Alessa's First Birthday!

Alessa had a lovely birthday! She celebrated with Isaac, Paula's son. We had brunch and the children played until they needed to go home for naps. My mother and niece drove up from New Mexico for the weekend. We had a lot of fun and I have a bunch of pictures! She is so silly. Every time she sees the camera pointed in her direction she starts making silly faces at it and giggling.

We opened presents later in the day, after Alessa's nap. All of the children were getting too tired and they wouldn't have been able to handle the time it took.

She wasn't so sure about the crown at first:
But she soon forgot about it.
Sweet big brother:
Eating brunch and making faces at the camera:

Getting ready for cake! Isaac and Alessa each had their own:

The big brothers didn't want to wait!
Allison brought Aless this party hat. She didn't mind the hat but hated the elastic that held it on. She kept pulling at it until she got it half off then got upset because it was really uncomfortable.


Digging in! Alessa was so neat and proper. She just wanted to eat fingertip-sized amounts of the icing. I don't blame her. Cream cheese icing is yummy! Isaac thought that would take too long.She got a little messier when her father helped her smash the cake.

Rubbing your eyes because you're sleepy when you have a handful of cake is not the best idea. But she thought it was funny and again had to pose for the camera.


All hail cake!My niece, Alicia.
Opening presents!



Robert was quite helpful in showing Alessa how to properly play with everything.

Adult proof packaging:
Oooooh!
What's in here?
Horsie!


No! I don't want to get off the horsie!Way to bounce back!

3-Day Potty Training Program-Day 2

Robert went to sleep last night at about 8:15. It took longer than usual to get him down because he had a very eventful day! At a little after 10 he whined a bit in bed and I ran up there. I checked him and he was dry and told him to let me know when he needed to go potty. Unfortunately, he was half asleep and I was exhausted. I wasn't quick enough and he had an accident in bed. Mark was so wonderful and came upstairs and stripped the bed and cleaned everything up while I got Robert all cleaned and changed. Robert didn't pee in the potty before going back to bed, but he was really upset at being awake (he's his mother's son). He fell right back to sleep as soon as his head hit his pillow. I wasn't so lucky. I didn't get to sleep until after midnight and I spent the night on the edge of waking waiting for him to have another accident.

He slept through the rest of the night and had no more accidents in the night.

Robert woke me up at 6:30 AM fussing because he couldn't get the stars to turn back on in his constellation turtle (it projects stars onto the walls and ceiling of his room and he has to have it to go to sleep). I brought him to the bathroom, put him on the potty (the toilet, really--he won't have anything to do with his potty seat and insists on only using it as a step stool) and he peed immediately! WOOT!

His underwear was a little wet, though, so I had to go check his bed. He had a small spot on the bed. I think that's what woke him up. But it was so small it seemed like he stopped himself and got up before having a bad accident!

The morning wasn't nearly as smooth. I was an exhausted mess from barely sleeping, and Mark was no better. He slept on the couch all night because he was worried about the dog (the dog sleep downstairs) and wanted to be nearby if he had to let Jackson out.

Robert had a few accidents in the morning. I think Mark went through at least 5 underwear changes before noon while trying to keep up with Robert around the house. Not Mark's underwear, Robert's! I know it sometimes can go either way, but not today. ;-)

When naptime came, I brought Robert upstairs, took him into the bathroom and told him that it was almost time to nap but he had to pee first before going to sleep. He got up onto the toilet and peed in it. That was the first time since 6:30 this morning. When Mark found out, he flipped me the bird and succinctly told me how unfair it was. heh

Robert didn't nap today. He chose instead to call down to me every 5 minutes or so to tell me he wanted to go pee again. So up the stairs I ran, every time, and he really did pee every time. But I think he was just using it as an excuse to not sleep and get out of his room.

After I gave up on him ever sleeping this afternoon, he came back downstairs. He did really well for the rest of the day. He had 2 accidents an neither were big. Both times he finished in the toilet. I think he gets distracted while playing and doesn't want to stop to tell anyone he has to pee.

He had his bath tonight and peed in the toilet tonight without a problem. Mark took him to bed and readh im his books and then brought him to pee one last time. Poor Robert wanted to pee really bad but had nothing left to pee. Mark had to tell him that he doesn't need to sit there and try to force it.

He went right to sleep after that and has been asleep since. That was about 2 hours ago. We'll see how he does tonight.

More to come tomorrow!

(because I know you all want to know ALL about it)

3-Day Potty Training Program-Day 1

We started potty training this morning. When we woke up, Mark brought Robert downstairs, took off his diaper, put underwear on him, and explained to him that he is a big boy now and will no longer be wearing diapers. Then he gave Robert a few of his clean diapers and had him throw them out.

We followed the program as best we could but Robert was often quicker than we were. There were many, many accidents, and it was really draining, but before bed tonight Robert finally peed in the potty! He did so twice before going to sleep. YAY!

We now have hope that maybe, just maybe, this can work after all.

Alessa can climb any mountain!

Well, maybe not yet, but she tackled the stairs on her own for the first time tonight! We were going upstairs for baths and bed and Robert started calling down to Alessa from the top of the stairs, "Come on, Sister! You can do it!" She was sitting on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. He called down to her like that over and over and she started climbing UP! Mark found the camera and got it going when she was about halfway up. The video is dark because the lighting in our hall wasn't very good.

Alessa's first word Part II

It took me all day and more than 10 videos but I finally got it! Alessa was always more interested in the camera so wouldn't cooperate. heh But I finally caught her for a second when she didn't care so much about what I was doing:

Alessa's first word...

...is "Hi!" She started saying it the middle of last week but I wasn't sure if she was really saying it or just making a noise that sounded like it. Now there's no question. She says it almost every time I go to get her from her crib or walk into a room. And she often waves when she says it. She says it in this adorable breathy voice. It's so cute and you can't help but smile when you hear it.

She has also started using it for "Bye" as well recently. It's really hard to get her to do things when you want her to so getting it on video is proving difficult, but I'll post it if I can get it!

Big day for Robert!

Today was my friend Rabecca's birthday (happy birthday!), so we went to lunch with her and Paula and their children. Rabecca's son, Donny, is the same age as Robert. Paula's son, Nathaniel, is 3 months older than Robert and Donnie, and her son, Isaac, is the same age as Alessa.

We had Mexican for lunch and then went to the playground for a while to let the boys run off their excess energy. Nathaniel and Isaac fell asleep on the way so Paula took them home.

Robert had a big day! He's always been a bit timid on the playground. He loves the slides but would only go on the smaller ones and needed one of us to hold his hand. Today he went down the slide for the first time completely on his own! He not only went down the small slide on his own, he also went down the big ones too! I'm so proud of him. I love that he's getting more adventurous and feeling more confident in himself lately.

I really wish I remembered to bring my camera today. I'll have to make a point to bring it next time! Here are a few random pics from after we got home just because: