Success!

It is official -- my little baby is now a potty trained big girl!  I am soo proud of her, she did great this weekend. The program we followed had her drinking tons of fluids to help create many "learning opportunities."  It was rough at first, I went thru 2 rolls of paper towels and changed at least 25 panties the first morning.  But by the end of day one she was almost fully #1 trained... but going #2 was a different story. I'll spare you the details, but she was very scared to go #2 on the potty. Finally, on the third night (while she was praying on the potty) she let it go!
We hadn't left the house for three days so I was concerned about today, getting back to our normal routine. She proved me wrong and asked to go potty at stroller aerobics and didn't have any accidents while we were away from home all morning long. I'm sure there will be some accidents down the road but I am proud to say that, until sissy comes, we are diaper free at the Michael house!!

You know your a parent when...

you are dusting the nightstands and pick up this book on your husbands side...

And this book on your side...

And lately your dinner topic has been this...  

The plan is to have Aubrey Potty Trained in 3 days!  Many of our friends swear by the 3 Day Potty Training Method by Lora Jensen, we read the ebook and decided we wanted to do it with Aubrey before the new baby arrives. I have gathered all my supplies and am pumped to do this thing hard core and follow the training method to a tee! I won't be leaving the house for 3 days and will be right by Aubrey's side every moment of the day. We start tomorrow and there are absolutely NO diapers allowed from then on so we will see how it goes. I have plenty of resolve and stain stick handy:) I am not sure she is 100% ready so wish us luck. I will post about our results!

VA Aquarium

Aubrey had a date at the Aquarium with Mason this morning. It was our first time going and she had lots of fun. Mason was a perfect gentleman and showed her all the exhibits but she loved the Loggerhead Turtles most of all! They also enjoyed the shark submarine where they could press buttons and switches galore. Most of my pictures didn't come out very well but here are two to remember the morning.

That is an actual turtle swimming in the tank, the water came out black and the reflection on the glass made it hard to get a good picture.

Park Faces

The weather has been beautiful this week so Aubrey and I took every opportunity to play outside in the fresh air. I took these pics of her being silly in one of the tunnels at the neighborhood park. She also loves to play in our backyard with her own swing set, her best bud Sadie taught her all about princesses and Aubrey now calls her swing set the "princess castle"! I hope this weather sticks around a little longer, we are ready for spring in the Michael house:)

Love...

Happy Valentines Day! 
XOXO Aubrey Lynn

Video

Here is a little video of Aubrey doing her favorite thing. We took this about a month ago but she still LOVES to spin and get dizzy. It also shows her doing quick feet which her daddy taught her:) This video doesn't really do her spinning justice but I wanted to post it anyways. I know her Mimi and Nana will enjoy watching it!


Quick Feet and Spinning from jennifer michael on Vimeo.

The Big 30!

Yesterday I turned 30 and guess what...nothing crazy happened! I felt the same as I did the day before and didn't wake up with gray hair, wrinkles, or some medical ailment:) So for all of my friends approaching 30 don't worry its not bad at all.  Nate and Aubrey made the day extra special for me. Nate made me dinner and a Cream Filled Butter Pecan Birthday Cake from scratch, everything was delicious!  The cake was so yummy and pretty I just had to take a few pictures of Aubrey next to it. I let her taste the frosting but that was about it. I made this picture collage to help me remember what Aubrey looked like when I turned 30, love you little turtle.

This past Saturday Nate and I were able to go out on the town and celebrate while my friend Jenny watched Aubrey. Aubrey loves going over to Jenny's house and playing with her 7 year old son Zach. It has been awhile since she has gone over to Jenny's but as soon as we pulled up in their driveway she started yelling ZACH, ZACH, ZACH!! Nate and I couldn't believe she realized exactly where she was before we got out of the car.

After we dropped Aubrey off we went to dinner at The Vintage Kitchen and then saw The Kings Speech at an old time movie theater called The Naro in downtown Norfolk. Both Nate and I really enjoyed the movie and highly recommend it.

All day yesterday I felt truly blessed, I have a loving husband, sweet and healthy little girl, and a baby on the way. I can't wait to spend the next 30 years with my family and see where the Lord takes us.