Tea Set

A big thank you to Great Grandma Sewell for Lizzie's new tea set. She loves it. Here's proof (click on the link for a cute video).

Lizzie's Tea Party

Library

We went to the local library today to get library cards. Ms. Lizzie got her very first library card. And we promptly checked out for her two videos (including Elmo) about potty training. That's good ol' fashioned strategery right there. :-)

Day Off

Yesterday went well. Lizzie went on the potty 3 times, which was the goal. That means that each day she has gotten a little better at it. Today we have some commitments that can't be rescheduled and they happen to be in the afternoon and then in the evening, so we are taking a much needed day off from potty training.
Ellie's 4th tooth has broken through most of the way, so hopefully by the weekend it won't be causing anymore pain for her or us.
Thanks for those praying for us (or laughing at us as the case may be :-) )
We will update more after the weekend.

(Note: For those wondering, no we didn't cut Lizzie's hair, and no Ellie isn't standing yet, it is a pic I saw online that fit our week, so enjoy with less panic now!)

Turn around and late night

Well, with a help from our friend, Bribery, Lizzie ended up going in the potty *twice* (quite a change from the way the potty-training day started - see previous post). Sweet.

But, it's 2:15am and we're up because Ellie is in the midst of some serious teething. Bummer.

You win some, you lose some.

A puddle filled day

So, I hear that there is much rain on the west side, but the puddles in South Hamilton did not come from the sky...

Have you ever spent a good 15-20 minutes on your hands and knees searching for a large wet spot that, well, isn't water?

And have you ever been able to find said wet spot and had to give up assuming it didn't exist, but was instead caught in the clothing of the wet spot maker?

And then have you shortly there after discovered the very large-over-sized-how-did-she drink-that-much-and-keep-it-in-her spot you had been looking for, through the means of your pant bottoms and feet?

I did.

Hope your days are filled with cloud created puddles, and not child created ones!

1 Potty Down, Hundreds of Thousands to go...

..but at least we won't have to be there for them all!

Well, today was rough, but a success in that Lizzie went once on the potty, and the rest..well...let's just say our carpet is a little more spotted than it was yesterday.
She seems to want to go on the potty, but just can't figure out when her body is warning her that it is coming.
Any thoughts, suggestions, similar stories...we would love to hear them!
Tomorrow we hope for two times on the potty. Maybe by the weeks end we won't have as many consistent uh-ohs.

Ellie on the other side of things, is struggling through constant teething. She is up to 4 teeth so far and from what we can tell has more coming just behind it. This has made for quite a few wake up calls throughout the night and a cranky baby in the day time. We have tried tablets, cold washcloths, teething rings, teething toys and baby orajel and they don't seem to do the trick for the real bad pain, so we have resorted to tylenol. It works, but you can really tell when she is getting close to due for another dose.

We will try and keep you all posted during the week to let you know how our girls are doing with their growing up!

The Big "P"

Your time to shine and wow with advice. We're begging for it. In T-minus roughly 15 hours (yes, Allen's birthday), we start potty-training Lizzie.

How did you all do it? What worked, what didn’t?

Atlantic Ocean Video

Short video of Lizzie first time in the Atlantic.

First time in the Atlantic

Final Exam

Right now Allen is taking his first in class final (first of 25). When he gets done that will mean 6 classes down and 24 to go until he has completed his Gordon-Conwell education.
Pray for him if you think of it!

UPDATE: Exam went well. Hoping for a high B, low A. Thanks!

Atlantic Ocean

This past weekend we went on a short trip to the coast, via Cape Ann.

We drove through Manchester by the sea and Gloucester and Rockport.

It was beautiful.

We got out at Halibut Point State Park



and walk along the trail past the old granite rock quarry

and over into some rocks where we all got to put our feet into the Atlantic (for three of us it was a first).



It was a gorgeous drive and a lot of fun to get away on the first of many family adventures on the east coast.


For more pictures of our trip check out our Flickr account!!!