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Monday, March 23, 2015

Calgary trip 03.14.15

So there is a blogger app that I totally didn't know about. Which is kind of dumb because there is an app for everything, so I should have known lol! This will make blogging so much easier!!! Last weekend we took the girls up to Calgary for the day. We didn't really have much money to spend because Andrew is in school currently and we are living off EI... Good thing I still have two more weeks of maternity leave or we would really be hooped haha. Anyways, we got up to calgary and stopped at south centre mall because they have the best disney store in Calgary. Andrew wanted to go to the disney store before eating, which for the life of me I don't understand. He hates being in crowded stores and food is always his number one priority. Anyways, the girls had a disney gift card to use and so we let Scarlette pick something. She wanted the $110 Elsa dress but she already has one from toys'r'us and I was not paying that much for a dress! She is really funny because she kept picking up toys she already has, probably because she recognizes them from home. The store was getting super crowded so we just needed to get out of there so we picked up these plush dolls. She already has a few at home and really likes them so we assumed she would also like these. 

 
We had some lunch and then headed to the bass pro mall. I know it has a name but we call it the bass pro mall. Andrew found some new dress pants that were on sale and Scarlette was so cute hiding in the racks! I totally use to do that as a child. 

Scarlette really loves fish so we took her to the big fish tank and she was in awe. There was some pretty big catfish in there as well, so those scared her just a tad when they came up to the glass lol. 


 
Anyways, I grabbed some pj's from Carter's, the deals were not that great this trip and we got our traditional crepes on the way out. Scarlette even tried to eat some gum from under the table... Puke in my mouth. I really am going to win the mommy of the year award. 





Saturday, March 21, 2015

March Mayhem!!

I feel like my life is always in "go go go" mode! I do sit down and relax but it is usually at 11pm and I fall asleep watching a show on netflix, unless it is a really good show...then I may be up a tad later than that! This week has been an especially busy week, on Monday my mom came by for a visit, bringing my closet with her. You see, I haven't exactly moved all the way out since getting married, and man can I pack a closet full of stuff!!! I had a whole garbage bag full of clothes to donate, many bins full of memories and my beautiful grad dress! I was sifting through things, deciding what to keep and what was ready to be trashed. I seriously wish I had the space to keep everything, but I had to do some major sorting and saying goodbye to things. I found tons of old projects I had done, I think I kept them because of all the time they took me, but I was able to finally let go haha. I also found a bunch of old notes that my friends and I had passed to each other. Hilarious. Those had to be kept. I almost messaged a ton of people with notes we had sent to one another. Anyways, it took me all week, whenever I had a spare moment, to sort through my closet. It is now packed away in two little totes, under the stairs. I think the best things that I found were the journals I had to keep in english class, and all the essays I wrote. I was such a wise girl for 15 years old. How have I digressed so much? It was awesome looking through all of my old stuff. One journal in particular was wrote exactly 10 years ago. So of course I had to see what I was up to exactly 10 years ago in March. I seriously wished Andrew wasn't asleep on the couch or else I would have loved to share some of this stuff with him.

On Tuesday we did our baking for the week, made a few different types of muffins. The girls played in the living room with all my old toys. So cute. Scarlette especially loves the pound puppies and mini cabbage patch dolls. We did laundry and cleaned up. How do people have a family of more then four and manage to get all the laundry done! yikes.

On Wednesday my Grandma and Aunt Bonnie (Grandma's sister) came over. They wanted to see the girls and bring over some goodies. Aunt Bonnie brought Scarlette a colouring book and Grandma brought over Lexi's birthday gift (a white dresser). The two of them think they are unstoppable and tried to carry this super heavy box with the dresser in. Needless to say, my grandma was the one walking backwards, and tripped into my house. She gave me a minor heart attack but of course was laughing hysterically at herself. Crazy lady. After they left, Andrew got home and we all went grocery shopping together. Usually I just go with the girls but Andrew is in school for a few weeks and gets home a bit earlier then normal. It is nice being able to spend a bit more time with him! After putting the groceries away, I decided to build this dresser on my own. A LOT of the pieces were mis labeled....ugh so frustrating. Eventually, I had to call Andrew for help. He finished it off for me and we were able to move it into Lexi's room right before bed time.

On Thursday, we potty trained, which was totally unexpected. About 6 weeks ago I decided that it was time for Scarlette to be potty trained. It totally could have been done sooner with how well she is doing with her speaking but things ALWAYS come up with me. I have a hard time prioritizing. There is always cheques to be written, bookkeeping to be done, photos that need my attention and the endless circle of house duties!! So anyways, back to 6 weeks ago, I told myself that this was the last box of diapers I would buy for Scarlette. I picked up the $20 pack of kinder surprise eggs (definitely the way to Scarlette's heart) at costco and was on my way! So on Thursday morning I went to change Scarlette's diaper and there were only 2 diapers left in the package!!! Dang it! So off went Scarlette's diaper and I told her that today she was a big girl. No more diapers. Only diapers for Lexi now. Let me tell you something about Scarlette, she is a BIG drinker. She hardly eats anything that isn't macaroni and cheese. So I knew we had a lot of accidents and practicing to do. Halfway through the morning I could tell she really needed to pee. I kept putting her on the potty (a small one on the floor) and she kept trying to push like she does when going poo. I tried to explain that she needed to relax. Anyways, she would NOT go. She then asked for some Macaroni for lunch. I made the macaroni and put her up to the table. I was getting frustrated by this point because she had gone 3 hours on and off the potty every 5 minutes with no results. I remembered that my sister-in-law had put my niece in a cold shower when she had an accident and that REALLY helped quicken the process. I left Scarlette eating her macaroni to tend to Lexi and not even 30 seconds later I could hear pee hitting the chair. So I grabbed her hand and told her that she had to have a shower now because she got pee all over herself. I turned the shower on, thinking it was going to be a cold shower BUT she was totally beside herself so I kept it warm and she was still scared to death to go in ( which is weird because I used to take her in the shower with me ALL the time). She cried for the whole 20 seconds she was in there and I washed her up and had her spick and span in no time! I cleaned off the chair, explained that she would have to have a shower if she had another accident and that was that. About an hour later she ran over to me and said she had to pee, I got up pretty fast, which must have scared her because she bolted over to that potty and sat down. I sat next to her and told her she just needed to relax. She stopped pushing, relaxed and WA-LA! PEE ON THE POTTY! I don't think I have been happier in my life. The handful of times she had peed on the potty previously were totally fluke! This time she actually realized she could do it and was so proud of herself! She got her first chocolate egg and was on cloud 9. She drank 1.5 L of apple juice that day, which I pair with half a cup of water. Which means, she drank about 3 L of liquid haha. She was peeing every 45 minutes, I kid you not, I have never sat by a toilet that long in my life lol. Poor Lexi didn't get a bath or much attention that day (however, I did ensure she was well fed hah!). That night we put a pull-up on her, and explained that it wasn't a diaper but night-time panties. She totally thinks it is a diaper.

On Friday the potty training continued. She was very consistent all day but I decided to limit her fluid intake so I could get a few things done. My mom and brother came over in the afternoon to bring her a Frozen chair and tell her how proud they were of her! She was over the moon, she even peed for them and was shouting "I did it! I peed on the potty". Later that evening she was super wore out so we put a pull-up on her so she could take a nap. She never naps. This potty training is serious business.

Today I ALMOST woke up in time for her to pee on the potty. By the time I got my lazy butt out of bed she had already gone in her pull-up, but it wasn't very much and super warm, so I knew it was fresh lol. The rest of the morning she peed on the potty so we told her we would take her to Cinderella for her big treat. She was so excited to go, and had been talking about it all week. I showed her the trailer and explained it wasn't a cartoon but she still asked to go. The beginning was a little slow for her but once the magic started happening she was glued. Near the end of the movie she was super antsy so I knew she probably had to pee. We left about 5 minutes before the movie ended and she peed in one of the theatre potties. She was VERY hesitant, but she really had to go. I had actually put her panties underneath the pull-up so she would feel wet if she had an accident, instead of the pull up absorbing all the pee. We then took her to toys'r'us to pick out some more big girl underwear. I picked up an "on the go" potty seat and we were set! We picked up Lexi from my moms and headed home. I went out with my friends/old roommates for supper, it was awesome! I love that I still have those girls in my life. I don't think they know how much they meant to me when life was super tough a few years back! When I got home Scarlette was telling me how many times she peed while I was gone...I don't know how much longer she will be getting a chocolate egg. We only give her one when she remembers to ask for it but we are running low!

Anyways, this was a super long post, which is usually the case because I don't blog very often. As I was looking through my old journals I had SO much inspiration to blog more. It is actually such a great thing to look back on. I know my kids will love reading my blog one day and figuring out when they did things. So here's to Scarlette on March 19th 2015 we started potty training you and it was a success!