A beautiful day

I've been dealing with a challenge regarding the girls and sleep. Rachel is a terrific napper. I can put her down for a nap, and she is asleep within minutes, and can sleep for 2-3 hours. Gabi, on the other hand, is not a good napper. There was a time when she would cry for 2 hours, then sleep for 20 minutes. Now she doesn't cry for long, in fact she falls asleep reasonably quickly, but still only sleeps for 20 minutes. I've tried to extend it, but it just doesn't work.

At night it is a different story. We have a bedtime routine that includes brushing teeth, reading stories, singing songs, saying a prayer, and then kisses and we tuck them in. Gabi goes to sleep almost immediately, and sleeps just fine throughout the night. Rachel, on the other hand, gets her second wind, and entertains herself for hours, sometimes rather destructively. I knew I had to change things, meaning I have to shorten Rachel's nap. It is painful (for me) but necessary.

Today was a beautiful day. It was sunny and warm, and fairly windy too. We went outside this morning to play, we went for a walk (Rachel rode her tricycle, and Gabi rode on my back - I guess I'm the only one who took a walk, okay, and Scout walked too), we played on the slide, and generally enjoyed a beautiful morning. Then I fixed the girls lunch, which they ate, then I put them down for a nap. True to form, Rachel fell asleep quickly, and Gabi fell asleep shortly after, but woke up 20 minutes later. I let Rachel sleep for about an hour and a half, then I woke her up and we went to the park. We stayed there for a couple of hours and she had a great time. She played in the sand, she swung on the swing, she climbed on the jungle gym, she made friends with other kids, we went for a short walk (when she wanted me to carry her our walk ended pretty quick after that). We stopped at the grocery store on the way home, and when we got home we were pleasantly surprised to see that Jeff was home from work early. I fixed dinner, we ate, then we went to visit Aunt Michelle at her store. We came home and put the girls to bed. It is now an hour and a half since we put them down, and Rachel is still awake. I know she's tired, but she is managing to keep herself quite happy playing (and probably destroying her room at the same time).

As I am finishing this post, it sounds like Rachel has finally retired for the night. Because I woke her up early from her nap we started the bedtime routine early too, and so in truth she is asleep (I think) a good hour earlier than normal, so this is progress. I do so wish that Rachel would go to sleep as quickly at bed time as she does at nap time!

Here are a few pictures of the girls playing in the back yard this morning.


In other news, today was the 136th running of the Kentucky Oaks (a race for 3-year-old fillies). It was won in dramatic fashion by the favorite Blind Luck, who went from last to first, and won in a photo finish.



Tomorrow is the 136th running of the Kentucky Derby. Have a great Derby Day!

Rainy Days and Mondays

And when the rainy days are Mondays, it's not good.

Viewer warning: This post contains graphic descriptions of bodily functions. If you are not woman enough to handle it, you should stop reading now.

This morning Rachel woke up with a dry diaper. I thought I would try to encourage her to use the potty since I was pretty sure the pee was in there somewhere. She sat on her potty, but just for a few seconds. I decided to leave her diaper off and try to catch her warning signs so that she could use the potty. Nothing. Finally I had to use the potty, so I went upstairs to use the bathroom. When I came downstairs Rachel was standing on my desk (a big no-no), and she had peed all over it. I was so angry! Partly I was angry at Rachel, but mostly I was angry at myself. How could I be so stupid‽ Anyway, we both got over it, and survived the rest of the morning.

After naps, I could tell Gabi was trying to poop, but wasn't having any success. I just let her work on it, and I'll tell you, it took quite a while. Finally she had success and I changed her diaper. I could tell that it was just the plug, and there was more to follow, so I put her diaper on again pretty quickly. Sure enough, five minutes later she had pooped some more. Gabi can be incredibly difficult to change when she wants to. I am 10 times bigger than she is, but she makes it very difficult. She flips from her back to her tummy very quickly and agilely. So after the 2nd diaper in less than five minutes, I decided to let her be free so to speak (meaning I didn't put her diaper back on right away). Big and I mean really BIG mistake. She wasn't done pooping yet, and she saved the best for last, if by "best" you mean largest quantity, and runniest, squishiest poop in the history of all poops. (How can such a small body contain so much poop‽) Then she crawled though it. Actually she just dragged her feet through it, but you get the picture. DISGUSTING! So I spent the next while cleaning her up, and cleaning the carpet. It didn't really put me in the best of moods, but there you have it. I wonder how much longer it will be before I stop making stupid mistakes.

I know, they look so sweet and innocent.

Gabi's favorite past-time

For the past couple of weeks, Gabi has demanded that we help her walk. She grabs a finger from each hand, and off we go. She could seemingly go on for hours, but I can't. A. I get bored, and B. it is hard on my back after a while. She loves it, though. I don't think she'll be walking on her own any time in the near future. She is still too shaky on her pins, but she sure likes to try!


Gabi also really likes climbing up the stairs. I'm not a big fan, but she never does consult me before doing what she wants! She's getting pretty good at coming down the stairs too, but I am far from really trusting her on that. I'm worried that half way down she'll get bored and sit down, only to find nothing under her bottom to sit down on. What she is not good at regarding stairs is approaching the stairs to come down. She doesn't yet get the idea of turning around. Once she's turned around, though, she does pretty well.

So I am happy to announce that Diary Queen (my favorite hamburger joint) is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the blizzard this year, and to share the joy they had a deal from April 19 to April 25 where you could buy one blizzard of any size and get the second (same size or smaller) for 25¢. I saw the commercial for that last night on TV, and thought it was an offer too good to pass up, so I informed Jeff that we were going to DQ today. Unfortunately today has been pretty stormy. It would have been so much better to enjoy our blizzards in the sunshine, but we made the sacrifice and ate them inside in the living room. Rachel enjoyed her 1st Dilly Bar of the season (2nd in her lifetime). Rachel even voluntarily shared a bite of her Dilly Bar with Gabi. Jeff got the Mint Oreo and I got the French Silk Pie.

Rachel's First Sleepover

Last night Rachel did something she's never ever done before. She slept somewhere besides home with neither Mom or Dad. She slept at her Grandma and Grandpa's house. The reason was that I was competing with my barbershop chorus (Pride of Kentucky Chorus) out of town. I wanted Gabi with me so that I could nurse, and Jeff came along to keep Gabi while I was busy. So Rachel spent the day and night with Aunt Michelle, Grandma and Grandpa. Reports are that Rachel did pretty well. She should get some kind of award as the absolute best napper in the history of the world. Bedtime, not so much. She's not even in the top 10, and sure enough, getting to sleep at night was the biggest challenge. But after all was said and done, it doesn't sounded like it was too bad. (Says me who wasn't there. I guess for the full story you'll have to follow up with Rachel's Grandma.)

This morning I went to Grandma's house to pick Rachel up. While I was there I decided to take advantage of the fact that they had fingernail polish remover. (I had to wear this kind of pink fingernail polish as part as my costume for the competition.) I don't have any because I never wear finger nail polish. Anyway, I borrowed their fingernail polish remover, but that polish had no intention of being removed. It took me forever to get it off. Michelle thought that it was hilarious that I couldn't get the polish off, and took it as a sign that I was supposed to wear it to church. I, however, took it as a challenge, which I accepted, and with determination I persisted and stayed true to my goal until finally I achieved success.

At my competition Jeff took care of Gabi, and hung around the event. I'll tell you, as cute as Gabi is, people couldn't help themselves but approach Jeff and chat with him and ooh and aah over how adorable Gabi is.

The competition went well. Very well. In fact, so well that we won. Our score was 695, which is pretty good. This win qualifies our chorus to compete in Houston in the International competition in the fall of 2011.

Gabi is 11 months old

Yesterday Gabi turned 11 months old. I know I say the same thing every month, but it stays true! I cannot believe she is 11 months old. In one month she will be 1 year old. Amazing!

Gabi has been growing up a lot. She really likes to walk around holding my fingers. My back feels like she could go on forever. She went through a time when she really struggled falling asleep at nap time. She is doing so much better falling asleep now, though. Unfortunately she doesn't sleep for very long at nap time. She does sleep well at night, though. Rachel is just the opposite. She sleeps great at nap time, but takes forever to fall asleep at night. Gabi has also been a lot more clingy than Rachel was. Although interestingly Rachel is more clingy now than she was as a baby.

Gabi is very ticklish, and you are guaranteed a laugh when you tickle her almost anywhere on her body. She adores her big sister. Rachel can make her laugh without even trying. Rachel is often very protective and sweet to Gabi too. She makes sure that Gabi has a toy to play with, and will give her hugs and kisses too.

What a Weekend!

On Sunday at church, Rachel did something she hasn't done since she was a baby. She fell asleep during Sacrament Meeting. That should have clued me in, but it didn't. When I picked her up from nursery after church, the nursery leader said that she had been quiet and had kept to herself (not normal for her), and she was feeling warm. We went straight to Jeff's parents' house after church, but I grabbed some children's tylenol and a thermometer just in case. Sure enough, Rachel had a fever with an axillary temperature of 101º. I gave her the children's tylenol, and after an hour or so she started perking up a bit. She made her way outside to play on the deck. Unfortunately she was barefoot, and got a couple of bad splinters in her right foot. We tried to get them out, but only managed to get out half of one of them. They were certainly causing her some pain.

The next day Rachel indicated that her foot hurt, plus she still had a bit of a fever (though not as high as the day before). Knowing that I could not remove the splinters on my own I called the pediatrician's office. The suggested letting her soak in a bath until her skin got wrinkly, and maybe the splinter would work its way out. I did, and it didn't. I called back and we decided that I would bring Rachel in after lunch.

Since we were at the doctor anyway, I went ahead and had them check on her fever, and the nurse practitioner checked her throat and saw a very red throat with little pustules, and felt her throat and could feel little bumps (she showed me, and I could see and feel them too). So they took a throat culture to check for strep. The quick test came back negative, but to get a 100% accurate reading they had to give it 24 hours.

When everything else was done the nurse went after the splinters. It took a long time, but finally one was out. She went after the second one, but just couldn't get it out. Rachel, meanwhile was crying and pleading for us to "go away!" Finally the doctor came in and he popped it out almost immediately. The nurse practitioner did all of the hard work, and the doctor benefited from that and got all of the glory. Isn't that always how it goes? Anyway, I was very glad that we succeeded, and we went back home where Rachel climbed into my bed and rested pretty much the rest of the afternoon.

The next day (today) Rachel seemed to be feeling better. No fever, more active, although she has still been a little more whiny than normal. Finally I got a call from the doctor's office and the long version of the test also came back negative, so Rachel at least doesn't have strep throat.

Gabi had a fever last Thursday afternoon, but the next morning it was gone, and after consulting with the doctor's office we figured it was just from teething, although Rachel having a fever a few days later makes me think that Gabi probably had the same virus and gave it to Rachel. Anyway, I think we are all better now!

I have started and not finished several times a post about Gabi and the struggles we have been having with her naps. She would cry and cry for seemingly forever, and finally fall asleep, but wake up 20 minutes later. It was exhausting and frustrating. (Rachel with her 3 hour naps really spoiled me!) I consulted with knowledgeable friends and professionals, and came up with a strategy to help Gabi nap better. Without going into all of the gory details, I will simply say that Gabi fell asleep for her nap today within 5 minutes, and slept for 2 hours. That makes me very happy!

After nap were over we went outside and enjoyed playing in the kiddie pool and the sprinkler.

Breakfast

Rachel wasn't very enthusiastic about the idea of eating breakfast this morning. She would have rather watched "memes" (movies). Being the strict disciplinarian that I am, I said she had to eat breakfast. She insisted that she didn't want to eat. So, following the suggestions that I've read in all of my "toddler" books, I didn't argue with her, but instead went ahead and got breakfast ready for myself and for Gabi (Jeff was already gone to work). Rachel started pitching in and helping me get Gabi's breakfast ready. She poured Gabi's cereal into a bowl (with my help), she poured some cereal (cheerios) on Gabi's tray, and before you know it, Rachel was in her seat ready for her own breakfast. Once everything was ready, I said "It's time for prayer." Rachel immediately folded her arms and started to say the prayer on her own. She has said the prayer before, but always with my help, but this time she didn't wait for me. She said "Dear Heavenly Father, (something unintelligible) prayer." Then she stopped because she didn't know what to say next, so I pitched in and helped her to finish.

So often I notice my faults and flaws as a mommy, but this morning I feel pretty good about how I handled everything, and am definitely happy with how it all turned out. We'll see how the rest of the day goes.


And now here are some more pictures of my awesome girls.

Rachel

Gabi

Easter

We had a great Easter. A couple of things were working to our benefit. First of all, it was General Conference weekend. Great talks, great counsel, and a wonderful spirit was present. Second of all, the weather couldn't have been better. It was high 70s, low 80s. Beautiful clear blue sky. You combine those two with Easter Sunday, and it doesn't get any better.

I bought the girls matching Easter outfits, and they looked pretty darn cute.
Between Conference sessions we had an Easter egg hunt for the kiddos. They let the kids head out in reverse order of age. Rachel went down the front steps and immediately found a flower, which she picked. Fortunately Grandma was very forgiving. But you've got to hand it to Rachel. She knows how to stop and smell the flowers.
Gabi, of course, had no idea what was going on, but she (okay I) found a few eggs, and she sat in the yard and played with them.
Rachel and Gabi have got to be the most beautiful little girls in the whole world.