Make the most of our time!

Once again (do I start EVERY blog with this?) it’s been a long while since I’ve updated. Every time I get, or I think I get a few seconds to blog something comes up!

As is, we’ve had a lot of things happen in our house hold the last few months… Of course I will start with Graysen! She has been doing great, her vocabulary has been wonderful and she is able to tell me anything she wants. We have had VERY few tantrums and if we do it’s basically just because she didn’t get something she REALLY wanted, or she is very tired! She hasn’t been taking as many naps as usual so we’ve been dwindling down on those unfortunately!  She has been in ballet for a few weeks now and she seems to be doing great with it. She loves the beginning and the end because they are more active. The middle of the class is about the actual moves, and she doesn’t enjoy that too much, she just likes to sit by me. She has her very first recital in a few weeks. Every now and then she lets me know that her teeth hurt, and when I look in her mouth she’s got another 2-year molar coming in. She’s got three almost all the way in! Graysen is VERY bossy, and she claims any “baby” that she sees as “hers”.

We recently had our puppy pass away. Graysen and I came home to find her dead in her kennel, which was crazy because she was perfectly fine when I left. We paid to have someone figure out what is wrong with her but we have yet to hear anything. We did get a note stating that there has been no obvious reason on why she passed away, so they are doing a further investigation with it. Otherwise, Graysen does really good she only asks for Daisey at bed time, but she is understanding that she is no longer with us. Annabelle is also doing good, but she is very lonely. This done is constantly on the go and is so energized she doesn’t get enough attention from us even if we play with her as much as possible!! We are thinking about another pup.. but I’m not sure how I feel about it!

Since I got accepted into the nursing program I figured I had better get some things, on the medical side, taken care of. I’ve had back pain for at least 10 years.. nothing I can’t bare but it has been getting worse not better! SO I made an appointment with a doctor and it was the worst experience to date. I told him everything, anything and all. He told me that I needed to go get injections in my back for pain relief, I would have to do it every four weeks for the rest of my life or for as long as I have pain. Well.. FIRST OF ALL.. how am I not ever going to have pain if I don’t take care of the problem. If you are in pain THERE IS A PROBLEM.. So as I explain this to the doctor he proceeds to tell me that NO one can figure out the real reason for back pain, everyone has back pain. Really sir? I’m pretty sure that PLENTY of people are able to find out the reason for what’s causing their back pain.. with it either being pinched nerves, slipped discs, detrition in the discs or tissue…. There are a LOT of reasons, and not EVERYONE has back pain! So now that this is going into a rant haha… Either way, I told this doctor that I wanted an x-ray and an MRI, to cancel out any of those things and then I’d go from there. So after doing both they found nothing, my next step was physical therapy, but I honestly did NOT think that would help me. So instead I made an appointment with a Chiropractor. So far, the BEST experience I’ve had. He knew exactly what I was talking about and explained to me that MD’s are not trained to see alignment issues therefore they skip them, ignore them and just give you meds to decrease the pain (symptom) that’s caused by the misalignment. After a few x-rays AND an examination it has been concluded that I do have Sclerosis, I have 3 misalignments of my lumbar vertebrae and 2 misalignments of my cervical vertebrae.  My cervical region also protrudes out instead of in… for all that he thought I was WAY older than 25 L!!!  I haven’t been easy on my back that’s for sure, all the accidents I’ve been in have taken a toll on me. I did my first alignment in my lower back today, it’s a little sore but I can already feel a difference. I couldn’t stand for more than 5 min in one spot without being in pain and I couldn’t sit or lay down without being in pain and so far I feel fine. I go back to review the x-rays for my cervical region to see what we need to do/start with.

I’m still a little nervous because the doctor at the Tricare place stated that he would NOT pass my physical for the nursing program.. which is ridiculous. Therefore  I’m not going to get my sclerosis scan done by them because that would be another point against me. So all they have in my records is that I went there due to having back pain but everything was normal in my scans. So when I go back for my physical and see a DIFFERENT doctor hopefully an “Oh I feel much better now” will be good enough to get a paper signed! Not sure why they have to make things so stressful!

School is almost over for the semester and I can’t wait. The 17^th is the last day for lab, I have my last practical. I’m nervous because I’m a little behind this semester with it. Then my last anatomy lecture test is right before the practical. She’s giving us a take home final.. so everything is basically downhill after lab! I’m ready to get the house cleaned haha! Next semester I’m just going to take a couple on-line classes for the first 8 weeks, then I start nursing in the second 8 weeks. We’ve been searching for day cares, and the search keeps going, not sure I will ever find something remotely close to what I give her at home… That’s the issue for me! I best get over it haha!

I’m very excited for the holiday’s but it seems like they’ve come too fast!  Hopefully I will be able to blog before the new year!! Otherwise this is the best/quickest “wrap-up” I could do!!

This one's a GOOD one!!

Well, it’s been a VERY long time since I’ve posted so here’s to catch ya’ll up! (if your on here to just get the good news, scroll to the bottom!)

Graysen is doing great, as usual she’s starting to get sniffly but I think that has a lot to do with allergies and this lovley cold (okay.. cooler) weather we’ve been having. She had her two year check up and they were very impressed with how well her communication (and mocking) skills were! She repeats absolutely everything we say, and she is starting to say 6-7 words in a sentence. When she wanted me she used to just yell “MOM!” now it’s “Momma, Momma where are you?” or instead of just telling the dog “NO!” she will say “NO daisey that my toy, bad dog!” She even is bossy enough to tell the dogs “Dogs STOP! Stop barking in baby house!” Aweee.. I LOVE her! Haha!  She is doing VERY well at the Y now. She used to hate going, and anytime we even got close she’d cry and say “no momma, no play!” Now she is excited to go play. She is still in Gymboree as well, we moved her up a level and this level seems to be a lot more fun for her. They do more interactive things like looking and pictures and telling the “teacher” what is in the picture, she will sit in the front row and point and answer all of Mrs. Robins questions.

Potty training is also going very well! We have had two accidents in four weeks. One was a pee accident at home, and another was a poo accident in public. I’m not sure what happened with that one my only guess was that she was having fun and she wasn’t sure where I was (even though I was looking at clothes right near her, I wasn’t in plain view). Either way she’s been in panties for a while and she is doing wonderful! She even tells the Ladies at the Y when she needs to go potty!

The home front is good as well! The house looks like a tornado went off in it by the end of every week because I can’t quite keep up with it… but that’s life! When I get breaks from school I take advantage and do a quick deep clean just to keep the dust and mites down the best I can. We haven’t had to do too much to the yard since the weather has been cooler so that has helped my slacking J

School is kicking my butt nothing new on that end! I had a birthday and it was wonderful. Brandon and I ran our first (okay mine, but our first together) 5K and that was a blast! I came in 12^th out of 27 in my age group, and with my age group being 18-25 I was at the top of it so I thought that was pretty dang good! Brandon hurt his knee again, so we are waiting for him to get into a doctor to see what’s up… really hoping he didn’t’ re-tare it! (wow I am making this quick!) The dogs are good as well, Annabelle just got fixed so that’s been interesting. Tuesday will be two weeks so she can finally go back to her normal self.. That will save some headaches for us all! Oh and I got my hair cut! I LOVE it…much easier to take care of, and less headaches (I seem to get a lot of headaches.. ) since I don’t’ have to pull it up all the time!

Okay… Now… A couple weeks ago I put on my status something I was anxious for and yada yada yada it was blog worthy…so here is the story…(yes another one)!

School related…. So if you are already bored you can stop reading now! Anyway as most of you know I applied to the nursing program out here and did not get accepted. They didn’t tell me why, just that I wasn’t accepted. I didn’t’ get the greatest grade in my very first Anatomy class in Hawaii so I figured that had something to do with it even though I retook it here. I do have a 4.0 here and have taken everything I can for the nursing class minus the one class I’m taking now! Therefore I went to speak to my counselor (WHO told me by the way I’d have no problem getting in), to see what else I could do instead of nursing (at least while I keep attempting to get in). She was astonished that I didn’t get in, and couldn’t’ understand it so we sent a few e-mails out and made a few calls. She gave me the info I needed so I left it at that. This nursing program is pretty good. They only accept 120 students a year (4 cohorts) but they have over 400 applicants a semester. The lady in charge of the nursing department got back to my counselor and come to find out the reason I did not get into the nursing program is because I did not put my Student ID number on my application. Therefore they did not know I was a TCC student so they didn’t pull my transcript and just thought I was applying with NONE of the pre-reqs so I was tossed out from the get-go! Either way.. they fill their nursing program fast.. and In July at that, so it may be MY fault for screwing up so I have to deal with that! Either way this lady went out of her way and took my application back to the nursing committee to see if they would be willing to take a second look at it. It’s been almost three weeks and I finally heard back on it.. It was a long drawn out e-mail.. again telling me it was my fault for not putting my student Id number on the application (TIME OUT: TCC calls their student ID number : SIS on this application it asked for your EMPL ID… okay I THOUGHT that looked like employee Id.. that’s not what TCC calls their student ID number so how is that my fault.. yes I should have called and asked.. but really.. FIX IT!.. okay rant over) For a LONG e-mail shortened I HAVE been accepted into the nursing program. They had someone drop out of the Cohort 4 and I will be taking their spot! So the program starts in March, which gives me time to take a few 8 weeks classes in January to keep going for my bachelors (this is just an associate program, but hopefully by the time I’m done I will have every single class I need to just transfer to a university to get my BSN)… but did I mention how EXCITED I AM!... I’m sooo releaved! Starting in March puts me a little behind schedule but it’s okay, better then it being next August or November! SO that was the BIG BIG news J   Thanks for taking the time to read (if you made it this far haha!)

The end of summer already!!

Well I’m way overdue for an update so here is one. I will try to make it as quick as possible!

Graysen has been doing great with potty training (not making this a separate post this time). She hasn’t had an accident during the day in about 5 days or so. When we are out she will tell me she needs to go potty and is actually telling me a good length in time before she actually has to go, so we have time to get to a potty! When we go to the Y she will go potty at home before and then when I get done with the Y I will take her to the potty and she goes just fine! I think I’m going to put her in panties here soon! I will just make sure I have change of clothes and plenty of wipes in case of an accident! Night time can still be an issue. Sometimes she will wake up in the morning and just play in the room before I even know she’s awake and so she’ll go in her night time diaper. This morning was a different story though, she actually woke up at 5:30 and told me she needed to potty so we went potty and then she went back to bed!! So it’s a working progress for sure!

This lil’ lady of mine is talking so well! She is putting 5-6 words in a sentence now. “Momma me play side (outside) wif Annabelle.”  “Momma me hungry, me eat ummm” hehe She is still referring to herself as “baby”. If you ask her what’s the babies name she will tell you “Grayhen” (missing the S sound). She can count to 10 just not always when you want her to and she’s doing great with her ABC’s.. again when she wants to! At her birthday party Mrs. Shirley asked her, Graysen how orld are you? Graysen said “uhh two..” and Mrs. Shirley said “you are TWO!” and Graysen’s reply “Yes Shirey (Shirley)”. She does great with her colors as well!  We rearranged her room so that a lot of her toys are in her room now. Before it was so crowded with the changing table and all that stuff, and since we don’t need that anymore we took it out. So now she is playing a lot more in her room by herself. She will shut the door (and lock it ) and just play. I will check on her and when I knock on the doory she will say “Ummm Yes Momma?” haha I wil ask “Graysen can I come in” And she will respond with a “Otay momma, coming” and she will unlock the door for me and let me in! Really, she’s just growing so fast and it makes me sad just thinking about it!!

We did recently have a few weird weather issues. We had an earthquake which is extremely rare for this area. Actually so rare that a few months ago Brandon and I were reading that Chesapeake VA (where we live) is listed as NUMBER ONE of being the safest city from ever having an earthquake haha, I guess they wiped that one off the record! The earthquake was quick, and didn’t cause any damage to us or our surrounding area. Most will say it was very mild but definitely felt! Then of course Hurricane Irene… I understand that the people here want everyone to be safe, but they really just freak people out! This was our first “real” hurricane that actually made land that we’ve been in and I’ve been in worse thunderstorms. The states north of us got a lot more flooding, and even VA beach got flooding but we didn’t get anything that wasn’t gone the next day! I enjoyed the rain, but it wasn’t as bad as they were predicting it to be.

Graysen’s Birthday and Birthday party fell on the day of the hurricane. I decided not to move it due to the fact that if it was supposed to be a bad Hurricane Sunday wouldn’t be a good idea because of “aftermath”, and putting it off a week was not going to work for me. One, we already had the food, and two I was already so behind in school trying to plan this party, get it in order, get the house clean for it, KEEP the house clean for it…. I wanted it done with and wasn’t really too worried if everyone decided not to show up! This was basically the case! Brandon’s parents made it, our good friends Steve and Melissa, and our neighbors. Even though there were no other kids (yet again) it was actually perfect. Graysen (at this age at least) is a total show off and the number of people we had over was already overwhelming for her. I’m glad we didn’t have much more than what we did! Food wise though, I do wish we had more people haha because of the storm we did lose power for two days and lost all of the left overs and everything else we had in the fridge! Overall the birthday party was great, and Graysen had fun, it’s one we will never forget!

Can’t remember if I mentioned the new dog in the last blog post, but we did get a new dog. She is a Newfoundland – Lab mix, and she is a DOLL! She is starting to listen very well and as I train her Annabelle is slowly starting to do the same things, which is exactly what we were wanting! Annabelle hasn’t chewed up one toy/item/sock since Daisey has been in the house with us. Of course Daisey is a pup so I have to stay on her, but Annabelle has taken the mommy role and has been an excellent dog! They keep each other company when Graysen and I are out of the house, and Annabelle just seems so much happier! Miss Daisey has been a great addition to the family!

Only 11 weeks old and as big and Annabelle, OH BOY!

School is already kicking my butt! Being full time wasn’t the BEST idea, but I’m doing it! I was a little stressed out because they still hadn’t put an open lab schedule up for my Anatomy class, and the last Anatomy class I living in the lab, and that’s how I got such good grades. Since I hadn’t been able to get into one open lab Minus my first time being last night I was getting really worried about my upcoming grades. They finally got an open lab up for Sunday so I’m a little less stressed now! History seems to be very easy (because of the great story-telling professor I have), math is math, and my sociology class seems to be tedious, but it’s still a lot of work and tests… and tests on the same days… UHG! We’ll see how it goes!

Last and not least I just started this couponing thing. I won’t be the extreme one that goes around finding deals every day but I am going to start trying to save more money. My first trip went extremely well, for it being my first time. I basically cut our normal shopping trip in half by just using coupons and getting stuff on sale! There were only a few items that I needed that weren’t on sale but otherwise everything else was! We’ll see how that goes!

Thanks for checking in!

Potty Training NOT in 3 Days Update: 6

Well it’s been a long while for a potty update! My worst fear came true during vacation, we did take a HUGE step back in the potty training! At first Graysen did great. The plane ride all the way through staying at my grandmas she didn’t have an accident unless it was at night time and even then she was doing really good!!! The flight to Colorado also went great she would go potty on the plane with no problem. Once we got to my friend Jens house things started to get a little worse. She would sometimes use the potty only IF I caught her right in time and drug her to it.. she was just TOO busy playing she didn’t want to stop to go potty! That continued up the mountain to my parent’s house. If we were in the motel room she would do fine but anytime outside she wasn’t doing good. I’ve noticed that she would still do good in her carseat but if she didn’t have to sit in her pee or poo she would just go in her pull up! BUT she would show a huge change in attitude if she went, she would get mean and start yelling and screaming at you and resist going to the potty if she went in her pants… even when I’d tell her it was okay we just needed to go get dry, she wouldn’t have it! But after the struggle, and the fight she would be back to her ole’ self again! We did take a car trip that lasted almost all day while we were in the mountains just had fun exploring and she stayed dry the whole trip and went pee in the “nature” twice and even poo’d out there (no bathrooms in sight gotta do what you gotta do)! But she wouldn’t do that stuff in her pull up because she would have had to sit in it! The entire trip frustrated me to high heavens (potty training wise), but I tried my best to not worry about it; we would get back on track at home!

Since we’ve been home Graysen has had a few accidents, more than before we left; but it’s just one step at a time. Things have been pretty hectic around here with everything happening at one so we’ll just go slow back into it! She did poo twice in the potty yesterday and she is always VERY proud of it! She goes into the bathroom and slams the door shut and INFORMS me she is going “poopoo potty” haha! Then we she is done she cheers for herself and says “momma momma me poopoo potty!!” The things parents find adorable J

Well that’s it for this portion hopefully I’ll get an update about our trip later on!!

Summer is Flying BY!

Along with a potty update here is an update with the household. We do leave for vacation in less than two weeks I’m very excited! Our wonderful friends are going to watch Annabelle for us. We are also going to get her spayed here soon… we are waiting since there is a waiting list for the place we want to go to. We decided to start looking for another family pet. Annabelle is potentially good but she’s not. She craves so much attention and I think she needs a pal to play with during the day when we are gone. I think she craves that attention from another dog. The friends that are watching her for us while we are gone have two other dogs so we are going to see how she is around those dogs and go from there, but another family pet may be in our near future!

Brandon is going on his “vacation” next weekend. He’s going down to a cabin in NC with a friend and driving his motorcycle. It will be a good get-away for him and it’s right before we leave for our MO/CO trip so it will be a nice break before vacation haha! One day Brandon and I will get away just the two of us.. but who KNOWS when that will be!

We finally decided on Graysen’s birthday party. I was in a big debate with it! I didn’t think we knew enough kids to have it at a place like Chuck E Cheese but at the same time I didn’t want to do it at the house because not only do you have to clean and get set up for it, you have to clean it up! Well, my schedule for Fall semester looks like I’m going to have a Saturday class, and her birthday is on a Saturday. So that doesn’t allow us to be able to go down to NC to have it (with Brandon’s family), and we will still have way more adults than we will kids so we are going to have it at our place. Hopefully a few kiddos can make it but we are also going to use it as a nice hangout before Fall semester really beings. If you know me.. I do NOTHING during the real semester, I don’t take one sip of any drink and I barley sleep because I’m studying nonstop. I don’t even like to go out to eat because it’s taking away study time! Therefore we are going to have a fun little birthday party/get together at our house for her 2^nd birthday. It’s going to be pure Dora and I’m very very excited for it!

Now to get all these small projects done around the house before the fall semester starts and I will be doing good! Wish me luck on that one!

Potty Training NOT in 3 Days Update: 5

Graysen is doing pretty good with this potty training thing. She is grasping the idea. She still isn’t telling me (minus maybe once a day) that she actually has to go to the bathroom so it’s on me to get her to the bathroom about every thirty minutes. It can be frustrating for her because this child must have a VERY large bladder, she can drink a whole sippy cup of milk, half a sippy cup of water and go three hours without going to the bathroom, and I’ll freak out and make her go every 15-30 minutes and she gets mad and tells me “no momma no potty!” But then fifteen minutes she goes in her big girl pants!!

Today she had a few more “accidents” than normal but I did catch her in the “act” of pooping. She was standing against the wall and I could tell that she had just peed (the shapes on the pull up disappear when it’s wet!) and I just KNEW she was trying to poop so I asked her and told her to go to the potty but of course she wasn’t wanting anything to do with it. So taking note of what my friend Christine did; let her daughter go naked and got her in the act, I did just that. She was about to go and I put her on the potty and she went!! And not only that but she got very excited and said “mommy me poop potty!” and then she said bye bye poop and helped me flush it!

She does great in public! She hasn’t had one accident while being out.. just at home (I blame the TV). We went to Gymboree and she peed before she played and even “tried” afterward but she didn’t have to go but did when we got home! So that makes it exciting. To save money, not sanity I think I’m going to start putting her in panties at home more and keep the pull ups for going out. If she has an accident in her panties she knows for sure.. because it runs down her leg and she hates it.. but the pull up absorbs it all… so I’ve noticed that when she had panties on she would tell me she was going and having an accident but if she goes in the pull ups I have to figure it out (keep looking at the shapes) because she won’t say anything.

She has also gotten into the habit of “fibbing” about going potty. If she gets into trouble and has to go to time out the first thing she says in 10 seconds of sitting in the corner is “ooo momma potty!” she KNOWS I will take her to the bathroom but she NEVER has to actually go! She that tonight at dinner as well she yelled (yes YELLED) “Momma POOP! Poop Momma!”. So I rushed her to the potty but she didn’t have to do anything.. so she got out of sitting at the table! Not too sure how I’m supposed to handle this one!

Otherwise it’s a great progress… I’m still trying to not let myself rush anything we have vacation in less than two weeks and we will be on a not-so-normal schedule for two weeks! So we’ll see what happens!!

Potty Training NOT in 3 Days Update: 4

One step forward two steps back!

Let’s just throw this out there.. Potty training is difficult not just for the parent I’m sure, but for the child too! I’m pretty sure Graysen gets sick and tired of me asking her to go to the potty.. Having to drop a toy to go use the bathroom what fun is that!!!

Yesterday was GREAT so great that I even KNEW today would be a different story! Graysen woke up with a wet diaper yesterday (that’s still our fault I think) but she was accident free all morning and afternoon! We even went out. I got her to pee before we left then we got to target did a few things then I took her to the bathroom, dry diaper, and she peed on the potty there!! She woke up from her nap dry as well and I got her on the potty and she peed! I couldn’t have been more thrilled with that little girl! By the end of the day she was getting restless with it though. She did poop in her pull ups, but that wasn’t a surprise to me.. she dumped it in the potty. Then afterward we had to pee accidents, but then it was bath time and bed time!

This morning on the other hand.. she won’t use the potty at all! I’m going to keep trying, but I don’t want to stress her out! I think I have gray hairs already, but we don’t want to stress the baby out! Hehe! Okay let’s cross our fingers for today!

Potty Training NOT in 3 Days Update: 3

Just a QUICK update!  Graysen did so-so on the potty yesterday. We did good in the morning but then it wasn’t as good nearing the afternoon. We did go do pictures and we went to dinner. At dinner I wanted to change her before we left so after I took the diaper off (it was one of the changing stations that was in the stall) I asked if she wanted to sit on the potty and she said POTTY! So I sat her on there she “pushed” and started singing her ABC’s (toddler style) and she peed!! The neighbors in the stall next to us got a song and cheers haha! Then when we got home we went to get changed and put into our PJ’s and when I started to put a diaper on her she said NOO Potty! So I took her to the potty and she sat down and peed! Overall it was pretty great!

This morning on the other hand has been a little set back! She didn’t get a nap yesterday and woke up wide eyed at 5:30 this morning so she’s pretty grumpy! She had a total melt down this morning when I just wanted her to try to go to the bathroom… therefore she didn’t! Then an even bigger melt down when I tried to put a diaper on her! Therefore she’d been going naked, than I finally got panties on her. I kept asking if she wanted to come “try” to go potty but she kept telling me NO NO NO.. I’m not going to start dragging her to the potty when I’m still trying to make it fun for her! She did have an accident and when it started she made her uh-o face and yelled Ahh! MOMMA POTTY!!! So at least she recognizes it, I rushed her to the potty but nothing there after so we are now in a diaper.

I was trying to finish the diapers we have (well her day time diapers) just because I don’t want to waste them but it’s a pain in the butt! Therefore Christine, a friend who is also potty training her daughter mentioned that she does the pull ups and then resorts to the diapers if her little girl has accidents in the pull ups. Which I think is a great idea. SO I’m going to head to the store today after volunteering and pick up some more pull ups!

Potty Training NOT in 3 Days Update: 2

So yesterday (Thursday) potty success was pretty high! Graysen was already wet by the time I got her out of bed but I still had her sit on the potty to start getting used to it and she had no problem with it. After that I tried to take her about every half hour and she was going, and we did great. Did that for about four times, and after the 2^nd I put her in her big girl Dora panties and she didn’t seem to mind them at all. On the fifth time I took Graysen to the bathroom but she didn’t need to go. So then I was contemplating if I should take her after 15 min, or just do 30 again, and while still in debate with myself she started to have an accident. I got her to the potty to finish so it was horrible. After that though, she didn’t want to go potty. She’d still go and sit down so we did that a lot throughout the day, but a lot of it would be Graysen telling me mommy potty potty and when we got in there her diaper was wet so she already peed she just wanted changed really..!

Now that we’re doing this potty gig more I can’t keep anything on my daughter’s rear end! Haha she wants to just run around naked and doesn’t want anything on her lil bum. I’m okay with it but the husband freaks out and just thinks she’s going to pee over everything like a new puppy! So along that line today we’ve done alright. Graysen was bare butt most of the morning. She was wet once I got her up again so we sat on the potty but nothing. Then I took her after thirty minutes twice and she went. Then I took her again but she didn’t need to go. So I was trying to take her every 10-15 minutes until she went again but she just didn’t need to go. Finally we had our accident. She pouted because she knew she didn’t make it to where she was supposed to be going! We now have a diaper on and will take a pause.. I think a little bit a day is a good start! I don’t want to get totally used to it when we leave for vacation in three weeks, travel is always hard on schedules let alone potty training! It’s good practice until we get back at least!

July Family Update

Alright, where to being!

It seems like my summer is passing by me, we’ve been so busy, yet not too sure with WHAT! Ha!

As is; I’ve been looking into a few other colleges around my area that have nursing programs. A lot of people have asked me if I’m just going to do something else and though I’ve looked into “other things” I’m happy with my career choice and am just going to do anything I can to get it done. Nursing is something I strive for, I like staying busy, I love the feeling of helping others, and it’s a very important job that I know I can bring a lot to. It’s a rare field to “get bored” in because there are so many directions you can go with it, and it’s nothing to go from nursing to something else if you choose to later down the road.

Sentara is the first college I looked into recently. It is a bachelors program and this is a health college so they don’t major in anything other than health fields. They are pretty expensive but you get the schooling done in 2 1/2 years. The associate program is 2 years, so that is pretty good. Although the soonest I could get into their program would be August of 2013… Uhhhhggg…. Also with this program I have to get my CNA.. which I’m hitting myself in the head for because I took the program in Hawaii. I was 7 months pregnant when I took this call and once I finished the class they wouldn’t allow me to take the State license course because they require you to carry a patient, and by then I was 8 ½ months pregnant and there was no way. So I was supposed to take the state license test after the birth and the six weeks when I would have been excused by the doctor, but I never did it. There would have been a good chance that the Hawaii license would have transferred here, so all in all I am hitting myself in the forehead, AGAIN! Sentara also owns hospitals here, they are buying hospitals out left and right and they usually only hire THEIR students. The way they do their nursing program, is, they do not know how many students they will accept into their program next year, because they decide upon the need of their hospitals. If they need to hire 80 more nurses that year, and will take 80-100 students in the nursing program, so almost all can be assigned a position in their hospital upon graduation. Very good deal I think!

Norfolk State University is the other college I looked into. They are just an associate degree in nursing but they would accept all my credits and I’d be able to apply now. They seem like a very good school, they would be more expensive then TCC for the same degree but they do not have a cap on their program. Meaning they don’t tell you they are ONLY accepting 50 students that year. Basically if I have the good grades then I could get in to it.

So here is my dilemma… I’m going to apply to all three programs. The associate programs would be to get into August 2012 program, and they should let me know if I was accepted or not by next June.  IF I get accepted into their of the colleges, would I accept it and go ahead and start that august for my associate OR turn it down to get into Sentara the following year for a Bachelors, BUT not guaranteed to get into that program either. I could turn an associate program down wait a year and then not even be accepted! It’s obvious to me, what I should do, but I’m not positive. Of course this is all IF and WHAT IF, but it’s good to think about those options as well. Basically you have to have a bachelors to work in any hospital here, but after I get my associate I could go back and get my Bachelors hopefully with little to no problems. Also IF I did get accepted into one of the associate programs next year I wouldn’t have to pay to take the CNA again! So many OPTIONS!

Anyway this fall I did decide to go to school Full time. I registered for my classes and got stuck with a Saturday class, but it’s one I really need so I don’t have much of a choice. I’m nervous about being full time with everything else we do, but it will be the best idea school wise, I just need to keep all A’s!

Since I stopped doing my “diet” and just being careful of what I eat, and then working out I’ve lost 5lbs but been very very steady. So that is a total of 35lbs down! I have a professor right now and he is a runner, I mean a RUNNER! He just got done doing a 50miler and seemed very disappointed he did it in 12 hours! *WHAT!!* haha So it’s made me a bit more interested in trying a little race. I also have a couple friends who are getting into those marathons and half marathons. Very neat to see them train for it. I’m not that big of a runner but I remember being stuck in this mile and half during track in high school at a meet and it killed me! I’m actually surprised I even finished it haha! I’m in way better shape and physical health then I was even in High school so it’s a goal I set for myself to get into at least one 5K by the end of this year. Hopefully one day I can go more than that but like I keep saying about everything… BABY STEPS J

We leave for our Vacation to Missouri and Colorado at the beginning of August! I am very excited to see my Grams and cousin. They haven’t met Brandon or Graysen yet so that will be wonderful! Colorado is always eventful but I feel bad for not “seeing” people. I never have enough time in Denver because my parents live in the middle of nowhere 5 hours from Denver. I will see a few though so that’s good.. I also WILL have to eat some Corona’s and I do get to see my Brother while I’m there, that’s always a very rare event!!

I took Graysen to the movies for the first time a couple weeks ago. She did VERY well. It was Ramona and beezus the movie, so not even really a toddler movie..and it was 140 minutes long! Which is very long for her. She did great though, for the first hour she sat there and drank her juice and ate her popcorn! She started to get antsy near the end and wanted to play! They have another dollar movie next Tuesday that I think she will like, Yogi Bear, it’s shorter and actually has animation in it. I might even take her to the park first! Haha! It’s fun to do these movies though because it’s a summer type thing, and it’s only a dollar for both of us because they don’t charge for her, and we can get a small popcorn for only two bucks on Tuesdays! What a deal!

The house is looking better! We finally got Graysen’s ceiling primed and painted and you can’t see the water stains anymore. I do need to get the front balcony done, but I’m not sure if it’s going to happen! I will be doing GOOD if that gets done before August. After that we have to do new window shutters for the outside windows since to busted in the storm and then that’s it! Hopefully at least!

Well… That is all that I can think of on this end! Thank you for checking in with the update!

Potty Training NOT in 3 days UPDATE: 1

I will be putting this information in it’s own blog since it was previously in it’s own!

Potty TIME:

For the last week now Graysen has been using the potty again. Not on a regular basis. When I catch her dry and I know it’s been a little while since she’s gone to the bathroom I try to go sit her on the potty and she will usually do the deed! The first time was after her nap, she was dry so I ran and sat her on the potty and she sat there and peed! She’s not being resistant to it at all, she prefers “her” little potty, not the little seat on the big potty, so that’s what we are using! She has to read her “potty” book when she’s sitting down, and we sing the abc’s (for some reason that just became the “potty song” haha). She isn’t going on her own, or even telling me if she’s wet, she doesn’t seem to care much, but If I take the time to set her down she will sit there, she might not go but she will sit there for a few minutes reading and singing and then she says she’s done and tries to wipe herself!

As far as pooping on the potty, hasn’t happened yet this round. BUT when she does poop she comes and tells me “Momma uh-o poop, potty!!” And she runs into the bathroom and she wants to help dump her poop into the potty and wave bye bye to it when we flush it! Haha so it’s a working progress! I’m just letting her do her thing right now, when we get back from our vacation I will try doing the pull up/panty thing at home and see if I can get her on the potty a bit more frequently and see how it goes!

YAH for potty time!!!!

July Family Update

To start this one off I’d like to say Graysen is doing a 100% better. I got her home and after her nap her fever was non-existent, but then it came back that night but not nearly as high. For about three days it was on and off from 101 to normal. Still not sure if it was teeth, or a possible virus like the doctors thought it was. I just know she is doing better and that’s all that matters!!

Graysen is now a pro at getting into everything!! The other morning I heard a loud noise in the kitchen, and then I hear “Momma me hunry (hungry) Help pease (please)! I go into the kitchen and she has learned how to open the fridge and get things out. So she had taken the sour cream out and set it on the table then went to grab “daddy’s juice”, as she proceeds to tell me “Uh-o momma, daddy juice..Dadda, dadda, daddddda!!” haha! That’s beer for those of you who don’t know what Momma’s and Dadda’s “juice” is! She really likes to “show” you her emotions now. She will tell you Happy! And start laughing, then she will say Sad and pout her face, and then mad is her favorite, she will cross her arms and look down and look at you with a very dirty look! She practices the mad look in the mirror every day! She loves to get ready with me in the morning, she stands on the toilet seat and wants to brush her teeth and hair when I do, and then she lifts her arms up for deodorant, and she will sit as still as possible for you to put “make up” on her! She is such a joy, just keeps getting better!

As for me, I’m working on looking into different colleges. There is one college that I was very interested in but didn’t look into it much because it was a bachelor program and I wanted to get done with school before there was a chance of us leaving or before Brandon got put on a ship. Although at this rate, I’m going to have to suck it up, the chance of us staying here is very high, so we’ll just having to figure out things when the time comes about him being on a ship and me being full time in school. Right now I will just keep working on getting classes done that I know will benefit me in one way or another. I decided to continue into the fall full time. It’s going to be tough, but I need to do it and get as many classes I can done, it will only help! So for right now, one step at a time!

This weekend I went to Myrtle Beach SC with a friend. It wasn’t a leisure trip but it was still fun and relaxing. One thing I have missed about living off of an island is the ability to just drive… travel even if it’s a shorter distance it’s nice to get away from your home! Our 4^th of July was nothing special, but it was very relaxing. Brandon and I just hung out on the couch all day! Graysen laid with me and watched movies, and then would play and entertain herself (that hardly ever happens!) and it was very NICE. We had a bbq that night, and I’m very glad that we didn’t make plans to go out because it rained all evening!

Well, that is our little beginning of July update! Thanks for keeping up!

The letter I've been waiting for!

Well… The letter I've been waiting for from TCC today. I was not accepted. Point blank. I was a little nervous that I wouldn't get accepted based on the points I lacked even though I had a 4.0. The councilor I had talked to prior to even enrolling into the program told me I would be accepted as long as I got A's in the three classes last semester; so my hopes got really high. Because she had told me that, I was retarded and didn't apply to any other schools. Therefore I screwed myself.

I'm very very frustrated. BUT I need to just keep going. I'm not sure what my next step is going to be so I will keep everyone updated. We shall see what happens. Obviously, it was not meant to be; I just need to keep my head held hi! Thank you Brandon for being my shoulder! I love you!

Graysen's First ER trip

Just a quick update on Graysen! She IS doing okay!

Last night before I put her down I took her temperature. It was 103.2 but that is with the thermometer that rolls across the forehead; which I’ve been told is not the most accurate. But it gives you what you need to know, fever or not. So I gave her some Tylenol and put her down. That day she had been warm but I didn’t think much of it.. she’s been chewing on her fingers and drooling more than usual so my first instinct is teeth. Also she wasn’t eating much yesterday, and ate hardly anything for dinner (and it was even French fries and chicken!!) At midnight she woke up crying, it had been four hours so I went ahead and gave her more Tylenol, I didn’t give her Motrin because she has to take it with milk and she wasn’t drinking anything so I didn’t even try. She woke up again at three and didn’t even want me to touch her, she kept saying “owe, owe, me hot momma”. Sure enough she felt even hotter, but it hadn’t been four hours yet so I didn’t want to give her more medicine. I took her temperature and I had her at 104.4. So of course me… I wake Brandon up and tell him I’m going to take her to the ER.. I’d rather be safe than sorry and if her fever is STILL going UP while taking Tylenol then there could be something wrong, and I don’t like to chance anything.

First of all I wanted to smack the receptionist. He says “well her fever obviously went up because the Tylenol wore off, you just give her more..” FIRST OFF SIR…. I’m not going to CHANCE OD’ing my child because I THINK the reason for the increase of the fever is that the Tylenol wore off, when it’s still an hour away from giving her another dose according to the least amount of hours between doses. Don’t make me feel stupid for bringing in my child just to MAKE SURE everything is okay. Grrr.. (okay vented, thanks!)

Anyway they took a rectal temperature and she was at 104.1 there, so obviously mine at home isn’t THAT far off! They tried to give her more Tylenol but she threw up most of it. After a chest X-ray and a urine sample from a catheter, she does not have pneumonia (that was an obvious no) or a UTI. Therefore they suggest that she has a virus. Something has been going around this area with kids so they said to just watch her and try to keep the fever down as much as I can. I asked about teeth and they said it could be a factor but not for all of it. Therefore we just need to sit around and hope it doesn’t get worse!

When we left the hospital her fever had dropped to 101.4 which is much better, the fever is going the right way, DOWN! We are home now and she seems to be doing fine! I’m going to try and get more medicine in her in a little bit and see if she will lay down for an early nap, but otherwise it was a long night in the ER, just to make sure she was okay!

Life is all about DECISIONS!

It’s mid-June, I can’t believe it! This makes it time for some decision making. Maybe if I explain them I can get some open input *hint*!

Basically I’m not sure if I will get into the nursing program or not. Therefore I have to have a few plans in order on what I’m going to do. If I do get into the Nursing program it will start January 2012 and I will be pretty much full time during the day because they do not do night classes. I have looked into day care here and it’s pretty pricey. I looked into a school La Petite Academy although they are just as pricey she would be getting a school environment and education with “day care”.  They honestly aren’t much more than just putting her in someone’s home day care but a lot less lenient on schedules.

My dilemma begins here: For the fall I was thinking about going to school full time. That way I can get some pre-reqs done that will go toward my bachelors. The nursing program is an Associate program but there are hardly any places accepting just associate degrees so I already KNOW I need to get my bachelors. Therefore the sooner I work on those classes the sooner I could get into the transfer program from an ASN to a BSN and get a good job. Some people keep telling me that I should have JUST gone for my BSN instead of hassling with the ASN… BUT my reason for doing it this way is because any school will take my ASN and I can do their transfer program, because we are military and we can always get moved I could be close to a bachelors but then chance another school not taking my credits, and have to start over. If I have that stepping stone, the ASN then like I said anyone will take that because it’s already a degree. If I go full time in the fall then I would only have to take one additional pre-req during my nursing school semesters to be able to finish the associate program with only one or two classes left before being able to apply to the transfer program. So kicking my butt this fall would really benefit me.

On the other hand if I do get into the nursing program next spring, we are going to be stressed out with trying to keep Graysen in day care. I do not want to have to dig out of savings to get her through day care. So my other option this fall is to take my minimum classes, I do only need one for the nursing program, and I could take one more to just hold my financial aid, and then get a job. That money can be put toward at least one semester of day care to help out.

 Either way both choices are going to kick my butt. Being full time in school, or going to school and have a job, along with Graysen all day. But what one is worth doing. Job would create less stress, but full time in school would move my school along a little faster!

I basically need to figure it out within the next two weeks. Hopefully I’ll find out about the nursing program by July, but I have to sign up for classes July 5^th. Of course I can always drop classes if I decide not to do the full time thing, but I’d like to figure it out and stick with it! Any suggestions?

NOT a healthy little girl....

Well, for some of you that have read my updates on Facebook I’ve mentioned more than enough times on how Graysen has been, is, or is getting sick! Since we moved to VA it’s been one thing after another. Because of the cold weather here we got more flu-like colds during the winter time, and now we are dealing with the worst! I haven’t had the greatest luck with Doctors, but that just seems to be my luck when it comes to Tricare!

Graysen’s Primary care doctor is not…. Very nice! She is an older Asian lady and is just flat out rude, and not only to me but to Graysen. Graysen screams and cries the second the lady comes into the room, and all she does is try to shove something in to hands (to entertain her like she’s 6 months) and tell me, Uhg… she’s crying AGAIN! So as you can tell, I just haven’t been happy with her from the beginning.

At the beginning of March Graysen had been sick for the 2^nd time with this really nasty cough, hack, runny nose equaling to be no sleep and little eat. Since she got it within weeks after the first time I went ahead and took her to the doctor. This lady basically laid it down like this: She has allergies you waste your time coming; it the pollen in the air, make her sick (Remember.. Asian.. English isn’t the greatest)… Here some medicine she take that. And that was it! So we took the meds and left.. they haven’t worked.

Since that doctor appointment Graysen has been sick like that three times and then now. Each time takes her about 6-7 days to get over, and we noticed she’ll really get sick when we travel to new places. That is about 6 times of getting sick within 3 months! So I decided to get her into the doctor again to see if I could get more answers, and at least feel like I’m doing all I can to help her.

Today we got a Nurse Practitioner who was really really nice, and wonderful with Graysen. Sometimes I like them better then Doctors, they have less of the attitude of I “know it all”. Well most anyway. She did confirm that it was allergy related, although you can really test for allergies until they are over the age of 2.. and really why would you want to do that to her! They can narrow it down to dust mites, pollen, dogs… everything but like she said we can’t keep her in a bubble. Now if it were the dog I’d like to know then we can get rid of the dog (I wouldn’t mind either), but I doubt it’s the dog since we did get the dog at the end of summer last year and she’s been just fine with her all Winter. I let her know that the meds they gave us last time didn’t work so I started her on Allegra the yesterday morning and last night was the first night in 4 days that she actually slept, and she was feeling much better today, therefore it seemed to be working. Although I wasn’t too sure how she’d act since Allegra isn’t intended for 2 and under, but she’s almost there, I had just cut the dose down! J she didn’t seem to mind.

I’ve also heard a few parents say that they keep their children on allergy meds from March til’ September. Straight, they don’t stop. To me that just doesn’t sound good for a baby. What are you doing for their immune system by babying it THAT much. So that was another question we brought up. She said we could do it as much as we chose but really should just give to her as soon as we see the runny nose or a cough appear. So that’s what we’ll do!

As far as her throwing her milk up when she’s sick she had mentioned something that I’ve always known but was told I was WRONG by a doctor in Hawaii. Remember when we were little and we were sick our parents wouldn’t let us drink milk because it would upset your tummy..? Well mine did that.. and I carried that on with Graysen. When she was younger 6 months I think she had gotten really sick and anytime she drank milk she’d just throw it up, and so I had slowed her down on the milk for a little while since she was already eating plenty of Gerber food at that time, so instead of milk I was giving her yogert, well the doctor in Hawaii basically told me I was stupid, she STRIVES for her milk, and that milk doesn’t do anything to a child when they are sick and it doesn’t induce throwing up it’s just a Myth… SO I’ve never taken her off milk just because she was sick, EVEN though she’d throw it up all over me! Well the lady today did say that milk DOES thicken the flim in your throat which WILL cause a child or even adult to throw up! WHY do doctors INSIST on making everyone believe they are right, when they probably don’t even know.. or haven’t even researched that thing before just determining whatever he/she thinks is RIGHT! GRR

That’s my rant! Sometimes I don’t even know WHY I want to be a nurse when I can’t even stand half the Doctors I’ve come into contact with in my entire life! Well… Enough said Graysen is feeling better today. We are going to just keep up with the medicine and see where it goes from here!

As far as little miss herself she is doing great! I had updated a bit already but a few others things she has been doing is practicing her “attitude” in the mirror. Yes, you read that right! She will Yell NO to herself in the mirror and cross her arms and turn to the side.. and she will practice this over and over, along with kissing herself multiple times. Driving to the Doctor today Graysen tells me everything she sees; Momma Dog! Momma Trees! Momma Water! Then when I tell her things like all that water is called a Lake, she says.. Lake.. Water.. Lake.. Water… Momma Water! Haha She has names for all of her cartoons, and she can sing to almost every song, even if it’s mumbling it (she has the tune right!). She loves listening to country music, she tries to sing with it and she laughs at the lyrics. It is fun having little conversations with her!

As far as the house goes we picked a very good company! They were supposed to start on the roof today but they ended up starting yesterday and finishing today because it’s supposed to rain this weekend. They also got our front porch done. So there are just a few things we have to get done. I also opt out of paying anyone to do the painting and such so I need to get my butt in gear. I will have to paint Graysen’ s Ceiling because of the water stains and now I have to a paint the porch, and well probably all of the exterior or the house now. Slowly but surely we are getting it put together!!!

That’s all for now!!!

Finally!! June Post

Here I am! As I’ve been told or reminded, by a few people I am slacking on the blog J!!

As most know our landscaping was going great. We finally got the flower beds done, the hanging baskets up and our new fence put in place. Then we had a nice little storm. The top of our neighbor’s tree landed in our front yard on top of everything and taking out part of our front porch! Five tree limbs went through the roof and two little limbs came through our ceiling. Graysen and I were perfectly fine, a little freaked out but it could have been way worse! Our neighbors around us have been so wonderful and some have helped us get things back in order. Other than our deck, roof and a few flower everything looks fine.

Graysen is getting bigger and bigger every day (no duh right!). She’s starting to speak 3-4 words in a sentence. “Momma play night night please” She loves to act like she is tucking us in and reading us a book! “No dog bite me” The dog and her sure do love each other! She will sit and watch an entire movie, she LOVES Bambi and Curious George right now. Therefore I’m going to try and take her to the movies here soon. She still loves going to Gymboree, and we’ve gotten really close to Johnny. His mom and I get along great and it’s nice to FINALLY have a friend here. She is throwing a bit more fits, but is starting to calm down a little easier when I can get her to actually speak what she wants rather than cry. She LOVES helping around the house, trying to sweet, vacuum, carry in groceries, pick up her toys, do laundry, do dishes and even scrub the toilets!  She doesn’t seem to love the swimming pool but she can’t get enough of the sprinkler and tries to “help” water plants every chance she gets! Her bed is now a toddler bed, no more crib, and her bed time has been set back an hour… Not sure I can take much more change!

School is going great as far as summer goes. I just have two classes and ended up taking one on-line. Although the on-line class is requiring a service learning project which means I need to volunteer 15 hours. A friend of ours works for Planned Parenthood and has helped me out by letting me Volunteer over there. So a few of my summer Saturdays are going to be spent doing that. I still should find out about the Nursing program in July, I really can’t wait and want this month to speed by!! Wish me luck everyone!

I have booked a ticket to MO and CO in August. I’m really excited. I plan on seeing my Grams and cousin Jayson and I haven’t seen either of them in a VERY long time. Excited for them to meet both Brandon and Graysen. Then hopefully we will get to see a few people in Colorado. That’s always a hard one. We have so many people to see and never enough time! We shall see how it goes!

I could write a TON more, but I don’t want to keep it going to be too long. Hopefully I can get on here and write more often!!! Happy SUMMER!

Easter updates and MORE!

What an update this will be; I haven’t gotten on here in quite the while! YIKES! I’ll try to cut it short!

Our Easter weekend turned out to be wonderful! Saturday we went to a free festival in Norfolk with a family Brandon works with. They have a little one who is absolutely adorable and is just a tad bit older than Graysen. The festival wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, but it was still fun. It ended up being pretty chilly so I’m glad I didn’t pay for it, we didn’t stay TOO long.  Sunday morning Graysen woke up and got her Easter goodies from the Easter Bunny. She got a lot of Summer time things to play with outdoors and some clothes and stuffed animals. She was overall impressed, or so I would like to think! We then did a little Easter egg hunt outside before we had to leave. She loved it was so excited to find the eggs and pack them into her little basket! We then left and meet another family at Cracker Barrel for a midmorning brunch, and then we all went over to Hunt Club Farm. It’s a little Farm in Virginia Beach and they have tons of fun stuff to do. We were a little iffy on it, but we realized Graysen is at that age now where she is enjoying all those festivities, so it’s fun for us! We went straight into the egg hunt since we wanted to get at least the ten eggs we were promised for the 12 dollars we paid for little miss, but she didn’t want much to do with it. She was too busy staring at the pony’s across the way! So we decided to let her go on a pony ride. I was very skeptical because sometimes she thinks she wants to do something but when she gets there to do it she freaks out!! To my surprise she LOVED it! She barley even wanted to get off the horse! She also went into one of those BIG bounce houses. They had one for little kids and she ran straight to it.. we let her go in and then couldn’t get her out haha! With all that and all the farm animals that she just loved it was a wonderful Easter!

Well, it is that time of year and the yard work is in! We did our first BIG day of yard work the Tuesday before Easter.  I was on a mission to get the yard pretty cleaned up before that fence was supposed to come in, and I think I did very well. I even took the lead in taking our gutter off to find the squirrel’s hole the size of both my hands!! That took a little while to fix, and we still have yet to cover the rest of our house in Metal, but hopefully it’s a temporary fix to keep those things OUT of our attic. Yes they were the noises I was hearing ALL winter long! Wasn’t me going crazy! All the while I was proud of us for spending an entire 11 hours outside doing yard work that Tuesday, Friday I woke up and had a bunch of bumps on my arms. Thought they were bug bites… was scratching and complaining about how “eaten” up I had gotten. Saturday when we went to the festival the “bug bites” got pretty big and seemed to have been spreading, and started to hurt! So when we got home I called the doctor’s office and was able to get in that day.. Come to find out we have Poison sumac, oak and ivy all around this area and I seemed to have gotten one of them! A week later, I am STILL itchy and don’t think yard work is going to be my forte this summer!

The fencing company we’ve hired is really starting to irritate me! They finally started Wednesday, when it was supposed to be Tuesday. They were supposed to finish today, when they didn’t show up and are now saying they are supposed to finish it tomorrow. But with all the rain we had tonight, and the fact they didn’t even FINISH what they were supposed to on Wednesday because of running out of cement, I’m not too confident they will get it done before the weekend is up.  I do hope they pick it up and surprise me, so far I’m disappointed in the company and I’m not afraid to YELP it J I will put pictures up soon of the yard work we’ve been doing though!

School is basically over. I took my lab practical and managed a 100% on it giving me a 101% in the class. My lecture was supposed to have two remaining tests but she ended up giving them both as take homes, and so I’m ending that with a very high A as well. I just turned in my final paper for English, so we’ll see how that goes; and my math class if finished in two weeks but that class is really just a pain in my neck and a pass/fail.. She’s not going to fail anyone! I’m basically ready for summer session to start!

Last but not least we went and checked out the YMCA today. I’ve wanted to get a membership somewhere for a while now the treadmill we have is great but it gets old. Although I didn’t want to go to just a regular gym, if we were going to pay the money I wanted it to be something Graysen could enjoy too! So the Y we visited today isn’t too far from the house. They have very nice equipment, an indoor pool, a big outdoor pool, a rock climbing wall, basketball courts and a bunch more. I guess it’s not “HUGE”, but it’s perfect. They have child care and then from there I can take her to do something! Better yet, monthly membership is what I need. I have NO clue what each semester will bring and I don’t’ want to pay for something we won’t use, so it’s nice to know we can “pause” the membership whenever needed! So I’m thinking of getting Graysen into some swimming classes this summer and taking full advantage of what I can!

Hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday, and hope to update on the yard sooner than later!

Potty Training in Three days.. Day Two

Day Two!

Brandon and I quit!!! Haha I still don’t see today as a fail, just a little procrastination!

Graysen woke up really early this morning as well, 5:30, so this could be a good reason why things have just been so thrown off with her. She did NOT want to sit on the potty first thing this morning, so we went on with it. The first pee was a total miss couldn’t get her there in time and she threw a fit when we put her on the potty! Two times today we DID get her on there when she didn’t have to pee to just sit and sing or read a book but that was it. She usually always poos before lunch, so usually around 10:30 and everytime it looked like she was going to today Brandon and I would take her to the potty and she would get so mad and she wouldn’t go!

The last straw for me was when she got into the pantry and was standing there and started to go; I whisked her to the potty and as she sits down she’s starts peeing again and then tries to get up so pee went everywhere. She didn’t even want to sit down to finish peeing like she had been doing before. So right there, I was like its fine lets’ just stop and try again this summer!  I put a pull up on her and within five minutes she went into our room and then came out to tell me she pooped! Poor thing had been holding it in ALL day!

We’ll see what happens.. If she wants to sit on the potty she can, but I’m not going to “make her”. We’ll take it from here and see where she leads us! It’s not a big issue, it’s not like she’s TOO old for diapers or anything at all like that! We’ll try again this summer when I have a little less on my plate school wise!

Little update as a side note:

We should be getting our fence in any day now! I’m super excited! I got the flower beds all done; just have to wait for the fence to come in to do the one on the side of the house since they will be tearing that whole side of the house up. We decided to move the fence line up to in front of the garage that way we can “maybe” put a doggy door out there so Annabelle can just go outside as she pleases.

I’m winding down to the last of the semester! I only have one week of lab left and then we have our Practical. I’m not too nervous this round since I set myself up very well with the two first ones and basically just have to do better than a D on this one to get an A in the class! My lecture is alright but the teacher drives me crazy. We have one more in class test left and then the last four chapters will be on our own and she will give us a take home finale. I just finished my finale research paper in English, and my math class is just.. There!

Brandon’s Knee is doing very well. He still has a little pain, and physical therapy is kicking his butt! He’s getting around great though, and not having to take too much medicine.

That’s it for this one! Thank you for reading, and all the great advice some of you have given me as far as the potty training goes!

Potty training in three days... Day 1

Alright... To start this off I can not say today was a total disaster but it wasn't all golden with happy chants and prizes either!

First thing this morning Graysen woke up in a bad mood, she must have drank a TON before bed last night because she woke up at 5:30 cranky and SOAKED! Head to tail, this child has never been one to wake up in the middle of the night for a diaper change, so sometimes this will happen! I got her out of her crib stripped her down and brought her to the bathroom "explaining" what was in store for her today. I took her diaper off and put her on the potty... And she threw the BIGGGEST fit! Haha NO NO NO NO NOOOO crying and the whole nine yards. So she didn't go. That's okay...

We finished morning routine, some milk and her baby can read and then some cartoons. It hit 7:30, I had just given her some breakfast when she's standing at the coffee table and starts to be so I tell her no no and I rush her to the potty and she finishes on the potty and wants off and wants nothing to do with prizes or anything she was not happy to have gone on the potty. So I still gave her the one M&M since it was a "hit", and continued on.

As we neared the middle of the day Graysen still did not like to be asked if she needed to potty, and if you tried to put her on there (like every thirty minutes) she'd throw a HUGE fit about it. Although if she started to go and you rushed her to the bathroom and she finished on the toilet she started to get more excited about it. She'd say yah! And clap her hands. She had a total of 7 "hits" she got at least half in the toilet, and 2 total misses where she didn't get anything in the potty. And then 2 totally missed poos! That was not fun, and I'm not even going to get into that one!

I stared at Graysen all day, seeing if I could identify something funny she does before she actually goes, but nothing! So there was no way I could tell "before" if she was going to go, until she started. One of the times was in the kitchen and she actually said Potty! Potty! But I did the wrong thing and asked her; You need to potty? And of course she started winning and saying no no no! So I let her be and she squated down said potty really fast and started peeing ha! Then for one of the poos she had brought me into the bathroom she said she wanted to "wash hand" so we go in there but then she doesn't want to wash hands she was just playing around and then she pood and I couldn't catch her in time! Oh mannnn!

She was going about every hour and half.. sometimes two hours. Also before her nap I couldn't get her to go potty so i went ahead and put a pull up on her (was going to do that anyway) and she slept 2 1/2 hours and woke up with a dry pull up, of course she started to pee on the floor as I took the pull up off but hey it was a "Hit"!!

To end the night she caught me very off guard. I took her to the potty but she didn't need to go so she threw a fit. I kept reminding her, "Tell me if you need to go potty okay?" and very sweetly she'd say "tay". I should have known about ten minutes before bed I felt something warm on me and she was peeing!! That was was still a hit to when I jumped up in full force to get her to the potty haha but all day she's been sitting on me and hadn't peed on me yet, so it really caught me off guard!

All in all.. WHAT A DAY! I still have hair so I think I did good! We shall see what tomorrow brings!!

Potty Training In.... 3 Days? Introduction

Alright, so this is a potty blog.. I'm sure it will consist of many "parts" so if you don't care to read about little ones and their bodily fluids, you MIGHT want to stop reading right here!!

I’ve been researching and reading a lot on a program called “Potty Training in Three Days.” At first, I said NO WAY! But after reading a lot of stuff on it, it looks promising. Brandon and I talked it over a while ago but since it consists of a LOT of attention and work on both sides we figured the best time to try it out would be when he was still home on leave from his surgery, but well enough to move around and actually help me out in this process. So folks, this weekend is our weekend!

Basically the program is a diaper free program. They believe that putting any kind of pull up or underwear on your child will delay potty training since both still feel like a diaper to them (snug on the tush). Therefore Graysen will be a naked baby for a good while! The first day consists of not leaving the house at all! There are expected to be way more accidents then accomplishments so if we can get through the first day we will be doing well. The second day consists of leaving the house for one hour. When you do this you put them in loose fitting pants, make sure they use the restroom right before you leave and then when you come back home. So just a good walk around the block or something with a ton of extra clothes in your purse I assume! The third day they say to leave the house for two hours. Doing the same as above, but you should have a lot less accidents by this day.

They mention that by day three, if nothing is in progress and you are still having a ton of accidents such as in day one to just stop, give it a good 6 weeks and try again. They might not be ready. Graysen first showed interest in the potty, and even went pee and poop on the potty at 15 months, but has not been consistent at all. I haven’t pushed it, asked her if she wants to go on it here and there but that’s it. They also say you should have a few potty’s spread around the house. They say one in the bathroom and one in every “main” area of the house; for us that would be our living room. I’m not too sure on this one yet. Our house isn’t huge, and she already knows her potty being in the bathroom. Not sure I should mix it up and put one in the living room too!?! I guess I will have to trial and error that one.

Either way we have decided to start this Friday. It was a little difficult trying to find time “so to speak” since I added a Saturday class to my schedule, and I go to open lab for 4-5 hours on Sunday and Monday. This Saturday though I don’t have class, since we are so far ahead I just need to show up put my name down and leave. So it makes for a perfect, schedule clear, three days!

Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t supposed to be a miracle training process. Three days are just the time crunch, labor intended portion, you are supposed to keep them “bare bottomed” around the house for about 3 months, or until they have gone a week without an accident. This is only a day program too. She will still be put in a diaper for bed and we will try to kick that one in the butt in a few months. She’s got to get out of the crib first, and as far as that goes, 12 weeks later and we still don’t have our toddler rails! One step at a time! Wish us luck, I think we might need it, and a few drinks!