It’s been too long!

Wow! It has been too long since I have last posted. I’m so ashamed! But I’m back, and with a plethora of stories to share.

We have just had a fun Halloween. We went to the Trunk or Treat Halloween Party at church. Rachel caught on quickly to say “Trick or Treat” and she got candy. Except she just said “Trick.” As far as I’ve been able to see she didn’t trick anyone, and she got plenty of candy, so she’s happy. She wasn’t real excited about her costume (a pirate), so she just trick or treated in a Halloween tee shirt. The shirt in the picture is not the shirt she wore trick or treating. It had a picture of a cat and said something about how she is a Halloween princess.

Gabi is sporting a hand-me-down Halloween sleeper. She dressed up like a zebra for the big day. She got plenty of candy too. In order for her to eat it, though, I need to eat it, then she gets it when she nurses. So I’m only eating her candy for her own good.

Gabi is starting to hold her own bottle. She isn’t quite as adept at it as Rachel was at her age, but in my opinion that is understandable because she only takes a bottle a couple of times each day, so she doesn’t have as much practice, but she is still pretty cute with it.

When Rachel saw I was taking pictures of Gabi, she wanted in on the action. She is “ham”ming it up by saying “cheese.” Ham and cheese. Hey, that would make a good sandwich!

I have got to share this story about Rachel. On Saturday morning I went in to Rachel’s room to see about getting her out of bed. She was still sound asleep, and completely naked. She is becoming quite proficient at removing her clothes, including her diaper. I decided to go ahead and wake her up and get her on the potty before any accident might occur. But it was too late, the deed had been done. Oh well, not the first time, and not the last time. Anyway, I washed all of her bedding and stuff. Fast forward to Saturday night. Remember she was all sugered up after eating a bunch of Halloween candy, and she decided she didn’t want to wear a regular diaper, but wanted a swim diaper instead. I wasn’t keen on that idea because I learned through sad experience that swim diapers are not as absorbent as regular diapers. (Don’t ask.) Anyway, I put my foot down and insisted that she wear a regular diaper, but I put a swim diaper over it. Then, at Rachel’s request, I put her swimming suit on too. Yes, as pajamas. Why not? It actually is a great idea because she likes wearing a swim suit as pajamas, and it prevents her from taking off her diaper, thus reducing the risk of bed wetting. So we did it again tonight. This time she only wore her regular diaper and her swim suit. The swim diaper was not needed. It’s what we like to call synergy. Rachel’s happy, I’m happy, and the bed is dry.

Rachel had been doing so well using the potty. Not every time, but usually 2 or 3 times a day she would use the potty. Then we went to Nashville. Getting her out of her routine ended her potty progress. We came home, and she completely, and I mean COMPLETELY lost interest in the potty. Oh well, we’ll try again later. Then this morning I was feeding Gabi her cereal. Rachel had just finished her breakfast (in her birthday suit), and was wandering around. She came over and said to Jeff “pah ee” and signed “potty.” Jeff was very quick to recognize what was going on and immediately took her upstairs to the potty where she successfully used the potty for the first time in a week and a half. So Rachel got a sticker on her potty chart, and so did Jeff. Kudos to him for how quickly he recognized what she wanted and responded. As far as I remember, it is probably the first time Rachel has requested to use the potty. In the past I have just asked her if she wanted to go, and she cooperated.

Well, I guess that is enough about life in the bathroom at the Gosnell house. What can I say, these are the things that fill my life these days.