Kayla is now almost potty trained!!!!

I am so proud of Kayla!!! I have tried many times over the past year or so to try to get her potty trained and never with any success. So about 2 weeks ago I decided that since we didn't have anything like vacation or anything big coming up I would try again. I talked to her about it and figured out that she was interested in putting the seat on the toilet and using that instead of the potty. So we talked about it over and over and I told her that big girls use the potty and little girls go in their diapers (she has this thing about her being a big girl and NOT and little girl!!!). So Sunday morning last week I thought I would try. I put the seat on the toilet and she sat on it but didn't go (a huge step forward compared to never wanting to sit on the potty before). Jeff was gone to the fire college so we didn't go to church that morning. So a little later she came running up to me and said "mommy, I almost peed in my diaper!" So I thought we would go on the potty. She had said that to me before but she had already gone in her diaper so I thought I'll just put her on the potty just to see. And she went!!! A lot!!!! She was so proud of herself to hear the pee going in the toilet!!!! We had a chart on the wall and she put a sticker on it and was proud of it!! All day, she would come running up to me and say the same thing "mommy I almost peed!" She didn't have one accident in her pull up all day!! It's now a week later and she is still doing awesome! Her diaper is completely dry at the end of the day and she can do it all on her own! She goes in the bathroom, does her thing, pulls up shorts, washes her hands and puts a sticker on her chart! It's so cute!!!! She hasn't quite mastered the pooping yet (Sorry if it's TMI!) so I'm going to wait until that happens before I put underwear on her. But I have a feeling it won't be too much longer! I asked her before we started potty training what she wanted as a treat when she was all done and wearing big girl underwear and she decided that she wanted a Belle tea set that another little girl she knows has. So when we were at Wal-Mart the other day, there were only 3 left so I thought I would buy it but she knows that she doesn't get it yet, it's an incentive for her to keep going!!! It's sitting on our counter right there for her to see!!! She is so proud of herself and tells everyone we see that she goes on the potty!!! Now, the goal is to get Jules trained to before the baby comes!!! I think it will be easier to do her cause she sees Kayla doing it and is already jealous of Kayla when she goes in the bathroom and shuts the door! I'll give her a couple of months and try!!!!

Here's a pic of Kayla with her chart (as you can see, she didn't put the stickers on the right days, just all over the place!!!) Look at that proud face!!!!

Get those olives away from me!

Ok, so this is how I feel and I have felt for the past few days. In the beginning I wasn't nauseous at all and I thought "great, this is going to be like my other pregnancies" but then all of a sudden it turned on me. Now, basically all day long I am on the verge of puking, although I haven't yet, but it sucks to feel this way. If I turn my head too fast, I feel the room spinning. If I smell something that doesn't agree with me, I can feel the swirling of my tummy. The other day I was having some soup for lunch and Jeff came over to kiss me good bye before he went back to work and I nearly gagged! He had mint gum in his mouth and the mixture of mint with vegetable soup really did not go over well for me!! (sorry babe, it's not you!) And then the other morning I was getting groceries and I walked by the stand they have olives and stuff like that, oh man, I couldn't get away from it fast enough!!! If I would have spent 1 more second by it, they would have had to call someone for a clean up in aisle 3!!!! LOL!!! I really hope it gets better. Although this could be a good sign, I wasn't like this with the girls, so maybe this means it's a boy????

It's not just the nausea that's bad either, I've really been feeling so dizzy lately. I have low blood pressure to begin with and when I get pregnant it gets worse for me. I remember when I was pregnant with Kayla and we would be in church and I couldn't stand up to worship for more than a minute or so cause I would feel all hot and sweaty and the room would start spinning. Right now I feel so useless cause with the nausea and the dizziness I can hardly do anything. The house is certainly suffering, and the laundry too -- I've had the same load of Jeff's work uniforms in the dryer for 3 days now, every morning he goes down there to get dressed! This baby is really taking a lot from me.

I forgot to post the other day about Juliana's hives. I think it's a reaction to either strawberries or raspberries, but I'm not 100% sure what it is. On Wednesday last week she started getting small hives. Then the next day there were more. On Saturday they were basically covering more than half of her body and even on her face. Her face was swollen because of them, she looked like a sumo baby (I wish I would have taken a picture but I forgot). Sunday morning they were even worse, really red and very raised. I was freaking out cause I didn't want them to be affecting her breathing. Luckily it was all superficial. I started giving her Benadryl on Thursday but it didn't seem to be working, it almost seemed like it was making them worse. So I talked to Mary (Bob's mom, the nurse) and she said to try liquid Gravol cause it has an antihistamine in it, like Benadryl, I was worried she was reacting to it instead of it helping her. So I gave her some on Sunday night and Monday morning they seemed to be getting smaller. I also left the air on Sunday night (I usually turn it off at night if it's cool enough) to keep her cooler and just in case it was something coming from outside that was bugging her and let her run around in just her diaper to keep her cooler too. Tuesday morning, they were almost all gone and today there were only a couple on her legs left. I am so thankful they are almost gone, I felt so bad for her. Luckily she wasn't affected by them, she still ran around and played and was really happy. I will remember to never give her raspberries again!!! Here's a picture of what she's looked like the last few days, almost naked!!! And I started putting pony tails in her hair. Too cute!!!

Guess What???

Well, it looks like I'm not having surgery for my gall bladder (I need to get it removed, I was having really bad stomach aches) because...
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I took a test on Friday the 13th, and it was positive! As of right now, my due date is March 21st, 2008. I am still in shock, big time! We had been trying for a couple of months and didn't expect to get pregnant so quickly. I'm really sorry I've been neglecting my blog lately, but I've just been busy. I only found out that I needed my gall bladder out 2 days before I got a positive test. Otherwise we would have put trying on hold. And it's kinda funny cause this was the only time in my life that I've wanted a negative and low and behold it wasn't! So I think I am crazy, I will have 3 kids under the age of 3 for about a month cause Juliana will turn 2 on March 10th, this one will be born around the 21st and then Kayla will turn 4 on April 27th!!! It's going to be a crazy house around here!!!

So I'm almost 6 weeks pregnant (I will be on Friday) and the baby is really small right now, only about 1/4 inch and it's little heart starting beating this week! I still can't believe that I am pregnant. I haven't really had too many symptoms yet other than I'm really tired, I actually fall asleep almost every afternoon! And I have been a little nauseous here and there and light headed but other than that I've been feeling great. So, I just wanted to share this wonderful news with all of you wonderful people who read my blog.

I'm back!!!

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted!!! We just got back on Saturday from a 2 week vacation up near Huntsville. We went to a cottage resort called Dayspring. We rented a cottage with Jeff's parents the first week and Bob and Mary the second week. The drive up was pretty long, we left our house at 6:30am, stopped 2 times and got to the cottage at 4:00pm. The girls were really good for the whole trip, I made sure to bring lots of cookies and lots of DVD's to keep them entertained. The drive home wasn't quite as long, we left the cottage at 10:15am and got home around 7:00pm. The weather was pretty good, it only rained a couple of days and it wasn't too hot except for a couple of days. We did lots of fishing, boating, playing in the sand and relaxing! We went shopping to Huntsville a couple of times and took a day trip to Dorset. It was really nice to be up there for 2 weeks. When we got home, it felt like I was walking around someone else's house cause I got so used to living in the cottage! It was nice to get home to our house though. I really missed my own shower!!! Alright, time for the pictures!!! I'm sorry there are so many, it was really hard to choose! We took over 500 pictures so these are only a few!!

Jeff with his Father's Day present,
a stepping stone that we made for him!

Me (before my nice tan!), Juliana & Kayla on the beach.
There was a canopy over part of it so it was nice for the kids.

The girls playing in the sand.
Jeff doing some much need relaxing!
Me, Juliana & Kayla in the boat.

Juliana helping Grammy do the dishes!
She stayed up on the chair for the whole time!!
Juliana & Kayla at the base of the Dorset Fire Tower

Looking up at the tower.
Kayla, Me, Juliana & Grammy on our way up the tower.
Me, Juliana & Kayla at the top of the tower
(as you can see by our faces, very windy 100ft up!)

Kayla & Juliana at the top of the tower!
Me, Kayla, Jeff & Juliana at the top of the tower.
So in love!!!
The view from the top of the tower.
The town of Dorset (about 15-20 minutes outside of Algonquin Park)
On the look out at the tower, Peek-A-Boo Rock. What a view!
My two little angels!!!
Me and my girls walking back to the van.
Kayla painting some "sunny catchers" (that's what
she called them!) that we bought in Dorset.
Juliana in her life jacket on a cruise down the Magnetawan River.
Kayla waving!
Jeff driving the boat.
Jeff with his fish that he caught (2.9lb pike, hopefully the trophy winner!)

Playing at the park near our cottage. Nice view too!!
Kayla swinging!
Juliana, Jeff, Kayla & Papa blowing bubbles.
(Sorry there was a fingerprint on the lens,
so it's kinda blurry!)

The owners of the resort had a beautiful dog named Bailey.
He didn't care when Juliana was playing with his
ears or poking him. He just layed there!
Kayla & Juliana with Grampa Bob.

Kayla and I fishing!
The girls in their bathing suits!! Too cute!!!
Juliana walking in the water at the beach.
Kayla was a brave little girl and jumped off the dock into my arms!
It was really fun!
Kayla and Jeff building a sand castle. They were putting a pool in!
Gramma Mary pushing Juliana on the swing.

Kayla on a stump at the Lion's Lookout in Huntsville, Ontario.
The family at the Lion's Lookout.
Kayla, Grandpa Bob & Jules at the look out.

So cute! My girls sitting on a rock behind our cottage.
Me doing what I love best! Reading in the sun
while watching the girls play in the sand!
Kayla and Jeff fishing together.
Kayla with one of the fish she caught.
Kayla talking to her friend Dragon
(if you've ever seen the show Miss Spider's Sunny Patch,
you'll know who I mean!)
Kayla standing up and driving the boat!!
She loved to do this and she would always sing her abc's while driving.
Kayla and "Grampa Bob" leaning over the deck.
Our room in the cottage while we were packing up.
It was surprisingly big, lots of room to move around.
This is the girls room. I put the play pen up for Jules,
there was just enough room for it!
The kitchen in the cottage. The little hallway
to the left is where our room is.
The living room in the cottage. The right door was where the girls slept.Another picture of the living room.

The view from our bedroom window. Not bad!
The tree was kinda in the way but not too badly.
We stopped at a Wendy's in Barrie and had lunch on the way home.
A fun little picnic to end the wonderful vacation!

Another picture of the picnic.