The Liebster - Q&As!

My blog-turned real life friend, Sarah from Seeing All Sides nominated me for this "award" last week, which is essentially a fun way to answer some questions about yourself and your blog so readers can get to know you (if they don't already) or those that do can learn more. 

So here I go!  Thanks for the fun post, Sarah!

Here are the questions Sarah gave me:

1. Why did you start blogging?

My friend, Erica, had started a blog back in 2009 and then after a ridiculous email chain from my friends and I when I was going on and on and the weirdest stories ever - I decided that it was necessary to document these crazy things somewhere.  Enter this blog. 

2. How has your blog changed through the years?

Ha - well if you have been reading this blog recently...you are well aware it isn't about my super random stories (although I wish it would) and more just a documentation of my life as a mom and our two wonderful kids.  It's been so fun to see it evolve full of random stories to all about our engagement and wedding to pregnancy and now our life with kids as parents!

3. What is your favorite post and why?  Provide a link to it!

Is this even acceptable to say this is one of my favorites: Gym Stalking?  Lol - it's not even that funny if you don't know Jimmy and I, but it's fun to go back and read it and think about our lives pre-kids and how goofy we were and so carefree in love.  It reminds me of how much I really do love that man - even if it's so hard to find time for "us" time now! (but this one is funny too about registering...oh Jimmy)

4. What have you learned through blogging?

Blogging is so interesting to me but over the last seven years of doing it, I still love it for just the same reasons I started.  I just wish I had more time to write the posts that I think about and write in my mind that are more about what I'm thinking now as a mom randomly - I feel like they have to be so much more structured now.  I think that's why I like to go back to the beginning and read how ridiculous those were!  

5. If you could meet one blogger friend in real-life, who would you choose?

There are lots of blogs I follow that I think it would be so interesting to meet them in person - but so strange at the same time!  I remember when Sarah and I started commenting on each other's blogs about possibly meeting and when we actually did a little over a year ago - I was so nervous because online relationships I feel like can be so different.  But guess what?  It turned out that we did become real life friends, so that's made me more open to the idea for sure!  I do really like getting the small glimpses into people's lives through their blogs and a few of the ladies I would love to meet in real life are Sara from Running from the Law (would love to talk to her about how she seems to balance it all as a working mama + awesome blogger - and she's from just across the state in STL!) and also would love to meet Christina from North Carolina Charm - she has had a pretty few hard obstacles this past year and always has such a positive attitude - I feel like she would be so fun to meet in real-life!

6. What is your favorite social media platform and why?

I really like Instagram (really I only use Instagram and Facebook - haven't allowed myself to get into the others as I feel like I'm already out of time keeping up with those two - but my husband is into Twitter, Periscope and Snapchat now - oh my Jimmy!).   I like it because I love the variety of people's pictures, comments and the small community on it (if you like to keep the community smaller).

7. What was the last thing you ordered online?

Paw Patrol birthday present for a FOUR year old birthday present on Saturday for Jack (on Amazon Prime of course - my lifeline)!  So sad I have to miss out celebrating because I'm throwing my sister a bridal shower that day at the same time - but Charlie and Jimmy will be there (dressed as Superman!).  It's hard to believe Jack is already 4 and my baby boy will be 4 in just a few months - time flies.

8. What is your favorite place in your house and why?

Hmmm - I really like the sitting/TV area in our master bedroom.  Most nights it's my space that I can work or blog and watch TV after the kiddos go to bed.  But I also LOVE my closet - I do lots of stuff in there (which is incredibly weird, I know).

9. What are you most looking forward to this summer?

Cannot wait for June 4 for my sister to get married!!!!  So exciting!

And July is a BIG month for us since Maddie turns 2 on July 4, we are going to add a little brother or sister to our bunch around July 21 and then Charlie turns 4 July 31 (throw in celebrating July 4th holiday and my dad's birthday too and it makes for an exciting month!)

10. What is the last vacation you took?

Legit vacation??  Jimmy and I went to Mexico last May together and it was incredible.  Seriously, amazing.  Combined work/vacation?  I have been to London twice since last June for work and in June tagged on a trip to Paris too (my parents and sister tagged along) and it was awesome!

11. If you could choose another job different than what you have now, what would you choose?

Surprise, surprise...I would honestly stay in the same realm of what I do now (finance) but it would be working with people on their personal finances and teaching them the basics of a budget, insurance, job offers, etc. and how to live within the budget and plan for the future.  So obviously this sounds like a financial planner - but really I'd love to focus on those less fortunate and kids in college and even high school.  Just think that setting yourself up for a good financial profile early on is SOOOOO important that young adults don't realize the decisions they make could impact the rest of their life and would love to be that person to educate them on it and their personal situation.

1.  I was born in Houston, Texas - so does that make me a native Texan!? Ha!

2. I'm a manager of financial planning and analysis department at a global stock exchange

3. I'm a HUGE morning person - it's weird.

4. I'm an extrovert and very outgoing, but I love a quiet house and need it so much every now and then

5. I was terrified finding out that Maddie was a girl because I never had a brother!

6.  My family and I are obsessed with wiener dogs (had two that had to be put down last summer) :)

7.  I love unsweetened tea a lot - but also love diet Pepsi with a splash of cherry (thanks Quik Trip!)

8.  Speaking of - I'm obsessed with Quik Trip.  Their drinks, their pretzels, their hot dogs.  It's amazing

9. I drive a minivan and it's literally my favorite thing ever

10. I'm trying to read the whole bible (and not getting very far...but trying!)

11.  I found a new love for working out and love how I feel when I do it first thing in the morning

Here are the bloggers that I nominate to participate:

Lizze at This Happy Life

Desiree at Macke Monologues

Stephanie at Wife Mommy Me

Terra at Heck of a Bunch

Here are the questions for the above bloggers to answer:

1. Why did you start blogging?
2. How has your blog changed through the years?
3. What is your favorite post and why?  Provide a link to it!
4. What is your favorite thing about blogging? 
5. Favorite TV show and/or type of music?
6. Favorite hobby or hidden talent?
7. Dream job or what would you do (besides what you do now)?
8. What is your favorite place in your house and why?
9. What are you most looking forward to this summer?
10. Favorite vacation spot or upcoming vacation?
11. What would you tell your 16 year old self for advice for the future?

***

If you've never heard of the Liebster award, it's an online recognition given by bloggers to other new bloggers for enjoying their work.  The intent behind it is to award awesome, new, up and coming blogs within our community.

Official Rules of the Liebster Award

Thank the Blogger that nominated you in your post and link back to their site

Display the Liebster Award logo on your blog

Answer 11 questions from the Blogger that nominated you

Tell your readers 11 random facts about you

Nominate 5-11 Bloggers with less than 1000 followers for the Liebster Awards

Ask your nominees to answer 11 questions

22 weeks flew by

I got all crazy this week with my leopard shirt!

How Far Along?  22 weeks (as of a week and a half ago).  Maybe I'll be up to date soon.

Size of Baby: about the size of a papaya (12.7-20.8oz)

Gender: It's a SURPRISE! 

Weight Gain: 16-17lbs  - even with exercising and eating healthy the baby weight is adding up and the baby is growing - good news!

Nursery: No...I repeat no progress at all.  Not even a little bit.  

Movement: So so fun!!  There is progress on this and I'm just loving feeling this baby move - even at the worst time because I just love feeling the babe move.

Symptoms: So those veins?  Haha.  They just keep getting bigger and more sore.  These kids are just too much to keep up with sometimes.  But at I'm not completely miserable all the time - I'm still able to exercise (which is awesome) and not waddling (yet) so I'll take it! 

Sleep:  WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY OTHER CHILDREN!?  Let's just say that I really hope they get their act together when we have a newborn that is waking up every 2-3 hours because if they don't I'm going to be an even bigger mess.

Cravings: I did split a Sonic chocolate shake with my two babes this week - none of us minded!

What I Miss: Not wanting to go to be at like 7:30 :)

Best Moment This Week: Loved celebrating Easter with the family and had a great, long weekend!

Panic Moment This Week: How in the world are we going to survive when we are outnumbered!  LOL!  But then there is more panic that in literally 4 months our world will turn upside down and become so much more full of love (and insanity!)

Looking Forward To:  Moving the guest room furniture downstairs and the crib up.  Picking a paint color and a color to paint the dresser.  Oh and cleaning out the closet in there.  Just add it to my list!!!

Easter 2016 weekend

Oh holidays.  I love them and despise them all at the same time.

I love them because it's good time with family, lots of food, fun activities, etc.

I hate them because of all the prep I feel like I have to do - which most of the time I never do :)  And even though I don't do it, mom guilt in me feels like I should do it.  But then I don't because there is never enough time.

But guess what?  At the end of the day, I still do really love them, missed naps, lack of preparation, long days, tired bodies and all.  Because of the looks on my kids faces.

Goofy and all (who can seriously get a decent picture these days with little kids?!  If so, tell me your secret!) the looks on their faces when they are told it's time for another Easter egg hunt - or they get to see another family member they love or the Easter bunny did end up stopping by (even though that was questionable because a certain someone woke up at 5AM again) or the cute looks they give you when you ask them to kiss.  

Because those are the moments that make the stress of the holidays as a mom totally worth it.

Oh and the moment when their Nana busts out the silly string at Easter for the second year in a row and squirts you with it!  Charlie will now officially never stop talking about it!!  Haha!

We started our Saturday with a long drive to my cousin's new house to have dinner with my mom's side of the family and enjoyed a delicious lunch (complete with 3 of my grandmother's homemade pies!!!) and an Easter egg hunt that my cousin and her husband hosted.  

We had lunch and then headed for our long drive home in which the kiddos napped - then went straight to church for the annual Easter egg hunt.  We ran into lots of friends - but oh man, seeing Kate is just the cherry on top of the day for Charlie.  These two are two peas in a pod!

Instead of going to church right after the hunt/activities which we usually do - we figured with no naps and a long day that our kids would be a bit of a mess in the church child care, so we went home and enjoyed a quick dinner before an early bedtime. Then Jimmy went to watch the KU game with his family - and ehhhh that didn't turn out too well.  Sorry Jimbo  - both of our brackets are busted.

As I mentioned, the next morning the Easter bunny passed up our house at first - and then on his way out of our neighborhood, decided to drop a few things off in their baskets.  And the kids were thrilled.  Charlie loved all his Cars 2 cars and Maddie did love her make up.  So much!

We seriously went out in a snowstorm for 8AM church.  Seriously.  SNOW STORM!!  At the end of March?!?  It was crazy!  Luckily I had some warmer clothes that matched and looked cute but seriously - it was FREEZING!  My mom came over after church and brought some more Easter goodies that the kids loved!

After naps (that were decent) - we headed over to Jimmy's parents house and all of sudden it was almost 60 degrees and perfect weather for the annual Carter Easter egg hunt!

And seriously?!  These 10 cousins - are the best.  (Obviously Charlie was SOOO into the picture).  But I love how all their personalities have started to come out - especially Will in this picture - lol he is hilarious!

When we got home, before baths, Maddie convinced her dad to be her first test subject on her play make up and of course, he couldn't say no.  How freaking cute are they!?

The Easter holiday and message is just one that I love so much.  Listening to the Easter story of the hope that Jesus' resurrection brings to us all is one that I could listen to over and over again.  It does give me hope.  The perfect amount of hope that I needed to hear about and feel restored again.  It's crazy how the same message you hear each year can have a different meaning for your life in each stage.  It's always good to hear again and again.

Hope you and your family had a blessed Easter weekend!

Good Friday Five

It's Good Friday!  Can't wait to celebrate Easter this weekend with my family!

{ONE}

Speaking of Easter - there are no assembled baskets at this house to share quite yet, as Charlie and Maddie need to use their Easter baskets to collect eggs and goodies at our church Easter egg hunt on Saturday afternoon - but the goodies have been purchased.  I'm super excited about Maddie's present and hoping that she loves it!  She's obsessed with my make up and loves the big brushes, etc.  I don't have expensive make up, so don't mind if she plays with it (to an extent). However, when I want to throw on some bronzer and she flips out that I want my brush back - yeah....not so fun.

I found this little number on Amazon of all places!  I originally found it on Etsy but of course didn't plan ahead enough for that shipping so when I found the same thing from the same seller on Amazon with Prime Shipping I couldn't order it fast enough.  It gets great reviews and I really hope she likes it!

{TWO}

Another recent Amazon purchase that we are loving so much?  This built in potty seat.

While it's obviously not cheap it's SOOO nice having in our downstairs bathroom for Maddie the potty queen.  We have two little potties from IKEA that we used with Charlie, but sometimes those are just gross to dump out, etc (especially while pregnant) and especially where your guests also go to the bathroom.  I saw this at my sister in law's parents house that they had for their granddaughter who is a little older than Maddie.  It's amazing and I really think has made when we have to use the potty in public a lot less painful for us both!  We both think it's TOTALLY worth the money!

{THREE}

So I mentioned last week that I might start watching The Catch....I don't even now if that was on or not (and might still watch it later)...but I did watch a show randomly that was on after The Voice called Heartbeat.  And guess what?  I loved it!!  If you are a Grey's Anatomy fan (or ever were - I used to be and stopped watching Grey's a long time ago) - be sure to check it out!  It's on Wednesday's at 7CST!

{FOUR}

HELP! Why do I feel like I'm the ONLY person in the world that my almost 4 year old wakes up between 5-5:30AM like everyday?  I cannot handle it anymore!!!

Any tips?  We have the alarm clock that turns green (worked for like a month) but nothing seems to work.  And for some reason I freak out when he wakes up because that's literally my only alone time to work out or read, etc. that I have and I love that time.  Some days he doesn't bother us (you know - when I let him watch my phone), but other days he just comes in when I'm working out and begs to play/eat breakfast/poop/etc.  We will try anything!!

Good thing he's cute.

{FIVE}

On top of a fun date night that me and the kids had on Tuesday when Jimmy went to a concert with my parents (and date night, I mean go to CVS and buy probiotics for Maddie because she had a viral stomach bug causing diarrhea and then to Sonic to split a chocolate shake!), we are having a day date today since their school is closed and so is the stock market.  We have a fun day planned of Little Monkey Bizness, visiting dad at work then lunch and then a play date!  Starting off the weekend off right!

Wishing everyone a fabulous Easter weekend.  It's one of my favorite weekend's of the year!

Linking up with:

Sept Farm | Oh hey Friday!

Carolina Charm | Five on Friday

Momfessionals | Friday Favorites 

Be Brave

At my work, our communications department sends out an email every morning letting everyone know of articles and industry happenings that happened the previous day.  The girl that sends them out most mornings is in charge of communications in our London office and is amazing and has the best sense of humor.  In addition to sending our all the news about the stock market, she also will randomly include hilarious links to videos, pictures and articles non-related to work.  Last week or so, she sent out this article about the importance of teaching the girls and young women of this world to be BRAVE.  And how in today's society we are constantly teaching and encouraging our young men and men to be brave, speak up, pursue the challenging option - but yet many of the young girls and even women in society today we (subconsciously or not) are encouraging them to "play it safe" and take the route in which they know success will come and failure will not.

I love this article.  I love it as a woman and as a mom to a little girl.  No one likes to fail, but isn't it in the failures in life that you learn the most?  The times when it didn't quite go the way that I wanted it to or the path I thought was best or I failed miserably - looking back, those are the times I learned about myself the most.  When I took the risks that didn't feel comfortable.  I need to continue to remind myself of that even in my current stage of life, when it feels easier to do what's easy and comfortable and in my routine - that you don't always have to succeed but in being brave and standing up for yourself and asking for those things that might not seem attainable - that is when true life is lived.

Enjoy this quick article (taken as an excerpt from a TED talk by Reshma Saujani) and read on a Tuesday!  

(PS this is perfect timing as one of my good friends is one of the hosts of Omaha start up week at The Exchange.  She has poured her heart and soul into this as co-founder and I couldn't be more proud!  Way to go Erica!)

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21 weeks!

Happy Monday - I'm going to catch up because (per usual) I'm a week behind!

How Far Along?  21 weeks - as of errrr- a week or so ago :)  I am going to take my 22 week picture only a few days late - which is good!

Size of Baby: about the size of a celery bunch (6.5 - 7lbs)

Gender: It's a SURPRISE! 

Weight Gain: 13-15lbs now, depending on the day.  When people say that I've "popped" they aren't kidding.  This baby bump is in full force.

Nursery: I posted some nursery board inspiration, which I'm hoping to bring together.  I got to Home Depot to pick out white paint samples over the weekend (OMG there are SO many different colors of white people!), so I'll be looking at those.  I need to get the fabric ordered and make Jimmy do a switcheroo of the furniture (i.e. guest room furniture downstairs and white crib that's in the basement upstairs!)

Movement: I am feeling the babe a little more now, which is reassuring.  I am waiting for the bigger kicks.  I do need to take a chill pill every once and a while because I feel like when I get irritated all of a sudden (like when I was folding all the kids laundry and Charlie came in and deliberately walked through all his clean, folded shirts!!! GRRR) and make a quick noise or yell, the baby reacts.  It's weird - and makes me feel the need to chill out (as easy as that is...)

Symptoms: Feeling ok this past week or so - SO glad that food aversions are gone.  So glad.  Just the pressure continues and I cannot stand for too long or sit for too long.  I'm so glad I got my London trip out of the way this pregnancy (versus with Maddie I went to London around this time of the pregnancy) because I'm not sure I could sit for all those long flights like I did.  I have been keeping up exercising and trying to move, but then giving myself a break to sit down and put my legs up because the veins are killing me.

Sleep:  Well thanks to Miss Maddie and her potty training - not getting much of this.  However, I will say now that I'm glad we attempted this now and these are the results versus waiting until after baby s here because I would be a whole lot less patient with her if I had a newborn up every 3 hours to feed + a kid waking up having to pee.  Jimmy is super irritated she's waking up - but she's waking up (once or twice - usually just once around 5) screaming because she has to pee and doesn't want to go in her diaper.  As much as it sucks, I think it's a good thing because she's getting the whole concept completely.  It just sucks so bad because no one wants to get up and do it!

Cravings: Nothing really specific - I will get a type of food that I want in my head and have to have it sooner rather than later.  I.e. the Chinese food we had last night.

What I Miss: Running around with my two other kids!!  I'm able to do it still - but already feeling like I'm large and in charge - and still have 18 weeks (or I guess per this post 19 weeks) to go!

Best Moment This Week: I just love when Charlie or Maddie will randomly come up and kiss my belly.  They do it and it's so sweet.

Panic Moment This Week: Everything nursery.  I want to snap my fingers and have the room ready to go.  Even though the baby will not care, I just want a place to put their clothes, supplies, etc.  

Looking Forward To:  Easter weekend with the family - love the Easter egg hunts and meals and fun!

Five {LUCKY} things

{ONE}

It was St Patrick's Day yesterday, right??!!  

Well I tried to recreate this picture on Thursday morning....

St Patrick's Day 2015

...but instead all I got was one happy-ish kid with the cutest pig tails you have ever seen (she was eating her potty treats) and another one who was SOOOOOO mad that I made him wear the green shirt I bought specifically for the holiday.  Then he didn't want to take a picture so I got in the car to go to work...then he was wailing crying he wanted to take a picture and this is what we got.

St Patrick's Day 2016

HAHA.  Oh to be three.

But at least the green pancakes with Lucky Charm marshmallows made them smile for dinner!

{TWO}

Speaking of St Patrick's Day and the luck of the Irish - even though I'm not the one that is Irish  - I still had some good luck!  There were lots of awesome ladies on Instagram that sponsored a $150 Starbucks giveaway.  I actually already followed all of them except maybe one or two - so really it was the easiest giveaway to enter - and on Thursday morning I got the fun email from Desiree telling me that I won!!

Best news, right?!

I immediately texted Vanessa and Sarah to tell them because they were two of the ladies that hosted - thanks so much - can't wait to put this to good use - especially when baby #3 arrives and I'll need it even more than now!

{THREE}

Some other exciting news this week was on Wednesday when I picked Maddie up from school and they said "Guess what?!!?  No accidents for Miss Maddie!".  So so exciting!!  She is taking to this pottying thing quite well and I'm super impressed.  It's still the normal struggle of asking "do you have to pee?" every ten seconds and then she, of course, says "yes" at like the most inopportune times.  But I'll take no diapers for a few months (minus naps and nighttime when she's still in them for now!)  

We celebrated with a trip to Old McDonald's on Wednesday night for Happy Meal and playing in the play place! 

{FOUR}

Please someone tell me why the age of almost 2 is the most wonderful and the most frustrating at the same time?  Seriously though - this little girl has my heart.  I love her!

{FIVE}

This week concluded a few of the TV shows that I frequent (Bachelor Finale (LOVE that JoJo is going to be the next Bachelorette too!!!!) and How to Get Away with Murder) and started up Nashville again with a beautiful wedding on Wednesday night - and now all these new shows are being advertised and I'm torn.  To watch or not to watch!?  I think it looks a little cheesy, but I love Adam from Parenthood - so I might give it a try!

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Looking forward to a quiet, but cold weekend in KC!  Also, planning to compile some stuff as we get project gender neutral nursery underway (check out the inspiration board here)!!

Oh and just for fun because Molly was loving on my bump today - here is a bump pic!  I have for sure got a round bump that has popped - everyone at work this week was like "wow - you really are showing!" ha.  Even my coworkers in London mentioned it that it's gotten much bigger on the video screen during our video conference calls.  I'm glad it's growing as well as the baby inside!

Have a great weekend - full of friends, family, fun - and of course - March Madness!

Linking up with:

Sept Farm | Oh hey Friday!

Carolina Charm | Five on Friday

Momfessionals | Friday Favorites 

Nursery board

Nursery for gender neutral - easier said than done for me!

And apparently I am putting this off as much as I can by decorating every other room/space in my house (hence the entryway redo, dining room make over).  But Jimmy keeps telling me that I need to get going - mainly so he can get the paint on the walls - but also because he doesn't want me waiting until the end (maybe because then he will have to do all the heavy lifting).  So here is my best attempt to put it all in one space/blog post.

1 & 2 Wall Decor | 3 Dresser color | 4 Changing Pad | 5 Glider | 6 Crib linens | 7 Lamp | 8 Curtains | 9 Rug | 10 Crib sheet | 11 Paint with trim

My #1 thing to do this weekend is I need to go get some paint color samples and figure out what "white" looks best on the walls.  I was struggling with what color because we have cream trim/doors everywhere and I wanted to keep the room lighter (right now it's the standard brownish that is everywhere in our house that the bank painted it before we bought it)...so I'm going to go with it.  I've asked Vanessa to help me (thank you!) because she has a great eye and knack for creating beautiful nurseries - and she's already added some awesome new stuff to my pin board from the Target Pillowfront line and suggested removable wallpaper - I haven't had a chance to look at it but I'm excited to take a look for sure!  What a great idea :)  

My aunt has offered to sew up the bedding and maybe even the curtains for the room - and I'm pumped!  I did all the sewing (except she did the curtains) for Maddie's room - and she's a pro at all this - while it just drives me more crazy than anything.  And the good news is that I already have the dresser - just need to paint - and pretty much the whole room color and decor was built around the fact that we will be using the navy chair again in this baby's room.  We originally bought it for Charlie's room and it's SOOOO comfortable.  We put another chair in Maddie's room and while it matched - it never quite lived up to the comfort of Charlie's.  It's in Maddie's room right now and we have a chair that is perfect for reading in together to put in there when we are ready to move it out.

Oh but before we actually paint - we need to get the guest bedroom furniture in the basement.  Thank goodness Maddie (and we) are not ready for a big girl bed yet - so that's going to storage for now but will live in her room someday in the next few years!!!!

All this baby stuff is making me anxious to actually meet this sweet baby and welcome him/her to their new home!

Happy Friday - hope you have great weekend plans ahead (or no weekend plans - which sometimes those are the best weekends!)!!

Five things from this past week and weekend

Friday came and went - so here's five things from this past week and weekend.  Which were of course, interesting and filled with excitement from our clan.

{ONE}

Let's start by talking about FOOD.  

Do you see all those videos that people share on Facebook that are YouTube videos of making things to eat?  Well every once and a while I stop and can't get enough of it.  I for sure stopped and watched the Southwestern Taco Salad shown on YouTube by Tasty's and it looked DELICIOUS!

And it was delicious and SO easy.  Take a look at the comparison below.

I REALLY liked the dressing too and it was super yummy and easy and I actually had all the ingredients on hand which is even better!  Watch the video in the link above for the details - but I will for sure be making again!

{TWO}

Next up- kids!

Maddie. Sweet Maddie has been attempting to rip off her diaper at every opportunity in the last month when it's wet, telling us she "pottied or pooped" as well as in the last few weeks disappearing into the bathroom and ripping it off.  As seriously horrible and brutal as attempting potty training is in general, Jimmy and I felt like the girl was giving us some signs she was ready for us to at least give her a shot.  Since we didn't have a ton planned this past weekend (vs weekend's past when we were on the go!), we decided to give it a try.  After an early Saturday morning breakfast out and then a trip to the store for some big girl undies - the wheels were in motion.

Saturday stats - 1 pee accident, 1 poop accident (couldn't figure out why it smelled like poop and it was because there was a random poop hanging out - oh my - this is why we don't have nice things!), and 3 successful pees and 1 successful poop.  We didn't leave the house after breakfast (AH!), but Charlie and I did get outside in the front to hunt for worms. I got WAY more frustrated with her for some reason towards the end of the day - luckily Jimmy told me we were not quitting so soon!

Sunday stats - I stayed home with her and got some one on one time while the boys went to church in the morning and she did great!  What's hilarious to me is how incredibly different she and her brother are with this process (and with other things!).  But Charlie would drink when we told him to drink and pee almost on command (even if it was just a little) to always get a treat.  Maddie?  Oh no, she will go when she needs to go.  And {luckily} she will tell you most times (as the weekend progressed), but there was no stuffing mindless water down her and offering up jelly beans - she took the treats when she went, but had to do it when she wanted to - even if it was 5 seconds after we just tried to get her to go.  Second child thing?  Girl thing?  Who knows - I guess I am glad that she sticks to her guns and has a strong will!

The real test is sending her to school. They have potties in her room at school and her teachers have already gotten her to go a few times, so we'll see how it works with just undies on.  We sent lots of reinforcement clothes!  I'm not set that this will actually work (and the doctor said when the new baby comes there is a big potential for regression with her on this...but a few months with NO diapers in our house would be pretty sweet!

*I'm happy to report she got a stellar report from school! Only one accident and 2 poops and 2 potties!! Nice job Maddie cakes!*

Here are a few cute pics of her from this weekend:

{THREE}

While Charlie was a HUGE cheerleader to his sister during the whole process (mainly because he got a treat when she went too) and was constantly saying "Maddie - do you need to go potty?" (which in 3 year old language means - Maddie, I want some jelly beans, so do your thing!), poor guy needed out of the house.  We hunted for worms in our boots on Saturday after it rained all morning, but on Sunday afternoon, we headed to the movies and saw Zootopia. 

First of all - it was PACKED!!  Like the whole place was full (and it was a big theater).

But we had a blast!  This was the first movie I had taken him to (he has been to two others with my sister and her fiance) and he did good.  He was a little restless for a bit, but enjoyed the popcorn, icee and M&Ms as a snack!  Love getting to spend time with him one on one - it makes me realize just how grown up he's getting.  And makes me look forward to more of these fun outings together!

{FOUR}

BASKETBALL.

Oh yes, that was on constantly in our house this weekend.  Constantly.  Lucky for our house, KU won the Big 12 tournament and will be heading to the big dance in Des Moines this week.  Jimmy couldn't be more thrilled.  And neither could his mini me!

{FIVE}

Finally- we attempted an at home date night on Saturday night.  It was a huge fail!! Mainly my fault because I scheduled it and then was so tired by the time the kids got in bed I told Jimmy just to watch basketball and we would reschedule! Now I feel terrible!!!

Maybe next week?! Seriously- making time for kids, marriage, friends, family and work- how does anyone make it all happen?!!?

Cheers to a gorgeous weather week ahead in Kansas City!

Linking up with:

Sept Farm | Oh hey Friday!

Carolina Charm | Five on Friday

Momfessionals | Friday Favorites