2 years 2 months

Or Nearly, in 9 days. Not a lot has changed but at the same time it has. I was asked to measure Katie about a week ago & she was still coming in at 32 inches but I swear she feels longer when I carry her to bed. She stepped on theI' scale the other day in shirt & undies and it showed 20.4 lbs. So maybe 21 lbs if she was on the hospital one.

She has a favorite book, that's for sure. "My No No No Day" by Rebecca Patterson. She can even help read it. She knows what bella says. She doesn't say all the words but she knows the jist of it for most of the page & is happy to say bella's part of the story. It's cute & funny. Wish she would find a few new favorite books, it gets tiring reading the same ones over & over. She actually got upset the other day because she couldn't find her No No No Day book. Oh geez! It was found & all happiness was restored.

Jumping. She can jump & she loves to do it. Randomly usually & she has a blast. When she was a baby she hated her jenny jump-up & the exersaucer. Well she liked the exersaucer but she didn't like jumping in it. Yesterday she was using a pillow next to my night stand like a trampoline, going up & down. I'm mostly meaning the both feet off the ground jumping without holding anything. One day she decided to try to jump & of my gosh, that was the most hilarious day. Her eyes got so big the first time she came off the ground & her body went forward a little so she was off balance when she landed. Didn't fall but surprised her. I'd say within a week of starting to do it she had it down.

Clothes/Diapers/Undies: She is for the most part potty trained. When she wants to be that is. I think she sometimes gets caught up in playing or just not wanting to walk to the bathroom. When she pees in her panties she takes them off & hides them. Yay! Honestly she has accidents mostly with daddy home. She does good with me. She can now even wear shorts with undies & still use the potty. Pants may be a little harder. She's also had successful trips out in undies. Once we went to Walmart, accident free. One time we were out for about 2 hours & forgot she had on undies, she made it til the drive home. Not her fault, I completely forgot because usually she has on a pull up & this time daddy forgot to change her. Yesterday we went to dinner (again, it was a forgot to change her), only gone about 30-45 mins & we made it home dry. I think it might be time for switching to panties on outings, if they're going to be shorter that is. Her panties are size 18m, size 2/3T pull ups when used & she's in between 3 & 4 night diapers. Her 3 night diapers are too small but the 4 pampers are way big. I'll switch to huggies 4 because I think they're smaller or maybe use size 3 pamper night ones. Clothes... 18m shirts still mostly fit but so do 2T. 2T shirts actually fit pretty well now. 18m shorts are still fine. Pants, that's a different story. She has no butt, panties are thin, & her waist is tiny so what fits in length doesn't in the waist. We've always used thin diapers (can't stand fat ones or cheap ones) so we've always had issues with bottoms fitting. Now it seems worse because diapers at least gave SOME padding. I guess I'll just have to find long 18m smaller waist pants. She even fits into 12-18m children place pants. If she grows any taller we're in trouble, they're barely long enough to be normal right now. Oh the joys of a smaller children. I was the same way so I feel my mom's pain.

My kid apparently has a connection with her great-grandpa who passed in December 2013. On 2 occasions, both within a week, she has talked to "grandpa". I know kids play & this kid play calls family all the time. This is different, way different. I've gotten videos of it. She talks to the ceiling, like someone is there and when I've asked her if she sees grandpa/grandpa is here she's pointed to the ceiling. It's only happened in our room, when it's been very quiet. We have a plague we made for Papa in November with pictures of her & him. When I ask who that is, it's grandpa. Believe what you want, believe it or don't, that's fine. It's hard for me to accept too but I know I'm not coaching her & I've seen it happen twice now. It's so amazing & surreal. I hope it keeps happening, I hope she gets to keep that connection with him & he continues to watch over her.

2 year appt!

Today we had Katie's 2 year appt & it almost didn't happen. Katie's NP(she didn't even have a doctor, but her NP was fabulous) left 2 weeks after we met her which was a HUGE bummer. Well since a new doctor hasn't taken NP's place Katie doesn't have a doctor assigned to her. I tried to make an appt a month ago & first avail. was 6 weeks later/mid August. I was told to call at 6 am to get a same day appt when I needed it. So I called today, promptly at 6 (I actually called twice slightly before 6 trying to be one of the first callers but wouldn't let me through). Anyways, call at 6 exactly, wait 10 mins to get through & then I'm told Haynie's(NP) back-ups are full. Imagine silence on my end. So she said she'd try to get Katie in with another provider & we got in with a Mr. Leifson (who, don't tell my husband, was not bad looking.... :) ). Katie was weighed & measured and all I wanted was her to be at least 20 lbs. As long as she was 20 lbs I would be ok with it. I was hoping they'd do it clothed, I knew that'd help, but she wasn't, she was weighed naked. So, Katie is...

19 lbs 15 oz

32 inches

Well... haha. As close as you can get without being there I guess. The nurse asked for my concerns & I said weight, that I just want to know it's ok she's so small. Because in Sierra Vista/Ft. Huachuca, they were mostly ok with it. They accepted she was small. When we moved to Clarksville/Ft. Campbell Haynie wasn't ok with a 18 month old 18 lb little girl. Leifson was perfectly fine with her only being 20 lbs, because she's staying on the same arch/curve as other kids. She's below the line but staying consistent with it. So, ok I guess. I was SO glad to hear 32 inches too. She grew!!! She grew an inch & a half in a month. Woo hoo!

It felt really good to be able to answer yes on most of the questions about what she can do. To know she's on course mentally/learning wise with kids her age. Welp, guess that's it. Have a good day.

Newborn/1 Year/2 Year

She's 2!

My Baby Girl is 2! Tell me it isn't so! But it is & she is. She's gotten so big & she's changed so much. I made a collage/timeline with a newborn photo, 1 year photo, & her 2 year photo. Oh my gosh, she looks so different. She has beautiful curly at the ends hair, sometimes she has these beautiful ringlets in her hair. I love it & I don't ever want to cut her hair, in fear she'll lose them. I'm told I had them too when I was a baby. She's mostly a happy go lucky baby or toddler I should say. Attitude, man she's got attitude. She speaks quite a bit but it's usually hard to understand. She's obsessed with cats & bunnies, she loves seeing the bunnies out the back window. She loves blowing & playing with bubbles and she loves playing in her power wheels, she can finally press the pedal right. She likes her power wheels on high & crashing into my car or the bush. She laughs so hard but then again, we're laughing too because it's hilarious! My big girl, she's getting so big. Please tell her to stop growing. She's still wearing mostly 18 or 18-24 month clothes. Most 24 month or 2T clothes are way too big. I would say she's potty trained but she does have some accidents & it's just pee wise, not poop. During the day if we're staying home she wears undies. Half the time we go out & about she won't pee in her pull-ups but I like knowing she had to go she can go without causing extra laundry. Last I measured her she was about the same size as when she was 18 months but I really think she's had a growth spurt the last few weeks. She seems taller to me. Weight, she's still about 20 lbs. I'm going to try & get her in for her 2 year appt on Monday so we'll see then. It does bother me that she's the same weight as some 1 year olds & even some fat 4-6 month olds. I want her to gain & grow, it makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong since she's not gaining. I feel like the doctors are going to think I'm starving her or something. Doesn't help that I've been having to fight her morning, noon, & night to eat & I keep worrying about the appt & her weight. Ugh, parenthood/petite child worries!!!
So, I guess I'll share some of her 2 year photos. She was not a happy camper & refused to really smile. Oh well. :)

23 Months!

We are SO close to 2 years old. Actually we're 22 days away, 3 weeks! Can I cry now?! Please!!! Oh my gosh, it's going SO fast! She talks so much now. It's still toddler talk so it's hard to understand usually but she says a lot & understands a lot. It's amazing. She loves watching the bunnies out the window & will tell you Bunny. Also she says birdy or birds. She loves looking up into the sky & seeing airplanes, she even says airplane in her toddler way. She knows pink, blue, purple, green, & working on red. Yellow & Orange seem to be hard for her to say. She helps me put away dishes & she gets paid to do so. Usually 25-50 cents each time, depending on how much. Helping with pot lids gets extra money. She loves putting money in her piggy bank. I counted her stash today & she has $7.25 in there. She still loves reading books & sometimes read to herself. She tries to sing along to songs & it's funny to watch her just move her mouth with no sound coming out. She loves dancing & being chased. She will chase back now. She loves to say "ready, set, go" and take off. She says Bye, Hi, I Love You, Have a good day, what you doing?, what's that?, & more. She knows the sound of dog, cat, elephant, lion, moose(from a game), monkey, & I'm sure a few others. She knows how to say Mimi, Nini, Appa, Stephy, Joshy, Chris, Matt, Daddy, Mommy, Te-te(auntie or aunt t (my sister)). We're working on granny & grandpa but since learning Appa she's called my dad appa too. She's still in 18-24 month clothes. Size 3 diapers when she wears them. She likes The Chica Show, most Disney shows, Sesame Street, & anything cat.

Potty Training! It was HELL! I wanted to rip my hair out, I wanted to scream & cry, I wanted to give up so bad. But I knew the second time was worse than the first & the third would be worse than the second so there was no way I was giving up without a fight. Mommy won! She actually did pretty good & I won't say we're completely potty trained because she has an a few accidents lately but for the most part she's pretty potty trained, pee wise that is. She didn't have any accidents for like 5 days & then last night with daddy home she had 2 within like an hour. She knows to tell me if she has to go, she'll say "go potty!" & we'll go to the bathroom. She did have a habit of holding it but now she won't hold it, she'll just pee in the toilet. We have a whole routine. We clap, we high five, we dump the bowl, rinse it while she flushes the toilet, then we put a sticker on her chart. Last night, end of Day 14, she had 65 stickers! She tends to pick all the mickey stickers, she apparently prefers mickey. :) We had company last week so I think it would've been higher if we weren't running around for a few days. She got 10 stickers yesterday, her highest for a day. Previous high was 7 a day & got that a few days. Not bad, not bad baby girl! :) She runs around bottomless during the day because we haven't mastered not going in panties. She'll usually go if we put on panties. I think she forgets it's not a diaper & she can't just go. Well she can, they're gerber training ones so a little thicker & more absorbent. So, at home she runs bottomless. :)

I don't know about her height or weight currently but she seems to have a more solid stomach. Maybe she's gained a little. I hope so. Hoping we break the 20 lb mark when we go to her 2 year check up. :)

Potty Training

Oh begeebus! Potty training sucks! Attempt 1 failed and maybe 2 will too. Yesterday was attempt 2 day 1 & it was the most frustrating experience of the year. I wanted to scream, cry, throw things, etc. I tried nice momma, mean momma, give up momma. 1 success & like 8 fails/oopsies. I prayed for a calm mind & an understanding mind & apparently the big man up there came through. Today was way better mentally for me & more successful. 4 successes & yeah, about 8 oopsies. In the last 2 days she's peed in the bathroom by her potty about 6 times. Today it was directly in front of her potty right after standing up. There is a sticker chart, I have a sticker chart(see Katie, mommy gets a sticker, don't you want one too), I've bribed with candy, phone games, playing outside, etc. Bribing doesn't really work but you know, maybe one time it'll work. Haha. 4 successes! That's awesome! We spent hours in that bathroom, sadly maybe as much as 2-3 hours when you add it all up. All for a fighting chance of potty training.

Some may say I'm doing it too young & yeah, it feels like I'm trying young. It really does. But then I heard about 12 month olds training, 15 month olds, 18 month olds. I really really hate those with 12-15 months old that it was uber easy. Then I hear about the 3 year olds still in diapers & 4 years old. Oh hells to the no to the 4 yr olds is diapers! It seems with a lot of people/their kids that their kids just one day decided ok, I'll use the potty and by "a lot of people/their kids" I mean the people here at Ft. Campbell. Those whose kids decided it was time were mainly 3 yr olds, almost 4 year old. Good for them & awesome it was easy, though I know most tried potty training before & it just didn't work. Awesome the kid wanted to do it & did it but I don't think I have the patience to have a 3 yr old Katie in diapers. Though she is tiny & would probably still be in size 4 diapers at that time. :) She's in size 3 now at nearly 2. ANYWAYS, trying to get away from diapers.

Will this attempt at potty training work? I don't know. She's not even 23 months & I do admit part of it is because of my in-laws coming which honestly is stupid because when they're here I won't be able to give her my full attention to prevent accidents as much as possible. Today I realized that she gives me a certain look when she needs to go. She looks scared a little, frantic kind of. She'll deny needing to go but now I know that means go time. She'll get really close, leaning against me, & grab my sleeve or something, that usually means pee is on the way out. By the time it registers what she's doing she's already had a least a little accident and we run to the bathroom. She gave me the signals yesterday but when she told me "no" to "do you need to pee" I believed her. WRONG! :) So, I paid attention more to her signals today. Poor kid is scared to pee on the potty. I turned off the music but still she fights peeing in the potty. There were many tears shed today, many frustrated at mommy moments. She hated me for making her stay on the potty or get back on the potty. She knows it's wrong to pee on the floor because she'll say "Oh No..." or "Uh oh". We're doing naked method by the way, because I think panties would be too much like diapers for her. She might realize oh no the first time or two but then she'd not think twice about it. Using panties would be cleaner that's for sure. Man am I tired of cleaning up pee! I know I have a few more days to go. Mike doesn't really support my potty training methods. He doesn't want her peeing on the floor & he won't watch her or pay attention like I do. He needs to get on board but I'm not sure he'll get that way. He's always put a diaper on her as soon as he got home from work. Part of me wants to not be potty training either. Diapers are so easy, so effortless. Put them on, send her on her way. I don't have to worry about her having an accident because I'm in the other room doing dishes or laundry or picking up whatever it is that needs to be picked up. I can't pay attention to her when I'm cooking dinner or making lunch. Seriously, at least for us (katie & I), I need to be able to see her face & her demeanor/body language and be able to respond right then & there.

Potty training sucks but I seriously hope this times the charm. I don't want to fail & I definitely don't want to start over a 3rd time. Day 1 of Attempt 2 was as bad or worse than Day 2 of Attempt 1. I'd end up in a nut house from Day 1 of Attempt 3. We can not fail, we can not fail! We will do it!!!

In all honesty, if it fails, which I plan to give it an honest try. I gave it 2 days last time, I gave up quick. This time I plan to try for at least 3-4 days, hopefully a week but I know the weekend will be tricky. We have cleaning to do & shopping to do. So anywho, I really need to give it a real good strong try this time. But IF it doesn't work, she's not even 2. She is still young, quite young, so I have time. A full year before we're pushing 3 & oh heck no, you better get out of diapers. :)

I'm sure I've babbled on & on saying the same stuff over & over. Probably boring or frustrating to read. Oh well. This is more for me to be able to come back & read some day, in a few years or 16. Tell me my baby girl isn't almost 2! Geesh! :) Bye!

May 24th

I can't sleep so I figure I might update some. Katie is almost 22 months which is crazy and I know I updated like a week ago. She seems to be growing & learning so much lately. In the last week it seems she does so many new things. I'm sure I repeat the things she's doing in blogs because honestly I forget when she started some things.

Her newest thing is saying I Love You and it actually sounds like I love you. It's I Wub U but I'll take it, I love it. If I whisper it to her she'll whisper it back. I was trying to get to her to say it on the phone so I was whispering & she kept whispering it back instead of at normal volume. Silly girl. Now she'll say "I wub u, bye" when talking on the phone. I guess she's listened to a few phone calls & knows that's how they end but she tries to end them in the middle.

She has started pointing out body parts on me now which is new. She use to do only herself but now she'll point to my stuff as well if I ask. We're working on shoulders & neck now on her.

She has become obsessed with putting on clothes. She can put on her own shoes (mary janes with velcro) & she's quite proud of herself. She can now put my socks on herself, even though she refuses to keep her own socks on. Good thing it's spring/summer weather here. She likes to try & put pants & shorts on herself. Half the time both legs are in one hole but she's trying. Shirts go on like a skirt & sometimes end up looking like a skirt. So I'm trying to teach her how to put a shirt on the right way, from the top down, not bottom up. :)

Potty training did not go well & I gave up. Mike isn't on board & just kept saying he didn't want her to pee on the floor. So, for now I'll just keep asking her if she needs to potty when she follows me to the bathroom. We'll talk about it for a few more weeks before trying again. Apparently most people don't potty train til 3 which seems crazy to me. At least all the pinterest pins talk about their kids being 3-3.5 when training. I'd like Katie trained by 2 but that's probably not happening. We still have 2 months, you never know I guess.

Katie seems to understand so much. She picks up her toys or items when asked or told. She'll throw trash away & put her clothes in her hamper or washing machine(washer & dryer are in the kitchen/a closet next to the fridge). She can put her clothes back in her dresser(when she's decided to bring some out in to the living room for her to put on herself) when told too.

She loves putting on lotion or rubbing anything in to her hair or on her body. She always wants some soap or lotion on her hands when I'm washing or lathering her up. She wants to help or really do it herself.

She LOVES music & dancing. It is so funny to watch her dance, she's such a happy girl. So fun of joy & life.

She's getting back into loving books. We've been reading a lot, mostly because I'm trying to teach her ABC's. She tries to sing along to the ABC song & I ask her to point out things in the book. She won't repeat letters yet really but she knows "B" because that's what we call her pacifier. It's a binky which got shortened to b. I have no idea why we called it a binky. Anyways, reading. We also work on colors but she can't pick them out usually. She can repeat blue, pink, & purple if she wants too. Sometimes it seems she can pick out things really easily but I wonder if it's just luck. I downloaded an app which asks the child to pick out an item from the 4 choices(which one is ball, cat, train, etc) & sometimes she'd get 3 or 4 out of 4 (game was only 4 questions long) but sometimes she'd only get 1. Sometimes she'd be right on things I didn't know she knew but then would get easier things wrong a game or two later. So, maybe she's just playing. We've only used the app once & played maybe 10 games of the pick this. I don't usually let Katie play on the tablet or my phone but I have apps on my phone for when she's getting restless at restaurants or on the road, occasionally at home. I'm on the fence about electronic learning because I don't want my child always wanting & needing a phone or tablet to keep her quiet or interested but I also know it excites her and it could be used in a learning manner. It drives me crazy seeing babies in front of tablets, months old in front of tablets. Seeing 5 year olds with their head buried in a tablet. I've witnessed a kid, 6-7, literally play on a tablet for HOURS straight, not even with a learning thing, it was a damn game. I would say Katie gets to play on my phone for maybe 30 mins a week, if that. It's a treat, not a privilege. Anyways, coming off my high horse/rant. I try to work on colors, numbers, & letters a lot. Hoping her brain is sucking it all in.

So, my kid doesn't get to play on phones or tablets but she does watch a lot of tv. Yeah, yeah, bad mom. I always said I wouldn't be that mom but I am. Oh well. Her favorite shows are Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood & The Chica Show, she LOVES (love love loves) the chica show. If she hears that music she gasps & will instantly comes to the tv (if she's not there already). Usually she'll sit through a whole episode too instead of running around & playing while sporadically watching. We only get to see it/record it once a week since we got rid of Sprout(channel). She seems to like, or maybe it's just I like, Sesame Street. Can't go wrong with Sesame Street! :)

Toddler bed still going great. No issues at all. Hooray!

Welp, I think that's about it. I don't know what else to write about, even though I'm probably forgetting a lot of things.

21 Months, Visitors, & Mother's Day!

I swore no more months after 18 but here I am, with a 21 month old. Haha. I swear I'll stop at 2. Because 25 months sounds stupid. I shall go with 2 years 1 month instead. :) Anyways, our darling daughter is 3 months (or now 2.5 months) from being 2. WHAT!!! What the heck, time is going so fast! I blame it all on the people who told me it would. You all made it go faster, you jinx us. :) Just kidding but it does go so fast! I probably should've done a photo session to celebrate 21 months, it sounds so important, but I didn't. I have been taking pictures though. My parents showed up on Apr 30th & it was so nice seeing them. My brother showed up that Saturday (May 3rd). I definitely miss being so close to family. Not that Az was super close, being 16 hours from family, but it was still closer than a 3-4 day drive. Won't get into that now though, other than it makes me sad Katie won't grow up around our families. Maybe we'll get stationed closer to home sometime, we still have at least 7 years left in the army. :)

Well, I don't know how tall or how heavy little miss is, though my mom claims 20 lbs. She did the weigh herself, then weigh with Katie. The other day it showed 18.4 lbs with Katie standing on it in a diaper & shirt. I do think she's grown in length, she seems quite a bit taller. I should measure her. She's in size 3 diapers & 18m clothes. She's talking a lot & it took my mom being here to realize she'll ask you "what you doing?". I ask her that all the time so it figures she'd pick that up. :) She can pick out a monkey(& make their sound), a giraffee, & an elephant(tries to make their sound). She's correctly picked out fish, lion, tiger, & a few others but I'm not sure if she's really certain on those yet.

Big girl.... Yesterday I finally made Katie's crib a toddler bed. She never tried to crawl out of it, she had no problem just sitting in there waiting to be picked up/let out. I didn't have to switch her but I felt it was time. I did panic that I made a mistake. She at first stayed in there & didn't know how to get down. Or maybe thought she'd get in trouble. Then she thought it was a game getting in & out. I am happy to say we've now had a successful night & currently having a successful nap in there. I may've gotten lucky but I know if she has a bad night her being able to get out of the bed will be bad. I still put her to sleep on me/next me. Now she'll usually lay down next to me to fall asleep. I need to start a bedtime schedule, I really do.
Next Big Thing: Potty training. Ok.... My parents brought the potty my 2nd cousin Izzy used. It's a princess one & it plays music. Katie thought it was so cool & kept sitting on it so I started sitting her diaperless on it. When she pees it plays music & celebration & while my parents were here she peed 4 times in the potty. The music/celebration scares the crap out of her. Ugh! I made a potty sticker board for her & today we started potty training. I wonder if she's too young or not ready. The fact she peed with my parents here & thought the seat was so cool made me think it was a good time. But her being freaked out by the music is frustrating. Yes I can turn it off but I want to wait til she starts peeing consistently. Or maybe it should be the the other way. Who knows. So, today, day 1 of officially trying, the naked bottom method, and....ugh. 1 success & 5 mini accidents. They were mini for a reason, she immediately alerts by "uh oh" & she'll stop while we run to the potty. Only once she actually peed in her potty though. I did put a diaper on for nap time but I plan to take it off when she gets up. I hope I'm not screwing myself but having 2 big changes at once. I guess if it doesn't work this time we'll just try again in a week or two but she deserves a fair shot at it so we'll see how today goes. :) My big big girl! :(

Mother's Day. It's still weird to celebrate MOTHER'S day! To have a reason to celebrate. I celebrated being a dog mom but it's different having a human baby. It is nice being able to actually be hugged & kissed. :) Daddy didn't have her do any crafts for me so I did my own. Her handprint in salt dough & I need to write on it. :) I am a mommy & I will always be! :) Well, nap should be over soon so I shall go. Have a great day.