Yummy Dreams

I had the strangest and best dream last night! I dreamed I was in a store and Chris Daughtry (pictured above, yum) was seranading me and trying to win me over. um, "you had me at hello!" :D In fact, I think I told him that in my dream! LOL! After he hugged me. Lovely man, that.

Natalya visits Daddy...and Santa

Saturday Doug was in Atlanta unexpectedly, so we drove over and spent the day with him. Natalya was so excited to see Daddy that she didn't take a nap all day. Believe it or not, she didn't fall asleep on the way home either (about an hour and a half), but that could have been because I was singing to her, talking to her, asking her questions... ;) We got almost home and she was drooping, every question was answered with "uh-huh" except, Natalya, are you sleepy? To which she relplied "NO!" She conked out for a second and I saw she was asleep so I said "NATALYA!" and she jumped and said "What Mommy?!?" hehe. Poor kid. She slept really well that night though. She also didn't have a single accident all day. She told me every time she had to go to the potty. Oddly enough, she is really good about telling me she has to go when we aren't home (like today, we're running errands and get almost to Wal-Mart and she says, "Mommy, I have to go pee-pee"). It's when we're home that she forgets. Strange.
Today she got to go see Santa. I don't know if you remember last year, but she was NOT a fan. :) This year? Much better. She talked to him for a minute, then sat on his lap and he asked her if she wanted a doll and she said yes. He gave her a candy cane and she was excited about that. Then she told him she wanted a robe for Christmas. :D It's all she can talk about (mental note, find a toddler-sized robe somewhere!) On the way home she told me she showed Santa her new red shoes. ;)

Healthy Babies, Happy mommies

I am surrounded. It seemd this week is the week for me to run across women, both people I've known and famous people, who have given birth to healthy babies. The catch? The ones I'm being inundated with are all around 6 lb. Margaret was 5lb 3 oz. So close to that 6lb mark that it makes me think of her everytime, and think that had I been induced jut several days prior, she'd be here today and likely not have any health problems.

Quite frankly, it sucks.

I've said it before, but all I can think of is why all these women are granted a healthy baby and I wasn't. What did I do wrong? What should I have done differently? Why was she taken from us before we got to know her? I am so sick of hearing, everything happens for a reason, and, it's God's plan, and so on that I could scream. I do feel that way, and I say it often enough myself, but if one more person says that to try to make me feel better I am going to throw something.

My big girl

Since potty training is on the brain, w'll start with that - tonight, natalya was wearing some pj pants and her panties, along with a long-sleeved shirt. She hadn't gone to the potty in a long time and I kept asking her if she needed to go. No Mommy, she tells me. No, I good, she says. Several hours later, and no accidents, I tell her, let's go potty, I'll go and you can go too. Ok, she says. So in we go. She sits on the potty and nothing happens. Nothing, nothing, more nothing. Finally I said, ok Natalya, I guess you don't have to go (but I am a little surprised because it's been way longer than normal). So she gets up (on her little potty) and there's pee in there. I say, Natalya! Did you go pee pee in the potty earlier? She said, yes mommy, I pee pee earlier all by self! I pull down panties and pee pee in potty all by self.
Holy panties batman! I was in shock. What a huge step!

Music class is so much fun. Kindermusik, actually, but we call it Music Class. Natalya has made a friend, who is 6 months younger than her. Her name is Emery and every week Natalya says "are we going to see Emery Mommy?" Last week, during class, they were sitting in front of the teacher getting ready to hear a story and Emery was kind of looking around at the kids, who were all sitting, and the teacher said "Emery, would you like to sit down?" And Emery said ok, then sat on natalya's lap. Natalya was looking at her like, well, ok. Emery's mama and I laughed so hard! It was so cute. Then Emery decided to give Natalya a kiss. So she kissed her on the cheek, while Natalya was pulling back, wondering what she was doing. Tuesday night of this week, I told Natalya we were going to music the next day and she said, Mommy, see Emery? I said, yes, Emery will be there. She said, "Mommy, Emery give me kisses." And then she giggled. It was so adorable.

It seems like Natalya's sentence structure has grown almost overnight. Suddenly she is using all sorts of pronouns and fill-in words appropriately (like "the" "a" "of" etc) I just can't believe it. She is growing up so fast. She also recognizes her writen name, and knows about 2/3 of the alphabet. She loves to sing and will occasionally make up songs. She also has a memory like you wouldn't believe. She will hear a song once and sing the correct words to it several days later.

I just cannot believe she is already almost 28 months old, and at the same time, she seems so very much older.

The potty update- strikes again

So several days in and several accidents a day still, but she's now got it down that panties and pee don't mix, however, if I put pants on top of the panties, she will forget unless I periodically ask her if she needs to go. She has gone a few times without my prompting, but not many.
On the other hand, she also has figured out (no matter what she's wearing) when she has to go poop to tell me. YAY!! For the last couple of days she has informed me each time she had to go poop, and then run into the bathroom to go.
A day at a time...

In other news, Doug's headed ot Pennsylvania, then up to Buffalo, NY. He's a mite nervous about the weather expected up there tomorrow. He hasn't driven in adverse conditions yet, so the possibly prediction of snow/ice is making him a twinge nervous. I know he will be fine, but there it is nevertheless.
And he says I am a worrier. HA!

The potty update

Well. We're doing pretty good. She still has to figure out that she has on panties and pants and not a diaper, so accidents have happened but when she's got panties only on she will announce "I have to go to the bathroom" and then disappear. Then from the bathroom "mooooommmmmmmyyyyyyy!!!! I pee-peed on the potty!"
:)

We did go out to the bank the other day and she was wearing her panties and didn't want to take them off. I reminded her that she had them on and she stayed dry for the ehole trip (admittedly it wasn't very long, but still).

She has also been waking up dry from naps, so that's a good sign too. We're getting there. Slow and steady. :)

Natalya's most recent artwork

Natalya was drawing one night last week and said, "look Mommy".
I said, "natalya, that's a beautiful picture. What did you draw?"
She said "mommy"

Very Picasso-esque if I do say so myself.

A journey in potty-learning.

Beginning today, we're nixing the diapers, at least that's the plan. I bought two packs of panties yesterday, 10 in each so we're ready to go. My master plan is to start out at home only in panties all the time except naps/night times.
Then we'll see how the next week goes. If she's doing good and not having any accidents, then we'll move to outings (and I'll keep a little potty seat in the car with me just in case) and just diapers for sleeping. She still wakes up really wet after a full night, so I don't see her getting out of nighttime dipes any time soon, but we'll get there.

Wish us luck!!!