Slow Down to a Crawl

I've been pondering on this phrase the last couple of days. I'm thinking it should be "Speed Up to a Crawl". Two thoughts:

How to escape a diaper change: Lay on your back until Mom has removed the diaper. As soon as it's off, roll over, and crawl away as fast as you can. Repeat several times until Mom has managed to pin you with her feet.
Both of my kids love to do this to me...especially Annie right now. I'm wondering if she enjoys the freedom of a bare bottom.

How to scare Daddy: Last night while I was at YW, Jim had prepared the bath, and Logan had undressed himself and climbed in. Annie was in the living room (still dressed) and Jim went to prepare pajamas. The next thing he knew Logan was yelling, "Annie! Annie! Help!" He rushed to the bathroom to find Annie IN the tub. We're not sure if she fell in or if Logan assisted her in, but it sure scared everybody. By the time Jim arrived in the bathroom she was fully soaked, standing, and bawling. I'm relieved that she recovered so quickly. We have a new rule: Logan may not even open the bathroom door until someone is ready to stay with Annie. She LOVES her bath, and "Speeds Up to a Crawl" when she hears the water.

A Very Cool Toy

This toy has been in the top of the closet for at least six months...probably longer. It's one of those toys that the kids LOVE, but that drives the parents crazy after a while. The balls roll down the chute, and then come flying out the hole in the top, all while very loud carnival music plays. They've been fighting over it for a couple of days. I have to admit, though, when we first got it, Jim and I played with it for an hour...at least.

"Spring" Cleaning

I know it's not spring, but I've had the urge to rearrange and de-clutter lately. I did the kids closet the other day (it was packed floor to ceiling with boxes of baby stuff) and managed to give away four trash bags full of baby things to people in need. I also managed to more efficiently pack everything in and create some space for more stuff. I must say I felt pretty good about it.

After I'd emptied the closet almost entirely Logan decided it was a fun place to play. Since Annie is so mobile now, she followed him. I needed a picture...of course.

Exhaustion

Last weekend we went on an overnight ski trip, and left the kids with my mom. We had a great time, stayed up late, skiied hard (Jim boarded), ate TONS of junk food, and drove back late Saturday night. My mom had put the kids to bed at her house, and since we don't have church until the afternoon, we thought we'd sneak in and sleep there. Jim and I were totally exhausted and I had a major headache (probably from all the junk food). We arrived at midnight, and were almost in bed when Logan realized someone was there and guessed it was us. He called for me, and when I went in to him, informed me that, "I get dressed. All done sleeping at Grandma's house." We had two choices: fight him for an hour to go back to sleep and then drive home, or just drive home. We know our son, so we picked the latter. So we packed up both kids, and made it home around 1am. Everyone dropped in bed exhausted. I'm sure the kids were more tired than usual from being away from their own beds, and from the middle of the night interruption. After an early morning feeding I put Annie back to bed, and this is how we discovered her when Logan got up later. She must have fallen asleep sitting up. Too cute!

Someone Else is Having a Rough Day

Poor Logan.

Annie is very mobile now, and that means that when I put her in her crib for naptime, she likes to crawl around for a while before she goes to sleep. That would be fine except it bothers Logan. He screams and cries for, "Annie go to sleep! Momma cover Annie!" Yesterday she was actually laying down initially, but she had her feet up against the bars and her toes sticking out. He had a major meltdown over that. He doesn't understand that I can't force her to lay down...and he especially doesn't understand that she'll go to sleep on her own a lot quicker if he would go to sleep himself. He's had a meltdown over this every day for a week.

Poor Logan.

Someone is Having a Rough Day

Logan's Day:
-"Work" on the computer (AKA hitting random keys...a big NO NO)
-Push his sister repeatedly
-Go to his room for time-out repeatedly
-Attempt to unload EVERY toy minutes prior to Annie's nap time (we always clean up at nap time and he knows it)
-Empty the sugar bowl
-Unload dirty dishwasher
-Unload bookshelf
-Empty Mom's dresser drawer
-Unload construction paper
-Unpack overnight bags (I'd packed them minutes earlier)
-Play with marker on parent's bed
-Climb in the dryer
-Rip story books
-Strip down naked and run away from Mom

My Day:
-Place computer out of reach
-Repeatedly comfort Annie and send Logan to his room
-Clean up ALL the toys
-Clean up the sugar
-Reload the dishwasher
-Reshelve books
-Reload my drawer
-Restack construction paper
-Repack overnight bags
-Place marker out of reach
-Pull a two-year-old out of the dryer
-Repair story books (that I'd fixed YESTERDAY)
-Chase a naked child in an effort to put a diaper on him (he's still not fully dressed)
-And of course all of the regular every day things required to take care of and entertain two children.

It seems like every time I turn around today he's in some sort of mischief...I didn't list them all.

SOMEBODY is having a rough day...and I'm not so sure it's him.

Annie's Week

This has been quite the week for Annie. She started teething finally, and has had a few rough nights. At ten months old, she still has no teeth, but I think she's getting more than one now. I'll be really glad when they come in for more than one reason: she won't be hurting anymore AND she can learn to chew. She's pretty much eating everything we eat as long as she can gum it. She gets upset when I won't let her have something that she can't chew.

Yesterday she figured out two big things. 1. How to go FORWARD. 2. How to pull herself up to stand. She hadn't realized that her legs were useful for movement, and she'd been trying to do everything with her arms. That was really frustrating to her, of course, because those little baby arms are not strong enough to pull her body weight forward or up. Then it was doubly-frustrating because in her efforts, she would move backwards...AWAY from her goal! So yesterday, she started using those legs, crawled across the room to me (I was laying on the floor watching her), and (before I knew it!) used me as a prop to stand up. She never learned to travel by rolling, or by scooting on her tummy or bottom; she is actually CRAWLING one hand and knee in front of the other. I am SO excited. Time to go baby-proof a little more thoroughly...

Obstacle Course

Sometimes I wonder if Logan intentionally creates obstacle courses. It seems he always places large toys in doorways. This one happened while I was drying my hair.

Josh's Big Day

On Saturday, my brother Josh went through the temple, and we were privileged enough to go with him. Jim was his escort, and it was a really special experience. I'd have to say it was one of my best days ever. Josh is such a wonderful person...now we just need to get him married. Does anyone know any wonderful single girls? :)

I forgot my camera, so we didn't get a picture at the temple, but my mother-in-law used it to take a picture of Logan napping with Jim's dad while we were gone.

Cheerio

There is a hidden Cheerio in this picture...look really hard.


The funny part was that Logan didn't realize it was there for several minutes. I had to take him to the mirror before he knew. Then he thought it was hilarious, and attempted to make more stick.