Regression? Such bad timing!

Apparently, (from about 7 moms I've heard from) potty training regression is completely normal. I chatted with my neighbor for awhile this afternoon, all her kids are up and grown and out of the house. She had some words of wisdom that I needed to hear today. She said what happens is you spend this time potty training and the idea is on their minds and they have been trained to look for the clues. Mom becomes more relaxed and the child becomes more relaxed and they start remembering using a diaper and how easy it was. They become forgetful and start having accidents. I have been taking her way more often now, which hasn't been working, but i really need to be consistent with my timer. She also suggested monitoring her liquid intake. Gosh, I hadn't been thinking of that. So I started this afternoon, and she was drinking so much. It's going to be a little tougher than I thought. But all the moms said it only lasts a few days. My whole attitude towards her completely changed. It's nice to know it's not just us. It's tough that this all is popping up right during the week that she is testing me.

We had another rough day. My patience is so short right now. Courtney was up at 6:30 am! She has never been up that early. Always a new plan, so my current plan has been: huge celebration when she listens the first time, every time she gets out of bed, I take a money out of her piggy bank, and I'm trying to catch her being good, so Im going to go in her room super early tomorrow morning and if she is in bed, she will get her money and then I will let her watch TV in my bed first thing in the morning and then slowly move the time later. I always thought I was a patient person, but I guess I'm not. These girls are sure putting it to a test. I tried to spend a lot of time with just Courtney and I had her help me a bunch, it seemed to help.

Tomorrow is a new day!

Thank you Daddy for your help!

Ben was such a huge help with the girls this weekend. It was really nice to have the extra hands since Courtney has been not the greatest listener lately. Friday was a rough day with both girls and Ben offered me to go out and take a break. I didn't want to be away from him that long since I hadn't seen him all week, so I just took a walk. Then on Saturday morning, he took Courtney to breakfast and spent some time with her in the morning. I was able to actually get a shower and almost get my hair done. Throughout the day he was very helpful in reinforcing discipline with Courtney. She was just testing us all weekend. She was being such a daddy's girl that any discipline from Daddy was much more meaningful. He gave Courtney a bath before her nap and even put her down for a nap. Then when she repeatedly got up from her nap he was right there to put her back in and discipline her.

On Saturday late afternoon we went to our friend Gaddiel's surprise party. There were lots of kids there from church and Courtney got to run around and play with them. Not to mention sample all the food around the house. The little girls put together a few songs to perform for the adults and Courtney was right in the mix singing and dancing. Her new favorite song is "Happy Day". The girls sang it especially for her. She went crazy and sang her heart out and danced around. She loves just being one of the girls, she is just about 7 years younger. Ben held Caylee most of the night so I could keep an eye on Courtney.

We went to first service at church and then headed to look for a new bed for Courtney. We are looking at ideas of what to get, a regular bed or bunk bed. Oh what to do. We grabbed some lunch first at Red Robin and Ben took Courtney to the bathroom and then again at the furniture store. She is doing better at going in public, though she doesn't like it. She has had so many accidents lately, that I have been making her go a lot. Fortunately, she didn't have any accidents today.

Thank you daddy for your extra hands and making our girls laugh and smile. We love how hard you work so mommy can take care of the girls. Though it seems like our life is crazy and there is never a quiet moment without someone crying or misbehaving. It's a season of life, we prayed that these little girls would come into our lives. I know we will look back on these moments and smile, that is if we make it thru them! Thank you for partnering with me to raise these princesses.

Later this afternoon, we gave Daddy a break and I took the girls to 415 at church. It is a Sunday evening service that they do every 6 weeks. They have music, games, lesson and food for the families of young kids in the church. Courtney really enjoys going. They did her favorite song, "Happy Day" and she sang and dance around. Courtney had fun playing with all the girls and hugging everyone she saw. She was behaving really well all evening until we got to the car. She did not want to get into her carseat (as usual). I had Caylee in the Ergo and I lifted Courtney into the seat and she reached out with her nails and scraped them along Caylee's head. Ooh I was not happy. I hate when she hurts Caylee. Poor Caylee's face was all scratched up. Courtney got a time out as soon as we got home.

Ben gave Courtney a bath and put her to bed, so I could spend time with Caylee and feed her.

Even though we didn't do much this weekend, it was tiring just because Courtney was so misbehaved and challenging. I am hoping we can start fresh tomorrow morning.

Am I a broken record?

Today I felt like a broken record. I kept telling Courtney the same thing over and over. This is a normal day occurrence, but today was to the extreme. Definitely a testing mommy day. I hate these days. I have to be mean all day.

The day started good, Courtney and Caylee both woke early and I took advantage of the opportunity and went for an early run and and tied in some errands. I went 2 1/2 miles, stopped at Starbucks, the bank and the grocery store. I got back and got Caylee down for a nap all by 8:45. I was feeling good and productive, until Caylee woke up and wouldn't go back down. She just screamed. I finally got her up which threw off my morning clean up plans. By lunch our house was thrashed because I had to carry Caylee all morning and I couldnt pit things away very quickly. To top it off Courtney was being such a brat. I had to repeatedly tell her things before she'd listen. She got so many time outs. It was ridiculous! At one point she was in time out and crying, she got up and kicked Romo in the face! What! She did stuff like that all day.

She kept getting out of bed at nap, then only slept for an hour n hald. She had two accidents today and pooped in her diaper at nap. One accident was on our nice bedroom chair. Ooh! I was not happy. I was feeding Caylee and talking to my mom and she just did it right in front of me. So I told her we are back to having her go every 15-20 min. So the whole rest of the day, I had her go often. She was actually a good sport about it.

After I got the girls to bed, Ben was nice enough to stay in with the girls while I took a 10 min walk with Romo to just blow off some steam and re-coup. I wanted to go out, but didn't want to take away time from Ben. We haven't seen each other much this week.

Daddy Sing" Our God"?

We had a quiet morning at home yesterday, no biblestudy so onward with sleep training Miss Caylee. It's all working really well so I don't want to mess things up quite yet. She has slept 12 hrs 4 out of the past 5 nights! Finally its back.

With sleep training in full force we got to our playgroup late not to mention I got lost getting there. So only about 2 minutes to play with Abby before she was gone. I met a nice new mom and future playmate for Caylee!

Our big event for the day was to go watch "daddy sing Our God" for the high school group at church.
Ben leads worship on Wednesday night and every so often we go and watch. I don't like to go very often because its another late night out and with our Tuesday biblestudy, two nights in a row is not a good combo for a 2 year old. I sure paid for it today. A very grumpy girl I had on my hands. But Courtney had fun with the girls and she loved watching the game and danced her heart out to all the music that daddy played. My friend Heather came along with us, so she was a big help and we got to hangout after the girls went to sleep.

We got sad yet happy news today. Our good friends Karly and Gaddiel live practically next door to us and they told us they are moving. They aren't moving far, but it has been so much fun having them really close. They will be about a mile up the road, still close enough to visit lots but not close enought to pop in for a quick visit or to borrow an egg. But we are happy that they got a bigger house for their family. I bitter sweet moment.

Cute Courtney"ism": Caylee sneezed and she said "Jesus Bless You!". So cute. I love her innocent heart.

Playdate with Avalon

GeoTagged, [N33.68245, E117.82567]

Courtney was invited to play with Avalon today. I didn't tell her til this morning because I knew she wouldn't sleep well. She was thrilled! As soon as we got there Avalon was waiting and gave Courtney a big hug. The two were cute and played so well together. They played inside and out, watch Jana Alyra, ate snacks and took lots of trips to the bathroom. Just like girls do they peed together and talked.

Such a smooth day

Mondays are usually hard, Daddy is back at work and we usually have had a busy weekend on lots of bye bye"s". Courtney is often sad that we aren't going anywhere and begs me go somewhere. Usually she acts out.

I have been trying so hard to keep Caylee on schedule especially for her first nap and this weekend was a failure at that. So I had a new idea for our errands today. I used to always walk to the store, load up on groceries and walk home, but I haven't done that in awhile because I usually have too many things to get or have to get something big or heavy. So I decided to give it a try today with two motives in mind, (1) I spend much less when I just have the stroller (2) Caylee can stay asleep the whole time because I am not getting her in and out of the car numerous times. It all went really well. I think I am going to definitely do it again. Courtney was really good and I was able to keep her occupied and busy the whole time and we got two stores done and a stroller full of groceries. I was able to even put away most of the groceries while Caylee slept. Usually I have to drop them all on the floor and quickly feed Caylee.



The girls both took great naps and I was able to get my "weekly home blessings" done, which put me in a great mood when Courtney woke up. We went out and used chalk on our sidewalk leaving fun messages for daddy. Too bad it was too dark when he got home to see them.



After dinner we did baths and I bathed both girls together which is always a challenge. Caylee was a bit fussy so she screamed as I washed Courtney. Never fun. Courtney is still hating getting her hair washed. Tonight was not any better. I tried to approach her differently and told her I was just going to wash the back of her hair so no water would get to her face. I am going to slowly move up. This was not any easier. I pleaded with her to let me do it and she was not convinced. So Caylee was screaming and Courtney was screaming. I did keep my cool. Ben came up and helped out and was able to get Courtney to let him rinse the back. She was relieved to not have the water touch her face. Oh silly girl.

Good Weekend

Another good weekend for the record books. It was nice and pretty relaxing. It was the first weekend in about a month that Ben was home and not working. Just him being home makes the house calmer. I also didn't do really any cleaning. It felt good not to spend my weekend cleaning. But I forced myself to relax. It felt good.

Yesterday we went shopping at Spectrum. We got there early and went to coffee. Courtney got her "baby coffee" and we just relaxed and watched the rain come down. It was nice for about 7 minutes and then Courtney was ready to go. We shopped in the rain! It wasn't too bad. Courtney was in need of a few new clothes, so she was the only one who got anything. We ended with lunch and it was far too soon for Courtney to nap. After nap, we had to cut it short, we had a birthday party to go to. It was a friend of Ben's, but it was a family party.
They have a little girl that Courtney loves to play with. Also, Ariel and his kids were there. So she was loving it. We took Ariel's kids home with us for a little bit. Courtney thought that was the coolest thing. She just loves those kids. It was so cute (wish I had a picture), but the three kids were all huddled together with a blanket in front of the fire.

Today we had church and then we went to lunch with Gaddiel and Karly. We love hanging out with them. Ben is friends with Gaddiel and I'm friends with Karly and they have a baby, so they are understanding of kids stuff. During naptime, I got some time to relax. Ben took off for a bit, Caylee was really fussy (she missed her nap) so I put her to sleep in the ergo and sat on the couch and relaxed and read. So nice! It didn't last long but it felt like a bit of vacation. I actually left the housework to be unfinished!

Ben got his bonus this weekend, so to celebrate he took us girls to Melting Pot for dinner. This is probably my favorite place to eat. It's so good, yet so expensive. Courtney was in heaven with all the yummies and dipping.
I've noticed these days we sure do get tucked into the back of restaurants with our kids. Talk about discrimination! I know people get out for a peaceful meal and don't want to listen to my kids babble.


All in all we had good times and for the most part, Courtney was super good. I think the more she sees Ben, the less she feels she has to compete for his attention. Just a thought. Oh and last night Caylee slept 12 hours! Yeah, I'm hoping my trying harder to keep at least that first nap complete is working.

Caylee Can Sit Up!

Big Caylee milestone today. She can sit up! Not all the time, but if it's right after a feeding and she isn't tired, She will sit up. Courtney and I were having fun playing with her today. I love this stage, she is just so smily, giggly and cute. I love her fatness and she gives a different smile to each one of us.
She is already seeking Courtney's approval. Courtney is really starting to enjoy Caylee. She always wants to hold her and pick her up! Yikes! She brings toys to and seems to be excited that Caylee will be sharing her room soon.

Caylee was sleeping really well and then she got sick with a cold and she started waking up in the night. Then she was sleeping 10 hrs a night and then back to only 7-8 hr straight. I was getting frustrated and started to take notes. The results were something I figured, but didn't want to admit or figure it was true.

It's tough having the two kids and trying to keep on schedule for both kids. It doesn't allow us much time to get out if the house or do much without it affecting someone's nap. Courtney starts to really misbehave if we don't get out everyday. So I've been getting her out every day and I enjoy it too. But, it's been really affecting Caylee nap schedule. So for over a week she hasn't had a single day where she had her whole nap at home and a full nap as well. Time to buckle down! So yesterday I decided no matter what it takes the next few days I need to make sure Caylee gets her nap and completely. Also, she has been doing the 45 min nap wake up routine and if we are out it's hard for her not to get stimulated enough by Courtney, etc and then to fall back to sleep.

Yesterday we did pretty good with naps. Not perfect because we were at my friend Erica's house. But she slept 9 1/2 hrs. And today we did really well. We went on our walk first thing instead of breakfast first and that way Caylee had her full nap actually in the crib. The next two naps went right on schedule. So we will see how she does tonight. This whole waking up is wearing on me and imam exhausted come about 6:00 at night.

Confessions of The Last Two Days

I did not ...

1. Pick up Courtney's poop in the middle of the park as though it was a dogs
2. Walk two screaming kids thru Macy's (one with very wet pee pee pants) in search of a bathroom
3. Do the poo poo dance because Courtney pooped in the potty
4. Sing the ABC song over and over and over
5. Allow my daughter to leave the house with her shoes on the wrong feet (not worth the battle)
6. Get locked inside our house due to the door lock breaking
7. Wash Courtney's hair as she screamed bloody murder
8. Allow Courtney to watch videos on YouTube just so I could make dinner
9. Forget to change Caylee's diaper a few times
10. Throw away a onsie in which Caylee had pooped all the way up the back
11. Hold Courtney over the bushes at the park so she could pee
12. Lose my patience at least once
13. Eat ice cream out of the carton in the freezer
14. Go the wrong way on I5 and drive 15 minutes out of my way
15. Stop cleaning the house just to listen to my baby babble
16. Stayed in my PJs all day
17. Have to fish dog food out of Caylee's mouth because Courtney wanted to feed the baby Romo's food
18. Pick my little girl up after she had fallen out if bed and gently lay her back down
19. Pretend not to notice my dog pooping in the grass so I didn't have to pick it up in the rain
20. Squeeze breast milk into my baby's eye to help with her clogged tear duct

Disneyland

The long awaited trip to Disneyland (it's been almost 2 weeks!) was Tuesday. Ben had the day off so we made a family day out of it. Courtney loved every minute of it, as usual. But for some reason she gets scared on a lit of the rides now. She is scared of the carrousel, yet had to go on it. She even got scared at the beginning of small world. Hopefully it was just her mood for the day. We grabbed some lunch at ESPN zone, have to keep daddy happy. Then we headed over to California Adventure. I'd been wanting to take Courtney to see the Aladdin show. We finally went, and Courtney loved it. It's practically a Broadway show.

Probably the cutest part of the day was seeing Donald Duck and Chip N Dale. Courtney really wanted to see Donald and looked for him all day. Finally as we were walking out Ben spotted him as well as Chip N Dale. She gave them all hugs and more hugs and kisses. Then she sang the ABCs to them. They are so good with the kids and they just danced right along. She was so proud of herself.

We had to take off to get Courtney a bit if a nap before church. I woke her up about 10 minutes before leaving. She was exhausted and didn't want to get up. But all I had to do was tell her we were going to church and she could see Ari, Bella and James.

Disneyland? Disneyland?

Last night as we drove to dinner I casually said to Courtney that we should go to Disneyland today. Then after talking with Ben, he suggested that we go Tuesday since he is off that day. So as soon as Courtney woke up she said "Disneyland?". I told her not today, but tomorrow. She was sad and said again, "Disneyland?". I explained again.

We headed out and did our errands today by walking. I definitely prefer this over the car. I get my exercise, Caylee can sleep without me taking her in and out of the car and putting her in the ergo, I only have to load and unload the girls one time. When we got home again Courtney said, "Disneyland?". I explained again, not til tomorrow.

After naptime, Courtney woke up and I went in to get her, first thing she said, "Disneyland Mama?". I told her again, she cried. Poor thing just doesn't listen. I know she understands me.

Ben came home from work with flowers for me and cookies for Courtney. As soon as he walked in the door, "Disneyland Daddy?". He told her as well, not til tomorrow. Does she not get it, or does she really think she will change our mind.

Again, after bathtime, more tears of sadness as she dressed in her pjs and she grabbed her bunny purse and said, "Downstairs mommy! Disneyland!". I told her no, honey. "No nap, no sleep, Disneyland!". Oh boy, we better go tomorrow. She doesn't know how spoiled she is.

I love where we live!

Today was a good day. If you'd look at Courtney's incentive chart you would agree. She got 8 stickers which is the most so far. I taped it to the back of her door which is a great reminder to be good and stay in bed.

We had church and then we took the girls to breakfast. I took the girls home for naps and attempted to take one myself. I was completely exhausted for some reason. But I didn't get much of one in. Courtney was up partying in her bed for like an hour. She wasn't being bad, just busy singing and playing. But it was loud enough in the monitor to keep me awake, and I'm still paranoid she is going to escape.

Caylee is getting to be such a talker. It's really cute. She just talks and talks. I think we are in trouble if she talks as much as she babbles for the future. It will be fun once the girls can talk to each other.

We met Ariel for dinner tonight. Courtney was so excited! I don't know what it is about him, but she just adores him. Maybe it's because he is so sweet to her and takes the time to talk and sing to her. Every time she prays, she prays for him. Ben got called in while we were at dinner so poor Ariel was left to help me with the girls. He was a good sport and traded off holding each one and helped me to the car. We are so lucky to have such good friends here. One of the hardest things about leaving Santa Barbara was leaving our friends that we had met. We have been in Irvine for 3 years and I feel like we are finally at that point where we have good friends here, ones that will help you in tomes of need or crisis.

Feed the Ducks Dinner?

Daddy is working this weekend so instead of it being Saturday it's just another day of the week. I did for go some of the housecleaning and hung out with my girls. Poor Caylee's schedule has been so messed up. It is really hard for me to stuck to the schedule with a 2 year old that needs to get out. Courtney does not like staying home and I need to get stuff done, so working around their nap schedules allows us very little time to be out of the house. So it seems as though at least one if her naps is off every day and boy do I pay for it.


So I tried to stay home his morning and jet out right after Caylee's lunch. I decided it would be fun to walk to lunch with the girls. I wanted Courtney to be able to walk to, at least part. I was hoping for her to get some energy out. She walked part of the way and then wanted to ride. We had fun at lunch, Courtney chatted away and dipped her bread in her "squash sauce". It was kind if difficult just me with the girls but we did it. However, we lost a nice sippy cup and a bow along the way! Bummer! Courtney walk quite away back. Caylee fell asleep in the Ergo and of course didn't transfer well. I probably should have just kept her in there and let her sleep. Ugh! Just am not getting this sleeping thing down with her. I did so well with Courtney when I just had one child to focus on.

After naptime Daddy was home so we loaded the girls up, Romo, and grabbed some bread and coffees for everyone and headed to the lake down the street. Courtney loves feeding the ducks there. She went thru 5 hotdog buns in about 5 minutes! Afterwards we walked around the lake, we didn't bring the stroller so Courtney walked almost the whole loop. She did pretty good and was a good listener.
I love it when that happens. We even stopped by the park and these days we can't get thru the park without a pitstop. She's got this peeing in the bushes thing down! Courtney waved at all the people and dogs and even got to pet a few.
It was really fun to walk as a family, talk and watch the sun set over the lake. I love where we live. I wouldn't change it a bit.

To sum up my day:

- On our walk today Courtney was sweetly holding Caylee's hand then BAM! Moment us gone and she us sticking her fingers in Caylee's mouth resulting in Caylee bleeding from the mouth
-Caylee didn't take her 2nd nap, and cried the whole time if not being held, because she fell asleep in the ergo on our walk.


-Courtney pour water in the cup holder of the stroller in the living room
-Courtney peed all over her bean bag chair during room time.
-Courtney poured out almost the entire "brand new" Bottle of Princess Bubbles into her bath while I was changing Caylee.
-Courtney screamed and cried most of our walk to the library
-Courtney bit my hand as I tried to discipline her


-Courtney wiped her buggers all over me
-Caylee screamed all during Courtney's bath
-Ben is gone for the third night in a row
-Romo our dog has been pulled, kick and hit by Courtney about 50X

I moving into a bubble!

Sickness has been in our house for almost two weeks now! Caylee was sick, then me (I'm still a little sick), then Ben, then Courtney this week and now back to CAYLEE! Go away! I am so far behind on housework and other things.

We had a rough start to our day. Last night Courtney woke up at 3 am crying. I went in and she said her nose hurt and her head. I gave her more medicine, I also held her and prayed with her. It seemed to work for about 10 min. I spent the next 2 hours going back and forth. I usually and tough on her when she does that, but I had some compassion because she did seem to not feel well. But, this was getting ridiculous. I finally thought I got her to sleep, tip toed back into my room only to find (now 5 am) that Caylee had woken. So instead of going to sleep, I needed to feed Caylee. Just as I finished, I heard more crying thru the monitor. I was beyond frustrated. I turned off the monitor, spoke sternly to Courtney and grabbed my blanket and pillow and slept laid down outside of Courtney's room. I didn't want her chaos waking everyone else. Also, I needed to listen for Caylee and Ben's alarm was soon to go off. After it seemed as though Courtney was asleep, I came back in just in time for the alarm. I then in turn, turned off mine deciding then that I needed to sleep in. I got to sleep til 7 when Caylee woke to eat, soon followed by Courtney.

I was so tired this morning that I was tempted to cancel Courtney's playdate. But fortunately Erica came my way, so I didn't have to rush to get the girls ready. Courtney and Haley got to play finally after missing a few weeks from sicknesses.


After putting both the girls down for naps, I actually got a nap myself. I think slept for about 35 min before waking up to Caylee screaming. I go up to get her and put her in the swing. She was really hot, though. She slept a bit longer in the swing but she just wasn't happy. I took her temp and she was at a 100.3. Great, she is sick again. I can't handle all this sickness. It is getting so annoying. We can't do anything. So she cried and I couldn't get any housework done.



Once Courtney woke up, my friend Karly came and took her to the park. It was really nice to get a break. I finally got Caylee down for a bit and I rushed around like crazy getting stuff done. I can't believe I am still sick too, well maybe I can. I haven't been able to rest.

A Glimpse into McKinsey Choas

I put myself down for bringing cookies for Courtney's Valentine's Day party tomorrow. A pretty easy venture. Right? I could have run to the store and bought some cookies, or made some brownies or even bought a roll of sugar cookies. But no, I was aiming for super mom status (AKA stupid mom) and made the sugar cookies from scratch, rolled them out, cut them into small hearts, made the frosting from scratch and frosted and decorated each individual one myself. Well, I failed miserably.


I was stressed this morning, as I slept in because I haven't been getting much sleep being sick and the kids being sick, so I started behind. I wanted to get certain things done and knew I needed to get my walk in, and make these cookies. Well the walk went out the window and I scurried around, everything taking 3x as long with the kids awake, but got to the point where we were ready to begin. I gave Courtney her own bowl and we were mixing and listening to music and having fun, until ..... Courtney stops and pees all over my "cloth" kitchen chair. Yep! In all my stressing I never took her potty. Delayed cookie making to clean up the mess. Back to the cookies.

Meanwhile, Ben came home (his day off today) and rescued me by taking Courtney for a few hours. It still took me the rest of the morning and into the afternoon to get these darn cookies done. The failure was: they don't taste good and I gave up partway thru. I still have half the dough in the fridge (will be consumed as needed to fulfil my cookie dough cravings eventually) and gave up partway thru the frosting. So I have about 20 small heart cookies with sprinkles to show for my all day event (mistake).



I was still working on the clean up after dinner.

We had our financial bublestudy tonight. Before going, my plan was to get myself ready after dinner clean up and then the girls, but all H*** broke loose moments before. We were to leave at 6:30. At 6:20 I'm changing Caylee into pajammas when i see Courtney squat in her bear and say "uh -oh". J leave baby and run to put her on the potty. I didn't make it, but asked her to stay there while i finished with the baby. I get to Caylee and she had peed all over herself and the changing table. Im cleaning her up and Courtney keeps getting off the potty and I keep having to out her back on, then Courtney poops on the potty. Mini celebration, Ben walks into chaos and I ask him yo finish dressing baby while I clean up Courtney and get her new pajamas. I change her and Ben is still fumbling with Caylee and change her and we are out the door about 5 min late. Whew!

We are starting to get to the meat of it all this financial stuff and boy is this going to be a challenge. But I'm up for it and excited for the changes it's going to bring for our family. Now to just do it!

Jana Alyra Concert!

I shouldn't have brought Courtney to this, but I have been wanting to take her to see Jana for a year now. The concert was free, literally down the street, and they were filming her latest DVD. Courtney seemed fine throughout the day. Maybe a tad sick, clear runny nose but that was it. We got to the concert super early to save seats and then Courtney got to play, by the time the concert started she definitely had a fever. By the time we got home it was 103.5! Bummer! Two weeks of sickness in this house is no fun!

Courtney loved the concert. She danced and danced, but I could tell she wasn't feeling well. We will definitely need to see her again. She wanted to stay though. It went much later than I expected, so we took off early. She told me in the car, "Mommy, I'm tired.". I've never heard her say that before.


This morning I had to go to Target, so we pulled out all her money that she earned last week. We counted it, and talked about how she gets to buy a prize at Target with her money for being good. She put it in her purse and carried it around all morning. When we got to target, I let her pick out her prize in the $1 section. We did our shopping and then then I let her buy her prize (she chose a Alice in Wonderland book). It was a separate transaction and she handed the clerk her money and she had enough for 3 cents back. She was so proud of her purchase. So sweet. She couldn't stop talking about it. I hope this has an impact.

So Proud of Both My Girls

I'm so proud of both my girls today. Sundays can be hard, our schedules are off, naps usually are short or don't happen and Ben is often gone in the morning for church and I'm on my own to get the girls ready and to church in time. We had a busy day planned and everything went so well. Both girls went with the flow and were so well behaved. A proud mommy moment!

Last night before bed, I laid out Courtney's money that she had earned this week for being good and I had her pick out which "monies" she would give to Jesus. She picked out 4 pieces of money, which isn't too bad considering there were about 30 pieces in there. So we talked about why we do this and so on. I think though that she believes our friend Ariel is Jesus. I did the best I could to explain he wasnt. So this morning as we headed church she reminded me about her "monies for Jesus". So sweet!

Since it is Superbowl Sunday we went to our friend's Joe and Laura's house. Courtney was so excited. She loves being with them and they are so sweet to her. Both girls only got about a 40 min nap in the car. Caylee went right back to sleep once we got there and Courtney played. There was another little boy there and she shared with him, played with him, was a good listener and didn't throw a fit when told No. She also went to the bathroom each time I asked. She even told me (well in a sense, she said Mickey had to poo poo) and she pooped in the toilet. Toasted the end of the game she got really tired and cranky and actually asked to go to sleep. I set her pack n play up and she was out in 20 seconds! And Caylee, slept, played and ate when I needed her to. We just set up her bed in their spare room and she did great. It's so nice to have a day like this when we have had a week as we did. I almost feel like I had a day off.

We are so lucky to have such good friends. We are surrounded constantly by good people that love us and care for us. I love where we live!

Family Sick Day

We had a family sick day at home today. Caylee is practically better, Ben and I are both sick and Courtney didn't really get much. So Ben called in sick and we just laid around and watched TV and read. Courtney was actually pretty good today. A nice change and Caylee is back on schedule. Hopefully, she will be back to sleeping thru the night. She has been getting up once a night since she has been sick. Ben went and got like 5 kinds of ice cream for a special treat for us after dinner.

Disneyland with Cousins

We are so fortunate to have annual passes to Disneyland. We decided about 14 months ago after taking Courtney for the first time, that we definitely needed to go back. We live about 15 min away and the price was something we could do and it's a fun activity to do that doesn't cost much (if we do it right).



So several of my family members were taking the day to go to Disneyland. The girls and I needed a much needed break, despite me not feeling well. This is our first time since Caylee that we have gone alone. So one we got there Caylee was screaming, her schedule is so off. I now know what a non Babywiser's life is like with a baby. Just chaos. Her schedule has been mush and getting the grunt if it. So i had to feed Caylee and Courtney ate her snack in the stroller, all was good until Courtney had to go to the bathroom. I wasn't willing to risk an accident so I unmatched Caylee, which resulted in sheer screaming and we searched for a bathroom. Made in time! Back to feeding the baby and, We met up with my parents and my brither's 3 year old, Malakai. Courtney loves her cousins, so she was thrilled and held his hand for several rides.



We met up later with my sister and her kids. Since her kids are older, they wanted to go on all the bugger rides, so we did a lot of waiting. We could have separated but Courtney would have been sad to leave everyone. We saw several characters, which Courtney loves. She actually was scared it shy around them this time. She gave each one if them a kiss.




When we wanted to go on Pirates if Carribean, Courtney cried and cried, "Scare you hi ho, scare you hi ho!". So we watched the ducks instead.

The day went fine, Caylee wasn't too happy. I felt bad for her, if I put her in the car seat the sun was blaring on her so if I covered her she was in the dark and not happy. I put her in the Ergo and she didn't like that because I had to cover her from the sun and so she was in the dark again. We left early because our free time was running out for parking. Fortunately we will be back soon.

Both Ben and I are feeling so sick. I think tomorrow is going to be a family sick day. This should be interesting!

It's only Wednesday?

Is it only Wednesday? What a long week so far. I was looking forward to today, Wednesdays are fun because I have my biblestudy and a chance to socialize with friends and then we go to our Mom's group at the park. But another tough morning. Things started great, I was prepared, we left on time and Courtney was behaving. I even had time to do my biblestudy before leaving the house. But Caylee didn't fall asleep on our way over and couldn't quite settle down the entire time we were there. So I was outside with her trying to calm her down the entire time. I should have just left, but I didn't want to make a scene and we didn't have a break so I didn't get a chance to pack up. So we stuck it out. I finally fed Caylee since nothing was working. She ate, but I still think it still part of her cold. While I was feeding her I could hear Courtney upstairs crying. Evidently she was not a good girl and my monster child emerged out again. We left biblestudy with her screaming in my face because I wouldn't let her eat handfuls of candy that were on the table. Somebody bring my sweet Courtney back!


We headed to the park. I knew we shouldn't go as a reward but I also knew we should go because I need the fresh air and time to chat with friends and Courtney needed some park time with friends. Once we got there, she was great again! Can we say mood swings? She had so much fun with her friend Abby. They were really cute. Courtney was holding her hand and dragging her all over the park. Abby wanted her to eat snack with her and Courtney wanted Abby to play. I love that she has little friends to play with.

We headed home and the ease of the day ended. Caylee woke up and cried and screamed til she went to bed tonight. I tried everything. Nothing would settle her. After I fed her in the afternoon, she seemed happy for a bit and I thought it would be the perfect chance to take a nap (I'm getting sick too, and not feeling well at all). As soon as I laid down the screaming began again. I even went as far as waking Courtney up so we could go on a walk, thinking that would help. Nope!

I gave both the girls a bath and as I was changing Caylee, Courtney yells out Uh oh poopy. I raced in hoping she would go on the potty, nope, she went right in the bath! Yep, my daughter had a giant poop in the bath. Disgusting! Oh, how I wish Ben had been there.

Exhausting day. I am hoping that I am feeling better tomorrow because we are off to Disneyland.

Good outlasts the Bad

Today was a bit better than yesterday. There were some really sweet moments that I need to remember first. These are the moments that make all the other frustrating moments seem not as bad:

-watching Courtney bring her doll over to share with Caylee
-listening to Courtney read Caylee a book
-As Caylee was crying in the car, Courtney was saying, "Its ok baby, shhh shhh".
-Telling Courtney we are going to church and seeing her leap for joy and shout "Ari sing (our worship pastor), James and Bella (his kids)"
-Courtney taking a 4 hour nap, and waking up with her sleepy eyes saying, "Sticker (for her new reward chart) and Barney in bed!"
-as we were on our walk, Courtney says she has to go pee pee, so I pulled off to the side, pulled her pants down and she peed in the grass! That's my girl!
-Ben brought me a White Mocha from Starbucks this morning
-Biblestudy at church
-Courtney had no accidents today (and hasn't since Saturday)
-the little smile Caylee gave me between bouts with a stomach ache or is it gas?
-Courtney didnt get out of bed at naptime
- Ben put Courtney to bed tonight (she stayed in bed)
-I ate a whole snickers for breakfast
-I ran/walked 2.6 miles
-Ben hung out with us for a bit this morning
-Ben and I actually got to talk for about 10 min before the girls were up
-the dinner I made was super tasty, though no one but me ate it
-I had extra time to sit and do my biblestudy since I missed this morning
-I have a supportive, wonderful, understanding and very attractive husband who loves me

When you list all those good things, the bad just doesn't seem all that bad