A Failed Attempt!!

So today was a big day...we were starting potty training!! Joya was very excited to go pee pee in the potty and to wear her big girl panties, that have Elmo on them. After she peed through the fourth pair, I was wondering if this was a good idea. She did make it to the potty several times but I also changed her wet panties 7times!! I would ask her if she had to go and instead of running to the potty, she would try to go right then and pee herself. Tomorrow I will just take her to the potty and then ask her if she has to go...hopefully that will eliminate some of the accidents! After her nap she got up, went on the potty, tried to go but couldn't. I then went to the bathroom and while I was in there she started crying so hard. She peed her pants and had a major meltdown!! So we got cleaned up and then she said, "No more big girl panties, no more!" At that point her and I had enough!! We only had an hour and a half until swimming lessons so I just put her in a diaper. She was happy and I told her she did a great job today and we can try again tomorrow!!
It was a hard day with a lot of tears, hopefully tomorrow will go better!!

Aquarium

Last Thursday Tim, Joya, and I went to the Aquarium in Newport. We had a blast!! We left the house at 8:30am and arrived just a little bit before they opened at 10, after a much needed stop at Starbucks!! Joya got to see the Otters and Sea Lions being feed, which was a good show. If you ask Joya about her favorite part she will say the Sharks and touching the sharks and rays, which she calls "hoorays". Yes that's right she got to touch a little shark and ray in a small tank. The aquarium also had a walk through tunnel that has the sharks and all around you. Joya liked watching the sharks swim under and above her. She also got to see an octopus and lots of fish. She really liked the orange fish. We had fun!! After the aquarium we went to lunch and then to the beach. We almost lost Toby with in a tide pool and a wave...a bad combination while chasing a seagull!!! After the beach we got in the car and drove home, Joya and I slept almost the whole way home!!!

Fun with Cousin Josh!

Tim's brother Dan and his son Josh came into town for a quick trip. Dan received a very nice award from Oregon State University as a promising engineer. He also did some business while he was here. He brought Josh as a fun thing for him to get away and have special time with just his daddy, and not twin babies at home!! Anyway Joya and Josh had a great time playing together. Every time they get together its better because Joya is more capable and able to do more and play better with Josh(who's 4). They came in late Thursday night and went straight to bed. Then Friday Dan had to work until 2ish so Josh and Joya got to play that whole time together. Tim's parents came up and spent time with both grandkids, which I am certain they LOVED!! Since they were up here, Tim and I left Joya and Josh with them to go to my doctors appointment. We came back, picked everyone up and went to Joya's friends birthday party...Caden was turning 4 too. Then we came back ate lunch and let them play a little longer until Josh had to go meet his dad on campus. It was good timing because Joya needed a nap, but would not have gone down easily with all of the fun company we had!! After Joya's nap everyone came back to get dressed for the big awards banquet. Everyone but Joya, Josh and myself, we got to stay home and have a picnic on the floor and watch a movie. They both agreed on watching the Pirates that Don't Do Anything; A Veggie Tales Movie. That was fun and then they took a bath together, I got them those capsules that you soak, and become a sponge shaped as and animal. There were a ton, so we split them up and Josh got to take his half home with him. Then they both went to bed, Josh was a sleep right away, since it was 7:30 our time and 9:30 his time!! Joya on the other hand had an extremely hard time falling asleep, she was up until almost 9:15, which is when everyone came home from the banquet. The next day was Saturday and our last day with Josh and Dan. We had a good big breakfast with grandparents and all and then we played some GIJoes and Wii. The GIJoes were Dan and Tim's when they were little boys, Grandpa has kept them all these years, and now Josh got to take some home with him, since he is way into them. Although I am not sure who was having more fun Josh or Dan and Tim strolling down memory lane!! We then all packed up and went to an awesome park we have in town. We played there for a good while then hit the book store at the University and then to lunch at Taco Time for Dan to get his Crispy Meat Burrito fix. They don't have Taco Time in Texas!! Back home again for a nap for Joya while the boys went out shopping, and when they came home we had to wake Joya up for her to say good-bye to Josh and Dan. She keeps talking about Josh being here and going to the park with him, so I think she liked having him here and playing with him. Both kids did a wonderful job sharing with each other and being kind to one another!! I was very proud of both of them!!

Working

I am not used to working full time!!
I have been subbing for my mom. It was three days last week and two days this week. I am not used to working and am so tired when I come home at the day! I give props to any working moms.
First of all it is so hard to get up in the morning, get myself ready, Joya ready and get me out the door by 7. Luckily my mother in-law came to stay with us, so I didn't have to get everything done with Joya in the morning because she was staying at home with Grandma. But usually I have to get her into the car to take her to Grandma's or Papa's house for her to be there for the day while I sub. I love subbing once I am there, but it is hard to leave Joya, especially when she is crying for me not to go!!
This is probably my last week of subbing, I have 4 weeks until the baby comes and unless its a half day, I think I am done!! When I was pregnant with Joya, I subbed up until the week before she was due!! This time around I am too tired! By Friday I was having contractions and I had to call the doctor, she just told me to rest and the contractions went away!!
I have two more days and then I am done...I can do it!! I feel like a wimp saying this because a lot of women work while they are pregnant and have kids at home. I am just not used to it, and I am so thankful that I don't have to work!! I love staying at home with Joya!!!

Cousins Having Fun

My sister, Heather, and her daughter, Violet, came to Oregon for a nice visit. Violet is only 2 months older than Joya, so it was a fun visit for the girls to play together and for us sisters to share our stories. This was also the first visit for Heather to do with Violet not being in a crib...it went pretty well, there was only a few times that she maybe wished she was still in a crib. Like the time Violet jumped into bed and hit her head on the wall , giving her a huge goose egg right before going to bed for the night!

I think the girls had fun together. Violet taught Joya to do a summer sault, which Joya calls a "flip flop". She calls them that because we have taken her to two gymnastics meets at OSU. She loves to watch the girls for just a few minutes, then find Benny the Beaver, and then probably her favorite part is Daddy gets her dessert!

Anyway Joya and I would spend most of the days with Violet and Heather at my parents house. We had a blast and here are a few pictures to prove it!! The picture of the girls in their matching dresses was a fun day. We were going to take the girls down to Eugene to JC Penny's photo studio, but Violet was not feeling good, I wasn't feeling good, and we didn't know how we were going to get the girls to sit still for the camera!! So we decided to try it our selves, with the distraction of a movie!! We took over 30 pictures and only 1 turned out good...I am so glad we didn't drive all the way to Eugene for 1 picture!! I was very happy with the 1 we did get!!

Big Girl Panties!

Joya saw her Elmo panties on her dresser this morning and wanted to wear them. So this morning I let her wear them for 3 hours or so. We ran back and forth from the potty several times. She never went in the potty, but she never went in her panties either!! Every time she sat on the potty, she would get up and say "nothing". It was good practice for her to put her panties up and down, it takes some practice. She would not put pants on ever her panties, but I knew we were only going to wear the panties for a short time this morning, so it was ok with me.

This evening she wanted to wear them again and she did great!! She told me she had to go poopy, so we went and she pooped on the side of the training potty! We were very excited though, and praised and praised her for telling mommy and then going on the toilet!! I left it there and took her to her room to clean her up. While I was gone, Toby ate her poop, which grossed me out!! She pooped again in the toilet about 20 min later, this time it was in the big potty!! So here is a picture of her next to the potty and then she got to flush it!!

We are very proud of her!!

Cracking me up!!

Joya has been cracking me up! She has some hilarious one liners. I thought I would just share a few with you!! Today she sneezed, and then said, "bottom". I said what about your bottom, she told me, "sneezed out my bottom." I don;t know if that means she peed while she sneezed or if she had some gas at the same time as her sneeze, either way it cracked me up!!

She has also told Toby to go into a time out!! That was really funny because she pointed to the time out chair for him to go to!!

When we got her big girl bed, we had it in the family room, just on the floor for her to play on for a day before it went into her room. It was right before bath time, so she was a nudy, I told her whatever you do, don't go pee pee on the bed. She stood up said pee pee, and then pushed her pee out. She peed right on the bed!!

She, for some reason, thinks the word "disobeying" is funny, so anytime I use it when punishing her she starts laughing!! IT makes it very hard to punish a 19month old when she is laughing. Speaking of punishing her, I was talking to her while she was in a time out. I told her to look me in the eyes, she looked at me, pointed to my eyes and then said"green". "Mommy eye green." It was hard not to laugh during that one, Tim couldn't contain himself, he started laughing!!

Anyway Joya is a delight and she has some great one liners!!