Mitch's Birthday

It happened again ... Mitch turned another year older. :) He turned 32 last week and I dare say he had a fun birthday week. I dare say so because he thanked me for "such a fun birthday week" when all the festivities were over.

We had a nice family dinner the Sunday before his birthday with Mitch's fam where he was spoiled with good food, cake, and gifts. We also had a nice family dinner the Sunday after his birthday with my family where he was spoiled once again. Thanks to everyone for showing your love to Mitch!

The weekend of his birthday we were able to go to dinner at a local Italian restaurant that has amazing food.
Later we were also able to see the movie "Lincoln" which was very insightful.

On his actual birthday he had to work, but we partied when he came home. Layla and I made a fancy dinner complete with salad, bacon wrapped filet mignon, garlic mashed red potatoes (one of his favorites), and made from scratch garlic rolls (they were a huge hit, even Layla loved them!). For dessert we had leftover cake and some lemon sorbet. Delicious. Then Mitch opened his gifts from Layla and I. We got him some ankle weights per his request, The Avengers DVD, some running socks, and some candy. He was happy with his gifts and he and Layla watched part of The Avengers that same night, though Layla calls it "The Bad Guys Movie" and asks to watch it all the time.

Later on in the week Mitch was building some stands for our washer and dryer, which I will post pics of when he's done, and he tweaked his back. He walked a little funny for a couple of days after, but thankfully it was nothing major and he is all better now. Aren't back problems a pain and so weird how they can happen so suddenly? Mitch said it was because he's "old" now.

And, just to brag for a minute, Mitch got a letter in the mail yesterday from his school saying that he made "the Graduate Dean's List for the 2012 calendar year." Wow, what an accomplishment. You have to basically pull a 4.0 GPA for the entire academic year in order to make that list. How he manages that while working full-time and being the best dad and husband ever is beyond me. He amazes me.

The university is hosting an Honors Convocation to recognize the students who made the Dean's List for 2012. Unfortunately it is at the university, which is in a different state, so we won't be going. But I am so proud of him regardless. I love him so much, nerdiness, brains, and all! In fact, his smarts are one of the things that attracted me to him so much in the first place. And I still love that about him.

I love you, Mitch, and I'm glad you had a great birthday week!

Quotes

Quotes from Layla and random pics from today's trip to the school playground:

While talking to her doll: "I can't pick you up. There's a baby in my belly." (Hmmm, wonder where she got that from?)

While putting her doll to sleep: "Don't worry, Baby Dora. There's nothing to be afraid of." (I tell her this often at bed time when she claims she's scared. She's not really scared, at least she never cries or anything, I think she's just trying to think of excuses to stay awake.)

Super fast slide!

She chose a reward from the dollar store that looked like a soft baseball. When placed in warm water it "grows" into a towel. After watching it transform she put her hands in the warm water and said, "My hands are growing bigger! I want them to grow big like Daddy's!"

When she's mad she folds her arms and turns her back to me and yells, "Never!"

Too cool for school.

Once after doing the "never!" thing, she added, "I'm mad at you!" It made me laugh outloud, but it also made me sad for her teenage years ...

The other day I noticed her pants weren't pulled all the way up (that happens a lot when she dresses herself). I told her to hold still so I could finish pulling her underwear and pants up, to which she responded, "Okay, but don't get fart on your finger!" I told her thanks for the warning, let her do her thing, and then I pulled them up. I still laugh thinking about that. Also, do little kids bum cracks make anyone else laugh as much as they do me? Seriously cracks me up. No pun intended.

Should have put her belt on ...

She talks about Marcus on a daily basis. Melts my heart. The other day we were driving somewhere and she asked me where Marcus would sit in the car when he comes. I told her in his car seat next to her. She seemed really happy about that and then she said, "And he's going to be tiny, tiny, tiny. And he will play Hungry, Hungry Animals (her favorite board game) with me and that will be fun."

Cheeser.

She makes me laugh every single day. Sometimes I make her laugh by crossing my eyes, which she thinks is hilarious. Last night she was trying to cross her eyes "like Momma" and she was making the funniest face! We were all laughing so hard. I wished I had the camera out right then.

And, Layla has two favorite songs. "Never Ever" by Taylor Swift and "Rumor Has It" by Adele. I would also add "Home" by Phillip Phillips because she sings that one a lot too. But if you ask her, she'll say the first two are her favorites. Anyways, the other night she was eating dinner, doing a puzzle, and singing "Rumor Has It."  Mitch secretly filmed her. So cute! She sings a lot and I love it.

Potty Training

We're still potty training. She only wears diapers at bedtime. Stays dry during nap time. Has has several days with zero accidents, but plenty of days with one, maybe two accidents. Mostly has a problem with poo. I've heard that's quite common when kids are potty training. Overall I feel good about it though. She's definitely getting it. As long as she's not too distracted she does pretty well. I think a few more weeks and she'll have it down. While I've had to clean up my fair share of bodily fluids over the last couple of weeks, I am still happy I'm not changing diapers all day. Plus, it makes me laugh every time I see her bum crack, which is much more visible in underwear than diapers.

We did have one awful experience last week. So, a little back story: every time we go grocery shopping we pass a McDonald's. I have never taken Layla there, but she can see the playground that is inside since it is all windows surrounding the play area. So every time we drive by she says, "I want to go to Old McDonald's!" I have been telling her for months that as soon as she wears underwear I will take her there to play. Even though it disgusts me.

Of course she remembered what I told her. She remembers everything. Seriously, her memory amazes me. So finally last Monday I decided that would be the day she could go since she'd been wearing underwear for several days in a row and was doing pretty good at potty training. Now, this was Monday, and the last time she had gone poop was on Friday. I was so happy because she went poop Monday morning, so I figured since that was out of her system we were safe to go to McDonald's without risking a poop incident.

I was so wrong.

She had been playing for about 20 minutes when a little girl about 6 years old came down the slide and told her mom she had someone else's poop on her back. Of course this mom was one of those over-paranoid mean moms who scare me and I try to stay away from. (I overheard her earlier saying to one of the other parents, "Is that your daughter because she was bullying my daughter!" You know the type.)

Instantly I knew it was Layla, but she was at the top of the slide so I couldn't know for sure. When she finally came down I looked her over but saw no traces of poop anywhere on her clothes. So I told her to sit down and eat her lunch, trying to play it cool so that other mom wouldn't rip my head off. Then I casually stuck my finger in the back of Layla's skirt to see if it really was her or not, and wouldn't you know it I stuck my finger right in her poopy, diarrhea, mess of underwear.

I didn't say a word. I didn't want anyone to know and I didn't want Layla to say anything about it either. Everyone was already leaving and workers were notified to clean up the mess. I rushed Layla to the bathroom and stood in the stall with her, not knowing what to do. I had extra clothes for her and wipes, but I couldn't figure out how to get the dirty clothes off of her without getting poop everywhere.

So, I got poop everywhere. It was inevitable. It was up the entire sleeve of my sweater, on her shoes, my sunglasses fell of my head and into the poop (smart move, I know), and it was just a nasty mess. I cleaned up as best I could, wadded up all our clothes into my sweater, and washed our hands. Sped all the way home. Immediately bathed Layla, changed my clothes, washed our clothes twice with color-safe bleach, sanitized my glasses, and tried to tell myself it was all okay.

Then I sent Mitch a text message that said, "Well, it was our kid who pooped in the McDonald's playground." He called me right away, thankfully didn't laugh because it hadn't been long enough for it to be funny yet, and let me tell him the whole nasty story.

I wasn't mad. I honestly think she had an upset stomach and it was totally out of her control. I just felt bad for her and didn't know how to handle the situation. Obviously I knew I needed to clean her up, but I couldn't figure out how without making a worse mess. And I still can't figure out how that other little girl had poop on her, yet Layla had none on the exterior of her clothes. How is that possible? Did someone else poop in there too?  I guess we'll never know. And we will never go back. Ever.

That being said, we have not had such a bad accident since and potty training is going well. One day at a time, right?

Getting Ready

We're getting closer to being ready for Marcus to join us. He is one spoiled baby already.
I made this car seat cover:

and a new nursing cover:

My grandma made him the receiving blanket on the right and my friend Nicole made him the quilt on the left:

(How appropriate is the receiving blanket with the rockets on it for Mitch's son? Love it. And I know he will love the texture and feel of the quilt!)

His wardrobe went from this:

to this:

thanks to my mom's love of shopping. Thanks again, Mom!!! She also bought us a super nice diaper bag that I love.

He received a pair of adorable blue hand-knitted booties from my grandma's friend, Robbie, as well as an adorable 4 piece suit, some pajamas, and a soft blanket from Mammy B. Katie gave him a few things at Christmas too.

I am sure I am forgetting something else someone gave us. My memory is horrible on a normal day, and wretched when I'm pregnant. But regardless we are so thankful for everything everyone has gifted to our baby boy! He is so loved! And I'm thankful that we're getting closer to being ready ... I'm starting to get the nesting bug pretty bad and want everything ready right now!

Holding My Breath

So, for what feels like the dozenth (is that a word or did I just make that up?) time, we are doing the potty training thing. Layla is so stubborn sometimes. And I was so naive about how easy this process would come. 

Yesterday morning I felt like I had an out-of-body experience. Before I could fully comprehend what was happening, I was in Layla's room gathering up all her diapers and hiding them in Marcus' dresser drawer without Layla's knowledge. Then I put her on the potty and she went pee. Afterwards I told her to go get a diaper. She looked and said, "Where are they?" I told her they were all gone and she'd just have to wear her underwear.

Nothing like exercising in your undies!

She took it well. Really well, actually. I was shocked. Shocked at what I had done without even thinking about it, and shocked that she didn't seem to mind.

So, that morning we had 4 pee accidents. Then it was nap time. Crap. What to do? Do I let her wear her underwear and pee the bed, or do I have another diaper magically appear to save the day? Oh why didn't I think this through?!?

Random belly shot at 26 weeks.

I chose the latter. I told her that diapers are for nap time and bed time only and during the day she will wear underwear. Again, she seemed fine with it. 

After her nap she only had one more accident before bed time! Yay!

She makes the slowest speed look harder than it really is. Ha, ha.

Now it is Day 2, 3:00 pm, and she has only had one accident all day. She didn't want to wear her diaper at nap time, so she put it on her kitty and fell asleep in her underwear. I'm hoping they stay dry, but if they don't that's okay for now. We'll get there. I am going to stick with this. Can't go back to diapers now. Maybe not fully thinking this through will pay off. Keeping my fingers crossed!

And the best part is that I let her hang out in her underwear all day, partly to avoid too much laundry, and mostly because I think she looks so cute and squishy in them! 

Sorry in advance, Layla Bug, if these pics embarrass you when you're older. Don't worry, you'll do the same thing to your kids someday. :)

And, on a random note, we watched Oakley the other day and they both wanted to dress up in Layla's Sunday dresses. (Layla has been really into dress ups lately. Probably need to get her some princess dresses or something...) I took some pics of them together. Of course Layla had to hold Oakley's hand and her kitty's hand. That kitty, I swear! Totally hilarious. And these two little girls crack me up. They have the funniest conversations. Layla talks about Oakley constantly and says she is her best friend. I can't wait to see them in ten years from now. I can just imagine ...

BFFs.