Potty Training???

On January 10th (since I can't back date anymore) Keira used the potty for the first time!  I bought her a potty for Christmas because she often says "dirty" when her diaper is dirty or if she passes gas.  I feel like I should do something to encourage her to tell me before she goes.  So a week or so prior I whipped out the potty and placed her on it several times and we talked about it.  While we were eating lunch Keira said "potty" so I asked her if she had to go potty and she nodded yes.  So I popped her on it and encouraged her to go potty.  After several minutes and her nodding yes to "Did you go? Are you all done?"  I took her off and almost died to see urine in there!  I couldn't believe it!  My little sweetheart went potty!!!  I didn't know if it was just a fluke or what, until.... two days later she did it again!  She's also been on there MANY times when nothing happens.  So we'll have to see what happens.  I still need to do more research about which method I'm going to use for potty training and how to do it really.  For now (we haven't been home much these last few days) I'm just putting her on there if she says potty or nods yes that she wants to sit on the potty.  I'm not quite sure if we're ready to really take the potty training leap and I feel like she's a little young and I don't want it to be a bad thing.  A couple of friends said I'd be crazy to not try.  So I don't know, any advice?  The sooner she's out of diapers, the better!  :-)

Hugs and Kisses

Keira all of the sudden loves to give things hugs and kisses.  She usually says "hug" as she's doing it and sometimes she says "kisses."  She puckers up real cute but makes no sound.  She gives everything hugs and kisses.  She loves giving the animals in her books kisses and while I'm reading to her she bends all the way down to where the animal is to give it a kiss.

One day a couple of weeks ago I showed Keira a picture of her Uncle John.  She said "John" for the first time and gave the picture a hug.  :o)

She's not quite as generous with her hugs and kisses for mommy and often says "no" when I ask for one.  :-(

Speaking of John, he is such a SWEET and CUTE daddy to his girlfriend's little boy, Jaxon.  I love these pictures!

Yet Another Project

Chris finished his class, took a few weeks off, and was ready to get started on another project.  (Mind you, not finish any of the current projects I still need to finish.)  We hadn't been using the shower in our master bathroom for about a year and a half since the shower had a crack and we thought there might already be water damage or worse, more mold.  Chris said he would have it FINISHED in ONE MONTH!

December 20, 2010

BUT, go big or go home.  If you're going to tear out most of the walls and floor in the bathroom, you might as well start from scratch and make the bathroom big enough to be considered a master bathroom.  Our neighbor suggested we move the bathroom wall back 20 inches, into the dining room.  I'll be honest, I was excited about having a larger vanity and shower, but not about all of the extra work and re-piping it would entail.  Luckily, it's not my project and Chris said he would have it done in a month from...

January 4, 2011

Our dining room?  Yes, half of one of the walls will stick out 20 inches more.  In several years when we remodel the kitchen and dining room, we'll put in cabinets on the other part of the wall and it will look awesome!  Until then, we'll just put our china cabinet there and hope it doesn't look weird.

During destruction, Chris nicked an electrical wire to the washing machine which killed the power in a random half throughout our house.  At 9pm another sweet neighbor of ours who is so conveniently an electrician came over and switched around some circuit breakers so we would have some of the power back.  This left us only without power for a few days to our living room (now our dining table also), front entrance, oven/stove, and washer and dryer.

January 6, 2011

I'll be so glad when the bathrooms are finished!  :o)

On another note, Chris got a gun safe!!!  Thank goodness!

Stairs

The New Year is off to a great start!  As of 1/1/11 all of the balusters are in!  Our neighbor Mike came over and he and Chris put them in.  (I was tearing out the wall of our master bathroom, see next post.)  Now all I have to do is more sanding and staining and then the stairs will be DONE!!!

The upper stairs before and the lower stairs after

Our great neighbors Mike and Anna

Needless to say I also still have to finish the dry wall.  But at least it's safer...

Or is it?  Now that the railing is up and she has something to hold on to Keira thinks she can walk forwards down the stairs, no more going down backwards.  I think I felt safer before they were up.  But I guess as unlikely as it would be, falling down the stairs headfirst would be safer than falling off and landing on the lower staircase.

Happy New Year!

P.S.  This year I'm hoping to keep up with things better (like this) so I can actually write about things as they happen and not several weeks later.  Isn't it much easier to find little bits of time than a huge chunk?  Wish me luck!  :o)

Getting So Big

Doesn't she look like such a little girl?  Where did my baby girl go???  At least we can finally do two pigtails!

About a year ago.  Where does the time go?

All bundled up to brave the cold during a walk.

In Loving Memory of Brie/ Lubbock Trip

In the evening of December 26th my good childhood friend, Brie Gomez and her husband Eric, six year old daughter Mali, and almost two year old daughter Eleri were involved in a car accident.  Brie was 30 weeks pregnant.  Everyone had minor injuries including a broken leg, except Brie who had a serious head injury.  They did an emergency C section to deliver Curran Blaec Gomez but Brie passed away a couple of hours later.

Brie was a beautiful, godly woman.  She was an inspiration to me and an example of a true friend.  Looking at her Facebook page and attending her services displayed how many hundreds of people's lives she had touched.  She was a stay-at-home mom, a loving and supportive wife to a high school coach, very active in her church, an amazing blogger, and even made the time to comment on almost every one of my blog posts.  Especially for her family, I am so thankful she blogged as much as she did.  They will always have all of those special memories that she shared and her children will be able to know her better.  I think the hardest part about this for me is thinking of how her children will not have their mother to raise them.  I never realized how much of a child's development is based off of how and who they are raised with.  Eric is a wonderful father and I know he will do an amazing job and they have so much support from family and friends.

I think with the passing of a loved one, it makes you evaluate your own life.  It reminds me that tragedy can come to anyone at anytime.  It makes me even more thankful for my many blessings.  It makes me want to live a better life and be more Christ-like.  It makes me value every minute I get to spend with Chris, Keira, and my loved ones even more.  It has also made me realize that just taking a few minutes a day can show someone how much I care.  I feel guilty that I do not make the time like she did to make comments on blogs and let people know that I'm thinking about them and they are important to me.  It has also made me more cautious driving.  At any second, someone could veer over into my lane, or even worse I could do the same while looking back or giving things to Keira.

I am so grateful for everything Brie taught me and the example she was to me.  I'm so grateful for her friendship and love to my sister as well.

Here are some pictures from the past couple of months that I took from Brie's blog.

If you're interested, here is the news story about the accident.  Here is a website about the progress of Curran who remains in the NICU.  He has apneic episodes so he's on CPAP and his intestines were not fully developed so he's just starting on milk and had been fed through his IV.  And here is their blog.

Brie's service to celebrate her life was in Amarillo, Texas.  I was supposed to work on the day of the service but was able to easily find coverage for the shift.  Chris had to work and the weather was supposed to be bad when I'd be returning (the first real snow of the year) so Chris didn't really want me to drive the seven hours, so I ended up flying.  I was so thankful to be there.  I was able to talk to Eric and see their girls and talk to Brie's brother, mom, and dad.  I was reassured to talk to Eric and see how well he is handling this and see his faith in God.  It was amazing to see the church filled with hundreds of people who loved Brie as she had somehow touched their life.  It was wonderful to see and feel her love for our Heavenly Father.

I ended up staying the two nights with friends, Louie and Tara, two hours south in Lubbock.  I was so grateful for their kindness at this difficult time and thankful that Keira and I didn't have to stay alone in a hotel.  Their son, Quinn, is three and a half and just loved Keira.  It was so much fun and so cute to watch him with her.

Merry Christmas 2010!

Christmas is always wonderful, but even better with kids!  I can't remember the last time I had so much fun!  And it will get even better as she understands it more!  Keira must have been a very good girl because she got spoiled!

I got home from work around 8am and we had a delicious french toast breakfast.  (Chris was VERY patient to wait to open the gifts.)  

Then it was time to open the gifts.  Keira did awesome!  She really got the hang of it and loved opening them!  It was so cute watching her actually play with and get excited about each gift after she opened it.  We actually had to speed her up a couple of times so we would get done on Christmas.  ;-)  We also took a break and resumed later in the evening with Aunt Laura.

Keira loved when Uncle John read to her.

Jaxon, Nicole, and John joined us for a couple of hours in the afternoon for dinner.  It was great to have them with us!  Jaxon is such a cute, smiley, sweet baby.

In the evening after Laura went snowboarding she joined us for more gift opening.

Keira LOVES her Auntie Laura!

A cute new story to finish the fun-filled day!