I haven't changed a dirty diaper in a week!

Yep- you guessed it. We're potty training! I'm not going to say we're officially potty trained, but we're pretty close to being diaper free! I can't believe it, either. I was dreaming about this day, but never thought it would come to fruition so soon! We had started "pre-potty training" with her a couple months ago, just wanting to familiarize her with the potty. I never dared to hope she would start potty training so soon! Then, in the middle of April she randomly said to me "momma poo-poo" and I asked her if she needed to go poo-poo on the potty. She answered with a resounding "Yes!" And sure enough, she did. We spent the next week asking her if she needed to go potty, but to no avail. Then on the one week anniversary of the potty incident, she climbed out of the bath and got her diaper and said "poo-poo". I put her on the potty seat and sure enough, she went again! The next week she went #1 and #2 on the potty a handful of times. Peyton and I went to the store and picked out panties together. They are a little big (the smallest size is 2T), but she is now the proud owner of "Fancy Nancy" and Disney Princesses panties. We had a sitter one night, and she told her she needed to go potty, and did! Now she's in panties all day- even in public! She made it through church without any accidents. She was sitting with the Bantons during Sacrament meeting and asked Abbie to take her potty. (The Bantons are her favorite people including boyfriend Brock whom she is fiercely possessive of and 13 year old babysitter Abbie that she is mildly obsessed with- we can't even sit with Peyton in Sacrament meeting because she repeats "Abbie" a hundred times super loud if she sees her). She later regressed a little bit and had 2 accidents at Grandma's house. But she makes it through naps without accidents- even waking herself up and crying if she needs to go. She also makes it through the night dry about 50% of the time (she's in diapers at night). And, to make things even better, she has only gone #2 in the potty for the last week! I am thrilled. Goodbye diapers. It was nice knowing you.

Peyton wasn't overly cooperative while I was trying to take pictures. "Terrific Twos" here we come!

Fun little nuggets (warning: might be a boring post)

We have been doing such fun stuff lately, and Peyton has been doing so many adorable things lately, that I absolutely had to write a post about it. The past 2 days have been absolutely beautiful- in the high 60's and totally sunny. Both days when I put Peyton down for her nap, I broke one of my cardinal rules and laid in the sun and read a book- with oil on my body. Usually I'm all about the sunscreen, but I had to take advantage of every second of Vitamin D that we had, because in Oregon you never know when you'll see the sun again. We have been doing gymnastics, going to the zoo, Pump it Up, Jr., OMSI, taking walks, feeding the ducks, and most exciting of all, we have been taking Peyton golfing at Pumpkin Ridge. Thursday we took her to eat at "pasta night" at the country club and then decided to take her on the course while Jade and I played around. She loved riding on the golf cart and looking at the squirrels and birds (unfortunately we didn't see the deer). She liked carrying around the golf clubs and going to get the balls for us. She also loved "helping" us putt. She was so fun to have out there that we went back the next evening, too. She made the basket in the cart her "seat" and sat in it for about 75% of the time. It was so fun! Lately Peyton has really been recognizing possessions. She is going through this phase where she is really into things being someone's. "That's daddy's" toothbrush or "that's mommy's" salt and pepper shakers or "that's Tinky's" toy. Her favorite is "that's MINE" said with a big (challenging) grin. Usually it is more of a statement of fact than a hoarding maneuver, and usually it is directed toward Tink. She really doesn't want anyone to have something that doesn't belong to them, for example Jade's chapstick that I had in my makeup had to be taken out and put in Jade's drawer. The best things that have been claimed so far are the stand mixer that is "Noni's", all fruit is "grandma's", and baby Brek is "Jeremy's" (we actually got to babysit him again yesterday and we loved every second of it). She is also quite attuned to her emotions lately. She told me at gymnastics (after cutting off another kid in line) "Peyte mean." I had to try so hard not to laugh. When we went to feed ducks the last time, there were 3 goslings with their mom and dad. Peyton loved the "babies", but the geese were fiercely protective of the goslings, and hissed and snapped at Peyton (whom, to her credit, wasn't very intimidated). Later on we were reading a book at bedtime called "F is for Farm", which we had read hundreds of times before. When we got to the page that said "mother goose, with goslings on the loose", she pointed and said "bite" "bite". Apparently she had picked up on their aggression. Now every time she sees a picture of a goose she says "bite"! She makes me laugh every single day. She has acquired the chore of feeding Tinky with daddy every night, and she takes her job very seriously. She is so proud of herself when she brings the bowl inside, and almost always comes to show me that she did it. I love it. Oh and my little potty training girl is the first to remind us that she gets a "treat" when she goes in the potty. She definitely doesn't let us forget that. One last story- Sunday Peyton was sitting with the Bantons in Sacrament meeting, and one of Brock's friends was sitting with them, too. Peyton was hugging and kissing on Brock (that girl is so forward) and then Brock's friend decided to give him a hug, too. Well Peyton did not like that one little bit. She gave him a very dirty look and then proceeded to hit him until he stopped hugging Brock. Then she jumped onto Brock's lap and gave him a nice long hug. She's quite possessive.

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Sharing a cuddle

Peyton was being goofy while feeding Tinky. She kept saying "hat" and trying to walk with Tink's bowl on top of her head. Meanwhile, Tink was running back and forth from the garage, trying to get Peyton to hurry up and get her food.

I'm so happy to be a Mother Day

Tonight Peyton and I said our prayers and I rocked her in my arms in the rocking chair. A few minutes later, she refolded her arms and said "Fa [presumably Heavenly Father, but maybe she was just clearing her throat] Daddy Tinky" Then she put her binky back in and grabbed her blanket. Apparently she wanted to say a prayer, too. She makes me so blissfully happy. When we take a bubble bath together every night (extra bubbles as per her request) she always wants music on or for us to be singing, so she can dance around. When we're rocking and she melts into me and just lets me cuddle her, actually cuddling back, I could sit for hours. A few times lately she's actually fallen asleep in my arms- unheard of since she was about 3 months old- I never wanted to put her to bed. I just sat in that chair and rocked and rocked until I was tired myself. Gosh I love that little girl. She constantly is making me smile- and she does it intentionally. She loves to do things she thinks I think are funny- like peek-a-boo or the biting food out of her hand game. Her laughter fills my heart and lucky for me, my heart is full all the time because she is always so happy and giggles like crazy. I can't believe how fast my little baby is growing up, but I feel so blessed to be her momma.

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Here are some of our shots of the week- it has certainly been eventful.

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Peyton has become increasingly opinionated about her attire. I have final say when we're going out in public, but when we're at home, her outfits usually look something like this: sparkly shoes, black pants over pink pants over leg warmers, striped shirt over hearts shirt over white ribbon shirt, with her brown sweater on top of it all. She actually put 80% of that outfit on herself. I was cracking up.

The biggest draw-back of our new house is that we don't have a backyard. None of the previous residents have had children, so they thought a ten foot deck that wrapped around the back side of the house was sufficient outdoor living space. Unfortunately for me, our neighbor right behind us (whose backyard we look down on from our higher elevation) has a huge play structure with slides and swings- the works. My poor daughter looks at it longingly every day. She's now given up asking to go to it. It's quite sad actually. In an effort to make our deck a little more fun, I got her a little fort to play in. She has been loving it (when it's not raining and warm enough to actually go outdoors).

This is a prime example of my little comedienne at work. She was eating lunch and I was at the computer. She called to me "mommy, all done". I came in to find her laughing her head off, thinking she was the cleverest little thing ever. She had pulled her sweater over her head and thought it was hilarious. When I started laughing it made her laugh even harder. Then she pulled her sweater down and smiled- she was quite tickled with herself.

Yesterday Jade took Tinky for a run and Peyton for a ride on the bike. Toward the end, Tinky got worn out and was going super slow. Jade got annoyed with her pace, so he put her in the bike trailer with Peyton. Can you see the little girl in here?

Big sister material? Maybe not quite yet.

Jeremy and Kristin just welcomed my newest nephew, Brek into the world. He is a total doll. Peyton and I were lucky enough to be able to babysit him for 4 hours on Tuesday. Peyton absolutely loved him. She kept saying "Brek, baby, Brek, baby" She is so used to saying her boyfriend Brock's name that "Brek" was easy for her. She would follow me around asking "hold please." I put her down for her nap and was able to spend a couple hours one-on-one with my 3 day old nephew. I couldn't put him down. It made my ovaries hurt. I LOVE newborns. He is a total doll and I'm so glad he's finally here!

Tulip Festival

Portland is known as the Rose City, but in spring, I think they should call it the Tulip City! There are tulips everywhere (I even have some that I love in my front yard)! The most beautiful tulips! Huge ones- seriously the size of Peyton. My mom and I made Peyton come with us to the annual Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn, Oregon. It was so beautiful (albeit quite colder than we had planned for). There were acres of Tulips in every shape and color you could imagine. It was such a fun experience, and I definitely think we'll be going back next year.

Wooden Shoes

I wasn't feeling well and Peyton kept kissing me better. Love that little girl.

She's obsessed with smelling flowers and plants (even the fake ones in people's houses)

For those who aren't squeamish...

Last Wednesday I had my long-awaited surgery to figure out what the heck is wrong with my girly-parts (uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes). The doctor had treated me for PID and thought I had endometriosis. Well we did a laparoscopy and found out I don't have endometriosis, but I had about 30 cysts on my ovaries. Apparently I have PCOS, which is an endocrine disorder, and one of the side effects is that I don't ovulate, which makes my eggs become cysts (some of you will remember that it was a total freak ovulation that got me pregnant with Peyton). They had no idea I had this because about 95% of women with PCOS are overweight, which makes PCOS manifest itself. I have a rarer type of it, which I am actually grateful for. I'm also grateful to finally know what it is that has been affecting me so badly for the past 22 months. It feels so good to finally have some answers. As far as treating it goes, you can only treat the symptoms- most of which I don't have. I have to do some blood work to find out if I'm insulin resistant (another symptom- it will eventually cause Diabetes). If I am we'll treat that with medication, if not I just need to be tested about every 3 years to make sure it doesn't ever develop. The other symptom we'll be treating are the cysts, which means we'll have to get me ovulating. Eventually after I have baby #2 (not any time in the immediate future) I will have to go on estrogen withdrawal treatments so that I won't have as bad of symptoms as I had this time. My doctor also had to cut out some of my vaginal tissue by my episiotomy and re-stitch me, as my old doctor sewed me up in such a way that my tissue was bunching, and causing me serious pain. So I have 3 incisions on my belly and another episiotomy. I'm in pain from the laporoscopy and bleeding from the D&C. I had all the trauma of a c-section and vaginal delivery without a baby to show for it. I feel totally gypped! Besides all that, my recovery is going well. The side effects from the anesthesia and CO2 were the worst part of the whole thing, and those went away within a few days (grogginess, headache, gas pains in my shoulders, nausea, sore throat from intubation). I was so lucky to have my supportive network of family and friends who brought me dinners and watched Peyton for me when I was out of it. My mom was able to come out 5 days after my surgery, and she was a big help too. Plus I had a blast with her. Now I just am very sore, and my episiotomy hurts really bad, but besides that I'm doing very well. All things considered, I've had a great recovery, and I'm so lucky to have a helpful husband and a sweet little girl who has been on her best behavior for me. She likes kissing my stitches on my tummy better. She tells me (and anyone else who is around when she remembers that I have stitches) "mommy owies" and she will get my heating pad for me if I ask her to. Any time I have it she will hug on me or sit on my lap and say "mommy hot". It's really cute. A big thanks to everyone who helped me out while I was an invalid!!

Exactly one year ago...

Was she ever really that little?

She loves it.

I'm chomping at the bit for Peyton to be old enough to start "real" gymnastics and dance lessons! It will be amazing. It's in her blood, and she's so ready. Until then, kindergym is where we are!

"P" is for "Personality"

Peyton seriously cracks me up. Every day. I never want to forget all the funny things she says and does. So naturally I'm going to blog about it... Peyton is the most outgoing little girl I've ever met. She will walk up to strangers (scary, I know) and be like "HI!" and smile at them. People will be looking so grouchy or harried and she will make it a point to greet them and she will sit there and wait until they give her a satisfactory, cordial response. It makes me smile. No one can resist that girl. She is quite charming (when she's in public and not tantruming). Peyton also loves music, as I've mentioned before. She prefers hip-hop (though she will dance to anything- even the ringer of the telephone) and her favorite artists are Ke$ha, Lady GaGa, and the Black Eyed Peas. I'm not even joking. If one of those artists is on, she immediately starts dancing, singing along, clapping and smiling ear to ear. If I happen to change the song, she will say "more mommy more". Today my mom, Peyton and I were all driving and "Imma Be" came on the radio. Within the first 5 seconds she recognized it, gasped loudly, cheered "WHOO", and started rocking her car seat back and forth. My mom and I were in stitches laughing. Tonight at bedtime, we were saying a prayer (one of her favorite things to do). I said "We're thankful for daddy and mommy and Peyton and noni. Please bless-" and Peyton yelled "TINKY!" Apparently I forgot to be thankful for Tinky. I could barely finish the prayer because I was laughing so hard. That little girl is so good for my health!

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We were able to get all the cousins in an Easter picture!

It's hard to imagine this picture will only be current for 4 more days!

Gabe, Henry, Lucy, Sam, Boyd, Charlotte, Macie, Peyton, Max, Ike, Trenton, Marley, Taryn

Duck, Duck, Goose!

Bound and determined to take advantage of the beautiful weather we've been having, Brittney and I took Peyton 1 and Peyton 2 to the park and to feed the ducks. The girls had more fun than I can say. It is beyond cute watching their friendship develop. They are 4 months apart, which seemed like so much in the beginning, but now they're pretty close developmentally, and they're adorable together. I love watching them hold hands and run around, hug each other, and get excited when we tell them we're going to see their best friend.

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A little unsure at first, but the ducks weren't shy- the girls had a blast!
Hysterical watching them try to pet the ducks. They both were actually successful a couple of times!