Perfect Picnic

Hello?! This weather has been AH-MAZING, right? I’m so thankful that even through the craziness of school/work/life we’ve managed to get outside and enjoy the natural gifts that have been laid before us.

Last weekend, we made time to scamper over the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve (a fav of ours!) for a family picnic. Even Penny got to come with!

A family-self-portrait is never easy but here’s my favorite attempt from the day:

Ready to eat!

Our ever-faithful watch dog. Isn’t she the cutest??

Eating her sandwich like a big girl. No small bites! (‘cause Mommy forgot to bring a cutting utensil)

Of course, Penny got her share of picnic snacks, too!

Daddy’s girl!

Sneaky puppy…

How adorable are B’s teeny Timberlands???

Food is done – time to run!!!

We love this beautiful park. It’s only 5 minutes from our place!

Playtime!!!

My little adventurer. I couldn’t resist taking a picture of her next to the sign saying this area is designed for 5 year olds and above! There’s a perfectly lovely toddler play area right next door, but she’s never been that into it. Always the explorer, just like her pal, DORA .

How sweet are they? Telling Daddy “I love you” over the playground phone!

Right after I took this pic, Penny had her turn down the slide. She’s the best!!!

Leaving the park is way easier when Daddy and Penny are with us. Usually tears and tantruming ensues, but who can resist an upside down exit?!

Potty Princess

Well, friends, its been official for over two months. We have a potty trained princess at our house! Its as amazing as you can imagine. Our first day potty training was December 29th and we haven’t turned back since. She’s still wearing diapers during nap and bedtime ‘cause my gal is one heavy sleeper, but during the day we’re 100% undies. I’m so proud of her!

I didn’t get a ton of pics of the whole process (I know you’re sad I can’t post many potty pics), but I did manage to capture this silly, short video on her first day of being an undies girl. Check out her hilarious moves!

Potty time!!!

You know my motto: every child is different! However, if you’re thinking of starting potty training soon and you’d like to hear our success story, here ya go:

-we employed the “shut in” approach, as I like to call it. Stay at home for about 3 days straight, let her walk about the house in undies alone, set a timer for every 20-30 minutes, and take her to the potty upon each alarm. Religiously. This is similar to the “3 Day Potty Training” you’ve heard of, but I just couldn’t do the naked running around thing. We’ve got enough stains on the carpet from Penny potty training! You gradually increase the time on your clock until you’re ready to make the leap into “them telling you when”…and that’s a big leap of faith!

-nap time and bedtime mean putting on a diaper, but other than those we use only undies. No Pull-Ups! Those things are the devil if you ask me. Just another ploy to get you to buy more unnecessary materials. Think about it: how does a diaper company make money?? People buying diapers!! Pull-Ups are just less absorbent, ill-fitting, rash-inducing diapers. No thanks.

-we found two cute potty books that we read to B in the bathroom as she did her business. One was from Barnes and Noble and is simply called “Potty”. It’s adorable! She also has a little Dora potty that I also took in the car with me for the first few weeks after the shut-in days. I’ll tell you right now, we used it! There are also some great disposable potties you can get from Buy Buy Baby (and probably BRU, too) for about $2. Saved us a few times!

-in addition to the Dora potty, we also made sure we were putting her on the big potty, too. Ya’ll, this girl taught herself how to climb onto the big potty all by herself! It’s awesome!!!

-after about 2 weeks of training, talking, accidents, icky public potties (ewww…be sure to keep those little, innocent hands off the icky toilet seats!) we celebrated my sister, Mary’s wedding. Yes, I agreed to put her in a diaper that Saturday so Jonathan didn’t have to deal with potty and flower girl duties while I was a bridesmaid. That was the only day I allowed a diaper.

-the Tuesday after the wedding as I was enjoying a day home with my B, she tells me “I go potty, Mommy”. It was her first time to tell me she was ready on her own. I went with her to the bathroom, turned on the light, and then she said “no Mommy, go away. I go by myself.” She led me out of the bathroom and pushed me onto the couch and told me to wait there. Then she went on her own!!!! We haven’t looked back since that day. She literally woke up one day and was trained.

-the whole “#2” issue was never really a problem for her. at first, she would basically wait until she had a diaper on to do it. thankfully, around the same time she started going peepee on her own she also started doing “the other” in the potty, too. now, we’re to the point where she’ll basically go like clockwork right before nap time. I’m pretty sure my “Where’s the PooPoo Song” can take most of the credit for that triumph. It’s pretty badass. Hehehehehe.

Things to remember:

• make sure the light is on in the bathroom! unless you’re cool with cleaning up after she missed the pot
• leave a few squares of TP out when they start going on their own…saved me a lot of TP re-rolling!
• have about 3-4 packs of undies on hand when you’re ready to start, otherwise you’ll be running to the store for more pretty soon. you go through A LOT of undies in the first week!
• be sure to push fluids when you start the process. Julie and I (of course, Abby and Bridget started potty training the same day) were both so proud of ourselves because the girls hadn’t had many accidents at first. We thought either (a) they were little geniuses, or (b) we were moms of the year. Well, both turn out to actually be true, but not in this case! We weren’t pushing fluids and they weren’t asking so there was little pee to cause an accident.
• the only way for them to really learn how to go is to have an accident. or two. or twenty. don’t be afraid of the accidents! they’ll happen and your little will be all the wiser after it. and they really will pee more if you put them on the pot immediately after the accident.
• honest truth: potty training my daughter was easier than potty training my dog.
• second honest truth: I hope for another girl when the day comes that Bridget is a big sister. Training boys is supposed to be tougher (uh, duh!) and I’m not into that if I can help it. All you Mamas of boys, I’ll be calling on your expertise if a little Adamo man enters my life in the next few years!

I can’t believe my baby girl is such a little lady! She’s the light of my life and I’m serious when I say that the 2’s are just about my favorite age so far. She’s just so darn fun right now!!!

Seeing a Live Show is…AWESOME!

***WARNING***This post is one of many attempts to make up for lost time!

In December, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to see “Yo Gabba LIVE” with some of our most favorite friends. What a treat!

It all started with a birthday celebration for our friend, Oliver. Me gusta fiestas!

Getting our silly faces ready:

B and her BFF enjoying some cupcakes:

Our glow up wands are ready…let’s get on with the show!

Nomnomnomnom…and its SHOWTIME!

These two are hilarious together. I never get tired of their antics!

But I wasn’t surprised to see my noodle getting a little sleepy, even through all the excitement:

“What a wonderful day to have friends!”

Such a special trip for all of us! Next, look for our review of Elmo Live!, which we’re seeing tomorrow night (Saturday)…can’t wait!

Goodbye, Special Friends :(

Yes, I admit it. I am a mother that allows her child to watch TV. When I hear that doctors everywhere suggest parents limit their toddlers to less than 2 hours per day of media (TV, iAnything, computers, etc.), I don’t feel as bad. 2 hours is a lot!!! Anywayz…

This week, I was surprised to find out that two of my (yes, I said “my”) favorite characters on Nick Jr were suddenly “retired” in favor of a new format on the channel. Every show that B enjoys most are on Nick Jr (Dora, Olivia, Dora, Wonder Pets, Dora…) and I was so happy to see the educational tidbits that Moose A. Moose and Zee the bird added in between each program instead of horrible commercials.

Sadly, they were snatched away from us. So, no more monthly themes or fun holiday songs. Here’s a link to my all-time favorite Moose and Zee tune (and Jonathan’s too!):

I won’t get too bothered by this because in the end, it’s just TV. It still irks me, though. We’ll miss you, Moose and Zee! Just for you, I’ll be sure to keep the traditions of “Puzzle Time!”, “Shapes in Space!”, and “In Other Words”…but they won’t be the same without you.

Now on to more pressing matters…finding a way prevent passing on my love for TV onto my child!

New Day. New Look.

Yay for giving the old blog a much needed facelift!

I like this design a lot but still need to figure out the kinks to get it arranged correctly (notice all the weird mix-ups on the side bar). Apologies if you see it change multiple times over the weekend. I don't know how to temporarily disable the blog and don't want to risk loosing anything (if you don't know, I lost all of my pictures that weren't updated on disc a few months ago...and I mean everything! Pics and video! It's like loosing a part of your heart, so I'm trying my best to slowly copy all the pics/video I have on the blog and facebook as a way to preserve a little bit. Thank the LORD I have both of these resources!).

I'm so glad to be back to my blog. Ahhhh!

Zoo-Riffic!

Sassypants and Mommy visit the Fort Worth Zoo!

Bridget and I were so happy to meet our friends Ashlee & Catherine and Junell & Landry this morning at one of the best zoos in America. Additionally, the weather has been absolutely delightful lately and today was no different. What an incredible treat!

One of my favorite things about the Ft. Worth Zoo is the Parrot Paradise. Let me remind you of Bridget’s first trip to this exhibit back in November 2010 (we are so thankful for Ashlee’s zoo membership! we met them their in 2010, too!)

Bridget was too timid to feed the birds back then, but man have times changed! This year, she ran right in (while I was still buying our food) and went straight up to some birds and was entralled. Once she had a feed stick in hand, she was a happy camper!

See the look of pure joy?? She and Landry were having a real time of it together:

Ashlee let me in on her little secret the last time: she’s deathly afraid of birds. Yet again, I was so impressed with her bravery! After we’d exited the exhibit, she said she thought it was time Catherine got to experience stuff like this even if Mommy was afraid of it. If only I could grin and bear it and let Bridget bungee jump or sky dive or repel…don’t think I’m ready to face those fears yet!

The sloth bear! He was adorable!

B and her white tiger. How lucky are we that we are able to provide such amazing experiences to our kids? Reminds me of all those kids I taught who’d never been outside of their square mile encompassing school/apartment/grocery store. Wow.

Speaking of new experiences: did you know that elephants, in addition to trumpet sounds, also make noises that resemble whale/dolphin sounds?? We were right next to the elephant pen when a raucous erupted and the elephants started trumpeting. It was over in a flash, and then they all started making these amazing whale sounds. It was unreal! I think we all overheard a very private elephants-only conversation today. Just nearly missed getting it on video…dammit…

Bridget, Catherine and Landry! And did I mention C and L are both going to be bigs? Ashlee is due next month and Junell is due mid-May. Exciting!

Silly Monkey!

Getting tired…which for Bridget is exhibited though insane running around and loud, screamy noises. Proud Mommy moments.

Catherine’s face slays me. I just love her!

Bridget is a budding photography buff:

Here’s my little on the way home from our first Fort Worth Zoo trip together. You’d better believe I kept her up all the way home this time to ensure a solid nap. Trained her well.

Great times with old friends! I’m so blessed to still have many enriching relationships that began in grade school. Ah, old friends. As Bridget would say: very special, Mommy. very special.

Peek-a-Boo! I SEE YOU!

Oh, Lordy. I'm almost to the point that I can get back into this whole "blogging" thing. Though I've had a lengthy hiatus, journaling is such a cathartic hobby for me and it keeps me up to date with pictures of my sweet noodle doodle (remember her? Her name's Bridget!). My time for regular updates will come again...

Cheers to you all. Miss you and I love following your journeys!

~Anna