J o e y & A l e e t h e a - super cool handmade monster clothing and more! :D

Happy Halloween!

The Caped Crusader and the Skinny Ballerina go cotton-picking and hay-riding at the farm, and capture the great pumpkin in an authentic pumpkin patch - right here in Durham, NC!

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Potty Training Boot Camp: day 4 + day 5...mission accomplished!

We began our adventures of a 5-day Potty-Training Boot Camp with our daughter Lily on 10/18/10 when she was 26mos old. You can read about Day 1 of Potty Training Boot Camp here. Read about Days 2 + 3 here. And Days 4 + 5 are here. We also potty trained our son via our fun Boot Camp style when he was 3yrs and 3mos old, and that blog post is here.

Thursday (day 4/5):  Last nite for the very first time -- Lily stayed dry all night!! This is a very big deal because she nurses in the middle of the night, yet continued to stay dry. Then today Lily went potty first thing in the AM, then approximately every 2 hours thereafter. She stayed dry during a 2 hour naptime. Yaay!

Friday (day 5/5:  Last nite Lily stayed dry again!! That's 12 hours, people! Nursed in the middle of the night too. Then during the day today she visited the potty a bunch of times, all with successful happenings. :) And each time, before she had to go she would let me know without me asking her - and then she would go find the potty! She would also be specific as to whether she needed to go #1 or #2. And, Lily did not have any accidents all day long! I am so proud of my little kookla! (doll in Greek)

Here's Lily with her potty charts. The point of these charts was simply to have a spot to jot things down such as when she went potty, and then another spot for Lily to have some fun and add some stickers. We kept the potty chart in the bathroom, and the sticker chart in her room. Along the way, plenty of doodling, scribbling, and chicken scratch ended up on the charts. They were also a key aspect in our potty training, in addition to a learning experience for Lily, and of course plenty of fun. :)

Look at how happy and proud of her accomplishment Lily appears to be in these photos:

So, this concludes our potty-training boot camp, and my baby girl is no longer in diapers! Joey wasn't potty trained til he was 3yrs + 4mos...so having Lily out of diapers at just 28mos is so very refreshing. And...kind of sad too. :(

umm...ok I'm over it. :)

No more diapers! No more stinky diaper pail!No more changing tables!

Lily is now officially potty-trained! Mission accomplished!! woohoooooo!!!! :D

 

Potty Training Boot Camp: day 2 + day 3

We began our adventures of a 5-day Potty-Training Boot Camp with our daughter Lily on 10/18/10 when she was 26mos old. You can read about Day 1 of Potty Training Boot Camp here. Read about Days 2 + 3 here. And Days 4 + 5 are here. We also potty trained our son via our fun Boot Camp style when he was 3yrs and 3mos old, and that blog post is here.

The best thing about potty training? Lily gets so excited when she goes #1 in the potty, she's just so happy when she hears the sound of the tinkling! :) And she runs around the house all day wearing nothing but a little t-shirt. It's the cutest thing because her adorable suntan lines are still so visible, so her cute little beige bottom bounces all around the house, while her little brown legs are running. She really loves getting stickers, sometimes hearts are her favorite, sometimes VeggieTales - and she runs up to her potty chart and takes a few minutes to decide where she wants to carefully place her new sticker. Then she asks if it's time to "do the potty dance, Mama?" :)

So here are the details...because I know you are just on the edge of your seat! hehe.

Tuesday: In the middle of the night Lily went # 1 in the bed, so when she woke up at 7am she didn't have to go potty first thing in the morning, but finally went at 10am...in the potty! Hooray! Throughout the day she only had one accident in the afternoon. Something I realized - is Lily just doesn't need to go to the potty as often as big brother did. He went every 30 minutes, but she goes every 2 hours, sometimes 2.5hrs! Oh and she stayed dry during her 2 hour naptime. How wonderful is that?!

Wednesday: Last nite at 4am'ish Lily went #1 in the bed. She woke up at 8am and right away did #1 in the potty. Yaay! Throughout the day she went #1 twice in the potty, and also did #2 in the potty this evening. A few accidents today while too busy playing with big bro to stop and visit the bathroom. :) Again dry during her 2 hour naptime, which is great!

Thursday: we'll see! 

 

Potty Training Boot Camp: day 1

We began our adventures of a 5-day Potty-Training Boot Camp with our daughter Lily on 10/18/10 when she was 26mos old. You can read about Day 1 of Potty Training Boot Camp here. Read about Days 2 + 3 here. And Days 4 + 5 are here. We also potty trained our son via our fun Boot Camp style when he was 3yrs and 3mos old, and that blog post is here.

 

Warning: Lots of potty-mouth going on around here.

Last week we read No More Diapers for Ducky, and watched Elmo's Potty Time way more times than I care to admit. We've been talking about the potty, and singing all sorts of potty songs...all in preparation for today...the big day. The day we started potty-training our toddler, with the hopes of another successful potty-training boot-camp, just like we did with her big-bro.

And so it began. 8am this morning. Our baby girl Lily, 28mos, said good-bye to diapers! Then we spent 10 hours inside today, all day, sitting on the potty every 30min. She would sit there, usually not willingly, but heavily bribed/persuaded/distracted, with high hopes of stickers. :D Gotta love how the whole sticker thing still works! But, she would just sit there, and do nothing much but just sit on the potty, and have me read her books, and play with water while sitting there...but...no peepee. Nothing. Nada. Dry. Oh, but she did pee quite nicely on the floor 4 times. Yep, once in the playroom, once in her room, and twice in the kitchen. Yeah, she had that peeing on the floor thing mastered by 5pm. hehe.

So, 10 hours goes by...and then what happens? Then DADA comes home after work, takes Lily to the potty, and what happens? Can ya believe this nonsense - she goes #1...IN THE POTTY! Hooray for Lily!! And yeah, sure, GREAT job DADA. He comes struttin' home after being out in the fresh air (ok, being at work...but still) and I'm cooped up all day, spending most of it in the bathroom...and he gets to wear the pee-pee crown. Nice. A big ol' pat on the back for you there, Pee-Daddy. *giggle*

So what is a Mama to do? I wait. Quietly. Plotting my next move...and then, when the moment is right...Lily and I go to the potty, and what happens?? After 10 minutes of deep concentration...she DOES #2 - IN THE POTTY!! Woohoo for Lily's very first #2 in the toilet! And yaaayyyy for this Mama's craptastic potty-training skills!! How about a crappy hi-5!

I know, I know, I should calm down a bit...because it's just Day 1...but I may not survive another full day of this doo-doo!! haha - so I will bask in the glory...yes, the glory of poop, because my baby girl was just so pottylicious today. Thank you, my dear bloggy/FB peeps, for going thru this crappola with me.

And to The Hubbs Joe, I hope you're reading all this caca, and just know...that you'll always be...#1. :D

Day 2? BRING IT ONNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ankle Biters Lounge Pants in Vespa Scooters...and an EXCLUSIVE deal

Here's a pair of super fun and limited edition Ankle Biters toddler lounge pants that are shipping out to a very hip little kiddo, and a very patient customer:

How crazy adorable are these Vespa Scooter lounge pants?!

Look at how fab they look on Lily!!

Will look reeeeeeally cute with our handmade Vespa Scooters Jumper Dress which I am happy to say is also going out in today's mail!

Hope they fall in love with their new outfit. I know I have! :)

And if you want a pair of those super fab Vespa Scooters Ankle Biters, or if you want the super cool Vespa Scooters Jumper Dress, then go pick 'em up in my shop...and just let me know you "saw it on your blog" upon checkout, and after payment I'll send you a refund...a 15% discount via paypal off your purchase!! :D

(exclusive offer is valid for the next 3 days only...Oct. 16th, 17th, and 18th, 2010)

So be sure to get 'em at my shop, Joey & Aleethea while I still have that ridiculously awesome limited edition and out of print fabric in stock!!

don't worry...

"Be happy. Talk happiness. Happiness calls out responsive gladness in others. There is enough sadness in the world without yours . never doubt the excellence and permanence of what is yet to be. Join the great company of those who make the barren places of life fruitful with kindness. Your success and happiness lie in you. The great enduring realities are love and service. Resolve to keep happy and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties."

~ Helen Keller

apple picking time

We were happy to find an apple-picking orchard just approx an hour drive from Durham, located in Ramseur NC. Here's my lovely little 2 year old Lily, checking out all the leaves on the ground, and all the butterflies as she walked thru an apple orchard for the very first time. Wearing her apple denim dress, to match her big brother:

My silly sweet Joey, of course with the bucket on his head, cracking up like it was just the most clever thing in the whole world. Isn't he a cutie?:

My big boy, starting out on his very first apple-picking venture:

And sitting on Mama's shoulders to reach up high:

Counting his apples as we went along...

After all that work, it was time for some serious play! We headed to the picnic area where a bunch of tire swings awaited us. I swung Joey so high and so hard on this tire swing, he giggled all the way, and thought it was just the best thing. I agreed:

Here's a close-up of the apple pants I made for Joey. They're denim, comfy, with huge pockets, and so cute on him!

My baby girl Lily would've stayed on this tire-swing all day!She is quite the adventurous little one:

And having fun doing what they love doing in open fields...running free and far away from Mama and Dada! :)

After the Apple Orchard, we invited some friends over and made an Apple Danish Pizza with the fresh apples. The kids picked apples called "Pink Ladies", also known as the brand name for Cripps Pink apples. See? I am just a wealth of knowledge today. Something else I know is that when the farmer said we had picked apples which are called "Pink Ladies", my mind went directly to this:

A Pink Lady cocktail. We didn't make any of those...although they do look good... 

Anyways...back to kid-friendly stuff now...we did however enjoy a few of these at the apple orchard...super yummy apple-cider slushies. We're in the Raleigh-Durham area of NC, so it was in the high 80's that first day of October:

And getting back to the apples we picked...if you do try the Apple Danish Pizza recipe, it's lots of fun to make with kids as they're plenty of steps that they can assist with. It is really a delicious (fattening) recipe - but it did taste more like a cheescake than a danish or a pizza. I'd suggest using more apples than the recipe calls for...maybe 3 x as many. And a less-tart apple than we picked.

Millstone Creek Orchards is at 506 Parks Crossrds Church Rd, Ramseur, NC 27316 (336) 824-5263

And that right there, was our very fun morning of apple picking, tire-swinging, and some much needed fresh air.

ok peeps...back to sewing for me!

 

 

Halloween snacks and treats for kids

"Kids will love these adorable, sometimes-scary Halloween recipes. Try these perfect sweets and treats at your next Halloween party."

I found these creepy fun recipes and I cannot wait to make some of them with my toddler and preschooler. Bring on the Eye-Scream eyeballs and Fruity Ghoul's Brew!

 

inexplicable

"The value of things is not the time that it lasts, but the intensity with which they occur. So there are unforgettable moments, inexplicable things and incomparable people." - Fernando Pessoa