A Girls Afternoon

Last weekend Abygail and I went to a play called Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business put on by the Theatre of Youth. The play said the appropriate ages were for 4+ so I thought it would be a good time to take Abygail to a play (and it was free... that helped to persuade me as well). We arrived with time to spare and looked around the building. It's a historic theater here and it's architecture inside was fabulous. It's been restored and you can tell that it's well loved. We were not very close to the stage but it's a small theater so we could stills see everything but some parts were hard to hear over the music. Music? What... did I forget to mention it was a musical???

Yeah, it was a musical, which was a bonus in my book (and I think Aby's too).

It turned out to be so much fun. I laughed so much and really enjoyed myself. I didn't think that Abygail got much out of it though. She was squirming and not watching the stage very much. After the play they let the kids in the audience ask the actors questions. One of the questions was, "Was the baby real?" (there is a baby in the story if you've read the book). They told us no, it was just a doll but we hold it so that it looks like a real baby. Well, that's the part that stuck in Abygail's head. I would ask her "how did you like the play?" She would say, "but it wasn't a real baby, it was just a doll."

When we got home I was a bit disappointed that Abygail hadn't enjoyed it more. Then she started telling everyone about it with little details I didn't think she even saw and then started doing some of the singing and dancing. Well, needless to say it turned out to be a hit with her too.

I wish we had a picture of our special day together, all dressed up for our special afternoon. But we didn't think about it (and our camera was broken, was).

Camping, Hiking, Fishing

A couple of weekends ago our lab had a camp-out retreat in Allegany state park. We had planned on the whole family going, but it has been getting pretty cold at night, and Caitlyn and Madelyn had been a little sick, so we decided that I would just go with Abygail and Jackson. We arrived Friday evening and stayed until Sunday afternoon. We missed Amber and the little ones, but I think she enjoyed having some relative quiet in the house.

Another grad student in the lab, Solon, arrived shortly after we did with his two slightly older kids (5 and 9 I think). Their dad is quite the naturalist and has trained them right, so they immediately went down the creek running alongside our campground and started turning over rocks in the hunt for any critters they could find. Abygail and Jackson were enthrawled. They insisted on going down to the creek with them, and even took their shoes and socks off so they could get into the frigid water and turn over rocks as well. We weren't fortunate enough to catch anything ourselves, but they enjoyed seeing the few little fish (barely bigger than tadpoles), water bugs, and crayfish that they caught. As you might imagine, I had a hard time keeping the two of them away from the creek the rest of the time we were there, especially Jackson.

My boss/advisor had rented a couple of cabins, but Abygail and Jackson insisted on sleeping in the tent so I finally set it up around 10pm by lantern light. (they are night-owls anyway, but especially when we are doing something special); it was a new moon so it was really dark. The stars were amazing!

We started Saturday morning with a breakfast of pancakes and bacon cooked in our iron skillet over the fire (I love camp cooking!), then went for a hike with the rest of or little group. I filled my backpack with snacks, water, diapers, wipes, and a change of clothes for the kids. Abygail and Jackson each had their own backpacks which they used to carry their own snacks and water. It didn't take long for the rest of our group to realize that I was serious when I said they shouldn't wait for us. As you might imagine, hiking with a 2 and 3 year old is not a fast-paced adventure, so the three of us ended up on our own.

I have to say that I was and still am absolutely amazed at how well Abygail and Jackson did. They asked to be held a lot when we first started out, but soon realized that I wasn't joking when I said we weren't on a carry, but on a walk, and quit asking. I actually didn't carry them at all over the entire FOUR HOUR hike. Well, not at least until the last 15 minutes when poor Jackson just couldn't handle it any more; he was actually trying to lay down on rocks and go to sleep. But I am getting ahead of myself. The hike was uphill the whole way (until we turned around) and the path was covered with rocks and roots. They insisted on taking time to turn over a few rocks and we actually found a couple of salamanders.



As we neared the top of the hill, we found that it was covered with enormous rocks, house-sized and even many times bigger. When we got to the very top, the trail brought us onto of a huge rock outcropping where we discovered a small hole in the ground. I should have gathered that we might find some caves since the trail was called "Bear Cave Trail," but for some reason I was surprised to find that this little hole actually led back pretty far into the rocks, perhaps a couple hundred feet following a very narrow and windy course.

I decided to go in as far as I could without getting too far from Abygail and Jackson, but to my surprise they followed me inside. We had neglected to bring any flashlights, so I used my cell-phone to lead them about a third of the way in. My cell phone didn't do much to penetrate the complete darkness, though, so they didn't go too far past where the outside light disappeared. When we turned around and left the cave, I was sure that that was the end of our caving experience, but they surprised me once again by asking to go back in. We made it perhaps a little further the second time, but not by much. Fortunately, some other hikers came along and offered to let us borrow their flashlights. Once we had some decent light in hand, Abygail and Jackson had no problem going to the back end of the cave.





We learned from the people we met on the trail that there were actually two other caves not too far off which we also ended up exploring. The entrance to one of them was a 10ft drop straight down, but we were able to enlist the help of a couple that was also there their kids to help get Abygail and Jackson inside. Once inside, we found that at the opposite end there was a crack in the rocks just wide enough to see outside. The same couple that helped us get in also took some pictures from the outside and e-mailed them to us. Thank you.



Later that evening we tagged along with Solon and his kids to watch them go fishing. I hand't anticipated that we would be fishing, so didn't bring any rods or tackle for ourselves. Solon was fly fishing and his son had a pretty nice rod that he was using. His daughter on the other hand had only a kid-sized, light blue and pink rod that she used for a little while, then let Abygail and Jackson use when she got bored/distracted. When it was Jackson's turn I helped him cast the line out perhaps 6-10 feet then let him real it in. As I watched him real in the line, I saw a fish move out of the vegetation on the bottom and move towards the line...wouldn't it be awesome I thought. And no sooner had I though it but the fish actually took the line and Jackson had him on shore (with a little help)! I could hardly belive it. His first cast ever and he caught a fish! It was quite the sight next to the fly-fisherman and his son who had not yet caught anything with their fancy equipment. After that Abygail was determined to catch a fish as well, but in her exuberance, only managed to snag her daddy's chest with the hook. I was afraid that she would be upset that she didn't catch a fish, but she wasn't at all sad; quite to the contrary she was very excited that Jackson had caught a fish.


That night another professor came with her two kids (3 and 5). They went to bed pretty early that night, but on Sunday morning Abygail and Jackson hit it off with them pretty well and had fun playing while we ate another breakfast cooked over the camp fire then packed up to come home home.

This Girl is Ready!

Abygail had her first day of preschool today. We were worried most about her getting up in the morning but she did great. We've been preparing her and telling her that we would need to wake her up in the morning so she could get to school on time and that Daddy would take her and Mommy would pick her up. Needless to say, after careful preparation it was a smooth early morning and no opportunity for Mommy to take her :( I don't think I've ever seen her happier in the morning!
How do you like that spoon or knife or whatever it is in her shoe?

When I picked her up she was happy and excited. She told me all about her day (3.5 hrs of it at least). She could only remember one boy's name, Alex. When I pointed out that his name starts with the letter A just like her's she was quick to correct me and say that only HER name starts with an A... well, I need to learn the alphabet again I guess.

She learned a new song, the Pie song, and sang it for me SEVERAL times. She just talked and talked and talked and talked. I couldn't get her to be quiet or sit still during quiet time. Finally I just took a nap while she talked to herself and pretended to play school (an exact replay of her day, I'm sure).

So, I think she was ready. Ready for a change of pace and ready to meet new people and ready to learn. I'm not exactly sure how much ABCs and 123s they are learning but she's definitely learning. She said to me tonight, "Oh no Mommy! I didn't learn anything today!" I quickly reminded her that she learned a new song and that she learned one of her classmate's name.

Getting Older

Jason became and old man yesterday... well, at least 'old' compared to me!

Someone else is getting older too. Abygail! While she is not turning another year older at this time she is about to enter a new stage in life, the school stage. We found a Head Start program that had one opening left and we quickly grabbed it up. The HS program here seems to be really great (only time will actually tell). Jason and I had the chance to go and tour the facility today and meet the teachers and staff and, let me tell ya, we were pleasantly impressed and felt very comfortable with the environment and staff. She's been approved and met all the requirements and on Tuesday she will begin.

Every Piece of Me

Abygail: Mommy, hold me!
Me: Hold you? Hold you?
Abygail: YES!
Me: OK. (then I pick her up by her arm pits and swing her onto my back for a piggy back ride hold)
Abygail: NO! Not like that!
Me: Not like this???
Abygail: No! I want you to hold every piece of me!

Isn't that sweet, funny and endearing?

A Pancake

Abygail: Look Mom, I found a baby pancake.
Me: Oh, how does it taste?
Abygail: It doesn't taste.
Me: Are you going to eat it?
Abygail: No.

A few seconds pass and she's playing with Caitlyn

Abygail: No, don't eat my pancake (pretending)

a few more seconds

Abygail: OK, well, you ate my pancake so now I'm gonna eat you!

sticks Caitlyn's fingers in her mouth.

Seriously, Abygail is such a good big sister and loves to have pretend conversations with her sisters and entertain them. She loves singing songs to them and playing with them in general.

Way Too Much...

Jackson's Blue-Blueberry Birthday pancakes.

to post because so much time has gone by.

THE GIRLS:
The girls had their 4 month check ups a few weeks ago. Caitlyn is 12 lbs 1 oz and Madelyn is staying 1 pound ahead at 13 lbs 0 oz. Isn't it funny how they have stayed 1 lb apart since a month or so before they were born?!


They are getting strong too. Both of them roll from tummy to back and they both push up like pros. They have discovered their hands and it's fun to watch them stare at them and try to figure out how to move them or untangle them from each other. I've noticed Madelyn try to reach for or grasp for things. They also both suck their fists (mostly Madelyn, she would prefer it to a pacifier but hasn't abandoned the paci all together yet). They push with their feet and move in circles if they are upset or just annoyed that no one is paying attention to them.

Caitlyn recently got to 'test' a swing from Fisher Price. We had it for 2 weeks and they both enjoyed it. We also enjoyed that it worked (Jackson has broken the big one) and that it was so portable.

"Someone" got to the cake before the party started!

JACKSON:

Is 2!!!! He is so charming at times and others... well, he's in the terrible 2 period and you can tell. We had some friends over to celebrate his birthday. We had hotdogs and a fire (both are his favorites). It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed having people over to celebrate this fun day for him.


He talks like a pro! He had his 2 yr check up at the beginning of the week. Took his shot like a big boy and the Dr seemed very impressed by his speaking abilities. Apparently he should be saying 2 word phrases. Ya, he has 2 sentence conversations! LOL. Abygail was the same and we really enjoy that we can communicate with them both so well.


He's a total boy too! He loves bringing worms and rocks in the house and scaring or chasing Abygail with the worms. What a turkey!

ABYGAIL:
Has learned the advantages of deal making. I wanted to write a post titled "Let's Make A Deal" and talk about her deal making skills but as you can tell, I didn't. She was in the bath a while ago and it was time to get out, she didn't like the towel I had for her so she refused to use it. I told her that was the only towel we had for her and that she could use that towel or no towel. Well, she said, "Make a deal Mommy, make a deal!" to which I replied, "there is no deal, this is the only one we have for you". She insisted several more times for me to make a deal so I said, "OK here's the deal, you can either use this towel or no towel, which do you choose?" She chose the towel immediately. I guess as long as the 'options' are in a deal format she's ready to continue forward. Silly.

She loves dancing and singing (as does Jackson).

Here's the best part (and this is not an announcement, it's just an update), She has been in underpants for 2 days with no accidents. YEA, YEA, YEA!!!

JASON:
Has been working on the backyard and that is for another post. It's amazing how different it looks from when we moved in and even from last summer.

3 Year Old in Pictures

Good Morning! My Daddy made me pink pancakes, pink syrup and pink milk for breakfast. A perfect way to start my pink birthday day!After breakfast my Daddy went to school and I got dressed and waited for him to come home. When he got home he took me out to Famous Dave's BBQ where I got a free meal. After that we went to Target and picked up some pink shirts for me and him and a red and white shirt for Jackson (no pink shirts in the boys area).

After Target my Daddy took me to see my first movie at a REAL movie theatre. We saw Bolt and it was so much fun!

When the movie was over we went home and I fell asleep in the car. I took a short nap and then my whole family went to Chuck E. Cheese's to meet up with our friends. It was my first time and I LOVED IT. Mommy and Daddy say we can go back once I am potty trained, but not before then.
At Chuck E. Cheese's we played lots of games and ate cup cakes that Boss made for me. I like her A LOT!
When we got home I got to open my presents. My grandma sent me lots of jewelry. I also got a Tinkerbell towel, 2 dresses, 101 Dalmatians movie and a back pack full of school stuff. I've already colored in my drawing notebook, wrote a letter to daddy in my writing notebook, used my colored pencils, ate all my chapstick and my peanut butter cups and played with my sticker book and my easter stickers, and last but not least my mommy and daddy say they will let me use my scissors on an art project. I'm such a lucky girl!On Friday I had all my friends over to play and my Mommy made us pizza. Westin's mommy made this perfect princess cake for me. I licked all the frosting off the baby doll and it was yummy!I liked the cup cakes too!See my Daddy wore pink too! I helped him pick out this shirt. I blew the candles out all by myself! I tried to stick the whole piece in my mouth but it was a little too big.After cake I had a cup cake.

I hope everyone had fun and didn't leave hungry. I'm so glad my friends came over for my special pink day.

Our Week by the numbers

I was going to title this post 6 for Saturday taking a post out of Diana's blog, but as you will see there are more than 6 and 9, in case you haven't noticed, doesn't start with an S! So here's our week by the numbers:

1. Jackson and Abygail decided to be powder sugar ghosts. This seems to be the trend when the jar is left on the table...my bad, I should have put it away but, I had other crying babies/priorities to attend to. Jackson got quite the photo shoot out of it, here are a couple.



2. Speaking of photo shoots, Jason did one of his own. He was quite proud of himself this week. I think there were 13 shots of this screen. Check it out!


3. We have another champ in our house now. Abygail is a champ at opening doors now. She even opens the ones we don't want her to. She's found out that it's not so scary to go downstairs to the basement by yourself if there are super cool prizes to be found. Some of the things she's gotten this week: paints to make her own paintings, popsicles for her and Jack, ice cream for her and Jack and various other cool toys (old music tapes that unravel, little hand bags etc). We'll have to put a lock or latch on that door immediately!

4. Speaking of Paints, while Jackson and I were at the store Abygail got to use those paints for making her own pictures. They haven't gotten to paint for awhile and they really love it so it was a good day for her. She looked so cute, Jason had put one of his t-shirts on her and clothes-pinned it in the back so it didn't fall off. She looked like a little Picasso and there was not too much of a mess - at least I'm not the one that cleaned it up so it wasn't too much of a mess for me :)

5. Speaking of messes, I had some super coupons for another deal at CVS where their Fiber One chocolate chewy granola bars were on sale. I bought several and we gobbled them up - I think they are one of our new food loves. We had some down sides to them, we found that you can't eat more than one a day unless you want to spend your day in the bathroom and changing poopy diapers! Our children (especially Jackson) are regular enough so the bars are now off limits to them ;)

6. Not only has Aby been finding things on her own but she's been lying about it. Yesterday afternoon I was on the phone and holding a baby when I walked into the kitchen at the exact time she was coming upstairs from the dungeon. Very clearly in her hand I could see 2 Klondike bars (left over from my pregnancy cravings). I asked her "Did you go downstairs?" Her answer, "No". I ask "where did you get those ice creams?" Her answer, "I don't have any ice creams". To be honest I believe this is my fault. I've been not the best of moms when handling these situations. I usually tell her no and just take them away. Lately with the new additions I've been learning some patience and negotiation skills. I no longer get upset or berate her but explain why she can't have it, then stick to my guns and then coach her into handing over whatever it is. I hope this method will work, along with the 'lectures' on why we don't lie to mommy. It's tough keeping everything out of reach of 4 little hands!

7. Speaking of keeping things out...I got to go to playgroup for the first time in months. Although Aby and Jack have been I have not. This week was Jason's spring break so he stayed home with the girls while the rest of us went to play/socialize. A fun time was had by all.

8. Other news about getting out, with the amazing coupons this week and Diapers.Com deal I wound up purchasing 20, yup 20 packs of diapers! I'll give you my dollar total on the other website. I started this other site to keep my deals on and keep my shopping lists on to make it easier for myself but then my vision broadened to encompass any deal in Buffalo (The Buff) including what to do to entertain ourselves. Hopefully my Thrifty Friend will have some engrossing posts to add to it!

9. The best part of this week? NO ONE DIED!

And there you have it, a week in the life of our slice!

Because They're Cute...

You'll have to turn your volume up really loud ... but I promise it's worth it :)

Jackson and Abygail both love singing. Abygail has been singing since she could talk and so has Jackson. Jackson has parts of Itsy-bitsy spider, I am a child of God, Twinkle Twinkle and ABCs memorized. ABCs consists of repeatedly singing ABCD, ABCD, ABCD...etc. Twinkle Twinkle is more like Winkle, winkle wittel sar. And the others are just bits and pieces of various parts of the song.

Aren't they too cute!?

4 Little Milestones

Abygail and Jackson playing on the Thomas toy that James gave to them (you can see Abygail's bangs and Jackson's crew cut)

Another shot of the hair cuts. Abygail and Jackson playing together. I think he's giving her belly kisses.

Abygail's crazy outfit she put together while I was at my 'baby shower'. It consists of a 0-3 month shirt, a 0-3 month skirt, 2T leggings, snow boots and Diana's sun glasses. I think she's been picking up fashion tips from Sam!

Abygail: The Friday before the girls were born (1/16) she got a hold of the scissors and cut her hair. Her bangs are now SUPER SHORT! That evening she received her second hair cut

Jackson: Got his first hair cut on 1/16 as well. He hated it and cried the whole time. We did get a nice little pony tail from his mullet in the back.

Caitlyn: Moved out of her isolete Monday. She's been doing great and starting to take more of her bottles and needing to be gavaged less.

Madelyn: Also doing great and taking more of her bottles and gavaging less.

Last night Jason and I went up to the hospital for the 9pm feeding (sorry book club - I found a better use of my time last night :) Madelyn breast feed really well and then took a full bottle, and then kept sucking on her pacifier! Caitlyn got her first bath (that we know of) before feeding time so by the time I tried breast feeding her she had expended all her energy on crying and wasn't interested - but she wasn't interested in the bottle either! She was gavaged but that's ok, she saved her energy for the next time.

Jason spent most of the day up there yesterday. He needed a quite place to study so instead of doing it at school he did it in the NICU. I'm glad that he was able to spend some time with the girls.

Today while visiting the girls at their 12pm feeding the nurse said that if they can sustain taking their full bottles for 24 hours they will start to get them ready for release. They started getting PT (physical therapy) and OT (occupational therapy) today to help work on their sucking/breathing and also 'play' time or body movements. They will get their hearing tests today too!!! It's exciting but overwhelming to think they could be home this weekend. I'm not going to get my hopes too far up though because I know it's just the beginning signs of coming home - nothing has been set in stone or decided yet.

For Your Consideration

What do you think? Do the girls look like their older siblings? Answer on the survey on the right sidebar!

Abygail:

Jackson:

Crossing Our Fingers or Mission Accomplished?

This last week I decided it was time to commit to potty training Abygail. It's gone pretty well so far. There is usually one accident a day (when she is too busy to be bothered with going to the bathroom). She's been in big girl underpants for pretty much the whole week - even in public. Yesterday we were at Home Depot and for the first time she actually TOLD me she needed to go potty (well, told is relative...I'll get to that). She used the potty 2 times during that trip!!! We are so happy and proud of her. Today at church she even used the potty!!! We came home accident free. She's still in diapers during nap and at night time but we are sooo incredibly proud and happy for the progress she's made...I think it's just the right time and things are starting to connect for her.

She doesn't actually tell me when she needs to go potty. She usually makes up a story (she LOVES telling and being told stories) about when she told mommy or daddy she had to go potty or she talks about it to herself. We have to pay close attention and listen so that we catch those clues and then we ask her if she needs to go and she inevitably says 'yes'. Mostly I'm still on potty patrol and just make her sit on the potty every couple of hours. (she goes way less frequently than I do...I bet her bladder is bigger than mine in it's current state :) The only time she is still in diapers while awake is in the morning. She is very sensitive after waking up and we don't dare try to change her night time diaper until she is good and ready for it to be changed.

Other progress beyond that is that she is very fluent in her colors. She is also actually counting things now - she no longer repeats her numbers 1-10 (1-14 if you count the extra 13 before the 11) now she will physically count her fingers, items on the page, etc - and she almost always gets it right.

Now we just need to work on her letters, she still struggles a bit in that department.

She is smart and talented, sweet and sensitive and we love seeing her develop, learn and grow.

As for the potty training...I'm not sure if we will call it a Mission Accomplished yet...we'll probably just keep our fingers crossed.

Two And A Half

Yesterday Abygail turned 2 1/2. It's so amazing to me, I can still remember finding out I was pregnant with her and the great debacle that came with it. I'm not sure I've previously recorded the story...

We had just moved to Rexburg where Jason was teaching at BYU-I. I had just gotten a new job and I was to begin work almost immediately after the move. I had felt a little 'funnyish' as if something wasn't quite right and I thought I was late but...I don't record these things so it was possible that I was wrong - wasn't sure on that front. I decided to take a test anyway. It had only one line on it and it was a plus/minus sign test. So, I threw it away without a word to Jason about it. Shortly after (with-in the hour or less) Jason found it and questioned me. It was a bit puzzling and something didn't seem right about it but, I just blew it off. When he questioned me about it we looked at it again and realized that the minus sign (the constant mark of the test) was the one missing!!! We took another test and it turned out postitive.

Abygail is truly a joy to have in our home - when she's not throwing a tantrum or waking up 5 times a night, which still happens. She talks in full sentences and always thinks about what she is going to say before she says it. She really says some of the funniest things! (I can't think of any right now that I haven't already posted but if I do I will update this post for posterity's sake.) She loves being a big sister, as long as Jackson is doing what she want's him to do. She is kind and loving. Whenever Jason or I are feeling under the weather she rubs our back or arm of her own accord and says "Mommy/Daddy, I'm sorry you don't feel well." If we have an owie she says "Oh no! Do you need a band-aid for your owie?" She get's so excited about things, I love her open mouth-shocked expression when she's excited.

She loves getting her hair done up in pig tails, we call them pony tails but just say ponies for short. I'll ask her, "Aby, would you like ponies in your hair today?" It's almost always a resounding "YES!"

Another favorite is talking on the phone, she will talk your ear off. She still has a hard time having a conversation but she loves to just talk and tell you about her day and what she is doing and what she sees while on the phone. She also loves to sing. Her current favorite song is Keep The Commandments. I love to hear her sing! It makes me smile everytime. She also loves to "Tell Stories". This morning when I mentioned Little Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf she said, talking to Jason and I..."Hey guys, do you want me to tell you a story?" Then she recites the story as much as she can remember it.

She also loves playing with dolls, she rocks them and sings "the hush little baby song" to them. Other favorites include drawing, coloring, painting, watching Little Bear and other movies and shows. She also loves playing outside and in puddles. She likes to help clean up and watch when we are cooking, and help as much as we will let her. She is very independent, if she wants butter on her pancakes - you better let her do it, and cut them too or you are in for it! She gets herself dressed and likes to pick out her own outfits.

She knows her colors and can count to 13 (with an extra 13 before the 11). She is working on her shapes and recognition of what the numbers look like. She can sing the ABCs if you help her...she likes to drop letters out of the song unless you are singing with her:)

Nap update: she is doing very well, it still takes her an hour or more to go to sleep but there is no more screaming or crying. I am enjoying the quite time and I think she likes it too.

I don't know what else I can say, she is our princess and we love her!

*I took some pictures today and will post them later, when I get them downloaded.

Nap-tastrophy

Another milestone this week...we've started a new nap routine, or rather, I have. It started on Wednesday so we've only tried it out for 3 days so far but, I have my fingers crossed and am hoping and praying that this will work, otherwise Jason is going to have to ship me off to the loony bin.

Here's the old routine: Jackson slept in his pack-n-play which is the only thing set up in the nursery, while I put him down (which only takes 2 seconds because he's the best sleeper in the world) I let Abygail watch one episode of Little Bear. Then it's time for her to lay down on the couch and either take a nap or quietly read books and play with other quiet toys. This has not really been working because I have to stay in there the whole time and do the same as her (read or nap). In the past month I think she's only taken a dozen naps which only gives me a dozen days of sanity. Something had to be done and done now before the twins come.

So here's the new routine and the solution: Jackson now takes a nap in his crib with is in our room, in his room there is a small fan that we run for quiet noise...in our room there is an AC which I just put on fan only and run it for quiet noise. I then put Abygail (at almost the same time) in the nursery in the pack-n-play or on the floor with pillow and blanket (whichever she wants because she can climb out of the pack-n-play anyway) and leave the room (after the snuggles and nap kisses of course).

Day 1: She cried for 45 mins, then started saying ow, ow, ow, so I feared that she had stuck her finger in the socket and electrocuted herself (there seriously is nothing else up there and they love unplugging the fan). I checked on her to find her perfectly ok except for a poopy diaper. I changed her and told her it was still nap time, put her back upstairs and left. She cried for 20 mins and then fell asleep. What did I accomplish during this time - SOOOO MUCH!!! I got the living room cleaned and vacuumed, ate my lunch in peace and rested. It was a very good sanity day.

Day 2: She cried for an hour and a half, kept Jackson awake almost the whole time and then woke him up shortly after he finally fell asleep (I forgot to turn the 'fan' on for him this day - won't forget again!). Finally after an hour and a half I was DONE listening to both of them screaming and figured it was good enough.

Day 3: Same routine, she cried for about an hour and then feel asleep. Jackson woke up shortly after and I brought him downstairs waiting for Abygail to wake up. By 4:30 I went up to wake her up only to be confronted with the WORST, NASTIEST MESS I'VE EVER SEEN OR SMELLED IN MY LIFE!!! Apparently she had gone poop again, only this time she had taken her clothes off, her diaper off and I don't know...maybe danced in it!!! She was covered in poop and so was the floor and her discarded clothes. (I didn't get a picture - I don't think one wants to see or remember that). It dry too, dried on her hands, feet, legs, floor, clothes YUCK YUCK YUCK!!! I had left her in the room just to sleep on the floor and when I opened the door she was in the pack-n-play...I think she wanted to escape the poop and find a clean/poop free place to sleep. When I cleaned it up I just threw her in the shower (that stuff was so caked and dried on I couldn't get it off any other way) and I wound up throwing the clothes away - they were stained anyway and who want's to wear poop stains even if they don't smell on the outside of your clothes!!!

No matter, I will deal with poop, I will listen to screaming and crying, I will handle the police when my neighbor finally calls them because I'm sure they can hear my child screaming and think she is being abused. I will survive this until she sleeps, there's no turning back - it will work, it must work, I will it to work!!! And in the end we will all be the happier for it and I will lavish in my 'alone' time, and enjoy the few months left before we start training two new little ones about sleeping.

Family Time: Part III

Abygail Picks An Apple

We could only get her to pick one apple, she was too worried about her raspberries :)

Family Time: Part I

Saturday we took some much needed family time. We took a trip to Brown's Berry Farm (on a tip from some friends :). Any-who, we got there around 4:30 and they close at 6, so we didn't get to play in the playground area or go for a hay ride or even build our own scarecrows but we did get some fun berry and apple picking time. It was a perfect day, the weather was just great and a few trees were showing their colors. Fall is certainly in the air :)

Abygail was very intent on the job at hand. She loved picking raspberries - I don't think she ate as many as the rest of us, in fact...I never saw her eat even one, while she was picking! Jackson on the other hand was a pick and eat-er! We didn't wind up with as many as we thought we would, they seemed pretty over picked and we were running out of time. The blackberries, well, they were non-existent, guess we should go earlier next time.

Jackson really enjoyed picking apples, but Abygail just wanted to sit in the stroller and look at her basket of raspberries, and munch on them - she was very proud of her handy work.

After all the picking we had ice cream (well, I had a salad and everyone else had ice cream). I wish we had pictures of the fun mess that was made. Turns out that Abygail doesn't like eating the cone. She likes having a spoon and eating her ice cream out of the cone with the spoon - then giving the cone to Daddy to eat. Jackson - well, he likes it all!!!

On our way home we stopped at a state park that was just on the banks of Lake Ontario. It was beautiful! The kids enjoyed seeing the lake and then swinging on the swings. We tried to take a walk in the woods but the sun was going down and Abygail DID NOT like being in the woods when it was starting to get dark...guess we know a little more about her night problems now.

The kids fell asleep before we even got home and they stayed asleep too!!!

This is definitely something we will do again, it was such a good family experience.

Carpe Diem

Jackson's sweet ride for the hike

When I think of Carpe Diem I think of Dead Poets Society and Newsies. Seize The Day! Or as the Newsies song goes, "Let us seize the day".

Abygail picking flowers and running down the path

This weekend we had the opportunity to go camping with several other families. Knowing that I (we) have a limited amount of days left to go camping before a) I'm a rollie pollie b) the weather changes c) we have too many lil' uns to keep track of and d) Jason goes back to school and work, we SEIZED THE DAY!

This necklace got around!

We are so glad we did. The kids loved it so much! We had foil packs for dinner and smores for dessert, enjoyed an abundance of company, fun and talking with new and old friends and even went on a little hike before leaving. The kids did great all things considered. There were 10 families there Friday night (9 stayed the night), so it was a LARGE group and it took some extra vigilance to keep track of the kids IN THE DARK!!! Abygail slept pretty well too. Jackson did get woken up a lot which is unusual for him so he had a hard time going BACK to sleep. In the middle of the night (3am-ish) he was having such a hard time Jason took him for a ride in the car, that did the trick.

Having fun rolling down the hill (or across in Abygail's case, or scooting down in Jackson's case)

Saturday afternoon 3 of the families took a short hike. We caught a frog and the kids liked that. Abygail picked flowers and we all had fun rolling down the hill at the end. We topped it off with an impromptu picnic.

Impromptu picnic

When we got home Jason reminded me that this was his last free Saturday until next semester. So I'm so, So, SO glad we SEIZED THE DAY!

Just like his sister, Jackson loves animals!