June: Organization, and catching up on The Bachelorette

June has been a crazy month. I haven't been blogging like at all and I have severely neglected my lovely readers. I had some problems with some bad computer stuff infecting my website, blah blah blah, technical stuff, blah blah. It is all fixed now. Also, I traveled to North Carolina to see my family for about a week in the middle of June and decided to bring home my little brother to stay with me for a couple weeks. So things in the  Presley household have been a little crazier than usual. Anyways, back to business.

I have been a little behind on The Bachelorette, thanks to DVR, I can catch up. And catch up I did!

I don't have too much to say about the last few episodes except that Kalon is tool, good riddance.
Also, Ryan is douchey tool, also good riddance.

I love Arie, and they have the strongest connection of anyone on the show. But Sean is adorable and seems like a good fit for her too.

Speaking of 'her'...while I was in NC, I had some down time and I picked up a gossip magazine with Emily as the main story. It painted a not so pretty picture of her. They addressed the points that she is very vain, obsessed with money, and is kind of bitch. I really don't want all these things to be true because I absolutely love her, and considering the source I am going to say that they are most likely just exaggerations of her personality.

Best Quote from The Bachelor/Bachelorette Series:

"I wanna go West Virgina hoodrat backwoods on his ass"

 Anyways, I caught up on the Bachelorette and now I'm hooked back in so expect a  Bachelorette blog next week.

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I haven't been into too many new projects recently, because the sheer volume of the unfinished, projects waiting to be done, limited space and time. But I have been trying to organize my family's massive amounts of clothing.

Between baby A, D and myself, we fill about 5 dressers and two very large walk in closets. We have way way way way way too many clothes. (We are in the process of going through and getting rid of a good majority of them)

As most of you know, dear husband has joined the Navy and that means it will soon be moving time, and I don't want to take 5 tons worth of clothes with us, and I really want to pack as few boxes as possible. (If you pack less, you have to UNpack less later on)

On pinterest I saw a neat picture and caption that said fold your shirts with the print/pattern up and store them vertically (see picture). This is amazing. It packs a lot more into a space and you can see everything without having to dig and rummage through the drawer. This would have come in very handy in college and the days of dorm room dressers and closets. Storage space is prime real estate!!

This packed about 2 drawers into one!

 

 

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I haven't been into too much else, I am getting ready to do lots of painting projects in the next few days/weeks, so expect to see some summer painting posts. Also I am going to try and start making some cool summery accessories so keep watch for that too!



Happy Summer 

Potty Training: Epic FAIL

Last week I was reading some articles and tips about potty training your toddler in a day/weekend. I got extremely excited and very motivated. I was sure I could do this, and I knew Addy could too, she is so smart and she is two and half.  I was so excited and went out to target and stocked up for our big potty weekend. We had neon posterboard for a potty sticker chart and the stickers were oversized sticky rhinestones at the request of Princess Addilyn, the best treats and sweets, salty snacks, a new special cup, ballons, everything.

We made the chart and decorated it with curly gift ribbons and glitter markers. We set up the potty and I explained to Addy what the plan was.  SN: We have had the toddler toilet since last July and so she knows what it is, she has even successfully used it once or twice when we catch her making the potty face, so she is up to date and informed on to what it is and what it is used for. 

I followed the tips and made Barbie have an "accident" with a water filled medicine dropper and rushed her to potty in an excited, and positive way. Then I had Barbie use the potty and praised Barbie with stickers and a special Barbie crown. (I will admit to looking like a complete fool talking to Barbie, but I am so desperate to have Addilyn out of diapers, I don't even care).

We used a timer set for 15 minutes and every 15 minutes we sat on the potty. We did this for two hours, and cam up empty. I had been feeding her salty snacks and loading her up with water, hoping for more potty opportunities, but so far it was not panning out. I thought Addy might need some encouragement, so we called Grandpa in NC, she wasn't interested in the phone call and I chatted with my dad for a minute, venting about my unsuccessful attempt so far, and I was distracted for maybe 2 minutes and in that time, dear Addilyn squats and pees on the floor. Addy and I cleaned up the accident, and I took the blame because I was distracted and not watching for the signs. Then I vowed no more distractions and reset the timer.

We played  and sat on the potty when the time went off and it was getting close to Addy's bed time so I slowed down with the water and snacks.We decided to play with her big ball and were rolling it back and forth. When Addy is standing behind the ball it comes up to about the middle of her chest, meaning I cannot see her waist and down. I rolled the ball to Addy and she held it in front of her, she was smiling and rolled it back, just in time for me to notice the puddle. Accident again. Addy laughed and ran, taking off her big girl underwear and running around yelling and laughing.

I was not laughing, I was near tears. All the blog posts and boards and tips and articles were so positive and encouraging and made it seem so easy. It was getting late so I cleaned Addy up, read some books to her to calm her down a little and put her to bed. I cleaned up all our messes and set everything up for Saturday morning, I was determined to try again. I had lost a little hope since Addy showed no real interest and the night had ended with Floor- 2 and Potty - 0.  I was trying not to force something on her she wasn't ready for, but I wanted to try. She will be 3 in the fall and I was really hoping to be done with diapers. She is so smart and we have been reading potty books and making using the toilet a regular part of her life. We talk about potty-ing all the time, but try to do it in a way that doesn't overwhelm her or leave her feeling guilty. I was holding out a little hope for Saturday, although I was a little bruised by Friday night.

Saturday morning came and I took off Addy's diaper and put on some new big girl undies. She looked at me, right in the eye and said, " Please don't make me potty, I won't do it. I don't want to." 

And that was it.

 The end of the potty training weekend. Saturday morning was over before it started. 

Everything I have read and heard says don't push them, they will regress and it will be harder. So I stopped my efforts right then. Part of me was a little let down; I was so excited Friday morning to start potty training and have a mostly trained child by Sunday; but part of me was relieved because I was tired and upset from my Friday night failure. Our day went on as any regular Saturday would, we ended up going to the store and buying some gardening supplies and gardening that afternoon. It started raining mid-afternoon so we came inside and played until bed time. Dustin and I watched a movie (Warhorse, which was surprisingly fantastic) and ate dinner and went to bed.

The potty training weekend intensive was a total bust, but I learned straight from the source that my child wasn't ready and it wasn't going to work. I am glad I have an outstandingly verbal child, because otherwise the whole day could have been a bitter battle of will and we probably would have ended two steps back rather than advancing.

Every time I have to change a diaper or purchase a box of diapers, I just have to remind myself that she will not graduate high school in diapers and that we will get there one day, today is just not that day.