Sooooo..... Friday morning to Sunday night we had DRY PANTIES!!!! :D There was an overnight mishap (probably more my fault due to giving Emma Kate a big drink before bed...) and then a little slip up Monday morning, but we are on a clean and dry streak again! The Dora temporary tattoos have long since been finished out, and only occasionally does she ask for one, then she is content to get a MONSTER BLUE (blueberry) or a sticker instead as a reward for dry panties. She has been really good about going on her own, and sometimes will just disappear, then a few moments later we hear the potty music playing!!! Last night she went right to bed, no stalling or practice runs after I said that was it, but tonight she was up and down for about an hour or so, making practice runs and standing at the top of the stairs at the gate waiting for me to notice. It's so hard to say "go back to bed and don't get out... unless you have to go potty... and I mean really potty... not practice..." I'm not exactly certain that she gets the concept of really having to go vs practice, but sometimes it seems to work.

Gretta has had a rough couple of days- I hope it's just teething... She's been happy most of the time, but will just suddenly scream and cry for no other apparent reason. She also woke up from her nap today and after bed tonight screaming bloody murder. It took a while to settle her back down this afternoon, but was much better tonight. So far she's doing really well with her solid foods, and really seems to enjoy being a part of the table.

We're hoping to catch a killer tonight- a raccoon has been killing our chickens lately- we have lost I think 6 hens in the last 2-3 weeks, plus having Dan die, we are down to only two hens left. Luckily the broody one is still there, and we are constantly reinforcing the coop- last night the raccoon actually pried off a piece of siding on the coop and dragged one hen out through there. Unbelievable. We've got a trap set tonight with sardines in it, so hopefully we can put a stop to this. We're going to be heading to the beach Wednesday morning, and I would hate to leave with the killer still on the loose, it would be a real shame to lose more chickens. Shoot, it's a real shame that we have lost all that we have so far. Let's hope he falls for the trap.

Potty success continues!!

Emma Kate was dry overnight and has been dry all day! EVERY peepee and poopoo has been IN THE POTTY!!!!! She is so proud of herself for keeping her nice panties dry, and she talks about it a lot. She did wake up once last night crying and calling for help, and when I went to her, she said she had to go potty- as I helped her to the bathroom, she continued crying, and when I asked about her panties, she said they were wet. She sat on the potty and continued to cry, and when I checked her panties, they were bone dry... hmmmm. I didn't know what to make of it, she said she was done on the potty, and she went right back to sleep as soon as she was back in bed. Maybe a dream about going potty??? She has continued to stall bedtime and naptime by continuously saying she had to go potty, and I finally put my foot down today- at nap time, she did go peepee in the potty, but then she kept insisting that she had to go, and made a few "practice runs" without any production. Each time she got back in bed she wanted to cuddle. I told her firmly that naptime is time for sleeping and not time for practicing going potty. I let her make one more run, and when she didn't produce anything again, I pointed out that she was practicing. I told her that she was taking up all her cuddle time practicing and that she was done going potty for now. She was upset for literally about a minute, and then she was silent- she fell asleep so fast. I was relieved that it worked, and since waking up, she has gone on her own again and seems just as enthusiastic about keeping her panties dry, so hopefully I didn't cause too much of a backslide with my choice of words. We'll see shortly how bedtime goes. We did have quite the accomplishment today though, we went into town and spent a couple hours including lunch at Olive Garden. We brought the potty with us and set it up in front of the car in a secluded parking spot. She made one dry run, then she made a peepee run! She made one more practice run before we left. We were so excited to see that she can do it even when we're away from home! And luckily we didn't have any desperate "I need to potty" comments while driving... We'll be heading in to get Gretta a vaccine monday morning and I just hope we can get the initial pottying out of the way in time to hit the road and not be late. We'll see how it goes! We're quite proud of our Emma Kate!!! :)

Here are some pictures to accompany the most recent posts...

Daddy recently found Emma Kate a play stroller, after she was so amused by one at Totter's Otterville in Cincy... she has had so much fun playing with her dolls in it and asked to take it with us into town this morning!! Not bad for an "under $3" purchase!! :)

Here's another Emma Kate shot- apparently a self-portrait of her foot and leg, hoping to document her potty success by showing how many Dora tattoos she has on there- she is quite covered, and honestly we're getting near the end of the supply... :/

Emma Kate's other recent accomplishment is a higher degree of proficiency at getting dressed! She often times can do it without any help, and the other night she apparently got panties, shorts, and a shirt out for bed and put them on while I was taking care of Gretta... I had no idea that's what she was working on! Also please note the lovely Hello Kitty panties and the multitude of success tattoos!! :)

I shot this around the bathroom door during one of Emma Kate's self-initiated practice runs... she had no idea I was there and was just having a great time, talking to herself and anyone else who cared to listen. She was so cute.

Here's the much anticipated "sweet potato face" shot!

These are some shots I took at dusk tonight- it was so pretty, with these heavy looking purple-gray clouds on a gorgeous blue/pink/yellow sky. Pictures just don't do it justice! First shot is southeast

Next is the southwest, towards the garden. Please ignore the laundry on the line- I had to stop mid- line to get my camera before the sky changed too much!

And lastly our view to the west. It was quite stunning, again, not quite as amazing in the picture unfortunately...

Potty training is going very well!!! Emma Kate woke up yesterday morning dry, and proceeded to keep herself clean and dry all day long! It was a bit of a crazy night, with an accident around 11pm, and then she woke up at 5:30am saying she needed to peepee- she got to the potty and did actually pee, but then I realized her panties were already wet... I think she's figuring it out though- she has been dry all day long today as well! She has perfected the art of the "stall" technique now though, and it is nearly impossible to get her to go down for a nap or bedtime- she constantly says she needs to go potty as soon as she is laid down, and then it is usually a practice run, or she manages to get out a tiny bit of pee which then sets in motion all the resulting actions of cleaning up, praising her, and doing her rewards. It's quite the conundrum, since I don't want to discourage her from going to the potty if she needs to go, but somehow I need to make it clear that when it's time to sleep it is no longer time to "practice" going potty... without making her think I'm saying not to go potty!! Luckily she slept this morning in the car for an early nap while we were orchestrating dropping the Volvo off in town, beacuse I could NOT get her to stay in her bed this afternoon for her nap! I finally had to get her dressed and out of the house and get something else for her to focus on besides the potty!!!! Tonight she was pulling the same stunts as prior nights, but luckily tonight it only lasted an hour before I was able to convince her that she was all done going potty for the moment and it was time to go to sleep. I still had to stay with her until she was asleep (I tried getting up about 4 times), otherwise she would be up and in the bathroom again. I still can't for the life of me tell if she is peeing a tiny amount and cutting off the stream so she can go again later, or if she's emptying her bladder and then future attempts are just waiting for a little urine to accumulate so that she can get her rewards... she's a crafty little one! :) By the way, this is all more for my benefit of documenting the process for future reference, not that I think anyone else reading the blog really has all that much interest in the details of Emma Kate's pottying!! :) She's doing great though, I am thrilled to be where we are in the process in about a week's time! And she is so proud of her dry panties and going in the potty- the grin on her face says it all!!!

As for the little Gretta baby, she is doing really well too- she is getting so strong standing and will often times stand holding onto something with one hand stretched out. She did get a knee up on the bottom stair just this evening, so hopefully that doesn't mean we're going to be stair climbing already... We've been offering her food at our meals and she seems really interested in regular food- she was NOT into cereal mixed in breastmilk at all, and that is putting it lightly. A lot of foods have been offered in the mesh feeding bag, like grapes, blueberries, apple, melons, raspberries, etc, and she has started eating mashed up avocado really well too. Tonight was her first night trying sweet potato and she LOVED it! I was surprised at how much she ate, and she got it ALL over herself! We had a quick bath and then off to bed while Emma Kate was still in the tub- luckily Greg is home tonight and could help keep Emma Kate occupied while I got Gretta down- it is inevitable that when Gretta is just freshly asleep and I'm almost ready to move her into her crib, Emma Kate does something in the potty and I have to respond! Poor little Gretta has been cheated out of many a nap and decent bedtime because of potty success in the last week!!! I never would have imagined that potty training would upset our nice, well-established routine so much for both girls... I guess you never know how one child will handle it! I'm trying to be sure to always remind myself of how well Emma Kate is doing with it all and try to take the rest in stride- hopefully once this is all old hat things will settle back down again for both of them...

They are darn juicy peaches!

Potty update

So, we're on day 6 of potty training I think. Emma Kate has really done extremely well in the last few days... it was a bit of a rough start, but I think once she had a couple of successes and saw how wonderful the response was, she decided it was worthwhile to change!! Amazingly enough, she is quite the pro at pooping in the toilet (yes, I am going to discuss potty details here so jump ahead if you're grossed out!) and so far she has only misfired ONCE!!! She is doing well with the peepee part too, but has a few accidents each day. She's sort of funny, you can *definitely* tell when she is needing to go, and she will often times do practice runs, but as soon as her bottom hits the seat, she says "all done" and pulls her panties back up. She usually gets a bit fretful around this time, asking to be held, and fussing some. So far it seems the most success is gained when we sort of ignore the potty issue and let her decide completely on her own when it is time to go, listen for the potty to play music, and then swoop in yelling and cheering! She has had so many successes while I am nursing Gretta down for a nap- I don't know if it's because she knows she has to be quiet and that I am tied up or what, but it works! She did it twice like that yesterday AND today, plus today while Gretta slept this morning, I took a shower while Greg did some errands in town, and Emma Kate was playing with a matching game outside the bathroom door. I was in the middle of shaving my leg when I heard the potty sing!! Of course I had to dash out of the shower, leg still covered in shaving cream, dripping all over the place, and celebrate her success! I had no other option!!! :P So far we've just been laying on the praise and telling her how proud everyone is of her, and every time she succeeds she gets to pick out 2 Dora temporary tattoos to put on- she loves it! We just started today giving her one M&M when we randomly ask her if her panties are dry and they are. She's learned this pretty fast- now she will tell us her panties are dry and ask for a "treat" but that's not exactly how this is supposed to work... :) Yesterday I offered to take the girls on a walk before it occurred to me that we'd be in a tight spot with the potty situation, but Emma Kate was so excited about "going down the gravel road" that I couldn't go back on it... I had to use a bungee cord to secure the potty on to the back of the stroller and head out with my fingers crossed. Despite my efforts... she had a little accident on our friends' porch right in front of their front door! Of course all this happened as a giant thunderstorm was gathering... so we had to cut it short and pack up to rush home. Got home to blue skies with thunder long in the distance. :( Anyhow, we are still plugging away at the training and hope to be fairly confident before heading to the beach at the end of the month!

Here are a few recent pictures! Emma Kate ready to pick blueberries- the pink bucket was perfect, so similar to the little blue bucket Dora uses in their "Berry Hunt" episode that she likes so much... we always joke about why Dora didn't choose the pink bucket... Only downside is the size- we fill it up too fast and have to find another container to put more berries in!! :)

Here is a sample of the goodies we're getting off our bushes- they are sweet and juicy and wonderful!!! And some of them are truly monsters!!!

I think Gretta is trying to tell me something here... no, I'm not ready to give you a cup, little one... :)

Gretta is pulling up to standing now, no longer bending over to do it- she stands fully upright and can reach up quite far! She has already gotten into trouble this way at least once or twice, and we're having to really baby proof again, there's so much more in her reach now.

I don't think our new plumber knows what she's doing... :) Gretta is fascinated with Emma Kate's potties, and she actually figured out (like Emma Kate did soon after we bought them) that the music reward can be activated by touching the little metal plates in the bottom of the bowl!

The little cutie, so happy with herself! She has been such a good girl recently, keeping herself entertained with some pretty random kitchen stuff... :) And she has been mostly patient while I'm working with Emma Kate and the potty... except when she decides she wants to close it up while Emma Kate is sitting on it! Emma Kate responds... "Oh, Gretta!!"

Two big steps to note!! Gretta is pulling to full-on standing, no longer bending over but completely standing upright! She is really getting around and is into EVERYTHING as usual, but now we have to make sure everything is high enough to be out of reach when she stands up! Crazy, she has only been crawling for a month, and now at 7 1/2 months she is up on her feet! Also noteworthy- we started potty training Emma Kate 2 days ago, and I think we have lift off! She is doing incredibly well, with a couple of successful peepees and poopoos today I think she realizes how proud we are of her when she does it right! We really needed to have a couple good ones so she knew exactly what she was aiming for, and it has made a big difference in her attitude! Surely there is a long way to go still, but pretty exciting progress in a very short time!!! We are all slowly recovering from our yucks- all of us girls are hopefully in the final stages of the cold we have been fighting... and we will be so glad to say goodbye to it!!!

Here it is, already Thursday morning, and we are having a pretty quiet morning, getting ready to head to the airport to fly back home from Cincinnati- Emma Kate got scoped Tuesday morning and Dr. Rutter felt like things looked good- still somewhat strange looking in there, but nice and open and fully functional. Her left vocal cord is still assumed to be paralyzed, but he was surprised to find that it is still identical to the right side- apparently the paralyzed cord usually shrinks and thins out pretty noticeably. Don't know quite what to make of this, but I guess it's just incidental. The pig bronchus is still closed off to a small slit, and we're probably going to involve a pulmonologist at her next appointment so that they can go into it and see what all it supplies- he expects it's not leading to anything terribly significant but feels it's important to check out, since it hasn't really opened up over time. He wants to see her back in 6-9 months, and we will likely plan to come back in December.

We have had a good time here, despite the 3 of us girls having head colds and coughs... We got to go to the zoo after Emma Kate recovered from her scoping- last time we went it was winter and most of the exhibits were closed down. We got to see lots of cool animals, and the coolest thing of all was the cheetah run- there were two cheetahs that they let chase a lure zig-zagged across a field- it was SPECTACULAR! What amazing animals they are. We had a great time, and ended the visit with a ride on the train, where Gretta passed out asleep and Emma Kate started to really get drowsy... she had a great nap, not even waking up when we moved her from the car to the bed.

Wednesday we met up with some friends to go to Totter's Otterville, a children's play area, and spent a few hours playing- Emma Kate had a blast, playing in the ball pit, playground, kitchen area, water tables, building blocks, trains, and so much more! They even had a padded area for little tots and Gretta loved it.

We're packing up right now to head to the airport in a couple hours and will be home by dinner time. Hopefully Emma Kate will pick back up on her eating again- I don't know if it's just being away from home or this cold, but she's been very quick to say "all done" at meals and snack time. Usually after even just one bite. I'm not quite sure what she's running on any more... It will be good to get back on a regular routine again soon, and hopefully that will help.

Here's Miss Gretta Garoo after eating some watermelon- she's been enjoying a lot of fruits in her mesh feeder, and is trying to work on a little bit of banana too. She does enjoy getting all wet and sticky, and I'm pretty sure she's figured out the game of "I toss it on the ground and you pick it up"

Here is Emma Kate in the children's zoo area, petting the goats- they were so friendly and gentle.

Riding the carousel

And riding the train- Emma Kate started out bright and alert...

... then quickly became quiet and started to "zone"

And here is the final result-

Playing at the water tables with Manning

One of her favorite things- pushing the baby around in the stroller!

Trying on tutus in the balet area

Showing off her dance skills

Gretta was excited to find a pair of shoes to match her outfit

Gretta attending the baby conference in the corner

Balancing on the rolls in the tots section

And Gretta having fun on the mats!

Happy baby!! :)

Gretta doing her best lizard impression

And just before leaving, Emma Kate and Daddy did a smashing job painting her face!

So here are a few pictures to catch up- there are a lot more, but they are on other people's cameras! :)

Here's Emma Kate enjoying the bubble machine- she was running up and down this strip of grass and just making all kinds of funny noises and screams, she was having such a blast!

Gretta was mesmerized by Emma Kate's craziness, she quite enjoyed the bubble machine too!

Emma Kate showing off one of her new favorite sundresses, unfortunately I spent the whole week taking pictures with a smudge on the lens... :(

Showing off her butterfly boots

Working in the garden with Daddy- she was such a big helper, tilling up the soil, digging rows, planting beans... no plant is safe when she has a tool in her hand! She's getting better about knowing which plants are to be left alone- "to grow, grow, grow" as she says...

Pictures are still to come... we've been dealing with another family crisis- Mom (Mimi) woke up Sunday morning feeling extremely weak and sick, and over a few hours was feeling well enough to crawl into the car to get back home. After no improvement and possible deterioration through the day, she finally went to the ER and got examined. A CT was performed and they concluded that she was bleeding from her spleen. They suspect that the CMV that she had been battling for weeks had apparently taken it's toll and weakened her spleen to the point that I guess it ruptured (I'm a little hazy on the details of what exactly the pathogenesis was). She was taken to surgery in the middle of the night and had her spleen removed. She is currently in the SICU and pretty well doped up on Morphine. She will be there for a few days before moving to a regular room. We're not sure how long she will be in the hospital. We understand that she is doing well, is comfortable, and is pretty sedate. We plan to head that way to help out however we can before leaving for Cincinnati on Monday.

A great day for a great party!

We've been busy lately making plans for the "Thank you" party for friends and community members who helped get us through our tough times last winter, and finally the day arrived. We had gorgeous weather, a wonderful setup, and a lot of great people showed up! It was wonderful to see everyone and get a chance to say thank you, we had a delicious lunch and played fun games! The music was a great backdrop to the party, and even the kids were venturing out around the farm exploring things and having fun. Emma Kate warmed up to so many people and was having a blast, even skipping her nap didn't seem like a problem! We were so touched that so many people traveled long distances to be here with us, and we are so thankful! We will be putting up some pictures soon, there are a lot to post from the last week or two that have been building up- things have been so busy here (I find myself saying that an awful lot!) and I have yet to get around to it!