Fallon Family Resolution's

Samantha's Resolution: TO BE POTTY TRAINED COMPLETELY BEFORE THE NEW BABY ARRIVES

To help make this happen, I have bought my last box of diapers. We have about a quarter of the pack left and from then on out it is underwear and pull-ups.

She is doing really good and I think she is going to meet her goal. I am so proud of her for making this her New Year's Resolution :)

Todd's Resolution: FINISH THE REMODEL

Very soon one day you will see the blue tape, covered doors and all other construction materials gone from our house replaced by fresh paint, new counter tops and landscaping. This one may take the whole year but it will get done!

Todd has put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this project and has done an amazing job so far.

Look how far we have come:

Lollipop's Resolution: SPEND MORE QUALITY TIME WITH ZUKI (and lose a few LBS)

Hopefully via the increased play dates with Zuki, Lollipop will shed a few unwanted pounds.

My New Years Resolution: MAKE THIS HOUSE A HOME (AND CLEAN OUT THE GARAGE, AGAIN!)

There are no pictures up of our family, we need some essential furnishings and updated decor. We are so buried in trying to finish the larger projects around the home that we have neglected doing some simple things that will help to make our house feel more comfortable. On top of that, with our house about to welcome a new family member, the clutter has to go, especially in Samantha's room. We have accumulated way to many toys and many of them that are still in decent condition can be donated.

Wouldn't this picture look great hanging on our wall????

Oh and as far as the garage is concerned, that is really a Todd project but I am putting it on my resolution list as not to overwhelm him :)

So here's to hoping that Samantha continues to surprise us with her zest for using the potty, the economy in 2010 makes a huge improvement so that we can finish the house, Lollipop maintains regular workouts 4 to 5 times a week and I can get a few design lessons from one of the many talented girl friends that I have.

Oh and one more which I am not sure counts as a resolution, its more of a request for 2010, that we welcome a healthy, happy baby via a pain-free labor!

My "LOST" Encouter

Normally I would not go up to a celebrity I see and ask to take a photo. Santa Barbara is home to several and it is pretty common to bump into them once in a while. I imagine it is annoying to get asked for photos/autographs, but in this case, I didn't care. For some reason I felt like I was really meeting "Sawyer" who has been stranded on the island in the show "LOST" (ridiculous, I know) rather than the actor who plays him.

Todd and I are HUGE fans of the show and "Sawyer" happens to be one of my favorite characters. Samantha and I were doing some last minute Christmas shopping at Macy's and I got in line right behind him and when he turned around, I knew it was him. I felt so stupid saying, "Are you Sawyer from Lost?" and even stupider when I asked for a picture.


Warning: This is an awful shot of both Samantha and Me............

Holiday Recap 2009

Christmas 2009 was so much fun, especially with a 2 year old. Samantha did a great job helping to decorate the tree (most of our ornaments are from the Dollar Store which was a wise choice considering she rearranged the ornaments daily and broke most of them) and Todd did a great job of decorating the outside of our house with lights, poinsettias and Christmas bulbs. We even went to the Natural History Museum last weekend and played in the "snow". We got to see lots of family and opened lots of great gifts. We even got some unexpected gifts this year, a new laptop since Samantha dropped mine on our hardwood floors and broke it and new tires on our car since we got a flat tire on the way down to visit family, hopefully 2010 will bring us better luck when it comes to things like this ;)

Here are some photos:

The Tree

The Lights



"Snow" in Santa Barbara

Opening Presents at Home

Christmas Eve at Todd's Parents House

Christmas Day at my parents house

Visiting My Nieces

What's New with Samantha

It's like "Toddler Boot Camp" around here. First off, potty training is working! Consistency is really paying off. When we are home, Samantha is in her Elmo or Yo Gabba Gabba panties and we have been very diligent about making her use the potty and half of the time she is asking to go on her own (the licorice and Hershey kisses are a huge draw). She is doing both #1's and #2's throughout the day on the potty and prefers to bring her potty out to the family room to do her business, privacy is apparently not a concern for her yet. The fact that we are going through half as many diapers a day is motivation for me to keep this going as well as the thought of having only one baby in diapers come February.

The other big news is that we got rid of the "MiMi" (pacifier). I actually wasn't too concerned about the pacifier because at 18 months we limited it to just nap time, bed time and car rides. We did not allow her to walk around in public with it and she has shown no signs that it was hindering her speech. I was getting a little concerned about her teeth but I can't tell if that is genetics (I was an orthodontist's dream with all the metal I had in my mouth growing up and Todd had braces too) or the pacifier making her have a little bit of an overbite. I realize she will lose her two front teeth but not until she is about 6 so I want to try and keep her teeth from moving anymore. What does concern me is that when the new baby comes I will give her/him a pacifier (the best invention ever) and I have visions of Samantha constantly taking it out of the babies mouth and putting it in her mouth. I just figured it would be easier to get rid of it now.

On Saturday I decided to clip the end off the "MiMi" for nap time. She was confused and kept saying it was "broken" and "get a new one" and "fix it". I told her Daddy would fix it when he got home. That seemed to be all she needed to hear. She sort of just held it and chewed on it. She struggled a little bit to go to sleep but it wasn't that bad.

Later that night we went to Laurie and Chris's for dinner and she wanted to take her broken "MiMi" with her to see if Chris could fix it (Todd had been out of town for work and she associates men with fixing things so Chris was next in line). Thankfully, Chris was no help and Laurie beat the pacifier with a meat tenderizer in front of her which made her laugh :)

I have explained to her that "MiMi's" are for babies and I list off all her friends that don't use them. And I tell her that we can give hers to the new baby. She has even taken hers and put it in my belly button :)

It's day 4 and she has not asked for it and has gone to bed just fine. I can honestly say that I was dreading the day I had to take away the pacifier and was hoping that she would wean herself off of it rather than me taking it away. It has been a way easier transition than I thought it would be. She just doesn't really seem to care. I think I cared more.

The other new thing with Samantha is her nap time. She now naps from about 2pm to 5pm, THREE hours! Basically when she gets up from her nap it's time to get ready for dinner and then the bedtime routine. She still is going to bed around 9 PM which is the same as when she was napping earlier and she wakes up at about 7:30 each morning.

Here are some photos to embarrass her with when she is older:

Party Party!

Our December has been filled with lots of fun celebrations. We attended Chris and Laurie Stone's 5 year anniversary party at Stella Mare's a couple weeks ago. It was such a great evening.

The celebration continued the following week when Chris and Laurie renewed their vows at the Santa Barbara Courthouse. I was honored that Chris and Laurie asked me to attend their private ceremony. I did have a job to serve as photo stylist and baby wrangler, but that job was easy since they looked good already and Connor was more than cooperative, so basically I got to be the honorable guest :)

The other celebration was Holley's annual Holiday Party. Holley can cook, entertain and throw a party better than anyone I know. Our friends Nick and Maria came up from LA to attend the party as well and stayed with us. It was so great to see both of them and have them meet Samantha.

And yes, I am wearing the same dress at all three events. It's hard to find something nice to wear when you are 7 months pregnant!

Big News on #2

No not Baby #2 but Samantha did her first #2 in the potty tonight!! And she has been very consistent on going #1 about once daily (and we have been very consistent on making her try). I know we still have a ways to go but I really feel like we are progressing finally with how much interest she is showing in wanting to use the potty. She definitely is associating getting treats with going potty because now she will say, "Treats. Take my pants off. Diaper off. Go Potty." I don't care that we are starting off our mornings with Hershey Kisses or Licorice, we are on a roll!!

Next step is to try putting her in panties (while we are at home). I found some Yo Gabba Gabba panties the other day. Who would want to have an accident on DJ Lance?