Water Baby and Murphy's Law

Greetings! I hope everyone has had a wonderful couple of days! I have been trying to wash windows while the sun shines. I am almost done. Hooray! I think that it is still supposed to be fairly nice this weekend too and I am really looking forward to being outside some more before the cold weather really settles in. Today Isabela and Maya had a play date with some friends and we spent the whole time outside. But, I am getting ahead of myself, so without any more hoopla...

Isabela and Maya's Adventures!

Maya is such a sweetheart. She is now sleeping better at night again (happy days are here again) and she is very affectionate. She melts my heart so much it is a wonder I am not just a puddle on the floor. She loves water too. I used to take the girls swimming a couple of times a week, and I probably will again now that it is getting colder, and she loves splashing around in the pool. But, failing that, she will settle for a nice warm shower with Daddy in the morning. She gives him big hugs and comments a lot: Hmmmmmm. Hmmmmmmmmm. Very cute. There is another story that happened a couple of mornings ago that makes me laugh every time I think of it. Isabela usually falls asleep in our bed and then we move her when we come to bed. She always wants water and is now capable of going into the bathroom and getting it herself. She had a cup of water on the headboard of our bed that we didn't really notice. Well, in the morning Maya comes in our bed at around 6 and walks along the headboard pulling on the shades and stepping on our heads. She discovered the water and poured it right into Jake's ear. This was NOT warm water. I heard it hit and thought that one of the girls had thrown up on him. He yelled and jumped out of bed, heading for the shower. Not the most pleasant way to wake up. I tried really hard not to laugh, especially since I probably wouldn't think that it was funny if it happened to me, but I was unsuccessful (very). Isabela thought it was pretty funny too. Maya didn't really know what was going on, but she joined in the spirit of things and laughed too. Little cutie pie. Poor Jake.

Isabela is still a mouse. Jake made her a house out of a cardboard box, so now the mouse has its own house. He cut windows in the doors and she and Maya love to peek at each other through them. It makes both of them giggle and giggle. She has a wonderful imagination and is always telling stories about animals and other things. She sometimes uses props, but more often, just tells us fantastic stories about horses flying in the sky and jumping all around or giant grasshoppers. I love hearing them. She called Poppa a couple of days ago and told him a really long story about a giant bird that ate our house and the truck and all of the animals. Then a giant sheep came and ate the giant bird. "CHOMP! CHOMP!" We were in the car and Maya miraculously slept through all of the very LOUD storytelling. She is used to her sister.

Maya has reached the stage where she wants to share her food with me. Specifically, she wants to share food that has already been in her mouth, and she wants to put it into my mouth with exceedingly gooey fingers. Of course you must be enthusiastic about these gifts. She is so proud of herself. I do think that it is very cute, but I am not really a fan of soggy Cheerios believe it or not.

Murphy's Law. I constantly avoid washing our sheets, because as soon as I do, they get peed, etc on. So, since I hadn't washed them in almost a week and a half, I decided that it was more than time yesterday. Today of course, Maya peed on them. Sigh. Then Isabela spilled milk all over the drawers that I had just cleaned all of the little fingerprints off the day before. Double sigh. I know that as soon as I get the windows done they are going to eat something sticky and touch as many windows as possible. I am used to it.

Yikes! I am running on reserve battery power. You would think that I would learn to bring up the charger. Alas. Such is not the case. Gotta go! Enjoy the pics of Maya playing peekaboo too!

Laura and the Mess Makers

There's a Mouse in the House

I am not sure what is going on with Jake and I that is very exciting. I canned some roasted tomato sauce and green tomato ketchup that was very yummy this weekend and Jake worked on a ramp for Andrew. Still, nothing too exciting, so on to...

Isabela and Maya's Adventures!!!!!!!

Isabela has not been a dog lately (thunderous applause), instead she has been a mouse (the crowd mutters and shifts in their seats). She wore her mouse costume for four days straight. It is currently our biggest behaviour lever. "If you aren't good we are going to take your mouse costume off." So when Trick or Treating caught us by surprise yesterday (Beaver Dam always has a weird Halloween schedule) she was ready. We did make he put on extra clothes underneath, but she was so excited to go she agreed immediately. We only went around our block and the one next to us, but she still was commenting on how heavy her bag was. It was primarily people that we knew and they all gave her handfuls of candy. Unfortunately, she is old enough now that she knows what candy is and we were forbidden from giving her candy away like we usually do after we got home. I had to go to the grocery store to get candy for giving away. By the time I got back, Trick of Treating was almost over, but Isabela still had fun answering the door. She was disconcerted though as she thought that the other kids should share with her. For some reason she was sure that they were going to stop and share whatever candy she gave them with her. Her idea of sharing is: you take a bite, and then I will take a bite. That is how she sometimes shares with us. She did offer to give us some candy from her bag,which was very sweet. She told Nanna today that she would only share with Mommy and Daddy. Maya, as she often informs us, is too little.

Maya is finally happier after being sick. I took her into the doctor on Thursday, just to be sure, but she is finally fully recovered. She hasn't been sleeping well, but I am not sure if that is because she is cold, or because her teeth are bothering her. She still doesn't have any teeth (or much hair), but I am convinced that both are coming along. Tonight we bought a heater for her room as well as a cellular shade. Her window is on the north side of the house, so I think that she will be more comfortable tonight. I really hope so, since she is wearing me down. You wouldn't think that it would be that bad, after all, Isabela didn't even sleep through the night until about a year ago. However, I have gotten used to getting three or four hours in a row, and I rather like it. Maya normally sleeps from 7:30 at night until 3:30 or so in the morning and then sleeps until 6 or 6:30. I like that schedule. Since I go to bed at about 11 or 12, that works for me. The last several nights she has been waking up every couple of hours, and that does not work for me. I need more continuous sleep. If the heater doesn't help, I am at a loss. I have karate tomorrow after a two week hiatus since everyone was sick. If I don't get at least five hours of sleep I am sunk. I have too much sleep debt to live with less than that. So what I am I doing writing Adventures instead of sleeping while I can? Good question! I think that I am going to go to bed right now! Hopefully I can find time to write again in the next couple of days. I am writing early tonight since I am ignoring the pile of dirty dishes in my kitchen. :o) I hope everyone (including me) has a wonderful night!

Good night all! Only 10:30 and I am off to bed! Hooray!

Laura and Isabela the Mouse and Maya the Frog (Oh! If only I had a bear costume!)

Sick. Sicker. Sickest.

What a weekend! Everyone except me was sick. Jake had a timberframing class that started on Wednesday and went through the weekend, but on Sunday he couldn't even drag himself out of bed to go to that until around one. He was back home again a few hours later, and back in bed. Yuck. I hate being sick, but it wasn't exactly all sunshine and light taking care of three sick buggers either. Oh well. I still managed to get quite a bit done. I might even be done with canning for now. We will see. If they don't have any more tomatoes at the Farmer's Market on Wednesday, then I am done. Otherwise I would really like to make some more pizza sauce. That is pretty tasty. Isabela and Maya have been helping me in the kitchen, and so begins...


Isabela and Maya's Adventures

As you can see from the pictures I have a very cute little helper. Jake was at his class and Isabela was sleeping, so Maya and I were just hanging out, peeling carrots. She was being such a little cutie. She thought it was really fun to thunk her heels on the side of the sink. I wish the pictures would have turned out better. The lighting wasn't very good, but I really wanted to get a picture. She had fun gumming the carrots too(still no teeth). She tries everything, and is not a picky eater at all. So refreshing since Isabela is the pickiest eater on Earth:

Her: Ummmm. I don't think I like it.

Me: It is a banana. You like bananas.

Her: Ummm. I don't think so. I really don't think that I like it.

Me: You liked it yesterday. Eat it.

Her: I definitely don't like it. I'm not hungry anymore.


Five minutes later she is starving. Too bad I am super mean and still won't give her something else to eat.

Maya loves tomatoes too. During the Preserve Fest weekend she was taking them out of the box and munching on them, much like the Tomato Murderer picture series that I have of Isabela except Maya LIKES tomatoes. I will try and remember to post some of those pictures too.

Even though Isabela was sick, it didn't slow her down too much. She was definitely more tired than usual, but still had spurts of energy when she wanted to. You might think that Isabela being a little less active sounds like a good thing, however, whatever energy gain I recieved through this was instantly sapped by extra whining. Too bad. She is a very good kid though and was a prety good sport. On Saturday morning I thought I would be nice to Jake and get up with Isabela to feed her breakfast even though that is usually his job. I ended up regretting it though because two bites into her cereal she threw up. Vomit is not my favorite thing to deal with in the morning (or anytime). She threw up a few more times, but then I think that she felt a lot better. I stripped her down and snuggled her up in a warm blanket to watch a movie while I cleaned up. She looked pretty miserable, but she didn't do any whining and just asked to be snuggled. Poor baby. Today she was finally starting to feel better. She still looked pretty tired, but was definitely more cheery. We are not going to karate tomorrow morning since I don't think the other parents would thank me for contaminating the school. I assume this is fairly contagious since it ran through our whole family and that really never happens to us. Now as long as it hasn't mutated as it has gone along. I would hate to get sick again. Blech. Jake is the one who has been sick the longest. He started with just a cold. He seemed much better today though.

Sorry everyone. I know that there is more to write, and these probably weren't exceedingly entertaining this time, but I have to go to bed. I have been getting very little sleep lately with everyone sick, and I hope to get in a couple of hours before having to get up again. Although since it is already 11:30 (!) I suppose that probably won't happen. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger (although I can think of several exceptions to that off the top of my head).

Goodnight all!

Laura and the Puking Princess and Munching Maya

Everything under the Sun

Hello to One and All!

I know that I have been negligent in my duties. I blinded myself again. :o) I was sick and now have a houseful of sickies. Still, no excuses! I almost gave up tonight too. I finally climbed into bed and opened my computer only to find that I was out of battery again! Aargh! I powered through though and I am at long last writing another episode of...

Isabela and Maya's Adventures (fanfare of trumpets)

Isabela has a touch of a stomach bug. She threw up at two in the morning on Thursday. I didn't even hear her do it and usually I am a very light sleeper. Since I had the same thing I was sleeping pretty hard at night. Anyway. I woke up to her calling me and telling me that she needed a new shirt. Now, you have to understand that she likes to change her clothes several times a day, so you can understand that I didn't hop right to it. Instead I told her to go back to sleep. She kept insisting, "Mommy. I REALLY need a new shirt." I finally went to investigate. It was pitch black in her room and all I could see was her silhouette sitting up in bed. I reached out to touch her and she wasn't wearing a shirt and had goosebumps all over. I went and got her a new shirt and then got her to lay down again. Then she told me that she still had a "wet spot over here". I reached out to feel and was immediately sorry. Yuck. So, she got to snuggle with Daddy while I changed her sheets. I should have known something was going to happen to those sheets since I had just changed them the day before. That always happens to me. Today I washed our sheets and had the bed made again before naptime. Mistake. Isabela of course had an accident and I had to wash them again. Ho hum. Life is never boring around here.

Maya just has some boogies. Other than that she has been fairly healthy. She is a curious mixture of exuberance, independence, and neediness. She had a well child visit last week and she actually weighs less than she did at six months. She used to be about 84% for both height and weight, but now she is 94th percentile for height and 40th for weight. Maybe she will be built more like Isabela after all.

She is figuring out everything too quickly for me. She has gotten great at opening cupboard doors, especially the one under the kitchen sink where we keep the garbage (and boy has that been fun). She also learned how to climb up the stairs and makes a beeline for them whenever I set her down in the living room. And most fun of all she figured out how to move the gate aside so that she can get into the shower. She LOVES the shower. She often takes a shower with Jake in the morning. She lays her head on his chest and holds her hand out to feel the spray. She enjoys it so much and it is such fun to watch. I wish Isabela loved the shower. The only time I can get her to take one is after we have gone swimming at the YMCA.

Maya's personality is emerging more all of the time. Especially since she is able to communicate more. She recently learned "So Big!" and loves to make us do it. (Silly people, look what I can make them do.) She loves to play peek-a-boo with her big sister and generally follow her around. She especially wants to go visit Isabela whenever she is in a time out. Isabela's time-outs generally have to do with somehow abusing her sister, but that doesn't stop Maya from adoring her and wanting to spend as much time as possible with her. I don't get that. The same thing goes for Oberon. Isabela is not at all nice to Oberon. She constantly follows him around and bugs him. Yet he loves her. When she takes a nap he wants to be in the same room. Why is that, when so much of his time is spent trying to get away from her? Go figure.

Cripes. I can't even remeber all of the great stuff that we have been up to. We went up to Rice Lake and the girls had fun at the Fall Market. We walked on our land. We canned, and dried and froze produce. All kinds of things. Well. As I think of stories and such from the last month I will try and write them down. Oh! One I just thought of. Last night Isabela voluntarily laid down for a rest downstairs. Maya was already in bed and I certainly wasn't going to object! So Jake and I are cleaning up the kitchen and Isabela suddenly says, "John McCain has a silly butt like you Daddy." Our mouths dropped open and we looked at her. Then she repeats it a couple of times, because she knows that she is funny and then says, "Obama has a silly butt like you Daddy." I know that Jake and I talk politics a lot, but it is usually after the kids have gone to bed since you can hardly get a word in edgewise with those two around. Of course we laughed at her and told her that she was clever. So many times we think that she isn't listening, but guess we are wrong!

Since it just turned into Saturday, I am going to go to sleep. I don't want Isabela passing that stomach bug back to me again. Once is enough! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Good night all!

Laura and the Clever Children (OK. Not my best. It is late, give me a break!)

PS- For some reason it isn't working to upload pictures right now. I will try again tomorrow!