Back online!

For some reason, Blogger wasn't working on my computer the last few months. I had so much to share. I kept some of it written in harper's baby book and journal. Lots on my mind lately . ..

July 2012

Hey girls. Summer is here for sure. the days are running together and filled with swimming, lightning bug catching, bonfires, and late nights. I have to admit it’s been tough actually getting out of the house and us all doing things together as a family because harper is always in need of a nap. We’ve managed to get out a few times; once to Plymouth where we bummed around town, had lunch, then headed to Kensington park because harper fell asleep in the car. Riley went nuts over the waterslide at Splash n Blast and unfortunately we didn’t have any swimsuits or towels. Spencer didn’t share too much in the excitement. I think the slides looked a bit daunting to her. Before leaving we headed over the farm center where riley was constantly asking to leave and get her bathing suit for the water slide. Eventually we did. (mike took riley back up to the park and the two them rode those slides about 20 times.) they have such a great time together. She is daring and fun and excited to try new things. She has no fear.

But first we had to show harper all the animals because she is such a lover of them. so excited saying ‘oooh ooh” like a little monkey, and tensing up and kicking legs and such. She can spot a dog a mile away and sitting on the floor next to a cat has got to be the cutest thing ever. She literally cannot contain herself.

chinny chin chin

harper drools the most of the girls. at 6 months still no teeth so maybe she's just a drooler by nature. it would help if she had a neck but that bottomside of her face seems to rest on her shoulders and the wetness ferments there. that drool has caused a rash that she had for a month or so until i finally took her to the doctor. at first i used nipple butter and aquaphor but weeks later it got redder and spread and i saw her itching at it while she slept (via video monitor). then parts of it started turning a little yellow. she even woke up one morning with blood all over her collar and a couple deep scratch marks. it had become infected. a week of topical anitbiotics and hydrocortisone cleared it up but i see it's starting to come back. lotion/hydrocortisone/patience. maybe i should get one of those suckers they have at the dentist office and hit her up a couple times a day so she stops slobbering.

how ice is formed

walking to the bus stop on morning riley tells me that when water gets 85% colder it forms into ice.

the next day or two later spencer tells me "my teeth hurt from joy riley trying to pull my grey tooth out."

don't burp, don't toot . . .what do you do

harper has had terrible gas since she was just a wee little new baby. not everyday, but enough to make it noticeable. when she was just a couple weeks old i remember holding her trying all i can do to console her tense, red, and screaming body. i don't know if i'll ever forget that deep grunting cry telling me that it most definitely is gas. mike went to the computer looking up ways to relieve it. the best was holding her facing out with her legs tucked up close to her body. bicycle legs helped a little too. we would just have to ride it out and try to help the gas make it's way out. eventually--maybe a half-hour or hour later--she'd burp and go back to her calm happy self like nothing ever happened.

(not a picture of a gas attack but the only picture of her where she's crying. she's 3 weeks old here)

now she is 6 months old. it has become more of a regular nighttime thing, around midnight. i nurse her right before bed (7pm or thereabouts). all cozy in jammies and sleep sack, light dim. as sweet as this time is she is far too relaxed and sleepy to let out a good rip. i lay her down and a couple hours later she's up and she's in pain. i am double exhausted at this time because i am woken from that super deep sleep you fall into about an hour after your head hits the pillow. after the tummy massage, bicycle legs, i've found the best way to get the burp out is to set her down in sitting position and when she reaches forward the burp comes out. one night, after being up for an hour with little relief, i set her on the floor to play and i folded diapers at 1am.

the intro of solids and the dopey post-nursing are a bad combo. i'm going to try nursing a half-hour before bedtime and with a little playtime in there so hopefully she gets everything out of her system. we are also going to move onto some fruit in hopes that relieves any binding up of the poo. cross your fingers.

for my harper june

Doris Day - A Bushel And A Peck lyrics

bedtime OCD

we definitely have a bedtime routine. with the added element of harper it tends to be a little more stressful. (but that's just me, i seem to make everything stressful as much as i don't want it to be.) i'd love for it to be fluid and not involve raising of voices or crying or hurrying things along. there is going to be a time, riley and spencer, when you are going to be too old to have me involved in the process and when that time comes i know i will long for these days when i read to you and brushed your teeth and picked out your jammies and snuggled.

bedtime prep has been taking place in our bathroom rather than yours down the hall because it's so close to harper's bedroom and i don't want her waking up from any commotion. i usually put her to bed around 7 while you girls watch a show with daddy) then i brush your teeth, you potty, sometimes wash your hands. then into your room where you pick out one book each and we cuddle on the bottom bunk and read our stories. sounds simple but at some point i'm always "come on girls/pick out a book/did you go potty?/what are we wearing to school tomorrow/it's late/etc"

then comes the time when you decide where you're sleeping--top or bottom, alone or together. as of late, it's been together and on the bottom--feet to feet. riley LOVES to cuddle and if it were up to her i'm sure she would spoon spencer all night. it's really sweet, but spencer often complains of riley cuddling and getting too close.

lights out.
riley: "love you as much as i impossibly could. dream about me. sweet dreams. leave the door open a crack."
spencer: "i love you all the way to aunt pam's and to space and over again and over again."

they both must say this before we leave the room or they are calling us back up.

a dentist and a cooker

this is what spencer said she wants to be when "she's a mom" (ie, when she grows up). up until this point she never said anything about what she wanted to be when she grew up and this time i hadn't even asked. we were sitting at dinner at max & erma's and out of the blue she shared this little tidbit.

fast forward 3 years

things that usually happen over the course of several years have hit us in a matter of three. the last two happened within two weeks of each other.

• we are in a new house



• mike has a new job



• we have a new baby



• we lost an amazing mother/grandma.

and of course there is our normal life that is filled with laughter and hugs and face-sucking (thank you, harper) and homework and frustration, etc. some of these happenings have been logged in my handwritten journal that i started when i discovered i was pregnant with spencer but after long days it is hard to record all that i want in a legible manner. my handwriting needs some serious decoding at 11pm.

however, we have experienced so much and the girls are changing so fast i must do something to hold onto these precious moments because as you can see time literally flies by.

this is me playing catch up, recounting memories. for the future though, i intend to add entries regularly--i'm sure at times, daily--in an effort to stop time and let it all soak in.

triangle

yesterday morning the girls and i were walking across the parking lot at riley's school and riley shouted and pointed "that's a big triangle!" i looked down and saw that the paint in one part of the lot was indeed a huge triangle. my heart swelled a little thinking about how smart and observant this little girl has become.