Potty Time, Excellent!

I have to start off by saying that I was not nearly clever enough to come up with this title on my own, and I fully admit to stealing it from my friend Christa's blog. If you don't know what movie I am referencing, then shame on you and you missed a fine piece of cinematic history!
Anyhow...Sydney is potty training! I know she is still a bit young, but she is completely ready. She has been wearing big girl panties and she is so proud of herself! She is so cute, but it's a little hard to see my baby up there on the big girl potty, I can't believe she's that old!

And in case you're wondering about my method, it took some reading of a very long, boring book, some good advice from my best friend's mom who leads my mom group every week, along with some good ol' fashioned bribery! Sydney loves her chocolate chips and calls them "cho-chips."

I completely blame the chocolate chips on my aunt Juanita, who gave me chocolate at the ripe old age of 4 months and I was hooked, so of course I passed it on to Sydney.
Since she's been wearing her big girl panties and going potty so often, she's been wearing a lot of really cute dresses, which make it easier for her to go to the bathroom. My sister Abbie saw her in this top one and thought it was a shirt!


And here is Sydney eating her raisins at my weekly mom group sporting another stylish dress.


So all of you faithful readers who can't get enough of the ins and outs of our lives know that once a week Madison comes over to play for a few hours. Last week Sydney and Madison were wearing the same pants on their play date. They often wear the same clothes, and it's not because they are part of an exclusive club, like the Ya-Ya Sisterhood for Toddlers, it's just because Melissa and I have such similar taste that we often buy them the same things and never realize it until the girls are matching. We used to show up at work or church when we were in high school and be in the exact same outfit, which I SWEAR we never planned (we, however, do belong to an exclusive Ya-Ya group for mommies). The girls once again had a blast destroying my family room with all the toys.




Last but not least, I had to include this DARLING picture of Sydney's boyfriend, Eli. Or, as she calls him, "I-Yi." Isn't he so cute?

The 4th of July

Yesterday we had a fantastic 4th of July! We started off the day going to the parade and the annual pancake breakfast. Sydney loved all the horses and old cars in the parade, but she did not like the loud fire engines! After a quick nap that afternoon we went to my parent's house for a BBQ with some family friends. We had such a great time, we got to relax and enjoy good food and good friends all afternoon. Sydney was the entertainment for the day! She actually had THREE, yes THREE outfits for the day. She had a cute red and blue tank-top ensemble for the morning, then a stars and stripes dress for the BBQ, then a 4th t-shirt for the fireworks. She did ok for the first part of the fireworks show. She enjoyed all the bright lights, but the noisy ones scared her so we went home. She was such a trooper all day, she was up 2 hours early and stayed up almost 4 hours past her bedtime! Here is a slide show of all our activities yesterday. By the way, all of our friends who have boys always tease us for how many pink things we have. If you'll notice in the fireworks pictures, Sydney is wearing pink earplugs! Oh yes, I found pink earplugs!

If you run your mouse over each picture, the slide show will pause and show you the caption.

Sydney a la Bohemia

Here are a few pictures of Sydney from last week. This top one was taken at the local farmer's market. We like to go there whenever we can, and they have one on a weeknight, which is perfect for us. We usually have dinner down there and sit in the little park and listen to the music. Sydney loves to dance and in this picture, she is swinging her arms around dancing!


These next two are of Sydney is a darling little bohemian dress I got her (hence the name of this post, and I don't even know if "bohemia" is a real word or not). She was so cute in it!


I'm not sure what she was doing here, but she wasn't upset or anything!

Seeing Marilyn

My good friend Marilyn and her family were in town this last week from Oklahoma. It is always so good to see her and catch up. It's crazy now that we each are married and have a child. I remember when we were in high school together and we would talk about our future families, and now we HAVE families! Her son Wesley is 10 months old and super cute. It's only the second time Sydney and Wesley have ever met and we snapped these pictures of all of us.

Dara and Wesley


Marilyn and Sydney


Dara and Sydney, Marilyn and Wesley


The whole gang! Chris, Dara, and Sydney with Clint, Marilyn, and Wesley

Trip to the Zoo

Today we went to the zoo! It was Sydney's first trip to the zoo, and we all had a great time. Chris, Sydney, and I went with Matt, Melissa, Madison, and Melissa's sister Haley. The weather was perfect and we even joined up and became zoo members! Melissa and I decided that an annual trip to the zoo would be a great half-birthday celebration for the girls. We looked at most of the animals and even rode the train. I took tons of pictures today, but I won't bore you all with all of them. I'll leave out the pictures of the animals and the millions I took of the backs of Sydney and Madison's heads as they looked at the exhibits. Here are a few highlights from day...

18 Months

Today our sweet Sydney Grace is 18 months old. I can not believe she is already a year and a half old! At 18 months, Sydney can say lots of words and can pretty much communicate to us what she wants, or doesn't want. She can point to about 10 body parts. She is very communicative and she LOVES to dance! She likes Veggie Tales and the Price is Right. She is using the "big girl potty" multiple times every day and enjoys the mini chocolate chips she gets for a reward. She loves to pretend to put on make-up and lotion when I'm getting ready in the morning! I don't have recent stats on height and weight, but she has an appointment at the doctor next week and we'll find out then. She is still very tall and thin. Here is a picture of our 18 month old girl today.


Here she is playing with her puzzles, which is a favorite pasttime. She loves books, puzzles, purses, and shoes.


I have never been into the whole idea of a half birthday, but when I was pregnant, I decided it wasn't fair to Sydney that her parents thought March would be a great month to make a baby and it wasn't her fault her birthday is so close to Christmas. So, I decided to celebrate a half birthday for Sydney. I got the idea in Parents magazine. I made half a cake with one and a half candles, and half wrapped a birthday present (a puzzle), and we had a half birthday party for her tonight! I made the other half of the cake for Madison, who will be celebrating her half birthday tomorrow. I think we'll do this every year, just something small. I love birthdays, who wouldn't want 2 a year?



Here is Sydney with Abbie, who came home from college today. We were singing her Happy Birthday!


She was so happy to dig into that chocolate cake.


I thought this might be as bad as the mess would get....



...but I was wrong! She made such a mess! She had so much fun.

Chris and I are so thankful that we have our Sydney. We can't believe she's not a baby anymore!

No Martha Stewart Here

I am definetely not a Martha Stewart, but I try. My house is not spotless, but I do try to keep it generally picked up and tidy. Sometimes I don't like the fact that there are tons of toys in my main living area, but I realize it is a season of my life and someday, when Sydney is all grown up, I will miss the hub-bub and the pink toys everywhere. Every night we put away all the toys that Sydney has played with during the day and it isn't usually that bad. Then again...

Yesterday Madison was here to play with Sydney and in three hours those two girls made such a mess! They had such a great time that I didn't even mind picking up all those toys.

Starlight Parade

This past weekend we went to the Starlight Parade, the official kick off of the Rose Festival. It's a family tradition I grew up with and I have never missed a parade yet. Sydney had such a great time!



I don't know what she was scared of here, but she was sure cute!



Sydney and Grandpa.



With Sydney all bundled up like this, doesn't it look like my mom is holding ET on her lap? We were all laughing so hard!


Sydney took a little cat nap for the first 20 minutes of the parade, then she woke up to enjoy the show! She probably had no idea what was going on and thought we were crazy, but she had a great time!

A Busy Week

Last week was a very busy week for us, just lots of little things going on every day. Here are a few pics...
Last week I gave Sydney pony tails for the first time. Her hair isn't really long enough yet, but I sort of made it work. She was so cute! This first one she is crawling and this is how she typically crawls, or prances is more like it, with her little nose in the air!



On Friday Melissa and I loaded up the girls and took them shopping. Here they are enjoying their string cheese at Anne Taylor.

Big Girl

Yesterday was a big day in our house! Yesterday, June 1, 2008, Sydney PEED IN THE "BIG GIRL POTTY!!" I know she's a bit young, but she has been expressing lots of interest in it so we put her on the toilet right before her bath and she peed! I never thought I would ever be so excited about pee before. She wasn't sure about it at first, but Chris and I started clapping our hands and she realized it was a good thing and she was so proud of herself! All day she would point at the toilet whenever we walked by it and start clapping her hands! I did take a picture of her on her little pink potty chair, but I'm not going to post it since she's buck naked in the picture. We are so proud of our big girl!

Yardwork and Starbucks

We hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend. We stayed at home since I had to work Sunday and Monday. On Saturday, we did lots of yardwork, including spreading some new bark dust in the yard. Before we got started, my dad put Sydney in the wheelbarrow for a trip around the cul-de-sac. My dad used to do this with my sister and I when we were kids, I loved riding in the wheelbarrow! It was fun to see Sydney having her own little ride, although she was hanging on for dear life!


No, we don't have a polka-dot wheelbarrow, that was blanket I threw in for a cleaner ride!

We had some visitors this weekend. Chris' dad came up from Cloverdale to spend some time with us, and he really enjoyed playing with Sydney. My sister came home from school for the weekend, too, and this morning her and I went to coffee before she headed back to Eugene. Sydney had her own wee little coffee cup with some milk in it and she thought she was very grown up to be having coffee with the "big girls!" She is just too cute!

Magnets and Pie

Last weekend we took Sydney to the farmer's market. We love going there in the summer and looking at all the flowers, fresh fruit, and vendor stands. We usually get breakfast and spend the morning there, and it's something we look forward to every year. Sydney had a great time. She is so observant these days and loves to point out everything she sees. She goes crazy if she sees a dog (as long as it doesn't get too close) and she points at all the other babies in their strollers.


Here is Sydney eating a snack in her stroller at the farmer's market.

While we were there, some of the little shops were open and we found a cute little toy store. We bought some magnets for the fridge and Sydney loves them! Every morning when I'm making her breakfast she plays with them. What a find! We'll have to go back next week and get some more!




On Tuesday we went to Marie Callender's with Matt, Melissa, and Madison. Sydney decided that she would like to feed herself and she helped herself to some of Chris' pie! She has really been getting into feeding herself with a spoon, which is surprising to us because she doesn't really like to do things for herself! Some people call her mellow, we call her lazy, but she prefers to have things done for her! For some reason, though, she's into feeding herself with a spoon and we let her, even though it makes a mess!


That face is just too precious!

Sydney and Eli, sittin' in a tree...

Chris and I have recently made some new friends, Ben and Alisa. They recently moved here from Indiana and they go to our church. Their adorable son Eli has been featured in many past blogs since we all think Eli and Sydney are boyfriend and girlfriend. They are so cute together and they have the best time playing. Sydney doesn't normally like little boys, they are too rough around her and she's pretty quiet. Eli is very nice to Sydney and always shares his toys. He just loves on her, it's so cute when he rubs her arm!
Last week Alisa and I were walking with the kids at the park when Eli reached out of his stroller and took Sydney's hand! She actually let him hold it, too! It was the cutest thing ever! Then, he kept one hand on her stroller like he was protecting her! We were laughing so hard at the two of them! Who knows, maybe someday they'll end up married.


I had to include this picture, too. Until Eli, I had never seen a little boy eat before. Sydney likes to throw her food on the floor, but when she eats she is always so dainty and takes one little bite at a time. Last week when we went to mexican dinner with Ben and Alisa, Eli showed Sydney what food was all about!

What you can't see in this picture is he had refried beans up to his elbows and rice all down his overalls! The floor underneath them was a mess of rice, beans, and chips. It was so cute!

Update

I know it's been almost an ENTIRE WEEK since I've last posted a blog. I do apologize, things have been crazy around here. We have all still been sick, and poor Sydney had it the worst. She was throwing up last Thursday, on top of her three week old cold, plus she's getting new teeth. She's been a real trooper, but what a mess! She's had a snotty, stuffy nose and lots of drool from her new teeth, so she's been getting 2 baths a day for the last week. Last week was the worst of the sickness for all of us, but it was terrible! I almost made another cake I felt so sorry for us! We have all mostly recovered and spent the weekend helping our friends move. Normally moving is not what I would call fun, but it's our good friends Matt, Melissa, and Madison, so it WAS fun! Another positive thing is that on Sunday I worked my first DAY SHIFT! After 5 years, no more night shifts for me. I am finally in the land of the living! So, things are on the up. Sorry no new pictures, I'll post some soon.