My little boo boo has learned to do quite the amount of things these last weeks! I am super de super excited for her!

She fully broke through her 2nd tooth.

Learned how to CRAWL!

Pulls herself up to couches and walks around the edge.

She has learned to say "yaya"/ "dada" which both mean she wants Andrew.

She coos, squeals, makes random noises, laughs, fake coughs and much more!

At 8 months Vivian is turning into being mischief , but lets be honest I knew that ever since I was about to have her. We also like to say that Vivi has "little sister syndrome". Meaning, she feels the need to not do anything because Jocey will do it for her. Which is why she has not crawled until now. Little sister syndrome also means that Viv is a tattle tell and can be whiney at times. Luckily her and Jocey absolutely adore each other, and she is such a sweet smiley girl!

Surgery

WARNING GRAPHIC SURGERY PHOTOS

Oh my Lanta have I (Starrie) been through the ringer this week!

Last Saturday,the 15th, I had excruciating pain in my left lower abdomen. Andrew took me to the ER and after an ultrasound we found out I had a type of lesion on my left ovary, they were not 100% sure what it was so they highly suggested I go to my doctor the following Monday. I had strict orders to not go to church, no heavy lifting and to know I would need surgery ASAP.

After getting referred to a surgeon, on Tuesday, I met with Dr.Rees and he informed me that it was a softball sized dermoid cyst sitting on my left ovary. It's also called a non cancerous tumor that continues growth (up to the size of a cantaloupe) and has to be taken out by surgery. They also contain hair, nails, skin and teeth because they come from your reproductive organs. Regular cysts are small and the body eventually gets rid of them usually creating no further problems.

Friday was my surgery and it took about 3 hours because the dermoid was tangled with my ovary. They had to take it out C-section style. I was extremely nervous because I've never had surgery before for anything. Everything went well and I am doing great. I was totally out of it all Friday and only remember being extremely nauseous and I kept passing out. Apparently I was jumbling all my words around and tuning into random conversations.

That's about it. Also Andrews cousin Josh was in the hospital the same day to get his appendix taken out so he stopped by for a visit.

Here are some pictures. View at your own discretion.

Giant nasty dermoid cyst/ tumor. Don't worry it was just sitting right under my skin.

After it was cut open, you can see the hair in it.

Awe I am no longer drugged up and out of it.

Cute little Josh in his bottle cap glasses. Surgery buddies!

Its official!

JOCELYNN IS POTTY TRAINED!!!

I did not want to officially say anything until she had no accidents and was poop trained. So here we are! No accidents since June 5, poop or pee. Jocey is full on in underwear (other than at night, not necessarily because of accidents. Mostly to be safe. ) and tells you when she has to poop, she still has to be asked to go pee otherwise she holds it for hours and hours. But that is A OK with me. Anyways just wanted to share the super exciting news with everyone, because you know this is a huge milestone and I would argue the hardest part of parenting thus far!

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