It's a .......

Lila is very excited!

New Things All The Time

The reason I started this blog is to help track a lot of the stuff Lila does since I'm not great at writing things down in her baby book.  I'm going to try my best to remember some stuff for this post.

She is a hoot.  She is a brat. She is the sweetest thing you could ever imagine.  :)

My child loves football and basketball.  Since football went on so long for us in Harrisburg, she's still trying to accept that there is no more football and that now it's time for basketball.  Anytime we go to the basketball game she tells us that she wants to go to the football game.  Maybe by February she'll have basketball down.  :)  Lila LOVES to cheer.  I mean LOVES it.  She is obsessed with the cheerleaders.  She is getting pom poms for Christmas.  Her cheerleading uniform is too small this year too so she may also be getting that.  She will be set to go.  Everything is also "Go Capel" at our house.  She even cheers for him when we're watching NFL on TV.  Apparently he didn't tell us he went pro in football.  And it's him because if we tell her it's not, we get yelled at and put in our places.  LOL

Daddy still can't accept that she loves to cheer, but I say whatever!!!

Lila is one of the most loving toddlers I've ever been around.  She loves getting and giving kisses.  I love getting them from here.  The best feeling in the world is when she just grabs my faces and kisses both cheeks and then gives me a big fat one on the lips.  I swear I want a million of them.  Around her second birthday, for the first time ever, she grabbed me and said "I lub you mommy" to me without me having to say it back.  Talk about making you want to cry.  Oh my.  I have never heard sweeter words come from someone's mouth in my life.

Not only is she loving, but she's honestly very very polite.  I don't know where she gets it...LOL...just kidding.  We do teach her manners, no matter what my mom tells you.  She says "thank you", which just in this past week has turned into "thanks" out of nowhere.  We have to get her to say "please" most of the time, but every once in a while she will say it on her own.  She says "cuse me", "bwess you", among others.  We are so proud of her manners.

She loves drinking coffee in the morning with me if we're home together.  Lord help me now.  She's even got her own cup to drink it.

About 3 weeks ago she got her ear's pierced.  She has been asking for earrings since July.  I was hesitant and she knew it was going to hurt, but she took it like a champ.  She hasn't been gung ho on letting me clean them.  And (shame shame shame) I haven't been cleaning them like I should.  Luckily she twists them on her own and I think that helps.  Anyway, she loves them.

You can kinda see them here.  Side note, the lady that got the earrings out of the cabinet grabbed the WRONG ones.  They are a size bigger than the ones that I wanted for her.  Thankfully, they don't look too ridiculous on her.  She's just blingin' a little.  :)

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from our little kitty cat!  She told us about three weeks ago that she wanted to be a kitty cat, so we thought, "ok, we'll see how long this lasts".  She never changed her mind.  So Lila Jane was a cute little black kitty cat this year.  :)

We went trick or treating at all of our family and friend's houses.  She was such a good girl and only got scared a couple times.  :)  I have to say she's a pretty cute cat.

He cousin Ally was cat too. 

The Big News

I'm sorry I haven't been updating much and I'm really disappointed in myself because this has always been the best way for me to document what Lila is doing and at what age she is doing it.  :(  So I'm going to try to update some pictures from her 2nd birthday and some other fun adventures we've been on since the last time I posted!

So the big news is that...

Lila is very excited that she will be getting a baby sister or brother.  It should be too much longer before we can maybe see what's in there!  LOL

Other things as of late...

Lately

Eating Fujiyama

Swinging at Nanna's

Concentrating hard on coloring

Playing by the fan with Dad

She looks so big here!  I can't believe it.

Back to a Routine

Thankfully, we are getting back in a routine now that school is back in session.  While we soooooo appreciate all the help we had and days off we had during the summer, Lila was just all out of sorts, never knowing where she was going the next day.  Going back to full time at daycare and been amazing.

In less than a month my baby will be turning 2 years old.  How is it even possible that two years have had a chance to pass.  It's insane.  I know people tell you have fast it goes, but WOW...it really does.

She has started a ritual where now every day she has to ask me who all is coming to her birthday.  She will say, "Daddy come to birfday me?".  "Yes Daddy is coming to a birthday for you.".  This goes on and on until she can no longer think of any family members or friends.  Sometimes this happens more than once a day. :)

Lila is having an owl themed birthday party this year.  I picked it out.  Everyone said I better pick this year because from here on out she will want to pick.  So I went with owls.  Once I got everything ordered, I got excited about it all.  She woke up the very next morning looked straight in my eyes and the first words out of her mouth were "Mommy, I like a monkey birfday".  Seriously?  I can't win.  Needless to say we're sticking with the owls.  I'm hoping she doesn't tell everyone at her birthday party that she wanted a monkey birfday.  :)

Lila Jane has also learned the infamous "Big Dogs" cheer.  Our mascot is the Bulldogs and my brother plays football.  She goes and gets her pom poms and says the whole cheer.  Poor daddy.  He made the comment the other day that he wants her to play sports.  LOL  I think we still have time before she makes that decision. :)

We are ready for more football on Friday night!

Vaca Pics

As promised, here are a few pics from our family vacation!

Florida

Today is our last day at the beach.  It has been the best week anyone could ask for.  The first day we got here and it started raining immediately.  The second day, it rained ALL DAY!  We were scared when the forecast said storms everyday this week.  Thankfully, just like our meteorologists at home, the ones here are wrong all the time too.  :)  There were a couple hours every day that the clouds took over, but the rest of the day was great.  Lila took to the beach quite after the first few hours of being pretty unhappy with the way the sad stuck to every part of her body.

I'm planning on posting a few of our pictures once I get home and get them organized on the computer.  Stay tuned for some awesome pics of our first vaca with Lila.

Vacation Countdown

In less than a week, we will be departing to Destin, FL for our family vacation.  I am sooo excited I can't even stand it.  I can't wait to post all of our pictures from the beach.  If I could live on the beach, I would.  I love it so much.  Stay tuned for a post of my fave places and pics!

In other news, I had to bust my streak of no going to Walmart.  Saturday, I had to run in and out really quick to get a birthday present for a little boy and I just wasn't sure that the dollar store would have anything he wanted.  I ran in and out and escaped spending only $11.  Whew!

I have recently become certified to be a personal trainer.  I love working out and running and for about 10 years have wanted to help others get the job done.  I have developed an interest in group fitness classes as well and can't wait to help teach at our local gym!  I'm so excited about our new fall line-up of classes.  I'm really wanting to do a lunchtime spin class so those of us who can only make it to the gym at lunch can get our cardio in!  I'm also interested in becoming certified to teach Pilates.  I love it so much more than yoga.  I'll keep you in the loop and as soon as they get the new schedule, I'll post it for you!!!

Here is the Facebook page for the gym where I workout.  If you live in Harrisburg and are not a member, you need to be one!  :)

Potty Training

I wasn't going to make a post about this yet because I didn't want to jinx anything, but now I know that we're well into it and there's still going to be lots of ups and downs.  We are well into potty training our little Lila.  I had always hoped that she would take an interest in potty training early, but honestly had expected to be buying diapers for at least 6 more months.  Lila will be 22 months old this month and we couldn't be more proud of her.

Here's our story and how potty training worked for us.

In February of this year, I bought a book on Amazon called Stress-Free Potty Training.

I started reading the book knowing that Lila wasn't ready, but preparing myself for when the time came.  The book was pretty awesome, I think.  It had an introduction on what kind of things to look for to see when your child might be ready.  Things not to do in the process.  What I found most amazing is that they broke the book down into different personality types and once you determined your child's personality by taking a quiz that Neil and I both took without know each other's answers, you simply read that chapter (or two depending on how close the scores were) and used those methods to help potty train your child.

It was amazing.  I still knew that she really wasn't ready.  We had a potty seat which we had put out before, but she hated sitting on it.  One of the things in the book said, don't push it.  If they scream and want to get off, let them off.  Making them hate the potty will only make matters worse.  I went by that rule.  Every few weeks we would get the potty back out and see if she wanted to sit on it again.  She never wanted to.

The next step we took was "naked time".  I'm pretty sure that this was the life changing step.  Since about May she has been naked most of the time at home.  Yes, she would pee anywhere and everywhere, but that was ok.  It tells you in the book to keep them in a place where you're not worried about pee getting on the floor.  Most of our house is hard wood floors, so it really didn't matter to me.  If she did pee on the rug or the carpet in one of the bedrooms, it was just like cleaning up after the dogs when we were potty training them.  LOL

So she peed and peed...a lot.  She peed everywhere.  We started getting the hang of sitting on the potty about a month ago.  Again, I wasn't pushing anything, but if she started to pee on the floor, I picked her up and ran to the potty really quick and sat her down.  When she finished peeing in the potty, I would give her an M&M or something similar that she liked.  I eventually started picking up on cues that she needed to go.  If she was playing and running around and then suddenly stopped, I knew she was about to pee.  So we would run into the bathroom really fast.

This went on for about a month.  Then, a little over a week ago, I read this blog about potty training in one day.  I think I found the blog link on Pinterest...another reason why I love that damn site so much.  I still didn't think I could do it in a day, but decided to use many of her tips and tricks to speed up the process.  She had been showing more and more signs that she may be ready.  I would catch her outside playing or if we were swimming at my grandma's swimming, we would go pee in the yard like Elizabeth (my grandma's dog).  She would squat in the yard.  She's going to be a champion road tripper one day.  :)  Anyway, I digress.

So last week I was off work on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday so it was the perfect opportunity to make the move and see if she truly was ready.  By Friday morning we had gone pee enough times successfully on the potty, I thought, she might be ready for panties.  I called my Aunt JJ who lives across the street from me and asked her if she had any of my little cousin's panties from when she was a wee kid.  Thankfully, she did and we put on panties.  It was an experience for the first few hours.  She peed in a couple pair and then she started getting the hang of it.  We have been in panties ever since.  I am proud to say that she has only had a few accidents in the past week.  I think that reading this blog helped me out tremendously even if we didn't do it in one day.

She still hasn't gotten the hang of pooping in the potty and poops in her pants at least once a day, but we can work on that.  I am confident that she will get there in no time at all.  (Fingers crossed)

I will say one thing that I think is so very important.  When they're ready, they're ready.  It's kinda like crawling or walking.  If they aren't ready, they aren't going to do it.  It will only make things worse on you and set them back a little further.  If you read this book, watch for the signs that they are ready.  They may show some signs and not others.  All kids are ready at different times so don't be discouraged if they are not showing signs yet.  :)

A "pin" a week

I have been "pinning" all kinds of stuff lately on Pinterest and it's safe to say that I have an addiction.  I've decided that while I continue to "pin" awesome things, I also need to take time to actually make some of the things that I'm pinning.  My first thought was to do a "pin" a day, but I know that that is NEVER going to happen.  Plus we're going on vacation in a couple weeks and I definitely won't do it then.  I thought that starting out with a "pin" a week would be good.  If I'm rockin' and rollin' on getting these "pins" done, I might kick it up to two a week.  We'll see.  Here are just some of the items that I've "pinned" and want to make/do.

If you follow me on Pinterest, you can go through all my boards and see the details of all my pins!  Click on the description to see where the "pins" originated.

Our bathroom could use some organization because it's so small.  Every little bit can help.

I'm going to make one of these for Lila for football season.  Possibly with Uncle Capel's # on the back!  I'm also going to make one for my friend's baby Sam.  He also has an uncle on the football team!  His will be more "manly" of course!  :)

Another option for baby Sam.

Any design you can think of!

I have tons of corks and who can't use more magnets for the fridge?

Something cute like this with maybe brown ribbon for fall!

So that's a few things that I want to do.  I'll be writing some post on which ones I do and show you how my stuff turns out!  :)

UPDATE:  The "No Walmart" thing is really working out.  I'm really not missing it at all.  I've done most of my shopping at the dollar stores in town and grocery stores.  We did have to go to Target the other day to get Lila panties though.  That's another story for another day. :)

Summer Stuff

There are several things I love about summer, but the clothes/fashion is way towards the top.  Here are some of my fave trends this summer.  Some of which I hope to be taking with me to the beach when we go on vaca later this month.  Wooooohooooooo

These picks are mostly on the more affordable side of the spectrum.  I may do a "I can dream, right?" post one of these days.  :)

Essie: fear or desire from Essie.com

Love this one piece suit from J. Crew.

Flounced Leopard Print Dress from Forever21

Merona Mink Ostrich Tote from Target

LOVE Adult Rompers - Crisscross Romper from Forever21

Mossimo Supply Co. aqua Colorblock Floppy Hat from Target

Sequined Swing Cami from Forever21

Nike Womens' Fast Pace Run Tank from Dick's Sporting Goods

Nike Side Panel Printed Pacer Shorts from Dick's Sporting Goods

I'd like to be able to get every item here, but I don't think it's in our budget right now.  Oh well, that's the price you pay, quite literally, when your life is blessed with a child.  :)  I'll take having to wear the same clothes over and over if I get to look at her sweet face every day!

Parrothead weekend

We had a wonderful, fun filled weekend!  Neil and I went to Chicago to a Jimmy Buffett concert.  This was my third and his FIRST!  I think he is sold.  Jimmy has the best concerts ever.  The tailgating before was awesome!  We walked around the parking lot and "toured" all the other tailgaters' setups.  Wow.  There are some nuts out there. :)  We lost our friends, but ended up finding each other back at the limo.  We love Jimmy!