Name

So my husband has decided to change his name. Well really to change his name back. It has something to do with his 30th birthday looming and not wanting to have a silly nickname as an old man. For 10 years I've been calling him "Philly", which was a college nickname that he never imagined would follow him so far into adult life. Its definitely my fault that it has. If he hadn't married someone who knew him as Philly he certainly wouldn't have continued to introduce himself that way! And in all honesty, he has suggested trying to make the switch before and I discouraged it. But this time I'm trying to be an encouraging wife. So if he hasn't told you already, he wants to be called "Joseph" (that's his given name if you don't know)from now on. I haven't decided if I'm making the switch or not. 10 years. That's hard to change!

I bought my first baby boy outfit!

Meet Teresa

Belle got some birthday money from her great grandma. We decided to take her to Toys R Us and let her spend some of it. This was her first time getting to pick out her own toy and spend her own money. We walked all over the store and she picked a few things out. We put everything she was interested in into the buggy. Joseph tried to convince Belle to choose the train set. Everything else she had chosen was a doll. His thinking was logical: She already has several dolls but she doesn't have a train set. But Belle's response was: "But I love taking babies home!" Daddy gave up and decided that he would wait for his boy to like train sets! Belle is such a girly girl! Here's the baby she ended up with. She was SO excited about her and named her Teresa.

Potty Training

We decided to bite the bullet and potty train BOTH girls! We started Belle about a week before we really started with Lucy (during that week Lucy was wearing pull ups and sitting on the potty a lot, but we weren't really pursuing it very hard), but we have been going at it with both of them for a week now! They are both sporting big girl panties everyday and have been doing a great job!

Lucy has surprised me with how well she has done. I probably shouldn't be surprised since she wants to do everything her sister does, but I couldn't believe how quickly she caught on at such a young age! (20 months) We decided to do naked training with her after hearing a success story from a friend who tried it. We let her run around completely naked (at home) for a day and a half before putting panties on her. The first half day (we started after naps) she had SO many accidents! I kept seeing her start to peepee and then I would grab her and run to the potty, where she would finish. But by the next day she only had 1 accident! It was amazing. I think the treats helped too...she LOVES getting a gummy worm or a marshmallow when she goes potty! I am now a HUGE fan of naked potty training! We never tried that early on with Belle, and now I regret it! Maybe if we had she wouldn't be 3 years old and just now learning to use the potty! Oh well! She and Lucy are so different too, it might not have worked the same on Belle.

Belle has done great too. We committed to panties and haven't looked back. She has had a few accidents, but really her big thing was holding it and waiting to go in her diaper when she was sleeping! But we are over that hurdle too and now she is napping in panties and actually going in the potty!

Saturday was our first day with NO accidents at all and it was also our first day running around town all day in panties. Lucy had to go to the potty downtown and at Toys R Us. That was a HUGE success in my book!

I can't believe they are both out of diapers! We still have some accidents here and there, but I feel like we are through the hard part. I was hopeful that they would both be out of diapers before this baby boy arrives, but didn't really believe it would happen! I am so proud of my girls!

I haven't taken any pics of them showing off their panties, but here they are playing on the porch on Lucy's first day wearing panties (we stayed home all day that day!):

30th Birthday Party

A week after my actually birthday we celebrated with friends. I am not to excited about turning 30, but I love an excuse for getting together with friends! Thanks to Des and Ashley for letting us have it at their house...about an hour after they got back from the beach no less! I didn't do a good job capturing the party on camera, but here's a few pics of us enjoying cake:

The cake:

Sweet helpers:
Friends eating cake:


The birthday girl...and for those of you who are interested you can sort of see my baby belly...about 22 wks here:

Grandparent Birthday Weekend

Last weekend all of the grandparents came up for a belated birthday celebration for Belle (and me). Belle got all sorts of new goodies and both she and Lucy enjoyed being the center of attention all weekend! I promise the grandparents were here even though I didn't have any pics of them on my camera! I'll get one and post it soon. But here are some pics of the birthday festivities:

Opening presents:

New purple dress:
Even Lucy got a little present:


Putting together the wagon:
Trying it out:


The cake:
Blowing out the candles:

Belle's Party Pics

I still don't know how to post a flickr album where you can view it in the blog. Anyone out there know? But considering how long it has been since Belle's party I thought I'd go ahead and post this link if you want to see more pictures from the party:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46243286@N03/sets/72157623938166375/

Baby Thomas

Our good friends Ryan and Molly Burns had their 3rd baby on my birthday! We got to see him the day after he was born and here's what he looked like:

Such a cutie! I was especially excited to find out he was a boy because the Burns's have 2 girls just like we do, and now we are going to have boys together! So fun. Congrats ya'll!

30

I turned 30 on May 24. I really can't believe I'm already 30. That sounds so old. I was not looking forward to it, but it hasn't been nearly as bad as i expected. :) Here's to a great decade to come!

We celebrated on my birthday with our family. Philly let me sleep in and took the girls to get donuts. When they got back we ate them in bed. The girls and I went to lunch with some college friends and then took naps. My sweet husband made me a cake and gave me a gift certificate to get pampered at a spa! Then the four of us went to Arizona steakhouse for dinner and ended our day all small group where our sweet friends had made a cake for me. As you can tell, sleep and food are pretty important to me! :) It was a great day!