Sign Sign Everywhere A Sign

Here is an e-mail I received from my sister-in-law Heather about my sweet little nephew Aidan. He is so smart!

When I read it I immediately thought of the song "Signs". Here is the chorus so it can get stuck in your head too :)

Sign Sign everywhere a sign

Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind

Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign

About a year ago I taught Aidan about signs and the messages they bear. The first time was when I was trying to keep him from entering an area that was off limits. I said “the sign says ‘do not enter’”. I have read him signs on many occasions and he ‘gets it’.
Well, this morning he created a sign for me.

He woke up this morning upset realizing that I was out of bed and getting ready for work. He said “Momma I don’t want you to go to work”. I relayed that I had to go and he said “Momma, the sign outside says “Momma no go to work”.

Aw, he melts my heart.

wascally wabbit

Hopping into Spring

Saturday marked the first official day of Spring. I'm so excited for some nice weather. I hate being kooked up in the house and I love exercising outside. Since Addi was born, every Spring I have dressed her up as a bunny or a flower. I found a costume that my Aunt Debbie made for my cousin Lauren when she was little. It is the cutest little bunny costume. She totally reminds me of Ralphy from the Christmas Story minus the glasses, pink fur, and the fact that she is a girl and not a seven year old boy. Same concept though. Little Sunny Bunny wanted to say Hoppy Spring and Hoppy Easter! I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter and takes time to remember Jesus and what he died for and how blessed we are.

One Small Step for Mommy,One Giant Leap for Toddlerkind

I know lately my posts have been centered around the potty and this is just more of the same. I really want Addison to be able to look back over this blog, when she is older, and see her progress. Saturday marked a week of potty training, but by far the longest I have stuck to training thus far. She did amazing this weekend despite traveling. She managed to stay dry and warn us when she needed to go. My biggest obstacle besides going number two on the pot, which I am convinced is going to take a while and I'm OK with that, is the traveling potty. So far our potty has gone to the park, Independence KY, and Grammy's House. I hate lugging the thing around but, was fearful of not being consistent. Today I went to Story Hour at the Library and left the potty at home. I know kind of ballsy but, I don't want a potty chair to become a regular item to bring when we go some place. I already feel like we have to pack our life in a bag just to get out the door! As soon as Story Hour was over Addison was doing the pee pee dance. She warned me she had to go. I had no other choice but, to put her on the BIG POTTY. She was hesitant but then said,"Listen Mom". I heard her go, praised her, we washed hands , got a treat and that was that my friends. I am very proud of my BIG girl. She wants to be called big all the time now. So there you have it, from diapers to Big Potty in a little over a week! One small step for Mommy, One giant leap for Toddlerkind. Hooray for AJ!

Is That Poo In The Loo?

OK so the picture above isn't the poo I'm talking about but, you get the picture. Addison went number two on the potty last night. She is really catching on to this whole potty training thing. She has been waking up dry from naps and staying dry all night. Yesterday she went on the potty 13 times and 10 times the day before.Fingers crossed no accidents thus far! At this rate she is going to have her slide next week. Maybe we should have said she could have her slide if she uses the potty for 100 days instead of 100 times.

We are going to visit Keith and Emily tonight so we will see what this weekend brings. I don't want to stay all kooked up in the house for two weeks focusing strictly on potty training. We have a life and we need to get out and do things not centered around the potty. Her potty chair will just have to be a traveling potty chair this weekend. I want to try and keep things as consistent as possible but, also let her live a normal life. I guess we will just have to see what this weekend brings. Hopefully more of the same.

Although, she did poo on the potty it didn't come with ease. Addison has always had a bit of an issue in that department. She has to take a stool softener each morning in her chocolate milk. If I skip it, this kids is in pure misery. I have had to give her countless enemas and trust you me it is not my cup of tea or hers either for that matter. I had a feeling that she may resist to pooping on the potty. It is a pretty normal thing, actually. Many of the 2 year olds in my class, could pee with ease but, pooping that was a whole other battle. Since she already has trouble in that department I prepared for the worse. Since we have started she has had her medicine every morning and was producing no bowel movements. On a normal diaper wearing day, she could have up to 5 poos in a day.Gross, I know. I quickly realized she was withholding poo. Last night, she was pretty miserable and kept saying she needed to pee on the potty but, not poop. We would take her in there let her sit and she would pee but no poo. I knew she had to poop and wasn't going to rest easy until she did.

Kevin asked if we should give her an enema. I told him no because the reason she takes the medicine is to soften it and it come out more easily . I immediately began researching on the Internet how to get your child to poo on the potty. Well, I found an article by a medical Doctor that was describing a method of how to train your kids to poo on the potty. I was a little skeptical but I thought it would hurt to try it out. He said to strip off all clothing and underpants , so your child is naked on the pot. You explain to them that the doctor called on the phone and said they can't get up or play until they poop on the potty. So I told Addison this and I even through in that Pooh and Blankie (her most prized possessions) would have to sleep with me if she didn't go poop. I know, kinda harsh. I felt really bad but, desperate times call for desperate measures, right? The Doctor said to leave the bathroom and let your child have their time to go. When they poop don't make a huge to do about it just say in a calm voice good job. You continue the process until they just start going with no issue.He also said if you have to gate off the bathroom to keep them in you can. I felt that was a bit much so, no gate for us. In the article was an woman that descried how she tried this method with her 3 1/2 year old son. She said her son cried the first night in the bathroom for 5 minutes until he pooped and it got progressively less and less each day until it was not longer an issue.

Addison sat in there naked, crying for Daddy for a few minutes. Kevin got up and started to go in, there I was outside the door telling him not to. She needed to work through this. We saw her get up so we went in and sure enough she had gone. I couldn't believe it. I never thought this method would work but, I was wrong. I was so relieved she went. Hopefully this will help her realize that it is OK to poop and pee on the potty. No real high expectations here, just waiting to see how it all goes. I haven't ever heard of a kid going to college in diapers yet!

Twenty One Days

I think the saying goes , it takes twenty one days to build a habit and only three days to break it. Well, I'm hoping things are smooth sailing from here on out. Last Saturday Addison woke up from nap dry and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to sit her on the potty. She has shown some interest in the past and it just kind fizzled. I didn't want to be overly pushy and make her do it for fear of total rejection of the potty. Recently she had been telling me, "Change me Mommy I peed or pooed". I thought if she was telling me then she was becoming more aware of it and maybe now was a good time to try. So as I said previously, I put her on the potty Saturday after nap. I called in Kevin to help cheer Addison on. What do you know, she peed. We were both surprised and pleased at how fast she was able to do it. Sunday we tried again and she resisted. I really don't want to force the issue so I would ask her periodically throughout the day if she needed to go. Of course her answer was "NO". Monday came and we tried all morning with no success. I told her that Mommy was done with diapers that they were for babies and she was a big girl now. Finally she peed on the potty two times on Monday. Tuesday brought more of the same. Kevin asked me that night if I thought that maybe she just wasn't ready and I was pushing her too hard. Well, I went to bed feeling awful, like a horrible pushy mom. Exactly what I didn't want. Was I trying too hard to make her go? Was I asking something of her that she couldn't do? I read in my Super Nanny book, which by the way is a really fantastic book, about potty training. (I love Jo Jo's methods. She is my absolute Favorite) It explained that consistency is key(duh I knew that from potty training at preschool). I kept getting so caught up in how it was so easy teaching other people's kids but not my own.

Jason, Kevin's cousin, told me that Kayla (his 2 year old daughter) saw a playhouse in a magazine and she wanted it. Jason explained that in order for her to get it she had to sleep every night in her big girl bed. This totally worked for Kayla! She was motivated by the playhouse to sleep in her bed. This is what I love about having family with children the same age. Seems like we are always experiencing things with our kids about the same time. I love being able to have people to ask questions to and get ideas from. Thanks for sharing your great idea Jason and Danielle!

I thought Addison needed something to motive her. This kid loves to slide. So the obvious choice was to tell her if she went on the potty 100 times she could get a slide for the backyard.I know 100 times is a lot but if I set the bar too low then she would get her slide in no time and would care less to continue on the potty. She liked the idea but, I thought something to help her visualize might help keep her motivated. I found a picture in a book of a little girl going down the slide. I cut out the picture and placed a picture of Addison face over the little girls body and placed it on the wall right next to her potty . That way we could say look that is Addison going down her slide, that she got for going on the potty. Well, I didn't stop there. I got a days of the week chart and each day we place stickers on whatever day it is. So on Monday we put two stickers on the chart because that is how many times she went potty. I also implemented the skittle reward for potty success. She gets to choose a skittle every time she goes on the potty.

Wednesday came around and she woke up wet, so I had a feeling it was going to be a long and painful day of potty training. I was wrong!!! She peed 8 times on the potty and even pooped once! I was tickled. My most favorite part is she is actually telling me when she has to go, which really takes a lot of the guess work out of things. Last night, we went to the park and as a precaution we peed before we left and even took her potty seat and treats in the car to the park. I know sounds a little extreme but I read that kids like familiarity and I wasn't going to have her sit on the potty at the park, gross! We played for about an hour and a half and she was kinda doing the potty dance, grabbing her self , crossing her legs, and she blurted out "Daddy I got to pee". She didn't want to go because she was having so much fun sliding but we didn't want to have an accident. So we told her if she peed on the potty we would bring her back to slide a few more times. We were kind of far from the car but we all dashed across the parking lot to the car, pulled down her britches, and she peed right there on the potty sitting in the car seat. I couldn't believe it!

This morning she woke up dry and immediately peed on the potty. We went on a nature hike at EP park and she stayed dry the whole time and came home and peed on the potty. I think that it might just be setting in. My goal is to keep potty time fun, motivating, and to remember she is two. I know that just because she had a good couple of days doesn't mean she is fully trained or that there won't be set backs but, I just have to remain supportive and have faith that she will get it even if it takes twenty one days (or longer).

HaPpY sT. PaDdy'S dAy!!!

I hope everyone is having a great St. Patrick's Day. I also hope everyone remembered to wear green so they didn't get pinched. Ever wonder where the whole pinching thing came from? Well I'm a curious person that loves factoids. Basically I'm a plethora of useless knowledge. I just wanted to share my findings on where the whole pinching thing came from. This excerpt came from wikianswers.com:

It's thought that the pinching started in the early 1700s, about the time that awareness of St. Patrick's as a holiday came to the fore, too, in Boston, in the Massachusetts colony. They thought if you wore green, it made you invisible to the Leprechauns, which was good because they would pinch anyone they could see. So the pinching is to warn and remind you about the Leprechauns. Pinching those not wearing green on St. Patrick's Day is an American tradition, having really nothing to do with Ireland or St. Patrick Wrong. I have lived in Ireland. The truth is, Irish people think Americans are crazy. St. Patrick's Day is not even remotely celebrated over there as heavily as it is in the US.

So there you have it. In case you have ever wondered why people pinch on St. Paddy's Day, now you know!

Great News!

Last week I got some really great news.... Wanna know what it is? I didn't want to blog or post anything on Facebook until I was sure everyone knew. Is it killing you that I still haven't told you. Maybe I shouldn't post just yet. I have to keep my readers in suspense, right? It is like how Soaps always leave you with these cliff hangers on a Friday so you have to watch on Monday. Well, that it is no more to post. Just know that I have some extremely exciting ,life changing, spirit lifting, fabulous, fantastic news to share.... when I feel like sharing. Okay, bye

Are you still reading ?

Cause I'm not gonna tell you.

Stop reading!

I'm really good at keeping secrets.

Ok so if you know me you know that is a total lie.

I mean if you ask me not to tell then I won't. I promise.

Seriously

This is sorta fun.

I got a secret and I'm not gonna tell

Okay fine, the news is...................................................... I"M GOING TO BE AN AUNT AGAIN!!!!!!

My brother and sister-in-law Heather are having another baby. Aidan is going to be a big brother! Maybe they will have a girl. Poor Addison is out numbered on Kevin's side of the family. I love babies. I can't wait to meet the newest member of the Powell family. Sean, Heather and Aidan, we are extremely excited for you all and can't wait for he or she to arrive. Heather is due in October. We will be counting down the months. Heather I wish you a happy, healthy, comfortable pregnancy. I hope you get lots of rest, plenty of foot messages, good food, and lots of loving. Enjoy every kick, jab, hiccup and movement. It is such a wonderful feeling to grow a sweet baby. I have already forgotten what it feels like to be pregnant but love what it feels like to be a Mommy. Let us know if you need anything. I hope you can go natural again Heather. You were definitely my inspiration to do it. All our love! Congrats!!!!!!

A Prayer for Landon

Sweet Baby Landon is having surgery on Wednesday. He has a large communicating hydrocele with a hernia. Just wanted to write him a prayer. We want nothing more then for his surgery to go well and for his pain to subside. We love you so much little guy! Our thoughts and prayer are with you for a speedy recovery.Jeff and Dana let us know if we can help in anyway. If Hayden needs a place to play or stay just call. Love to you all!

Hush Sweet Baby. Landon My Dear, Lie

Still and Slumber

Holy Angels Guard Your Bed.

Heavenly Blessings Without Number

Gently Falling On Your Head

De De's Fixit Shop

I have blogged about my Raggedy Ann Doll before but, I didn't tell you about the horrible accident she encountered. Raggedy Ann istn' just any old doll, she is very special. My Mimi made her for me when I was young. She used to sit in a rocking chair in my room when I was little. When we moved into a new house she was put in the attic. Some how squirrels got into the attic and were apparently really hungry. They actually ate Raggedy Ann's shoes. I was so upset. At that point my Mimi had passed away and I had no way to fix Raggedy Ann.
After I had Addison, I was going through some boxes of toys that were mine as a child. My beautiful Raggedy Ann doll was in one of the boxes. I told Deanna the horrible story of how she lost her shoes. I know Deanna could sew so I asked her to fix my doll so Addison could enjoy her too.
Deanna being the sweet person she is agreed to help. I think when she agreed she didn't know what a daunting task it was going to be. She worked and worked on my poor doll. Finally my sweet dolly was good as new.
It reminded me of a book I had as a child. This little girl takes her doll, who is in bad shape, way worse the Raggedy Ann, to Mr.Bell's Fixit Shop. Mr. Bell promises the girl he will fix her doll good as new. He kept good to his promise and the girl was so happy. I took my doll to De De Fixit shop. She fixed my super special doll. I'm so happy that has been fixed. Now Addi can enjoy the doll and pass her down to her daughter or some special girl in her life. Thanks Deanna for fixing my doll. You are a wonderful mom, mother-in-law and grandma. We love you so much and are very appreciative of all you do for us.

Her smile has never been bigger!

A Day At The Park

Last week Addi and I went to the park with Hillary, John and Cousin Sammy. Hillary and John were in need of some cheering up. Their dog escaped from their yard and was hit by a car :( Marley (the dog) was very badly hurt and surgery was going to be near $10,000 with no guarantee of recovery or quality of life. Hill and John didn't have any choice but, to put him to sleep.

So Hillary thought spending some time with family would cheer them both up. I think the park, the weather and spending time with Sammy and Addi really lifted their spirits.

They took Addi sliding. swinging, walking. I don't think their was an inch of that park we didn't cover. Addi had a blast. She sure does love to slide.

Thanks Hill, John, and Sammy for a great day at the park. We can only hope time will ease your pain. We love you!

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Saturday Addison went to her very first show. We went to the Palace Theatre to see Playhouse Disney. Addison really enjoyed the show. Her favorite part was definitely the singing and dancing. She couldn't wait to see Mickey Mouse. When he finally appeared on stage she said" I gotta go touch him". If I would have let her I think she would have gone right up on stage. It was a great time. I'm glad Addison enjoyed her first show. Here are the best of a few shots I managed to get before my camera battery died which I guess is better then not having my camera at all. I thought I had left my camera at home and was sad I wasn't going to get any pictures at all but, found it at the bottom of the diaper bag. She looks very happy in this photo with Kevin. I promise she had a really good time.

A Day with De De

Last Tuesday we went to the Zoo with De De. The weather was great! I couldn't believe we were all walking around in short sleeves. We saw lots of animals but, my favorite was the monkeys. We actually got to see a Mommy monkey breastfeed her baby. It was the sweetest thing ever. Addison loved watching the baby monkey drink milk. De De was so sweet she took her on a Carousel ride. I was glad she offered to take her since I get really bad motion sickness. After the Zoo we grabbed some lunch and headed home. It was a fantastic day with De De!

How to Catch a Leprechaun- OR in our case how not to!

Lately around the Kuhn house, there has been some "monkey business" going on. Lots of things are missing, lots of tricks have been played and just plain shenanigans. It all started when we made the rainbow cake. You see Leprechauns are attracted to rainbows and that is the exact day all these "mishaps" begin. After doing some research on Leprechauns, Addison and I had no choice but to build a Leprechaun trap. So Addi and I thought we could used something around the house to make our trap. We decided a laundry basket placed upside down would do the trick. The only problem was how could we lour him inside if the basket was flat on the floor. We went outside in search of a huge stick we could use to prop up our basket. Next we needed some good bait to entice the Leprechaun inside the trap and if he made any moves KABOOM the trap would close and we had him trapped! Well of course, we used GREEN BEANS, everyone knows that is how they get their green coloring, duh. So we got a pot and put the can of green beans inside the pot inside the trap and one can to the side of the pot to really draw him in.

Apparently, Addison and I got a little distracted with watching Max and Ruby because after the show we checked the trap and the green beans were gone and so was the pot and the trap was still up and NO Leprechaun was inside.We were absolutely shocked! I don't know where we went wrong. The only trace Leland (the Leprechaun) left was his Green hat and his shamrock sunglasses. Asddison and I were pretty disappointed at this point. Well, this isn't the end of the story....

Addison noticed there were green foot prints coming out of the trap and they lead all the way into her room. There was still hope! We both QUIETLY followed the foot prints, if he was near by we didn't want him to hear us and miss probably our last chance at catching him. We followed each green foot print until we got to dead end we looked up and on Addison's pink chair was.......... A POT OF GOLD (candy)! Addison was so happy to find the pot of gold but, we never did catch Leland. I just know he will be back next year and trust me we will be ready for him!!! Watch out Leland. You may have tricked us this year but, next year we will be waiting for you with a bigger and better Leprechaun trap. I may have to talk to those people in Alabama (on youtube- look up Alabama Leprechaun-so funny you will not regret watching it) and ask them for some pointers.

It's Rainbow Cake and I Helped!

Addison and I are always watching Max and Ruby make cakes. It always seems to be someones birthday on that show. I thought it would be fun to make a cake of our own. Since it was just me and Addison, I couldn't really take a picture of me wearing my apron that matches Addison's. My brother Sean, Sister-in-law Heather and nephew Aidan gave Addison and I matching aprons for Christmas. We wear them all the time but, no one is ever home to capture the two of us in them together so, you only get to see Addison in hers.

I have been wanting to make this cake since I had seen it months ago on the internet. We made a rainbow cake! Addison was such a great helper. She Poured the cake mix in the bowl, cracked the eggs, added water, added oil, and stirred to the best of her ability. Then I divided the batter into 6 different bowls. Each bowl ended up with about 1 and 3/4 cups of batter each. Then Addi mixed some food coloring into each bowl to get my rainbow colors. We used the gel food colors rather than the liquid drops. When each color was mixed, we place batter into 6 separate round 9 inch pans. I baked the cakes in a 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes. After all the cake layers had cooled about ten mins or so, we placed the bottom layer (purple) onto our cake plate. Added a thin layer of frosting. Next, we placed our blue cake layer on top of the frosting. We continued in this manner until we had added all cake layers.
Lastly, we iced the entire cake and added the skittles around the edge and made the rainbow with them. We even made marshmellow clouds. It was a very fun and colorful project. I had a great time and so did Addison. When Addison saw the finished product she was definately wowed! She said," rainbow cake I got to eat it." It reminded me so much of Michelle on Full House. Addison tried to take a bite of the cake before I even cut it. She totally wanted to do the whole 1st birthday cake dive. She was delighted to see the colors inside the cake when we cut into to it. What a fun cake to make. I love the colors. It just makes you feel happy to look at it. It makes you even more happy to eat it. Even the mess was beatuiful!