A back pack + tubs + scrubbing pads + Grease = 2 crazy days!!!

So a couple of days ago were some of the craziest and saddest days ever! I was at goodwill looking for a small little book shelf to put delia's books, I didn't find one, however I did find a baby hiking backpack that was in great condition, but dirty. All it needed was a good cleaning and for $6 I couldn't pass up..especially with the new baby coming and all the hiking/outdoor adventures we go on it would be perfect. I brought it home, but waited until Delia was in bed to start washing it. Christian was at choir practice and I set out for the cleaning. I decided to wash it in the tub because...well that is the biggest washing place we have. I used a little bit of tide and that seemed to work great, but of course filled up the tub with a bunch of suds, so I couldn't tell what was happening underneath it all!!! After draining the water I saw the harsh results of washing it in the bath tub. Did I mention that we have a STEEL tub? Who makes steel tubs anymore?!! Well, if you guessed it, there were scratches everywhere!! I was mortified! The first thing I thought was, "Christian is going to kill me" apparently these kind of things only happen to me!! So I go a scrubbing pad and tried scrubbing at it, which most of it was just gray marks, but there were still some significant scratches that were not coming out. so when Christian got home, I asked him to please not be too mad at me. the first thing he thought of was to get some steel wool scrubbing pads and gently buff them out. It worked! But wait..it seems to leave gray patches where you scrubbed, okay back to square one. I tried lightly scrubbing over them to get the marks out but nothing happened. I kept getting poked by all the steel wool. It was not fun. Then Christian pours some baking soda in and finally after 1.5 hours of scrubbing it comes out.

The next day I spend 20 mins, getting a small steel sliver out of my hand! Yikes!

then...

After a long day of working in the yard with the beautiful fall weather, it was dinner time and I needed to start dinner, so Christian stayed outside to finish up while Delia was out there playing also. I had just gotten her up from a nap, put her in clean clothes and sent her outside. Not even 5 mins. later Christian brings her in saying that she got into black grease or something that was on a paper out in the weeds!! What the?? thinking it was lotion..as she does with anything liquid, smears it on her face, in her hair, and on her clothes, and this time it was my turn to clean her up. I really didn't know where to start! It was so tacky and seemed to smear easily. I tried washing with a wet paper towel to see how that worked, but all it did was smear it even worse. I thought I have to just get her out of these clothes and put her in the tub to get her clean..all the while thinking, "I'm sure glad I didn't put her in that nice shirt I thought about!" When she realized I was taking her clothes off, she knew she was going to get a bath and that meant no more playing outside and she FLIPPED OUT!! throwing yet another tantrum and me trying to contain her so she doesn't get grease on me or the carpet!! I know she doesn't quite understand what is going on, but I am now getting frustrated trying to figure out how to clean this stuff off of her while she is screaming and resisting. So I get her in the tub, Christian comes in and can obviously see I am struggling so he holds her hands while I scrub her face! Yes, I used a plastic pot scrubber(clean and new) to scrub it off. it was working, but she was still screaming and I thought she was still just mad at me. Her face was red from the scrubbing, but that was all. After she was clean. Christian left the rest to me and she was still crying, but it was a sad different cry. She kept repeating over and over again in that breathless cry "I..I'm sssorry, mmmammma" Aghhhhh!!! It must have really been traumatic for her! So I snuggled her up in a towel and rocked her. She calmed down and seemed fine after that, but her face was still beat red even after a couple of hours, like a really bad sunburn. I figured it would go away.The grease came out of her clothes easily! Weird. The next morning I was mortified! 2 big scabs on both of her cheeks, still red, and a spot below her ear was completely rubbed away. All I could do was break down and cry thinking that I had inflicted this on my child and that was why she was crying because it hurt!! I still have not forgiven myself. I really didn't scrub that hard, but I just didn't think it was causing her harm other wise I would have been extra gentle! It is still healing and hopefully it will be all better by Halloween. So 2 crazy days in a row. I think I am do for a break for maybe a couple of weeks right?

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Last Friday Delia went to the pumpkin patch with her friend Ava. We had a lot of fun. It was a little crazy because school kids from all over were there on a field trip, so we were trying to dodge around them. Delia was good for most of the time except at the very end when it was time to go the the "baby" pumpkin patch and choose a pumpkin that was included in our admission. Delia threw a TAMTRUM! O my goodness, it was so embarressing! I kept trying to do all that I could to get her excited to choose a pumpkin, I even tried dragging her...litterally dragging her, but with 2 coats, a diaper bag, 3 cobs of dried corn and a screaming child...I gave up. I went to go choose a pumpkin for her and of course she took off in the other direction heading for the corn maze! So I drop all of my stuff, go grab her, take her to the patch, picked out a pumpkin and headed back. Sheesh kid! But then I looked at my watch and it was 12:30 pm..time for lunch! Poor kid..things were taking us much longer to do this time because of all the school kids. It was still fun and Delia was finally happy with her pumpkin when we left. Yep..terrible 2's are definitely here! Makes appriciate the times when she is super sweet!









This one is just my size!!




Enjoying the view

Hmm..that's a funny lookin' people..

Silly Goose!

With my friend Ava.

Well, I guess everyone needs a kiss.

lookin' for the perfect pumpkin..this one seems to be a little heavy.

Hey, another baby pumpkin..this is much easier to pick up!

The Primary Colors are 1, 2, 3....

Over the past couple of weeks Delia has really been getting into coloring. She is not a great artist as of yet, just scribbles, but I am glad she is. We have been trying to work on her colors and then it hit me...if we color everyday, that is an opportunity to teach her all the colors and just today she identified, Brown, pink, green, yellow, and blue on her own!! Yeah. Latley she has been only getting them right 50% of the time, but I think it has reached a little higher and she is getting better and better. I am finding myself all them time using every opportunity to go over her colors. Like, her shirt, or the tree, or the fruit, etc. and it is so exciting to watch her get it right when she does! Some of her peers who are younger than her know so much more and so I am trying really hard to make sure she at least stays on track. Way to go Delia...keep up the good work!

9 weeks and Counting!

So I am 9 weeks pregnant and everything is looking good. The baby is about the size of a grape and their heartbeat is 164 bpm, which at this stage is high for both boys and girls, so I will have to wait another 7-8 weeks to hear it at it's regular rythm. I never had an early ultrasound with Delia so this is kind of exciting to be able to actually "see' it. I am only posting these because this is a first early ultrasound and I thought it was pretty neat. I think the grandparents are also going to like it. I have had a little bit of weight gain, but still not "looking" pregnant. but I will keep everyone updated!

Gap Casting call for Delia

So I entered Delia into the Gap Casting Call. I really don't think the initial rules are very fair. You have to get Family and Friends to Vote once a day, every day until Nov. 17. The more people you know the more votes. It's not just the public voting and they choose the top 20 with the most votes in each catergory. Which means whether the kid is "cute" or photogenic...it doesn't matter. I have seen some really cute kids that hardley have any votes and some with 3000+ they have a sad, mad look on their face. Hmmm. I thought there would be actual judges choosing from all of them, I think that would be much more fair. but like a lot of things that end up in the lime light..it's all in who you know! So, Since I finally got Delia's picture approved I might as well keep going and see where she ends up. So if you could vote for her as much as you can, that would be awesome. You can vote 1 a day. Thanks!!

http://www.family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/mysweetdelia/668775502/

Surprise!!!!!

WE'RE






PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Due Date: May 16, 2010


Wow! What a surprise! Not a surprise that I am "actually" pregnant, but that it happened so soon! And...I found out so soon! This time around is a whole new set of firsts for me. Our first try?!?! I am in complete shock, but so elated! The only syptoms I have right now is frequent urination and some acne flare! Maybe it will be a few more weeks before I experiences any symptoms if I have them at all. I am very nervous because I was expecting a year or so, Delia would be 3 by then, so I had everything planned out, but now with this sweet surprise I am a little nervous. I obviously knew there might be a small chance of getting pregnant the first time only because I just came off birth control and usually my cycles are regular (28 days) for the next 2-3 months after coming off b/c. So if I was going to try my chance at it, I would have to plan it out "just in case" I did start ovulating the next cycle (chances for that was rare, but my circumstances this time around are very different!) and maybe I might get pregnant, otherwise I was going to track the rugularity of each of my cycles over the course of 6 months. Well....apparently I am much better at planning this time around and my body was obviously ready and sometimes Heavenly Father answers your prayers much, much sooner than expected! Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it!! ;)

So here is the story. I wanted to try after Delia's 2nd birthday but last Christmas I had made up my mind I was ready, but didn't know if Christian was. So I wanted to wait for the right time to "have this conversation" with him. So many people kept asking me "when are you having more" and I just couldn't take it anymore. So in July(after I was already 1 week in of my b/c pills) I had the 30 second talk with Chrsitian. He said "well, are you ready" I told him yes and he said: "well, then let's do it" Wow...that was easy! So talking to one of my friends that we were going to try and that I wanted to start in oct. She said: "Oh, go off of it now...why wait?" Well, given my history of trying to get pregnant, that's what I did. But I also knew keeping myself on a regular cycles what raise my chances of getting pregnant. I figured if I really wanted to, the 2 months after finishing my b/c pills was going to be my best chance...I didn't know it would work!

So when day 31 hits and no period I wake up go to the bathroom and realize "shoot, I am supposed to test in the mornings, So I wait until the next morning. Take the digital kind, some of you know my experiences with the other types of tests ;) and what do you know, it says "pregnant" after which I went out and got all the other different kinds because I was in such disbelief and they were all positive. I am 5 weeks + 1 day so, so early for me. I am wanting to tell everyone! (which I have to some family and friends) but a little scared too because of something going wrong. But then my friend told me, the more people who know, the more people who will lend support in case something does happen. that is true! We are women and we need to be able to lean on eachother during times like this..and I don't want to NOT tell just for fears of something happening. I can't be thinking that way. I have yo be postive the whole way. So here it is...my official announcement!

My Sleeping Beauty

For almost 2 weeks now, Delia has been sleeping in her very own princess bed! She loves it! I was really wanting to train her to sleep in a "big girl's bed" but christian said she wasn't ready, too young. "Pssshhhh..whatever!" was my reply, but still he didn't want to buy her a bed yet. Well a good friend of mine asked if I wanted her daughter's old toddler bed that was never slept in..I said, "of course" and the night we brought it home, I asked Delia if she wanted to sleep in her new bed tonight and she replied, "OH, BOY!" The first few nights she kept getting out, and we had to put her back.

Christian said, "See, I told you she is not ready"

Gina Said, "It doesn't matter if she is 2 or 6 she is going to have to learn to sleep in a new place. It takes time. Just because she is getting out of bed the first few nights doesn't mean she is "not ready"

So we kept pushing along and after about 5 days she was doing excellent. sometimes during nap time she doesn't come out, but plays with her toys. I think she is just not totally drained at this time of the day, so it is a little harder for her. Nighttime is awesome. she is even going to bed a little earlier. after her bath, she wants to climb in and go to sleep and she does! Wow! sometimes I ask her if she is ready for bed and she simply will say "yes" or "no" so it varies now, but usually when she says no, I get her excited to sleep in her bed anyway. Hooray!! I am so proud and so happy. I think next week we will actually take the crib down and transform her room!

We are still working on potty training. since her birthday she has had a bit of a relapse, still goes #2 in her underwear...*sigh* and will not go on any other potty when we are out and about. She is still pretty young, so we are not worried, just taking it a day at a time.

Next step taking away the binki...any suggestions? Although I do not let her have it during the day, she is attached to the thing like I am to breathing! If she finds one during the day, I take it away and she has and utter melt down as if I just tore her heart out! Yikes! Help!

Happy 2nd Birthday Delia!

Delia had a wonderful birthday! I can't believe my baby is 2!! She got so many gifts! A mermiad doll, play pots and pans, a tike, shopping cart, a glow worm, bubbles, clothes, and lots of books. I made her a butterfly birthday cake (my fisrt attempt to making a birthday cake) and it came out okay. she was playing outside and more or less running like usual and she fell and skinned her knee pretty bad (bleeding) and it was no big deal to her! Yikes. So we put a bandaid on her which she is terrified of...hmm I thought getting the "littlest pet shop' bandaids would make it better, but you would think for should a tough girl she would be fine with bandaid! silly girl ;) nobody but Delia ate cake because we were all still full from pizza, so now I have a lot of cake and icecream sitting around, which is NOT GOOD!! Delia loved her Balloons! She kept saying "boom" snd the "M" sound is clear, so funny! she insisted I tie one around her wrist while she ate lunch! I have been asking Delia for the past couple of weeks how old she is going to be, she holds up her two pointer fingers, but says "free"(three) and I try to get her to say 2, but she won't. Lately to get her to obey I have been counting to 3 and everytime I get to 2 she says 3, so now she thinks When you say 2 it means 3...sheesh kiddo! Memories. I know in time I will miss all of that!! I already miss her baby days..looks like it's time for another ;) I'm so glad she had a fun time, she was super happy!

Potty Training Success...So Far!!

Here is a picture of Delia on her potty. The Treat bucket and the stickers!!

So I jumped on the potty training wagon this past thursday and it did not start out so well. That first morning wasn't terribly bad. She went twice on the potty with only 2 accidents. After naptime, the rest of the day was just accidents.

2nd day of Training: All accidents, 2 of wich were my fault because I wan't watching her closely enough to see the signs! But generally Delia likes to sit on the potty. I was ready to give up! Before starting all I heard was, "girls are easy to train" "my girls didn't have 1 accident!" etc. so it got me excited and kind of help my anxiety a little. But this was far from easy and she seemed to be having nothing but accidents. I knew she was ready, so why was this so hard? After talking to my own mother, she told me that I took 3 months. Then Christian's mom told me that some kids will do great one day and horrible the next, it's just a matter of them getting it and to not give up yet. So after those encouraging words...I persevered! then..

3rd day of Training: Completely catastrophic! 9 accidents!! I was really trying better on this day, but Delia outright refusued to sit on the potty! When I was able to get her to sit on it by some miracle, she only stayed 2 seconds! I was getting so frustrated by now. Then I figuered out, Delia defiantely know when she has to go potty, but is all of the sudden afraid to "go" in the potty. When she showed signs, I would sit her down and she would literally hold heself while on the potty. trying to be ecouraging to let he know it was okay, she still was terribly afraid. It was the sadest thing to watch. Once the crying started I had to let her get off..it was just not worth torturing her over this (it seemed apparent it was) Then of course 5 mins. later another accident! Why were we running into this snag..it seemed there was a piece of the puzzle missing!

So trying to figure out what was wrong, I came to this conclusion, she was just plain afraid to pee! It didn't matter where! Of course I had been trying to teach her that peeing in your pants is not fun and that we don't do it, but we go in the potty. Somehow maybe she had become terribly confused and thought that peeing, whether in her pants or the potty was bad! That's the only thing Could think of. So that being said, I had to find a way to get her to sit on the potty and make it fun. but what? Plus I had to get her to "go" on the potty one more time to show her that it IS exciting. So later that night after dinner I tried one more time to get her to go, knowing she fully had to. I forced her to sit on the potty in a happy loving way. Yes, I know that sounds awful, but I had a plan! after about 15 mins of trying tom get her to stay on the potty and many tears. She went..just couldn't hold it anymore, and you could see the fear in her eyes for 2 seconds until I made it into a positive thing and got very, very excited. Her face suddenly litt up and became happy again. Then we followed all the steps afterwards, wiping, dumping the bucket, flushing, etc. she seemed to like it. Okay, so maybe there still is a chance! She had enough for that day and went to bed..in her nighttime diaper.

4th Day of Training: I got out the colorful girly stickers, 1200, and decided to use them for Delia's training. I would let her choose about 3 stickers while she sat on the potty just to make sitting on the potty fun. It seemed to work! When I tried to get her to sit on it without them, she would run away, but when I pulled out the stickers..she came right back. So maybe I was on to somehting here. Maybe I found a way the suits Delia best? She stayed dry all morning! 2.5 hours! unil right before lunch, I encouraged her to sit once more and while she was choosing her sticker, she was really relaxed and suddenly looked up at me with a smile and gasped! she was "going"!! Hooray!! I was so excited we both were!! So she got a butterfinger! she was so proud of herself! It was a special moment for both of us! Later that day she went 4 more times, 2 of which she did all by herself! she is so cute she says.."A-self, mommy" and the best part about the whole thing for Delia..other than the treat, she gets to dump the bucket in the big toilet and flush all by herself. I don't know why that is exciting to her, but it is! We still continue to have success. If she continues down this path the rest of the week, maybe we will have a potty trained big girl in the house! Crossing my fingers, but not holding my breath!