The other day Isabella was playing with her toys like she always does. However, she suddenly stopped what she was doing, bowed her head, and started whispering in what appeared to be gibberish/baby talk. I asked her what she was doing, and she didn't respond. After a few seconds, she made the sign of the cross, went back to playing, and told me, "I was just praying for Daddy."
She's my angel . . . sniff, sniff
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Toddler Paint
To make an easy toddler paint - open a pkg. of Jello, and mix a little Jello with just a little water to make a thick paste. It works great and it smells great! It also makes the picture appear sparkly, it looks like glitter.
Here's a heart she painted to send to her grandpa as a get well card. He just had surgery for his prostate cancer, and it went great! They removed all the cancer, and he doesn't have to have any treatments. I think her design looks like the Holy Spirit, or an angel, or a pheasant . . . or a random painting by a two year old. :)
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Introducing . . .
Mr. and Mrs. Fish (I know, original). As a reward for being potty trained we decided to get Isabella some fish. She loves them, she has to give them a hug and kiss every night before bed. Unfortunately Mrs. Fish (the goldfish) hasn't been looking so hot since we brought her home almost a week ago. She hasn't been eating or swimming around very much. Tonight Isabella kept saying, "Mrs. Fish no not very good swimmer!" And it was like she knew something wasn't right, as she kept going back over and over to give the acquarium a kiss and hug. And sure enough, after she went to bed poor Mrs. Fish passed away. I'm not looking forward to explaining this tomorrow. However, Daddy says he'll bring home a replacement Mrs. Fish tomorrow night.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Miss Compliment
Isabella is all compliments lately, it's so cute. Whenever I'm singing a song with her (which is quite often throughout the day) she always stops me to say, "You are a good singer Mommy!". She also tells me, "Mommy, you are nice", "Mommy, I like your shirt", "Mommy, you look pretty today.", "Mommy, you have nice hair." and etc. all day long. This afternoon I babysat her little friend Kaitlynn, and Kaitlynn's baby brother, Nolan. When they arrived and she saw baby Nolan, she immediately said, "Baby Nolan, I like your ears, you have VERY nice ears!" And she was so serious about it . . . cute.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Keeping Busy
We've been cooped up in the house quite a bit lately (actually more like all winter). I usually try to find at least one activity that Isabella and I can do together during the day when we don't get outside at all. A while back I let Isabella "make" some cookies. She dumped in all the ingredients and and mixed it all herself. Then she used her own rolling pin and cookie cutters from her little kitchen (with some help from me).
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Adventures in Potty Training
My sister just potty trained my niece about a month ago using the three day method (an online e-book). It worked great for her, she was successfully day AND night trained in two days!
Isabella has been showing signs of readiness for a while now, like interest in the potty, wanting to wear underwear, and saying she wants to be a big girl like her cousins who are a few months older. So being a first time mom, I wasn't exactly sure how to go about the whole potty training business, so I decided to try my sister's method. On Monday morning we got up, and I had Isabella throw away all her diapers (I later packed them away, they're too expensive to just throw away!). She then put on a pair of underwear, she was SO excited about it! Basicly with this method you NEVER leave their side for the three days, and when they start going in their underwear you immediately take them to the potty. by 10:00 Monday morning (just three hours after we started) she had already been through 7 pairs of underwear, and the whole house smelled like carpet cleaner! But she remained ecstatic about being a "big girl". We also used a sticker chart that she is very proud of. On Tuesday, she already didn't have any major accidents on the floor, but LOTS of little ones in her underwear. I could see why the method uses regular underwear because she did not like the feeling of having her underwear wet. Wednesday morning pretty much went the same as Tuesday, but that afternoon and evening she was dry the whole time. Yesterday she went the entire day keeping her underwear dry, and so far today she has not had any accidents either. I figure we'll take this one step at a time, and I'm not concerned with bed/nap time right now, so she gets Pull-Ups then. So here is my review of the 3 day method.
Pros- It focuses on LOTS of love and praise.
Since you devote 100% of your time over the 3 days to your child and NOTHING else, it makes it fun for your child to get to play with Mommy all the time, during a time that normally could be a little scary.
If the method works for you, it doesn't take very long.
Cons- Although you're spending all your time with your kid, that also leaves NO time for anything else. No cooking, housework, etc. We ate a lot of junk over the 3 days, and the house was a disaster by the end.
I felt like I HAD to have her trained in exactly 3 days or else I would be a failure. It caused a lot of stress and frustration for me. I did not handle it well at times!
I'm not sure how you would take care of your other children, if you have any.
I would not say that she is totally potty trained after 3 days. She is trained to go #1 at home, but has yet to go #2 in the potty. Also, she is not comfortable going potty anywhere away from home, as we learned yesterday at Bible Study. I put a Pull-Up on her since we were gone, but she didn't want to wet her Pull-Up, and she didn't want to use the potty at church, even though I got one of these to keep in my bag. So the poor girl was in misery by the time we got home. But I know that these things will come with time.
The author guarentees your child will be trained in 3 days. I don't know how you can guarentee and be so confident about something like this. Every child is different. I found a couple of on-line forums of moms who had tried this, and it didn't work at all for them. They felt exactly like I felt, frustrated and like they were failing.
The author also says the best age to potty train is 22 months! What?! Once again, I'm certainly no expert, but I say every child is different. While one child might be ready at 18 months, another one might not be ready until 3. In my opinion, I would think waiting until the child shows at least some interest would be best.
She also suggests using a potty chair, but we realized Isabella will not go on a potty chair, she only likes the "big potty".
Isabella has been showing signs of readiness for a while now, like interest in the potty, wanting to wear underwear, and saying she wants to be a big girl like her cousins who are a few months older. So being a first time mom, I wasn't exactly sure how to go about the whole potty training business, so I decided to try my sister's method. On Monday morning we got up, and I had Isabella throw away all her diapers (I later packed them away, they're too expensive to just throw away!). She then put on a pair of underwear, she was SO excited about it! Basicly with this method you NEVER leave their side for the three days, and when they start going in their underwear you immediately take them to the potty. by 10:00 Monday morning (just three hours after we started) she had already been through 7 pairs of underwear, and the whole house smelled like carpet cleaner! But she remained ecstatic about being a "big girl". We also used a sticker chart that she is very proud of. On Tuesday, she already didn't have any major accidents on the floor, but LOTS of little ones in her underwear. I could see why the method uses regular underwear because she did not like the feeling of having her underwear wet. Wednesday morning pretty much went the same as Tuesday, but that afternoon and evening she was dry the whole time. Yesterday she went the entire day keeping her underwear dry, and so far today she has not had any accidents either. I figure we'll take this one step at a time, and I'm not concerned with bed/nap time right now, so she gets Pull-Ups then. So here is my review of the 3 day method.
Pros- It focuses on LOTS of love and praise.
Since you devote 100% of your time over the 3 days to your child and NOTHING else, it makes it fun for your child to get to play with Mommy all the time, during a time that normally could be a little scary.
If the method works for you, it doesn't take very long.
Cons- Although you're spending all your time with your kid, that also leaves NO time for anything else. No cooking, housework, etc. We ate a lot of junk over the 3 days, and the house was a disaster by the end.
I felt like I HAD to have her trained in exactly 3 days or else I would be a failure. It caused a lot of stress and frustration for me. I did not handle it well at times!
I'm not sure how you would take care of your other children, if you have any.
I would not say that she is totally potty trained after 3 days. She is trained to go #1 at home, but has yet to go #2 in the potty. Also, she is not comfortable going potty anywhere away from home, as we learned yesterday at Bible Study. I put a Pull-Up on her since we were gone, but she didn't want to wet her Pull-Up, and she didn't want to use the potty at church, even though I got one of these to keep in my bag. So the poor girl was in misery by the time we got home. But I know that these things will come with time.
The author guarentees your child will be trained in 3 days. I don't know how you can guarentee and be so confident about something like this. Every child is different. I found a couple of on-line forums of moms who had tried this, and it didn't work at all for them. They felt exactly like I felt, frustrated and like they were failing.
The author also says the best age to potty train is 22 months! What?! Once again, I'm certainly no expert, but I say every child is different. While one child might be ready at 18 months, another one might not be ready until 3. In my opinion, I would think waiting until the child shows at least some interest would be best.
She also suggests using a potty chair, but we realized Isabella will not go on a potty chair, she only likes the "big potty".
With future children (hopefully), I will take the things that I liked from this method, and leave out the rest. I'm really glad this is behind us, and we are SO proud of Isabella for all she's accomplished this week.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
We're in full fledged potty training here, and it's not been pretty folks! Although, she is very excited about her "big girl underwears". Anyway you look at it, though, it's just SO not fun coming from my point of view. I'll update more in a couple days as to how it's going.
And no news yet on Monte's new, crazy expensive meds. It will be a week tomorrow, so hopefully we hear something soon. He has to go in for some more lab work tomorrow at the local clinic, so no travelling, that's good. And that's about all I have for tonight . . .
And no news yet on Monte's new, crazy expensive meds. It will be a week tomorrow, so hopefully we hear something soon. He has to go in for some more lab work tomorrow at the local clinic, so no travelling, that's good. And that's about all I have for tonight . . .
Saturday, February 7, 2009
So True!
I just came across this article at Faith and Family Live. Seriously, I SO could have written it, I have a total obsession with Onesies! There is not a day that goes by that Isabella doesn't wear one, and although she has plenty of room to grow yet in them, I'm afraid her Onesie-wearing days are about to be over. She's been going potty on and off for about 6 months now, but I have been lazy and unmotivated about it. As of next week that's going to change, as my current unmotivated method is not working. So goodbye Onesies, I will miss you! And can I still call her my baby even if she's not in a Onesie anymore?!
Friday, February 6, 2009
She knows me all too well!
Isabella is looking through one of my cookbooks, she just came across a recipe for a chocolate dessert - "This is chocolate. Mommy REALLY, REALLY likes chocolate!" , she says.
Yes I do little girl, yes I do.
Yes I do little girl, yes I do.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
I want my baby back, baby back, baby back . . .
Isabella has been staying with Monte's parents since yesterday, and we won't get her back until tomorrow! She's stayed with them before when we've gone somewhere, but this is really weird having her gone with us being home. Yesterday was busy with a dentist appt. for me and a dr. appt. for Monte. And today we were gone for the entire day to another dr. appt. for Monte. So we are grateful to Monte's parents for helping us out, but I sure do miss my girl!
I'm not entirely sure where we stand on Monte's treatment right now. Some blood tests came back showing that his kidneys are not functioning properly, and then there's the whole issue of medications for his Crohn's. The doctor wants to put him on a medication that, after doing some research tonight, can have some pretty serious side effects. The med is something Monte would inject in himself once every two weeks. According to the info we were given "serious side effects may occur, including death". Well, isn't that just wonderful, but what is a person to do - surely he would not survive if left untreated, as serious as his disease has gotten. So it is totally in God's hands, in whom I have complete faith. Another factor is that the med can make you very susceptable to serious lung infections, so the dr. told him he should not be doing any work outside. HA HA! Seriously?! He's in crop insurance, he spends every day outside, spring through fall in fields!!! But apparently it should be okay if he wears a protective mask (which he is NOT happy about) while he is working outside. But, the major factor is the price. Are you ready for this? $14,000 a year!!! Yes, that's right. Some insurance doesn't cover it, and if it is covered by insurance, the doc tells us it could be anywhere from $900 to $4000 a year still!! Even $900 doesn't sound very good to us. So the nurse is doing some checking for us, contacting insurance, pharmacies, etc. and we will hear back in a couple of days as to what the price will be. If the price is too astronomical, we will have to go back and discuss other options. But this is the dr's first choice to treat Monte, he says he has had great results with his patients. They also sent home a huge kit on the drug (including DVD's for us to watch about it). I also asked the doc about the possibility of us being able to have a baby once Monte is better but still while on this drug (as it is a long term drug), as other drugs he has been on make it dangerous to conceive. We were told, if we were to conceive, that the baby would be fine, however the chances of us actually being able to conceive are very low, as this drug would cause a very low "little swimmer" count. I took that as good news, because that means there is still a chance, and God does and has worked so many miracles! So that's where we stand right now, once again more waiting . . .
On a bright note, the appt. only took about 45 minutes, and since we were quite a ways from home, we made a whole day out of it. We did a little shopping/browsing and we even had a Barnes and Noble date, which was definitely the highlight of my day!
I'm not entirely sure where we stand on Monte's treatment right now. Some blood tests came back showing that his kidneys are not functioning properly, and then there's the whole issue of medications for his Crohn's. The doctor wants to put him on a medication that, after doing some research tonight, can have some pretty serious side effects. The med is something Monte would inject in himself once every two weeks. According to the info we were given "serious side effects may occur, including death". Well, isn't that just wonderful, but what is a person to do - surely he would not survive if left untreated, as serious as his disease has gotten. So it is totally in God's hands, in whom I have complete faith. Another factor is that the med can make you very susceptable to serious lung infections, so the dr. told him he should not be doing any work outside. HA HA! Seriously?! He's in crop insurance, he spends every day outside, spring through fall in fields!!! But apparently it should be okay if he wears a protective mask (which he is NOT happy about) while he is working outside. But, the major factor is the price. Are you ready for this? $14,000 a year!!! Yes, that's right. Some insurance doesn't cover it, and if it is covered by insurance, the doc tells us it could be anywhere from $900 to $4000 a year still!! Even $900 doesn't sound very good to us. So the nurse is doing some checking for us, contacting insurance, pharmacies, etc. and we will hear back in a couple of days as to what the price will be. If the price is too astronomical, we will have to go back and discuss other options. But this is the dr's first choice to treat Monte, he says he has had great results with his patients. They also sent home a huge kit on the drug (including DVD's for us to watch about it). I also asked the doc about the possibility of us being able to have a baby once Monte is better but still while on this drug (as it is a long term drug), as other drugs he has been on make it dangerous to conceive. We were told, if we were to conceive, that the baby would be fine, however the chances of us actually being able to conceive are very low, as this drug would cause a very low "little swimmer" count. I took that as good news, because that means there is still a chance, and God does and has worked so many miracles! So that's where we stand right now, once again more waiting . . .
On a bright note, the appt. only took about 45 minutes, and since we were quite a ways from home, we made a whole day out of it. We did a little shopping/browsing and we even had a Barnes and Noble date, which was definitely the highlight of my day!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Finally!
We finally got a nice day to play outside on Saturday. Of course now it is back to below 0 temps, but it was fun while it lasted. I can count on one hand the number of times we've been able to play outside this winter, it's been SO cold! The snow was still not warm enough to stick together very good, so it was difficult to make a snowman. So she got a mini version, just her size. Her first snowman!
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