Sitting Up

Pierce has gotten pretty good at sitting up. I think the record so far is 3 straight minutes, but he's improving daily. Madelyn is very proud of him and says, "Good sitting, Pierson."

Can you feel the love?

Not much to say here. I just thought they looked sweet.

A night alone

Most Tuesday nights we have Bible study and a sitter stays with the kids. Well, Bible study was cancelled last night and JD was working late, so I had the sitter come anyway so that I could run some errands. Now, I love my kids very much, and I miss them when we're not together, but I had so much freedom last night I didn't know what to do with myself. I only went to the mall and Wal-mart, but I didn't have a diaper bag, stroller, or kids in tow, so I felt foot loose and fancy free.

I walked into the mall and felt almost giddy. I didn't know which way to turn or where to go first. I ultimately decided to grab a sandwich at Chick-fil-A. I found a table where someone had left a newspaper, and I sat down, ate dinner, and read the paper. The amazing thing--I didn't have to get up once for anything! I then went on to return a baby gift that was too little--my son is a horse. After that, I took a stroll and felt so crazy that I decided to try on clothes for the heck of it. I didn't buy a thing, but it was fun to actually step inside a dressing room in a store and try something on. I believe it has been over a year since that has happened. I then proceeded on to Wal-mart to grab a few essentials.

While I really enjoyed my two hours of freedom, I found myself anxious to get home, just to make sure everything was okay. What is up with that? It's not like the sitter can't use a telephone!!! Anyway, that was my evening and what did I learn?--Occasional freedom is fun, but I love being a mommy!

Another potty update

Madelyn is doing quite well with the potty training situation. We were courageous enough take her to church in her panties. She stayed dry the entire morning. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure if she had gone number 2 at church. We went outside to play after getting home, and she immediately did number 2 in her pants. I probably rushed the going outside thing, but I did ask her if she needed to potty before we went out. Her answer was no, which was incorrect.

Since then, though, we have been very successful. She has done number 2 in the potty both yesterday and today, and she has stayed dry. She has told me every time she has needed to go...meaning I have not prompted her to sit on the potty.

Now, I find her commentating and offering advice on my potty using abilities. I often hear, "Good job, Mommy.", "Don't forget to wipe, Mommy.", "Wash your hands, Mommy.", "I want to see, Mommy." It can be quite entertaining, but it can also be pretty intrusive.

We are traveling this weekend for vacation. It'll be intersting to see how it goes, and when I hear, "Mommy, I need to potty.", I will have to fight the urge to tell her just to pee in her pull-up.

Potty Party

Madelyn ran to me this morning with a distressed sounding, "Mommy, I need to potty." We rushed to the potty and she was so excited to put her tinkles in the potty. Before she got up, I asked her if she needed to put poo poo in the potty. She said yes and by golly she did it! We had a little party and danced all around. I think Pierce thought we were crazy.

Potty training update

I hesitate to post this...I'm not really superstitious, but I am wary of the proverbial jinx. Madelyn has not wet her pants (other than nap time or at night when she's wearing diapers) for two straight days. She has also put "tinkle in the potty" on command when I've asked her to go to the bathroom, but she has yet to utter the words, "Mommy, I need to tinkle."

As far as putting number 2 in the potty, does anyone have any suggestions? Yesterday, she did number 2 in her panties, as we ventured out to walk around the neighborhood. It was a short walk. This morning, she peed in the potty and within two minutes of her finishing on the potty and putting a pull-up on her, she did number 2 in the pull-up. AARGH! I suppose I shouldn't complain too much. We've made pretty good progress in the last week.

Cuddle time

I took these pictures on Pierce's 5-month day (for lack of a better term). Madelyn frequently asks to hold Pierce. As I watched her struggling to hold Pierce that afternoon, I realized that if he keeps growing at the same pace for much longer, he'll be holding her soon.

Potty Training

Can you tell what this is? I've decided that I'm ready for Madelyn to be potty trained. Madelyn seems to have other plans for me. I've bought her some big girl panties that she seems to enjoy wearing, but she also doesn't mind them getting soaked in urine. Yesterday, we had three successful attempts at putting pee-pee in the potty (see picture). I was so excited and thought we might have something going. Then, after dinner, I hear Madelyn tentatively say, "Mommy, I'm stinky." Oh, no! Big girl panties and poo-poo was going to be no fun! I come out of the kitchen and see Madelyn lying in a large cardboard box that I was saving for baby clothes storage. Upon closer inspection, I see a fairly large puddle surrounding Madelyn. Fortunately, no poo-poo, but she did choose to use my storage box as a litter box.

Teeth!

One night last weekend (while we were visiting my parents), Pierce was awake from about 2:30-3:30 and again from 4:30-5:30. He was happily talking to himself. It was pretty funny except for the fact that we were awake during the same time. The interesting thing is that he never cried at all and we just thought he was enjoying looking around at his new surroundings.

Once we got back home, I noticed that his gums looked a little swollen, so I inspected a little more closely, and low and behold, there was the edge of a tooth poking through the gums. The next day another one was barely noticeable. I was very surprised by this, as he hadn't been whiny or fussy at all--just happily awake in the middle of the night. So, the only thing I can figure is that Pierce was trying to figure out what was going on in his mouth that night/morning at my parents'. I hope that every teething incident goes this smoothly! Anyway, I've tried getting a picture of the teeth, but they really aren't visible in the pictures yet. As soon as they are, I'll post the proof. It's kinda sad that I'll never see his gummy smile anymore.