Potty time!

This week has been a great success for something that I was really dreading.....Potty Training!! Luckily, Cambry did amazing and has done better than I ever imagined. I blocked off this week to focus fully on training and we did not leave the house from Tuesday until Friday night. Totally worth it. We established a reward system: For trying - one sticker, pee - one sticker and one m&m, poop - one sticker, 3 m&m's, temporary tattoo and a call from a special friend. I know pooping on the potty is hard for kids so we tried to make it a really big deal. She loves temp tattoos and even though we look like the white trash family with a two-year-old that has both of her arms sleeved, it was a strong enticement for her to go. Her favorite reward was the call from a special friend. A genius idea from my sister was to have one of her favorite people Elmo or The Count call to tell her how proud of her they were for her potty success. So I would text my sister after a poo and then Cambry would magically get a call from one of her friends (actually my sister doing some amazing impersonations) and it made Cambry's experience. Thank you sis! You are an amazing aunt!! We would also pray and ask Jesus to help her to be able to poop and that was very helpful as well. How can he resist a little girl saying "Jesus please help my poop to come out!" He honored her request almost every time.
We also made a chart to track her progress and success. We started on Tuesday and she hasn't worn a diaper since! (Except for when she sleeps I don't even know how to go there) At the end of day one she had 6 pees and 1 poop on the potty and no accidents! Amazing.
There was one accident and it was hilarious. Day two she was struggling to poo on the pot. A little scared and she kept telling me she had to potty, but nothing was coming out but toots. At least she was trying. Well, I had to take a break to feed Colbie and Cambry secretly went into her play room. I heard "Uh Oh Potty!!" I walked in to see two turds on the floor. No big deal. The best part was her reaction. She said to her poo " Um, hey guys I'm Cambry. C-A-M-B-R-Y. You guys wanna go watch a movie?" What?!!! I lost it and almost peed my pants which would have been a horrible example for this week. She was really ready to embrace these poops as friends. I love that girl and her ability to love ANYTHING!
I think the biggest key to her success was that she was ready. I know it's different for every kid when they will be ready, but I think it can be really positive experience. I also think Cambry just kind of rocks.




Cambry, you have done an amazing job this week. You continue to blow my mind with what you are capable of. Child, you can do anything you can put your mind to. I love you, and thank you for a fun week of quality time, great memories and NO DIAPERS! Yeah girl!!!!!

Hey baby lets go to Vegas!

That's what Drew said to me last Monday. We left on Friday. We have been talking about taking a weekend away with just each other for a long time, but there is always something to do that prevents us from going. We realized that the upcoming weekend was one of the only free weekends we had until November. Not only were we available, but our super amazing parents were available as well to handle our kiddos. The girls stayed with my parents on Friday night, and then with Drew's mom on Saturday night. We owe you guys big time! I know how much work those little ladies and you guys sure handled them perfectly, thank you.
It was probably best we left with such short notice because I didn't have a lot of time to be scared about leaving the girls for the first time. I missed them like crazy, however, it made me realize how important it is to have time with your spouse. It was amazing to sit at dinner and actually get to hear what Drew was saying, and for us to be able to invest in our marriage. Not to mention how great it was to travel so lightly, and not have to be back at the hotel for the kids bedtime. We made a pact to stay out past midnight on the first night and we ended up staying out until 3 am! We walked sooo far down the strip and looked at the hotels and the crazy vegas people. The next day we laid by the pool and then went to a show that, Mystere, night. The show blew my mind and really made me want to be an acrobat. Perhaps I will start training in 2011. It was my favorite thing we did all trip. We stayed at Treasure Island which was a cute clean hotel, but not quite a hot spot for people our age so we spent some time at surrounding hotels. I couldn't make it until 3 am the second night, so I turned in around midnight. Drew found enough energy to go to the Venetian and pay them for letting him sit at their poker table. :)
Unfortunately, we took the camera but didn't take one picture the entire trip! Guess we will have to go again!

pics at home

Here are a few pics of these girls hanging out together in there play room. They totally wanted to wear the same outfits, sit curled up together under their canopy and let me take pictures! None of it was forced. :)

Warped family

As promised here are some pictures of the rest of my family with warped faces. It's a program on my computer called Photo Booth that my wonderful sister discovered, and it has radically changed our lives. Enjoy.

Here is little Brielle. She made the best cyclops of all!!

This one is a gem.

You are beautifull!!!

I keep up with this blog called Childhood Magic. And it was magical! Unfortunately, the lady who writes it has decided to retire so she can focus on her kids, and she took all of her archives with her. Whatever! I love my kids so much and I blog when they are sleeping so I'm not stopping, or going to feel bad about my blogging habits because it keeps far away family informed. Anyways, I loved this lady and loved following what she wrote because she was a stay-at-home mom that home-schooled her children, and was oozing with creative fun projects for kids. I never actually did any of the projects due to the age of my children, but I loved watching her kids do them. They just seemed to have this perfect life in Miami where they would hit the beach, do yoga on the beach, and they all had these perfect tans and blond hair, and they were a little hippieish and extremely crafty. I could go on and on about them. But one day the mom did a post about how she never puts pictures up on her blog of herself because she doesn't really like to look at them. She was uncomfortable with many things about herself and just didn't want them up. To get over it, one day she posted a couple pictures of herself. Just an ordinary picture of what she looked like that day, not re-touched, airbrushed or altered in any way. This lady is gorgeous and nuts for being insecure about anything. It made me think about myself and my girl friends. I have a super hot group of friends here, but if you asked any of them they wouldn't believe it. Most of our blogs are kid or family focused, and I can't think of a time that one of us put up pictures of ourselves just to do so. I don't particularly want to go through my blog and see a bunch of me, however, this blog I treat as a diary/babybook for the girls and I want them to know what their mom looked like when they were going up. So I am swallowing my pride and posting a few pics of just me. No re-touching, airbrushing or altering in any way.

(My personal fav because my ear makes me laugh every time.)

***I don't in any way want you to think that I do not take seriously or admire what the other blogging lady did. She is amazing. I just think I probably have a bit of growing up to do before I get to her level.***
****Yes, the first picture is normal so please do not make fun of that one.****
*****Yes, I have done this to my children and their pictures will be posted, so stay tuned.*****
******Yes, it is almost midnight and I'm not responsible for anything I post this late.******