Three Days

Last Sunday I was talking to a mom at church who has a little girl in nursery with Rylee. She was telling me about this 3 day potty training method that she used and said how great it was! I kind of introduced Rylee to the idea of using the potty a few months ago, but she just never really seemed that into it, so I didn't really push it. But I decided to give this a try, and it worked! I'm so proud of Rylee, she's done so well - she only had a few accidents during the 3 days (Thursday-Saturday) and didn't have ANY accidents today - even at church! Yay for having only one kiddo in diapers!

So here's the basic gist of how it worked. On Thursday morning I took off her diaper and put on panties and talked to her about what a big girl she is. Then we went and found all of her diapers and she threw them away. (Later that night when she was talking to Quinn about it, she was so excited about being a big girl that she even took two of her binks and threw them away! She said she was going to sleep without them, but when bedtime came around she wound up wanting a bink...) Then Rylee and I were basically attached at the hip for the next three days. The idea is to never force her to sit on the toilet - "trying" to go potty is a no-no - but to help her recognize her body's signs that she needs to go. So I spent three days saying "Tell mommy when you have to go potty, OK?" and "Are your panties still dry? Yay! What a big girl!" The reason that we were attached at the hip is that I had to catch her in the act of having an accident - whenever she started to go, I picked her up and ran to the bathroom and let her finish on the potty (like I said, this only happened a few times - most of the time she told me that she had to go "potty pee!") So I tried to find activities to keep Rylee entertained that would also allow me to keep a close eye on her. We made brownies (I wound up eating about half the pan by myself before I took the rest to the neighbors so that I couldn't finish the pan!) As you can see in all of the pictures below, Rylee didn't wear pants, just a shirt and panties for the training process, which allowed me to see as soon as she started going...We also made popsicles...this served a double purpose:

1) it was an activity that Rylee enjoyed and

2) she was supposed to drink lots of liquid to give lots of teaching opportunities...she got tired of me always trying to shove drinks down her throat.

Another major part of the training is that it's cold turkey - no diapers of any kind, even at night and during naps! Rylee made it through all of her naps dry, but the first two nights she woke up wet. Anticipating this, I had bought some extra sheets. They have a really cute little birdie pattern on them, and when I put them on her mattress Friday morning, Rylee was SO excited!
She literally spent probably close to two hours that morning jumping around in her crib because she loved the sheets so much!

So now, when she goes to bed, we tell her to "keep her birdies dry." When she woke up this morning and they were dry, she was very excited and kept talking about her "dry birdies."

At some point (I think after she went #2) I taught Rylee to say "hip hip hooray!"

We spent quite a bit of time playing outside, too. Rylee loves wearing these boots lately...I must say, she looks like quite the sassafrass in her boots and panties!

She also played a lot with some plastic pots we had out back...she carried them all over and wore them as hats.

By Saturday, Rylee was pretty sick of me following her everywhere and started getting upset when I would ask her if her panties were dry or telling her to let me know if she had to go potty. Honestly I was sick of it too - it's amazing how tiring it is to pay such close attention so something for three days straight! I was pretty worn out, but it was SO worth it! I'd much rather be exhausted for three days than have her have accidents for weeks or months on end. So it's just panties from now on...yay!

Here are a few other hi-lights of the week...

I put Rylee's hair in pigtails and she looked in the mirror and said "Aya hair!" (Because Ava wears her hair in pigtails sometimes.)

I thought this picture was so sweet! These girls love each other so much!

Cailyn just keeps getting cuter and cuter...

I just love kissing those cheeks!

And here is Rylee in her favorite hiding place during tonight's round of hide and seek. She still loves it, and still hasn't figured out that you're supposed to be quite when you're the one hiding...

Four Months

So I took Cailyn in for her four month check up yesterday, and she is a GROWING GIRL!!!Cailyn Del McNamara

4 months and 16 days

Weight: 14 lbs. 15 oz. - 66%ile (jumped up from 55%ile six weeks ago)

Height: 25.5 inches - 80%ile (this is her BIG jump - she was 46%ile last time)

Head: 17.5 inches - 98%ile (yes, her noggin is still big...96%ile last time)

So now my question is, will Cailyn fit into Rylee's old clothes at the right seasons? That was one of the benefits I was counting on since their birthdays are a month aparat...but Rylee has always been small for her age, so we'll see. I guess we'll be good no matter what for the first year or so - Rylee wore 6-12 month clothes for a year, so we have all seasons in that size!

Let's Go Fly A Kite!

Today we went to my grandparents' house for a bit; I want to have a little garden this summer, so my grandpa (gardener extraordinaire) gave me some tomato and strawberry plants, as well as some seeds for green beans. I'm so excited about this - homegrown tomatoes are so yummy! Hopefully I've inherited a little bit of a green thumb...

Rylee was very excited about Grandma and Grandpa's cat, Happy, as well as the cookie that Grandma gave her - she talked about them all day!

After we left their house, we met Katie and Ava and Josh at a park so the girls could play. They had fun on the swings and slides and such for a while, and then I got out Rylee's Elmo kite that her Grandma Mac sent for her a month or two ago...with the crazy weather we've had, this was the first chance that we've had to use it. It was a huge success! Well, at least from an entertainment standpoint...there wasn't enough wind to keep it up in the sky unless you were running with it. But Rylee and Ava didn't mind! Once I showed her how, Rylee started running with the kite...
she ran...
and ran...
and ran...

and had a jolly old time!

Ava liked the kite, too, but she wasn't as keen on the running part as Rylee was...

she just stood there with her arm in the air and kind of grumbled at the kite, willing it to go up...so we held her hand and ran with her.

Rylee and Ava actually did pretty well at taking turns and sharing...

there was minimal fussing!

On the way home, we stopped by (Quinn's) Aunt Annette's house to drop some things off and were pleasantly surprised that Ila and Emma were staying with their grandma for the weekend. They were working on some art projects, so Rylee jumped right on in.

So that was our fun, busy day. We've had a good week too. We've gotten Rylee to only use her bink when she's sleeping and in the car - I thought that this process was going to be a nightmare, but it's actually turned out to be easy! I think it will still be a little while before we try to make her sleep without her precious bink, but we're moving in the right direction...

Rylee is little miss personality...

she's always making silly faces! She also is getting very good at the alphabet and counting and makes us laugh every day. The other night, Quinn and I taught her to play hide and seek...she loves it, but doesn't really get the concept of keeping her cover! When she's hiding and you look for her and say "Is Rylee in the bathroom?" she yells "no!" or "yes!" to let you know where she is! Funny girl. She also has a new favorite movie this week - Monsters Inc.

Cailyn is growing, growing! I realized this week that she is almost 5 months old, which means that she is almost half way to her first birthday! What!?! I really don't know where time goes.

She has found her voice and frequently goes for 15 or 20 minute periods where she just squawks at the top of her lungs! She is also starting to recognize the people (and animal) around her - she smiles really big when she sees Rylee (especially first thing in the morning) and spends a lot of time staring at Mo and laughing at him.

This is her sporting her new "Baby Legs" that the Easter Bunny brought her - I love them because it makes it really easy to change her diaper!

And here she is showing off her drooling ability...I think she is teething.

Mo got some camera time this week when he started playing with Rylee's purple purse and got it wrapped around his body. He was running all over with it!

And Ava came over to play last night while Katie and Josh went out. Cousin time is always so much fun!

Rylee and Ava kept playing Peek-a-Boo while I was taking these pictures...their hands are up because they just uncovered their eyes!

And, of course, Rylee had to make silly faces for the camera...

Easter Weekend

What a wonderful weekend we've had! Busy, but wonderful...get ready for a LOT of pictures!

On Friday, I got some flowers to put in the pots in front of our house. Some of the little neighbor girls were out while Rylee and I were planting the flowers, so they came to help.

After the job was done, the girls enjoyed a nice snack of Sun Chips and Peeps on our front porch - just the nourishment every girl needs! Rylee was really funny; she kept saying "Come on, guys!" and trying to get the big girls to follow her around.Later that night Quinn zipped Rylee up in his hoodie and she thought it was hilarious!
We had a fun Easter party on Saturday evening, so we spent most of the day getting ready for it. The first task was to make the bunny cake (it's not Easter in my book without one of these...) Rylee was happy to help...or maybe she was just happy to eat the frosting...but she was happy either way.
By the time we finished the cake, Rylee was ready for her second bath of the day (o:

Later that afternoon after a bath and a nap, Rylee ran around our backyard hunting eggs with all the other kids. Her basket was about half as tall as she was, so it was pretty funny to watch her trying to lug it around.

The egg hunters: McKenna, Ari, Katie, Ava, Priya, Rylee and Lauren

Checking out her loot...

All the kiddos; Ari, Ava, Priya, Lauren, McKenna, Brooke, Katie, Rylee, Cailyn, and Cohen

Baby Bunnies! Cailyn and Brooke

This morning Rylee was very excited when I told her that the Easter Bunny had come last night. She started saying "Presents! Presents!" When she looked down the stairs and saw the Easter baskets at the bottom she said "Look!" very enthusiastically.

Rylee with her "presents" from the Easter Bunny.

This time, Rylee didn't bother carrying her basket around with her; instead, she ran around grabbing one or two things at a time and then running back to put them in her basket.

Cailyn and Rylee with their Easter baskets.

The Easter Bunny brought Cailyn a Hungry Caterpillar and an Elephant...they are meant for strapping onto a carseat, but they work great around her wrists as well!

On a sugar high...

After church we did the photo shoots, first with the sisters, and later with Ava. (This is proving to be an increasingly more difficult task to accomplish as Rylee and Ava get older and more stubborn...)

Rylee loves smelling the flowers! She sort of pants like a dog through her nose...

Rylee kept trying to pick the neighbors' flowers, so finally I found a dandelion for her to hold. She kept smelling it...

...then she had Ava smell it...

...and finally Cailyn!

Cailyn was by far the most cooperative subject for our pictures!

We had a yummy roast for dinner and left over bunny cake for dessert and good company - Grandma Clawson came down from Salt Lake and my sister Emily came up from Provo. Oh, yeah, and Katie, Josh and Ava came too...but they kind of just seem like part of the household (o:

After Grandma and Emily left, Rylee and Ava colored eggs...

As you can see, they were pretty intrigued by the bright colors! They had even more fun eating them (although I didn't catch any pictures). Rylee probably ate 3 or 4 eggs! After the first two, we caught her trying to peel her own egg...she peeled off almost all of the white along with the shell!

I am very grateful for Easter and the chance it gives me to reflect upon the atonement. I am grateful for good friends and family and the blessings that allow us to gather together with them and create good memories. And I am grateful for two sweet daughters that love each other and bring so much happiness into our family.