Bye-bye Diapers!

We did it!!! Kara is now a potty-sitting, panty-wearing, diaper-snubbing, I'm a big girl kid!

We are on day 4 of potty training, and it has gone better than I could have ever hoped. She still has 1-2 minor accidents a day, but she is great about letting us know when she has to go. Her two warning phrases are "Peepee is coming!" and "Oh no, don't come out peepee!" I'm really, really proud of her.

Even better, there was no form of bribery needed, just a little modeling. Every 30 minutes everyone in the house wearing panties would run to the potty. She got to choose who would try first. Luckily I have a pregnancy bladder, so I pretty much had to go every time.

The only down side is that this has become her new excuse for getting out of bed. Apparently she has to use the bathroom several times before she can go to sleep. Now we give her one assisted freebie, but if she comes out more times she has to do it herself...in the dark (she can't reach the light switch). This has limited, but not eliminated, the little girl crying wolf syndrome.

I must say, I was absolutely terrified of potty training. I knew she was more than ready, but I was so afraid that it would fail. I didn't want both of us to be frustrated and to have bodily excrement all over the house. But it was great! I'm relieved. Pun intended.

Here is a video of Kara's victory dance:

Stay in bed, please!

This move has affected Kara a bit more than we thought it would in terms of sleeping. She usually acclimates into our lifestyle routines and schedules without much trouble, but she has struggled to follow a routine since we moved in. This whole sneaking out of her room issue during naps and bedtime has become tiresome.

Every few days she comes up with a new reason why she can't stay in her room. At first it was to see the grandmas who were helping us with the move. Of course the grandmas were happy to oblige her request, but they had to go home.

So her next reason was that she just wanted the door a "little open". Um, duh, could we give her any more temptation to come out of the room? Maybe if we stuck a plate of cookies out there too. Obviously, that was a bad idea.

Next, she was afraid of the dark. We spent several days trying to convince her that the room was actually pretty well lit, but as most parents know there is no point in trying to use logic with a two-year-old. So we ultimately resorted to a night light that projects a princess castle scene on her ceiling. She loves it and has named the castle Winglassa, the fairy princess Dancing, and the pegasus Rhondo. I don't know where she came up with any of that. But now she is over her fear of the dark because she can't see her castle if the lights are on.

Our newest strategy is sitting outside her door for half an hour after she goes to bed. Each time she opens the door, I quietly take her hand and lead her back to bed. No talking, no disciplining. I probably did this 12 times the first night, but tonight I only had to do it once! Virtual high fives all around!

Oh I hope tonight wasn't a fluke. I desperately want my super sleeper back again.

Back to business

Ahhh, now that our good friend, the Internet, has been connected at the new house, we can make an update.

Yes, we made it to Ft Worth! Our new house is incredible and so is the neighborhood. We have met more neighbors in the past week than we did at our old neighborhood in 4 years. Everyone is so friendly, including the service people who came to connect the utilities. Even our dogs liked them. Weird. We're hoping to start making friends, find a new church home, transfer all of our medical services, finish unpacking, and begin feeling comfortable in the next month (or so).

This has been a big transition for us, but it seems that everyone is quickly growing accustomed to our new life. Kara's only problem is her new room. She says that she is afraid at night, and she comes downstairs often when she should be sleeping. Lee has noticed that her behavior seems to be more attention-seeking rather than fear based, so hopefully the best way to cure this problem is to ignore it. Otherwise, she has been doing really well. She loves running around the neighborhood, and each day she wants to go find kids at the playground.

Lee has been changing his habits so he can wake up earlier for work. Who would have guessed that Ft Worth traffic would be worse than Houston? But what do you expect from a major highway that is only 2 lanes? The new job has been good...similar to the old job but a new environment with more responsibility. Working in downtown Ft Worth is pretty cool as well.

I am still trying to get our new house in order. There is a lot of unpacking and organizing to do. There are actually some ladies at Container Store that recognize me now.

The baby is doing well. Growing, kicking. Strangers are no longer hesitant to ask my due date because it is pretty obvious that I'm pregnant. Hopefully, we'll come up with a name for this little girl soon. That is something that we have given very little thought to and would like to have picked out in the next couple of weeks. It's fun to start personalizing the baby.

More updates to come.

A Two Year Old

Miss Kara had her second birthday two weeks ago! We've been delinquent in blogging due to other life circumstance craziness, but this has also given me time to collect my thoughts on her new stage.

The good and the bad of it all seems to be summarized in one word...independence. It's just different sides of the same coin. Some of it makes me so proud, other times I need to go to my room and have a time out before I can deal with the issue.

We'll start with the bad side of this independence because that is what most people associate with a two year old. Last year there was a lot of focus on the word "disobedience". Big word, but Kara is very familiar with it. Well, we have noticed lately that her disobedience has morphed from something that was completely self-centered (I just want to get my own way) to something that is a bit insolent (you won't get your way). She will very confidently do the opposite of what we've asked, even if we give her options, and it is sort of a slap in the face. I can't tell you how much I need to check my own pride in these moments. We have a feeling the word for this year will be "disrespect". We even made up a nursery rhyme for her...

"Kary, Kary quite contrary,
Show me how you disobey,
By saying no, by ignoring mommy,
Or simply by running away."

This is pretty much the extent of the bad. Lee and I have just found ourselves in a place of needing to be more intentional, more humble, and more gracious than ever.

Now for the good of independence! Woohoo! Her most used phrases are "I do it," and "On my own". Some things are really helpful, others are just cute. Here are some things that I love...
She gets in the car seat by herself
She picks out her clothes in the morning (not always what I would pick, but it gives us all a good laugh)
She eats by herself
She tries to make her own food
She attempts to put on and take off her clothes
She tries to order her drinks and food at restaurants (she'll always let the waiter know when she needs a refill)
She wants to be potty trained (we'll start this in Ft. Worth)
She wants to sleep in big beds, eat big food, and do big people things
She is excited about doing chores as long as it's her idea
She helps take care of the dogs by feeding them and picking up after them (yeah, I know)
And there are probably other things I'm forgetting.

In summary, she is TWO!

Tonight I apologized...to my dog

I'll go ahead and admit that the stress of moving, being pregnant, and not letting Kara's second birthday go by without celebration has started to manifest itself outwardly. For the past weeks we have been eating and breathing home improvements, realtors, appraisers, contracts, negotiations and the like. Kara and the dogs have sort of had to fend for themselves. But today, after having 3 minor breakdowns over retarded setbacks and inconveniences, Lee sent me out to have an evening at Starbucks with my Bible. It was my first quiet time in weeks (go figure), and I was convicted by the lack of grace and mercy I'd been displaying...especially to our dog Kermit.

Lately, he has had a knack for ruining my projects and being destructive. We'll just say it's obvious and very frustrating when a black dog gets in white paint...more than once. Anyways, poor Kermit has become my scapegoat over the past few days. I've found I have no patience, no tolerance for his mistakes and disobedience. I've raised my voice at him, I've scolded him, I've stared him down. I've told Lee several times we're getting rid of him. Unfortunately, he's the type of dog who acts worse when punished.

So tonight we needed to reconcile. I apologized to a dog. Apparently he was also ready to restore our relationship. He ran over to me and buried his head in my lap. Then he rolled over to his side and ever so slightly lifted his paw, just to see if I wanted to rub his belly. Definitely milking the situation.

More Big News

(This is a re-post. We had to take it down after originally posting because Lee's transfer had not been officially announced to his group at Exxon. So, a heads up to those reading it for a second time; it's still the same information.)

We Fithians will soon be able to call ourselves....Ft Worthians? Ft Worthites? Metroplexicans? I don't know what they call themselves up there, but we'll be one of them.

ExxonMobil has transferred Lee to Ft Worth, and we have about 1-2 months to get ready for a move. So exciting! 2012 is going to be a year of big changes for us...the biggest one is that I will probably have to become organized to keep everything straight.

We're really going to miss everything we have here in Spring; especially grandmas within 40 minute drives and friendships that we have developed over the past 5 years. Well, there are also things we won't miss, like our next door neighbor's dog. But that situation really could be worse than it is.

So, we're looking forward to something new. Good times.

Good effort, poor execution

So, I'm sitting in my closet putting on shoes when Kara runs in and tells me she has to go potty. Mind you, we still haven't started potty training. So, I tell her thank you for telling me, and she runs off and I hear a splash.

I jump up, and find her fully clothed with her bottom in the toilet, hanging on to the rim with all she's got.

She seemed uncomfortable, but not terribly distressed. So I ran and got the camera.