Sans nightime diaper?

Clara's been out of diapers for a while now. We've been going out and about and staying home with her in undies all day since at least 18 months (there were still accidents, but mostly becuase ignored her or she couldn't get her pants down on her own).

I guess maybe a few weeks or a month ago I stopped putting her in a pull-up for naptime. Mostly becuase I would go to check on her when she wouldn't fall asleep and she'd have taken it off and either missed her potty or taken it off mid-potty or taken it off and thrown her tangled up diaper/pants combo in the garbage. While I appreciate that she knew where her dirty diapers go, I flush poop and there were two times where she clearly was very close to getting the diaper off but couldn't quite make it--so I had poop cleaning duty which, as many of you know, I am not a fan of.

So once I started putting her in undies she acutally did pretty good. I'd go in to check and there'd either be a #1 or #2 or both in her potty (she'd be sleeping soundly naked from teh waist down--she still has some trouble with getting undies and pants on by herself). Sometimes she'd wake up wet and sometiems she'd come down to me dry. Lately she's been mostly dry on wake ups.

(except for the time I went in and she had taken off her pants and undies, gone potty, then managed to climb up on the changing table and fall asleep--after ransacking her room)

Tonight, however. I put her in her standard pull up, did bed time routine and went to check on her becuase I head noises. It was dark, she was wandering around upstairs (it's not that big) and I say "clara! get in to bed!"

I walk into her room, kneel down by her fouton and straighten her blankets for her (in the dark) and she comes and lies down and I cover her but feel her naked bum.

Anna: "What? where are your pants?"
Clara: "Peaaa! Peaaa." (pants, pants)
Anna: (turn on the nightlight and see her jammie pants on the floor, no diaper in them) Where is your diaper?
Clara: Diap! DaiP! (as she points to the garbage can)
Anna: Why is your diaper in the garbage? Was it wet? did you go potty?
Clara: Weh! Weh! (wet, wet)
Anna: (pulling hte diaper out and, noticing she had ripped the side like I do when I take it off her, sees it's wet.) Oh, well then lets get another diap and put your pants back on!
Clara: Nunies! Nunies! ('undies, undies' as she gets a pair of undies and brings them to me to put on)
Anna: Oh, you don't want a diaper? you want undies on?
Clara: (nods) Nunies! Peaa!
Anna: Ok. I guess we'll just see how this works then.

So I put a full sized water proof pad on her fouton and tucked her back in and now I'm just waiting, I guess, for a hopefully dry night? or for her to use her potty up there and not come down at 1am saying "mama! wipe! wipe! Potty!" THat would be AWESOME. . . . but I"m not corssing my fingers. Plus it's not like I won't be up anyways being 35 weeks now.

However, Daddy Still Rocks

I don't want anyone to get a bad impression of Tyler's fathering skills, because he really is quite awesomely talented.

(crap, again, video exhibits a, b and c are not loading!)

Example #1:

The other night I had a baby shower to go to, so he was in charge of bedtime. He was playing with her for about 15 mintues--running around, chasing/being chased, standard fare and all of a sudden Clara stops and says "no'. Apparently the scene went like this:

Clara: No

Tyler: No? I'm gonna get you!!

Clara: NO

Tyler: Oh. . . . you're all done?

Clara: Up

Tyler: Oh! You want to go up! ok! (starts to throw her up in the air)

Clara: No

Tyler: Oh. You don't want that?

Clara: Bed

Tyler: Ok, lets go to bed. Do you want a bath?

Clara: No

Tyler: Ok. Puts her in a diaper and jammies and holds her for a second

Clara: Bed, down

Tyler: Ok. Good night Clara!

Boom. DONE. He walks out and doesn't hear a PEEP out of her!

No bath, no freak out about a lack of bath balls, no teeth burshing requirements of him brushing at hte same time, no ear cleaning, no drink of water, no bed time book, no fifteen blankets and 32 stuffed animals (or not stuffed, plastic planes), no leg warmer requirements or specific jammie requests, no three rounds of prayer--NOTHING.

In case you were wondering, yes, I must satisfy anywhere from one to all of the aforementioned requirements for Clara before she will go to bed for me.

Example #2

Clara: Movie! Movie! (pronnounced "jeeya! jeeya!")

Anna: Ok, what movie do you want?

Clara: Daddy movie (pronnounced "Gaga jeeya")

If I try to put anything other than the Incredibles in, she'll freak out. If I try to persuade her to another movie more to my liking, she's obstinate. The SECOND I put The Incredibles on, she sits on the couch and doesn't move. It's like she's channeling Tyler home through the movie.

I think Tyler watched it with her one time and from then on, only Daddy's movie will satisfy. Fortunately for me it's getting better with repeat viewings, but still.

Example #3

Tyler can make a funny face and Clara will try to imitate it and then laugh out loud hysterically. I tried to make funny faces with her the other day and she stared at me like I was retarded. No imitation, no laugh. Nothing. Just this look of "Um. . . you probably shouldn't make that face in public because you look retarded"

I just hope I can get the videos to load because lots of his parenting can't really be explained, you have to see Clara and her reactions and how she looks at him to understand how great a Dad he really is : )

When Daddy is in Charge Part III

He takes Clara on the slides at the Weasel's Den meant for 5-12 year olds. . . .

(Shoot, my video isn't loading)

She was able to go down all three of the big green slides at least once. She still got knocked around a bit, but nothing too bad until she tried the middle one again and smacked her ear on the side of the slide and started screaming.

FORTUNATELY on her way up the stairs to go down that slide her foot slipped and she smacked her forehead against the plastic slat leaving a nice red mark. . . sooo. . . . . yeah. : )

. . . Speaking of back up names. . . . .

My ticker says about 47 days to go. So if anyone has name suggestions, feel free to send them our way.

Please weight your submissions towards girl names, since boy names are easier for me and that's what we're pretty sure I'm having.

We've got a few, but I had a mini freak-out the other day and found out I'm about 6 weeks from my due date and said "WHAT!? Tyler!! SIX WEEKS!! Do you like that name?!"

He just laughed, then imitated me, then we looked up some names online but we got distracted. So we're still where we were. . . . . . awesome.

We're pretty sure it's a Girl

So, I haven't really made a big announcement or anything, but we're pretty sure #2 is a girl.

We're only "pretty sure" because the base ultrasound techs aren't allowed to tell people what gender the baby is. And they're really good at not slipping up. But she did pause the picture between the legs while she had some things to do so we could squint and stare and tilt and guess and debate as to the gender.

I saw 3 white lines which was what Clara was and which was what her Ultrasound tech in AZ told me meant was a girl. I didn't see any "turtle sign" or anything, which I was told after the fact means 'boy'. However, I was also not looking for turtles, I was looking for girls. Sooooooo, that could come back to haunt me : )

So we're saying it's a girl. And if the baby turns out to be a boy he'll be in a little bit of pink for the first few months until I can buy some boy stuff. But it's really not an issue here in Japan becuase I STILL get asked, when Clara is dressed in head to toe pink, "Boy? Girl?"

Really sir? You think she's a boy? That was your first guess? With that much pink?

So clearly the only issue would be a name, which we'll have a few back up boy names in case we're wrong.

When Daddy Is In Charge Part II

Tyler took Clara out to go potty at church today. She didn't have to go she just wanted to play. So he stayed outside with her until the sacrament was over. While I was sitting in teh chapel I THOUGHT I heard Clara's cry and I THOUGHT it sounded like a hurt cry, but I dismissed it thinking there's lots of kids out there and Tyler just probably won't let her play with the elevator so she's not really hurt. But still. . . .I thought it.

AND I THOUGHT RIGHT!!!

Turns out Clara decided she wanted to try jumping down the stairs with both feet. So she made it one step (her hand was on the rail) and the second one but she lost her balance and started tumbling.

Tyler was right there and just missed grabbing her when she jumped down the first step. He tried to get in front of her but she fell sort of sideways so she was parallel with the steps and he didn't want to step on her. Not only that, but the church stairs are REALLY steep and narrow, so he probably would have fallen and broken something if he tried to leap over her to catch her.

Fortunately it's a short bout of stairs, but long enough to give him a good scare and leave her with some good bruises. She was a little cranky the rest of the day, but no signs of concussion or anything like that. Just some solid cheek bruising and a forehead bruise/scratch. (I couldn't get a good picture of it though)

I really felt bad for Tyler though because it did give him a pretty good scare. Would have given anyone a good scare given those stairs! But to be honest it probably would have happened if I was watching her because she's NEVER tried to jump down stairs before. She's always been really good at stairs even before she could walk. I don't know what got into her. But now we're both a little nervous with her around stairs.

Yoga vs. Shoveling Snow

At 32+ weeks, you'd think I'd pick Yoga.

You'd think wrong.

I now think I chose poorly as well. . . . . . .but I just wanted the driveway to be nice for Tyler when he got home because the snow plow came by at 6pm finally but left a 2.5 foot high wall for the Subaru to clear before he can even start driving through the regular snow that fell before he even hits the garage!

My arms are getting weaker as I type this.

Stupid snow. You're supposed to fall gradually over time! Don't you know that? Not just dump 13 inches or whatever it is (its practically above Frankie's head--I made her a little corridor on the back patio so she can at least go outside to pee) all at once!

That being said, it is a little bit nice to actually have snow. I just wish I had some better snow mittens for Clara so we can go play.

Ways to Boost Pregnant Self-Esteem:

Ask a rhetorical question while getting ready for church at 32 weeks pregnant and have your husband answer.

Anna: (smoothing maternity shirt down and noticing how 'billowy' her clothes look in the mirror) Gosh. How fat am I?

Tyler: (from the bathroom) You're pretty fffffff. . . . . . . . .freaking NOT fat! Is what YOU are babe!

He's lucky I"m not more emotional and that I was laughing at him. Although, he admits if I WERE more emotional he wouldn't be making jokes like that. It also helped that he gave me a really good hug as I was laughing at him. : )

Dear Maternity Clothes Makers,

You seem to be under the impression that my head is growing in direct relation to my belly.

I would like to inform you that it is not. So please stop making the neckholes on maternity tops the size of texas, becuase my boobs DO seem to be growing in direct relation to my belly, and I don't like giving 'free shows' all the time (if you know what I mean).

Thanks.

Your devoted customer,

A. Young

Japanese Jehovah's Witness'

I think the large majority of the 140,000 or whatever are located right here on the northern tip of Japan.

They come by allllll the time! And I feel SO BAD! Because it's either a super sweet couple or a super sweet little Japanese lady and her younger friend. . . or some other super sweet combo, and they tend to come by when its FREEZING cold so I feel EXTRA bad about saying "thank you but no thank you I"m very happy with my current faith".

Although, this time the one girl did ask if my current church offered answers to the following questions (as she handed me a little 'free home bible study' card):

-Does God really care about us?

-Will war and suffering ever end?

-What happens to us when we die?

-Is there any hope for the dead?

-How can I pray and be heard by God?

-How can I find happiness in life?

The answers to which are (I sum up) Yes, yes, LOTS of stuff (aka eternity), of course, be sincere and humble, and I've already got it! : )

So at least its good for me to occasionally remind myself that I find no loopholes or large glaring, unaswered questions when it comes to the gospel. But seriously, I feel so bad when they come by!

www.LDS.org

www.Mormon.com

Appi, PuuTalo and Hachimanti (AKA New Years)

Frosty Panther is what it's called. Most of the squadron went on a ski trip over New Years' and it was so much fun! We left Thursday morning and drove south to Appi ski resort.

The car did awesome but I passed out on the way up right before we got off the toll road. And no, I don't mean I fell asleep. I passed out, in and out of consioucsness like I did in the Post Office when I was 5 months pregnant with Clara. It was a little more intense this time I think becuase of the altitude (I think), and took me a long while to recover, but everything's been fine since. Once we got to Appi I spent a lot of time just sitting and drinking juice and eating crackers to get myself feeling better while tyler's getting his gear and stuff ready and while the Chicowski's are giving us Katie's old snow gear for Clara (because I dind't have a good coat or pants or boots for her. Thankfully my Land's End order came in on Wednesday night for Clara and Tyler's snow boots!)

We get in the lodge and Tyler has to go buy some gloves (because we forgot to pack them-doh!). he gets back, then i have to go to the bathroom and change into my snow pants. I get back and ask him for the car keys in

case I need something from it while he's skiing. They're still in the ignition (although he did turn the car off). So . . . we were off to a bit of a slow start to say the least-hahaha!

Finally we get everything sorted out and tyler hits the slopes. I hit the little indoor play area with clara becuase I'm still not feeling strong enough to brave the snow/wind/sled hill elements. Plus i don't really know where it is and don't want to go wandering. Clara has a blast on the

little slide, going down head first after toys she pushes down. We had some ramen and curry and finished up jsut as Tyler was coming in for some lunch. So we all headed over to the bigger food court where everyone was hanging out (which I dind't know about).

Tyler went back out after lunch and I took clara to the sledding hill which was a lot of fun, except I had to ride with her and it was a bit of interesting logistics, to say the least. Considering the size of the teeny tiny sled I brought, my 7 month pregnant self and my toddler whose bundled up more than Ralphie's younger brother from A Christmas Story. But still, it was fun. And they had al ittel conveyor belt you stood on so you didn't have to walk up the hill. Nice.

She was in undies all day and we didn't have one accident. Either told me or I'd ask her and we'd go before we headed out in the snow. But man! So much CLOTHING! Bib pants and regular pants and a tee shirt and a fleece and the coat and the boots. . . she weighed an extra 10 pounds with all that gear on! I won't lie, I tried to not give her as much liquid as I normally do because i didn't want her to have an accident, but she still ended up drinking a ton. But like I said, no accidents in borrowed pants so that was nice.

We left Appi around 4 and rove to PuuTalo cabins. We got switched cabins so instead of it just being us and the Chicowskis it was us, the Chicowskis and the Lugars and, we found out as we were unpacking, Jarod the new guy whose family was still back in teh states. So there were 3 toddler girls (21-36 months), two pregnant women (4 months and 7 months) and a single guy (technically). Hahahahaha! But it was a lot of fun. . . we just felt bad for Jarod in teh morning. Fortunately he has a 4 year old girl and a 3 month baby so it's not like he was completely single and without kids.

Tyler unloaded the van and I realized I packed WAAAaaay too much. But I'd never been, so I'd rather have been prepared. Plus it didn't help that we had 3 more people in the cabin who packed for themselves too, so there was a ton of food and snacks and everything. There were 3 bedrooms with 2 sets of bunk beds (That's why jarod took the couch even though there were technically 3 beds still) and a teeny tiny ktichen and only a stovetop. Spaghetti was delicious that first night.

Since it was New year's Eve though, I went over the the 'party' at about 9:30 or so to bring my fudge and see what was going on while everyone else watched Ronin in black and white (becuase something was wrong with the TV when we hooked it up to the laptops). Nothing much was going on except I had a bite of jalepeno cheese dip that almost killed me (thanks Kline Family! : ) So I went back to the cabin pretty early and fell asleep shortly thereafter.

Woo! Happy New Year! : )

The next morning, on New Year's day

everyone went to a closer place called Hachimanti to ski and sled. It was much smaller than Appi but it was nice. I had to buy a beanie becuase I, of course, forgot mine at the cabin. We strapped on some (borrowed) skis to Clara and tyler pushed her down a hill a few times. She liked it, but I think she only liked the poles, really. It was hard to get her to let them go.

Then we took her sledding and it was AWESOME! She loved it! It was really snowy and windy though, so she hated that, but the acutal sledding part she loved. She'd sit in it and grab the side and tyler would send her down to me and I'd hear her just laughing so hard! "HA HA HA! HA! HA HA!" it was so hilarious! She'd get to the bottom and I'd ask "do you want to go again?" and she'd say "again again!".

WE started off by takign her out of the sled and Tyler would carry her up the hill, but then tyler had to sit in the sled at the top then slide off the back of it as he put her in the sled 'with him' otherwise she wouldn't get in. So then we jsut stopped giving her the choice and when she got to the bottom I'd grab the sled string and start pulling her back up towards tyler (Who would run down to meet me so I didn't have to go very far--thanks baby!). Otherwise she'd say no no she didn't want to get in, but then she'd be laughign the whole way down.

I didn't take any pictures of sledding becuase i wanted to just enjoy it. And the wind was sort of blowing pretty hard. And it was snowing too. So I didn't want to have to fight that. Plus it was cold. Freeeeeeeeeeezing cold. I was SO glad she had proper boots and pants and a coat! She needs better snow mittens though. She just had cloth ones so we had to go in once or twice to warm them up becuase they'd get cold and wet from holding the sides of the sled. We almost had an accident when the Kline girls ran into us at the bottom, but no one was hurt thankfully. (Although, I gave Siobhan a hard

time because, first the Jalepeno dip then she sends her kids after me to finish the job?! hahahahahahaha!)

Tyler got some more skiiing in though. We didn't keep Clara outside for long mostly becuase of her hands. So Jenny and I took Katie and Clara back to the cabin early while Trevor and Tyler kept skiing. When we got to the cabin Clara was so dead asleep I took her snow coat, pants and boots off her, held her over the potty to pee (which she did while alseep) and put her back in bed without disturbing her. The position she was in when I left the room was the same position she was in 2 hours later when I went to get her for dinner. Hahahahaha! She was OUT! it was so cute! I should have taken a picture, but I wasn't thinking.

That night was the crock pot cook-off in the main room at PuuTalo. I made creamy chicken and jenny made a cherry pie (which won!)

and Mary made a chili. I tried to make my box oven brownies. . . but it didn't turn out becuase I didn't have enough time. As I was lighing (or trying to light, rather) the charcoals, TYler said "So, they'll be ready in 20 minutes?" and i said "Waht?! No! I have to get hte charcoals hot then it needs to bake for 35 minutes!". So I had to scrap that idea. But I still have the oven and I'm still going to use it--oh yes, I will.

There was a TON of food, but i forgot t

o bring drinks so I had to run to the vending machine and buy a bunch of drinks for TYler and I and Clara. Clara had fun running around with all the other kids. We took a big group picture and then were out of there by 8:45 (PuuTalo rules)

We played Apples to Apples that night in the cabin and started to watch The Princess Bride after two rounds, but no one made it very far into the movie. I think the two days of skiiing and the onsen (which I didn't get to go to becuase the water's too hot and I'm pregnant and I'm bummed about that becuase i've wanted to go to an onsen for al ong time n

ow) and all the food, everyone was just wiped out.

We packed up and headed out the next morning. We packed SO MUCH STUFF!! HAhahahahaha~!! But liek I said, I dind't know what to expect, so next year I'll be better. It was mostly all food too. But we both could have used smaller bags. Just that snow gear takes up so much space!

When Daddy Is In Charge . . .

Blood is involved and I am not told about it until I find blood on the couch that he didn't see.

scene

I get home. Clara's napping.

A: How was she?

T: Fine. She should be waking up here soon.

A: Oh, ok. You put her down before Lunch?

T: Yeah. She hasn't had lunch yet.

A: Ok, that's fine. (as I'm walking aro

und the living room to the short end of the

couch) Wha. . is that. . . is that blood?

T: Oh. . . there's some over there?

A: panicked, wide eyed face WHAT?! There was more?!

T: Yeah, there was some over there and over. . . she's ok! (in response to my incresingly panic stricken face) She's fine!

A: YOU SHOULD HAVE STARTED WITH THAT!!

T: She's fine! She's fine! She just cut her finger.

scene

Apparently she was playing--unsupervised--with some seaglass (which she's done before, but usually supervised as soon as I know she has it) and

somehow either broke a chunk so it had a shape edge or found the one piece in the entire collection that randomly has an edge sharp enough to cut.

Tyler was in the bedroom and all was quiet on the living room front. Eventually Clara comes in with her finger in the air (second on her left hand) covered in blood.

"Gaga. Hurt. Help" she says/signs.

She's not crying, but very calm and Tyler tries not to overreact to not freak her out. He washes off her hand to see the cut, it's not bad. He wraps a paper towel around it and scotch tapes it (I told him we had band-aids, he maintained they were too sm

all for her tiny fingers.)

He goes into the living room and realizes that she must have c

ut her finger awhile ago because there's blood all over the couch (ALLLLLL over he said) and on her little mini couch and some on her leggings and thighs. He cleans it up (except for the part he missed that I saw) and they sit down and watch a movie together and.

Clara sits with her left hand up, finger in the air, on Tyler's lap and eventually falls asleep. Tyler puts her to bed. I get home and there you have the beginning of the scene.

I have a picture of her eating with her left hand up. The mini soft-cast he made for her made her really favor her right hand and leave her left alone. Which was good, I guess. But it would have been better if she HADN'T BEEN CUT IN THE FIRST PLACE!!

He felt so bad the entire day she basically got whatever she wanted. So did I for that matter (namely help in the kitchen, hugs and reassurances that I"m not fat just pregnant, that I'm super awesome and that I'm the best wife ever).

PS. Please excuse the filthy wall behind Clara. We've pretty much exited our "throwing food" stage so I need to strip it and repaint it because when I wipe it off (which, yes, I do clean it) the paint comes off too so it looks even worse--and yes, that is possible.