Potty Training

The morning we started potty training started out with some daddy snuggles

 Warning, this post is graphic. Lots of use of the "pee" and "poop" with some descriptions. Don't read while eating or if you have an aversion to the realities of potty training.

A quick reflection on potty training... At her 18 month appointment, the pediatrician agreed that Macey could probably begin potty training since her vocabulary was pretty advanced. My mom also agreed so I had been shooting for a fully potty trained child by the end of 2011. In October/November, we set out the toddler potty and offered Macey a seat before bath time each night. The successes were so small and the peeing in the bath continued so we decided to let the potty just sit for a few more weeks. At the beginning of January, we were all healthy again, after our miserable infections in December, so we decided to try Potty Training, BootCamp style. We didn't leave the house for almost four days and tried to potty every 30 minutes. I'm so tired of sitting on our bathroom floor...

On Monday afternoon, January 2nd, I bought Macey 10 pair of big girl panties and some M&M's. Tuesday morning, after running to the grocery store, we exchanged her diaper for her new big girl panties and began our long waits on the potty. I encouraged her to "keep Dora dry" so often that when she laid down for her nap, I could hear her repeating "keep Dora dry, keep Macey dry, keep Mommy dry..." We were two for two the first day, with two times in the potty and two accidents. She was still excited to wear her Dora big girl panties and I felt good that we could do this.

Wednesday morning I ran in her room and got her out of bed as soon as I heard her wake up. She successfully peed in the potty and I was on top of the world that she already understood how this worked.We continued our schedule of sitting on the potty every thirty minutes for at least ten minutes; reading books, singing or just talking to pass the time. By lunch, she had yet to pee in the potty again since 8:30 that morning. I was getting anxious that as soon as I took her off, she would need to go since I had been pumping her with liquids. After lunch, around noon, I set her on the potty and ran to get myself some more water. I was gone a maximum of two minutes and when I returned, she was crouching on the floor by the sink with pee all around her and poop on the floor. I deflated so quickly and tried to hide my impatience. We had spent three and a half hours getting on and off the potty, up and down off the floor, just to end in this. I quickly put her on the potty where she was able to put a little more poop and pee. While she is sitting on the potty, she looks over at her poop on the floor and says, "mommy! look at that beautiful pine cone!" She was incredulous that a pine cone had suddenly appeared on our bathroom floor. And when she looked in the potty a minute later, she added "look at that stick in my potty!" Her surprise reminded me that this was all new for her. She had no idea that what she was seeing on the floor or in the potty was her poop. She could only relate it to things that she had seen. I laughed and held her and told her how proud I was of her for pooping in the potty. After her nap that day, she successfully peed in the potty around 2:30p, followed by two accidents at 5:30 and 6:30 and one last success of the day before bath time. 

The first evening accident on Wednesday. Talking to Jimmy on his way home, I grab my camera to capture her smiles and I capture her with pee running down her leg...

After the second accident, I went to the store to get toddler wipes and called my mom for some encouragement. I was feeling defeated with so many accidents on our second day and thought maybe Macey was just too young to start training. She really hadn't shown any signs that she was ready and only twice had told me when she was pooping in her diaper. Maybe I was pushing her too soon? My mom quickly encouraged me to keep trying and reminded me that Macey was a very very quick learner. She would get it but it would take longer than two days. I got myself a bag of M&M's at the store with her toddler wipes and we got back to bootcamp on Thursday.

I don't think we had any accidents on Thursday or Friday. I felt good that I could better guage when she needed to sit and try and Macey was doing better at feeling the pee sensation. When she would start to pee she would say, " I hear my pee pee" or "I can feel my pee coming." My favorite comment came while she was hugging me while she pooped and as soon she heard it hit the toliet she said, "I'm so proud of you." I didn't realize I had been saying it so much but I'm so thankful that was what she was hearing, and hope she had long forgotten my frustrations from the days before.

Friday night was our first test. We had stayed in all week while training and Friday night we met some friends for dinner. David and Amy have a two and a half year old who is also pretty much potty trained. I took Macey to potty four times at dinner with one success and no accidents! Maggie also convinced her parents to take her at least three times to try and she also was successful at least once. :) 

 Saturday we had friends over that evening and Macey did great on the potty during the day. Around 5:30p, when everyone was arriving and Jimmy and I were still frantically getting ready, (because we can never be ready early or on time... why is that?!) I hear Macey telling one of the little girls that she goes poopy in the potty. I ran in to the bathroom to see her sitting on her potty with pee running down her legs, around the potty and in the potty! She had made it to the seat but didn't know to pull down her panties and bloomers. I was so proud of her for at least attempting to potty on her own that she got several treats and I don't consider that a true accident. An hour or so later my girl friends are laughing that Macey is saying she is going poopy so I run in to the bathroom just in time to pull her panties down before she goes in her potty. Two successes with an audience?! I was pretty proud of my little girl!

Molly (2) Avery (1) were very interested in the potty...

But their favorite part about the potty process was washing hands and playing in the water...

Jimmy and I decided that we would not consider her truly daytime potty trained until she told us she needed to go. Sunday evening she stopped playing with Jimmy and started for the bathroom saying, "I go potty." Jimmy followed, set her on the potty and she immediately peed! So in under a week, Macey went from all diapers to only diapers at night. I still ask her to try several times a day in between her telling me that she needs to go. But I know that she can hold it while we are out and will tell me when she feels like she needs to go. Twice now she has started to pee a little while telling us that she needs to go. But she is able to control it and sits on the potty to finish. I'll take a little in the panties/pants over a flood on the floor any day!

Once she uses the potty, she immediately says "treeeeaaaatttts!" and gets to pick a couple of m&m's or marshmellows from her treat box. Then she helps me dump her potty into the big potty, walks around to flush it and hops up on her stool to wash her hands. (of course, there is a running commentary while she is doing all of this... "i go around to flush. i get my stool.") Washing her hands, i.e. playing in the water, is the highlight of any trip to the bathroom. She grabs the bar of soap and repeats over and over, "I washing my hands with the bar of soap!" Sometimes she addresses this sentence to me and sometimes it's to Duckie, who sits on the towel rack while she washes.

Of course, she still talks about the pine cone on the floor... "where's my pine cone mommy?" "I pee pee on the floor and the pine cone..."

Pregnancy with Baby Sister

This post is going to be a work in progress. I haven't read it over and over, looking for grammatical errors or to make sure it flows. I'll do that at some point, I think. I'll also add to it all of the things that I have forgotten that Jimmy will remember. 

In these last few days/weeks of pregnancy, there are a few things I want to remember about this journey. Once baby sister makes her debut, pregnancy will quickly feel like a lifetime ago and I will forget the joys and struggles of carrying my sweet daughter.

When I found out I was pregnant, I was completely shocked and excited. I had taken at least ten tests within the previous week thinking something was just different, but they all came up negative. While Jimmy was at work during late May, I bought the "fool proof" test that said "pregnant" or "not pregnant." I almost forgot to go back and look at it, expecting another negative. Seeing it say "pregnant" caught me off guard. My excitement was quickly replaced by stress of how I would tell Jimmy. He had already kindly suggested that I do something a little different from how I had told him about Macey. (I woke him up holding the "positive" stick asking him what it meant. Talk about utter and complete shock in seeing something say that my life was about to change forever.) So this time, I flipped out and called my girlfriend, Krissy, who settled me down and started researching ideas for me while I had a bowl of ice cream. I had hoped to make cookies that spelled out something to do with a baby, then take Jimmy to dinner and have the waiter bring the cookies as the appetizer... who was I kidding? Finding out you are about to add another blessing to your family is no time to bake and plan a surprise! So I made a little sign for Macey and tied a ribbon around my belly and greeted Jimmy at the door after work. And this began our second journey through pregnancy...

May 2011

Pregnancy with baby sister was completely different and yet very similar to pregnancy with baby girl Macey. During the first trimester, I ever got sick (I threw up 8 or so times with Macey) I just didn't feel great and ate lots of comforting carbs. I was incredibly tired and had insomnia many nights, so I was thankful that I could nap every day with Macey. My stomach began showing pregnancy pretty early on since my body was already familiar with this process.

We found out we were having another girl at 15 weeks. We were both incredibly curious about what our next blessing would be and could hardly wait for our 15 week 3D ultrasound.

August 16, 2011

Since I gained a decent amount of weight during my pregnancy with Macey, I attempted to be a little more conscience of what I was eating this time around. I still didn't do as well as I would have liked with the vegetables but I did cut back on the amount of desserts and sweets I ate each day. With our new insurance, I have a new doctor who wanted to make sure gestational diabetes didn't go undetected since Macey was a 10 pound baby. I was tested at 16 weeks and again at 28 weeks, both coming up negative. I am just blessed to carry very big babies. ;) Thankfully my body was able to also deliver a big baby the first time around and I'm praying I can do it again with baby sister.

17 weeks

I think the job change from pregnancy 1 to pregnancy 2 also played a big part in the differences between pregnancies. My stressful desk job at AT&T only accelerated my need/desire to eat all day long. Playing with, carrying and following my active toddler has kept the leg cramps away and some of the weight off. Being able to nap while Macey naps has allowed me to keep some level of energy throughout the day. Caffeine was completely off limits during my first pregnancy but something I cherish during this one. Even just a small half decaf/half caf cup of coffee or an ice cold coke make the world of difference on days when I had insomnia the night before.

20 week ultrasound appointment

20 weeks

21 weeks

28 weeks

 

 

 

 

 

 

28 weeks

Baby sister has always stayed very low; to the point that I asked my doctor if I could "push" her out by holding Macey (who kind of sits on my belly). Around 36 weeks I began feeling a lot more pressure like she was ready to come meet me a little sooner than expected. Of course, here I am at 38 weeks and the pressure is just what I have come to expect.
Similar to pregnancy with Macey, I carry all in the front. Since I haven't gained as much weight this time around, my belly looks even bigger. I tried to remember this in December, when multiple women asked me when I was due and than made shocked and surprised sounds that it wasn't until Feb. 7th. "Wow! I thought it was much sooner!" Really?! Why in the world would you say that?? Because you just aren't thinking for that split second and it comes out. That's what I choose to believe because I can relate... not about pregnancy but other stupid comments that come out every day that sometimes I don't even realize. I love carrying all in the front, mainly because it's all that I know, but also because I like seeing that I'm pregnant. I like the assurance everyday that my body is no longer "mine" but is housing an incredible blessing. Of course with a huge belly comes the challenge of how to keep it covered. I only have a handful of shirts that do their job these days. Some of which are Jimmy's...

32 weeks

 

37 weeks

I'm still enjoying pregnancy and love sitting and watching my belly move. Baby sister has consistently stayed with her head down and booty rolling around my belly button. When she stretches, I can feel her arms push on my bladder and see her booty push out the top-side of my belly. Sometimes she will push with her feet and I can feel a small bone with a beginning and end, which must be her foot. I can still sleep 6-8 hours a night and I feel good during the day. I hear "why don't you hold Macey, Mommy?" several times a day and I usually can't resist picking up my little 32 pound angel and carrying her around.


I am so thankful that I can say this pregnancy has been relatively easy. I won't even mention the few things that I viewed as challenges because really, they are merely small inconveniences. I'm blessed beyond my understanding that I can carry a baby until 38 weeks and continue life as I know it. I'm only familiar with bed rest through a dear friend who has been bedridden since around 20 weeks. I'm an emotional mess when I try to thank God for the blessings of pregnancy and the tiny miracles that He has given us.

I have loved these past few months with Macey. I love our one on one time and am trying to soak in every minute. We spent most of December in the house, trying to get over a nasty cold/infection. So this month we've tried to see as many friends as possible and do as much fun stuff as we can fit in.

I know life will only get better once baby sister makes her arrival, but I also know it will have an impact on my relationship with Macey and my ability to just up and go wherever with her. She is going to be such a great big sister that I know the three of us will be running around together very soon and Macey will love her big sister roll. I'm almost emotionally and mentally ready for this next journey to begin... All in God's perfect timing.