March of Milestones

So when I got pregnant I had three things we needed to accomplish with Helena before #2 arrived. I'm happy to report we've conquered 2 of 3 this month, and both were easier than I thought they'd be.

The first was taking the pacifier away. Lots of opinions on this one, obviously, and I let it slide for longer than I originally thought I would because she only took it when she slept. But then she started waking in the night again...most nights...and getting ridiculous about pacifier related demands. Like washing it in the middle of the night...or three times before going to bed...just for stalling. Annoying. So, I was waiting until after our Colorado vacation to take it away. Then, on said vacation, she told me she didn't want it anymore...so, we "left it on vacation." The first night we were home she fussed for about an hour about it, but after that, just a couple of casual mentions ("Mom, can we go back on vacation and get my binky?") and now it's history. I felt completely fine about the decision, but Ash had a hard time with her initially being upset. So much so that I forbade him to help me get her to sleep for that week because I knew he would cave and during the first bad night I had to hug HIM and tell HIM it was going to be OK. (Love you honey!!) And - added bonus - less night waking. Helpful. I wake myself up enough at night as it is.

Next up, potty training. Helena has been going pee on the potty for awhile now...probably since before she was 2. But I didn't want to rush her into it...I wanted it to be easy on all of us when we finally made the transition. So, we put her in big girl underwear (I took her shopping special to pick some out), and she was elated! How cool are these Yo Gabba Gabba and Wonder Pets ones???!!! Her teachers also suggested that the first day we go it alone that we make a game out of setting a timer every 45 minutes or so and going potty when it goes off. She thought that was way cool. That, coupled with tons of M&M's and stickers as rewards and a distracting game on my iPhone or some drawing for the #2 times worked like a charm. She was down to no accidents after 5 days! We're so proud of her!

I will say that when it comes to potty training, we're lucky to have such an anal female child. She wants to follow the rules and doesn't want to make a mess AT ALL. About half the nights since we've started this she hasn't even peed in her diaper at night and two or three times she's woken up and yelled to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. The first night this happened at 3 a.m. I said, "Really, Helena, it's OK if you potty in your diaper at night. Go back go sleep." Followed by her saying "But mommy, I need to go potty!!!" OK. Fine. Then flash-forwards to me telling her to please drink before she's 21 or sneak out of the house in high school. :)

Needless to say, mommy and daddy are very excited to have a small diaper break for the next 3 months!

All I have left is the transition to a big girl bed...which I may avoid until this fall. We'll see. I don't want to push my luck.

-Emily :)

Colorado Trip Report

We met up with my sister and her family, my mom and my brother in Pagosa Springs, Colorado to for a little spring break the beginning of March. Pagosa Springs is just east of Durango a bit and is a little sleepy, but nice. Everyone who was able got in two days of skiing, and then we hung out in Durango one day and also visited Mesa Verde National Park. A few pics from our trip:

My sister, Jessica & Helena cheesin' for the camera.

Ash at lunch on his last day of skiing. He developed some unfortunate sunburn marks...commas, we called them...from the gap in between his goggles and his face mask. :)

My sister, Ash, my brother Evan and his friend Nate loading up before skiing. And here, when I say 'loading up' I mean my brother literally pulled out jello shots from his ski coat pocket in the parking lot for everyone to share. Now THAT'S what I call prepared!

My sister, my niece Ellie (in the goggles) and my sister's nieces Maci & Cassie. All three kids went to ski school both days and did an awesome job. It was snowing too hard when I was there to get a good picture of them actually skiing...bummer!

One evening we took Kane and Helena to the resort pool since they weren't able to be in ski school yet. Kane LOVED the water (above) ...Helena, of course, was more skeptical. Of course, by the time we were ready to leave she didn't want to go.

She was very enthralled with the fact that after she got out of the water that it would drip down on the concrete. It was hilarious.

It was really nice to have a family vacation...seems like since we moved away we're always together either in Kansas or Utah, so the change of pace and scenery was awesome. Next time we see everyone we'll be a family of four!


-Emily :)


P.S.-- This is getting long, so I'll post Mesa Verde National Park pics in another post. :)

Photo Teaser...

Things have been busy as usual for us Galbreaths here in Utah. Got back a week ago from a long weekend in Colorado meeting up with some of my family. Ash got to ski and drink, I didn't (sorry, just had to get that out). I think no matter what goes on when you're pregnant it feels like you're always missing out on the best experiences because you can't do this and can't do that. I can still remember with grudging detail all of the events I couldn't participate in fully when I was pregnant with Helena.

Anyway, I still need to download and filter through all of my photos from the trip but thought I'd share a couple of teasers that I took with my iphone from our drive down through Southern Utah to Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

Helena & Ash at breakfast in Moab, UT -- our stopover point on the way down.


Some of the red rocks abundant in the canyon/desert country of southern Utah. Coolest thing by far about Utah is the amazing scenery.

-Emily :)

Sonogram of "The New Kid"

We had our second sonogram this past Saturday and everything looks just peachy in there. My new due date is June 25th based on these measurements, which I'm pretty much over being pissed off about. For a good month I felt like I'd lost a week and a half of hard-earned pregnancy. But oh well. :)

Here's my belly as of today (23 weeks):

Whoa! That's one pale and large belly. Sorry about that. Good news is that I've gained less weight than I had at this point with Helena so I'm going to call that my accomplishment of the winter. I'm pretty sure I can't attribute this to a really good diet, either. Probably just the fact that I can't be as lazy as I was when we were childless. I am trying to exercise and do prenatal yoga a couple times a week. Anyway, my diet. If you look really really closely, I think you can tell this kid is made out of Sausage McGriddles, potatoes and frozen yogurt. Onto the sonogram pics: 2-D side view of baby's head, spine...it's sucking its fingers.

3-D pic of baby's face...and my insides. Yuck! :) Baby is still sucking its fingers and has some umbilical cord chillin' up by his face too towards the bottom so that's why it looks a little funky under its nose.

We do not know what sex the baby is, despite various bribery attempts from some family members. Only 17 more weeks to go! Yay!

-Emily :)

At Least It's Protein...

It's been kind of a hectic week around here. Lots of things breaking around the house...along with my car...and I've been home for two days sans said car with a sick Helena. Anyway, we've been passing the time watching Dora and Madagascar and pretty much the only thing I can get her to eat are peanut butter crackers. She used to scarf down the entire sandwich cracker situation, but now she's taken to doing this:

Yep, she licks the small amount of peanut butter that's on them off and then sorts them into piles. The bad ones are outside of the bowl now. And then she tries to get ME to throw them in the trash and I say "EWWW, NO!" and she gives me this look:

So annoying. It's amazing to me how little food toddlers can exist on. Anyway, I think I'm going to start just giving her a bowl of peanut butter with a spoon. A lot cheaper than buying those little Ritz snack packs, that's for sure.

Good news is we're on the up and up...my car is almost fixed, and Helena is on antibiotics for her ear infection. Now if we can just get the kitchen faucet, cable box, ice maker and master bath shower working again, that will be sweet.

-Emily :)