Audrey's doing a great job now going potty! Having a free-standing potty at Angela's has made a huuuuuge difference for her (she just didn't like going on the big one!). Having someone take her often all day is a great help, too. Yesterday after we came home she went potty and I put a pull-up on her (which she loved) and she was able to keep it dry until bedtime - she even wanted out of the bath to go potty!

She shocked me on Monday night by knowing who Tinkerbell is... I was carrying her to her crib, and all of a sudden she was like "ba ba bell! ba ba bell!" I had no clue what she meant, but she was pointing to the shelves on her wall. So I took her over there and she reached out and grabbed a Tinkerbell toy that had been on her first birthday cake. Then I realized what she'd been saying. I guess she's learning a lot from Georgia, an almost-three year old also at Angela's.

I asked Aud yesterday how her day was.
"Good."
I asked her who she'd played with.
"Orja (Georgia), Nonner (Conner), Audie (Audrey)."
Then I asked her if she'd played with Josie (the baby).
"No."
She cracks me up.

We went to Walmart on Friday evening and bought Conner some new tennis shoes. It was late when we got home so he didn't get a chance to wear them, but when he put them on Saturday, he was very happy with how well they worked. His shoes are "very fast and very jumpiful".

catch-up

It's time to play catch-up! It's been a while since I've done a random post... let's see if I can think of what's been going on!

Audrey's learned lots of new phrases (courtesy of the big brother!). The one that's going to drive me the most crazy is when you ask her why and she says "cuz." Lovely. She also knows that when daddy's not home, he's at "erk". I"m sure there's tons more that I just can't think of right now.

Conner's all finished up with his gymnastics classes now. He had a make-up one on Saturday (a snow day from several weeks prior) that Eric took him to. Conner really enjoyed them and I think it was good for his strength and coordination, but now he's ready to get back to swimming! I'm dreading the time when I have to start chasing Audrey around the pool again. I may just stick her in a swimsuit and let her sit by the pool and play (or at least take a change of clothes for her!). T-ball should start sometime in early April - I'm just hoping it's not on Monday nights so that I can still play softball.

Aud's making some good progress with her potty training. I let her go for a while on Saturday morning without a diaper on (she found some panties and wanted to wear them) and a couple of times she came running saying "potty!". Then she sat and peed (always a good thing!). After a couple of times Aud then decided that she didn't want to wear panties or a diaper, so she played for a while with just a sweatshirt (and socks) on. Again, came running a couple of times saying "potty"... When taking her upstairs for her nap after lunch, I noticed a little puddle on the wood floor in the foyer - I guess she didn't do as well as I thought she had! But at least she didn't go on the carpet. I bought a cheap little potty yesterday at Walmart to take to Angela's to hopefully encourage her to go there, too (she hasn't been). Also bought some pull-ups.

Conner's party

Ahhh... the sounds of silence are ringing so sweetly right now. Well, ok, not silence because we have the TV on, but it's nice not to hear fighting or crying or screaming (like there was about an hour ago!). I think some kiddos got really worn out this weekend and have some sleep to catch up on. On that note, it's amazing how strong Audrey is, especially when you're trying to get a diaper and pj's on her and it's the last thing that she wants!

So yesterday we had 8 of Conner's friends over to the house for his Power Ranger birthday party. I think it went pretty well - we had Power Ranger decorations, games, cake, and goodie bags and I tried my hardest to keep the boys occupied.

It was a little tough because 7 of them come over every Thursday night for our small group meetings and basically run around playing, but we dealt with it. I had a Power Ranger craft (a little picture frame they glued together), then we played Hot Potato (ok, not Power Rangers, but they sure enjoyed it!) and Pin the Shield on the Power Ranger. Then we did the cake and presents, and miraculously it was just about time for everyone to go home! The only issue we had (aside from some little-boy fighting) was that I couldn't find the candles that Conner and I bought on Saturday night for his cake. I ended up putting a 3 and 2 on top (because we all know that 3 + 2 = 5!). It looked like he was turning 32, but that was our best option at that point. Conner didn't care either way, as long as he had candles to blow out.

Mom and Dad stayed over and went home this afternoon - it was nice that they were here, especially because I made a doctor's appointment for this afternoon so I could get some anitbiotics for this crazy sinus thing I've got going on. With a busy week coming up I didn't want it to get worse and then not have time to go at all!

Happy birthday Conner!