Potty Update

Ok, so I know I've posted in the past about Lauren going pee pee in the potty. Well, yesterday was another first! We were at home in the living room and she went to the hallway and pointed to the bathroom and said "poo poo potty" so I said "do you need to go poo poo?" and she said "yes!" So I of course took her in and undressed her...she just sat there and went to the bathroom!!!! I was so excited because the one time she went #2 on the potty was because I made her or she was going to go in the bath! LOL...so this time #1 for her to tell me she needed to go before she went was huge and #2 for her to go and act like it was no big deal is telling me that she is ready for the full weekend of potty training. Which is perfect because this weekend was our planned stay at home weekend anyway! Up to this point we have been out of town or had the Race for the Cure, etc..but this weekend we are able to just stay home and only work on this! I'm so excited! I'll let you know next week how it goes. :-)

I've got other post that I need to update everyone on but I'll have to do that later when I can load photos. Have a great Wednesday!

Playing Guitar

Race for the Cure 2009

Sadly I know too many women that have been affected by Breast Cancer in my own family! Because of this I walk for...

• Mimi Katherine Ellison
• Grandma Verna Tackett
• Aunt Lois Corbitt
• Aunt Linda Hinkle
• Aunt Brenda Johnson
• Cousin Diana Jones
• Cousin Patricia Sparks
• Mrs. Debby Baker

All SURVIVORS! Aunt Brenda Keep fighting!

Melissa, me and Lauren, my mom and co-worker Alex.

Melissa, my sister, my mom and Alex.

They had 16,000 plus participate this year!

Lauren, Me, Melissa and Tammy (sorry about my hair Melissa!)

Look at my big girl ready to do her part to help find a cure!

Thanks for walking with us this year! We had a great time! I pray there will be a cure for cancer by the time Lauren is old enough to start wondering if she has breast cancer if not before!

Hot Springs Village

The weekend of April 18th we visited Nona and Poppa Louie in Hot Springs Village. Lauren had a wonderful time coloring, eating, playing, picking flowers, etc. So below are some of the photos from our trip. Thanks for entertaining us and oh yes...the gourmet food!!!!

Lauren coloring

Lauren wearing her flower, Nona's tiny shoes and holding her garden bag from Nona and Poppa Louie!

Two flowers...

Lauren loves to twirl hair...her own or anyone that is around...so Kraig was laying on the couch and she wanted to snuggle him...so we put her on the couch and she started twirling his hair! What a ham!

This is the wonderful, southern home cooking we get when we go to Hot Springs. These are Nona's awesome Potatoes! They are fat free too! Haha I wish! Man are they good!

These are the rolls made from scratch...did I tell you Nona is a great cook?!?!?!

She also made Banana Bread and her famous breakfast casserole. I'm surprised I didn't gain 50 pounds during the 2 days I was there!

Nona and Poppa Louie playing Wii.

1st Ear Infection of 2009

We took Lauren to the Dr. last night because she has had a cough for the past 2 days and daycare called yesterday and said she was running a slight fever. So by the time we could get her in (6 p.m.) she also had a runny nose. So I took her to the Dr. and it turns out she has her first ear infection of 2009. :-( She ran a fever off and on last night and was waking herself up from coughing so of course, Kraig and I got her and snuggled her all night to make sure she was ok. Neither of us got much sleep but I think Lauren got more sleep in our bed than she would have in her crib. Although, the extra feet kicking my side in the middle of the night, or getting a slap in the face was a rude awakening each time...but hey, I dealt with very little sleep when she was younger, so I can handle a few days of little sleep if it makes my baby feel better. She slept naked all night (diaper and socks only) because she was so hot, and she is still hot this morning and coughing, so I'm staying home with her. She is on the antibiotic called Cefdinir 125/5ml and she takes 6 mls one time a day for 10 days. Last year she had a few ear infections back to back and they said if she got 1 more she would need tubes. Well, she didn't get anymore last year, so I pray this is not the start of multiple ear infections for 2009!

22 Month Update

So my baby girl is now 22 months old! I can't believe it! Only 2 more months and she will be a 2 year old! Crazy how time flies by so quickly. Well, it's been a while since I have posted on her milestones, so I wanted to make a post of all the things she is doing now because I know if I don't post it I will forget when it happened. :-)

22 months -

• You weigh 27.5 pounds


• You are about as tall as 3 bounty papertowels stacked on top of each other


• You have 13 teeth now and I think your 14th is coming in (front point teeth)


• You will dance to any music that is on by yourself but most recently you want mommy or daddy to dance with you and you cry when we want to stop because we are tired :-)


• You have recently learned (in the last month) to jump and it's so cute!


• You have gone pee pee on the potty 5 times in the last 3 days!


• You still use a paci at night


• You like to feed yourself


• You try to dress yourself


• You love to read books...the other day you read a book to your bunny!


• You love Dora and Boots, Sponge Bob and recently Barbie Princesses


• Your favorite movie right now is Bee Movie (I was afraid you were going to hang on to Shrek forever!)


• You love to run


• You love being outside...we have screaming fits when it's time to come back inside


• You can sing your ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and our Night Night song that was passed down from my mother


• You can count from 1-20


• You can point out butterflies, hearts, flowers, lights, cars, earrings, mouths, eyes, ears, hair, noses, head, shoulders, knees and toes (hehe), hands and fingers when you see them


• You know your Papaw, Nana, Papa, Granny, Poppa Louie, Nona Donna, Aunt Tammy, Uncle Kody, Katlyn, Austin, Aunt Kristen (Kissy), Uncle Brian, Aunt Lisa, Uncle Ryan, Uncle Spencer, and baby Kieran


• You absolutely LOVE mac-n-cheese!!!! I mean you could eat it 24/7 and you would be on cloud nine!


• You say you want apple sauce or an apple, but when I cut up the apple you won't eat it


• You have friends at daycare...Hannah, Sarah (Kristen Alexander's little girl) and "Big" Will.


• You love your teachers Miss Michelle (Shell), Miss Sharon, Miss Chelsey, etc.


• You went to the movie theater for the first time at 21 months old and did great!


• You love our neighbors Mark, Missy and Hayden and their dogs Harley and Murphy


• You want to help us feed the dogs as often as you can by opening the back door and saying "get back"


• Your new thing is to lay in our bed and pull the covers up to your neck...you look so cute too! It's hard to put you in your bed to sleep because of this!

Oh baby girl...you are even better than what your father and I had dreamed of you. We are so lucky to have you in our lives that I can't even put into words our love for you. When I was pregnant with you, I thought I knew what love was...but until you arrived, I could not fully feel that love 100%. Now that you are almost 2 years old and are just the most amazing little girl, we are just so blessed to have you in our lives! God has truly blessed us and I pray that one day you are able to feel the love we have for you when you have a child or children of your own. Just looking at you recently makes me want to cry because you are no longer my "baby" but your are my "big girl" now and I just look back and wonder where the last 22 months have gone! I remember sleeping with you for the first time at the hospital and just feeling so happy that you were here I didn't mind feeding you every 2 hours for 10 weeks straight! I look back now and think "that wasn't so bad"! Everything that that seemed so hard at times now seems so easy...it's all about keeping it in perspective. You are a true light from God and I'm so happy he gave that light to us!

Thanks for being the amazing daughter you are!

We love you!

Bow's and Headbands

A few of you have asked where I got Lauren's new bows. My cousin has a boutique called Mary Katelyn's Cottage that you can order online or go to her boutique which is at 100 Water Street in Elm Springs, AR. Her website is below if you want to check it out! Her prices are VERY reasonable!

http://www.marykatelynscottage.com/

Pee Pee in the Potty!

Over the last 3 days Lauren has gone pee pee in the potty 5 times! Sunday she went 2 times and Sunday night didn't go in her sleep. Monday morning when I realized she was still dry I instantly sat her on the potty and after a few minutes, she went pee pee #3!!! Then at daycare on Monday, she went pee pee on the potty once....#4. Then tonight before bedtime she sat on the potty and she went...#5!!!! Now I will say that it's not a 5 minute process...like tonight I probably sat in front of her for about 30 minutes singing songs, letting her "fix" my hair, etc and she finally went. But the good news is that Sunday she was saying "potty, potty" so we would put her on the potty and one time she didn't go but the 2nd time she started saying it (a few hours later) she really had to go! So at least she is starting to learn that when she gets that urge, she knows where to go. So thanks to the Easter Bunny...when she goes pee pee in the potty, she gets some chocolate! :-) When our weekends are not so busy, I plan to take a full weekend and just stay at home letting her wear only big girl undies and get fully potty trained that weekend! Hopefully that is just a few weeks away because this weekend we are going to visit Poppa Louie and Nona Donna, then next weekend is the Race for the Cure, so after that it's potty training time!

Coloring Easter Eggs

Last Thursday, April 9th, we were supposed to go to the Beck household to color Easter Eggs, but Nana was sick, so we had everyone over to our house and had a great time! Kristen, Brian, Spencer and Chelsey came over and we dipped the eggs and then let Lauren color some with the coloring pen. She loved it! We have a little artist on our hands!

Aunt Kissy shared her water with Lauren and she loved it because she got to drink from the bottle herself instead of a sippy cup or without someone holding it for her so she didn't spill it.


After working with the eggs, someone wanted to hide...Where's Lauren? :-)

This was the sunset that night! Isn't it pretty!

After the Easter Bunny

Just to show that everything was fine the second I picked her up I wanted to show our time after we got the photos. We went to lunch at Chick Fil A in the mall...and then Lauren got a cookie. :-)

Here she is saying "cheese!"

Lauren loves music...so they had the pianist playing in the food court so no matter what he played, Lauren was dancing and clapping her hands to the beat.

Blowing kisses to mommy

See...this was how excited she was when she saw the Easter Bunny! After we ate lunch we went to the Cookie place on the corner which was right in front of the Easter Bunny's set up. When she saw him walking around and waving to people she just started smiling. She just didn't want to be sitting with him! :-)

Easter Bunny

So lets just say there is a huge difference between a 10 month old and a 22 month old seeing the Easter Bunny. The evidence is below.

Little Miss Happy at 10 months!

Little Miss Not-So Happy at 22 months!


I promise you it is not as bad as it seems. We got to the mall at 10:45 a.m. only to find out they didn't start until 11 a.m.. Glad we didn't go at 10 a.m. like we had originally planned! I was so excited...we were first in line! So when we saw the Easter Bunny walking up the hall (around 11:10 might I add), Lauren was so excited! She was smiling and excited to see him. Then when we walked up to him, she had a death grip on me but would touch him and give him high 5's, etc. As long as I was holding her she was fine. So I thought "lets let someone else go in front of us so she can see that everything is fine!" So we did that...the lady behind me gladly went 1st and her 2 1/2 year old son did great! They got their photo on the first try! So, when I went back up there I didn't play around with the "lets get to know the bunny first thing" so this time I just put her on his lap and she was ok for about 2 seconds...just long enough for me to walk away and get into position to take the photo. Once I started taking pictures this is what happened. So in all actuality, she only sat on the bunnies lap for about 10 seconds MAX and then I went to get her. :-) These were the only two photos I took because I didn't want to torture her!

Waiting for baby Kieran

Last night we got the call around 6:30 p.m. that it was time to head to the hospital for baby Kieran Mackenzie's birth (Lauren's new cousin). Click here Ryan & Lisa's shower to see Kieran's parents. So while we were in the waiting area, Lauren was having fun with the light board. I have to say I was a little disappointed with the board because it says "interactive" board, however we tried and tried to push on the wall and get it to light up and nothing...so I think it's just a set program that runs. :-( Oh well...Lauren still liked it!

Action Shots...

We have got to get rid of the paci! Any ideas?

(I will post some photos of baby Kieran once her parents get the opportunity to post some on their blog. I want them to have the joy of "announcing" their own birth. :-))

Poison Control

Ok, so for most of you (me included) the first thing you don't expect to hear when walking in your door is "I'm tempted to call poison control"! I was like "what happened" and Kraig proceeded to tell me that he walked out of the room for a second and came back and noticed Lauren had something in her mouth. When he went over to check it out he realized that she had the little white paper things that come in shoe boxes that say "DO NOT CONSUME" in her mouth and they were open. He said her mouth was full of the little beads that are in those packages. So he of course wiped her mouth out and then heard me coming in so he handed her to me and told me to rinse her mouth out really good over and over. So as I'm trying to show her how to get water in her mouth without swallowing it and spit it out in the sink (not very successful by the way because she just kept swallowing it) he was trying to decide what to do. He finally called one of our Dr. friends and left a message and then called poison control. Good news! According to the poison control hot line this is one of their most called about incidences...and they are not harmful! When our Dr. friend called us back he was laughing and said "oh my kid ate a whole package of that stuff" so we felt much better! But another lesson learned for us...when we get new shoes, throw away those little white packages instantly! Don't think "I'll do it later" because there might not be a later the next time!

**LET ME ADD THAT THE POISON CONTROL CENTER SAID THESE WERE NOT HARMFUL IN SMALL AMOUNTS! I don't want someone to read this and think their child can swallow a full boxful and be ok...just a disclaimer. :-)

Puppies

The other day we were outside and Lauren wanted to talk to the puppies. First she went over and talked to our neighbors dogs (Murphy and Harley) and then she thought she would give some love to our dogs (Hunter and Bo) too! She loves animals!

Dress Up

Nana and Papaw Beck got Lauren some new dresses while they were away on Spring Break last week. When Lauren saw them she loved them...the only problem is she wanted to wear them both at the same time...over the clothes she already had on (see the jeans)! Take a look...

Dress #1

And Dress #1 & 2

Thanks Nana and Papaw!