Update

Well, I gave up. It's really OK. I'm at peace with the decision. The hard part was that she was basically completely potty-trained in regards to #1 but for some reason decided that she didn't want to go #2 in the potty anymore. She would tell us when she needed to go #1, or at least say yes when we asked her, but never give any warning or indication about #2. After 4 days of watching her like a hawk all day to try to catch her and get her on the potty, and not succeeding once, I kind of realized that I shouldn't be pushing it when she doesn't even care. I asked her if we should just go back to diapers and she said yes. The plus side is that I'll at least get to use up the new package of diapers I bought not long ago.

It didn't help much that we've all been sick and I wasn't really up to the challenge anymore. Elizabeth had a rash that I noticed a little over a week ago on her neck. We didn't take it too seriously since it didn't itch or anything and seemed to be harmless. After it stuck around for a week we decided to take her in and we discovered that she had the chicken pox! She was immunized but somehow still managed to catch it. I wonder if she was somehow more susceptible to it since it is a respiratory illness and she's had respiratory problems in the past. That is just a theory I came with that has no medical or scientific backing at all. Anyway, it is very mild, because she was immunized, so it doesn't itch and she hasn't been sick (until we all got colds this week). The little bumps were mostly just on her stomach and back so you wouldn't even know she has it by looking at her.

Still, we've been staying in since we found out. I think they have all scabbed over but I guess we'll give it a few more days to be safe, since we're sick with colds now anyway. She hasn't been phased by any of this and affectionately refers to them as her "dots". We'll be glad when we're all feeling better. Good health is one thing I am always taking for granted. You don't realize how wonderful it is to wake up feeling good in the morning until you have gone through a few days of feeling crummy.

Before all this happened, we had a fun time at a joint birthday party at my sister's for three of her boys who have birthdays in January.

I love Natalie's face in this picture with Grandma and cousin Emily

Presents! Elizabeth loved watching and gearing up for her birthday coming up soon...

The three birthday boys around their cake
Scarfing down some cake

Thanks again guys! It was a lot of fun to be with everyone.