Potty training: a short-lived experiment

We are officially through with potty training for now. After several days of trying it became apparent that she wasn't quite ready and we didn't want to pressure her, so we're done for now. We'll probably try again in a few months. Darn it.

Potty training and other adventures

Well...we've made the jump to potty training! I never thought I'd be so excited about someone else going to the bathroom. In the two days we've been working on it she's gone a couple of times in the potty and had several accidents, but I'm not really trying that hard. I know she's pretty young for it but her pediatrician encouraged us to try and if it doesn't work then I'll pull back and try again in a few months. We'll see! If you have any tips, please send them my way!

Have I posted yet about Maggie saying, "How does this work?" If not, well, she's saying it. She asks it about her seatbelt, the side of the crib that drops, and a multitude of other things.

She's singing a lot. I guess I frequently sing "doo doo doo" if I don't know the words to a song (I had no idea how much I did this), and so she has started singing the same words in a tune that sounds melodic only to her ear. It's pretty adorable. It's been fun because she'll do it on a car ride and keep herself busy the entire time.

Today Grant showed her some shelves he had hung in a closet and when she saw them she said, "Nice, daddy." I thought that was pretty cute.

Here's a photo of Maggie with Uncle Blake in her room. You can sort of see the palm tree in the background that I painted on her wall. It's pretty obvious that she just woke up from a nap.

Here's Maggie with my brother, Spencer. Sadly, she has started calling him Spencer instead of TupTup, but we're still calling him TupTup in the hopes that we can prolong it. She also heard Grant call me Courtney the other day and has been trying it out.
Her eyelashes are about 3 feet long. I'm so jealous.
I think this was also after a nap. We love her crazy hair after a nap. Usually her curls are all askew and sticking out everywhere.
At my dad's house, wearing an outfit I bought while pregnant with her that finally fits! The bloomers, which you can't see, are the best part. They're orange with little white polka dots.
This Wednesday (August 29) will be six weeks from my surgery and I can finally pick up Maggie and work out! Hooray! I'm definitely ready and feeling up to it.

A love letter

I first want to say that my drain is gone! They removed it last Thursday and I guess I forgot to mention it! I'm feeling sooooo much better now and just get tired really easily.

I want to publicly acknowledge everyone who helped us in the last 4 weeks. Here goes:

Forest, Nate, Blake, Jim and Jenny - thanks for moving us to our new house!
Rusty Howard (my father-in-law) - thank you for driving out here, installing that ceiling fan, helping with Maggie and insisting that we needed more help and giving up your wife for two weeks
Carol Howard and Grandma Mathis - thank you for scrubbing our old apartment, painting the living room, getting up with Maggie at 5am, cooking, doing laundry, running errands, spoiling Maggie, running the Baptist Express to my hospital room so I could be with Maggie, and putting your own lives on hold for two weeks while you generally slaved away for us.
Mom, Benton, Erin, Jim, Dad, Chris, Spencer - thanks for your many hospital visits, for keeping Maggie so I can rest, for painting the shed (Dad), for all of the meals, for bringing movies and magazines, and a million other things too numerous to mention
Molly Griggs- for arranging a meal brigade once I came home, for calling frequently to check on me, for watching Maggie, for bringing dark chocolate to the hospital, and for making the best broccoli casserole I've ever eaten
Dupree family - for keeping Maggie often and keeping her extremely entertained, for bringing dinner, and for installing ANOTHER ceiling fan (Michael), as well as giving us a fan for Maggie's room. Oh - and thanks Tiff for helping paint Maggie's room, too!
Amy and Forest, Molly, Grandma Austin, Nana White, Erin, and Elise Tepner - for bringing delicious dinners so we didn't have to worry about cooking for a while (and Elise - for getting me hooked on sudoku)
Blake and Jenny - for watching Maggie, taking her to the Tomato Festival because you wanted to enter her in the redhead beauty contest, and for bringing flowers
And thanks to all of you reading for your prayers, cards, kind words, and a million other kindnesses! If I've forgotten someone or something I will feel terrible but there have been so many nice things that it's hard to keep up with - so thank you for that!

You are the best friends and family a girl could ask for and I love you all!

An Apple Jacket

I just read about this thing called an apple jacket. It's basically what it sounds like. At first I thought it was silly, but the more I looked at it and thought about it, the more I liked it. It's actually pretty cute. If I worked and took apples to work then I might like it. I wanted to share it with you!

You can see or buy it here, and please make sure to read the note about the New York Times on the web page. I think it's funny.

Have any plans for October yet?

I know may seem kind of silly but I'm starting to think about Maggie's birthday party and I just wanted to put it out there for you to reserve Saturday, October 13 for that very special event! It'll be during the day but I'm not sure exactly what time yet - just not evening. I know it's only August, but...I can't help myself. It's so much fun to plan parties!

Here are a few photos for you. This is Maggie being serious:

We just love her profile. Hope you do too!
Benton sent me this photo and he titled it "Poppy, please don't take my water!" I think that sums it up well (maybe a little too nicely according to Maggie's expression).

Here we are at McDougal's Chicken Coop (a restaurant) before my surgery.

Maggie asked, "Grandpa, how do you grow your mustache so well?!"
Here's me in the hospital with Grandma Mathis and Maggie (stealing one of my popsicles). Don't I look hot? Those hospital gowns are so flattering...

Here's Maggie on the front porch of our new house! I love this dress - it's so '60s looking and we always get comments on it.

Grandma Mathis and Carol took Maggie to the zoo one day. Here she is on the swing, all pooped out. Grant thinks she looks like my baby photos in this one.
I've saved my health update for the last b/c I know you're probably all bored with it. I still have a drain in me that I'm waiting to have removed until it completely stops draining. There's not much left but enough for them to leave it in. It's extremely irritating to my body and is actually causing me a lot of pain. My incision is healing well and hardly bothers me at all. I'm pretty much on bed rest at this point but I think when the drain is removed I'll instantly improve 75% or more. So let's all think positively for the drain to be removed! Hope none of this was too graphic.

Thanks for reading and I hope I have some good news to update you with soon!