Happy Monday!

It's been a quiet weekend here. We had a few days of a lovely ice/sleet mix... unfortunately (for LO's sake) there was no snow to play in. Oh, well. It's only February so I'm sure we'll see at least one little snowstorm move through our area before spring arrives.

So let's see... LO's potty training? A-MAZING! We started last Tuesday on a whim, just for the heck of it, to see how she'd do. A few accidents her first day, one accident on day 2 and she's been accident-free since! She's using the potty all by herself -- we don't have to remind her or force her to go every 30 minutes or anything like that. We bought a cute Dora potty seat to put on the "big" potty but it moved around and didn't seem safe, so we bought a BabyBjorn Toilet Trainer and it fits perfectly. She's started using the big potty already. And she does it ALL by herself (except #2 wiping... I know, TMI!). I'm still completely shocked this was so easy. She wakes up dry in the mornings and after nap times, but I'm still putting her in a pull-up just in case. I'm just so very proud of my sweet LO. Everybody said girls are easy to potty train, but MY GOODNESS! I never expected it would be THIS easy! Yay, LO!!!!

Chase is doing fantastic, as usual (Praise the Lord!). His only real "struggle" these days is pooping. Seems like he'll only do it every other day (sometimes every 2 days) and it's a big production with a lot of straining for him. Hubs and I will put some Karo syrup in his bottle to help with the process sometimes. I hate that my sweet heart baby has to struggle so much with this. My guess is that it's due in part to the fact that we had been supplementing him a bit with the (nasty-smelling and tasting) Alimentum formula. I know breast milk is so much easier for babies to digest, so my only guess is the formula is slowing him down. Thankfully we haven't had to supplement with formula the past few days, so hopefully that will help. I'm still struggling a bit keeping up my supply to meet his demand. I've started pumping for 20 minutes after EVERY. FEEDING. in the hope that it will send the message to my body to make more. I figure I'll keep this up for a week or so and see if there's any improvement. This is the biggest struggle for me. I don't want to give up but I also want to supply 100% of his milk! It's crazy the amount of self-worth I find (or don't find) in being able to provide for my baby.

My boy is getting so much more alert and active. It's so much fun to tickle him and make him laugh! His smile is absolutely captivating! We've been spending some time on his tummy, which he doesn't love but is totally necessary. His head control is getting extremely good, too!

We have been keeping Chase in a pack n' play in our bedroom since we came home from Charleston. I think we kept LO in there until she was 6 months old before we finally moved her to her nursery. With Chase, I'm thinking we'll keep him with us until a month or so after his Glenn surgery (probably scheduled some time in April). So I decided the other day it just wasn't fair to make the poor boy sleep in a pack n' play when he could be sleeping in his fantastic, comfortable crib! Last night hubs went ahead and moved the crib into our bedroom, so Chase spent his first night sleeping in his very own bed! We were nervous if he'd sleep well or not, but he did a great job (of course!)! Now he gets to stare at his adorable Jungle Tales bedding and use all of the adorable mobiles and crib toys we couldn't use in the pack n' play. It's such a real blessing to be able to finally use that crib and bedding. If you recall, we bought it all before we got his HLHS diagnosis and honestly, I wasn't comfortable setting up the crib before we went to Charleston for Chase's birth and surgery. I was so apprehensive and nervous about whether or not we'd be bringing our baby home. Well Praise the Lord for His plans for our sweet baby boy! We know how complex and serious this diagnosis is and we know without a doubt how very blessed we are to have an otherwise healthy and thriving baby boy! God is so good and we are so humbled and thankful for His grace and mercy!

Here are some recent pics and a video of the kids for your viewing pleasure! :)

Don't ask me why, but for some reason, LO absolutely loves the boppy pillow. I dug it out of her closet to use it with Chase the other day, but I can't get my hands on it these days 'cause she's doing something with it. I'm not sure the benefit of sitting on the boppy on top of the beanbag, but it makes her happy. :)

Here she is sporting some straw glasses her Aunt D bought for her. We haven't let her actually try the straw part yet, but she seems to be enjoying the glasses as-is.

Again with the boppy. This time as a sombrero. Crazy girl.

Guess who's holding his own bottle already? LOL!

And finally, here's a little clip of Chase. Hubs was trying to get him to laugh and I was trying to record it. Of course our little guy is just way too observant and caught a glimpse of the camera. He's so silly!