sunshine + fall + our hjelseth life

it's been busy over here and yet not busy at the same time.

I think life with two kids is just 'busy' now. and always will be :) with a two year old and a three month old, our days have been full of potty trips, nursing, diaper changing, snack/meal making, napping, house tiddying, and such. and then we threw in loading up/unloading + packing/unpacking all four of us for a sunny week getaway. a whole lot of busy with some relaxing too! I tell ya, flying is so much work. Brandon an I both said our next trip away we are HIGHLY considering driving. 

we had such a great time in palm desert! Harper LOVED swimming all day long. Tanner often napped by the pool. and it gave Brandon and I the best view watching our precious children. they are such a blessing and as cliche as it sounds, I don't know what we did before them. there were also times where we were stuck inside the condo because napping babies make for happier babies. 

spending the week together as a family and with our favorite people tyler, angela, and lleyton was so refreshing (and no question at times so hard because of babes being off their norm). but we're back to the real Fall weather and I'm actually enjoying it! the everyday 90 degree weather was fabulous, and now we're back to the 50s and rolling right into these holiday months! and speaking of holiday months...

HALLOWEEN. 

I see all these posts/pictures of moms who nailed it with their kids' halloween costumes... 

I am not one of them. thanks to amazon prime, Harper's costume (should- fingers crossed!) be here today and I JUST picked up a semi costume for Tanner to wear yesterday. 

but hey. that's life. and we will still have just as much fun celebrating this day. and thank goodness my kids aren't old enough to know the difference yet! ha!

we're so excited to go trick-or-treating tonight. even though it's Harper's third (what??!!) halloween, it feels like her first. she gets it now and the hype and excitement is there. she's been talking about wearing her costume and trick-or-treating for days now. and once she realizes what that's all really about she's going to have so much fun! holidays with kids really are better :)

Happy Halloween, all!!
what is it you're most excited for today?!

Xoxo

-Brittney

potty training | what worked for us

I'm no potty training expert, but can only share what has worked for us :)

and that doesn't mean we are in the clear with absolutely zero accidents. I haven't read all the various 'methods' for potty training that are out there (because honestly it seems like too much conflicting info!) but I'm pretty sure occasional accidents are still quite normal. 

...way back when Harper was just 18 months old I thought "she's totally ready to start potty training and can do this". so I bought the potty seat that goes on the real toilet, was no way going to do a candy reward, and we began. well we got nowhere! who are these mothers who talk about potty training their kids so young!? I don't like it. it puts too much pressure on the rest of us.

we tried again a few months later and I had a bought Harper her own 'little' potty. no such luck. she just did not want to go. and it was too much of a fight to be worth it.

so with all that over the past months she's seen her "potty" in the bathrooms and become quite familiar with what it was and what it was for. she would at times pretend to "go" and sit down on her little potty (clothes + diaper all on). THEN she got to the point of taking her diaper off during the day and while in her crib. (she had been telling me about going pee pee or poo poo for quite some time). but looking back I don't think that really is the one true sign that "they are ready".

so with the diapers coming off, I decided we were gonna give it another shot and I was going to be strong this time. no more diapers and we were going to push through! (but in the back of my mind I didn't really know if this would be it). 

that weekend we went to target (of course!) ;) I let her pick out two packages of panties (again. we had done this months ago as well), a candy (yeah- I said I would never do this), and some stickers. I explained that she was going to get all of these when she started going in the potty.

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.
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--from the morning of day one (which I dreaded getting her out of bed that first morning because then it meant it was go time!) it was straight to panties and I told her the diapers were simply all gone. 

--I forced fluids by giving her diluted juice. 

--asked her every so often if she needed to go, but also reminded her to tell me when she needed to. 

--I really tried to keep the entire experience positive. no shaming her. 

--a candy and a sticker if she went. the reward and me cheering her on after was so motivating to her and she quickly caught on! that made her 'want' to go.

of course there were accidents (mainly the first half of the first day), but also lots of success with all the practice she was getting in from all the fluid running through her!

sleeping time we've been putting pull-ups on (I'm not that brave yet!) and I tell her they're nap time/bedtime panties. we don't use the word 'diaper' anymore!

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I've hesitated to write this because I don't know if we've reallyyyy nailed it quite yet.

accidents occasionally happen, naps are hit or miss, and night time is another story.
 BUT yesterday we had zero accidents, she was dry after nap (which I gave her a 'special treat for that!), and hardly wet at all this morning!

it's where we are and I'm so proud of the progress! 

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being older, and being truly ready makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE! it came so much easier for her and made it easier on us as well! she took to it so quickly that it almost seemed natural. I absolutely believe that the timing is everything. she was ready. and I only knew that by her willingness.

we're going to palm desert today which means flights and traveling through the airport (with a potty not always just 10 steps away!). praying all will go well with all the time we are going to be AWAY from home this next week and that the accidents will be minimal! :) you can do this Harper!!

so proud of her and how well she's done.

Xoxo

-Brittney

Tanner Ross || 3 months

oh my sweet tanner boy!! you fill our hearts with sooo much joy!
such a squishy, little love bug.
one of my favorite things to do is look back at the previous month's post and see all the changes that have come our way in just a few short weeks. and boy, oh boy have you grown! the way it's gone the last three months, I don't expect anything different though. you're such a big little babe and everyone is always so shocked to hear your age. but then again you've always been sitting at the top line (or higher) on those growth charts :) and it's one of my favorite things about you! your chubbiness makes you oh so cuddly and your round face and heavy cheeks are what I always dreamt for in my babies.

age: 3 months

stats:
               birth: 8lbs 2 oz  --  21 inches
 2 days: 7lbs 11oz
 12 days: 9lbs 1oz
                                1 month: 12lbs 4oz  --  23 1/2 inches
                     2 months: 15lbs  --  24 inches

                                       **3 months: 17.4 lbs  --  (from the scale at home)

clothes: 3-6/6 month

diapers: size 2

Tanner name sign // Quincyjeanart

banner // hooray everyday

at three months, this little {big} guy has DOUBLED his birth weight! shocker, right? ;)

F I R S T S

watching a seahawks game with daddy. but there's no doubt there will be a thousand more!
playing in the sitting play seat.
pushing up with his arms at tummy time.
away from mommy at bedtime while I was out with some girlfriends.
walk with auntie and cousin lleyton at chambers.

E A T

nursing sessions have spaced out a bit and are more regular. every 3-4 hours for the most part. that is until we hit another growth spurt! then I'm sure we'll experience the nurse, nurse, nurse all day long. but we're having a little more regularity and freedom in our days so we're enjoying it! it allows for more play time too :) he's also doing well with the bottle! though we don't offer it all that often... hopefully he won't get to refusing it.

from the looks of him, clearly he's eating just fine ;) I mean come on.. those cheeks!! and the all over body rolls as seen in the picture above :)

P L A Y

giggling!! oh the giggling!! tanner boy LOVES to play in the mirror. and when we play/sing to him he's full of giggles and squeals. this age has become so fun and the way he focuses on everything around him, he's soaking it all in and learning his surroundings. he has been loving to be in a sitting position, so to put him in the play seat for a few minutes at a time has been fun. 

S L E E P

a good handful of nights we've gotten uninterrupted sleep and this guy has sleep all through the night (10:30-7ish)! it's certainly not every night. but we enjoy it when it comes. most nights include one wake up. then it's nurse, and right back to sleep. I'm still doing the 'dream feed' with him. he goes down for the night around 7:30/8 then, before we go to bed around 10:30 I top him off to get a longer stretch of sleep before he wakes to eat.
naps are usually quite smooth as well. it's often 1-2 smaller naps in the morning time and then I've been getting him to take his big nap at the same time sister naps. hallelujah!!!!! having both babes napping at the same time for about two hours is so great for us all to get a little rejuvenating for the rest of the afternoon/evening. it can be hit or miss but he sometimes gets a small late afternoon/evening nap in as well. or I'll just put him in the solly wrap and he'll usually catch a couple zzz's in there.

other things I don't want to forget:

he's good with his car seat but if we aren't in the car driving or moving in the stroller, he doesn't like to stay asleep in it. usually ;)

we had a couple weeks with more spit up than we had been used to, but it's now settled back down. which I'm glad about! it was causing my laundry pile to increase with us all going through more outfits each day!

SO much drool. could teeth really be making their way????

he gives his big sister the biggest smiles of all. with such ease too. she hardly has to do a thing to get the smiles out of him. its warms my heart SO much. and makes me a little jealous too.

this month we've really gotten into a swing of our new normal. Tanner is more predictable and we've got our daily routine down. well as well as we can with a THREE month old and a toddler :)

the need to burp after eating, is quite minimal these days! which is so great so little tummy bubbles aren't causing any discomfort.

hair is coming back in on top where it had thinned out. and this sweet boy has THEE cutest hair line!! it's absolutely one of my favorite things.

in general, he's comforted by me and my touch if he's having a harder time falling asleep for naps. this never worked with Harper! she always wanted to be soothed by being picked up.

Tanner's favorite things: 
looking/playing in the mirror! propped up to sitting to be able to see what's going on around him. standing too! little guy loves when I hold him to stand on his feet. such big smiles- like he's proud of how big he's getting! so funny, but he loves when he's startled! I can 'scare' him with a 'boo', he gets startled, and then gives the biggest smiles and giggles. we might have a thrill seeker on our hands ;) boy does he love to play with big sis! Harper is so into Tanner and loves to play with him (as best she can at his age) and he gives her just the biggest smiles. I love seeing their sibling bond grow.

I still am blown away at how good/easy of a baby our little one is. (I mean I know things can change and phases will always come and go) BUT he is so go with the flow and has such a good demeanor and calm personality.

P H O T O   D U M P

this one KILLS me. everything about it. especially those facial expressions!

xoxo

-Brittney

follow along on instagram @brittneyhjelseth