Friday Five!

-I picked out a quilt for baby boy!  My mom will make it for him and we will hang it on the wall in his nursery! I really love it and the colors too.  My mom picked out all the fabric for me in Utah, but sent a picture of what she got and I can't wait to see it all come together. 

Here is the quilt she's making!  Don't you love it?! It was designed by quilter Amy Smart and you can find the pattern and more cute things at her website: diaryofaquilter.com

-I took my glucose test yesterday at the doctor (melted popsicle juice anyone?) and they told me that if everything comes back normal then I will hear nothing from them!  So I'm hoping that no news =good news!

-I took Elise to Rhyme Time this week at our library.  They sing lots of fun finger plays, felt story boards and a puppet show.  We didn't get to enjoy much of this because someone felt the need to run up to the stage and grab said puppets. Guess we'll try again in a few months?

-I used the website whatshouldireadnext.com to find another book to read.  It has you put in what you read last and liked and it will find something similar.  It recommended to me that I should read the book Delirium by Lauren Oliver and another one it gave me is Little White Lies by Gemma Townley.  I've already started Delirium and so far so good!  It was a great suggestion- way to go website!!

-I have been regretting not getting any snow pants for Elise to use during the winter.  We get cabin fever a lot around here and I wish I had some warm pants to keep her protected from the cold and wet so we could go outside more!  I know that girl would love it. 

Valentine's Day

We enjoyed a simple, fun and very low key Valentine's Day this year!  For the most part, it was a very normal day but we were able to add in some fun crafts and gifts too! 

We got Elise a fun little basket filled with treasures like new shirts, plates/bowls, books and a coloring pack!  She seemed pretty pleased with it's contents!  I should have taken a picture of her wearing her outfit, but I wasn't smart enough to think of that!

Elise made this LOVE poster for her Daddy!  She was SO excited when she saw all the paint out and realized that she got to play in it!!  It didn't turn out perfect, but hey, I have a 2 year old, so I was impressed we got it to look this good!  It was a lot of fun to make this with her!

I decided that a good old fashioned hand made card helps show the best sentiment so I put together this very simple card for Zack!  I think the two of these made the perfect centerpiece for our dinner that night.

Dinner itself wasn't anything too special but I did make this Strawberry Stuffed Brownie Torte for dessert!  It tasted as good if not better than this picture!  It was really simple to make and absolutely delicious!  I was even able to find some "Mormon wine" aka Martinellis sparkling cider to go along with it :)

Here is a picture of the two people who have stolen my heart!  I love walking in on them finding them reading books together on her bed. How adorable!  Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  I hope yours was wonderful!

Friday Five!

-I'm a failure. Yesterday, I gave up on potty training.  I gave it a good, solid 3.5 days and I just think we need a little more time, maturing on her part.  She did do one of each in the potty but nothing was ever consecutive.  If potty stories don't gross you out, below I'll share what was the final straw in giving up:
          
            Elise had gone #2 in her underwear so I walked her to the bathroom and we put it in the toilet together.  I told her that was yucky and big girls do that in the toilet, not their underwear.  I was so mad and frustrated I just needed a minute so I closed her in the bathroom for a minute or two while I took a breather.  I must have forgot to flush the toilet because when I walked back in she had grabbed the poop out of the toilet and had begun finger painting with it on the walls!  Ahhhh!!  Enough is enough.  

-Elise had a rough night last night and we heard her wake up several times.  She is big so unless she is screaming bloody murder, we don't go get in when she wakes in the night.  When I went to go get her this morning I found that she had taken of her pajamas and was only in her diaper!  Poor girl must have been freezing!!  I felt so bad!

-There was a huge snowstorm here yesterday and I think it snowed from 8am until 8pm.  We probably got at least 8 inches. I hear that the roads were pretty awful but it makes for a beautiful winter scene this morning!  Nothing like the quiet in the morning of freshly fallen snow.  

 
-We have a Relief Society activity tomorrow for church.  It is our "Fresh Start" activity.  We are sharing healthy breakfast ideas (while eating them), talking about goal setting and keeping, having a demo by a yoga instructor and a few other fun things.  Should be good!

-I had a doctors appointment yesterday to check on baby boy.  He's kicking and has a good, strong heart beat!  For the second time at an appointment, the sugars in my urine (sorry if that's TMI) were unusually high.  He did a finger prick to check my blood sugar and told me if it was under 126 I was ok to go home.  Well, it was only at 80 when they did that!  He is still worried since this is the second time it's done that so we pushed my glucose test up.  I go in and take that in two weeks instead of four weeks.  I'm pretty sure I don't have gestational diabetes because all the blood sugar tests come back so low!  I guess when you are pregnant your kidneys can do some pretty strange stuff- I just hope everything is ok!  But, I've been feeling totally great and normal.  So that's at least good!

Have a great weekend! 

Getting the word out!

Here's a snippet from my sister Natalie's blog that I want to share with everyone.  Please take a minute to read it!

"Preston's dad (my father in law) found himself face to face with a burglar at his home. Please take a minute to read this link and the WHOLE story.  I don't typically align myself with politics and hot topics, but this one is just too close to home. He is an AMAZING man and I'll do whatever it takes to help him. Feel free to share his story with anyone you think will listen! THANKS friends." -Natalie Niederhauser
http://supportclare.blogspot.com

What this week looks like...

Here goes nothing!!

We've read all of the methods, bought the panties, got the bribes, and yes, decorated the toilet.  Why not?!  Wish us luck!!  I think I'm in for a LOOONG week!

Friday Five!

-Thanks to Elise's obsession with elephants (or I should say, Elo's) I have been privileged to watch hundreds of elephant videos on youtube. I feel like I've seen them all, several times!  This little girl can't get enough.  Because of this I've learned a lot about them.  Things like: Elephants can only get pregnant three days every five years!  Holy cow- it's a wonder we have any of them left!

-Last night our friend Amy invited us over for some traditional Nigerian food!  I was a bit worried about what it might be, but it was delicious!  We had plantains, chicken seasoned with Nigerian curry and peppers, and a Nigerian fried rice with liver. It was all very good, thanks Amy!

-For Christmas we received an ice cream maker from Brian and Liz.  Yesterday since it was a high of 14 degrees I thought it best to make some ice cream!  If you can't beat them, join them right?!  I used a recipe from the Ben and Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream cookbook and it didn't disappoint   I made Ben's Chocolate and added in cut up reeses peanut butter cups. Mmmm!  

-Lately I've been wrestling with the idea of potty training Elise. We've check out books on it (see below), and got her a potty seat to let her pretend to go potty on.  She is actually really interested it in, I think! She knows how to put her potty seat on the toilet and often asks to go potty.  I let her go with her diaper off but so far, she has never actually gone potty.  When I try to put her diaper on, she gets really mad!  I think next week we might give it a go since this interest might be my "window" of opportunity.  Does it sound like she's ready to you?  Any tips/tricks?

Subliminal messages anyone?

- I had to share what I thought was a "good mom" moment this week.  We were coming back from the grocery store that is literally in our backyard and Elise was really mad that we were coming inside already!  It was too cold to play so I had the great idea to bring the snow in!  I grabbed a bucket of it, added some food coloring, got out my measuring cups/spoons and Elise was in heaven!  It was a great idea. I see this happening again a few more times!

Have a great weekend everyone!!