Spring Lust List: Toddler Style

With Spring around the corner, I've been thinking ahead to warmer weather clothes. Including updating Reese's and now Owen's wardrobes too. Here are a few spring finds from H&M I'm loving for the kiddies.

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From skeptic to believer: Adventures in potty training

Clearly, I'm way behind in blogging. I wrote this post on November 30th and am just now getting around to posting it. Life with two kids has been a little hectic but I'm hoping I'll be making more regular appearances here on the 'ol blog!

The inevitable 'potty training' milestone is something most parents both dread and long for at the same time. Oh how nice it will be when the kids are out of diapers, right? It's the getting there that's the tricky part. Sometimes it's just easier to keep them in diapers a little longer. I know how lazy that sounds but it's a daunting task I assure you. I am a planner by nature so going in blind so to speak usually doesn't work well for me. I would much rather have something to follow with specific steps all laid out. Enter, Lora Jensen's 3 day potty training method. I know, I know, it sounds much too good to be true. What child is actually potty trained after just 3 days? Wishful thinking commence please. But seriously, it made a believer out of me. A friend swore by this method and said her daughter hadn't had one accident after day 1. Day 1?! Are you kidding me? So, I told myself I at least had to give it a try.

It is basically a 3 day period of intense focus on only potty training. That's right, following your child around for 3 straight days without leaving the house until it 'clicks' for them. Meanwhile, throwing out the diapers at the beginning of day 1. There were many times over the 3 days I was about ready to throw in the towel. Yeah right, what a hoax, 3 day blah blah blah. Even the first time Reese told us she had to go and made it to the potty in time, I chalked it up to coincidence. But from that one time, it really did seem to click for her. It's all about doing away with the coincidence factor and rather making them recognize the feeling and then expressing that to you. Reese hasn't had an accident while she's been awake since that one time on day 2. Which brings me to my next point. Nighttime training. Ugh. She does say in her book, most kids should be waking up dry if they are over 22 months of age. Well, Reese rarely woke up dry before we started so I had a feeling this would be the tricky part for us. She also stresses kids can be trained day or night with this 3 day method. I don't think that's the case for us specifically, but I'm happy with where we are after only a few days. We are still working on morning wake up potty trips to avoid the accident in the bed (which is still hit or miss at this point). One day at a time I guess.

Update: Now, 2 1/2 months later, Reese is still doing great with potty training. We're still struggling with nighttime training so she's in pull-ups for the time being. Hopefully, we will tackle that soon. Maybe when we're all getting a bit more sleep around here!

Welcome to the world, Owen Scott!

We're thrilled to announce the arrival of our little guy, Owen Scott. Born on Thursday, January 5th at 12:45pm, weighing in at 8lbs. 5oz and 20in. long.

We're all at home now trying to rest and recover when we get the chance. Much harder now with a newborn and a 2 year old in tow!

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

With Christmas a week away, I can say we are actually ready for it this year. Decorations are up, tree is trimmed, holiday baking is complete, and shopping is done. I absolutely love Christmas, it's by far my favorite holiday. My parents always made this time of year so special for us. I have so many great memories that I hope to turn into family traditions for our own growing brood.

Reese is a little more aware of Christmas this year which has been fun. She's still quite easy to please and is only requesting a new Dora movie and 'treats', which can be interpreted as anything sweet, from Santa this year. I think that may be doable.

As always, we're missing our family, friends and home in general this time of year but are counting our blessings too!

Here are a few pics of some of our latest holiday fun.

Decorating the tree and loving it

Ready for the team Christmas party

Heading out to a Christmas party with friends sans Reese

Parenting: Reading between the lines.

With baby #2 due in less than 3 weeks (eek!), I've been thinking of the sleepless nights ahead of us and how we might handle them this time around. I have to admit, we've gotten so comfortable with having our evenings to ourselves and full nights' sleep that I know our systems are in for a real shock. Also, we got lucky with Reese in the sleep department. She's always been a great sleeper from baby onwards. Going down with ease and consistently sleeping through the night (minus the random hiccup here or there) since she was 4 or 5 months old. Having said that, I'm sure this one will be the complete opposite. And knowing myself and how I handle stress under pressure (not well), I need to think about how we might cope, or more accurately, how I might cope. Afterall, I am the crazy mom who recorded feeds until Reese was 6 months old. That's right, every. single. feed.

I know there are parenting books out there aplenty and as many differing opinions on them as there are parents. We found one that we could relate to and made sense with what we thought our parenting style might be. The Secrets of a Baby Whisperer. There are mixed reviews on her methods (as with any method I guess) but we found her guide to be helpful. Using it as a guide is the big lesson, at least it was for us and something I need to keep in the forefront of my mind this time around too. I like to follow something step by step but unfortunately that just doesn't work with babies. It's all about reading between the lines and figuring out what works best for your baby specifically, remembering all babies are different. It's something I need to remind myself of often. I'm hoping to help my own sanity (and everyone else's) by stepping back and taking a deep breath and figuring things out as we go. I want to enjoy the newborn moments more this time around by being less stressed. Afterall, I know too well how fast that time goes by!

Halloween

I love Halloween. I mean, it makes total sense since I'm addicted to candy of all kinds. A night dedicated to dressing up and going door to door collecting a huge variety of candy is right up my alley. So, you can understand my disappointment last year when I discovered there were zero trick-or-treater's for Reese's first Halloween. I can finally get back into the game of getting loads of candy under the guise of my baby trick-or-treating only to find out it wasn't happening in Cardiff. What?!

Based on that, I wasn't getting my hopes up this year but was thrilled to hear they do trick-or-treat in our area. So, we quickly found a costume and geared up for the big night. Let's just say Reese was less than impressed. She loved getting treats from the first handful of houses but then got spooked when a little boy handed out candy in his costume and mask. Spooked as in went running into my arms sobbing, saying 'home, home, home!'. So, home we went with a pretty bare bag of treats. Obviously, I wish we lasted a few more houses but it was not to be. On a brighter note, she did make for a pretty cute spider. There's always next year I guess.

Fall Fashion: Scarves

Shopping for myself these days is pretty limited. I'm just not into spending too much on clothes I'll likely only wear for the next few months. Plus, what may fit my ever expanding belly now may not fit in another month! Accessories, shoes and bags are the obvious exceptions. With fall weather upon us, I find myself reaching for a scarf these days more and more. Good thing for me, I can wear (and buy) cute scarves no matter what my size. Here are a few that have caught my eye lately.

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I also found this awesome video on how to wear a scarf (brilliant!) on one of my favorite blogs a few weeks ago.