Operation :: Potty Training

A couple of weeks ago we decided it was time to bite the bullet and potty train Lucy. She was SO ready...Josh and I were just hesitant/scared to do it! We followed the 3 Day Potty Training method and it worked great for Lucy. We only focused on daytime training though...we figured we'd conquer nighttime training later. Lucy still wakes up in the morning with a really full pull-up, and we're finally getting over about a 3 month battle with getting out of her bed throughout the night, so we didn't want to mess with anything at night right now. The first day of training, Lucy was SO excited to wear big girl panties and she had fun throwing away all of her diapers! She was pretty much pee pee potty trained in one day...she totally got it. But poop has been a different issue that we're still working on. She has gone poop in the potty several times, but she really prefers to poop in her panties when we put her down for her nap. I know she'll get it soon! We're so proud of Lucy...and very thankful to only have one child in diapers.

First day in panties!

We used lots of positive reinforcement at first! She would get to put a sticker on her potty chair and 3 fruit snacks every time she went pee pee. After the first week, we slowly "weaned" her from the pee pee rewards and now she only gets a reward (a sucker) when she goes poop in the potty.

I only left the house for church during those 3 days, so I might have drank at least 2 glasses of wine each night! We were exhausted and stir crazy!

At the end of day 3...way to go Lucy Girl!!! 

Lucy's First Haircut 9.6.13

Lucy had her first haircut today! She just got a trim to straighten out the bottom, but she did great...especially since she got to eat TWO suckers and watch a movie! She thought it was awesome!

Swim Lessons...

This week is our 3rd and final week of swim lessons for the summer. They have been a huge success...Lucy loves it! And she is so much more confident in the water! I mean, look at her in these pictures... :)

Jumping with Dad..

February 2013 Insta-Dump...

Chef Lucy...

Cowgirl Lucy...

Beautiful Kalie on her way to 5th grade Cotillion...

Sleeping beauty...

Feet are yummy...

And fun to play with...

Best dad ever...

Valentine's for our family...

And school friends...

Lucy transitioned into a toddler bed on Feb. 15th!  So far, she has done great in her big girl bed!

This little one has been battling back to back double ear infections...she ended up in our bed a few times at night!  Poor baby...

Trouble...with a capital T.

Happy June...

Big girl bun after bath time...

We went to see Elmo (Sesame Street Live) with Gigi!  Lucy LOVED it!

That balloon cost TEN dollars.  Ridiculous.  But her smile...worth it!

June's first time in the swing...

Playing in the creek with dad in her rain boots...

Junes loves prunes...

and Mum Mums...

Pondering...

Dreaming...

Lucy is a closet pooper...

And quite possibly the cutest little lady I've ever seen!!

Getting rid of the paci...

As of this past Friday (May 11th) Lucy is officially PACI FREE!!! With the impending arrival of baby #2 in just 3 short months, we decided that we needed to wean Lucy from the paci now or wait until after she has fully adjusted to having a little sister (which could take awhile). When Lucy turned one, we only allowed her to have her pacis in her crib for bedtime and nap time. The transition went fairly well, but a couple of months ago when she learned how to say "paci", she started asking for it all of the time...and it was beginning to drive both Josh and I nuts! It was literally making me go so crazy, that I started giving in to her requests and letting her have her paci outside of her crib when she was fussy or whining (bad momma, I know). It takes Lucy a bit to adjust to change, so I knew going cold turkey would not work for her. So, a couple of weeks ago I slightly clipped the tips of all of her pacis (she usually had 2-3 in her crib at a time - one to suck on and the others to hold on to/play with). It really didn't bother her at first...I could tell she noticed a small difference, but she still sucked on it to fall asleep. And the biggest (and best) difference is that she stopped asking for it during the day after a few days...a small battle won! Every 2-3 days, I clipped a little bit more off the tip. Eventually, it was just a little nub and it was getting harder and harder for her to keep it in her mouth. This went on for about 2 weeks (maybe a couple of day over 2 weeks). This past Friday we started our normal bedtime routine of reading a few books and then rocking and singing Jesus Loves Me before putting her in her crib. That evening she did not ask for her paci when we were rocking, so I just went with it and didn't offer it to her. When I laid her in her crib, I bit the bullet and pulled the other pacis out before she noticed them. She did start asking for her paci and I told her that her pacis went bye bye and that pacis are for babies. Of course she quickly started crying. I patted her a few times on the back and told her to hang on to her lovie and left the room. Thinking it would be a long night, Josh and I prepared ourselves for the worse. But literally after a minute of crying she stopped and started talking to herself (like normal) and fell asleep shortly after! We were shocked...and so excited! She slept all night long and woke up around 7:30am the next morning (a little earlier than normal). She's doing great a bedtime (still shedding a few quick tears right when we lay her down) and pretty well at nap time. She goes down fine for her nap, but she's waking up earlier than normal (and sometimes during her nap). Hopefully we'll return to the 2.5-3 hour nap soon. All in all, it's been a pretty seamless and easy transition....easier than I thought it would be at least! I was scared to death to do it, but I'm so glad we did!

Some other fun tidbits about Lucy right now....she has started saying her name, which is so stinking cute I can hardly stand it! And she's started associating things that belong to her...like "Lucy's shoes" or "Lucy's milk." She can pretty much repeat any words we ask her to say and she is combining 2-4 words together. It really is amazing how fast her little vocabulary is increasing.

Lucy love animals and she's learned several new sounds over the past week....monkey, snake, cat, lion, bear, elephant and alligator. Here is a video of her and dad practicing a few days ago...

Sippin' from a straw...

Lucy figured out how to drink from a straw this afternoon! I think she drank more water today than she ever has. Her clothes were soaked, but at least we had some fun! She likes to chew on the end of it too...just like her momma!

{There is water in that cup...not Diet Dr. Pepper. Promise.}

On the move...

Lucy is getting faster and faster everyday! She can even spin herself around pretty quickly...it's too funny! She looks like a cute little lazy susan!

Spinning...

She also waves all of the time...at everybody and everything...

My new normal...

Lucy can't get enough of Chloe and Kaci....she LOVES her puppy dogs!

She's crawling!!

Well, I was at book club and missed the big moment....but Lucy started crawling tonight!! Like, legit crawling. After 2 or so months of trying, she finally got it! Josh said that it completely took him by surprise....they were playing on the floor in her room before bedtime and she just randomly starting crawling towards her bottle!! I can't wait to see her in action in the morning!

It was a pretty big night of firsts around our house, because Lucy started standing on her own right before dinner....she was pretty proud of herself!

She loves to practice walking...this is all she wants to do lately, so I was starting to think that she just wasn't going to crawl and go straight to walking.

Standing...

This morning, Lucy pulled up on her busy zoo to the standing position by herself! I was able to catch her second try on video...although I turned my phone upside down by accident. You get the idea!

Happy 6 Months!!

Happy 6 months to my sweet baby girl!!! We love you so much Lucy Kate!! 6 month update coming soon...this day just got away from me.

{And look who has her first tooth!! You can barely see it...bottom left...to the left of the shiny saliva.}

Lucy's Dedication...

On April 2nd, Lucy was dedicated at our new home church, The Door, in Coppell. It was a very special day for Josh and I as we committed Lucy to the Lord and took a covenant to raise Lucy in a Christ centered home. Our greatest hope and prayer for Lucy is that she will come to know Christ as her personal Lord and Savior and that she will seek to bring Him glory all the days of her life.

All dressed and ready to leave for church!

Family picture before the service started...

Waiting for our turn...
Daddy reading the verse we choice for Lucy, Romans 15:13...

Sweet friends...Karen and Eleanor, Me and Lucy, Julianne and Whitley...

Josh and Cole...

After church, we celebrated Lucy and Eleanor at Hard Eight BBQ...

It was a little warm on the patio...Lucy's cheeks were nice and rosy!

Papa Billy...

Pops, G, Kalie and Jill...

Papa Billy and Corinne...
The girls talking to each other...

And then Lucy puked....look at Karen's face! Too funny!

We were so blessed to have our family there to support Lucy!

After a fun party, she was DONE...