A big day for Elizabeth!!!

Today's the Day! Elizabeth came to our bed early this morning & slept a while with us. When we woke up, I felt her diaper & she was dry. She has been waking up dry often lately, but I've never been able to get her to sit on the toilet. She is eager to get there, but when actually confronted with this porcelain challenge, she freaks out & won't sit on her seat. And then, most of the time she asks for "priseat", meaning, she wants privacy & I should go away! Today, I was just happy to get her to sit on her nice, padded seat with the yellow duckies printed on it. She wasn't worried a bit! I told her if she could go pee-pee, I would do the happy dance for her. She had a little trouble trying to figure out what to do once she was sitting up there, but once she saw how excited I was when she made a couple of tinkles, she just kept trying. She looked pretty happy with herself!!! Maybe we're on the way!!!

Saying goodnight is so hard to do...

Here are some images to show our nightly routine. Charlie now reads to Elizabeth every night before bed. She is still in the habit of sucking those two fingers on her left hand, while holding her baby-of-choice in her other arm. Tonight it is Ivan, my childhood Cabbage Patch doll. Sometimes she just gazes at Charlie, studying him while he reads to her. Henry is laying nearby, in Elizabeth's toddler bed, looking tired & listening quietly to Charlie's story. But, as you can see, Henry doesn't always make it all the way to bed. Here he has fallen asleep on the stairs up to his room! The flash of the camera kept waking him up & made him grouchy, but it makes for an entertaining post! Elizabeth needs a little extra attention to get her to stay in bed. She has a fear of 'the barkley' at night. See, her cousins have a wiener dog named 'Barkely', he's a sweet thing, & one of the first dogs she has spent any real time with. So I guess this is why she calls dogs 'barkleys'. There was a time, months ago, that the neighbors 'barkley' was barking outside her window & she woke up from her nap terrified. So now we have to continually reveiw every night, that she is safe in her room, & the 'barkely' is stuck outside in his cage... I have even created "Barkley spray" by disguising a can of nicely-scented Lysol, & we spray a little "Barkley spray" in her room for each nap & bed time. So the other night, while I stayed late at work for a delivery, Stacey was at home scratching his head in frustration because Elizabeth was crying & refusing to go to bed. By the time I got home, she had finally gone to sleep. But Stacey wanted to know why she was crying for "Pocket space", because that's what it sounds like she says when she wants her "Barkley spray"!

Here's Jojo!!!

Meet Jojo, our guinea pig & newest family addition. He's taking some time to get used to us. But, as you can see, the kids (okay, & me) love him.

just Elizabeth

Here is Elizabeth with Ivan Harvey, my childhood Cabbage Patch doll that we found & cleaned up today. And he is accompanied by Elizabeth's best friend Bunny, the blue elephant.

!!!Ugh!!!

Okay, this is just the kind of thing that happens to me. Stacey is selling some pressure cookers on Craigs List, & my cell was listed as the contact, as I was off last week & more able to take the calls... Well, I worked this weekend, & the number was still on the listing, not too big of a deal, I was able to manage the calls that came in, or so I thought. I received a call about a pressure cooker on saturday from a young lady, who was really just being the relayer of information from the man she was with, I could hear him in the background with the questions. There was a lot of back & forth, some phone interference & lots of wind, I could tell they were out & about. They had all kinds of suggestions about meeting in other parts of KC, so they would not have to drive all the way from Olathe to Lone Jack. I had to explain a couple of times that I was @ work & unable to transport the pressure cooker & I didn't want my husband to load up the kids to go for a long drive himself. At one point I thought they asked if they take 50, I said "yeah, you take 50 highway". We arranged that they would call me back for directions after they finished their current errand, they called back, I gave directions & they got out to the house to get the pressure cooker. But that's when Stacey calls me to ask how much I told them for the pressure cooker, I said "we didn't discuss price, so it should be $75." Well, they left the house & immediately called me, & we tried to figure out why they thought we had discussed a different price. That's when I realized it was when I said "yeah, you take 50 highway." They were not asking if they take 50 out to Lone Jack, they were asking if I would take $50 for the pressure cooker. Well, I did feel bad, but some people don't make it easy to work with them. This young lady was nice, but in the background, I heard the man say we should owe him $15 for the long drive out there, and then she asks if we will take $60. I tell her no, that I'm sure we'll get the $75 for it, but I feel bad. Stacey felt the same way, we wanted to work with them, but in the end we just let them keep going, because it was just a misunderstanding, & then there was the suggestion of entitlement that I didn't like. So, today, I get this text from their number saying "I hope you know that I have turned you guys in for fraud." !!! Ugh !!! Now I am probably thinking about this, & having more angry feelings about it than they are. Also, I don't feel comfortable, because they have my number (if they chose to continue to harass me), but more worrisome, they know right where we live. This will probably all amount to nothing, they will probably do & say nothing else (I'm sure there is also no claim of fraud anywhere out there). But right now I am very bothered. does anyone have any suggestions?