Happy place

Right now, my 4 month old Georgie and my 2 year old Amelia are napping beside me, George in my arms, in our bed. I feel so very lucky and blessed at this moment. Definitely one to remember, amidst the chaos of young motherhood, we are rewarded with these sweet moments. I know I'll look back and miss this the most. Had to document it!

Toilet Training

Thought I'd give you an update on how our progress of potty training Amelia is going! I am very proud of her, She first peed in the potty about 1 month ago, after many months of "toilet education". We started changing Amelia in the bathroom once she was about 18 months and having her sit down on her toilet to practice the sitting and getting used to the idea in general. It took all the way until she was 23 months to sit and pee on the toilet, it was like, one of the most exciting things that's ever happened in my life!! 

We never did any intense all day marathons of going to the potty every 20 minutes, I wanted the process to be a bit more "organic" than that, and could never bring myself to buckle down and do the intense method for 3 days straight or whatever they say. Although I did doubt that she would ever do it and thought for a while that I WOULD have to do something like that. My plan began from a montessori method, which teaches that toilet training is very natural and does not NEED to be accompanied by intense regiments and lots of incentives. That being said, we did end up giving Amelia a treat when she uses the toilet correctly, so ya know we have tailored things to fit our needs a bit. And I will say that the reward idea has both positives and negatives ( asking for treats constantly, getting upset when she doesn't get one), can't really decide if it has helped us or not. (She gets a fruit snack when she goes).

I switched Amelia to undies after a day where she went pee in her toilet multiple times, the first day she  wore them she didn't use the toilet once, and I was really sad… but then a few days later we put them on again and had a much better time.  So she wears underwear at home during the day all the time now, and has very few "pee puddles" ( that's a montessori term that i like, and Amelia seems to like it too). She tends to have more poop accidents than wet ones right now. She does do BM's in the toilet  as well, though they are more rare. she gets TWO treats for that. So next up will be wearing undies out, right now I put a diaper over her underwear, she has yet to use a standard toilet, so that's still a trick…

I'm sure there's more details I could give you.. so ask if you want!

Yay for potty training!! -slash- it's a pretty big stress on me and Paul, but I'm glad we are doing it :)

Yesterday

Was a tough one. This picture looks so lovely but if it was a video you would hear my screaming toddler in it. One of those days when you are just breaking down, losing all control, felt like I was being dragged through the mud. I don't know exactly what was happening with my girl for those hardest parts of yesterday, but I certainly was unable to fix them for her. I resorted to just holding her and rocking her for a while, which I would have done for the rest of the day if it meant she would just relax and rest, but of course there is someone else who needs me too! Thank God for prayer, which is where I turn in these moments, when my heart just leaps toward Him because I need to be being more than just myself, who is so far under qualified for handling myself in times like this. Today has begun better already, George is hangin here beside me in bed while Amelia still sleeps, (let's hope she does a lot more of that today, I suspected she may have a new bug by the end of the day bc she was doing some coughing ). Just the same thing so many others are dealing with, being a new mom, or just a mom in general, or just a person who's feeling utterly overwhelmed. But each day you have like this just makes you stronger right!? Above all I'm so thankful for my babies, who are perfect and healthy, and for my husband who supports me and is a dad who can really come to the rescue.

Quick let me show these pumpkin patch pics before it's too late!!

eek too bright

This gal

You guys, this is my niece Adela. She is kind of great. Just in case you haven't seen her lately, I particularly love this pic.

Those Babes of ours

Ahhhh!! I look slightly spazzed in this photo, but this is what happens when you are trying to get Amelia to smile at the camera. We took this a few weeks ago right around George's two month mark, and I wanted to write few things about what the babies are up to these days. 

Amelia:

You love the t.v. now. (slanty smile face) you are always saying "show!?" or "cars!?"  which is your favorite movie. So we are trying to restrict your tv time to an hour or so a day, while at the same time it is such a nice break for me to have you seated in front of the toob while I clean up one of your messes without you making a new one! It has been on my mind a lot, feeling guilty about how much t.v. time you've been having, so it is taking some time to figure out what I feel comfortable with as far your "toob time"! You have been getting out of your bed and coming out of your room, you finally figured that out, and it is kind of the cutest thing ever, but also a no no. SO we are navigating that as well. You say lots and lots of words! practically any word we give you to try now you will say, finally including "George"! which sounds like "jooje" Just waiting for the connectors and you will be chatting up a storm! too much fun...

George:

Hi little man, you are still just a joy! You sleep fabulously at night (at least 8 hours every night in a row, starting about 730 or 8). And you're still a rather chunky boy at about 13 and a half pounds. And tall too! 90's percentile for height at the moment. Much chunkier than your sis was at this time (i think she was only like 10 pounds).

You don't sleep during the day a ton, so sometimes I find myself frustrated that you are yelling to be fed or held while I'm trying to do something else, which is of course unfair to you because you are a good baby who doesn't give me much trouble! We love you oh so much! Obviously you're not doing much else, not rolling over or anything, just working on your tummy time and lifting your huge head. And giving us precious smiles and sometimes little "hu hu hu" giggles :) 

Fredericksburg and Kerrville

'twas a gorgeous day 

we enjoyed having these cute beer samples at a brewery/restaurant

this was dinner in Kerrville, beautiful setting

This cute lady treated us all weekend long! thanks mom

he actually didn't do too much of this during the day, so we took turns holding him a lot, overall he was a good boy though!

love you mama

:)

Attention Moms

Yesterday was my B day and Paul got me these Ugg loafers. I know what you're thinking..."Sarah's feet are huge", though I assure you they are average size, probably also "Wow Sarah must be a ballerina based on that fancy fifth position she's showing off", well you know I did take a ballet class in highschool (not to brag). But anyway! these shoes are heaven and every mom, or gal who likes comfort, should have these for the winter months.
I have been meaning to do a post on what my babes are up to, and also what I'm planning to get them for Christmas! So that's on the to do list.. Also, anyone out there need a quick family session of photos for Christmas cards??? Let me know! I already have one family on the schedule :)

Kid Bath

Before

After!
used the panorama on my phone, so it's a little fuzzy. 

my homemade artwork, except the flying elephant, that was a gift from Meg

cute towel hooks!

pedestal sink and basket weave tile on the floor, also a good look at that cute beadboard

this light fixture was taken from one of our other old bathrooms, I thought it would work well in the style of the new kid bath, and I think it does! (it was so gross and dirty but I cleaned it up)


it was really exciting to envision a look for a new bathroom, choose the elements I thought would execute that style, and then watch it come to life! So much fun. I am already thinking about the next bathroom and very excited to get started on it, which won't be happening for another few months.
This job took nine business days, and I was very ready for it to be done. As everyone says, it took longer and cost more than expected. 

A train ride

Last weekend Paul had a good idea to take the babes on a little train ride, the Tarantula train on Grapevine Main street is an antique train that takes you on little joy rides. The weather was cool and nice and it was fun! 

Sweet conductor man leans in to punch Georgie's ticket

getting restless 

my babies!!

nice shot by Paul

nursing babies on trains...

hello beautiful one

hey little sleeping adorable one

and this was cute too from the morning...little boy big bed.

In the past few weeks

Amelia has begun going to a Mother's day out on Fridays! I can't believe she is already participating in school-like activities, yikes!! Makes me feel weird to even admit it. She has done well and we are proud. These pics are from her first day.

And Georgie was already a month old last Saturday. Here he is lying in the grass.

(proud mama)

here is big sis refusing to pose with him for a picture

 

Wheeeee!!! Gramps pushing the swing really high! lol look at those hairs!

 

and this is Adela my niece, showing us how well she knows how to feed Boss. 

Nap mat

I made this mat today for Amelia for her "school" on Fridays. Good thing I added the poms to distract from the rough sewing job! Sewing through that thick batting just wasn't working well. Still need to have a tie on it for toting back and forth!

At home with baby George

I stole that title from a People magazine cover featuring the Royal Family, haha! What can I say, Kate and I have similar taste in classic boy names. (not a planned scenario!!)

OUR baby George, or Georgie as I call him all the time, is a real winner. He is a calm and easily soothed little guy, what a blessing! My own little prince, haha.

Here is a smattering of pics from the last few weeks, I love the ones of Amelia interacting with him, can't wait to watch their relationship grow. 

first meeting! She actually didn't have much of a reaction

Eeee! My little fleshy guy 

One of her first real interactions with him, took her a few days to warm up, helping with that pacifier

my dad with his first grandson, he's a big fan. 

Aunt Katie stopped in to see him!

getting more comfy now

Oh poor Georgie, she's already trying to squash him