Potty Training SUCCESS!!

Yesterday was Rylee's first day potty training. It was a COMPLETE success and went extremely better than I could have even hoped for! Yesterday morning she woke up at 7:45 and I immediately went and got her up and took her diaper off and put her in underwear. We made breakfast and just played in the kitchen for a couple hours. (to avoid accidents on the carpet) We did a puzzle, colored, played with dominoes, etc.

I set the timer every 20 minutes and went it went off I told her we needed to go sit on the potty. I had her drinking tons and tons of water and juice so she would need to go a lot yesterday. Every time she sat on the potty from the time she woke up she wouldn't go she would just hold it. And I knew she needed to go she just wouldn't. One of the times we went into the bathroom she said, "No I don't want to." I asked her why and her response was, "I don't understand." ha ha ha it was so cute. Another time when I told her we needed to go sit on the potty she rolled over and said, "Leave me alone." Little smarty pants.

She was done playing and wanted to watch Tangled (her current OBSESSION). I put her on the (leather) couch with a blanket under her. A little while into the movie she wanted a snack so she came in the kitchen and finally had an accident (on the tile thank goodness). As soon as she started peeing she said, "I pee Mommy!" I quickly ran her to the bathroom and she finished on the potty so she got her sticker and 2 gummy bears. I didn't bribe her with candy and stickers, but told her if she went on the potty she got a sticker on her sticker chart and 2 gummy bears if she peed and 4 gummy bears if she pooped. And I told her when she filled all the boxes on the chart we would go to the store and pick out any toy she wanted. It worked very well.

She had another accident when she came upstairs to get me while I was doing laundry and it wasn't too much longer after her first one. She was standing on the carpet but thankfully it was only a little bit so it didn't get on the carpet at all and she was right by the bathroom so I picked her up really quickly and got her in the bathroom. And those 2 were the only accidents she had all day. After that she told me every single time she needed to go poop or pee and she went all by herself! I am one VERY PROUD MOMMY today!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She even wore her underwear to bed and stayed dry all night long and today she is doing even better and wants to do everything herself. Pull her pants down, climb on the stool up to the toilet, wipe, flush, and wash her hands. She has this thing down pretty dang good and I am so happy for her! She thinks she is so big and gets so excited every time she goes now. I was stressing a little bit thinking I was putting it off and waiting too long to potty train her but I am so glad I did it when SHE was fully ready. It was a piece of cake and I am so proud of her!!! YAY RYLEE!! Such a big girl!

Oh, Rylee!

I used to do posts and talk so much about Rylee at each stage she was in and all the new funny things she was doing. She has grown into a little girl and is so much more work than she ever was before and I have completely stopped doing that! This little girl of mine definitely has a one of a kind personality and keeps me busy 24/7 -- even while she is sleeping I am cleaning up the messes she has made and then I go to sleep and dream about her! (kidding) She has grown up into the cutest, funnest, sweetest, (and biggest stinker) I could have ever imagined her to be. She makes me laugh, smile, crazy, and happy all at the same time. Life has become so much more amazing as the time has passed and just looking at that sweet little face makes life even better by the second. Even though pretty much every day is full of tears and tantrums, I am SO GRATEFUL I get to be with her every second of every day and that I get to raise her and teach her everything. She can pretty much say anything now. She pretty much says full sentences and can tell me what she wants, when she wants it. She tells me when she wants to eat and what she wants to eat. She knows all the characters from the Disney movies she has watched so far, (Toy Story 1, 2, and 3) Finding Nemo, Cinderella, Cars, Lion King, and a couple others. She knows her shapes, colors, we are working on looking at numbers and knowing what each one is. She can count to 10 and almost to 20 and is getting good at the alphabet! She loves her animal books and knows what all the animals are in it. Even penguins and flamingoes! :) Smart girl. She is OBSESSED with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and watches that mostly but will ask to watch Sesame Street "Big Bird" too as well as her Disney Movies. Her recent like is "Princess Fia." Princess Sophia that played on Disney Jr. a month ago or so. For the most part she listens really well when I ask her to do something. She loves to clean up her toys after she plays with them and loves the "clean up!" song and sings it every time she is cleaning up! She gets into EVERYTHING and is one very BUSY child. Way busier than a lot of 2 year olds I know. She hardly ever just relaxes and holds still -- always moving. She giggles at herself when she is being goofy and definitely knows how to make us laugh all the time. I have a few videos on our laptop (which is at work with Kelly right now) that I will post of her that will make you laugh! They are hilarious. She throws some awesome tantrums lately that drive me absolutely crazy. When she isn't being a stinker she is so tender hearted and sweet. She knows when you are sad and will come and try to cheer you up by asking, "What's a matter?" and then will kiss you and give you a hug. She says, "Sowwy!" at just about everything. For example, one day I was driving and took a wrong turn and said quietly to myself, "Oh my gosh duh!" (something like that) She yells from the back, "Sowwy Mommy!" like she did something wrong. She is so cute. She is still in her crib and doesn't climb out yet (bless her) ... I am still enjoying her going to bed great and taking great naps during the day. Who knows how that will change when she is in a bed. I hope it lasts a while longer. :) I love that she is "trapped." ha ha. She still has to have warm milk at night after her bath before bed. It's warm milk and 1 episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse every single night before bed no questions asked. Her milk still HAS to be warm and will only take it out of one sippy cup (that looks like a bottle) ugh. I need to change this somehow but don't even know where to begin. And the fact that she still calls it her ba-ba makes it even worse. Oh well, whatever. :) She loves to help me with...EVERYTHING. She remakes the mess I am cleaning up but it is ok - she wants to help and when she is happy I am fine with that. She does literally everything I do. When I open the dishwasher she bolts over as fast as she can to help me "do dishes!" She loves loves loves to do the dishes with me. She puts stuff away even. She is too smart. I could go on and on about this sweet little child of mine. She is my life and I just love all the time I have with her every day. We have so much fun together. I love the days I just play with her and snuggle and just have Mommy time. I cherish all the time we spend together! She is growing up way too fast to take one second for granted.

She is just one happy little girl that I love so much and am so happy to be her Mommy!

She still loves her "eayings" and shows everyone. She doesn't mess with them which is great!



Daddy has been working SOOOOO MUCH the past couple months. He has been so so busy which has been a blessing but we miss him SO MUCH. One night we dropped off pizza to Kelly and a few of the guys that work for him. Rylee jumped right in and started helping and got so dirty! Hilarious.



Helping me wash my car on the very last warm-ish day! It was in the high 50's. She got soaking wet and dirty and we had to bath her for sure! We had fun though!



My crazy child at Walmart last weekend. She is obsessed with these freezers!



At one of Daddy's basketball games! This was as soon as he started playing. She couldn't stop giggling and thought it was so funny!



Then she decided she didn't like the buzzer and wouldn't take her fingers out of her ears. She kept saying, "I wanna go home."



Naps in the car are happening a little more frequently lately...dang December! So busy every day it seems like. So many errands!



I walked in to check on her last night...found her all snuggled in her blanket. I can't handle the cuteness of her sleeping face. I love her so much.



Rylee's recent "cheese" face. She does this all the time and gets away with just about anything cause she will just look at you and make this face if she is in trouble and I can't help but just laugh!



And last but not least...................a couple HILARIOUS stories about Rylee. I was saving them for last. :) Sorry, a bit detailed but whatever. It's my blog so I can say what I want, right?

STORY #1:

One Sunday a couple weeks ago I got undressed to get in the shower. Rylee was standing in my closet with me. She looks down and back up at me, "That's a big butt!" Oh my gosh I can't tell you how funny it was just how she said it! I was trying to decide if I should laugh or be embarrassed that my 2 year old thinks my butt is big?!

STORY #2:

On Monday we were at Walmart. Rylee was sitting in the cart and I was pushing her around. Out of nowhere she grabs my boobs and yells, "I got your boobs!" And kept yelling it over and over! I kept laughing cause of course it was so funny. I am sure my face was beat red cause it was also so embarrassing...

Since when is she old enough to do and say stuff like this???? sigh...

Scheels, City Creek, and Temple Square

Last Saturday the 24th my Mother and Father in law asked us if we wanted to go to Scheels, City Creek, and to see the lights at Temple Square. Of course we said yes! I haven't gone to see the lights in YEARS and really wanted to take Rylee! So we loaded up and headed out around 3 in the afternoon.

 

We first went to Scheels -- holy cow that place is huge! TONS of stuff it was a cool place. We walked around for a little while and then headed further North and went to City Creek. That place was a complete nightmare. I was really excited to go see it since I have never been but honestly, as soon as we got there I already wanted to leave. Horrible mistake going the weekend after Thanksgiving. That place was jam-packed with people - awful.

 

When we got there I was on a mission to find me a new coat. The first store we walked in was American Eagle and I scored a coat! It was just what I was looking for and was 40% off! Even better. I wanted a coat that was longer and that's exactly what it was. We left that store and walked straight to the food court since by this time it was time to eat and we were all hungry. Can you say holy cow people? You could barely move it was awful. Needless to say we walked out of the food court and decided to walk through Temple Square really quickly and then drive somewhere to get dinner. We were in Temple Square maybe 15 minutes and got out of there. I don't get claustraphobic but I was definitely feeling it that evening. You could seriously barely walk it was crazy. We got out of there and got dinner and headed home. I do want to go back in a couple weeks maybe when it isn't so busy. I think everyone just had the same idea as us that day. Hopefully it won't be so busy if we go again

 

We did have fun together though!

Such a BIG girl!

For a little while now Rylee kept telling us she wanted earrings. "I want eayings." She always watches me put my earrings in and plays with my earrings and pretends she is putting earrings in her ears. She holds my dangle earrings and says, "That's so pretty Mommy." Then ON HER OWN she kept saying she wanted earrings. When she would wake up in the morning and randomly during the day she would say, "I want eayings!" Kelly and I kept talking to her about it and asking her if she really wanted earrings and she just kept saying she did. He even kept telling her it would hurt and she would get an owie but it would hurt for just a second and she said ok. I didn't get my ears pierced until I was 17 and who knows why I waited so long -- ok let's be honest, I used to HATE needles and I was scared it would hurt. I don't hate them anymore. Being poked so much while pregnant helped me get over that fear completely. Kelly wanted to get her ears pierced when she was a baby and I said NO WAY. I was scared and nervous and didn't want to do it but she is older now and she wanted to get them done. We just decided to take her over and see what she did. If she cried and said no we would NOT force her to do it, we would just walk out.

 

When we got there she jumped right into the stool (before we even talked to them about doing it) and immediately got freaked out -- cause the stool was wobbly hahaha. So that kinda set her off and she didn't want to be there anymore. We talked to her for a few minutes and she quickly calmed down and let them draw the dots on her ears. I think I made her redo the dots like 5 times hahaha. I wanted them to be perfect! At this point I was still thinking there is no way she will stay calm and hold still and let them do it - but I was way wrong. She sat on Kelly's lap and they did it. 1 girl on each side to get it done at once. Oh my gosh I seriously wanted to cry after they did it. Watching her little face as they did it was so sad! She screamed so loud for a few minutes and then quickly calmed down and wanted to go show Grandma right away.

 

We took her to the Disney store and let her pick out whatever she wanted - of course she picked out a Mickey Mouse doll. That girl and Mickey...she wanted small Mickey Mouse doll over a big Minnie one. She is hilarious. I am glad we got her ears pierced! She loves them and the rest of the night she kept saying, "Look at my eayings!" I am glad we all went together and got them done. I am also glad we waited til she was a little older to do them. It was fun and she looks so dang cute!

 

Grandma and Papa (both of them) love them too and she was so excited to show them!

 

Before they did it

All done! This was right after she stopped crying. Right before this face she made a huge cheesy smile but of course my sucky camera missed it!

So cute! My big girl!

Holding her bag with Mickey Mouse in it! She loves her earrings!

For being so brave we told her she could fall asleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed (she LOVES to do this - we only let her every so often so it's a big deal when we let her). I went in to check on her and this is how she was sleeping. So comfy! She is out cold. Too much excitement I suppose?

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

I love Christmas time! On Sunday I decorated and Kelly put the lights on the tree - but it wasn't until tonight that we FINALLY decorated the tree. Kelly has been so so busy at his shop that he has been working late nights. Tonight he came home, ate dinner, decorated the tree with us, and then straight back to his shop. Rylee loved decorating the tree together. She would jump around and try to put them on the tree herself and just giggle. It was so cute. She makes me laugh.

 

 Cheesiest girl - it is so stinking cute.

 Love all the colored balls on the tree!

 Christmas is my favorite holiday - I love all my decorations! And those stockings I just made yesterday. I love how they turned out!

 

Halloween 2012...better late than never!

These are pictures from before Halloween too but I just decided to put it all in one post together. We  have had a lot of fun this fall season...I don't know if it is still considered fall time now that there is snow on the ground...The first 5 pictures are when I went with my friend and her 2 boys Milo and Logan to the pumpkin patch right by our house. They played for a while and we had a lot of fun. They all love each other -- Rylee asks for Milo, Logan, and Erin constantly.

The Saturday before Halloween I spent the day cooking and making salsa! Rylee was such a big helper. It was fun to just bake all day. We made salsa, caramel popcorn, and sugar cookies. I told Kelly I wanted to make all 3 things and he just laughed thinking I wouldn't...he was wrong! I was in a baking mood!

Some neighbor friends asked if we wanted to go to a fall festival thingy that evening and so we went! It was fun -- we went on a hay ride and looked at the animals. It was just fun to be together doing something different! I just love getting out around Halloween and doing the fall type stuff.

 Rylee and Hunter on the hayride.

We had our ward trunk or treat before Halloween which was nice so we could save actual Halloween to do our own thing. Rylee wasn't so fond of her costume at first -- when we first got there she kept trying to rip it off! She got used to it though and loved it. I had a ton more tulle in her dress but took a bunch out thinking that was why she didn't like it. Well, turns out it didn't matter and it was too bare cause you could see right through it. Oh well she still looked cute! And MUCH thanks to my wonderful Mom in law for making Rylee's CUTE hat! I love it!

On Halloween I made yummy breakfast burritos! Rylee was happy about them. :)

 Isn't she the cutest little scarecrow you have ever seen?!

 On Halloween Kelly came home early from working and we went over to the pumpkin patch by our house and played for a bit before going to the mall to trick or treat.

 Trick or treating at the Provo mall. She got some good candy! And I ate way too much of it...haha.

 I went to my parents house in the afternoon so Rylee and Sam (her cousin) could get some pictures together in their costumes. 

 Annual Halloween chili at my inlaws. We were lame this year and didn't dress up. Everyone else looked cute though!

 Scary picture but this was the best picture my phone got! Good thing my mother in law took one with her camera...I need to get it from her.

 Hope everyone had a good Halloween this year! We sure did! 

Family Pictures 2011

A month ago we got our family pictures taken. I LOVE how they turned out. My friend Madelyn took them again -- I can always plan on her doing an AMAZING job. Rylee was a terror during pictures and I was worried we wouldn't get any good ones but I was wrong. They all turned out so cute! Even the ones Rylee isn't smiling. And I love our outfits -- Kelly picked them out! He is awesome. Love my little family so much and I love our family pictures this year! Sorry they are all in random order.

 

Check out Madelyn's website here