Day 3- Potty Training

Here we are at Day 3! I guess I should mention that the "method" we are using is called "A 3 Day Guide to Potty Training". So of course we had some high hopes and expectations for today as it was the 3rd day and what we had read was telling us "that if done correctly, we should see success!"


Not sure if this was the same success the author had (I'm sure she has perfect kids who basically potty train themselves.) but we did have a "pee pee" in the potty!! This was seriously the most awesome sound I have ever heard! And it couldn't have come at a better time. I was seriously wanting to give up, throw in the towel and say she ain't ready. But right before we ate lunch, I was praying and I asked God to please, if it was in His will, to show us some sort of success and to give us wisdom as to what to do next. And of course, in typical answer to prayer, we had a success that encouraged me greatly! Now do I think this means, "She's got it! Cora is potty trained!" umm.. NO. I really think this could have just been a fluke but it is something that is encouraging me to continue going.


I really do see improvements. Now when asked if she is dry, Cora will check for herself and say "I dry!" and promptly hold out her hand for her sticker or "m&m". (by the way - if you ever find yourself in the potty training situation - blue m&m's are really bad. They stain.) She looks forward to the reward. Also she is starting to not only show us she has to go to the potty but verbally tell us, either on her own or when asked. She still won't stay seated very long but I do think she is starting to grasp a little bit.



To keep Cora entertained today, we painted toe nails!  She sat still and let me do it! Then she wanted to "paint" her stuffed animals.


Our pretty toes!




We also made some cookies.  Yummy snack and treat after some stressful days..

So here we are, at the end of day 3 and what do I think... Well, I've learned alot. About Cora, about myself..  Some things, I really enjoyed learning.  I love seeing Cora and William playing together.  I love seeing Cora get excited over saying "I dry!".  I love learning more about William and his love for his daughter and love of serving me. Other things were pretty hard.  Like, ALOT of sin came out during these days!  Whew.. I get short tempered, impatient, ill, and unloving when I'm not in control and also a little sleep deprived (Cora's been waking up some at night and getting up an hour earlier).  I want to be the "prideful mom" who has a perfect child who was easy to potty train that I can brag about to others and be like "look what I did."  Wow, God humbled me!  This process has nothing to do with me or my parenting skills - it is honestly about Cora and really how God created her and He created her perfectly.  So what if my child isn't "potty trained" after today?  Am I any less of a mother?  No.  Do I give up because she didn't get it in 3 days? No, but we will reevaluate to see if she needs a break (or if we need a break).  Does this mean we are failures? No.   Everything that happened and all that she learned is all God wanted to happen and wanted her to learn.  All I can do is surrender this area I'm trying to control over to Him and trust that He knows best and continue to try to be patient, loving and Christ focused as I serve my family through this developmental milestone.  Thanks be to God for what He can teach through potty training!

Day 2 - Potty Training

Day 2 can be described as a day FULL of accidents! Poor William had "potty training duty" majority of the day as I was needed at church during the morning. He did a great job and showed ENORMOUS amounts of patience and optimism. Even with the accidents, it was good as we were having lots of opportunities to run Cora to the bathroom to show her where to go when "you gotta go". We even had a small "pee pee" after one rush during an accident! So we rejoiced over this small victory.



William cleaning the floor after one of the many accidents.  I think we've decided to steam clean everything once we complete this process.


Cora's reward for going in the potty!  A new food set for her kitchen!  She was excited!


Hanging out in her bed!


Cora helping "record" her progress in our journal.  This is where we wrote everything down!

I think after today, we kind of started seeing her body language alerting us of when she has to go.  She becomes very fidgety and squirming when she has to pee.  And, this is no suprise, she runs to hide when she has to go #2.  We also started showing her pictures and small videos on our camera while she is sitting on the potty to help her stay seated.  Not sure if this is really a good idea as I'm wondering if it's taking away her focus from getting her business done.  Anyway.  We'll see. 

Very tired!  But thankful for the many small blessings that we get to see.  Hoping tomorrow continues to show improvements!

Day 1 - Potty Training

We made it! It's "Potty Day"! The day where we put away all the diapers and put Cora in her first pair of big girl underwear and teach her all about using the potty. Last night, I was dreading today. I really didn't want to start this process. Life was easy! Sure, diapers were gross and dirty but we had our routine. It worked and I really didn't want to mess that up. Starting potty training would mean our lives would change in pretty much every area. But we needed to at least try and see how she would do and what better time than the present!


I'm just going to say that today was pretty hard. It has been mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting. I had times during the day where I questioned myself: "Why we had done this?", "Is she even ready?" and "Why am I making life more difficult?"! I want to give up and it's only the first day! I'm really thankful for William and for all the support and encouragement he gave. He cooked our meals, cleaned up messes and gave me little breaks when I needed it.


Just to give you a little schedule of our day:


Started day at 7:15
Ate breakfast at 7:45
Changed our LAST diaper at 8:00

For the rest of the morning, we played with Cora and asked every other second "Are you dry? You are! Have a treat!" Or we said "Let us know when you need to go potty!!"




Our big girl




If we didn't have enough "change", we decided to go ahead and convert her crib to a toddler bed. Not sure if this was the best move but she was climbing out anyway so atleast now she won't hurt herself!  She was excited to "make up" her bed with all her stuffed animals.  She arranged them herself!




She really enjoyed playing with Play Doh. We played probably atleast 1-2 hours with this.





This really helped in keeping her entertained and also not running all over the house, peeing on everything!


It was kind of crazy but she didn't have an accident till 12:30 pm.  I mean, I was starting to worry!  Who knew she could hold it that long?  She went down for her nap after this and suprisingly napped really well.  She even woke up dry so I was really encouraged. 

She continued to have accidents the rest of the day and we did not have any potty success.  But we learned alot!  Today was all about learning her signs of when she is about to go and also for her to learn her own body and when her body is telling her when she needs to go.  She showed alot of resistance sitting on the potty, she didn't want to do it and would only sit for a few seconds.  She would not check herself when asked if she was dry, we would have to check for her.  So all in all, it was a day of learning for both of us!  Hoping we see some progress tomorrow!!

Water Tuesday

Wow, it has been a hot week so far! This morning, we set up Cora's water table and also the sprinkler for her to cool off in. She enjoyed picking out a swimsuit to wear and also splashing at her table. She didn't enjoy the sprinkler as much, she kept running away from it. Quite funny.



Ready to go out! Got my sunscreen on.



Playing with this toy William had.  A dinosaur I think?



Think we may need to get her a pool since she is sitting in her table.

Shot with dad before bedtime.



Speaking of bedtime... It finally happened. Cora has figured out she can climb out of her crib. She has been getting close and she finally did it. She has done it twice tonight, without hurting herself, but now we are unsure what to do. Hopefully this new development will fade out quickly! I wanted to get her used to using the potty before I changed her bed. But maybe she is more ready for a big girl bed than I thought. Hope she sleeps well tonight!

The Name Game

We have picked a name for our new little girl!  After some debate we have settled on the name....


Charlotte Elisabeth Bell

Bunny at Breakfast, Small Group Cookout at Dinner

Weird title, right? Take a look at the pictures and it will make sense!




This morning, while eating breakfast, I spotted a little bunny nibbling on some of our weeds right outside our kitchen window. Once I told Cora she had to hop down from the table and check out the rabbit for herself! It stayed around for just a minute and then hopped away - probably to the neighbors delicious garden.





After all the bunny excitement, we were off to church and then back home for a MUCH needed nap. Well, Cora and I napped. William was productive and mowed grass. We woke up in time to head to our small groups cookout. it was our last "hurrah" before the summer started. We meet at our leaders house, The Fields, and enjoyed hamburgers, hot dogs and all the fixing's. It was so wonderful. The kids played outside and all the grownups just sat around the table laughing and chatting. It has been on the hot side, weather wise, this weekend. Sure sign that summer is here!



Mr. Press helping Cora hit the ball.  She was quite hilarious as she would run in the opposite direction, instead of to the bases.  But she enjoyed it so much!  The whole way home she was saying "Catch, Catch!"


Cora sitting on the deck after a good dinner of a hot dog, grapes, strawberries, chips and a chocolate cupcake.



Lazy days of summer - good food, good friends, and lots of laughter! 


We've so enjoyed our small group and are looking forward to getting back together again once temperatures cool down and fall is near!

A girl and her bike

Cora got a tricycle for Christmas this year and it has been sitting in our attic since then! We thought today would be a good day to get it out of the box and put it together for her. She was very excited to help William with all the parts! Even though her feet can't quite reach the pedals, I know it won't be long before she is riding all over the neighborhood. I just can't believe how big she looks sitting on this bike! Where has my baby girl gone?



She was even excited to wear her "Sesame Street" helmet she got for her birthday!



Her way of riding the bike since she can't quite reach the pedals.



Dad giving her a push!

Watch out world! Here she comes!!

Muffin Wednesday

Today we made "Banana Nut Muffins"! This was really the first time I had Cora "help" me in the kitchen and she really enjoyed mixing and stirring and putting the brown sugar topping on the muffins. I really enjoyed cooking with my sweet daughter!



mixing up the eggs, milk, and oil.



making the brown sugar topping! I may have helped her look messy!



yummy snack time!

The finished product. Very tasty!

Belly shot - 20 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:


How far along:  20 weeks. It blows my mind that I am half way through this pregnancy! I mean in 140 more days I'll be close to meeting this new one! Holy Moly!! So much to do! We gotta find a room for the baby! We gotta get Cora potty trained! We gotta sleep while we can!! Maybe one of these things will get accomplished and it'll probably be the sleep one.



Maternity Clothes: - This is a pretty dumb question now. Just look at the photo and you can see that I need maternity clothes! I'll no longer be including this in my updates! I will say I've been living in my stetch pants that come in black and brown!


Best moment: The baby has been more active lately and I've felt more kicks and movements. Plus William got to feel a kick too! Happened at week 18, which was earlier than with Cora.




Gender: It's a girl!! No name decided yet - We like Charlotte or Violet. Still debating.




Food Cravings: Let's just say I haven't had any aversions and leave it at that.




Sleep: If I could stop getting up to go pee, I could probably get some sleep.




Exercise: Yep. I went there. I added a new category and called it "exercise". I joined this fitness group with my church and we meet on Thursday's and have our weigh in and discuss healthy eating and then do a 30 minute walk. I started this last week and I've tried to walk everyday! I've enjoyed it and I'm hoping this will help me stay fit. Oh and while everyone else tracks their weight loss, I'll be tracking my weight gain!




Symptoms: Already I'm feeling big and round! Getting up in the morning is a little difficult. I feel sore all over and I usually have to sit down to rest while making our breakfast and Williams lunch. I feel better after I eat and have more energy the rest of the day.  I go to the bathroom all the time.




Things I miss: Sleeing through the night, Not having to pee every 5 minutes, being able to move comfortably!




Doctor appointment notes: Haven't been since finding out she is a girl! Will return on June 2nd!

Just another Monday....

It was just another Monday here at our house! Cora has discovered the washing machine and she likes to climb in and scare daddy when he comes home from work. It was really funny and I wish I had it on video. She screamed at him from inside the washer and he jumped so high! We tried to "re-enact" it but it was a bust as Cora wasn't interested in screaming anymore. She was ready to climb out. Also, William had brought home some donuts as a special after dinner treat so we got some pics of her trying those out. I will say she liked them! Who doesn't, right? I know pregnant women like donuts!!



What a crazy spot to hide!




Making funny faces with dad.



yummy donut!!




"I want more!!!"

Potty Training, here we come!!

The Bell household is about to embark on a new adventure - Potty Training!!  I feel it's a good time to start - she is 2 year's old now, she can communicate her needs and wants, and she hates sitting in her poop.  In the past week, while sleeping in her crib, she has pulled poop out of her diaper and really made a mess in her crib.  She has done this twice.  It wasn't fun either time to clean.  Not that I expect this process to go accident free.  In fact, I expect the opposite!  I'm expecting this to be full of accidents and I'm sure I'll be ready to give up at any point!!  But through alot of prayer, patience, love and with the goal that I won't have to change her diaper again, we will start this and see how she does.  I'm hoping she enjoys all the fun treats and rewards we've got her!  We plan to start this adventure Memorial Day weekend.  William really wants to be apart of this so he wanted to wait until then.  So right now, we've been discussing how gross her poop is and now she says "yucky" when we change her.  So we will see how this goes!  Wish us luck!!

Happy Birthday Celeste!

Cora was invited to a super fun birthday party today for her friend Celeste. They have known each other since they were about 5 months old! We met this sweet family through CBS. Her mom, Melissa, and I were in the same group with our sweet girls so we watched them go from little babies, to toddlers and now to 2 year olds.


This party was so great! Even a terrible thunder storm couldn't stop it! Melissa had reserved "Briley's" for the special occasion and was going to treat everyone to strawberry picking, hay rides, pony rides and animal petting. Her theme was "strawberries" and as you can see from the photos, she stuck to the theme! Strawberry lemonade, strawberry candles, even strawberry hand sanitizer for us to use. I can still remember the smell, haha!


Melissa made the cake herself! It was yummy too!



Cora saw Celeste riding on her daddy's back and she wanted to ride on her dad's shoulders too!



Melissa planned this party so well. I mean what do 2 year olds love - BUBBLES!



The sweet Feller family!




The hayride! Notice the dark sky.. It wasn't looking good at this point.



Cora enjoyed her ride sitting with dad!



Cora's first pony ride!! I was really impressed with my girl! She did not hesitate at all, she walked right through the gate (maybe jumping ahead of everyone at the party) and allowed the man to put her up on the horse and she rode like a little pro.

At this point, in the weather, it got pretty windy and it was scaring the pony a little. Plus it was thundering/lightening and it looked like we were going to see a house flying by at any moment! So at this point, they decided it was too dangerous to continue the activites and decided to move the party back to the Feller's house. I was pretty disappointed because this would mean we wouldn't get to do the rest of the activities (plus no other kids got to ride the pony) but we really had a great time at their house.



The kids decorating their strawberry placemats with stickets before their pizza dinner!




Group photo on the slide! Notice the look of horror and pain on all the kids faces.. Definitely a parent's idea for this photo!!

Baby Nathanael

Our sweet friends, The Stambaughs, welcomed a new addition to their family on May 2nd! He weighed 5 lbs 10 oz and was 19 inches long. Such a cute little peanut, oh my goodness! We travelled to visit williams family over the weekend and stop by to meet the little guy tonight. He was so sweet to hold and fell asleep in my arms and slept pretty much the whole time we were there. My heart is just filled with such happiness for this family. They have been through alot in trying to grow their family but despite it all, they have always, always praised God.



Nathanael = "given by God". Perfect name for this little one!

Happy Mother's Day!

It's Mother's Day 2011! So this is my 3rd official day celebrating being a mom and it has really been awesome! I had to write down all the fun times otherwise I would forget it!


It all started Saturday where I got to finally use my mother's day gift from last year - a gift certificate to get a pedicure. William and Cora dropped me off at my appt and I gave my feet the royal treatment! Then we took Cora to a drop in child care and we enjoyed a child free lunch at the "Daily Grind"! It was amazing just to have quality time with my man. Plus Cora really enjoyed her time at "play date".


William made me breakfast this morning for my special day. Buttermilk pancakes from scratch! He was very sweet to get up so early to do that for me. Church was very special as all the "moms" received roses. I just love our church family! For dinner, we grilled out hamburgers and played outside on the swing set. It really has been a perfect weekend. I'm so thankful for my sweet family and also for my 2 girls that I got to be a mom to!



Yummy breakfast!




Happy Mother's Day to me!




My gifts this year! Love Harry Potter and William picked out the card..




Rose from church.

Just a kickin'....

So it finally happened!  A real kick!  We were sitting watching TV tonight and I had been feeling little movements and I got William to put his hand on my tummy and he felt our little baby girl kick!  It's kind of hard to get a photo of that but I wanted to blog about it anyway, otherwise I wouldn't remember when it happened! So first real kick (when another person can feel it) happened at 18 weeks.  That is about 2 weeks earlier than Cora as with her, William felt it at 20 weeks.  I remember that distinctly as it happened after I ate some Parker's BBQ, haha.  That was like my main craving with her.  Different this time!!