2 Major Milestones.......it's about time!

This week has marked the completion (hopefully) of two stages in two of my children's lives. Milestone #1: Josey no longer has to wear pull-ups to bed! I can't tell you how excited I am about this. One, because I don't have to buy them anymore, but two, she has wanted to wear panties to bed for so long and it just broke my heart to have to tell her no. Those that know of all the problems Josey has had with her going to the bathroom over the years can probably understand why she has had such a hard time getting the bathroom thing down. I really wanted her to be able to wear panties as badly as she wanted to wear them but I also knew that it would leave me washing sheet after sheet. She just wasn't ready. I would try to explain to her that everyone developed differently and that it was just fine that she couldn't quite make it to the bathroom at night but a 6 year old does NOT want to wear diapers. I even tried to tell her all the family members that wet the bed well into their childhood (I will keep the names omitted here in case anyone is embarrassed by this fact, and yes it definitely runs in the family). But these didn't really help either. So last week we ran out of pull-ups and I didn't even know for a couple of days because she hadn't said anything to me about. She often did this because she didn't want to wear them and then when she woke up in the middle of the night one night soaking wet I would know. But she didn't wet the bed and I kept forgetting that she didn't have any pull-ups and then a few days ago I realized that she hadn't wet the bed for over a week! Last night I caught her actually getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and I was so excited for her! She still got her father's bladder (scientifically probably the smallest bladder humanly possible; just kidding) and I still have to find a bathroom about every half hour in every store we are in or every rest stop we pass on road trips but at least she can make it to the bathroom in every 24 hour period! HALLELUJAH!!!!

Next: Lilly no longer has a "baba". Yes that is right people she no longer has a "baba"! Actually I sort of couldn't find any of her bottle nipples the other day and so I told her that she could have a "baba sippy" instead of a "baba". I thought if I called it by sort of the same name she would be okay with that and she sort of was. I was putting her down for her nap and gave her the "baba sippy" and after just a little bit of crying and playing for an unusually long time in her crib before falling asleep, she did fall asleep. And then that night she went down the same way and that's it. All the bottles are being disposed of in the house and I am getting rid of them all before she can spot them. The problem is that I couldn't find two of them in the first place so I am sort of afraid that she is going to find them before I do! I had the same problem getting rid of Josey's pacifier. I was so scared she was going to find one that the "pacifier fairy" left behind. But no more bottles and pull-ups for now. Now I just need to take every one's advice and actually potty train Lilly(even though she has stopped taking her diaper off). Wouldn't that be a nice break!

Washington County Fair

Well we actually live in Clackamas County (I think) but we headed over to the other side of town for the fair last weekend. We drove over there for two reasons, 1: Dustin read somewhere that it was the best county fair in the area and 2: it was free admission. We had a great time! Here is our annual family picture. We get a big button every year, random but fun. They had lots of fun free shows that the girls really enjoyed. Right as we walked in we saw a show going on and they were looking for kids to dress up so the girls ran over ......

Maddy was a dancing cowgirl.....

Josey was a sheep......

And Lilly watched from the sidelines.

Then we found a fun area for kids to do different crafts and games. Lilly LOVED digging for potatoes.Josey and Maddy milked the cow.And then they made little "dirt babies". They are really cute actually and a really good craft idea. They are basically homemade chia pets. They are now on our window sill awaiting their hair and first hair cut. Then they had a magic show with Mother Goose. Dustin and I couldn't believe how big Lilly is getting. She just sat there on the big kid carpet watching and laughing at all the right moments. Maddy and Josey even got picked to go up and participate in that show as well. I will spare you from the video Dustin took of the song they had to wave a scarf through. All I can say is that Dustin and I were really trying hard not to laugh. Then we headed over to find the animals. We saw pigs, goats, chickens, horses, cows, and.......guinea pigs! Who knew you could enter your guinea pig in the fair?!


Then we headed out with our cotton candy as the day was heating up. We had a great time!

next question......

Dustin recently asked me if I could suggest to him some books that would help him be a better dad to girls, specifically as they reach their teens (very sweet). I know we are a little ways off but those of us with children know how fast time flies and in 5 short years we will have our first teenage girl, however I have a suspicion that the hormones and emotions will start to fly sooner than that! And not too far after that we will have an 18 year old, a 16 year old and a 12 year old girls. So has anyone read any good books that might prepare us for this? Has anyone read any good books that specifically relate to father daughter relationships? We would both appreciate it.



AND can believe that the last book in the Twilight series comes out in like two weeks! I am super excited and planning on attending the party at Barnes and Noble....seriously I am going. I just wish I had a costume! Finally we will have closure to Edward and Bella. I know what I am hoping for! Maybe these are books I should suggest for Dustin to read!

Help me I'm out of sheets!

I need some advice. If you read my blog yesterday you know the diaper situation. Lilly has now taken to taking off her diaper multiple times a day. If she goes pee pee in them the tiniest bit, off it goes. If she just doesn't want it on anymore, off it goes! When I got her up this morning she had taken her diaper off and then peed in her bed. Then I put her down for her nap today and when I got her up she was soaking wet and her crib was all wet. She had taken her diaper off when I first laid her down and then fell asleep and peed all over herself. WONDERFUL! Between Josey's sheet yesterday and Lilly's sheets the last couple of days from peeing everywhere I am OUT OF SHEETS. How do I get her to keep her diaper on? I really don't think she is quite ready enough to potty train. In my experience it is better not to push and just wait until they want to do it and she definately doesn't want to sit on the potty right now. Any suggestions everyone?

Don't Buy Cheap Diapers

Last shopping trip I needed diapers and I stupidly talked myself into buying the cheap ones. About every 8-9 months I seem to do this. I always regret it and then I don't buy them again for another 8-9 months until I start seeing the price difference again and talk myself into it. And since I have been buying some form of diapers for 8 years now I am an expert at this. So we are on the cheap diaper cycle right now and it is driving me NUTS! Lilly goes pee pee just a little bit in these diapers and they practically fall off of her. Let me just say, don't buy cheap diapers.

Now everything that happened today was not EXACTLY because of cheap diapers but everything indirectly traced back to the diaper. So the girls and I headed out to the free family movies they have at the theater here on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. We had a fun time and then from there I needed to go to the mall to return something. The movie got out at about 11:30 and by the time we reached the mall it was about noon. We were walking through the mall to go play at the play place they have there and Lilly starts pulling at her diaper complaining. I realize that she has been in this diaper since about 8:00 this morning and for these cheap diapers that is too long. So we are walking along and the diaper falls off! I of course unprepared as I can be sometimes, have nothing. She is also in a dress.....not exactly something that she can be climbing up and down a slide in at the play place in public. So I duck into the Children's Place and decide I have to buy some panties for her. So I put some panties on her and we go play.

When we get home it is time for Lilly's nap. Luckily she didn't pee pee in her panties and I put yet another cheap diaper on her (because cheap diapers always come in HUGE packs that seem never ending). I lay her down and start working. About an hour goes by and who do I hear walking down the stairs......Lilly. I hop up and ask the girls why they got Lilly up? They of course didn't because they know that mommy would KILL them so I was a little confused as to how she got out of her crib. I picked her up and.....no diaper on! We went upstairs and and found her diaper with pee pee in it thrown out of the crib and the only explanation for her to be out of the crib was that apparently she climbed out. She told me that she boinged out of the crib?

I ask her if she wants panties back on or her diaper and she opts for the panties. So she is now running around in panties. The girls were playing out front and Lilly went to follow them. She ran outside and as I am watching her she pees all over the sidewalk and her dress.

So now she is completely naked and I don't know why but I didn't put a diaper back on her immediately. I guess I had a subconscious thought that maybe if I kept her naked she would miraculously go pee pee on the potty. I am giving that up. So I am making dinner and Josey comes running downstairs saying that Lilly pooped on her bed. I ran upstairs and yes Lilly had been standing on Josey's bed looking at something and pooped a BIG poop on her pillow! Lilly was freaked out and couldn't stop babbling about her, "really BIG poop, big girl poop". Josey on the other hand found it very funny. I had a very disgusting thought right away to get the camera to blog about it......you are all very lucky I snapped back into my senses! And Lilly really wanted to touch it. Luckily I was able to talk her into just smelling it. So gross!

So the moral of the story is (kinda) don't buy cheap diapers because if the diaper hadn't fallen off her at the mall she probably never would have pooped on Josey's bed.

copy cat

I have been waiting for my sister-in-law to post pictires from last weekend so I could copy them. Sorry Amanda! I just kept forgetting to get my camera out! We decided to head up to Prosser Washington for the weekend. Dustin's sister moved there about a month ago and since they are now the closest family to us we wanted to take advantage of it! We had lots of fun and we are glad even though it was a quick trip that we made it up there. The girls had fun in the little pools and playing with their little cousins.
Josey was smitten with Ryder and seriously followed Amanda around anytime Ryder was awake. She wanted to feed him and hold him and just be near him I think. You were VERY patient Amanda, thank you! She even let the girls feed him and make a big mess. Maddy and Ashlynn became little buddies as well. Maddy loved reading her books and playing with her down in the playroom. And Dustin and I loved the air conditioning!
Thanks for letting us come and visit. It was very fun to see you and your cute little town! We will have to do it again soon.

Our Birthday Celebration

I think Josey had a great day yesterday. We just packed the day full of fun things for her 6th birthday. If you were not reading my blog last year at this time you can, click here, and you might understand the obsessive behavior of my middle child ESPECIALLY regarding her birthday. This year was no different. She wanted to talk about her birthday everyday for the last 2 months. Daddy finally grew tired of it and so I was Josey's only sounding board for what she wanted to to on her birthday. After bursting her bubble that we were not going to go swimming, bowling, to an amusement park, Chuckie-Cheese, a sleepover, rollerskating, out to lunch, and have a surprise party....for herself, we narrowed it down to Chuckie-Cheese and swimming. I usually leave a present by the bed so when they wake up in the morning they can open up one present. It is an outfit for them to wear on their birthday. So since Josey LOVES getting dresses up she got a pretty birthday dress to wear. By the time I woke up she was already dressed and had been decorating downstairs with balloons and streamers. She came into my room and asked if there was anything I wanted to say to her! She is so funny. After thinking for a minute I wished her a happy birthday and she was very pleased. We decided that Josey wanted to make the cake. So she wanted chocolate cake with rainbow frosting. And she and Lilly had lots of fun "making it their own". And yes that is a fairy doll and littlest pet shop and a jewel stuck in there. Hey, she loved it right?We then went swimming at a new pool we hadn't been to with a water slide and a whirlpool. The girls had tons of fun. This is why Josey looks like she was crying. Her eyes are all bloodshot from the pool. This picture is so my kids! Each of their poses captured them exactly at 8, 6 and 2. I know I know, my 2 year old still has a bottle, get over it!

I realized that instead of going to Chuckie-Cheese and having to eat the gross pizza that will barely fill our whole family, we could actually eat at Red Robin and THEN go to Chuckie-Cheese and play the games for the same price it would have cost us just to go to Chuckie-Cheese (I had coupons) so we talked Josey into that. When we told her that they usually gave ice cream and sang to the birthday people, she was all over that. This is her getting sung too.
They even had Red Robin come out and join in the singing. To be honest I didn't know that they had a Rec Robin mascot but they definitely picked someone with the right legs.

We then headed over to Chuckie-Cheese and had tons-o-fun. These are some of the prizes that the girls picked.
Then we headed home for cake and ice cream and present opening.

Josey got some really random presents this year but she loved them. I will admit that half of them came from the thrift store but I KNEW she would love them and figured she could spend her birthday money on a toy that she really wanted from the store if I didn't get it for her. We did give Lego's a try this year and I think she likes them. They are the pink girly ones. She also got the Cootie game. Does anyone remember playing that as a kid? There were others but these tow were her favorite:
I promise she was excited but this was at about 9:30 and she was POOPED! She loved this random book and this little snow globe though. I knew she would!

Happy Birthday Joselyn or did she graduate?

No she didn't graduate from anywhere it really is her birthday. This is just how far I have gone to save money lately. We had enrichment Tuesday night and they had these balloons there that they said people could take home. So I thought instead of buying balloons for her birthday I would take these home to her. Well they obviously weren't going to last until today so I gave them to her yesterday. I figured she wouldn't know what the balloons said, and she didn't. She didn't even care that they were practically all out of helium she just kept saying how happy she was that she got a "balloon bouquet" because that was totally what she wanted for her birthday. The picture completely cracks me up though between her eyes (she is extremely concerned that she is going to blink in a picture) to the dying balloons. Just makes me laugh!

She is 6 today!! I can't say that it is really weird that she is 6 or something because she has been telling everyone she is 6 for a couple of months now and I sort of forget that she isn't! It seems like she turned 6 months ago but.....actually July 17th is the day. She could barely sleep last night because she was so excited for today.

We (me and the girls) love birthdays around here and we try to make them as special as we can. When you think about it your birthday really is THEE most important day in your life right? Without it you wouldn't HAVE a life! And as a mother the birthday of each of your children is a very special day. Not only does it mark the start of A LOT more sacrificing for the rest of your life(jk).....but it was also the day that you brought a new life into this world.

I don't know what our family would be like without our sweet Joselyn. She is wonderfully quirky and funny and peaceful. She loves being social and definitely isn't afraid to make new friends. She for sure got my soft heart and sensitivity! Since Joselyn was little she has been the most sensitive little thing. Harshness just really hurts her and apparently I was the same way as a child and Dustin would probably say still as an adult. It's a funny combo. You have the daughter that gets in trouble and can't handle it and just breaks and cries and cries and the mom who is trying to discipline her but can't handle that her daughter has broken down and starts to cry as well. Oh what a fun house of girls right Dustin?

I just adore her and everything that she has brought to my life. She thinks she is the luckiest one in the family because she gets to be a little sister AND a big sister (let's hope she always feels that way). She loves her "golden" hair and loves wearing it "blond" (down). She loves to dress up and wear make-up (which I love). And yet she loves bugs and slugs and especially snails (which I don't particularly love). She won't let me kill a bug in our house. We have to pick it up and move it outside. It is such an interesting and fun combination in a little girl. I love you so much my Josey Posey! Happy Birthday!

Here are "a few" of my favorite pictures over the last few years: