Henry turns 2!

Nobody likes a party more than me. I love picking out a theme and getting everything together. I'm a huge fan of DIY so I'm always looking for easy simple ideas that won't break the bank. This past August we celebrated our not so little man. I decided on a transportation theme. Think anything that moves; we're talking places, trains, cars, trucks & even motorcycles. He's a big fan of it all.

So where to start? I always decide the date first. Our family has a pig roast every year, the year Henry was born we missed it- the only one I've ever missed! I always have that in the back of my head when picking out the date. This year the pig roast fell right on his birthday, so we chose to have his party the Saturday before. I usually do it around 3 because my kid still needs a nap and the later the better. Next is the venue. Although I try to keep it small we end up with about 40 to 50 people, it never fails. With this amount of people we don't have the room to have it at our house. We decided to have it at our church, Sonrise.  We also decided to have it outside, they have a great pavilion and a play ground for all the kids to play on!

Next up are invitations. I turn to Pinterest for inspiration. When I look at Pinterest not only am I looking for cute clip-art, but I'm also looking for cute wording. Here's what we came up with:

Once the invitations are set I try to think of some easy decorations. I picked up a cute birthday banner at Target, it had dump trucks (probably on of his favorite things) on it with some construction cones. I made another banner that said "Henry is 2" using card stock in the shape of construction cones. I was really trying to not go crazy as far as decor is concerned. It's hard not to when you're looking at Pinterest; there's so much to look at! I also made two canvas paintings, one with an H on it; that I painted to look like a road and one that said "Speed Limit 2". For that I just printed out the words, used a little mod podge to glue them on and done!

The basic set up before all the food, I didn't take any close up pictures of the canvas but you can see one in here!

Close up of his construction cone banner.

Next I focused on food. I try to keep the party after naps which leaves us around 3, because of that I feel like I have to feed people. Not just snacks either but you know like a meal. Before when I would plan parties I was definitely a "I got everything myself" kind of girl. Now I share the wealth, you want to help me; cool bring a dip! With the help of family and friends we had quite a spread. We had taco dip, buffalo dip, pretzels, chips, fruit, a big tossed salad and pizza. I try really had to be mindful of our guests; we have quite a few family members who are vegetarian or vegan. I try to think of things that they can eat too. On the table I had some trucks set up so they were "dumping" the food into the bowls. For the cake I did a 13x9 pan with funfetti cake (our favorite) and made a big 2 on it. I made the 2 look like a road and put a couple of Henry's smaller trucks on them. For the cupcakes we did chocolate with chocolate frosting (Henry picked that out). I did simple cake toppers for the cupcakes. I also made some sugar cookies to have as another sweets option. Just simple square cookies that I turned into road signs, they turned out pretty cute!

 Dump trucks "dumping" the snacks into the bowls

 The cake and the cupcakes, found the plates online at Party City!

Shot of the cookies!

As far as favor bags, I'll be honest I'm not a huge fan of goody bags. They're usually filled with candy or useless crap I'll most likely end up throwing away. I try to think of what I would want my kid to bring home from a party. We decided on a hot wheels car and a cute little coloring pack n go kit. It came with a small coloring book, stickers, and crayons; even better just a dollar from the dollar store! For the bags I picked up a 12 pack of black bags from Target and cut out red, yellow and green circles. Glued them on so they looked like traffic lights!

Favor bags!

Some other fun details we added to the table were some photos of our boy. My sister and went out with Henry one night searching for big trucks and boy did we find some. The pictures were the perfect addition to the table. I also made some cute signs to add to the table. You'll see them in some of the pictures above. We made one that said, "Choo choo choose a treat", "Fuel Station", and "Yield for a snack". Everything came together really nicely. Having the playground there was great for the kids, I didn't have to have any other activities to keep them busy.

Our sweet boy is really two! He may give us a run for our money, he may still crawl into our bed at 2 in the morning, he may still have a binky, he may drive me insane sometimes but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Back to School!

It's 6 am on the first day of school. Nella is actually awake; I think she's excited. She normally wakes up any where from 7 to 7:30. How did we get here? We didn't do much this summer (we choose to pay off some debt this year) but man did it fly by. We went on a couple small adventures, we've had baby cousins (lots of baby cousins) being born, we've had fun birthday parties, we've had beach days, we took a small trip to Ohio (blog post to come on that!), a couple lemonade stands, we've had a lot of park days, baseball games, and a lot of hanging around the house and do nothing days.

Now here are, it's September already! So how do we get ready for going back to school? During the summer I don't really follow much of a routine. I let Nella stay up longer than I normally would, we eat treats (probably too many) and watch lots of movies. I really start to crack down about two weeks before school starts. Nella is transitioning out of naps so I want her in bed by 8. No naps means she's pretty tired at the end of the night. We start getting ready around 7:00, everyone gets their jammies on, she gets a small snack (once Henry is in bed), brushes her teeth, says her prayers and then it's off to bed. Of course she fights it; but I know she needs it. She's been doing really well with it. It's nothing crazy; just trying to stay consistent is key. I think it's safe to say we are ready for the school year ahead.

This year will be her last year in preschool. It has been pulling at my heart strings for sure. This is her third year at this preschool with Miss Stephanie. Man I could go on for days what a great teacher she is; Nella has grown so much over these three years. I can't wait to watch her this year. This year she will be going in the afternoon class; hence the transition to no naps.

This is my girl on her very first day of preschool!

Penelope will be FIVE in November; don't ask we how that happened because I just don't know. It goes by too fast. Nella is a November baby so she could go to kindergarten this year but we have chosen to keep her in preschool one more year. Do I think that she would make it in kindergarten; hell yes I do. This girl is one smart cookie but we were not focused on now when we made the decision. The thing that kept sticking out to me that later on she will be only 17 when she starts college. To me that seems so young. I can't help but think she can only benefit from going to kindergarten next year instead of this year.

If we needed to send her I think she would do fine, I really do. But guys kindergarten is not the same anymore. When I went to kindergarten it was a half day program; over the years it has become a full day program. Which is a dream for working parents and I'm not knocking that; but it's a lot. I don't think people fully realize how much it really is for a kid. At least for a kid who maybe didn't go to preschool or a pre-K program or doesn't go to daycare. When that kid enters kindergarten now they are expected to know their letters and their numbers already; they are starting the process of learning to read in kindergarten. Yes that's right- they are already learning to read! When I went to kindergarten we were taught our letters and numbers! I am a huge fan of learning through play. I think it's so important for kids to be able to discover and explore through play. That is the main reason we chose to keep her in preschool just one more year.

We also decided to stay another year because that's what we think is best for her. We think this will be the best transition for her. This was the first summer that I actually did not enforce naps. She had to find something quiet to do because her brother still naps (I am not ready for that yet). So last year she did the morning class and this year it will be the afternoon. We can do stuff in the morning and she will go to school after lunch. I think it will be the best way for her to transition into a full day of school. We are also upping her days from three days of school to four. I am really excited to watch her grow and I can't wait to see what she does this year. I know she's going to do great things. But I'm not going not going to lie, my momma heart is a little sad that my baby is getting so big.

Baby girl you are going to big things, I can't wait to watch it all! 

Henry Turns 1!

Fast forward to a year later our sweet boy is turning one! I will be honest I was not feeling a party this year. I can't exactly pin point why either. It could because I couldn't think of a real solid theme that I loved or it could of been because of every theme I thought of involved too much. For the first birthday we like to call it our big blow out. We invite everyone, which equals a lot of food & drinks too. I don't know why but I just wasn't feeling it, maybe it was because my baby was getting bigger. Nothing quite like a birthday to crush a momma's heart just a little.

No worries we did end up having a party. My genius husband came up with a camping theme; and that's when it hit me. We could do chili as the food; one meat and one veg for our vegetarian friends, have it outside using the outdoors as our decorations. He came up with the theme and I ran with it.

I really had such a blast coming up with all the decorations. We asked one of our dear friends if we could use their yard for the occasion; lucky for us she said yes! Once we had a location I set to work. I'm cheap so I try to make as much as I can. My husband brings home cardboard and I create.

There's our boy with some of the set up. All of those signs are made from cardboard. I headed to Pinterest for some inspiration and worked from there. I definitely wanted a welcome sign so I started there.

This was the food table set up. I asked everyone to bring their own chairs, we also had a fire pit that we got going. We did have to deal with some rain but it passed fairly quickly.  Again most of the bigger signs are just from cardboard. I cut them to size, painted the background with chalkboard paint and painted the edges with different shades of brown to resemble a wood grain. Using a white pencil or crayon I wrote my letters first then painted over them with white paint. The banners I used brown paper lunch bags; cut them into a pennant shape and just print off my letters I wanted. For the party favors we had a make your own trail mix station set up with all the fixings. We used peanuts, almonds, raisins, pretzels, & m&m's.

I may have gone a little over board and made our whole family matching shirts. Henry had his birthday shirt (found on Etsy and it says "Henry is one happy camper"), and I made shirts for the rest of us. We were the "staff" for Camp Henry. I grabbed some shirts from Micheal's, some fabric paint and some stencils. I just did arrows on the front and using letter stencils put "STAFF" on the back.

Made this sweet sign from a canvas I had at home, hoping to find a spot in his room for it at some point. Took some shades of brown mixed with some white and orange to get a wood grain feel for the background. I free handed the letters, wrote it in pencil first and went over it with paint. The arrows were stencils.

I did cupcakes with fish on them and a sweet little cake for our little guy. Used graham crackers to create a tent and some twigs to make a one! You can see in the background Henry's birthday sign. I like to make one every year to celebrate our kids mile stones. I usually put on their weight, height, how many teeth they have, what they can do, what they love, favorite toys, favorite books, favorite foods and probably a couple of other things that I can't think of right now. It's nice to have to look back on.

I had my sister take some pictures to help capture our big boy (and so we'd have a couple to put out on the tables). You can see in the top picture a nice picture of his shirt. Everything came together so well and it looked so nice! It was easy to find things to add to the decor, a lot of extras were just from pine trees (we used some branches and bark). I think it's safe to say our little man had a great first birthday party!

Henry William

Guys. It's 2018. My last post was in 2015! It's almost three exact years since I last wrote. My little bean is now close to FIVE years old! Can you freaking believe that. Oh and we had another kid....who just turned TWO! Yes that's right, not only am I a mother of two; but I am a mother of an almost five year old and a two year old.

Hence this post. I figured I'd take you back to when our sweet little man was born. We found out that I was pregnant on Christmas eve! We weren't really trying but we weren't preventing it either. I got a pregnancy test on a whim just to see and well you can guess what happened next. We saw the line, the positive sign and we were pretty excited! We told my parents the next day, and his parents too! We waited a little while to tell Nella. Honestly we didn't want anything to happen and to have to explain that.

This pregnancy was a little rough. I hate to complain because I really am so blessed. I am proud that my body is able to hold a baby and make it to full term. I know full well that not everyone can do that and I am truly grateful. As grateful as I am; that doesn't take away from the daily wear and tear that your body goes through during pregnancy. I was uncomfortable and trying to keep up with a two year old. Our due date was August 25th, of course we wanted to find out the gender. We had names picked out, solid one for a boy and a few for a girl. Of course we wanted to throw a little party to reveal what the baby was; low and behold they could not see a thing. Our little bundle of joy was in a tight ball, the nurses got all their measurements so we did not need to go back. I'm cheap so I was not about to go in for extra ultrasounds just to find out the sex. We had to wait and see what we had in there. We were bummed to say the least. I get the surprise of not finding out, but I don't know there's something about knowing what your baby is. You can pick out a name for them, you can bond with them even before they are with you earth side.

                                                Photo by Nicole Maddalone Photography

Anyways, long story short we did not find out so we had to wait. Daddy was pretty convinced it was a girl. We heard it all, if it's a boy they always show off- have their legs wide open. Well whatever this babe was they weren't giving it up. Lucky me we got to wait a whole extra week! In the words of my doctor "You just have a very comfy home in there." Not what I wanted to hear. Shout out to Nella to being a super awesome toddler; who really enjoyed watching a lot of movies on those hot summer days. Well September 1, 2016 finally comes, it's induction day. We call the hospital at 5pm to see if we can come in at 6; they're really busy so they ask us to come in at 7. We wait for Grandma and Papa to come hang with Nella, we say good bye and head to the hospital. We check in, get out room and wait for our doctor to come in. He gets there around 8, gives me a dose of cervidil and says he'll be back to check on me.

In the room I've got my mom, my little sister and my husband. Trying to think back, as the night progressed my pain was definitely increasing. By 10/10:15 I was over it. My husband suggested asking for some pain meds so we could nap and get ready for this baby's arrival, I agreed so we called the nurse in. She checked me and went to get another nurse. She checked me and told me that I wasn't getting pain meds I'd be getting an epidural (if I wanted one) because I was dilated to an 8 or 9 and was ready to go. Mind you my mom and sister had just stepped out to grab a book, and get some snacks so they could hang for a little. My husband called them immediately and told them to get back to the room as quickly as possible. I got my epidural and was ready to go (shout out to all the bad asses who don't get an epidural. Giving birth hurts & I love my epidural). I don't remember when the doctor came in or what time I started to push. I just know by 11:37 pm after two sets of three pushes our little BOY was here. Daddy got to announce it and everyone was over joyed! We seriously could not believe it was a boy. I remember changing his diaper later on, seeing his penis and thinking, "Holy crap! It really is a boy!"

                                      Henry William. 11:37 pm. 9 lbs 11 ozs. 21 inches long.

Big sister Penelope came to visit in the morning with Grandma and Papa. She was very excited and was so sweet with her new brother. We had so many visitors, got so many presents for our boy. We are so very blessed to be surrounded by such a loving family. I stayed over night that night and we went home in the morning a family of four.

Nella's Craft Corner!

It's finally finished and I couldn't be more proud. Of course there are no before pictures because I got too excited and started as soon as I could. Just picture this a sweet round little wooden table. With two little chairs. I actually used it when I was a kid, it got passed onto our cousins when we out grew it and landed back to my moms house for the grand kids. Imagine something similar to this:

I started thinking a couple of months ago how fun it would be to have a space just for Nella to be able to color. She could get into the chair herself, get her crayons herself and have at it. The idea developed from there. I had to have containers for the crayons and of course some where for her coloring books and papers.

So I turned to my faithful Pinterest. I searched for "craft corner" to see what other people had come up with, how they organized all the little stuff and kept it neat. What I liked best looked something like this:

 different ways to organize

 cute, small & contained

tin cans on towel rod with shower hook!

Now I do know that Nella is only 2 but it's something that will hopefully grow with her. Maybe even become a place for her to do homework. So this is what I came up with:

There it is in all it's glory. I absolutely loved how it turned out. It has everything I wanted. Sorry for the crappy pictures, it's just me and my cell phone over here! So let's take a peek shall we!

I started with the table and chairs. I wanted them to be fun, be bright, be inviting. I knew I wanted to paint them but like I said I wanted bright & fun. I wasn't sure how to achieve this with just paint, then it struck me, duh! Decoupage! Of course I googled that and found out you can really use anything and stick it on anything. I went with wrapping paper, I figured it would cover well and I wouldn't have to match anything up like you would with plain old paper because with wrapping paper you have a lot of surface area to work with. I tried to find something gender neutral just in case so I went with stripes. I read that you should have a base coat (of paint) before you start with the Mod Podge. I painted the whole thing white, primer first and just one coat of white paint. No clue what brand or how much because I found it in the basement. It did the job and I was satisfied. After waiting for that to dry I slapped on a coat of Mod Podge on the table. I tried putting a thin layer of Mod-Podge on the wrapping paper itself as well as the table because he guide I found said to do that. Well that didn't work for me, when I tried to smooth it out it ripped so I had to scrap the whole thing. So I tried again this time only putting a layer of Mod-Podge just on the table. Then I cut a huge piece of wrapping paper and pasted it on. You don't want it to be too big, but you do want it to hang off the edge, it's easier to trim later. While it's slightly wet take a piece of sand paper and go around the edges. That's how you get the excess off but still get a clean edge. I smoothed out the wrinkles as much as I could and layered more Mod-Podge on top of that. I did at least 4 coats, and I still need to do a clear coat but it's holding up well without it.

Next I moved onto the chairs. I thought having the top part and the seat of the chair covered in wrapping paper would be cute. I knew the top part would be hard because it's a curved edge. I tried cutting a piece and making slits down the whole thing so I could make it smooth. Long story short it just didn't work. At all. The Mod-[odge was drying to fast for me to get it to do what I wanted. It looked like a hot mess.

This is a view form the couch. I had to take a break for a couple of days because it was very frustrating. Even more frustrating once I realized it wasn't going to work it had already dried so I had to sit there and pick and sand and pick and sand it all off. Not my idea of a good time!

As you can see from the above pictures I had to paint it again. i tried to make it as smooth as possible so you couldn't tell the damage I had done. After just painting it white and leaving it alone I moved onto the seat of the chair. Again I cut out a piece of wrapping paper, although this time I trimmed it to fit exactly how I wanted it because I wasn't able to and didn't want sand it off this time. It would be impossible and ruin my paint job. So I trimmed it to the shape and size I wanted. Once that was done I traced that one for the other chair as well. Again I put a layer of Mod-Podge just on the chair and stuck the wrapping paper piece on. Smoothed all the wrinkles and bubbles out, then put a layer right on top.

This was it while the Mod-Podge was drying, it's beautiful. I love that it dries so clear!

Almost done! Nella couldn't wait though; she had to test it out and of course I let her. She waited very patiently while it dried.

As you can see the buckets are hung differently here than how they ended up. Once we got our fabric book shelf hung up everything was pretty crammed together so I had to move everything.

Potty Training

Here it is the post you've all been waiting for! Our potty training secrets. We started at 18 months. We, who am I kidding it was me. Ha! I don't think Scottie had a clue what he was in store for.

Anyways back to the post. I started the process without even really knowing I did. I got her a potty about a month before we even started anything. She would always follow me into the bathroom so I figured at least she'd have some where to sit. I wanted her to really just get to know it before she used it. I know that sounds stupid but I wanted her to know what it was and how to use it before she actually attempted anything. Like really know how to use it. Lifting the lid up and actually sitting on the seat. Of course we had the standing on it, and using the seat as a necklace (gross).

She'll hate me I know, but I've come to terms with that.

After about a month of having the potty I figured hey let's give it a whirl. It she takes to it great, if it gets to frustrating we'll stop and try again maybe a month later. Looking back I think this might have been the key. No stress, no worries. I was calm which helped her be calm. So for the first week, I let her be completely naked. I knew she would have accidents so I watched her like a hawk. Hoping I could catch her so I could rush her to the potty hoping she'd make the connection. Yes she had accidents, pee and poop, but it was good. She was starting to figure out what her body was doing. We only did this until naps. After naps we'd give her a break and put her back in diapers. I knew she was starting to get it because after a couple of days while wearing her diaper she would tell me she had to pee. I would tell her it was ok to pee because she had a diaper on.

First time ever peeing on the potty! She was thrilled!

And yes I am that mom. First time she ever pooped!

Now after a week past we started fresh on Monday. I would take her to the potty every five minutes. Yes EVERY FIVE MINUTES. Even if she didn't have to go. I just wanted her to sit. The next day would be every ten minutes, the next every 15 and so on. Again I kept with the morning trend. I'd put a diaper on her for naps and keep one on the rest of the day to give her a break. I didn't know then but thinking about it now I guess I didn't want her to get frustrated or overwhelmed with the whole process. Now that weekend happened to be pretty busy so she was in diapers for pretty much the whole thing. I was bummed I thought she'd lose all that we had worked on during the week.

But my girl proved me wrong. That Monday I took her pants off and she pooped on the potty! Told me she had to go and everything! First time ever! And yes I took a picture and sent it to Scottie. From that moment on that was it. Of course I used the old here's a chocolate if you pee on the potty and two if you poop. That seemed to work well. She really did great. And yes if you're wondering I am that creepy mom who takes a picture. I took a picture of the first time she peed and pooped, as I said before Scottie got one. I know weird but we had to celebrate!

I think my biggest hurdle was leaving the house in underwear. That was scary. I tried to make her go on the potty before we left the house, and if we were going to a store that had a rest room I'd ask her if she had to go right when we got there and right before we left. I tried to pay attention to how often she was going. She seemed to always poop in the morning, right after she had her milk. Which worked out well for us because it was before we left the house. She can go without peeing for a couple of hours. So really now I just ask every hour or so as a reminder to her. And of course I always brought an extra diaper, underwear, and a new outfit just in case. Honestly I had to trust her. She was telling me when she had to go so I had to take her word for because if I tried to put her on the potty when she didn't have to go she'd have a fit.

Check out those big girl underwear!

The other big hurdle for me was no more diapers at nap time. Again I paid attention. I noticed her diapers were staying dry so we gave it a shot. I try to make her go before her nap but it doesn't always happen so I say a little prayer and put her to sleep. She's usually pretty good but again as expected she does sometimes wet the bed. Next will be no diaper at night time! And also at church nursery. I knew she'd be busy playing and would have a hard time telling other people she had to go. Just about a month ago we finally ditched the diaper. Again I make her go before she goes to play just to be safe.

I try not to get down on her if she has an accident. Especially if it's after a nap. She can take some long ones so I'm often pleasantly surprised when she doesn't pee the bed. We usually just tell her that's ok, it was an accident. Then we talk about where we go poop and pee.

Now dealing with set backs like when we started working in a new environment. I went back to the old candy trick again. It seemed to help her get back on track. I think I was having a harder time dealing with the accidents than she was. I was getting so frustrated because I knew she could go on the potty and I couldn't understand why she was having so many accidents. I tried time outs but that just made both of us upset. So like I said I went back to the old candy trick and that did it. Now don't get me wrong she has her good days and bad days but overall for 22 months I am damn proud of my girl!

Now we're at the month before her second birthday and she's pretty much independent. She tells me she needs to go and as long as it's a little potty she can go all by herself. Pull her pants down and will even wipe! I of course help with that, her favorite part is flushing and washing her hands!

If this helped you in any way let me know. Leave a comment, share it with your friends. How has your potty training journey been?

Hi! Don't Worry We're Still Here.

So people have been asking, "Hey where's your blog?" And by people I mean two, but whatever numbers aren't important. Last post was at 15 months and now my baby isn't such a baby anymore. My girl Penelope Lynn is 22 months old as of yesterday. I know I say it every time but can you believe it. In two months we will be celebrating her second birthday! I seriously can't believe I will the mother of a two year old.

We've had a great summer! We've taken trips to the beach, went to a baseball game, visited the state museum, welcomed a couple of new additions. She's also been able to practice her candle blowing skills. Mimi and Papa Francisco both have summer birthdays, so she'll be all set for her own birthday! She's gotten very good at the birthday song too. Of course she'll never sing it in front of people, so don't ask. Here's some photo updates of the bean and our summer:

 Auntie Ashley helping Nell in the water.

 Hanging at the park with her bestie Jackson!

 Enjoying a pop at the lake! I couldn't believe it when we saw the ice cream man role through!

Comley strong. Always  

More park fun.  

She loves to do dishes. 

Meeting baby Holly for the first time!  

Helping mom with cupcakes! 

 She loved helping Grandma water the plants.

 Taking a hike

 Happy Birthday Papa!

 Big helper!

 Play date with friends at the park!

 Blowing bubbles!

 Pig Roast 2015

 The DeVoe clan!

Modeling my first knitted hat! My new hobby more to come on that!

Let's see what has she been up. Biggest accomplishment for me, she finally learned to smile on command. Often times I end up with side eyes and a big smile but I'll take it! I'm just glad she finally says cheese and really smiles! Onto other important things like she's a chatter box for one. She's very shy around new people but if she knows you she'll talk her ear off. She says full sentences now. She's really good at saying no, and leave me alone or stop it and I don't like that. I'm really working on using her words instead of whining because let's face it no one can understand whines and honestly who can stand to even hear it. She can count to ten, she can say her abc's. We're starting to work on letter recognition, she can find the letter p which is good considering it's the first letter in her name! She's learning her colors, I thought she'd never get it because she thought everything was green but if you ask her again she can usually tell you the right color. Another post soon on how we help encourage her abc's, numbers and colors. She's walking, she's running, she's becoming quite independent. She can pretty much dress herself although the shirts can be pretty frustrating, I mean there are three holes, and her underwear may end up backwards but still she did it. Daddy's really good at giving up all control when it comes to to picking out a whole outfit. I give her choices. She's obsessed with buckles and bags, she wishes she could zipper and button, but that will come. She's learned how to blow bubbles. She's crazy! She's always laughing, she's getting pretty sassy often times that ends in time outs but hey it happens. We're really working on listening to mommy's words. That's a whole post in itself. Her new favorite thing is swinging on her belly, which in her world means laying on her belly and not moving. It's quite entertaining.

She is fully potty trained. Yes at 22 months she can use the potty and recently can pretty much do it on her own. She can pull down her own pants sit, wipe herself and pull them up. She always gets stuck on her butt, she just can't seem to get the pants over that little booty! I'll save our potty training secrets for another post. I mean I'm pretty convinced that she potty trained so early because she's a genius but that's just me. It could be because she's a girl or because she just did. Who knows? Our next will probably be in diapers until they're four. Ha! Awesome news, just this morning she woke up with a dry diaper! I really hope this trend continues because then we can kiss those diapers good bye. Now don't get me wrong I fully expect more accidents even if she does stay dry though the night. And honestly it's not a bad thing if they're in her bed because then I actually remember to change her sheets. Don't judge we're busy people, I forget. Speaking of beds she's in a big girl bed! She's done really good in it too. I want to get her a toddler bed so we're ready for the next one when the time comes.

I've recently started a new job. Still nannying except instead of all my girls I'm with one little girl who is 5 months (cute as a button!) and a little boy who is four. He's in preschool three days a week for a couple of hours so I use that time to hang out with Nella. Do something that she wants to do, so it's just me and her. Of course we still have the baby but Nella is obsessed with her so she doesn't seem to mind. So far things are going really well. Nella took some time to adjust, which included plenty of accidents. I felt terrible that it was in their house, on their carpets. But it happens, they have kids too they get it. She just had to get used to not having all of moms attention. The baby requires feeding which means I can't always be ready to play with Nella or read or whatever it is that she may need at that moment. I honestly think it was a good thing. When the time comes for baby number two at the Francisco's I think she'll be ready. She's always ready to help which is good. Overall we're happy. Life is good.

I'm pretty sure I had mentioned in the last post that Nella had started in the church nursery. Finally. We just couldn't keep her quiet anymore through the whole service. So off to the nursery she went. It was torture at first but now she's a pro. She's gives me and kiss and she's good to go! I'm really so proud of her. She's come a long way. I had to have my mom watch her the other night and again just a kiss, that's all. She's probably good for at least three hours, then she'll start asking about me. But I'll take it.

Scottie's still at Central Plumbing. He switched jobs for about two months maybe three and quickly realized the grass isn't always greener. So he's back at central and really enjoying it. I'm glad he went through that and can be happier at work, because if he's happy at work he's going to come home in  a better mood. Who wants a grumpy husband coming home, not me!

Life is just so good. We are blessed. I mean yeah it's not perfect. We fight, I get mad, I feel like a maid, but we talk, I cry, we fix it. That's what marriage is about right? It's not always a walk in the park, if there were no challenges it'd be boring.

Now I remember why I never write blog posts anymore. Because it's hard. While finishing this I had to feed the baby, then I just had to clean off the older two because they thought it be cool to look like a tiger. Which in case you were wondering just in fact how you can get yourself to look like a tiger, well simply color on your face with marker and you're good to go! Yikes! Now the babies sleeping and the older two are eating lunch! But I will try to at least write once a month, If not more. So please if you feel so inclined give a share with friends. Let's see how far this blog can travel!