The one with potty training day 3

I think she's got it! She had 2 accidents, but she's holding her pee in a lot longer. She woke up from her nap dry. She didn't poop at all, not in toilet, underwear, or pull up. Not bad, but not good either. She's telling me when she needs to go 99% of the time. I'm still nervous to go anywhere in fear of an accident, but I think thats more my fear and that she'd actually do just fine. I need to go grocery shopping so I guess I'll find out soon enough. The tv was on today and she didn't have an accident while watching it (which I was afraid she would since her mind was distracted). I know random accidents are normal for the first while after potty training, I just hate having to deal with them in public.
Update: she woke up dry this morning! If she stays dry for a week then no more pull ups :)

The one with potty training day 2

Day 2
Ellie has done great! She had 2 accidents. One was right in the bathroom, she just couldn't get up on the toilet in time. She woke up from her nap dry again :) Although she was wet when she woke up this morning. Last night she came out of her room to tell me she was poopy. She had pooped in the toilet earlier, just not very much. Today she has gone twice. So I'm hoping she won't poop in her pull up tonight. She's loving her reward system. Most of today she told me when she had to go. I did still have to ask or remind her, but half of the time when I did that she would sit on the toilet but not go. So she's recognizing when she has to go most times on her own. She filled up another sticker chart today too. Becky bought Ellie a play kitchen play set with play food. That came in the mail today, so the pic is her in her big girl underwear, with that after I set it up (which took FOREVER!)
Overall, another big success!

The one with the second potty training attempt

We started potty training  (for the 2nd time) today and Ellie has done great! We talked about it for a couple days before to get her prepped. This time around I bought her a minnie mouse seat for the toilet and she likes that much better. So far today (its 7 pm and she goes to bed at 8) shes had 20 successful trips to the potty and 4 accidents, 2 of which were partially  my fault. The first one I had to go take out the trash so I wasnt able to watch her. The 2nd I stopped her as she was running to the bathroom (I didnt realize thats where she was going) to talk to her. She's now telling me when she needs to go potty, not every time but thats still awesome for it being day 1. I'm super proud of how well she's doing this time.
Every time she goes she gets to put a sticker (we have princess and frozen ones) on her chart and gets 2 m&ms. Once she gets 5 stickers, which is one full row, she gets a big treat. Big  treats are miniature candy bars, dum dum suckers or scooby snacks (gram crackers). She has a seperate chart for going poop, which earns her a sticker and a big treat. Once she completes that whole chart, which is 22 spaces shes going to get a really big undetermined  prize. Probably a special ice cream outting or something to that extent. So far she's gone poop on the potty once. So it might take her a while to fill the whole chart, but at least by then she'll be a pro :) Today she woke up dry from her 3 hour nap so I'm hoping that's a good sign for bedtime too.
I'm hoping tomorrow goes just as well and she doesn't regress much. I'm not night training yet. She was still waking up wet, and I'm still waking up with Raelee a couple times a night so I'm not up to changing and cleaning a mattress on top of that. Once she's waking up dry (or close to it) then I'll tackle that one. For now, pull ups are our friend.

The one with the look a likes

Who does Raelee look like, Taegen or Ellie? I think Ellie. Sorry theyre a little blurry. These active kids are hard to get good shots of.

The one with Raelees smiles

Raelee is starting to smile and it's too cute! These are the best shots I could get, although she does smile bigger than this. And the last pic is just bx I think it's funny. Almost 2 months old (in 3 days)

The one at the pool

We went to the pool with a couple friends and had such a good time. Raelee wouldn't sleep and was really ornery (as usual) but besides that it was a great trip.

The one with a schedule

Here it is 6:30am and I've been awake for 3 1/2 hrs already. Today is going to be a rough day.
Yesterday Taegs and Ellie gave Raelee some medicine in hopes to get her to stop crying (I was cooking dinner at the time and I thought they were just soothing her with a binky). The medicine was an herbal tincture from Dr. Christopher called Kid-e-reg. It helps with colon problems. There is no danger to her for having more than recommended, however it has made her more gassy and uncomfortable. (She has a hard time pooping and only goes once every few days, so Im sure after this she'll get cleaned out.) Hence her inability to go back to sleep this morning.
So now Im nursing her, in hopes that she'll fall, and stay, asleep. Just in time for the culprits of this problem to wake up.
I have a rule in my house that no one can wake up before 7am. Taegen has a clock in his room and knows if he wakes up before then that he can play in his room until the clock says 7.0.0. Ellie is still to little to understand the concept but very rarely does she wake up before then anyways. This rule helps me keep my sanity, I highly recommend adopting it if you have early risers like me. Occasionally he'll try to come out early, but I just remind him its not 7, and still time to sleep and he goes right back to his room. Sometimes he falls back to sleep,  but most of the time he just relaxes or plays until 7.
I am all for following a schedule. I have had Taegen on one since he was born, and he does so much better with structure and routine. I started implementing quiet time about 9 months ago and it too has been great. Ellie was starting to fight taking he r nap, but I knew she wasnt ready to drop it either. So we started wuiet time where each child goes to their room and plays. They can do whatever they want in their rooms for the whole duration of quiet time. Ellie now willingly takes a nap again. Some days she fights it and either doesnt go down right away, or even at all, but its her choice. There are even times when Taegen takes a nap too. If not, I hear him in there having a blast with his imagination.
Its so nice to see or hear my kids use their imagination instead of asking to watch tv all day. Plus then I get a little "me" time as well. Win/win :)
Now I just need to get Raelee to follow the 7am rule and I'll be set. :) wishful thinking I know. But a girl can dream right!

The one where Raelee is 1 month

Raelee is one month old. Im fact now she's 6 weeks old, but I forgot to so a 1 month old post. And the only pics I took cloae to her 1 month mark were these silly ones. I wish her face was really that chubby. But she's not chubby anywhere. None of my kids were really. Ellie was the most chubby,  but even she was still considered long and skinny. They do have chunky cheeks though. On to the Raelee update...
-Shes sleeping from about 9-3 or 4am, as long as shes right next to me. If shes in her bassinet she will only sleep for max 2 hrs at a time. She really doesnt like her bassinet and now wont even sleep in it during her naps either.
-She doesnt like to be swaddled. She sleeps with her hands by her face.
-She is super gassy and ornery about it. I cant figure out what Im eating thats causing it either. I dont eat dairy, soy, gassy vegetables, chocolate, or anything else remotely gassy.
-She doesnt poop every day. In fact its closer to every 3 days.
-Going outside will instantly calm her down.
-She doesnt like binkys unless shes in her car seat or hungry and Im unable to feed her right away.
-She likes to lay under her playmat and watch the toys, especially if the tv is on (it is placed on the lv room floor on front of the tv where she can see it). The colors keep in entertained for quite a while.
- She loves taking showers. I put her in with me for the first time to help wake her up, and it did the opposite. She was totally calm and enjoyed it.
-She was super sleepy the first week of her life (due to my pain meds) but now shes really hard to get down for naps.

The one when Ellie loves her sister

Ellie loves holding Raelee. The other day she insisted on holding her while we were at the store. :) She still doesnt like to hold her for long periods of time, but she asks all the time. She will also put her face close to Raelees, put her nose on her and say "ugh-a-muga". This is from Daniel Tiger and its a form of affirmations they give on that show. I think its so cute she picked up on that and says it to her baby sister now. :)

The one with Taegs

Taegen is such a loving child. He shows such deep concern for others, especially his sisters and dog. Hes constantly telling me how cute Raelee is and wanting to hold her and give her loves.
He also has such a fun relationship with our dog, Blue. It took him a while to learn the right way to treat him (animals in general) but now that hes no longer hitting or being too rough with him, Blue loves to play with him. They even cuddle :)