The Douangphilas

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2013-05-16T18:08:00.001-07:00

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It's Miniboss's Birthday!

2013-01-29T17:31:00.000-08:00

Today is our daughter's 3rd Birthday! Wow how time flies when you're chasing after a toddler! It honestly has for me. She's not a cheesy gummy bear I once knew. Now she's blossomed into a funny, silly, crazy, sassy, full of attitude stinky toddler! We did her birthday fun earlier on Sunday and took her to Chuck e Cheese and she got to pick out her own birthday cake at the store.

We usually never throw her a party but hopefully next year when we will have a house and can finally throw her that big birthday bash :)

Her tiny hands were trying to reach the banner to be in the picture. I made the banner with my Silhouette machine, doilies with cupcake liners, and tissue paper for the tassel poms.

It was white chocolate ganache cake.

The cake she picked out happened to match the banner I made perfectly. It was a happy coincidence. Well maybe not because her favorite colors are pink and purple lol. But how did we know the store was going to have a pink and purple cake?! Exactly. Magic. Serendipity.

And of course every year we do a photoshoot on her birthday. Last year she was too naughty and we got one shot. Just one. But this year she did much better with a little bribe :)

Here's all her official birthday photos.

I love that each year is so different and unique! Can't wait for another year of new mommy adventures! Each year is a new learning experience and every year I love this girl more and more! Love my baby!

Does your husband cut his own hair?

2013-01-28T08:59:00.000-08:00

My husband cuts his own hair. I know...why don't I cut it for him?! Well it's just easier for him to do it himself. Less cleanup. He's been using the same old clipper set since before I met him so I got him this as a surprise :) Wahl 79524-2501 Chrome Pro 24-Piece Haircut Kit It's 39% off right now, and it's something he needs but won't buy a new one of.

Sometimes it's the little practical gifts in a marriage that keeps it going :) Gonna give it to him for Valentines heheh. Do you guys still get eachother things after you're married and have kids? I don't care for flowers and chocolate, I'd much rather get the things that I want than a surprise gift that's romantic but useless lol.

Is This Cup Clean?!

2013-01-18T10:14:00.000-08:00

We have a huge problem in the Douangphila household. My husband and child always seem to go through so many cups a day and I have a habit of finding random cups and tossing them in the dish washer, only to have my husband say, "Hey..what happened to my cup? I wasn't done drinking!" I don't know if other Mommas have the same problem, but I hate having dishes and cups just sitting around on tables and counters! Are they clean?! Are they dirty?! How long has this cup been sitting here? Anyway to solve this problem I came up with a solution that will help me keep my sanity, and save me some time from washing 89349299 cups a day.

Now everyone has an assigned place to put their cup, and if it's not on their coaster, it's going in the dishwasher. If you have more kids, you could use a longer board and add more names. I am hoping this solves our cup problem!

I just found an old piece of wood, well it was supposed to be a shelf to an old desk we have. It wasn't being used, so I re purposed it. I cut out our names in vinyl, I did Dad, Mom, and Lexi so it'd be easier for the toddler to learn her letters.

I marked a line on the board with white crayon so it'd be straight. It can easily be rubbed off later when you are done placing the vinyl on.

The coasters were found during the 90% off Christmas clearance sale and they were just .69 cents! They have a tree design on one side but when you flip them over it's just the plain wood grain pattern :)

I didn't glue down the coasters, but you always could. I wanted to be able to change it out to different ones later on. This was just a quick temporary solution so everything is easily changed out like the vinyl as well. If this idea works well for us, I'll make a better more permanent one, one that's with sealed wood, and our names will be painted on the wood as well. I'll keep you updated.

Cheers to HOPEFULLY doing less dishes :)

Stella & Dot Jewelry

2013-01-16T12:03:00.001-08:00

One of my New Years Resolutions this year was to start wearing big earrings! I usually like to leave the house with no makeup and my hair in a pony tail. BLAH! Frumpy mom alert! So I thought I'd take a hint from Sherry/Younghouselove and wear big earrings! If I'm not going to dress up, at least my head with have something fancy and I won't feel so frumpy...It's a step in the right direction.

So anyway, I turned to my sister Jennifer, who happens to be a Stella&Dot stylist. & I ordered 5 pairs of earrings. They had so many cute pairs I couldn't pick so I just bought them all lol. I splurged, and it's a gift to myself. I deserve it :)

Here are the ones I ended up purchasing.

(from top to bottom, left to right)
SERENITY STONE DROPS IN GREEN,
CAPRI CHANDELIER EARRINGS IN TURQUOISE,
SERENITY STONE DROPS,
GENEVE LACE EARRINGS,
SEYCHELLES CHANDELIERS
(Pictures from Stella&Dot)

The earrings came in these adorable boxes!

Is that not the most adorable packaging?! It always makes me feel giddy like I'm getting a gift even though I already know what's inside lol.

I love that there is some weight on these, but not too heavy. They are quality jewelry pieces and the look so classy and fresh. I usually hate to buy "fake" jewlery because it looks too much like Claires kiddy stuff. These are totally worth the money, and they're sophisticated and definitely can hold up to all mom ear pulling from babies type of thing. I now officially own more Stella & Dot jewelry than any other brand. The quality and styles just keep bringing me back to splurge on myself :)

I have makeup on here in these pictures, but hopefully even without makeup, I'll still feel pretty and sparkly when making a run to the mail box or to the grocery store :) And what kinda family blog would this be without a shot of Miniboss wanting her pics taken too! She doesn't have her ears pierced yet so she can't join in on big earring 2013 with me lol.

Anyway, if you're looking for an easy way to look a little more glam head over to Stella & Dot and give my sister some love!

I wasn't paid or perked for this blog post, I just love Stella & Dot jewelry, and I love supporting my family!

Baby Shower Gift

2013-01-08T12:38:00.000-08:00

I always have to have a unique handmade babyshower gift. I think it's more personal, and I love the reactions I get from the moms and other shower guests. What can I say? I love the attention lol! But really, how nice is it to open a gift and know it was handmade with love especially for your child?

I'm still on that crochet kick so I knew I was gonna try and crochet a little something for the babies. Yes babies, I have a bunch of shower gifts to make! BTW Why is everyone prego or just had a baby on my fb feed? I'm a little jealous Miniboss is turning 3 this month and not a sweet smelling gummy bear toothless newborn! Ok so I don't have a tiny baby to smother but I do have adorable baby shower gifts to make.

Awwwwwww!!! Isn't it adorable? I've seen a bunch of different versions on pinterest so I figure I could whip one out. It was harder than it looked though. I made 5..yeap 5 hats before I got the right size down. Some were too big, too short, too just not right. But then finally all the crochet stars lined up and I had made the perfect baby hat. I can't reveal who it's for yet because it's gonna be a surprise, and I'm not sure that anyone reads my blog anyway, but just incase...

It took a shorter time period to make this hat than my big ombre throw, but it involves so many small bits and parts you have to hand sew on. I'd rather make another throw anyday! But it is worth it...It'll make such a cute baby picture prop :) I wish I knew how to make these back when Miniboss was a baby. But that's the best part of gifts, someone else has the time and energy to make you amazing things :)

I used recycled buttons for the owl's eyes that came from old ABU. The mommas are all military or prior military so that's why I used them. I think it's an adorable personal touch the mom's and dad's will notice :)

Btw sorry the lighting is weird in the pictures, it's a super cloudy day and not even PS could help me =/ Well...now I gotta go make some more shower goodness, and a hat for Miniboss, cuz really..come on, how could I not make her one?! She's still my old baby heheh :)

Ombre Crochet Throw

2013-01-04T17:12:00.000-08:00

I've been itching to crochet since it got cold out here in Texas. I guess it reminds me of home. My Mom's really into crochet, and unfortunately I never took to it because it seemed too complicated. Well Thanks to the magic of youtube, I could stop the videos and pause and struggle and learned all sorts of amazingness! I did learn the basic stitches from my Mom last winter, but this year I wanted to take it to a whole 'nother level! I can't wait to show my Momma what I made!

It took me several weeks of on and off work, mainly because I have an almost 3 year old running around and the husbands a cripple thanks to his latest knee surgery, so this was something definitely just for me to relax and do something. So anyway, here it is!

Of course Miniboss saw me taking pics and jumped in and made herself at home =/. Toddlers! sheeshhh! lol Well..what do you guys think? You like?!

It's the crocodile stitch. It looks a lot harder than it really is. I love love love it. I used 11 skeins of yarn. Starting from the bottom, the darkest color is Peacock by I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby. The second darkest is from Michaels in Aqua by Impeccable. The second lightest color is from Hobby Lobby I love This Yarn in Turquoise. And the lighest color is Lion Brand Pound of Love in Pastel Green.

I ended up having to use different types of yarn to find the shades I wanted since neither store had all the colors I was looking for. With the lightes color I actually had to use two stands because the strands were a lot thinner than the rest of the throw. I think it turned out nice though, and you can even tell.

The colors were a little hard to photograph but it's mostly teal. I didn't originally make it for our bedroom, it's actually supposed to be a throw for when we buy our new couch...which won't be until we move in a few months. We're probably getting the Ikea Karlstad sofa in white or a light grey. I want a couch without throw pillows since the couch we have now have a ton and Miniboss is constantly tossing them everywhere and it always looks so messy.. so I made this throw for the back of the couch so it'll have some color without the busyness of pillows. Plus I think it'll work for winter or summer because of the bright colors and its super thick so it's great for winter. It probably weighs 7 or 8 lbs. I went through a LOT LOT LOT of yarn lol.

Now that I'm done, I'm off to make some baby shower gifts :)

Silly Girl, and a project preview

2013-01-02T20:03:00.000-08:00

She is obsessed with making funny faces when she sees the camera. There goes the end of the cute poses for Momma =/...but now it's super funny to scan back through the photos and find a bazzillion of these babies lol. Having a toddler is a completely new journey for us I'll tell you that! They have a crazy brain of their own :D

Also you can see what she's laying on, it's my latest crochet project I've been working on for the past few weeks now. I'm not quite done with it yet, but I'll share photos when it's complete! :)

Happy New Year 2013!

2013-01-01T11:33:00.000-08:00

2012 Has been good to the Douangphilas! Lots of ups and downs, but more ups, which I'm always thankful for.

In 2012 I got to go to Vietnam for the second time. I went with my Mom and little sister Stephanie. It was a great bonding experience, and I came back feeling blessed and thankful for all my parents have done for me and came back with new respect for everything I am lucky enough to have.

Miniboss got to meet her half brother for the first time. That was a memorable moment of her life. I did get a picture, but with respect for him and his mom, I will not be posting that Kodak moment on our family blog..But I wanted to share with you guys that information because I think it's important for Miniboss to remember that later on in life :)

I got to meet John and Sherry from Younghouselove. I love their blog and I like to imagine we are liek the asian versions of them lol. I mean husband, wife, little girl, and an adorable pup? Yea..a girl can dream right?!

Miniboss started dance classes. She's always been our tiny dancer, and I thought it would be a fun thing for her to try. She's always shy so it was important to expose her to new people and places. She's growing up so fast and I can't believe she'll be 3 soon. We've come a long way from the lost parents of a newborn with no family and friends near by!

There were plenty more memorable moments, but I wanted to just recap and share a few. I hope 2013 brings more adventure! This is the year the Douangphilas move out of Texas, so I know things will be crazy, but we will make the most of it, we always do :) Happy New years guys!

Blue The Betta Gets Some Vinyl

2013-01-01T10:57:00.000-08:00

Told you I went label crazyy. Yeap the fish got some too. I used frosted glass vinyl for his bowl so that it wouldn't obstruct his view hehe :) Now Blue will know his name, well I guess to him it'd look more like "3ULB" lol. I cut out two name banners for him, one for each side of his bowl, but I ended up only putting one on it.

Our betta developed this white stripe and his top fin thingy turned white too. I seriously have no idea how that happened, but we think he's slowly turning albino lol! So maybe blue won't be a good name for Miniboss's betta anymore..maybe Whitey. Ehh at least he's still alive :)

Sugar Vinyl Label

2012-12-28T19:40:00.002-08:00

I've had this jar of sugar all plain and uggs just waiting for the perfect vinyl label. Well no such luck. Maybe I'm too picky? Either way I've been dying for some vinyl labels ever since the house of smiths pantry makeover. YES! THAT LONG AGO! lol. Well forget waiting because I got my own good ol cameo now and made my own label.

Now that's a label. :) I bought a subscription from silhouetteamerica so I figure if I'm paying I might as well be making use of it right? I dl the shape from their site and tweeked it to get my perfect label. Don't you love the font? Isn't it ...wait for it...sweet?! lol #nerdalert

Now to get more jars for the flour, and whatever else. I'm label crazy ya'll. & in case you're wondering, the spices already have labels, on the lids, so no vinyl for them. Darn I know.

Merry Christmas 2012

2012-12-26T21:13:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years!

Ceramic Piggy Bank Gets A Makeover

2012-12-22T19:12:00.000-08:00

You've probably seen this piggy bank before. Everyone sells it. Sure you can draw on it and make it cute, but I took it up a notch and added vinyl :) Now it looks like this.

If that's not a kawaii makeover I don't know what is lol. Its sooo darn cute now lol. You'll never see that plain boring pig in the same way again! I designed the eyes and placed it closer to the nose. Then I cut one of my doily patterns I bought from the silhouette site and used the negative space out outs to form the decorative head piece. If you look close enough you can see where the old eyes used to be.

I might add Miniboss's initials to it or something on the side later on.

Looks so cute on my desk shelves :) Now to add a decorative border to my shelves! Yay more vinyl projects!

Just some popart

2012-12-21T17:13:00.000-08:00

Not to sound crazy, but I love this picture lol. I gotta post it everywhere so that when I'm having my frumpy mom days I will remember that hey, I look like crap now but with some makeup and good lighting, I look like THIS! lol. Yea, I had a veryyy long day yesterday as mom and wife, so I deserve some me time.

A Silhouette from my Silhouette : Chalk Vinyl

2012-12-18T18:52:00.002-08:00

I have been in love with my silhouette cameo. It's sooo much fun. I've been playing with the chalk vinyl and I have to say it's my favorite! I love that it's much thicker than regular vinyl, and hello, you can DRAW ON IT. I am going to order a lot more next time around.

I made these chalk labels to organize Miniboss's small toys.

I went to Lowes and bought the small plastic containers that are supposed to be for organizing shoes, but it works well for holding all of her tiny toys. I love how it turned out, so much more organized! I need to go back and get some more containers, because I still have a large bucket of toys to sort through. Sigh* sooo many toys! BTW The top labels look a little weird but it's just the sun streaming through from the window behind the containers.

& I finally made a silhouette of Miniboss :)

Isn't it adorable?! I'm surprised I haven't done one sooner..ohh yeah, because I didn't have a Cameo back then lol. Want to know how to make one too? First I took a picture of her profile.

I took it and edited it in Photoshop. You can see I added a sweet curly ponytail, since Miniboss's hair was uhh..a hot mess lol. This part took a huge chunk of time to create her silhouette and to then slowly smooth it out and make it look nice. You basically use the pen tool in PS to create the outline shape of your childs head and it will automatically fill in the area you create and you copy and paste it into a new document.

Once I got the image I wanted, I saved it as a tiff. file and imported it onto my Silhouette Studio, and cut out the image. I didn't use transfer paper because chalk vinyl is so thick anyway, it peels off easily.

I knew I wanted to put her silhouette into this plate I got in a yard sale years ago.

I liked the decorative edge of the plate, but the blue flowers just felt like it was missing something. I'm glad I left the plate alone until I found the right project to use it!

Here it is all done. I made the image slightly bigger than the center so that the hair hangs off a little. It was just my preference to do so. You could always make yours slightly smaller. I wanted to hide most of the floral background, and I love the way this turned out.

Best part is that now I can leave tiny messages on her BRAIN!! lol. Miniboss likes to say there are bugs in her brain when she has an itch on her head. Kids say the darnest things :D

Doily Vinyl

2012-12-13T20:27:00.000-08:00

I just got my vinyl shipment in! I got really excited so I had to cut something right!? I had this plain vase sitting on the shelves above my desk and I wanted to make it pretty :) I think everything should serve a purpose and look adorable. Yes. It has to...Also it was the first thing I saw when I looked up lol!

I found this doily pattern from from the silhouette online site. I added a 'D' in the middle with a font I already had on my computer and cut it out. It turned out even better than I expected!

The only advise I have is that for every cut your machine does, you will have to use your hook to take out all the tiny little vinyl pieces out. Tedious..but worth it!

The adorable silver ABC block is actually a coin bank I picked up at the base thrift store for almost next to nothing! They had a brown bag sale and I couldn't believe no one wanted this guy! I love the patina on it. I have a weird obsession with coin banks lol.

Here's the vase in another setting. Wouldn't it be a nice personalized gift for someone?! Or you could use it on your vanity and hold some makeup brushes..oh the possibilities are endless with this simple vinyl idea! You could get tons of cheapie vases at the dollar store or thrift stores and give them a whole new life :)

Baby Proof Silhouette Cameo Cardstock Ornaments

2012-12-12T15:41:00.000-08:00

I made my first card stock project using my new Silhouette Cameo machine!

Isn't it cute?! It was super simple too. I just used the scalloped image that came with the machine in your library and traced just the outside. I then added Miniboss's name in a thick font and used the circle tool to make the hole at the top so I could string through some pink yarn left over from my cowl project. You make one image and the program that comes with your silhouette lets you multiply the image. I just laid them out so it would all fit onto a sheet of card stock.

You could do all your children's names! Or even use these as a tag for Christmas presents under the tree.

I love that when we light the tree up at night the light glows behind the card stock and it stands out even more. I love them and Miniboss does too. It also doesn't hurt that it's completely toddler proof and I don't have to worry about her breaking them. Toddler + broken glass = not good!

It is made out of paper so please do not put them too close to any of the light bulbs on your tree! Safety first guys :)

Pink Toddler Cowl

2012-12-12T12:47:00.000-08:00

Here's some close ups of the cowl I made Miniboss. I used a simple double crochet stitch to make the middle and went back and added a scalloped edge to both sides. Sorry I don't know any technical crochet terms lol. I learned how to do the different patterns on youtube! Did I ever mention how much I loved youtube btw? I pretty much can learn anything off there. Before I only knew the simple basic stitch and now I'm doing fancy things ;)

I think it turned out adorable. Anything handmade just seems soo much more warmer, maybe because it's stitched with love?? hehe

First snow of Winter!

2012-12-10T11:46:00.000-08:00

We woke up today to some snow! It's mostly already melted by now but it was such a fun treat for Miniboss. She was really excited and said Santa was coming and wanted to go outside to find him lol. So cute, I'm surprised she even knows about Santa because she's always been so scared of him and all our holiday family photos are always of her crying on his lap. Yes she's one of those kids =/ But I guess we will see how she does this year now that she's almost 3.

Like her cowl? I made that! I've been in such a crochet kick lately now that it's colder. I'm actually working on a secret project right now...it's going to be amazing! Can't wait to finish it up and post photos.

Well I hope you guys enjoy the colder weather, and time with family and friends this holiday season :)

Thanksgiving

2012-11-27T08:35:00.001-08:00

This is our very last Thanksgiving in Wichita Falls! Next year we will hopefully be in Kansas :) I'm so ready to move!

Anyway, I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving. I know we did. My family drove from Colorado to spend the weekend with us. It was so fun and nice to see my parents and siblings. After they left it was so quiet and lonely here...yea I had Miniboss and we all know she's noisy, but it wasn't the same. No matter how many times you have to say goodbye, it never gets easier!

But hopefully next year when we move, we'll be slightly closer to them and hopefully we can see them more often. & also we'll be closer to the husbands family, so it'll be nice too.

Let's see what I have to catch you guys up on..Miniboss started dance classes :)

She's always been a tiny dancer, and now that she's old enough I figured it was time to get her into some sort of dance thing so she can start socializing with other kids. We had her in a Tumblebears class with was like for babies and the sing sings and work on tumbling. But I think she's outgrown it, and she just started the preschool combo class, which includes ballet, tap, and tumbling. She's not used to the new building her class is in and she's clingy but hopefully she'll adjust soon. She always has a hard time adjusting at first, and we're trying to help her with that.

I got to meet John & Sherry from Younghouselove.com, and got my book signed by them.

They are very sweet in person...they are just like I imagined them to be from their blog. My husband watched Miniboss and I stood in line and got my book signed. He could careless about books or blogs but he did me a solid that day lol. It was a one time thing and I'm super glad I went and got to be a #nerdybloggerfan that day :) Not often does a girl get to stand in line with a bunch of other girls who get what you're talking about! Nerdy crafting bloggers get me right?..Right?!

I just finally bought the Silhouette Cameo! I know talk about LATEEEEE. Crafting took a backseat for a while in my life while I was trying to stockpile goods for my familys visit and then I was crazy obsessed with the gym and getting back to my pre-baby size. But Now that I got all that done, I can finally get back to crafting!! My love of crafting and blogging. YESSS! It's been a while, and I'm glad to be back :)

Whoot

2012-09-16T14:57:00.000-07:00

My first Scentsy warmer! I fell in love with Whoot and got him just in time because he was the warmer of the month for August. Sooo glad I waited for a warmer I reallly wanted! Patience pays off! :)

Isn't he adorable? All snuggled up ready for bed hehehe.

Headboard-less.

2012-09-10T20:02:00.003-07:00

Remember back when I had this headboard?

You know it's an old photo because Miniboss hasn't been that small and cute in a long time #eviltoddler LOL.

Well I got rid of it. Sold it on craigslist for a whooping $5 :) I know, but I got it for free so really no biggie. I've been purging furniture I've collected lately to make room for stuff I really want, and I just didn't love that headboard. It wasn't tall enough and I outgrew the shabby chicness of it.

Well now we're headboard-less and it looks pretty bare so instead I found a temporary solution that will workout perfectly until we do move and I can hunt down that perfect headboard :)

I just blew up a huge picture of us through shutterfly..though I could have done an engineering print, but I wanted a high quality photo so you could always do the engineer prints to save some money!

I got the frame from IKEA for $29.99 while we were in Dallas one weekend, and hung it over the bed with a monkey hook. Have you guys tried monkey hooks?! It's soo simple and holds so much weight..You know since it'll be hanging over our heads at night I don't want it to come crashing down! I had used one in the living room for a huge frame above the bench for a year and it held up perfect so I knew I had to use a monkey hook for this one as well! No tools needed and it comes out very easily as well so I can take them with us when we move :)

I think it's a great photo and it's not too in your face and kind of off beat since it's a picture of us indirectly, and not a huge cheesy photo of our faces lol. I love how it turned out, and the idea of not having a headboard, but still having something finish off the area.

Now I gotta get rid of more furniture and belongings that are just baggage and not worth lugging to another home. :) I know for sure I need a small couch, some sitting chairs, a coffee table, a guest bed, night stands for our room, a new dresser/solution for the tv, extra dining chairs, patio furniture, and office chairs! Eppp...lots of stuff I gotta get and that means lots of clutter to toss!

Source list: Shams from West Elm, white comforter from Target, white frame from IKEA, small body pillow from Dillards.

Slacker Much?!

2012-09-09T14:14:00.002-07:00

I've been really slacking on projects. Yea I know..and updating in general. =/ What a bad blogger I know lol. But we got word that we're going to be moving to Kansas next year and I've been trying to clean out all my old projects and furniture to make room for the move. We're hoping to either be in base housing or buy an actual house!! Homeowners?! I've only been dreaming about it for forever! I know, it won't be a forever home, no military family has one of those right?! lol It's a huge step for us and much needed. We have been bursting at the seems in this tiny apartment and Miniboss needs legroom to grow. As well as Parker..though in his case it's not to grow but room to run and lay around :)

I'm selling all my projects and things on craigslist and starting fresh! All new furniture, and all pieces that will really reflect me, and us, and everything I want :)

Hahah I say mostly "I" because well the husband doesn't really have a say. Happy wife, Happy life right guys?! :)

I'm soo excited and ready to look for houses, I want a small old home I can do renovations on. I have a huge obsession over tiny homes, and the idea of making a small house work for you in every sense. I know, I want out of an apt for a tiny house?! Whattt?! But with a house I could really personalize it and make it just the way I want, and make every inch useful and in that sense it will be more "roomy" without having to have a huge square footage. Anyway, it makes sense to me lol.

If we don't find a house we love, we will live on base housing and though that will be like renting again, at least I will have all the furniture pieces I really love!

Anyway wish us luck, cuz in 10 short months the Douangphilas are moving out of Texas!

Throw Back Baby Polaroids

2012-08-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

Big Kid Status: Potty training & Sleep training

2012-08-14T07:38:00.000-07:00

We finally just potty trained Miniboss and right after that adventure, I decided to get get her to stop co-sleeping with me and sleep in her own toddler bed. Now she is officially i-n-d-e-p-e-n-d-e-n-t!! She seems to be less clingy now, and I've been taking out out to play with more kiddos her age and she is starting to really blossom and become a social butterfly.

I've had a few of our friends who have kids her age (Miniboss is 2 1/2) and are still in diapers and have asked me how I did it... so I'd like to share in case any other Mommas are having trouble potty training their toddlers.

It took me 3 days for the entire process. Before I started I asked a few moms what they did, and everyone kept telling me they will do it when they're ready don't force potty training on them. I understand you can't rush anything with kids, they have a tiny mind of their own and we all know toddlers are stubborn! But I couldn't take that as an answer..I guess I'm more stubborn lol. The first day of potty training I took her to the bathroom and sat her on her potty seat as soon as she woke up. I told her go potty and sat with her until she went. It took like 20 mins and her stuggling wanting to get off and eat and play. I just kept telling her no you need to potty first and would put her back on when she tried to jump off. Well she finally went and when she did I gave her a "reward" aka candy and was really enthusiastic telling her look you did it! you did it!! What a smart girl!! After that I put big girl undies on for her and just let her roam the living room. I shut all the doors in our apartment and kept her in one area so I could keep an eye on her. Every 20-30 mins I'd ask her if she needed to go potty and and placed her on the potty seat anyway. Sometimes she went and I'd reward her, and sometimes she didn't and would end up peeing where ever on the floor and even on her art notebook! I would tell her, "ewww icky look your all wet!" and then place her on her potty seat and tell her you need to pee here. Later in the day when she decided she had had enough of potty training and it wasn't for her, I gave her a new toy to get her to sit on the seat until she went. I got her the IXL Fisher price toy and it has lots of fun little apps for toddlers, and she was really interested in the new toy she sat still and eventually went. I would then take away the toy and only give it to her while she was on the potty. At first she would tell me "ohh I need to potty" but she just wanted to sit there and play with her new toy lol.

The second day I started the cycle all over again, except this time I let her wear a pull up. I would take her every 20-30 mins and she had a few accidents in her pullup and I would change her into a new one right away so she could feel dry and would be more conscience of when she had to go. She also went a few times while on the toliet and I just kept giving her candy and her IXL game. (Over night I just let her wear a pullup btw)

By the third day I left her in pull ups again but she had no accidents! She kept telling me "Mom I have to poop" and I'd grab her and run to the toilet. Of course she when she says it, it just means pee, but that's her way of telling me she has to go potty. She still says I have to poop lol..but whatever I'm just glad I don't have to change any diapers anymore! I have the inconvenience of running her to the toliet every 30 mins at first...she has a tiny bladder, or maybe she drank too much..but now that it's been a few weeks she only goes once an hour or so. Sometimes I let her wear big girl undies and sometimes shes in pullups like when we leave the house incase we cant get to a toliet in time, but she's been really good at letting me know.

So it only took 3 days to potty train Miniboss! Aftwer that I was feeling pretty confident in my big girl so I decided I wanted to get the last thing out of the way and get her to stop co sleeping with me in my bed. Once again the process took 3 days, and I barely got any sleep, either did she, but she is finally in her own bed!

The first night I placed her in her bed and laid on the floor next to her bed and told her to go to sleep and she kept crying and jumping off her bed trying to lay with me on the floor lol. Well eventually it was like 3 am and she was really tired and I told her to get on her bed and gave her her itouch which has pbs on it and she watched it till she knocked out. She woke up in the middle of the night twice and would run onto my bed but i just grabbed her and put her back into her toddler bed and lay next to her on the floor.

Second night was a little easier. She knew she wasn't going to lay on my bed with me, and we repeated the no sleep screaming and crying and fussing and I laid on the floor with her and when she knocked out I jumped back into my own bed.

By the third night I had my husband lay on the floor with her and I was in our bed, and Miniboss was in hers (all in the same room) and she laid there and slept with no problems! She woke up once (which she always does anyway) but she would see us in the rooom and go back to bed in her own toddler bed.

She still wakes up in the middle of the night once in a while to try and climb into my bed, but I put her back in her toddler bed and lay on the floor next to her till she knocks out. She's a stubborn kid, but getting her to be more independent has been soo great for her socially with other kids and when we go out. She wants to play with other kids now. Before she would always just be clingy and it would take her forever to get used to new people. I don't regret pushing her to be more on her own, which I know is hard since I'm a SAHM and she see's me all day.

Anyway that's our big kid story! Miniboss is sure growing up and I miss her as a baby, but I am really loving this toddler age!! She's so fun and sassy. :)