The End of August

Summer is not officially over until September 23 this year, but for me it seems to be over when August ends. I'm always sorry to see summer end. I like fall as fall, but it is a precursor to winter which is my least favorite season. Hopefully we'll have a nice autumn, though!

The Phebis had a doctor's appointment yesterday. She weighed in at 15 lbs 13 oz.

Girlfriend is almost sixteen pounds.

The Boogie weighed 16 lbs. 2 oz. at her 6 month check-up. The Phebis is 3.5 months old. She is outgrowing all of the size 3-month clothes, fits great in size 6-month, and isn't exactly swimming in size 9-month.

A few weeks ago I started bugging My Man to take me over to the storage unit to find the plastic bins of baby clothes. Finally we were able to go last week. Don't you know the bins were allllll the way in the back corner. I was climbing all over stuff to get to them. Thankfully they were on top, though. We never would have found them if they had been buried underneath other boxes.

The Phebis is still trying hard to crawl. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks a little bit, then lunges forward. She does a little army-crawling, too. I borrowed a walker from SIL1 and the Phebis likes to be in there. We put some toys on the tray and she's happy for a bit. I think that she knows what to do to make it move, but she doesn't have the coordination yet to do it.

She is still sleeping well at night since she found that magic thumb. However, she goes to bed very late (11 pm or midnight or sometimes later) so we're trying to tweak that and her nap schedule during the day to make it favorable to everyone!

The Boogie continues to make me laugh on a daily basis. Last week she saw a picture of me on the computer and said, "Aw, Honey, you were cute when you were big." No, it wasn't a picture of me when I was pregnant ... I think she just took the phrase "you were cute when you were little" and changed it according to the workings of her 3-year-old mind.

On Saturday morning she came to my side of the bed and told me softly, "Honey, I'm awake. God waked me up."

Her hair is long and often crazy. Some mornings I just pull it back out of her face so she doesn't get her breakfast in it and it stays like that all day. 

If I take the time to do it, though, it looks really cute.

My Man has been working lots of overtime this month. He's worked two or three fifty-hour weeks, and will put in fifty-five hours this week. The extra money is really nice but he is not used to working this much anymore so it has been an adjustment for him.

At the beginning of the month I set a goal to lose five pounds by Labor Day. Then I kinda sorta forgot about my goal. Oops. But last week I remembered and we went out to buy me a pair of badly-needed new walking shoes (mine were from 2001, I think) and I've been trying to walk every day. I managed to do it four days last week and twice so far this week. And I've lost a couple of pounds anyway, thanks to a growing baby who likes to eat a lot. Once I reach this goal I'll set another one! Lose the baby weight!

As for the little white house, we got some news last week that made us hopeful for a closing date this week or next ... then yesterday we got more news that we might possibly be able to close by the end of September. Sometimes it feels as if we are just in a state of limbo and we aren't ever going to close. I know God has a reason for it taking so long -- I just don't know what His reason is ...

Meanwhile we are so thankful for family letting us live with them. They are long-suffering to allow us to stay so long! I must say that we have enjoyed it and aside from missing my own bed from time to time I have no complaints, especially since they help SO much with the girls and MIL is a fantastic cook. I mean, fantastic. My poor Man will be sorry to go back to my boring cooking when we move out. :)

Ice Cream ...

... how I miss you.

Your creamy texture.

Your cool refreshingness.

Your sweet taste.

Your amazing flavors.

Sorbet just doesn't cut it.

Little Singers

MIL's beginner's church class had their turn to do a special last Sunday in church. The Boogie was not being particularly cooperative, but at least she didn't cry when she whacked her head on the pulpit!

Phillies Phans

Every morning when I dress the Boogie I ask her "What do you want to wear today?"
Her answer is always the same: "Ummmm ... my Phillies shirt!"

Bedtime Thoughts

I had a whole week of birthday-ness. We went out to breakfast last Saturday. Tuesday night My Man took me out for sushi -- YUM. Wednesday was the birthday lunch with werk people, three birthdays all together, August 17th, 18th, and 19th! Amazing. The Boogie went with me to lunch and then came to the office for a couple of hours. It was like old times. The Phebis had some quality grandparent time which included such hijinks as this:

Oh my goodness, it makes me laugh every time I look at it.

On my actual birthday I had a nice quiet day doing a little of this and a little of that, eating yummy food and opening presents. The Boogie picked out 3 pretty nail files and helped wrap them and everything. I think that's the first gift she's really given me and it makes me so happy that she picked them out herself.

On Friday a big box came from my parents FULL of goodies! Look at this quilt my mom made for the Boogie!

She got those nursery rhyme transfers many years ago and I asked her to please make a quilt out of them someday for one of my babies (that was before I even met my hubby.) It is so beautiful, I am delighted with it! She entered it in her local fair and won first place.

She sent a bunch of other things too, including an afghan that she made for me, a harmonica for the Boogie, and a hat for the Phebis.

It was so fun to go through that box.

Saturday was the wedding of one of SIL2's sisters (got that?) It was a beautiful outdoor wedding with a lunch reception following. Thankfully it wasn't TOO hot but it was hot enough for me. We took the Phebis and she looked cute in her sun hat.

That child is so hot. It's one thing to sit outside in a nice shady tent on a sunny August day; it's another thing when you are holding a tiny human furnace.

During the wedding the Boogie stayed with my office manager, her Auntie MA. Auntie MA took her out to lunch at Friendly's where she had a bowl of ice cream as big as her head.

Apparently she ate quite a bit of it and boy was she wired by the time we got home.

Then we went to our friends' house for dinner where she got to run around and play Dora and Diego and I got to eat taco salad which is, like, my favorite summer meal ever. I wish I had some right now.

Okay, not really. I already brushed my teeth. But I do love it a lot. A lot.

Today the Boogie was walking into church ahead of me and I mentioned to My Man that her hair is getting so long and when there is a lot of humidity in the air she gets some nice curl in it. She was listening and replied to me, "Thank you, Honey! It's so nice of you to say that." hahaha :)

The Phebis is continuing on her quest of learning to crawl by the time she is four months old. I will keep you posted. Her latest is to actually get her knees underneath her and lift her body up off the floor for a few seconds.

Tonight I thought that maybe since she sucks her thumb and can self-soothe, I would try putting her in her crib awake and see if she would fuss herself to sleep. She was already overtired and cried herself hysterical in just a few minutes and couldn't keep her thumb in her mouth so I got her out and laid on the bed with her. I curled up facing her and she curled up facing me and we fit together like two pieces of a puzzle. She held my fingers with both of her chubby hands and hiccuped and shuddered and her breathing slowed and she fell asleep and I savored her sweet baby smell and was reminded of the amazingness of being a mother ...

Oh, Baby

Why must you strive to do the things I am not ready for you to do?

Today, Yesterday, Last Week, Last Month ...

So much catching up to do. Let me see how brief I can be without skipping anything important.

*A couple of weekends ago we had a SURPRISE birthday party for FIL. It was really fun and he was really surprised! I didn't take any pictures. Bad me.
*After the party My Man's cousin K came to stay at 52 for a few days. That was really fun too! She played a lot with the Boogie and entertained her. She helped keep an eye on the Phebis and entertained her, too, when needed. When she was about to leave I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures while she was here so I grabbed my camera and we tried to get some cute shots.

But it was almost impossible to get the small people to look in the same direction at the same time while looking pleasant so we tried something else.

We mostly succeeded with the last one ... at least everyone is looking in the same general direction and no one is blinking or yawning or crying ...

*Also while K was here we made an expedition to the shore. There were 4 adults, 2 teens, 5 kids, and a baby. It was a beautiful day. The kids played in the water. All I have to show you is the Boogie:

The Phebis spent the whole time like this:

It was a breezy day and when I finally picked her up her head was covered with sand that had blown in under the umbrella. I was picking it out of her ear for a couple of days.

As for myself, I wore a t-shirt and no sunblock which resulted in a sunburn on the back of my neck that has turned into a killer tan line just below my hair. Awesome. Why do I forgo sunblock and get a bad sunburn one time every.single.year? Why? I'll tell you why. It's these children. They are destroying my brain cells.

It has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with my age, because I'm only 24.

Where was I?

Oh, yeah. So much for a brief catch-up ...

*The Phebis is nice and chubby. I love all of her rolls and creases and dimples and chins.

She loves her thumb. This is how I find her in the morning and is why she sleeps all night. Ahhh, wonderful sleep.

 And this is how I found her the other day, with her ankles crossed.

The Boogie still adores her little sister.

*I tickle the Phebis a lot, trying to get a chuckle out of her. I guess babies have to learn how to laugh? I can't remember how old the Boogie was when she started laughing. Right now the Phebis squirms and smiles and grunts, but no chuckles yet. I can't wait to hear that wonderful baby belly laugh.

*Isn't chuckle a funny word? It's one that sounds like what it means, like awkward or frothy.

*I like words.

Where was I?

Oh yeah. 

*This cute Boogie is not only adorable, she is hilarious. Well, you know, I could possibly be a teeny tiny bit biased. Or possibly just easily amused.

*The other day we went to Target and she asked for popcorn so I bought us a bag to eat while we shopped. When we left I set the bag on the passenger seat of my car. "Honey," she asked, "where's that Target-brand popcorn?"

I promise I don't know where she comes up with this stuff. Admittedly I have a preference for Target-brand products but I don't think I refer to them as such ...

*Today she remembered that we don't say the word "stupid."
"Honey, do we say 'stupid'? We don't say 'stupid', do we?" she asked out of the blue with a little smirk, knowing the answer.
"No we don't, so stop saying it," I told her.
"We don't say it? And not stupid jokes?"
Hee hee hee :D

*This morning we went to IHOP for breakfast. The Boogie took one look at the kids' menu and knew exactly what she wanted. She was delighted when it was served.
"Look, Honey! A pancake with a face on it! It looks like me!"

*We ran some errands today. As usual she wanted to know where we were going.
"We're going to Old Navy," I said.
"Old Navy? Do they gots old clothes and old peoples or sumpin?"
Such a funny kid!

*This week we have had a couple of sleepovers with cousins. EK spent Tuesday night and the girls slept on a futon in another room. We set up the baby monitor so I could hear if they woke up. Around 4 a.m. I heard the Boogie and when I went in there she was pushed up against one side with EK snuggled right up against her. "Honey," the Boogie whined, "I'm stuck."

*Another cousin, HE, has been here for a couple of nights as well. When I checked on the girls last night they looked like this

It never fails to amaze me how kids can sleep like that, all over the place and falling off the bed and yet they rarely wake up.

*My birthday is next week. I'm going to be 24 again. I figure I can turn 24 at least one more time. I might try to stretch it out for another year ... or maybe I'll just stop having birthdays.

Nah. That would mean no presents.

Where was I?

Oh yeah. All caught up (I think, with the few brain cells my children have left me) and going to bed.

P.S. Thank you Nanette for telling me how to get rid of those pesky lines behind my blog header! :)

Still At 52

One night last week while I was trying to turn off my brain and go to sleep, I had this great idea: to blog every day in the month of August. Then I remembered that we were several days into August so I failed at that before I even started.

Then I had the great idea of blogging at least once a week in the month of August ... but we're into the second week already so I failed at that, too.

Eh, oh well.

We are still at 52. The oil leak at "our" house was minor but still has to be cleaned up and a new tank installed. We signed to extend closing on the house until the end of this month but indicated that this would probably be the last time we'd be willing to extend. It has been discouraging to not see anything happening; however, on Sunday our friend Chief, who lives around the corner from "our" house, said that his wife (that would be Mrs. Chief to you) saw someone at "our" house with a wheelbarrow and a shovel. Progress, perhaps?

Meanwhile it is still nice to be here at 52. The Boogie loves being with grandparents and I think they don't mind having us around. ;-) I miss my own bed every now and then BUT I rarely have to cook! I love to eat and I love to watch Food Network and I like talking about food, but I don't love to cook ...

The other day the Boogie told me that I was going to go somewhere with my buddy.
"Oh, really?" I asked. "Who is my buddy?"
"Your husband," she said.

The Phebis is doing things I'm not ready for her to do, like rolling over. I'm not ready for this!


I'm afraid to see what she'll do next. The Boogie didn't roll at all until she started crawling. She just wasn't interested. The Phebis, however, is itching to get moving. She likes to roll onto her belly and then scoot around.

I'm telling you, I am.not.ready for this.

*big huge sigh*
 
Oh well. There's nothing I can do about it, anyway.

The Boogie has been learning a memory verse in her junior church class.


I'm so impressed with my big girl!