Multitasking

Here I am doing what I do best -

1. Talking on the phone

2. Taking pictures (even if I am taking them of myself)

3. Holding my baby

Storytime

It's alway fun to enjoy a good book together.

Some people have trouble paying attention. That same person also has some hair issues.

I Don't Want Braids On My Teeth

I was braiding Ainsley's hair today. It was only the second or third time I've ever braided it. Her hair has always been short we haven't done much with braids. But yesterday in church I began braiding little braids throughout her hair and it looked cute. So today I put a few tiny braids in her hair for school.

As I'm braiding she says"I don't want braids in my mouth."

I say, "Sure - I won't put them in your mouth." Her hair is so short that we'd never be able to get the braid in her mouth anyway.

Then she says, " I don't want braids on my TEETH!"

I say " What are you talking about? You put braids in your hair, not your teeth."

She says, " Well you had them on your teeth when you were growing up."

I say, " AHHH, no those are called braces and maybe you'll get your daddy's straight teeth and never have to wear them" (I hope so)

Braids? Braces? Doesn't matter to Ainsley - she still doesn't want them on her teeth!

Lovin It Loaner

Recently the power locks in our van quit working. Daniel had the van in twice to fix it and each time they'd tell us it was fixed and within 24 hours the locks didn't work again. So on Friday, Daniel called me around 8:30 am to tell me he called the service center and they could get it back in if I would drop it off. This was NOT in my plan for the day because I had to host playgroup at 10am but Daniel said if I didn't get it in early they probably wouldn't be able to get it back to us before the end of the day and it was Friday etc.... So I grabbed the girls and headed to the service place. I left the girls in the car right outside the door to the service place and walked inside to give him the key to the van. I didn't want to have to move carseats more than once and the place is all windows and I parked right next to the door so I just left them inside the car for a minute. Meanwhile the guy gives me the paperwork to sign and hands me a key. He said that bright blue car across the parking lot is my loaner, and he'll call me when it's done. OBVIOUSLY, he didn't know I had TWO children in carseats no less, when he gave me the TWO door sports car as the loaner. Daniel had received a FOUR door car each time he got the loaner - a Ford Contour and a Ford Taurus. But I get the Mitsubishi Eclipse with a spoiler so big you couldn't see anything else out your rear view mirror.

It was nearly impossible to get Piper's carseat back there. I had to move the front seat all the way forward then fold the handles all the way back on the carseat and tilt it at a sharp angle to fit into the back seat. Luckily once I got Ainsley's seat buckled in, she could snap herself the rest of the way. Of course Piper fell asleep on the way home and I couldn't exactly just grab the whole carseat in one clean swoop and carry her inside to finish her nap in the carseat like I would have in the van. No I had to try to maneuver her out of the seat without taking the seat out of the back and transfer her to her crib. Nope - that nap didn't last!

So it was an interesting day driving that tiny car that could accelerate really fast and hug curves so tight you never had to slow down. It was nice pulling out in front of cars, I never would have with the van, and zooming on ahead so they never had to touch their brakes. It was interesting unloading Ainsley at her pre-school drop off where the teachers open the car doors and help the children out.

It is CERTAINLY not a family car - just look at how the kids are packed in that backseat like sausages - but for a brief moment I thought to myself ..... perhaps when the kids are all grown ...... just maybe. Vrrrroommm Vrrrroommmm!

Horny

Piper is HORNY!! The question is ....


One?






















Two?

























Three?




Or Light socket?



Which do you prefer?

Daniel prefers 3.

Honk Honk

Our school district starts band and stringed instruments in 4th grade so Chase had the chance to pick an instrument this month. He chose a horn - but it does NOT say "honk honk" it says "Baaarrruuummp-ump-ump-ump-ump" or it can say "Bah-rah-rump". Chase joined the ranks with his Papaw, uncle Brian (for a few years), cousin Brent and his mother's cousin Rich when he chose the TROMBONE.

He came home after the initial demonstration saying he wanted to play the trumpet, trombone or the clarinet. Each day I asked him if he had narrowed it down because of course he couldn't play all three. Each day he'd say he still didn't know. I didn't exert any pressure in any specific direction because I wanted him to choose what HE wanted to play. Chase came with me to the parents meeting where we had to hand in a slip with his first 3 choices on it ... in order. So I asked again - "What's your first choice Chase?" He replied "the trombone." (I think my Dad was secretly thrilled) Because there aren't many kids that sign up for trombone he was immediately granted his first choice. Of all the 4th and 5th grade students (about 200 kids) in Chase's elementary school, only 3 (including Chase) play the trombone.

He had his first 2 lessons this week and has been so excited to show us what he has learned. He has been excited to practice too. I bought the beginning saxophone book when I bought Chase's trombone book. Since both books are from the same series they have the same songs and exercises (so all instruments can practice together). I thought it would be good motivation for Chase to practice if he can do it with me and hopefully some of the learning I gained from 4 years on the sax will come back. Time will tell.

Crooked Smile

More progress... Piper cut her second tooth on top yesterday, but was it the other central incisor? NO, it was the left lateral incisor next to the left central incisor that she already cut. No sign of the right side breaking thru yet so this girl is going to have one crooked smile!!

Making Progress

Piper is making progress all over the place! She began standing comfortably about a week ago. She would always buckle her knees and sit down if Daniel and I tried to make her stand, but since I got back from Idaho she has been doing it of her own initiative. She stood along the table that holds the TV the other day and took one step back and let go with her hands. The kids all noticed and were thrilled with her progress. Then last Saturday she took her first two steps before she got too off balance and leaned forward. Since then she has repeated the two step many times and today got in just about 4 when she brushed against my leg and lost her balance. I wonder how many steps she would have taken if she hadn't hit my leg.

Her other big progress is that she cut her upper left central incisor on Sunday (or tooth G as Daniel would say). Her top gums have been big as balloons and so red over the past two weeks. I am so glad it finally broke through. We still haven't seen any sign of the left one. I hope the other one doesn't wait so long that they are totally uneven and she looks like "Baby Snagletooth". It's interesting that Ainsley cut her bottom teeth at 10 months and exactly 2 months later at 12 months her top teeth broke through. Piper cut her bottom teeth at 8 1/2 months and exactly 2 months later at 10 1/2 month her top tooth broke through.

Oh and she did gain some weight. Her nine month visit she was 16 - 2 and the doctor thought that was too light. At the ER in Idaho she was 17-2 1/2 . She had been drinking a ton of bottles in 48 hours prior (on the airplane etc...) but not eating much. By the time we got back to PA she was having some diarrhea and I think her gums were really sore and she wasn't eating or drinking much. Her weight check was 2 days after we arrived home and she was 16-10 but the doctor was pleased and said she is now finally following a curve (the 5th percentile) and not dropping to a lower curve like she had been on all the previous visits. Its just that my babies start out so high because of their birth weight and it seems to take them about 9 months to a year to find that low percentile curve that they will be on the rest of their lives. :)

Modeling

I told you how Piper was the "live action" model at our youth activity last week as the girls learned and practiced photography.

These are just the few photos I snapped during that lesson. She does make a cute subject.

IDAHO WAS GREAT

Our Idaho trip was great! Even though we missed our flight on the way out because I set my alarm for PM instead of AM and we left the house an hour late and then on our way home we were delayed 2 and half hours which meant we missed our connection (by 10 minutes) and they wanted to us to stay and spend the night in a strange city with two babies by myself and get up the next day and start the whole airplane travel thing again, in which I replied "Can I go to Dulles? (the VA side of DC) I see this plane is going to Dulles." They got us on a flight to Dulles which landed at midnight and by the time I made my luggage claim and drove 2 1/2 hours home it was 3:30AM. But at least I made it home and slept in my own bed and didn't have to do the whole find a taxi and hotel in a strange city and get up at an absurd hour to start the day on an airplane again with two little ones.

Yes the trip to Idaho was great even though Piper ended up in the Emergency room our second night there with wheezing (croup) so bad the hollow in her neck looked like a cave every time she inhaled and she wouldn't sleep more than 20 minutes at a time so therefore I didn't sleep more than 20 minutes at a time for the first 48 hours. The steroid they gave her at the hospital was magic and we all slept a 6 hour stretch after that. (Although she never did sleep thru the night the whole time)



Yes the trip to Idaho was great even though they got their first snow on Sept 29th.

Yes the trip to Idaho was great even though Kamden was bossy and Ainsley was defiant and sometimes mean and they fought like cats and dogs when they weren't getting along and having a great time. We had a lot of fun for Kamden's birthday. She took Ainsley to "Build a Bear" and they got to build any animal they wanted. They both choose the triceratops and both picked the fairy costume. Ainsley gave Kamden the "Barbie Island Princess" DVD and Kamden loved it!



Yes the trip to Idaho was great even though I babysat for Brock and Brielle so they could go to breakfast for their 5th Anniversary (Sept 28th) and 10 minutes after they left I went to get Aspen up and her whole room smelled like vomit. Yes she had vomited all over everything in her crib so I got her up and gave her a bath and started her laundry.























Yes the trip to Idaho was great even though the day of our hike it rained. Yes it rained only during the hour and half we were hiking. It didn't rain any other time of the day - only during the hike. (more on the hike in another post)


With all seriousness - I did have a great time. I think these pictures speak that loud and clear. It was great to spend time with my sister and her family. It was great to spend time in another part of the country and appreciate it's beauty. It was great to have my girls get to know their cousins better. You can't control when someone is going to get sick or if the weather is going to be bad and delay your flight. Life happens! I'm glad I could spend time with my sister building memories while life was happening.