Questions For Some Experienced Mommies...

Next week, on Thursday, our precious little girl will be turning 18 months old!!! I've been thinking that 18 months is a good time to introduce her to her very own potty chair. Now don't think I'm disillusioned or expecting any miracles, I realize that just because I introduce her to the potty doesn't mean she is going to immediately take to it and know what it is for and when to use it. I know that she knows where a "potty" is because when I say, "Mommy's gotta go potty" she will take my hand and lead me to the bathroom. I do not think she makes the connection to what exactly Mommy is doing in the potty, hahaha.

So, here are my questions:

1. At what age did you introduce your kid(s) to the potty? I know that boys and girls may be different but I'm still curious.
2. I know that all potty chairs are not created equal, do you have a particular potty that you used and loved or have your friends raved about a certain pot?
3. How did you introduce your child(ren) to the pot?
4. Did you read any books/videos that you would recommend? I know that the methods used in books/videos don't work for everyone and I've learned that some books and their recommendations should be thrown out the window but at the same time I've also gotten some really good advice from other books. I guess I'm just looking to read something and then decide for myself if it's a method that I want to try, so your recommendations (if any) would be appreciated.

Updates

Just taking a moment to give you guys an update on our daily life. I think that the most exciting thing is that Y is walking full time now. She rarely ever crawls anymore and it really just happened one day, it's literally like she just up and decided she wanted to walk instead of crawl and that's what she did. I think it's so cute that even though she can do it on her own, she still likes to hold our hand when we are walking with her. A few days ago I was sitting on the couch and she was sitting on the floor playing not too far from me and I said to her, "Mommy has to go potty." She promptly got up from her spot took my hand and walked me to the bathroom. I thought it was the most adorable and funny thing and probably ironic that in 50 years or so she may have to do that all over again, hahaha. She will also walk us to her bedroom when we tell her it's time for a diaper change. She loves to climb on things and under things. It's not her favorite show but she walks around the apartment quite often saying, "Barney!" and she also sings "EIEIO" quite a bit, especially when she here's her Nana's (B's mom) voice on the phone. She is really turning into quite the little tape recorder because she tries to say pretty much everything that she hears someone else saying...even on TV. There's this one pizza commercial that comes on which walks about a tutu and after the commercial goes off you can just hear her saying "tutu, tutu." She is soooo much fun to be around, I enjoy every minute with her and I sometimes find myself sad because I don't want my little girl to grow up. She's walking now, and I'm content with her staying at this point forever. Although I also find that I am getting that itch and I found myself saying to B a few nights ago, half jokingly, "let's have another baby" but I think we're still planning on sticking to our time line.

As for an update on the condo...we ran into a small setback. We were looking to get an FHA loan which would allow us to put less than 20% down, an FHA loan requires only 3.5%. The problem that we have run into is that in order to get an FHA loan the property has to be FHA approved, the condo is not. Prior to February 1, 2010 this would have been slightly easier to work around. Prior to Feb. 1 they allowed spot approvals which basically meant that you could get a single condo approved. However, since they no longer do those it means we have to get the entire complex FHA approved. We've recently found out that this isn't an impossible task and we're slightly more encouraged than we were when we first found out. We've had our agent and mortgage broker working on it and they've given us some fairly positive news on the issue. At first they were estimating that it could potentially cost us $1500 which is really a price we're not willing to pay considering: 1)FHA approval could be denied 2) the short sale could be denied. So for those 2 reasons we were not willing to throw $1500 out the window. Fortunately we have found out now that it won't cost nearly that much and we'll likely only end up paying the fee for any documents that the home owner's association my charge for - potentially $150. Now in the instance that none of this FHA approval stuff works...we'll likely be taking the conventional loan route. So for now, this is only a small setback!

Some Pictures

Anytime B or myself happen to use the computer, Y insists that she be at the computer too. She starts by wanting to sit on out laps but that is truly just her stepping stone to get to where she loves to be...on top of the desk, right in front of the keyboard. So Saturday she climbed on the desk and I thought she looked especially cute so I took out the digital camera and snapped some shots.

On Sunday, while walking around the living room she either lost her balance or she stepped on one of her toys and it caused her to slip, but in any case she fell and unfortunately the coffee table is what happened to be there to catch her fall. She hit the edge of the table just below and to the right of her right eye. Panic ensued from all of us, I think that was the longest I had every heard her cry while being in pain. It broke my heart. Fortunately she is okay but she did develop a bruise which is starting to look like a black eye. I'm glad people can't see her back (where her Mongolian Spots) are and her eye or they would think for sure that we abuse the poor child. She is a trooper though and after snuggles from mommy and daddy she got down off my lap and went back to what she had been doing. I took some pictures yesterday, but it does look quite different today. Much less red and swollen but more of a bluish purple like a bruise. I think she handled the whole ordeal really well considering she is pretty sick on top of everything else.

This final picture doesn't so much show you the bruise as it does her Kramer-like hair. For those of you who have ever watched an episode of Seinfeld, you'll know exactly what I mean! We will have to excuse the hair though, she was sick! I'm sure when she's a teenager she will want to kill me for posting a picture like this one on the internet, but for now...she doesn't know any difference!

Diaper Keeper

When I posted about my last knitting project I mentioned that I would be making a diaper keeper as my next project. Well I finished that 3 weeks ago and have since started working on my next project which is kind of a 2-in-1 project - I'm making Y and myself a matching set of mittens and scarves (for next winter). Well I'm finally posting a picture of my completed diaper keeper, which I really enjoy! It keeps my purse uncluttered with diapers and wipes, not to mention I just really am pleased with how it turned out. So here goes...

No, this one isn't the one I made, it is instead the one that gave me the idea to make one of my own - only knitted! The main difference (aside from the obvious knit vs. fabric) is that I closed my version with a zipper because as most people know, yarn and Velcro do NOT go well together!

Here comes my creation...

...this is the fabric I used to line the inside of the diaper keeper, it's bright, vivid and I really just liked it in general...

...and this it a picture of it and everything that it holds.

It is great for those quick trips out when I don't need to carry an entire diaper bag worth of supplies.

Working Towards A Goal

Many of you probably already know this through either an email or through Facebook, but for those of you who don't know...keep reading. And even if you do know...keep reading because I'm sure there are details that I haven't told you previously.

After many weeks of looking at houses and falling in "love" with them only to suffer the disappointment of finding out that they already had offers on them by the time we spoke with our agent about them, we finally found one and put an offer in. I guess I should clarify that it's not really a house, it's actually a condo. B and myself have gone back and forth between looking for a houses or a condo, 2 bedrooms or 3 bedrooms, this area or that area and the funny thing about it is that our answer was in front of us the entire time. Ya see, we started seriously thinking of buying a home in early-mid December and we started exploring our options. The problem was that each of us was fairly specific about what we wanted and it wasn't necessarily the same thing. B was looking at 2 bdrm condos, I was looking at 3 bdrm houses. B's logic was that we are looking to buy something now and then sell it when the market turns around and have a bunch of equity and that between now and then we could handle 2 bedrooms even if we did have a second child. My logic was a bit different. Did I think we could handle a 2 bdrm with 2 kids, sure (if I had to). But my concern was the uncertainty of not knowing just when this economy of ours is going to turn around. It could be 1 year, it could be 5 or 10 but I wanted to be prepared just in case it was later rather than sooner and we ended up with more than 2 children.

Anyways, with that said, HERE is a link to the condo that we put an offer on. The truth is that we saw this condo fairly early on in our search, in fact it may well have been the first one we ever really gave some thought to. We drove by it and decided we didn't like it - it simply wasn't for us. You're probably wondering why we would cross it off the list so quickly. And honestly, now when I look back at it the reason was a stupid one...we didn't think the street was wide enough. Now you're probably wondering if we crossed it off our list how on earth did we get to the point to putting an offer in on it and honestly I'm not 100% sure of that myself. I do know that we looked at several via the internet and saw several that we really would have loved to buy. However, it wasn't meant to be because by the time we would call the agent we would find that it already had an accepted offer or had been the price, though it had started super low, had quickly gone above and beyond what we were willing and able to pay. So about a week, out of the blue, I asked B if the condo had sold and he said no, so I called our agent to set up a viewing.

We set the viewing up for 2 days later (last Friday) and I honestly wasn't expecting too much but upon entering the condo I was really pleasantly surprised - I could see myself living there. He went on to show up 3 more condos which were all bank owned foreclosures. None of them were horrible and they all had at least one thing that I really liked about them but I was sold on the first one. Upon arriving home B and I talked about it and sent an email to the agent with a few more questions. We prayed about it throughout the weekend and we fasted about it on Sunday and after feeling good about it, we made our offer on Monday.

Needless to say we're happy but we're trying not too get too excited about it. Even though the sellers have accepted our offer, since it is a short sale it requires bank approval of the sale amount. Our agent is currently handling 15 short sales, including ours and he has informed us that typically it takes 90 days minimum before the bank will make a decision. He said, "you would think that they would be in a hurry to get rid of these properties, but they're not. They could careless whether they sell or not." The bank will either agree and sell it at our offer price or they will counteroffer. We are willing to go a bit higher if necessary but overall we believe things will work out for the best in the end. So keep your fingers crossed for us and keep us in your prayers. We'll let you know more as we know more but don't expect anything anytime soon.

What's New

As for what's new with us, we've just been enjoying life. As you've seen Y is now taking steps and though she's not walking full time yet she is getting bolder by the day. She is officially 17 months old and I swear she just gets cuter and more fun by the day. We have been so blessed when it comes to her. She is THE happiest baby I've ever encountered and apparently the happiest and most mild mannered baby that many people have ever come across. I am constantly getting comments on how well behaved she is or how she just goes with the flow. And it is SO true. She has adapted to going to sleep on her own really well, in fact whenever I lay her in her crib, whether it be nap time or bedtime, as I leave the room I'll blow her a kiss and as I'm closing the door she always says "BYE!" I want to laugh every time she does it...it makes my heart melt. She loves hugs and kisses and I'm pretty sure we have a cheerleader in training as her newest phrase is "LET'S Go!!!" And the exclamation points are no exaggeration, i assure you. Every time she says it, she says it with such umph and gusto that you'd think she was cheering on a football or basketball team. Did I tell you how much I LOVE my little girl?!?! She is quite the character and she loves to have mommy and daddy's attention. She likes to pretend that remotes are telephones and she'll place it to her ear (or anyone else's for that matter) and say "hewo." She also knows when it's time to say prayer and if you tell her to fold her arms she always does it, though they typically don't stay folded throughout the entire prayer (no matter how short the prayer is). She recently dropped her water cup on the floor and broke it and we went out and bought her new cups. One was for water and one was for milk. Now the cups are very similar, the design on each is very slightly different, to the point that B doesn't even know the difference yet. So I will hand her the water cup and she will vigorously shake her head no. I will then take out the milk cup and give it to her and she will take it, sit down on the floor and drink to her hearts content. I have no idea how she was able to tell the difference so fast, she must have an amazing sense of detail. Did I mention how much I LOVE her?!?! haha. I hope it doesn't seem like I'm bragging but honestly I never tire of talking about her to anyone that will listen (or read).

As for other things...we've been house hunting and it's coming along. We're hoping to find a place by June which is when our lease ends. At times it's frustrating because we are looking for houses in a very specific area which narrows our choices down a little and at the same time we're "ballin' on a budget" so we want to find something that will stay around the price we pay for rent because we don't wanna cut into the amount we put into savings every month. We've found things that we like, most of which are priced really cheap because they're short sales or foreclosures but the problem we run into is that we like them...and so do a lot of others so the bidding wars begin. Fortunately, time is on our side...for now.

B plays basketball pretty much every Thursday night with the guys at church, so far their team is 2-0. I'm glad he's finally able to do it this year, every year previously he wasn't able to because of my school or for whatever reason it just didn't work with our schedule. He really loves basketball and it's been so long since he's been able to play it, he works so hard that I'm just glad it works out for him to play. I think that pretty much covers everything that's going on with us these days...I'll try to be a better blogger and not be too neglectful. 143

Knitting

Lately I have really felt like I've been neglecting my blog and the only excuse I have is to say that I really, really, really, really enjoy knitting!!! It is my new found way to just relax and unwind. After Y is down for bed I just sit and knit while B watches TV or looks for houses on the internet. After B goes to bed I knit some more while listening to my iPod. So far I have made a lot of dish clothes for my mom and mother-in-law (I'll include a picture below). The first project I'm working on for me is a diaper keeper. If you haven't heard of this it's just a small pouch for your purse which holds a travel sized wipe case and a couple diapers. If you click the link above you can see some pictures of them. Well I knew I wanted one but decided I wanted to knit mine instead of making/buying one that is sewn. I found an awesome website called Knit Picks which has an amazing selection of yarn in the brightest, most vivid colors you will ever find! I ordered a bunch of yarn and started knitting away at my diaper keeper. I am ¾ of the way done with the knitting part then I'll just have to stitch it up, find a fabric that I wanna use as a lining and add a zipper. When it's done I'll be sure to post a picture of it...I'm really excited about it!!! After that is done I'm gonna try to learn to knit mittens. I'm thinking that I'll make Y and myself a matching mitten and scarf set! I'm beginning to scare myself with how excited I get about my knitting projects. I told my college roommate that I taught myself to knit and she got a HUGE kick out of it...I told you it's a shocker for anyone who has known me for a long time.

I have done a few sets of these in what is obviously my favorite color combinations - black, white and gray. I have even gotten so good at it that if I don't have too much else to do (good luck with that) I can complete one within 24 hours!