Potty Training Progress

I know not everyone cares to hear about potty training but all mothers will understand. Dylan pooped in the "big girl" potty for the first time today!!!!!!!! Maybe it was a fluke and may not happen again for a while but we were so excited. I cannot wait to get rid of diapers!

Dylan has been interested in the potty for at least six months. She has been going through the motions for a while without any success. She likes to sit on the potty, wipe, flush the toilet and wash hands. Abe and I have no clue how to potty train. We basically have been following her lead.

When I can tell she needs to use the bathroom I ask her if she wants to sit on the "big girl" potty and she always says, "NO!". Today I asked and she she actually said yes. We made a really big deal about it, hoping this trend will continue. We gave her a treat. She wanted cheese crackers and apple juice. We never give her juice at home so she was supper excited about it. For about an hour she kept saying, "Mommy, Daddy I poo poo in da potty." and we had to call Nana and Aunt Tami to tell them the good news.

Here are a few pictures, just because I have not posted any recent ones in a while.

Backyard Makeover

So for the last couple of years we have somewhat neglected our yard. Two summers ago, Dylan was a newborn, and it was miserably hot (a lot like this summer). Last summer, although she enjoyed being outside, she only wanted to be held (can't get much done with a 1 yr old on your hip).

So finally this Spring/Summer we decided to dedicate some time and money to getting our back yard back in shape. It has been so much easier this summer to do yard work since Dylan loves to be outside and she wants to "help" mommy and daddy.

The most recent project Abe did was to clean and re-stain our deck. Wow, we did not realize how dirty it was until he cleaned it. It looks brand new.

During the spring we put 500 sq feet of St Augustin sod in our back yard. Half of our yard was mostly dirt because the previous owners did not want to mess with trying to establish grass in that area. We have 6 very large trees in the back that keeps everything mostly shaded.

We have lived in our home for 4 years. We have trimmed the trees twice. Well, I shouldn't say we, Abe and my step-father, Tommy. We decided this year we needed to hire some professionals to really get up there and trim them good. They did a great job trimming and cleaning them out. (I forgot to take a picture.) They assured me it would let in more light to help the grass grow better.

We had the windows in our shed replaced. They leaked every time it rained and were starting to ruin the wood on the inside. We had my Dad replace the door. The previous one was literally falling off the hinges. Abe painted it a nice Moss green, I picked out at Lowe's.

We still have a few bare areas that need some grass; but it is going to have to wait until next Spring.
Of course, any home owner knows your are never finished with projects.

We need to have someone come out and fix a couple areas of our sprinkler system to get better water coverage where we put in the new St Augustine. Right now we have to manually water it. It is such a pain.

We also, do not have very good lighting in the back yard. We would like to put more lighting on the side of the house near the shed. It is never ending!!!