Pedicure

Don't judge. She asked for me to paint her toenails (in her own way) and was sitting incredibly still, so why the heck not french pedicure her toes? Bummer thing is... about three minutes after this was taken they were already ruined. Oh well... it was inevitable since I haven't got her any sandals yet. At least we know its possible for the summer though, cuz I personally think this is ah-dorable on a two year old.

Potty Training: Days 2/3

*Please excuse the boldness of this post, I can't change it for some reason*
FAIL.
Yes, my friends, I have failed at potty training. She started to catch on somewhat around the middle of day two, but basically she just couldn't tell me when she had to go. So this is yet another thing I have to wait for her to be able to talk. Sign language? She's never really done it. Well the stuff we taught her when she was really little she still does, but she refuses to use any new signs. So lame. We have an appointment on Wednesday with a real speech therapist, so hopefully I get some new information. Until then, I'm trying to not have any more breakdowns over everything. But, I am thankful to have these pregnancy hormones to give partial blame to.

(Pregnancy is going great by the way, I'm getting bigger, though I wouldn't consider myself huge by any means. Nate tells me how huge I am though, and that does wonders for my self image... It is Spring Break this week so I am so excited to go though some of our stuff and get organized for a garage sale and get all of the baby clothes separated into individual boxes, finally! I went through some tonight and found all the baby shoes, and let me tell you, there is one pair of particularly adorable sparkly pink shoes that made me uber excited to have another girl!)

Potty Training: Day 1

It. Has. Begun. Potty training, the new bane of my existence. The previous bane of my existence was diapers, so I suppose its a fair trade off. We began the experience by "throwing away her diapers." I quoted that because I didn't actually throw them away, I just put a new trash bag in the can and Rachael helped me "throw them away." The method I'm using says to actually get rid of them because I don't want to feel like I have a back door to use, but lets face it, I may need them again. I'm still trying to figure all of this out, because if I'm not supposed to leave her side for three days straight, and I'm supposed to play with her constantly, how in the world am I supposed to catch all of the times she needs to go before she's done going? Ugh. Well, we had a rocky start. First pair of panties: dry for about an hour. Second pair: dry for about 3 minutes. Third pair: dry for about 2 minutes. Seriously?! I thought I was the only person in this family going to the bathroom every 3 minutes, but I have a baby sitting on my already tiny bladder! I was not a happy panda at this point in the day. But I am happy to report that the next four pairs of panties only got wet because I caught her in the act (one of those acts was act two, sick.) And here is a tip: when you decide on what method to train your kid with, and if it says "have 30 pairs of underwear on hand," they're not joking. We had eight today. I was getting a little concerned. But we made it through and even have one dry pair! But we do need some tomorrow, so what do we do when we have no washer and dryer in our homestead? We use the tub. Hence the seven little panties hung on the shower rod. I plan on buying more panties sometime soon, but Nate usually has the car during the day so... we're tubbin' it. Side perk: the tub is now also clean! Wish us luck for day two, cuz I REALLY want to just slap her back in her diaper and be done with it.

(I was trying to get artsy with my photography)

Her throne. Pretty cute, no? D.I. find, five bucks. You may think that is a tad gross, but I sanded the heck out of this thing and put like 19 layers of paint on it after a thorough bleach process. Good as new, plus she isn't scared of it.

Beta Gamma Sigma

A couple of days ago Nate came home and was telling me about this award he recieved at school. He has be invited to become a member in Beta Gamma Sigma. I honestly said, "What's that? Like a sorority? [Few seconds pause...] I mean fraterinty?" Haha, blonde moment. It all sounded really awesome and prestigious, but I didn't know exactly what it was. I know he received it because of his awesome grades and work ethic, he's received other awards for these things when we were at BYU-Idaho. We got a letter in the mail today that more fully described what the award means, and I thought I'd document it.

"Membership in Beta Gamma Sigma is the highest recognition a business student anywhere in the world can receive in an undergraduate or master's program... Beta Gamma Sigma membership conveys academic excellence and a commitment to high principles and supirior achievement. It will bring you a lifetime of professional pride."

Pretty cool, eh? I love my ultra amazing husband and all of the hard work he has put in to his schooling. I'm so, so, SO glad we decided to get grad school out of the way, and now that we're almost done and the light at the end of the tunnel is getting bigger and brighter every day I'm more thankful for all of the blessings we've received and the people who have touched our lives. Its been really hard at times, but I know it is what we were supposed to do and I'll never regret the path we've chosen to take.

Brian Regan!!

I am a HUGE Brian Regan fan. Don't know who Brian is. You lead a sad, sad life, my friend. Well when we were at California Adventure, guess who we ran into. While the majority of my family was in line for California Screamin' (the big coaster that those of us "with child" cannot enjoy... Rachael and I were on King Triton's Carousel, yay.), Nate thought this guy in front of them looked familiar so he asked my dad if he thought it was Brian Regan. So my dad goes, "Hey Brian, take luck on this ride!" And Brian gave him a big thumbs up. Definitely Brian Regan. So they all get off the ride and Brian walks by so they stop him and ask for a picture. (Where was I at this time? Dealing with a screaming toddler with a poopy diaper, yay.) Nate runs up to me with a camera and said, "Who is that in the middle?" Needless to say I was not so much in the mood for guessing games, so he finally tells me, "Its Brian Regan!!" Immediately my mood perks, we dump the kid with the grandparents and chase Brian down the midway. "Brian!" Nate calls, because obviously we're all best friends now, "This is my wife who is a huge fan of yours!" So we shook hands and I tell him about how I've been listening to him since 9th grade when my English teacher would play him every morning before class started. (Thank you, Mrs. Ronnow!) He told me my teacher probably should have been teaching, but I said, "No, it was my english class, and you were speaking english so it all worked out." (Look for that joke in his next show) Anyways, his wife snapped this picture and that is my famous person experience. Then, come to find out, he is coming to SUU in April, and guess whose amazing husband got front row seats for a four year anniversary date? Yep, mine. Front row baby! I'm stoked!! Here is a little clip of my buddy Brian for you to enjoy. If you want to hear more, come on over! We've got all of his DVD's and audio clips.