Madeline Christine

Grace and Anna are so pleased to have a new cousin! Auntie Murr finally had her baby (I say finally because it was a running joke all throughout Murr's pregnancy that this baby would be late and, sure enough, 11 days after her due date she made her appearance). I know it was a long time coming for Murr and Matt especially, but I felt like Murr was pregnant forever! I couldn't wait to find out whether I would have a new niece or nephew and couldn't wait to meet him or her!

Madeline was born at 10:06 am on Friday morning, December 20th. She weighed in at 10lbs 12oz! Making her the biggest so far of all of the cousins.

It makes me happy that the girls have cousins so close in age! Brian and I have been so lucky to gain two new nieces this year.

Here's a pic of cousin Kamryn too! She doesn't seem so little anymore...

An Update: Potty Training Success

I wrote about potty training back in June when we were a few days into it. I realized I never mentioned it again on here and I might want to look back on it when the time comes to potty train Anna!

Potty training with Grace was ... incredibly easy! I still can't believe how easy it was. One day she said she didn't want to wear diapers again and she never looked back. She went about a week wearing a pull-up overnight and when we went out, then we started going without the pull-up for short trips. Once she started waking up dry for a few days in a row, we stopped using a pull-up at night.

I'm not even exaggerating when I say she was day trained pretty much immediately. She has never had a poop accident, and only a few minor pee accidents, which were mostly just her peeing a little bit in her underwear while she told us she had to go and was running to the bathroom!

Since we were potty training in the summer, we were out a lot. A lot of what I had read suggested to camp out at home for days or a week to make sure the child really got the hang of using the potty or toilet. I didn't want to spend a week of our summer stuck at home, so we just did our thing. Grace had no problem using public washrooms (although she is not a fan of loud hand driers, and had an incident with an automatic flushing toilet that flushed while she was still on it that freaked her out a bit). She was quite excited to use the outhouse at the camp, and didn't even mind using the little outhouses at the ball field when we went to watch Daddy's games.

We're so proud of Grace! She potty trained like a champ! I am pretty sure it won't be this easy with Anna, but we'll see...  

Dora!

I've been so behind on blogging, but last month Grace saw Dora Live! Zilla bought 3 tickets when they went on sale in the summer and since Daddy wasn't too keen on going, Zilla, Gracie and I went and had a great time! Grace was in awe throughout the whole thing. She was so excited to see all her favorite characters come out on stage. "There's Boots! There's Isa! I see Benny!" Zilla got a little emotional and teared up a bit seeing how happy and excited Grace was (and, I'll admit, I did too!). She was pumped to see Dora, but was even more excited when Diego made an appearance after the intermission. Before the show, Zilla told Grace she could pick something from the merchandise stand; she chose a blue Diego t-shirt. Every time she wears it she talks about seeing Dora and Diego on the big stage.
We had a few tears from Grace during the show - there was one part where Dora asked everyone to jump up and down to help her and Boots open a door. Grace was jumping up and down and holding on to the seat in front of her and bonked her chin! She cried but only for a few seconds. She watched the rest of the show from Zilla's lap but still loved it all.
The three of us went out for supper after the show. It was such a great afternoon and evening! This was Grace's first big show and we will definitely be keeping an eye out for anything else coming to town that she will enjoy.

Waiting for the show to start!

This was her face throughout most of the show. So attentive, taking it all in!

Interview with a 3 year old

How old are you?
I'm three

What is your favorite color?
Purple

What is your favorite toy?
Um, a car
Which car?
The purple car

What is your favorite thing to eat?
Oatmeal

What is something you don't like to eat?
Medicine

What is your favorite animal?
A giraffe with a long, long neck!

What is your favorite song?
Dah da da dah da (Howlin' for You - The Black Keys)

What is your favorite book?
Grumpy Bird!

Who is your best friend?
Maddo

What is your favorite thing to drink?
Milk

What is your favorite thing to do outside?
Rake some leaves and jump in them!

What do you like to take to bed with you?
Teddy bears (Didn't mention blankie, even though it is a bedtime necessity!)

What makes you mad?
When people take something

What are you scared of?
The spider at the mall (Auntie Murr and I took Grace into the Halloween store at the mall in October and there was this big spider that jumped up when you stepped on the sensor. Scared the crap out of her).

What makes you happy?
When we sing Twinkle Twinkle. That makes me happy. And watching videos

What do you want to be when you grow up?
I want to go to school

Do you have any brothers or sisters?
I have a sister. I don't have brothers and sisters. I have one sister.

What's her name?
Anna Banana!

What do you like about being a big sister?
Playing with Anna

Happy Birthday Gracie!

Dear Grace,

Today you are three! These past three years have flown by and you've grown into a smart, funny, caring young girl. You are such a joy to be around and you always make us laugh. You have such a big heart. You are very caring and very in tune with people's feelings. You notice if someone seems upset and are quick to give a hug or a snuggle.

I love waking up to the sound of your little footsteps coming into our room in the morning. Most mornings, you're dragging your stinky old blankie behind you and carrying one of your stuffed animals.Daddy and I love our morning snuggles with you. We usually try to get Anna to snuggle in with us too, but she thinks it's party time when she's in the big bed. It's fun to watch you be the first one to go into Anna's room in the morning - you can see the love in her little face when she looks at you; it's so sweet.

You are an amazing big sister. It is so lovely to see you and Anna play together and you are (almost) always patient and gentle with her. It's so fun to see you helping to teach Anna new things and you're always proud when she does new things like say a new word, or start walking.

You're a smart cookie and you're always surprising us with what you're going to say. Your vocabulary and comprehension is amazing and you've got a great imagination. You tell great stories and love to joke around and be silly.

Gracie, you are one incredible little person. You bring so much happiness and laughter to our lives, and to those around you. You showed me what unconditional love really is. Although in some ways I want you to stay little forever, I also can't wait to watch you grow.

Happy Birthday, my beautiful girl! I love you more than you will ever know and I am so lucky to be your mama!

Christmas Spirit

It's not hard to get into the Christmas spirit this year. Grace is fascinated by all things Christmas and is just loving everything about it! We don't have a ton of decorations but Grace was pumped to see some around the house when she woke up yesterday morning. We decorated the tree this morning and it was so much fun. I loved watching Grace pulling ornaments out of boxes and how excited she was with each thing she found.

Pictures with Santa!

Maybe I'm a "mean mom" but I love pictures of kids crying or screaming on Santa's lap. They're hilarious! I was actually slightly disappointed that our photo with Santa turned out so well this year.

Hanging out with the polar bear while we wait our turn

Not sure what's about to happen ;)

Our first successful Santa photo!

I must admit, I like this one better.

November = Blog Fail

Evidently, I failed at blogging in November. Not a single post. And now we're almost halfway through December! Seriously, where does the time go??

We've had a lot going on and we've been pretty busy and I just haven't found the time to finish any blog posts - but I have several started! There's also been a lot of sickness running through out house over the past month. A urinary tract infection (Anna), colds (all of us, at different times), ear infection (Anna), and the stomach flu (me). It was rough.

I'm determined to make more of an effort going forward. I have a lot to write about! I often feel guilty when I don't post much because the whole point of this blog is to record things that happen in our lives for the girls to look back on later. I will post more in the coming days/weeks! I might even backdate a few posts so they're in the right spot when we look back at them later on.