Potty Training 101 plus a full update

I figure I'm an expert now, since I've put in a 4 hour block of potty training this morning. Ha! We came out of it with 2 successes, and 1 accident. And then I quit while I was ahead-when she looked at me just before lunch and said, Diaper Please, I was ready for the break too! I guess I'm not the potty train in one day kind of mom. My goal is to have her potty trained by 2 1/2 years old, that's still 2 months away! And along the way we'll be cutting down slowly on diapers, today we are -1, and if we do another 4 hour block tonight, we'll be -2 on diapers. Sounds good to me.

We did have fun. And for the record, the first time she asked for her diaper back, I said no, and it paid off. So I am not giving in every time. Amelia amazes me every day. She is so adamant in her refusals, but she always plays along when we make it fun. We used the doll and she would be so excited to put her doll on the potty. And then she got a treat and got to call daddy when she finally went. 

As for Maya, she wants to be a big girl so badly. She wants to eat real food, she wants to run around, or at the very least scoot. And sometimes I try to rush her too! She is close to sitting up, and getting too big to be carried in the carseat, so I am constantly trying to force her to sit up like a big girl in shopping carts and high chairs.

As you can tell by the second pic, she's not a fan. Of course I don't want to speed up her growth, but I also can't wait for the day that she and Amelia can run around together and she can keep up. I dream of those days! But I also love my baby. She is falling asleep more often in our arms now. Juan always calms her to sleep during church, one of his many dad skills. So with that comes more snuggling, she wasn't as cuddly as Amelia was/is, but she's getting better. And her smiles are the absolute best in the world! I will be stern with Amelia, sending her to timeout, then I'll look down and see little Maya grinning up at me and I can't help but break my disciplinarian mode and melt into a smile too.

And me and Juan. Our new favorite game is Dominion. Our friends Andrea and Matt introduced it to us and we played many nights in a row with them. Then they decided to move on us (boo) and so we bought it and Juan and I have played every night this week! We are losing another couple friend of ours in August, so sad. Our friends here have just saved us when it came to moving away from family, and Steph and Cameron moved in right at the same time as us. The upside is they will be back in one year, but we'll sure miss them.

We have been watching The Bachelorette every Monday with our friends. I am loving Jef with one f. He is my favorite, but I think she'll pick Arie. Sean is a little on the boring side for me. I am on the last book in the Shopaholic series, they are the funniest book I've every read. Ok I realize my update is making me sound very shallow, but hey, I am having fun! I am working on getting back into the more serious things like my scripture reading and exercise schedule. I know I am happiest when I do those things each day.

And Juan, he works so hard and has good and bad days at work. I love that he puts in so much work for our family and I also love that home is his favorite place to be. Juan is the best father, I can't say it enough! We were apart for Father's Day, and I sat in church with Amelia and Maya. Amelia was so excited to see the kids get up and sing their Father's Day songs. Then she listened to the words and got sad, she looked around and then looked down and softly said to herself, Daddy work. It was the saddest thing I'd seen. But also made me happy to know she loves her daddy so much and truly misses him when he's not around. 

 Pictures from our early Father's Day celebration.

We had the best 4th of July week. It is not quite in the 100s here, which for Texas means it's not too bad yet! We are still getting to the park and on walks and the heat is bearable, I just don't leave the house between 1 and 6 pm, it's nap time and dinner for us anyway. I feel like the summer is only just beginning!

At the parade