor's appointment and first round of shots today. He's right on track and weighed in at 14 lbs 2 oz and is 23 inches long. And once again, compared to Addisyn at this stage he is 1 oz heavier and 1/4 inch shorter! He handled his shots well, and so far just seems a little more sleepy than normal. So what's he up to these days? He's sleeping anywhere from 5-7 hrs at night and is eating every 3hrs during the day. Ben has found his fists and is grabing ahold of things if you put them near his hand. He is smiling a ton and is so close to laughing - I can't wait for that day! I really wish he'd slow down a bit with his growing - he just looks gigantic around other babies!!

I realized the other day that I have very few pics of me with Ben or both kiddos - so my mom snapped a few for us while the little ones sported their big sisters rock and little brother t-shirts! Unfortunately, Miss Addisyn was not in the mood for pictures!



Last week we visited with the Flemings and got a few snuggles in with Kayla. What a cute little peanut she is!! And if you didn't think that Ben was that big - here's one for comparison. Kayla is 7 weeks younger and is around 6 lbs here.


Addisyn is her crazy, busy self. We've had a few rough days lately, but we're figuring things out! Her attitude is way to big for her size somedays - I guess she's officially welcoming me to life with a toddler. Addisyn had a major breakthrough with potty training over the weekend - she finally did #2 in the potty! After a whole week with no accidents, then this, I'm thinking we're officially trained!!!!

Cuties

It's been a busy week at our house! Not much to write about, just wanted to share a few pics of my cuties!






The bottle feeding "mommies"!!!

Addisyn and friends at the sandbox

And Ben's first meeting with his Great-grandparents

The newest addition to the Fleming family, Kayla!

With big sister, Haylee

Have a good week!

Potty training update

Addisyn is doing amazing with potty training!!! Friday we were out in public for the entire morning and a good bit of the evening, and she was accident free all day. The only rough patch was over naptime when she decided to do #2 in her pull-up and proceeded to announce, "Addisyn pooed". So imagine my surprise when I walk upstairs to see her naked, holding #2 in her hand!! Looks like we've still got some work to do there! Yesterday was again, accident free, and today almost was - she got caught up in playing outside and had a little dribble. I'm so proud that she was able to accomplish this in just a matter of days!

Success

I've found in my two short years of parenting, that my definition of success has drastically changed. I consider getting a child to fall asleep on their own, success, or teaching them how to eat for the first time, success. So what has made me feel successful over the past few days? This -


Addisyn is out of diapers. And I couldn't be any prouder of my baby girl!! We started a potty training marathon on Tuesday. The day started with getting rid of her remaining diapers and putting on panties. We talked "potty talk" all day and worked on learning the difference between wet and dry. I made up potty songs, taught her babies how to go potty, and wore myself out with a full day of talking about pee. After what seemed to be nothing other than a day full of peeing all over the house, I went to bed feeling beyond discouraged and very ready to give up. Then Brad said to me, did you ever think she'd get it in 1 day? And truthfully, I didn't. I just really hoped she would! So I started Wednesday out with a new approach and a fresh mind. We camped out in the kitchen all day while Addisyn ran around naked. And wouldn't you know, she started peeing on the potty shortly after breakfast!! We had many 1/2 pees, starting on the floor and ending on the potty, but she did it! And we even managed to have a couple pees totally in the potty. I went to bed last night feeling really good about what we had accomplished in just 2 short days. But we were far from being done. I knew today we had to put her big girl panties on and try to get to the potty before, not mid-stream. So I watched her like a hawk this morning, asking her every 20 minutes or so if she had to go potty and if her panties were dry. Then, after over 2 hours of waiting, she walked over to her potty and said, "Addisyn go pee-pee". And she sat down and did it!!!! She had an amazing day. Only 1 accident, and that was during time-out - guess she was pretty mad at me!! We haven't conquered #2 on the potty, and I'm thinking that will be a little more difficult, but with time she'll get it. Tomorrow brings another challenge - we are going to venture out into public with our new skills. Now, I am not a believer in confusing her, so once we put panties on, they always go on. We will use a pull-up only for sleeping. Am I crazy for doing it this way? Maybe. But its working!
What else has made me feel successful as a parent of two?


Having both my babies napping at the same time! This has been going on for several weeks now, I just was afraid to jinx a good thing! Today, I put Ben down in his crib for the first time. He slept there for 2 hours, while Addisyn took her 3 hour nap. What a great day we've had!!
And just a few random pics from the week for ya!

Happy Easter!

The weekend was filled with activities and the weather was perfect!! We kicked off the fun with egg dyeing at Tricia and Haylee's house. Addisyn did four eggs, then decided she had enough!



Saturday we had an egg hunt and breakfast with our mom's club. All the kids had a great time!



Sunday morning, Brad hid Addisyn's basket. She is really into hide and seek, so she was overjoyed when she found her basket. And the excitement on her face as she looked inside was priceless!





My mom and dad and brother and his family came over for Easter dinner and the final egg hunt. By this time, the girls were pros!



Holidays are so much more fun now that the little ones are around!