My three

I'm glad I have these three in my life. As crazy as they make it... they hold me together in SO many ways. I'm grateful for this opportunity I'm having to be a mom. (Though I am constantly messing it up!)

Swings!!

I LOVE swings and have wanted a swing set for the past year being in our new home. I finally talked Dallas into getting one. (He wasn't as excited about the idea... Soon enough he'll see why it was such a good idea!) He and I (mostly him) set it up on Saturday. It took all afternoon to get it put together and we finally got it standing late that night. So, after letting the kids swing in the dark that night, they finally got to enjoy the swings in daylight on Sunday afternoon...

Weather

Weather is such a common (and sometimes boring) topic. People bring it up on a daily basis though, so it's a big deal. It really does have a big effect on my day/week. I'm so much happier when the weather is nice... Though sometimes (I'll admit) I don't mind chilly weather, it's a great excuse to stay inside and relax. Last weekend we finally got some warm 60-70° weather and we LOVED it. At the same time I was SO tired... I was joking with Dallas last weekend, saying that my body wasn't used to or ready for summer. Put aside thoughts of snuggling up by the fire with a good book and I am sooo ready for more days like this...

And not loving what I'm hoping to be our last cold spell...

Easter

Easter seems to have already come... but it is still a week away. It's late in April this year, so we have enjoyed the candy and fun all month long. Here is a start to the excitement, an Easter egg hunt at our friends home (the Hebdon's)...

I wish this was in focus! My cute girl. Love her. 

Life with a two year old.

*Don't read this if you don't want to hear about Daphne's boring potty schedule. You've been warned.

Two year olds not only have a TON to learn in this crazy age of life, but they also insist on doing it all on their own. Thus, the terrible twos. Some people say 3 and 4 is hard too and sometimes even harder. I can agree on some accounts (ahem... Makiah...), but really the fact that these two year olds are put through so much just makes it, well, terrible. Poor things. Poor moms. And dads. Goodness. Temper tantrums are a huge part of our lives around here (for all three girls (yes I said three, me too)). Daphne is, well, two. Makiah is, well, Makiah. And me? Every now and then I loose it too ;) But Daphne is the hardest to handle in the temper tantrum area right now. We are working through it, trying not to give in to stop the crying and trying to teach why things happen the way they do. Daphne is sweet and after a good cry she will share again and say sorry. We love her.

A few days after Daphne threw away her binkies she was still doing awesome with nap time. I let her nap in Makiah's bed to see if she would actually sleep without her crib. She did great! So we converted her crib to a toddler bed (yeay!). She still naps every day and has not come out of her room during a nap once. Whew! It's been so nice.

No binky, check. No crib, check. No diapers?

This is not what it looks like. I won't say I'm potty training... Because I'm not. This is all her idea so I'm just playing along. What else do you do when a kid refuses to wear a diaper?

This is how the first day went...

Daph woke up, insisted that she wears underwear. I had some shopping to do so I bought Dora underwear instead of diapers. We get home, she puts on a pair, sits on the potty a few times and then wets herself (expected, I'm totally ok with accidents. She needs to learn somehow). Then came nap time = diaper. She woke up with an attitude, didn't want underwear, wore a diaper the rest of the day.

Second day... Woke up, asked for underwear, peed I'm the potty(!), stayed dry all morning, wore a pull up because we had somewhere we had to go, sat on the potty while we were out, had an accident, wore a diaper at nap time, refused to take it off after. Again, she had an attitude when she woke up. No underwear.

This morning she went in the potty again!! But then we had to leave the house, so yeah. Diaper. well see how moody she is when she wakes up today...

I totally know I should take away the diapers completely, stay home for 2-3 days and not use pull ups during the day. But I'm not potty training so it doesn't matter :) hehehe.

When I trained Evan I started when he was two (when everyone potty trained, so I thought). I pushed him. I studied every method out there. I tried every trick. A year and a half later he was potty trained... but he still had a hard time, even through Kindergarten he struggled with a few things. With Makiah I didn't push. I waited and pretty much she begged me to potty train her. I kinda did what I am doing with Daph and she taught herself. Within a couple weeks she was good to go and never struggled.

I love what I learned from the two times I potty trained before. I learned to ignore the pressure from other moms (even if it comes unintentionally its there). I can potty train when and how I want. Mommy debates don't affect me anymore. I'm in no rush to have her potty trained by a certain age and I see no reason do try and do it in a day (or two or three). There are great methods out there, and I know a lot of people who swear by them... but they aren't for everyone (especially this over anxious mom). Daphne is interested, so as long as we're at home she can do what she wants. I'm sure at one point it will either click for her like it did for Makiah, or I can take a week off from life to get her trained quickly, if I have to. For now I'm ok, and she is having fun not potty training.

Spring break... journal entry and endless phone pictures

This week the kids had spring break. Last year we stayed home during spring break and it snowed... A ton. We went sledding and played in the yard. Fun, but not an ideal spring break for anyone. 2 years ago we had an abnormally warm March (70-80° weather, it was soooo nice!). We spent time outside in the sprinklers eating popsicles (: This year, winter doesn't seem to want to leave, but at least we can see the grass and the snow that tried to make an appearance just melted away. Still cold though, blah.

On Monday the kids played with their good friends Brielle and Reid all day. (Their mom had a baby that day, so it was an exciting fun day for them... and us too!)

On Tuesday we headed down to Louisville KY for a day to get out of the house. We went to the Louisville slugger museum and saw how they make baseball bats. We all got our own mini baseball bat and our tour guide was really sweet and gave the girls a second bat that was pink! Now we have a bunch of bats that we don't know what to do with :)

Dallas and I took turns going to the temple and staying with the kids to swim at the hotel. The kids get so excited to swim, but they are terrified of the water at the same time. Oh well, one day they won't mind getting their head wet. (The next picture is Makiah refusing to look at the camera and smile. She wasn't getting her way, so no way was she giving in.)

The next day I got to choose what to do, so we stopped at an outlet mall on the way home, I scored some cute clothes at Charlotte Russe while Dallas wondered with the kids. Later we let kids get something... Shopping with kids is insane. We were crazy tired once we got home.

 (Rest stop and icecream at Mcdonalds, Makiah smiling adorably because she got what she wanted... a strawberry shake.)

Thursday we played it lazy and loved it (after waking up way too early to do an Insanity workout). Oh and later we HAD to make a Walmart run to buy Frozen, because the kids couldn't wait another day to watch it. This was after we watched the "Let it go" music video 30 times so Makiah could memorize the words. Later that night the kids and Dallas cheered me on at a volleyball game, it's nice to be playing again.

Friday, we slept in. After a week of no school this my first morning getting some extra sleep-thank goodness. 

Bye-bye binky

All my babies used a binky. At 18 months I cut the tip off of Evan and Makiah's binkies, I'm all about stopping habits like this just cold turkey. But with Daph it's been different... She is my baby. And really, things like binkies are really for mom and her sanity, right? Evan and Makiah stopped napping at 2 years and I've always been convinced that it had something to do with taking away their binky or their crib. So I've been holding onto both as long as possible, and guess what? Daphne still naps!

On Wednesday I gave in and decided to be done with the binkies. She became obsessed with them to the point that not only did she need one for her mouth, but as many as she could find and carry around. She had names for each one and would ask for specific binkies at different times. It was getting annoying and even to the point that they didn't calm her, they just caused more stress.

I only could find two so I cut of the tips and gave them to her when she asked for them. the next five or so minutes went something like this...

Daph: Uh-oh! My binkys broke!

She still put them in her mouth and tried to convince herself that she still liked them. She didn't.

Daph: Evan broke my binkys. I sad.

Me: You are a big girl you don't need your binky. They are broken, do you want to throw them in the garbage? They are yucky now.

Daph: They are yummy! (puts them in her mouth, takes them out) my binkys broke. Kiahs broke them. Mommys broke them. I want a new binky.

Me: Do you want to throw them away?

Daph: my binkys broke. I throw in garbage.

And she did it herself, she threw them away! We cheered for her and have been calling her a big girl every time she talks about it... Which is often. When she wakes up, in the car, when she is sad, at nap time and bed time.

She is fine though. She has a blanket obsession and sleeps with any blanket in sight and still asks for more. She also loves books and she also rubs her belly button when she is tired. She has many ways to comfort herself.

Yeay for no more pictures like this with a binky covering up her cute smile...

And more smiling pictures like this...

As for the crib, she actually knows how to climb in and out with a chair. Sometimes she sleeps on her mattress on the floor and does great. I'm holding onto the nap time though, so she still sleeps in her crib for naps. We'll get there... I don't want my baby girl to grow up.