Potty training update, my current read

**For those uninterested in potty training news, please skip the next two paragraphs**
Potty training has definitely had peaks and valleys so far. This is the routine right now: When Whitney wakes up, I usually put her in "big girl" panties. She stays in them until a. she has an accident or b. we leave the house. Sometimes she will stay in them for several hours and do just fine. Other days she wets them within 30 minutes of having them on. I'm not sure if she's just too busy playing to stop and go potty or if she's still learning to recognize the signals. It has not been at all frustrating yet. Just slowly moving along.

If she has stayed dry in the morning and we're leaving to go out, I put her in a Pull-up. She's pretty good at staying dry in those, too. If she has had an accident, I usually just put her in a diaper, which she is not very motivated to keep dry. She hardly ever stays dry all day anymore. Some days she'll just have 1 or 2 accidents. Other days she only uses the potty once or twice. I think I need to find another way to motivate her. The prize jar is not really cutting it right now.

Here is the black eye, day 5

I think the worst is over.
It just looks like she's wearing heavy eye shadow.
Like this, right??? :)

Here's a cute picture of the kids I snapped yesterday.

Soon after it was taken, they started head butting each other.
End of photo shoot!

I'm reading a new book.
Saints, by Orson Scott Card

Has anyone else read or even heard of this book? I found it on clearance at the BYU bookstore this summer and Andrew and I are big Orson Scott Card fans, so I picked it up. Andrew read it several months ago and told me, "I don't think you'd like it." I haven't been reading much of anything lately, other than picture books for the kids, but decided to give it a try. I don't know that I can recommend it. I'm about 100 pages into it. It is very stressful to read. Kind of like watching LOST. I seriously think my blood pressure goes up during some of the tense moments. And there have been a few incidents in the book that I could've done without. But, what I like about it so far is it has made me so grateful for some of the normal, everyday things that I often take for granted.

It is about a family in England in the 1800's. The husband walks out on them and they are left on the brink of homelessness. O.S.Card is SO good at taking me into their lives and feeling what it was like to be in their situation. The children are forced to work in factories where they are beaten. The youngest son gets "apprenticed" (read: sold as a slave) to a chimney sweep. It is terrible. But, at least I have hope for them that they can make it out of their desperate situation.

Things I've been grateful for while reading this book:
1. Andrew. What a blessing to have a loving, kind husband who works so hard to support our family.
2. An insulated house with a heater. I HATE being cold.
3. My absence of pain. These kids are treated so terrible by their overseers at work. It breaks my heart. They are worked to the bone and are sore every day. The only pains I feel lately are self-inflicted. (I bought a new Billy Blanks workout on DVD. I am sore all the time, but only because I choose to be.)
4. Food. I have never had to worry about where my next meal is going to come from. I am so fortunate.
5. Education. For myself and my kids. And Andrew, too. Sometimes I wonder if Brandon's getting the best education that he can. This book has made me remember that it's a blessing that he can be in school at all.

As I said, don't know if I recommend it, but I am grateful for the lessons I'm getting out of it.