Projects

We were busy over the weekend doing some fun and some not so fun projects. Dave drew up plans and made a little table for the girls. It is a wonderful table with a drawer for crayons and other art supplies. It is wide enough for butcher paper and he is planning on attaching a roll to the table so we can pull it across the table so the girls can color or paint, or whatever. Hadleigh had a great time helping us paint the table.

I had a wonderful time sorting through mounds and mounds of baby clothes. It is slightly painful and not a task I enjoy doing, but was necessary. I also went through several boxes in our bedroom. Now the girls' bedrooms are box free and my bedroom is almost box free. We are getting there...SLOWLY.

On Saturday we had a fun visit with our buds, Grant and Jess and their newest Kiera Joy. It is always a great pleasure to spend time with them, and a blast to meet Kiera who is just a month old. What a sweetie.

Sunday Dave went golfing and the girls and I sat in our wading pool...wonderful! And on Monday we loaded the girls in our stroller and walked to the park. It was fun, though to get to the playground from our house you have to walk on this dirt bike trail down some dirt steps, etc. So I don't think I can walk there by myself though it is fairly close.

Monday afternoon I got a little break and was able to run some errands by myself. Wow, SO exciting, right? I found a wonderful rug for HC's room, so once I finish sewing her shades her room will be complete. I also found a bathing suit...and think it is always best to wait until Mem Day to buy a suit...they were all 50% off! And grocery shopping is always nice when I can do it alone. It was nice to just be quiet for a little while.

Potty Boot Camp Update

I realized that I need to give a potty update on the little miss. She is doing fabulous! Since last Wednesday she has only had one accident...and again it was the excitement factor (Dave was filling up the wading pool). We have taken her to the park, out on walks, to stores, to church, and she has done fabulously. So overall a major accomplishment and I am pleased with the pain we had to endure to be in this place. So now I am sending out good luck wishes to Sar, who is potty training this week.

We are thrilled to only be using 1.5 diapers a day (for Hadleigh).

Mem Day

Here are my two cuties. I think they look adorable in their little swim suits! We broke out the little wading pool on Sunday and Hadleigh Claire was so excited. She jumped right into the pool and started splashing around. She was putting her face in the water and blowing bubbles and getting her hair wet and kicking around as if she was swimming. Annelise enjoyed the water too! She even enjoyed getting splashed by Miss HC. The Elf is usually easily startled and doesn't like sudden motions, so I was surprised she did so well in the pool. I think the pic of the two girls together is so sweet. It just looks like they are having a little conversation about things.

We had a very full weekend and it was super nice to have the extra day off. I'll post more about that later.

Annelise Stats

I took Annelise to the doc last week and forgot to post her 6 month stats. She is 14lbs. 12 oz. and I cannot remember how long she! I do remember that she is 25% for weight and 50% for height.

Miss Hadleigh Claire, the Comedian

Like all other parents we have concerns about what our girls will grow up watching on TV and in movies. Dave was very opposed to letting HC watch TV like Baby Einstein, etc. and so I never let her watch TV until last summer when we were out in CA and Dave saw some of the benefits of having a DVD player on a road trip.

I am not a huge fan of the Disney cartoons, they can be really scary for little kids...dragons, evil sorcerers, huge whales, that is scary stuff! And I am still on the fence about Veggie Tales...I used to really like them, but now have concerns about them. I could write a long post on that, but I generally feel like they reduce scripture to a bunch of moralistic deeds...do good, and treat people kindly and you please God...um...not really, but enough about that. We love the Pixar films, and Dave has been collecting them. And, since HC was born we have been collecting Muppet Movies.

How can you go wrong with the Muppets? Oh, they are so great! Dad and Mom gave us the Muppet Movie for Christmas, so on Wednesday I plugged in our new portable DVD player (since our TV is in a carpeted room) and put in the Muppet Movie for the little miss. Who knew she would sit through the entire movie and now LOVES it. Every waking moment she asks for the "frog and bear"...aka...Kermit and Fozzie.

That evening I came downstairs after putting Annelise to bed and Dave said HC had something to tell me. When I asked her about it, she looked at me and "Wacka, Wacka" (for those of you who need explanation that is what Fozzie says when he is telling a joke). It was SO funny! Dave said she was saying that to him while taking her bath.

So fast forward to tonight. Now that she is potty trained she doesn't want to wear a diaper to bed...yea...she is not quite ready for that. I instructed her to leave her diaper on, but she is two. I was upstairs unpacking boxes in our room and could hear Hadleigh talking to herself, which is normal. At about 7.30 (she goes to bed at 6) I heard her begin to exclaim something and I just knew she had taken her diaper off. Sure enough she had taken her diaper off, and when I went in to get her she was just so happy to see me and that asked about getting dressed and eating (as if it was morning). I put her on the potty and then took her into my room to find a onesie big enough for her (figuring that is the only way to keep her diaper on). I put her on the bed and while putting her diaper back on was trying to sternly instruct her to leave the diaper on...as I finished the lecture she responded with "Wacka, Wacka, Wacka". Come on...who wouldn't burst into hysterics? I was laughing so hard and then she started laughing and we ended up both collapsed on the bed laughing together. It was such a fun experience in so many ways. HC is really becoming more and more interactive. It is so fun to listen to her talk and make sense of the world. My little girl is hilarious!

Just a note about the picture. She has a golf ball in her mouth...again she is hilarious!

Potty Boot Camp, Day 4

We are all still alive, and we did better than just survive today. Yea!

I was so confused today, I couldn't tell if HC really understood the whole potty thing, and was like...dude stop making me sit on the potty I don't have to go! Or if she was just being defiant and holding it in and you get the idea. So I decided I would just occassionally ask her if she needed to go potty and then just let her tell me...and see what happened. She did not use the potty this morning at all though a couple times she exclaimed that she was still dry and asked for a sticker. This afternoon I made her sit on the potty before I went out on a walk...and was still very confused as to what was going on in her head. After our walk Jess and I were sitting in the backyard and HC came up to me told me she needed to go potty, we walked over to the potty and she went.

OK, so now I am convinced she does understand and can ask me when it happens. YES! We will continue this weekend and hope for the best.

Dave is out buying wood for his next project. He is going to make a play table for the girls. I cannot WAIT for him to work his magic and make something fun that the girls can use to make art projects and to build lego castles...cool! He is also designing some shelves for our mud room. I am hoping to finish the Roman shades for HC's room this weekend. And to unpack the boxes in our bedroom...yea for long weekends!

Potty Boot Camp, Day 3

Still alive over here, that is a good sign.

Yesterday after waking up, HC exclaimed, "Panties no, diaper yes" meaning- don't you dare put those panties on me, I like my diaper!

I think that she was feeling under the weather yesterday, as in the morning she slept on me for an hour and was yawning throughout the day, and she was crabby.

We had one accident yesterday and I think it was my fault. I was vaccuming and when I finished looked over to see HC standing in a puddle. At first I got flustered and then I realized that the toy she had been playing with was sitting next to the bathroom door. I think she went there and then realized she couldn't do it herself and came back to get me...you get the idea.

It was a decent day besides fighting with her to get her to drink and to get her to sit on the potty every 30 minutes.

Dave thinks the drama she is displaying comes directly from me...I have NO idea what he could be talking about as I am NEVER dramatic.

Here's to hoping for an accident free day.

Potty Boot Camp, Day 2

Again, no one died today...a good day.

This morning when I took off her diaper she was so sad. She kept saying, "Diaper? Diaper? No panties." I had to explain to her multiple times that she is a big girl now, and big girls go peepee in the potty. HC had one accident this morning...I swear she is like a puppy! She got all excited when the trash truck came driving by and lost it. This time when I made her clean it up she said, "yucky" so that is progress (yesterday she just happily wiped it up). I also threw her in the tub and rinsed her down with cold water. She did not like that too much. She did great the rest of the day. She even pooped in the potty, and initiated going potty 3 times on her own.

I think we are making progress, though I will say the whole thing is rather painful. Annelise was better today, thankfully! But I am trying to keep her on the hard woods, and she SO wants to watch Sesame Street, but the TV room is carpeted. And today she was asking to go somewhere, and believe me, I want to go somewhere too! Tonight I even ventured out in the tornado just to leave the house.

Hoping for the best for tomorrow and cannot wait until this is over!

Potty Boot Camp, Day 1

So, thank God, we all survived. It is a miracle, really.

Miss Hadleigh Claire did wonderfully. She was thrilled about her new big girl underware (which had Elmo on it). We made it through 2 hours without an accident which was thrilling. The first hour she went potty 7 times (I was giving her massive amounts of juice) and several times she initiated it. Over the 4 hours in the morning before her nap she had two accidents. I think both were a result of getting too caught up in playing. After her accidents we did Potty Drills, which Hadleigh thought were hilarious. She kept saying, "practice?" This afternoon she did fabulous with no accidents.

Tomorrow we are doing the naked thing, so hopeful that will go well and give her a better sensation of yuckiness. It is funny, I kept asking her where peepee goes. I would say "does peepee go in your panties?" and she would shake her head and exclaim "no, it goes in the potty!" We will see.

Annelise, unfortunately was a terror today. She cried unless she was being held. Good night! Thankfully she took a decent morning nap which let me really focus on Hadleigh this morning. But was I ever thrilled when Dave walked in that door tonight.

I hope tomorrow goes even better than today...

You May Borrow That

Hadleigh has been slowly easing us into the twos. Recently she has been in the habit of using the word "mine". The ultimate word of a two year old along with no. Up until a week ago she was always using "no" in a proper way and not in an act of defiance. Recently I have found myself saying "You don't tell Mama no" a LOT.

Dave has had a funny response to the "mine" word. Today I heard Dave say, "That is not your towel that is Dada's towel, but you may borrow it." I laughed out loud. That isn't the first time he has said that, he actually has been saying a lot (everytime she uses the word mine).

So, those two sentences "don't tell Mama no" and "you may borrow it" have been uttered a lot and I think will continue to be uttered a lot in our home.

Onto other news we had a wonderful time at the zoo on Friday, and tomorrow we begin Potty Boot Camp, so you can say a prayer for us! Annelise is still doing well with her sleep, though waking up around 5 to start the day. It is hard to get up that early, but we are all managing.

I feel like recently I have just been succeeding to keep my hear above water, let alone think about anything deep and meaningful. That is not entirely true, but close. Here is a quick attempt. I might write more about this later, but this is a quote that was in our reflections this morning at church. It summarizes some of the things I have been thinking on recently.

The Christian view of sin is radical, but not pessimistic because to see sin in
the Christian terms is to see that sin can be forgiven. That really is freedom. That really is amazing grace. That means that we can face our problems squarely. That means we can confess the darkest, most humiliating things of our lives
without despair and paralysis. . . . The biblical message to us is, “I do know you. I know you far better than you know yourself. And you’re in worse shape than you even realize. . . . And the Good News is that because of the price God was willing to pay we can be forgiven and reconciled back to God. But to experience and benefit from the cure we must turn to Him and quit pretending there is nothing wrong with us.

Rebecca Manley Pippert, Hope Has Its Reasons

A Great Day

Well, the Lord has graciously given me a break and a most fabulous Mother's Day present. Thursday night was one of the most irritating nights with Annelise. She was up several times in the night and by Friday morning I was just discouraged. Friday afternoon I broke out the sleep "bible" to see what Dr. W had to say about all this nonesense.

After reading the chapter on "ridiculously fussy" babies I determined that A indeed was developing a sleep problem and we needed to nip it before it got any worse. So, I decided we would see what would happen if we just did not get her when she woke up. I had been reticent to do this because I know some babies need a night feeding until 9 months. But since it seemed like A was waking up at random hours of the night it was more along the lines of her having a difficult time putting herself back to sleep and not necessarily that she needed to eat. Dave made a bed on the floor downstairs (since he cannot let her cry) and I took a benadryl and climbed into bed. Friday night she woke up at 11, cried for 30 minutes and slept until 6. Saturday night she slept from 6-6. Yes!

Now if I can just get myself together I might be able to get a full 8 hours. The last two nights I haven't been able to fall sleep before 12...ugh...hoping for tonight.

Thanks for praying...the Lord was gracious to answer the prayers and we are all a lot happier. Happy Mother's Day.

A Funny, a Milestone, and a First

Several eventful things have happened in the last 4 hours and I just had to share.

I was scurrying around this morning trying to get everyone out the door and my scones made for a brunch we were going to with my Bible study ladies. Of course Annelise was not going to take a nap and was crying, and I was trying to keep my eye on the scones in the oven when Miss HC came up to me holding one tab of her diaper in her hand (as in she was beginning to take it off) saying "potty, potty". In glee I said, do you need to go pee pee, and rushed her into the bathroom closest to the kitchen which has one of her new potties. I pulled off her diaper and then she started freaking out, saying "no, no, no, no". So, I thought I misunderstood her and put her diaper back on and went back to the kitchen. A couple minutes later I decided to take HC upstair to get her dressed and as we passed her bathroom she then began saying "potty" again. So I decided to take off her diaper and try again with "normal" potty. She sat down and peed in the potty. Are you joking? I was SO shocked! Not only did she tell me she needed to go potty, but she was also able to hold it until she sat down on the potty. VICTORY! I do feel like I need to jump on the boot camp train, but I REALLY want to wait until her little school is over which is next week. I hope we can keep up the momentum.

Now the First. So, we make it out the door, and make it to Susie's only 20 minutes late. We had a wonderful time and Annelise was doing fabulous. Paige was holding her toward the end of our brunch when all of a sudden A begins to gag like she is choking on something. Paige handed her to me and I rolled her over on her stomach and she coughed up a little spit-up. I thought that was it...OH NO...she then begins to vomit. Wow...I have never had that happen and had no idea what to do. I caught most of it in her blanket and was able to run outside fast enough to get it on the blanket and a bit on the deck (you know you love these details). After that she seemed fine, but in the car she began to gag and puke again. Poor baby! I am still unsure what to do. So on the way home she fell asleep and is now still sleeping in her car seat next to me.

OK. So now the funny. I put HC down for her nap in her bed and came down to make some lunch for myself. I heard her crying, which isn't completely unusual, but I then began to hear her crying "Dada" which she doesn't do unless something is wrong. So I run up to her room. She is standing at the head of her bed. Her right leg is up and over the headboard and her foot is caught between her headboard and the wall. She is crying big tears and has snot running everywhere. Poor thing. I got her untangled and then just started laughing. It was a FUNNY sight.

I hope we can avoid anymore catastrophes for the rest of the day.

Calling Everyone

So this is a new idea...Dave and I have been praying for months this night would be the night that Annelise sleeps through the night. But this wonderful even has not occured.

Dave came in this morning at 6 with Annelise and said something like, "I am so thankful!" When I asked why he exclaimed over the fact that Annelise slept through the night. Poor guy...he is a bit delusional...he completely forgot that he got up at 2 and I fed her and put her back to bed. I guess it is nice to be able to block that from memory.

How about I petition everyone to pray that Annelise will sleep through the night. Thank you.

Miss Hadleigh Claire is 26 Months

Today Miss Hadleigh Claire is 26 months old. She has reached many milestones this month it seems. She is now talking in more than 2 word sentences. Yesterday she told Dave, "Now I jump in bath". And she regularly asks to "sing a song...winkle, winkle, little tar" or "jesus loves me". We are going to start potty training in a couple weeks and Brooke put me onto Potty Boot Camp. There is some prep work involved which I think for the most part we have done. Hadleigh is in no way scared of the potty, and has pooped and peed in the potty for the last year. One of the things it tells us is to teach the child that poop and pee go in the potty. So, yesterday I asked Hadleigh "where does poopoo go?" and totally uncoached she answered, "in the potty" of course! She also says "H is for Hadleigh" though she will still occassionaly call herself "you". It is fun to see her language develop.

So, as I mentioned we are going to be starting Potty Boot Camp in about 10 days. I am not up to the challenge, but she is so ready to be out of diapers, so onward and upward. I hope it is a fairly easy transition. As I was reading the info Dave asked what I was going to do with Annelise while I potty trained. I don't know! That is my main concern...how do I do this with a baby that is a bit demanding? Hopefully Annelise will be a little doll that day. Speacial shout out to Kris who gave me 6 little potties. I have given several away, but now have a potty on every split level of our house and in the car. I just have to get big girl underpants...exciting!

She is still my little tough cookie. Her knees are usually scraped up and never cries. The only time she gest upset is when someone else is roughing her up...and in that case it seems to be more like her feelings are hurt. She has fallen out of bed a couple of times, but has not cried.

She loves playing catch...special thanks to Todd for introducing her to the wonders of catch! She loves all types of vehicles. I probably need to teach her all the cool names of trucks (like dump truck, etc).

We still read a lot, but she is not as obsessed with reading as she was. Now we love to spend time outside playing in our wonderful yard. We blow bubbles and find bugs of all sorts and run around and play catch. She could be out there all day. Did I mention that she likes to wear her winter hat and mittens outside...don't know what that is about.

As soon as breakfast is finished she asks to go outside or to just go somewhere. She makes sure that we have everything we might need and helps get Annelise all settled and then runs to the door.

She names her friends Jacob Brennan. She regularly uses the word "Mine". She sings wonderful songs. She counts to 10, and is able to recgonize some of the alphabet. The letters she does know she knows what word is associated with it. H is for Hadleigh. R is for Rabbit. M is for Mama.

She asks to pray often. Her favorite bedtime song is "In Christ Alone", she asks to sing it and knows some of the words (that was impressive). She knows all the words to Twinkle, Twinkle and Jesus Loves Me and it is HILARIOUS to watch her sing it. She likes to emphasize the last word in the line..."pup pup pove world so HIGH, yike a mimond in SKY" and when she says the emphasized word she makes this really earnest singing face that is hilarious. It is hard not to laugh. She LOVES to cuddle in her new big girl bed. That is one of my favorite things.

Oh, this is a fun new toddler thing. She can whine. This drives me NUTS. I cannot handle whining. This action often results in some sort of time out...I swear I am not having a whiny child...too much!

She is just full of life and a full of joy and generally fun to be around. I love my big girl.

Picking Grapes

Actually we went to pick strawberries, but Miss HC kept calling them grapes, thus the name of the post. Slowly we are bringing back our family fun days. That means slowly we are getting settled into our new home...always a positive thing.

One of the other moms at HC's preschool took her kiddos to pick strawberries at a farm outside the city a couple of weeks ago. She mentioned it to me and I thought that would be a fun excursion. We headed out at 8.45 and even had time for lunch before the girls needed their naps. It was great fun to be out and a gorgeous day. Allison, I should have called you, because we were super near your place, but did not realize it until we got out there! Maybe next time.

Annelise was a doll baby the whole time, I tell ya her baptism is still working! And Miss HC had a blast eating...err...picking strawberries. I think we will go back for blackberry season. You can see for yourself the fun.