Quick 5

After all the Easter Hoopla, this was a relatively quiet and quick week.  I'll try to come up with five things.

1.  I've started to make plans for Alaina's birthday, which is in a mere five weeks.  So I've been asking her questions to get a feel for what I should do.  Here are some of our conversations:

Me: "Alaina, what do you want for your birthday?"
Alaina: "Cake!"

Me:  "What is your favorite drink?"
Alaina:  "Lemonade!"

Me:  "What is your favorite breakfast?"
Alaina:  "Oatmeal and yogurt!"

Me:  "What is your favorite lunch?"
Alaina: "Peanut butter and jelly!"

Me:  "What is your favorite dinner?"
Alaina:  "Dessert!"

I guess I have my meal plan for June 2nd.

2.  Tuesday after MOPS we went through the drive-thru at Wendy's to pick up some lunch.  Wendy's apparently does not have apple juice for kids, so I ordered Alaina a milk to go with her chicken nuggets.  Alaina started yelling from the backseat, and obviously not to me, but to the disembodied voice that was taking our order, "No!  Not milk!  Apple juice, please!"  She would call it out every time there was a pause between me and the order taker.  I couldn't finish our order without laughing.  Soon I'm going to let Alaina order.  I think she'll do a great job.

3.  Cute, sweet little Joya is pretty high maintenance right now.  I used to be able to lay her on her back on a blanket on the floor with toys around her, and she would lie there and play for long periods of time.  Now she flips onto her stomach within two minutes.  And if she stops there for any length of time, then she loses the ability to flip back over.  So she cries and fusses.  She can and does roll sometimes, but it has to be a continuous motion.  And she can't sit up on her own to play.  And she can't sit in the Bumbo for very long, because she twists around and gets herself stuck in awkward positions.  6 months must be such a hard age.  She is active and wants to play, but doesn't know how.  It must be very frustrating for her.

4.  In other Joya news, she is finally 100% weaned from the swaddler.  I'm hoping the weaning process is why she has been a terrible sleeper this month, and that each night will get better.  But here is a pictorial essay of that process:

How Joya slept until about a month ago

The one-armed swaddle.  It took her 12 naps to get used to this.  Those 12 naps were full of crying and very little sleep.

Free indeed.  She now gets very upset if you try to pin her arms down.

My conclusion?  Avoid those fancy swaddlers at all cost.  They are like crack to babies.  Withdrawal isn't pretty.

5.  As a reward for doing Hard Core Business in the potty yesterday, I gave Alaina a mini Reese's peanut butter cup.  She called it a "muffin candy."  Because it comes in a paper cup like a muffin.  So cute.

Goodbye April!  We're looking forward to all the May flowers.

Easter Celebration

Easter was great this year.  Fun, meaningful, humbling, peaceful.  Alaina loved it, and is still telling random strangers she sees while we're out about "finding eggs at Grammy's" and that "Jesus isn't there!  In the cave!"  I think these pics capture the day.  (Although I am sorry that we didn't get one of all the egg-hunters together, which included the Gillett girls.)

It looks like Joya is trying to get way from her sister, but that's not true.

Alaina and her cousin "Baby Naomi."

Joya likes to play with Naomi too.

This face perfectly captures egg-hunting frenzy.

She found plenty of eggs.

Quick 5

I may have to resort to the dreaded pictures this week.

1.  I'm a big fan of this blog, written by Beth Moore's daughter Amanda.  She was recounting a story about her two-year-old daughter taking off her own diaper, and all the joys that go with it, and then mentioned something about not being ready for potty training and the "battle of wills" in "that season of tribulation."  I laughed, and then sobered up as I realized that that is a very fitting description of the Kimble household of late.  A battle of wills in a Season of Tribulation.  And here I thought we were just supposed to be enjoying the season of spring.

2.  Joya's six month check-up was on Monday.  She is in perfect health, weighs 14 pounds and is 26 inches long.  The lovely Dr. Scheeler and I spent many minutes discussing the fact that Joya is not sleeping through the night.  Even though science says otherwise, Dr. Scheeler too hopes that the introduction of solids and the calories that come with it will help Joya stay asleep until morning.  However, the very next day Joya decided to embark on a Solid Food Strike.  One week in, and she's already rebelling.  I admit that rice cereal is yuck, but seriously. 

3.  I actually got to go to the Switchfoot concert with Lee last Saturday.  Through a series of unfortunate events, my little brother couldn't go.  We didn't know this until the last minute, and thankfully my mom was already here and volunteered to stay with the girls.  We simply left after I nursed Joya and made it in plenty of time to see Switchfoot.  It was a FANTASTIC show, and I generally do not like live concerts.  Red Rocks is an amazing venue, and everyone should put seeing a show there on their bucket list.  AND Joya ended up taking a bottle from my mom that night.  We didn't get home too late, but we thought for sure we'd come into the house to the sound of a screaming baby.  Well, either my mom is a Baby Whisperer, or the prayers of my brother-in-law Nick worked.  It ended up being a very lovely evening.  And I love Switchfoot.

4.  I just finished reading The Shack by William P. Young.  And I really really enjoyed it.  And was challenged in my view of God and the Trinity.  I know that book had quite a bit of controversy surrounding it; I just can't remember what it was.  I liked it, anyway, and I'd recommend it.

5.  Last Saturday I had a Premier Designs Jewelry party.  My high school friend Anna is a consultant, and did a great job.  She had all sorts of stuff set up for us to try on, and Alaina was most impressed by it all.  She still talks about all the bracelets and necklaces that she got to wear.  A tomboy she is not.

Christ is Risen, folks!  Have a great time celebrating the resurrection with your friends and fam.

With Conviction

For dinner tonight, we had ham and potatoes in a cheese sauce.  The potatoes were cut into pretty small cubes, and you can imagine their color, after they had been simmering in the cheese sauce in the crock-pot all afternoon.  As I dished up dinner, Alaina kept exclaiming about the "pineapples."  Several times I told her that there were no pineapples, just potatoes.

As we were eating, Lee mentioned something about the pineapples to Alaina.

"No Daddy!" she said.  "Not pineapples!"

"Well, what are they?" he replied.

"I.  Don't.  Know," she said immediately, with conviction.

Here's to making unrecognizable food for dinner.

Quick 5

Long week.

1.  On Monday we ended up going outside to see the tortoise.  Our neighbor let them wander around the yard for a good three hours.  There were two tortoises, along with a really big iguana that he kept having to catch before it climbed up the trees.  I finally took Alaina outside, but as I suspected, she most definitely did not want to ride the tortoise.  Even with the other kids cheering her on.

2.  Alaina has been sick most of the week.  It started with what I thought might be a fever on Tuesday.  I've heard that you should always treat the kid, not the fever, and so while Alaina felt feverish to me, she was still acting like her normal self.  So we went about our business as usual.  Wednesday she woke up with one again and this time the floodgates of her nose opened up too.  We stayed home that day, even though she was still acting relatively normal.  On Thursday she was begging to go somewhere "after room time" so we went to the mall and walked a bit, even though she was still off her feed.  The only other symptom she had was a lack of appetite.  This morning, though, she woke up fever free and ate all her breakfast.  I'm glad, because this morning I was going to have to call the doctor if she still had a fever.  I love our doctor and all, but I'm not a fan of taking sick babies there.

3.  Last Sunday Alaina graduated from the toddler nursery to the 3-year-old Sunday school class.  The nursery is pretty jam-packed, and the 3-year-old room always had just a couple kids in there, so the nursery director asked if we could move her.  Of course Alaina loved it.  I'm so proud of the way she welcomes new situations like that.  She's practically a real little girl now.

4.  Lee won a radio contest this week.  His favorite Christian rock station was giving away tickets to the Switchfoot concert at Red Rocks this Saturday.  You had to call in and finish the Switchfoot lyrics.  Lee knows the songs like he knows his own name, so it was perfect.  They started the contest on Monday, and Lee tried to win every single time.  There were chances three times a day.  Finally Wednesday at the noon-hour time he made it through.  It was terribly exciting.  Unfortunately for me, Joya still doesn't take a bottle, so I can't go with him.  I am really not a concert person, but Switchfoot is the only band I would ever want to see in concert.  And at Red Rocks!  What a great venue.  (I'd also see Josh Groban there, but that's about it.)

5.  No real news on Joya's end that I haven't mentioned already.  She's finally able to sleep with just one arm swaddled.  That took about 12 naps for her to get used to.  And I did start giving her cereal this week.  I think that round of amoxicilan that she had at the beginning of March really paved the way for her to have things shoved in her mouth.  Next week we'll start introducing the veggies.  I've already made sweet potatoes and butternut squash for her.  I've only been giving her the cereal once a day, so she's not really getting a ton, and it hasn't helped her sleep through the night yet.  I still have high hopes.

Have a great weekend!

Six Months

Joya is six months old today!  In some ways I can't believe it, and in some ways, I can't believe she's only six months old.  She truly does live up to her name: a delight.  And she is most definitely a baby.

She's all of a sudden learning new things, like how to eat cereal and how to sleep without being swaddled like a mummy.  I feel like milestones like that are going to start snowballing: sitting by herself, growing teeth, crawling, sleeping through the night, moving into Alaina's room. 

She is cheerful and giggly and loves her sister.  We're glad she's in our family.

Proof of the Turtle

Not that anyone was calling me a liar or anything.  And okay, technically I'm sure it's called a tortoise.  But he was grazing out again this afternoon:

We didn't go out to see him today, but he attracted quite the number of kids.  Several were riding him.  Maybe I can coax Alaina on him one day.  We'll see.  She has a history of chickening out.

Quick 5

My dad and brother-in-law have given me serious flak over the pictorial Quick 5 a couple of weeks ago.  I stand by it.  Thus my first encounter with back seat bloggers.

1.  I've taken to staying at home on Mondays, which is laundry day for us.  I try not to go out unless absolutely necessary.  This has given me the freedom to dress Alaina like a ragamuffin while her good clothes are being washed.  Although, with the onset of serious potty-training, she looks like this a little more often these days.

The shirt is quite small, and the pants are border-line high-water.  And there is a little hole on the backside.  I think it is so cute, but I would quickly change her into something more presentable if we had to leave the house.

2.  Speaking of potty-training, I bought a bag of Easter Hershey Kisses to use as rewards for this go-around.  Alaina earns one if she a) poops in the potty (a rare occurrence) or b) goes tinkle in the potty AND has dry pants.  I bought the Easter bag because I thought the colors were fun and pretty.

Guess what color is Alaina's current favorite?  Gray.  As in silver.  As in the color of the normal, boring, every-day Kisses.  As in, I didn't need to buy a fun bag.  Sheesh.

3.  On Wednesday Alaina did not take an afternoon nap.  This happens sometimes.  Thankfully not often, because on the day she misses her afternoon nap there are usually tears galore before bed.  But on Wednesday when she was supposed to be sleeping I heard her call "Mommy!  Mommy!"  Since we're potty-training I ran to the room, thinking she was going to declare that she had to poop or something.  Instead I found her looking out the window calling "The turtles!  The turtles!"  Sure enough, there was a very large tortoise roaming our front yard.  So even though it was nap time, I scooped her up and we ran downstairs.  As we came outside our neighbor was bringing out another, slightly smaller one.  Apparently he does reptile shows for schools and stuff.  These two guys were really big; one was 21 years old, and the other was 57.  I asked him he had snakes and he said a couple.  I didn't go into any more detail, because there is a no-pet policy in these town homes  I didn't want to know any specifics.

4.  Yesterday I began the process of weaning Joya from her swaddler.  You know, those fancy swaddle blankets with the velcro that keeps them wrapped up in a tight burrito.  I simply wrapped her in a normal blanket, so she would have an easier time breaking out of it.  The morning nap went fairly well.  She actually fell asleep with her arm out, and I was excited to know she could fall asleep without her arms pinned down.  However, she woke up much earlier than she normally would.  And the same thing happened during her afternoon nap.  She fell asleep okay, but woke up after about an hour.  I wrapped her up again, and again she fell asleep for about 45 minutes.  So she can fall asleep, but just doesn't really stay asleep at this point.  I'll put her back in the swaddler for the night, but I hope she can get used to it and stay asleep for her naps soon.

5.  And finally, an update on how last Sunday went.  Last Sunday was my return to the worship team, which meant an early, long morning for all of us.  Alaina is an old pro, and really enjoys eating her breakfast at church and playing all morning.  Joya did pretty well for the first two hours.  And that was about it.  I ended up with her in the mother's room for most of the second service, and she screamed for quite a bit, even with me holding her.  She didn't do so well during the last service either.  And when I finally got her home, she had a really hard time falling asleep for her nap, even though I knew she was overtired.  So I'm going to have to hold off for a couple of months before we try it again.  Hopefully by then she'll either be back to taking a bottle, or will be able to be distracted by snacks or something.  I just can't bring myself to make the nursery workers deal with her again for awhile.  I'm glad we did it, but we're just going to have to give it more time.

That's a wrap!

Joya's First Joke and Alaina's Latest Grievances

One of my favorite thing about watching babies become little people is seeing their humor develop.  I'm pretty sure that just shy of 6 months, Joya already has a joke.  It mostly happens when I first get her out of bed in the morning.  She's usually pretty hungry (even though she still wakes up between 3:00 and 4:00 often, but that's a topic for another time).  She knows she's getting breakfast.  So she'll grab my head and shove my chin in her mouth and start sucking away.  Then she pulls away with a big grin and wriggles in delight.  I think she's being silly; she knows breakfast doesn't come from my chin.  And she knows it always makes me laugh.  I love it.

Alaina has a serious issue with someone: the garbage collector.  Every Tuesday she sees our garbage can sitting out on the curb.  Later in the day, when there is no longer trash in it, she wails, "Oh no!  My trash!  Give it back!"  Even though I tell her that the garbage man is supposed to take the trash, and that it's smelly and gross, she still is very upset to see it gone.

Silly babies.

Quick 5

Don't worry.  I'm not feeling witty enough for any April Fool's Day jokes.  Everything in today's blog will be 100% accurate and true, just like every other day.

1.  Part One of The Great Return to Worship Team went great.  Practice was on Tuesday night, from 6:30-9:00.  I did have to take a 15 minute break to go and feed Joya, but Kelvin was most gracious about that.  And Joya did great in the nursery.  I had no idea how she'd do, since she is usually in bed by 7:30.  And on Tuesday nights there is no infant nursery: all the kids, birth to 11 or 12 are usually in the same room.  The fine nursery ladies just dragged a swing in for Joya and she spent the evening in it, watching all the kids play.  She didn't fall asleep at all since there was too much activity, but I'm okay with that.  Just as long as she didn't spend the whole time screaming for them.  The next great test is Sunday morning, when we will be at the church from 6:45 to 12:30.  We'll see how it goes.

2.  I've been playing the violin for church off and on for a couple of years now.  I usually just practice the music for the upcoming service.  However, an added benefit of our recent move was the unearthing of my box of violin books.  These are books I got years and years ago when I was taking lessons.  I'm so excited to have them again, because as I try and hone my craft a bit it is nice to have some other things to play.  I'm even excited about the boring technique books.  I've started playing through the most basic ones I have and I'd like to work back up to where I was when I stopped taking lessons.  Anyway, in the current book I'm playing through my teacher wrote the date above each piece that marked the week I was to work on that particular one. All the dates so far have been January to May of 1994.  That was 17 years ago.  17.  As in, before my brother was even born.

3.  This whole winter, I've had the worst time trying to keep socks on Joya's feet.  They all just come off as she kicks around.  Now I'm having an equally hard time keeping socks on Alaina's feet.  She pulls them off.  All the time.  She likes to "be barefoot."  So the other day I painted her toenails for the first time ever.  Thank goodness sandal season is just around the corner.

4.  Yesterday we went to the Colorado Mills Mall with my mom.  It was fun to get out of the house and shop.  And Alaina got to ride the carousel with Grammy.  It was the highlight of her week.

5.  There is a question that Alaina asks every day, several times a day.  The first time she asks it is when she first wakes up.  I'm not joking.  I go into her room and she's laying in bed, all rumpled from the night and this question pops out of her mouth.  She'll ask it several more times throughout the day.  And she'll even ask it right before bed, in anticipation of the next day.  The question is this: "What we having for dinner?"

Happy Spring!