back from the beach.....

with a not so lovely souvenier....



it all started wednesday night at the beach. bubbie, mema and uncle frankie were the first victims. i think mr.bear had a touch while we were there too. then friday night it hit super dad and saturday aunt mel. i thought we were finally turning a corner. super dad was returning to the land of the living.

i should have known something was up when i told sass she didn't have to nap but could just play in here room where she promptly fell asleep on the floor. after the impromteu (and had to be uncomfortable) nap, she meekly came down stairs and snuggled up on my lap. she mentioned her tummy hurting, but often that just means she's hungry, so i attempted to get her to try a bite of granola bar. big mistake. the volcano erupted all over my kitchen floor. and my feet. yuck.

super dad brought home some pedialyte and we let her start sipping some. big mistake number 2. the kitchen floor took another hit. lucky for me, this time it was super dad's feet that fell victim. oh and one of our recliner chairs (not the one she puked in the last time this winter that took weeks to get out the sour milk smell, now we have matching puked on recliners).

all afternoon she insisted on laying on top of me. the only person who has yet to fall victim to puke bug 2010. what are the odds that i'm not puking in the next three days? i'm praying hard that i have an immune system of steel as friday is bubbie's first day of kindergarten and i will be devastated if i can't take him. pray healthy thoughts over this mama please.

okay, so that's all. sorry for writing the most disgusting post ever. i promise for a more appetizing post next time!

babies and banana bread

we made banana bread today. i doctor up the box mix from trader joes. it's yummy. mr.bear liked it. sass though bitty baby would like some too. so we set her up. mama sass and her baby just like me and my baby. i love when they imitate life!

wordless wednesday - back to school

nothing's better than having your big bubbie walk you in our your first day of preschool

not my kid monday

We are putting a spin on Not Me Monday this week. You get a week off from confessing your own "sins" as a mother and get to rat out your little ones and all the things they did not do this week! Head on over the My Charming Kids to join in on this fun blog carnival today!


Last week was our official last week of summer as preschool starts tomorrow. We packed our week with fun which lead to some great funny moments. Here are a few highlights:

I have recently taught Bubbie how to unhook Sass from her car seat. Once the new baby arrives they will both be in the back of the van and I will need his assistance in this for carpool. As he was helping her out he most definitely didn't squeeze her tiny little thighs and tell her " you need to go work out at the gym, your legs are all squishy"! (good thing he hasn't seen my thighs up close lately!!).

Sass just completed her third week of "nymnastics". She has a mind of her own and does what she wants most of the class but the teacher doesn't seem to notice because she is one of the only ones who doesn't wander off so while the teacher is herding back the others, she is doing her "nymnastics" her own way. The teacher has recently been working with them by gently raising their toes up to the bar while they hang from it. Well little monkey girl absolutely did not pull her feet up all by herself and then do a full back flip while holding on the bar totally unassisted not once, but twice, while no one was watching her!


Bubbie also started t-ball this week. Wouldn't you know that the night it is suppose to start the rain started to come. Not being much of an athlete I had no idea really what to expect when we got there. I should have realized lots of red dirt would be involved, which turns quickly to mud once it gets drizzled on, but what did I have to worry about Sass HATES being dirty. She would never sit in this damp, red dirt and play and play and play all while wearing a white outfit. Not my priss pot! And she certainly would not have enjoyed it!

While we are speaking of Miss Sassy Sass, remember all our potty training debacles? Well they are still going on. She knows what to do and will do it when she wants to but there is no making her. I still put a cloth diaper on her at nap and bedtime. The other day I walk into her room after nap and before I could say one word to her she did not tell me her first "lie" ever!! Not my child! At not even 2 1/2 she would never be deceptive enough to say " mommy that is NOT pee pee in my diaper, it's just some water." ( and I would never have to turn my face to not laugh at such a story!)


And lastly, one confession of my own.... as we had a false alarm thinking our newest baby would be here this weekend which ended up just landing me on bed rest, I most definitely did not allow my two year old to nap with me downstairs instead of up in her bed just so I could get a little more snuggle time with her before she wasn't the baby anymore. Nope, not me!

wordless wednesday - not so good at being wordless!

two bitty babies

reading books

in matching dresses

what a wonderful way to spend the day

not me monday..... wedding edition

Not Me Monday is brought to you by one of my favorite blogs, My Charming Kids. This is a place where blog mamas can unite together and confess all their imperfections as moms, you know... all the things we would NEVER really do! ;)

Bubbie was asked to be in his first wedding this past weekend. In celebration of this milestone, I thought it would be fun to do a "Not Me Monday - Wedding Edition"! Enjoy!


Bubbie looked precious in his tux. He was thrilled to be part of the wedding and while waiting for the festivities to begin he was on all his BEST behavior. He certainly was NOT wandering through woods, playing with sticks and dirt just moments before the ceremony. No, not my precious boy!



During the processional, Bubbie had to walk down only about 30 million concrete steps to make it into the gardens. I was NOT holding my breath the entire time. I knew with out a doubt that he would do EXACTLY as he was told, you know being a four year old boy and all!


And during the ceremony I NEVER once had to give him the "eye" to make sure he stood still, and didn't bop any one with the pillow. He absolutely didn't try to hand off the pillow to the Bride numerous times while she was being given away and didn't make a single silly face at me through the entire sacred time. Not this sweet boy!

While we are discussing what angels my children were through out the entire wedding, obviously completely due to my wonderful parenting skills.... let touch on this little person for a minute.


See that sweet little angelic face..... not one time did I have to tell her to be quiet during the ceremony. I absolutely didn't keep handing her things like fans and water bottles in attempt to keep her seated and silent. And it wasn't me who finally resorted to pulling out my Iphone so this tiny little one could play Tinkerbell just to keep her from throwing a massive fit during the vows. What kind of mother would resort to that? Not me! My children always sit and be silent when asked!!

As a matter of fact, my children were perfectly posed through the entire event. I never once worried that they would knock over the cake while running through the reception, or that Sass would have an accident in her beautiful white dress. In fact when we attempted to get a picture of the two of them, they immediately stopped running around like little monkeys and posed beautifully, just like this:


It would never take me jumping up and down and bribing with lollipops to get timeless, cherished shots that I will hold onto forever. And I would never trick them into a photo that they will both hate me for one day just so I could have a precious memory. No, not me!!

update on little miss stubborn

Unfortunately today I was unable to spend the day with Sass. I had a work commitment that I had to keep so she spent the night with my mom and the whole day. I told my mom my thoughts though and told her to just back off and see what she does. She did great. She did nap in a pull up but besides that no accidents all day.

We picked her up around 6 and took her to dinner where she drank an entire juice box. We were headed to Rita's after so I just told her that if she had an accident we couldn't stay and would have to go home. While sitting outside I noticed her doing the "potty dance" so I just gently reminded her if she need to go to tell me. She immediately said " i need to go potty" so off we ran and SUCCESS!! The Rita's man gave her a sticker for her success which made her day!

We played for a little bit after we got home when I noticed her acting a little funny. All of a sudden she goes " I have to poop!", so Super Dad rushed her to the potty. She had already had a little bit of an accident, but was able to finish in the potty! YAY SASS! Success number two!

After that we bathed and got ready for bed. I put a cloth diaper on her trying to back off and not make a big deal. While sitting down stairs all of a sudden we hear a little voice singing that she has to go potty so Super Dad ran upstairs and took her. Success number 3!!

In a matter of 3 hours she told us three times! I have to be gone again all day tomorrow, so we will see how it goes!

the epitome of stubborn

I know she's cute. And she says the darn most adorable things all the time, but good gracious this girl has a mind of her own!

We have officially finished our three days of intense potty training and honestly, I don't think we are one step closer. The girl knows what to do, she's not afraid of the potty and is more than verbal enough to tell me.

She just. doesn't. want. to.

No way, no how. We have done stickers, prizes, jelly beans. You name it, we have tried it, but she wants nothing to do with us asking her, suggesting, nothing. She has to want to do it or she won't. She knows the difference between wet and dry, clean and dirty. She knows how to sit on a big potty, a little potty. She can even take off her clothes and put them back on correctly.

She just. doesn't. want. to.

This has left me in a predicament. I know she is capable. I know she can do it. Do I put her back in diapers? Do I got the pull up route which she treats like diapers? Or do I keep bugging the daylights out of the poor child telling her a million times to "tell mommy when she has to go potty?" I truly am at a loss at what the right thing to do is.

Tonight I had an idea. She's 2. Surely I can out smart the kid, right? Here's my thought.... tell me what you think. She HATES being dirty. We constantly have to have a napkin when we eat, a wet wipe when we paint, so on and so forth, yet she has no problem tinkling in her pants and not telling me because she knows I will make her go potty. She won't tell me if she is wet or dirty even though she knows what that means.

She just. doesn't. want. to.

To me, this means it's reverse psychology time. My plan is to put her in panties and pants. I'm not going to ask her to tell me, or ask her if she has to go, or set a timer, none of it. I am going to totally ignore her in all regards to the potty and let her have an accident. And when she has an accident, I'm just not going to say anything about it. I figure pants will be more uncomfortable wet than if she was just in a dress, but I am totally going to put the ball in her court and let her come to me. I know her and I know she won't like feeling wet. I have never let her stay wet long enough for her to be uncomfortable because I am constantly checking to make sure she is dry and running her to the potty. I am going a totally unconventional route. She's an unconventional girl, what else is to be expected. I am giving her a logical consequence... you tinkle in your pants, you are wet until you tell me, then I will help you solve the problem.

It might not work but I don't know what else to do to get the girl back into the game and I really feel like we made too much progress to go back to diapers, so it's worth a shot. And if you don't like my plan, please don't call DFACS on me. I promise to bathe her and clean her all up after my experiment is over and I won't let her sit around in her dirty undies all day or anything, but I want to see what she will do if I just leave her alone!

potty training bootcamp update - day 2

UPDATE#3!!!
Napped with out a diaper and woke up dry!

UPDATE #2!!!

Guess who told me mid swim lessons that she had to go potty!! She was wet and freezing but she did it!

UPDATE!!!

Guess who woke up DRY this morning!! Woo to the Hoo!!

We are about to embark on day two of our potty training boot camp. I actually hear Sass stirring in her bed as I am typing. Yesterday went pretty well. We did have two BIG accidents, if you catch my drift, but other than that it was just a little sprinkle here or there. She has gotten much better about using her words and letting me know.

Several prizes were earned yesterday. It was such a pretty day I tried to encourage her to pick things we could play outside with like bubbles and chalk. She ended the day picking two little mermaids that came from the dollar store and are now carried everywhere because they are her "friends". We kept the potty outside with us yesterday and I kept her tush exposed so she could see herself start to have an accident and then run to the potty.

Last night I read the "3 Day Potty Training" manual that you can download. It was really easy to read and gave me some great ideas. It was written by a mother of 6, so I am going to attempt to follow her method from here on out. We aren't suppose to go anywhere for the first three days, but Sass does have a swim lesson this morning, so we are going to venture out for that and then rush back home to get back to business. The part of this method that I like the best is you give the control over to your child. Instead of asking them a million times if they have to go potty, you just keep reminding them to "tell mommy if you have to go potty". We did this all day yesterday, and boy not asking them is a hard habit to break, but she was doing really good about telling me more and more as the day went on.

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On another note...... a friend recently sent me this great blog called Faithful Provisions. I highly recommend adding them to your blog reader because she always has the scoop on great deals! Today's great deal that I am going to have to indulge in is a free pastry from Starbucks with the purchase of a coffee. Since I am with child, I have sadly had to give up frozen coffee drinks because they can't make them decaf. The idea of drinking hot coffee though mid July, in the deep south, at 8 months pregnant is so not appealing so, I have now become a fan of iced coffees. My current fave is a decaf, nonfat caramel macchiato. YUM! I will most definitely be stopping by this morning on the way to swimming to pick up my breakfast! You will need to either print off this coupon or show this to the barista on your handheld to get your free pastry! Have a good breakfast!

potty training bootcamp

Sass has been potty training for several months now and we have totally hit a plateau. She will have great days and then really not so great days. She is good as long as we take her ALL the time, but she rarely tells us. Even if she has an accident she only tells us about half the time.

Since Bubbie is away this week at the beach with the "grands" I have decided it's time to go hard core on the potty training. We have been pretty laid back about it and worked on it here and there, but we are going full force now.

First thing first, we needed potty prizes. We have been giving jelly beans for going potty but they obviously aren't working. This afternoon I hit up the good ol' Dollar Tree and started stocking up! Lucky for me, my girl loves her some princesses and Dollar Tree is full of fun princess goodies. We have wands and bubbles, sidewalk chalk, new coloring books, and even pink silly string, plus oh so much more! I really should have taken a picture to show you, maybe tomorrow. Oh, and how could I forget... STICKERS! Must have stickers. Lucky for me, I found a book of 414 Ariel stickers for a $1! YAY!

We started this afternoon. I put all our surprises in a big gift bag and made Sass her first "potty ticket". I wrote the numbers 1-3 on it and started flooding the girl with diluted juice. I explained to her if she went potty in the potty she got to put a stick on one of the numbers and when all the numbers were covered she could trade in her ticket for a surprise. She took to this immediately telling me she had to go potty and Viola! she did. Sticker number 1 was earned. We took our ticket and our stickers to my mom's house for dinner. Sass preceded to then pee on the floor the next 3 times.... uh oh... maybe this isn't going to work. But finally we had two more successes.

She then came home and picked out her first prize, a pink fairy wand that lights up and makes a very magical sound. We made a new ticket, but this time it has the numbers 1-5 on it. She went potty two more times and earned two more stickers... three more to go until she gets back into the prize bag! Yay Sass!

We plan to go no where tomorrow. I am going to oj and cranberry juice this girl as much as I can and hopefully we will get better and better at telling mama when we have to go potty. I trained Bubbie this way with potty tickets and prizes, so hopefully it will work with Sass too!

Pictures and updates to come tomorrow. I'm too tired tonight to work on them!


* image from The EC Store

wordless wednesday

she stole his heart

and still holds it captive...

wordless wednesday

this little light of mine

i'm gonna let it shine!

not me monday

Not Me Monday is brought to you by one of my favorite blogs, My Charming Kids. This is a place where blog mamas can unite together and confess all their imperfections as moms, you know... all the things we would NEVER really do! ;)

I will start off by saying I absolutely would never use my pregnancy as an excuse to eat the dessert picture below. No way, no how! And I totally wouldn't have eaten it for say, three days in a row. That would be just excessive. I never would have justified it by drinking milk and counting the raspberries as fruit serving either. Nope! Not me!


Being an attentive, always on the ball mother, I never would have been so distracted by blogging that my daughter would have had enough time to color all over herself while sitting within inches of me. Not me, I keep an eye on my children at all times.

And in preparations for the Fourth of July, I would never have gone as far as tying red ribbons in Sass' navy blue crocs. Absolutely not! I didn't dress her in red, white and blue as many days as I could this past week just so she could wear them either. That would be way too thematic and bring me back to my first grade teacher days. I'm so not that cheesy!

I absolutely did not condone my brother bribing my 4 year old with $10 to go down the water slide at his neighborhood pool. I didn't encourage it either by explaining to said 4 year old that $10 was enough to buy a new lego set later and I would never had gone as far as telling him I would take him to Target that afternoon to use his $10 towards said Legos. The above mentioned 4 year old didn't ride the slide a thousand times after that because he loved it so much either. Surely you can see the fear in his face.

And lastly, (be grateful I have no pictures of this one), I most definitely didn't try to tiny a URL of directions to our community center this past week and email the link to my friends to only find out that I didn't send them a link to the community center after all.... the link surely wouldn't have directed my friends to an exotic site instead. I absolutely did not laugh so hard that I cried when they called to tell me what I did, sending dirty links on accident is not funny! They would never now refer to music time at the community center as "dirty music time" and I'm sure they will stop teasing me about sending out dirty emails sometime soon!
(PSA: tiny.cc does NOT create 100% unique URLs, learn from my mistake and use tinyurl.com instead and always check your tiny link before sending it or publishing it anywhere!).

Well, that's it! My dirty laundry is aired! Are you brave enough to share yours this week.... come on, you can do it!