Potty Time

Today marks day two of our potty training adventure for our lovely 22 month old.  Yesterday went as expected with numerous accidents on the carpet, patio, garage floor, and twice in the crib at nap-time, all followed by a rush to the restroom to finish off the business there.  All in all a successful day.  Today, however, is not quite going as expected.  Gilana was slightly wet this morning, but after I woke her in attempt to use the toilet first thing, there has been nothing to report.  Nothing.  She has not relieved herself since that slight dampness this morning at 7 am.  It is now nearly 3 pm and while she has done some odd little dances and drank a large quantity of fluids she has not succumbed to the embarrassment of potty on the toilet.  I do not force her to sit there, but we do speak of it often.  The teddy bears have used it today and have gotten rewards for that, but Gigi has not.  She's a little tank, but alas, she will pop soon, and then I shall have a lot of cleaning on my hands.  The sterilizers and others cleaning instruments are ready, as are the change of sheets, clothing, and sweet little toddler undies.  We are on a mission to potty train.

Camelia at 9 months!

Camelia just hit the nine months mark today (Gilana is now 22 months).  Meli made it official yesterday by standing up in the middle of the room... and just stayed there, not sure what to do next other than balance in place and watch her sister's antics with Daddy.  She required so assistance to get up, stand there, or later to ease back down and crawl forward towards her next target.  Today she stood up next to the hutch and took some steps alongside.  She is such a sweet little gem, and we are so enjoying the pure joy of time with her.  She applauds exuberantly when Daddy comes home from work (or even comes back to her after being in another room), Camelia is quite gracious with offering her family kisses, and loves being loved.  She is a delightful little snuggle-chunk!

Birthday Adventuring

For several weeks Byron expressed his excitement for my birthday.  I on the other hand was not so thrilled.  My days had been rather long and trying, and I don't get excited about surprises because I don't know what I am supposed to be getting excited for.  So two days prior to the big day, Byron revealed his plans for me.  My excitement started to grow.

Morning with the girls

 

Breakfast with dear friends

Church, listening to a sermon by our beloved pastor with dear friends

Put the girls down for naptime at home and leave them to the care of Alexandru and Kelsey!


Sushi in Glendale

Stroll through the Americana

Couple's Massage

Stroll around Pasadena

Dinner at the Melting Pot

A FULL NIGHT'S Rest at our Honeymoon Hotel in Burbank

Home for a pool party with the cuties

Baseball Training

Daddy will be so proud...

Gilana found our sports collection and started naming off the baseballs and basketballs.  She then proceeded to extract the baseball glove from the assortment and inserted a baseball in the center.  Perfect fit!  All of this done without my involvement or input.  Little smarty.

Camelia's Teeth

Two more today! Now she has two bottom and one top right.  Lookout world, Camelia can bite!!

Sleeping progress

After Camelia's second crying episode of 2.5 hours tearing my heart to pieces, we decided to put the girls into separate rooms so that Camelia's stubborn sleep habits would not negatively impact Gilana.  I plan on them being in the same room again after this baby stage, but for now this is the best thing for our family.  Once Byron and I determined to separate them last week, we went straight to work rearranging the rooms in time for bed.  This required dismantling Meli's crib and determining furniture placement using this handy tool.  Byron made the call to no longer have a guest room as it made the 10' by 10' rooms too cramped with a cribs, armoire, desk, futon, rocking chairs, and bookcases spread out between them.  After a couple hours of concentrated effort all was ready and lovely for the babes.  That night Camelia went right to sleep after only 5 minutes fuss in her new room.  Nights have gotten progressively easier.  Success!!!

An Encouragement

Here's a little something I borrowed from another blog. Some encouragement of eternal worth.  

Motherly Greatness

2010 at 11:35 am   |   by Kristin Chesemore
Filed under Motherhood “The mother is the hub of the home, holding all the spokes in place. Without her being at her post, the family spins out of control and falls apart.” Mark Chanski

When school starts, do you find that it gets more difficult to “hold all the spokes in place”? I sure do.

On a typical day I must get my son, Andrew, out the door for school (with homework, lunch and back-pack), clean up from breakfast, homeschool my two younger boys, pay the bills, drive to an afternoon activity, get home in time to meet Andrew and help him with homework, prepare dinner for my family and a guest, do dishes, catch up on laundry and finally clean up my house which looks like it has been visited by a tornado.

Just another ordinary day in the life of a mom. But so often, I go through these ordinary days far more aware of what I am giving than whom I am serving.

I need my gaze lifted beyond my daily duties to my eternal mission as a mother. In his book, Womanly Dominion, Mr. Chanski brings us encouragement right where we need it:

“There she sits exhausted on the edge of her bed, her face in her hands, wondering, “Where's the glory in this?”

She needs something more empowering to keep her going.

She needs to gain and maintain the deep conviction of the glory, honor, and nobility of selfless service. This she finds at the foot of the cross, looking up to the One who earned for Himself “the name which is above every name” (Philippians 2:9), by “emptying Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant” (2:7), humbling “Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (2:8). There she beholds her Savior who mopped up the damning vomit of her own sin with the precious sponge of His perfect life and atoning death. The love of Christ constrains and compels her to press on (2 Corinthians 5:14). The Spirit of Christ empowers her” (pp. 120-121, emphasis mine).

Are you having a hard time being “the hub” today? Then "fix your eyes on Jesus” (Heb. 12:2-3), ask Him for help and strength, and thank Him for the honor of being a mother.

Camelia Cries

Byron just reminded me that there was a point when Camelia couldn't cry past 5 minutes without getting exhausted and needing a break.  Well, those days are over.  After 1.5 hours, Camelia is still crying.  She is not in pain, is perfectly content when held, she just wants to play.  The wee hours of the morning are not the time for that.  So she cries, and we sit awake, periodically checking on her to remind her of the time.

I plan on trying a new approach to this sleeping issue.  For the next couple days I will be the one awaking her in the middle of the night to disrupt this pattern.  We shall see how it fares.

In other news, she broke her first tooth two days ago, and was declared to be in the 95th percentile for height, weight and head circumference.  She is terribly cute, loves being gushed over, and yesterday was discovered standing next to the big piano playing a tune.  Meli waves hello and good-bye at the appropriate times, and is nearly 8 months old.

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Hopefully I will get a tad bit more sleep before my day actually begins.  This episode began prior to 4 am and Camelia is finally fast asleep and perfectly content.  She sure is cute and snuggly for such a demanding little munchkin.

DADDY

I love being a dad and tonight reminded me why.

It was the annual church carnival and we decided to take the girls (even though it was way past their bed time). Camelia was strapped to mommy and GG clutched my neck as we rushed to the fun.

Initially Gilana was intimidated by all the excitement. But after a little cotton candy, a snow cone, petting rabbits, and a balloon flower from aunt Erin she was having a marvelous time!

GG was holding tight to her daddy the majority of the night as we explored the transformed church.  Her frequent screams of delight and sweet little laugh brought joy to my heart.

Then came my favorite moment of the Carnival.  As things were closing down and the exhilaration of the night was ending Gilana and I strolled away from the crowd to wait for mommy.  We sat on a small wooden bench and as we sat she stopped to look at me.  With a huge smile she patted me on the leg and lovingly said "daddy".

Then to top the night off Gilana set the record for sweetness.  I was going through the routine where she said goodnight to Momma and Camelia.  Then as I was putting her in the crib, she squeezed me around the neck and said "wuv wa daddy".

Being a daddy is wonderful!

Camelia Can Crawl!!!

Camelia crawled for the first time last night, and has been enjoying her new found freedom since.  She seems to discover her new ability afresh each time and sets forth with sweet enthusiasm.  We are so proud of our little munchkin.  She is chattering, screeching with delight, sitting up and rolling over with such ease.  Every morning we find her moving about in her crib with great determination to find what lies beyond her reach.  She is growing up, and it is bittersweet indeed.

Happenings

This last week saw some rather momentous events with Camelia pulling herself up to stand on her own for the first time.  She can now rock back and forth in the crawling position, and on Sunday evening sat herself up!  Gilana surprised us several nights ago by singing her own rendition of "Amazing Grace" to us at bedtime.  This was especially shocking as we seldom sing that hymn to her at night.

7 & 20 Months

Cousins and Uncles and Aunties!

Aunties Tammy and Tiffany came down with baby William for a visit two weeks ago.  It became a wild event of family reunions, with all of my siblings together in one place for the first time in a long time!  The cousins all met eachother.  Gilana (19 months), William (9 months), Camelia (6 months), and Aiden (1 month) made for quite the baby spectacular.

 

Camelia met her Auntie Tiffy for the first time!

Hopefully I will have more pics to add soon!

Gigi's Hooliganisms

Gilana is a hooligan.  We are always expecting something fantastic may happen at any given moment.  Especially when the foreboding tones of silence fall across the house.  I asked Gilana this morning, "Are you silly?"  She responds with confidence dripping from her springing curls, "Yeah," and then goes back to attempting to eat our furniture.

This morning I come across our little toddler taking the cap off Byron's deodorant and smearing it across her face.  I believe she thought it to be chap stick.  She was mistaken.

Immediately after this rather humorous situation, I hear Camelia's monitor picking up some static.  She only recently went down for her nap and should not have been stirring.  I walk into the room to find Gilana squatting next to her now waking sister in the crib obviously considering what her next move should be.

A short while after this, Gilana came running up to me with a big vivacious smile exclaiming "MMMMM, Yummy juice!"  I looked into the dining room to discover that the remainder of Byron's iced coffee and some of his cinnamon roll were missing.  She might not need a nap for a while.

Blue

Gigi enjoys coloring and has labeled all colors and doodling related to it as "blue."  Our sweet dear has managed to not damage anything in her current love for the arts.  Until yesterday.  In about five minutes of obviously unsupervised play while I prepared dinner, Gilana managed to highlight Camelia's upper lip green, doodle ferociously across two seat cushions in a permanent marker, and finally, hid the pens back in their "no-touch" locations. 

If Mommy doesn't see me do it, do I still get in trouble?  Yes.