I finally started doing some school things with Marissa. She absolutely loves it, and begs every day to start school NOW! We've mostly been working on some writing. Every day she writes her full name, the day of the week, the month/date/year, and then practices a number and upper case/lower case letter. Today we did 12 and L's. She's getting so confident with her writing! We always try to think of works that start with the letter of the day, and I make a list of what we come up with. For "extra fun" she asks to write those words too! I found an awesome website that I'll be pulling more stuff from soon. I think I like homeschooling preschool - no pressure at all! I'm a little nervous about next year though. We'll definitely have to do something more structured.
Marissa is finally going to bed better. For a while, she was flipping out every night, for no apparent reason. So now she sleeps with her light on, door open, loud Bible music on, and her covers completely over her face. Lol. I have no idea, but somehow it helps! She is definitely strong-willed and what she wants, SHE WANTS, and a certain way too!
Arianna is really starting to talk a lot! It's about time! For a while there, I was starting to get worried, but she is really learning more every day now. She says all done, all gone, bye, hi, up, hot, hat, ball, cup, please, thank you (dee-dee), mama, dada, 'issa (Marissa - so cute!), apple, eat, and I'm sure a bunch more that I can't even think of right now. She's also doing better at repeating what we ask her to say, which is so much fun. She is totally in love with her big sister, and follows her around copying everything Marissa does. It's super cute, but can get annoying sometimes! They both like to spend hours at the kitchen table, playing with toys - most recently the Pocohontas and Powhatan figures we got for Marissa at Goodwill. Arianna also loves to play with her babies, push them in the stroller, and hug and kiss them. It's adorable. She also loves to push the stroller around like a maniac - as fast as she can - around and around and around the kitchen island! She's so crazy and wild, and both girls love to wrestle/tackle Daddy lately. Marissa is a bit hesitant to throw herself in there, but Arianna just goes for it, and I'm shocked every time that she's not hurt by everything she does!
I'm in the middle of a nice break from work, so I've got some big plans! I need to update some of the music on my iPod (it's been forever, and I've been waiting for Dan to set up the computer downstairs again - that's where all my songs are). I also am going to sew some burp cloths and blankets for Roman. I got some super cute fabrics, and I can't wait to get going on them. We've been slowly accumulating some clothes for our baby boy, much of it thanks to gifts from my wonderful family. I love washing them and putting them all together in a dresser, just waiting for a tiny little body to go in them! I just filled out the paperwork for the birth center, and in 2 weeks I have to go in and pre-register - I can't believe it's that close already! We're not going on any more trips now, obviously, so Thanksgiving we'll just be here. I think Dan's parents were thinking about coming out for that. Then my parents and Rach are coming out for Christmas, and that way Rach will be here a little early (after her finals) just in case Roman comes early - she can watch the girls while we're in the hospital. I'm also going to a Christmas event through my work, and Rach is going to watch the girls then too. It's at a dinner theater, and I've been dying to go there! It's Dec. 16th, so hopefully Roman at least waits past then! I'm actually due the 20th, so it's cutting it a little close, but I really wanna go!
Arianna is still nursing in the morning and after naptime. It's actually quite painful for some reason, in addition to causing Roman to make me VERY uncomfortable! I have to push him down and out of the way, or I feel like he's going to come crawling out my throat! But I am really trying to continue nursing Arianna until Roman comes - hopefully that will help with the misery I've had with beginning nursing with the girls. I'm so proud to have nursed Arianna to 20 months now. I made it to 16 with Marissa, but had to stop because of a miscarriage/antibiotic. I have a feeling Arianna would be ok if we stopped now, just like Marissa was back then. But Arianna still asks for it, and really seems to enjoy it still, so I'm holding on as long as possible! Once Roman is born, I'd be ok with Arianna nursing for a little while longer, especially since she might be a little freaked out by not being "the baby" anymore. But I'd also be ok with her stopping pretty quickly. She's acting so big lately, even though she's still tiny
We threw out our couch and recliner last month! We got our carpets cleaned professionally, and were planning on getting rid of the recliner anyways, since it leaves a gross black residue underneath. And then when we picked up the stupid couch to move it, a loose spring caught the carpet and ripped a 3-4 inch hole! I was so ticked! So it joined the recliner on the curb, where some poor person from craigslist took them! Haha! So for a few days we had nothing in the living room, then Dan moved the old futon up from the basement, and that's what we have right now. We are on the hunt for a couch, but don't have a very large budget, and I'm determined to find "the perfect one". I really want a nice modern dark gray one, and that's not really a common color. There are a few possibilities that we found, but we'll have to save up a bit more before they become a reality. I'm just happy to have that old piece of junk couch finally GONE! I hated that thing from the moment we moved into this house. It was great in my college apartment, and fine in our first apartment together, but as soon as we moved in here, I knew it HAD to go!
Well, I hear Arianna coughing, so I'm betting she's going to wake up any second now. I typed as fast as I could, so hopefully I caught all the typos already! I really enjoy "my" naptime, but it's usually shorter than I expect. Arianna is NOT a great napper, and sometimes thinks 45 minutes is a good nap! Ridiculous! But I bring her into bed with me and she usually sleeps a little more, which is great since I've been needing the extra rest lately!
