The Hoffman Clan

Daddy and his little girl.

Bath time in Aunt Joy's sink.

I had a hard time waking Laney up to eat...she was so cozy.

Brooks and I love hanging out on the weekends while everyone else is sleeping.

I got Brooks to "model" for me a bit...gosh, I love that smile!

Growing Up Together

These girls are growing up so fast! What a fun night we had at the McDaniel's house the other night.

Potty Training: Day Three

Another great day! Brooks went to school today, so I really can't take credit for today. His teacher insists on him wearing a diaper (so teetee doesn't get all over her carpet, I get it). But she made him a potty chart with stickers and took him to the potty every 20 minutes. She said he did great - only one accident in between nap and outside play time. He's really doing well. I'm looking forward to a future filled with no more size 6 diapers. Of course, it'll be a while before we are officially done with buying diapers...Laney is just now getting into size 1.

3 Months Old

Weight: On Monday she went in and she was 9 lbs 11 oz. So based on her weight gain patterns, I'm predicting she's a solid 10 pounder at 3 months old! She's gained 6 lbs in 3 months!
Favorite Things: Sleeping, sticking her tongue out, laying on her playmat, being held, and playing with her hands
Schedule:
We start our day at 6:30 am and then back down for a nap around 8:15.
At 10:30 she's up again to eat and them play until 12:30 when she goes back down for a nap.
Around 2:30 she's up again to eat and play. I pick her up from daycare at 4:30 and then bring her home for another nap.
She doesn't nap so well in the afternoon, so sometimes she'll wake up around 5:30-6:00. I'll feed her again around 6:00. She stays up and plays for a while before her bath around 7:45. Then she eats one more time and is in bed around 8:30. She's on a good schedule that seems to be working well.

"I'm a big kid now!"

Potty Training
Brooks has been showing some signs that he's ready for potty training, so we just decided to take a weekend and get it done. Sigh.

Day One:
Brooks woke up and we tried to go potty on the big boy potty (no luck). And then we put some Thomas the Train underwear on. He loves to wear underwear so he was super excited. I set the timer for 15 minutes (to tell us when it was time to go potty) and I started making breakfast. 12 minutes into our morning I noticed that Brooks' underwear looked wet. And then I noticed the huge pee spot on the kitchen chair where he'd been sitting. Really?! I was so close to just throwing in the towel right away. He fussed when I told him we had to go sit on the potty. He fussed when we put his underwear in the dirty clothes. I really thought I had made a mistake. Maybe he wasn't ready. But...we kept on going. Every 15-20 minutes the timer would go off and we'd run to go teetee. He had one more accident before lunch. We all got sad because Lightning McQueen got wet. Brooks said, "Sorry, Lightning McQueen." We changed underwear again, had some lunch, and then he went poopoo on the potty before nap time.
No more accidents during the afternoon.
I consider Day One a success.
Both of these pictures were taken on the potty. I did some cropping so I don't embarrass Brooks too much.


Day Two:
The day started out better than the first. The first accident didn't come until lunch time, and it was only a little bit. We extended the timer to 30-35 minutes. Sometimes he'll tell us he doesn't have to go...but we know better. And every time he went teetee without delay, collected his skittle, and went on his way. He went the rest of the day with no more accidents, and another successful poop on the potty. This time he actually told us when he had to poop...making progress!
Another successful day.

The poor guy is probably tired of us asking him every 5 minutes if he needs to go teetee. And 5 minutes after that asking him if he's still dry. It's definitely an exhausting process for us all. We'll see how the week goes at school. His teacher will have him in a diaper, but take him to the potty every 20 minutes. I'm hoping he continues to make progress and next weekend we won't have to be locked in our house.

This is just the beginning!

I can't wait to see Melody and Laney grow up together. The girls are exactly 2 months apart. Melody is younger, although she appears bigger. They weigh about the same, actually, but Laney is 2 inches longer which makes her look skinny in comparison. Jess came over the other day for our first little playdate. We went a little crazy with the camera...and the bows...and the coordinating outfits.
Having girls is just too much fun!

I just can't get enough!

I love this little girl so much! Poor thing has a camera flashing in her face all the time. I feel like she changes everyday and I just don't want to miss a thing.





And how could I forget this "little" guy. He is my best bud.