Snow Day(s) in Utah

Tube Surgery

Ava is having tubes put back in her ears on the 5th! I can't wait, she's had so many ear infections since they fell out in November. She's also having her adenoids taken out this time as well since they are super swollen. We talked about doing tonsils as well but decided it was too much at one time.

She was supposed to have her tear ducts probed as well however its been nearly impossible to get the doctors to coordinate a time that isn't months away.

This is our first year in a while that we haven't had a HSA to pay for the surgery (Well its still our money in the HSA but normally it gets refilled in january then taken out of each pay check after) and since taxes went up we are getting paid less this year than last year! Super bummed.

This will delay some other plans we had for a while till we can get it paid off.  Its hard to say this but it feels like we will never be able to catch a break to be able to come up with the thousands of dollars it will cost to get fertility treatment we need in order to get pregnant again. 

Potty training!

1/16/13 Wearing underwear but just for a few minutes before bath

For my records.... if I ever need to potty train a kid again in like 5-6 years

If you had asked me when we were going to potty train a week ago I would have said... sometime after her 3rd birthday. I haven't had much desire, nor has Ava... well Ava hated diapers but she refused to go on the toilet. What has been going on is she would refuse to wear a diaper and once she needed to go she would want a diaper on and then want it off once she was done. This week I caught her completely undressing herself so that she could take her diaper off and throw it away. I caught her in the throwing it away part. I had been talking to my mom off and on about potty training since she had tried to get Ava to potty train while she was here in October. After talking to her again about it on Tuesday I decided we would just give it a try. I had read about a potty training method and just kinda went with a modified version of it.

The key parts were staying at home without interruptions. Giving them lots of liquids and snacks to give them lots of chances to go and just putting them in underwear and taking them to sit on the toilet every 15-30 minutes. If they went on the toilet give them a treat or a sticker and if they had an accident, immediately take them to the toilet even if there was nothing left and don't get mad at them for any accident or say its bad, etc.

First day she drank and drank and drank and peed and peed and peed on the floor. Every time she would sit on the toilet she would ask for toilet paper and immediately get off. By the evening I was pretty tired. Dan came home and tried helping with it. Finally we were both ready to give up and she asked to go potty! She walked herself into the bathroom, climbed on the toilet herself and went! It was the first time she had intentionally gone (not being an accident that we had caught at the end). I was so excited, Dan told me not to scream with joy as to not scare her!

I thought day 2 would be easier but she decided to take another route that day, she spent most of the day holding it and not going... she ended up having an accident or 2 but then by the evening she intentionally went again. At this point I wasn't totally sold that we were going to finish this potty training process but my mom called and told me to give it 5 days. I felt like maybe I was pushing Ava too much, too soon, but I told her I would give it till Sunday evening. Friday morning we started day 3. By 10:15am she walks right up to me and asks to go potty! She didn't have a single accident and went 6 times that day! I was over the moon that it was clicking :) Saturday was similar but we weren't pushing the liquid like the other 3 days. She had one accident that evening while I was gone, she just didn't tell Dan that she needed to go and she was distracted by a movie. Today was day 5 and she did great again, no accidents.

So here we are a few weeks from her birthday and she's potty trained! She's doing great and I even asked her today if she wanted to wear a diaper or use the potty and she did NOT want to use a diaper :) Woo we did it :)

So far weaning from a bottle, weaning from a pacifier, transitioning from crib to toddler bed to twin size bed... and potty training... All been pretty easy for Ava, but I think potty training was the most work out of all, but still not to bad!

January

January has been Snow snow and more SNOW

Everyday starts with cereal :)

Loves bath time

This girl LOVES her Jessie and Woody dolls

Bananas are one of her favorite foods

Helping give cousin Asher a bath

Knuckles for Kenji

Random Ava notes

Realized Today that she hasn't called Dan "Ava" in a while. She only calls him Dad now. I kind of miss it when she called him Ava all the time!

She woke up extra early yesterday and the first words she said when I opened her door were "Hi mom! Are you tired?" I was tired but so impressed by her little sentence!

She pee'd the ever so tiniest bit on the big toilet today! She's all for sitting on the toilet but she wants to get off of it as soon as possible. She doesn't want to wear diapers, she removes them as soon as they are wet. So hopefully she will want to really start using the 'potty' soon!

She has the most amazing memory, she can quote along with songs, movies, shows... she remembers where she puts things or where things are that we haven't seen or been to in months. She asked to go to the pool when we were at the gym and she hasn't been swimming in there since fall at least.

Speaking of the gym, we go to the Orem Rec Center and all the fitness machines line this one long room that also happens to be the hall you walk into. As we walk in to check in, Ava yells Hi, how you doing, hi guys at everyone working out on the treadmills and bikes :) The elderly are usually the only ones that yell back, occasionally a mom or 2 smile. 

I can't believe that in 2 months she will be 3. It all goes by too fast!

30 pounds gone!

 I've lost 30 pounds! hooray!!!

Happy New Years!!!! 2013