Potty training

A couple of weeks ago, Frank's teachers told us to bring him to school in underwear because he was ready to potty train.  We have been sporadically using a potty for months, but we have not been pushing him, and we did not want to start really training at home until they were ready at school too.  I thought this was probably the absolute worst timing, since I knew I could have a baby any minute and I have heard many, many stories about older kids regressing with potty training once the new baby arrives...but we decided to go ahead and go with it anyway.  He has done great!  He had accidents the first few days, but the last week, he has not had any accidents during the day.  We started off bribing him with jelly beans, but he really did not need the candy and is happy just with the huge deal we make out of any successful potty attempt.  Sometimes he goes completely by himself now, and he will walk out of the bathroom and say, "Mommy, say 'Yay, I'm proud of you!'"  Sometimes he then tells me to say it louder.  Or sometimes he says "Don't say 'yay.'"  It is so cute!!  The other day I went to the bathroom when I was upstairs with him, and he said, "Mommy, did you poop or pee?"  I told him I peed, and he said, "Yay, I'm proud of you!"  Haha.  So, he is officially potty trained (for now) during the day.  But the nighttime is another story.  He has had an accident pretty much every night since we started doing this.  We always make sure to take him twice before he goes to bed and then immediately after he wakes up, but he still goes once during the night in his bed and does not wake up.  I actually had a lot of issues with this growing up and eventually had to take medicine to enable me to go through the night without wetting the bed, so I REALLY hope he does not have this same issue.  We may try waking him up at night to pee and seeing if that helps.  We will be up at night a lot anyway once Baby Lily gets here! 

Speaking of baby....we are all shocked that she is not here yet.  My parents came up this weekend, SURE that I would have the baby before my Dad had to leave to go back to Houston this morning....but, still no baby.  I never thought I would make it this close to my due date, but obviously Liliana has her own opinion about when she wants to come out!  I decided not to go into work this morning, so I am going to spend the day at home with Frank, Frankie, and Nana.  We'll see if Lily decides that today is the day or if she is going to wait until we go in tomorrow morning. I am so excited to meet my sweet girl, and to see my sweet boys with their new sister/daughter.

Yesterday morning my husband decided to run a half marathon.  He barely trained at all for it, yet he still managed to run it in about 2 hours, which is absolutely amazing!!  Frank truly amazes me sometimes.  I went out with Frankie and my Dad to cheer him on at the finish line, and he was SO HAPPY to see us there.  It made me so proud of him, and I actually teared up and was not able to cheer!  Frankie was so proud of his Daddy, and it was just a really special moment to see Frank running for a cause that is so close to his heart. 

39 weeks!

I am one week away from my due date, ahhh!!  I went to the doctor this morning, and she said I am now 3 cm dilated and very thin.  Baby's head is very low, and she said I am pretty much "on the brink" of going into labor.  She swept my membranes, and I am hoping that kick starts the process!  We went ahead and scheduled an induction for next Tuesday if the baby does not come before then.  Frank has a bunch of interviews lined up between now and then--today, tomorrow, and Monday--so we are hoping baby Lily is considerate of that schedule and decides to come on Friday or wait until Tuesday.  All I know for sure is that I am READY to meet my sweet little girl and start our new adventure as a family of four!

Ready to meet Lily!

Here I am at 38.5 weeks next to the lilies that have bloomed in our backyard.  Frank always buys me an Easter Lily plant and then plants it in the backyard after Easter is over.  Amazingly, this is the first year that the lilies have bloomed!  Just in time for us to meet our sweet Lily.  A lot of people are predicting that our sweet girl is coming this weekend, and we are so ready to meet her!

38 weeks and false alarm

Last night, Frank and I went to the hospital for what turned out to be a false alarm.  I had been having contractions all day, and around 8:30 last night I started timing them.  They were coming every 10 minutes or so at first, but they got closer together and were coming every 2-3 minutes by about 11:00 p.m.  However, they still were not very painful, so I was not sure what to do.  I finally decided it was better to be safe than sorry, and we went in.  The nurse checked my cervix and saw I was only dilated to a 1, which was the same as I was at my appointment last week.  So disappointing!  They monitored me for about an hour (during which I was still having contractions, but of course they were not coming as regularly as before), and then sent us home.  I had my 38-week check-up this morning, and I had progressed to 2 cm, so that is something.  My doctor told me that some people have these practice bouts of labor, and others don't, and that there is not much I can do other than try to listen to my body and know that the contractions have to be more painful for me to go back to the hospital.  I feel silly for going in when it was not "time," but it did give us a good practice run and forced us to get those last few little things done (car seat in car, frank's bag packed, etc).  I know Baby Lily will come when she is ready, but I feel like all of these contractions are really messing with my mind! 

Baby Liliana's nursery

Here is a sneak peek of Baby Liliana's nursery!  We still have a few more things to get, but you get the basic idea.  I am really happy with the way it turned out, although I think the painters could have done a better job with the stenciling, especially for how expensive it was!  I do love the furniture, including the dresser with the iron handles that Frank painted himself.  Frank fought me on most of the details, and he thinks this nursery is way too "grown-up" for a baby, but I think it is beautiful, and it is a room that she can grow into. 

crib with beautiful blanket purchased by sweet co-workers and probably my favorite piece in the entire room, the venetian mirror

dresser that her Daddy painted himself! 

crib fit for a princess

changing table and pictures of Paris I took when Frank and I went there in Summer 2006

love the little princess piggy banks

Big Brother had to be a part of the photo shoot!

same glider from Frankie's nursery

walls are a soft pale pink with champagne stenciling

another view

lamp from her GG

Happy Memorial Day!

 Happy Memorial Day!  We had a wonderful three-day weekend spending a lot of time together as a family.  On Saturday we went out to Ross Perot Jr.'s Circle T Ranch for a huge memorial day picnic to honor local veterans.  Although it was a bit hard for me to hobble around in the heat, Frankie had a blast playing on playgrounds, watching armadillo races, and sitting on a huge longhorn!  They had an enormous spread of delicious food, and it was a super nice and fun event.  There were a bunch of families with really young babies there--that will be us soon! 

On Sunday we headed over the Manktelows to swim, barbeque, and hang out.  Frankie and Maddy played together all day and had an absolute blast.  Maddy is four, and they are finally at a good place where they can play together well.  Maddy drew Frankie a picture that he took home, and he was absolutely devastated this morning when Katy stepped on it!  It will be a lot of fun to watch them grow up together. 

Today I have spent most of the day finishing my to-do list before baby Lily arrives.  I had a bunch of contractions on Friday night and thought for a few hours that it might be D-day.  Of course, right when I got myself all worked up, the contractions spaced out and then stopped.  But nonetheless, I wanted to finish getting the nursery together, pack my hospital bag, and do all of the other last-minute things just in case she decides to come this week.  I finished everything on my list!  Alright baby Lily, you are welcome to make your debut any time you would like...

Here are some pictures from the memorial day picnic:

 Frankie on the horse tire swing

 Big longhorn!

 posing with Daddy

 sitting with Mommy

 yummy snowcone

 armadillo races

 round bales!  He sees these and says "Those are for the cows and the horses to eat."

Soccer

This season, Frankie got to play soccer every Friday at school.  A group called Soccer Shots came to his school each week, and Frankie played with a few other kids from his class.  He loved it!  Last Friday, they had a special program where they invited parents to come watch and see all the new skills the kids learned.  Frank unfortunately had an interview, but I was able to go out and watch.  There were 4 other parents there, and the kids with parents were a bit distracted, but it was still fun to watch.  I LOVED playing sports growing up, and some of my most fond memories are of my Dad coaching and watching me play softball.  I absolutely cannot wait to watch Frank and Lily grow up and play sports.  Here are some pictures I took at Frank's soccer class:

 score!

 just dribbling

 Frank and his little girlfriend McKenzie

 ooh, a medal!

running!