Gymnastics

Emma Catherine has been taking gymnastics for about a year and (most of the time) she loves it. She takes at The Little Gym and they are fantastic. I took my camera last week and got some cute pictures. It was "show week" so they were supposed to be showing what they have learned this semester.

She is walking on the balance with her teacher, Mr. Keith. She LOVES him!

swinging on the bars

jumping on the air track...it's like a trampoline

jumping off a block

One Year in the Making

For Emma Catherine's first birthday she got this swing. Ryan hung it under our deck and for over a year it has hung there without being touched. Emma Catherine would not swing in it or really even get near it until last night. Out of the blue, she told us that she wanted to swing and she actually enjoyed it. I think she even surprised herself. (The white poles in the background are pieces to a fence that Ryan is building in our backyard. We'll post later about the project.)

When you hear a noise in your toddler's room...

...you should check on her immediately. This morning Ryan and I got up and were getting ready for church and both girls were asleep. Ryan went upstairs to iron his clothes and he heard a crinkling noise coming from Emma Catherine's room. He told me about it when I came upstairs to iron my clothes, but I assured him it was just her moving in her bed and rustling the sheets. We both went back downstairs and I turned the video part of the monitor on and saw that Emma Catherine was laying down in the bed, so I figured I had been right, that she was just moving. I started nursing Bailey and in a few minutes, Emma Catherine starts calling, "mommy, daddy." Ryan went to get her and then said, "oh my goodness" through the monitor. At some point this morning and I still can't figure out when, Emma Catherine went into her bathroom, used her step stool, climbed up onto the counter, and got the bag of chocolate chips that we have been using for potty training. She took it back into her bedroom and her bed was covered with chocolate chips. She had quite a good breakfast, don't you think? I wish we could have gotten pictures but of course, we were in clean up mode. Never a dull moment with a 2 year old!

My 3 month old and my big girl

This week Bailey turned 3 months old. It's crazy that time has passed so quickly. Bailey continues to be a great baby. She is rolling over, smiling, sitting in her Bumbo, and sleeping through the night. She is waking up around 7:30 so I feel really blessed to be getting full night's sleep...thanks Babywise. She also takes good naps at home but lately hasn't been taking good naps in her carrier. I'm hoping that will get better since it seems like we're on the go most mornings.

As for my big girl, Emma Catherine, we are having some difficultly potty training. She wore big girl underwear for a whole week and was doing really well with tee-tee but not with the other. She will not use the potty for poop. (hope this doesn't gross any of you out but this is what I am dealing with) She has pooped in her underwear, pull-up, diaper, and the floor but not in the potty. She and I have also been battling going to the potty when she wakes up, before we go in the car, etc. After a particularly stressful Friday which included her fighting me to the use the potty when she woke up in the morning and before we left for gymnastics, her not participating at gymnastics and pushing another child over a green ball, her pooping in her underwear and then again on the floor, and throwing her lunch on the floor, I have decided to take one battle out of the equation and that is big girl underwear. I'm not sure if it is the right thing and I do feel a little bit like a failure, but I feel like I am disciplining/battling Emma Catherine all day, and the stress of potty training is not helping either one of us. Yesterday afternoon I put her in a pull-up and I will continue to do so for a little while. I will try the big girl underwear again at a later date. My goal would be for her to be potty trained by the time she starts preschool in mid-August, so we'll see. It is not a requirement for the preschool, so I am going to try to not stress about it (which is hard for me), and I am going to pray for wisdom, patience, and perseverance.

On another note, I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend. Our neighborhood pool has opened so we're hoping to go swimming and see if Emma Catherine will like the water this summer. Last summer she wasn't a fan of the pool. This morning I took some pictures of the girls. I thought they looked too cute.

P.S. I am posting using my new laptop. :)

Babysitters Club

As I mentioned in my previous post, my dear friend Carly offered to babysit the girls so Ryan and I could go to dinner without children. It was an unexpected birthday treat for us. Contrary to what Carly may say, she was an excellent babysitter. She fed Emma Catherine, played with both of them, had a photo shoot with both of them, put Bailey to bed, bathed Emma Catherine, and then put her to bed, all before we got home at 9:15. She is an excellent photographer. Here are some of the photos she took.

Bailey's pajamas are on backwards...she didn't mind though

where's Bailey?One of the best smiles that has been caught on camera!

Emma Catherine is showing one of her many boo-boo's from the weekend

Happy Birthday

On Saturday was my 27th birthday and it seems weird that I'm in my late twenties. I know that it isn't old but I am definitely starting to feel older. My sweet friend, Carly, came into town to visit us and she was so much fun and such a help to us. We took Emma Catherine to the mall to play on Saturday morning and I got some new sunglasses because mine were missing. It turned out, though, that they weren't missing at all. Ryan found them Saturday afternoon outside in the front bushes...I wonder how they got there? In the afternoon Ryan stayed with the girls while they napped and Carly and I went shopping at my favorite store...Ann Taylor Loft. That night Carly offered to babysit the girls so Ryan and I could have a night out by ourselves. (more about that in a later post.) We went to J. Alexanders which so yummy. They had a mix up with our table and the host asked us if we minded switching seats. Of course, we didn't care so we moved. Then the manager came over and said that he was sorry and that he would treat us to an appetizer and dessert. We were thrilled! After dinner we went to look for my birthday present, A NEW LAPTOP! All my family is going in together to get it. I am so glad that I'll be able to check email and blog downstairs since I really don't get to come upstairs much. On Sunday we all went to church and then to eat Mexican food, another favorite of mine. When we got back we had a blizzard cake from the DQ. What a fabulous weekend!

Roll Over, Roll Over

We are so excited becausey Bailey rolled over for the first time on Wednesday! I actually missed it because I was chasing Emma Catherine. Yesterday, though, we got out the video camera and got her to roll over again. Hopefully we can upload the video correctly...I am still new at all of this. Hope you enjoy!

Saturday Fun

We had a great day on Saturday. It started by going to a festival in a local park. They had inflatables, crafts, bubbles, food, and pony rides (which Emma Catherine wouldn't do). It was great weather, not too hot. That afternoon while the girls were napping, I went and got a pedicure, which was my Mother's Day present. It was so nice to relax and now I have pretty toes. After the girls woke up, we had a birthday party to go to at a local gymnastics center. Emma Catherine had a great time playing in the gym but honestly, I think her favorite part was the food...pizza, Cheetos, and cupcakes. It was a great weekend to be together as a family.

paci problems

Well, Bailey has started sucking her thumb, and I don't know what to do about it. I would really much rather her use a paci because I've seen so many children have trouble stopping sucking their thumb. I have tried a couple of different pacis. The Nuk kind she seems to take the best of the ones I've tried. Sometimes she won't take a paci at all and even starts gagging. Other times she will take it, but she doesn't hold it in her mouth very long. The problem comes in at night. I tried the paci but as soon as the paci falls out she starts crying and it wakes her up and then she will eventually find her thumb. I am going to keep trying the paci because I do remember Emma Catherine spitting out the paci at first, but she never found her thumb. Maybe Bailey will learn to like the paci and keep it in longer and she will forget about her thumb. If anyone who reads the blog has any suggestions on how to get her to use the paci better, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know. Any helpful hints would be appreciated.

Wordless Wednesday!

First Pictures

Emma Catherine had pictures taken at the church where she goes to Mothers Morning Out and they let me get Bailey's pictures done too. It was difficult to get a good picture with both of them, but I think I think it turned out pretty well.

Potty Training and Other Misc. Pictures

We are working on potty training at the Causey house. Emma Catherine actually went tee-tee in the potty in the fall for the first time and uses it at least once a day but has not been consistent with it. I have tried not to push it too much since we are still adjusting to having Bailey, but we do talk about it a lot. I give her 1 M&M when she tee-tees which sometimes motivates her and sometimes it doesn't. We also have watched Elmo's Potty Time (by her request) about a hundred times. I ask her all the time if she wants to poop in the potty but her response is always no. Today, out of the blue, she decided to tee-tee and poop in the potty all by herself. She wouldn't even let me in the bathroom. She took off her shorts and diaper by herself and closed the bathroom door. We danced around the house and even called Ryan at work so she could tell him. I let her pick out her underwear and she chose Ariel. She wore them all morning and told me when she had to go and did not have an accident. I put a diaper on her for her nap and while she was napping I was so excited because I thought we were on our way. Of course, things are not always easy with her. When she got up from her nap, I fully expected her to want to tee-tee and then put back on her big girl underwear but that wasn't the case. She wouldn't go near the potty and wanted nothing to do with her big girl underwear. Oh well, we'll keep working! After we put on her new underwear, I did manage to snap a few pictures.

She's quite the poser

She has just discovered the wonderful world of play dough. Look at the only play dough toys I could find around our house...a plastic fork and knife. She didn't know the difference. On Thursday she woke up very grumpy from her nap and she didn't want to talk to me, so she went in Bailey's room and hid in basket. I had to turn around so I wouldn't laugh out loud.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Hooray...it's May! I have always loved the month of May probably because my birthday is May but also because in school there was always so much going on...parties, graduations, awards ceremonies, etc. Now I also get to celebrate Mother's Day in May. I also like May because there are flowers everywhere. A few weeks ago my aunt came to visit and she helped us pick out flowers to plant in the front of our house. Ryan planted the flowers and added new mulch. We were so excited to actually have some color outside.