sleepwalker?

Just a couple of funny notes...

This blog is dedicated almost solely to Elizabeth and some of her hilarious happenings over the last couple of days.

Two days ago, I came home from school and Elizabeth ran to my arms... as usual (she knows how to wrap me around her little finger :) Well, she has a wicked case of laryngitis, so she had a serious case of Phoebe Buffet 'sexy voice.' So she looks at me and says (as loud as she could), "Mommy, I need medicine! I sound like a horse!" HILARIOUS!

Story #2:
Last night, Julia came to my bed. In an effort to reinforce the idea of sleeping in her own room, I immediately walked her back to her own room. It was then that I noticed Elizabeth was not actually in her bed. Where was she, you ask? Well, I saw a light coming from the living room. Further investigation revealed Elizabeth, sitting straight up on the couch, fast asleep, with the television on. This sick 2-year-old had climbed out of bed, walked to the living room, turned on the TV, changed the channel to a random infomercial, sat on the couch and went to sleep. I thought about leaving her there. (In reality, she would probably sleep better since the snot draining down her throat would not gag her quite as bad when she's upright). But, something deep inside told me that a good mom would not let her spend the rest of the night like that. So, I took her to bed and the rest of the night was uneventful. But I love my sexy-horse-voice, sleepwalking baby girl!

just a few pics...

Julia and Elizabeth playing in the sprinklers at Grandma Pat's. It was freezing but they had a blast! Good southeast missouri fun right there!

Since I take most of the pics of our kids, I rarely have any photos with them. Thanks David for snapping a quick one for me!

She's such a daddy's girl....

but on occasion, she likes me too.

My kids are so darn cute and it seemed like a good time to load some pics to remind everyone how adorable they are. As a quick update:

1. Elizabeth is doing awesome with the potty-training. I'm so proud of her! Binky-breaking and potty-mastering all in the same season! She's an incredible little girl.

2. E's hair is completely out of control. A good mom would cut it at this point (or a long time ago) but when it's humid outside, she has the longest, most beautiful curls in the world and I can't bring myself to cut them out. Of course, on an average day, her hair is in a pony tail anyway, so I'm not sure I have a valid argument.

3. Julia is finishing her first year of Pre-K this week. She's very aware that when it gets hot enough outside, it will be her birthday again. And, when she gets big enough, she will get a booster seat (as opposed to a 5pt harness). These are currently her greatest aspirations. Coming in at a close second in getting married. She loves to dress up and asks me to marry her. I say, "how do we get married?" she says, "I put on this dress and you dance with me and swing me around." Funny girl.

4. Julia has also entered the 3 year old going on 13 attitude. She shakes her hips, stamps her foot, and tells me what she will or will not do. Clearly, this has led to some conflict in our home. I think she's starting to see things my way, or not :)

here we go...again

Feel free to not read this post unless you are immensely bored. I'm merely trying to distract myself from an unpleasant experience.

Many of you may or may not recall that several months ago, I vowed to removed the bedtime bink from Elizabeth's nightly needs. Well, for a list of excuses that I may or may not choose to list, it didn't happen. I thought, at the time, that it was just a bad time for me. I had a ton going on, then Julia got sick, then David and I were out of town (and I can't justify asking someone else to binky-break my child while I'm on vacation). In reality though, and as I listen to her bellow in her bed right now, I realize I've just gotten soft. When we went through this with Julia, I had no sympathy. I told her what we were going to do, I went through the nightly routine sans the bink, I laid her in her bed, left, and never felt the slightest tinge of guilt. Not the case tonight. As I listen to E sob, knowing that a tiny piece of silicone will make it all better, I have to keep reminding myself that there is a good reason for this process. Really, I just want to go cuddle her till she falls asleep. But, I'm fighting the consequences of that decision with Julia. So, I'll just continue to blog randomness to distract myself.

I'm attempting a reward system for both of the nightly habits I'm trying to eliminate right now. Julia has a habit of coming to my bed every night. I take her back to her bed and she goes right back to sleep. However, this happens 3-4x every night. So, needless to say, neither me nor Julia are very well rested. And, when E wakes in the morning and realizes she's in her room alone, she is not pleased. So, tonight we made sticker charts for each girls' goal. If we make one week for either of them, we get to go toy shopping. I'll admit, Julia is much more excited/motivated by the idea of a reward than Elizabeth. E thought it was a great idea until she got to bed, then suddenly nothing was worth not having that paci.

Currently, I'm 30 minutes in, the people on househunters international are very close to making a decision on a new caribbean beach house at the rock bottom price of $800,000.00, I now hear Elizabeth flicking the light on and off from her crib, and I'm amazed that Julia is still asleep (yet somehow when I turn the shower on in the morning, she's wide awake - how does that work?)

At times like this, I realize there is a very valuable niche in the American marketplace that has not been filled. Where is the 800 number to call to have a nice lady come to your home, potty train your child, break habits that have to be broken, and do it all without a single tear from your baby? I think this could be a very lucrative business. If I were better at this, I might consider starting this company myself.

The crying has subsided - only 35 straight minutes. But, I'm not to be fooled. I'm certain that within 5 minutes, she will be at it again. I lied, it was within 1 minute...and now more adamant.

Well, over an hour, and multiple HGTV episodes later, she's asleep...and I'm done with this distracting rant. G'nite.

My obsession...

Apparently I'm obsessed with my children's sleeping habits. This was brought to my attention when I was wasting some time finding out what my most frequent facebook status update terms were. 'Sleep' 'nap' and 'bed' were right at the top....right after 'girls' 'Elizabeth' and 'Julia' and right before 'David'. So apparently, I think about it alot. After this came to my attention, I began to think that this was ridiculous. Why should I be so obsessed with my kids' sleeping habits? After all, their sleep patterns aren't that bizarre....are they? Well, maybe they are.

Case 1:
Setting: two nights ago
time: 4:30 am
Julia: asleep in my bed
Elizabeth: asleep in Julia's bed
Me: asleep in the sponge bob couch in my kids' bedroom floor

Case 2:
setting: last night
time: 2:00 am
Me: asleep in my bed (for the moment)
Julia: asleep in sponge bob couch (for the moment)
Elizabeth: apparently not sleeping in Julia's bed because I hear my two year old's excitement as she opens her bedroom door and exclaims "I DID IT DAHLIA!!" "I DID IT!!" "COME ON DAHLIA!!'
(Read 'Julia' for 'Dahlia' after all, Elizabeth is just 2 and J's are still kinda hard)
This evening continued by getting Elizabeth back to sleep in her own bed (a 30 minute task), getting Julia to sleep in my bed (after 2 hours of laying awake in her own bed) and getting myself to sleep in the 3 inches of my bed that is left after David and Julia finish sprawling (the sun was up before this happened). When I awoke a whopping 45 minutes later, I was on the remaining 2 inches of bed and Julia was sprawled over me, as though she were the one with no mattress space....I should've opted for the sponge bob couch again.

You may think these are isolated incidences...but no...such stories are regular occurrances in the Willingham household. So, this is why I'm obsessed with the sleep patterns of my children. Because even Elizabeth, who I consider a fabulous sleeper, has at least one non-sleeping night each month. But hey, these years pass quickly right? And at some point, I'll be obsessed with things far more stressful than sleep habits. For now, I'm considering purchasing a much larger sponge bob couch...

WOW!

Wow! Who would've guessed that after 4.5 months without posting, I'd have nothing to say? Surely something interesting or funny has happened in that amount of time, right? Ok, so really, lots of funny things have happened, but when I try to recall them over a long period of time, I become a bit absent-minded.

We'll start with some accomplishments made over the past several months. Elizabeth is a master-speaker nowadays. She says and sings just about everything. Just earlier today, I caught her singing to herself, 'lead me, guide me, lead me, guide me, lead me, guide me' and it went on and on. Her prayers consist of 'Dear Heavenly Father, Amen!' Maybe she's just really hungry?

Julia is loving pre-school but only after I get her there. She's not such a morning girl. She gets that from David:) It also appears that we've entered the 'terrible threes.' Limits are being pushed on a by-minute basis. Good thing she's so darn cute or I might have to donate her to someone with more patience. Really though, she's at a great developmental stage. When the notion hits her, she is immensely helpful and plays beautifully with Elizabeth. I'm realizing more and more each day the benefit of having children so close in age.

David got his degree from Southeast this winter. He finished classes last December but due to severe illnesses (these can be reviewed in past posts) and missing some grad application deadlines, he was able to 'officially' graduate in Dec 2009. He refuses to tell anyone, not seeing the benefit right now. It hasn't changed his occupational course, for example. But I know it was a great lesson in perseverance and I'm totally proud of him.

I've finished over half of my first year of PA school and while I'm excited about that, I'll be more excited when this year is through...I think. Ah, who am I kidding? I love school. In a weird, love/hate kind of way. I have loved having the last few weeks off with my girls though. I've intentionally done almost nothing productive. I've played a lot of candyland and made way too many kid-related ornaments, but I've spent alot of great time with my kids. Oh, and there was that fantastic week that David and I spent in Gatlinburg that I am so grateful we did. This was the first trip we've taken since our honeymoon. It was a blast!

I fully intend to blog something more entertaining before school starts on Monday, but for tonight, this is all I've got. Oh and a few random pics of my kiddos! (nevermind...they're refusing to load and I'm tired)

stinky sweetness

Before I can get to the stories at hand, a little background is required. You see, Julia is in the 'why' phase. She is usually awake when I shower so when I tell her that I need to go take a bath, she, of course, asks why. I have found that the easiest way to stop the 'why-ing' is to tell her that I'm stinky and I need to get clean. Fast-forward to this morning. Julia and I are sitting on the couch while I study. It's getting late and I need to bathe, so the following conversation ensues:

Me: Julia, I need to go take a bath.
Julia: You smell stink...(then, leaning into me closer, she sniffs and exclaims)...PEWWW! You smell STANK!!

To make this slightly more ironic, I was studying for my skin, hair, and nails exam where we examine noxious body odors. So bizarre.

Well....onto the sweet story.

The girls and I had dinner with mom, dad, and the missionaries tonight. As we are leaving, Julia is telling everyone goodnight and Elder Tingey asked Julia who her favorite princess was. (Julia is completely into princesses right now.) Julia thinks about her response for a moment and says, 'My mommy is.' How sweet is she!?!?

So, there's Julia's sweet and stinky moments for the day...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIA!!!

Today my firstborn turned 3! She has been looking forward to her birthday for months. You see, in our family, there are four child birthdays between the end of June and the beginning of August. So, since June, Julia has been asking if it is her birthday yet. Since I'm not a big party planner/entertainer, I don't feel compelled to throw birthday parties for kids that are too young to get excited about them (hence my children have not had parties until this year), but with Julia's excitement, I was up to the challenge. We decide to have a 'paint party' because Julia loves painting right now. We painted suncatchers, 'painted' cupcakes, and had face painting. The kids seemed to have a blast and Julia's favorite part was standing in front of her cupcake, candle lit, listening to everyone singing 'happy birthday to you!' She just smiled ear to ear and soaked it all up. And I was so proud as she noticed people leaving, she stood at the top of the stairs and yelled, 'thank you! thank you!' Of course, she was so exhausted by that point that I'm pretty sure only about 2 people heard her, but it was still nice. She's growing so fast right now. I've always heard that the most rapid development happens between 1-2 yrs. I'm not sure I agree. Julia has undergone so many personality changes (no...not like Sybil) in the last 6 months. She is defiant, obedient, affectionate, independent, you name it, she's there. And she is becoming such a lady. She wants to wear dresses everyday...always wants her hair down, not in a pony...is obsessed with shoes...is already asking for makeup...and crosses her legs at least 50% of the time. I will post pictures at a later time, but didn't want the day to pass without shouting out a tribute to my favorite 3 year old. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIA!