Marriage

Today is our fourth wedding anniversary. It doesn't seem like it has been that long, maybe because we have only known each other for four and a half. :) Nevertheless, we have been through so much in the past four years, and I know the next four and the next FORTY will bring many more changes! (And hopefully more babies. :) )

We bought a house, got a dog, had a baby, bought a car, I quit my job, I stayed home with Bella for five months, I got a new job, and now we are having another baby! In 4 anniversaries, I have  been pregnant for two of them! And both during the summer....but that's a different post!

I have been thinking about marriage a lot lately and what it means to me and what I have learned. I think so many people in life view marriage as just another relationship, just something they can walk away from if it doesn't go the way they want or if it gets "too hard." I think this is  how society displays marriage and it's sad, because that is absolutely not what marriage is meant to be.

Marriage is HARD. It is not easy and if anyone ever tells you it is, they are lying! It is not always hard of course, we have a ton of fun together and get along great most of the time. But making decisions and choices while considering someone else's feelings and opinions in everything you do (as it should be) is so hard! It's hard not to be selfish, it's hard to worry about someone else all the time, it's hard to disagree, it's hard to deal with another person 24/7!

For example, I never pick up my shoes. I take them off when I get home and leave them wherever they land. Joe hates this! He is always putting them away for me or asking me why I never put my shoes away. On the opposite hand, Joe is very forgetful. I hate repeating myself! I have to tell him the same thing 5 times sometimes before it sticks!

Of course these are little things, and in the grand scheme of life there are so many problems that come at a marriage that challenge you, what you believe in, who you are, and why you married this person. I believe when these challenges come, they are meant to make you stronger as a couple. When you get married, you become one person. You make decisions together, you raise your children together, you go to church together, etc. Together is the key word. If you try to be independent and do things on your own, it just doesn't work.

I know that I have only been married four years, and even in my mind that seems like such a short amount of time. But we have been through struggles, we have had big fights, we have left the house angry. That's just part of it. It is not all fun and games. Learning to live with and share your life with another person is hard for everyone. I have to say what I think keeps us on track is God. We are not perfect by any means. We both have so many areas in our spiritual lives that we need to work on. But we love God and our relationship works so much better and smoother when we keep him in the middle of it.

I don't even really know what I'm saying here, just that I love my husband. I love him so much. He is a wonderful man. He is a great father, a great husband, a great teacher, and a great leader. He works hard for our family and I'm so blessed he chose me. There is no one else in this world I would rather be on this road with. I know our relationship is blessed, I know we are meant to be together, and I am reminded of that all the time. I love him I love him I love him.

On our honeymoon in 2009

Update on Number Two

I haven't posted on my blog about expecting No. 2 but I posted it on Facebook, like everything else, I know, so I am just going to do an update of how things are going so far on here. Mostly for me to remember later! And whatever silent readers I have out there. :)

I found out I was pregnant in March, at only 4 weeks and 2 days pregnant. I found out at five weeks with Bella, which is early, but four weeks seems so much earlier! I was at work. I just couldn't wait until I got home. I really can't wait for anything, so there's that. The first person in my family I told was my dad. I called him and told him I wanted to surprise mom, Emily, and Bree that night. I bought Bella a "Big Sister" tshirt and put that on her. That's how I told Joe and the rest of my family! It was so exciting. Joe and I weren't all that surprised I guess, because we wanted a second baby, but it did happen much quicker than it did with Bella. That is what surprised me the most.

I am due November 18th. Today I am 18 weeks and 3 days pregnant. It has flown by. Seriously this is going by so much faster than my Bella pregnancy did. I guess because I have a toddler I am running after and just in general more going on than last time. But I am glad it's going so fast! I am trying to enjoy every second.

It has been the same as my pregnancy with Bella as far as having the same initial symptoms. I was so tired at first, but never nauseous or throwing up or anything. Blessed! There have been significant differences though. I showed a lot sooner, which I hear is common once you have already been pregnant. I also feel like I'm carrying more out than wide, if that makes sense. Physically, although I haven't been sick, I gag at a lot of stuff! It has calmed down since I've settled into the second tri, but the silliest things make me gag. And I, in general, do not have a weak stomach so its strange! Joe thinks these differences mean the baby is a boy. I am leaning towards boy also but will be so happy if I have another girl as well!

We find out on July 5th at 8:30 what the baby is. I'm not anxious or anything. :) I have a countdown on my phone! I can't wait, only two more weeks. Other than waiting impatiently for this appointment, it really has been another wonderful pregnancy. When I tell people I am due in November they are so surprised like I have so much longer to go. But it is almost the end of June, and I'm almost halfway through. I think people just have a hard time grasping that fall isn't far away when summer has really only just begun.

So there you go. A post completely baby related.

Potty Training / Father's Day

Well it's Tuesday and we have officially been potty training for 8 days. The weekend was pretty rough, we had a yard sale Saturday and then spent the rest of the day shopping with our earnings so there wasn't a lot of time at home. Then Sunday we were running all over the place for Father's Day so Bella was only at home for an hour, during which she slept. So we started fresh yesterday and she peed once in the potty and once today. It is slow moving but she is starting to understand. She went swimming during our yard sale Saturday and when she got out and was dripping wet she said "oh no peepee!" because she thought she peed in her pants. It was cute and also sad haha. So we will see how it goes.

For Father's day we surprised Joe's dad and went to church with his family, then went out to lunch with them afterwards. We went to dinner with my parents and sisters that night too so it was a very busy day! This is a short and sweet one but I am just glad to be blogging again.

And hopefully my camera will be fixed by the end of this month so they won't all be boring, pictureless posts! :)

Potty Training: Day 3/4

Mock me if you will but I like having a record of how things are going in this area with Bella. Maybe it will help me when it comes time to potty train Number 2. (I call the baby that all the time and it always makes me think of Austin Powers.)

Yesterday Bella peed in the potty once after a nap and had about five or six accidents. Yesterday evening was pretty frustrating with the accidents but I was still thrilled that she pottied two days in a row!

Today was GREAT! She used the potty twice!!! And the last time she had an accident she cried about getting pee on her, which I thought was great progress since at first she didnt care if she peed on herself or not. I'm so happy with how things are going. I don't know if it will stick or not but I am glad we tried it out. We will see how this weekend and next week go, hopefully she will continue to make progress!

It is so surreal watching someone you gave birth to grow up. I find myself in tears at the smallest things, including her wearing her "big girl panties." I remember when she was 8 lbs 10 ounces of sweet baby in my arms and I can't believe this little girl in front of me is in fact that same sweet baby. It is truly bittersweet, being a parent. I love every new thing she learns, but I wish I had more time with my little girl. 

This picture BREAKS MY HEART!

Potty Training: Day 2 & 21 month update.

Two days in a row! Maybe it will stick this time, who knows??

My Bella Rae is 21 months old today! It is so hard to believe that just seven months ago she was barely taking steps, and now she is running, climbing, and jumping all over my life. She is such a crazy kid! I love her, she's so much fun.

She has almost all of her teeth now I'm pretty sure, I don't really know how many she is supposed to have, honestly. But she has a lot! :) She is finally keeping bows in her hair and I'm glad because its at an awkward length and I never know what to do with it! It's a lot thicker than it used to be though, and still strawberry blonde.

She says so many things. I couldn't even begin to count them all. Her favorite phrase these days is "Don't want to" or "don't have to" so that's a LOT of fun. Of course when I sit down to write the stuff she does I can never remember it all! I wish I had a pick of her from today but my camera is still sadly broken, and I don't feel like uploading a pic from my phone to here. Lazy!

She loves "beeball" and playing out side. She loves to "shwing" and cows are her favorite animal. She moo's at everything. I'm getting really excited about her birthday, it's only 3 months away! We are doing a Veggie Tales party and I think she will love it.

Okay, down to business: potty training. Today she was with Joe's mom and not Joe, so I didn't call every hour for updates :) but she peed in the potty today! She had 5 accidents in all, but one glorious pee in the potty and I am so proud! Everyone made a huge deal about how wonderful it was and how proud they were of her, and she got a snack. So I hope that it sinks it how wonderful it is to pee on the potty and we see more progress! I am so happy and so proud of my little Belly.

Potty Training: Day One

Well here I am. Back at it. I really don't know why I haven't written a blog in so long, all I know is that a lot has happened and I realized I want to be able to look back and remember things! Which is the point of a blog. So what better subject to start back with than potty training? :)

We have been talking about potty training Bella for a couple of months now. We knew that summer time would be a good time to do it since Joe is home (although less now, since he works two jobs) and that way we can work on getting her out of diapers before we have another one in diapers (which I also haven't blogged about). 

So we thought about it and thought about it and talked about it and talked about it and today I just decided we were going to do it! These are the signs she has been showing lately that led me - and others - to believe that she may be ready:
- She tells us when she poops.
- She gets diapers out of her diaper bag and tries to change herself. (hilarious)
- She shows an interest in her potty, which has been sitting in the bathroom for months, and shows interest when we go to the potty with her. (It happens, she follows me around.)
- She takes naps without peeing.

Now, she doesn't sleep through the night without peeing, but we thought we would tackle daytime potty training first and leave her in diapers/pull ups over night and during naps. I asked the advice of some friends, including Devan, who has a daughter about six weeks older than Bella and has already started successfully potty training her. After all that, this is what I came up with.

I bought the Gerber training pants, some colorful some plain. I prefer and recommend the colorful ones, although they are more expensive, because they came with plastic sewed into them, which kept them from leaking, but still allowed Bella to feel when she was wet.  The cotton ones did that as well, but I like the plastic being in the pants. For the plain ones, we bought princess undies to go over them, so Bella could get excited about how pretty they were. Which she did!

I chose to do pull ups during the night and quit diapers cold turkey, like some other moms I know have done. I explained to Bella before I put her to bed just now that those are her night time panties. And when she wears the Gerber ones, we call them her "big girl" panties. She has really caught on to the fact that they are a big deal because every five minutes she wants me to see her "pretty panties."

At first we had the potty in the bathroom, but then we moved it out to the living room. I thought it might help because then she wouldn't have to go in a completely different room to potty, she could just go immediately wherever she is. 

First thing this morning she seemed excited about the potty, but then she started crying and freaking out every time we put her on it! I started to doubt myself and think we were traumatizing her by making her sit on it, but once again, from the help of other moms I learned that she isn't the only one to do that, so we kept going. This evening she was fine with it so hopefully she won't have that reaction anymore.

All in all we had four accidents for the day and no pees or poops on the potty. Four doesn't sound that bad to me though. She isn't a big pee-er, she goes hours during the day without going, so hopefully that will make the process easier. At the very least it made today full of less messes! Patience is absolutely not my strong suit so I'm happy with how I handled today. Ask me how I'm handling it in two weeks and we shall see. :)