Easter fun & more "Big" girl changes!

Hard to believe that Easter has come & gone and we're looking ahead to May! Where is 2009 GOING??!! Shelby had a lot of fun this Easter, she had an Easter party at school and then I took her to the local McKinney Easter egg hunt. They had lots of neat things for the kids to do, she rode on a little train, pet some animals and hunted Easter eggs. She really enjoyed the animals, petting a little duck and some chicks. It was a fun day, but a tad windy. At least it was a clear day & warm enough to be out.

I took her to a little gazebo by a church nearby the other day & captured some cute shots. She enjoyed running around and especially wearing her flowery dress. She LOVES dresses....asks me every day if she can wear one. Since it has still been cool this Spring, she has had to wear leggings w/them, but she doesn't care, as long as she is wearing a dress. My Mom said I was the same way and would have to wear pants (don't think leggings were quite "in" for kids back then) w/my dresses because we lived in Oregon and it was way too cold a good part of the year. But we're also learning that she is quite the little tomboy too.....really enjoyed digging in the dirt a couple of weeks ago w/Daddy. Our neighbor had a trailer of dirt he was using in his backyard, and Drew gave Shelby a little garden shovel & bucket. For 2 hours she loaded dirt in her little bucket.....resulted in a 4-HOUR NAP!! I couldn't believe how tired she was ~ I had to wake her up by 6pm, otherwise I don't know how long she would've napped. Probably until midnight then been up & ready to play, ha!

Potty training is going really well, I cannot believe in a month's time how great Shelby is doing. After that first week and having very little success, I was ready to give up. But thankfully Drew remained practical and encouraged me to stick w/it. It did seem once she finally went in the potty a few times, it just clicked. She has not had an accident in 2 weeks, hooray! She loves wearing her big girl panties and she wears pullups on school days. So many people warned me about pullups and that kids regress thinking it's just like a diaper. Shelby hasn't had that issue ~ I think since there are princesses on her pullups like her panties, she treats them the same, I don't know. We also bought this awesome adult/kid toilet seat at Home Depot. It is soooo much better than cleaning out the little potty seat. I think that's another reason I was kind of frustrated, cleaning out the potty seat was just like changing a diaper. I was thinking, how is this really any different?!! But this toilet seat is great & I think has helped her do better w/the potty training too.

We also moved Shelby out of her crib into a big bed. I was really quite content to leave her in the crib ~ my thought was why move her out unless she is trying to get out??? She never crawled out of it, she never screamed to get out (like when awake, etc.), she was always content playing in her crib til we came & got her. But Drew was really ready to move her out, he said she was a big girl now and thought she needed more space, he thought she was cramped in the crib. (I explained if she just took fewer animals & books to bed, she wouldn't need space, ha!) So we put a spare set of Queen size mattresses that we had in her room and took out the crib. It's just the box spring & mattress on the floor, simple & if she rolls off, she won't go far! But she has been scrunching up in the far right corner against the wall so I am really not concerned about her rolling off. It's so funny to check on her during the night, there is alllll this space and there she is balled up in the corner. Oh well, her animals have more room now, ha! But so far so good, she has been good about staying in bed, which Isurprised me. So, guess Drew was right & she was ready.

Shelby gave me a good laugh the other day ~ I try really hard not to say "crap" or "darn" when I do something by accident, so I typically say "man" or "dude" like she learned before. Well I said that and she responded with "I hate it when that happens." Ha!! Just cracked me up! She has also explained to us a few times "That's ok, accidents happen." when I guess we make a mess or do something accidentally. Today we went driving around in the country, looking at land, and Shelby asked "Are we in the jungle?" There were so many trees, she thought it was the jungle and that we would see an elephant. HA! It's just funny to me how they become these little persons, just chattin' it up. We're looking forward to the summer and visiting Nana & Papa in OK, we're also planning a trip to Uncle Russ' BBQ competition and hopefully a trip to Colorado to meet up with Drew's family. We're also going to take some swimming lessons and plan some other activities to keep our days busy. Hope everyone is well, enjoy the pics!!

Taking an Easter picture after church ~ we reused her flower girl dress, got one more wear out of it!!

Her Daisy sunglasses f/Easter Bunny ~ she loves them, ha!


Observing the little duck take a bath ~ she was quite fascinated with the animals.

The duck & some baby chicks ~ they dyed them colors, I thought that was strange.

Hunting Easter eggs ~ it was pretty easy, just a big soccer field w/eggs all over it.

Taking the train ride, she's in the 1st car. She was SO excited about this, but we had to wait in line forever!

Taking a little Jeep ride ~ she can sorta reach the peddle now! Needs help stearing f/Dad though.

Class Easter egg party ~ very windy that day too!

This was my favorite picture of the whole bunch ~ showin' that personality!!

Dirty Jr. ~ dumpin out the dirt! (Drew's nickname as a kid was Dirty)

Springtime is here!

Boy March has flown by, but we are loving the gorgeous weather! We ended Feb. by catching the flu, which was miserable. Shelby had it first, then I got it. She bounced back pretty quickly, but it took me a good 5 days just to get my fever broken. I'd gone almost 10 years since having it last, so maybe I was just due. Thankfully Drew didn't get it and was able to take care of us. We had Spring Break last week, it was awesome. We went to the park every day and did a picnic two days. She played so hard at the park, she took really good naps all week, which was great for me to work on some church stuff. We also went to Oklahoma twice this month, so got lots of good Nana & Papa time in!

So last week we started potty training. Whew, this is tough. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be based upon her interest in it, but we did have some successes and this week seems to be going better, but it's only Tues., we'll see. :) This brought back memories of learning to nurse and how hard I thought that was. I feel completely lost, am grasping at ideas & techniques to help her understand and trying to keep my patience. Boy that first kid, they really get the brunt of our lack of parenting knowledge!! I took her shopping for panties, made a whole "Shelby & Mommy" fun day out of it. I picked out 4 packages of her size and told her she could pick 2. She responded with "How about all these?" I said "no, 2" and we went back & forth a few times on this! She is becoming quite the negotiator, which I am really having to watch so we don't create bad habits. So far it's been cute & on simple things, but I am definitely trying to be alert so that we're not negotiating on things like discipline, etc. Boy, this motherhood business keeps you on your toes! :) Anyways, she picked out her panties and was SO excited to come home and try them on. We also bought a potty training book that came w/a reward chart that has magnets. A friend at church recommended it and it is pretty neat. Shelby really likes picking out the magnets and her big reward is on days that she fills up the whole day (5 magnets), she can have a special treat, a dum-dum sucker. It didn't really click at first, but yesterday she actually did fill up the day and got to have the sucker today after school ~ didn't figure it'd be smart to give her that at 8:30 last night!! HA! I also find it so humorous how excited we as parents get when they go in the potty ~ I mean seriously, this is what makes me happy these days?? Clapping & cheering and making a big fuss over it. Ha! So, we'll keep at it and hopefully it will really start clicking soon.

Some funny stories....so Shelby loves the Sally car in the Cars movie. She has a stuffed Sally, the matchbox size car, stickers, a magnet, etc. The thing that cracks us up is carries the cover of her coloring book, w/Sally on the cover, all over the house and refers to Sally on it, like it's the real Sally. She will put the cover in the floor and have Sally watch her spin; she will bring it to the table so Sally can watch her eat. The funniest was last week when she did have her first successful "potty", she ran out of the bathroom, half-naked, and said "I gotta go tell Sally!!". HA! It just cracks us up! Another "funny", and this involves Abby too, was a few weeks ago when Maduro ran out the front door while we were saying goodbye to Abby & Leslie. As I was rounding him up, Abby says "Maduro, get in! One, two, three....I said two!!" LOL!! I just about fell over! I thought that was soooo funny, then Shelby said it the next day. She has said it a few more times since, which just makes me giggle. Poor Maduro, he is getting a lot of scolding by those 2. Shelby is also getting her exercise on, doing Pilates. I got out my video one afternoon and while I was doing the movements, she laid in the floor next to me, flapping her arms up & down, trying to lift her legs, etc. It was hilarious. Then a few nights later, she just laid in the floor on her back, and started flapping her arms at her side and said "Mom, I'm exercising!" LOL!! The things she comes up with, just really gets me sometimes. I had no idea this age would bring so much fun. Oh and she is also into wearing jewelry ~ we've bought her a couple of kid necklaces and she loves to put these on. She will ask me if I want to wear one, I say sure, and today she said "That is so cute!" HA!

Well that's about all for this post ~ Drew is headed on a men's campout this week at church and Sat. we'll celebrate my b-day. Shelby's been singing "Happy Birthday" to me every day, even though I keep explaining it's a few days away. :) Oh well, good practice. She's looking forward to cake she informed me, ha! Our Ladies Retreat is in 2 weeks and then I have a scrapbooking retreat at end of April ~ cannot wait for that! Mom break!! I finished Shelby's first year (finally!) and now get to start on her 2nd year. I have told myself to par down on the pics, we'll see. I'll have to try! Hope everyone is well & looking forward to having more free time in Summer when all these bible studies are done, etc. We are really hoping to get some good camping in this summer, I think Drew may even take Shelby when I am scrapbooking, we'll see.

This poor bear, Shelby wanted to put this headband on her ~ it was a bit snug, but did match her well!

1st trip ~ Aunt Kel's b-day ~ two peas in a pod! Bet we'll see this at future campouts!


B-day kisses for Momma!!



Eating yummy pancakes on day of shopping trip!



Notice the 4 she has in hand! Our negotiating, ha!

Spring Break at the park ~ she loves the swings. Always do those first.

Having a picnic lunch, sandwich & nutri-grain bar, yum!

Mason using his Jedi mind trick to repel Shelby, ha!

And now a duel of the Jedis!! LOL

Hot Poo-Poo, what?!

I just could not resist posting this funny little story, this is by far one of the funniest things Shelby has said. Last week she told me "Momma, I need a diaper change. I did a hot poo-poo." Just what every Mom wants to hear! I have no idea where she got this or if it just indeed felt very hot, who knows. Came up again today ~ I went in this morning to get her up and she informed me "I didn't do a hot poo-poo. I just did a hot tooter." HA!! And she was so matter of fact about it, just letting me know she'd only done a tooter, and a hot one at that I guess! LOL

A quick funny story about Abby, this gave me such a giggle.....she's informed Maduro a couple of times that he'd better watch it, or he'll get a timeout. :) Maduro (who I sometimes think also acts like a 2-year old!) jumped on the counter and I was hollering at him to get down. All of a sudden Abby shouts "Maduro, you get down! Get down or you do a timeout!" And the look on her face was so stern, she meant business! HA! She told him this again when he got under the bed in the spare room....she was on the floor, looking under the bed at him and instructing him that he'd "better get outta there, get out or you do a timeout!"

Ah kids, the funny things they say. Helps to balance out the rough times when they drive you nuts. :)