Hello?? and the great Jinx!

First, before I get going...I have to ask...who are you?? HAHAHA! I really wanna know! Traffic has been steadily increasing so SOMEONE is out there reading about escapades with Emilie and the house/crafts/life. But I'm a little curious about the lack of comment/followers. I'm not complaining (really...I'm not)!! As much as I'd love to know who you are and hear from you (and know which posts you like/prefer) I mostly blog just for me. Its my little outlet. A place where I can brag about my amazing little girl, whine about the joys of pregnancy, or share some of my crafts/home improvement projects. But a good friend of mine started to blog about the time I resurrected this one and she's on a different media. She has many more followers and gets comments often. Yet...our traffic is usually pretty equal. So my question is... Is it more fun to silently stalk (I'm not judging...I do that on many blogs, lol), does Blogger make it difficult for you to comment/follow, or is my content just not worth saying anything about (which is totally possible)? I'd love some feedback if you don't mind...because I'm tinkering with jumping ship for Wordpress and can't decide if I really want to do that or not....

Now to the fun stuff. This blog is a great.big.JINX!!! I'm sure anyone who read my bragging post about my wonderful delight of a two year old was cursing me under their breaths or saying...just you wait..

...well...You got me!!

I have to admit in the scheme of the terrible two's my child is an angel. She really is. But in the last week she's decided to assert her independence in some very stubborn ways. First, she decided one day this week that she was done with the highchair. It wasn't even still the "baby" highchair with the tray on...nope she has at the table with the highchair booster in the table chair. But that was no longer going to work. She just kept saying, "No highchair" or "its too small". Now some of you are probably thinking I should have put her cute little rear in that chair and told her to deal, which I DID for a day or so. But honestly the meltdown fit and chasing her down to put her in it and then she was so wrapped up in not wanting to be there that she didn't eat was just not worth it. We tried the next day to sit at our lower (the kitchen table is counter height...not very kid friendly) dining table and it was...ok...but she lost interest in eating and was difficult to keep at the table. So after a day off I tried the highchair seat again...nope...not.going.to.happen. Finally I got smart and got our collapsible travel booster seat out of the car and strapped it into the chair the highchair seat used to be in. She didn't mind this, maybe it helped that I referred it as a big girl seat. But she is strapped in safely (a must at the higher table and for my sanity in keeping her seated) and seems happier. She actually looks more comfortable too because she can get actually under the table. Unfortunately this seat isn't meant for daily use so I'm not sure its a permanent solution, but its works for now.

Then lastnight she decided to assert her independence again...this time regarding her diaper! She decided after a diaper change that she was NOT going to wear a diaper. Adamantly refused. In reality this is probably a great thing because she's maybe showing some interest in potty training again (which would be amazing if she figured it out before Landon arrives) but it also means I have to diligently watch her and remind her and clean up messes. Not that I'm not always watching her, but its different when they're running around bare bottomed. I finally convinced her to wear some panties (the padded trainers...more for my furniture's sake than anything) but that only lasted until the next round of I wanna sit on the potty (that went NOWHERE) and more refusal of wearing undergarments. I finally moved the potty chair into the family room and let her go back and forth from the potty to playing...watching carefully for signs. She didn't end up needing to go again before bedtime and seemed to reason with me about wearing a diaper to bed but it was an interesting evening for sure. I like the portability of the potty chair but I love that we added one of these to her bathroom...

Found here. You can also find them at Home Depot but we went to two and both were sold out before we just ordered it and had it shipped free using amazing Amazon Prime.

She likes that it's sitting on the "big girl potty" and I like that it easily hides away or is there when needed. We've had more "hits" using this than her portable potty...but I think both are good to have.

So while we've had some definite shows of toddler independence and more "NO"'s in the last few days (from her) than we are used to, its neat to see the changes they go through. I'm interested to see if the renewed interest in the potty is a sign that she's actually ready this time. Before it was always my idea, but this time, she's mentioned using the potty twice in one week unprompted. Unfortunately both times it was mentioned AFTER the fact and she didn't need to go anymore, but hopefully we can get a few good "hits" and rewards for them and we'll be well on our way! Here's hoping!!

In the meantime I'm going to keep begging for a chocolate IV. Between the baby seeming to drop and adding a new phase of discomfort, my toddler inserting her independence, and finding out that instead of the little tax refund I was hoping for...we OWE...I'm deserving that IV. I really...really...really...am!

I see my doc on Monday for my 30 week checkup...think if I show him this he'll write the order??!!?