First Adventures in Potty-Training

When Bridget was getting close to turning 2, we started getting advice on how and when to potty-train her. She had just figured out what poop even was. But thinking we better start trying, my husband and I bought all of the 'needed' things for this latest adventure. However, Bridget showed little-to-no interest in it. She wanted to play with her little potty, not sit on it. She'd freak out every time I put 'big girl panties' on her, or even a pull-up. She wanted her diaper. So after about a week, I gave up and decided that I will let Bridget decide when SHE is ready to be potty-trained. Rather, I'd let her potty-train herself. The pressure was off and finally in mid-March, she got serious about it. Here she is using her potty for the first time:

It was not the experience we thought it would be. She was so thrilled with herself that she'd keep stopping to look at what she had done. Then, she wanted to see it as it happened. She made quite a mess on the floor. Daddy was a good sport and kept wiping it up, and she thought this was so funny.

After going potty, we felt a bath was needed. While Bridget bathed, my husband was nice enough to get the mop and really clean the bathroom floor!

Since then, she's gone on the potty a few more times (with no mess). She was very excited to let me know when she had to go, so that I could go with her to help her get her diaper off. After much progress, we had a little set back when she was feeling under the weather for a few days, and she has yet to want to sit on the potty again. But that's okay. At least I know she can do it and I'm glad she's taking her own initiative to train herself.

My Two Cute Kids

I thought that being a mother-of-two would be really difficult. Sometimes it is when both children need attention at the exact same time but for the most part, it's pretty easy. While Bridget does go through her pain-in-the-butt moments, she is a HUGE help. Regardless of how she feels about me at any moment, she'll do just about anything for George. She gets burp cloths, finds pacifiers, and lets me know when he is crying (because she doesn't think I can hear it too).

Bridget loves George a lot, and loves it even more when I put him on the floor and she gets to "play" with him. On this particular day, she was tucking in her babies, George included (in the picture he is currently not happy, but most of the time he was).

Bridget loves to be chased. When this picture was taken, my husband called for her to come get in the bath and she ran off. She was by the back door waiting for him to come and get her, so that she could continue running away and squealing. (She really does love bath time too, she was just playing "hard to get" with her daddy.)

A sweet picture of George sleeping in a funny position:

At about 6 weeks of age, George started to smile for me. A few days after he started this I was able to snap some pictures of his attempts. Since then, he has gotten so much better and is now a natural smiler.
Relaxing after his attempts:
Along with his smile, I also love his pinchable cheeks and deep blue eyes.

Bridget's hair, after 2 1/2 years of growth, is finally long enough to put in an itty bitty ponytail. It's rather silly looking so we haven't taken her out of the house with it, but sometimes she likes mommy to put her hair up at home. The ponytail reminded me of Pebbles Flinstone.

Bridget sure does love her babies:

Our 2012 Garden

"The prophet said to plant a garden, so that’s what we’ll do.
For God has given rich brown soil, the rain and sunshine too.
And if we plant the seeds just right and tend them carefully,
Before we know, good things will grow to feed our family."

My husband was the one who got started on the garden this year. I didn't think we'd even have one because of how busy I was with George and with him graduating soon, I figured the only thing I'd be able to grow was weeds. But he finds it very relaxing to go out there and play in the dirt so we went to Lowe's and I picked out some veggie plants I wanted (because he doesn't eat the veggies... just likes to grow them). I ended up with two types of tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions. Those are my three basic veggies that I do the most cooking with, so hopefully they'll turn out.

Bridget also enjoys playing in the garden. You'll have to excuse her dress... she's so tall for her age so many of the dresses she has that are 2T barely cover her bottom so we just keep those as play dresses around the house. She also loves her rubber boots that her grandparents in Hawaii gave her. This is the second pair she's gone through. She grabs them every time she wants to go outside.

Tending the garden once the plants started growing:

The sweet George that I get to hang out with while Bridget and Aaron are outside: