About two days before I left for Florida Talli got a severe diaper rash that turned into an infection. It was horrible, she cried every time she went potty because she knew I was going to change her diaper and it hurt so badly. I felt like it needed to let it air out and not have a diaper on so it could begin to heal. But the only problem is I didn't want her having any accidents in the house. So I sat her on the toilet with the Ipad to watch Dora. I figured if her first potty with out a diaper on was in the potty maybe she would catch on quicker. Well sure enough she sat there long enough to go pee and I made a huge deal over it. After that she would pee on the potty every time she took a bath and she even got out of the bath to pee, which is huge. However I was leaving for Florida in two days and didn't think my Dad would appreciate potty training Talli for me. So I didn't even start. Plus I had sworn I would not potty training her until she was three because I was still so scarred from our potty training experience with Maylee. When I got back from Florida she was still going on the potty before she hopped in the tub but we were leaving for AZ for Thanksgiving in four days so again it wasn't a good time to start potty training. I told myself when I got back from AZ I would start. Monday when I got back I took her to Kmart and let her pick out some Dora panties. I started after nap time and she did great, no accidents. But I did tell David that my heart wasn't in this potty training business so I would give it one week and then back in diapers she would go. Tuesday she did awesome, no accidents. I was shocked, she has been my best potty trained child. Although Wednesday I realized she hadn't pooped in 4 days and that her tummy was really hurting. She had a few moments where she would let out a high pitch scream and start crying, I could tell she needed to poo but she would not allow herself too. That afternoon we headed over to Celynda's house to hang out and while she was there she had a few more incidents like that I rushed to the potty but she would not go. Later our friend Briauna came over and I was asking her if she ever had to deal with this type of situation. She said she had and she had to use suppositories and that she still had some if I wanted to try. At this point I felt desperate to get Talli out of pain. So Briauna ran home and grabbed some. Some things I never imaged I would do as a parent includes putting a suppository up my kids bum and holding my finger there as a cork so she couldn't get it out before it dissolved. Yep- that's what I did. I let it work for a few minutes then took her to the potty to try. The poor baby girl, she sat there for 7 minutes screaming and crying, she was so constipated it took her forever to push it out. But finally the relief came and you could tell how much better she felt just by the way she was walking. I'm so glad it worked and now she is no longer afraid to go poo. So I won't be giving up in a week. The girl in officially potty trained. As of now we have only had one tiny little accident. She's a pro, our best one yet. I needed that after our Maylee experience.

Third Times the Charm

David was gone the entire month of September living in Ohio and he was leaving again the end of October for Florida for the entire month of November. So I had four full weeks with him home and I decided that I was going to take those four weeks and train for the Snow Canyon Half Marathon. I've run it twice and I was devastated about not running it the last time before we move. So even though I only had four weeks I trained my tush off. The four saturdays David was home I ran, 7, 8, 9 and then 10 miles. It was hard. The few months prior to Oct the most I had run was two miles a few days a month. But I trained, it was hard, but I told myself I wasn't going to worry about my time I was just going to finish and be proud of that. Since David was already in Florida, Mom and Fawn came up to help out with the kids and cheer me on during the race. Without fail, like every year before Talli slept terrible the night before and I got practically no sleep. But it really must be for the best some how. The race started, and I felt like crap. Within the first mile, I was pretty sure there was no way I was going to be able to run this race. I never felt like I fell into my groove, it felt hard the entire time. But some how I was still able to push myself harder than I ever had before. This was also the first race I've ever had my garmin on. When I hit mile 7 I was at 55 minutes, I have never run 7 miles that fast before so I knew that I was going to be able to come in close to my other times maybe even better. At mile 9 is when we come out of the canyon and start seeing spectators. Mom, Fawn and the kids were there cheering me on, which is such a huge lift that I always need right at the time. When I hit mile 11 I was at  and hour and 30 miles. I knew if I just kept under ten minute miles for the last two miles  I would be able to not only beat my best time but to be able to come in under 1:50:00. Which really excited me. I know 10 minute miles sounds so slow but up til this point I was running 7 minute miles and I was exhausted and the last two miles is when we start hitting a few rollers. But I pushed on and came in at 1:48:55, I was EXCITED. So proud of myself. I definitely ended on a great note.

So as much sewing as I do, I have yet to make my kids Halloween costumes. This year I decided I was going to make them. Dutch wanted to be a ninja and had a specific one in mind and I figured it'd be a whole lot easier on me to buy it then make it, so he picked his out at the store. Maylee wanted to be a princess again this year. At first she wanted to be Ariel, I talked her out of the that because she had been that last year. But she still wanted to be a Disney princess. I told her I would make her a gorgeous princess dress and she could just be 'Princess Maylee'. I am already tired of my girls wanting to be Disney princess for every Halloween  they are so boring to me. I had the idea of what I wanted the princess dress to look like and I headed off to Joann's to buy the material. Lucky for me I was able to get the dress to turn out exactly if not better then I had pictured it my head. And it really didn't take very long to make it at all. It just came together so easy. Maylee loved it, which I was I grateful for since she had wanted to be some thing else.

The pile of fabric before I got started.

Halloween was fun this year. Our ward had the trunk or treat on Halloween night, so we headed to that and hit up all the cars and then we headed back to our neighborhood since the kids really wanted to knock on some doors. I was going to make Talli a Dora costume however she refused to wear the wig so I decided to just have her wear Maylee's dress up Barbie dress instead of fighting the Dora costume. The kids had so much candy by the end of the night. I let them stay up an hour late and eat as much candy as they wanted to since I knew it'd be gone the next day. They gorged on candy and then the next day we went to a dentist office that was buying back the candy to send to the troops. Its the first year we've ever done that and it's my new favorite thing. They give you a dollar for every pound which the kids were excited for and then I didn't have to have SIX pounds of candy sitting around my house for the next month. David unfortunately was in Ohio for another interview and missed the kids on Halloween night.

The kids and I also headed to the Rec Center for their annual trunk or treat and bounce house activity on Halloween. It was a very busy day.

Dutch also had his Halloween party at school that I volunteered at on Halloween.

Since David was leaving a few days before Halloween we carved pumpkins early. David has made some crazy pumpkin cravings in the past and I have to say this was his best most mellow year. Dutch wanted to buy a little pumpkin and he carved it all himself. He did excellent.