June

In June we triend to stay cool and we went to the zoo. We were lucky to get the DVD from the library that you can watch and get free tickets for a family of four. The girls loved it!

Remember Us?

We are still alive, but life has gotten in the way. I am going to write a few posts to catch and then maybe I will be better at being consistent.

So, where are we now? Oh, I went to Maine after the last post. It was supposed to be a family trip but budget wise we couldn't do it, so I got a little break and went up for a memorial service for my uncle. Maine was his favorite place and now I totally understand why. I can't wait to for the whole family to go there some day. I was ready to move there, but Mom says that I always say that when I visit somewhere.

Upon my return we found out we were having a baby boy. Looks like Meredith was right the whole time, she kept saying she was going to have a brother. She is over the moon and talks to him every day. Tinsley and Meredith now share a room in order to make way for baby. Tinsley is doing great in her big girl bed and recently started sleeping in the bed without the rails. I think we are ready for Barrett William to arrive, we are scheduled for a c-section on Nov. 1, which is now a little over a week away.

Meredith turned 4 in July and had a princess party (pictures to follow in another post). At age 4 she is into all sorts of things, but loves princesses, Handy Manny, and dinosaurs (especially dinosour train). She is doing so much better with her potty training! At the beginning of October she turned a corner and is doing great with peeing, but we are still struggling with poop. Because of this she has been dismissed from the pre-school, however we are working with the school system on some other developmental delays we are noticing and they suggested she move to Pre-K. So tomorrow Meredith will start Pre-K. She could attend the pre-school through the end of the month, but we figured with the baby coming and Halloween being here that we should go ahead and move her so that she has a week that is all about her.

Tinsley turned 2 in September and she had a ducky party. This kid is in love with her ducks, but you wouldn't believe how hard it was to find duck things for the party. Along with ducks she also loves Dinosaur Train like her sister. The girls have taken to playing really well together and it is great to see how much they love each other.

Bill turned 50 in September and we held a party for him the same day as Tinsley's party. It was great to have family and friends together to celebrate both of them. Then two weeks later he had to have an appendectomy. Not fun, but he has totally recovered. As hard as it was to be pregnant and taking care of him and the girls I am grateful that if it had to happen it happened when it did. Take comfort in the small things. I also appreciate my Aunt Sharon and Aunt Pam helping with the girls while I was at the hospital and Bill's mom and brother Dennis for helping us out the week after. I couldn't afford to take time off since I am trying to have as long of a maternity leave as possible so it was nice to have the help.

As for me, I am just chugging away at work and trying to love on these girls as much as possible. I am very tired now and sleep is getting harder, not that I expect that to change when Barrett arrives. I had an ultrasound last week and he is all balled up and breech, which was totally expected. They estimated his weight to be 6lbs. 10oz. and he has hair. Meredith has been obsessed with whether he is going to have hair and what color it will be.

I think that about catches us up. My mom arrives on Saturday to be here for Barrett's birth and we have Halloween festivities to do, but other than that we are just riding our the days until our new normal.

More posts to come that will be mostly pictures.

Wits End

Warning: This is not a positive post and I apologize for that because I haven't posted in a while. I just need to vent and possibly get a little advice.

I am at my wits end with Meredith and potty training. Bill probably feels the same way as me since he is the one home with her, but I will not speak for him. We have been on this journey for almost 2 years. Yes, you read that right 2 freakin years. I am a proponent of waiting until the child is ready. She started wanting to use the potty when she moved into the 2-year old room at daycare. She regressed when Tinsley was born, but I expected that. She has gone maybe 3 or 4 days at the most without having an accident and I couldn't even begin to tell you when that was it was so long ago. She got kicked out of the 3-year old preschool class primarily because of not being potty-trained (there were other factors). We did the 3-day potty training over Thanksgiving and we thought we were on our way, that ended not long after the first of the year. She only wears pull-ups at night and at this point I would almost rather have to change her sheets everyday than ever give her a pull-up again. We let her run around naked and while that is when she does her best, that is not reality. We do not live in a nudist colony so clothes will have to be worn. We have tried a timer, doesn't work. We use positive reinforcement and bribe with toys, she doesn't care. So here we are, just over a month away from her 4th birthday, worried that she will be kicked out of pre-school starting in August because she still isn't potty-trained.

Beyond Frustrated Mom

We are still alive

Yes, we are still here in the land of the living, but we have been super busy. We kicked off the beginning of March with the start of our very first sport, soccer. Here is Meredith ready to go to her very first game/practice. Her age group doesn't play games they are just learning skills.

Her best buddy Aidan is on her team and this may be the only reason she really likes going to soccer each week. I don't have any pictures of it but they went off across a couple of fields on weekend holding hands.
Most of the parents get out there with them to help...I mean have you ever tried to coach 12 3-year olds to do anything? It's very much like herding cats. She is doing pretty good about not touching the ball with her hands, but I am not sure if soccer is going to be her sport or not.
Tinsley enjoys running out on to the various fields as well and is constantly in to something.

I tried selling my bows at two consignment sales in March and killed myself to get them done. Unfortunately I didn't do too great, but at least I tried. When I went to drop a set off we had to go to Gainesville so we decided to try out the kids museum INK (Interactive Neighborhood for Kids). I had heard a lot about it and thought it would be fun. It is basically a little town for kids, with a post office, salon, grocery store, vet, etc.
Tinsley loved the groceries. We had a hard time keeping up with the girls because they both wanted to go to different places.

Meredith doing Tinsley's nails in the salon.
Tinsley milking the cow, the utters really shot out water into the bucket. Meredith hated it and wouldn't go near them.
Gives me a chill just thinking about these two cruising down the road together.
Both girls really like the fire truck.
Overall I think INK is very overrated. They ask that you make sure that you clean up after yourself when you are ready to move on to the next area, which we did, but many others did not. I also felt very dirty when there because many of the items are not taken care of. I am glad we got to go on a day when admission was cheaper than normal, but I have no intentions of going back there for a long time.
Tinsley discovered the art of eating whole apples and loves it. She will come swipe an apple out of your hand if she sees it. She is definitley a little mooch.
St. Patty's day was celebrated at Meredith's school, so I got the girls dressed in their green.

April hasn't brought much yet, except for our Saturday morning routine of soccer. Meredith has spring break the week before Easter and is going to visit her Mimi (by herself no less, well after Bill and Tinsley leave). I will try not to be so delinquent.

My Etsy Site

www.etsy.com/shop/TurtleGirlDesignz

I now have a store on Etsy to sell my bows. Would love for you to check it out and tell your friends. I will be adding to it as I get through some more bows.

And she's off

Snowpocalypse 2011

Here are some pictures from Snowpocalypse 2011. We got about 5-6" here, but the ice is starting to form on top of it. Who knows when we will get out of this mess.