It's My Potty

So here's the thing. Grammie gave us a potty a long time ago. It was in the basement, and then when we were bringing up a bunch of baby stuff for Declan, I thought "what the heck, I'll bring this up and see what Tally thinks of it."

Before Declan was born, Talia was obsessed with the potty. I just didn't have it in me at that point to start potty training - and good thing, since I ended up going on bedrest soon after.

Since Declan has been here, Talia has been playing with the potty, but was sometimes terrified of it. Every once in awhile I'd ask her "hey, wanna sit on your potty?" and sometimes she would say yes. When she was fully clothed, she loved it. When she was bare-bum, she would freak out. Meh. She's not even 2 yet, so really, who cares?

So earlier this week Rainer started putting Tally on the potty after her bath, and she didn't freak out. He would read her the potty book and she would squeal with delight. And then one night, she said "All done!" and stood up - and much to our delight, she had, in fact, peed on the potty.

She's been going strong ever since, so yesterday I looked all over the city for the teeniest, tiniest panties you have ever seen. She wore just panties all morning, peed on the potty 3 times and had no accidents. Her daycare provider is practically doing back flips, since she's got 4 little ones all born within 2 weeks of each other, and she's hoping if the other girls see Talia on the potty, they will want to play that game, too!

Coincidentally, while all this was going on, we suspected that she might have a bladder infection. Stupid time to start potty training, right? But she was fine all morning, no fever, and is not showing any signs of discomfort while using the potty, so who knows?

So I'm not sure if she thinks the potty is a fun game, and the novelty will wear off, or if this is the real deal. I'll keep you all posted (I know you won't be able to sleep until you know for sure.)

Mrs. Bringitin

When I was growing up, whenever I went to my Grammie's house (which was a lot, like almost everyday) I would look at the baby dress hanging in the closet in the spare room. When I was born, my Grammie was so thrilled to have a granddaughter. She went to the mall before going to the hospital and bought the tiniest, pinkest, frilliest dress she could find, remembering how hard it was to find clothes small enough for my just-barely-6lb brother. She then went to the hospital with this fancy little dress and met me, her almost 9 lb granddaughter. I never wore the dress, but my Grammie kept it and would always tell me "someday you'll have a little girl who will wear it." As it turns out, I did have a tiny little girl who was a smaller version of her mother, and probably would have fit that little dress perfectly. But the dress somehow got lost after my Grammie died, and Talia never got to wear it, either.

So while I always knew that my Grammie had saved the dress for my future children, I didn't realize my Mom also spent my childhood quietly packing away stuff my future children. Around here, we call her Mrs. Bringitin, as she is always showing up for a weekend visit with boxes and boxes of things for my Dad to haul in from the truck. Talia has all of my old table & chairs set, my Cabbage Patch Kids, My Little Ponies, Smurfs, and the dishes & food from my old kitchen. She also has a few of my outfits. Some are special outfits, like the gown she was Christened in, or the dress I wore in my 1 year picture. Others, like the one she's wearing in this picture, are just everyday things.

I find it difficult to find a balance between keeping the amount of stuff that we have to a reasonable amount, and wanting to save things. I see how thrilled my Mom is to see Talia using the things she saved. I see her tear up when Talia is in one of my old outfits and Grammie gets to go back in time and get a glimpse of her own baby girl from 30 years ago.

But seriously. The basement is out of control. I don't need the crew from Hoarders ringing my doorbell anytime soon, yo. I really need to purge a few things. Maybe. First, I'm going to have a tea party with my daughter and my old friends: Gilberta Rhoda, Alphonso Clayton, and Blanche Joylene. (What was with those old CPK names?!?)

Wanna Know A Secret?

In the last 2 weeks, I have severely limited my sugar and bread intake. I hadn't even realized it had crept up as high as it was, but when my thrush got really bad and I cut out all sugary drinks and treats, it was a pretty big eye-opener.

In the last 2 weeks, I have gone out running almost every second day, either with my Run Club or with my new friend here in town.

In the last 2 weeks, I have continued to drink water like never before, thanks to a fun little challenge put together by my good friend Jac.

In the last 2 weeks, I've lost 4 pounds.

Here's the secret to weight loss that people around the world are dying to know: Drink lots of water, eat good, healthy food, and move around.

I'm a genius! I'm going to make millions of dollars!

ps - no, the thrush isn't really any better. sigh.

Totally Random Updates

- Declan had his 2 month check up. He has gained over 4 lbs since birth and grown 2 inches. He's still only in the 25th percentile for height and weight, but seems huge compared to Talia at this age - he's wearing clothes she wore at 6 months. He's got 2 chins firmly in place and is working on a third.

- Talia made a plaster hand print at daycare, I cry everytime I look at it.

- I'm into my second week in my second season with the St. Adolphe Run Club. "Slow and steady wins the race" is a load of crap, but it does get you across the finish line, and that's what counts, right?

- I've met more people in this last 2 weeks than I have in the previous 3.5 years combined. Seriously. Want to meet new people? Have kids.

- Declan is proving to be an excellent crowd. He howls with laughter when I call him Deckie Weckie Woodle Toodles - which is a take on Daddy's childhood nickname, Chrissy Wissy Woodle Toodles. (Uh, don't mention to the big guy that I told you that, okay?)

- Tomorrow we get to go watch a bunch of accountants try to reclaim their youth at the annual hockey tournament. Last year the chirpy guy on Daddy's team almost started a brawl. (Yeah, a bunch of accountants, coming out swingin'. I wasn't really worried.) Talia is going to be cute as a button in her pink CCM sweat suit and hockey stick, and Declan has a dashing Team Canada onesie for the big occasion.

- We all seem to be on the first day of a bad cold, which sucks, but at least it's Friday. And since Talia is under the weather, the morning nap made a surprise appearance today! Hello, Morning Nap, my old friend. How I've missed you.

- I ordered birth announcements/thank you cards from Black's. I was super excited when they arrived in just 2 days, and super bummed when they were all screwed up and ridiculous. So if you're waiting to be thanked, or for an official announcement of The Goat's birth, keep waiting.

- We've settled into enough of a routine around here that I've read 1 entire book this last week, and am well into a second, both compliments of last weekend's Waffle Club. Ah, books without pictures. I've missed you, too.

Happy Face

Here is a list of things Declan will smile at:

1. his big sister

2. the couch

3. the hanging elephant on his blue chair

4. Daddy

5. the puppies

6. Kristin at bookclub

7. the air moving from the fan in his room

8. his own feet

9. his red sock monkey blanky

10. sneezing

Or, to sum it up:

11. pretty much anything besides Mama

Hrmph.

T.G.I.F.

This is the kind of day it's been here at the Raine house:

Talia keeps crying "Owie!!!" and grabbing at her diaper. No sign of rash but I put her in a disposable and slathered on the Penaten, just to be sure. She's still doing it, though, so who knows what's going on with her? She also feels a little warmer than usual, and I don't trust my stupid ear thermometer, so we're having a clothing optional day today.

While she was in the disposable, I thought it was a good day to have some really fun, messy, quality time together. I put Declan down for his morning nap and we got out the paints and tadoodles. Talia was only interested for about 10 minutes and didn't even make any mess. Hrmph. And it appears as though the only thing to come from our quality time together is a jealous older sister, because when Declan got up from his nap, Talia had a tantrum every time I picked him up, and tried to push him off my lap while I was nursing him. This is the first time she's been outright clingy and jealous, usually she couldn't care less how often I hold the baby and rarely wants me to pick her up. She even let me rock her in the rocking chair, which has NEVER happened, not even as a newborn. She must not be feeling well today, poor bunny.

We got off to a great start with Declan today - he slept from 7pm to 6am, I nursed him, and he went right back to sleep until around 9ish. Woo-hoo! And his spots (which seemed like they might be chicken pox yesterday) had pretty much cleared up by this morning, so I cancelled our doctor's appointment. So of course, after his morning nap, he was covered in them again. Someone on FB mentioned they might be heat rash, I think they may be right. My little Raine babies are just like their Daddy, they walk around at a higher temperature than normal people and always feel warm. So even though we keep their rooms quite cool (ie. Declan's window was open and his fan was running yesterday and today) and don't overdress them (he was just in a light sleeper, swaddled in a light little blanket) they do get warm when they sleep. I put him down for his afternoon nap swaddled, but just wearing a diaper. Hopefully he doesn't get any new spots!

My thrush is still bad enough to make me scream "OOOOOOOOOOH KELLY CLARKSON!" and the grapefruit seed extract (which is awful - really, really awful) gives Declan the screams, so I can only take it once a day (instead of 3 times) after he goes to bed for the night. The house looks like a disaster zone, I am super far behind with the laundry, and Bert pooped in his kennel this morning while we were out for our morning walk. But I have 2 beautiful (albeit one is polka-dotted) sleeping babies and a whole weekend on the horizon. Life is still pretty good, I have to say.

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!

Here we are, departing for our first attempt of Talia walking around the block. She did it like a champ. It is now a regular occurrence everyday that she doesn't go to daycare. Sure, it takes us almost an hour to get all the way around, but what the heck. She doesn't know what birds singing sound like, or what trees look like without leaves, or why all those little things on the road that all look different are all called rocks. She doesn't know why everyone puts their garbage cans out on the same day, or where the stuff in the blue boxes go when that truck comes along. And she certainly doesn't understand why some houses have puppies and some houses don't. So on and on we stroll, stopping to pick up leaves and rocks, waving at all the puppies, being delighted when a car goes by, and asking lots of "Why? Why? Why?"

The highlight of every walk is when Harold down the street puts a collar and leash on the biggest, most beautiful puppy Talia has ever seen, and brings him out for a visit. Echo is the world's most perfect dog. He has endless patience with Talia and loves to receive her enthusiastic hugs and kisses. He usually hangs out off-leash in the front yard, but they leash him up "just in case" when they see Tally coming, since he could easily knock her over with a wag of his tail. (And honestly, no matter how gentle a dog seems, he's still an unpredictable animal, right?)

In other news, I'm back to running tonight, as the St. Adolphe Run Club is back in business. Here's hoping I don't get pregnant again 4 weeks in, like last year! I don't think we're quite ready for #3 yet!!