Woo hoo, it's Friday!

 A few friends posted this on their walls this week.  It's definitely true!

In my case, I'm actually saying woo hoo today!  Adam left for Texas on Tuesday and he'll be home late tonight.  I don't know that I have EVER been so excited for him to come home from a trip.

It's not that the girls were exceptionally rough, but it's been a busy week.  The girls have both been hitting some awesome milestones and Madison in particular has demanded a LOT of attention.

Tuesday Adam was able to accompany us to Reagan's appointment on his way to the airport.  Thank goodness he was, because juggling the two of them would have definitely been a foreboding start to the week.

Madison is not a fan of doctor visits, probably because of her history.  Even when we make it very clear that we are not there for her, she still doesn't like them.  The ideal situation would have been for me to take Reagan and leave Madison home with Adam.  However, this particular office has had some absurd wait times, and because Adam had a plane to catch, we couldn't risk me not making it home in time.  So she came along, but Adam came too.  That way we could double team when I needed to hold Reagan for her x-ray and exam and Madison was acting like a two year old (because she IS a two year old, but still).

The other reason I needed back up was that Madison has decided that she does not wear diapers anymore.  This is actually exactly what I was hoping for.  We would facilitate her learning, and she would move into the next phase when she was ready.  Last week she would run around with no diaper, and was hitting the potty every time.  Since she was refusing diapers, we switched to underwear.

Which is GREAT.  I'm really proud of her and I'm happy she was truly ready...but...

Even with a kid who has decided to do it totally on her own, potty training is EXHAUSTING!!  I never realized exactly how many times a day my kid pees!  For the past week, we've been putting up stickers for remembering to pull down underwear (for some reason, having to teach that part didn't cross my mind) and staying clean and dry. 

In a perfect world, during the first week, you stay home.  For parents who do a more parent-led process, you can choose a week where that's possible.  You make sure they are really comfortable there before moving out to "new potties".  But I certainly wasn't going to tell Madison that it wasn't really convenient for me and she'd have to wear diapers, so we ended up taking our learning away from home much sooner, including three potty visits at the orthopedist (the last of which was during the 30 second that the doctor actually came into the room and told us Reagan's hips are fine).

We've also used the potty at Target, a Mexican restaurant, Great Grandma's, Gymboree, Kohl's, BJs and our friends'.  And unfortunately she's gone from making it 100% of the time at home to about 50% of the time out.  It's like once she has pants on she decides that no one can see an accident.

This has put a big damper on our errand running this week.  She's still too new at this, and although when we HAVE to go out I've had the pull up there as a back up, that seems like a crutch I don't want to rely on, and we've changed clothes a LOT in public restrooms, and therefore I'm trying to only go places that are either easy (a friend's house where I can let her run around in underwear and a shirt) or that we've already paid for (dance class and Gymboree).  I like to combine trips and errands and let Reagan take her morning naps in the car, and that just hasn't been possible this week.  And somehow it's frowned upon to leave to run errands during naptime or after bed with no adult in the house (go figure).

We actually haven't been home a TON more than usual, but it feels like more because 1) I don't have the option of tossing the girls in the car when they get fussy and going out for a change of scenery; 2) poor Reagan has been left abandoned several times while I dash to assist Madison 3) Reagan is now a completely stable sitter who loves to play with toys, and let's just say big sister isn't used to sharing with little sister, and doesn't care for it, which is making home playtime TONS of fun; and 4) I don't have that second adult to back me up or just give me a moment to focus on one girl or a moment for me (until bedtime of course!)

So we are VERY much looking forward to Adam's return this rainy Friday night!  I'm thrilled to have someone to share this vigilance with, and Madison has really been missing daddy.  In fact, she keeps telling me she's going up to see Daddy whenever she's mad at me and has been devastated to realize he's still gone.

TGIF!