Gracie Pooped in the Potty!

I just had to share our happy news for the day. The past week I've been asking Grace every once in a while if she wanted to sit on the potty. She has a few times, but nothing has ever happened. Well tonight as we were getting her ready for bed I could tell she had either just pooped or was working on something so I asked her again. She ran right over to the bathroom. I took of her diaper and she had pooped a little so I wasn't expecting anything. When I sat her on the potty she pooped a little bit more and was so excited about it and was really excited to flush the toilet. So it may be just a fluke, but it could be the starting of something great! Any tips for toilet training now? I haven't even read anything about it, so I guess I'll have to start thinking hard about it.

It Was Bound to Happen!

Grace has had so many falls over the last year that I was beginning to think she was invincible. She is very adventurous and not scared of anything so I just let her explore and if she falls, that's part of life. Well, yesterday I was planning on having a very boring day. We spent most of the morning haning out and reading books. Then as we were going to have a snack she runs to grab her blanket and WHAM, trips right into the corner of the coffee table. I was right there and comforted her and when she pulled her hand away this is what I saw.
I was actually pretty calm I thought. This is my first experience with a "real" cut, so I wasn't sure if it needed stitches or what. I talked to Ben and we decided to take her in since it was on her face we didn't want any ugly scarring. So off to the Dr we go (again). I feel like I've been to the Dr more since we've been here than I have in the past year! He was very kind and told me they don't like to do stitches on kids this young because it's very traumatic. So he glued it together, put a bandage on it and sent us home. Not to bad I thought.
When we got home it was definately time for a nap so I laid her down and relaxed. When she woke in I went to get her, and apparantly glue and a bandage are not enough for our Grace. She had scratched the Bandaid right off, and reopened the cut. So off we go to the Dr for the second time in one day. He totally underestimated my one year old and decided he had better do 2 stitches just to make sure she doesn't reopen it again. He was right, it was quite traumatic. I had to pin Grace down while the nurse held her head. She screamed a lot and had a ton of tears. It was hard to watch, but I was tough. After it was all done she got some candy, rode in the mechanical Hot Dog Truck they have in the mall, and then was as happy as can be. She even kept her bandage on all night long! What a brave girl. The biggest bummer is that we can't go swimming for 5 days!

My First Digital Scrapbooking Page!

This is my first attempt at Digital Scrapbooking! It took me a while to figure out how to do it, but hopefully will come easier as I continue to do it. Anyway, I just loved these pictures of Grace playing in the fountains here.

Pummelo

While at ChinaTown the other night we bought this Pummelo. We hadn't ever had one before, but heard they were good so we thought we'd give it a try. The Chinese believe that if you eat one at Chinese New Year it brings you luck and prosperity. It was pretty big and green and we weren't sure what to expect, though we'd heard it was like an oversized grapefruit.

So after LOTS of peeling it came down to this. Really the inside was just a bit bigger than a large grapefruit and it was delicious! Grace loved it and we ate about half of it for breakfast. Though I'm not sure that it was worth all the peeling. But if you haven't ever had one you should definately have the experience!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Welcome to the Year of the Rat. Not sure exactly what that means, but it is a great cause for celebration! I still haven't captured the full meaning of Chinese New Year. People here close down businesses like Christmas. They give away Mandarin Oranges (in even numbers), little red packets with money in them (also only in even amounts and only to single people, which is too bad for us!), and they have huge feasts like Thanksgiving. We just intend on spending some good time together since Ben gets two days off work! That's enough to celebrate! We're hoping to go to the beach and aquarium and the Zoo! More pictures to come!

Some friends from the Ward here invited us to explore ChinaTown with them last night. It was so packed we could hardly get out stroller through but we had a really fun time. This is a picture of all of us. They have decorations like this all over the place with lights strung.

(us, the McPhersons, and the Southwicks)

This is a photo of our little family in front of the Chinese Temple. It was all lit up and beautiful but it's hard to see in this picture.

I've been Tagged

1. What was the best thing you cooked last week? Did I even cook? I might have made some spaghetti for Grace and I one night, but my menu planning and cooking only lasted one week. I did make a taco salad tonight, and two weeks ago I made Chicken Kabobs and Meatball soup (both new recipes). It's so hit and miss lately because Ben is hardly home for dinner and it's so cheap to go to the food court downstairs!

2. If money, time and babysitting were no object, where would you go and with who? Shopping with my sister, Heather- she always finds good deals! Also any long plane ride to anywhere cool in the world with Ben. It's always better when you don't have to worry about your child! (though I love her more than anything!)

3. When was the last time you cried? This morning. Over more trauma from this whole Hand Foot and Mouth thing Grace had and the paranoid gossipy ward I moved into. Don't worry, I'm over thinking about it now and am going to move on and pretend that everyone likes me anyway!

4- Five things you were doing 10 years ago?
1- Turning 16
2-Learning to drive a car in the parking lot of a church with my best friend Tiffany,
3-Going on my first date. We went to a Stake Dance! I know sounds lame, but it was totally fun!
4-Planning an EFY trip to Florida! That was so much fun.
5-I had my first kiss.

5 - Five things you were doing 5 years ago?
1- Planned my wedding (that was basically what I did for 3 months. I quit my job to go to Nauvoo for a semester but when I got engaged decided not to go. So I wasn't in school and didn't have a job)
2-Looked for a job
3- Ben took me to "prom" for Valentines day.
4- Turned 21
5- Took engagement/bridal pictures

6- Five things you were doing 1 year ago?
1-Planning to landscape my yard/and then doing it
2-decorating my house
3-playing with Grace
4-turned 25
5-Finally feeling like I belonged in Lehi and loving it!

7 - Seven of your favorite hobbies:
1-Reading!
2-Blogging
3-Scrapbooking
4-Shopping
5-Talking on the phone
6-Playing Piano
7-Reading!

8 - Five favorite foods:
1- Pizza
2-Chocolate
3-Cafe Rio
4-Ice Cream
5-My potato soup

9- Five places you've been:
1-Singapore!
2-Florida
3-New York
4-Washington D.C
5-Nauvoo, IL

10- Five favorite memories: (in no particular order) I had to many for just five-
1- Getting Married! What a magical day
2- Having the Ultrasound with Grace, it was so fun to find out she was a girl!
3- Having Grace
4- Moving into my brand new house!
5-Delivering Christmas presents with the RS Presidency
6- Snorkeling in the Florida Keys with my best friend and stopping at every Wendy's to get a frosty because it was so blasted HOT!
7-Having FHE with President Hinkley and his whole family at their cabin
8-Taking a cross country trip with my family to see all the church history sights.
9-Seeing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat with my mom for my 16th Birthday
10-Riding my new bike around the block like a hundred times because I couldn't reach the brakes and eventually crashing in to the garage to stop. I was like 5. (it's only one of my favorites because I can chuckly to myself about it now. It was actually quite upsetting at the time, but funny to look back on.)

People I will be tagging are:
Jenn Ross and Jenny Capell

This one's for Michelle

Not Your Average Goldfish?

Since my sister Michelle is the only one I know that has enjoyed owning a pet Goldfish, I thought of her when we saw this. Last weekend we went to dinner at the Outback. Which of course is in a huge mall like everything is in Singapore. In this huge mall was a Goldfish Competition. Not Joking. These fish came from all across South East Asia to Compete for the Singapore City Cup. It was fun looking at all the fish. Who knew goldfish could get so big and that there were so many different types? Grace loved seeing the fishies.

Doesn't really compare to poor old Gus, does it Mish?