High on the Pot (Not that kind)

A few days ago while waiting for Harlie to finish on the potty, I'm kneeling down next to the toilet (sometimes she likes to hold my hands for support...sorry, TMI?) so that we are face to face.

She looks at me for a minute and then in a soft voice says 'I love you Mama. You have green eyes.'

An unexpected gift during an ordinary moment. Those are the best.

Slippery When Wet

Untitled from Erin Wilson on Vimeo.

Mama is still getting the hang of it.

Untitled from Erin Wilson on Vimeo.

This is a little better.

Untitled from Erin Wilson on Vimeo.

Daddy shows how its done. Evidently, we need a longer Slip and Slide.

Slip Slidin' Away

Oh Summer, how I love thee this year! This past weekend was maybe one of the most relaxing and fun weekends I've spent at home in a long, long while. The weather being a BIG factor, how could you not smile about the oh-so-not-July-like balmy breeziness. On Friday, after Scott and I picked Harlie up from daycare, we stopped at Chipotle for dinner and as we sat outside Scott said "Man, it feels like San Diego weather!" I don't think it's reached 85 degrees all week.

One of the highlights of the week was a Slip and Slide that Scott picked up at Target for a whopping $3.50. Harlie was a little tentative at first but quickly warmed up to gettin' her splishy splash on. A couple months ago, she started going head first down the slides at the park yelling "Slip and Sliiiiiide!" So I wondered if she had seen one at daycare. I'm thinking more than likely she picked up the phrase from one of the older kids, who had actually been on a slip and slide because when we rolled it out and hooked up the hose she just wanted to stomp and splash in the puddles. Scott had to give her a hand, the first couple times.



Even still, she just kind of runs through and does a belly flop at the very end. Practice makes perfect, I guess.



When Scott gets home I'm going to try and get a few videos off his phone of us all slippin' and slidin' on Saturday. I'll be the one slidin' in my tank and yoga pants because I gave my swimsuits to Keri for her trip. D'oh!

The Club

Today was tough, as it seems so many of us are dealing with a bruised heart. Ali, you must have known we would need the comfort food. Your Mac and Cheese was delicious!

Through all the ups and downs, we do have each other, I know that for certain. Everytime I start to fall, you girls are always there to catch me. To lift me up.

I think it's my turn to return the favor. So please know I'm always here. Will never leave. You're stuck with me. Sorry.

Mel, this is for you...

Serving as the highlight of this past week is my shopping trip to Target to spend my $100 gift card.



(Click to enlarge)

I am a total cheapo and cringe at the thought of ever spending over $25 for a pair of shoes, a pair of jeans or a handbag. So when I found a pair of Converse One Stars for 50% of I was stoked. I didn't even care that they were in boring 'natural'. Hey, I can wear them with more stuff right? Here's a breakdown of my purchases:

Converse - $14.98 (Clearance)

Teal Dress/Beach Cover-up - $20.00

Gold Charm Necklace - $9.08 (Clearance)

Navy Floral Tank - $8.00

Olive Green Purse - $13.98 (Clearance)

Black Cardigan - $16.98 (Clearance)

Denim Crop Pants - $21.00

Total: $104.02

P.S. I think I'll be taking the crop pants back. They make my cankles look even huger. I think I'll exchange them for some pale pink and blue nailpolish.

Potty Training Update

So Harlie hasn't had an accident since Day 3 (July 4th) of potty training. She tells us now when she needs to go and even called from her crib this morning when she woke up, "Mama, I have to go pee!"

Above is Harlie's potty chart from her first day at Jessica's after we started the training.

So proud of my girl!

Birthday Month Starts NOW!

My highlight for last week is the June/July birthday celebration for Mandi, Ry and I at Florence and John's house on Saturday. The things that made it especially highlight-y were:

• The chicken tacos that I had specifically requested. The ones with the chopped black olives inside that are fried and gloriously crusted with parmesan cheese. Yum!
• The brownie sundaes that Mandi requested.
• The margaritas that John faithfully makes for every family function. Oh yeah!
• Watching Harlie wrap her arms around Nana's neck while telling her she loves her.
• Arguing about proper card playing etiquette. I had JR on my side...and we were right.
• And last but certainly not least (come on now!), presents!!!! A gift card to Scott's Seafood from JR; a gift card to Cinemark and some lovely little luxuries from Bath and Body from Mandi and Ry; and a big ol' gift card to TARGET from Florence and John. Yee haw!!!

It was a good day!

Potty Training

On Friday afternoon, if you saw us in Target you knew exactly what we had planned for the weekend. Our cart was overflowing with Pull-ups, Kandoo wipes, a potty topper and treats. The following is an email I wrote to Jess to brief her on how our weekend went before she starts back to daycare tomorrow. I'm lazy, so I thought I'd post part of it instead of writing a brand new post , so I can remember the torture and triumph that potty training brings, when I'm old and can laugh about it:

....Our potty training efforts were definitely slow going this weekend. Sat and Sunday she made a lot of messes in her undies and on the carpet. It was so hot, we didn’t really spend much time outside. About half of the time she would comply with our requests to use the toilet and the other half of the time she wasn’t interested and would resist. Also until yesterday, she hadn’t gone on her own when putting her on the potty and would then often go a few minutes later after she was back in undies, or if she was in a pull-up for nap or a car ride. A couple times she finished pooping when we caught her trying to go in her pants, though.

We used the timer (30-45 min.), but she didn’t care about that much, so it just served as reminder for us.

We would give her a choc covered raisin for trying and then marshmallows were reserved for pee and a Reese’s pieces candy for poop. She really wanted marshmallows, but wasn’t enticed to try going for them.

However yesterday was MUCH better and we noticed some progress. All morning and afternoon she didn’t make a mess once and was able to hold it between potty tries. She was more willing to try going, and FINALLY was able to go pee. I had been a little worried she didn’t know how to make herself go. We could tell when she was trying to go poop, but I just didn’t know if she knew how to pee on command.

She seemed to be pleased with herself and excited for her long awaited marshmallows! Around 3 we headed over to Keri’s for a BBQ, and after that she had periods of time when she was wearing just undies, undies with a pull-up or nothing at all. She had a few messes on the patio, but toward the end of the night she had called out to me twice (kinda in a panic) to tell me had to pee and then to poop. So that was exciting. She had never called to us before when she had to go. One time when I picked her up to take her inside she even said, “Hurry Mom, hurry.” The last time she called out to me, she had to poop and she didn’t have anything on, so I think that helped with the urgency. Up until that point it hadn’t really seemed to bother her if she went in her undies, like she still felt she had a safety net, but with a bare booty, she was like uh-oh!!! It also hadn’t seemed to phase her before if she went in her pull-up even with undies on underneath. I’m wondering if that will start to change now that she’s more aware.

We got home late last night, so she was still in her pull-up, asleep when we dropped her off at Keri’s this am. When we dropped her off, Keri laid her back down, since her kids were still asleep too. I’ll forward you any updates that Keri’s sends me today.

So basically, the routine is:

On potty to try before and after nap/night-time. The daytime pull-ups seem to work fine so far at nap.

Request her to use potty every 30-45 minutes. Or 15-20 min after last unsuccessful potty try.

Choc covered raisin for trying.

Marshmallow for pee, Reeses for poop. Although she may prefer marshmallows for both which is fine.

Just undies under clothes as much as possible, we did try taking her to the park in just undies and she didn’t have an accident, but that was due primarily to luck....

The great news is that she actually did really awesome at Keri's and didn't mess her pants once! Way to go Pooper McScoopertons!