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So, last Sunday, I made the decision that she was going to poop in the toilet, period. Without providing too many details, I fibered her up and she sat on the toilet for over an hour (willing). Nothing happened, though I know she had to go. Then, she realized it was about to happen and got terrified. I had to be a mean mom for three minutes and hold her to the toilet through her protest (to put it mildly). I didn’t want this to be the way, but my instincts told me it was going to be the only way o achieve breakthrough and that it was definitely just more traumatic for me than for her….

Well, as soon as she actually started to go, the tears and screams stopped. “it doesn’t hurt Mom! I’m not scared Mom!”. She was so proud of herself.

Breakthrough.

Tuesday, she pooped again in the toilet, willingly, but it took sone time sitting and waiting…. Fast forward to both yesterday and today: she told us it was time to poop, she sat on the toilet, and went. Easy. Tada!

Glad to say: only a diaper at night now. We made it.

• She is obsessed with dresses.  And, the dresses must “spin.”  If she puts on a dress that doesn’t have a good twirl to it, she gets teary-eyed and says “That’s not a dress, that is just clothes!”
• She has started calling Nana “Your mom” when speaking to Andy or calling my parent’s “Your mom” or “Your dad” when speaking to me.  She is exploring all of the relationships.
• She now sleeps in a Full Size “Big Girl Bed” that my mom bought her for her birthday.  Her bed is just as high off of the ground, if not higher, than mine!  She is such a big girl, and has Hello Kitty Sheets, which she loves.
• We bought some wall decals and decorated her room (and did a little re-arranging), super cute, I think.
• She is about 50 pounds, 40.5 inches (doctor said she was average weight for an 8 year old and average height for a 5 year old).
• She is completely anti- pooping in the toilet. *Sigh*
• She has a great bedtime routine which she loves to do by herself, and with help as needed:  potty in the toilet, wash hands, brush teeth, wash face.
• She likes to pretend that she is Donkey, I am Fiona, and Andy is Shrek.
• Lily LOVES building with legos.  We build parks, weddings, stores, libraries, you name it.
• She likes to ask if people are girls, boys, ladies or men (distinguishing sex and age).
• She knows my phone number and our house address.
• Andy made her a mixed CD for her birthday, which include her favorite songs:  DJ Got Us Falling In-Love Again (Usher), Rhythm of Love (Plain White T’s), Move Like Jagger (Maroon 5), Forget You (Ceelo Green) Pumped Up Kicks (Foster the People), Just the Way You Are (Bruno Mars) and Rolling in the Deep (Adele)

Some photos, more to come:

Getting Winter and Shauna from the airport late at night.  They are both so tired, but happy to see each other!

Matching PJs:

Lily and her baby have matching dresses too:

Lily’s cupcake:  Vanilla with sprinkles, gummy bears and coconut (her favorite snacks).  The cake in the background is for my Aunt Dianne’s 60th bday, for which we had a mini family reunion!  Very fun!

My mom, with her 3 siblings (plus an uncle)

Why am I so motivated?  Summer ends for me on Monday.  Back to work!  Well, I am only teaching part time at Summit High School this year.  My schedule will be from 11am-3pm or so, pretty great considering I like to sleep in.  Summer has been fantastic, as you can see from the posts below.  I am sure there is so much more to share that I have forgotten.

My goal, as always, is to continue to blog regularly to keep an online journal, for you to follow, and for us to reflect upon (and for Lily to have when she is older).  Hopefully I will not fall behind like that again!

Andy and I were able to re-charge our batteries during our last week of summer vacation.  Lily stay in Corvallis with my mom and dad from Sunday afternoon until today (Thursday afternoon).  We had many days to be “young and child-free.”  We missed Lily terrible and spend much of our time without her actually talking about her.  But, the time to re-charge was nice.  It involved sleeping in, riding bikes for 4 hours around Sun River (seeing Benham Falls, and riding around town), going to the gym, reading books, playing poker, watching movies, staying up late… and a big one: doing our taxes (hey, we applied for an extension!).  But, they are done and submitted.  Also, our car now has new brakes.

We accomplished a lot in a child-free 4 days.

Lily also had a great time with Papa during the days (while Nama was at work).  She enjoyed trips to the park and the jumping place, snow cones, ice cream, and popsicles — and that all happened in just one day!!!

So, catch up on our blog by reading below.  Enjoy!

“Lily Lin Vaughn, L-I-L-Y”

Too funny.

She has many other funny quotes, too, but I am not creative enough at the moment to think of them.  As I begin to blog more regularly again, I will catch some.

Some stats:  She is 3’5″ tall and 51 pounds.  She can hold her own on the playground already.

Favorite Color:  Pink.  Hands down.  Just like when I was a kid

Favorite Movies:  Nanny McPhee Returns and Nanny McPhee, Shrek, Juno

Favorite TV Shows:  SuperWhy, Curious George

Favorite Foods:  Salmon and Rice

Here are some random pictures from the summer:

Doing her thing at the library:

If I drag her to too many stores….

Nana made brownies!

New hiking hat:

Cutie:

Lily eating medium-sized Yumm Bowl from Cafe Yumm all by herself!

Lily’s babies, that she strollers around (with their milk bottles, blankets, and mum-mums).  Aunt Shauna recently sent some stickers and all 30 of them are on that baby’s head.

Well, let me preface this story by saying that Lily has never been lost (yet).  She has never been lost in a store or left behind or been in a situation where mom and dad have disappeared….

Continuing:  Around 4am, while in bed with Andy and I, Lily began to cry in her sleep.  I comforted her and she awakened a little.

Lily:  “Mama?”

Me:  “Yes honey, Mama’s here.”

Lily:  “Lily can’t find you in the store.  Lily cried.”

So there was her bad dream.  It is amazing to me that this is something she could create a fear for when it is something she hasn’t experienced.

We snuggled and she went back to sleep.

“According to Lily, Shauna says that Lily is going to have a new baby soon. I asked her if it would be a new baby like “Stripes Baby,” and she said that it would be a new baby like Winter.

Also, Lily asked today if Shauna was an aunt. I replied yes. She then said, “Shauna is a little bug.”

Funny girl.”

Smiling girl:

At the airport with dad, looking at planes:

Her long beautiful hair right before we cut it short!  Goodbye tangles:

Holding a bunny at the Northwest Crossing Spring Festival:

And obviously, biking: