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!