The Miller Family: Potty Training our Ella Bear


Lots of potty talk is going to be going on here so I'm letting you know now in case you would rather skip this post. LOL We started potty training Ella the Monday after Christmas and so far it's going pretty well! She just goes pee so often and it seems like we spend our evenings when we get home from work, in the bathroom with Ella on the potty. :-) We have been using potty training sticker charts that I downloaded from the internet and I went out and bought a bunch of stickers and put them in her stocking. We keep a little treat bag in the bathroom and let her reach into it and get a sticker to put on her chart then a sticker for herself. The child loves stickers!

This was her first chart from the first week.
Saturday was spent at Uncle Blake and Aunt Leah's
and she did go pee pee on the potty twice but we forgot
to put stickers on it.

She gets really proud when she goes and says,
"I did it." We have to tell her to go a little more
because once she starts to go a little and says that
she did it, she gets too excited and stops peeing.

Notice her sweet little "winking eye" smile.
She started doing that in the last couple months.
More about Ella and her potty adventures but first
here are a couple of Parker...

He's been smiling a lot lately and talking too.

I caught him mid-sentence here...

It's funny how much more interested Ella is in this
thing than she was when she was Parker's age.

Parker is reaching for toys on the magic carpet, in his bouncer and in his car seat as well!

Ella in her big girl panties!

OK so I have a picture of me just like this hanging
on our wall in a collage in our stair well. I was
standing almost identical to the way Ella is standing
in the picture below...I totally did not put my shoes
her and did not put her in this pose!

In case you couldn;t tell by the old looking photo...this is me.

Here's one of those previously mentioned
100 kisses a day that Ella gives Parker.


Another one of Ella in her big girl panties! Bye bye diapers...hello panties! She still has accidents but they are getting fewer and farther between. She's peed on the carpet a couple times and then last week she missed the potty by less than a foot and left us a nice little surprise on a book in the bathroom. LOL Chris got it (showing momma her surprise) on video (I know gross) but it was pretty funny. Chris and I couldn't stop laughing. I asked her if that was her "terd" and she kept saying terd after that over and over. "Mommy, that's Ella's terd" It's also how she says terd...anything that has the "ir" sound in it she pronounces with a little twang. We of course told her that her "terds" belonged in the potty! LOL

This little gift from God is Isabella.
Two of my best friend's Bec and
Paul are now the proud mommy and
daddy of this little angel! I got to hold her on
her birthday last Friday 1/7. She is perfect
from head to toe!

Sweet little profile

Now back to my baby boy...these next several
pictures were from this past weekend at Aunt Jojo's
house for Chris' family's annual spades tournament.
Parker looks like such a little boy here. He always
looks like a boy but he is usually in a sleep n play
outfit and this was only his second time being in jeans
and a shirt other than a cotton onesie.

He found his tongue a couple weeks ago and
sometimes we hear him making smacking
noises which is him sucking on his own tongue.

I know I already posted this picture on the
last post but I love it so I posted it again...LOL
The many faces of Parker...

"You talkin to me?"

"Let me just blow some spit bubbles..."

Granny and Poppa have come to the spaids
tournaments for the past 3 years. We don't
usually make it too far on down the winning
brackets but we always have fun playing. I didn't
play this year since I have Parker and Ella to watch
after while Chris plays. But, really I would have
rather spent time with my babies watching everyone
else play and visiting then played this year.

This is Ella's sweet little cousin Kyndal...
Ryan and Brandi's baby girl. Ryan was in our
wedding as one of Chris' best men and Kyndal
was only 1 1/2 months old when we got married.
She'll be 4 at the end of this month! Ryan told
Chris that he asked Kyndal is she liked hanging
out with Ella and Parker wanted to go see them
again and Kyndal said yes, right now! LOL
We can see them growing up to be
best friends like their daddies.

Not quite sure what kind of smile this is
that Ella is doing but it's fake for sure...LOL


I can see Ella and Sofia being very close too! I love this picture! Sofia is almost 6, Kyndal, almost 4 and Ella 2. These next few are hilarious! I told them to make funny faces...these so remind me of pictures of me and two of my girl cousins close to my age...(see picture below and I'm the one all the way to the right).

These next few are mainly for a select few individuals...

Ryan, does Kyndal look like she's going to
be able to take your place at the card table
in the next couple of years...I see fear in her eyes! LOL

I think Sofia is almost ready but we gotta
toughen her up a bit...she's got way
too big of a smile here.

Ah pure determination and concentration
going on here. Ella is ready to win the game!
Like I said, these pictures only make sense
to a couple people. Chris' family is pretty
serious about this game and their annual
spaids tournaments! It's all in good fun though.


Brandi and Parker...I think holding Parker made Brandi's uterus do flip flops...LOL

I love this picture of Grandma and Parker!

I never realized it before Christmas
until I put these pj's on both Ella and Parker
at the same time that they were the same
pattern. LOL They got them at different
times from different people so I never noticed it.

Ella has been talking to Parker more and
more and telling him whats going on and
what she is doing. He listens so intensely!

He's been sitting in his bumbo more and
more especially if I am cooking. He likes
to watch me as he drools all over himself.


This is Ella's week 2 of potty training chart. Many more stickers were earned that week compared to the first week. She's well on her way to being fully potty trained! Of course we realize there will still be occasional accidents but she's doing really good and we are very proud of her! Is bath time less frequent with the 2nd baby. Does that second baby grow up more dirty because he/she gets bathed less? LOL Well, we're getting better but geezey peets it's hard to squeeze that in sometimes. We were doing good if they both got baths every 3rd day. We are obviously still adjusting to being two working parents with 2 babies. It just seems like there is so little time once we get home from work to cook dinner, feed Ella, nurse Parker, baths, get clothes and things ready for the next day and slow down and spend a little time playing with them both and then still get Ella in bed by 8-8:30pm. Welcome to parenthood, right! LOL I just wish there was more time in the day but there isn't so I need to stop whining and get over it...LOL. What they say is true...it takes a village to raise a child. So, this week the babies have gotten a bath every other night and with Parker it might be every other other night. In my defense, I do wipe them down with a warm wash cloth before bed if it's not a bath night. I'll be glad when I can put them both in the bath tub and bathe them at the same time...at least for a couple years :-) Ella has been just out of the blue saying, "Momma so pretty" as she does the sign for pretty. It makes me smile every time I replay her sweet little voice in my head! This is something I need to get a video of but until then I'll just have to tell you about it...I have sand "You are my sunshine" to Ella since she was born. For a while, it was the only song that I could sing that would calm her down. So, we sing it together now, often and she says, "You make me happy when skies are grape" It's so cute and I always accentuate GREY but she continues to say grey and I just love it! She also loves to sing "twinkle twinkle little star" and that comes out, "Winkle winkle little star..." Another one is "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and she always says, "Mommy, sing titsy bissy pider." When we all pray before dinner or before a meal, she bows her head and closes her eyes and keeps them closed even when Poppa is praying and his prayers are quite long and then at the end says, "Amen." I typically take Ella up to bed unless I am nursing Parker or unless Daddy wants to take her and we say our prayers every night too. I also ask her, "Who loves you?" She always says, "God." And then list off several other family and friends. Then I ask her, "Where is God? She says as she points to her heart, "He's in my heart." Makes my heart dance!