Girly Girls!

I LOVE having a daughter that likes to do girly things with me. 

It is so fun.

Yesterday we spent about 2 hours doing our hair, painting our nails, and putting on jewelry.

she picked out her colors. :)

HA!

admiring her beautiful toes

Kylie, you're the best. :)

Command Center

I've been wanting some sort of command center for my kitchen for a while now... and I finally got it done! 

YAY!

I am so in love with how it turned out. And it has DRASTICALLY decreased the amount of clutter that gathers on my island. Which is exactly why I wanted to make it!

I got the idea from here.

Here's a breakdown of what everything is:

• A list for anything and everything... I found a printable online, but didn't want to pay for it... so I made my own. :) I use dry erase markers so the lists can be changed and erased as needed.

• A weekly menu. I don't use the breakfast and lunch columns as much since we basically have cereal every day and sandwiches/quesadillas/leftovers for lunch. But it is AWESOME to know ahead of time what I am making for dinner. Find this printable here.

• A file folder/mail holder. We got some plywood from my Grandma, and a frame from IKEA to match all the other frames... and whipped up this little beauty. Thank you amazing husband for your skills. :)

• A holder for pens and keys. It's just a simple wood board, with mason jars attached by pipe clamps, and a few hooks. I originally had it white, but it was way too plain so I added some nice color. 

• A changeable calendar. Again... IKEA frame and a bunch of paint chips from Lowes. The only permanent words are the days of the week. Everything else is written on the glass with dry erase markers so I can change the month/days/events/ etc.

• And my favorite part!!! A metal string (it's actually a curtain rod/string from IKEA, can you tell we like that store?!) to hold Kylie's art, and other important pictures.

 Like this important one!

• And the last piece is a empty frame for notes and reminders. 

Yup. It's true. We're expecting baby number two! I am 14 weeks and due November 22nd. I am feeling great, and baby is doing well. We are so excited!! Woohoo for being in the 2nd trimester!

So there ya have it.

The blank wall...

this was the only picture I had... Kylie has changed a little. lol!

And after we filled it!

And some random cuteness from the munchkin.

my two favorite hair twirlers

how Kylie likes to read scriptures

Kylie's favorite hiding spot.

And a new found spot...

Trying to copy uncle Andy's childhood hairstyle

Potty Training!

Yup. We've been tackling the daunting task of potty training.

Potty dance. :)

 We did the initial "training" about a month ago, and Kylie is doing so well. Her accidents are becoming less and less frequent (unless she is doing some serious playing,) and she is starting to tell me when she has to go! yay.

Kylie was so ready to do this, that is the only reason I decided to go ahead with it so early.

I had a plan to do a 3-day potty training kind of deal, but she pretty much had it after the first day. Which was awesome. We have her naked from the waist down when we are home (she still can't figure out how to pull down her underwear in time,) and on that first day I was giving her salty crackers and watered down juice pretty frequently. She was literally going to the bathroom every 10 minutes. So she got LOTS of practice that first day. She does receive a single m&m when she goes in the potty, but only after she has wiped, flushed and washed her hands. It was enough of a motivator for her. :) She doesn't get them every time now, unless she asks... most of the time she doesn't care and just gets back to what she was doing.

As an added bonus, with all the time sitting on the potty and reading books, playing, talking, etc.. Kylie has learned her whole alphabet. She actually doesn't know the song, but she can say and recognize all 26 letters. We had to entertain ourselves somehow. :)

We've been struggling a little bit with naps. But I think it is partially because she takes 3+ hour naps and is a HEAVY sleeper. But I think we are getting closer. As for nighttime... we're going to continue putting her in diapers until she can figure out naptime, and then we'll work on all night. Who knows... I'm just winging it as we go. ha!

So yeah. that's what we have been up to. And I apologize to anyone that has stopped by and seen the half nude toddler running around. I think it is adorable, but I understand it can be a slight shock. haha!