PT Update

Skip to #2 if you don't care about pottytraining!

TOP 10 POTTYTRAINING HIGHLIGHTS...

10. the presence of M&M's in the house... you've got to try the pretzel ones- they're not as bad for you and quite tasty... or so Abby Jane tells me (because I certainly have not sampled her special treats)

9. Abby Jane's delight in calling Santa Claus (who sounded a lot like Jake) to report potty success

8. returning a box of size 6 diapers to Costco... $41.97 back in my wallet

7. discovering that Abby Jane respects the Disney princesses on her naptime Pull-Ups (we have not really introduced any characters in our home, so princesses are novel) and does not want to pee pee or poo poo on them... I went and bought her Disney Princess panties after bedtime that night. They have magical powers on my child, I think.

6. changing tactics on Saturday and letting her set the pace for the most part (except pre/post-nap visits)... and discovering the kid can hold a lot for a long time, exampled by...

5. staying clean and dry THE WHOLE TIME at church- we're talking 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. CRAZY

4. her ASKING (the first time she took initiative) Jake to go to the potty while we're at a pool party on Sunday night... and Jake being the first one to take her to a public bathroom- and thus the first to decontaminate her after using the MEN'S ROOM

3. she spent the day with her Mimi on Monday and requested potty trips at the park and a museum... I think a variety of potties is fascinating, which leads me to...

2. we went to our Tuesday farmer's market today, and despite the sweltering heat, still went to the park nearby afterwards to let AJG play until the twins decided they needed lunch and were too hot... so picture Blythe in the Bjorn, Joy in the BOB, and Abby Jane walking with me from the park to the car parked 100 yards away. Both twins were tired and hungry, and Jane says, "I need to go potty"... so we go to the public one (I am a germaphobe who has multiple bottles of antibacterial gel with me at all times... except this time of course). Blythe was dangling in the Bjorn, PATTING the paper dispenser while I am holding Jane on the pottty (and thus can't do anything about Blythe), and I'm telling Abby Jane "DON'T TOUCH THAT! JUST HOLD ONTO MAMA'S LEGS! NO, DON'T PUT YOUR HANDS ON THE POTTY!", meanwhile my sweet old Joy is sweaty and crying in the BOB b/c she can't see us the way I had her turned and thought she'd been abandoned in a smelly concrete block building... it was pretty classic. It's funnier now than it was at the time. It was actually funny as soon as I sterilized everyone and got us in air conditioning.

1. The top highlight is that we are entering the good life... in which only two of our three are in diapers... which is like getting a raise. And I'm just proud of my girl for growing up.

Six Years

I was looking for wedding pictures to upload to commemorate THE day... and I ran across honeymoon pics first! We had an awesome wedding day but we also loved our honeymoon, so here are a few blasts from the past! We went to Ocho Rios, Jamaica...

What's funny about these pictures is that we were married long enough ago that we did not own a digital camera on our honeymoon- that came a few months later! So the pics are a bit grainy, but I love this one anyways b/c we're laughing so hard... that waterfall was ICE cold!

Jake doing backflips off the high dive... I did a few, too... oh wait...

We went out on catamarans, waterskiied, rode horses, and it was also my first experience on a sea kayak... which most of y'all know we LOVED getting to do a few times in Cali, too. We almost bought one but decided to have Abby Jane instead. :)

On this day, six years ago, I married my best friend and I cannot imagine anyone being a better husband to me or dad to my kids. He goes above and beyond all the time, and he loves the Lord more than he loves us. I am in love with this guy and so grateful that I get to be his wife for forever.

Two more thoughts: there are probably more people who read this blog that we did not know on our wedding day than people we were already friends with. I might not have guessed that one. Secondly, if you had told us six years ago that we would be coming into this anniversary after (1) several days of potty-training our two-year-old, (2) having two more kiddos besides her, and (3) that Jake is loving his job at Kennesaw State (after two great jobs at Auburn and Pepperdine), I'm not sure which would have been more surprising. Each one is such a blessing because of all they signify. God is good, and we are grateful!

We have spent the last four days...

Pottytraining!!

She has been doing many parts of this mighty feat for months- she started a few weeks before Blythe and Joy joined us, but I was quite obviously not prepared to take that on at that time. So both grandmamas have spent some time at our home this week be extra sets of hands!

We have spent some time outside and a lot of time in the kitchen (closer to the potty) with our easel. Jake's mom is an artist- the following sketch of Abby Jane was very appropriate to this week's focus!

We have done very well so far, I think (this shot cracked me up- I know she'll kill me for it one day)...

but it's not a totally done deal yet.

So here's a poll... is it cheating to tell her to go once an hour and stay dry that way (yesterday, totally dry!)? Or should I just let her find out the not-so-dry way that she need to visit the facilities and not help by making her stop playing and sit?

Hooligans

My sweet twins are evidence of our human nature to always want what someone else has. In the following sequence, this is the face of the guilty party.

Post-nap diaper changes- happens on the floor due to alligator-roll capabilities.
Blythe has a thing for Joy's paci.


Joy gets assertive.
Blythe thinks she's funny.
Blythe is now perpendicular and has again stolen the paci while Joy was mid-diaper change.
She still thinks she's funny and Joy's not so sure.
Blythe has now done a 180, is on her belly and has officially obtained the paci.

You would think "poor old Joy" if you had not seen her steal multiple toys from Blythe earlier in the day. What goes around comes around! Hooligans, I tell you.

Waterworks

As I was pulling together pics from last Thurs and Friday's activities, I realized they were almost all water-related! LOVING summertime...

Last Thursday, we headed over to Mom's to play with Jo and her kids for a couple of days! We started off with a trip to our sweet Miss Penny's pool...

Katie and Ian's mad swimming skills were impressive last week and are apparently improving vastly with their swimming lessons this week, according to their mama...

Precious Mags is just a little bundle of delight at 9 weeks and is smiling and sleeping more now!

Blythe and Joy make for great dress-up dolls for the big kids.

Abby Jane had her first ice cream cone! She dove in, nose-first, following Katie's example.
On Friday, Betsy and her boys joined us at the splashpark. Luke jumped right in. It's fun getting Bets and Jo together since they were friends at Auburn before Jake and I knew each other!
Katie and Ian are also big fans of that park, though Ian got into it more than anyone!
Grammy and Katie playing with Blythe and Joy
On Friday night, our small group had a pool party that we were able to last for about an hour of before we needed to get our crew home. It was a great hour with sweet friends, the only down part being an unfortunate meeting of Joy's head and the concrete pool deck, having fallen off a chair. She was a TOUGH cookie, though, and recovered impressively.
It was Jake's first opportunity of the summer to get in the pool with his girls!

Then on Saturday morning, Andy and Emily York were kind enough to come over and see us while in town for a wedding. We SO enjoy these sweet friends and just loved introducing the twins to them! The last time we saw them was in NYC on our babymoon, before we knew we were having two babies! It was a blessing to be in their company and hug their necks.

Our Hero

Today on the way to Jake's parents' for a cookout, we were playing a family game and I said "Daddy is sassafras." (It's a funny game, I promise.)

Abby Jane said, "No, Daddy's not sassafras. Daddy is a CLIMBER of MOUNTAINS!" Totally out of the blue- we have not read or seen anything recently anything about mountain climbers. It was a fabulous Father's Day moment, as Jake is indeed a climber of mountains in oh, so many ways!

I know there are a lot of other wonderful dads out there,

but there is no other man on God's green earth that I would rather have than Jake Gross as the my little ladies' daddy

and my partner in the adventure that is our little family!

My daughters and I are blessed beyond measure!

(Has anyone else noticed that some of your best pictures happen when your kids are in PJs?!)

"Aunt Bethie's"

Beth and Jay moved from Florida back to Alabama, about the same time we moved back from Cali, and Beth was one month more pregnant than I was! They moved into a fabulous new home about 2 months ago, so we took advantage of a time while Jake was on a business trip earlier this week to go see them and love on precious Bella Grace!

All of the girls had a WONDERFUL time playing!

Abby Jane needed no warm-up time with her "Aunt Bethie" and was just spoiled the whole visit. This is the face after seeing her Minnie Mouse waffle (Beth is an engineer for Disney!).
Their new home has a wonderful pool, and we LOVED taking advantage of it!
Blythe in Bella Grace's dolphin...
All Beth's floats and Beth's extra set of hands made it so easy to have all my girls in the pool at the same time!
Joy between pool-drinking attempts...
SWEET mama and Bella Grace
On Monday, another of my precious roommates, Steph, drove over from Birmingham and brought sweet Amelia (5) and Noah (3) to play! Here they all are after some pool time!
Abby Jane absolutely ate up being around Amelia and Noah! They were so sweet to her.

Steph did a lot of kissing on our little ones!

It was SUCH a wonderful, refreshing time away. As we were driving home, Abby Jane said, "Can we go back to Aunt Bethie's house soon? We had fun there!" Well said, sweet girl! Thanks, Aunt Bethie!

First Swim

The girls had their first swim of the summer last week at the home of one of Mom's sweet neighbors! Here's Blythe in the swim floatie that the girls are a tiny bit too short for...

All three did just wonderfully! Blythe liked watching the action and splashing.

Joy was the most consistently content of the three, happy with chewing on anything and sneaking sips of the pool when I wasn't watching.

Abby Jane's favorite part was jumping off the side. She wanted to do it again and again!

We chose not to do swim lessons for her this spring as she's pretty confident in water (having spent so much of her life in it as a baby!), so we're going to do some little lessons on our own each time we get in the pool!