Quick 5

Is it bad that I woke up every day this week thinking it was Friday?

1.  We have now had a full solid week of Joya sleeping through the night.  I put her down at 7:15, and I don't pick her up again until 7:00 the next morning.  I had forgotten how wonderful that feels.  There were one or two times where she did wake up in the night, but all I had to do was roll her back over (because she almost always ends up on her tummy these days) and put her paci back in her mouth and she would go right back to sleep.  I'm so proud of her.  Who wouldn't be proud of this face?

2.  Which means I have a deadline that I'm putting out for the whole world to see so I have to meet it: on June 1st I will put Joya to bed in Alaina's room.  You heard it here first.

3.  Lately Alaina has been all about the sister pictures.  Here are a couple of my favorites:

4.  Yesterday we had a play date/craft time with Alaina's favorite girls, Macy and Avery.  I don't ever do crafts with just Alaina.  She colors on her own, but I never actually organize a real craft.  It just seems like a lot of work for just one little girl.  So I thought it was time to make something a little more formal, and that it would be much more fun with friends.  Thanks to my sister Jamie, we made these little flower cups.  In the name of exploring creativity, I had to let Alaina color her leaves brown.

5.  We have a big week coming up!  Alaina is turning 3, and that means festivities galore.  We're already looking forward to the mac and cheese, and I have a fantastic idea for her birthday cake.  I'm a little intimidated when it comes to cakes, because I have friends who are Cake Decorators, and I am just not inclined that way.  But I found a really simple one that I think will be a step above plain cupcakes with sprinkles.  I can't wait to try it out.

Hope you are all staying safe from this crazy spring weather!

Quick 5

Slow week makes for a slow quick 5.

1.  I took Alaina to get a haircut this week.  For the first time ever, we went to the "big people" haircut place, aka Great Clips.  Until now I've been taking her to the uber-expensive place for kids, but I thought she was old enough to get her hair cut in a chair rather than a fire engine.  She did very well.  And loved the sucker that she got at the end.

2.  Joya has slept from 7:30 to 7:00 two nights in the last week.  AND she rediscovered her paci.  She grabs it and puts it in her mouth as soon as I lay her down in bed.  It has been truly wonderful.

3.  Joya has also discovered the art of rolling.  She rolls all over the room, and prefers to be on the floor rolling to playing in the exersaucer.  I can't just put her on the blanket on the floor and go and cook dinner anymore.  She needs way more supervision.  I see baby gates in our near future.

4.  Only two weeks until Alaina's birthday!  Now when I ask her what she wants she says "Cake and toys."  That trip to Toys R Us left a lasting impression.

5.  I am loving all the rain we've had.  We've also experience quite a few thunder booms, which apparently is new to Alaina.  Last spring/summer was so dry, that I'm not surprised she doesn't remember thunder.  Just yesterday we had quite a loud clap, and she covered her ears and started to whimper.  I hope she makes friends with the thunder the way I have. 

Sorry this is so paltry.  Maybe next week will pick up a bit.

Quick 5

This week's Quick 5 is going to require some audience participation, so pay attention and don't be shy!

1.  Once this week, I woke up to find Joya sleeping on her stomach.  She didn't make any noise about it; I'm a light sleeper and I would have heard her if she did.  She was simply snoozing away on her tummy.  Freaked me out.  Anyone who is pregnant or taking care of an infant has heard the lecture from a thousand different sources that babies should be put to sleep on their backs.  Heck, even Joya's sleep sack has the words "Back is Best" embroidered on the front (no joke.)  So I quickly had to do three things: a.) pray that God protects her life, since this is an area I have no control over, b.) remind myself that all the books say when a baby is able to flip themselves over the danger of SIDS is virtually gone, and c.) I'm pretty sure I grew up in the generation that was put to sleep on our tummies in infancy.  And I survived.  Last night she ended up on her tummy again, but mostly I find her on her side these days.

2.  AUDIENCE POLL #1:  Look at these pictures of my darling daughters, and then answer the question below:

Does Joya look like she has a uni-brow?  She doesn't, but I think she has a stork bite (?) that makes it look like she does.  Does anyone else see it?

3.  On Wednesday morning I had a meeting at church, to which I brought the girls.  Wednesday was the first day of the Great Colorado Deluge of 2011.  As we left the church, I noticed it was pouring.  Of course I didn't have an umbrella; it is pert near impossible to carry an infant seat, hold the hand of toddler and use and umbrella at the same time.  So I simply covered the infant seat with a blanket, told Alaina we had to run, and dashed to the car.  About halfway to the car I hear Alaina squeal, "My shoe!  My shoe!"  I look back, and about 30 feet behind us is her little pink shoe.  Did I say it was pouring?  I put the infant seat on the ground, told Alaina to stay put and ran to get the shoe.  Alaina was crying.  I picked up the infant seat and told Alaina to keep running.  That's right, one shoe on and one shoe off.  I fumbled a little getting the car unlocked, but got Alaina in first before putting Joya in the other side.  Joya was fine and dry.  Alaina was wet and crying.  She keeps talking about how the rain got on her sock.  Oh the joys of lugging around small children.

4.  AUDIENCE POLL #2 (a word problem):  We took a trip to Toys R Us this week.  I wanted to look at a kids table and chair set I've been contemplating, and I thought it might be fun for Alaina.  We've never gone to the toy store before.  And it was fun.  For both of us.  The possibilities are endless there.  And Alaina's birthday is in three weeks, so I wanted to see what caught her eye.  Well, I think I've mentioned before how easy she is.  She's too easy.  She would be equally content with any one toy from that store.  So I've decided to get her a game for her birthday.  Here's where I need your help.  Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders?  I'm leaning toward Chutes and Ladders, but Candy Land is such a classic.  Both are for ages 3+, so I know she'd enjoy either one.  Thoughts?

5.  I'm sure you know how much we must wash our hands around here, what with all the potty training and all.  And you know how you can turn on the hot water, but it always takes 30 seconds or so to heat up?  Well, we put our hands in the water before the water gets hot.  It takes Alaina forever to wash her hands anyway, no need to waste water while that happens.  She used to screech every time the water started to get warm.  I'm not talking about burn your hands hot either.  It would get a little warm and she'd scream.  Drove me crazy.  So I've taught her to say something, and to my surprise she actually says it when the water starts to be too warm for her.  She says this, calmly, word for word:

"Mother!  The water is hot!" 

It cracks me up when she calls me Mother.  :)

That's it!  Don't forget to answer questions 2 and 4, and leave your name to get full credit.

Joya's Dedication

We dedicated Joya on Mother's Day.  It was a day full of prayer and reflection for me, as I tried to keep at the front of my mind the fact that I really am Alaina's and Joya's mother.  My parents and brother came, and Alaina really enjoyed being up on stage.  After the prayer time was over, the auditorium was kind of quiet as the families exited the stage, so the whole congregation could hear Alaina excitedly yelling, "Grammy!  Hi Grammy!"  Joya got a little bored during the prayer, but I won't hold that against her.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

A conversation in our living room today:

The scene: Alaina was admiring Grammy's painted toenails.  She then was distracted by an owie on Apple Ben's foot.

Lee: "Alaina, what do Apple Ben's feet smell like?"
Alaina: "Compost!"

No hesitation.

Quick 5

There is just something about warm weather that puts me in a good mood.  Today's forecast is 75 degrees.  It should be a good day.

1.  Joya's sleeping has gotten much better.  That might be another reason for my good mood.  It all started last Friday when I finally forced her to drink a small bottle of formula before nursing her for the evening.  To my surprise, not only did she drink it all, but she fully nursed too.  Then she woke up at midnight.  And then she woke up at 7:00am.  For the rest of the weekend I decided that she gets to nurse once in the night.  Just once.  I'd like that to be no earlier than midnight.  So when she woke up crying at 10:00 (our previous usual nursing time) I just let her cry.  She cried for 15 minutes, then went back to sleep.   A few days later she woke up again at 4:00, cried for 15 minutes, then went back to sleep.  But since probably Tuesday she's only been waking up once since I laid her down at 7:30.  Eventually I'll need to nip that one middle-of-the-night feeding in the bud, but I'm just so thrilled that it's just once that I don't mind the 10 minutes it takes to give her a snack. 

2.  I'm trying to master the art of homemade mac and cheese.  Not the baked kind; I've never made that (although I'm sure it's delicious.)  No, I'm trying out recipes for on the stove, and I just can't get it.  The sauce is always slightly gritty.  And I never seem to make enough noodles to balance out the amount of sauce.  It perplexes me.

3.  I foresee a battle in our future.  It involves me trying to convince Alaina to go to sleep at night.  Soon we'll be leaving our windows open at night.  It's one of my favorite parts of Colorado.  But I've been noticing that there are a LOT of kids who live right around our townhouse.  And they all play right outside.  In our yard, because our front yard is a shared front yard.  And Alaina's window faces that yard.  I have a sound machine in her room, but I'm sure it won't drown out all the shrieks and yells of the elementary aged kids who get to stay up past 8:00, playing outside with their friends.  And not that I wish they wouldn't play.  But Alaina loves kids, and is sure to be distracted.  I hope she learns how to ignore it.

4.  During one of our recent Skype sessions with Lee's parents, Grandma Kimble mentioned picking blueberries to Alaina.  It's all she can talk about these days.  She's invited me along.  (How sweet.)  And she talks incessantly about her "blueberry bucket."  It's nice to have something to look forward to.

5.  This Sunday we will be dedicating Joya at church.  It is such a brief little ceremony, but is still such a big deal for us.  I've been trying to prepare my heart.  It's not like I haven't recognized that she is God's and not mine for all this time.  But there is something different about standing up in front of people and declaring it.  It's almost a moment where you now have to put your money where your mouth is, you know?  Walk the walk, don't just talk the talk.

Happy Mother's Day, all you mommies.  :)