{winter}: it snows today

It snows today.  And it's such a rare occurance that I ran out and took pictures just as fast as I could because you never know if you'll see it happen again!  Paisley kept trying to fill up her hands so she could eat it.  I remember the winter that Jon moved here.  I drove over to his apartment with hot chocolate and mugs and he couldn't understand what the big deal was.  The longer we're here the more we miss it...not enough to actually move, but enough that we're sad our kids won't really know what it is.

Christmas morning was so fun this year.  We stayed home and relaxed with our little family.  We spend Christmas eve delivering Christmas candy, looking at Christmas lights and listening to Christmas carols.  Santa came that night and filled our stockings and under our tree!!  It is so fun having Paisley get so excited-Christmas really is so much more fun with kids!

 Stella got some fun chew toys which she LOVES.  She is such a good baby and we just love her so much.

(Jon's not sure if it's his size, lol)

 Paisley got a whole treasure chest of dress-ups (hence the crown), lots of fun my little pony things, her new hello kitty jammies and her giant elephant!!

 She loves this elephant so far and insists on taking it around the house with her everywhere she goes so she has something to lay on.  It's like a giant pillow pet and takes up most of her bed (which she loves).

 She has started posing for pictures...oh dear.  Our diet on Christmas consisted mostly of candy, candy and egg nog...and then more candy.  Ug.  I was going to make a Christmas ham but Jon still isn't over his stomach flu so we went Chinese for Christmas instead and it was awesome!!  The Red Ginger here has some amazing lamb & radish soup you have to ask for that is delicious and perfect for a winter night!

And my Aunt and Uncle Measom are up from Texas and came to use our internet on Christmas day so they could skype with my cousin on a mission in Chile.  It was so fun to have them all here!!  I wish we had a bigger couch for them!!

We have been busy but soo so good.  I just can't help but feel so blessed this Christmas season.  We are so surrounded by wonderful friends and family and so grateful for all that we have.  We've been hitting the house market hard looking for something and it is terrible!!  It's so easy to get caught up and wish we had more money or worry that we'll never be able to buy anything and actually afford it...then I look at my healthy babies and my sweet husband and realize that I'm already too spoiled as it is.  Ohhh...I love them.  Hopefully we'll find something soon...I'm afraid if we don't we may just give up and live here for the rest of our lives (which really wouldn't be so bad-our heater broke last week and all I had to do was call someone...soooo nice!!).  If anyone hears of anything LET US KNOW-we're on the prowl.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

{preschool}: christmas

I've been loving having these cute kiddies for preschool this month.  They really are so much fun!! We play games and make crafts and read stories...I just can't believe how big they all are!!

{potty training}: hopefully a means to an end...?

On Thursday a garbage truck came to pick up our garbage (the big kind with the hooks on the front to lift up dumpsters) and it scared Paisley.  At the exact moment that she expressed her fear of the big truck a horrible, awful idea occurred to me:

"Paisley, if you poop on your floor again I'm going to have to give your snuggles to the garbage truck" (snuggles is her most favorite comfort object and blanky)

"That truck?  The scary fire truck?"

"Yep.  The scary fire truck"

She has not pooped on her floor since going 3 days strong...

Pray for me that terrorizing her with this is the answer.

{potty training}: at wits end...

So...since my surgery Paisley has pooped on her floor every single day that we've been home.  (so minus Thanksgiving and a weekend at a cabin)...meaning we're going on a month and a half of pooping on the floor EVERY day.  She typically poops on the floor during her nap time..or sometimes surprises me and just goes up there randomly during the day to do it.  She also poops on the potty quite regularly but somehow saves some special time of day to poop on the floor.  I have tried:

• Not doing nap time.  She still needs it.  Still finds another time of day to go poop on her floor
• Changing the time of nap time.  Doesn't matter.  Even if she goes before she still manages to poop on her floor.
• Spending more time with her.  Spending more one-on-one time with her.  Cuddling and loving on her more.  etc.
• Changing general routine to get out more, spend more time doing fun things for her, etc.
• Taking toys or privileges away.
• Spanking her.
• Putting her back in diapers-for almost a full month, which she asked for every day and still...took those off to poop on the floor.
• Duct taping diapers on for naps.  Still took them off and pooped on the floor.
• Starting over with a reward system.  She then thought she should be rewarded for everything and constantly asked for treats...done with that...oh, and still pooped on the floor.
• Other means of positive reinforcement...do not work
• Ignoring the situation.
• Having her help clean it up.  Does not care.  Loves to clean.
• Spanking her. (still not really THAT hard, but hard enough to mean business)
• Buying her most FAVORITE my little pony panties and hanging them on her wall for her to see out of reach and telling her that if she doesn't poop on the floor she gets to wear them!!  (which she talked about non-stop the entire day before...and then pooped on the floor)
• Explaining in depth the situation, why we shouldn't poop on the floor, that it makes Mommy sad, that it's gross, that there are germs, that Mommy and Daddy don't like to clean it up.  She has repeated all of this back to me and understands it in depth-even so far as to explain it to her dollies, horsies and other toys (that also have problems pooping on the floor, apparently).
• Jon and I have taken turns dealing with it to see if she's acting out towards one or the other.  Does not matter.
• She does not care if her toys are taken away.  And I mean ALL her toys...no big deal.
• Does not care if her blanket is taken away.
• Really the only thing she cares about is hanging out with me but I can't leave her in her room by herself all day because...she poops on the floor.  And the only time I do leave her up there is during nap time-other than that shes just with me all day.

The one thing I've had recommended to me is trying to force her to go potty by holding her on there until she goes every time.  I'm not doing that.  I take her plenty and if she needs to go she goes, and if she doesn't need to she doesn't.  I'm not going to make her sit on the potty for an hour before nap time and try and force her to go.  Even if she does go of her own accord right before naps she still manages to poop on the floor.

I have witnessed her wake up out of sleep in the night to get up and go potty.  She poops in the potty every other time of day-and even during nap times if she's already pooped on the floor that day.  My sanity and my carpet need help.  I honestly don't know what to do.  It's not a medical thing (she poops just fine), I'm sure it's psychological but I have no idea how to fix it.  I knew she was going to be challenging, but WOW.  

I know that it's probably a regression because of the baby, or all the travelling and the busy-ness and everything else.  And I have read EVERYTHING that is available about regression-and have done EVERYTHING that has been recommended.  Nothing is working.  And this isn't a "be patient and give it time" thing-it's been almost 2 months and the girl is potty trained and has been for a year.  

I know its a control issue too.  Once again-how am I supposed to deal with it?  It's got to stop.  Has anyone been through this?  I'm at the end...

I find that by the time I'm going crazy enough to actually blog about something it typically resolves itself somehow so I'm really hoping that's the case here...

{famousness and such}: the buried life

You guys...we were on tv.  Check it out here: The Buried Life.