Pictures Take 1

We had an appointment for pictures this morning. I was hoping to get a good shot of the girls in their coordinating dresses to use for our Christmas cards this year.

Here they are getting ready...brushing their teeth like good little girls. :-)


Still brushing... and looking absolutely darling in their Christmas outfits!


Waiting for mommy and daddy...wondering why it takes them soooo long to get ready!


Anyway, long story short, picture taking was a DISASTER and none were taken! Jocelyn WAS NOT going to stand on that white sheet and Jenna WAS NOT going to smile for a picture (and we even bribed big time!)

Good times!

We made an appointment for next week, so we will give it another try. My dad offered to come with us because the girls happen to have a special liking for him. We'll see what happens. If not, our Christmas card might have them brushing their teeth in it! :-) Just joking!

Competitive Spirit

You may be wondering what I have been up to in the last week since I haven't posted a blog. Well, I will tell you that in all, (well most) of my free time, I have taken up a new hobby. You see, I come form a pretty competitive family. Or I should say, my sister and I are competitive! :-) And when we want to beat each other at something, we will stay at it until we do it. We are always friendly and loving about it, but determined to beat the other person. So, after she introduced me to a computer game ( Mahjong Titans- for anyone interested) we went back and forth trying to see who could win the game the fastest. What's cool is, I got my husband into the competition! And now that I have blown them away with my unbeatable time, they have actually given up on me! So, now, what else am I to do, but blog?

Ok, now that I have patted myself on my own back, I will tell you that honestly, playing computer games is not what I do on a regular basis (although I really do have the fastest time! :-) )

Genevieve has completely amazed us with her potty training skills! She rarely, very rarely, has accidents! She gets so excited to go and has learned to take off and put back on her panties and pants all by herself. We really don't have to do much of anything except help her wash her hands when she his done going potty. Oh yes, and since she has learned to go pee-pee on the potty, she has decided that she has to go every 20 minutes. Seriously! And she does! That gets a bit exhausting! And the best part...she forgot that we used to give her chocolate every time she went, so she never asks for it anymore. This is cool because it means there is more for me! :-)

More cool Jenna news...she knows her ABC's! I don't know, maybe they are supposed to know them by now, but she sings it so well. She ALWAYS forgets the letter "J" and "TUV" but everything else is there precisely! And she says them very clearly, even the toughest "LMNOP" part!

Jocelyn has completely given up her morning nap which is actually very exciting for me. I don't feel like I have to be at my house from 9-11 everyday anymore. She stays in a fairly good mood too!

She has found a new toy. Our toilet. If we ever forget to close the bathroom door, she will be drenched from head to toe in seconds. So will the entire bathroom. Nice huh? Although we occasionally forget to shut the bathroom door...we ALWAYS remember to flush, so luckily, she is playing in clean water! :-)

Both of the girls love Zoe! This is good news since Sam and I don't always love Zoe. :-)
Actually, she is a very sweet, fun dog, but at 7 months, she is still a lot of puppy! And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT!! I don't know how much she weighs, but I would say she is nearing 100 pounds! She does better the more we walk/run her, but finding the time to do that isn't the easiest.

Hopefully next post will have more pictures and less chit-chat!

Princess Panties!

Genevieve's new attire! :-)



Overnight.

That's how quick Jenna learned to potty train!

She is amazing!

I have to thank my sister for pushing us into it. Jenna ended up pooping in her diaper at Amy's house and we hadn't left any diapers for her so she put some big girl panties on her. Later, she had Jenna sit on the big girl potty to try and go and Jenna sat there for an entire HOUR until she went! Amy rewarded her and since that time (2 days ago) she has only had 3 accidents! Every other time she has gone in the potty. AND...I put a diaper on her at night still, but it has been dry every morning! :-)


It is quite the process for rewarding though. If she goes without having an accident, she gets the following:

To use toilet paper (trust me, this is something she has wanted for a long time, but that we have used as bribery)

To wash her hands with the purple foam soap (again, a form of bribery)

And to get a piece of chocolate.

Good job Genevieve!

Bathtime

We have been doing a lot of showers as opposed to baths lately due to the increased amount of UTI's and diaper rashes.
This is both enjoyable and miserable experience. I can't get one INTO the shower (but I couldn't get her into a bath either) and I can't get one OUT of it!
Jocelyn absolutely loves it! At 15 months, she is very brave and oblivious to water spraying directly in her face for long periods of time. She will cry and cry when it is time to get out.
Genevieve, at 2 1/2, crys and crys UNTIL I let her out! She is only ok with the water touching her toes. As soon as I aim it up to her knees, you would then think I was torchering her by the sound and volume of her cry.
There are no pictures of them in the shower, since they shower with me. Trust me...you wouldn't appreciate that! :-)
I am, however, attaching a few pictures of them playing with daddy.

Who needs a high chair?

Jocelyn has been known to be completely content eating off of the floor. (We don't, however, make it a habit of feeding her this way, just so you all know!) She will get raisins out of the pantry and then sit on the floor while waiting for me to open them up. So, sometimes, I will just put them right in front of her. The videos show some of her many talents!

Watch how she balances it on her toes!

I suppose she gets it to her mouth more quickly this way?

Jocelyn Update #2

We had our follow-up doctor's appointment with Jocelyn yesterday and found out the following:

NOTHING!

Very frustrating day to say the least.

Luckily, she is still doing really well and hasn't had any more episodes. We still watch her pretty closely though. For example: Jocelyn was still sleeping at 7:30 on Thursday morning and she normally wakes up around 7:00. This was a little alarming to Sam, so he woke her up to make sure she was okay. She was fine, but it's hard not to wonder if it will happen again. She also seems to want to eat more frequently. I don't like to encourage "snacking" but Sam reminded me that she may be hypoglycemic, so now we tend to give her food whenever she wants.

Apparently...she likes apples! :-)

Jocelyn Update

Thank you to all of you who have been praying for Jocelyn and checking up on us. She has been doing just great since the whole ordeal. She is smiley, giggly, energetic, and overall, very happy! She is playing well, talking well, walking well, etc. We have an appointment next week to have blood drawn to see if we can't figure anything out but for now, we are just watching her every move! :-) I will definitely keep you all posted when we find anything out!