An Out of Potty Experience

By Tyler

Annley is potty training.  That’s a big deal.  I don’t mean to brag, but she’s only barely 13 months old and she is a very fast learner.  To put things in perspective for our non-baby-bum-wiping readers, most toddlers don’t start potty training until around 18-36 months.  So maybe I am bragging just a little, but still.  It’s a big deal.

How do we know Annley’s ready for potty training?  She shows all the classic signs of a baby wanting to do something other than waddle around in her own mess.  What signs are those?  Well, they tend to range from subtle signs (like suddenly becoming fascinated in her parents’ own bathroom habits) to not so subtle (like squatting diaperless and going number one on the bathroom floor right next to the toilet).

Look, if you don’t have the stomach for this then you don’t have to keep reading.  Seriously.  We’re some proud parents here and it only gets more descriptive here on out so you’re going to have to make a tough decision, right?  Do you keep reading and possibly subject yourself to cute descriptions (or even pictures!) of gross bodily functions or do you swallow that knot in your throat and put your curiosity ahead of your gag reflex?

That’s what I thought.

Carmen and I bought Annley a potty yesterday.  As far as potties go, it’s a good one.  Carmen spent days poring over potty-oriented websites reading online reviews and made special notes on which potties were causing parents to high-five each other in teary-eyed rejoice.  There were a lot to go through.  It seems the market for potties is a tough one because there are potties with all sorts of accessories and alternative uses.  They seem to range in functionality from simply being a potty to being blessed with wheels and trunk space, though I wouldn’t recommend that one to any parent with enough sense to wish that their child’s waste spend as little time as possible travelling through the house.

We settled on a fairly simple potty.  It’s pink.  It’s stationary.  Considering its intended purpose, it wasn’t too expensive.  We even let Annley test it out at the store.  Not test it, really, because that would have been gross and very hard to explain to the store clerk.  But she did sit on it and seemed to be comfortable, which is always important when picking out a place to do your business.  We bought it and brought it home.  That was yesterday.

Carmen read that a baby-in-training should always be taken to visit their potty first thing in the morning when they wake up.  That made sense.  I think most people can testify from personal experience that the bathroom is among the first places they will visit when they wake up in the morning.  Morning came, Annley woke up, and Carmen took her out of her crib and into the bathroom where her potty was waiting.  The diaper was removed and a naked bum was strategically placed on the potty.  And then… And then… A grunt.  A deepened look of concentration settled over Annley’s face.  Another grunt.  Her face reddened from effort and then relaxed a little.  Another grunt.  But was anything happening?  Carmen peered into the bowl.  Oh yes, something was definitely happening.  Another grunt and then Annley looked up at Carmen and met her eye.

“Read?” Annley asked.  I told you – she’s a very fast learner.

I am sure there are questions being asked right now.  Questions like, “How do you know that Annley made the connection between going to the bathroom and doing it in the potty?” and “Why did you name the post what you did if she made it in the potty after all?”  And that’s when I tell you that I’m not done with my story.  You’re so impatient!

We were so proud and happy that we decided to let Annley run around diaperless for the next half hour while Carmen prepared breakfast.  Carmen verbally reminded Annley every few minutes to remember to use the potty if she felt the need to go.  She felt the need to go, but forgot to tell us.  One minute she was in the kitchen with Carmen, the next we heard her little voice calling out from the hallway to our bedroom.

“Oh no!  Oh no!”

She had tinkled.  Just a little, but it was obvious she wasn’t at all happy about her little mistake.  Carmen took her back to her potty where she happily finished her business.  Like I said.  She’s a very fast learner.

And you were worried I was going to post pictures.

Pants

By Carmen

Lately Annley likes wearing clothes on her head.  She pretends whatever is on her head is her hair, goes to the mirror, says pretty and tries to brush it.  Believe it or not, it is Tyler who encourages this behavior.

 

  

This particular day she brought me this pair of pants and said "hat hat" so we turned the pants into a hat.  She was beside her self with giddiness.

Senior Olympics???

By Carmen

 

Did you know there is such a things as the Senior Olympics? 

Well, there is; I should know.  My grandpa participated in the Senior Olympics for Basketball this weekend.  We went to go watch him play.

 

I was pretty surprised at how quickly some of those guys could move and at how high they could jump. 

We had a pretty good time.  Annley started yelling BALL BALL!!! She found the closest basketball and held it while the seniors played.   We all clapped and cheered whenever Papa made a basket.  She also ran around in the out of bounds area with "her" basketball.

Macy, my cousin and I had some fun shooting around on the court after the game was over.  Tyler even took a couple of shots too.

I have been going to basketball games with my dad and Papa since before I can remember.  I have always loved watching basketball and it's even better when I have family to watch.

I still love to watch my Papa play ball.

Dating Already

By Carmen

Thursday night I hosted an Enrichment night at our house. Annley really likes being in the center of everything so I asked Tyler if he would take Annley somewhere. He said "of course. I might take her to Wal-mart and get her a little Beta Fish."I was fine with that idea. Especially if that meant he and Annley would be out and about for 2 hours.

Two hours later Tyler and Annley walk through the door with this.

I couldn't believe it. What one year old needs all this? Still, it was cute to see both Tyler and Annley beaming from their night out together.

I think it is safe to say Annley is a Daddy's Girl!

Hopefully Tyler will post in detail how his evening out went. It is adorable.

Happy Easter (a little belated)

By Carmen

 

This Easter was spent in Georgia with my parents, brothers and extended family.

We had a wonderful day with lots of visiting, food and hunting Easter eggs. We were able to get lots of pictures.

We were blessed to have perfect weather which everyone took advantage of.

Romancing the Wife

By Carmen

Tyler is definitely the romantic one between the 2 of us.  He is always saying the sweetest things.  Sometimes right after he says those very sweet things I secretly wonder if he is quoting some line from a movie. 

Today between conference sessions I was watching Tyler with Annley, something I love to do.  He is so sweet to her. I told him that if he looked at me the way the whole world would know how much he loves me.

Tyler" I am still puppy dog in love with you. I just had to build up a tolerance so I can function."

Not his best work but personally I thought that was sweet of him to say.

He keeps me laughing, he makes me think and I learn something new either from him or about him every day. I love him more and more everyday.

Me and Tyler from the Beginning

By Carmen

 

Tyler aka Cuteness aka Most Amazing Person Ever and the LOVE of my life.

I realized today that I haven't really recorded much about how Tyler and I met.  That really bothers me so more than 2 years later; here is our story in a nutshell.

Tyler and I met online at LDSmingle.com for awhile I didn't really like mentioning that because I felt kind of like a loser admitting that I was "trying out" the online dating thing (part of the reason I was on the service was to show my brother how many LDS girls were really out there).

The way LDS mingle works is you take a personality profile test (it is scarily accurate) and the search engine will send you people who are compatible to you.  I checked some of them out and didn't see anyone who interested me.  Then one day I got an email from some guy and the subject line read "One Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed".  The subject title alone caught my attention so I decided I had to read it.  The email was Tyler simply introducing himself.  It had nothing to do with any a monkey at all.

I decided he was interesting enough to warrant a response from me.  Besides, he lived in North Carolina and I lived in GA.

We began emailing back and forth for a couple of weeks and I gave him my phone number.  We were constantly texting and talking.  I realized I was really starting to like him or maybe subconsciously it was because I knew he was so far away and there was no threat of it getting serious. 

To say my mom was concerned that I was "seeing" someone online would be an understatement so when I told her Tyler wanted to come meet me I thought she was going to have a heart attack.  She started telling me that he could be a predator or that he could have lied to me.  I told her that anyone I would ever meet had the same potential to do those things too.  I also mentioned an elderly couple in our branch  met online and had been happily married for 7 years.  That was not what she wanted to hear.

Tyler and I set a date for him to come meet me, June 17, 2006.  It turned out my doctor scheduled me to have surgery 6 days before.  Tyler still wanted to come and said that he would be happy to just sit around with the family and watch movies if I wasn't feeling well enough to go out so I said ok.

Again my mom was not happy. I would be recuperating from my surgery and I wouldn't be able to run away if I needed to.  She finally agreed to "let" him come if I would agree to not be alone with him.

The big day came (for us to meet).  I was pretty excited but still pretty sore from my surgery but decided to forgo the pain medicine so I would not be loopy.  It was the first day since my surgery that I actually got up and got ready for the day.  Tyler knocked on the door and I realized he and I would be "alone".  My dad and brothers were at a service project and my mom was in the shower.

I answered the door and there he was just staring at me.  I started to wonder if he was disappointed (now he says it was because he couldn't believe how pretty I was). He said hello and handed me a big red insulated lunchbox, perplexed I opened it.  It was a slice of cheese cake from Tripps (in Asheville); he had asked me what my favorite dessert was and went out and got it for me. This was the first time he earned brownie points.

Tyler and I decided to go see "Over the Hedge" for our first date.  My mom said my 3 brothers had to go with us.  Tyler offered to let them ride with us but they declined.  They followed us to the movie theater.  When we got there we invited them to sit with us, again they declined.  The movie started and when the first funny thing happened I heard 3 very familiar laughs behind us.  We turned around and they were sitting directly behind us.

Tyler hung out with the family for a few hours after we got back from the movies.  The time came for Tyler to leave (he had a 4 hour drive ahead of him).  We walked out so we could say good-bye.  It was pretty awkward.  We felt like we had know each other for quite awhile and yet it was the first time meeting.  I was really hoping that he would not try to kiss me (which he didn't).  He tried to give me a hug but I was in quite a bit of pain (due to me moving around so much and not taking my meds.) so I moved and it turned out to be a one armed sideways hug. 

Little did I know that one gesture would torture Tyler his whole ride home.  Apparently he had know idea where he stood with me by the time he left.  He didn't know if he had completely blown it or if I liked him.  I didn't talk to him until the next evening and by that point he was pretty sure he had blown it.

Obviously that was not the case. During the next week I was very prayerful about our situation.  I got my answer faster than any answer I had ever received. I knew I loved him and that we were going to get married.

Engaged? or Not?

I invited him to come back to GA 2 weeks later the weekend before 4th of July.  I had a big date planned.  We were going to spend the day in Atlanta and meet up with my family at Stone Mountain to watch the Fire Works.

He Hypothetically proposed that day at the Hard Rock Cafe during a conversation written on a napkin (we still have the napkin).

We had a fun weekend and my dad and I talked him into skipping work on the 4th of July so we could spend it together.

 

Can I marry your daughter?

Two weeks later Tyler was back.  This time I knew he was going to propose  and I knew Tyler still had to talk to my dad and ask him if he could marry me.  I emailed my dad to share my feelings about Tyler with him and my testimony of the Gospel.  I wanted to give my dad a head's up so he wouldn't be completely blind sided when Tyler asked him for permission.

I knew Tyler still had to talk to my dad and ask him if he could marry me.  I asked Tyler how I would know when that time was.  He said he would let me know.

Friday night Tyler and I were sitting on the couch waiting for everyone to clear out of the living room so he and my dad could talk. Tyler looked at me and said "I think you need a shower".  I looked at him and was thinking "surely there was a better way to tell me to leave".  I took my shower and when I came back into the living room Tyler was leaning over writing something. 

My dad took the slip of paper and went to bed. Tyler told me that my dad asked him for his Branch Presidents phone number so he make sure Tyler was a good active member of the church.

Tyler knew my dad was a morning person so he got up early Saturday morning before we left to go to the beach.  I told him was going out to feed the pets.   I finished feeding the pets and I didn't want to interrupt the conversation so I crawled up on the deck and peeked through the crack in the blinds.  They were still talking so I sat down and waited. A few minutes later I walked in the house and they stopped talking.

I left the room and I heard my dad say "Tyler, I have some concerns". My heart sunk...this was not what I wanted to hear so I walked out of the house again.  Some time later I came back in the house.  My mom, dad and Tyler were at the table, there was no talking and no one seemed really happy.

A few minutes later we left for our 3 hour drive to the beach.  Tyler never said a word about how the conversation with my dad went.  It was the longest ride in my life.

Engagement Announcement

July 15,2006

We made it to St. Simons right about lunchtime.  It was really hot that day and I had told Tyler to wear shorts but he didn't. I took Tyler to Barbara Jeans, my favorite restaurant in St. Simons. While we were waiting on the food Tyler started talking about how hot it was so I told him to go change into shorts so he left me at the table to go change.  It seemed like he was gone forever.

He finally came back around 15 minutes later.  We ate, well I ate Tyler just kind of nibbled.  We started walking back to the car and he said he wanted to "explore".  He picked me up and carried me through a park, sat me down on a bench, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  He looked so darn cute I just had to say yes.

No one believed me when I called to tell them Tyler and I were getting married. They thought it was a joke.

We were married November 3, 2006.

I still LOVE Tyler more than anyone one.