Great Strides

We have big news! Eloise is potty trained! Only parent's can get this excited about something, but it means so much that we just can't help it. It means more money in my pocket and less to Sam's Club for diapers. It means one less thing to hold my breath for in a day, thereby increasing my oxygen supply. It means Eloise is old enough to communicate with me and figure out her body which makes me proud. And it means that I DON'T HAVE TO CHANGE DIAPERS! Yes, that's really what it boils down to. I don't know how all you other mom's do the potty training, but it you want to know our tip, nudity is key. It's been nice to have two kids potty trained in the summer, because I just put long t-shirts on them and let them go all day with nothing on the bottom, not even introducing underwear until things are pretty well established. Eloise surprised me by going in public restrooms without any trouble (Evelynn took months to master this) and once she mastered potty training during the day, she started to stay dry at night. Five nights in a row dry now. Wahoo! I love it when my kids make things easy for me. Evelynn potty trained herself in 3 days (no joke, just three days but that was after a few months of me off and on trying to "make" her do it, and then a month off in frustration, and then boom, done). Eloise took 2 weeks, but it was an easy two weeks with very few accidents. Now we're diaper free until the baby gets here. HURRAY!!!

In other news, I have two stellar singers in the family. Last night Grandma Jacobson hosted her ward's combine FHE and every Jacobson who lived in Utah took part in the program. We all sang a song or a duet or did something musical (Doug and I did Chu-Chi Face from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang--yes there is a video and yes I will post it when I get it because it was awesome). I had the girls practice a few times on Grandma's karaoke machine singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and they did will in front of family, but I didn't think they would do it in front of a bunch of strangers. Well, the big time came and they waltzed out there in front of 50 or so senior couples and sang Twinkle Twinkle perfectly! Eloise knew all the words and had a death grip on the microphone. She launched right into it like she had been doing it for years. Evelynn had perfect pitch and tried desperately to share the microphone with Eloise, but because of the height difference and the aforementioned death grip on the mic, she had to hunch over almost double to get her mouth close enough to be heard. They both sang wonderfully, were totally adorable, and completely stole the show. Doug and I were/are so proud. This was also caught on video and I will post it when I get it.

Another great stride is that I am going to be 28 weeks along this week, which is 7 months. Hurray! Now comes the hard part. I am not a big fan of the third trimester, but it's all downhill from here, right into the hottest part of the summer and sliding into fall and that long awaited September 17th due date. At least I got my birthday wish of Seven Peaks passes to make the summer easier. I mean if I'm going to be huge I want to be huge in the water getting tan.... seems logical to me. We've already been a few times this summer, and the girls LOVE the water (I have two little fish who love to swim swim swim. Eloise scares me with her desire to be JUST like her sister, even if that means walking straight into the water until it covers her head so she can be as deep as Evelynn is, parent's be darned). The girls great swimming accomplishment so far this summer is that Evelynn will finally let us float her on her back, and she makes forward progress while swimming in deep water, and Eloise will put herself under the water and kick her feet or arms but has yet to achieve forward motion. It's so much fun to swim with them because they love it so much. They even go on all the slides! I can't, but that's a plus for Doug so he doesn't have to go by himself.

Well, that's all the news for now. More to come soon!