2013

I'm officially a failure at blogging. And I'm so used to typing on my phone (new Samsung Galaxy Note 2! Love it!) that I wait for auto correct to fix things on the computer! Arianna is sleeping, Roman is supposed to be sleeping, and Marissa is playing her My Little Pony game on the iPad (after some extra CC during naptime) so I'm going to try to get a quick update in!

• Still homeschooling, though we have yet to really get back into the routine of things after Thanksgiving and Christmas, and a super long break from CC. Marissa is starting to fight it, and seems to be getting bored with some things, so it's time to kick it up a notch! She understands most things so quickly, but also gets bored quickly. The only thing she's really struggling with is spelling, which we aren't even really focusing on. It's part of phonics to me though, and the English language is frustrating the crap out of me lately! Marissa totally understands phonics rules like long vowel/silent e. But uses them in the wrong words (rane=rain) and other than saying "it's just that way because it's that way" I don't know how to explain it any better. I like the phonics book  - it's very clear about rules/exceptions - I don't think that's the problem. It's just driving me crazy :-)
• I've been doing several pages of Kindergarten stuff with Arianna most days, and she whizzes through almost all of it. She can read most any CVC words and loves doing her "school." She'll turn 4 in February, and next year will start CC with us officially. Can't believe it! She's still very much a daddy's girl, and sometimes I just have to back away because I know I'm no good! She's still hilarious and full of imagination, so she and Marissa pretend pretty well together.
• Roman is finally starting to talk more and communicate things to us! It's been a long frustrating wait for it to happen though. The PACE therapist is still coming twice a month, though I don't really know for sure that it's helping - it certainly isn't hurting. He answers "good" when you ask how he is. He says "what" when you call his name. And knows the names of all of his favorite toys: cars, balls, truck, books, animal names - and most recently he's obsessed with the girls' My Little Ponies and calls them "moanies"  and makes them say "yee haaaww" - it's adorable! He's actually growing out of his clothes for a change, and with Christmas money from generous relatives, I fixed that problem :-) His winter coat is still a 12m, but in actual clothes he's wearing 18-24 month stuff.
• OH, ROMAN TURNED 2! He finally hit 21 lbs at his check up, and now I officially don't have any babies/toddlers in the nursery at church for the first time since Arianna was born. *sniff sniff*
• Speaking of Christmas, we had a wonderfully crazy holiday. My parents and sister and grandma drove out from NY for a (too short) visit, and then I randomly decided that I would drive back with them with the kids and visit for another week before CC started back up again. Unfortunately, Dan had to work in the middle of the holidays, so he couldn't come. Also unfortunately, we were predicted to get a GIANT snow storm here and then in NY too, during the planned traveling days. So at about 3pm on Christmas day, we decided we would try to leave ASAP before the snow hit OH and get to NY ahead of it. I hadn't packed a single thing, so I ran around like a maniac for 3 hours and we managed to leave at 6pm. We completely avoided all the snow, but didn't get to NY until 3am. But we left poor Dan all alone for the rest of Christmas AND his 30th birthday. We had a blast in NY though, and the kids loved playing in the snow. We got to see a bunch of extended family too, which was a bonus. The kids got SHOWERED with wonderful gifts from very generous family, and now I'm still working on finding our house and laundry room after all that chaos! (By the way, I LOVE shopping for clothes for the kids with Christmas present money. Haha!)
• Hmmm, I guess I never shared about this either: I had a miscarriage over Thanksgiving. We found out I was pregnant in October sometime (kinda forget now), but hadn't shared it with anyone. I got checked out kinda early for other reasons, and they were monitoring my levels (bloodwork - fun!) and the second they started to go down I just knew it. I had one good cry before we even found out for sure that it was over, and then I was ready to move on. Dan's parents came for Thanksgiving, which was amazing, especially since I was pretty much down for the count during that week. It was so nice to have the help, and the kids always love visiting with grandparents!
• I stopped babysitting the extra boys since they moved farther away. Roman was sad to not see the baby every week! He's so funny around babies.
• Roman also got his first haircut! Dan had a mowhawk at the time, so I went crazy and had Roman's hair cut into kind of a faux hawk. Roman thinks he is SO COOL when I gel his hair to look just like Daddy's! He begs me to do it and then goes around showing everyone!
• He's still an awesome sleeper, although it sounds like today he decided not to nap. Lol. He's singing and babbling away in his room, happy as a clam as usual. He was awesome even in NY, which surprised me, although it shouldn't have. He's just plain awesome.
• One of Marissa's main Christmas gifts from us was an mp3 player. She thinks she's so cool listening to music all the time, and we loaded it up with some of her favorites like Skillet and Flyleaf. Haha!

That's about all I can think of that's worth mentioning from the last few months. I'm giving up hope that I'll keep blogging regularly, but maybe I'll at least blog every few months? Haha!

*UPDATE* Can't believe I forgot to mention the best Christmas present ever: we got a DSLR! Again, thanks to generous relatives, we were able to find one we could afford, barely used on craigslist. It's a Canon Rebel t2i, and it's basically in perfect condition. The guy who owned it only used it once, and we got an extra lens and a giant carrying case and all the manuals for it. We've just been using it on manual mode right now, cuz I have no clue what I'm doing! But I hope to be able to learn how to really maximize the potential. It's already worth it though, because it takes pictures so quickly that the kids are actually not blurry and it takes much less time to get a good shot. I'm so excited to see where we can do with this new toy!

Well, we've been homeschooling for about a month now! It's going better than I expected with Marissa, and about what I expected with Arianna and Roman. I was expecting Marissa to fight me more when I asked her to work on things, but that really hasn't been much of an issue. She's interested in just about everything we work on, and works hard and relatively efficiently. We're on week 5 of Classical Conversations material, and so far I really love the program and community. We meet once a week, on Fridays, and Marissa's tutor goes over the new material for the following week, do a science project and art/music, and reviews previous weeks' material. Arianna and Roman do great in the nursery, and I enjoy talking with the other moms while we observe the class. It's challenging for me to learn the material, and fun for us to memorize it together. We have the CD of everything in the car, and even Arianna is picking up on a lot of it! We have separate phonics and math books, and they seem to be just about right for Marissa.
We start each day with breakfast and Super Why. Then we head downstairs to the schoolroom/playroom. Marissa and I work at the desk, and Arianna and Roman have a little table and play area. We work on memorizing the CC material, and learning map locations for CC. Then a few pages of math (she likes to do more sometimes!) and then some phonics/writing practice. I have her read word families, and we're reinforcing short vowel sounds right now. Then she writes sentences for some of the words we read, or I give her a "spelling test" with some of the words we read. Then (if Arianna and Roman let us have time) we expand on a subject. We've been making a science book about all the classifications of animals. This gives her a chance for some crafting (her favorite thing ever!) and is a little more fun than just memorizing the facts (which we get from CC). Usually by this time, Arianna and Roman are no longer playing nicely, so we head upstairs for free play before lunch. I try to keep them busy with puff ball games, coloring, balls, trains, and Arianna practices her letters on a white board or uses her alphabet tracing notebook. But this only lasts so long! It's definitely the most challenging aspect of homeschooling so far!
After lunch, I put Arianna and Roman down for nap (although Arianna seems to be getting out of this need, boohoo!), and Marissa and I have a while to ourselves. She does typing lessons on the computer, and we sometimes explore different areas on our globe and google information about it. Or she'll pick a topic she's interested in lately, and we'll explore that. One week we went to the Butterfly House at a local gardens, and so we researched Monarchs and everything about them. One day she informed me she wanted to learn how electricity works, so we attempted to figure that out. Lol. She wanted to learn how to tell time on an analog clock, so we've been working on that, and she plays a clock game on the computer to work on that. There's also tutorials and songs for CC material online, so we take some time to listen to those and work through the tutorials. Then she gets some free time on the computer while I get some free time, and her school day is over!
Today is Tuesday, which means I'm watching A (3 like Arianna) and R (5 months) for some friends. It means extra crazy days, and less actual school time, but we make up for it throughout the week. Right now I got all 4 younger kids down for nap (who knows if Arianna's actually sleeping though!), and Marissa is on the computer so I have some time to breathe. Haha. It's definitely challenging, but one day a week is definitely do-able, and they're good kids.
Roman is finally saying lots of words and getting a super funny personality, and it's so fun! He says bear, deer, doggie, ball, car, snack (na), mac (ma), mommy, daddy, bowl, and some others that I can't think of right now. He actually learned MINE today, from Arianna of course. Haha! He's so funny (especially around the baby) and still loves playing any kind of ball game, and driving his little cars around. He can be so goofy, and loves running around and crawling around (like jaguars) with the girls.
Arianna's still struggling with poop issues. But I'm not pursuing any kind of fix right now, just hoping time will help. She's so smart though, and I love watching her learn the CC stuff with us. She's getting really good at writing the letter A, and is very interested in writing her name.
Well, naptime is almost over and I need to prep for dinner tonight!

End of summer

Well, the summer's pretty much over already! This Friday starts our first Classical Conversations (CC) day, and officially kicks off our year of homeschooling for Marissa!We just finished up a fun weekend with Granny and Poppop, only a week after an extended trip to NY to visit with Grandma, Grandpa, Great-Grandma, and Rara. My PA grandparents, aunt and uncle from NH, and my brother and his wife also all drove to NY to visit while we were there. It's been a fun month of relatives, and we haven't had much downtime at all!
In NY, we spent a lot of time at the pool in the neighborhood that I grew up in, where my Grandma still lives. It felt so weird to go back there after all these years, and spend the afternoon swimming again! This year, by the end of our visit, all 3 kids finally started loving the water! Marissa finally gave up her floaties (after much convincing, and some "accidental" deflating - she hasn't actually needed them for a while), Arianna finally gave up on hysterical screaming, and Roman couldn't keep his face out of the water (as long as there was a ball nearby). I drove the kids out by myself (Dan used so much vacation time for Disney & Nicaragua, that he didn't have any left), and it went much better than I expected. We only stopped for dinner and gas, and made it in great time! The kids did great, and I didn't even go crazy! We spent one day at Toughannock State Park and ate lunch by the water, played on the playground, and hiked up to the falls with the kids.
Roman learned a bunch of new words while we were in NY (mail, bear, deer, birdie, fish, rara, and "grandma, grandpa" which both sound like rara, but he knew the difference). Just this week he also started saying car and poppop. He's still completely obsessed with all types of balls and games with balls. He now sleeps with a soft ball, and practices kicking and throwing balls against the walls. He's crazy good for a 20 month old (?!) and since I know I'm going to have to watch him play sports the rest of his life, I'm just glad he's so cute :-) He also discovered running while we were in NY, and he holds one arm sideways across his chest and runs so crazy!
Arianna's still having digestion issues, which means she's back in pull-ups so I don't go crazy. Wish we could figure this girl out, but I have a feeling we never will. She does everything 100% and all her emotions are extreme. I'm hoping we can do some school stuff with her and figure out how she works. Haha!
Marissa is excited about homeschooling, and we've started making a list of everything she wants to learn this year! I hope I'm up for the challenge...
I guess that's all for now!

Happy 4th!

Either life is too busy or I'm too lazy to keep this up. One or the other is true all the time. So I'll just start!
Yesterday I went shopping for 6 hours by myself. It was glorious. It was my treat because I survived 8 days of single parenting while Dan was in Nicaragua on a missions trip with church. I have quite a bit of birthday money, and I'm actually spending it slowly this time, instead of the usual "spend it all in one day then return things because I'm indecisive" thing I usually do. We also went to see fireworks with some friends last night til 11pm and the kids are all soooo tired today!
The month of June was crazy. Marissa had her last day of school and a school program. We had a few weeks of nothing, then we DROVE to Disney World with Dan's parents and bro & sis-in-law for a week. The kids did SO GREAT, and it was so much fun. But it was exhausting! Then we drove back through the night on Friday, and Dan left for Nicaragua Saturday morning for 8 days. It was hard to be without him, but my college roommate (Laureann) came for a few days with her two boys, and we had dinner with some friends, so that helped break it up. We have this week to catch up from that, and then next week is VBS (I'm watching babies again of course), the next week is "practicums" for me and Marissa to prepare for Classical Conversations homeschooling which starts the middle of August. And after practicums, I'm driving the kids to NY for a few weeks for an extended visit with everyone. I'm really excited about that visit, just not so much about the 9 hours of driving with no adult backup! Dan's taken so much time off from work in June that he just can't take any more yet.
Marissa's adjusting to being at home all day (and so am I). The kids play really well together most of the time, and when they're not, they're fighting of course! Marissa is in massive craft mode still, and makes the most creative things out of paper and tape. Lol. Arianna is doing pretty well with potty training - although we reverted to wearing a pullup all the time because of her ongoing poop issues. She's still on Miralax everyday, which usually does the trick, but for some reason it's not always perfect. Roman got a hold of her cup yesterday (while I was shopping, and Dan didn't realize which color cup was hers), and poor Roman had a miserable day with lots of nasty diapers! Arianna's talking so well, and copying Marissa like crazy. She knows all her letters and sounds, and busts out the most hilarious phrases, directly imitating the things Dan and I say (it's a good thing they're not bad phrases!). Roman still really only says "mommy" "ball" and barks and quacks. But he's trying. We're going to a class for him since he qualifies for help, but I'm not really sold on it, and am trying to get in-home help instead.
Roman and Arianna play like crazy together. And usually Arianna ends up knocking him down or injuring him in some way. While Dan was in Nicaragua, they were running down the hall, and A bumped R and he ran smack into the corner of the mudroom doorway with his forehead. It was BAD immediately, and I considered taking him to get stitches. It was super swollen but didn't really bleed very much, and it's scabbed over pretty well, so I think he's ok. But it was scary! He's still super sweet and cuddly, and such a wonderful sleeper. But he's definitely showing his age (19mo) lately...tantrums are starting!
This morning I turned in my weekly editing work for probably the last time ever! Between my vacations and their schedule and the ending of remote reviewers anyways, I am probably done. It was the most wonderful job for this time in my life and I loved the flexibility of it. But I will be soooo glad to have my evenings free after the kids go to bed!
I think that's all I can think of to update on. Wish I could have made the time to chronicle in detail our Disney trip, but at least we have pictures to remember it by! Maybe someday (in my free time - ha!) I'll get back to updating this more regularly. For now, I'm glad I at least do it once in a while.

MAY?!

Well, it's May, and Marissa only has 3 weeks left of school! This month is going very fast, especially when I think about how we're going to Disney in the middle of June - stress! We told the girls a few weeks ago, and they are excited, although I don't think they know just how much they should be excited. Haha! Marissa turned 6 and is seeming so old lately!

Recently, Wee Praise sang in church on a Sunday night. It's 3-5 year olds, and Arianna recently joined them when she turned 3. So Marissa and Arianna are in the same class Sunday nights, and we got to watch them sing a few songs on the stage. It was Arianna's first time singing on stage, and it was hilarious! She was wiggling and moving all around, playing with the giant floor speakers, and then she discovered that they were projecting video feed of them singing up on the wall behind them! It was so funny to watch her do all the motions, while looking everywhere except in front of her. Lol. We got a little of it on video. But I'm so sad we didn't catch the end on video, because it was by far the best part! After they finished their last song, everyone in the audience clapped, so the kids started clapping for themselves. Then once it was completely silent and they started to herd the kids off the stage, Arianna yelled "Yay, I did it Mommy!" We just about died laughing, but she was so proud!

Lately, Arianna and Roman have been playing kind crazily together. And Arianna has started to call him "Stinky Pee" - which is evidence that Toy Story 2 is one of her favorite movies. Haha! How is it possible that Roman is almost 18 months old?! This is the longest I've ever not been pregnant or trying. Marissa was 16 months when I had my first miscarriage, shortly after I had the 2nd miscarriage, then Arianna, and then I got pregnant with Roman when Arianna was 12 months old. Wow, my poor body. Lol.

Right now both little ones are sleeping, and I'm resting. I think I hurt my neck/back while painting, and I can't afford to wait to finish painting! Yesterday I couldn't move my head to the right at all, but it's slightly better today. So far, since Saturday, I've done 3 coats of primer over the bright/dark orange in the basement playroom. It's a really hard color to cover! Now it's time to start the pretty gray, but I know the gray will need at least 2 coats, if not 3. It's kinda overwhelming, but it will be so worth it to have a pretty room to use for homeschooling in the fall. We will be doing Classical Conversations, which is also overwhelming, but I'm excited to see how it all works and I'm sure I will be learning just as much as Marissa! She is also excited, but I'm slightly nervous about having that many hours in a day to fill with her. I'm hoping we can establish some sort of routine that helps break up the day.

For the month of May, I'm watching 2 little boys, 2 days a week. A is 3 just like Arianna, and R is barely 2 months old. It's definitely a challenge, but a good one, and it's nice to have spending money. They come to our house, so it's easy that way, and the 3 year olds play well together. The baby is pretty easy too, and I'm still able to get everyone to take a nice long nap in the afternoons at the same time! Both Arianna and Roman are obsessed with the baby, especially Roman, and it's so funny to watch them watch the baby. It surprised me how easy I've been able to add these 2 boys to our family on those days, and it only reaffirms that I still eventually want one more baby. We'll see how that goes :-)

We recently purchased all the materials to make another shelf and a base for under the drying rack in the laundry room. I've designed them both completely on my own, and I really hope my measurements make sense when it comes time to assemble them! We finally cut them all to size, and once I paint them white, we can figure out how to put them together. Should be interesting.

Arianna went for a while where she did so awesome with going potty! It was such a relief, and I almost didn't take extra clothes for her to church on Sunday...well, she's had several (bad) accidents since then, and I'm back to being frustrated! I just keep reminding myself that I know she can do it, so eventually she will. The only funny part in all this is when she's trying not to poop, she stands on one leg and says she's being a flamingo. Lol. So we just told her no more being a flamingo!

Oh, I finally (after 9 years of wearing the engagement ring) got my rings sized down! They've been so loose and falling off, but I always thought (hoped) I'd gain weight when I was pregnant, so I didn't want to make them smaller. Well, obviously that didn't happen, so we finally just did it. It was NOT cheap, since that part of the warranty had run out, but so worth it! I never knew rings could be so comfortable! I barely even notice I'm wearing them anymore, and very rarely take them off for anything. I ended up going down two sizes, so it's a 4 now. I've been looking for a nice cute (cheap) ring to wear on my right hand for a while now, but obviously no one, and I mean NO ONE, sells rings that size! I'll have to special order it, which is stupid. Why don't small people have as much variety as fat people do?! I wanted to buy a shirt from Sears the other day, but it only came in S, M, L, and XL. What happened to XS, people?! Ugh, so frustrating. Not that I want to be this tiny, but I don't have a choice. And I feel like there's no place to vent about it, because everyone I know is trying to lose weight, or exercise and eat healthy. So what kind of person would I be if I said "I'm really trying hard to gain some weight, add calories to my diet, whine whine whine"?! Guess that's just what happens when I'm not pregnant or breastfeeding. Annoying.

Anyways, guess that's all for now!

Potty, DIYing, gorilla

Somehow it's the middle of March already, although it feels like the middle of May. Beautiful weather lately! The girls and I were outside yesterday afternoon for a while - I was trying to take apart a pallet (future DIY project) and they were drawing with sidewalk chalk while Roman finished his nap. You know it's nice outside if I'm willing to be out there
I've been thinking of tons of things lately that I wanted to blog about. But do you think I can remember any of them right now? Lol. Of course not. I'll do my best as I go though...I don't want these years to go by in a fog and not have any way to remember them!
Arianna has been having some difficulty with going potty lately. It's so frustrating because I KNOW she can do it. But instead of going to the bathroom or telling us she has to go, she just runs to a corner and does her business (both!). I feel like I've tried everything, and she's just so stubborn. Right now she's had a few good days, but Sunday was the worst because she pooped in her underwear while we were at the park before church. It was so messy, and of course I didn't have any wipes for some reason. Ugh. Anyways, if she goes all day staying clean and dry, she gets a cupcake (we're saving them in the freezer). And I also took away her new pony undies, and she'll get them back when she stops making messes. She knows all the right answers, and knows when she has to go. I just don't know what's going on with that girl.
Other than that, she is so joyful and sweet most of the time. Lately she's been asking everyone "are you happy" over and over, all the time, even if it's obvious we ARE happy, but especially when we're upset about something (like a potty accident...). It's so sweet and insightful, that I feel bad that we react the way we do. But we do our best to assure her we still love her, we're just sad about her accident, etc. But she asks Marissa and Roman too, and me and Dan at the most random times. It's so funny, and now she knows it. She's talking like crazy, and it's hard to believe we ever had any worries about her language development. She even read the words "cat" and "dad" the other day by sounding out each letter then smushing them together. I was shocked, and really didn't help her all that much. It's so reassuring that she's not behind and is so smart already!
We have officially decided to homeschool Marissa. We haven't registered or done any of the "official" stuff yet, but I have a feeling we need to do it soon. It's still very overwhelming to me, but I'm excited to see how it goes. Marissa is also excited about homeschooling, and I think it'll go well once we get into a swing of things. I'm also excited to design a beautiful playroom/schoolroom space in the basement I've spent probably way too much time on it, but it will make a huge difference to me as the "teacher" if the space is soothing, pretty, organized, and functional. IKEA here I come!
Last week Marissa asked for a real cell phone for her birthday. She said "Antonio has one" and that "he's in charge" at his house. Lol. We told her that it would definitely be a LONG time before she ever got her own cell phone. But it was pretty funny.
Roman is beginning to talk like crazy. He says "bear" everytime we go in his room, because the giant bear is on the bed in there. He mainly just says the "b" sound, but it sounds different depending on what b-word he's saying. He's so stinking happy, and has started to know exactly what to do when I want to take his picture. He grins at the camera so well, even though it doesn't last very long. But today he started doing the squinty grin, and Arianna is still stuck in that phase too. Lol, should make for interesting Easter pics in a few weeks here!
I had some time off work (end of the month wrap up in the office), so Dan helped me put up a cool shelf in the laundry room. We installed some 2x4s on each side of the washer/dryer nook. I had found some sliding closet doors for free off craigslist, so Dan cut one down to size with his table saw, I painted it, and we slid it right over the 2x4s. It makes a huge table surface for folding laundry, and it's about an inch above the washer/dryer tops, so it doesn't shake like crazy whenever they're on. I've got many other plans for the laundry room, but not as much time to work on it when I have "work" to do. I also spent a lot of time on my wall plaques that I'm painting. They were dollar store floral 10" square plaques, but I painted them all white, and then each one gets a different geometric design. I'm imitating some wall stickers I saw on someone's blog that they bought at Home Goods (We just got a new one - I need to go!), but I could never find them to buy for myself. They've turned out really well so far, and I love looking at something I created out of ugly stuff! It's made me addicted to craigslist though. We recently made a good chunk of money off stuff on craigslist, so I've been obsessively checking it every day to see if there's anything I could use/change/make for cheap. The hard part is deciding if it's junk or something I can work with. Haha!
We're going to Disney in June with the in-laws, and we haven't told the girls yet! We'll surprise them sometime before we start packing, so they know they need to be excited! But I've already been thinking ahead and researching everything possible about the trip, from flip flops (for me), double stroller/single, sunscreen and anything else I can think of. I'm very excited about it, and I know the girls will love it. I'm a little worried about how Roman will do just because 18 months is a hard age, but the adults will outnumber the kids, so I'm sure we can handle it! It's overwhelming to plan though, which is why I'm starting early!
I think I've covered just about everything I wanted to, except for Roman and the gorilla. One Valentine's Day when we were in college, Dan bought me a stuffed gorilla that plays the drums and sings. Marissa used to be terrified of it as a baby. We recently found it in our closet, and discovered that Roman was also terrified of it! It was hilarious, because he'd point to it, but then snuggle up with us like it would eat him or something. But after a while of that, suddenly he decided he loved it! Now he points to it, goes "eh, eh" and grins like a fool when we turn it on. He carries it around upstairs, and puts his fingers in the mouth as it sings. Yesterday he even imitated the singing and I swear he said "ooooohhh yeah baby" just like the gorilla does. I love that boy, and this age!
Well, I finished this early, so I still have some "naptime" to myself. Hmmm, laundry...or pinterest

Random - February

I just accomplished something I'd been dreading for almost 3 years: Arianna is potty trained! From the time she was a 4-month old crawler and an 8-month old walker, I knew it would be a LOT different from potty training Marissa. With Marissa, I had tried a few times early on, but she just wasn't getting it, and I was hugely pregnant, so it wasn't ideal anyways. But when she was almost 3, one Sunday she was in diapers, and the very next Monday she was completely dry in underwear and could go hours in between. It was incredible. But from day 1, Arianna has been SO very different from Marissa, and after the months of drama surrounding her breastfeeding, and then Roman being born (and the week I stayed in the NICU with him), I knew she could never be potty trained as easily as Marissa. But I'm ashamed to admit, I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly she succeeded! We started last Monday, Jan. 30th. I just put her in underwear and we stayed off the carpet/couch as much as possible. She had several accidents, but also a few successes, which gave me hope. I was extremely happy to slap a diaper on her for naptime and bedtime though! On Tuesday, she pooped in the potty, and didn't have any accidents all day, and that was that! She was awesome at church Wednesday night, and lasted a whole hour in the car on Thursday. She did have at least one accident at church on Sunday (it's a long time, and her teachers change partway through, so who knows if they even knew she was wearing underwear til it was too late), but she has been so awesome! She gets a jelly bean every time she succeeds, and her love language is jelly beans, so that really motivates her! Haha. The only problem we have now is she wants to "try" about every 2 minutes! She really does pee a lot, but definitely doesn't need to every 2 minutes. Hopefully this problem resolves itself soon because she still needs help in there, and it's hard to drop everything (dinner prep, changing R's diaper, etc) every 2 minutes to chase her to the bathroom! I'm just so proud of her though, and she suddenly seems so old to me! It's hard to believe she will be 3 this month. Seems like she was just born, and was my crazy mobile baby. She is still crazy, but so hilarious and random and entertaining. I've been able to say I have 2 kids 2 and under for a while, which just seemed crazy. But almost 6, 3, and ~1.5 sounds a little more sane! (Are we insane for driving them to Disney this summer? Please tell me no...lol)

Arianna and Marissa have been playing together really well lately (a lot less refereeing on my part!). Marissa decided (on her own) that she would teach Arianna the ABC's and the sounds the letters make. I found them one night (reading before bed) with an ABC book on Marissa's lap, and Arianna repeating letters and sounds after her. It's so cute, and Arianna knows all her letters and 17 of their sounds! Marissa thinks she's Arianna's personal teacher, and Arianna loves it too. The other day Marissa said to Arianna "Was that fun or what?!" and Arianna replied "Um, what!"

Arianna has started to pick up on Marissa's sense of imagination. Both of them could sit for hours with a few toy figures or animals and pretend the most elaborate scenarios. It's so entertaining to listen to!

Roman is an absolute joy these days. He is so stinking sweet, sometimes coming over to me simply to get a hug/kiss or lay his head on my shoulder. He is so happy, and babbles and plays by himself with a smile on his face. He laughs and giggles excitedly when I ask him if he wants to go upstairs, or if he's ready to eat lunch. He runs over to his booster seat at the table if I tell him to go get in his seat. He repeats "baby" all the time, and used to say "ball" too, but won't anymore. He high fives like crazy. He and Arianna play the goofiest games, and he loves when she gets rough with him. Haha. He's pretty tough, and falls down a lot, but always gets right back up and barely cries. He is still an awesome sleeper. He now starts his nap at 12:30, right after lunch, and I don't hear a peep from him until at least 3:30, sometimes 4. Then he's ready for bed around 7:30, and sleeps straight through (most nights) until I get him out of bed (sometimes I have to wake him up!) at 8:30. If he wakes up at night crying, he usually falls back asleep on his own within minutes, but if he doesn't, all it takes is a few minutes of cuddling and when I put him back down, he cries for a second then falls back asleep. It's so nice to get 8 full hours of sleep almost every night! Every time I look at him, I'm surprised at how big and old he's getting - 14 months already?! I want him to always be my baby, but sometimes when I look at him I see a toddler coming out.
We are again considering homeschooling Marissa this coming year. She has not learned much this year at school, and when we ask her each day what she learned, her answer is usually "I didn't learn anything, I already knew it all" from when I homeschooled her last year for "preschool." She enjoys school, and has a few very good friends (got her first marriage proposal too!), but we think she would really exceed with more challenges than she's getting this year (Dan and I have both seen firsthand what they are working on, and she literally does already know most of the things they are learning). I'm having a hard time agreeing, not because I think it's the wrong thing to do, but because of selfish reasons: curriculum stress/overwhelming, paper/supplies clutter, and our personalities clashing/my patience. I love her to death, but we're a lot alike. Lol. Dan is also interested in "classical" education, and that's also overwhelming to me. So we'll see where this all takes us.

Right now, Marissa is in MAJOR craft mode. She will take whatever scraps of paper we have around, take some glue, stickers, and crayons, and work on a masterpiece for HOURS! She is so creative, and loves to display her artwork...and I'm running out of places to store it! Lol.

Lately it seems as if EVERYONE I know is starting a blog. Just when I barely update mine anymore. I wish I could make myself post more often, because I love going back to read about my life...but it seems like I just keep getting LESS time to myself

Weaned

I accidentally weaned Roman during the process of getting my wisdom teeth out. I knew it was a risk I was taking, which is why I waited til he was past 1, but I still thought we'd make it. I was nervous about nursing him while I was taking vicodin, so I only did a little bit, when it was mostly run out and time for a new dose. He hadn't been nursing that much anyway, so he barely noticed. Well I finished the vicodin, and was only taking tylenol or ibuprofen, but he wasn't really asking to nurse much, so I kinda forgot about it. I still offered a few times, and he nursed then. But then one of those times, he suddenly didn't know what to do! He just kinda bit me, and looked at me funny. I gave up, and thought I'd try again another time. The next day he did the same thing, and now he's completely stopped asking. I'm so sad about, mainly because I wasn't prepared! But also because I nursed the girls for much longer (M for 16 months and A for 29 months). And especially because Dan doesn't want any more kids and I really love nursing my babies.
I'm trying to see the positive (wear normal clothing without having to be prepared to nurse everywhere), but it's hard right now. It's a very emotional change - I'd been constantly nursing for 34 months! My baby boy is growing up and suddenly seems so old.

Roman is walking! Officially, he walked at 13 months. Dec. 26th, while we were in Georgia for Christmas, he really started walking far, like across the whole room. And now he just walks everywhere like he's been doing it his whole life. It's hard to believe he started out at less than 5lbs!

I finally got my wisdom teeth out on Dec. 30th. I'd been trying to get it done since before Arianna was born! Literally the day I found out I was pregnant with her, I had a consultation scheduled. 3.5 years later...it's done! The pain was not too bad, but I was dizzy, nauseaus, and throwing up for the first few days, which was frustrating. I couldn't keep any food down, so I just stayed on the couch and slept on and off. I finally was able to eat, but obviously not chew much. I'm still being pretty careful with what I eat and how I chew it. But I'm so glad they're gone!

We had a very nice Christmas in GA. The drive there was long - 11 hours or so. But the kids did great. The girls played and watched movies, and Roman...well, he did pretty good. But I ended up sitting in the back with him for a while both legs of the trip. The first night we got there at 1am and he would NOT go back to sleep after sleeping in the car since 8pm. I tried EVERYTHING, and it was so frustrating! When Marissa or Arianna were that age, they would have eventually nursed themselves to sleep on me, or fallen asleep in my lap. But Roman is such a good sleeper in his crib, that he won't sleep on anyone! And I didn't want to just let him cry himself to sleep since he would wake up everyone else at the house we were staying at. Finally I convinced him to crash around 4:30am. The rest of the time he was fine though - we put him in his own room and let the girls sleep in our room instead. We all slept much better that way! The kids had a blast playing with Stephanie and Emily, and it was great to see all the relatives we don't get to see very often.

Today since I finally feel mostly better, I spent HOURS doing laundry, folding it, putting it away, and cleaning and organizing stuff! I had 5 huge baskets/boxes of clean laundry to catch up on folding and putting away, and they're all empty! Most of them were full of towels and sheets, since I had all the kids' laundry caught up for our trip. But now it's all done! I also took down the Christmas decorations while Marissa played outside on the playset and I had all the windows open. It was such a beautiful day! Then I dusted most of the living room (that doesn't happen nearly often enough!), and vacuumed and swept the entire downstairs. The next big job is TOYS! I need to clear out junk that the kids think is toys, so there's enough room for the toys that are actually toys. And still probably sneak some stuff away to be donated.

I think that about covers everything. For once I had enough time to write everything I wanted to, without having to stop for anyone! This is my weekend off from work while they close out the month of clients, so I'm going to enjoy just relaxing after the kids are in bed!

Ketchup

I honestly don't know where to start. Seems like a lot has happened, but I can't really figure out what. Guess I'll work backwards and see what I have time for!

Arianna is sleeping right now, and Roman is supposed to be. But he's been banging and babbling happily in there for 45 minutes! I expect him to fall asleep any second, but who knows! I don't want to forget my favorite part about him right now: whenever it's naptime or bedtime, I nurse him first, then pick him up and cuddle with him. I tell him "It's night-night time" and he lays his head on my shoulder and settles right in. Then I sing Twinkle, Twinkle, and it's the most perfect part of every day. He's so snuggly, and doesn't fight it at all. When I finish, I lay him down, and he (usually) quietly lays there til he falls asleep. I will definitely miss that snuggle time.
Roman had his 1yr check up yesterday. He got a few shots (no MMR, pox, or flu), and did awesome. When he cried a little for the shots, Arianna said "It's ok, buddy" in her high-pitched voice. So cute. He weighed 17lbs and was 29.75in long. I think she said that was 50th% for height, but wasn't on the chart for weight. He's fine though - he's come a long way from 4lbs 14oz! It's so hard to believe he's 1 already, and acting so old lately. He's not walking yet, but he can take a couple steps, and he's so close! He waves and gives kisses, and is such a joyful boy.
We just got back from a chaotic visit to PA for Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family. The kids were mostly pretty good, but we created chaos everywhere we went! It was so good to see everyone though, and Roman wasn't even terrified of anyone!

I love eavesdropping on Marissa when she thinks she's alone..."Thank you, thank you, thank you God, thank you! Thank you for this piece of tape on here!" She's still enjoying school. On her day off before we left for PA, she said "I wanna learn!" and got out a princess dry erase K school book and spent hours at the table. Haha!

For the past few weeks before Thanksgiving, I got to babysit some kids I hadn't seen in ages! I used to watch triplets (A, E, & L) and their little brother (S) when they were 16mo and newborn, until about when Marissa was 1. Haven't even talked to them since, although we still exchanged Christmas cards. Out of the blue, they called with a temp childcare need, and I said I'd do it! It was a little complicated because I had to be here for Marissa to get on the bus in the morning, and be back in time for the bus to drop her off. But they made it work, and it was so fun! Obviously the triplets were in school, but I still got to see them on their teacher conference day, and S is only in half day K so I got to see him still. They also now have a 3yr old, W, and he and Arianna had a blast together. S really enjoyed playing with Roman too. It was very challenging because they're not a baby-proof house anymore, plus they have 3 dogs, and Arianna was terrified of them. But I'm glad I got to help them out, and the extra unexpected money was nice too!

We had a nice Halloween. Some friends from church came and walked around with us. Marissa's friend C and Arianna's friend H. Marissa was a mermaid princess, Arianna was a ballerina princess, and Roman was the cutest monkey ever.

Me: No jumping on the couch!
Arianna: Can I hop?

Arianna: Oh no! A puma! A puma!
Marissa: Ayudame! Ayudame!
Arianna: I'll save you!

Arianna gave us our first ear infection in all our years of kids so far. It wasn't too bad, but she complained enough that I took her in and got something for her to take. I'm pretty impressed that it took us this long!

Well I was going to try to get some pics in here, but Arianna just woke up and Roman still hasn't fallen asleep! Maybe next time!

Here is a picture of the finished beds for the girls! After many hours of sanding, priming, and painting, I finally finished working on them and we assembled them in their room last weekend. They are both so excited about them, and Arianna actually sleeps in hers (she was refusing to sleep on a mattress for the past few months, and always moved to the floor as soon as I moved her to the mattress). It's such a relief having them done, and I'm so happy with how they turned out. In a few years we'll bunk them to give the kids more room to play on the floor, but for now that's just too dangerous.
It's starting to cool down a little lately, and it's hard to believe Roman will be one in a month and a half. He's the happiest boy and I just love his huge grin. He has the same squinty eye problem on one side as I do, which is annoying but kinda cute.
How is it fall already? I went to a parent visit day at Marissa's school yesterday and it was fun to see her in a lesson, and then interacting with her friends at recess. She's such a big girl and so far I'm really happy with the school we chose for her.

We had family pictures taken a few weeks ago by a guy in our church. He followed us around a local park and then downtown a little, and just snapped away! I felt really awkward, but I'm so impressed with how they turned out, especially given the ages of the kids! There were so many awesome ones, and hopefully we can do the same thing again next year. We ordered a 16x20 canvas print of our favorite, and I can't wait to see how it turned out!

This morning, Arianna was playing with a play tea set and asked me "Would you like a spot of tea?" I just about died laughing. She is stinking hilarious these days, and so enjoyable. She absolutely adores Roman, and follows him around most of the morning. I kinda feel sad writing this because I don't know what Marissa does all day! I know she enjoys school, but she's also excited about days off, like this Friday. We're having a playdate with her friend Ingrid (and my friend Susan) since they don't get to see each other that often now that they're both in school. Arianna is just as excited about it though! They're the family that watches the kids if we ever need it and we just had a date night (to Maggiano's with J & A and T & R - YUM!) and the girls had a blast together. They usually order pizza when we (or just the kids) are there, and that's Arianna's favorite, so as soon as she hears that's where she's going, she immediately yells excitedly "PIZZA!"

I love my family, love my kids, and am enjoying the days with just Arianna and Roman immensely! Time to go get Marissa off the bus!

A new normal

Marissa has been in school for a few weeks now, and I think I've finally figured out a new normal for our days. It hasn't been as hard to adjust to (for me or Arianna) as I expected it to be. Roman takes nice long naps on a very regular schedule, so every morning from 10:30-12:30 I get to spend quality alone time with my middle child. It's actually quite wonderful, something I never would have predicted 11 months ago. Just before Roman was born, and for several months after, Arianna was a mess and very hard to appreciate and interact with. But she's such a lovely, sweet, thoughtful, imaginative, communicative person lately! She has ideas and opinions all her own and shares them all the time. She loves to ask "I cuddle you?" and "go upstairs, listen to songs, and jump?" and gets so excited when it's time to get Roman up from his nap.

Roman is standing up every chance he gets, and cruises all around the living room. He looks like sometimes he might forget to hold on to something, and I can't believe he'll be one in a little over two months! He has two bottom teeth, and his two top teeth are about halfway in. He's still so tiny, but looks like such a big boy when he's standing up grinning at me with all those teeth. After several weeks of waking VERY often at night, he's back to sleeping pretty good. He sometimes wakes once or twice, but goes right back to sleep after nursing. He still loves to nurse, and although I'm not going to wean him as soon as he turns one, I would really like to not nurse him as long as I nurse(d?) Arianna. We'll see how that goes...

Marissa is loving school still. She's made several friends, got invited to a birthday party (that she can't go to since we'll be busy), and discovered a friend that lives in our neighborhood. Somehow, miracle of miracles, she manages to finish all of her food for lunch every day. After months of taking over an hour to eat, we were very worried about that aspect of her day! Some days she comes home and wants to color or write at the table, and I can't imagine her wanting to after spending all day at school! She was sent home with a "baggy book" to read at home last night, and it was supposed to be independent reading - she did great! She's sounding out words she sees everywhere, and has a good grasp of reading already.

I'm almost finished sanding the beds for the girls. We got a set of (college dorm room) bunk beds that we'll bunk when the girls get (much) older, and I've been sanding them down to get rid of the grime and in preparation for painting them white. I'm excited to get them finished and set up their room. Arianna's been sleeping on the floor (or the Dora foam couch) for weeks now for some reason, she refuses to sleep on her mattress on the floor. Hopefully once they have cool new beds, she'll get over it!

Last week my hometown of Owego, NY was hit with massive flooding from the river that it's near. Entire first stories of houses were flooded, and it's going to take a long time for the area to be rebuilt, if they can even manage to do it in the first place. Such a hard time for everyone who lives there. I was so glad my Grandma and parents live high up on hills and weren't affected by flooding, just lost their power for a few days.

My sister has a boyfriend as of last night! I'm so excited for their relationship and how happy she seems to be.

Back in the day...

I just found a piece of paper where I had written all the words Marissa could say. There's no date on it, but I'm guessing it to be around 18-24 months or so. I thought I'd type it up because it's cute and I want to remember...

Rissa's Words

• gotcha
• jep = jump
• wait
• yo = yogurt or phone
• pee-pee
• poo
• spoo = spoon
• essie = sticker
• shirt
• da = socks
• ca = crackers
• sweatshirt
• choo-choo
• gentle
• eyes
• nose
• mouth
• toes
• poe-poe = pillow
• Mom! = Grandma (she imitated me saying "mom" to my mom)
• Pah-pah = Grandpa
• Jep! = Jeff
• cheerio
• da-da = hot dog
• bah = bath
• ch-ch = brush teeth
• ap = Nap in a Lap book
• Twinkle = asks to sing that song
• "ga ga guy" = lyrics "like a diamond"
• see = seat
• boo-boo
• nigh-nigh = night-night
• awww = expression for a baby
• ha = hat
• duh = stuck
• yusch = lunch
• da = dinner
• hee = asking to hold my hand to drag me somewhere
• gate
• cow
• keys
• clap

I'll never get back into this.

I can't believe it's September already! Marissa started Kindergarten last week and is loving it. I thought for sure there would be some tears or some rough days to start out (since she'd never been in a school setting before, and this is all day, every day!), but she loves it. Her teacher is wonderful, and she's already put Marissa in an "advanced" group for ABC knowledge (Marissa wasn't too happy about that, she says her own teacher is nicer than the "advanced" teacher. Lol.). It's so weird to be home with just the little ones. Arianna isn't a mess, but she asks to eat ALL. THE. TIME. I think it's because she's bored and I'm not interesting enough! I've really been trying to entertain her and do special things with her, but I also have to get stuff done sometimes, and Roman isn't nearly as exciting as Marissa was! The other day they played together in Roman's room for almost an hour while I did laundry and periodically checked in on them. It was so cute, and they'll have a great time as Roman grows older.

I think I've finally spent all my birthday money! I'm so indecisive that I've bought and returned things since my first big shopping trip (alone, with Roman) back in June. I got some awesome pieces and really feel like I used the money well. The clearance racks were my friends!

Since my last post, we spent two weeks in NY visiting my parents, sister, and grandma, and my other grandparents, my brother, and aunt and uncle also came to visit so they could see us. It was a crazy chaotic two weeks! Dan stayed with us for the first weekend, then he had to be back for work. They took some time off work to spend it with us, we spent a lot of time at the pool, and I think I can safely say that we completely wore my parents out over the course of the two weeks! The first weekend (thankfully when Dan was still there), we ended up taking Roman to the ER because he woke up at 2am coughing, croupy, and having a hard time breathing. I think if it had been either of the girls (as babies) we might have waited it out longer, but since Roman was a preemie and had breathing issues in the NICU, we were extra paranoid. He calmed down a lot on the drive there (of course), but they still gave him a few days of steroids and a few days of an antibiotic. It cleared up quickly and he hasn't had any more issues since then. We knew it was a possibility because he and Arianna had been exposed to croup at church just before we left. Arianna had a fever for a day, and lost her voice for a few days, but he got it much worse.

Roman is still an awesome napper! He goes down without a peep whenever I know he's ready. It's wonderful. He hasn't been as great at bedtime though. Sometimes he's just not tired enough yet, but other times I know he's exhausted and he just fights it. It's so frustrating when he's so good at nap time and so opposite at bedtime! He had been sleeping almost through the night for a while (only up once usually), but that's suddenly gone and he's been up many, many times each night for a week or so. It's exhausting! And I'm having to get up earlier than normal anyways to get the girls up and ready so Marissa can go to school. I'm very glad her bus doesn't get here until 8:49 though, because I don't even have to wake her up earlier than normal. But I have to be ready before they are up, and that's the hard part. I have to meet her bus down the street a little every single day this year. And in the afternoon I have to have my picture ID in order to pick her up from the bus. It's kinda a pain, but I'm very glad for all the precautions they take to keep her safe!

Arianna is turning into Marissa lately - she never stops talking! I can still remember how we thought she'd need speech therapy because she seemed to be taking forever to develop her language. But she's grown exponentially since we were in NY - Dan noticed a HUGE difference in just the two short weeks he was away from her! She's using full sentences and all the same inflections and phrases Marissa uses. It's so stinking cute! And yet so exhausting! But I'm trying not to wish away all the talking since I'm so grateful she's finally at this point.

Roman is 9 months old and cruising around furniture. He sits, crawls, pulls up, rolls around - all like a pro. It's hard to believe he was ever less than 5 pounds and so fragile! He was 15lbs 9oz at his checkup. When we were in NY, he just learned to pull himself up to stand so we would hold his hands and let him walk around and EVERYTIME he would shriek like a pterodactyl because he was so excited! He's such a happy boy, and in true male form, he's happiest when he's playing with toy balls. He has two bottom teeth, and his two top teeth poked through last week. It's so weird to see his smile changing! He's still an awesome eater, and I could never get enough food in him in NY! I'm still making his baby food, and it's hard to keep up with him! I'm using the breastmilk storage containers from pumping in the NICU and they're perfect for freezing and portioning all his food. He's recently started eating some table food. He loves cheerios (duh), and can eat tiny pieces of ham and grapes. I always struggle finding appropriate things for this age though.

I've been spending all my brainpower lately on planning a family photo shoot. We're hoping a friend of ours will be able to take the pictures this month, and I've been working on coordinating outfits for all of us! It's such a pain, and I don't want to be all matchy-matchy, but I don't want it to look like we just happened to take pictures that day. Hopefully they'll turn out wonderful so we can use them for Christmas cards!
Well, that's about it for now. Marissa's bus comes at 4, although it's supposed to come at 3:48, so technically I need to head outside around 3:40. Sometimes the little ones are still sleeping and sometimes they wake up while I'm waiting on the front porch. I'm not looking forward to spending this much time outside in the middle of December! I may end up driving her and picking her up instead, since they have a drop-off/pick-up so I wouldn't need to unload the little ones.

Life summary/ketchup

It's July 29th, 2011. Marissa is 5, Arianna is 29 months, and Roman is 8 months.
It has been a whole week since Arianna nursed last. If it were completely up to her, she wouldn't be done. We were down to just first thing in the morning. Then this week was VBS so I was up early and as soon as the girls got up, we got dressed, ate, and had to leave. So there just wasn't time. She still asked, but was ok that we didn't have time. I'm sad, but so so freaking proud at how long I nursed her.

Here is a typical day in our life lately:

• 7:15-7:30am Girls wake up. I'm trying to get them to spend some quiet time reading books in the morning. Some days they do, some days...not so much.
• 8:00 Get dressed and breakfast. The girls get to pick out their cereal for the week on grocery night, so they're usually excited about it. Arianna is pretty good at using a spoon and eating cereal by herself. They both tip their bowls to eat the milk with a spoon when they're done.
• 8:30 I wake up Roman. I'm really trying to keep him on a schedule. He usually wakes up between 6-7 for a snack, and doesn't always go right back to sleep. But he's happy to lay in his crib for a bit before sleeping a little longer. He gets a big bowl of baby cereal, and sometimes a fruit too. Depending on how recent he nursed last, I may or may not nurse him again.
• 9:00 Super Why. We have yet to get out of the rut that Marissa's shows put us in. Once she starts going to school everyday, and I just have Arianna and Roman home, this will change.
• 9:30 We head upstairs to brush teeth, I try to do some laundry when it's needed. On Mondays and Thursdays, we leave to drive to Centerville to pick up my editing work. We get back around 11:15.
• 10:00 Sesame Street. TV rut...
• 10:30 Depending on how recent Roman nursed last, I may or may not nurse him. I take him upstairs, put him in his crib with the fan on and light off. He falls asleep within 5 minutes of happy babbling. It's wonderful.
• 11:00 TV off! Usually a mini snack, playtime, and laundry if needed. Lately the girls are really into coloring and Marissa likes to make "comic books" where she draws the pictures then dictates to me what the story is about. Her stories are INCREDIBLE.
• 12:00 or later if the girls are busy with something particular...Lunch. PBJ's are a favorite, yogurt is a staple, and jelly beans/candy are a treat.
• 12:30pm I wake Roman up from his nap. He used to take 3-4 hour naps, but then was so unpredictable later, so I decided 2 hours is enough for the morning nap. I feed him his lunch as the girls are finishing. He has been eating a tube (I make his baby food and freeze it in breastmilk-storage tubes from the NICU) of fruit and a tube of veggies. He can pick up Cheerios, but doesn't usually get any to stay in his mouth. Today I got a carrot shower because he decided to spit with every bite.
• 12:45 Playtime
• 1:30 Diaper changes/potty break. And naptime. Marissa doesn't nap anymore (except for rare occasions) so she plays in Roman's room and listens to her Sparks CD. She has the most incredible imagination and has a blast in there (I can eavesdrop over the monitor). Arianna lays down in her big girl bed (mattress on the floor, til I sand and paint their new twin beds, to be turned into bunk beds in a few years). I usually have to go in there many times because she gets up to play, gets books, and generally has a hard time staying in one place long enough to fall asleep. She's usually asleep by 2 though.
• 2:00 Roman is usually tired around this time. He's not a huge nurser, and I can't convince him to nurse if he doesn't want to. He eats so much baby food though, so it's not a big deal. I try to nurse him, and lay him down for nap. Today I had to bounce/cuddle him for a little while before it worked. He takes his afternoon naps in our room in a pack-n-play because Marissa is in his room. I use this time to shower sometimes, or catch up on the computer.
• 3:30 I let Marissa stop playing by herself and come get me. She loves that she can tell time. Arianna usually wakes up around this time too. We head downstairs for a snack.
• 4:15 Dan gets home from work, although it's a little later if he rides his bike home. He goes upstairs to shower, and brings Roman down with him since that's about when he wakes up.
• 4:30 Word Girl.
• 5:00 Electric Company.
• 5:30 Dinner time. Roman gets a tube of fruit and a tube of veggies. The girls are pretty picky so we let Marissa give input in the meals for the week. Arianna doesn't eat much sometimes, but I'm not going to cook 90 things just to find the one that makes her happy. So she deals with it. After dinner, Dan likes to goof around with the girls and wrestle sometimes. Marissa gets hurt really easily, but Arianna gets back up every time, no matter how hard the fall. I clean up the kitchen and watch the craziness from the couch with Roman.
• 8:00 Bedtime for the kids. It's been so hot this summer that Marissa just wears her underwear and Arianna just wears a diaper. But Arianna has to have a "belt" of duct tape because she kept taking off her diaper. We read them their Bible story, pray, and they get to pick one book to read in their beds. Since Arianna naps and Marissa doesn't, Marissa is usually pretty tired and complains that Arianna keeps her awake. Hopefully this won't be a problem when school starts! Arianna is not the best person to share a room with, but putting them together fixed Arianna's MAJOR sleep issues, so hopefully they can learn to work things out. I nurse Roman one last time. Sometimes that works and he goes right to sleep, and other times it takes some effort. But I do my editing work from 8-10pm, so it's in his best interest to go to sleep fast so Dan doesn't have to hold him forever while I work. Dan and I like to watch shows online or on Netflix.
• 10:00ish Lights out. Dan gets up early, especially when he rides his bike to work. So we try to wrap things up by 10pm. He falls asleep quickly, so after he's asleep, I spend some time on the computer or play Freecell on my phone. It's relaxing and doesn't take much thought. I have a hard time falling asleep, so that helps.
• 7:15-7:30am Repeat.

I'm getting all sentimental about things lately, with Marissa starting school in less than a month. We're going to visit my parents in NY for a few weeks, and when we get back it will be time! I'm loving this age of all 3 kids. Marissa is so smart and creative. I wonder if she'll be a writer some day. Arianna is turning into the sweetest little girl. Her language is exploding exponentially, and her personality is showing all over the place. She loves her little brother, and it will be interesting to see how their relationship develops when they're the only kids at home. Roman is the happiest baby, and so calm and laid back. He takes everything the girls throw at him, literally and figuratively. His bottom two teeth are finally popping through, and I'm sad to see his toothless smile disappear, but excited to see the new smile taking its place.
I'm still not convinced I'd be ok with him as our last baby. Dan is 100% convinced. But I still struggle with that idea. I'm still hoarding the boxes of too-small clothes in the basement, and packing away baby gear instead of selling it. But there's something to be said about the idea of baby-less outings...

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)!

Crazy weeks

I've been meaning to post for a while now, but it's just been so crazy!

1. Marissa said to Arianna the other day, "Arianna, who do I love more than you? Jesus and God." It was the cutest thing ever! She said it in a sweet voice, like she meant the only other people she could possibly love more than Arianna were Jesus and God. I hope they stay this close forever.

2. Marissa had her 5 year check-up on May 4. She weighs 35 lbs 8 oz and is 41.75 inches tall. She was prepared to get some shots, and I was so amazed at how she did. She was so brave, she even wanted to watch, until the nurse told her to look away. She didn't whine even once, but when the nurse gave her the one that "might burn a little" I could see tears forming in her eyes. But she never got upset or cried. The doctor asked her some basic questions and Marissa got every one right. The doctor said she was probably even ready for 1st grade instead of Kingergarten!

3. After we left the pediatrician, I really needed stamps so I could mail my mom her Mother's Day card. So instead of unloading everyone to go to Meijer, I decided I'd go down the road a bit and see if there was a bank drive through that sold stamps. I don't even know if they do that, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask! It had been raining a little, but wasn't very wet out. I was driving in a 35mph area, and there was a yellow light. First I thought I'd make it through, but then I realized I wouldn't, so I stopped. And we were hit from behind REALLY hard! My head smashed into the back of the seat, and I'm sure both girls' heads did too, since as soon as I could turn around to check on them, I saw them both holding their heads. As soon as it happened, all 3 kids started crying, and I about lost it too. I was trying so hard not to freak out for them though. Once I realized they were all ok (they stopped crying quickly, and Marissa just asked about what happened), I got my phone to call 911. The guy from the small red truck that hit us came to my door to check on us. The girl that was driving the truck thought she broke her foot, so I called 911, then Dan to tell him what happened. The police came quickly, and a lady stopped to come check on us and ended up staying with the other girl, checking her vitals often. The girl and guy both left immediately in the ambulance, while I told the police what happened. After they took a bunch of pictures of the scene, I drove the van to the side of the road, and a tow truck came to get the red truck and clean up the lanes. Our back bumper was bashed in pretty bad, but I guess the hitch saved things from being worse. I declined going to the hospital, and after Dan got there, we finished talking to the police, I filled out a report, and we went back to the doctor to have all the kids checked out just in case. But EVERY SINGLE DOCTOR was out on their lunch break already! So we went home to eat since we were starving by this point. I called after their lunch break was over, and I took the kids in to get checked. The doctor assured me they were all fine, and neither girl was complaining about anything. I asked Marissa repeatedly, but she assured me nothing hurt at all. But my neck was KILLING me, so I scheduled an appointment at our chiropractor for as soon as Dan got home from work. They took x-rays, and everything looked fine, then he adjusted me, the ladies did the e-stim thing, and I got a mini-massage on my neck. I was still sore that night, but it wasn't too bad. But the next day, Thursday, I thought my head was going to fall off my neck! It has never hurt that badly before. I couldn't lift my head unless I used my hands to lift it. I was popping tylenol all day, and I NEVER take stuff for pain or sickness. I've been back to the chiro a few times (I'm going back tonight too), and it's definitely better than that Thursday after, but it's moved down into my back too. Since the girl went to the hospital immediately, we didn't even get their names or if they had insurance. For several days we thought they didn't even have any insurance. But finally the police got back to us, and they had insurance. So they "settled" and sent us a nice check for each child's "misery" and also covered the cost of their pediatrician check-up after the accident. They'll also cover the cost of all my chiro appointments, and as soon as they assess the "level" of my misery, they'll "settle" with me too. They also covered the cost of our van repair - $3200! The van had been having a few rear suspensions issues recently, the back/side bumpers were slightly dented and the back hatch was scratched up a little when we bought it. So obviously they fixed all that too, and now the back looks brand new! It was such a pain (literally!), but ended up working out for the good. They also covered the cost of a rental van for us while they fixed ours, and I was able to put 1000 miles on that instead of our van when I drove to Virginia with Roman for Rach's graduation.

Oh, I almost forgot. Insurance also covered 3 brand new car seats. So we got 2 of the same kind Marissa used to have for both girls, and we got the same kind Arianna used to have for Roman. We decided we could save ourselves some money and instead of buying Roman another infant seat he'd outgrow in 6 months, we'd just move him up to a convertible seat (still rear facing). I love getting new car seats!

4. As if that all wasn't enough, that Friday during the day I kept hearing something weird and I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Finally I tracked it down to the laundry room, and figured it was something alive in the dryer vent. There was no way I was going to investigate it, so we were going to wait for a friend of ours to use their giant ladder to see in the dryer vent outside. But it started to REEK inside, so there was something alive AND something dead in there. Eventually we got a huge ladder and there was nothing to be seen near the outside of the vent. Our friend Randy from church brought the ladder, but didn't know what he was getting himself into! He ended up checking out the vent from the inside, and he caught the live bird in a box and took it outside. He and Dan brought the inside tubing outside to dump out the dead bird and we spent all weekend cleaning up that mess! It smelled the worst IN the dryer, so we aired the laundry room and dryer out all weekend with fans and lots of vinegar spray. So gross!

5. Friday after lunch Roman and I left in the rental van (satellite radio!) to drive 8 hours to Liberty for my sister's graduation. Roman was awesome, and I only had to stop twice (one long stop for dinner for me, diaper change, bathroom, gas, and feeding him, and one short feeding stop for him) both there and back, and he played with some toys and slept the rest of the way. It was super rainy at graduation, but held off enough that we didn't get soaked. It was lots of fun to see Rach finally graduate and spend time with family. It was so weird to only be responsible for one child - and a super easy one at that! The only time I'd ever left the girls was when I was in the hospital having babies. I missed them so much, but apparently they didn't miss me because Dan kept them so busy! They had a blast, and so did Dan. So I didn't feel too bad about leaving them all for the weekend!

6. The house is a disaster, and I want to get it back to how it was before all this crap happened! I feel like it's been just one thing after another, and I haven't been able to catch my breath since Dan got back from Nicaragua. Hopefully we can have some peaceful weeks for a while to get back in one piece. The main thing I need to catch up on is laundry. I couldn't do any for a while because of the bird, dead bird, then the smell lingering. So I got really behind on washing it all. Then before I left on my trip I wanted to wash a ton of stuff in case the girls or Dan needed something, and I wanted to wash a ton of clothes a friend gave us for Roman so he'd have some of it to wear on our trip. So I washed it all, but never put it away, and now I just need to catch up!

7. I have not nursed Arianna since I've been back. She's asked a few times, but hasn't put up a fuss when I say no. It's kinda sad, and I miss it a little. But I know she's ready to move on...now if only she'd drink a cup of milk! She loves yogurt and cheese and smoothies and milk in cereal, but she will NOT drink milk by itself. In just the 3 short days I was away, I'm shocked at how many new words she picked up! She seems so much older suddenly, and it's amazing. I love her age, and how they seem to discover new things all the time. One new word is "tattoo" because Dan got them Tinkerbell tattoos while I was gone! She also likes to say "self" and "top" to buckle the top of her own seat-belt. She's so funny, I love her!

8. Marissa had her Kindergarten screening last Thursday - it was so weird to just let her go back with the teacher by herself! She said they asked her letters, numbers, colors, shapes, to draw a person, balance on a beam, and her phone number. She said it was really fun and she really wants to ride a bus to that school! So we'll see...we're still not sure what she's going to do in the fall.

Well, Arianna woke up and we're just cuddling now. Marissa is sleeping today - she didn't feel so well this morning. We've all got a little cold. I took Roman into the doctor yesterday because I was worried about his lungs (especially with him being a preemie and having breathing issues in the NICU), but he's fine. I had a massive on fire sore throat over the weekend, and he's been coughing quite a bit (he spit up about a gallon of his 6am feeding in my bed this morning), but he's definitely getting better. Both girls are coughing a little and have runny noses, but hopefully that'll go away soon!

Marissa said something sad to me this morning "Mommy, I'm not good at anything!" She was a little sad because Arianna's been making Roman smile a lot lately, but he hasn't been smiling for Marissa as much. So I took her in my lap and told her a bunch of things she's good at. I'm going to take her on a date soon for a haircut and some ice cream, and soon we'll finally get her ears pierced! I love my big girl. Hard to believe she's going to school in the fall!

Picking back up...

So I've been a terrible blogger recently. Obviously I have a few very good reasons. But I really want to get back into it so I can remember these crazy days. So I'm going to try to start back up and try a FlyLady technique: only 15 minutes! It would probably take me forever to catch up on everything I've missed. So instead, I'll simply write for 15 minutes, and that will be all you get! Today it will probably be interrupted quite a bit since the kids are all up from nap already. But it's still better than nothing, right?!

Friday, Marissa turned 5. I still can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday we were heading to the hospital to get induced on her due date. She has turned into the sweetest, sassiest little girl! Lately when we ask to take her picture, she poses sideways with both hands on her hips. For her birthday, my parents came to visit for the weekend. She got lots of cool things from them, Dan's parents (in the mail), and my Grandma. For her big gift from us, we wrote a note allowing her to get her ears pierced. She's been begging for over a year, and we finally decided it would be ok. She got a huge grin on her face when we read the note to her. But when it came time to go to the mall on Saturday to actually get it done, she changed her mind. I think the weekend was a little crazy for her! But this morning in the car she suddenly wanted to do it "right now" so I think we'll probably do it this weekend.

Last night Arianna was super tired at church, and she had a fever when we got home. This morning both girls were a little sleepy and whiney, and they both had a slight fever. Hopefully it won't turn into anything, and they seem to be fine this afternoon. A few kids from church recently had febrile seizures, so I'm kinda freaking out more than normal. We've been pretty lucky so far though with all 3 kids hardly getting sick at all. I'm sure it's because nobody goes to preschool so I'm sure it will flare up next fall. But it's nice for now!

Last night I had a lot of work to finish since I didn't work all weekend since my parents were here. Dan and I were up til about 11:30, and today we're both exhausted! I was really hoping to catch a short (or long) nap this afternoon, but Arianna and Roman tag-teamed naptime today, so it didn't happen. I think we'll end up going to bed earlier than normal tonight!

Roman is really turning into the cutest happiest baby ever. He slept so great last night when I needed to work, and he was so happy all weekend. He's such an easy baby. He's finally starting to enjoy playing with toys.

Saturday afternoon we went to a playground and then randomly decided to go out to dinner, all 7 of us! It was definitely risky because of a) Arianna in general and b) Roman had last eaten before we left for the playground and that was a while ago and c) Marissa had skipped nap. It turned out to be the nicest dinner out we've had in years. Marissa was fine, although she was ready to be done before anyone else. Arianna was awesome and ate and ate and ate the entire time. She just kept cramming it in! Roman was happy and smiley for a while, then silently fell asleep in his car seat for the rest of our meal! It was a miracle, especially since we were seated in the direct center of the room for all to see, and our waiter was terrible and busy and took forever to do anything with us. It's nice to enjoy special things sometimes when it's not ridiculously full of chaos!

Dan was gone for a week in Nicaragua on a missions trip with our church. He had a great trip, but it was really hard for me to have him gone! Logistically it was fine, taking care of the kids and going places. But mentally I had a hard time with it! I tried to keep busy with friends, and then Rach came to visit for Easter weekend before he got back, so that all helped.

Well, that's 15 minutes, so I'm off to do some sorely neglected dishes left over from the birthday tornado weekend!

Oh crap! How has it been a month since I posted already?! The kids are all down for a nap, but it might not last long! This past month has been interesting. I finally had a few weeks of being healthy, until Dan and I got this stupid little cold. I think it's almost gone though. Arianna, however, is what made the month interesting. She was an absolute mess. I don't really know how to describe her. I know she's 2 (how did I miss her birthday on here!?), but this was far beyond any typical 2-year-old antics. I'm not certain we're out of the woods yet, but I was convinced something was drastically wrong with her. We had her diagnosed with so many things, trying to explain her behavior. She's still on Miralax, and is finally pooping about once a day. So that couldn't be her problem. At her well visit, I had them take some blood and test it for common food allergies. Nothing showed up, so that was a relief at least. Last week, on Monday, it peaked. She was begging to nurse, and sobbed and screamed and pushed me and my face and just threw a HUGE fit because I wouldn't nurse her again (she's already been nursing excessively), and nothing, NOTHING, would distract her. But that evening when Dan got home from work, she was a perfect angel. He didn't believe me, until I showed him the video I took of the tantrum on my phone! And ever since that day, March 1, she's been a completely different child! We can't figure out what changed, since we didn't do anything different! She's super sweet, giggly, loving, and obedient (well, for a 2 year old!). She's still struggling with her sleep, but it's nothing like what it was! Right now, someone has to be in her bedroom for her to fall asleep. During the weekdays for nap, that's obviously me. It's very difficult since Roman isn't always napping then, so sometimes I have to bring him in with me and hope he's quiet enough for her to fall asleep. And it usually takes her about 15 minutes to fall asleep. If someone isn't in her room with her, she just screams and screams and screams, and NEVER calms down. As difficult as it is to be in her room to put her to sleep, we're not willing to just let her scream for hours and hours, with the possibility that she'd never stop. Dan sits in her room for her to go to sleep at bedtime. That's been taking about 45 minutes lately, because she's been taking 2 hour naps - which is unheard of for her! It's been wonderful for her to finally get caught up on sleep. For a while, she was waking up more than Roman at night. Dan was getting up with her (I don't even hear her, plus I have to be with Roman anyways), and barely getting any sleep. Finally he ended up sleeping in her room. There's a twin bed in there, and he sits in her room to put her to sleep, then comes out til we go to bed. He goes to bed in our bed, but she was waking up around 11 just about every night, so he just ended up sleeping in there for the rest of the night for a few weeks. She's recently started staying asleep better, so he doesn't have to go in there til 3am or so. One night last week, he woke up in our bed and we were both surprised! We need to figure out something soon though, since Dan is going on a missions trip and there's no way I can be in her room all night when he's gone for a week. At some point the girls are going to share a room, and maybe that will help. But to do that, she'll have to be in a big girl bed. And that's scary! We don't really have a plan, but we've just been "surviving" lately! I'm so thankful that we have our sweet wonderful girl back though. That was a rough month or so. I have a feeling she is going to continue to be a challenge for us.

Right now we are trying to decide what to do for Marissa's Kindergarten year in the fall. The options are 1. Homeschool (overwhelming because of challenges with Arianna) 2. Online school (basically homeschool, just different, still slightly overwhelming) 3. Local school district (unsure about quality) or 4. Neighboring district (better, but 25 minute drive).

I'd like to write more, but Arianna and Marissa just woke up from nice long naps! So I'll finish up quickly: Arianna turned 2! Hard to believe! and Roman is wonderful, smiley, and growing! He has his 4 month check up in 2 weeks (how is that possible?!). Time to go get Arianna out of her crib!

Test

This is a test post from an app in my new fancy phone. Tomorrow is Arianna's 2nd birthday!