Lexi has been telling us when she goes potty in her diaper, so we decided to see if she is ready to potty train. We also thought it would be nice to get her out of diapers before baby number 2 comes along. The potty training method we found is on http://www.babycenter.com/0_potty-training-in-three-days-or-less_10310078.bc.

We decided this General Conference weekend would be a good start since we would be home most of the day and listening to the talks would help us with our patience. So we bought her a little potty to put in the main room so she could do it all by herself.

Day 1: Frustrating and dirty. She started off pretty good, but as the day went on she decided she didn’t want to listen to us anymore. The result was the use of a lot of carpet cleaner. We got 50/50 results.

Day 2: More carpet cleaner and paper towels. Again, the day started off well. She began to tell us when she needed to use the potty, but the more tired she got the more stubborn she got as well. We ended on 50/50 again.

Day 3: So close to perfection. This was the best feeling. Lexi only had 1 accident all day. She went and used the potty all by herself and also started listening to us when we told her to go sit on the potty. We were able to get out of the house for a couple of hours because she would use the potty before we left.

After she uses the potty we sing, “Pee pee in the potty,” as she dances around the room and gives high-fives. It has only been 3 days, but we hope she keeps this up. How nice it is to not have to change a diaper! It will be even better when we don’t have to use carpet cleaner. I hear that is another year though…

We still have three months of reinforcement and no pants at home. Fingers crossed that she keeps up the good work as normal life resumes.

This happened a while ago, but we forgot to post. Here is Lexi’s first snow.

We don’t have video proof yet, but she’s figured it out. For a few weeks she’s been getting up on her hands and knees and rocking. Now, she hops and sort of army crawls around. She is slow and still figuring out the many ways to crawl, but at least she’s going forward now instead of backward.

We also recently got Lexi this giant bee. She loves it.

We have a future baller on our hands.

Lexi is six months old. She loved our trip. We still can’t believe how good she was. She loved staring and smiling for all the people. She is so bored now that we are home and there is no one to look at all day but me and Ryan. She kept grabbing all the people around us and sometimes tried to jump into their arms. Lexi laughed and went crazy for the stuffed owl. It’s a puppet and the head moves all the way around. She kept trying to hug the thing. She really like Seuss Land. We rode the carousel with her and we went on her first real ride. I thought she didn’t like it while we were on it, but she started laughing after it was over. She was dead tired every night and went straight to sleep.

Lexi is almost 5 months old. In the last two months or so she has been rolling over every chance she gets. She will only sleep on her belly now.

She is working on sitting up straighter.

Lexi loves to grab her feet and talk to us and herself.

She started eating solids and hated it at first, but that’s because it was rice cereal. Yuck! She likes her fruits and veggies.

She is half-way weaned. She weighs 17 pounds and is 27 inches long. In other words, gigantic.

Lexi is our little giggler, and we love her.

We are almost on a routine with Lexi. We still have some kinks to work out, namely she wakes up crying from her naps after a half hour or so. Here is what we have achieved so far.

• Lexi wakes up at 7 am and is in bed by 7:30 pm! She sleeps all night (but she was doing this before)
• She only eats 5 times a day. What a RELIEF! What was I thinking feeding her 8 times a day. Live and learn.
• She naps 3 times a day…we are still working on her staying asleep for 1 1/2- 2 hours for her first two.

Perhaps by the end of the week she will be right as rain.

What were we thinking starting sleep training on a busy week? Needless to say it hasn’t worked because we haven’t been home. Also we decided “cry it out” is not for us.

Now, we are starting over with the Baby Whisperer method. So far I love it. Tomorrow starts our first day of actual technique implementation. This means I’m pretty much staying inside all day for the next week or so (not much of a sacrifice when you walk outside and melt in the 90 degree weather).

By the end, Lexi should

• only eat 4-5 times a day (instead of 8),
• go to bed with a short bedtime routine,
• soothe herself,
• be on a schedule,
• and, possibly, not use a pacifier.

Wahoo, independence for all.

This had better work! I feel as though I am murdering my child. I hope she catches on quickly.

We really should give her more tummy time. But she hates it!

Lexi Rollover

Lexi is growing fat, I mean fast. She isn’t much longer than last month but is over 14 pounds at the beginning of her third month.

Our little Lexi Kinz likes to put everything in her mouth including her thumb and clothes

She likes to pull hair

She is experimenting very loudly with her voice

She had great fun with her Aunties (despite the indifferent look on her face here)

Lexi loves to laugh and giggle…maybe someday I will catch it on video…and she hates tummy time.

Lexi does, however, like to sit in her Bumbo.

She is still an excellent sleeper. Just recently she started going to bed at 9 or 10 instead of 11 or 12. Hooray for sleep.

We love our little Lexi (and perhaps someday she will look at the camera)