Potty Training

Dear Abigail,

On Thursday, it began... Potty Training that is. Mommy has been very excited about 'training you to potty' because you were SO ready. I won't get into the details, but based on the books/article/people's thoughts, every sign lead back to training. So, I finally found a Thursday - Sunday where we had nothing planned. That, my darling, was the first hard part of the whole training deal! So, we talked and talked and talked about what goes where and how no more diapers for Abby and how we get stickers when we put stuff in certain places and how baby does it and all that - all leading up to Thursday. Well, Thursday came, and it began. You started off strong, and by strong, I mean that after one time of not making it to the potty, you made it the next couple of times. But then, you figured out how to avoid it all together, by just holding it. And so you did - for hours. and hours. and days. It was crazy. You have more will power than your momma, and clearly you get your stubbornness from me, too! At one point, it had been 6 and 1/2 hours since anything happened, and that's with you drinking LOTS of liquids. You fight and fight and fight and do quite the funny dance, but it still makes Mommy sad because I know it's hurting you. Sometimes you make it - sometimes you don't, but you always know you should have. Ugh... this was supposed to go better than this. The good news is you indeed know what's going on, and what should go where, and that you should be doing it, but you just don't want to, so you just wait and wait and wait until you have no other choice... Oh, how I hope your school has better luck this week. The whole week/weekend was kind of a blur, as we really did sit at home the entire time (okay, fine, I ran out to get dinner on Friday night), but that was still 45 hours of me and you sitting in the house, not even going outside! That's a first - I'm not even sure we did that when you were a brand new baby! At one point, I was about to lose my mind so I scrummaged through the kitchen to see what we could bake, and guess what came to me... Doo-doo cookies! Yes, I know that sounds ridiculously disgusting, but, seriously, that is what we call these cookies, which by the way, are Mommy's absolute all time fave cookie. So, we baked (or actually, we didn't really 'bake' as these are officially called "No Bake Cookies", but nonetheless, we baked...)

Here's you posing, and at the same time trying to sneak some of the oats...

You helped pour the cocoa in the pot, and even helped stir it...

And of course you were very pleased with the outcome...

And even tried sneaking a bite before it cooled off!

Believe it or not, you did actually eat a bite or two of these (member, you still take after your daddy and aren't a huge fan of sweets) and you constantly kept saying "More cho-KA-la please" - which is "more chocolate please" in Abby language!! I think you just liked saying that word though...

Well, boog, it was a LONG LONG weekend, and I think we're all worn out from this whole learning process. I can't say that you are officially 'trained' but you know you are big girl and you know what big girls are supposed to do. Let's hope Miss Brittney and Miss Sabrina help Mommy out a little bit... PLEASE!

Keep trying, baby girl, or should I say Big Girl!!!! It will all work out...

The Fair

Dear Abigail,

Let me start off by saying Mommy HEARTS the fair - every part of it. I always have, and I'm pretty sure I always will. I have some of my favorite memories with some of my favorite people at the fair, and, again, I'm positive this will continue for years and years to come. When Mommy was in school, the fair was so special that my school let us have an actual day off to go - and it was even called "Fair Day!!!" I'm not sure they do that anymore, and when I got to high school they definitely didn't allow it, but that sure didn't stop us from going! Don't tell anyone, but a big group of us skipped school and headed to the Mid South Fair, a couple times - now, let me say a couple things - 1) Mimi knew about it and 2) it was always during Homecoming week, where we weren't doing much anyway - SO, we weren't that bad!! Anyway, as I said I l-o-v-e the fair. The food, the rides, the games - all of it. So, when I heard the Williamson County Fair was in town, and then heard it was just down the street from us, well, we HAD to go. I knew it would be a little different, as the "Mid South" is a little bit bigger than Williamson County, but I was still excited. So, on Sunday, to the Fair we headed!

We knew it was going to be hot, as it's August, it's in the middle of the day on Sunday and it's the fair, so it was no surprise we were all soaking with sweat, but what was a surprise was that I couldn't even think about eating the fair food! I know, right! Well, the first ride we got, which I had never seen at the MSF was a golf cart took us from our parking spot right up to the entrance! Yeah for Williamson County - oh, and it was free parking, another first!!!!

Once we got in, we headed straight for the Little One's Farm, because we had heard good things about it. But, Mommy was keeping her eyes on those big thrill rides - I wanted to ride them sooo bad, but decided this day was about you, not Mommy reliving her youth!!!

You absolutely loved the Little One's Farm. See, you got to be a farmer, where you started off by getting some corn, then feeding chickens, and, well, how about I just let the pictures tell the story...

So here's you getting the corn...

And then you fed the chickens...
And then you had to pick your apples from the orchid...

Then, of course, you had to shear the sheep, which you really enjoyed...

And then you had to plant some of those corn seeds, and then pick your other veggies from the garden...

Then it was time to feed your cow!

And then milk the cow!!!!

Finally, you headed to the farmers market to sell your eggs and veggies and milk...

And then you earned enough money to buy something in the store, where you bought an apple, of course!

After you farmed it up, we headed inside (YES, air conditioner) to see Mr. Zipperman the Conductor, or something like that. I can't remember his name at all actually, but I think it sounds kind of like that. And, he was a train conductor for sure. Anyway, he sang songs and everyone danced along. You danced a little, but you were more interested in just running around. Every now and then you'd do the dance moves Mr. Zipperman was singing about, but for the most part, we just enjoyed the cool air!

After the show, we ventured back outdoors to play a few games and maybe ride a few rides! You played your first game where you got to pick a duck out of the pond and depending on the number on the bottom of the duck, that's what prize you got. So, you studied the ducks hard, kept pointing saying "This one" and I'd say "you want this one?" and you'd shake your head and say "This one!" and point at another. This continued multiple times but finally you picked one and you won a cow!!! You were so proud of your cow and carried it for the rest of the day.

Next we headed for the rides!!! It took us awhile to actually find a ride that you were tall enough for but finally we found the bear ride... When you saw it, you were so excited about riding it. I was a little hesitant but decided not to judge the ride based on the operator, if you know what I mean. So off you ran to get on! You tried to climb right up in there all by yourself and after a little assistant, you were ready. But then the ride started, and, well, you weren't too happy. Thankfully you were the only one on the ride, so the operator was nice enough to stop it immediately and let you off - and, he even tried to give us the tickets back but we told him nah, keep them. Nice guy - don't judge a book by it's cover Abs. Anyway... here you are riding around the honey jar, or whatever it is...

And then here's you as you came back around, not too happy...

Pretty much after this we decided to wrap up the fair. I see many more fair trips coming our way though, just got to get you into those thrill rides!!!! Love you puddin'.

Weekend fun

Dear Abigail,

Daddy says pretty much every time you leave school, you say "Mimi's house?", and anytime I ask you "Where do you want to go?" you always say "Mimi's house!". Finally, Mimi made it for a visit. It seems like it's been a really long time, but it's probably only been a month or so - but, heck, for Mimi, that's a really long time! Anyway - so Mimi came up and brought Pic-pic and Em with this time!!! You were so excited that we had to start walking down the street looking for Mimi. We made it all the way to the pool when finally I spotted Pic-pic's truck - thank goodness because have I mentioned the heat lately???!!!!

Just as soon as they got settled in and we showed Em and Pic-pic around the new house, we headed out to what I think was the biggest Mexican showing to date! First off, it was Baby Grant's big debut! So that added one more to our already 11 member posse. Then with Mimi and Pic-pic and Em, that was 15 people, all at Mexican. That sent them through a loop, no doubt, and somehow the boys were at one table with the girls a couple tables over with all the kiddos. Well, minus you, of course. When I first mentioned us all going to Mexican, Pic-pic's first words were "Not cool - Abby can't behave." (apparently the last time you and him and Mimi went you spilt tea everywhere and, well, didn't really behave too well). Of course, I stood up for you and proclaimed that you were getting better and with Em and Mimi and your lovely bag of goodies, you would do fine. Hmph... didn't work out for us so much... Because Daddy and the boys were at a separate table, you felt the need to scream until you were allowed to sit in Daddy's lap. We all knew you really didn't want his lap, and your ultimate goal was to just get out of your highchair, but Mimi just couldn't resist the pathetic cry of "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaadddddddy's lap", so she let you out. And you immediately ran to the Mr. Jay's chair. Well, once he arrived, you had to get out - more screams. Like really loud screams. So then we convinced the boys to pull a chair up for you to sit on the end, which worked for a few minutes, but then the inevitable came and you refused to sit anywhere and just wanted to cry/run around. About this time, Mommy realized you had a 30 minute nap and then the guilt sunk in. What was I thinking??? Thankfully, Mimi and Em scarfed their food down and took you outside to run around. Soon after, I was ready to call it a night, too. I left the boys to hang and we ran straight home to put you to bed...

Saturday, oh Saturday... I think you got your first taste of Mimi's true self, i.e. the legendary shopper! We headed out SUPER early to the mall where we proceeded to stay for hours and hours and hours. At first, all went well. You almost immediately upon arriving, fell asleep in the stroller where you continued to sleep as we shopped and tried clothes on - so a good 45 minutes. Then you woke up... Let's just say you didn't last too much longer in the stroller. There was lots of running through clothes and running from one end of a 'hallway' to the other and LOTS of staring in a mirror making faces! You were having a blast, but it was wearing Mommy out, and it didn't help it was tax free weekend (which, btw, we did not plan) so everyone and their uncles were out and about. It was quite interesting keeping up with you. But Em and Mom shopped and shopped. And after lunch, a little more shopping, a cookie, a couple losing lovey, and a long walk back to the car, we made it home, where I decided you needed another nap! And it worked! Of course, the second you went down, guess where Mommy and Em and Mimi headed - back to shopping, of course! I told you she was a crazy shopper!!! We didn't have much time because Daddy was preparing a fancy meal on the Egg, but we got a lot done! When we got back, it was time to get to grillin'! You got to play outside, which you are always dying to do, and Em taught you how to use the bat and tee and Pic-pic even tried to show off his baseball skills, tried being the key word. Well, soon enough Daddy had some yummy smelling steaks on all of our plates, and we even ate outside! Finally a half way decent night to sit outside. You and Em were sitting at your little table and all of us were at the big table, just getting situated, ready to take that first bite, when Em screams "Look at that!!!" Well, low and behold, a hot air balloon it floating right over our house! OH MY GOODNESS. You absolutely loved it. You followed that balloon and when you could no longer see if you asked literally 2,000 times, "where'd balloon go?" We told you, over and over and over again, and then BAM, here comes another one. Dinner was done for you - there was no convincing you to sit back down and eat. You just ran straight to the fence pointing and waving saying "hey balloon". Then, again, once it was gone the questions began. Finally Pic-pic went and got your highchair and we locked you down in there, but couldn't lock that mouth!! You asked over and over, then you started saying you saw it - you would say "I see the balloon" and we'd say "where" and you'd say "over there". Of course, that was not the truth, but you said you saw it. Then you said it went over the trees. Goodness, that was a long dinner, but thankfully it was delicious! After a little more fun outside, we decided we needed something super sweet (okay, we had been planning this since the early morning, but don't tell Daddy - he thinks we just thought of it...) As I was taking you inside to get ready, Mommy apparently bumped her head because as we were about to walk in, I spotted a rabbit and decided to point it out to you - big mistake! Imagine the balloon scene 3 times over... Anyway, we headed to downtown Franklin to get some Cici's frozen treats! This is such a yummy place where you get to pour your ice cream into the bowl and then put all the different topping you want! And boy, did Em do that! I think she put 4 different kinds of cereal on it! Gross if you ask me, but she loved it! You, of course, didn't care for any of it... Finally off to bed you went, and we all weren't too far behind!

Sunday morning you got up super early, and, at Mimi's request, I went and put you in the bed with her! The 2 of you watched Nemo, and I think Em was half way watching half way sleeping! Mommy cooked a big breakfast, even though you and Em ate cereal an hour plus before, but that's okay because the 2 of you played and played and played while we got to enjoy our morning. After a quick early morning nap, we headed to lunch at Mimi and Mommy's fave - Mellow Mushroom, where you decided to behave a little bit better - okay, a lot better! I think the nap thing helped! Em had ordered sprite, and well, since you want anything Emily has, you wanted to take a drink - oh goodness, you are SOOO dramatic, baby girl. You would have thought you just drank acid the way you shook your head and waved your arms. Mimi and Em thought it was the funniest thing, and then, almost seconds later, you were reaching for it again. Well, again, you reaction had us all cracking up, except Daddy who was getting mad! But you kept asking for it. Finally, you figured it out and quit drinking from Em's cup, but boy, we were all falling on the floor laughing!!! Unfortunately, we had to tell Mimi and the gang goodbye right after lunch. You were so sad to see Mimi go, and I'm pretty sure she was super sad, too. You just kept crying "Mimi... mimi..." the whole ride home... Don't worry - we're headed to Mimi's in 2 weeks - that's the most she'll let us stay gone, you know!

After lunch, we headed to the Williamson County Fair, but that's a whole 'nother blog in itself!! As for now, what a fun fun weekend you had! Love you...

PS - Not a single picture from me OR Mimi!! what is going on with your mother, Abs??

BEST WEEKEND EVER

Dearest Abigail,

I told you it was going to be a busy week, and an awesome weekend, and I didn't disappoint! Okay, so where to start...I guess at the beginning...

Well, we did not make it to Carnton on Sunday - we were all WAY too exhausted to go, not to mention it was 213 degrees outside, or close enough. And, we had a hectic week ahead of us, so we took advantage of Sunday afternoon/evening.

On Monday night, Daddy got to watch you all night while Mommy volunteered and then on Tuesday, you went to Aunt Steph's house because Daddy and Mommy had places to be. Aunt Steph said you were really good, but you asked "Where'd Daddy go?" about 213 times! Also, we were a little nervous about your sleeping arrangements since you are a non-pak-n-player these days. We decided to set the twin air mattress up in the guest bedroom for you and see what happens. Well... Aunt Steph said the second she walked out of the room, you went straight to the light switch, turned it on, and crawled right up in the big girl (Queen) bed where you fell fast asleep! And, princess, this is where you slept all night. Mommy got there pretty late, and instead of packing things up, I decided to sleep over, too, right beside you! The 2 of us slept in the bed all night, and it actually wasn't that bad! I've decided your cuddlebuggness comes out at night! You don't like to cuddle/hug/show any sort of affection at all during the day, but at night time, you want to be right up on me! And I don't care!!! Bring it on!!!

Wednesday was fairly tame, but then Thursday came around... Daddy and Mommy had a wedding to go to that night so Miss Lee came to babysit!!!! That's right, Miss Lee, who used to take care of you, and who we've missed tremendously over the last couple of months!! At first, you were a little shy around her, or well, you didn't run up to her as we expected, like Mommy and Daddy did! But in no time at all, you, out of no where, just ran up to her and gave her a hug. Miss Lee said it was like a light bulb had gone off in your head and you all of a sudden remembered who she was! Also, Miss Lee brought Rebecca! Remember how much fun you 2 used to have playing together? Well, nothing has changed! Miss Lee said the 3 of you had so much fun playing and singing and reading books. You got to eat pizza and even got to share peaches, like old times! Miss Lee promised as soon as it cools off that she will be taking you to the zoo, just like old time, too!

Well, just as soon as you went down to sleep, guess who showed up?! Your BFF!!!! Sarah came to visit!!! YEAH!!!!! You, of course, didn't get to see her until Friday morning, and while you were a bit confused at first, asking "Where'd Miss Lee go?", you quickly decided Sarah was super cool, and you'd keep her around. After waking up super early (yes, you have started a terrible terrible trend of getting up at 5:30/6 and crawling in the bed with us...), and after breakfast, me and you and your BFF went to, wait for it.... PUMP IT UP!!! Oh my, you were sooooo excited! We got there before the doors were even unlocked, but thankfully the people let us in and you had the whole place to yourself! You took off running screaming "JUMPY HOUSE"!!!!!! at the top of your lungs and Mommy had to beg you to come take your shoes off! You played and played and played in every one of the jumpy houses, but we could NOT get you to go down a slide. Sarah even crawled up in the jumpy houses showing you how to climb up but for some reason, if you saw a 'rock climbing' type thing, you would go the other way! Oh, but you loved the thing where you run up the wall and try to put the tags on the velcro. You were hilarious, and Mommy got a pretty bad burn on her knee trying to show you how to do it. Thankfully, a little boy we called Spiderman was nice enough to show us 213 times how to do it! He was pretty good and you tried and tried again. Finally, you gave up on trying to stick them and instead began to rip his off every time he put one up there! He didn't care though - that just meant he got to do it again! We jumped and jumped and jumped and played "King of the Hill" and even shot a couple hoops, and finally we, I mean you of course, were exhausted and hungry....

After the jumpy house, we HAD to go eat pizza, so off to Pie in the Sky we went! You were pretty good (it's been tough with you lately at restaurants), but I think that had a lot to do with your BFF entertaining you, oh, and the pizza dough they gave you that you kept teasing me by acting like you were going to eat it and then you'd say "Don't eat?". Once the pizza came, we were VERY content, and happily filled our empty bellies up!

You can only image what happened next... (hint, this is sarcasm) - of course we headed home for a nap! Sarah had to sing to you to keep you awake, but we made it home and off to bed we all went!!! You had to rest up because you had even more company popping in soon enough!

When you got up for your nap, guess who was there?! Mammaw and Pawpaw!!! They were on their way back from North Carolina so they popped in for a quick visit! It took you no time at all to adjust to the additional company, especially when Mammaw broke out the Cheetos! PS - that is the only picture I have ALL weekend, the one of you eating Cheetos with Mammaw, and I can't post it right now.... Boo on me - BOOOO. Anyway, Mammaw and Pawpaw hung out with us, and we showed them around the new house and we begged you to sing your ABC's to them, and you just laughed in my face! Then I had to get you ready because guess what happened next! You went to your first baseball game!!!! Daddy had a work thing at the baseball game, and since Mommy already had dinner plans with your BFF, he decided to just take you! It was the Nashville Sounds game, which I think is triple A for the Milwaukee Brewers MLB team (PS - Mommy SOOO had to look up how to spell Milwaukee! I rock at many things, love, but spelling is not one of them and that one was hard!! - anyway...) So off you and Daddy went while Mommy and Sarah and Mammaw and Pawpaw went to dinner (at the best restaurant ever, The Red Pony). While we missed you greatly, this is the restaurant that Daddy and I took you to for our anniversary one time and that was also the same night we decided never to take you to a nice restaurant again (or at least for awhile) even if it was at 5:30 in the afternoon on a Tuesday... To say the least, you were better off running around the stadium with Daddy. Daddy did send me a picture (which is the picture at the top of the post and i can't seem to figure out how to get it down here for some reason...) and it looks like you are thoroughly enjoying the baseball game! Daddy said you almost made it through the entire first inning!! He also said you REALLY loved watching the mascot, Ozzie, but did NOT like getting close to it. Oh, and he said that a baseball player for the Sounds threw you his batting glove - yes, the sweaty, smelly glove he uses each time he's up to bat. Daddy politely threw it back at him saying he (the baseball player) probably should give it to one of the little boys screaming at the top of his lungs instead of this little princess who will be scrubbed down after this game, or something like that... Anyway, you loved the baseball game, even though you keep saying you went to the basketball game with Daddy. Also, you got a baseball card of Ozzie and are practically sleeping with it. You love carrying it around! It makes me laugh how you have a baseball card in one hand and a baby doll in the other!

You were back at home and asleep by the time Mommy and Sarah got back, and sure enough bright and early on Saturday morning you were up at at them, but this time you went into Mammaw's room first (probably looking for Sarah)!!! Mommy was happy for about 2 seconds, then I realized I probably should let them sleep a little, so I went and put you in our bed, which didn't do much good and so Daddy was happy (hee hee) to get up with you! Mammaw and Pawpaw weren't too far behind you, though and after Mommy made a fabulous french toast breakfast (another hee, hee is due...) we were ready for another day! I am posting this a few days after the fact (mainly b/c i was SO exhausted from the previous week) so I am having a bit of trouble remember what actually went down on Saturday, but I asked your BFF and this is what she said we did. She said we did all kinds of fun stuff. We went to the zoo, and got to feed the animals, and even got picked to ride an elephant. Then, all 3 of us entered a beauty contest AND, we all 3 won! I'm assuming we were in different age groups, since Sarah's so old and you are so young, you know... Then she said we went to the library and you read us books because you are so smart. She later reminded me about digging for diamonds and finding a 10 ct or something, but I only remember a costco trip and then eating another good lunch, but if that's what Sarah says we did, that's what we did!! Clearly we had a busy day, and we made it back home just in time to send you off to yet another babysitter! I know, it was a bad week - we had way too many things going on, but it was just bad timing, i promise! What am I saying - you loved being babysat!

On Saturday afternoon/night, Mommy and Daddy and your BFF had a festival we had to attend; therefore Aunt Steph volunteered to keep you, again! Well, Aunt Steph, Uncle Jaybee and Miss Leigh kept you - it was a collaborate effort, not that you need that much help, but it sure doesn't help! It was Mr. Lee's birthday (YES, I have mentioned 3 "Lee's" in this email and all 3 are different people and all 3 are very close and special to us, and it is SUPER insane trying to keep up with who I am referring to, but if you pay close attention to the spelling and the gender, it's not that bad). ANYWAY - it was Mr. Lee's birthday, and the gang (minus your parents) were cooking out so I just dropped you off over there and everyone helped keep you safe! Everyone said you were good, minus one kind of big incident... Apparently Uncle Jaybee took you upstairs to change you out of your bathing suit (and swim diaper) and well, let's jsut say he wasn't as prepared as he should have been - BUT, before he yells at me, it wasn't his fault. Miss Leigh told him everything he needed was in the bag, but it wasn't, and I had told Miss Leigh that it wasn't, so in Uncle Jaybee's defense, it wasn't his fault! although it was still pretty funny! So, he didn't know you could rip swim diapers off, so when he tried to pull your diaper off, well, let's just say something fell out of it, onto the playroom floor, to which he did not have wipes or a diaper or anything to which he was upstairs while everyone else was downstairs at which point he screamed adn screamed, apparently scaring you, who doesn't have anything on, but needs wiping up. Anyway, maybe TMI, but finally Aunt Steph heard him and was able to help get things cleaned up... Yowzas!!! Other than that, I think things went smoothly! You went to bed no problem and Mommy and Daddy and Sarah ended up coming over and spending some time with the gang after the festival! Sunday was fairly tame, with just some chillin' at home with your BFF. You two had so much fun. You sang your ABC's to Sarah and played on the bed and Sarah even helped Mommy get you dressed about 213 times, cause that's what happens when you have 213 different places to go!

Overall, busy busy busy, but FUN FUN FUN! I'm pretty sure I heard you say to your BFF as she was leaving "Miss you already..."

xxxooo