June?!

I'm not doing very well keeping up with this blog! I have some time right now, but I'm sure Arianna will wake up and I won't be able to finish so I'm going to speed through it!

• Date with M - I took just Marissa on a mommy/daughter date. We went to eat at Steak N Shake (she had a birthday coupon), then to get her hair cut (It's very short and super cute! But so frizzy when it's hot and humid.), then to get ice cream (Ben & Jerry's). She really is so fun, but sometimes it's hard for me to see it when I'm busy with all 3 (and the younger two being more stressful to deal with). We chatted about dying and heaven and silly things too. She's such a smart girl. I felt bad we had to kinda rush so I could get home to nurse Roman, but we still had a good time.

• Ears pierced - we promised her she could get her ears pierced for her birthday, but things got so busy we didn't get to it til the end of May! She had been begging for over a year, and we decided she was old enough. She was so excited! We all went to the mall together and she picked out some cute gold hearts with tiny pink diamonds in them. The lady did the first side, and Marissa was so brave, she didn't even twitch! But when the lady said she was going to do the other side, Marissa lost it! She was so hysterical, screaming, and she RAN AWAY in the mall. Dan chased her down, and talked to her for a loooong time about it while I chased Arianna and held her down. By this point Roman was crying too. Finally Dan held Marissa in his lap and held her arms down and I was holding Arianna still but I held Marissa's head still and the lady did it really fast. After it was done, Marissa was totally fine and was so proud! We kinda felt bad holding her down, but she wanted it so bad we thought it'd be ok. She thinks she looks so old now, and she really does. She says they don't hurt anymore, and she was even able to lay on them the night she got them done! We clean them and spin them every morning and every night and I think they're going to be fine. She goes on and on about how everyone who sees her will see how pretty she is because of the earrings. Lol.

• Tangled - Our church showed the movie Tangled on an outdoor screen recently. Marissa was terrified of the movie the last time we watched it (and chose to go to bed instead of watching it with us!), but she did awesome this time. We got there super early and Marissa ran around with her friends the entire time we waited. She wasn't with us at all! It was so weird to just let her go (I could see her, but she was on the other side of the lawn). She had a blast. Arianna also wandered around, with Dan trailing her. She is so crazy. She had no fear and was so social! She saw her Sunday School teacher across the lawn and waved to her (the lady wasn't even looking!) so I said "Do you want to go say hi?" thinking she'd never go for it. But she said "mmm-hmm" and just took off! I watched her the whole way there - it was far! She weaved in and out of everyone's chairs and blankets and gave her teacher a hug! She is just so different from Marissa in every way possible! Once the movie started, Marissa sat with us and both girls lasted the entire movie! I really didn't expect to be able to finish it. We didn't get home until 11:15pm - that's definitely the latest the girls have ever stayed up! They slept til 8am the next day, which tells you how tired they were - they've been waking up at 6:30 lately! The next day we discovered Marissa had gotten eaten alive! She had about 5-6 giant bug bites on her back. I guess she's yummy just like Dan. Lol.

• A extended nursing - I had planned on completely weaning Arianna when I was out of town with just Roman for the weekend. She was totally fine without it, but when I got back, she had such a routine going that she couldn't give it up. For now, she is still nursing when she first wakes up. She doesn't nurse after nap anymore, so it's just in the morning and that's all. She still asks sometimes when she's bored or upset, but is a lot easier to distract. I never thought I'd nurse her THIS long! She finally understands that Roman needs to nurse a lot, and she doesn't. So that's good at least.

• Roman - Roman is sitting up like a pro now! He still tips over, but softly enough that he doesn't care. He's rolling both ways too, and manages to move himself around the living room pretty well. Time to watch out for little tiny toys! He's an awesome sleeper lately too. I've been just laying him in his bed when he's ready for a nap, and he will fall asleep with barely a whine within 5 minutes. It's amazing! He still takes a huge long nap, sometimes 4 hours, every afternoon. And we just finally moved him to his own room for the night! His first night alone he slept 8 hours straight, then went back to sleep for 2.5 hours more! It felt wonderful! I had a feeling Dan's sleeptalking was waking him up more than he needed to, and I think I was right! He also didn't overflow his diaper because he wasn't being nursed back to sleep every few hours. Such a nice change!

• It was so freaking hot! One it was 97 degrees, and over 90 in our house. We're trying not to turn on the AC again this summer, to save money. The girls are so sweaty, and their hair gets so nasty! And poor Roman - every time he nurses, we both have sweat dripping down everywhere! I'm so glad it's cooled down some since last week! I was trying to figure out why I always said summer was my favorite. I think it's because it NEVER got this hot in NY, and also because I spent every waking minute at the pool playing (as a kid) or relaxing (as a lifeguard/teenager)! Ahhh, those were the days!

• My back is still very sore from the accident over a month ago. I've been going to the chiropractor twice a week, sometimes 3 times! Just this week it's finally starting to feel a little better, but it's been a long road. I can do everything I NEED to do. But it's painful so I try to avoid lots of things! I've been making asking Dan to vacuum the floors and I've really been enforcing that the girls clean up their own toys off the floor since bending down to the floor hurts the most. Dan has also had to do baths for all 3 mostly on his own. Hopefully I can get some relief SOON and get back to normal life!

• The girls have been waking up 6:45 or earlier EVERY SINGLE DAY lately. I don't know if Marissa wakes up Arianna or Arianna wakes up Marissa, but whoever is up first wakes the other up when Dan is leaving to ride his bike to work (which is EARLY!) and it's insane! I think I'm getting used to it a little, but it also makes the days a lot longer when they start at 6:30am! Roman sleeps til 8 usually, so we have breakfast, get dressed, and play for a while before he's even up! At least it's cooler that early in the morning!

• Roman turned 6 months old already! I can't believe he's on his way to being 1 already. Seems like the months are just flying by. I think he seems younger to me since he was a preemie and has been a little slower to develop physically. We started him on some oatmeal baby cereal a few weeks back, but he is NOT a fan! He eventually gets a few bites down, but is still struggling to swallow it. I tried it with breastmilk I had in the freezer first, but he REALLY didn't like it. So after I had to thaw and dump all 50 ounces of it (it expires at 6 months in our type of freezer), I've just been using water. He likes it a little better now, but it's still a struggle! Hopefully he'll get the hang of it soon! The girls are loving how mobile/interactive he is lately, especially Marissa. She's been enjoying being able to carry him around a little, and help him sit on the floor with toys. Arianna cracks up every time she sees him sitting, and I'm worried she'll get so excited and knock him right down!

• I got the girls' pics done at Sears recently. Arianna's 2yr pics turned out terrible, so she had a retake, and we got Marissa's 5yr ones done finally. They went well, and we got 2 good pics, but it was a hassle! While I was picking them out and paying, they were running in circles in the (empty) waiting area. Suddenly, Arianna decided to take off AWAY from the portrait studio and into the main part of the department store! She was running as fast as she possibly can! I left Marissa with the stroller, my purse, and the photographer lady, and (I was holding Roman at the time) RAN as fast ans I possibly could to catch her! I was wearing my slippery flip-flops because it had been raining, and it's a miracle I didn't wipe out on the floor! I caught her and she was laughing hysterically but I was NOT. That girl...!

• June 4 was our 6 year anniversary! We got some money in the mail from my parents and Grandma, so we're going out for spicy Indian food - our favorite! We'll leave all 3 kids with a friend that we swap child care with. I think Dan wants to get ice cream too. So that'll be a fun date. We haven't left Roman anywhere yet, so hopefully he'll be ok while we're gone - another baby who won't take a bottle! I always feel bad when people watch our babies who won't take bottles!
• Well, it's a miracle - I think I finished everything I wanted to write about! It's Day 2 of naptime, but it finally got done!
• I'll finish up with a story from one of the super hot days: we had to pick up my work that morning, and on our way home I spontaneously decided to stop at the outdoor fountain/water feature at a nearby shopping center. I let the girls play in it for about a 1/2 hour and they had a blast! They were both VERY hesitant at first, and I didn't think Arianna would ever jump in, but after they started, they loved it! I couldn't believe Arianna was hesistant about ANYTHING! They were both in their clothes, but I didn't care for once. It's hard for me to let go and let them get dirty or do things like that. But it was worth it (and I even got a little sun)!