Claire's 3rd Winter

- She likes to call things shewy (like shewy trash) that she finds on the ground. 

- When she's nervous to do something she clings and says "mama/daddy I got you" in a super hesitant voice.

- She willingly lays her head back in the water, and puts her face in the water. 

- She can put together puzzles! 

- She loves to take toys to bed with her. 

- She loves looking at lights, finding stars and the moon, and talking about helicopters and airplanes, and cooking "lunch"

- Her favorite games are chase, tickle fight, spinning, and hiding in the bed = "where are you?". 

- She has taken a turn and become obsessed with her babies. We talk about them and play with them a lot. 

- In response to questions and statements she will say "yeah" repetitively and louder and louder until you acknowledge. 

- She's into licking right now...

- Outside is still her favorite. 

- She still doesn't talk perfectly clear, but her recall is amazing! We had corn casserole at a meal and later she started talking about the "yummy roll". We asked her what color the corn casserole was and she quickly replied "yellow". She loves identifying things!

- Her retell is also amazing! Last night she told me "pee pee, daddy "yay", candy, thank you!" Meaning: I went pee pee, daddy said "yay" and gave me candy. I told him "thank you"! 

- She is doing well going pee pee on the potty for candy. About to start official potty training. 

- She got her bottom back left 2 year molar 12/22/16 and the top back left on 12/27. 2 years and 1 month. 

- Started potty training on 1/2/17. Info on its own post! 

- She still cant count, but she can keep Rhythm! On an episode of Mickey Mouse, Pete says "1,2,1-2-3" and she will copy the beat but say "2,9,2-9-2". 

- She likes to scare and be scared. 

- She asks "you k, daddy" or "I got you, mommy" a lot. 

- Any time she wants to ride something she says "ride car ride car". For example, Andrew was on his bike and she said "daddy ride car bike". 

- Right now at bedtime, she likes for each of us to have our own book to look at. She even makes Brody lay down so that she can open the book for him and tells him to read it. 

- Her new word to use is "everybody" 

- Starting to put sentences together. 

- Obsessed with singing "happy birthday" (she says Happy Annie) and "the finger song" (daddy finger, daddy finger...). She says "daddy, daddy, where are you, here it is."

- She's over using the /h/ sound, but it's adorable. "Yummy hupper", "I see ho-Ana", "daddy's homing". 

- We went to our first real big movie to see Moana. She did great, but didn't last the whole movie. 

- She's just THE SWEETEST!!! 

- She's beginning to understand different days. She repeated for 2 weeks straight "Papa coming Friday". 

- We came to stay at meme and poppi' some weekend. We had "big sister" photos and video taken and she got her first real hair cut! A significant amount was cut off in the back to give it some shape, but she has a sweet little bob now! 

- She says "I love you" all on her own now! 

- If I brag on her, the thing I was bragging on not happening, will happen within a day. 

- She calls the Little Gym (gymnastics) na-kikik and lists what she does there in a very specific list tone. She says "I play, and swing, and flip, and jump, and ball."

- She's starting to get in trouble other places for being rough and "mean". 

- New things she's saying "a-back a-me" (give it back to me), "err much" (said after "thank you" or "I love you" and means "very much"), "come play", "bo bo move!", "mama hook (look)", "I'm dizzy"

- She has started actually playing with friends. 

• She told me that she needed to poop and ACTUALLY POOPED on the potty on 2/27! 
• She did her first character assignment while playing. Brody was Pluto, mama was Minnie and she was Mickey!
• mastered the art of "being cute" to try to get out of trouble. 
• Speaking of trouble...she's getting into a lot of it. The over use of the word "mine" and phrase "no mama no" while she sways at me is doing me in! 
• She's picking up so many new phrases I can't keep up!! 
• A few words she started saying correctly: Mickey, Pluto, daisy, pizza, Elsa, Rapunzel, rider (Flynn rider), ice cream cone (which I tried to get her to go back to saying Ninnie and she did) , One, burger, purple, Aladdin, bubble, kitchen 
• She got bronchiolitis mid February and something similar again at the beginning of march. (It only required the inhaler for 10 days and the fever reducer. Day 3 was the worst.) 
• 2 of our favorite things she says right now are "a-gee mama/daddy" (for again) and "what _____ haaaaaaay?" (what does ______ say?)
• She finally counted to 3! Woo hoo! 
• I was rocking her and she whispered "mama, where babby?" She lifted my shirt and rubbed my belly and whispered "there it is!" Melted. Then the next night she pat my cheek and very softly whispered "I love you mama". 
• She's becoming more affectionate with friends. She will willingly hug and hold hands and tell them she loves them. 
• extremely possessive 
• A few favorite foods: taco soup, cereal with milk, apples, fruit snacks

Potty Training

We started potty training Claire on January 1st, 2017. She was 25 months old. My main motivation was baby sister coming in the spring. I wanted to give her a good window of time to get used to this change before bringing the baby home (I still expect a little regression). We (loosely) followed the "3 day potty training" method by Lisa Jensen. Some modifications that I made: We were naked from the waist down for 5 days and didn't leave the house. I set a timer. We still put her in a diaper for nap and bed time because she has never woken up dry, so I didn't want to mess with that!

She HAD peed and pooped in the potty before, so this wasn't completely new for her. At her 18 month well check, our pediatrician suggested setting her on the potty before bath time every day just to get her used to it, and I do think that helped! I chose to start on January 1st because we were done with holiday traveling and didn't have anywhere to go for a while. It was cold outside, so we were trapped inside anyway. It would give a good 3-4 months before Abigail joins us. Her only cues were that she would tell me when she pee peed in her diaper, she liked to sit on the potty, and she would hide to poop. Her rewards were m&m's or marshmallows and one sticker for pee and a sucker and 2 stickers for poop, and A LOT of cheering (especially if she told us). We looked at her princess panties the week before and talked about them. I had a stationary potty seat that I kept in the kitchen and a potty insert for the bathroom toilet.

I kept very rough notes through out the first week just to remember the process.

Day 1:
- woke at 8:30 (soaked diaper)
- set timer every 10-15 min.
- first pee at 10:25
- 11:50 pee
- 12:30 she told me pee pee
- 1:00 pee
- woke up dry from nap and peed at 3:50
- 4:40 pee
- 4:50 started attempting to poop while playing, make it to the potty!
- 5:50 pee
- 7:50 her choice

Day 2:
- woke at 7:45 wet
- Timer every 10-15 minutes
- 8:50 pee
- 9:50 pee
- noon pee
- woke up from nap wet 2:50
- 3:30 pee
- 4:20 pee
- 4:45 pee, she told me
- 5:00 first accident (pee)
- 5:20 accident (pee)
- 5:27 pee, she told me
- 5:45
- 6:06
- 6:20
- 6:50
- 7:30
- 7:55

Day 3:
- Woke at 7:45 wet
- 8:25 pee
- 9:45 pee
- 11:00 pee
- 11:50 poop
- 12:30 pee
- woke up at 3:15 slightly wet
- 4:15 pee
(told me several times in the evening)
- 5:03 pee
- 5:30
- 6:00
- 6:40
- 7:30

Day 4:
- woke at 7:45 wet
(timer every 30 minutes)
- 8:50
- 9:45
- 10:15
- 11:45
- 12:30
- woke up slightly wet and peed first thing at 2:45
- 3:15
- 3:50
- 4:15 poop
- 5:00
- 5:30
- 6:00
- 6:30
- 7:50

Day 5:
- woke at 7:20
(timer for 15 min until potty)
- 8:30
(timer for 35 min)
- 9:30
- 10:50
- 12:30
- 4:40
(went out to eat and asked her several times and tried a few times - no accident)
- 6:30
- 7:40
- 8:00 poop

Day 6:
- Woke at 7:45
(no timer, just asked every 30 minutes or so)
- 9:30
- 10:30
- 12:15
- Dry after nap, 3:30
- 4:20
- 5:50
- 6:40
- 7:15
- 7:45

Day 7:
- Woke at 7:35 and told me she pee peed in her diaper, but still went in the potty first thing.
- 8:50
- 10:15
- 10:45 poop (at church)
- 11:45
- 12:55
- woke up dry and peed at 2:50
- accident right after going on the potty at 4:15
- 5:30
- accident at 7:00 (still went in the potty right after)

Day 8:
- did well going out
- accidents in the evening even after using the potty

Day 9:
- accidents at Snelson's house and in the car
- Started pooping in the potty, but finished in her panties

Day 10:
- much longer stretches (closer to 2 hours in the morning)
- saying "mommy" and touching panties when she needs to pee, still trying to hide for poop.

Day 11:
- Still took a while to potty after she woke up. I am still sitting her on the potty every 3 minute or so until she goes.
- Told me several times and actually peed 4 of the times.
- She survived a trip to church and Imagine without accidents.

Day 12:
- Went to KDO. Went to the potty one time and had one accident during gym time. She did tell the teachers that she pee peed in her panties.
- We had friends over and she pooped in the potty, but also in her panties and on the carpet...

Day 13:
- Great day!
- We went swimming and she had an accident coming home.

On 1/18, she came to me wanting me to hold her, and told me she needed to poop.

Week 3: zero accidents

Week 4: Accident at small group

She has done SO well. She still doesn't tell anyone much if she needs to pee pee (it's now the end of March), but she can hold it for a very long time! She started holding her poop and going in her pull up during nap time or bed time. I had to start disciplining and telling her that it made me mad, and that finally got to her. I also made a HUGE deal about how happy I was when she went in the potty and I let her pick out her own sucker. I figured out her cues that she needs to poop even when she doesn't tell me: she won't eat much at meals, she toots a lot, and gets nervous looks. We started making a relaxing environment by watching the ipad, reading books, singing songs, or even me stepping out, and she's getting much better about going on the potty!

Very very proud of my big girl!

Abigail Jean Curtis: Second Trimester (story of her name)

15 weeks: 

- IT'S A GIRL!!!! She doesn't have a name just yet. 

- heart rate was good in the 130's, my blood pressure and weight were great and baby girl was a WILD WOMAN! 

- We had an election themed gender reveal on election night 2016

- Lyndsy stayed with us one night and we researched baby girl names for a loooooong time! After hearing them, saying them, and talking about them, we decided that the perfect name for our new girl is Abigail Jean. Abigail is just a name that we love and think that it fits well with Claire. It's very traditional and timeless, but just enough "cute" to make it trendy. Jean was my Grannybug's name (Norma Jean) and we love the meaningfulness, the southern charm and the one syllable to go along with her longer first name. Andrew already loves calling her Abby Jean, I refer to her mostly as Abby and Claire says "Babby". We are obviously not against the nickname, but definitely want her to know her full name and introduce herself as "Abigail" allowing people to use the full name or the nickname. 

17 weeks: 11/19

- We had Claire's birthday party and started decorating for a Christmas! I wasn't quite as uncomfortable as I was decorating for Christmas 2014, but it still took some effort! It should be super fun to take down! I can't wait to get Abigail her own stocking. 

- Her kicks are very obvious, but not not very often. 

- I no longer wonder if I look pregnant, there's an obvious bump front and center. 

- I'm so thankful to wear maternity pants during this holiday season! 

18 weeks:

- Thanksgiving was delicious! 

- Chips and salsa are probably my biggest craving. 

- I'm having the craziest dreams and back to crying all the time. 

19 weeks: 

- At 19 weeks 3 days, she measured 2 days ahead and was 10 oz. The ultrasound tech said that she was such a wiggle worm. She wasn't able to get a good profile picture! 

- I'm not sleeping well. Having trouble falling asleep and then waking up multiple times during the night feeling like it's time to get the day started. 

20 weeks:

- She can be felt and seen kicking from the outside! 

- I felt hiccups for the first time. 

21 weeks: weight 137lbs 

- I find myself worrying about her every time I think of her. I get overwhelmed thinking "when's it going to be my turn for bad news" and I look for it around every corner.

- Had our second anatomy scan to get better measurements of her brain. Everything measured right on track at 21w5d! Her heart rate was  143 and she's up to 15oz!

22 weeks: 

- Merry Christmas, Abigail! 

- I felt her more than ever before on Christmas Eve! 

23 weeks:

- She kicks any time Claire sits in my lap. 

24 weeks:

- Several people have commented on how she has really "popped out". 

- very hungry!!!

25 weeks: 

- She doesn't like for her space to be crowded. If anything rests on my belly, she kicks and wiggles like crazy! 

- Had my glucose screening test. I drank the orange flavored drink, and again, didn't think it was bad at all! Baby girl got jumpy real fast. I saw Dr. Seale. 

  • weight at appointment was 143

   • 110/70 BP

  • 145 heart rate 

26 weeks: 

- I had a great night of rest after 4 very rough nights. 

- Overall, a tough week. I started having Braxton Hicks a couple of afternoons and evenings and it made living with a 2 year old difficult! 

- I can tell the difference between rolling/whole body movements and jabs with feet, hands or elbow. 

27 weeks: 

- a much better week as far as discomfort. 

- I got a cold/sinus infection and had trouble sleeping 

- finished with the 2nd trimester! 

Claire's Christmas 2016

- She loves the porcelain tree in her room.

- Her favorite lights are the color lights on her play room tree. 

- She's not super in to our Shepherd's Treasure this year, but we are still doing it. 

- She loves the baby, mommy, cow, donkey and camel from her nativity. 

- I'm thankful that I only put her ornaments at the bottom of the tree. 

- She sings along with Jingle Bells, but loves all Christmas songs. 

- We read The Christmas Story every night and she can fill in some of the blanks: a baby named "Jesus", Mary rode a "donkey", there was "no room", she lifts her arms when the angels talk to the shepherds, the wise men follow a "star". 

- Her favorite activity has definitely been cookie decorating.

- She got a doll house with people and furniture, an "All Better" book, an echo microphone and an umbrella chair. She was happy! Her favorite was probably the candy canes in her stocking. 

- She did exceptionally traveling for our Curtis Christmas! She didn't get much sleep and was only a little whiney. She had a great time playing with her cousins! 

Baby Number 2 - First Trimester!

Back story: I stopped nursing Claire January 1, 2016. My doctors office suggested I start birth control for 3 months to get my cycles back on track (I had not had a period for the 13 months that I was nursing). I did just that and did have normal periods, but it made me crazy. I stopped after the 3 months (April), but we weren't ready to be pregnant. We decided in June to join a new insurance. We had to wait 30 days after that before we could conceive. I continued to have normal periods with a slightly longer cycle (30ish days) during this time. I started taking plexus and I truly think it helped to get my body on track. At the beginning of August, we were ready! I told myself not to stress and panic. No ovulation tests. No timing. I paid attention to my bodies clues and that's it. Wouldn't you know it...we.got.pregnant. 

I had set a reminder on my phone that 8/19 would be day 30 of my cycle and therefore a safe day to test. I didn't really talk to Andrew about it. I didn't really think about it a whole lot, until the night before. I couldn't go to sleep because I was so nervous. I knew that the next morning could be a huge new journey for us, or a disappointing morning that I knew all too well from trying to conceive Claire. The song "king of the world" just kept playing in my head. "When did I forget that you've always been the king of the world? I try to take my life right out of the hands of the King of the world." My life has already been planned by my Heavenly Father. He knew when the right time would be to have our second child, and he knows who our child will be. 

I woke up at 5:30, kind of nauseous, but didn't want that to get my hopes up. I tried to go back to sleep. I knew Andrew would be up soon to go run and I didn't want him to know I took a test. If it was positive, I wanted to surprise him when he came home from work. I couldn't sleep and at 5:45, I got up to test. I sat there waiting and genuinely had a peace about me. I just decided to look at the test, and there it was POSITIVE!!!! I was so happy, couldn't contain it. Andrew woke up 1 minute later and I blurted it out!!! 

I spent the rest of the day searching for a BIG SIS tee and worrying about weather or not I was ready. God is so good. We are so thankful!! 

Curtis baby #2, due to arrive at the end of April/ beginning of May 2017. God bless and keep this child. 

8/20/16: weight 133 lbs 

- a little cramping and sore boobs

- a couple of times I've felt nauseous 

- mostly just tired and normal! 

- I cry all the time 

- Started getting very nauseous most days. No throwing up. 

- Had our 8 week prenatal appointment with Gina to discuss payment and have blood work done. I have group B strep and have to take antibiotic. 

10 weeks 10/1/17: weight 136

- I finally took a prenatal vitamin and didn't feel like I would vomit, but still have nausea. 

Psalm 86: 11-13 

Hebrews 10:23 (special verses) 

11 weeks 10/8/16: (after a small stomach bug and losing 4lbs) 135

- Big sis is sleeping better, so I'm able to take the unisom/B6 and feeling much less nauseous

- I woke up Sunday and there was absolutely a baby bump. It's usually flat in the mornings and bulging by the evenings. 

- Had our first real appointment with Dr. Hinton. 

  - blood pressure 120/80

   - heart rate 156

  - I have a bad bladder infection. The meds make me queezy. 

12 weeks: weight 133

- I'm not eating or snacking as much.

- We made our public announcement by taking a posting a sweet pic with a "baby" pumpkin 

- I've had some weird stomach and acid reflux/heartburn issues 

13 weeks:

- having some constant ache type pains in my pubic area, along with a dull cramp in my back a lot. 

- I had one horrible cramp that I had to call Andrew and ask him to come home. 

10/27 - I went to see Dr. terry for symptoms that were concerning me thinking I might have another bladder infection. Turns out it's just your normal second pregnancy discomforts. Heard the heartbeat again AND got to see our sweet baby with an ultrasound! Hands were clasped liked saying a prayer at first and then baby switched to picking it's nose! I wanted to make sure everything was ok at this appointment so that I could enjoy our Curtis family weekend getaway in Branson. 

14 weeks: weight 134 

- still have occasional nausea, but nothing horrible

- I've had a few bad evenings of heartburn

- I most definitely felt a little kick on 10/29! 

- There's certainly a baby bump!

Claire's Second Birthday

Our girl is TWO! I really can't believe it, but at the same time it just feels natural and like not that big of a deal. She's growing up so beautifully. She's her own person now with a personality that SHINES through all the time! 

Daddy was still home when she woke up, so he was able to go get her and love on her for a second. She helped me make special pancakes, and we face timed with meme, Michele and Annie to sing her happy birthday. She still got embarrassed by it, but she LOVES BLOWING OUT CANDLES! 

Unfortunately, I had a lot of cleaning and errands to take care of because we were leaving for thanksgiving vacation the next day. We went to the mall to see Santa just like last year. She wouldn't sit with him, but she didn't cry! He gave her a candy cane and she sat in my lap for the picture. We got a cookie and rode the mini ferris wheel before we left. She got a cheeseburger and fries for lunch and got to eat it while we walked around Hobby Lobby. 

We came home for her nap, and spent the rest of the afternoon playing and getting ready for the week at Meme and Poppi's. Andrew got to come home early, so they played while I cooked. The only way we could get her to take bites was to let her blow out the candles after she took a bite! We went to small group where she had fun playing with friends, and then it was time to go home and go to bed! 

I hope she always knows how loved she is, even if her actual birthday wasn't filled with all the activities that she would ever want to do. 

You are so wonderful Claire. We cannot wait to see what your third year will bring us! 

Months 23-24

Things I'm so thankful for: 

1. Her passion for her friends and family. She knows the names of people that belong to the various places we go. 

2. Her strength. Her little 2 year old body can do so much already! A worker in our church nursery said "she's the climbiest baby I've ever seen!" 

3. Her manners. She's very quick and doesn't have to be reminded often to say please, thank you or sorry. 

4. Her listening and obeying skills in public places. For the most part, I can count on her to do what I ask when we are somewhere other than home. 

5. Her lack of attachment to objects. I'll never have to worry about taking something away from her or getting her to stop doing something because she's attached to nothing! 

Things she loves: candy (specifically suckers), elephants and cows, sliding, playing outside, toodles

- She woke up with her first night of vomit in the crib. She was just whiney and it took me a while to get in there. Once we started cleaning her up, she got upset. Then she got a pedialite Popsicle, and got to watch frozen on the couch and was fine. 

She threw up again that night and again the next afternoon, and then it turned into a cold/croupe sounding thing. And Andrew got the stomach bug! 

- She finally put a puzzle together correctly on her own! 

- She says "fry" every time we drive by or through a fast food restaurant. 

- A new phrase I've been having to use way too much: "we don't eat books."

- She throws herself on the ground or hits things when stuff isn't going her way. 

- She doesn't like getting her nose sucked, so what night after I did it (she had a cold) she slapped the mirror. I gave her a stern look and she looked at me innocently and said "a bee". (She likes to pretend to kill bugs.)

- She has assigned seats for people at our table. She walks around and names who the chairs belong to (daddy, mama, Lolly, papa, claire)

- She looks for people saying "where are you" /sounds like Ariel/

- She's very good with colors now. 

- We have a shapes book and she can point to the correct shape on each page. 

- She's in a new phase where she wakes up at 11:30 and screams. The only thing that will get her to stop crying is an episode of a show and a snack. These are night terrors. 

- She says "no" and "yeah" in the most enthusiastic way. 

- She started saying "mine". 

- Now loves cheeseburgers 

- She has started saying "ummmm" sometimes when asked a questions. 

- All in the same day, she ate a bug, a flower and drank from Brody's water bowl. When asked about the bug she said, "a bee. Mmmm mmm." 

- She will willingly stick her whole face in the water. 

- She has started wanting a nightlight (projection of fish) on while she sleeps. 

- She runs like a normal person now

- She wants to hold our hand rather than just a finger.

- When she cries, she tells us "I sad" and points to her tears. 

- When she's throwing a tantrum, she spits and says "I spit". 

- She's a big daddy's girl right now. 

- Anytime we ask her if she wants a sister or brother, she says sister "Didert". She can say both of the names we like most for each gender. 

- We had a Curtis family vacation in Branson. Her attitude was definitely shining bright, but she had a great time. She LOVES rides at Silver dollar city! 

- We trick-or-treated at our church's trunk or treat and then around our neighborhood with Jack and Know. She never said "trick or treat" but did say "thank you". She mostly just wanted to sift through and eat the candy she had.