Potty Training!

Kalista is {for the most part} potty trained.

before beginning this adventure I read three different books about potty training, then I chose the one that I thought would work best for Kali.

I was so incredibly nervous to start this.

My plan at first was to potty train her before Hayleigh was born. However after talking to a few different people, I was discouraged from doing so. Almost everyone said it would cause regression..which totally makes sense.  So I waited.

My doctor told me also that I would be able to tell when she was ready and that there would be a small time frame when she was ready, that would make the process easy. He said that if we missed it, it would make it about 10x harder. I started noticing signs that she was ready a few weeks before Hayleigh was born but I obviously wanted to wait until after, so I did.

we went shopping for everything the day before we started and I made sure to make it a huge deal with Kali, so that she would be excited about doing it. Obviously she was because once we got home she has a lot of fun playing with her toilet seat, "big girl wipes" and underwear! 

Haha

She caught on so quickly the first day! 

After only three hours, she understood how to tell when she needed to go.

Playing with the prize she got after telling me she needed to go and going in the potty without having an accident.

getting ready for the splash pad after not having an accident for a whole day!

 playing with her sister on day 2

I was so nervous about doing this...and I totally should have been!
She did really well at first...then randomly regressed for like 2 weeks.

It was extremely discouraging.
Now we are to the point where she does so awesome at home, but when we go out for longer than a few hours, she as an accident.

This has been the hardest thing. Seriously.
And if I could do it over, I would have done it before Hayleigh was born.
I don't know about you...but I would much rather deal with Regression (which she did anyway) than having to deal with trying to nurse, wipe her behind,  praise Kali and keep Hayleigh happy all at once. It was HARD!!

I'm so happy we're {hopefully} through the hardest part of this process!


*I wrote this whole thing on my phone...so sorry if there's any errors!!

Kalista's 2 year Pictures and Hayleighs newborn

I know it takes me forEVER to post anything

but,

Better late than never

Kalista's 2 year pictures:

I'm two!

Hayleigh's Newborns:

Sisters <3

Photos done my Elicia Launi photography.  She's my roomate from utah state and she's amazing!! Thank you so much Elicia! Both sessions were extremely difficult and I'm amazed at how many good ones you were able to get. 

That's talent. seriously.

2nd Birthday Party!!

Our Beautiful Baby Girl turned two on May 11th! 

I can't believe how fast she is growing. 

Her personality is so funny and her speech is quickly excelling. 

She is starting to really understand how to communicate I love it...and it's also really cute.

EVERYTHING she says is cute. 

haha

She thinks she's a little adult, but expects mommy and daddy to still treat her like a baby and wants to stay our baby forever. 

I think she understands a little that a baby is on it's way and she doesn't approve.

Anyway,

We had a Lorax Birthday party and it turned out really cute!

A lot of people came and Kali had a blast!

She got so many presents that we had to reorganize her whole room to get them all to fit 

[and they honestly still don't...haha]

Here's pictures from her party...

Happy Birthday Beautiful girl!

We love you SO SO much and can't imagine life without you.

You are our entire world <3

31 weeks Dr Appointment

I haven't been able to update every time I have a doctor appointment since we don't have a computer anymore.

However,

this week my mom dad and younger siblings are in Disneyland and Tyson, Kali and Me were the lucky ones to be asked to house sit/take care of the dog while they're gone.

One of the perks of staying at my parents house for a whole week,

is that I have a working computer at my fingertips! haha

So I get to update about my 31 week appointment today.

I'm exactly 31 weeks TODAY and my appointment was today.

Everything is going well.

I'm measuring right on at 31 weeks.

Hayleigh is already behaving and is head down.

She's perfect!

I left my appointment super happy for two specific reasons.

1. I learned that I've gained a total of 6 pounds so far this entire pregnancy.  yay! so happy that I'm doing better this time.

and

2. I'm now to the point where I have an appointment every two weeks...which means I'm already almost done. SO CRAZY! By this point last time AND the time before, I was SO ready to be done and though I might die before that baby came! haha

This time, I'm not to the point where i'm just ready to be done. I'm feeling more like I'm in a little bit of a panic knowing that in 9 weeks I'll have 2 kids!

I'm taking care of my adorable nephew, Justin two times a week now which is so perfect.

That way, twice a week, I'll get a taste of how it's going to be with two kids.

Kali will also be able to slowly be introduced to having another baby around and not having all of the attention on her all of the time.

She's doing WAY better than I thought.

In fact, I think she enjoys the fact that I can't stop her from 'exploring' when I'm taking care of or feeding him. She's such a little stinker! haha

But she's going to be great big sister.

She's really not as jealous as I expected her to be. 

In fact, she's such a little mommy. 

She is SO concerned when he cries and does everything she can to get him to stop crying. 

Here's a picture of her trying to help him stop crying while I warm up his bottle.

 

It melts my heart.

a few hours after taking this picture, 

I was doing her hair and he started crying again.  I was in the middle of a braid so I had to let him cry for a second while I finished it.  Kali looked over at him and said "Jussin, is okay" (she was telling him it's okay) in her baby voice.

It was the sweetest thing.

Then when I started making him another bottle, 

I put him in his car seat because I was at my parents house and it was the only place I could lay him down.  I strapped him in because I knew better than not doing it with Kali around. haha

and while I was getting it ready,

Kali started rocking the car seat and when it didn't help,

she bent down and started trying to take him out! 

She's such a sweet girl and I'm so proud of her for being such a mommy to him!

It makes me feel a little less worried about how she's going to respond to Hayleigh.

23 months

So much is going on in our lives right now.

I wish so badly that we had a computer of our own so that I could not only document it more frequently,

but also because I am feeling like my phone is full of so many pictures and videos of my child and I'm so worried that something is going to happen to it before I have the chance to put them on a CD.

Let's all just pray that doesn't happen.

That's the bitter sweet thing about smart phones...convenient, but a little more difficult to convert to a CD. Especially when videos are concerned!

Hopefully nothing bad will happen.

I would just die.

Anyway,

Kali will be 23 months on the 11th.

23 months you guys!

She's going to be 2 next month!

I just can't believe how fast time flies.

She's getting so dang big and I'm thoroughly enjoying watching her learn and grow.

She's a very independent kid that LOVES learning and exploring new things.

Her vocabulary is really expanding.

She says more words than I could count.

She pretty much repeats everything we say.

She loves talking.

She usually is speaking half jibberish/half english.

haha

When she knows I'm not paying attention to her,

she'll say "Mom, Mom, Mom, mom" until I say "what" and then she will go off in mostly jibberish toungue for about 30 seconds like she is telling me something! haha

She loves shoes and clothes and looks forward to getting ready.

She's obsessed with the outdoors and is constantly begging to go outside...especially when she knows it's a nice warm day.

The two movies she loves the most right now are Tinkerbell and The Lorax.

We're already planning her Lorax themed Birthday party this year.

I absolutely adore watching this girl sleep.

It's the only time she is sitting still and looks so peaceful.

When she's awake she is constantly moving and doing one thing after another.

But when she's sleeping...she is so still and sound.

Whenever I am getting ready,

Kali HAS to do it with me.

If I'm doing my makeup she stands next to me and begs for some.

I usually give her my blush brush or something.

But then there's times where she sneaks and gets her hands on it herself.

Then she does her mascara. haha She did a beautiful job though don't you think?

(Isn't this perhaps the most disturbing and creepiest looking Easter Bunny you've ever seen? He was nice though. He talked and gave her candy. haha so that's okay)

She's also getting into coloring.

She got a Marker set for Christmas.

The Markers only color on certain paper. We LOVE that and she wants to color or "cauh" numerous times everyday...It's the pens that are dangerous. haha She found a pen and created some beautiful artwork on the door the other day.

and so it begins...

Kali is very expressive.

You tell her what face to make, and she'll do it.

She is so dang funny.

We had such a good Easter this year.

It was SO FUN to see her expression when she saw her Basket on the table.

she had money in some of her eggs because she loves putting it in her piggybank.

She's already racking up the change!

haha

We love this girl so much.

She is SO funny. She is constantly cracking us up.

She says and does things that are so funny especially because of her age.

Every new thing she says or does is hilarious or adorable.

I think she's slowly starting to understand that there is an actual baby coming soon.

We took all of the baby stuff out over the weekend and she got her baby doll and started trying to strap her into the swing and bouncer. I am pretty confident that she's going to be jealous...but once she gets through that stage she's going to be such a great big sister!