Phone dump and back to work

Well...today is my last hurrah. It has gone by soooo fast. Feels like she was just born, and Josie just turned 2 a few weeks ago. Thanksgiving is this week- how did that happen! Thankfully, my first week back is a short one. Have a full day tomorrow, half day on Wednesday then off the rest of the week.

Cate and I have lots to get done today. Some errands, some cleaning, some baking and of course some snuggle time! Josie was always a happy baby, smiling, laughing and not fussy, but this one may be even sweeter. She lights up when Josie talks to her, and she loves to just look around and take it all in. I didn't think a child could sleep as much as Josie, but Cate may be close. She doesn't sleep through the night yet, but she is only up for an hour at a time during the day. She has turned into a good napper, thank god.

Cate has changed so much in the last month, last few weeks actually. She is gaining weight like a champ and I couldn't be more proud. Josie is now really interested in Cate and Nick and I love it. She is always looking for her, asking about her, and now will give her kisses. When Cate is crying   (usually from me sucking out her nose), Josie will come over, place her hand gently on her head and try to soothe her. She is the best big sister already.

baby needs her sockies back on

she was saying 1, 2, 33333 

like we do when she swings

she looks so grown up here

best smile ever

helping Jen with her leaves

the sticker corner

total "Kelly face" cracks me up

Kyong wouldn't cut her bangs- 

this was her solution

beauty

oh you know..just chillin in my cowgirl hat

watching my shows...

love this

cheeks

heading out with my girls

long hair. don't care

I had both girls for a week- we did lots of coloring,

watching shows, playing with stickers and hanging in our pj's

excited to hear Josie's voice

#cateandsimba

fueling up for soccer

Nick hates her hair, but I think its adorable

wide awake at 6 am!

new winter hat

my sweet thang

she always has to have a hand on me

when she sleeps

OH, and I got shingles again. Apparently the thought of leaving her and going back to work has stressed me out. Who knows... I fear my 70s, could have chronic shingles- let's hope not. 

Will be back with a Thanksgiving update and Aunt Jesse comes tomorrow. Woo Hoo! 

Mowing the Lawn

this is our hairstyle of choice

these days. LOVE this pic

One the last nice weekend we had, Nick and Josie mowed the lawn! She was on a nap strike most of the week, so that Sunday she wanted to go outside with Dada, so I put her to work. She followed him around the entire time, and when they were done, they washed off the mower and stored it for the winter. She loved being outside with him and is always willing to help. 

Will (hopefully) have a few more updates before I head back to work on Tuesday. :)

Halloween

Not gonna lie, I didn't really plan an outfit for Halloween. The last two years have been so shitty and cold, no one came out and knowing Josie, spending a crazy amount on an adorable costume would be a waste. She is very particular about what she wears, doesn't like wearing hats, hell, she won't even wear overalls. So, when the forecast was going to be clear for trick-or-treat, I struggled to figure something out. I knew Jen has a lot of old costumes from her girls, so we decided to borrow.

She had an old Minnie Mouse costume- perfect! Josie loves Minnie, this will be great. Wrong. Case in point below.... Jen said she was so pissed off. Can you tell?

hating life

So we had to go to plan B. I knew I was going to have to stay home with Cate and pass out candy, so Jen gave us a pumpkin shirt with a cute headband. Do you think she wore the headband....NO. She was totally that trick-or-treater that we all hate- not dressed up at all and looking for some free candy! Barf. 

So Nick headed out with the group. It was a little chilly so she had to wear her coat as well, BUT Nick said she had the best time, would go up to the houses alone, say "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" and enjoyed being with her friends. They didn't go down all the streets, but plenty for a 2 year old. 

practice saying "trick or treat"

I gave her a few pieces to get her started

checking out her loot

We have been pretty strict about her having candy, and chocolates, but decided to let her try a few things that night. We gave her a kit kat- took one bite and said yuckie. Then, we gave her a Reese cup- took one bite and said she didn't like it. Then went in a different direction and let her eat sour patch kids...she ate the whole bag. Go figure

eating her sour patch kids

I fear she is going to be a Debbie Downer for many a Halloween, but next year I'm going to take Cate around, so she'll have to shape up or ship out. Probably need to do a better job of planning her costume and letting her have 5 months to get used to it...oy

2 Months

I know I am more than a week late, but I wanted to wait until we saw the doctor for her stats. I seriously can't believe that Cate has been with us for 2 months! Which means that unfortunately, my time at home is coming to an end. I have 2 weeks left, and while I am really sad to leave her all day, I know its for the best- for both of us.

This month she has grown so much, not only physically but mentally as well. She is now smiling and melting my heart everyday, and really paying attention to Josie and all of her noises. She likes to hang out on the play mat, but not on her tummy- HATES tummy time, so I always be sure and flip her on her belly shortly before its time to get off, because it pisses her off so much. She does such a good job of holding her head up, I'm not too worried at this point.

Cate LOVES to snuggle. Has since day one, and its been so nice hanging with her all day, watching tv and taking naps, but I knew we'd be in trouble if I didn't break that cycle soon. We finally got Cate moved to her crib last weekend and in therefor naps as well. It was a rough few days of sleep training, but I knew it had to be done. I didn't want her freaking out at Jen's, because she wasn't in her bassinet, or being held, so had to get to work.She also was flipping out every 5 seconds because the pacifier fell  out. I know Josie was like that too, but she would go to sleep and then stay asleep...not this one. She goes to sleep right away and then usually wakes up within 30 minutes screaming. We ran to her in the beginning, but have slowly made her realize that she needs to put herself back to sleep. If shes wailing then we'll go see her, but if shes just fussing around, then we tend to leave her alone. I am proud to say that she is much better now and will put herself to sleep and stay asleep for long periods of time. She is learning.

On a sleeping note, she is sleeping pretty well at night. Her last feeding is usually between 8:30-10, and I can get her to not eat until usually 4, sometimes 5. I don't thinks she'll be sleeping through the night before I go back to work like Josie, but that's a really good stretch for me, so hopefully it continues. She has been waking a few times in the night for the pacifier, so I shove it back in and hope she goes back to sleep-usually works.

Here are this months stats

Height- 22.75 in (54th %)

Weight- 12 lb 7 oz (71st%)

Diaper Size - 1

Clothes Size- 0-3 mo

As a little comparison, here is Josie's 2nd month photos. I'd have to look at Josie's stats, but pretty sure Cate is ahead since we had so many feeding issues. Cate has almost doubled her birth weight already- girl likes to eat! Josie's eyes are more wide set than Cate's, but can definitely tell they are sisters. Love it. 

Big changes for a big girl

OK, so I've been dying to post this, but haven't had the time! Josie has a big announcement..... she is potty trained!!!!!! Yes, that's right, we got it done.

We finally had a weekend where both of us were home without visitors, so the weekend of the 18th, Nick and I set our sights on diaper free days (well for Josie of course).

She had soccer on Saturday morning ( pics to follow) so when she got home around 10:30, we started right away. I told her the night before that her diapers were going away and she was going to have to go potty in the toilet. She said no of course, but that's her answer to everything these days.

Molly gave me instructions to a potty training boot camp she used with Caroline. It tells you how to train your child in 3 days...I thought that was a little presumptuous, but we gave it a whirl anyway. I think one of the biggest things I took away from the training was telling Josie, "tell me when you have to go potty" instead of saying "do you have to go potty". That way she learns to recognize the signals her body is giving her.

To say we were frustrated the first day is an understatement. She was peeing evvvvvvvvvvverywhere. Granted we were pumping her full of liquids so she would go more often, but she was literally peeing every 20 minutes. By the end of the first night, she went poop and pee in the toilet one time- success. We are putting her in a pull up at night, because she can't hold it that long, and let me tell you, she wont wake up if she wets the bed. I can't have her lying in it all night and ruining the mattress.

The next morning we started out by putting her on the toilet, so she knows what her new routine will be. We went downstairs for breakfast and keep telling her, "tell me when you  have to go potty". Well she started day 2 with a big dump in her pants. Thankfully she has only had one other accident like that, but a good lesson. Day 2 didn't seem to be much better and I was texting Molly since I was at my wits end. She assured me that it does in fact get better, and it will click.

She did fairly well the second day, had some success's and lots of accidents. The final accident of the night was when she peed all over the couch. It sucked, but we couldn't get mad at her, she was learning after all. So Nick and I went to bed that night feeling a little deflated and like maybe we tried too soon.

BUT, girlfriend woke up the next morning, ready to go and didn't have a single accident for the next few days! I kept her at home until Wednesday so we could get a few extra days of good training in before I sent her back to Jen. Her reward for going potty were cookies and stickers. Thankfully she LOVES Nilla Wafers, so that's what she chowed down on, and she is still loving all her stickers.

She did have 2 accidents the first day back with Jen, and freaked out because her potty is different than ours, but ever since the first week, she is doing so well, always telling Jen when she has to go     (even if she does false alarm us 5 times in a row). At least she is listening to her body and paying attention.

She is still so proud of herself every time she goes, and yells "I go on the toilet!!" I was a little worried with the baptism last weekend and being away from home. Nick and I decided not to put a pull up on her, because we have told her those are her special "night, night panties" and didn't want to confuse her. So I packed an extra outfit just in case and hoped for the best. As we were walking to church (late of course) she told me she had to go, so we raced in and went potty. She was such a good girl in church- paying attention and not making too much noise. She didn't ask to go at all until the very end, and she told Grandma so she didn't have an accident. 

Nick and I are so proud of our girl- we knew she was ready to ditch the diapers, just needed to put in a few hardcore days and she hasn't looked back since!