Zoo

Last Saturday we finally took a family trip to the zoo.  We joined Emma's little friend Gabbie, along with her family and a few other friends (for some reason, we hardly have any pictures of the rest of the people).

To say Emma enjoyed the trip to the zoo would be a tremendous UNDERSTATEMENT!  She was in awe and fascination the entire time!  It was a joy for us to share this excitement with her.  She seems to have a natural love for animals -- fish, bugs, monkeys, bunnies, you name it...

Some friends lent us their awesome stroller for our trip.  A double stroller where we could strap Emma in front, and place LB in his car seat in the back.

Ready for the fun!

Emma and the kangaroos.

Emma loved the gorilla.  This was the animal she was the most fascinated with.  She kept talking about the "lee-la" well after we had arrived home. 

 Little Byron also had a great time at the zoo.  He mostly just sat in his seat most of the time.  He also flirted a little with his dashing, toothless, cute-as-can-be smile.

We got to feed the giraffes.

Emma loved meeting a moo-cow in person.

This little girl still loves the bunnies, even if they are fake.

We got to take her on her first choo-choo train ride.

With the lions!  One of my favorite pictures -- with my two little ones.

At the party enjoying lunch.

No surprise here -- the fish aquarium area was a hit!

A tired little girl at the end of a fun, memorable day!

Comfortable?

Every since LB was born, I have been showing some cartoons to Emma on most days to get some down time.  We try to limit her TV time to 30 min - 1 hr per day, though many days is none at all.  This is not something I am necessarily proud of, but most of the TV she watches is GPS kids (educational) or in Spanish, which makes me feel not so guilty about it.

Anyway, all that to say, the other day while letting her watch some TV, I pulled her rocking chair out for her to sit on while she watched some tu-tu-turas (her way of saying "caricaturas" -- cartoons in Spanish).  Next thing I know, she had pulled out her toy-drawers and got herself comfy inside of one while she watched her toons.

Potty training update -- Emma has continued to do great with her potty training.  She has done a few successful BMs in the toilet, but most of them continue to take place in her undies.  Having said that, she HATES to have her no. 2 in her underwear, so she immediately tells us after she has done it.

She has also been waking from naps and night time practically dry.  This morning she was calling out from her crib to get out so she could use the potty even though she had a diaper on. 

Good friends

I know I've already posted a similar picture to this one, but I cannot help but continue to capture precious moments of my little ones.  I know Emma is anxious for him to grow up a little and become her play companion.  She loves to spend time with him!

Enjoying LB's crib mobile together.

Our big Little Girl

There is a big Little Girl under our roof!  

Emma is now officially out of her diapers and into her big girl undies.  I cannot believe she is now potty trained.  Part of me grieves this, since I quickly realize how fast she is growing and how time really does fly by.

The proud girl going potty.

I will make a disclaimer in saying that she is still using diapers at nap time and bed time (and don't plan on changing that for a while still).  Also, she has not done #2 in the toilet successfully yet.  Also, she has not had an accident-free day yet.  Some may argue and say she is not potty trained yet, but in my book she is!

So how did all of this begin?

Back in June Emma became enamored with her new toilet her friend J had passed down to her.  I was 7 months pregnant and did not want to go through the trouble of potty training her only to have her regress when LB was born.  But she was ready!  And excited... and would continually ask to be placed on her potty multiple times.

She also seemed very aware of both wet and dirty diapers, and would continually ask to be changed.  

And finally, the straw that broke the camel's back -- Emma has always suffered with really BAD diaper rashes.  I mean -- us alone kept the makers of Desitin in business over the past 2 years :)

So LB was born, and I knew the time was quickly approaching.  I had read a few things and talked to a few friends, and more or less decided on a method -- I was going to put her in her undies all day, with the exception of nap time and bed time, and have her learn "from her mistakes."  

I was really unmotivated and did not want to do it (I was already washing diapers for LB, so extra diapers from Emma did not add much to my to-do list), but I figured this was the best time to do it.  Because of LB's young age, we are still pretty homebound, and people are still bringing us meals.  Plus, the weather is still pretty mild, so she can easily walk around half naked all day and not freeze.

I approached potty training with the mindset that if it did not work, I was going to forget about it and not try again until Spring.

I put on her undies last Monday and she had ONE accident.  After that, every single accident we have had since after, she has caught herself half through and stopped herself, then finished in her toilet.  She gets really excited with herself when she goes potty, and claps and celebrates with us.  We would give her two m&ms after each successful potty, and that really encouraged her.  

Yesterday we went on our first outing with no diaper on, and she did really well.  Today we even went to Chick-fil-a and had her play in the play area with other children with no diaper on.  I was a little nervous, but she did very well.  At one point she did ask to go potty, but I was so proud of her for holding herself and waiting for me to take her to the bathroom.

Story time

Every night since as long as I can remember in Emma's life, we always read two books to her before bed time.  It is fun when Little Byron can join us (aka -- not sleeping or nursing at the time of the event).

Love my family :)

 It is no surprise to anyone that Emma is such a mama.  Yesterday she insisted on having little brother sit on her lap while she "read" to him one of her favorite books about bugs (Emma's second most favorite thing, after fish, are bugs, btw).

Sibling love.

One month

Little Byron turned 1 month last week, so it's time to bust out Johnny Bear once again (Emma's JB 1 month picture).

A few recent things about him:

-  He has started to loose his hair.

-  He has started sleeping 7 hour sleep stretches at night... yeah!

-  He has started smiling and cooing.

LB's mobile

A little girl mesmerized by little brother's new crib mobile.

Bath time

Emma and Little Byron enjoyed their first bath time together this weekend.  Byron and I enjoyed this family time.  Brother and sister were squirting at each other -- Emma with her plastic fish and LB with his... well, you can figure that one out :)

Her baby

I placed Little Byron on the floor this morning while I was getting ready.  I found myself smiling at myself when I saw my little girl trying to swaddle her little brother with the blanket. 

I feel I need to make a post about what life is like these days in our household.  

It is pretty good for the most part.  LB will be four weeks old this Monday and he still has his days and nights mixed up.  He is up for hours during the night, and if he is not awake, he is grunting and GRUNTING in his sleep, which keeps mommy and daddy from sleeping at all.  After three sleepless weeks, Byron and I have come up with a plan which seems to be working ok.  We hope we will no longer need to do this once he is better about sleeping at night.

What's the plan?

I go to bed after his 9ish pm feeding, and Byron takes over all duties until 3 am.  I go to bed and leave a pumped bottle for daddy to feed LB with when he wakes again at midnight.  If he goes back to bed ok, then Byron is off the hook and I take over again after 3 am.  This is very much temporary, and hope to no longer need to leave a bottle once LB is sleeping better at night.  But desperate times call for desperate measures, and if I want to be somewhat sane during the day, I need some sleep.

Much to my relief, the kids seem to overlap their afternoon naps to some extent.  Most days it's for only about one hour, but hey -- that's better than nothing.  Sadly, I normally spend that time catching up with things that cannot be easily done with kids awake (like our family blog!) instead of resting or taking a nap.

Crayons

Emma loves to color!  She loves it even more when I color for her.  I am also beginning to wonder if she will be the first Morris grandchild who is left handed.  Her Poppa, Uncle Caleb and Daddy are all left handed.  I asked her doctor yesterday at her two-year appointment if there was a time when this became evident, and he said that as early as now we can begin telling which is her hand of choice.  Of course, this is still up in the air, but she does seem to use her left hand as her hand of choice.

I took this picture above because I think it showed a little about her perfectionist nature.  While I was busy elsewhere around the house, this child proceeded to break all her crayons in half and then line them up.

And on to her two-year doctor appointment:

Weight:  28 lbs 10 oz (75%)

Length:  35 inches (75%)

Head:  19 inches (75%)

I of course have to brag on my little girl.  Both the nurse and the doctor were very impressed with how well she behaved:

Nurse:  "Now mama, I want you to know this is not normal behavior for a 2-year old at the doctor."

Doctor:  "If all my patients were this good, my job would be much easier"

Yes, she is a sweet, sweet girl, even if I must say so myself :)

It did help that I had packed two cookies in her diaper bag and she knew she would get them after her appointment.

Family Picnic

Sunday night -- we decided to have a picnic at the park.  I grilled some cheese sandwiches, packed some bananas, hummus and carrots, and off we went.  I look forward to more family moments like this, especially as the Fall sets in and the weather becomes nicer outside.  

Alison is visiting for the weekend (which has been great help with Emma -- she will even wake up early and take over the two kiddos while mommy and daddy sleep in).

Emma liked hanging from the bars.

Little Byron slept the entire time.

And some more hanging.