Potty Training with Ryan

Well, we decided to start officially potty training with Ryan on April 2nd while I had an entire day devoted to being at home with honestly nothing else but cleaning to do. That entire week was fairly light in activities as well. I put him in his special Elmo underwear the first day that we had been showing him and talking about for awhile. (He loves ELMO) The first day Ryan had about 3-4 accidents, but I just took him to the potty after each one where he continued to go more and explained about not going tee tee in his big boy underwear. On Tuesday, we had MOPS, so I just remembered to take him before and after his class and had him in a diaper while we were out. By Wednesday he was in underwear full time and has been since then. (Other than changing him to a diaper while we were at Main Street Arts Festival the 19th as bathrooms were honestly just inconvenient)

We have been so proud at how quickly Ryan has caught on and how well he is doing with the change. He seems to love going in the potty especially now that we have showed him how to stand and go. (Oh the joys of being a boy I suppose!) Ryan is even staying dry at night and has only had 3 accidents overnight since Wednesday, April 4th. We chose to use the diapers that we had left over at night time until Friday, April 27th when Mike decided to give Ryan a shot in undies overnight since he was doing so well.  He always hates when we put him in a diaper and says "No baby diaper, Mommy. My underwear" (which honestly sounds more like Elmowear). He hasn't wet the bed yet and has stayed dry at night, but has had some tee tee in the morning in his underwear once or twice before we actually make a trip to the bathroom, especially if he starts the day with a temper tantrum over something... (there are a variety of things which will set him off at the drop of a hat).

Regarding going #2 in the potty, that took Ryan about a week and a half to finally understand and begin to understand the urge before needing to go. He went from being a regular every/every other day pooper in diapers to waiting 3-4 days to go during the first week of potty training. By the 3rd time that he needed to go #2 he had figured out how to go on the potty and now has gone each time and tells me before he needs to go which is a very big step!! Since week two we have not had a single poop accident in his underwear (that Mom is also thankful for!) and he has been going in the potty every day to every other day once again and occasionally twice a day. However, he does like to have books available for reading during poopy time which sometimes lengthens the time he would actually need to sit on the toilet to about 20-30 minutes... This can be frustrating, but we are trying to be supportive and when he is actually done we can usually use bribery or distraction to coerce him to leave the potty when he is actually all finished anyways. (aka books in the other room, playing upstairs, time at the park, a treat, etc.)

Mike has also been working with Ryan on doing more of potty time just on his own regarding bringing his step stool to the potty, pulling down his pants/underwear, etc. without help. We still monitor and watch because he will often times need help with something. However, earlier last week I was surprised for the first time to find him standing at his potty on the stool with his undies around his ankles and going all by himself while I had gone into the other room to finish some cleaning. It honestly surprised me, but I was so proud that he knew he needed to go and went and took care of business himself. It will be awhile before I feel comfortable just letting him go by himself whenever he needs to, but he has made significant progress in the last few weeks. He always wipes, flushes and washes his hands all by himself which is our routine, but we will assist with #2 wiping of course.

Additionally, rewards and treats were a huge deal starting out and getting Ryan pumped about potty training. He would receive an M&M or one of his Easter bunny treats (since we had so many around Easter) after going tee tee in the potty and not his underwear. Also, after one week of being dry and in his undies all day we rewarded Ryan with an ice cream party at Braums, then a week later after finally starting to go poop in the potty, he was rewarded with a slurpee party from 7-Eleven. He loves rewards and "parties" and being given praise for his accomplishments. However, at this point, we no longer reward going on the potty with an M&M or treat each time he goes. I explained to him after about two weeks (and LOTS of sugar...) that he was just going as necessary because he was a big boy and just like Mommy and Daddy he goes when he needs to and we don't always get rewards except for on special occasions. We still tell him "Good Job" or give him high fives & claps, and occasionally I will let him pick out a sticker, but in general it is just a part of our daily routine now. Carrying an extra pair of pants and undies has also become a normal routine for our outings and while we have fewer and fewer accidents, he is certainly not perfect, nor do we expect that.

All this potty talk may be more than some of you hoped to read about, but I have several friends starting off potty training with their 2 year old and they have been asking me questions, so I figured it would be easiest to just have our experiences listed out on the blog. Hope it has been helpful!

Easy pregnancy so far

I have people asking me a lot lately how I am feeling and how the pregnancy is going. I honestly can say that I feel blessed that it has been another really easy pregnancy so far. I continue to nap most afternoons with Ryan for at least part of his nap just to keep up with his energy level throughout the day, but other than that I do feel great!

Baby Boy # 2 is moving around a lot more these days. Somehow it still seems less than I remember Ryan moving at this point, but perhaps it is due to the fact that I am sitting around much less than I was while pregnant with him. Earlier this week we did reach 20 weeks putting me halfway through this pregnancy, which seems crazy! My belly is definitely starting to show and I am choosing to branch out into some of my borrowed maternity clothing at this point. (It's like a brand new wardrobe!!!) Regarding my pre-maternity clothes, three of my shorts still fit, one buttoned, the other two with a rubber band. ;) Luckily longer shirts have been more in style for awhile so I have a fair number of those to add to maternity selections and hopefully get me through the next 4 months. I still might search for another pair or two of maternity shorts and definitely a swimsuit. Other than that I think I am all set! So thankful for several friends for letting me borrow from them!

On Tuesday, I drove over to Fort Worth and my Mom and Ryan helped me register for a few selections at Buy Buy Baby. I love that store and wish there were one closer, say Cedar Hill??? That would be nice! Mike and I had found a few things that we either didn't think of last time or never got around to purchasing that would be nice to have with baby number 2. I only registered for about 17 items (compared to in the 100's first time around!). However, most the items are pricey and only a few of more basic necessity such as lightweight swaddle blankets, wash clothes, and another changing pad cover. Thankfully, we were so blessed the first time around through baby showers and will be able to use most of Ryan's things. Unfortunately, seasons will be a little bit off for awhile since Ryan was a February baby, but I hope to still reuse most of the outfits if possible.

I think that's all for now in my pregnancy world. Thanks for all the prayers for health, growth and safety for me and baby. If you could add to your prayers the pollen levels dropping and my allergies not giving me such a hard time over the past week and going forward that would be a huge help. We also need some guidance on choosing a name for our second little guy. We think we have it narrowed to 3 names, but it seems like such an important decision to make and we want to make the right one. Thanks for your prayers friends!

~Emily

Ryan words/phrases

Ryan is quite the little chatterbox recently, especially when he is excited. He is also definitely a mimic as he will repeat almost everything we say particularly the ends of sentences. So, if you don't already, be mindful of what you say around him as we are doing as well. :) I have been keeping track in my phone of a few of our favorite words/phrases that he says that are either cute or make us laugh. I need to get more of him on video just so we can remember the WAY he says certain words because I know we will forget over time. Here's my list:

Pockicks (pockets)
Jackick (jacket)
Politician
Peekyboo (peek a boo)
Hicky picky (hokey pokey)
Pay doh (play doh)
Bubberpies (butterflies)
Bluebonnets (emphasis on second b)
Mooskick (music)
Hu hoops (fruit loops and hula hoops)
Tinky (stinky)
Wait a minute!
No yet, Two more minutes mommy
No peeking
Eagee eggs (Easter eggs)
Bye bye see ya later!
No night night yet
I d-own know
Elmowear (underwear)
Cockydoo wake up (cockadoodledoo)
Lucky Day
No Mommy, Right now
I do it
My help
Hold you please (meaning hold me)
Oh my goodness
Good grief

Baby BOY #2

Precious profile

No questions here! Boy for SURE (as the sono tech wrote)

On Tuesday, April 10th, we found out that our baby #2 will in fact be a BOY!! We are so excited that Ryan will have a brother and know they will have so much fun together. We announced to family in the evening showing them the DVD of the sonogram which I am so glad to have. Ryan asks to "watch baby" almost every day.

Baby was measuring right on time to be due between Sept 10-12th, 2012. The heartbeat was 147 bpm. In the anatomy sonogram they observe and measure many different markers on the baby and he looks completely healthy! The only thing measuring ahead of his due date was his head (by 4 days... haha). Hopefully this just means he will be smart like Ryan since his head was rather large at birth also. They were able to see all 4 chambers of the heart and valves functioning, as well as see feet, hands, leg and arm bones, measured cerebellum, see depth distinction between nose, mouth, and chin, kidneys, bladder and observed proper umbilical cord function into the baby's tummy. I really appreciate our sono tech at this new Dr so much more than the last because she is so thorough and really explains everything she is looking at. (Which is mostly amazing that they can see anyways!!)

We are still deciding on names and while we currently have it narrowed down to a couple we are going to continue to look at a few more and I am hoping we will have made a decision within the next few weeks. I am glad to at least call the baby "him" instead of "it", but I am anxious to begin just saying his name! Praying for God's guidance in picking just the right name for our sweet boy!

So far, this pregnancy continues to be an easy one for me, any signs of nausea that were slight in the beginning are completely gone and most of my energy is back, although I do enjoy some nap times with Ryan during the afternoon. :) My little baby bump is finally seeming more noticeable and at my appointment Tuesday I was just about back to my exact "pre-pregnancy weight". I lost 4 lbs in the 1st trimester, but don't have any doubt that I will put on PLENTY in the next 4.5 months! I am beginning to wear a handful of maternity clothes, although I obviously purchase shorts that are too large for me because they still fit buttoned! Jeans however are a different story... So thankful to MANY friends for loaning maternity clothes this time around so I feel like I have a brand new wardrobe! Thanks Melissa, Mara, Christina, and Sarah! Thank you everyone for your continued prayers for me and baby and hopefully I will update again soon with a name.

All our love,
The Campbell Family

BC#2 is on its way!!!

Ryan in his new big boy room

Big Brother soon!

Proud to carry around his baby's picture

BC# 2 at 10 wks on Valentine's Day!

I am just realizing that while I posted an announcement to facebook, I have yet to make it "blog official". Since this is the location we will actually be able to look back and read events and stories from the past, I wanted to make sure to write a little note here. Michael and I are happy to announce that we are expecting Baby Campbell #2 (BC#2) on or around September 12, 2012. We are extremely excited about this news and Ryan is excited to be a big brother.

Ryan already enjoys giving tummy baby kisses and hugs multiple times daily (unfortunately this typically results in him lifting up my shirt- working on that!). However, he is less than thrilled when I actually am holding a baby, so we may have our work cut out for us!! Hoping that over the next 6 months he is able to gain a little more independence and while I love him being a "Mommy's boy" I hope he is also very kind and welcoming to our new addition. He already recognizes the hospital where "baby out, Mommy" when we drive past, as we took a tour during an Open House of the new maternity suites a few weeks back. We talk frequently about baby needing to grow first and then it will come out and live at home with us. While he certainly doesn't grasp the entire concept just yet he definitely seems to have an idea and has made the connection that baby is in "Mommy's tummy", and NOT Ryan or Daddy's tummy.

We hope you will rejoice with us in the new life that is growing and pray for continued health for Mom and Baby! I feel blessed to now be in my 13th week and honestly feeling great! I had maybe 2-3 weeks of light nausea and overall have just had some headaches and fatigue. It is hard to distinguish sometimes the pregnancy fatigue and simply being the Mom of a 2yr old! Anyways, I feel very blessed that God is giving me an "easy" road so far and hope it continues to be this way. Hey, an easy baby would also be wonderful!! (Keep praying!) All our love!

Ryan is 2 years old!

Our precious little boy is now a 2 year old! It is amazing to us all the changes looking back at his first birthday. He has grown, changed, and learned so much over the past year. We are so proud of our smart little boy. He constantly surprises us with new words & accomplishments. It is so fun to see his face light up when he realizes that he can communicate his needs/wants with us more clearly and we understand his request.  We still deal with tantrums from not getting our way or from a lack of communication, but overall I believe he is getting better. He is simply a dramatic, stubborn, and opinionated little boy. He is not very fond of change at this point in his life (that is definitely a family genetic passed down...) and if you do something one way the first time then that is how he expects it from here on out! Consistency is fairly easy with him as he expects it. He thrives on schedules and routines and staying busy with a task or activity.  Ryan has a very funny sense of humor and such a great laugh when he really gets tickled about something that he finds funny. He is extremely ticklish all over and he loves to laugh and make us laugh.

Stats from the Dr's office today are weight 29.6lbs (75th%), and height 36.25inches (90th%). I never remember the head circumference measurement, but he always measures 75th% on that too. He is wearing size 4 diapers, but I am about to switch to size 5. He wears 24month and 2T clothes and size 7 shoes, although I think he is closer to a 7.5 at this point. New to Ryan this past month was his first 2yr molar finally broke through in January, the bottom right. I believe I felt it around the 26th. He also had a double ear infection the week before his birthday with the tubes draining yucky stuff from his ears for about a week. This was a first for us and some of his pain over the past few weeks we've been unsure what is teeth and what is ears, but it all messed up our sleeping a little bit and we are still trying to get back to normal. Typical sleep is 7:45pm-7:00am, but we have had several 6am mornings and one or two 5:30am wake ups this past week. (YUCK!!) We still cherish nap time and though the past 2 weeks has dropped from one 2-3hr nap to 1-1.5hr we are holding out for it to get back to normal at least occasionally.

For awhile, Ryan has been counting some of his numbers when we count from 1-10. However, a week ago he counted in order all the way from 1-10 by himself which really surprised me! He for the longest time would always leave out 3 and 9. He still leaves out 9 most of the time. Here is what his counting sounds like "One, Two, Pree, Pour, Pive, Six, Teven, Eight, Nine, Ten"

Another surprising advance this month that I believe I attribute most to his "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" book that has quickly become a favorite is his alphabet recognition and speech.  He will now point out and say all of the letters of the alphabet except for "G, H, and Q".  He will occasionally say G or H if I ask him to repeat after me, but doesn't seem to recognize them when he sees them. I have never heard him even attempt Q. He is also working on the ABC song, which is rather adorable. With your help he can get through most of it, but on his own it generally just goes "A,B,C,D,E...MNOP....TUV...YZ" other times it's just repeating ABCD over and over in a precious singing voice. Also, the way he identifies the letters to me goes something like this, "Mommy Apple, A, Baby B, C Cat, Daddy D... etc" He always has a word that goes along with the letter. We do have other books that have the alphabet with various words starting with the letter and I believe that is why he started associating it that way. It's always "Mommy M, Nana N, Puppy P, and V Vivian" as well.

Ryan has started singing a lot more than usual and we always encourage it because we love to hear what he comes up with. He sings his "Jesus songs" from his CD and has favorites: Jesus Loves Me, Knock Knock, Zacchaeus, and Alright. He also sings the theme song from Elmo's World, and I've heard him chiming in on various parts of his Veggie Tales songs. Such sweet sounds to our ears!

Ryan has more words than I can begin to write this month as his speech has really taken off. He is quite the chatterbox. I did think of a few sentences that we are hearing from him most lately to share.
"Mommy, Bear timeout, no eat!"
"Bye bye park, love you"
"Daddy no work, yeah Daddy work"
"Help me Mommy"
"Daddy tiss (kiss), Mommy tiss (kiss)"
"Elmo party, morrow (tomorrow)"
"Elmo peas (please) Mommy?"
"Blue park Mommy, no green"
"Yellow class, Jesus"
"Toby, no Daddy's chair"
I am sure there are more, those are the only ones that I have written down.

Lastly, current favorite toys from the past week of new toys include: everything Elmo, PlayDoh (every day!), All his new Little People (Noah's Ark, Bus, and Zoo train), Letter blocks, and his Art Easel. We still watch an episode of Elmo's world every day after he wakes up and generally one "Bob" aka Veggie Tales in the afternoon at some point. Ryan still loves reading books and we read them throughout the day when he picks them for me to read and then again before bedtime every night.

Lastly, the day of Ryan's birthday we celebrated first with sausage kolaches, donut holes, and chocolate milk at the local donut shop. We played with playdoh, and visited our favorite "blue park". We then went to visit a home in our neighborhood that my sister Maggie and husband Phil are considering buying and then went to his favorite Chickfila for his "cow" lunch and more inside park time. After lunch he took a nap then we played with his new art easel: coloring with markers, crayons on paper, and chalk on the chalk board. We watched an episode of "Poppy's Bob" a specific Veggie Tales that he got for Christmas from Nanny and Poppy, then read our new books. Daddy brought home pizza for dinner which Ryan enjoyed with strawberries followed by ELMO cake made by Mommy and ice cream. After dinner Ryan played with Daddy before getting ready for bed. He had a very busy, but fun birthday and was spoiled to the extreme!

I am trying to keep this blog up to date with information about Ryan because I am realizing how quickly he is changing and how quickly we will forget some of the fun/cute things that he does. I hope to one day print this into a book for us to have to look back at and that he will get to read. Thanks for taking time out to read it. We love you Ryan Alexander! You are the cutest little two year old boy there ever was!!
Love, Mommy & Daddy

ELMO Party!

Ryan had so much fun on Saturday, February 4th at his 2nd Birthday Party. It was ELMO themed (of course) and held at the Carousel at the Parks Mall in Arlington. He had 9 little friends in attendance and other grandparents/great-grandparents: Naomi Keene, Charlie Campbell, Cassidy Smith (and baby brother Holden), Riley Shoaf, Madison Fitzgerald, Graham Warren, Roman Pierson, Juliette LaBoon, & Caroline Riddile. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the unlimited carousel rides, goldfish, and Elmo cookie cake. Ryan blew out his candle and was so proud of himself! We were blessed with more than what he needed in gifts, thank you everyone! Here are a few highlights.

Elmo Party!

Ryan and Mommy

Kisses for Poppy

Cousins enjoy juice and goldfish snack

Naomi and Juliette on the carousel

Elmo cookie cake

Elmo candle

All the gifts!!

"Cheese Cheese" and yes I gave him a very red frosting Elmo piece!

Roman and Maddie

Campbell cousins

Ripping into presents. He was loving gift time- just wanted to play with it all

Yay PlayDoh

Daddy and Ryan

Naomi loves the frosting

Caroline and Graham

More Carousel riding

Riley tries out the Carousel with Mara