Spring photos

I LOVE spring weather and we have been taking advantage of it by spending as much time outdoors as possible. Everyone says spring is fleeting in Texas but it seems we've enjoyed a few weeks of this gorgeous weather so maybe it's a good year.

We went to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and I took advantage of taking our "yearly" bluebonnet photos.


Observation tower

I thought Elena did a great job taking this photo so thought I'd post it too.

Spring Break highlights

We spent a nice week with my sister and her kids over for Spring Break. The girls loved having them over and I loved catching up with my big sister too.

At the Children's Museum




Austin Nature Center


Dino pit

Breakfast

Tea Party
Neighborhood movie showing

This was cool. You have to look closely to see it. Our neighborhood had a movie showing under the stars projected onto a screen. I always wish there were drive-ins still and this was the closest thing to it.

Success

I am so impressed with Marisa's potty training. She is truly potty trained...2 accidents, 4 days. I figured I'd record this milestone since it was early and totally caught me by surprise. I had just bought new diaper inserts and a whole pack of diapers too! She's going at home, when we're out and about and she's telling me everytime. The funniest thing is the way she is telling me. My sister and her kids are here visiting and we've all been getting a kick out of it. Basically she just pulls her bottoms down wherever we are!!! Yes! The kite festival, the museum, the Nature Center, she just stops what she's doing, pulls her bottoms down, finds me, and she waddles to the nearest potty. I guess I can say that we'll be working on this part since she's been mooning everyone around her. :) And because the urge strikes so suddenly for her I got her the awesome potty above that has been a lifesaver. It folds neatly in my diaper bag and also works as a seat on the toilet.

I also couldn't help but mention how proud I am of Elena. She is growing up so fast. I use to worry about her focusing skills quite a bit. I often left storytimes that we went to in Belmont because she couldn't focus and pay attention. She was usually doing her own thing. In all fairness, I think I was comparing her to my kindergarten, 5 year old students who mostly sat still when they listened to stories. It was also before her adenoids were removed and she had all those sleep apnea issues. Anyway, I have witnessed her so intently listen to stories now, participate and truly enjoy them because she is following along, and I am so proud of her. Here's a picture of her (in the middle) enjoying storytime at the museum. Meanwhile Marisa was twirling on the floor, but I'm not worried. :)

Kites!

Zilker Kite Festival

Babies no more

And just like that I have two little girls who aren't babies anymore. I know, I should have seen it coming. Heaven knows how many times I've heard, "Enjoy them now while they're little. They grow up too fast." It's not like I didn't know they would not be babies anymore. I try to cherish the moments for this reason, but when you're in the thick of it with the difficult phases and such, things pass you by in a blur. And now well, I'm a little sad that I don't have babies anymore.

For a month or two now Marisa has been consistently removing her diaper just before falling asleep. Every single night I wake up to her calls needing a clean set of pajamas, a clean set of sheets and another diaper that I hope she keeps on so that I don't have to come and repeat the same routine in the middle of the night. For a while the snap cloth diapers were working. Eventually she learned how to remove those, and the zipper pj's, and the snap pj's. This week the same routine began. She wet the bed just before going to sleep. As I was about to put a new diaper on her, she said, "pee,pee" with great persistence as she sat up. We went to the potty and she went. THAT was THAT! It became clearly evident that I could no longer avoid the process; I had to start potty training. It's not that I was opposed to starting potty training now but the average age for girls to be out of diapers is 3 and she's only 27 months old meaning I would be potty training for possibly 9 months! And well it was a breeze with Elena. Just before she turned three she showed signs; I started to train and within two days she was trained. I wanted the same, not a possible nine months of training. But they also say kids are different and well it was obviously inevitable with Marisa. This week she decided to also go number two in the crib (more than once)and remove her diaper. Well you can imagine the mess sooo...there was nothing left to do but take her out of the crib and put her in a bed. And now you know why I don't have babies anymore. No crib, no diapers, no babies.

Last night was the first night in the bed for her. She did great! I put her potty in the room and even left her in panties and she went 3 times before falling asleep. She did wake up wet in the night which I expected, but I'm not quite sure what to do about that yet. She kept removing her pull up and then putting her pants on with nothing else before going to bed. This morning I walked into a room smelling of poo. I was expecting the worse but instead she had removed the dirty diaper I had put in the middle of the night on the floor and put on panties--no mess. She is definitely growing up. And Elena well she has been dry through the night now for over a month.



I was thrilled about this purchase. Unfortunately, Elena's former pink plastic toddler bed stayed in Belmont because Omar couldn't fit it in the moving truck. Luckily our former neighbors picked it up and their 3 year old is getting some use out of it. This week Target had this wooden toddler bed for ~$50. Cheaper than any craigslist ad I found. So if you need a toddler bed go to Target today. They are normally $80 and their sales typically end Sunday. They had a natural wood color too.

UT

All right, all right so I admit that I, an Aggie, was at the UT campus. My best friend Ana, a Longhorn, was on a school field trip (she's a teacher) on the UT campus and we had lunch. And besides it's pretty impossible to avoid anything Longhorn when you live in Austin. Furthermore, for those of you who don't know this I attended UT for a year before transferring to A&M and roomed with Ana. So in my defense it was perfectly fine. Right? Right?

It was actually nice to reminisce about my time here with my good friend back in 1997. And for the record I am a true Aggie although I'm not sure the girls will be with all the longhorn influence here. Incase you didn't notice Elena is holding a UT ball!!! That was Ana's doing.