Unexpected Leap (aka Paige's Crappy Day)

We are not currently potty training Paige. We weren't really planning on it until we were finished moving and settled this fall. But Paige has decided over the last month or two that she doesn't like pooping, and will hold it in until she absolutely can't anymore. It's been an uncomfortable experience for her and anyone else around.

She'd reached maximum capacity this morning and was having to stop every 5-10 minutes to clench and cry. With both of us already miserable, I plopped her on the toilet for a change of scene. And it worked! She pooped! In the toilet!

I'm way more excited than she is. I gave her a big hug and kiss, telling her what a good, big girl thing she did. She just cried and asked for a diaper. She wasn't super happy until she got a bunch of candy and we called a bunch of people to celebrate...Thank you, everyone I called, for pretending to be enthusiastic about my daughter's bowel movement.

This Just In!

Okay, so this would have been posted last week, except for the fact that we all got sick the day after Valentines and are just getting over it. Being sick is the pits, though it's sure better when your bunk-mates are these guys:

When you get lots of snuggles:

And when the little one is content to just color and watch 'shows' all day:


Backtracking a little though, Paige recently learned the word 'cookie', so for Valentines Day, we decided to make sugar cookies.

Tayva and Calvin then came over to help us decorate the few cookies that actually made it past the sly fingers of my little helper and into the oven. It made for a fun afternoon.


Finally, in case you missed our formal announcement:

Badly-Captured Moments

Perhaps it's just been too long since either of us have handled a camera, but Jeff and I are not in a picture-taking groove at all. Our new camera came the other day and we've only taken about six pictures with it, and most of them are off-par for one reason or another. All the same, here they are:


They say that children learn different things when they're with their father that they don't learn from their mom. This is what I woke up to yesterday morning...

This, on the other hand, she might have gotten from me, along with the sympathetic crying she did when Gabe fell off and conked his head.

Finally, winter actually arrived today. As pretty as it is, there are crocuses starting to come up in the front yard, so it better leave again soon. Humph.