Easter Morning

We had a wonderful Easter -- He is Risen!

Here are some pictures of Lily hunting Easter eggs.

Potty Training Again

Yep, that's the big toilet, not the little potty chair. Hahahaha.... Lily cracks me up.

I decided it was time to work on potty training again. It's been a couple of months, and I'm beginning to feel the pressure of wanting Lily to be totally potty trained (except during the night) before the new baby arrives. Maybe a selfish reason, I know, but Lily has been showing all the "readiness" signs for quite awhile too.

Dusty was out of town all weekend, so Lily and I did nothing but stay home and practice using the potty, starting Friday. She did all right over the weekend, peeing in the potty a couple of times but having lots and lots of accidents. I was beginning to be a little nervous that I was pushing her too fast.

Then today, I babysat for a friend, whose kids are a little older than Lily. They're all close in age, but these two are already potty trained. And they're bigger, so they don't need the little potty anymore - they can use the regular toilet without help.

Needless to say, Lily was very interested in how the big kids used the potty. And then she had an accident in front of the big kids, who promptly announced that "it's not good to go potty on the floor." They said that a few times. The next time Lily needed to go potty, she told me. And she didn't want to sit on her little potty. She wanted to use the big one. And she actually went potty!

Lily hasn't had anymore accidents since then... she's peed on the potty four times so far today. I think she's coming down from her marshmallow sugar high now, while she watches Pinocchio. If we can keep this success going tomorrow, I might have to cut back on how many marshmallows she gets each time she uses the potty! And I guess I'll have to figure out how to get the little potty chair apart to use the small seat on the big toilet. I wouldn't want her to fall in.


I don't know if it was simply the good example from the other kids, or if their negative impression of Lily's accident played a factor. Either way, I'm sure glad I was babysitting today! We'll see how we do tomorrow. Maybe soon we'll be able to venture out in public without a diaper.

Dyeing Easter Eggs

I think this was the first time we've dyed Easter eggs since Dusty and I have known each other! It was lots of fun, and very messy! Lily wanted to crack the eggs on the table before coloring on them. After the eggs had been dyed, we put some of them in glitter - that was the messy part. We all had fun dyeing them, but only Daddy and Grandpa Scott wanted to eat the deviled eggs. Despite what Dusty may think, I have not discouraged Lily from liking eggs - she just simply doesn't like them! After a quick dunk in the bathtub Lily helped clean up the kitchen... If only she did a good enough job that mopping could be her chore instead of mine!

Bayou Wildlife Park

We visited Bayou Wildlife Park the day before Easter. There are probably more pictures than you can bear to sit through, but I couldn't help myself - we had such a great time!

Quick Pregnancy Update

The test results from the neucal translucency screening came back last week, and everything looks normal.

In other pregnancy news, I was totally wrong about the morning sickness going away. Maybe by next week?

April Fun

Grandma Jenny and Grandpa Scott visited over Easter weekend... We had lots of fun, and there are lots of pictures to share. I'll post them in batches.
This slideshow includes some playtime at home, a visit to the Houston Zoo, and an Easter egg hunt at our church.

Cookie Monster

Lily asked me for a cookie, and I told her no, we're going to have lunch soon. Shortly after that, I walked into the kitchen and this is what I saw...

Prenatal Visit - 12 Weeks

Lily and I went to the doctor today for my prenatal visit. Everything looks fine so far... We're waiting on lab results for a couple of routine tests, but nothing out of the ordinary. We decided to do the first trimester screening test today, called nuchal translucency; the test involves an ultrasound to measure the back of the baby's neck, along with a blood test. We'll have results in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime I was happy to see the baby again! I didn't have an ultrasound at this point in my pregnancy with Lily, so it was really fun to see how the baby looks - it's not just a little kidney bean anymore! I don't think Lily really knew where to look on the screen, but she was talking about seeing pictures of the baby.

I gained one pound since the last visit, so far so good. Apparently all my gorditas from Taco Bell haven't caught up with me yet. I've been feeling a little better these past few days, so I'm hoping I've rounded the morning sickness corner. Still waiting for the big burst of energy, but I'm not as sluggish and tired as I was before, so I guess that's getting better.

I go back in 4 weeks, and after that it will be either 2 or 3 weeks between visits because we'll be getting closer to when I had trouble in my pregnancy before. Although there's no way to know if I'll develop preeclampsia again, the doctors will obviously be watching me closely. No more ultrasounds until 18-20 weeks, though.

Spring Fling

We had our MOMS Club Spring Fling this morning. Lots of moms, kids, food, and Easter eggs!

Lily's serious expressions in photos have caught my attention lately... She reminds me so much of her daddy when she is like that. The serious face is not unhappy, just focused on something. Lily has so much of Dusty's personality in her. It shows more and more these days, and it's really funny having a mini Dusty at home with me all day!

Garner State Park

We took a little family vacation last weekend to Garner State Park. We've always heard great things about the Texas hill country, but we've never ventured far enough west to experience it before. Well, it really is beautiful! Although the weather was not as nice as forecasted, I am really glad we visited this park.Garner State Park is about five hours from home, which is about as far as we're willing to go for a short weekend camping trip. We left around 7am on Friday, returning around dinnertime on Sunday. Lily enjoyed camping; she liked the tent, and she loved playing in the river. We might take another short camping trip in May.Here is a slideshow of our trip. There are a few captions, so hover your mouse over the pictures to read them.