Life With Twins---Potty Training Take 4

We've been a pretty big failure as far as potty training goes, so please take my words with that in mind. Everyone always says that it's hard and especially if you have a boy. I'm here to tell you that potty training twins is no picnic. I've wanted to throw in the towel countless times and resign myself to the fact that they'll be in pull-ups forever. I've done more laundry, outfit changes, and throwing away of soiled undies than I really ever thought possible. We've done naked days that seemingly turn into weeks. 

The one giving me the hardest time is Naomi. The Girl.

I think it's mostly because she's stubborn and want to do things in her own time. 

Peeing in a potty when you want her to---no way. 

Here's where she really tricked us: For about three weeks, we thought she was potty trained. And then she decided she wasn't interested anymore. We tried everything. We had potty candies, naked days, lots of celebrating, and even some time outs for accidents. 

Nothing worked. What was hardest was when one was "getting it," the other child was having accident after accident. Then they would switch. It's really enough to make you a little crazy & Mark and I talked a lot about why it felt so much harder than with our eldest. 

Then we got real about how we weren't really being consistent enough. We would stretch the reminders too far. We didn't have potty breaks built into the routine and just thought they'd go when needed. We dropped off using the potty candies too quickly and just trusted they were done. Obviously they weren't done. So we started over. We built in breaks and started using the potty candies again. EVERYTIME. I even carry some in my purse for away from home potty breaks.
For my kids, one piece of candy does magical things.

The new thing that we started was a treasure box. I filled it with Dum-Dums, stickers, Smarties, toy dinos and other $1 store treats. Any time they poop in the potty they get a treasure. Creating that treasure box was a genius move.
Who knew that my kids would do almost anything for a Dum-Dum?

I'm not ready to say that we've got it totally figured out, but it's been a little over two weeks and we've had very little accidents. In fact, both kids are sleeping diaperless at night too---a decision they made on their own. I just make sure and wake them up for a quick potty trip before I get in bed.

In writing this up, I wanted to be the voice of imperfection about potty training. I've seen and heard too many things lately about how easy it was, and so and so practically trained themselves. At first, I had a pity party and declared myself the worst mother ever.
Then I realized that I'm in a whole different world than most mommas. Doing anything with two kids is just going to be different and sometimes harder. I've got two very independent and headstrong little people to tend to. We've got to be kinder to ourselves and realize that parenting is an imperfect system filled with all sorts of bumps in the road.
Potty training is one of those bumps that hopefully we'll soon be over. 

Project Life Week 19

Disclaimer: If you don't like bare toddler bottoms you might want click away. This post is full of them. I'm pretty certain this won't be the last time you see them either. My kids are notorious for spending the majority of the summer in the backyard quite commando. I couldn't resist playing up the photo a bit since it's my favorite shot of the week. 

Here's the whole spread:

One of the last things we did for Mia's birthday was take her to the American Girl store. She had no clue we were going and was so excited once she figured it out. My mom gave her a small budget and she also got to give one of her dolls a hair makeover. She was thrilled and was so glad to have her birthday money with her. I used some leftover fabric (from an early Mother's Day gift from the twins) as a background piece and played up all the colors with stickers. 

Here's the bums in full view. LOL! 

I printed the photo out as 9x4 and then cut it down to three 3x4s to fit into the three slots. I used a Seafoam This is What Life Looks Like journaling card to write about them. 

The photos from the Nature & Science Museum are from a Daddy and Mia date. I love when Mark sends me photos of their outings. Mia set up her own photo of her swimming with the manatees because she knows I love them! 

The twins' school has a Mother's Day tea and my mother-in-law & I went. The senses card worked perfectly for capturing the event. 

Every morning I have little tea thieves that steal the last (usually cold) bit of my tea. I snapped this photo of Naomi as she took her last sip. The journaling card is from Ali Edwards and the little heart paper is from an Amy Tangerine line. 

The twins and I spent a good portion of the week sick. It got so bad that we went to the doctor and they gave Hollis a nebulizer treatment. To keep him calm we played with the camera on my phone until the treatment was over.  We were sent home with inhalers and antibiotics and are starting to feel a lot better. I'm ready for us all to be healthy again. 

 Mia made me an awesome poster for Mother's Day and so I snapped a photo of it. 

After a pretty rough night of coughing and feeling generally icky, I sent Mark to the grocery for cough drops. He came back with flowers and ice cream. He's a keeper. 

Once the germs started to lift we needed to get out of the house. It was a beautiful day and so we headed to the pond. I used my Sharpie paint pen to draw a border and write a simple sentence about the day. I wanted to let the picturesque scene take center stage. 

I'm linking up with The Mom Creative for her weekly share. 

You can find out more at BeckyHiggins.com.

A Doll for Abby

I wanted to share with you one of the projects that I've been working on lately. This is Flora. I believe she was renamed Cinderella by a sweet little girl named Abby. Abby's Aunt Kate is one of my favorite people in the whole world and when she asked me to make something special for Abby, I couldn't wait. Abby's got a rough year ahead of her--her mom just left for basic training and having something to love on is perfect for her. 

I've been playing with the pattern a bit---adding real ribbons and buttons. I also added sleeves to little Flora's dress. The original pattern is from this shop on Etsy and I'm so grateful that she's allowed me to use it! 

If you'd like your own little girl doll, feel free to contact me! I'll be having an online sale on my Instagram feed soon, too. 

Project Life Week 18

This week was our daughter's 8th birthday and I knew it would be heavy with photos of her this week.  It'll be fun to look back at this week and know pretty instantly that it was a week all about her. She was thrilled with the idea of a "birthday week" and all the extra attention she got from us!

I did sneak in some photos of the other kids (and Mark) from earlier in the week. 

Here's the full spread:

Creating a sticker banner is an easy way to jazz up the week and help signify that something special happened. I usually don't do much with the date cards so it stands out right away when you're flipping through our book.

I was also lucky enough to snap a photo of Naomi jumping off a small wall at the park. This photo evokes a feeling of freedom and glee for me. 

At the beginning of the week, we went to a local park and I snapped a few photos of everyone. I don't often get one of Mark and Naomi so this one is awesome to have. 

I got some great model-esque photos of Mia. I used one of them as a sort of mini-header to the rest of the spread.
When you have a lot of great photos it can be hard to not want to include them all. It's okay to not do an insert. Just pick a few that speak to the overall day and let the others sit in your photo library for a while. Something else will come up that you can use them for!

The warmer weather has us spending a lot more time outside. One night we took the Striders to the park and the twins had a blast riding them around. Hollis found a little ramp to coast down and he was so proud of himself.

I just love this photo. 

The second page of the week is all about the various ways we celebrated Mia. 

Her and I went out for a special sushi dinner date. 

The whole family ate at Red Robin and the waitstaff sang to her. Anything where you can be the center of attention is your favorite. 

One present she got was a horse riding clinic. Now she can live out her Saddle Club fantasies. 

I added a photo of one of her other favorite gifts--Friends Lego Stable set. 

She's one lucky girl.

On Friday, her school had Immigration Day. I went to the thrift store and found an apron, head scarf,  and dress. She was so excited to get to dress up and she made it through Ellis Island safely. 

I let the last two photos pretty much alone. Mia picked out a DQ Blizzard cake mostly because of the horse theme. I love her face when she saw it for the first time all aglow!

I'm linking up with The Mom Creative and her weekly Project Life share.

You can find out more about Project Life here. 

Eight Years Old

Mia---

This week you turned eight and we decided to celebrate as much as we could this year. We declared it birthday week and you got a trip to the park, sushi dinner with mom, Red Robin, a soccer game, and a trip to the nature and science museum. We also agreed to host your first ever sleepover party. There will be seven friends coming to stay and you are beyond thrilled--even though I'm a little scared.

I think you deserve a year that was a little over the top and really celebrates the year to come. 

This year we've begun to see you grow into such a smart, independent, and passionate young girl. There are less and less arguments and more calm negotiations. 

Your one goal seems to be to get people to see and hear you---really listen to you. Sometimes this can come at the worst of times, but you are teaching us everyday patience and the art of focusing on the here and now. You like to sing, dance, and create performances for anyone who will listen. Your favorite part of school is music class. At a recent school concert you sang louder than anyone there and were so excited to have a small group part to sing. This past year you started piano and have decided to give up dance. You seem to thrive in the activities where you are one on one with the teacher.
You are fascinated with all things horses and we've signed you up for a riding clinic in June. This all stems from your discovery of the show Saddle Club and your friendship with Sasha who is also obsessed with horses. 

You have a whole world in your head that you want to share. You make elaborate plans for the way the world should work and can get heartbroken if they don't fall into place like you think they should. You are headstrong and passionate, but also ever-changing in your likes and dislikes. Sometimes it can make making you happy difficult, but we are pretty lucky that simply spending time with you goes a long way.

Everyday your dad and I feel incredibly blessed that we've gotten to watch you grow. It's still amazing that we have an eight year old, but we wouldn't change a thing. You teach us so much about how to be parents and for that we thank you. We may not say it enough, but we are so proud of you and grateful that you are in our family. We love how much you love being a big sister and how tender you can be with Hollis & Naomi.

Sweet girl, know that we are loved and admired for your intelligence, passion, humor, and beauty.
We love you so very much.

Momma.

Project Life Week 17

This past week was another tough one for this Momma. I had Hollis home most of the week with a mystery fever. I still managed to capture some sweet moments from the week, but I definitely felt a little  tapped when it came to putting together this spread. Keeping it simple and breaking up my journaling sessions helped ensure that I got it done and stayed on top of it this week!

Hollis spent most of the week curled up in our bed. He would ask so sweetly for us to come lay with him when he needed some company. I took a self portrait of us together. Before the fever hit I took the twins to get their haircut. They love to go and get so quiet and serious when in the chair. I used a circle tag cut in half to hide busy things in the background of the photo.

My friend Heather was in town and we travelled down to my favorite fabric store Fancy Tiger. They snapped this photo of us in front of their amazing quilt! I met Heather on the way to Quiltcon in the airport and we've kept track of each other since. I love when and internet friend becomes a real friend.

I added a photo of Hollis watching Curious George on the iPad and a great shot of Naomi napping on the couch. 

I don't often get to see Mia's piano lessons, but on this day I went without the babies. 

I snapped a sly picture on my iPhone.

I've been working in the yard and while Hollis rested, Naomi searched for worms. She loved holding them, talking to them, and teaching them to swim---despite my best efforts to explain that worms can't swim. 

I never imagined I'd have two worm photos but after a weeding session I looked up to find all three kids had created a worm habitat and were reading Diary of a Worm to their new friends. 

I love how "carefully" Naomi is holding her worm as they listen to the story.

With the weather so nice we've been able to start walking more. We spent one morning at the ponds and met up with some ducks. They had absolutely no fear of Naomi and were coming close to her with the hopes that she had bread. 

She may have a real gift with animals----she always seems to calm them down and be so gentle with them.

One of the things I am loving most to add is a small recap of the week. Mine usually take the form of a bulleted list and feature events not necessarily featured by the photos. These "currently" Seafoam kit cards are perfect for lists that you want to remember. 

You'll probably see these senses cards quite a bit as we dig out of winter and into Spring. Everything feels so fresh & new and it's fun to capture that with these cards that are in the Seafoam kit. 

I'm linking up with The Mom Creative for her weekly share. 

You can find out more about Project Life here. 

A Quilt for Ci-Ci

As I was working on Jacob's Quilt, I got a request for a girl's I Spy quilt. Let me tell you, I haven't had the chance to work on a girl's one since finishing Naomi's quilt 2 years ago. Little Ci-Ci loves elephants, Elmo, the beach, princesses and her little white puppy. It was fun to go through all my "girly" novelty fabrics!

Both Ci-Ci's mom and Grandma are modern quilters so I wanted to honor that feel in her quilt too. I found this fabulous wood grain fabric to use as a border and added this fun Erin McMorris floral print. 

Bindings always look good with a little polka dots or stripes!!

I hand tied the quilt to bind it with a pink embroidery floss that blends well with the pink polka triangles. My favorite part is finding and putting together all the hexagons. There are so many little treasures there for Ci-Ci to discover. 

I changed the templates I was using slightly and so Ci-Ci is getting a slightly larger quilt than normal. It'll be be perfect to spread on her nursery floor!

Remind me next time to photograph before washing it! 

The backing is a Northcutt solid. I found this amazing ombre print called Coquette from Chez Moi. I inserted a piece of the wood grain fabric to break it up a little. 

And so soon this quilt will be in the hands of Ci-Ci's grandma. I feel so lucky and blessed to have been entrusted to make this for little Ci-Ci. I hope it provides lots of playtime, joy, & comfort.