The big announcement for the week is that Phoebe is walking! BJ and I worked with her a little bit with her walking in between us to gain confidence and she is doing wonderfully. By the end of the week she was standing up on her own, no furniture or anything for support and then will take a few steps. She has taken to wanting to climb too. She gets up and down from the girls’ little wooden rocking chair and attempts to climb from the bath.

Phoebe has learned to give and take things from someone’s hand. She is so funny when we are doing it with a toy because she is so forceful and quick when she puts it in your hand. I think she thinks it is more a game than me simply handing her something.

The girls and I spent another afternoon in the pool. I was pregnant last summer and only swam once (hmmm, maybe twice) so I think I am making up for it this summer with swimming every week. Sophia sure doesn’t mind.

As BJ already put in a previous post—Sophia got locked in the van and the fire department was called. I have never locked my kids in the car before and go figure it was in a car I am not used to driving. I will say no more on it other than I was terribly embarrassed and felt so stupid, even though one of the EMT’s assured me it was their second call like this that day.

I attempted to cut Sophia’s bangs this week. I see no sense in driving to a hair place (with the way gas prices are) to pay 15 bucks or whatever for them to cut only bangs on this child! I was able to cut them once before and they turned out okay. Not so this time. She was moving too much and the first cut was too short. Well of course I had to base all my other cuts off that first one for it to look even remotely even. All of it being too short. I only told my closest friends the truth but if anyone has asked at church or random places I have blamed it on Sophia getting into the scissors and me fixing it. BJ and I agree we are growing her hair all out and will clip her front hair back.

We took Sophia to see the new Pixar movie Wall E. She did okay for about half the movie and then got squirmy. It was an amazing movie–Pixar can do no wrong! If you haven’t seen it yet–take kleenex! I can’t wait to have it on DVD.

BJ finds all sorts of random crap on the web and on YouTube. He chose to show me a clip in particular from YouTube one night. Sophia was still up and seeing me sitting next to daddy watching something on the laptop was too tempting for her. She joined us and watched the video clip as well. It was okay for her to watch–it is an animation with no cussing. It is called Charlie the Unicorn. OMG! This child will NOT stop asking to “watch Charlie.” This thing is like 3 minutes long but she has fallen in love with it. We discovered there was a second video with bananas and she loves that one just as much. She asks for it every day and asks to watch it again and again after just having seen it. It is hilarious and totally worth checking out on YouTube (BJ Note: I’ll embed it in another post).

Sophia, my little shadow, pointed out something to her daddy one day this week. She was jumping on our bed and looked over on his side of the floor and saw his big pile of dirty clothes. She said “oh no a mess! Clean clothes, pick up.” I laughed and told her they were daddy’s and HE would need to pick them up. I told her she should tell him that. She bounced off the bed and ran into where BJ was in the living room and yelled “Clean up clothes daddy!” I told BJ, when he came into the room being led by Sophia holding his hand, that she pointed it out first and that if a 2 year old can see they need picking up maybe he should learn from her example.

One morning I was out back with Sophia while she jumped on her trampoline. I heard this noise coming from our drain that comes off the roof and leads down to the ground. It sounded like something was falling inside and I was hearing a few bangs and scraping sounds and then a few more bangs. I was thoroughly freaking out not knowing what was coming out of the drain and not wanting to find out. Sophia did not notice a thing so I took advantage of her ignorance and went inside to watch her from the kitchen. She kept asking me to come outside and I told her it was too hot. I’m so lame. She eventually came inside and hours later I got up the courage to look around the drain out back to see if anything had come out. I was completely speechless when I saw what was sitting less than a foot away from the drain opening—-a baby bunny maybe the size of a lemon. I ran inside to get BJ and he of course took pictures. After much discussion (and putting my desire aside to adopt this cute baby bunny who I was sure had no mommy now) we decided to give it one day to see if the mama would come get it. Considering we don’t know how the ‘wild rabbit’ world works and maybe the mama left there until she could come back. BJ called it our “gutter bunny”. We truly enjoyed checking up on it all of the rest of that day and were sad to see it gone the next day.

Tags: family,Heather,Weekly Family Update,youtube
Categories: Heather, Weekly Family Update
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Now that Sophia can say her first name appropriately she walks around saying it all the time. “Sophia, Sophia, uh, Sophia.” And then sometimes she will say “So-pia.” It is pretty sweet to hear her running around the house chanting this.

Sophia is trying to be a mini-mama to Phoebe. She shushes her and tells her to be quiet when she is crying and tells her to not touch all sorts of things around the house. She hears me “bossing” Phoebe around all day so why can’t she, I am sure she is thinking.

We are also dealing with Sophia trying to feed Phoebe. Mostly wanting to feed her the baby food from the spoon, but I can’t quite trust her enough to not slop it everywhere or jam the spoon too far into Phoebe’s mouth because she doesn’t know better. She also wants to feed Phoebe her Goldfish and pretzels and other small food items. Obviously making me nervous since Phoebe has no teeth and can only really handle half a Goldfish and no pretzels. Although we have progressed to Cheerios this week and she even got to sample some beef Stragonoff and 5 spice chicken breasts. She is looking to be like her big sister—loves food and not picky!

Sophia’s bangs are starting to get wavy, another sign she will most likely have curly hair. They were also getting too long. Not wanting to pay a ridiculous $10 or more to simply have her bangs cut again I attempted it myself. Getting an almost 2 year old to sit still and look up at me while I come at her face with big scissors is really difficult! At least at the hair salon she had a sucker and a kid’s show. In the end I got her bangs cut and they look pretty good. Maybe I can keep this up until BJ I and decide to grow her hair out.

Sophia has gone from hitting too much to hugging Phoebe too much. She is still hitting occasionally but hugs on Phoebe whenever she can no matter where Phoebe is. If she is on the ground then it seems Sophia is laying or sitting on her, if she is standing then Sophia might as well be pulling her down. Sometimes it is a neck hug and then she is just straight up being strangled. It’s been hard letting Sophia know I am proud of her for being nice and that while she is doing a sweet thing she has to let go for being too rough. Most of the time she hugs her it ends up with Phoebe crying or yelling at Sophia.

The last couple months whenever I have been changing Sophia’s poopy diapers I have been commenting that they are “gross” or “stinky”. The “gross” comment has mostly been for Sophia’s sake since she began to have a hand that was wandering South during these diaper changes, and I did not want to have to wipe a nasty poopy hand too. For the last few weeks she has been saying “gross” when I change her diaper, whether it is poop or pee. She has also begun to try and help us wipe herself. Anything will do, a wipe, her blanket, her pants, or any other nearby material. Fortunately, BJ and I have been able to block all attempts, but this is just another sign to us that she is getting ready for potty training.

Sophia had another cat food snack this week. I was at Granny’s house tending to Phoebe when I finally see Sophia with crumbs of something around her mouth. I took her hand for her to show me what she was doing, and I was led to the kitchen and found cat food all over the floor. BLECH!

BJ broke the fun light toy we bought at the circus. It was under a blanket and he was walking in the living room when we all heard a crunch. I immeadiately knew what it was and he had to whisk it away before Sophia could see what happened. I was upset because I saw $10 down the drain but BJ reassured me Sophia got her $10 worth of play out of it.

Phoebe can now transfer from furniture to furniture with no problem. She can also get down from a standing position without falling. She is very slow, but direct and therefore avoids many bumps to the noggin.

I had my CT scan. The radiologist let me look at the screen when she was done and explained to me what she saw. My left sinus cavity is half full of fluid and my right sinus cavity had fluid lining the entire thing, a thin layer, but still there. My septum looked pretty crooked to me but my doctor can be the one to tell me what he thinks and the angle. Hope it isn’t as bad as I THINK it looks. He told me once he saw the films we would call me with a plan of action basically. Well, his office called and said he has looked at them and wants to meet with me for a CT film review. It’s got me all worked up now thinking he is seeing something more that he wants to actually sit down and talk with me and can’t just call me on the phone. grumble grumble……..

While getting my scan done I had the girls stay with a friend they had never been with before. Phoebe is so mama clingy and cries when I am gone even with her daddy and granny. Luckily, both girls did beautifully and I think hardly noticed I was gone. It gives me hope to be able to leave them with non-family babysitters. However, I did feel sorry for my friend—in the 2 1/2 hours she had the girls she had to change 3 of their poops. Sophia was still on antibiotics and they both had blueberries the day before. I can only imagine what little gifts she found.

We all enjoyed a morning at the mall looking for Sophia birthday gifts and getting a much needed new diaper bag for mama. We found a wonderful baby sling bag at Pottery Barn kids, and I am loving my new purchase. No luck on the Sophia gifts yet.

BJ went to Oklahoma this weekend. Saturday the girls and I went to the park and ended up being there for 2 hours. I had only intended a short visit but being the friendly chatter bug that I am, as well as Sophia being a social butterfly, we met another mom and little girl there. From information I gathered during our conversation I was strongly prompted to exchange numbers. Right before we left this other mom was telling me as they were walking up her daughter saw Sophia and commented that she looked nice and hoped that they could be friends. I told her I guess her daughter got her wish!

The park had its price. We all ended up sunburned on our faces and Phoebe on her ankles as well. The days of summer and playing outside are definitely here—and so is the sunscreen!

I managed to get to church on time with the girls all by myself, and not forget anything in the diaper bag or my Primary stuff! Yet somehow that doesn’t always happen when it is the 4 of us. Hmmmm. Anyway, BJ came home Sunday afternoon while we were still at church and set up a bed frame for Sophia’s mattress to go on. She noticed the change but didn’t have a huge reaction. Maybe because the mattress and sheets were all the same, only a little higher now!

Tags: bj,family,Heather,Phoebe,Sophia,Weekly Family Update
Categories: Heather, Weekly Family Update
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Just as Phoebe progresses week to week with her crawling and mobility Sophia progresses with her comprehension and speech. Some examples this week:

On trying to get her to eat dinner:
“Sophia, it is dinner time, don’t you want to eat dinner?”
“No.”
“But you need to eat something. It’s time to eat.”
“No.”
“What? Do you want to starve?”
(Me fully expecting a no answer) “Yes!”

On trying to get her to take a nap:
She is at home with daddy and I am telling her this on the phone.
“Sophia it is night night time. You need to take a nap.”
“No.”
“It is nap time and you need to take a nap now. So you go lay down for daddy.”
“NO.”
“Sophia, it is night night time.”
“No.”
“Hand the phone to daddy.”
Without another word she hands the phone to BJ.

Her 2 favorite questions:
“What you doing?”
“What dat?”

Sophia pretending on her play cell phone:
“Hello? Yes. What you doing?”

I sneeze a few times in the car and she is considerate enough to say “Bless you mama!”

On my way to pick BJ up from work I hear Sophia babble in the back seat “Poppypoppypoppypoppy, nananananana, grannygrannygranny, MichaelMichaelMichael.” I can’t imagine what she saw (if anything) that might have made her think of them, but it made me wonder what goes on in her mind during quiet car rides like that. How does her little mind work?

Sophia says Phoebe for the first time this week. She previously referenced her as “baby sister” or “bebe”. It happened during such a sweet moment too. They woke up at the same time and BJ and I were in their room changing diapers. Sophia grabbed her hand and said “Morning Phoebe.” I am enjoying her progress in being nice to her sister.

Granny treats us to a summer shoes shopping spree at Stride Rite. Each Spring the company has a buy one get one 50% off sale. We showed up on the first day of the sale, 30 minutes after the store opened and we were number 23 on the list to be helped. It was so packed. However, Sophia and Phoebe got the cutest matching sandals.

We enjoy another morning at the Wiggly Play Center due to a discount bracelet she received the week before. This time BJ joins us just in time for lunch. The extra help for mama was much appreciated and I think Sophia liked having daddy there too.

These days I call Sophia my little copycat because she will mimic anything she possibly can that we are doing. BJ always comes out of the bathroom from a shower with his towel wrapped around his waist. Sophia runs into the bathroom and grabs the hand towel and wraps it around her waist and walks around the house for a bit like that.

Sophia is still suffering from her cold and we finally get some antibiotics called in. I can’t wait for this snotty nose to go away. It seems like almost a month we have been dealing with this!

I get in to see an ENT specialist due to years of postnasal drip (since moving to Texas) and multiple sinus infections in the past year. He finds I have a deviated septum and would like a CAT Scan to get a look at my sinuses and determine the degree of the deviated septum. Argh! Can’t I ever just be healthy?!

Not much to report on little Phoebe this week. However, she has decided to start the formal version of crawling and gets anywhere she wants to go. She also discovered Gerber Puffs. It was an easy to eat finger food I fed Sophia as an infant and just knew Phoebe would enjoy them too. She was so excited about them she started to shake. She put as many as she humanly could into her mouth, just like her sister did!

On Saturday we head out to Reunion Arena for a fun filled morning at the Circus! Granny gave us a buy one get one free coupon. While there a woman in line offers us 2 free adult tickets that she received at work. We gladly take them and use the extra money to buy a spinning light toy for Sophia. She was very impressed with the tigers and acrobats. She kept trying to mimic them by turning around and trying to go upside down.

Tags: circus,family,Heather,Phoebe,Sophia,Weekly Family Update
Categories: Heather, Weekly Family Update
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In an effort to get Sophia potty trained, BJ and I will offer Sophia to go potty at various times. On Monday we had success!! Sophia went peepee in the potty! BJ and I were so excited and proud of her. I am sure those of you reading this that don’t have kids won’t think much of this, but those of you who do have children (potty trained kids at that!) will join BJ and I in our triumph.

Sophia knows her name but has been unable to say anything but “Pia”. She finally said her full name, correct pronunciation and everything! However, BJ and I are so used to calling her “Pia” and have come to rather enjoy it. No reason for her to be simply Sophia all the time!

Sophia continues to hug me and say “love you”. She did it to Phoebe this week and began doing it to her toys and random kitchen appliances. BJ had still not been graced with this sentiment until the very end of this week. He was so happy when he finally got her love.

Sophia, Phoebe, and I enjoy a morning at the Wiggly Play Center. Sophia played hard core for 2 hours and both kids passed out in the car on the way home. Sophia didn’t have much of a nap once we got home for such an active morning that she had. Proof of that became evident later that afternoon. She did something I thought she could and would never do: Sophia fell asleep on the couch amidst the noise of the dishwasher, Phoebe yelling and crying, and BJ and I talking. We dared not to move her and kept on with life as usual. She slept for almost 2 1/2 hours when we decided we should wake her at 6pm!

I received even more confirmation that my little Phoebe is one cute kid. While at the Play Center, a little girl who looked about 5 or 6, approached me out of nowhere and rubbed Phoebe’s head and said “You have such a cute baby!” I thanked her and she walked off.

Phoebe, still having no teeth, got to enjoy new foods—string cheese, tomatoes, and goldfish (but only the tails). She also discovered cow’s milk out of one of Sophia’s sippy cups. Once I discovered what she had she was not pleased with me that I took it away.

Phoebe is progressing even more with her mobility. She can now transfer from one piece of furniture to another that is very close by, she can track along the couch, and has created her own version of crawling. She is up on both hands and one knee, then on the bottom of her foot on the other leg. She has really started to enjoy taking steps and lets us help her whenever we can.

Sophia gets an even bigger girl bed this week. Just a twin sized mattress on the floor, really, but she doesn’t know the difference and likes her new “princess bed”. Phoebe gets the large crib and is out of that little pack n’ play. She seems to like the change too.

The weather is really warming up and we have spent some afternoons in the backyard. I think Sophia is just glad she can wear her floppy summer hat, and I like that she can start wearing all the cute summer outfits I have accumulated!

We end the week with both girls getting sick again with colds. Argh! Will this never end?!

Tags: family,kids,Phoebe,Sophia,weekly update
Categories: Heather, Weekly Family Update
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Still struggling with this darn cold I go to the doctor to get drugs. Phoebe goes the next day and seems to be getting over an ear infection. While there the nurse discovers Sophia has a fever so she gets checked in as well. Turns out she also has sores in her mouth–yay for random viruses! By the end of the week the girls are well, but I still have remnants of snot in my sinuses and am just about ready to shove a vacuum hose up my nose!

Sophia struggles with the letters S, P, F, and R. Needless to say her name has been difficult for her to say. I occasionally find myself making fun of her and her struggles with speech and learning to talk. She says “ham” like “haim”. So I said back to her the other day “Cory Haim?” And with perfect pronunciation she comes back with “Cory Haim!” BJ laughs and I join in. What more could I do?

My constant battle with Sophia at her Granny and Grandad’s house is getting into the litter box, cat food, cat water, and the toilet. All very nasty and all she could potentially get sick from. Two weeks ago she was found sitting in the cat box tossing out poop and kitty litter. My sister Jennifer found her and I think almost had a stroke. She was found this week once again in the cat box. My dad asked what her fascination could possibly be–my theory–it’s just like a small sandbox. Now this week she was found eating dry cat food. Her response? “Yum!” Will she ever learn?

We have often said Sophia has probably had her picture taken far too much. While taking a picture of her this week, with no help from me, she smiles real big and says “Cheese!”

The Atchley’s are all off this week for Spring Break. We spend Friday cleaning out our garage to make room for more furniture to come from BJ’s grandpa’s house in Oklahoma. We spend Saturday cleaning out the Atchley’s garage for the same purpose. Sophia at least got to dye Easter eggs. Not very successfully I must admit. She enjoyed dropping them in too hard or on top of another one so we ended up with quite a few cracked eggs. We didn’t mind since this is her first time and she enjoyed herself regardless.

The Atchley’s joined us at church for Easter Sunday. BJ and I were excited thinking we had other people to be able to entertain Sophia and we could actually enjoy the talks. Nope. She was only entertained by Mike and Catey for about 15 minutes before she was all over us and wouldn’t leave us alone.

I make a delicious Easter dinner and have the Atchley’s over to enjoy it with us. Sophia has her egg hunt after dinner and is very excited to find eggs in the yard. We only do plastic eggs and I put jellybeans inside. Once all the eggs are gathered we bring them inside to inspect the ‘loot’. I am busy in the kitchen so Catey helps Sophia to eat quite a bit of candy in the meantime.

We have been working on counting to 10 with Sophia for several weeks now. On Sunday while she was walking down the pew to us she walked by and counted everyone. It was only to five since that’s all there was, but she did it correctly and without prompting from us so BJ and I were really excited. We are enjoying the progress.

We started having Sophia say “sorry” to Phoebe when she hits her or makes her cry. She picked up on it right away and I have been able to get her to apologize to her sister several times, but now she uses sorry for so many things. She says it if she bumps herself, or drops something, or any little thing she might see as an oops. As sweet as that is we are trying to focus her back on really only saying it if she hurts someone. She can be so sweet.

Tags: family,Heather,kids,Phoebe,Sophia,weekly update
Categories: Heather, Weekly Family Update
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These are from the book Safe Baby Handling Tips. You can buy it at Amazon.

There’s a couple dozen more after the jump.


Show me more… »

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Categories: BJ, Entertainment
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Sophia’s unexplained fever was apparently the start of a sinus infection. She lovingly spread it to Phoebe and myself. I can’t remember the last time I was so sick with sinusitis.

The apple juice obsession has ended, and so begins the milk phase. We ran out one day and she cried and cried for milk until I decided to use daddy’s type of milk to pacify her until he could get back from Braum’s with her whole milk.

Sophia comes up to me out of nowhere, hugs my leg and says “lub (love) you”. She repeats the affection several more times throughout the week, even when I come home from being gone. She hasn’t done it to BJ yet, much to his sadness.

Phoebe pulls herself up on the furniture–no help included! She also takes a few steps when we hold her hands while standing. I think she is progressing almost too fast!

BJ steam cleans our living room carpet and decides to switch the couches. We rather enjoy the change and neither the cats or the kids notice the difference.

Sophia has increased her desire to swipe at, kick, or hit Phoebe and does so on a daily basis. We don’t know what it will take to get this child to understand being gentle with her baby sister.

With winter not far behind us Sophia had gotten used to wearing her full outdoor winter gear to play outside. Now with the warm weather she still thinks she needs it all. We know she wants to go out when she starts asking for her gloves, hat, jacket, and boots. We think she looks like a street urchin in this photo or as if she is trying to sell flowers on a corner.

Sophia enjoys a Nickelodeon show called “Yo Gabba Gabba.” They have a part in the show for ’silly faces’. Most of the time it is of the kids sticking their fingers in their mouths spreading their lips and rolling their eyes. She seems to have picked up on it. Now presenting Sophia’s silly face…….

Tags: family,kids,Phoebe,Sophia,weekly update
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Another productive week for Phoebe. She sits up on her own, can pull herself up to her knees completely on her own, can get to a sitting position from her stomach, can also babble more letters and syllables.

Auntie Jennifer and cousins are in town again. Sophia has a lot of fun playing with Gwennie and sometimes Linus. Gwennie spends the night one night. I let the girls paint before having a bubble bath. I took off their shirts to avoid paint on their tops. Because of this, Sophia realizes she can paint on her body. Gwennie so appropriately comments that Sophia is “ooey gooey”. I figure no big deal, the paint is washable, but one bath later and her stomach was still green.

Sophia has unexplained fever again for 2-3 days. (we went through this back in January)

Forgot to mention this in last week’s post: The Sunday after BJ’s talk mishap he was unable to go to church due to allergies and one sick child. I was able to attend and the subject for that sacrament meeting was–you guessed it—TEMPLES!! Poor BJ.

It snowed twice this week! The first day was not all that much, but Sophia didn’t seem to mind. The second day we had about 3-4 inches in our area. Daddy and Sophia have fun playing and building a snowman. She also enjoys that she gets to throw snow at us.

BJ, thinking he was doing a sweet thing, scraped my windshield one of the mornings of snow. He did it with a metal spatula….need I say more? Once all was melted I discovered scratches all up and down my windshield, the whole length of my windshield, each about 2 inches apart. Hope it’s fixable without having to replace the entire thing.

I woke up one morning with my right shoulder and neck hurting really bad. It was stiff, tight and very hard to move. I had my dad put this really great massager on my neck and shoulders that I have used before. Only this time he got too high up on my neck/head and a chunk of hair got caught. Our only solution was to cut it out. Luckily my hair is thick enough and curly it isn’t even noticeable.

I’ve received a jury duty summons. BJ’s immediate reply is “You’re exempt since you are the primary caregiver.” My response, “Who says I don’t want to do it? I don’t want to get picked, of course, but to go that initial day might be interesting.” BJ gets wide eyed and then says, “You just want to get away from the kids.” Me, with a smile, “Yep!”
***Note about the above: As much as I say I want to get away from the kids, the funny thing is, when I am away from them more than 3 hours I really start to miss them. Funny how that works….

Another rough thing for me this week—On the worst day of snow I was in Carrollton, typically a 30 minute drive from my house. It took me 3 1/2 hours to get home!!! Traffic was so awful I wanted to scream, and almost did. My one saving grace was that I did not have the kids with me. Now THAT would have been a nightmare.

Tags: family,kids,Phoebe,Sophia,weekly update
Categories: Heather, Phoebe, Sophia, Weekly Family Update
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I received this e-mail from a friend of mine and rather than forwarding it on into the depths of spam filters everywhere I though I’d post it here.

Thinking of Having Kids? Do this 11 step program first!

Lesson 1

1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2

Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their…
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child’s breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.
Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3

A really good way to discover how the nights might feel…
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can’t get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4

Can you stand the mess children make? T o find out…
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5

Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6

Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don’t think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don’t look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment.
Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 7

Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week’s groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8

1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 9

Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you’re thinking What’s ‘Noggin’?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 10

Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying ‘mommy’ repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each ‘mommy’; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11

Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the ‘mommy’ tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

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Categories: Entertainment, Heather
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Phoebe has been very busy this week. She always goes after Sophia’s sippy cups if she leaves them lying around. She was actually able to drink out of the sippy cups this week. I think she rather enjoyed it.

With a little help from mama, Phoebe is now pulling herself up. Yay! She also stabilizes herself much better when standing at the couch. She is sitting up on her own and still has the occasional fall over but has gotten much stronger.

A couple weeks back she was babbling mamamamama, but only for one day. Now it is a consistent thing when she plays to go on “mamamamamama”. It’s nice to hear.

Phoebe has discovered a new, fun thing she can do. She gets up on her hands and knees and starts flapping her lips and spitting, but she likes to watch the spit as it falls to the carpet. Another fun thing –screaming at Sophia to try and get her to scream back. It works…..100% of the time.

‘The wiggle’ has progressed. Instead of only doing it on her back on the floor, Phoebe now wiggles when you hold her, in her car seat, when she is standing (with me supporting her at the hips), in the highchair, and while sitting.

Well, I was so sure Phoebe would be crawling by now, but she isn’t. She does everything else she possibly can–gets up on her hands and knees, hands and toes, or her hands and bottom of her feet (see picture). She continues to army crawl and seems happy enough with that. I guess as long as she is getting around that is all that matters.

For awhile Sophia was hooked on Finding Nemo. BJ and I were going crazy and have been letting her watch various shows to see what she is okay with besides that darn clown fish! She got hooked on Cars there for awhile too, but so far here is a list of what we have found she likes and dislikes:

Okay to watch:

• The Little Mermaid
• Finding Nemo
• Pixar Shorts
• Cars
• Kiki’s Delivery Service
• Toy Story
• Toy Story 2
• Bug’s Life
• My Neighbor Totorro
• The Cat Returns
• Porco Rosso

NOT okay:

• Monsters Inc.
• Spirited Away
• Howl’s Moving Castle
• Tarzan

Sophia is getting better at repeating words accurately on the first try. She is stringing words together more often as well. Every week she is progressing and communicating more. When she wants something she will pull on our shirt, pants, or arm and tell us “Get up!”

She woke up from a nap the other day still a little loopy so I asked her, “Sophia, are you still drunk?” Her reply: “Yes.”

Sophia’s new, fun thing this week–putting socks on her hands and walking around and playing that way.

We really enjoy dance time with Sophia. We discovered this week that she has a preference. ‘Peanut butter jelly time’ from the internet, and club music. As long as it is loud, strong, and fast she will dance!

Tags: babies,crawling,family,Phoebe,Sophia
Categories: Heather, Phoebe, Sophia, Weekly Family Update
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