I love this little girl!

This weekend Kraig played in a golf tournament in Fort Smith so Saturday and Sunday Lauren and I got a lot of mommy daughter time. It was much needed as with the arrival of Colton coming anytime between now and the next 5 weeks (if I go over) I wanted my baby girl to know that mommy still loves her even though things are going to be changing. So here are some photos from this weekend. :-)

I just love her smile!

Stretching...

What a doll...

Look at those teeth!

Wearing her princess crown with pride. :-)

Lauren I want you to know that you will always be my baby girl! I can't believe how big you are getting and how fast the last 2 years and 4 months have flown by! We have learned so much through you and can't wait for more learning's to come. I'm so proud of the little girl you are becoming. I know you will be a wonderful big sister to your little brother Colton and I look forward to your interactions with him. You are so bright that you amaze your daddy and me with all the things you do and say these days. You are very independent that I don't think you will ever let anyone take advantage of you later in life and that's exactly how we want you to stay!

At this point in your life you...

• are potty trained (except for night time and nap times)
• no longer use a pacifier
• love to take bubble baths
• love to be outside
• love to ride your bike (or sit on it while daddy and I take turns pushing you around the block)
• love to watch movies
• favorite song is I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas (you can sing most of the song and are very passionate about the "I've got my money...lets spend it up" part in the chorus)
• favorite books are The Angel book, Sponge Bob book, Cinderella book and the bunny book
• like to sing the Brown Bear, Brown Bear book at night now before bed and will make up your own 'what do I see' so now I'll say "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see" and you say "um.........(with a long pause here on purpose) Uncle Spencer" and I'll say Uncle Spencer, Uncle Spencer what do you see?" and you will name something or someone else of course with the "um...." in front of it. It's too cute!!!

We just love you so much baby girl and we are so blessed that God gave YOU to US!

Night 4

Ok, so after 4 days of potty training and 4 nights I think I've decided that it's ok to use pull ups at night. :-) My sister said that the night time potty training will just work itself out so to not stress over it and I trust her...she has 2 kids of her own!

Last night was night 4 for Lauren without diapers/pull ups, etc...just big girl panties! Well, she woke up at midnight and when I got to her I just missed her accident again. That's not the problem though...the problem is when I get to her she has already gone so I sit her on the potty and she wakes up like it's 6:30 a.m.! So then she doesn't want to go back to sleep or if I try she just says over and over "pee pee potty" so that she doesn't have to go back to sleep. The other problem with this is that since she doesn't want to go back to sleep, she is cranky at night so in order to get her normal bedtime routine back to normal, I think tonight I'll put a pull up on her and see if she sleeps all night because she needs it and it would not hurt Kraig or myself to get a full nights sleep either. ;-)

All in all though I'm still very impressed with the 3 day potty training program. Lauren now knows when she needs to go to the potty and most of the time she actually goes in the potty and she is only 23 months old and 3 days now!

Potty Training Day 4

Ok, so the program I used was a 3 day potty training guide. I have to say I think it worked pretty well! I mean Lauren just turned 23 months on Sunday and I would say she is about 90% of the way potty trained in just 3 days! Today was her 4th day and last night she woke up at 11:30 p.m. so I went in to check on her...she must have had a dream because she was fine...dry and didn't need to go pee pee. Then at 4 a.m. she woke up crying and by the time I got there she had just gone pee pee so I had just missed it! Darn it! But at least she is waking up now where the first two nights she just slept through it. Tonight is night 4 and I'll let you know how it goes.

At daycare today she had 1 accident and she had 2 accidents at home...one this morning because she wanted to watch her cartoons more than pee pee on the potty and one this afternoon. We even went over to Greg and Jen's for dinner and she told us she had to go pee pee and she did! Then tonight she only told me 3 times she had to go pee pee when I was putting her down for bed and she actually went pee pee on the 2nd try! :-) She was falling asleep on the potty on the 3rd try so I could tell this was just a way for her to not go to bed like she was doing last night. :-)

She is now asleep in her bed and I'm hoping she goes all night without wetting the bed, or will at least wake up again and yell for me (this time I'll go to her room first instead of stopping to go to the bathroom myself first!) :-)

Anyway, I'm very pleased with this so far.

Also, I had to add this in...when Kraig picked her up from school her teacher said that Lauren and Hannah (her best friend at school) talk about going potty at school like they are big girls! They talk about it and tell each other when they go! :-) Isn't that cute!

Potty Training Day 3

I just called Lauren's Daycare to check on her progress. They said she sat on the potty a few times today and didn't go but has also sat on the potty and gone to the bathroom! So far NO ACCIDENTS!!!!!!

Go Lauren!!!!

So that was at 12 noon today. when I picked her up at 5:30 her report card said that she had gone pee pee on the potty 2 times today and had 2 accidents that afternoon. I still say that is a success since this is just day 3!

5:50 p.m -
Lauren went pee pee on the potty at home!

6:20 p.m. -
Lauren went pee pee in her panties but told me

6:30 p.m. -
Lauren went poo poo in the potty!!!

6:40 p.m. -
Lauren went pee pee in her panties

7:00 p.m. - 9:15 p.m. -
My daughter has totally learned how to work her mommy! We sat on the potty about 8 times from 7-9:15! Each time we would get off the potty (especially from 8 p.m. on) Lauren would say "pee pee potty" and I being the good mother I am had the big "what if she really has to go?" question in my head...so each time she said she had to go I would take her. Trust me it was frustrating especially when at 9 Kraig came in and looked at me like I was crazy and said "it's 9!" I was like "I KNOW!" but tried not to yell. :-) But in the back of my head I knew she was partly saying it so she didn't have to go to bed, but at the same time I didn't want to lay her down and then have her wet the bed 5 minutes later. So even though it was hard work and a frustrating 2 hours...I'm glad I stuck with it...see below.

9:15 p.m. -
SUCCESS!!!! Lauren finally went pee pee on the potty!!!!

After that she said one more time that she wanted to go pee pee but at this point I knew she was just working me so I told her no and put her to bed. ;-)

Hopefully she will do just as good at school tomorrow or even better and not have any accidents at all!

Potty Training Day 2

Today went better than yesterday...but we still had some accidents.

3:00 a.m. -
I woke up to go to the bathroom so I assumed Lauren probably needed to go as well. I woke her up thinking she would be a zombie like she was at 9 p.m. the night before. Well she was a zombie, but the longer I sat her on the potty the more she woke up. Finally she woke up and started crying saying "no potty, no potty" so I didn't want to torture her so I put her clothes back on (still dry by the way) and put her back to bed.

3:30 a.m. -
She started crying when I was leaving so I went over and rubbed her back. The next thing I know she is saying "pee pee potty" so I thought 'ok she is telling me she needs to go!' So I swooped her up and took her to the potty only to find out that when she was saying "pee pee potty" she was actually going pee pee. :-( So I changed her clothes and put her to bed with us. :-)

7:00 a.m. -
woke up

7:30 a.m. -
Pee Pee in the potty!!!!

7:50 a.m. -
Poo Poo in the potty!!!

8:40 a.m. -
We were about to give her a bath and Kraig asked if she needed to go to the bathroom. She said yes and went into the bathroom...pulled down her own panties and sat on her little potty and went pee pee! :-)

9:40 a.m. -
Lauren said she needed to go to the bathroom so I took her but she didn't go.

10:00 a.m. -
Lauren said she needed to go to the bathroom so I took her but she didn't go.

10:20 a.m. -
Lauren said she needed to go to the bathroom so I took her but she didn't go.

10:40 a.m. -
Lauren said she needed to go to the bathroom so I took her but she didn't go.

10:45 a.m. -
Lauren went pee pee in her panties but ran in and told me. At least she is realizing what it is now.

11:20 a.m. -
More pee pee in her panties

11:30 a.m. -
Pee Pee again in her panties

11:40 a.m. -
One last pee pee not in the potty. :-(

12:00 p.m. - Nap time

2:00 p.m. - Woke up wet from her nap

2:30 p.m. - Lauren went poo poo in the potty!!!!!

2:45 p.m. -
Lauren said she needed to go to the bathroom so I took her but she didn't go.

3:00 p.m. -
Lauren said she needed to go to the bathroom so I took her but she didn't go.

3:30 p.m. -
Lauren went pee pee in the potty!!!!

5:20 p.m. -
Lauren went pee pee in the potty!!!!

6:00 p.m. -
We asked Lauren if she needed to go potty and she said yes...but she didn't go.

6:50 p.m. -
Lauren went pee pee in the potty!!!!

8:00 p.m. -
Lauren went pee pee in the potty!!!!

8:15 p.m. -
Bedtime

9:30 p.m. -
I woke Lauren up to see if she needed to go pee pee since she was still dry. She didn't go and started waking up again so once again...I didn't want to torture her so I put her back to bed. She slept until 6:30 this morning when we woke her up only to find that she had just gone pee pee.

So no one ever said this was going to be easy...and it was a lot of Kraig and I repeating ourselves saying "Tell mommy and daddy when you need to pee pee ok!" with a lot of non-responsiveness...but the book says that even if they don't respond they are hearing you. So I sent her to school today with 12 pair of big girl undies, 7 pair of pants, 5 shirts and 4 pair of socks. I know that seems like a lot but I have no clue how she will do at school. This morning while we were giving her a bath, Kraig said "do you want to wear big girl panties today" and she said "YES" very enthusiastically so when we got to school I said "are you going to go in and tell Hannah that you are wearing big girl panties?" and she said "yes" but of course when we got there she was just worried about playing with Hannah...but I did tell her teachers to not put diapers on her all day and if she has an accident to just change her clothes and put her on the potty. So right before I left I asked if she needed to go pee pee and she said yes...I took her to the mini toilet they have in her room and she sat there for about 5 seconds and said she was done. I had to get on the road to go to work so I told her teacher that she might do that all day too but her teacher seemed fine with it and said "once they realize the praise they get from doing it right she will want to do it 20 times a day"...so hopefully she will continue to be a big girl at school too! :-)

I'll keep you posted!

Potty Training Day 1

The life and times of a potty training mother!

Today we started the day out by changing Lauren into "big girl panties". A few hours in she had still not gone to the bathroom...then all of the sudden we were in the kitchen and I looked over and she started to pee pee in her panties. So I instantly scooped her up and took her to the potty and we sat there for a short time where I explained to her that we go pee pee in the potty and that now that she is a big girl we keep or panties dry. So after that we put new panties on and played. Then it was nap time. I did what the book says to do and I didn't use a diaper. I put her down for her nap in panties. When we went in 2 hours later she had gone pee pee but it didn't wake her up. :-) So we changed her and got a snack. After she had her snack I noticed her normal 'standing still routine' so I said "Lauren tell us if you need to go pee pee ok?" Well she didn't say anything but continued her 'standing still routine' so I knew something was about to happen. So I said "hurry...lets go to the potty!" So I again scooped her up and ran to the potty. We made it! She poo pooed on the potty AND her panties were still dry! So then a few hours later and a million "tell mommy when you need to go pee pee"'s later I was doing laundry and saw her standing in the hall. She started peeing but just a small amount. So I continued with the scooping her up...running to the bathroom...and changing her panties. Now a few hours after that she just said she had to go pee pee but we went in the bathroom and nothing happened. Hey, I'm just happy she told me! The book says "don't just sit there and wait for it...make the bathroom times short and sweet and if you have to sit on the potty...tell them good job...go do something and a few minutes later see if they need to go again" So in a few minutes I'll ask if she needs to go to the bathroom. :-)

So 7 hours in and we have 3 pair of wet panties, 1 set of wet sheets and 1 successful poo poo in the potty!. :-) I'll let you know how the rest of the day goes.

THE REST OF THE DAY -
5:00 p.m. -
Lauren - pee peed in her undies
Me - Scoop her up running to the bathroom saying "hurry to the potty" and changing her undies

5:40 -
Lauren - pee peed in her undies
Me - Scoop her up running to the bathroom saying "hurry to the potty" and changing her undies

6:00 -
Lauren - pee peed in her undies but came out and told me
Me - Scoop her up running to the bathroom saying "hurry to the potty" and changing her undies

6:20 -
Lauren - pee peed in her undies
Me - Scoop her up running to the bathroom saying "hurry to the potty" and changing her undies

6:50 -
Lauren - pee peed in her undies
Me - Scoop her up running to the bathroom saying "hurry to the potty" and changing her undies

7:30 -
Lauren - pee peed in her undies
Me - Scoop her up running to the bathroom saying "hurry to the potty" and changing her undies

8:00 -
Lauren - pee peed in her undies
Me - Scoop her up running to the bathroom saying "hurry to the potty" and changing her undies

8:30 -
Bedtime without sippy cup of milk! I've been wanting to get rid of the cup of milk before bed because the dr. says that the sugar in milk is not good for teeth. Even though we are supposed to give her the cup of milk and then brush her teeth I still don't want her having that as a crutch to go to sleep. So tonight she went to bed without the milk! I'm happy about that!

9:30 - The 3 day potty training program I'm using says that if your child normally wakes up wet to either wake them up 1 hour after they go to bed or 1 hour before they normally wake up and take them to the potty...I decided to try the 1 hour after bedtime.

I got Lauren out of bed...she was a total zombie! I sat her on the potty and just kept whispering "go pee pee for mommy" over and over thinking maybe even in her sleep she hears me and knows it's ok. I'm balancing in a squat position so that her head can rest on my shoulder (totally uncomfortable for me by the way...but the only comfortable part of it was her snuggling me so it was worth it!). After a minute or two I thought 'this is never going to work, but I'll give it a little bit longer' and sure enough about one or two minutes later she went pee pee!!!!! I doubt she even knew what was going on because she was still asleep resting her head on my shoulder but I told her "good job! Mommy is so proud of you!" just in case she understood. :-) Then I rocked her for a second and put her back to bed without any problems! I'll let you know if she wakes up dry in the morning.

We are using the 3 Day Potty Training Guide by Lora Jensen. http://www.3daypottytraining.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!