Potty Training with Luke

This week we have decided to tackle potty training!  I knew from very early on that I wanted to wait until the summer before your 3rd birthday to begin potty training.  I had heard horror story after horror story of moms trying to potty train their little boys too early and it just ended in disaster.  That being said, I knew with your 3rd birthday around the corner, it was the perfect time to get you out of diapers and into big boy underwear.  Lucky for me, you had gone pee pee many times on the potty before.  You loved when we would set you on the toilet before bath and let you pee like a big boy.  You were comfortable with the idea of peeing in the potty, so now all we had to do is get you to tell us ever time you needed to go.  This was going to be that hard part.  We decided to do a mini "boot Camp" and stay home all weekend and let you run around in your underwear and use the bathroom as much as possible.  We bribed you with M&M's, lolly pops and gummy worms.  The first 2 days it worked like a charm!  You only had 1 accident the very first morning and were doing so well that we decided to take you to Gigi and PopE's for dinner with all the family.  You even did great there.  We honestly were so proud of you and wondered why we didn't do this whole potty training thing earlier. Just as we were getting our confidence up, came day 3! Day 3 was TERRIBLE!! There were a lot of tears and refusing to go to the potty.  This is probably because you needed to go Poo-poo and were scared to go in the potty.  You had 4 accidents and I wanted to throw in the towel and give you your diaper so badly.  I ended up not giving up and am so glad I didn't because day 4 was GREAT!  You didn't have a single accident all day and even went Poo-poo on the potty all by yourself!  We are currently on day 5 and so far you are telling me every time you need to pee and most of the time are asking to pee outside.  Such a boy! I honestly don't care where you pee as long as it isn't in your pants!!  Here are a few pics from our potty training adventure so far!

Ava's First Birthday

I can not believe my sweet baby girl is already ONE year old!  This year has been so wonderful and has absolutely flown by.  With two children under the age of 3, I have been quite busy to say the least.  You are such a sweet girl and to say I'm a little obsessed with you would be an understatement.  For your first birthday we decided to throw you a party at the house and invite our family and close friends over to celebrate with you.  It was such a sweet little celebration and everyone who loves you was so excited to come and celebrate. Here are a few pictures from the fun day!

Well, as you can probably tell from the date of this post, life got kinda crazy with two children and blogging took a major backseat!  My mom conscious got ahold of me though and I am going to do my best to catch up on all major milestone and start keeping better track of everything again.  Since I lost track of time, I am going to do a little summary of the past year below and then continue blogging with present day stuff.  Ok here we go........

Three Months Old

     Month three has probably been the most fun yet!  You had a lot of firsts this month which always makes it fun and your little personality is really starting to shine through.  You are the sweetest and most smiley baby I have ever met!  You absolutely love to interact with others and even giggle every now and then!  You love your Mommy and Daddy and think your brother is the best thing since sliced bread.  Everything he does is so captivating to you and you had your first laugh or shall I say string of laughs while watching him jump up and down.  I don't know what about it you found so amusing, but he had you laughing for about 2 minutes straight!  It is my favorite thing ever to watch you two interact and I can only imagine that if you love him this much now, you will love him even more as you get older!

   
This month you continued to grow like a weed!  You are wearing some 3-6 month clothing a some 6 month onesies.  You are also now officially in size 2 diapers.  We bought you a 6 month bathing suit for our beach trip and had to stuff you in it because you had already basically outgrown it before you even wore it.  I guess mommy should have tried it on you first huh?

   
Your sleep habits are getting better and better and you even slept through the night this month several times.  Well what I consider to be sleeping though the night which is 12+ hours.  The first time you slept through the night was the first week of September (9/2/2013) to be exact.  You slept from 8:45pm- 8:00am.  I was so excited because I honestly was getting exhausted and thinking you might never do it. You did it again the next night too and then decided that it was enough and you wanted to wake up around 4-5am again for the next two weeks. Boo! It wasn't until 9/22/13 that you decided you wanted to do it again and this time you slept until 8:30am! So far you have slept through the night for the past two nights so hopefully this is going to stick and you continue being my wonderful little sleeper!  You are so easy to put to bed too! I feed you, burp you, swaddle you and then lay you down in your crib.  Its that easy! You are normally out by the time I get to the bottom of the stairs but if not its only like a minute after.

 
This month you took your first real vacation to Hilton Head Island to celebrate my 30th birthday.  The drive normally takes about 6 hours but with two small children it took more like 8 hours.  You absolutely HATE your car seat so keeping you happy during this trip was rather interesting.  Lets just say that mommy rode the majority of the 8 hours in the back seat trying to entertain you and your brother.  When you weren't sleeping, I was holding a paci in your mouth or feeding you!  Yes we were those bad parents that fed you while driving.  I know, I know, its a major No No but I made your dad drove extra slow and was super careful!

The beach itself was a short lived experience for you.  The first day we were there, we packed everything up and headed down to the beach.  We brought a big tent for you and I to sit under, a baby tent for you to sleep in, bottles, towels, toys, etc.  You name it, we brought it.  Well the first 5 minutes were great, you loved your tent and liked hearing the ocean waves but that all changed rather quickly.  Next thing we knew, the tent blew away and sand was blowing in our faces and you were over it! ha!  Your "beach" trip quickly turned into a pool trip. haha. Thats ok! We tried and I know in a few months you will love the beach as much as your big brother does!

Besides the actual beach portion of your trip, you loved Hilton Head!   We had wonderful weather and you had lots of new scenery to take in.  You were a little angel and we joked that we forgot you were there at times since you were so quiet and happy just hanging out.

You have truly been a sweet little blessing and we have had a wonderful first 3 months with our baby girl!!

   

Ava's Birth Story (6/4/2013)

Ava's Birth Story

    June 4, 2013 was the day our sweet Ava Kate made her debut into the world.  Since we had a scheduled induction, we were able to start our day off by waking up at our house and getting all the last minute things together to leave Luke for the next 2-3 days.  Honestly, I was not nervous at all about having a baby but nervous that I would be leaving Luke for the first time with someone other than John or myself for several days.  Lucky for me, Nana and Papa love Luke so much that it made it a lot easier to leave and be excited about going to meet our baby girl!  We left the house around 6:30am and headed for Ft.Sanders Hospital.  We pulled into the same parking garage that we did 21 months earlier and parked in almost the same spot.  We went inside and filled out our paper work and then we were assigned to the same hospital room that we had Luke in.  It was really sweet to think that both Luke and Ava would take their first breath in the same room and the two best days of my life would happen in the exact same spot! It couldn't be any more perfect of a situation for this momma! Well I take that back, maybe it would be a tad better with a view of something else besides that awful UT stadium sitting right outside my window! ha! But just know that your dad thought the view was amazing and was loving every minute of it. 

    Once we were settled into our room, the nurse came in and handed me my gown and started hooking me up to the machines and putting in my IV.  Since this was my second time having a baby, I knew that putting in the IV was one of the worst parts so I was glad to put that part behind me.  The nurse then started the first round of Strep B antibiotics and then we began the waiting game.  Around 9 am Dr. Saunders came and broke my water and started the pitocin drip.  From there John and I just hung out and waited for the contractions to begin.  Once they started, they came hard and fast.  With that being said, I asked for my epidural and was happy to have a little relief from the contractions.  For the next hour, my epidural worked wonderfully, then just like it did with Luke, my epidural stopped working on my right side.  Knowing that this happened before, my anesthesiologist came back in and replaced my epidural so that the medicine would flow evenly to both sides of my body.  Through this process we realized that my spine may be slightly curved and if I ever need an epidural again the doctor needs to place it a hair to the right in order for it to disperse the medicine evenly.   Once he got the epidural fixed, they placed me on my left side because the epidural was messing with my blood pressure a bit and they were trying to fix it without medicine.  After a few minutes went by I realized that I was not feeling normal and when John looked up at all the machines, he saw that my blood pressure was dropping and at a rather rapid pace.  All of a sudden I felt a wave of sickness and the machines started going crazy! My blood pressure plumited to 80/40 and John went running into the hall for the nurse.  Apparently 80/40 is a tad bit scary because several nurses as well as the anesthesiologist came flying in to the room with medicine to put into my IV to bring my blood pressure back up.  It worked for a bit and then they had to come back in with more medicine to keep my blood pressure up and at a stable condition.  
    At around noon, Sheryl and Annie were coming to visit and bring John lunch.  Just as they arrived, Dr. Saunders was checking my progress and to our surprise, I was 10 cm and ready to push!  This was absolute crazy news for us considering I didn't deliver Luke until 9:40pm and we were thinking it was going to be another long day with Ava.  Hearing this, I immediately called my mom (Nana and Papa) and told them to get up to the hospital and fast!  I sat quiet and still for about 20 minutes trying to give everyone a chance to get up to the hospital so they could be there ( in the waiting room) when Ava arrived.  Once we knew everyone was on their way, I started pushing.  It took 3 rounds of contractions and 9 pushes and we had our sweet baby girl! It was such a wonderful experience and sweet Ava was absolutely perfect! She was 8lbs 5oz and 22 inches long with a full head of BROWN hair ha!  If I didnt just see her come out, I would have never believed she was mine with all that dark hair!  She was beautiful!   John cut the umbilical cord and stood right with her the entire time they were cleaning her up and taking her measurements.  
    Once they were done cleaning Ava, they handed her off to me for some sweet snuggles and her first feeding!  It was such a sweet time and I just loved staring at all of her little features.  When we finished nursing, the families came in and met her.  It was so sweet and everyone was in love!  Once she met everyone, the nurses took her back to examine her closely and give her her first vaccines.  The nurses were a little concerned at first because her mouth was a bit blue at birth but turns out she was only bruised because of how fast her delivery went.  She was checked out and was perfect as can be!  
The rest of the day was spent hanging out with a few guests popping in to meet Ava.  We knew we wanted to bring Luke up to the hospital to meet his sister but figured that day 2 was probably a better idea so we could do it in the morning and he would be rested and happy to see her.
     The following day, Nana and Papa brought Luke up to the hospital to meet his new sister.  John went and met them downstairs and  they all came up together.  It was honestly a moment I will never forget. It was so sweet to see Luke look at his sister for the first time.  He was so sweet to her and gave her a kiss on her head!  I instantly teared up at the sight of him kissing her and knew that this was the beginning of the best years of my life.  I had the perfect family with a sweet little boy and a precious little girl!  I was blessed beyond anything I could ever ask for or deserve!  After Luke spent some quality time with his new sister, he went to lunch with John and Papa while Nana stayed with me and Ava.  It was good for him to get some quality time with his daddy.  
    The next day, we were given the green light to go home and were packed and on our way by 2pm.  We put our sweet baby girl in the car, took a deep breath and headed home to start our new life as a family of four!!

Flopsy!

Flopsy

Ok, So I think I may have mentioned in a previous post that you have a best friend named Flopsy.  Flopsy is your grey bunny that you are absolutely in love with.  I dont even know if the word Love is strong enough for the way you feel about your Flopsy.  Its more like an obsession really.  You bring her everywhere and the moment you leave the room, she has to go with you.  She has been everywhere from the park, to lunch, dinner, the zoo, Home Depot, the grocery store, etc.  Really she is just like another child now and she goes everywhere we go.  At first I tried to make you leave her in the car places and then I quickly realized that it was not an option if I wanted a happy toddler so she just comes along.  Here are a "few" pic of the many pictures we have of you and Flopsy......

 Testing Flopsy out in your sisters swing....

 At Home Depot......

 Hanging out while mommy gets ready.....

 Getting ready for the pool.....

 Day Dreaming.....

 In your crib...and might I mention that you LOVE to put Flopsy's tag in your ear and your eye!

 At Publix

 Eating Ice Cream at lunch

 Watching TV

 In Daddys truck 

 Eating Breakfast on the couch

 Riding your car

 Riding your car

 Throwing a tantrum

Having an afternoon snack

As you can see Luke, your love for Flopsy runs deep!  She is by far your best friend and you love her to pieces.  I only hope we can manage to never lose her because you would be one upset little boy! ha.  We have tried replacement bunnies and you know the difference right away!  Flopsy is your one and only and I sure hope your college roommate is ok with her because at the rate were going, I have a feeling she may be making an appearance at Auburn with you! ha! I love you sweet boy!

xoxo,

Mommy

Just the three of us....

Just the three of us.....

Well Lukey, we are coming up on the last couple days of being a family of three.  The last days of you being our only child and our baby.  Soon you will become a big brother and the oldest child.  I can honestly say that I have had a mix of emotions about this and am probably going to have a harder time with the thought of you not being our baby anymore than you will.  While I keep referring to you as our baby, you most certainly are not a baby.  You are a full blown toddler with a mind of your own.  Right now you are 21 months old and into EVERYTHING!  You are all boy and I love that about you.  You are rough and tough but still have a sensitive side for the things you love.  You fall hard and get back up but also always carry Flopsy (your bunny) in one arm.  Speaking of Flopsy, you have quite the obsession with her!  She is by far your best friend and goes with you everywhere.  We cant leave the room without her let alone the house.  She goes to eat, the grocery store, the park, the pool, the zoo, and really anywhere you go.  At first, I used to try and make you leave her in the car when we went places but I quickly realized that it was not worth the fight so Flopsy just comes along.  She is probably disgustingly dirty but you love her anyway.  I can only hope you love your new sister as much as you love Flopsy! ha!  

This past week we brought out some of your sisters baby equipment to hopefully get all your curiosity out of the way so when we bring your sister home you will be ok with her using it.  I had nightmares (not really but kinda) of you pushing the baby swing so high that Ava flew out so we wanted you to spend a week or two working on swing rules before we actually put a baby in it. This by no chance means I will actually leave you alone with your sister swinging ha, but hopefully now you now that it is not a toy and that we need to be gentile with it.  We practiced using Flopsy as our test dummy and you did a pretty good job most of the time being gentile.  Like I said, you are all boy so you definitely had your moments of wanting to see it really fly! ha!  

Thinking about the coming days and leaving you to go to the hospital to have your sister has been really tough.  Honestly, it is the part that scares me most.  You are my little buddy and we do everything together.  You are always by my side and we have our routines so thinking of not being a part of that is killing me.  I have left you a few times before but always with your dad so this time just feels different.  Even though daddy will be visiting with you every day and coming home to put you to bed at night, I still just feel out of sorts.  Im sure you wont even notice i'm going with all the spoiling Nana and Papa will do to you but I just want you to remember how much I love you and that nothing will take your place!  

Lukey, you are my first baby and my little boy and quite frankly i'm kind of obsessed! I know that I have enough love for both you and your sister but I just want you to always know that too! You are the one that made me a mom and the one that changed my life forever!  You will always have a special place in my heart and I love you to the moon and back!  Hopefully these next couple weeks will be an easy transition for  you and you will love having a baby sister.  I promise to always make special time just for you and that we will continue to be the best of friends! I love you!!

                               xoxo, 

                                    Mommy