Announcing.......

6 weeks and 2 days...

Sometimes when I talk to other moms and ask them when their children began sleeping through the night, I often got the reply- "Oh they still don't" or "They were about 5-6 months." My jaw would drop and I would silently pray and hope that would not be our situation. Remembering back when Emily was a baby, I could vividly recall the sleepless and tearful nights and mornings. For me- that was one of the hardest parts of having a baby. Then when she started sleeping through the night at the same age- Life got a whole lot better! Motherhood was more enjoyable. I was kinder and not so crabby. So hence- we all benefited from a goods night sleep.

With the joy of expecting another baby, came the recollection of the sleepless nights, tearful mornings, crabby moods, ect... I was not excited about that part. In fact- I dreaded it and constantly worried about it.

I have quickly learned that you can't compare two different kinds of kids. Madison and Emily were very different at birth and continue to be unique in their own ways. The sleeping category is no different. Madison has been an excellent sleeper since she was born. It took us weeks to really see her eyes open. She would sleep all the time. During her feedings, she would stir and feed with her eyes closed then drift back off to sleep. She finally started to get the routine of feeding every three hours and longer stretches at night. Then the night came when she took a 7 1/2 hour stretch between feedings. I woke up at 4:40am thinking that I missed the feeding. However, she was still snuggled in tight in her carseat, wasted away in Dreamland, and fast asleep. I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. I woke up at 7am thinking that night was just a fluke. But it has happened since and she continues to sleep through the night.

ALL of us are excited about her sleeping through the night!!! I don't necessarily notice SUCH a drastic change in life now that she is sleeping through the night. Life is enjoyable and hopefully I am not so crabby. But it is nice and I wouldn't want to go back to the 9, 12, 3, and 6am feedings.

A "Ruff". A "Meow". A "Boo". & "Who are you?"

Halloween '09 started on Monday, Oct. with FHE. We snacked on chocolate chip pumpkin cookies and carved pumpkins. Before the night was over, we enjoyed the glow from a pot of gold, candy corn, and a happy face. On the 31st. we headed to the church for the annual Trunk or Treat festivities. My goal of having coordinating costumes didn't exactly pan out this year. We had an adorable puppy dog, a friendly kitty cat, and a prophet Samuel before the night was over. Emily quickly caught on that the evening was filled with friends, food, and tons and tons of candy. After Trunk or Treat, we walked across the street and Trick or Treated in the neighborhood. Our kitty cat was super excited to get candy. Before long, she became tired and wanted to be held between each house. However, she still had enough energy to say, "Let's go to another house and get candy!" She became addicted to Trick or Treating just like we have become addicted to the insane amounts of candy intake. Pumpkins, family, fun, Trick or Treating, and eating lots of candy... that's what Halloween is all about!

Pumpkin Pickin' Season...

It's a great time of year! The leaves on the trees turn vibrate shades of orange and red. The weather turns crisp and cool. Long sleeves and light jackets are all the fashion.....

oh wait.... I live in Louisiana.

The trees are still green as ever. Our pecans have not even dropped yet. We would bake in long sleeves and jackets. Plus- we are still waiting for the Fall weather to arrive. We were teased with a "cool" front last weekend and figured we better enjoy it and at least pretend it is Fall in the Big Easy. I had been dying to go to a pumpkin patch, so then was the perfect opportunity.

Now- pumpkin patches are ranked on different levels here in LA. The first kind of pumpkin patch is going to the local Walmart and selecting a pumpkin from the heap found between the fresh produce and the deli isle.


The second kind of pumpkin patch, here in LA, is found at the local catholic church. They block off a section of the grass, load up with pumpkins, stick some scarecrows in the background and call it good.


The third kind of pumpkin patch is found by traveling hours away to a remote farm. People load up on a hay filled wagon and are driven to the rows of pumpkins growing on the vine. Kids select their pumpkin and the farmer chops the fruit fresh off the vine. Then you proceed to go home and wash it yourself.

I have yet to find the picture perfect pumpkin patch. Hence why we took pictures at the local grocery store last year. So this year we thought we try the second option and head to St. Augustine's Catholic Church.

Sure enough, what did we find....

Rows and rows of pumpkins laid out on the grass.

Scarecrows and hay for pictures and decorations.

A pumpkin decorating station filled with pom poms, glitter and stickers. A toddlers' dream come true!

And entertainment such as bean bag toss, face painting, bone digging, costumes contests, and a Reverend dancing to the Monster Mash.

Happy Pumpkin Pickin' Season!

Hip Hip Horray! .....

Emily is "potty-trained" (as of several months ago.... I'm just slow on posting about it)! "Potty-trained" as in the aspect that she wears big girl panties during the day and diapers for naps and nighttime. Yeah for my big girl!!!!

This has been a works in progress for quite sometime now.
18 Months:
-Went COLD TURKEY. Too excited for Elmo panties. Had a little girl running around the house in her skivvies for a week. A handful of accidents. Manageable. She got the hang of it.She felt more comfortable during her big change, if she sat on the toilet and held all her most precious items (ie: blanket, baby doll, ect. In order for her to stay on the toilet long enough to go, we tried techniques like painting toe nails and reading books. I guess for her, potty training was quite an entertaining process.

About a month later:
- Mom decided to get "Fairy panties" (aka Pull Ups) to wear while out in public instead of making so many trips to the bathroom for FUN! Threatened her with her life that she should treat her "Fairy panties" just like her big girl undies. It didn't work. They are too much like a diaper. She digressed. We were sent back to square one.

Several months later:
- Bribery... it works only for a short while. We had the stickers, charts, candy jars. We would even give her coins to put in her piggy bank and "save for coll-yedge" if she told us she had to go. It was all temporary and worked for a short while.

Summer Vacation across the States:
-She goes back into the diapers for Airplane rides, super long car rides, naps, bedtime, and just about any other place her parents didn't want to clean up messes.
She digresses back to square one. Go figure.

First day home after Summer vacation:
- Emily was excited for big girl panties. She now thinks diapers are only for babies and bedtime/naps. she no longer uses "fairy panties".

Finally is potty-trained!!!! Hallelujah!

Go Emily!!!