The Growing Caldwell Family

I have been thinking for a while about potty training Sarah Graves.  I read this book about Potty Training in Just One Day, which I think is similar to the Azrin and Fox book that came out in the 70's, I think.  I also read this blog post that I found via Pinterest from a mom of four about how she potty trains in just a day.  The book and the blog post have similar ideas, although the book method requires a lot more potty party planning.  The basic premise for both is that you and your child spend one day together with no interruptions (no phone calls, no texts, no facebook check-ins) and you focus just on going to the potty.  The book really plays up having a party theme with decorations, activities, and presents that all surround your theme.  The idea of the party is to make the potty fun and exciting and to feed your child food and drink to encourage the need to potty.  The book heavily focuses on training your dolly complete with the doll having...

Here's. A conversation I had with SG over dinner last night. SG: pointing to my tummy, Baby Me: Yes, we're going to have a baby. What should we call him? SG: while giggling, Chubby Baby! She cracks me up because she knows she is saying something funny! We'll see if Chubby Baby is a name that sticks. I do like fat babies! He may already have his nickname in life.

Gramma sent SG an Easter prize!  She was delighted to use these new bath crayons and color on her body!  She was so excited for the color to show up.  She keeps saying it shows up!

Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana . (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.) He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery). Congratulations! You've hit the halfway mark in your pregnancy. The top of your uterus is about level with your belly button, and you've likely gained around 10 pounds. Expect to gain another pound or so each week from now on. (If you start...

We went for our 20 weeks ultrasound and found out that Sarah Graves is getting a brother!  My feeling from the very start was that this was a boy and I only doubted it when I had a dream a couple of weeks ago and we were looking at an ultrasound of a chubby girl!  It turns out my first instinct was right!  Aaron is really excited and SG only cares that it's a baby!  This a picture of the little dumpling's profile.  This is a picture of his feet.  I just thought they looked so sweet! They checked all of his measurements and organs and all looked healthy.  They estimate this little dumpling weighs about 10 ounces right now, but we know he will grow a lot in the coming weeks!  They did a detailed look at his heart and that all looks right on track.  Same for the brain, spinal cord, kidneys, bladder, umbilical cord, lips, and nose!  My cervix looks long and closed, which is exactly what we want right now.  The only pa...

I spent most of my weekend doing something for me and this baby.  It is rare that I choose to do something away from Sarah Graves on the weekend, but I took the plunge.  I have been carrying around a ot of concerns about the complications that happened in Sarah Graves' birth and how they may impact this birth.  Although her birth turned out healthy and all was well, there was something missing from it that I couldn't put my finger on.  The class I did this weekend was called Fear to Freedom and it focuses on empowering women (and sometimes caregivers) to have the birth they desire by addressing their fears.  Let me say that this class was outside my comfort zone.  I loved it, but I had to stretch a bit.  The class not only talks about birth, but identifying your centers of power.  It incorporates dance, yoga, meditation, writing, and acting all as ways of identifying what may be keeping you from the birth you want and empowering you to change i...

Last night we had an impromptu dinner out and took this picture of all four generations together.  Such fun times.