Potty training !

Warning... If you don't like hearing about bowel movements then maybe this isn't the post for you to read.

Last Thursday we really started the potty training process. I had this idea in my head that I was going to do nothing for 3 days but stay home and focus on Ella using the toilet. By the end of that first day I quickly aborted my original plan. I was so exhausted from being stuck in the house all day. Training Ella was not difficult or stressful but not being able to leave the house exasperated all my pregnancy symptoms. I was tired, nauseous, and achey. But thankfully that one day set the ground work for us to keep working on it without any major accidents or set backs. She has only had 4 accidents since we have started this process.

Ella loves wearing her big girl underwear. She even likes picking out which pair she is going to wear that day. Unfortunately not all of potty training has been easy or fun for Ella. For the past few months Ella has been dealing with some painful constipation. She will tell me over and over again while crying that she is going poop. This goes on for about a day and half sometimes two before she has a successful bowel movement. After playing around with her diet and pushing her to drink so much water she could be a fish, I got tired of it and took her to the doctor. The doctor suggested using Miralax . Finally after a week of mixing it in to her milk we are having some improvements with this particular function. As you can see on her potty chart she received her first two stickers in the "poopy" column today! I'm so proud of her and excited for me. I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! I feel like now that we have crossed this hurdle I can be confident to keep her in underwear when we leave the house now. Before she would cry every 5-10 mins saying she had to poop on toilet just to sit down and quickly jump back up and say "All Done!" or "No, I'm afraid". On Tuesday while grocery shopping she yelled out in the middle of the dairy aisle " I'm REALLY going poop!!". Embarrassing ...yes, productive ... no. Still no BM when we got home. So maybe by the time we have ran out of spaces on this chart I can stop talking and hearing about crap all day long. Well..... Until baby# 2 comes around.

Crock pot lasagna

I don't know why I feel compelled to blog about food lately. Maybe because I'm pregnant and all I think about is food, or maybe because I've been finding new recipes on Pinterest. So as you can tell by the title I found a new crock pot. I can't live long with out one. It's the easiest way to cook, and I was really surprised how well this lasagna turned out. Normally Ben makes the lasagna in this house. For some reason I always feel intimidated by lasagna so I have shied away from it. But I think Ben and I found our new favorite way to make it. What was strange about this particular recipe is that is called for cottage cheese instead of ricotta and I placed uncooked noodles in the crock pot. It cooked on low for 4 hours and the noodles were perfect and we didn't even miss the ricotta cheese. It even got the stamp of approval from Ella, which is great coming from a picky toddler;-)

Happy Valentines Day! <3

What could be better then spending Valentines day with your two most favorite people in the whole world? How about eating Cuban food with your two favorite people then taking your littlest sweet heart out for frozen yogurt!
We met daddy in Alameda for some lunch and then Ella kept asking about ice cream. So of course, because it's a special day and the fact that I'm pregnant and can't say no to sweets I took Ella to yogurt walk and we shared a cup of yogurt. I knew nap time was already shot anyways since she fell asleep in the car so what does it matter if I fill her up with some sugar? Anyways, it's not valentines day if you haven't eaten some chocolate. Hope y'all got some chocolate today!

Home made chicken pot pie.

So here is one benefit of my crock pot dying. Being forced to try new recipes. Tonight I made a home made chicken pot pie. It was a good day for it since it was kind of gloomy. The only thing that would have made this pie better would have been a good stout. But I guess I have a few more months till I can enjoy one of those ;-)

Nap time does not = play time.

So as you can see here Ella decided to use her nap time to play with all the toys in her room. She didn't fall asleep until the last 15-20 mins of her nap time and by then it was time for me to get her up for a 4:30 appointment. She used to lay nicely in her bed until i came and got her but the past few days I keep hearing little footstep and laughter coming from the second floor. But I guess what happened today is partially my fault. I was so proud of her for using the big girl toilet today that I gave her a sugar cookie before lunch. She must have still been on her sugar kick when I laid her down for bed. How can she sleep laying on top of all that crap?! And she had the biggest stinky diaper on too! By the way... Ella used the toilet 3 times today with out me coaxing her. Next week will be the big test as we will try and do away with diapers completely during the day.

I have lots of other pictures to post but probably won't get around to it till next weekend. Ben will be working on the computer and I don't dare touch anything while that process is going on. Maybe I will make some more posts from my phone. Have a good weekend!

R.I.P. Friend

Tonight I lost a good friend. My crock pot. I had a feeling she wouldn't last much longer. The cracks on the bottom of the porcelain bowl were signs that it wouldn't be much longer before she called it quits.

It happened this morning while I was putting my ingredients together for Carnitas. The recipe called for hot chicken broth to be poured into the empty crock pot then to add the seasonings and pork. I thought twice about this action as I looked at my old crock pot but decided the call for good Carnitas was too great. As I poured the broth in the final crack in the bowl pierced my ears. I held my breath and didn't see anything leaking so I continued on with the cooking. Finally after the meal was done and we started our clean up I found the evidence that the crock pot had cooked her last meal. I have used this crock pot AT LEAST once a week for the past 3 years. She has made some great meals. And now that she is no longer functioning I will have to succumb to standing infront of the stove for awhile. R.I.P friend.

My morning with a toddler.

So this picture is obviously not taken in Dublin. This picture was taken in Tahoe. Which, I will post more about at a later time. (I know Im behind) I just wanted to show you the face I have seen all morning. We must be in our terriable twos because Ella has just been so challenging lately. Yesterday I took her to the Zoo, which wore me out! I'm still in my first trimester so it doesn't take much to make me tired. So today I thought we would just stay home, and I could get some housework done. WRONG.

Here is how my morning looked:

7:30 am - I go into Ellas room to find a happy, rested little girl. I ask if she wants to get dressed..."Yes, Mommy!" Great! I pick out her outfit. " I don't like that! I want something cute!" ok..... pick out another outfit "No mommy I dont like that too!" ugh......... ok one more option. "No, I want this one!" She picked out the first outfit I showed her!!!! WTH?

8:00 am - Downstairs about to eat breakfast. Yes..... it took us 30 mins to get dressed and head down stairs. No wonder I never get out of the house till 10. I asked her if she wants oatmeal....."No" ok..... Waffles ?"Yes !!" awesome... something easy. After I give her some milk... "No waffles mommy. Oatmeal!" ALRIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!! FREAKING OATMEAL THEN!

8:30am- "Would you like a toasted bagel with butter?" Ella-"No butter." "Do you want cream cheese" "Yeah ...... CREAM CHEESE!!! " I made the bagel, and gave her the smallest amount of cream cheese and put it infront of her. Now look back at the picture in this post. This is what she looked like ....... total disgust and horror on her face when she saw the bagel. Slammed her hands down and cried that there was cream cheese on her bagel. I ended up eating her half too. Im already tired an I have only been up an hour.

8:45am - Just done with breakfast. " I want to watch Calliou." Me-"Calliou is not on yet honey. Wait 15mins and Calliou will be on. Ok?" " No... I wanna watch CALLIOU." (this time not yelling but whinning. "Just be patient Ella and go play with some toys till its time" Ok done.

9:30- Crying from Ella on the couch "Calliou is over !!!" "Ok ... you can watch some word world while Im cleaning" Content for another 30 mins. Nice.

10:00 am- Show is over and I figure it's time for Mommy and daughter time. I get out some paper and start some Valentines crafts. I ask her if she wants to learn how to cut. "Yes !" "Ok... watch mommy first. I will show you how." Ella -" NOOOO..... I WANA CUT!" "Yes I will let you but let me show you first." Another fit, I finally give up and break out the crayons to keep her occupied till the cutting is done.

11:00 am- Valentines crafts are done with some help from Ella. I need to get some laundry done but Ella will not stop whinning for me to pick her up. I set up a huge kids tent and tunnel in the living room to keep her occupied. She has never seen this toy before. We have been saving it for a rainy day so I figured she would be entertained for at least 30 mins. After 20 mins of setting the damn thing up its ready to play with. Ella plays for 10 mins, and its back to crying. "I don't like the tent!" Me-"Why not?" Never gave me an answer but turns out she didn't want to play with it unless I was in the room with her. Took me another 30 mins to switch the laundry over and start a new load because she kept following me around asking for me to hug her on the couch. Sometimes I give in (thanks guilt)and other times I tell her to go play. How are you going to deny your kid a hug?

12:00 pm- Lunch time. "Ella do you want a Hotdog or veggie burger?" " Hot dog" That was easy. Lunch is ready. Food infront of child. Cue tantrum. You guessed it.... " NO HOT DOG MOMMY!" I convince her to eat half of her hotdog, and then she says..... "Mmmm, Hotdog good!"

12:30- NAP TIME KID!!! Her usually nap time is 1 or 1:30. I've had all I could handle today.

Finally it's quiet in the house, I can get some work done but instead Im too frustrated with the events of the morning that Im on this blog venting. I don't vent often but today I feel it's justified. I love being a mom 95% of the time. But its that 5% that makes me shake my head and wonder what is going through her head, and makes me question my competence as a mother. So anyways, I guess I have work to do. I only have another hour before Ella wakes up again. Maybe this is why the house never gets cleaned to my standards. The hell with it. Maybe I will take a shower instead and try again tomorrow.