Only one word: FAIL

Well, I won't leave you hanging, but I will tell you that Dan and I spent a solid 48 hours staring at June's face trying to pick up her "cues" of when she had to go.  I will also tell you, that 58 out of the 60 times she went, we missed it.  Yes, that was 60 pairs of underwear that we washed - all kinds, and quite a few we threw away.  You can guess the stress levels or maybe you can't, but suffice it to say, this morning we gave up.

We basically looked back on the last 48 hours and asked ourselves- is this really that important?  Are we doing what is best for our family or what is our plan?  We decided that either June wasn't ready or we were over-eager, or we just weren't three-day potty trainers, or something, but we were not going to waste a whole other day trying to force June to figure out what she just wasn't getting, what she was feeling bad about, and what we were all killing ourselves over.

So, I write with humbled pride - Nay-sayers proved right. ;)

I was thinking the whole time that perseverance was the main goal here and that if we just thought hard enough that it would happen, it would.  But, then I looked at the situation and thought, maybe the lesson here is that sometimes, I need to gracefully accept that I am wrong and that we do all fail at times and that in itself is a lesson- one I can teach my children.  That failing happens, but it happens a whole lot more when you aren't walking with the Spirit's guidance, and this weekend, we sure weren't.  But its how you deal with the setbacks, failures, and disappointments that sets you apart.

So, we are back to diapers and ok with it.  Even though she still tells us every time while she is going that she needs to go pee pee, we will re-visit another time.  But she is back to the sweet happy toddler that she was and no worse for it and I have learned a valuable lesson, one that I unfortunately must continually re-learn: "Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself.  Each day has enough troubles of its own."  Matthew 6:34

Just let it go and be content.

Potty Training

I am writing a post about potty training for all the nay-sayers out there (you know who you are) who say this cannot work.  It can and it will! :)  I have read, re-read, and memorized the 60 page e-book just like I did with June and Annie's schedule book (many nay-sayers there too, btw) and I have confidence that it will work with, as she says, a TON of praise, patience and accidents.

I come armed with an arsenal (suggested by the book but made up by yours truly) of food and drinks (to make her go to the bathroom alot so we can train)....

Prizes (I'm sure she will just pick candy every time, but variation and options are always good :)....

30 pairs of underwear (for lots of mistakes and trying again)....

Incentive posters (she can't read, so I might as well enjoy the poster! ;)....

And a bed time routine poster (yes, we are multi-cultural and gender friendly in this household!)

So, I will check back in on monday- it is proven to work in three days or less and I believe it!  I have to be at her side for the entire three days and she will be good to go on Monday (with about 100 accidents before then).  But I figure it beats potty training over a few months.

Where will Annie be, you might ask?  Just hanging out with daddy all weekend, probably watching football while I conquer the insurmountable!

Where the time goes

Where does the time go?  I think all of my the time since Christmas has gone to relaxing and putting everything back together.  Although Christmas is fun and wonderful, it creates a lot of chaos that doesn't exist without it.

Plus, Annie moved upstairs to her own room from ours, so we have been working on that transition too :)

I heard something good today- "we all have the same amount of time; it just depends on how you choose to spend it."  That is something I really need to look at, because I  am always wondering where all my times goes.

At our small group this past week, we talked about looking at where you spend your time just like you look at where you spend your money.  By looking at where most of your times goes, (aside from sleeping,) you can see what is most important to you.  After a thorough analysis of this, for SURE June and Annie are the most important thing to me if you judge by time, but work is second.  And I wish it weren't so.  Thankfully, sweet Dan just helps as much as he can and is such a good husband and Daddy.  Time doesn't reward him enough.

Anyway, I will have to chalk this post up to ramblings, but something to think about.

On another note, my friends are obsessing about this free iphone app instagram.  I finally downloaded it and got a pretty cute picture that would have been totally blah had I not used the app.  Try it out.

Merry Christmas!!!!

Biase family pictures

We got to spend some time with some awesome photographers over Thanksgiving and took tons of family photos with Dan's family.  It was super fun and the kids did great! (I bribed them with candy ;)  Here are some of the best pics- thought you might want to see :)

Carpenter's

I wanted to share this recent newsletter from our church we attend.  It is definitely different than most churches and has taken quite a while to get used to and understand that we aren't there to "fix" these people, but to walk through life with them as equals, but we really enjoy it and have made some great friends through it.  Please read our friend Ted's story on the first page below and if you want to read more about our church, its philosophies and goals, please click here.

Winter 2011 News (Web)

Popo and Pictures

If you pay attention to details, you may have noticed that Popo's name was removed from the title of our blog.  The sweet little frog came and left in a few weeks and has gone to take a dirt nap.  At least that is what we told June since we are not sure she understands dying/death and all sad things like that.  Not to fear though, Dan made her a picture of Popo's "napping" place and she re-named Vitamins - Popo.  Hmm, well I guess that means I should technically leave Popo's name in the blog title but I will think about that later.  For now, we are one less frog, but still have "The fish formerly known as Vitamins" going strong.

A few days ago, we tried to take some Christmas card pictures with all of our family members which didn't go so well.  Zeus absolutely refused to participate and the chickens, for some reason, would not eat the treats I gave them to stay in the picture.

Dan was super stressed by all the activity and I was ordering everyone around/picking animals up to make them stay in the pic - you can sense Vern's annoyance....

So, this one is ok, except for Meuf Te' itching to try and get to the chicken poop - yuck! and June not looking... but you will have to wait for the finished product in your mailbox!

Oh, the anticipation... ;)