Arianna turned 1 on February 24th. Marissa took this picture of us when we got back from Arianna's well check-up:


Arianna weighed in at 17lbs 13oz (3oz heavier than Marissa at 1 year) and was 30.25 inches tall. She is in the 80th percentile for height, and 3rd-5th percentile for weight. I mentioned some concerns about her eating (or lack thereof) and her pooping (or lack thereof), but she wasn't concerned about her weight at all (like they were about Marissa at this age) - guess they can tell I make skinny-minis now!

I also expressed concern over her sleeping (or lack thereof), and how she wakes up at night still, quite often. Here is how that part of the conversation went:

Me: "She's been waking up several times in the night, sometimes every hour."
Dr: "What do you do then?"
Me: "I go in and put her back down with her blanket."
Dr: "What does she do if you let her cry?"
Me: "I don't."
Dr: "You should. It's best for her development."
Me: "I won't."

BLARGH! Why does everyone seem to think THEY have the answers, and that it's surprising that babies are ATTACHED to their parents? Why is it a BAD thing for a baby to be attached to their parents?More on this later...

Anways, the rest of her appointment went fine, and the doctor noticed that she had to write in that Arianna was walking at her 9 month appointment, since it wasn't even on the developmental check-list. I was a little worried when she asked about Arianna's language, since she only had one word ("uh-oh"), but just in the short week since then, Arianna's suddenly decided to babble on about anything and everything, and even say "Mamamamamamama" over and over again. So my worries are gone - although I'm still convinced she's going to talk SLOW because there's never a quiet moment around here.

Speaking of Marissa, we were driving to my work the other day, and I told her she didn't have to talk the whole time in the car (like she obviously was). She could listen to music, look out the window, or just think about things. Her response? "I can't hold my talk in!" That about sums up her life philosophy!

Dan's parents came to visit for the weekend, and we had a little celebration for Arianna's birthday. Nothing huge, but it was fun. The menu for her party consisted of food she ACTUALLY eats: homemade pizza, homemade mac & cheese, and corn. To fulfill the requirement of getting her hooked on chocolate, I made from scratch chocolate cupcakes and topped them with from scratch icing - MMmmmmmmm! There is just NOTHING better than homemade desserts! "Her" main present was a new car seat, although she can't ride in for another 6+ months when she's 20lbs (Marissa didn't hit 20lbs til 18 months). So for now Arianna is using Marissa's old one, still rear facing. And Marissa is in the new one, which will last either girl forever - it turns into a booster that goes up to 100lbs. So Arianna didn't have many presents to open, but both sets of her grandparents gave her a few gifts to open. However, I think she only ripped the wrapping paper once! She preferred to watch Marissa do it, and Marissa was fine with that! Arianna really enjoyed playing with the bows, and I managed to stick one on her head for most of the present time. She got some adorable dresses from my parents, and a Sesame Street play house and Little People princess blocks from Dan's parents. Marissa is thoroughly enjoying "teaching" Arianna how to play with them - and Arianna enjoys running off with all the characters!

Yesterday, I got up early to take both girls to get Arianna's picture taken at Olan Mills - we had to get there when they opened at 10 because we were a walk-in (YES, that is EARLY for us to be out and about!). So we went to the one closest to us, and as we were walking towards the studio, I saw a man in there and realized that we would need a miracle to get successful pictures. Arianna is TERRIFIED of men, even men she knows! Anyways, I figured we'd at least try it, since the pictures were going to be free (birthday package). So we went into the studio, and I tried to put her down. Suddenly, BOTH girls were crying and clinging to me desperately. I knew the guy (he took Marissa's 3 year pics), and knew he was nice, so I just told him it was nothing to do with him, but I knew it wasn't going to work. I tried valiantly, but it didn't happen. So we packed up to go to a different Olan Mills where I knew there was a girl working.

As we were getting our coats back on, and I was apologizing, he said something to the effect of "You know it's your own fault right? She's spoiled and wants you!" I agreed with him, and said that it was fine with me that she act like this at her age! I just couldn't believe he said that. Is it SO WRONG to have your child prefer you over a stranger? Is it so wrong to have your child be scared of strangers/strange men? Is it so wrong that I want her to feel loved and safe in my arms ALL THE TIME?! I feel this same way when people talk about letting their babies cry to sleep. Maybe some people can do it (don't get offended, I'm just venting), but to me it feels like I'm abandoning her! It feels like "Mommy knows I'm upset, and she's ignoring me. She doesn't care why I'm sad!" That will never be the answer for me, no matter how horribly my babies sleep (and I think I got a good example with Arianna!).

[stepping down from soapbox]

I am SO ready for a relaxing weekend. I will only have a little work to do (it's their slow period at the beginning of the month), and I'm looking forward to having some quiet time (ha, I guess I mean after Marissa goes to bed!). The girls are I are going to a birthday party for one of Marissa's friends on Saturday, and other than that, we have NOTHING to do! My sister is coming in a few weeks, so I'm going to make time to clear off all the clean laundry that's on the bed she wants to sleep in. It's so nice to have an entire bed free for laundry folding, but it usually just doesn't get folded!

Well, Marissa just woke up from nap (I think she actually slept today, instead of just stay in her bed quietly), so I'm going to cuddle my oldest!

SLEEP!

Today is Friday. Last Sunday was the start of a wonderful week of sleep for Arianna (and me)! Sunday night around 9pm, Arianna had been nursing and sleepy for a little while, and I just randomly decided to try to put her in her crib for bed. The only times I'd ever done it before, she's screamed her guts out immediately and never calmed down (in the few minutes I waited impatiently). And even the times she's fallen asleep nursing at that time, she's always woken up an hour later ready to play again! But Sunday night, she cried for maybe 2 seconds til I closed her door, and then she was quiet and fell asleep all on her own, and stayed asleep! Up until that night, I'd been nursing her to sleep for every nap and bedtime! She only woke up a few short times that night, and went right back to sleep! Since then, she has been doing the same thing for naps and bedtime! Sometimes she cries for a couple minutes, but if I go back in there, she lays right back down. If she's having trouble falling asleep, all it takes is a couple minutes of resting my hand on her back, and she's OUT! She already knows, as soon as we walk into her dimly lit room, that it's time to sleep. Her grip around my neck gets tighter, and we cuddle and hug and kiss for a few minutes. Then she lays right down! It's almost as if she flipped a switch somewhere and now she's a little miracle sleeper! The first time it happened, I didn't really believe it. But after a whole week, I think it's safe to be excited!

Here's how I fixed her. Lol. First, the only thing I did was start waking her up at 8 or 8:30 every morning. I didn't do anything else different - she still nursed to sleep for nap and bedtime, she was still taking naps randomly throughout the day, and she was still up til 11 or midnight. Then, everyday I started purposefully nursing her so she'd take a nap around 11 and then again 3 hours after she woke up from that nap. She was still staying up til 11 or midnight. Then Sunday night I just got the idea to try to put her down awake, and that was it! Now, whenever she seems tired (around 11 and around 4) I put her down for a nap. And she's been ready for bed earlier and earlier every night. The first few times she started seeming sleepy around 9, then 8:45 - last night I was out, and Dan put her down just before 8 and she fell right asleep! She's never cried herself to sleep! She is still nursing a lot, and she still wakes up a little in the middle of the night. But we're all much happier now! Just in time for her 1st birthday on Wednesday! 1 year ago I was sitting around like an enormous blob, 2 days past my due date, with 5 days left!

All about me

Things I want to do in my spare time (since I don't have any work to do til next week):

* sew jean skirt (check)
* sew curtains for kitchen and tiny stair window?
* sew ruffle cardigan
* paint Marissa's polka-dots on her walls
* paint canvases
* sew corn hole bags for Dan (check)
* sew ruffle shirt?
* sew skinny jeans (check)
* sew ruffle pillow
* sew Marissa's Cubbie patches on (check)
* sew Arianna's felt Mr. Potato Head pieces for her birthday
* write Xanga post about what I want to do and what I'm interested in lately, but don't have time to do, so I just read about it instead (check)

Well, Dan and Marissa are at Cubbies right now, and Arianna is taking her 2nd nap of the day. So I have some quiet "me" time, and no work to do! Well, I mean no *paid* work to do - I should probably be doing dishes, but I already did them once today, so I don't feel too guilty. Hehe.

Lately I've been feeling like I never get to do what *I* want. I enjoy plenty of the things that I've been doing, but it's just not usually what I'd choose to do. But since it's a slow time of the month for work, I've had some spare time lately, and it's been so nice! It's still not quite the same though, since the girls still need a lot of attention, and I still am kinda lazy But I've really been getting into sewing, as you can see by my reminder list at the top of this post. I have a crappy tiny sewing machine, but it works pretty well, and it has served it's purpose: I really just wanted to know if I *could* sew and if I enjoyed it. I can, and I do, and I would LOVE to have a nice big normal sewing machine now. There's only one stitch on mine, and it can't even go backwards, do buttons, or pretty much anything else - just sew one straight line. But nice sewing machines are so expensive! Today on craigslist I spotted a free one nearby, so I had a friend pick it up. I won't get it til Saturday, but I so hope it works! The person didn't know if it worked or not, and didn't know much else about it except that it's a Kenmore. But I've got my hopes up!

I was supposed to host Bunco for ladies from church yesterday, but with all the snow we've been getting, I figured it would be best to reschedule it for next Tuesday. But I had already got the prizes and planned the menu, so I don't have much to prepare for it for next Tuesday. I didn't have a lot of money to work with for the prizes (since there weren't many people there last month when we collect money for the following month), but I hit Target clearance, JoAnn's $1 spot, and the dollar store, and I think I got an awesome gift pack for each of the three winners (most wins, most big buncos, and travel). It was kinda fun to pick everything out! And I realized again how much I love our dollar store (I think it's a Dollar Tree). There's a lot of junk there, but amidst all the junk there are some real finds! They have cute mirrors, picture frames, vases, "sticks" to put in vases, odor-control bags for dirty diapers...I even got Marissa a brush there and it works just as well as a Wal*Mart brush. Lol. I got myself a little black box that says "Love" on it, and a oval mirror in a fancy frame - and they both match my downstairs decor perfectly! Last week I bought a chalkboard at Hobby Lobby that has a fancy black frame around it, and put it up over my new side table (Malm occasional table from IKEA) in the dining room. Now instead of a plastic kiddie kitchen in that nook, I have a beautiful table with a drawer to hide junk, a nifty chalkboard calendar above it, and my three musical plaques above that! I wish I had endless amounts of money to decorate our home with, but sometimes (and only *sometimes*) it's fun to use what I have and decorate slowly. If it wasn't for our HIDEOUS couch and recliner, I would call our living room "done." I would love a modern black dining table set sometime in the future, but I'm kinda scared what kids would do to something like that - so I'm ok with sticking with what we have for now.

Speaking of that, I found this blog not too long ago that gives the plans for building tons of expensive furniture for much cheaper: http://knockoffwood.blogspot.com/ and Dan just recently bought a table saw. When I showed him the website, he got super excited, and we'll probably start building our own furniture now. It's fun to have him get excited about "house" stuff too. We'll probably start with an "island" to put in the nook in our dining room (and I'll move the Malm table upstairs to use as a vanity in our bedroom), and then if that goes well we'll probably do a dining table next. I'm not really sure if we have the skills (or the time) to do it, but it will be fun to try!

Speaking of having the time, I realized that instead of decorating or sewing, it's easier for me to *read about* decorating and sewing, since I can basically do that while the girls are awake and playing. I'm subscribed to so many decorating and crafting blogs, it's ridiculous - and I've started to unsubscribe to some because I just can't keep up with them all! But I love getting inspiration from them, and I have a list (and bookmarks in Firefox) a mile long of things I want to try when I have the time or the money. As a SAHM it's really hard to have time and money to devote to hobbies. But at least I get to live vicariously through all these bloggers that I read about. I just keep telling myself "someday..."

As I sit here, I'm looking at the toys on the floor. Marissa and Arianna were playing some "shopping" game before dinner, and Marissa put alllllllllllllllllllllllll the small toys in a bag and then dumped them all out on the opposite side of the room. It was so cute watching them play together, and hearing Marissa say "come here Arianna, do this Arianna" etc. that I couldn't bear to tell her to stop. I feel like my house usually looks pretty decent most of the time - except dishes every once in a while - and of course except for all the toys! Arianna will watch me start picking up toys, and then she darts over to the toybox, checks to make sure I'm watching, and starts flinging them out of the toybox as fast as she can. It's stinking hilarious, but so frustrating! We had a couple from church over a few days ago, and Arianna was napping when they got here so it actually stayed clean for more than 5 seconds. Lol.

Well, it felt good to get that all out. I kinda just typed and typed and didn't really read through it like I usually do when I write. But I feel better now. Maybe I'll start working on a "M & A" post now...

Prettying up my 1/2 bath

So we moved in over 2 years ago, and I had done absolutely NOTHING to the 1/2 bath on our main level. It was boring, beige, builder-basic and I HATED it! I didn't feel like I should paint the walls anything different, even though the rest of our main level is a springy green, so I decided to just add some fun accents. We are in a money crunch, so I couldn't go out and buy a bunch of stuff, but I LOVE it so far! There's still more to do, but here is what I've done already (it's nearly impossible to take a decent picture in this tiny room!):

I painted a faux frame around the boring mirror. We got a free quart of black paint from Glidden over the summer, and I finally put it to good use! I measured so each point and curve was the same distance as the others, but did it all free-hand. I am SUCH a perfectionist that it took a few days of looking at it to get it just right (and even now, I have to ignore a few spots), but I think it's so fun to look into!

(Again, excuse the poor lighting) I had a little money from Christmas gifts, so I got a yard of fabric from Jo-Ann's. It's black and white damask, and it was actually twice as long (wide?) as normal fabric at 108" so it was perfect, and I still have a bunch left! I didn't want a traditional sink skirt that's gathered and poofy, so I just hemmed the edges, added a simple pleat in the front, and velcro-ed it to the sink! I love that it hides the nasty stuff I like to keep handy: plunger (don't you hate it when you have to go searching for one at someone else's house?!), toilet brush, and toilet cleaner.

10 months old and Christmas

Well, I wrote a post last week, but forgot to post it! So here it is:
We're back from Georgia! We drove 10 hours to spend 3 days with Dan's extended family for Christmas, then drove 9 hours overnight (which is why it was shorter) to get back home at 5am Sunday. Phew! We had a wonderful time visiting, and the girls did GREAT with all the new people they didn't know/remember. Marissa played with Emily (who was our flowergirl) and Stephanie, talked everyone's ears off, and slept great for naps/bedtime. Arianna was surprisingly willing to let most anyone hold her, and she walked around and got into everything, especially their Christmas tree! Arianna did NOT sleep well at all (big surprise), especially since we all slept together in the same room. She ended up sleeping with me in our bed most of the time, which is fine for her, and fine for a little while, but when I can't move a muscle for 4+ hours, I HURT! We survived it though, and it was worth it. We hadn't seen most of these relatives since 2 years ago when Marissa was 1.5. The girls got some wonderful Christmas presents, and I got a gift card to IKEA that I can't wait to spend!

Let me back up a little: When my parents came out at the beginning of December, they brought presents with them, so before we left for Georgia, we had Christmas with just us four. Marissa was funny - when she opened up a present with clothes in it, she exclaimed "CUTE!" The girls got some wonderful presents from my parents as well, and so did Dan and I. We are so lucky to have two sets of parents (and grandparents) that dote on all of us!

Arianna was 10 months old on Christmas Eve. It's hard to believe. She wears 9 month or 12 month clothes, except for a few pants that are 12-18 months, since she's 2 inches taller than Marissa was at this age. She's walking like a 1.5 year old. Lol. She can stand up without pulling up on anything. She speed-walks away when she knows she's in trouble (like when we caught her playing with the Christmas tree in Georgia). She's still not saying much, but when she wants to, she never stops babbling! She's been signing "more" for a while, and I think she's getting "all done" too. She's finally starting to eat better, but is still picky. But at least she eats a lot of what she likes! I managed to bring frozen homemade baby food to GA, and I was surprised at how easy it was. I pre-mixed the fruit/veggies I had pureed, and so far she still has not had a drop of store-bought baby food. It's a dumb thing to be proud of, but I am. Lol. Not a drop of formula either. She's still nursing quite often (which I realized when we were in GA, since she didn't nurse nearly as much down there), but that's still fine with me. On the car ride home, she didn't nurse for 6+ hours, so now that I know she can survive (lol), I might start limiting her at night. She was still nursing TONS at night, simply because that was the easiest way to get her back to sleep during the 5+ times she woke up at night. But last night and the night before she actually only woke up once...so I have a tiny bit of hope! I actually got 5 hours straight of sleep - BLISS!
[edited to add: she went back downhill for a while, but the last two nights have been wonderful!]

She did the cutest thing in the car on the drive home. She woke up because Marissa was being too loud, so I climbed into the back seat, and wedged myself between the two car seats (not easy!). I put my hand on her cheek, so my arm was across her stomach. And she just grabbed my arm with her hand and held me there! Anytime she started to drift to sleep, she lost her grip so I took my arm out. But the second she realized it was gone, she woke up and cried. I was starting to worry she was in deep in a "Mommy only" stage, but since we've been home, she's totally been a Daddy's girl. It's so sweet how she lights up at him, and follows him around. Her laughter is so contagious and silly. She loves to giggle, and we all love to make her giggle, especially Marissa. It's so hard to believe that in 2 months we'll have a party for her!

We had a bunch of friends over for New Year's and it was tons of fun! My sister is coming for a visit soon too, and we're going to IKEA so I can spend my gift card! Then Dan's parents are coming for a weekend - I have a lot to do to get ready!

Here is a picture of our family on Christmas Day in Georgia:

All over the place

I keep forgetting to talk about Arianna's eating issues. She's still nursing a lot. Which is fine with me. But she doesn't seem to really like eating solids! Well, I guess that's not true: she LOVES peaches and pears! I've been making all her food - just putting stuff in the blender and freezing it in ice cube trays. It's so easy, I don't know why I never managed to do it for Marissa. So far she's had peas, green beans, carrots, peaches, pears, applesauce, prune juice/oatmeal, and potatoes. But the only way she'll eat peas, green beans, and potatoes is if I mix it with peaches, pears, or applesauce! And the ratio has to be just right, or she'll refuse it. I've been patient, because I know it takes babies like 10 tries before they start liking something. But we're way beyond those 10 tries! I've been slowly weaning her off the high ratio of fruit/veggie, and sometimes she does better. But it's so frustrating! And I feel so sneaky. Lol. She won't eat potatoes no matter what (maybe because even when they're blended, they're still slightly lumpy?). I'm trying not to get worried, because she is still nursing a lot (and I plan to continue for a while), and she'll eat TONS of peaches or pears if given the chance. She also loves Cheerios, and is starting to sign "more" when she wants more! I've let her try cooked corn kernels, and she eats those sometimes. She also has tried freeze dried apple bites, bits of broccoli, and (don't tell anyone!) bits of American cheese. It's so weird to think that she's starting to get the age where she can eat bits of table food, but she's barely been eating baby mush for a while!

The other day, Marissa and Arianna were walking around the room holding hands, and Arianna started to fall. Marissa said "Don't be afraid, Marissa will always be here for you."

Marissa has really started singing a lot lately. You remember the "Ikea-us" song? Haha...well here's another good one: "I'm in the Lord's arm-you, I'm in the Lord's arm-you" instead of "I'm in the Lord's army." It took me a minute to figure out why she was singing it that way: army sounds like arm-me, so she was singing arm-you! Lol

Arianna's been sleeping a little better lately. She still wakes up a few times, but has been going back to sleep easier, and the last few days she's even been asleep at 10:30pm instead of midnight! She's also started taking better naps (2.5 hours instead of 30 minutes! And today she took a 2.5 hour one this morning, and is back in her crib again!) But she's been waking up earlier for the day, which is to be expected. I brought her to bed with me the other morning at 8:15 when she woke up and tried to get her to nurse/sleep more. She wouldn't, but if I pretended to be asleep she just sat by me and periodically kissed my face and cuddled with me trying to wake me up for a long time. I just laid there and she did that on and off. It was so precious! I love that she's learning hugs and kisses - although her kisses are so slobbery! And she even imitates us saying "awww" when she hugs us.

We went shopping as a family on Saturday. It was so funny. Dan is a horrible shopper! Lol. We went to a few stores, so we had to get the girls in and out of the car a lot. I found the deal of the year at Kohl's. My mom gave me some money to get clothes for Christmas, and I decided I wanted to look for a nice winter coat. I have two of them, but both of them used to be my sister's, so the sleeves were waaaaaaay too short, and one of them wasn't even warm. So I decided it was time! I hadn't had a new winter coat since college - I bought a black one, and Dan bought me the same one in cream. Lol. They were having a huge sale! This coat was regularly $200, and marked down to $78. Then I also bought a pair of jeans, so that took the total over $100. I had a 20% off $100 purchase, and then got $10 Kohl's Cash back! I can't really do the math, but I got an awesome deal on this warm wool coat:
Look how long those sleeves are! My mom and I are both cursed with oddly long arms, so this is a rare find, and it's so much fun to wear!

I touched up the paint in our 1/2 bath on Sunday. When we had the guys replace our flooring (last summer?) they really banged up the walls and trim. So now it looks much better! I'm planning some fun stuff for that room, since it's the bathroom guests use, and it's right by our front door. If only I had the time to devote to it!

This is kinda a crazy week. Tonight I had BUNCO with ladies from church. Tomorrow I have to drop off work that I got yesterday (and finished up FAST today so I don't have to stay up late after BUNCO), and then Marissa's friend Ingrid is coming over tomorrow night while her parents go out for a bit. Thursday Marissa has a kid's Christmas party at church. Saturday we're having some friends over for lunch. And next week we're going away for Christmas for a few days, so I have tons of laundry and packing to do! I'm trying to get our Christmas cards mailed out soon, and I have a handmade gift for Marissa that might not get done til after Christmas. Ahhh, so much going on!

I guess that's all, so I'm going to get in bed before Arianna wakes up!

Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

My parents just left this morning after a wonderful long weekend visit. We didn't see them for Thanksgiving since we stayed here and had our own little holiday, and we'll be visiting with Dan's parents and extended family for Christmas, so we had a lot to pack into one weekend! My mom and I went Christmas shopping (for clothes she's giving me) on Saturday, kid-free! It was wonderful, even though for the first time in my entire life we left Kohl's without a single purchase! Lol.

Saturday evening we got out all our Christmas stuff, and then had a mini-Christmas with gifts my Grandma sent out. We ended up putting our fake 3-4ft tree up on top of a card table. There's no way I wanted to fight with Arianna to stay away from something that exciting! It was lots of fun, and the girls had a blast. Marissa remembers her Grandma and Grandpa, obviously, but Arianna didn't have a clue! She was so weird - one second she'd be grinning her face off at Grandpa, and the next second she burst into terrified screams. Lol. Arianna was kinda a grump the whole weekend. I think this LACK OF SLEEP is starting to get to her too!

One cute thing Arianna started doing like crazy is clapping for herself while she walks around the room! She also decided to climb up onto the couch when no one was paying attention to her! Someone saw her as she was reaching for all the stuff on the shelf above the couch, and got to her in time. But as they put her back down on the floor, she was clapping for herself! Too funny! She also is finally starting to imitate the sounds we make. She's been too busy WALKING to talk (not to mention, Marissa doesn't really let her get a word in anyways!), but this weekend she was imitating us saying "Uh-oh" and it was so cute. She also figured out how to open the ottomans in our living room. One of them we use as a toybox and the other holds blankets to use on the couch. This could be interesting!

We all went to church together Sunday, and then almost everyone took a nap Sunday afternoon. I did, and it felt wonderful! Then we went to Sam's and out to dinner together. It was so much fun to spend all that time together, and Marissa was great entertainment. Lol. Arianna was cute and fun enough, but she really was just not herself this weekend. She's been waking up every 1/2 hour, for hours on end, in the middle of the night, and she does NOT take good naps at all to make up for it. I'm at my wit's end, but I'm still not willing to let her cry it out. I just keep thinking it's got to get better at some point, right?! This weekend, she slept in the pack-n-play in our master walk-in closet, since my parents slept on the guest bed that's in her room. That may have had something to do with the 1/2 hour thing, but she doesn't really sleep much better in her own room! I think I'm going to break down and at least put blankets in her bed. "They" say to wait until kids are 1, but I know many people don't actually wait that long. And I think maybe she's just cold, or uncomfortable. She sleeps great in bed with me, and on anyone's lap, so maybe she just wants to be more cuddly?

Today, Marissa helped me decorate the tiniest Christmas tree ever. I used to have it in my bedroom as a kid, and my brother and sister and I even made "ornaments" to put on it! So now it's on our entryway table, and Marissa thinks it's pretty cute.

I didn't do any work this weekend, and they don't have any work for me until Friday, so I'm enjoying a short break from it. Not like it's hard, it's just nice to have time to do other things I want to do instead of having it hang over my head 'til it's done.

Well, we've got a lot going on between now and Christmas, but I hope I can at least try to keep up!

M & A

Marissa has been especially hysterical lately:

• Marissa was telling us about how K. bumped his lip at church and it was bleeding and he was crying. Then she said, "It was just, like, so sad!" (with just the right inflection in her voice) and I asked, "Did you feel bad for him?" and she said, "No!"

• ME: I love Ikea.
  MARISSA: Wanna hear the Ikea song?
  ME: What's the Ikea song?
  MARISSA: Ikea-us was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he...

• Marissa typed her very first word on a computer. She found each letter of her name and typed them all in! She was so proud. Now she keeps begging for a turn on the laptop...
  

• Somehow (and I have NO idea how) Marissa learned how to give "the look" to people. Lol. One night at dinner, she said "Daddy, watch this!" and she raised her eyebrows, opened her eyes up wide, and gave him "the look" and we just about died laughing. I give her "the look" when I'm waiting for a "thank you" or "please" or a better tone of voice. But it's much better when she gives it!
  

Arianna turned 9 months old today last Tuesday (I started writing this Tuesday, and I'm just getting around to finishing it the following Monday)!

• It's so weird to think of how much she's grown and changed in these 9 months, compared to the 9 months she grew inside of me. She's already hit every physical milestone, so pretty much the only milestone left is talking. That can wait for a while, as far as I'm concerned! Marissa talks enough for both of them these days.

• At her 9-month check-up, Arianna weighed 16 lbs 12 oz (10th percentile) and was 29 inches long (90th percentile)! Marissa weighed 16-9 and was only 27 inches long - that 2-inch height difference is throwing off all the sizing in the hand-me-down clothes! Arianna screamed her head off the entire time we were at the doctor's office. Even when nothing was being done to her! The second I tried to put her on the table to take her clothes off (before anyone even came in our room!) she was clinging to my neck and climbing up me. It was pitiful. The doctor was surprised to hear that she's walking already - she said she didn't even have it on her developmental checklist so she had to write it in! (Anybody know offhand if there's a height/length limit for infant car seat carriers? I need to look it up because for some reason I remember there being one, but I'm not sure...)
  

• Arianna is literally walking across the entire living room these days. She's getting fast too! Yesterday she walked from the middle of the living room all the way down the entryway, just grinning at me. It's probably about 10 feet maybe.
  

• We are having major sleep issues these days! She is chronically overtired (so am I) and I'm really struggling to find a way to fix us! She still doesn't fall asleep until 11:30 or later at night. So obviously I have to stay up with her until she does. Sometimes she falls asleep nursing, but not always, so I know that's not a huge issue. She's also been waking up a lot at night recently. She still (again) has a cold and sometimes her stuffy nose and coughing wake her up. But she also has trouble going back to sleep sometimes. That's the most frustrating thing of all. I don't care how many times she wakes up in the night (ok, that's a lie...) if she goes right back to sleep. But sometimes she'll be up for an hour - falling asleep, only to wake up as I put her back down, or wake up seconds after I get all warm in my bed again. She also has trouble taking good naps. I don't care when she naps, but she usually sleeps around 11 or 2, then again right after dinner. But she has a really hard time sleeping for longer than 45 minutes. She does have some good days (she took a 2 hour nap just the other day), but I can't figure out why some days are like that and some are horrible. I've tried turning her evening nap into bedtime, but all that did was make her wake up EVERY. SINGLE. HOUR. ALL. NIGHT. LONG. and that's just not worth it for either of us! She isn't miserable or grumpy, so it's not really affecting her mood that much, but it's affecting mine! She doesn't have a set time she wakes up in the morning, but Marissa does, so I don't get nearly enough sleep these days, and it's killing me. I never feel rested! I know I signed up for this as a mom, but the reality of it stinks! As I type this, she's asleep cuddled up on my chest. I had a million things to do this afternoon since I have editing work due Wednesday, and my parents are coming this weekend. But she needs her sleep, and I certainly don't mind a cuddly sleep baby! She won't be this way forever...
  

• She knows how to make it up to me though. She learned how to give kisses and cuddles, and it's so precious! If we ask for "kisses" she lunges forward, puts her mouth on our mouth, and licks away! It's so gross, but so cute because she loves doing it. And if we say "awwww" a certain way, she'll cuddle us for a nice long hug. She is the happiest girl and just amazes me every second of her life.

• The girls are playing so well together lately. Marissa "helps" Arianna walk, gives her hugs, shares her toys, chases her around the kitchen, pulls her around the kitchen (pulling a stool Arianna is holding onto, walking behind it) and Arianna gives Marissa kisses too. It's so fun to watch. Marissa very rarely even plays with her baby dolls now, because she has a real life baby to play with! (Although she's still asking for a brother!)

My stupid laptop basically died the other day, so Dan installed a new operating system (Ubuntu) on it. It's weird to get used to, but now things are working more smoothly. So that's why I haven't been able to be on here as often. I already have more pictures to upload from the camera, but I can't do that with a sleeping baby on my lap, so they will have to wait!


Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, just the four of us. It was the first time we've had a "vacation" at home without any visitors, and it was so relaxing. Marissa was excited to watch Sesame Street with Daddy since he's always at work when she watches it. Dan and I made a great team making the Thanksgiving meal. He did the turkey, stuffing, and part of the apple crostada, and I did the mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and the dough for the crust of the crostada. Everything was so yummy, and we will be eating turkey for the next month! 11lbs is the smallest we could find! Arianna had a few extraordinarily horrible nights, but I caught up with a 2.5 hour nap Sunday afternoon. It was a little weird to not be with any extended family, but still fun. My parents are coming for a visit this weekend, and we'll see Dan's parents for Christmas in Georgia (unpleasant memory: last time we went to Georgia for Christmas I had just had my 2nd miscarriage).

I don't want to end this long post with that last sentence, but I think I've run out of things to say! Arianna is still asleep on my lap, and I just hate to move her. Guess I'll look around on the computer for something else to occupy my time!

Arianna walking 11/8/09 at OneTrueMedia.com

Arianna is 8 months, 1 week, and 5 days old. Sunday afternoon she started walking!

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Busy!

Well, it's not quite 11pm, Monday night. Arianna is asleep (for now) MUCH earlier than normal, so I thought I'd try to write a quick post. Dan is asleep too, so I'm sitting in the hallway on the floor, using the laptop - the keys are loud, and the mouse-click button squeaks. Lol. Strangely enough, Marissa is still wide awake! She took an extra long nap today for some reason (slept til 4:30!), so I'm not too concerned. But we actually have to get up and go somewhere tomorrow morning, so hopefully she falls asleep soon! I'm still amazed that she's completely dry in her underwear every night now. We used to wake her up to go potty before we went to sleep, but I haven't done that in a while, and she's still been fine! It seems so weird to me that she's old enough to be so responsible!

I got up this morning and got ready to go in to work and drop off the work I did over the weekend. While I was getting ready, I got a call from Cheryl at work, asking me if I could come in tomorrow (Tuesday) instead of today. She said they'd be getting a ton more work today, and I could take some home to do Tuesday night, bring it back and get more Wednesday, and then bring that back on Friday to get my usual weekend work. I don't usually do any during the week, but another girl is going to be gone, and it's at the end of one of their deadlines. Hopefully it won't be too much (I can still tell them how much I want).

Before I found out that I was going to be doing work during the week, we had already planned two play dates. Tomorrow we're going over to my friend Susan's house so we can chat and Marissa can play with her 3 year old. They get along so well, and after they left last time, Marissa cried! Anyways, we'll spend the morning there, and then stop by my work to quickly log in/out all my papers. Then Thursday we're going over to Kate's house (married to Aaron who used to work with Dan). She has a 4 year old boy name Trevor, and an 18-month old girl named Shaelyn (and I'm sure I'm spelling that wrong). Trevor is crazy, but I think it's mostly BOY. Lol. He and Marissa have a blast too, but we haven't even seen them since Arianna was tiny and stayed on a blanket all day! (Did she really used to stay in one place??!)

Wednesday we have to go in to my work to log in/out, and then it's Cubbies night at church for Marissa. And today I got a call from a friend from church who just had a baby recently. Friday we are going to watch her 3 year old boy named Cole while she takes the baby to an appointment, and then I'll have to go in to work sometime that afternoon. He's a sweet boy, but also crazy! He and Marissa had a fun time playing the other night when we all got together for pizza before Cubbies, so I think we're going to try to get together more often.

Phew! That wore me out just typing up our week! Today as I realized all the stuff we'd be doing all week, I started to get overwhelmed. So I actually did work while the girls napped today. Usually I reserve that time for ME time. But today I dusted like crazy (NOT my favorite chore), cleaned the downstairs windows, and picked up some of the junk we tend to leave on our entryway table. Then tonight, Dan took the girls grocery shopping (his task, since he's the Coupon King), and I cooked up some baby food for Arianna. I just used canned veggies and fruit, and mashed them to mush in the food processor. It was a whole lot easier than I was expecting, and I realized that it would be helpful if I had more ice cube trays! I got peas, green beans, potatoes, and peaches done. That should last us a while, since I'm still introducing her to things gradually. She's really only had rice cereal, oatmeal, carrots, applesauce, and apple/prune juice mixed into her cereal. I just mashed the carrots with a fork on a plate and froze a ton in the ice cube trays a while back. But I tried to mash peas on a plate and it did NOT work. Lol. So now we have tons of new stuff for her to try! It was actually kinda fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing how she reacts to each new food.

Arianna's been letting go of furniture these days and standing completely unassisted for LONG periods of time. It's so funny to see her standing all by herself, using both hands to play with something! Marissa "cruised" for over 4 straight months, so it's possible Arianna will also take this last "step" slowly. But there are times when it looks like she's about to take off already, and I'm not ready! She's also still had this annoying runny nose and cough for quite a while now. The nose thing comes and goes - some days she doesn't have any problems, and other days I can't keep the snot from running down her face! The cough is pretty consistent though - consistently wakes/keeps her up at night - and it's REALLY getting on my nerves! She's totally happy and doesn't care at all, but I do! I don't particularly want to go in to the doctor's office and expose the girls to all those germs there, but I don't want this cough to keep going either. I'm already worried about going in there for her 9-month check-up at the end of November...speaking of...she's 8 months old! We got the email saying what babies this age are normally doing developmentally, and Dan and I just had to laugh: "As your baby's muscles are becoming stronger, she's apt to lunge forward onto all fours from a sitting position. She may go into a "precrawl" exercise, rocking back and forth on hands and knees with her trunk parallel to the floor. Most babies begin to crawl between 7 and 10 months." She's been crawling since 5 months! Our living room constantly looks like a toy bomb went off in it, and it's mostly from Arianna pulling EVERY SINGLE TOY out of her ottoman/toy box (which she has now fallen into twice - so funny! I got a picture the 2nd time, it's coming, don't worry!). She is a joy, but she is sure a handful!

Well, I really should take advantage of Arianna's early night and go to bed before she wakes up again (she is NOT sleeping well these days, so therefore neither am I!). Although, I'm a little hesitant to go to bed with Marissa still wide awake (it's now 11:13)...

My chair makeover

My $3 garage sale chair (I tested the spray paint at the top. The whole chair was all tan/speckly.)
After I removed the seat, and began taking staples out
Beginning to re-upholster the seat. I used an old sweatshirt of my dad's (from the 70's? It had batting in it - odd) to reinforce the cushion and make it look smoother. (It's sitting on 1 out of 2 of my FREE wingback chairs - with an old sheet over it - that I will also eventually reupholster when I have the money for 14+ yards of gorgeous fabric!)
The final seat. This was the skirt I wore to my college graduation. I CLEARLY do not fit in it anymore. Lol. But I love the colors. I want to eventually buy some cool orange fabric, but for now, this will do (and it was free!)(I LOVE using a staple gun. So much POWER! Lol.)
Cedarville University, May 2005
Close-ups of the original finishStripping and sanding: I used Dan's spray stripper (he used it for the bicycle he re-painted) and scrubbed it with steel wool. There was yellow paint under the spotted finish, then white primer under that. I didn't have the time, energy, or amount of spray stripper to take it completely down to the bare wood on the whole thing, so I made it my goal to at least get most of the yellow off.
Primed with left-over tinted primer from painting the basement dark maroon.
After 2-3 coats of glossy black spray paint. I had some left in a can of Krylon, but it ran out before it was covered, so I had to buy another can. We had a gift card to Home Depot, so it ended up being Rustoleum brand instead.
Screwed the seat back in (When I screwed it into the old holes, it wasn't centered! So I re-screwed my own holes to center it.)
Trying it out in the mudroom, it's original intended location. I couldn't decide if I wanted it on the left wall, the right wall, or in the corner. But I ended up not liking it there at all, especially because it would slide every time someone sat in it, and mark up the wall behind it.

Final location: right inside the front door. I love it here because Dan walks in from work, and doesn't have to walk all over the carpet to remove his shoes in his recliner!

One more time...
BEFORE: ugly, faded seat, speckly finish

AFTER: modern, bold, fun print

Holy heart attack

Last night, I was putting Marissa to bed, and Dan was finishing putting groceries away. He said he only wasn't watching Arianna for a minute, and then he went looking for her around the corner of the entryway, then around by the front door, and then he heard her on the stairs. She had just climbed up 3/4 of our full staircase in about 2 seconds!!! We already have a gate at the bottom of the stairs, so now we need to close it! We hadn't been closing it because I've been watching her try to climb up the stairs, and she couldn't, and also because Marissa can't open it. I'm still freaking out every time I think about it. I had just finished putting Marissa to bed and was walking towards the stairs when I heard Dan calling "Arianna?" and then I heard him freaking out and as I turned the corner I saw him dash up the stairs to her. When he heard her, he poked his head around the corner to look up the stairs, and she turned around to grin at him, and somehow managed not to fall! This child is certainly keeping us on our toes!

In other news, I think I forgot to mention that her first tooth poked through last week, and her second did today (bottom front)! She had a lot harder time with it than Marissa ever did - we didn't even know Marissa was getting teeth when it happened! But Arianna was pretty upset for a few days when it was first popping through.

We also just recently started her on mushy food! We're taking it kinda slow, but she's been eating rice cereal for about a month. I didn't want to introduce too many things at once, so she's only had applesauce and carrots so far. I'm "making" her food, so I'm basically just mushing up adult cooked veggies for now. Eventually I'd like to make a huge batch of them and freeze them. But that just sounds like an ordeal! Anyways, I just mashed up carrots and she LOVES them! She's even able to eat them with chunks in them, which surprises me. I've also been trying to give her applesauce, but she will have NO part in it! It's so weird, because even unsweetened applesauce is sweet! The LOCKDOWN babies manage to do with their mouths is impressive!

Rach was here for her fall break this past weekend. It was loads of fun, and the girls loved every second of it too. Unfortunately, the house suffered. Lol. I still have dishes and picking up to do to catch up from being busy all weekend. We went to a bonfire with our church group Saturday night, and it was really fun too. Marissa ate and ate and ate and still kept whining that she was still hungry. Sometimes she won't eat 2 bites of something, and other times she won't stop! Sunday, around 4-5am, Arianna decided she didn't really need any more sleep. Lol. She wasn't wide awake, and she wasn't upset or anything. She just wouldn't stay asleep! I ended up sleeping in and skipping church, and Arianna and I ended the morning around 11, together in my bed. It was wonderful to cuddle with her, and get that extra sleep! I also managed to do about 5 hours of work this weekend. So I guess I was pretty busy!

Well, I figured I'd do a quick post, since I've been slacking on here lately. I have before, during, and after pictures of a project I've been working on, so that'll be my next post!

*EDIT* I forgot one of my favorite events of the weekend: I got a professional massage! It was a Christmas gift last year when I was hugely pregnant, so obviously I didn't go right away. And then Arianna needed to nurse all the time, so I waited some more. And since my sister was in town, I didn't have to wait to do it on a Saturday when they are usually very busy. It was at the massage place I worked at for a few weeks last summer, and I had no idea their massage tables were heated! I'm glad I waited til it was cold, because that's one feature I wouldn't have wanted to miss! It was the MOST relaxing 45 minutes of my life, and I'm still trying to figure out a way I can go EVERY week, since it's right by the place I pick up/drop off my work on Mondays and Fridays. It was heavenly!

Rach and I also went to a Mark Lowry concert. He's a Christian singer/comedian that we LOVED when we were kids, and he was in town! Granted, he's a little older now, and certainly not quite the same style we like now, but it was still lots of fun!

New job, 7 months, video

Dan got a new job! His current company used to be right in town, but then they closed down that location. When that happened, most of his co-workers lost their jobs, and only had their weeks of severance. But he was offered a position sticking with them, in a different location 45 miles away. He took it, for stability, but the drive has been killing him (up at 6:15am, home around 6pm, depending on traffic (through two "big" cities, and major construction the whole way). He's been hoping to get something closer, and he just got offered a position. It's literally 7 minutes away, right outside the city, with the only construction right outside our neighborhood! It's networking support for local school districts, which isn't his specialty, but he knows it well enough and is a quick learner. With a nice raise, and SUPER awesome benefits, we're both so excited about it! He gave his two-week notice and they were really nice about it. Good job, hubby! I can't wait til he starts, and he'll be home at 4:40pm every day!

Arianna is 7 months old! We've been busy (doing what, I don't know), and I've been slacking off on the pictures. HOWEVER, I do have a few videos. This child is hysterical and waaaay too mobile for her age! She is still toothless, but I love her grin!

She ushered in her 7-month birthday with a bang. She was asleep in her bed for a bit, then woke up, and cried. And cried and cried and cried. And sobbed. And just wouldn't stop! It was so upsetting. And then she threw up. Twice. That was so sad. I was crying. She was a mess, there was puke all over both of us, and all over my bed. I think after the threw up, she felt a little better, and I managed to convince her to fall asleep in my arms to rocking and singing. But she wouldn't stay asleep no matter where I put her. So she ended up sleeping on me, draped over my stomach, til 5am. That was extremely uncomfortable, but it worked. I dozed a little. I tried to move her several times, but she just couldn't handle it! Finally around 5am, she stayed asleep next to me on our king-sized bed. I put pillows up all around her, and I fell asleep with my hand right next to her so I'd wake up if she moved too much. We both slept very well until Marissa woke me up around 8:15. And now Arianna is completely fine! She just had a huge poopy blowout, so I did a huge load of laundry - wet clothes from Marissa's (rare) accident yesterday, poopy clothes from Arianna, and pukey towels, clothes, and sheets! But Arianna is playing on the floor, crawling around and nursing like nothing ever happened! PHEW! Both girls had been coughing though. So when Arianna started throwing up, I thought for sure I'd wake up to Marissa doing the same thing at some point in the night. Especially since she woke me up yesterday saying she thought she was going to throw up because she was hiccuping so hard! She's been hiccuping AT LEAST 5x a day. Weird. But she's still coughing, and nothing else. Dan actually wasn't even here that night*, which was probably a good thing. He wouldn't have been able to sleep at all with all the crying, and I wouldn't have had enough room in the bed for the way we ended up sleeping.

*Dan's story: Wednesday he called me at 7:30am, when he was supposed to be getting to work. Two minutes from his work, he was driving, and all of a sudden his driver side front tie rods or ball joint (I don't have a clue what either of those are) just broke and he careened out of control into the opposite lane where NO cars were coming. He called for a number for a tow truck, and he got a ride to work from a police officer. This is what he said "If I didn't have to fill up with gas this morning because of Awana tonight, if Speedway's computers hadn't been screwed up and put me 10 minutes behind, then the traffic wouldn't have been bad and I wouldnt have gotten off the highway [early], and that would have happened going 70 mph. Even getting off at that road, it is a 6-lane road and there were no cars in the the oncoming lanes when I went through any of them." I am SO thankful he was safe. He was extremely shook up, with good reason. $650 later, he stayed overnight with Timmy (since he lives very close to their work) instead of us going to get him (45 miles there, 45 miles back) and take him in this morning (45 miles there, 45 miles back).

Also that same morning, Marissa came downstairs before me to get a drink, and yelled up the stairs "Mommy, what happened? There's a huge puddle in the kitchen!" Well, it rained last night and somehow the sliding door crack/track was full of water and had overflowed to the floor and was flowing across the whole kitchen. It missed the floorboards though, thankfully. But it took all day to dry in the track, since I couldn't exactly get a towel down there all the way.

Both girls are still coughing today, but Marissa is still fine other than that. However, she's SLEEPING like CRAZY! She slept in til 8:40 one morning, which is unheard of. And she took a nap til 4:45 and she'd been napping since 2. She usually wakes up in the morning at 7:30 or earlier, and usually only naps til 3:30 (if she falls asleep at all!). Arianna had a rough time falling asleep last night, and just cried for a little while, but no more throwing up (it must have just been a combo of crying so hard, and all the mucus in her throat), and she slept 10 hours straight last night - and so did I! Dan hasn't felt very well for a few days now too though. Hopefully I'll manage to avoid whatever this is! I've got around 5-6 hours of work to do this weekend, and other than that it should be nice and relaxing. Dan starts his new job on Tuesday!

I'll leave you with a video of Arianna getting into everything!

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Dyson - DC24 ($499)

One of the sites I read, My Wee View, is giving away a DYSON! I'm trying so hard to win, and you can too. Just go here to read all about it:
Dyson - DC24 ($499)

A tribute to my oldest

So it's very late, and I should be in bed, especially since Arianna is actually asleep. But I'm feeling very proud of Marissa lately, and I wanted to share. Tonight is the 4th or 5th night she's been dry all night, wearing underwear to bed. I know, it's not that big of a deal. But her pull-ups used to be SOAKED every morning. She's been dry for nap for a while now, and we just decided to go for it and try nighttime too. I was worried, because she was just always soaked by morning. But I figured if she was wearing underwear, she'd realize it and stay dry, and she has! She did have an accident one night at 5am (a BIG one!), but I cleaned it up (she offered to help, how sweet is that?!) and she was dry the rest of that night/morning, and has been since. It's so weird to check on her at night and see her in a nightgown and underwear. When did she get so big?

She's also suddenly old enough to decide if she wants to watch a certain tv show now, or wait til later to watch a different one. Or to say she'd rather play with play-doh now, and watch a certain show later. She helps me remember to do tons of stuff (my memory is still awful). She knows what things are her responsibility (even knows/understands the word), like putting her drinks away when she's done, or turning off her nightlight after nap/bed. She knows TONS of song lyrics, which just blows my mind. She's been singing along to our music in the car, and it's so precious. It's not kiddie music, it's adult christian music, and she loves it! Lately, she's become confident enough to start picking up Arianna. I've had to give her limits about it (ask first, NOT on the hard kitchen floor), but she loves it, and loves to just give hugs all the time. Today we took turns giving back massages with a play kitchen rolling pin. Her imagination is incredible, and she uses it alllllllllll the time. She loves to help around the house, and is always asking what she can do to help. She helps pick up toys so we can vacuum. She puts her own laundry in the dirty clothes. She helps me put the dirty clothes in the washer, and even asks (every time we're upstairs) if we need to do some laundry. She knows what toys are ok for Arianna to play with, and if she's not sure, she asks me before giving it to her. She still asks to change Arianna's diaper a lot. I don't let her very often, but when I do, she LOVES every second of it! She does it exactly right, and even remembers to clean up when she's done. She goes potty whenever she needs to still, no accidents. She doesn't need any reminders of what to do (wipe, pull up underwear/pants, flush, wash hands) and does them all, every time. She is a strategic planner. When Dan's parents were here, she wanted so badly to ride with them somehow. But they had a truck, and our car is very limited with both car seats in it. But she talked through about 10 different possible scenarios that would allow her to ride with one or both of them. We were cracking up!

I love how she can tell me everything she did and everything that happened at church. How this boy wasn't listening, and this girl took a toy out of this other girl's hand, and Mr. R was her teacher but not Mrs. L because she had to work at the hospital today, and she cried a little because she wanted to play with Daddy but then she stopped. Lately she's been sobbing hysterically because she wants me to put her to bed every night. I'm not really sure what that's about, since Dan and I have ALWAYS taken turns, but it's heartbreaking to listen to. But all day when Dan is at work, she says how much she misses Daddy, and when he gets home from work, she is SO excited to see him! She runs to the door, and hugs him as soon as he walks in.

I love her so much and life would certainly be dull without her in it! She doesn't ever stop talking/singing/imagining, and I love watching her grow up.

Shocking

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Arianna: 6 months, 1 week, 6 days
0:40 - crawling
2:17 - pulling up
2:30 - standing up
3:18 - pulling up... Read More
3:45 - standing up NO HANDS!

Ready for this?

Ok, I have ALLL afternoon, both girls are sleeping, and the only housework I'm neglecting is dishes. So I'm dedicating the afternoon to Ketchup.
Coming up:

1. Arianna is 6 months old!
2. My new job
3. Marissa is crazy! And staying dry for nap!

First up: Arianna turned 6 months old last Monday. I can barely believe it! It seems like she was just born! But she DEFINITELY isn't my baby anymore. I seem to have already developed "baby fever" and I think it's because she was only a "baby" for 4 months! Some of her accomplishements:

• Roll any/all directions
• Sit up completely unassisted for as long as she wants to
• Go from sitting to crawling position unassisted
• Go from crawling position to sitting up completely unassisted
• Crawl FAST in the traditional crawling position (army crawling is SO last month!)
• Pull up to her knees on the couch/chairs/toy piano unassisted
• Pull up to standing on the couch/chairs/toy piano unassisted, and remain standing as long as she wants to (10 minutes today while I kept track)
• Walk along the couch/toy piano to reach a toy she wants
• Pass toys from hand to hand to mouth to hand, etc.
• Pull up to standing in her crib
• Give Mommy a heart attack 53 times a day

Her recent favorite spot is under the dining room table, where she attempts to crawl in/under/around/through the chair legs. I am grateful that she doesn't know how to pick up tiny crumbs yet, but they still stick to her hands because they're always wet from chewing on them. But she gets stuck under the chairs EVERY TIME, and I have to untangle her. She gets mad when she's stuck, and she gets madder when I untangle her because it's so hard to get her out of those positions without bumping her on something! I'm amazed she doesn't have a black/blue face all the time. She is A LOT tougher than Marissa ever was (or is now!). The other day, she pulled up to standing in her crib (she can't reach the top bar so I don't know how she has the strength to do it), then totally let go with both hands! She stayed up for about a second, then smashed face-first into the bars! When she gets hurt, she screams for about a minute, then moves on to try it again. I don't know how much more of this my heart can take! She also crawls down the entry hallway, and tries to get into all the shoes there and in the mudroom. It's so gross there, so I'm trying to figure out a way to block her from those areas without blocking everyone else, but they're not good "gate areas". So I don't know what to do!
She is still the happiest baby alive, and smiles any time she gets the chance. She loves to giggle, and especially likes to play rough like tickling and knocking her over. We started rice cereal about a week ago, and her first reaction was awesome: She lunged in to get the spoon with her mouth, before she even knew what it was! We knew she was ready, since she kept trying to get everyone's food while we were in NY, but I really prefer to wait until 6 months. She isn't eating a lot of it, but she's doing much better keeping it in her mouth already. We'll take things slowly, and maybe start veggies around 7 months. She actually managed to drink some water from a sippy cup the other day, so we'll keep working on that. She's still nursing a lot, which I love. More on that later. She is still staying up way too late most of the time, but every once in a while she'll be in bed around 9:30 and it gives me hope for the future! No matter what time she goes to bed though, she sleeps all night (if she wakes up, it's only once), and I usually have to wake her around 9. She'll sleep 12 hours straight if I let her. Such a dream baby!

Second: I am still working my part-time at-home job. If I didn't mention it, it's editing surveys from bank mystery shoppers. It's weird, but pretty easy. Last week, for training, I ended up having to go into the office for 2 hours everyday. My friend Susan graciously agreed to watch the girls (her daughter is 3 and is great friends with Marissa) while I worked. They originally wanted me for 4 hours each day, but I knew Arianna couldn't go that long without nursing (and she won't take a bottle, never has), so they were flexible with me. It was so weird for me to get up early, get us all ready, drop the girls off, and go to work! I knew they were having a great time, and I completely trust Susan, but I never thought I'd have a need for childcare while I worked. Marissa and Ingrid had the time of their lives all week. Each day she wanted to stay longer, instead of going home with me! But my favorite part about it all was Arianna. She was perfectly content to stay and play at their house (and apparently Ingrid LOVED having a baby around!). But each day, as I walked in the door to pick them up, she LUNGED out of Susan's arms to get to me! She buried her face in my shoulder for a minute, then immediately started pulling at my shirt! Now, there's no way she was starving for food, since I fed her the second before I left each day. But she just missed me! It was a weird thing for me, since I've barely ever left my girls for anything. But those few hours of work in an office were worth it just to see how much she missed me
Anyways, the training went fine, and they sent me home with "real" work this weekend. They said it would take about 5 hours, which is what I was hoping for (at least this weekend, since Dan was going to be away - I'm hoping for a lot more on regular weekends), but it only took me about 3. So either everyone else that does this same job inflates their time spent, or I was a lot faster than they are. It's easy though, and doesn't take a lot of thought. I couldn't have done it more carefully, but I was still worried that I finished so quickly! I'm not sure if I'll be able to do any during the week (since I need a few hours' worth to make it worth the half-hour drive over there to pick up/drop off), but I'll mostly be working over the weekends. The girls came with me this morning to drop off my weekend work, and Marissa did great waiting while I logged in and out of the computer. Unfortunately, Arianna screamed her head off hysterically the entire drive over there and back. I'm going to try to plan our drive there a little later next time, so Arianna can be napping instead of screaming!

Third: Marissa never stops cracking us up! Since we did a lot of driving when I was working last week, we hit a lot of traffic, and were almost always running late (I invented the phrase "two-kid-time-warp" - and I'm sure it gets exponentially worse with more kids!). Marissa is a (great) backseat driver, and multiple times said things like "Come on cars! Don't you know how to drive?" (not my favorite, we had a chat about how that was wrong, even if Mommy and Daddy say it, like she insisted - lol) and "Come on, red light!" She is also very observant, and continually surprises me by what's going on in her head. Yesterday, she commented on how the mouth on her Elmo chair looks like the same shape as our banana net on the counter, and she also spotted a "T" in the dirt near construction. The only "T" I saw was two pieces of concrete piled loosely in that shape. She knows basically all of the ABC's, and we're learning what sounds different words start with. I'm starting to feel guilty that we can't afford preschool for her this year, but I fully intend to work with her, since I have a Early Ed. degree anways! I'm also hoping to start up mini piano lessons with her sometime soon, since she's shown an interest in learning to play.
She doesn't have any potty accidents still. And she's been dry for nap for a while now, which really surprises me. I did some reading online, and it seemed like most kids weren't dry during sleeping til 4 or 5, but then some people didn't even know that kids didn't have to be night-trained too. She was also dry this morning, so we're really hoping to be able to stop buying expensive pull-ups!

Well, that's all. I'm putting pictures up on my Xanga and Facebook if you know me there.

Long trip, and ketchup

Well, I can't believe it's happened, but I've been too busy to post! I think it's been almost a month, and now there is just too much to catch up on. I know the grandparents are waiting for pictures, but I'll have to get to those another time. I know my time to blog today is short, so I'll go with bullets and some reminders of what to post when I find the time!

• We went to NY to visit my parents, brother, and sister. We were there for a week, then Dan had to come home because he couldn't take any more time off work. But the girls and I stayed for another whole week, and drove back with my sister, who was coming out to visit us anyway on her way back to college. The girls and I were gone for 2 whole weeks, and I missed church for 3 weeks in a row! It was a really long time to be away (Marissa told me she missed her toys!), but it was such a fun trip! I was able to visit my parents' church and spend TONS of time with my grandparents, who I hadn't seen in way too long. I also ate a bunch of location-specific food items (I really missed spiedies, Perry's Mint Ting-a-Ling ice cream, my mom's Fudge Sundae Pie, and Nirchi's buffalo chicken pizza - YUM!), and got to swim in my old neighborhood pool that I practically grew up in. It was a great trip, even though my family wasn't able to take off work while we were there. Everybody loved the girls, the girls loved everybody, and were spoiled by all the wonderful things we did (and ate!).
• While we were there, my sister cleaned out her closet and gave me a ton of clothes - fun! And we went shopping for the girls and got them a bunch of clothes they needed. I think Arianna will be just fine with her clothes for the cooler seasons, but I realized this morning that Marissa is still going to need some long-sleeve shirts and dresses. It's funny how you don't realize how much they've grown until you pull something out from their closet and just laugh at the size of it!
• We went swimming a TON, but it was so frustrating for me! Marissa was a total wimp, and was just terrified of the pool. She refused to leave the steps most of the time we were there. By the time we left, she finally started blowing bubbles with her face in the water, and was brave enough to tilt her head back to get her hair wet. She actually jumped in to someone a few times one day, but I think the only reason she did that was because there was another 3 year old there who was wearing goggles and swimming underwater without any help at all! It inspired Marissa, and she got brave while wearing some floaties. But after that, she was back to her wimpy self. I know it's to be expected, especially since we don't have a pool out here, and she doesn't even take regular baths (she's always preferred a "shower"-type thing). But next summer, she'd better watch out - I'm going to teach her to swim if it's the last thing I do!
• Arianna LOVED the pool. It was hysterical to watch her splash her hands like crazy, getting water all over her face, and grinning the whole time.
• Dan and I went on a date to Red Lobster with a gift card we had left from our anniversary. It was SOOO yummy, and it was so enjoyable to eat a quiet meal by ourselves!
• Rach and I went to a movie one night too. I had a free ticket, and it was fun to go out together!
• I have a part-time, at-home job now. I kinda just started, and I'm still not sure how it's all going to work out. But a friend of ours kinda got my foot in the door, and it was an easy hiring process. It's basically editing surveys for mystery shoppers (that's the best way I can describe it), and it's really pretty easy. The only problem right now is I have to drive a half hour to pick up the materials, and drop them off the next day. That would not be too bad in itself, but I also have to meet with somebody while I'm there to go over some of the edits on the surveys, so I can't just leave the girls in the car. I'm trying to find a way around it, but for now I've got a friend that can watch the girls for an hour while I drive over there and back. It's really annoying, because I really only need about 10 minutes to myself once I'm there. But so far I like it, and it's fast, easy money. I'm still looking for a nanny job, but maybe this will be enough for a while, since I can choose how many hours I work.
• Marissa starts Cubbies this week! I'm so excited for her, and I know she'll love it too. But this morning at church, she was a mess! She missed 2 Sundays when we were in NY, and last Sunday, Dan took her and I stayed home (since we drove through the night to get home). She was a little upset last Sunday, but today she was inconsolable and it was hard for me to take! She ended up sitting with me in our class, and then went to her class for the second half of the morning (she LOVES her teacher in the second half). Dan was teaching our class today though, and half-way through his lesson, a lady poked her head in our door and was holding Arianna! She was having a hard morning too, so I ended up taking both girls for a while. Marissa came with me to the nursing room, and after she ate, Arianna was fine. But it was a weird day. I'm scared to tell Marissa that she'll be moving up to the 3s class next Sunday - she's really gonna miss her teacher (Miss Pauline), and hopefully she gets over her sadness too!
• Wow, I can't believe Marissa is still asleep! We had a few days of late nights and no naps, so she's been making up for it lately!
• A friend and I are swapping child-care (same friend who will watch my girls when I drive to work), and so her daughter was here for a few hours the other night. Ingrid and Marissa are both 3, and they have a blast together! They giggled the whole time, read books to each other, and Marissa bossed her around. Lol. They didn't really go to bed though (just stayed in her room and played), so Marissa was up til 10:45pm!
• She's awake now! Guess that's all you get. My sister was here all last week, and I'm still trying to catch up on laundry and putting things away from our trip. Hopefully this week will be a little less eventful! And hopefully I won't wait another whole month to post! Arianna will be 6 months old tomorrow, so I'd better get my act together for that at least!

5 months on Friday!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I am that person.

So I always said I would never be the person who said "I'm too busy for Xanga, so find me on Facebook instead..." But now I realize that's exactly what I've been doing! I don't have the time to sit down and write up a post, so it all gets condensed into 2-sentence blurbs on my Facebook status. Plus it's so much easier to upload pictures there, that I just don't have the motivation to upload them here too. But I know I'll regret it eventually, so I figured I should spend the time getting caught up. I figured I'd go back through my Facebook statuses (stati? statusi?) and basically do a bullet post to get caught up.

• It was soooooooo hot for a while here. We still aren't using our A/C, but it's been much more tolerable lately. For a while, we spent every possible second down in the cool basement. But with fewer toys and no food, it was limited!
  
  
• Marissa had a long stretch of time where she kept waking us up at (or before) 7am - and it was miserable. Finally, I managed to teach her to look for the number 7 in the first spot on her digital clock, and now we've moved on to the 8. She's allowed to get up and play in her room, but can't come out (except to go potty) until that magic number!
  
  
• I got a bunch of money for my birthday, and had a BLAST spending it all as fast as I could. Lol. Shopping is just so much fun for me, and in our money-saving kick, I haven't been able to do it in a while! I got a bunch of clothes for myself (desperately needed!) and a few decor items for our house (desperately wanted!) and it was so much fun!
  
  
• Arianna has been teething for several weeks now. I am shocked by this for a few reasons. First of all, it's pretty early! But mostly I'm shocked because Marissa didn't even make a peep for any of her teeth! Arianna has been a drooling, sucking, chewing mess! And just in the last few days, she's all of a sudden snotty and runny and all stuffed up in her nose. I've had to use the Blue Ball of Death several times, because she can barely breathe when she's nursing, so I feel like I just can't do anything to make her feel better! Somehow she manages to breathe just fine when she wants to suck her fingers though!
  
  
• We've had a few storm/tornado watches, and they always freak me out. I LOVE that our house has a basement, but if we're all sleeping upstairs I just don't trust any of us to wake up to the tornado sirens! I think very soon I will be investing in an emergency weather radio for my sanity.
  
  
• Arianna's been sleeping wonderfully still. She always sleeps 12 hours at night. For about a week now, she's been waking up once or twice to nurse, but always goes right back to sleep. I don't mind at all, since I've been getting enough sleep since she was born! I think it's probably related to her teeth/nose issues.
  
  
• I told Marissa that Michael Jackson sings "songs on the radio" (now sure how else to define him?) and her response was "is he scary?" I laughed. I ended up flipping on his memorial service, but I was so disgusted by it! Sure he was famous, and impacted the music world greatly. But he was NOT a god or an idol, and it was just sickening how people spoke of him that way.
  
  
• Marissa still cracks us up. For example, she is still stuck on having a baby brother! I really don't know where she came up with the idea, but she is persistent!

me: I don't want to eat your crust today. I'm all done eating.

Marissa: Is your belly all full?

me: Yup.

Marissa: Did God put another baby in your belly?

me: No, not yet.

Marissa: Why?

me: Because we already have a baby. Arianna is still a baby. Maybe when Arianna gets bigger.

Marissa: Hold on, let me call God. God, when Arianna gets bigger can we have another baby? Cuz I need a brudder (brother).

me: What did He say?

Marissa: He said not until Arianna gets bigger.

• My parents and grandparents came for 4 days last week. I spent a lot of time cleaning and organizing our house, and it felt so good! I have a problem though. I make these nice long lists of everything that needs to be done, with an initial next to whoever's job it is (Dan's or mine). And I get started on something, only to distract myself with something else that needs to be done but wasn't on the list. So I accomplished SO MUCH, but it took extra long to cross things off my list. Lol.
  
  
• I would also like to announce that my second daughter is also a sleep-talker. That makes me the only normal person in my family! I think it was a Saturday morning, since Dan was here, and my family was still visiting, so Arianna was sleeping in the p-n-p in our room. Her eyes were closed, she never woke up, but she was making noises like "ahhhhhh...mmmmmmm...uhhhhhhh" Dan went to her bed to get her, and she was still sound asleep!
  
  
• Dan has had a few episodes where he gets up and walks down the hall in his sleep. It's only been when I was awake and nursing Arianna in her room, but it freaks me out! I feel like I'm the only person I can count on in the middle of the night! Anybody know a cure for sleep-talking/walking? Lol.
  
  
• We decided to go downtown for fireworks on the 3rd. Marissa was up til 11:30pm that night, so we put her to bed at 7 the next night. 8:01pm she comes running down the stairs with her dress for church, all excited because "I can get out of bed, there's a snowman (the #8) on my clock! Let's get ready for church!" Hahaha...poor girl doesn't understand AM and PM yet!
  
  
• I am getting very excited for this weekend. I am going to paint Marissa's room medium purple, and then eventually add white and dark purple polka dots. She has been begging for "purple walls" for a long time, and I can't wait to see her reaction when she actually gets them!
  
  
• I took the girls to Marissa's first movie theater experience! Our local theater does free family movies during the summer, so we went to see Charlotte's Web. She loved it, and Arianna did great during it. But we got there a few minutes late so it was already dark in the theater. She didn't know that the orange lights mean stairs, so she tripped up the first stair. Then she thought there were lots more stairs, so she tried to climb up the stairs. But there weren't. So she was walking really funny. But she's still talking about "that big movie" and I'm looking forward to next week - Horton Hears a Who! I'm especially excited to take her to see the Veggie Tales pirate one in a few weeks, since she's so obsessed with all things pirate!
  
  
• Marissa has discovered that it will always be "ok" to go potty when she's supposed to be sleeping. We're sorta working on staying dry for nap and nighttime, so I never want to turn her request down just in case. She was awake til 10pm last night, when I went in to check on her before I went to bed! I would still call her a "good kid" but she's found ways to work around rules that I never would have thought of!
  
  
• This afternoon she asked me if we could "go to the bike store and buy a skateboard." Apparently there was an episode of Dragon Tales where Ord (?) used a skateboard a lot, and she is obsessed. She wraps play diapers around her knees for knee pads, and balances (quite impressively, I might add) on her baby car seat to "skateboard." Then when I told her we could not go buy one, she got really upset. She is strange. Lol.
  
  
• I am obsessed with Swagbucks. I've earned $30 in Amazon gift cards, and I just got a $5 Paypal gift card. All just for searching on their search engine instead of Google. If you'd like to join, please use my referral link:http://swagbucks.com/refer/rccalyn and I'll earn points every time you do! Then you can refer people, and earn points every time they do! I know, I know, I sound like a commercial, and it sounds too good to be true. I'm still kinda nervous that all of a sudden they're going to say "nevermind, you can't have the gift cards you earned." But it's working for me, and I'm saving up my Amazon cards to buy a handheld vaccuum. So exciting, I know. Lol. If you're confused, go here or here to find out more. Only one account per household. But don't forget to sign up from my referral link. Now I sound like a broken record. Lame.

I guess that about covers everything. Both girls are still sleeping...I just love a quiet house!