Potty Training

Emmaline is starting to Potty train. Through all the reading I've done and people I've talked to I've heard "Don't start too early!" So I've patiently waited for about three months to make sure Emmaline is totally ready. I talked to her doctor last week who said she is ready so start now. In order to be ready to potty train, kids have to be able to pull their pants down on their own, verbalize words for their actions (like pee and poop) and recognize when they need to go. The last part is actually a step. First the recognize that they have gone, then they recognize they are going then they finally recognize they need to go. Emmaline has had most of these steps for the past few months but I keep wondering if its too early. All the people I've talked to have said that their kids don't potty train until 2.5-4 years old and Emmaline isn't yet 2. So I hesitate because I really don't want to push her and I really don't want a relaps on my hands and I really don't want to be one of those moms who are still struggling with potty training when their child is going into kindergarten. So today I finally started. I let Emmaline run around the house naked for two hours and the only result was her being extra cranky two hours before naptime. So I think I stressed her out with the being naked part. When she gets up I'm going to try letting her stay dressed but ask her every half hour if she wants to go potty. That is how she has used the potty chair up to now so maybe it'll be less stressful for her. I'll update in a few days I guess if this worked or not. If it doesn't, I might just wait until November or something to start again. I'm in no rush but when my daughter asks to go potty several times a day without prompting? I'm pretty sure she is.

So tired!

I'm so tired right now! Matt and I got to bed at a reasonable hour (see his blog for full details of the trip) but were awake by 330. I tried to catnap but probably got only 15 minutes more sleep because I was worried I'd oversleep. I took a 2 hour nap when I got home and that seemed to help but then this morning I was awake at 4am. Emmaline woke up screaming because she was scared (she rolled onto her talking teddy bear and made it go off) and ended up spending more than a half hour in my bed. But after putting her down I started thinking of all the things that would be happening to Matt at 4am- would they be dumping him off his mattress? Making him do a million pushups? Did he regret what he was doing already? Had he made any friends to cushion the blow? Did he miss me yet? And thinking all that stuff, I couldn't get back to sleep. It was a long morning- I exercized then went to the temple then went out for lunch. So I left the house at 630 and didn't get home for good until 130. Emmaline and I both slept for another two hours but I'm still exhausted. I think most of my exhaustion is emotional rather than physical. Its been a rollercoaster of a few days, thats for sure!

Matt's Going Away Party

We had a party for Matt on Saturday and invited a lot of people from church. Matt doesn't have a ton of close friends so we pretty much did an open invitation and specifically invited people we talked to often. I was expecting around 20-30 people to show up at some point during the evening and was worried that we wouldn't have enough food. We ended up having way too much food because only one family showed up. We still had a lot of fun talking but it was a bit disappointing to not have more people there. But it was fun. We let the family who came estimate how many pushups they thought Matt'll have to do on his first 'official' day of Basic Training. Most people guessed within the 30-50 range with the hightest being 160. I'm guessing more around the 200+ mark because of what I've heard. The idea is that Matt'll count all the pushups he has to do (or at least estimate) and write home. Whoever guessed the closest will win a candy bar. I'd open the guessing to all my online friends but it might be disappointing to not recieve the candy bar in the mail. Sorry. Matt is leaving today. We are taking him into St Louis today, he is swearing in tomorrow (I'll post all about it) then he's gone for the next...forever. I think he'll come home for Christmas so he'll be gone for at least 4 months. Look for more post updates on Matt's new blog.

New Blog

I've created a new blog that is designed specifically to follow Matt and his adventures through the Military. You can get to it by following the link in my profile and becoming a follower or you can type in www.militarymatthew.blogspot.com. I will be posting any news specifically relating to him as well as letters, phone calls etc (when appropriate). You are more than welcome to leave comments or questions for him that will be passed on.

Fire Alarm Update

So after that half-asleep-ramble that I posted the other day, more happened. Over the next few days the alarm went off again at random times- though thankfully it did not go off again during the night! We tracked down the name and phone number of the company in charge of the complex and called but it was already 7pm on Friday night so we had to deal with the alarm through the weekend. The reason I finally called someone was that I heard the alarm while I was taking a walk with Emmaline. On our condo buildings there is an outdoor alarm that is connected to all the alarms in the building. It also has a huge flashing light and such so if the fire people do have to come they can recognize the building quicker (assuming there isn't billowing smoke or something). Anyway, while on that walk I heard that alarm go off. When I got inside Matt said that the alarm inside went off at the same time. I began thinking and decided to knock on doors in our complex and see if other people were having issues as well- they were! So thats when I called the person that could fix things. She ended up calling the alarm company who came out on Monday. It turns out that something was really wrong because he couldn't fix it and Tuesday we had to put up with banging and sawing and other loud noises as they replaced the entire control panel for the system! We are just glad that there is no more loud alarm. And mad because we replaced all the batteries, threw the old ones away, then realized too late that the old batteries were still good. What a waste of 10$!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I have a wonderful story to tell you...sit and listen a while! The story starts two mornings ago, while I was lying peacefully in bed. I was deciding if I should get up and start my day or if I wanted to lay around longer, casually listening to the sounds of the house. I heard the soft tick tick of our clock and I heard my husband's feet shuffling across the carpet. I heard a car start somewhere outside and I heard a faint bird call out my window. The suddenly, as if nothing in the world could stop it, I heard a low hum as the air conditioner came on. It wasn't just a normal hum. It startled me and I lay still to listen for any reason to panic when even stranger still I heard a REALLY loud alarm go off. It lasted for only about 5 seconds but I bolted out of bed and straight to the livinging room where my husband sat, also worried about this noise. We checked around, peeking in the utility closet for anything suspecious and found nothing that would suggest either what was going on with the air conditioner or what would have caused the loud noise. Since my peaceful beauty sleep was interrupted I decided to get dressed and continue on with my day. I'd worry again about the weird noises if they occured again. And occur again they did! That night my husband and I lay in bed, fast asleep. It was nearly 2 am when suddenly the loud alarm went off again. We were both startled to alertness, fumbling to get untangled from the covers and investigate the problem. We both realized that the annoying sound was actually eminating from our fire alarm. We had not had need previously to hear it so didn't recognize its slightly unique sound. We again checked all over our house for any signs of danger and found nothing. The alarm wasn't going off again and we were tired. Just as we were dozing off to sleep fate seemed to step in. We heard the fire alarm once more. Neither of us were able to sleep for quite a while, both worried about our home and wondering if the alarm would sound again. So yesterday, not wanting to experience such sleeplessness again, we bought new batteries. They were 10$- thats expensive. But I was willing to spend that kind of money in order to get a good night's sleep. Matt changed the batteries in all the fire alarms and we rejoiced at having solved the problem. Or so we thought! Last night we crawled in bed with absolutely no thought to the fire alarm. But again, at 2 in the morning, the lovely alarm woke us up. Matt and I were again startled out of our beauty sleep and we both bolted into the livingroom, worried that something may actually be wrong. But after again searching the house we came up empty handed- well, except this time it woke Emmaline up. Luckily she went back to sleep as Matt and I searched through all our paperwork, trying to see if we had an owner's manuel for our blasted fire alarms. Alas, we don't. The fire alarm went off three times last night, two while we were asleep and one while we were stumbling around trying to solve the problem. After a half hour we sunk back into bed to try and sleep more. We were again worried about the alarm blaring once more and inturrupting our sleep. It did not but that didn't save us from tossing and turning with worry. I remember trying to figure out some reason in my mind that the alarms were going off and in my half dazed state came up with the entirely logical explanation that the fire alarm was doubling as an apnea machine for Emmaline and was somehow connected to the internet. Matt began thinking that maybe our vents need to be cleaned out because there is a lot of dust triggering the fire alarm. Who knows? I guess I'll be online a bit today looking for the company that services these alarms and problem solving. Unfortunately it seems like we have to go to sleep tonight before we can see if any of our tinkering works. So thats my story. Its a terrible one of beauty sleep inturrupted and fate playing its tricks upon unsuspecting, innocent people. Hopefully I can tell you the rest of the story later- and with a happy ending!

Finally!

Matt has a job! After this whole, long, agonizing wait, he finally got his job! Our goal was to get him into a flight or mechanical position and we get our wish. He'll go under the Mechanical Aptitude rather than with a specific job. It comes with its drawbacks but it also has its benifits. Pros: Because he has such a high ASVAB score he'll be given a top choice in all the available jobs rather than waiting for a call to come in for something specific now... Also, he leaves August 25! which gets us a paycheck sooner and insurance and gets this whole annoying wait over sooner! Cons: I have no clue where he is going to be for job training nor how long his training will take. I'm quite the planner and not knowing is difficult but now I know for sure that I'll know within a few months... Things are getting started! We have complete faith that the Lord is placing him exactly where he needs to be. A lot of prayers have gone into this, a lot of faith and many more tears than should have. We are both so greatful for all the support we've had from our families during this process. As soon as we know anything more I'll post again. And throughout the process of training I'll post as much of Matt's letters and phone conversations as I can. And his address! I'm sure he'll love getting a lot of letters regardless of how many pushups he has to do!

First Harvest

After arriving home from my vacation I took a look at my plants. When I left I had a handful of tomatoes starting and two zucchini. Now, I have TONS of tomatoes starting and one zucchini died so I have one left.

But! I did get to pick my first tomato. Its not the first tomato grown- no, that one got eaten by a bird. And I was sad about it. But its the first tomato we got to pick! I'm gunna have salad tonight with my baby tomato!

Yea! For gardens!

Travel Home

Have you ever been on a flight where you could swear the pilot was either senile or brand new? Thats how the flight home was. Take off was difficult. I'm used to the plane getting off the ground and having a constant pressure until the plane levels off how ever many feet in the air but this pilot kept leveling off at different heights then continuing the ascent. The result was that I had to pop my ears multiple times and my stomache did a million little flips rather than just a few. Emmaline was tired becasuse she didn't take a nap in the morning and she rarely ever actually falls alseep on my lap- definately not without screaming a lot first. So She had a difficult time staying put for three hours on my lap. By the end of the trip she was opening the window, closing the window, standing up, turning on the light, sitting down, standing up, turning off the light, sitting down, opening the window, closing the window...you get the picture. I wanted to stop her because it was driving me crazy having the light on and off and such but it was keeping her occupied better than anything else I had so I delt with it. The descent was just as crazy as the ascent. For a full 20 minutes I felt like my stomach was sitting next to me. And I had to pop my ears a million times again because we kept dropping! It was sort of scary but mostly annoying. The landing was smooth but slowing down after landing wasn't. The pilot slammed on the breaks twice. The first time it threw everyone forward in their seats where we staid for about 15 seconds before he let up on the break. Everyone chuckled at that but I didn't think it was funny. It was mostly annoying! Getting off the plane was easy and we met Matt at the soonest point he was allowed. Actually, he crossed that line when he saw us but I don't think they really cared. I had Emmaline walking in front of me and when I saw Matt I said "Do you see daddy? Run to him!" At first she just walked a bit faster but when Matt got down on his knees with his arms open she started running. As soon as she got to him she said 'Daddy!' and gave him the biggest hug I've ever seen her give. It nearly made me cry just watching! Emmaline fell asleep in the car on the way home and was quite disoriented upon arriving. She kept saying 'no' over and over and laying on the floor crying. I think she was overwhelmed with being tired, the trip and suddenly being home. After a half hour of trying to get her to calm down and eat something we decided it was best for her to just go to bed. She was out within minutes of being in her crib- and Iwas glad. I had half an inkling that she would have a hard time adjusting to being home again. We all slept in about an hour this morning and Emmaline and Matt have been playing and talking all morning while I've been posting. Although vacations are always nice, its so good to be home!

Week 2

Week 2 wasn't as good as Week 1. Emmaline and Jane really started getting tired of spending all their time together and Emmaline figured out how to make Jane scream. And (holy terror) she enjoyed it! By Wednesday we were doing our best to just keep the girls separated!

We did take them on a few walks and got some cute pics of them being nice to eachother:

And then they went on walks without us... and that was nice too!

We also took the girls to the duck pond to feed the ducks. Emmaline 'got' it a lot better than I thought she would. Unfortunately a lot of the bread she threw went strait down the drainage grate rather than being snatched up by the ducks. But that didn't deter her!

We also went to see her cousins again (pictures of the birthday party are all on other cameras).

I thought it was pretty cute that all three girls were wearing pink.

During Week 2 we also went to church. The ward that Laura and Chris are in is just a Married Student ward, meaning that they don't have a primary. Also, they have a lot of babies but only 2 in nursery! So Emmaline visiting made the nursery 3 kids in total. Big change from the 20 kids that were in nursery when Emmaline started in our ward!

The last 'big' thing that we did (big means I got pictures) was going to the zoo. Emmaline enjoyed pushing the stroller with Andrew in it and pretty much ignored the animals- to be expected.

Laura and I went went shopping on Wednesday (window shopping) as well as going out to eat. Eating out was interesting with both girls- The waitress was first-day-new- and placed us four at a two person table. So we opted to start shoving our stuff onto the next door table to keep it out of reach of the girls.

We also went to book club (talking about Jacob Have I Loved) and we had fruit pizzas for a dessert. Oh My Gosh, they were so good! I thought, oh, I like sugar cookies, I like cream cheese frosting and I like fruit. But I didn't imagine that all three together would be heaven. Sigh. Its nice even just remembering them!

Over all the trip was good. It was hard being away from Matt for so long (I know, I have to get used to it) and it was difficult dealing with Emmaline. She was out of her element and without her dad and had to share toys and I totally understand why she became the Holy Terror but that didn't make it much easier dealing with it. But I did really enjoy talking with Laura a lot, getting to know Chris a little, and seeing Christal and her kids again.

Week 1

The trip was awesome, I'm going to post in a few different parts though.

Week one, we went to Discovery Gateway. I mentioned its quite like a musuem but its all hands on for children. And other than being quite tired, Emmaline loved it.

This is Jane and Emmaline playing at a water area. It had all these hoses and basins and other things that shot water and such. It was pretty fun.

This is Laura and Jane (you can't tell, but Laura is working on #2 so its also the baby as well).

And this, of course, is me and Emmaline. I was pleased that it turned out to be a pretty good picture of me. At least I think so. :)

Also during week 1 we let the girls play outside. Emmaline hates sitting on grass, I found out. I think its sorta prickly. But she did enjoy running around a lot more than I thought she would.

The girls cooperated more during week 1 than during week two and we got pictures of them reading and playing with blocks as well (I love the reading one, we should submit it to some poster contest or something!)

So that was Week 1 in pictures. We did go to the family reunion on Saturday. I enjoyed the first half...basically until Emmaline turned into a holy terror who didn't have a nap. It wasn't my family so I didn't feel nearly as willing to let her run around without watching her every move. No one really knew us and I didn't think they'd automatically watch her like they would their own family. Not that anyone would intentionally let her get hurt or something...you know what I mean.

It was really hot and oddly enough, being under the pavillion wasn't very cooling. The air was stagnant and so it was stuffy as well as hot. Laura and I ended up excaping to her mom's house for an hour in the afternoon so we could have some air conditioning! And Emmaline fell asleep in the car, a double bonus.

Next post, Week 2!