Diaries of a Single Parent: Dying Computer

Sean flew out this morning for a week of training in Memphis. So it's a ladies week at our house. We will miss Sean but we will fulling enjoy the freedom of having the van. This week we plan to go shopping, to the aquarium, story time and getting Lexi's first hair cut!

You may have noticed that I haven't been blogging lately. Well that is because our laptop has seen better days, it's getting old and has a virus and has recently decided to stop letting me access my email and blog. Which is driving me crazy! But for some reason I was able to log into Blogger tonight, so I'm staying up late and chatting up. Which is fine with me since I'm avoiding going to bed since I hate sleeping alone.

So check back later this week and hopefully I'll be able to post about this week's happenings. If not, I'll make sure to upload pictures to Facebook.

5 on 5

Here are five pictures I took yesterday on the 5th...

Snow, Recording Breaking Cold and No Water

Last Monday night it started snowing. It wasn't much though, a few inches. Then Tuesday morning, I took Lexi out to play in it before Avery woke up. She loved it! We only stayed outside for 25 minutes, but that was enough...

Not only did it get cold, it got REALLY cold. Like in the negatives. Record breaking for ABQ. People here aren't prepared for that kind of cold. Pipes froze and broke everywhere - our stake center, at some of our friends' house and even in our complex (we lead us to enduring 28 HOURS without running water). School was canceled because buses couldn't start and the campuses were flooded. The freeway was closed and the governor declared a state of emergency because our state was running out of natural gas AKA the heating! Thankfully, we stayed warm and the storm is over!

9 Months Old

On the 28th, Avery turned 9 months old. I can't believe it! We are really enjoying her age. She is getting so fun! Her latest trick - pulling herself up to stand...

Above: playing in the play house. Her favorite place to play.

Below: standing up in the tub. Love that chubby little body!
Teething? I think so. We have since lowered the crib and she can no longer chew on the crib. Note to self: never buy a dark colored crib!

Don't you love the "pig tails" aka "antenna's."

We just love this little girl!!!

9 month stats: 17 lbs 4 ozs (20%), 28 inches tall (60%)

Avery is almost EXACTLY the same size Lexi was at 9 months.

Sunshine

It's been really sunny and starting to warm up. So I'm starting to get excited for spring and summer. So yesterday, I decided to dress the girls up in some summery clothes to fit my mood. And of course I had to snap a few pictures, not an easy task now that Avery is a crawling machine.

Spring and summer are going to be soooo fun with these two little girls. Can't wait!

Our Puppy

We like to call Avery our puppy. She crawls all over the place and especially likes to follow Lexi around. She also loves having things in her mouth.

I took the picture above right after Avery's nap. When I found her in her crib she had her blanket in her mouth.

With a sock in her mouth. Actually, socks are one of her favorite things to put in her mouth.

Crawling towards me with a book in her mouth.

See what I mean, she is always crawling around with something in her mouth. That's our puppy for you.

Rewards

Last week we created a potty chart for Lexi. Each time she went in the potty she got a sticker. And this morning she got her 20th sticker, completing the chart.

So we took her to Target to pick out a princess toy. She was so excited!

She picked out a Cinderella toy, complete with carriage, mice, horses and the fairy godmother.

When we got to the cash register she gave the cashier her potty chart. The cashier seemed a little confused but Lexi didn't notice she just wanted to make sure that she got her toy.

Now that Lexi has a new carriage she will let her sister Avery play with the Little People carriage.

Adventures in Potty Training - Falling In

We've been potty training Lexi for two weeks now and she's doing great. We have had very few accidents and she is really good at telling us when she needs to go. She has been wanting to wear under ware for a long time but I just wasn't ready to potty train. So we told her after Christmas she could wear under ware. For the first week, we gave her a Jolly Rancher gummy treat every time she went potty, then we moved on to Tic Tacs. Now we have a sticker chart. Each time she goes potty she puts a sticker on the chart and after twenty stickers she gets to pick out a princess toy at Target. She talks about that princess toy every time she goes potty. Eventually we'll stop rewarding her but for now it's good encouragement.

We have been putting Pull Ups on Lexi when she sleeps but I want to start weaning her of that. We were originally putting Pull Ups on her when we went out but have stop, expect for church on Sundays (I don't want to deal with an accident at church). Last night, we were at church for our weekly youth activities (we're leaders) and Lexi kept wanting to go potty. She loves washing her hands and flushing. She wasn't actually doing anything, she just wanted to "try." Finally, on her 10th or so "try" I took Avery with me. I was trying to make sure Avery didn't touch anything while trying to help Lexi balance on the big toilet. I didn't do such a good job though. Lexi was moving too much and I wasn't helping enough and she fell in the toilet! Completely fell in. Like her legs and arms were sticking out but her body was in the toilet. She just had a very surprised look on her face and I just couldn't stop laughing. I pulled her out, took off her clothes, dried her off and put a coat on her naked body and we went home. And the good news is that I don't think she is going to be traumatized.

Making Up "Movie Monday"

Hello Wednesday. What happened to Monday? I am just now getting around to posting my weekly video. It's not Monday but you'll still love this video I took of Avery this afternoon.

Belles

Two and a half years ago this princess made her dramatic entrance into the world! I'll blog more about that later. Right now I just want to post some pictures for my parents. Lexi has been potty training for a week and and has been doing AMAZING! As a reward by parents bought Lexi this Belle dress. Lexi was SOOOO excited.

Notice the Belle dress up shoes and Belle Barbie. Yeah, Belle is her favorite.
But that seems fitting since she was my favorite
and Sean thought she was the prettiest of all the princesses.

The size "small" was WAY too long for Lexi. So I cut off the bottom and made a "Belle skirt."
So here are our two Belles.

And of course, Lexi has to wear the Belle skirt for a picture too.

Thanks for the dress Mom and Dad. Lexi LOVES it!

2 1/2 Years of Lexi