Ariel = Monkey

Ariel is an interesting girl sometimes. She can be down right sweet and adorable, but she has the funny 2 year old side that can surprise you when you least except it. In the past few days we have had a few note worthy moments that I will be sharing. But first the good news... Ariel has been pooping in the potty perfectly since her light switch moment on Tuesday. In fact she tells me, or just goes on her own and shows me after wards. Its very exciting, and I am so pleased.

Thursday morning we went to Richmond for the Gymbo sale and Ariel got to pick out a new swimsuit for her pooping success. She was beyond THRILLED. The rest of the day was filled with, when will we go to the pool? Haha. Her taste this time was very simple but cute. A bright pink one piece with tutu style trim. Even a straw hat to match...


...and cover up too. Did I mention I was excited about the poop in the potty?! She got spoiled, but then she never did the chocolate rewards, clothes are this girl's game. Haha.


Mommy also picked up some cute shorts and tank top...


...and a party / church dress. Gotta love lady bugs!


After the mall we detoured to another shopping area before going home since I wanted to go to a maternity shop. I was eager for one new piece to throw into my routine of 4-5 things I wear constantly. I was happy to get a cute purple dress with black leggings. Very cute, and if you are nice, perhaps a picture soon of my in it. Haha.

When we came home, I set Ariel up with some apple for a picnic. She was quite happy and wall-e joined her.


At some point, she decided that her blanket was too bare, and started to help herself. I heard her and peaked over the railing and ran to get the camera... this is what I saw.

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Friday morning we were going to Dad and Rita's for a quick breakfast since they were taking off shortly afterwards. I had to stay out of the house since Chels was over cleaning for me. This was my early birthday present from Stella, and it was AWESOME!

After breakfast, we met up with Stella and Kara. I got to see the kitchen at their house torn apart, crazy! They are remodeling it, and it will be quite something when its finished. We went to lunch and Ariel showed off her eating by polishing off her pizza and half of my sweet potato fries.


After a quick stop to visit Joanie and to look at shoes, we went back to Stella's while I still waited for Chels to be finished. I know the first clean is always long, but I must say I felt bad at what state of mess my place was at. Ick! It wasn't too long till we got a call that she was done and came to drop off my key.

Kara got ready for work and then left while Stella and I worked on finishing the cupcake quilt. Just need to hand sew the binding, and woot, its done! However, during this time, when we thought Ariel was watching tv, we came up to find... well, lets just say permanent marker in a 2 year old's hand. Everything was saved, thank heavens or we might not have been able to show our face again, haha. I brought Ariel home, for a long talk, and a bath. Yeah, leaving her alone was partly our fault, so I can't be terribly upset, but she still was naughty and had to help clean. Surprisingly, her clothes were untouched! Perhaps she cares more about them than her face?


Sooooooo, the leads us to now. Our house was amazing! Ariel came in and said 'Mommy, its clean!' Perhaps she needs to see this more, am I setting a bad example? Haha. Anyhoo, Ken is almost home, thank goodness, I am zonked. Its been a good week overall, but kinda busy. Well, have a good weekend everyone.

By George I Think She's Got It!

I don't want to totally jinx it, but as of today, Ariel has pooped twice in the potty by herself!!! Huzzah! Last night we were playing ballet and she was showing me her fancy moves and then suddenly she stopped moving and crossed her legs. I looked to her and asked, whats wrong? She looked up, 'I need to poop!' I scooped her up in my arms and ran to the bathroom. Within moments the deed was complete and there was much rejoicing. YAY! We had to call Nana to share the exciting news because Daddy was in a meeting. The rest of the evening Ariel glowed, smiled at me and said 'I pooped the potty.' Now the big test was, would this happen again... you may remember the one fluke night last month that resulted in several weeks of accidents. I went to bed strangely excited to see what the next day would bring. More on today's development a bit later.

Ken got home really late, but he had a little present for me. Eek! I was so excited, it was Muk Muk! As you know I am IN LOVE with the 2010 Olympic mascots, and have all 3 stuffies. Well, this little guy is their 'official sidekick' and hasn't been available yet. So to see him in my hands had me totally giddy. Yes, I am total weirdo but its cool by me, haha. I love my Muk Muk, and so does Ariel. We already talked that this is Mommy's toy. Haha.


So today I am 15 weeks! Crazy, and yet exciting to see that half way marker in the distance getting that much closer. This morning was rough. I took my pill but apparently it was too late, and was sick. Ugh. Yesterday I was feeling so good, but it seems baby likes to remind me that its still here. I was pretty queasy all morning but am feeling ok at the moment. Here is the picture I really didn't want to share, but oh well.


Speaking of pictures, Maria is doing her annual mother's day photo event. Since I am not feeling so pretty these days, we are passing on the usual family portrait, and just getting some updated shots of Ariel for up coming birthday presents in the family. If you are in the area, look into it since they always help a great cause. This year they are supporting Calcutta Mercy Ministries, very cool.

Today we had a full day of activities. It started off with Ariel and I driving to the church to load the program I am using for the directory on to the new computer in the office. Once that was done we did a test print to make sure everything would print perfectly for cutting. Ariel was a angel and colored quietly while I got my work done and I am happy to say it was easy as pie! We just need to finish up some last minute picture adding and its going to print, woot!


Next we stopped at the bakery for a cookie treat for Ariel's good behavior at the church. She picked the creepiest smiley face cookie I have ever seen. I wish I thought to take a picture, but it would give you nightmares. Eek! Ariel is giving her best interpretation of it. Haha.


Then we met up with Erin, Carter and sleeping Brielle at the park. Poor Carter wasn't feeling that well, but slowly perked up. Ariel was loving her playtime and kept telling me she wasn't going to poop at the park.


Wheeeeeeeeeeee!


When it was time to come home we stopped by the quilt shop to say hi to Lala and Ariel got to make a little pillow for her dolly. Here is Tink sleeping on her new pillow and scrap fabric blankie.


I was craving some popcorn, so we made up a big bowl to share. Ariel is the watcher of the popper, and takes her job very seriously, hee.


Shortly after our snack Ariel looked to me and said, oh I need to poop. This time she went to her little potty and sat down and HUZZAH, we had our second success! There was much rejoicing again and Ariel was so happy her face nearly burst. So could this be it, the real beginning of the end? Sure I know we will still have accidents for awhile (usually when she is watching tv and its too lazy to get to the potty in time) but I am encouraged, yay.

So next Friday marks the beginning of the ULTIMATE BLOG PARTY! Woot. I took part last year and it was a blast and got to find some fun new blogs to read. Click the banner for more info if you want to join the fun. My party post will be next Friday for the kick off. Hope to see ya there!

So Much to Say!

Wow, every time I went to sit to blog, something came up or got in the way. Finally I have a brief moment of peace so I will grab it! This past weekend was time change and while some feel the pain of it, I seem to have breezed through it. Perhaps because my normal hours of sleep are all out of wack already due to the pregnancy. Either way, it was painless and I am super thankful Ariel transitioned well too. Ken, well, he is having a rough go, but he is also in the post intake drain mode at the moment. Glad we only experience 2 intakes a year, otherwise he be batty, and so would I!

So flashing back to Friday, we had breakfast and a laundry morning at Dad and Rita's. Following that we went for a walk to visit the ducks and Ariel got to feed them.


She was a little concerned how close they were (overfed fat ducks with no fear) and got up on the bench for some personal space... that didn't stop one from hopping up beside her. This actually amused her, haha.


On Saturday we did some local errands on foot and since it was sunny decided to swing by the park for a quick play. Sadly it didn't last long when Ariel stopped dead in her tracks... her face froze with sadness and she looked to me. I knew immediately what had happened, a #2 accident. She is still having issues getting the hang of them and usually it happens before she realizes and then its too late. The poor girl takes it so personally and just clung to me out of pure embarrassment. I whispered it was ok and we go home to change. She is doing SO well with everything else, so its hard for her to still be having these moments of blunder. It will come, but I feel bad for her.

Sunday was church and a somewhat lively service when the ambulance had to be called for one of the elderly people in our congregation. He seems to be fine so we are thankful for that. Ariel is really enjoying Faithweaver friends in her 2-3 year old group that was started. We had too many new babies and the nursery was overflowing with the 2-3 year olds so they have their own thing now. They get a little coloring sheet, snack and then can play, so its perfect. They got to dance with ribbons, so she loved that.

That afternoon I was having serious blizzard cravings, totally random, so we went to get a treat. Yum! Usually I can't eat the whole thing (a small) but this time I had no issues polishing it off, I guess this baby enjoys ice cream, haha.

Yesterday was Ariel's last ballet class till April. We also had a freak one day snowfall that we awoke to! Ariel wasn't that impressed, but let me snap a picture to document it.


Getting back to ballet, parents were allowed to watch this time and I was so impressed with how far my sweetie has come since we started this session. As you may remember, she was kinda hitting a shy phase and wasn't getting into it as much. The classes without me in the room seemed to help her rather than distract her into wanting to sitting in my arms. So the last class with me watching, my girl was totally into everything and did so well. I was a proud momma!

Ariel fixing her tutu.


Here is a bit of video, I love her tiptoe and turning, so cute!!!

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The past few days Ariel has been saying some really funny things, so here are a few of my favs. She saw a little girl wearing polka dot boots and yelled 'those boots have chicken pox!' (Back story to this comment is that she saw an episode of Arthur when he has the chicken pox and how DW wanted them too) She often tells me she has them now, since the kids in the story got special attention. I must say its really cute, but when I caught her drawing spots on her face yesterday, I told her it had to stop. Haha.

She also picked up from Arthur that the kids go to school. Now everyday she tells me that she is ready for school. I didn't register her for preschool in the fall since I felt with the new baby coming around that time, I didn't want her to feel like she was getting pushed aside. Especially when she suddenly hit this shy and clingy phase when I got sick.

On top of all the family daily routine, I have been updating our church directory, which took several hours. Its pretty much done and ready to go, so yay! I have also started putting my older blogs into a book! I was pointed to this site called Blurb that allows you to upload your blog directly and have them printed into a book. Soooooooooooooo cool, so I am doing the first year of real blogging, basically the start of us trying to get pregnant and ending with the birth of Ariel. It will be great to print out the past few years to have and read like a book. I hope to get caught up and print them out yearly, a good way to keep them in case something was to happen. I'd hate to lose all these journals. One funny thing I noticed was that my first entry about getting pregnant was written on Sept 14th... and then of course Ariel was born on the 14th of August, kind cool. Hee.


This morning I got out to the moments for moms group at the other church and had a fun time crafting. I even got a door prize of a bunch of fresh daffodils, so pretty! Well, Ariel and I are going to make up some popcorn and have a break before tackling the mess. Wish us luck!

Groan....

I don't know why, but every evening at 4pm, I start to feel like crud. Crazy nauseousness takes over and I feel nasty, blah. Usually its my prime blogging time, but I find it hard to sit and type. Anyhoo, yesterday marked 14 weeks, whee. I took a picture, but I barely noticed a change, so I may do biweekly pics.

Not much exciting happened the past few days. On Tuesday we got out for a brief walk in the sun which was nice. Ariel wanted to wear her apple hat, she looks so cute in hats!


Yesterday we stayed home all day, and I will say, it was really nice. Ariel wanted to play dress up and pulled out some stuff from her closet for summer (might as well pretend until the good weather comes right?). I remember buying these from the clearance section back when Ariel was first born... I thought it take forever for her to fit them, but there she is, all big. Sniff, my big girl.


For those who remember my pregnancy with Ariel, I would call her my berrykin. Hence why I couldn't pass these up, even if it took a few years for her to wear them.


Here is one for Grandpa and Uncle Mike. The Canuck girl, woot.


Too cute!


Then Ariel was curious to see if her Tinkerbell outfit I made from our trip to Disneyland back in September still fit.... it did!


Strike a pose!


Today was another low key day. We went to the library to return some stuff, and stopped by the quilt shop to pick out some fabric for the binding on the cupcake quilt. Whee. I also decided I wanted to make a pillow case that would match, will post when it comes together. When we got home I called to find out about another ballet class for Ariel. Turns out the gal I talked to on the weekend was MAJORLY wrong about the dates, and it starts in April and goes till June. Yay! She originally told me that it was changed to start in June at a new location. However, what the girl said today was that 'ONE' class was changed in June to a new location. Good grief, glad I called again, plus I snagged the last seat in the class. Yay!


Ok, Ken is on his way home and I need to figure out what happened to Ariel's pants... did I mention she is in a naked phase? Yeah, so if you come over, your warned. Haha.

Yay!

After a long wait, today at our doctor's appointment we got the joy of hearing our little baby's heartbeat!!! Yay! I can't say how excited I was, as I was eager to hear this little one who makes me so sick, haha. It was special that both Ken and Ariel were there to hear the big moment, and boy it really feels real now. So cool, and we picked up some pizza from Pizza Hut to celebrate, woot! Its been a crazy weekend here with weddings and dinners with family, but we are still standing and ready to regroup for the new week.

Last Thursday, Ariel and I went to Nana and Papa's to have a lunch party with some family that came for a visit. Some couldn't make it because we had another dump of snow, ugh, so that was disappointing. I am glad we didn't get much here, as Ariel is pretty much sick of it. She freaks out if she sees it and tells it to 'go away!'


Ariel was very excited to help Marie blow out her candles!


Friday was pretty mellow, just did some walking around town and went to check out Cobbs that just opened in town. Got lots of free samples, yummy, and got a chocolate croissant to go. Came home and snapped some cute pictures of my goofy girl.


We thought she looked like 'Jay' from Jay and Silent Bob here, haha.


Never get tired of those brown eyes, so beautiful.


Then Saturday was the big wedding day for Graeme and Kalia. The rain held off, so that was so nice for them. Ken and I dropped Ariel off with Dad and Rita and went to the church to watch the big event. Its always such a funny feeling watching someone you held as a baby, be grown up and getting married. Knowing how fast kids grow, and how one day that would be Ariel on Ken's arm had me a crying mess. Hormones, whee!


Kalia looked lovely, and Graeme was glowing, it was so cute, hee.


They had Steve Bell come and sing, and if you aren't familiar with him, he is a well known Canadian Christian singer who is close to Kalia's family.


The reception was so much fun and we had a great table with friends from church. The video we made went over wonderfully, and I was so pleased. Watching Kalia's expression when the 'Enchanted' song came on was by far the best reaction I have ever gotten. She is a big fan of the movie, and had no idea we used the song, so it was a cool moment.


After the party we went to collect Ariel who was eager to show off her drumming skills. Can I say how happy I am that the drum set lives at Grandpa's! Haha.

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Sunday morning was church, and the first service during Lent. It was a moving service, and when we had communion, we usually play particular songs by Steve Bell, so to have him there and sing them live was totally wild.

The afternoon was mellow and I got to take a nice nap while Ariel and Ken chatted with Grammy online. Then we headed to Mike and Jo's for dinner. Jo made super yummy lasagnas, soooooooo good. Ariel was a bit of a handful since she was overtired and discovered that this house has many fun places to jump from. Ugh. Ariel had Uncle Mike saying that she was good birth control. I guess I won't be an Aunt anytime soon, haha.

Then this morning was ballet class. Ariel only has one class left, so that is kinda sad. Not sure when the next one is offered, so I need to look into that. That pretty much leads us up to our doctor appointment this afternoon. So that catches you all up, and I am off to eat some of that yummy pizza. Have a good week everyone.

Hello Second Trimester!

Well, we made it! Woot! I can honestly say the past week I have felt my energy returning. I think I may be able to cut out the lunch pill, which is great. If I can get to one, that be good. I was only taking one for the rest of my pregnancy with Ariel, but I still needed that one pill to keep from being sick. I will try in a few weeks going off them completely to see if I do in fact still need them, but at this point, I am still quite nauseous when I grow close to the time I usually need another one.


I managed to take a picture this morning and even put on make up! I will be using my pink dress for the second trimester pics since its so pretty. My face right now is reminding me of high school days, I have so many blemishes I call myself pizza the hut. (Little Spaceballs joke for those who get it). Thank heavens for cover up. I actually got some maternity make up in my swag bag from the Oscar party. They are colors that help you look like you are naturally glowing, which I totally need since I never seem to actually glow. I am also letting my natural curl out a bit more since my hair is so limp and icky right now. The curls seem to mask it better.


Today was PINK Shirt day, to wear it to stop Bullies. Ariel and I both got our pink on for the occasion. I was bullied for years so I feel very strongly about this. I think back to how I took my time getting my things together before going home because there was this boy and his friends that would wait to chase me home, push me into a bush and throw things at me. If I waited long enough he would just go home...


I was too shy to speak up and embarrassed to say what was going on. Not to mention back then you just 'took it'. The whole ignore them and they will leave you alone was the norm. I hated those few years and I can't imagine someone doing that to my daughter! I won't stand for it, so next year join us and get your pink on!


Well, need to get dinner finished! Have a good night!