30 weeks and counting

Had another Dr's appointment today. It went great. The baby's heart rate was 143...it has been lower the last few visits...My blood pressure is still good and low and the Dr. says everything looks great. She said I lost 1/2 a pound. I told her the scale was not right!

It has been a great pregnancy the second time around. I have been so much more laid back and relaxed this time.

Mark and Lauren enjoyed a weekend together this past weekend when I was out of town in Lawrence with the Quiltie Chicks of the family. All my cousins and Aunts got together and quilted while I scrapbooked. We had a great time.

Of course, Lauren and Mark had fun. They went to Borders to buy Lauren some new books since she filled up her sticker chart for going potty. Then after her nap they headed to Tunnel Town. Lauren loves to crawl through the tunnels, go down the slide, and play in the balls. Sunday morning he ventured out to Church with Lauren by himself and said he might not ever do that again!

She went potty on the potty at Tunnel Town. She stopped playing, looked at Mark and said "I need to go potty daddy." I could not believe it...she stopped playing and went potty. She told him the same thing at Church on Sunday. Well, she told him that 3 times and only went potty once. So I am not sure how much of Church they took in, but that is ok!

POTTY TRAINED :)

Need I say more...

On Saturday Lauren started going potty in the toilet for Mark and by Wednesday she was pooping in the potty for me...amazing what a few days can do!

We are now working on sleeping in the purple bed (her big girl bed in her purple room). She has slept there the last few nights and had nap time there yesterday afternoon.

I can't imagine doing all of this with a new baby. I am so glad she is getting all of this done well before the baby is born...10 more weeks to go!

Lauren and Luke, Twizzlers and Cheetos

Sunday afternoon Lauren and I went to the Comfort Inn in Independence to see my cousins Raquel and Lora and Luke. Aunt Jen and baby Claire came along as well. Lauren loves Luke and always has fun with him each time they come up to visit. They were supposed to go swimming at the hotel, but instead they jumped on the beds and played in the pillows. For dinner Luke and Lauren had Twizzlers and Cheetos, too much fun huh? Lauren is showing me her dirty hands and dirty face. She never gets Cheetos at home with mommy and daddy so this was a real treat!

Lauren had a great weekend with potty training thanks to her Daddy. She went potty on the toilet 4 times this weekend and had no accidents. Finally! Mark and Lauren spent all day Saturday together when I went scrap booking and Mark had the magic touch with her! She got the dump truck she wanted when she filled up her sticker chart and has played with that a lot this weekend. We started another line of stickers and asked her what she wanted and she said "another dump truck." Fine with me. Whatever it takes.

Got any Advice?

Lauren is completely potty trained at daycare. She runs into the bathroom, pulls her shorts and panties down, sits down, pees, wipes, gets up and pulls everything up, washes her hands and keeps on playing. I witnessed this act today. It really is happening. When I went to pick her up I told her to go potty before we went home and there she went with a huge smile on her face!

At home she pees on the floor. She cries and cries when she needs to go potty, won't sit on the potty and continues to cry until she pees on the floor.

She will sit on the potty many times a day when she does not need to go potty. She will read books there, sing songs, eat M&M's, and look at the stickers she would get if she would go potty.

Any advice???

I know I know, just give it time and she will go at home. How much time? It has been a month now!

On another note, had a Dr's appointment today. 28 weeks along. The baby's heart rate was 140. The lowest it has been yet. I was hoping I was measuring big since everyone's comments these days have to do with not being due until October and how big I am. You would not believe the things people say. I feel great and I am ready to have a little baby around again. Can't wait for October 6th.

The Spray Park

Today we visited the spray park located near the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence. I told Lauren we were going to the park to play in the water and have a picnic. The whole way there she kept say "No swim, No water, I want to go home and see Zoe." I am not real sure why she did not want to go after we got in the car and headed there. She was very excited in the morning when we were talking about it.

It took Lauren an hour before she would even touch the water. I am not real sure what she was scared of. When we first got there she said "I want to take a picnic." So we had lunch first and watched the other kids play in the water. Finally after some of Lauren's friends arrived (my co-workers kids) she decided it might be okay to play in the water and get wet. I had to hold her for the longest time before she would get down and run and play.

Then she looked up at me and said "Fun Mommy!" I knew she would like it, it just takes her a long time to try new things.

"Daddy...Mommy does not use detangler to fix my hair"

Mark was off today so it was Lauren and Daddy day. Mark loves it when he gets to spend the whole day with Lauren while I am at work or off scrap booking. There were so many funny things that he shared with me about what Lauren said today that I had to share a few...The first one being the title of this post! I use detangler to brush her hair after her bath, but not usually in the morning. Just a little water and the brush usually work. Lauren let Mark know the right way to do it.

"Jayhawk, Jayhawk, Jayhawk." Mark got tired of Lauren saying Jayhawk so he taught her "Go Big Red, Go Big Red." She even has her arm out and hand in a fist saying this...can you picture that!

When I got home this is what she said "Mommy I go potty on the towel in the car" Well another accident, no surprise. She does real well with potty training for a few days, and then real bad for a few days. Patience.

Mark and Lauren started out the day going to Lake Jacomo to see the buffalo. Lauren had been talking about it all weekend. They saw several buffalo and a very large elk. The elk went into the water and Lauren said "Elk take a bath like Lauren, Elk get wet like Lauren."

When I called Mark around nap time to check on them Mark said "This stay at home Daddy stuff is hard work." Glad he knows the feeling :)

Fun in Omaha

We spent the 4th of July Holiday in Omaha and had a great time. Friday night Pat and Betsy hosted a 4th of July party and everyone had a lot of fun. All the kids were in swimsuits running all over the back yard. The food was great, and we enjoyed root beer floats for dessert. Lauren loved watching the fireworks this year, especially with her cousin Nathan.

Saturday night was Nathan's birthday party...he is 5 already. Lauren had a great time playing with her cousins Emma and Rae Ann. She had been talking about seeing Emma all week! Having fun with Rae Ann at the birthday party.
Running all over the yard and splashing in the water. There were two pools set up for the kids!
Lauren loves to play with the hose, however she does not want to be the one getting wet!
Root beer float time. This had been mine but Lauren took it and ate most of it!
Hanging out at the birthday party. Starting to get tired from all the excitement over the weekend.

Hanging out at home...

With potty training in full tow we spent another weekend just hanging out at home trying to get Lauren to wear big girl panties! She is doing really well...She did not have any accidents this weekend! We have been bribing her with M&M's, stickers, and Dora fruit snacks. We are very proud of her! We enjoyed playing outside a lot this weekend since the weather was beautiful.

This past week we also had a new fence installed. A shadow box fence to add some privacy to the backyard, and so Lauren can play outside on her own. We also had the new baby's tree planted this week. Lauren said it was baby Addison's tree...so we will have to wait and see!

I only work 2 days this week and then it is vacation time...5 days off. We are heading to Omaha for the 4th of July holiday to hang out with Grandma and all Lauren's cousins. She is very excited to see Emma of course. Pat and Betsy are having a big 4th of July celebration that should be a lot of fun. Then on Saturday night we are celebrating Nathan's birthday. We are looking forward to lots of fun things in Omaha over the weekend.

I have included a few pictures of Mark and Lauren playing. She loves to climb on him, jump on him, and act like a monkey! Of course I have to include a picture of Lauren and Zoe. They are best friends!

Potty Training Time

Earlier this week the teachers at daycare told me to send Lauren to daycare in underwear. NO DIAPERS! They said she was doing so well at daycare going potty that they thought she was ready. Well she has had a great week at daycare with very few accidents....That has not been the case at home this week.

Tuesday night when Mark was cooking dinner Lauren pooped in her panties...Lucky Mark. Not only did Lauren have an accident but it was poop, I was not home, and the stove was on and he was trying to cook dinner. What a great trooper, dad and husband. He got her cleaned up and dinner on the table by 6:30.

Wednesday afternoon and evening were rough for me. I had Lauren outside in her pool playing and she had 2 accidents. No big deal right? She was swimming after all. Well she got so mad that she was wet from peeing that she did not want to play in the water anymore. Even though she was soaked from playing in the pool. A few hours later she had an accident all over the kitchen floor. She cried and cried, which is a good thing that she was mad from peeing on herself.

Thursday and Friday night went great. No accidents at home.

Saturday Mark was in a golf tournament all day and I was dreading being home alone with Lauren in panties, but she did really well. She sat on the potty several times Saturday morning, but never went potty. She never had any accidents either. As soon as I put a diaper on her for nap time she was wet in minutes. I am not real sure why she held it for 6 hours all morning, but that is progress. Same thing after nap time, she sat on the potty several times, no pee, no accidents, but then when she got in the bath she went pee.

Sunday morning she did the same thing, sat on the potty several times, held it all morning, did not have any accidents, but was wet shortly after we laid her down for nap time. Oh, I forgot to mention she was up at 5:45 this morning. Lovely huh? She did have an accident Sunday evening, but she looked at me and said "Mommy I have to go potty" but we just could not make it to the potty in time.

Slow baby steps. I am so proud of her. She has made great progress this week. I guess I am not going to go crazy after all!

Happy Father's Day

The year Lauren was born we had this tree planted for Father's Day. Each year we take a picture of Mark and Lauren next to Lauren's tree on Father's Day so we can watch Lauren and the tree grow. Today we also bought another tree to plant in a few weeks for the new baby. It will be baby Tyler or baby Addison's tree. Of course we are not sure yet! I am 24 weeks along now and feeling great. Can't wait for Labor Day to be here...it is going to be a long hot summer. After that is the down hill slide. I posted a few more pictures of Lauren having fun over the last few weeks. She loves to be outside playing.

St. Louis Trip

This past week we headed to St. Louis for 4 days for a short vacation. We enjoyed the Arch, the Zoo, Grant's Farm, The Magic House, and the City Museum. Wednesday afternoon we hung out at the Arch and enjoyed dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. Of course Lauren loved the Zoo. We spent the whole day there on Thursday and it was the hottest day on our trip! On Friday we went to Grant's Farm in the morning and the Magic House in the afternoon. Lauren took a nap in the car for 1 1/2 hours while we sat through a horrible storm and tornado sirens going off. Mark and I were very scared for a while and were not sure what to do. When Lauren woke up and the rain calmed down we headed into The Magic House. Everyone was in the basement because the tornado warning was still in effect. How scary, we did not even know! Saturday morning I pleaded with Mark to do one more fun activity which was the City Musuem. It was very cool and we could have spent the whole day there, but after lunch we headed home. Lauren slept in the car again for a short while and traveled pretty well, thanks to the Doodlebops. Enjoy the slideshow of a few of my favorite pictures. Of course I took close to 200 so I will have to start scrapbooking them soon! Enjoy :)

Des Moines Zoo

We headed to Des Moines for the weekend to visit some friends, Todd and Bridgit and their 2 boys, Calvin and Carson. Saturday morning we headed up there. We enjoyed a BBQ Saturday night and caught up with Jim and Tammy and their kids Riley and Davis. All the kids had fun running and playing all evening. They did a lot of laughing and giggling, and got along very well. Sunday morning we went to the Zoo. It was a great time for the kids. Lauren is waiting for her turn to ride the train. She loved riding the red train. She said it was her favorite part of the Zoo.

Watching and feeding the fish.
On the train. When we tell Lauren to smile she gets this big cheesy fake smile usually, but this is a good one!

Lauren loves to feed the animals. She could have stayed here the whole day. She was asleep in the car with in 10 minutes and slept half the trip back home! We had a great weekend in Des Moines.

Zoe and Lauren

The best of friends. Zoe puts up with a lot from Lauren!

Another fun day outside

I sat and read a magazine while Lauren played in the hose. She got herself wet, sprayed Zoe several times and even watered the swingset! I figured she would get cold but she didn't. She was having too much fun!

A hot afternoon, but cool in the pool!

Since Lauren only took a 20 minute nap on the way home, we had all afternoon to play. We decided to get the pool out for the year. We filled it up and then let it sit in the sun for about an hour to heat up. Kids don't care how cold the water is anyway. Lauren had a great time playing in the water and all over the back yard in her swimsuit. We played on the swingset, went down the slide, and played catch with Zoe.

I know I probably should not let her jump out of the pool, and I told her to stop after I got this picture!