Ringing in the New Year...Keeping Busy!

Well, needless to say, Kyle's been working a whole lot this week, and it looks like his schedule won't get any easier anytime soon. So, that's caused my excuses for not doing stuff around the house (waiting for muscle man to help) to dissipate, and know that I just have to roll up my sleeves and get stuff done. Today while Vivi napped, I cleaned out the baby's closet. When we moved to NC (in September), we put Vivi in our guest room furniture, and designated the other bedroom as the baby's room. We had the movers put 'baby' items in the baby's room, and Vivi's items in her room. Today, it was just time to clean out the 'baby' items that had found their way into the baby's closet. Plus, we know we are having a boy, so as much as it pains me to put away the pink and purple bedding, I figured it was time. We try to be economical, but I just couldn't put our baby boy in Vivi's old bedding, as precious as it is. We might use some of her bright pink bath towels and burp cloths for him though...there's no harm in that, right? Well, as I'm not quite ready to get rid of Vivi's old clothes, I do have them sorted by sizes and put in the attic. Today, those clothes were joined by bright pink baby blankets, purple flowered bedding, and small little baby doll rattles. Her bedding will find it's way to Ebay one day as will her clothes, I'm just not ready to give them up just yet. Now, in the baby's room, I have the swing set up, the pack and play (and all of its components) in the closet, the bath tub assembled and ready to use, the Baby Bjorn and sling stacked neatly and ready to use, and the boppy all accounted for.

Other news for the day...hm...well, potty training has fallen by the wayside. Vivi started off great (I thought) but never really caught on to the part where she told us when she had to go; she would just go when we put her on the potty. I figured that I could use some pointers, so we went to the bookstore. I got a couple of potty training books, and they had some really helpful hints and pointed out some things that I might have been doing wrong, or at least things that weren't helping her make the decision to go on her own. So, we are starting fresh in a few days with high hopes. The advice from the books gave me an excuse to go to Target today. Vivi is now going to potty train a doll - actually, it's Cheer Bear, from the Care Bear family. She is going to give Cheer Bear a treat when she's dry, and let her sit on the potty. Now, I just have to figure out how to make a pair of Vivi's panties fit this thing. I haven't gotten my sewing machine out since we moved, but it might come out tonight so I can alter a pair of panties. Cheer Bear only gets one pair - she better keep them dry and clean. Vivi also got some training pants (really thick underpants)- the washable ones, not the disposable kind. The disposables are easier on moms, but the panties and washable ones are more effective. SO, Vivi got some pretty pink ones that I'm hoping she can pull up and down herself. She never could get her panties or pull ups up and down without help, which could have been a hindrance. While I was at Target (with half of New Bern) I got baby boy some boy colored burp cloths that were on clearance, some "dry panty" treats for Vivi and Cheer Bear (consisting of Yogos - yogurt covered fruit bits - and Froot Loops), and some fabric softener. So fun!

The dog has been kind of annoying today - when I let her out to go potty this morning, she went into the neighbor's yard (our yard is not fenced, but most of our neighbor's yard is) and found a piece of something to eat..from far away, it looked like bread, but I can't be sure. She didn't throw it up, so I guess it was safe. Well, ever since she found this treasure in the neighbor's yard, she's been asking to go out every 30 minutes, no doubt on another treasure hunt. It's 20 degrees outside today, and I'm not going to chase her around trying to get her to come in. Anyway, maybe she'll forget the treasure and return to normal tomorrow.

Vivi has a new phrase. It's "Don't worry about it Mama...it's okay." I'm not sure where she got this from, but she's said it about a dozen times today...all in appropriate situations, too. We went to get a sandwich from Schlotzsky's (sp??) today, and in trying to prevent her lemonade from spilling, I asked her to hold it close to her lap instead of on the table so she didn't have to hold the cup at such an angle, and thus help prevent spillage. She replied, "Don't worry about it Mama...it's okay." Too funny.

Anyway, I'll take pictures of baby boy's bedroom soon. We found some bedding while in AL that we liked. It's nautical themed and has all the colors in it that I wanted for his room. I don't care too much about the theme as I do the colors. So, it has ecru, baby blue, navy blue, pastel green, and chocolate brown colors to it. The furniture was espresso in finish, so it looks nice, and gives me options for having other colors to bring in. Pictures will come soon.

Well, I hope everyone has a Happy New Year! 2009, whew!
Leanna