Phone time with Daddy

Mark started his new job a few weeks ago, and we are SO grateful for the Lord's provision in this area. But it has been hard adjusting to him being gone so much. We really miss him during the day. He has been great about calling during his lunch hour and both Lucy and I look forward to talking to him for this short time. I love how Lucy just lights up as she talks to her daddy on the phone.

She is so in love with her daddy....and so am I :)

The fun things we've been doing lately....

Potty Training!! Oh the joys of potty training. The obligatory public bathroom visits, the car rides screaming because she has to go RIGHT now, the endless amounts of peeing, flushing, washing.....its exhausting! I'm exhausted. But all the hard work paid off because Lucy is potty trained.

We took the "boot camp" approach. Which pretty much sums up my parenting technique. Whenever a new milestone or season of change approaches, we dive in head first and never look back. It's always worked pretty well because Lucy is a lot like me in that respect. Just do it and be done with it.

I've been telling her for probably 2 months now that as soon as we get back from the beach, we are going to wear big girl panties and go in the potty. She has talked and talked about it and knew it was coming. This was good and bad. Good because it prepared her....bad because it meant I actually had to follow through. So we got back from the beach on a Saturday night. Took the day Sunday to go to church, rest, unpack.....woke up Monday morning and hit the potty full force! I put her in panties first thing that morning and she's been wearing them ever since! By day 4 she was potty trained. Seriously. The first two days I almost had mental breakdowns....then day 3 came and there was hope....then day 4 came and she was trained. Period. She has had maybe 3 accidents total since that day 4, which was 3 weeks ago. She is wearing diapers or pull ups while she sleeps, but I think she will be able to drop that soon.

If anyone cares about my approach, feel free to ask, but I won't bore you with the details on the blog. Let's just say it involved LOTS of asking, praising with songs and M&Ms, and loads of patience. Oh and an entire week of us not leaving the house....it takes dedication people! But like I said, I'm so glad to be done with it instead of dragging it on for months and months.

Sometimes Lucy got a little silly while sitting on the potty

We took the potty with us everywhere. The kitchen....

Her bedroom....

We even took it to the park with us the other day! (don't have that picture to post...but trust me, it was hilarious). I'm so proud of Lucy and how well she did. She never gave me any resistance to this big step in her life. One down, hopefully many more to go :)

Lucy's Birthday Party

Better late than never! Here are a few pics from Lucy's birthday party. We just had a few friends/family over, grilled some hot dogs, and let the kids go at the new pool.

Grandpa showing Lucy her pool

Gabbie giving me a look...

Lucy and Lilly show us how you're SUPPOSED to eat a cupcake.

Prayer

So....prayer works, in case you were wondering. It does, I promise. The Lord listens to the cries of His people, and I have seen that more this year than ever before. You don't always get what you want, but He always listens and He always answers. I am so grateful for the many prayers our family has received. From family and friends, to people who just read this blog and send out a prayer without even knowing us. I am grateful, and they are felt. Please continue to pray for our family, we have had many answers to prayer (including Mark getting a JOB...more on that later....).

But right now, I want you to pray for another family, my cousin Holly and her husband Billy. Billy was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He is my age. They recently found more cancer in a lymph node and discovered that it has traveled into his bloodstream. He is undergoing intense chemo right now, 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. We are claiming healing for them in the name of Jesus, and I ask that you would too. We know our Heavenly Father can heal him, but we pray that it is HIS WILL that He heal him. I know Holly and Billy only want the Lord's will for their lives. They have been an amazing inspiration to me during this test of faith. Pray for them with me.

Here is a link to Holly's blog.

Gulf Shores Trip

The day after Lucy's birthday, we left for Gulf Shores with the Sias Family. We had a blast, and we are so grateful to Jim's parents for letting us use their condo! The weather was great, the ocean was beautiful, and the kids absolutely LOVE each other. Lucy has been asking for "buddy" everyday since we got back. Enjoy the pics!

Lucy loungin on our balcony

Our Lulu at Lulu's!

Pointing at the boat at Lulu's. After one would pass she would look at me and say "moore boat, moore boat", like I could magically make more boats appear...

At the beach!

We took the kids out for a little mini photo shoot one night. We ended up going too late so some of the pics are too dark and didn't turn out great. We took another family photo shoot on the last night....I'll put those pics up in a separate post because there are tons.

Thank you Sias fam for a fabulous trip! Can't wait til next year :)