Water....Water....Water....

Potty time!!!  Potty training has officially started and is in full swing at the Nielson home.  Since I am not working Fridays now due to a slow stint at work, we decided to take this weekend and start potty-training Kierra.

I had this feeling that since Kierra is quite bright and seems to figure things out on her own that this would not be very difficult.  I thought that all it would take would be a coincidental pee-ing in the potty chair and a big celebration and she would have it down.  I was about half right in that assumption.

After dropping Jordyn and Jeylin off at school on Friday, I went to see my friend Dawn's new house.  Brad worked late so he started the morning with Kierra.  Unfortunately, it didn't go so well for him.  When I came home, I jumped right into it.  I immediately took the diaper off and put her in training pants.  Luckily for me, the first accident was on the linoleum in the kitchen.  I took her to the bathroom and made sure she knew what needed to happen.  I changed her into a fresh pair of training pants and set the kitchen timer for 10 minutes before we would "try" to go again.  A whole whopping eight minutes later I hear, "Mommy, uh oh."  That's right folks...eight minutes.  Again, luck was on my side and it happened in the kitchen.  So, we repeated the previous steps only this time, I set the timer for 8 minutes and again, four minutes later...."Mommy, uh oh."  Argh!!  Really????  And then one more time with the clean underwear....I'm already starting to run out of clean underwear....yikes!

Four minutes later, I set her on the potty and we waited.  Not sure how much time had passed but she finally went and the big celebration followed from Mommy.  I'm sure she thought I looked like a fool but oh well.  This is the half of my assumption that was correct!  She now knew that when she had the "urge" she needed to go sit on the potty chair....and she continued to do just that all day long.  The half that I didn't think about nor was it correct, she hasn't quite figured out the concept of taking the undies off to go potty in the chair.

By the end of the day, we were in real big girl underwear because they proved easier for her to remove and put back on.  Her little butt was so cute in those things...I totally should have taken a picture.  There were of course more accidents throughout the day but she did get the idea down of going to the potty every time the "urge" strikes.  Now if we can just continue to work on the undressing part first.

Saturday it was the same and so far today is the same as well.  Hopefully next weekend she might get that half figured out completely.  I must say though that we are lucky to have a wonderful babysitter for Kierra throughout the days that we do work.  She will keep up the work throughout the week so we don't waste valuable time and efforts.

Basically, I just wanted to say "BRAVO Kierra!!!"  Then I wanted to point out that once she is finished with diapers, we will have our own celebration.  We have been changing diapers ever since August 2, 2001 with the exception of about 3 months between Jeylin finishing training and Kierra being born.  We are definitely looking forward to the end of the training!  By the way, if anyone has any ideas of how to teach Kierra to take the undies off before sitting on the potty, do tell because this is a new scenario for us.

Little Fashion-ista

She just loves to dress herself...

...and in true Diva style, shoes are her favs....

However, I think something might be missing from her wardrobe....we'll have to work on that :)

Costco Winter Party

Saturday the 9th was the annual Costco Christmas Winter Party. We always have a blast at these parties. It's funny sometimes because no one really knows just how crazy we all are. If there is one thing people at Costco know how to do, it is definitely PARTY!!!

This year, I vowed to go all out and enjoy myself. Usually I don't dance very much because I am always worried about my appearance. This year, I didn't care. In fact, I embraced the dancing. I was banking on the following equation....More dancing = More weight lost. That is until you throw in the absolutely fabulous Prime Rib dinner & countless adult beverages!!! Oh well, it was a fun night and I still maintained my weight loss goal for the week.

Here are some pictures from the night. The theme this year was Cowboy. LOVED IT!!!

Our Friend Shawn Balzer.  Only a REAL man could pull of the Leprechaun look that well!!!

Getting my Good Luck Kiss in before the night started

Real hubby, me, & my Costco party hubby....it's an inside joke :)

Our Boys!!!

Jenna & Shawn....Greatest Friends EVER!!

Our self picture with Jenna's camera

I'm trying to make nice with the Sheriff :)

Until Next Year.....

New Blog

I am taking a break from updating this blog...way behind too I might add...to inform all of you that I have started a secondary blog. It is a private blog set up as more of a journal for myself. I will however allow readers to join as I believe you will all give me positive feedback that will be worthwhile. If any of you are interested, just let me know and send me your email and I will add you.

I am listing this as a disclaimer though...this is a journal to document my journey for the year of 2010. The subject matter might be hard for some to handle but it is not intended to hurt any feelings...it is merely a tool I am using to reach my goals for the year.

Thanks to all who take the time to read this blog and I do promise, I will update it soon enough. I hope you all have a very blessed New Year!