Thursday, October 30, 2008

Adventures in Potty Training

So .... I've been reading up on the potty training basics. Everything I read says that Kyleigh's probably not quite ready yet, but almost everyone around me is pushing me to start potty training her. So we're trying.

I showed her with one of her baby dolls how it takes a drink and then pees in the potty, and then gave the baby a treat for peeing in the potty. (It's one of those dolls that has a hole in it's mouth and under-region and liquid goes right through them!) So we took off Kyleigh's diaper and had her sit on the potty, but she didn't pee so she didn't get a treat.

Now she's running around the house with no diaper on. Just a shirt. In the last year or so, I've never seen her pee with her diaper off, only with one ON - so I'm hoping that she'll decide to pee in the potty!! I have her little trainer potty out in the main part of the house and have a timer set to go off every ten minutes. Each time the bell dings, I have her go sit on the potty. So far nothing's happened.

I hope this works. Potty training is big stuff.

***UPDATE***
So I had Kyleigh sitting down to go every ten minutes, and she was naked. Finally after two hours of nothing, I asked her to put back on her "big girl" panties (the real cloth ones with Dora on them) instead of being naked. She put them on and promptly peed in them. Fortunately she wasn't standing on the carpet so it was easy to clean up.

*sigh*

She's not ready. We'll try again in another month or so.

Maezie at (almost) 6 months

Two days after she was born4 months

A week ago




Snuggling in Kyleigh's crib with the cat
Maezie Grace is our little sweetheart. Kyleigh was always a fairly somber baby, and Kyleigh's not really very ticklish. Maezie is just about as opposite as you can get of that! She loves to smile and be smiled at, she's very ticklish, and she laughs all the time. Kyleigh was always so independent, even at this age, but Maezie wants her one-on-one time with Mommy and Daddy and if she's not getting enough she's sure to let you know!!
She's taller than Kyleigh, at least so far, and appears to have darker hair and eyebrows than Kyleigh too. We think that Maezie looks more like me but has her Daddy's darker hair, and Kyleigh looks like her Daddy but has my lighter hair. :)
She doesn't like baby food (by this age, Kyleigh was already eating all kinds of baby food!) and refuses the bottle completely. She'd rather have Mommy's milk, and that's IT! We joke that we traded a good eater (Kyleigh) for a good sleeper (Maezie). Oh well. It's amazing how every kid is so different!
Maezie loves to be held and snuggled, loves both her parents (she's very attached to Mommy, but what baby isn't at this point?) and is fairly particular about strangers holding her. She really enjoys interacting with Kyleigh and just giggles and laughs every time Kyleigh comes near her.
She's just recently learned how to really reach for toys and hold them for long periods of time. She chews on everything and drools constantly. Everyone asks if she's teething, but no, she's just always been a drooler. She's within a week or two or being able to sit up unsupported, I would guess. She lays on her back and pushes with her feet so she's kind of "scooting" around on the floor. I'm not entirely sure that she's doing it on purpose to get somewhere, I think she just enjoys the sensation.
Maezie is such a joy! She's so sweet and smiley all the time! It really makes Matt's day to come home from work and get a big smile and giggle from his little Maezie Grace.

Kyleigh at Age 2








Kyleigh is full of energy, slightly defiant, and fiercely independent! She climbs things, runs everywhere she goes, and can make an asbsolute wreck of the house in about 4 minutes flat! Her hair has finally grown and is very curly! It's so cute! I just gave her her very first haircut yesterday, and it was only a trim to get the ends back to looking nice again. Everyone remarks on her curly hair. She's really a beautiful kid, if I do say so myself!
She's talking in almost full sentences now. She can pretty easily convey her thoughts and ideas, although she's not as socially interactive as some kids her age. She's more independent and thoughtful about things. (I think she gets that from her Daddy.) She's very smart and very athletic.

Her favorite shows right now are Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, and the Doodlebops (ugh). She loves to read books, play with her Little People (and their cars, airplanes, and fire trucks) and she has some little hand-sized animals that she loves to carry around too. She loves playing outside and going to the park, although it's quickly getting too cold outside to do that for much longer.
Kyleigh is beginning to really like her sister a lot. Up to this point, she really didn't interact with the baby much, but now she's kissing on her and talking to her and bringing her toys. It's pretty cute. :) We're starting up (again for like the 4th time) with potty-training. *sigh* This is a long process. She's definitely smart enough, I think she's just choosing not to learn. Oh well.

She tries my patience a lot, but for the most part she's a sweet kid and I can't wait until she gets just a little bit older where we can start really having conversations and doing projects together! Homeschooling her will be really exciting! Matt wants me to start with her when she turns 3. We'll see how that goes.
And that's a quick update on our sweet Kyleigh Abigail.

Catching Up!

Ok, so I know that it's been FOREVER. Yes, even over a year. There are so many times where something fun happens at my house and I think, "Oh, I so want to blog about this!" But that would mean that I would have to update my blog, add new pictures ... it just seemed like there was too much to do to even get started. So, rather than dig in, I just procrastinated. (Procrastination is something I'm very good at, just ask my Mom.) I'm sure that I'm going to leave out lots of important things and will have to edit this post or add another one with extra details, but I'll do the best that I can.

So ... since the last time this blog was updated ....

September 2007 - We took a vacation to Estes Park, Colorado and spent some time with the Allison side of the family. When we came back, we found out we were pregnant again! I started throwing up two days later, and that continued every day for the next 4 months. Hooray for pregnancy hormones!

October 2007 - My friend Julianna came to visit us and we had so much fun with her! We also got a visit from Grandpa and MeMe (my parents). Kyleigh was a little fairy for Halloween and went to our Fall Festival at church. I started taking Kyleigh to a "toddler playdate" that is held at our children's museum here in town. It's every Wednesday from 10-12. She has a blast! We ended up meeting Amanda and her daughter, Savannah. Savannah is two months younger than Kyleigh! Amanda and I are good friends now.

November 2007 - We found out that our landlord was trying to sell the house, and might possibly sell it out from underneath us, so we began to look for a new place to live. For Thanksgiving, I cooked my very first Turkey Dinner. The turkey came out so amazing! Right after Thanksgiving, we got a visit from Pop Pop and Nay Nay, Matt's father and step-mother. They had so much fun playing with Kyleigh!

December 2007 - We found the Adams family. (No, not Gomez and Morticia.) Steve and Penny! They had a house for rent. As we got to know their family, we decided to move into their house and knew that they would become much more than just landlords. Around the middle of the month, our electicity surged and literally fried our hard-drive on our computer. We lost everything. The computer didn't boot up AT ALL and there was nothing that could be done to fix it. I took out our old hard-drive and sent it off to my friend in Houston, Chris. He's a computer whiz and was able to recover lots of our old documents and pictures from it! He did this for us because he's a good friend, and if I had taken it to the "Geek Squad" or something, the same work he did would have cost us $hundreds$!! We thought we had lost our pictures of Kyleigh as a baby forever, but Chris managed to recover almost all of them. (We know better now and have a backup external hard drive!) Christmas was fun that year. Kyleigh opened her presents. We got her a baby doll to play with, since she would soon be having a baby sibling!! The Donaghey family came to visit us for Christmas and we all had a great time. Right after Christmas was my last time to throw up with pregnancy morning sickness! Hooray!

January 2008 - With the help of my Mom and our friend Allen from church, we moved into our new house. New Year's Eve was spent with my Mom in our new house (we actually moved in a few days before Jan 1) and even though there were boxes everywhere, we still had a good time. Around the middle of January, we found out we were having another baby girl! Farmington got lots of snow in January, and Kyleigh and Matt had a lot of fun playing in it! They made a big snowman together!

February 2008 - Kyleigh's hair actually had begun to grow enough that by Valentine's Day, she was able to have a little ponytail on top of her head for the first time!! Pigtails followed soon after. (Keep in mind she was 19 months old at the time!) Kyleigh and I became the best of buddies and did everything together. We were close before, but as she started being able to talk and interact more, we started having a lot of fun together. She was my constant sidekick!

March 2008 - I started counting down the days until delivery! Ugh! I was cleaning the house like crazy and "nesting" in preparation for the birth of our second daughter. Auntie Stacie and MeMe came to visit this month too! We got our tax return that month and with it, bought a new computer and got internet again! Woo hoo!

April 2008 - The wintery weather was mostly gone, so we started to play outside more. We took Kyleigh on several hiking trips in the mesas out here and had big fun. We started to become better and better friends with our landlords, and even made the decision that if I was to go into spontaneous labor before my scheduled C-section, that Penny would be the one to watch Kyleigh until my Mom could get here! We are SOOO thankful for the Adams family. In the late days of the month, I planted a bunch of flower seeds in the flower garden in the front of our house. Zinnia's, Mexican Zinnia's, and some wildflowers. They came up like crazy! My sister Cathryn graduated from college too!!

May 2008 - My mom and dad got here on May 4th. My C-section was scheduled for May 6th. So I tucked Kyleigh into bed on the night of the 5th, and cried because I knew it would be the last time that I would get to do that for a few days. (Until my stay in the hospital, I had never spent a night away from Kyleigh.) I also cried because I was nervous about having another baby, and was scared that my relationship with Kyleigh would change ... so many emotions! The next morning, we left the house at 4:30am to head to the hospital. My dad went with Matt and I because it was his "turn" to be there for the birth. He ended up not being able to come into the OR with us, but he got to wait in the nursery! ***Maezie Grace Allison*** was born at 8:09am on Tuesday, May 6, 2008. She was 19.5 inches long and weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces. Oddly enough, that was EXACTLY my height and weight when I was born! She was healthy and happy and we were so glad to meet her! We came home from the hospital after two days. Grandpa and MeMe kept Kyleigh at our house during that time. Pop Pop and Nay Nay had also come to be there for the birth. Kyleigh enjoyed playing with them, and they and my parents enjoyed eachother's company. They got to be around at the hospital shortly after Maezie's birth, and that was nice. It was the first time Jim got to be present for the birth of a grandchild! :) We got adjusted to having a toddler and a newborn, and I slowly healed from the surgery with no complications. My mom stayed until the end of May to help me out, and I was so thankful for her! I know I couldn't have done it without her help. I wasn't even allowed to lift Kyleigh or drive a car until a full three weeks post-op!

June 2008 - We settled into life as a family of four. Maezie started sleeping through the night this month! It was amazing! There were several days that month that she slept 10 and 11 hours straight through and I had to wake her up to nurse! Kyleigh didn't seem to be bothered by the presence of her new little sister. She gave her lots of kisses, and only had (seriously) two small times of jealousy. We were so blessed! I celebrated my 26th birthday this month. My mother-in-law, sister-in-law Laurie, and nephew Kalel came to visit us for a week! It was so great to have them here. Kyleigh had lots of fun watching Kal and playing with Gloria and Laurie. We have a little neighbor girl across the street named Samantha who is only a month older than Kalel, and they played well together during that week that they were visiting! During the month of June, we were informed that Matt would be switching Safeway stores. He was working for the Safeway in Aztec (10 miles from Farmington), and now works for the larger one in Farmington. I started inviting Samantha to church on Sundays with me, and she loved it. Her whole family is "un-churched" so it was the first time she had really been to church and heard the gospel!

July 2008 - The first week of this month brought Auntie Stacie and Auntie Cathryn for a visit! They got to see Maezie for the first time and really enjoyed visiting. Matt and I had our 3rd wedding anniversary on the 3rd! We celebrated Kyleigh's second birthday on the 13th!!! She got lots of fun new things to play with - a bike, a tent, a bubble machine, and lots of other little fun things. MeMe came to visit and Kyleigh had all kinds of fun toys to open from MeMe and Grandpa too. Her favorite was a little hand-sized Elmo and Grover. She carried them around everywhere for days! (They even went to bed with her!) Near the end of the month, I was finally healed well enough that I could start really doing heavy labor, so I planted my very first ever veggie garden!! We amended the soil with lots of organic compost and Matt tilled it up for me. I planted : watermelon, zucchini, green beans, lima beans, soybeans, sugar snap peas, corn, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, bell peppers, dill, cilantro, and basil. Everything came up and grew fabulously! Except for the bell peppers and dill. They didn't grow well. Samantha and I started doing Bible studies here at our house in the afternoons. She went to Calvary Chapel's Vacation Bible School, and accepted Christ there!! :) She now goes with me every Sunday to church, and calls Calvary Chapel her "church home". It's so awesome!

August 2008 - I was finally healing really well from surgery. We spent lots of time hiking and taking the girls to the park.I finally got an appointment with the eye doctor and got my new prescription and contacts ordered! Hooray!

September 2008 - In the first weekend of September, we went to Denver for our annual Allison family reunion. We went to the Scottish Festival in Estes Park. It was nice to go again for the third year in a row, but with two kids it was really difficult and Kyleigh was bored and scared of the loud noises most of the time. I think next year we'll skip the festival but still of course go to the family reunion! Gloria (the m-i-l) came with Matt and I as we took our two girls to the Denver Zoo. Kyleigh had a great time seeing all the animals! It was fun! We got to see my b-i-l Scott and his two teenage boys, Christopher and James. Those boys are growing up so fast!! We stayed with my sweet sis-in-law and her husband Ron and son Kalel. Kyleigh enjoyed playing on their stairs! A little later in the month, Grammie Pammie Early and MeMe came for a visit. Matt had to be out of town for over a week for work, so my Mom and Pam were there to help out so I wouldn't be all alone for a week! We had big fun! We watched the Olympics and enjoyed Nastia Liukin, Michael Phelps, and Shawn Johnson! :)

October 2008 - I had been secretly planning my Mom's surprise 50th birthday party for a long time! The party was scheduled for the 18th, so on the 14th, my Mom came up to New Mexico and helped me and the girls make the long drive to Abilene. Matt wasn't able to come to the party because of his work. We made the drive in two days to try and break up the amount of time the girls had to be in their carseats. We took them to the Albuquerque Zoo where Kyleigh had so much fun! The party in Abilene was a huge success! Lots of my mom's family and friends came in from out of town to help us celebrate. It was really neat getting all those friends and family to meet my two girlies! I got to see lots of my old friends in Abilene - the Early's, the Herbs, the Walkers ... seriously this list could go on and on! Another one of them is my old friend Erin, and her and her husband Josh have a daughter named Jadyn who was born on the same day as Kyleigh, only about 6 hours before! So we got the girls together to play at Chick-Fil-A. I got to see my friend Kristi too - she's pregnant with a little boy and due in a few months! We also got to see our friends the Watsons. They have two boys about my girls' ages. Jake is about 4 months older than Kyleigh, and Jack is about 6 months older than Maezie! The kids had fun interacting and playing with all of the boys' toys at their house! After a week in Abilene, it was time to make the long drive back to Farmington. The girls hated the carseats, but mostly it was an uneventful two-day trip back. My mom's good friend, Gary, and his wife live here in Farmington and oddly enough, have a son who goes to school in Abilene! Gary is a pilot and they have a small plane and were already planning a trip to Abilene the day after we got home, so they offered to come and pick up my mom and take her with them! So she got to take a short 5 hour plane ride home with friends! :) Matt really missed us while we were gone, and he was so glad to see us when we got home! And the girls and I were glad to see him!! Right after we got back, we ALL got sick. Matt got it the worst and had to go to the doctor for bronchitis and a sinus infection. Since he can't rest all day and has to go to work, we decided it was best that he went on antibiotics so he didn't get pneumonia or something worse. I got it the next worst and have been all congested and gross, and the girls just had a tiny bit of a runny nose and fevers for awhile!

Ok, so for now - I think that just about wraps it up. I'm sure I'll think of like twenty more things to write on her later, but that's enough for now!