A Beginning To Potty Training... Win!

So the last few weeks Jocelynn has been asking all about potty training! But she has not been 100% mentally ready until now. Every night for the last month Jocey has personally prayed to Heavenly Father each time asking if he will please please please help her get potty trained. Last night before Jocey went to bed she told me this," Mommy I want to get potty trained so that I can have my Barbie movie, can we please use the piggy timer and get me potty trained?" Me: " Yes Jocey... we can try again (half brushing it off my shoulder)". So we had a go at it AGAIN today. Although she is not fully potty trained she is peeing on the toilet trained as long as we go to the toilet every 30-45 min. She cant wear real underwear until she has done this for 3 days in a row, so she is in Pull-Ups until then. But it is a awesome improvement and I AM ECSTATIC!

What we did:

• Bought a piggy timer to set every 30-45 min for a reminder.
• Stayed home ALL DAY.
• Got some Dora the Explorer Pull-Up's. (Totally against them in the beginning but they ended up working nicely for Jocey) 
• Let Jocey eat and drink whatever she wanted all day.
• Called daddy after every-time she went pee.
• We used basically all the concepts of potty training in a day.

Accidents = 2 (1 poop, 1 pee)
Going to the bathroom on the toilet = 9 (all pee)

I expect getting her to poop on the toilet is going to be a struggle, but this is such an improvement and she is so determined all of a sudden to get this done. I am one proud mama and Andrew is a proud daddy! I'll write another post when she is no longer in the transition stage.

Today Jocey, Vivi and I all went to the park for 2 hours with one of my bestest buds Sage and her son Thor. Then we came home and gardened. It was a great day. I am pleased. Very pleased.

Time, Sweet Sweet Time.

So in case you did not already know we de-activated our Facebook account for the time being.

Why? Well we were both sick of dumb people and tired of wasting time on that time sucker.
Who? Well Andrew is the one who suggested it, gave me a weeks notice and BAM it was gone.
When? "Well we are not re-activating it until the middle of June", says Andrew.
Thoughts? We thought we would be miserable or it would "feel weird" not being on Facebook social media, but we were brave and went through with the de-activation. We have LOVED it. We only accidentally went to the site out of habit once or twice. We deleted the  Facebook app off of our phones so that's not a problemo. And we really don't talk or think about it. Also, I (Starrie) am still on Instagram under @starriewhittle and I am also still doing the blog thing. 

In our new founded undistracted time we have been doing the following:

Learning to scoot

Reading books with daddy

Baking delicious chocolate chip cookies

Reading the "Ginny Book"  aka scriptures

(Ginny is what Jocey calls her great grandma Bunker)

Making Texas Sheet Cake from scratch

Having some sissy time

We have always done these things, but it's just nice to not have any distractions while doing them. I am really hoping to finish the high chair re-do that I have been planning/working on for a while.

6 years

Mikey (as Andrew calls him) has been gone from us for 6 years now.

It seems like it has been nowhere near this long.

Andrew thinks about Michael everyday and misses him more than anything. Michael dying was extremely hard on Andrew and it is still hard to remember the good times without getting emotional.

I (Starrie) have personally felt Michael's presence in our home frequently and I feel as though he is a sort of a guardian angel on our family. I know that him and Andrew were very close especially the last 6 months before his death, which is why I think I may feel that connection.

It is hard to explain to Jocey who he is and to not just expect her to remember him as I or especially Andrew does. It's hard to explain the concept of heaven to a 3 year old. I know she has at least felt Michael and more than likely other members of our family, but is just too little to let us know how and when she does. I know she does by the things that she has said.

We are grateful for the gospel in our lives because we know that we will see Michael once again. Andrew was able to do his work for him on October 22, 2010. Which is not only our 1 year wedding anniversary date, but also the day Andrew and I had our work done. Michael is close to our hearts often and we look forward to seeing him again or as Andrew has said, "I cannot wait to be greeted with the same hug that Michael gave me the day before he died."

We love you Michael, please continue to watch over the family and help us celebrate your life!

Jocey giving uncle Michael a drink of Dew

                 

It's Jocey time

Ok so I feel bad because I always feel like I need to update on Jocey, but then it is hard because she is growing at a more stable pace than Vivi so I tend to update Vivian more often. Vivian changes basically everyday and Jocey is kinda mostly out of that stage. So here is Jocey's update.

Jocey is the funniest/sweetest/most dramatic/ loving child I know. And she is all ours!

Independent:
Jocey can pretty much do everything on her own. She gets her own food, clothes, blankets, puts her shoes on, feeds herself, can get her own drinks, puts on her own movies and TV shows etc. etc. The only thing she still cant do is go potty on the toilet. It is frustrating for us as parents and are trying to let it happen on its own time.

Playing:
Jocey loves playing, babies, barbies, horses, running away from vacuums, playing pretend with anything and everything, dancing, primary (not really playing but, she loves being there more than anything. Much better than nursery) etc.

Movies:
Tangled (she knows all the songs), Sleeping Beauty (her favorite), The Little Mermaid, Cinderella (it's hard to not catch her singing this all the time), Thumbelina, Snow White and The Princess and the Frog.

Funny Kid:
Jocey know's how to makes someone laugh, I must admit she is pretty dang funny. Her favorite thing to do lately is make Vivian laugh. No matter what that en-tells. Sometimes Jocey's personality is why she is so funny, she just says things in such a way that it puts a smile on your face.

So Much Love:
It does not matter what happens Jocey ALWAYS tells us she loves us everyday, on her own. Sometimes when she calms down for the night all she wants is mommy, daddy and sissy snuggles and she can't get enough. She will always ask how I am doing, if she can do "favors" and asks how she can help with anything. Jocey loves temple's, when she prays at night she prays that she can get older so she can go inside and get married. It is adorable. She also always looks out for her sissy. One time we joked with Jocey saying," Jocey? Should we put sissy in the oven and cook her up for dinners?" and Jocey's response was," No! She is my best friend! And I am her best friend! Please don't cook her!"

There is sooooooooooooooo much more but alas my hands are getting tired of typing. Here is an adorable picture of my beautiful daughter. We love her to death. 

6 dandy months

Vivian is ^ as seen above.

Today was her well baby check-up.

75%- Height- 26 1/2 inches

29%- Weight - 15lbs

49%- Head Circumfrance

When she was born:

40%- Height - 19 1/2 inches

20%- Weight - 6lbs 9oz

16%- Head Circumfrance

Vivian sits up (with help), say's "mama" (not on demand), chew's chew's chew's her hands and whatever she thinks taste's good, loves being held 24/7, LOVES to smile and laugh, stands up on her legs most of the time, snuggles, grabs, rolls over, lunges (she thinks she is big like sissy and can walk) and recognizes her name.

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE.

We love our baby and that is all.

North Dakota

So we took a spontaneous trip to ...... *drum roll please*........North Dakota! Don't worry we drove out to Andrew's sister Nicia, so we're not totally crazy. It was much needed for our little fam. We were out of Utah for almost 10 days. On the way there we drove to Mt. Rushmore, it was super awesome and the landscape out there was really cool. The rest of the time we were in Cavalier with Joe, Nicia, Alyssa and Logan. It was nice to have no worries and be with family.We are grateful to Nicia and Joe for being so hospitable to us. It was good. On the way back returning to Utah we went to Bismarck, ND. We had the chance to go to the Bismarck LDS Temple and it was quite the experience for Andrew and me, I really do not think anyone will ever know exactly how we felt. We both felt so safe there, happy and comfortable it was actually quite surprising. All in all everything was good!  Along the way Andrew and Jocey got to play their temple game, where they found at least 7 temples on the way there and back. It was much needed and a good "time away from Utah". I am not sure what more to say so here are some pictures!
P.s. Vivian said her first word on this trip "MaMa", Jocey's first word was "DaDa" so I (Starrie) was pretty stoked!

Mt. Rushmore

Pretty good for most the car ride there

Playing in the heavy Cavalier snow with the cousins

Sad to go

Cute little Jocey Crossing a temple off her list.

Bismarck Temple

Swimming with aunt Meecia ( as Jocey says )

Jocey at the hotel in Bismarck