Saturday, January 17, 2009

My Gym & The Kiddos

This weekend has already been so busy! On Friday Heather and I took the kids to My Gym in Hendersonville. I have been trying to find a place I loved for Tessa's 3rd birthday party and I wanted to see what My Gym was all about! It is a great place to take your little ones for classes that have dance, songs, gymnastics, and play time! However, it is not near big enough for our large group of friends and family! We have decided to look elsewhere for Tessa's party but we had such a fun time going to the class on Friday. Here are some pics!

Tessa walking across the bridge.


Harrison playing in his carrier.


Tessa & Isabella on the trampolines.




Of course Tessa wants to sit right in the middle of the group!




Here are some recent pics of the kids!










On a side note, Tessa is doing so good at going to the potty now! That first week is torture and I felt like a monster but now she does great! We haven't had an accident in over a week and she now wears her panties when we go out. She still wears a pull-up at nap time and bed time but otherwise she is in big girl panties! I cannot get over how quickly our little ones grow up!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Potty Training 101--Take 2

Back in June I created a post about potty training Tessa. Lets just say that it did not go well at all and we quit after two weeks. Now, seven months later, we are at it again and she is doing so much better! We started on Monday and she is slowly, very slowly, getting the hang of things. I have received so much advice on this subject. I have tried alot of different tactics but I learned that I have to just try them all and see what works best for Tessa. Here is the game plan: panties or bare bottom during the day while we are at home. Pull ups at night, at day school, and if we go anywhere. My pediatrician suggested bare bottom because she was still pottying in her panties. So now if she pee pees in her potty she gets to go pick out a pair of panties to wear until the next potty time. If she wets in her panties it is back to bare bottom. We set a timer to go off every 45 minutes to sit on the potty. If she has to go before then I encourage her to tell me or to just go to her potty herself. Today she sat on her potty and went poo poo! Then a hour later she sat down again and went pee pee! This is after me dragging her to the potty to sit on it and her crying and screaming at me because she is mad. When she finally goes she is so happy and proud of herself! Her rewards for using the potty are M & Ms and her potty chart with stickers. A friend of mine suggested the potty sticker chart and Tessa loves it! Each time she uses the potty she gets to put a sticker on her chart. She loves stickers so this is great for her. We are still learning and trying to get it right but I am so proud of my big girl! Here are some pics below and yes...once again...I know she will kill me for these later!

The tools: Potty chair that sings music when she uses it, Potty Sticker Chart, M & Ms, Potty Book


Potty Sticker Chart




Tessa in her Elmo undies!

Monday, January 5, 2009

Bathtime!!!

We gave Tessa & Harrison a bath together for the first time Saturday night! We had been out to dinner and shopping so we got home late. I thought it would be easier than giving two baths like I normally do. Greg and I had a good plan. I would bath them and then pass them off to him one by one to get diapers, jammies, lotion, etc. It worked out great! Here are some pics!


After their bath with daddy!

New Year's Day 2009

We did not get to have Christmas at mom's house because my grandmother is staying with her to recover from her surgery. Instead we went over there on New Year's day to eat lunch and hang out. We had so much fun and the kids loved seeing their GiGi and Papaw!











More Christmas Photos

I am way behind on my blogging because of the holidays and a sick family! I am attempting to catch up while both the kids are currently napping! We will see how far I get!

Christmas was wonderful this year except for the fact that Harrison did not feel good all through the Christmas visits! After Christmas we found out he had RSV. Ten days later he was better! Tessa had RSV also but she was 10 months old when she got it and he is only 3 months! We went to the Dr three times in four days, had breathing treatments, blood drawn, oxygen levels monitored, heart rate monitored. etc. After all of this the poor little guy was just worn out! He is feeling better now but he was not himself at all through Christmas. You can tell in some of the photos that he doesn't feel well! Poor baby! We all had a wonderful time with family and friends and we are so blessed! My grandmother had open heart surgery during this time and mom also made an ER visit. Needless to say, we have had alot of health issues lately in our family but everyone is doing much better now! Thank you Lord! Here are some pics through the holiday season! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas this year as we did!