Potty Training

Okay! So I have been a little pre-occupied the last few months as a result of my final semester so I am just going to pick up where I left off- which was POTTY TRAINING! Read at your own discretion. I talk graphically for my own future reference for other kids I may have!

Day #1
So, the adventure started on Saturday, December 29th bright and early in the morning. Colby had to work at the Instacare that day so it was a perfect day to start! Just me and her! I started off by just putting her on the little green portable potty in the front room every 10 minutes. I let her drink as much juice, water, and milk as she wanted to make sure we had plenty of opportunities to practice. She had a couple accidents. Okay, she was pretty much 50% all day long. It was especially difficult after her nap time. I put her in her underwear for her nap. Which she didn't even have an accident then! I used candy and stickers as incentive. I also had her baby doll go "pee" in the potty. I used a little medicine medicine dropper with water that had yellow food coloring in it. I figured out later in the afternoon that just being panty-less worked better. Surprisingly, she went poop in the potty all by herself on the first day!!! I made a HUGE deal about it! I put a diaper on her for bedtime.

Day #2
Her diaper was extremely full. Colby got up before me and put panties on her and tried to get her to go potty and she REFUSED! She had an accident and then promptly went in and went potty after that. The entire time before her nap, she pretty much just went potty by herself. We sluffed church because she was not ready to go out! She had an accident during her nap and was then a little resilient again after. She only had one more accident that afternoon/evening. She also pooped again in the potty without prompting!

Day #3
She didn't have any accidents until her nap then she peed and pooped in her sleep. Unfortunately, Colby was home with her so he got the pleasure of cleaning that one up! Then, she only had one more accident before bed.

All in all, we pretty much stayed home for a week straight. Either me or Colby stayed home with her. After a few days of just being in the front room with the porta-potty, we transitioned into the big potty with her princess insert thingy and step stool!  We continued to put diapers on her at night which we were a little bit apprehensive about but she sleeps in our bed at least half the time so I did not want her peeing in my bed!! After about a month, she kept waking up dry and we felt like we were just wasting diapers so we stopped putting them on her. She has peed in my bed a few times but definitely does good 99% of the time! Occaisionally, when she is playing hard or is super mad she will have an accident. She wants us in the bathroom with her everytime she goes which is fine with me cause little girls need to be wiped correctly so until she can grasp that, I will go with her!

Christmas 2012

Brown paper packages tied up with string......these are a few of my favorite things!

I love Christmas......I hope to someday be able to make it magical like I remember when I was little. But I seem fall short each year and Christmas creeps up on me and I have not done or thought out the gifts or traditions that I intend too. That won't keep me from trying next year though!! 

This year, however, I wrapped late into the night the day before we were heading to Delta, I didn't get Christmas shopping completed until late Christmas Eve afternoon, and just like the years before, my poor child didn't even see Santa until the night before Christmas.........Thank you Hinckley City for pulling through for me each and every year! Also, I had every intention of sending out our yearly Christmas card- that never happened.......and for all my neighbors- I meant to get those "neighbor gifts" around and that never happened! Please accept my apologies! Even though Christmas has seemed to jump me from behind since becoming a mother, it is still a wonderful time of year.

Doesn't she look adorable!?!

TERRIFIED of Santa....Colby couldn't even peel her off of him so sit on his lap!

She begged and begged for DAYS after Christmas to, "open more presents?"

As always, it is so wonderful to have a chance to spend time with family since that chance doesn't come around all that often! Here is Millie with her Great-Grandma Marlene Bliss

She got into my makeup when we were in Delta. Hey- at least she has the general vicinity of where the mascara should go!

The Friday before Christmas we went back up to Primary Children's to get an echo done and follow up with the cardiologist. She did really well. Colby and I had a bet going- he said she would for sure need sedation- I said she wouldn't! I knew if she had her binky, blanket, and daddy that she would be as still as they needed her to be..........and I was RIGHT! No sedation needed! She snuggled with Dad and watched Tangled. Then she got another EKG and Dr. Garnreiter looked at everything and said that everything looked great and she was in the clear from a cardiology standpoint! Wahoo!! She has had no other incidences and they are calling her seizure a ALTE which stands for Acute Life Threatening Event with no known cause. I am grateful for a healthy happy (for the most part) little girl!

We had to leave Delta at 5 am that morning so she was crashed in the car on the ride up! I love sleeping pics!

I hope everyone had a very happy holiday season.

The Bliss Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

In mid-December, we had our first annual (hopefully) Bliss Ugly Christmas Sweater Party! It was Crystal's master plan; she even lined up a baby sitter that was willing to take ALL of the crazy kiddos so that all of us adults could relax at a family function! It was fun.....we each brought a game had some yummy soup and showed off our glamorous attire!

Here are some of my favorite pics from that evening....

Are you ready for the awesome awkward family photos?....1..2...3..GO!!

DECEMBER

December, December, I do not remember a December like this! It has been CRAZY- therefore, a whirlwind of pics, updates, and what not! We FINALLY finished our fall semester! It seemed like such a long and exhausting one........part of the reason was because Colby had a WHOPPING 23 credits between Weber and SUU.
               
               This question was seriously on my final!! Ha ha

We have definitely been enjoying a little R&R since taking our finals. Reading, movies, family.....anything but school work! 

Earlier this month we made the trek to find OUR tree......

There she is.....right behind the dead one!

Glad he was willing to haul it out cause there is no way I'd be able too!

I love my little girl!

Our poor truck looks so tiny with that big ole tree....

......as does our house!

We had the best little elf decorator who also loved to un-decorate it as well.

More on December to come....including..... The Bliss Ugly Sweater Party, Hayden's medical updates, Christmas, and potty-training........whew.....what a month!!!

Playing Catch Up!

I am making this post my priority today! I have put it above working on my master's thesis paper that the rough draft is due Tuesday and I am so far from ready!! But this.....has.....to get....done!!!!

Since I left off......FOREVER AGO.......we got the Holter monitor off (which broke my heart) and went to see a cardiologist. He said the monitor and the follow up EKG's showed nothing significant so he was confident that she doesn't have any major abnormalities that are concerning PHEW!!!!! We are so grateful about that! He does, however, want to get an echo done which we are doing in December.

Our good friends Cory and Bree Jensen are moving to Rock Spring, WY today.........this kid is going to miss her friend Kinwee (Kinley). But, we are so happy for them!

My schedule this semester has been crazy busy! I do clinicals 2-3 days a week and rarely get a day at home. However, Fridays are wonderful! My good friend Amanda Cooley and I, the past year or so, have been able to switch watching each others kids one day a week. She is going to school and has been accepted to Dixie State's nursing program for the spring so this arrangement has been so beneficial for both of us! And this way I only have to pay for daycare 3 days a week! Friday's are my day at home with these three kiddos. It is so nice to be home on that day (even though I tend to work that night a lot) and we have fun!

Tayte is a little casanova.....he calls Millie darling and beautiful and loves to snuggle with her. Layne is hilariously lively and doesn't mind playing with the girl stuff one bit! 

Early in the month of October, we had a much needed family night and carved us some pumpkins! She thought the guts of the pumpkin were spiders and she would say, "Ew, cucky, gross!" She has been OBSESSED with all things Halloween. She loves spiders, snakes, pumpkins, skeletons, ect......I had to by her a plastic spider at Walmart and she has carried it around since. She named it Sparkles Spider.

The Bliss boys got to go on Russ's big Paunsaugunt hunt where he got this beauty of a deer. Prelim score was 197!!

Colby only had 1 1/2 days to hunt for his muzzleloader tag and no time to scout or anything because of school and work.....luckily he came across this buck his first day out! 

Halloween was fun! I had to be at clinicals at Cedar Valley Medical Clinic that day so I busted out my old high school rodeo stuff and matched my lil girl! She was the cutest dang cowgirl I have ever seen!

And of course.....we had to have Charlie matching her with a little saddle! Getting pictures of the two of them together was easier said than done!

Since she was at daycare most of the day. The girl that watches her got her all costumed up and braided her hair for me and I showed up right in time to go trick-or-treating with all of her daycare friends. This cowgirl even found a pig to pet! It was someones house pet! haha

Her little friend/neighbor Adam was Woody for Halloween so we HAD to get a picture of the two of them together! Oh and this cowgirl's favorite snack these days........deer jerky! She loves it and asks for it all the time!

This last weekend we made a quick trip up to Delta because my mom turned 50 yesterday so we had to celebrate! (She doesn't look it does she?)

Grandma and the grandkids blowing out her bonfire! (and Grandpa Rick looking super intense!)

Millie and Mae 

(Hayden Millie and Shayda Mae)

Tuesday morning I got off work and we got the kid up early so that we could make a family trip to go vote! Mill said, "Wet's go bote!" Although the election didn't turn out the way we would have preferred, we respect our leaders and know that our Heavenly Father has a plan for us. However, it would have been so awesome to have a member of my faith as President! As one of my friends from work said, "I'm as disappointed as anyone about the results of the election. BUT. All politics aside-That a black man is president, and a Mormon came so close to it, I'm proud that our country has grown up so much :)" This is so true, two of the most persecuted people in the history of America have led or come so close to leading this country. I am proud to be an American and am grateful for the freedoms I have.

We got our annual family pics last month and here is a teaser pic........we are waiting for the rest of them and can't wait to see them!

Now back to this kid.......we have officially given up the bottles and have done the switch to a sippy....finally! She is back to the binky just at naps and bedtime. AND she is sooooo incredibly close to potty-training that it scares me. I have not had more than one day at home in so long between work and school so I haven't been able to knuckle down and do it! I really think she'll catch on relatively quickly because she is constantly asking to go to the potty. She loves to sit on it and wipe herself and wash her hands; but, she has yet to actually pee in it! The unfortunate thing is she has become masterful at pulling her pants down and taking her diaper off. I have woken up to a stark naked girl in the morning more than once! One morning after I got off work, I went to get her ready to take her to daycare and I found her diaper duct taped on! Ha ha- apparently Colby got a little tired of her taking it off the night before! 

Last month she got her first black eye- unknown injury- broke my heart!

And here is my random pics from instagram and such including: 

• Her new trick learned at the grocery store.
• Snuggling at bedtime.
• Cutest person to wear a shower cap EVER.
• Colby slaving away making jerky.
• Ornery after family pics.
• Snuggling with the pooch.
• Naked girl who can slip out of her PJ's.
• Activity Days fun.
• Hanging out with Brody.

• New favorite toy- the kitchen timer.
• Eating us out of house and home.
• Getting ready for Halloween.
• Flashback to high school rodeo.
• CHEESE!
• More and more snuggles.
• Charlie needs a hat.
• And giving Charlie a bath!