My New Virginia Friend

I've just arrived in Virginia for our regional this weekend, and I had such a delightful experience, I wanted to share it with you.

First, you have to know that in true Shelli style, I got about 15 minutes of rest--not sleep--last night. I always plan on being more prepared and getting to bed earlier the night before I leave out of town, but almost always, I don't get my act quite together, and I end up pulling an all-nighter.

Last night was no exception. I finished my project and my packing and everything, crawled in bed long enough to get warm, and then headed off to the airport this morning quite early. I did get a couple of cat naps on the plane, but not enough to wake me up much, and I landed in Norfolk this evening pretty exhausted.

And then I met Jerry. He was my cab driver, and can I tell you that from the get-go, I knew he was special--he's the friendliest person I've met in a long time! He greeted me like we were best friends, coming right up to me, giving me the biggest smile, and grabbing my luggage. He asked a few questions, including when I was returning. When he found out I was leaving the hotel at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning to catch an early-morning return flight home, he got on the phone and found a cab driver friend to pick me up because he couldn't do it himself.

We chatted for a few minutes, and then we sat in comfortable silence, listening to the quiet gospel music he had playing (the top-10 countdown on Star 94.1, by the way) until we got to the hotel.

And being comfortable in a cab isn't usually the case for me. I don't typically enjoy cab rides--you're in a strange city, dependent on a strange person to get you somewhere you've likely never been before. There's just nothing about it that's very comfortable! But Jerry put me at ease, and I enjoyed my time with him immensely. It didn't take any extra time (he was driving me anyway), but his smile, genuine concern, and real effort to serve and help made such a difference!

I don't know if his day was any better after he'd met me, but I can tell you my day was certainly better! The brief moments I spent with him refreshed me like a long nap never could.

Potty Training Ashton

As I mentioned yesterday, today was an important day—Ashton was potty trained. In one day! Can you believe it?! At first I was a little skeptical that it could be done, but several weeks ago, Shalae mentioned a book that she’d heard about called “Toilet Training in Less Than a Day.” She’d heard the approach worked, and she thought it was worth trying. The problem? It calls for being completely focused on the child being potty trained, and with two younger children, including a baby that is dependent on Mommy for meals, she didn’t think she could do it.

So I volunteered! I blocked out an entire day on my calendar and started reading the book. We actually planned to do this last Monday, but Potty Scotty didn’t arrive in time, so we had to reschedule. The basic idea is, as I said, completely focusing on the child for one entire day. I won’t explain the entire process, but I’ll hit a few highlights.

First, Ashton and I were alone in the house all day.

Shalae went over to our house with the other two children so it was just me and Ashton. Ashton started out the day by teaching a doll how to go to the bathroom—that’s why Potty Scotty was such an important part of the process. It was clear as Ashton explained things to Scotty that he knew what was going on.

I rewarded Ashton for staying clean and dry, rather than actually going to the bathroom. I wore my Stampin’ Up! apron all day, and the pockets were full of treats that Ashton got to choose when he stayed dry. I had both sweet and salty treats, and he chose salty most of the time, which made him thirsty, so he did a lot of drinking, which meant he got a lot of potty practice, which was great!

I started by rewarding him every 5 minutes. After he went to the bathroom the first time, we stretched out the rewards to every 15 minutes, and by tonight, we were only asking and rewarding him every 30-45 minutes.

The approach really places an emphasis on the child being responsible for his behavior. After the first couple of successes, I held back a bit. When Ashton announced he had to go, I’d tell him that he knew what he needed to do and I encouraged him to go ahead and do it. Of course, I wasn’t far behind, just to make sure! His potty makes music when he goes, so as I stood outside the door, I knew when he’d been successful. He also cleaned up, emptying the potty every time.

After the first few successes, I was supposed to distract him a bit, so we played a lot of Thomas the train engine and other games. We built a car wash out of blocks too.

But even with those distractions, he only had one partial accident, complete with a little leaking, a mad dash to the bathroom, and most of what needed to be in the potty ending up in the potty.

There’s a lot of positive reinforcement in this approach. Shalae left a list of people who were excited for Ashton to take this big-boy step. We talked about how happy everyone would be that he was keeping his big-boy pants dry, and when we went to our house this evening for dinner, he packed up his potty all by himself, carried it to the car and then into our house, and then announced to everyone how well things had gone. You could tell he was very pleased with himself—as he should be!

Overall, I thought everything went very well. Of course, a real test comes tomorrow morning. Once you take off the diaper, you never put it back on, so hopefully he wakes up with dry big-boy pants!

So, I guess now I can add professional potty trainer to the list of skills I have as a grandmother. I’m expecting—and hoping—to train Shalae’s other children, and any of the other grandchildren who might need a loving grandmother to help out with this important step. It was a wonderful day, with the highlights for me not necessarily coming in the bathroom but in the moments in between as we played and chatted together. Twice Ashton said to me, “Grandma, you’re my friend!” That means quite a bit from this little boy, who often prefers playing with Grandpa rather than me. There are certainly worse things than spending an entire day focused on one of your grandchildren!

Celebration Sunday

The house is finally quiet, after a long day of celebration. We started off this morning with Phoebe’s blessing, a blessing that is given to babies when they’re a month or so old. We went to Shalae and Jon’s church, and Jon gave her a wonderful blessing.

(By the way, I wanted to thank you all for your kind comments after my post last week about my religion. In keeping with that, I don’t want to preach, but there are things I sometimes mention that some of you have asked about. If you have questions about baby blessings or family sealings or missionaries, please visit lds.org, a web site hosted by my church. You’ll find lots of information and answers there.)

After church, everyone came to our home for lunch. The house was packed—Jon’s family came, and all our girls and grandchildren were here, except for Shanna and Sara and her family. However, one of the highlights of the afternoon was Skyping Sara’s family. The cousins spent tons of time talking to each other and getting caught up. While it wasn’t the same as actually having them physically here, it was certainly better than nothing!

My dad and Justine were here as well—it’s wonderful that he’s out of the hospital. While he still has to go to the hospital every day, apparently a hotel bed beats a hospital bed hands down! He’ll be up here for several more weeks, and he’s anxious to get back to his home, but we’re so thankful for the progress he’s making.

I love it when our children and grandchildren are together. It’s true what they say about being a grandparent—it’s absolutely fantastic! Our grandchildren are so cute and fun and patient with each other.

I loved this photo of Tanner putting his little baby cousin to sleep. Tanner held Phoebe for hours! What 11-year-old boy would do that?!

Later in the afternoon we celebrated Kona’s third birthday. Although he was a little clueless about what was happening, he did love all the attention--and the gifts--he received. The horses were by far his favorite!

While the day was incredibly fun and wonderful, when everyone left tonight, the peace and quiet was nice too! Now I’m off to bed, a little earlier than usual, but I’ve got a hot date early tomorrow morning with my grandson Ashton and Potty Scotty. Wish me luck—and I’ll give a full report tomorrow!

Where Women Create

The last two days have been very good for me. First, while on the airplane to Houston yesterday, I read a brand new magazine called Where Women Create from cover to cover--something I rarely do! But with the launch of this new magazine and my studio being one of the creative spaces featured in the premiere issue, I thought it best to read about the women who I would be "signing" with--and about their creative spaces. I absolutely enjoyed soaking up the stories of these women and studying the details of their spaces!

Let me give you some history. It started months ago when a friend of mine, Jo Packham (over the years she's written several popular books that my Mom Heather adored), called and asked if my studio could be featured in a new magazine she was planning.

Of course I was pleased and honored she would ask and was happy to share one of my favorite places with other creative women. I love my studio--a place I go to stamp and relax, to play and create, and sometimes just to be. When I'm in my studio, time slows down and I'm surprised at how filled I am when I leave it. That's another entire entry...

Back to my story. Jo also asked if I would be willing to join her and some of the other women featured in the magazine in launching Where Women Create at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. Again, I was more than happy to oblige. It was a pleasure visiting with and getting a glimpse into these women as we signed hundreds of copies of the magazine together.

I also enjoyed visiting with women from around the world who quilt and craft--a group of women that I'd love to introduce to stamping...

Another thing I had the opportunity to do during these couple of days was to walk the show and view all the beautiful quilts--works of art, every single one of them. I found myself strolling up and down the aisles with tears welling up in my eyes, because my Mom Heather (who passed away last December) also quilted and had a collection of fabrics and notions that still amazes me. I was glad to be walking alone among the crowd so I could just wander through the memories of my mom. In fact, I enjoyed rummaging through and buying vintage ribbons that reminded me of her. Someday I'll make little gifts for my girls--like Mom used to make for me--using those precious pieces of the past.

Well, I could write so much more about my trip to Houston and the feelings it evoked...maybe some other time. I'm on the plane ride home as I write this (tears streaming down my face--the guy next to me must think I'm a nut case), and I've promised myself that I'll read more magazines (Mom loved to pore over magazines), and I'm going to make more time to create. Mom would be so proud!

Oh, by the way, if you want to see my studio in its most pristine condition (a rare thing indeed!) and be inspired by other women's creative spaces, go to www.stampington.com and order your copy of Where Women Create. You should also be able to find the magazine quarterly at Barnes and Noble, Borders, Michael's, Hobby Lobby, Joanne's, Lowe's. . . .. Enjoy!

My Sole Responsibility

I've heard that a few of our Stampin' Up! demonstrators have expressed some concern that I mention religion on my blog and the blog is linked to the Stampin' Up! site and sometimes mentioned in Stampin' Up! material. I'm not sure if people are offended by my mention of religion, or if they're concerned that I'm mixing personal thoughts and feelings with professional, but I thought this was a subject worth bringing up.

I want to make it very clear that this blog is my personal blog, and I am solely responsible for the content of the blog. Stampin' Up! doesn't endorse my blog or any contents on the blog. While some companies do have "official" blogs, soshelli.com is not an official Stampin' Up! blog at all. It's all mine--good or bad!

I hope it's mostly good. If I've offended anyone by mentioning religion, I'm sorry--that is not my intention at all! My religion is at the heart of everything I am. It's what has made me who I am. I can't imagine sharing anything personal without my beliefs and values being brought up fairly frequently because they are so much a part of me. I've tried to be careful about what I've said; I think I've only mentioned the name of the church I belong to once. Most of the time I talk about my church and my beliefs in general.

I don't want people to feel like I'm preaching or teaching or promoting any specific religion or belief. But if I felt like I couldn't mention general thoughts and feelings about what is such a huge part of me and my life, I don't think I could share much.

I hope that clears up my intent behind talking about things of a religious or spiritual nature. I hope most of you aren't bothered when I mention religion. In fact, one of the things I value when I meet demonstrators is our conversations about our shared faith in God.

I also respect diversity and the fact that some of you may be uncomfortable when I mention religion. It won't bother me at all if you choose not to read those postings, or even choose to ignore my blog altogether. I learned long ago that we can't please everyone all of the time, and that diversity is what adds spice to life!