Progress!!

It seems that we have been in potty training mode forever! And it really has been a long time since Clara first started showing a lot of interest last November. Her interest has waxed and waned quite a bit and we have tried to just go with the flow. At first we rewarded her with a silly song and dance, then we used various types of candy to keep her interested (m&m's, gummies, marshmallows, jelly beans and of course lollipops for #2), and now have moved on to a sticker chart. In all, the methods were fairly effective while we were at home, but whenever we left the house or had guests over, the overall effectiveness dropped significantly. In addition, through the various stages of my pregnancy, I wasn't as willing to go without pull-ups and accept that I would just need to clean up accidents for a few weeks. Then there was our trip to London and some of our smaller getaways over the summer that seemed to derail her for a while. Looking back, I think we started a little too soon and am sure that we could have gotten to the end result faster if we ourselves had been more disciplined, but we by doing it this way, we saved quite a few diapers and now, many months in, I am proud to say that Miss Clara is a BIG GIRL in the potty arena. In the past two weeks there has been an accident or two, typically while she is sleeping, but we are so proud of how she has learned to tell us she has to go even when we are on an outing. She is so adorably proud of her pretty panties too! All these pieces have seem to come together right as baby sister is set to arrive and therefore we will undoubtedly experience some regression, but nonetheless, it is one more sign of how our sweet, sweet Clara is no longer a baby!

There is also some progress on the arrival of baby "Gem"!! Today at my appointment with Dr. Haines, we learned that I have begun to dilate (2 cm) which he feels is good progress. We also set up an induction for the morning Monday, September 20th, which means that our sweetie pie may share a birthday with pal Logan, if she does not decide to come sooner. In the Michael household we are all thrilled to know that meeting our newest family member is less than a week away!

Now do we have any guesses as to how big she will be? And how much hair she will have? These were the big questions prior to Clara's birth!