Easter

Easter 2014---But first... some older pics I found on my phone that I wanted to throw on the blog real quick...

I love getting pics like these sent to me while I'm at work!

Tom snapped these pictures of Jade helping me weed haha.  She loves to feel like she is "workin" with us

 And since she's had her haircut, it's been much better...but this was her typical after nap bed head!

Ok, onto Easter weekend!  We had a great weekend with our families!  We got to Oak City Friday night and had a steak bbq at Kevin's cabin.  Thank you so much Kevin and Trevor for the amazing cooking!  The weather was nice and the kids had a blast:)

Koleman and Jade will be starting a band soon..

We all spent that night at Kevin's and Jade LOVED the baby chicks that grandpa had.  And of course Kevin told Jade to ask us if we could take one home hahaha!  Needless to say, Jade was a little disappointed:)

 Saturday morning was the annual Styler Easter Egg hunt at Aunt Erma Kaye and Uncle John's house.    It was so much fun!  They go all out and there were candy and eggs EVERYWHERE on the property!  Jade definitely didn't need our help this year...she was all over it!

I can't handle the cuteness level of this picture!

Ready to go!

 Thank you so much Styler clan for the amazing shin dig and delicious lunch!
That after noon we went down to my parents and enjoyed the gorgeous weather and did some relaxing while Jade napped.

 Later that night Gammy and Gampy had another Easter Egg hunt for the girls and they loved it!  Thanks mom and dad, you guys are the best!

Alyssa decided she could just hold them all and bring them to her basket haha

 After dinner, the girl's got ice cream and zoned out to 'Frozen'

 After baths Gammy was soooo sweet and got all her grandkid's little Easter presents!  Thank you for always being so thoughtful and awesome mom!

 Jade loves her gifts!!!

 Easter morning!

 We went to church with my parent's to the single's ward again and Jade entertained the crowd again haha!  She really is pretty good but just likes to talk and talk and it's really hard to keep a straight face at some of the hilarious stuff she says.
After church we ate a delicious Easter dinner (THANKS mom:))  We missed you Sharice and Gregg!

 Doesn't she look so cute in her outfit from Gammy/Gampy?!

It was an awesome weekend that was too short...and with all the hoopla of the holiday, it's easy to forget why we celebrate Easter.  We are so grateful to celebrate Easter and remember our Savior and the ultimate sacrifice he made for all of us.  He is the reason for everything.  He is our way to happiness.  I'm so humbled that he took upon himself all of our sins and shortcomings so that we can be forgiven of them all and become perfected and return to live with him again!  He is risen!

8th Anniversary and first haircut/prayer...and of course, some other stuff:)

These first pics are pretty random but are some cute memories...

We need to get this girl a doll house or something because she just loves them...so the other night we made do with a "castle" made of books!  She loved it and was so into it!  Although it was quite a pain to keep the books from falling over as we played, it was so worth it:)

Lately she has been doing a lot of actual walking with me out of the stroller on our walks and it's so fun to see her just take in every little rock and flower and detail!  We should all try to see the world through the eyes of a child a little more- I'm sure the world would be a better place:)
I asked if she wanted to help me walk Jovi and holy cow she LOVED it!  She thought she was pretty big stuff!

She loves the movie Frozen but when the "scary snow monster" comes on, she clambers onto one of our laps to cuddle so we can "save" her.  And her cute little scared voice asking us if we're ok or scared haha.  So cute!

 The other night before her bath she just took off running in just her undies and was being so cute.  She loved walking around in my shoes and jumping off the coffee table

 She loves to watch her dad do tricks on the trampoline!  She will sit perfectly on the blue pad and just clap and cheer and keep saying "flip dad!!"

 Just some outdoor adventures!  We just can't get enough of this gorgeous spring weather and our little miss independent:)

SO.....
 Tom and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary this week!!  I seriously can't believe it!  We are a legit old married couple now I guess haha.
We went on a date on Monday night and it was so nice to get out, just the two of us!  I'm so grateful for our marriage and the happiness it brings into my life every single day!  It truly is the biggest blessing in life to be with someone who you love more and more everyday! I love you babe!!

Tuesday (our actual anniversary) was just such a great and memorable night!  

1)We had our 20 week ultrasound doctor's appointment for baby girl #2!  Everything looks great and she is developing healthy and normal and we are so grateful!

2)Later that night I gave Jade her first haircut!  She held still pretty great and it turned out so cute!  Here are some "before pictures":  It was just a smidge mullet-y:)

 Being such a big girl!

 And here are some "after pictures".  She looks like quite the little lady now:)

 ... 3)  Before bed that night, while I was in the middle of saying our family prayer, she just interrupted and chimed right in with her first prayer!!  IT WAS ADORABLE!  Her arms were folded and eyes squinted shut and most of it was just rambling and gibberish...but what we could make out went something like this "thank to play today, I like to play, thank for dad, AMEN!!" haha it was great!
What a great anniversary!  Love our little family!

Last night Michelle invited us to dinner!  And it was so fun and the food was delicious!  It was great to spend some time with Michelle, Kim and Jon!  Probably the next time we see them will be when Kimi has her baby girl in the next week or so!  We are so excited for them!

 After dinner Jade loved showing off all her dance skills and her blue tongue for her grandma!  Thanks for the great night Michelle!

Springtime and Potty training

Jadelyn had her 2 year doc visit and is doing great!  I can't remember all the numbers but she weighs 27.5 lbs and is in the 50th percentile for height& weight.   She loves the doctor's office oddly enough, which is good cuz she joins me at all my baby appointments too!

Speaking of baby, our little girl is growing just great!  I'm 19 weeks and feeling great!  It has been such a blessing to be feeling so much better than my last pregnancy!  I still get nauseous late at night so I take 1/2 a zofran before bed and that's it!  We are getting so excited (and nervous) to have a new baby in a few short months!  And we still can't settle on a name:)

Jade is loving being able to be outside more!  Thank you spring!  Although Utah has been reliably unreliable on a day to day basis, but we'll take what we can get!

I'm also loving that her hair has gone through a growth spurt, and is now long enough for two real piggy tails!

Jenni, Brittany and I took the kids to a little park nearby and I actually took my camera, so here are some cute pics!

 

They thought they were so big walking home on their own!

OK, so last Monday we started potty training.  And let me start by saying I have a whole new appreciation and respect for ALL parents (especially moms) that go through that!  Sheesh!  It was hellacious!
I read the book "3 day potty training"  by Lora Jensen and was super confident that it was going to go as smoothly as the book implies!  And that Jade would be fully potty trained in 3 days flat!  The book also says that kids over 22 months are ready to be potty trained period!  Both day and night!  So we went for it!  So for the next 5 days this is what she looked like- hair undone, a shirt, socks, and panties and that's it!

This next info is for my future reference, so feel free to ignore!
Day 1:  All accidents!  Scooped her up each time and took her to her little potty.  Scared of the potty!  She actually was mostly dry after her nap.  Quite a stressful, exhausting day of trying to catch every accident.
Night 1:  We tried the book's method of waking Jade up an hour after she fell asleep and an hour before she wakes up to use the potty (to help her wake up dry)  and well, that didn't help.  Poor thing was cold and wet and didn't want anything to do with the toilet when we woke her up to use it!  Had to change sheets twice
Day 2:  Was by far the worst!!!  All accidents again, and terrified of the potty!  Although she did enjoy her rewards and treats she got for getting even a few drops in the potty!  Went through all 21 pairs of underwear she had.  Still staying positive and hopeful!
Night 2: AAHHHHH! Changed her sheets literally 5 times!  Poor thing:(
Day 3:  She has learned how to hold it a freakishly long time!  Made me so sad to see her dancing around and trying to hide from me so she could go and not be taken to the potty.  She did however, finally pee in the big toilet a few times throughout the day (because I'm a terribly mean mom and basically held her down until she cried it out:(  I know, it sounds so mean!!  (And the book says "never force it!"  But it was the only way she would go besides running around and letting a little here and a little there squirt out all day long)!:(  But afterwards, she would be so pumped at all the celebrating, rewards, and praise she got from us!!  We also just put her little potty away for good because it freaked her out more than anything!
Night 3:  We threw in the towel on nighttime training and put her in a pull-up, which was of course wet in the morning:)  We decided that since she has never woke up dry, that she her little bladder is not ready and we will just focus on daytime, and hopefully nighttime will just happen or we will work on that later.
Day 4:  Finally some good progress!  She would actually tell me that she had to go pee pee!  But when we took her to the potty she would still freak out a bit and cry her way through it:(  Only had one accident (which was my fault because I was talking to Jenni on the phone about potty training haha).  That evening was so sad though, because she had yet to poop since day 1, and it was obvious she needed to.  She was begging for a diaper, which was the SADDEST thing ever and I almost gave in and was just going to take a break until she was a little older....but somehow I held strong.  After about 30 minutes of me following her around and putting her on and off the potty she FINALLY pooped in the toilet!!  It was quite traumatic, but it happened!  And Tom and I celebrated with her for about the next 3o minutes haha
Day 5:  SUCCESS!!!! She asked each time and would sit on the toilet and not cry!!  We just had to give her a toy or distraction to hold and keep reminding her to listen and ask if she can hear the pee pee!  No accidents!! (although her panties would be a little wet from her catching herself before asking us to take her to the potty)
Day 6&7:  Officially daytime potty trained!!  No accidents!  No longer even damp panties, and no more holding it!  She just does it and it's sooo great!  Still nervous to poop on the toilet and waits until bedtime to go poop...but we will get there!

So moral of the story, we SURVIVED!
Things I learned from this experience for next time:
-I will probably wait longer next time to begin (though I am glad it's now done).  She is barely 2 and only showed a few of the signs of readiness for potty training.  I just wanted to get started because she has several new transitions coming up (a big girl bed, and a little sister) and I really want her out of diapers before the next one comes...and I don't want to be huge and pregnant trying to potty train
-I think I was most of the problem for her being scared of the potty!!!  Horrible to admit, but I think I was just to much for her... in her face, cheering if I heard even a little tinkle (instead of waiting til she finished, just not a calm person in general through this!  She did much better with Tom's help on days 5-7!  He just had a great way of keeping her calm:)  Love that man and the way he balances me out!
-"3 day potty training" was a great jump start but I learned it can and probably will take longer to get there

I AM SOOOOOOO PROUD of my little girl!  She is just doing great!  She wakes up from her naps dry now since she will go beforehand and hopefully being dry at night will come sooner than later!  But I'm not going to push it:)

Filling up her potty chart like a champ!

 On Saturday night after I got home from the salon, we felt confident enough to take her out and we went bowling with the Bunkers!  It was fun and great to be out of the house, despite the fact that we basically all took turns chasing kids in-between our turns.

 This is what the kids wanted to do the whole time we were bowling

 It was General Conference this weekend and it was so nice to spend the entire day together!  It was just perfect:
-Jade let us sleep in til 10:00am!!!
-I made delicious sour cream pancakes and sausage for breakfast
-We did puzzles and games with Jadelyn and tried to keep her entertained while we listened to Conference.
-I really loved Elder Uchtdorf's talk on being grateful no matter what
-In between sessions we went to the park and had a blast!
-And had a relaxing rest of the day, complete with grilled cheese and tomato soup for din din

These two fools had so much fun at the park too doing tons of sprints chasing the tennis ball and each other!