Accomplishment

The past couple of weeks have marked big accomplishments for the Sternfeld-Dunns.

Let's start with the littlest member of the family.

We've been potty training Ruby this summer and she's doing a really great job. 

It's been so much easier than Maia, except for pooping in the potty. 

Ruby just won't do it.

The night I had a concert, Aleks headed to Kansas City to see our friend Richard Kriehn play in A Prairie Home Companion and we had a new babysitter.

Ruby had to poop, but was refusing to go before I left. As I got the girls ready for bed, I went to reach for a pull-up and,
dun dun dun,
came out empty handed. 

 We had to make do with a swim diaper.

I kept asking Ruby if she wanted to try to go before I left and she assured me that she was going to wait for our sitter.

So the sitter got here and I laid out extra sheets in case Ruby went all over the place and God bless our sitter, she took it all in stride, assuring me she has dealt with much worse.

Fast forward an hour and I get this text while I'm in the dressing room waiting to go on stage:

Best. Babysitter. Ever.

Unfortunately, Ruby hasn't had a repeat success yet, but we're still working on it.

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Every summer I hear moms say how excited they are for summer and the pool.
And every summer I inwardly groan, because when you have two littles, pool time means chasing them around the pool because they can't swim and older kids aren't looking out for the little ones and your kids are soooo cute in their tiny, ruffled swim suits that everyone is watching you chase after them in your not so cute mom suit and so you vacillate between feeling self conscious and then terrified as your kid runs into the deep end while looking over their shoulder at you and disaster is narrowly avoided and you wonder how anyone has stayed alive this long.

Note how she almost walks into the pool halfway through.

About a month ago, Maia learned to go underwater.

I get it now.

The pool is super fun when you're not constantly worried your kid is going to die.

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Several weeks ago we found out that one of Aleks' compositions "Fireworks" had won the American Prize, which is kind of a big deal for us.

Last week the local newspaper ran an article on his prize.
It was a great article; you can read it here.

Our favorite quote is "Robert is a very technical player; he can do a lot of flashy and then really fast up."
Ha ha ha hahahahaha.

For those of you who aren't musicians, that's not a real thing, "fast up."
Haha! 

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/07/20/2896020/award-a-chance-for-wsu-professor.html#storylink=cpy

The day after the article came out, Aleks went to the bike store for supplies, you know, since he's a triathlete. 
While he was there, one of the employees looked at Aleks closely and said, "are you a composer?"


It's been fun to see Aleks get his five seconds of local celebrity this week!

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And I'm dreaming big and staying open, ready to accept whatever adventure/gift/challenge/opportunity is headed my way.

Big Day

I should have known today would be special when Maia walked into our room at 7:00, crawled into bed with me and promptly fell asleep.

She's usually up and at 'em by 6:30 at the latest.

Speaking of my eldest daughter, Maia is finally big enough for a booster and we were all soooo excited.

Ruby really wanted to use the big seatbelt too.

At the chiropractor this morning, unprompted, Maia said that she wanted to get on the table after Mommy.

So, Maia had her first adjustment. 

She seemed to like it and was giggly and energetic afterward.

I took these photos later when she was supposed to be having quiet time.

It started out innocently enough...

Then Daddy and I were trying to talk schedules as I headed out the door to work...

Forget the chiropractor, this girl is like Gumby.

(Anyone remember Gumby? Anyone under 30???)

Meanwhile, Ruby was napping in her crib, but wasn't wearing a diaper.

Why? You might ask.

Because, today we bought her princess underwear and she immediately went pee in the potty.

 Now, she did pee in her bed after nap time, but hey, I'm pretty impressed.

Here's the difference with the first kid and the last kid.

First kid: 

-I thought she needed to be potty trained at 17 months. 

-I would spend 2 hours sitting with her on the potty, waiting for her to go. 

-We bought huge bags of potty prizes. 

-It was super stressful and traumatizing for all of us.

Second kid: 

-We're at the grocery store and Maia says she needs to go potty too. Ruby chimes in that she wants to go potty. I tell Ruby "no, you're wearing a diaper, just go in your diaper." 

-I've put off potty training as long as possible. 

-The first time Ruby went in the potty was because Maia took her.

Ha!

Seriously, it's fun to see how proud Ruby is of herself and how proud Maia is of Ruby. Maia keeps saying, "yep, my younger sister is potty trained!"

And I'll leave you with this oldie, but goodie picture so that pee isn't the last thing you see.

You're welcome.

Catching Up

There has been so much going on!

This will be a bit of a scattered mess, so hang in there with me.

Maia and Ruby are playing together a lot more these days.

Well, Maia plays with Ruby and Ruby tolerates it.

Ruby is 9 months old today!

She is such a sweet little baby. Ruby loves to make us laugh by making faces or reaching for Maia's hair. Anytime Ruby toots or sneezes, she looks up at us and laughs as if it's the funniest thing she's ever done. She's babbling a lot more and likes to clap her hands.

We haven't been getting a lot of sleep these days for 3 main reasons.

1. Ruby is about to cut 4 teeth

2. Ruby is on the verge of crawling

3. Maia is learning to use the potty

And it's #3 that we're losing the most sleep over.

I don't care what anyone says, diapers are the best! They are easy, contain messes, and are very portable.

Potty training is hard.

And I have NO IDEA what I'm doing.

This haunts me in my dreams.

Maia is doing really well. I'm so very proud of her. It seems she has a love/hate relationship with using the potty. She really wants to keep her panties/pull-ups dry. However, I think she wants to keep the potty dry too. We've been going at it for about 2 weeks now and looking back, I can say that we've made progress. It's exhausting. I'm exhausted. I think that I should get a treat every time Maia uses the potty.

I should clarify, I keep saying "I." Aleks has been an active participant as well when he's been home. Aleks has bravely taken on the challenge of finding us a home in Wichita. The first time he went, we found a house we loved in our price range. It was perfect. Except for the school district. We were prepared to make an offer, but after a lot of thought and discussion, Aleks and I decided that it would be best to try and find a house in a better school district. Mostly because the salary of a professor doesn't make private school an option and I have no desire to homeschool. So, he had to leave for Wichita again. Thankfully Aleks found another home that we love in a great school district. We're currently in the process of making an offer and we'll let you all know what happens!

Anyway, I no longer remember what my life was like before the endless hours spent sitting on the floor of the bathroom, encouraging Maia to relax, and sit on the potty for just a little bit longer.

Also, our house is on the market. I'm hoping no one comes with a black light and sees all the dried pee drops that I'm sure are scattered throughout our house.

Too graphic? I'm sorry.

Did I mention that I'm exhausted?

Ruby's taking it all in stride. And I hope she's taking notes too. I don't know if I can do this again. Maybe I'll have Maia potty train Ruby...

A few other things. I'm making a quilt. Here's just a glimpse of what it looks like. Aunt Gretchen, are you proud?

Aleks planned the sweetest day for me yesterday. He scheduled in a nap for me, sent to me have drinks with my girlfriends, and then made me a delicious dinner. With candles and music and wine. It was really nice to reconnect after a crazy two weeks. We should all be so lucky to have a partner in life like Aleks.