The End Of A Snowy Month

I think the Boogie got hold of the camera the other day ...

The current living room window treatment

Front door sans trim; closet sans trim ... and doors ... gotta get around to that one of these days (that's for you, Pops. What movie, what movie?)

Don't worry, fake spider. Interestingly enough, the Boogie is not bothered by this plastic spider one bit, but a much faker (is that a word?) one in a book freaks her out.

I love the feet pictures. There are always feet pictures when she has the camera!

What I was actually looking for were these pictures ...

Someone stuck under the table.

Just look at those chubby legs!

 "Look at me, I'm standing up!"

Two pretty girls, all dressed up for church.

Pile on Daddy!

On Wednesday we got some snow in the morning, had a break in the afternoon, then got another 10 or so inches that night. Because of the impending storm the schedule at the office was very light so MA gave me the afternoon off, which was unexpected and very nice! I got to stay home with my girls all day (except for a quick trip to the grocery store for the snowstorm essentials: bread, milk, and eggs. I mean, really, how can one expect to survive a nor'easter without the ingredients for french toast?) At 3:45 on Wednesday morning when the alarm went off, Eric got up to look out the window, said "They haven't even plowed the street yet," and came back to bed. At 5:00 he tried to call his work to tell them he wouldn't be coming in, but no one answered the phone. I guess no one made it there by the regular start time! We all slept in and he eventually did get through to his supervisor. He could have dug out the driveway and gone in late but decided to just use a vacation day. We are thankful for paid time off. :)

We've had quite a bit of snow this month -- and I do mean QUITE a bit -- and I've had several patients at work ask me how the Boogie likes it. The answer is "Oh, ummm, well, I don't really know ... because I don't take her out in it ..." Maybe it's because I don't have any snow gear except for boots, but I hate going out to "play" in the snow. I hate being cold. I hate being cold and wet. I took her outside when we got a bunch of snow right after Christmas and I lasted about twenty minutes before starting to ask her, "Aren't you cold? Don't you want to go in now?" So this time, since Eric had to go out to shovel anyway, I bundled her up in her new hand-me-down-but-still-in-stellar-condition snowsuit and her borrowed snow boots and sent her out with Daddy.

She had a  blast! Eric built her a snow slide.

They threw snowballs at each other and she "helped" clean snow off the cars. I don't know how long she was out there for but after a long time I suddenly thought, oh no, her feet are probably frozen! I called her in and pulled her boots and mittens off and her fingers and toes were just as warm as if she'd been inside with slippers on. And she was so worn out that she took a nap that afternoon, a rare occurrence!

Speaking of naps, my very good sleeper has learned how to stand up in her crib and now does it all the time which is wreaking havoc with her naps. We used to be able to lay a sleepy Phebis down with her blankie and she would pop a thumb in her mouth and go right to sleep. Now she stands up and cries. We let her fuss for a bit, go in and lay her down, and she immediately pulls herself back up and cries harder because we came in but didn't get her up. Eventually she is too exhausted to pull herself back up anymore and passes out. After about forty-five minutes, the length of a sleep cycle, she wakes up and instead of popping that thumb back in her mouth she remembers that she can stand up ... so she does ... and cries. Since she's had some sleep she's not as tired anymore so I get her up, and within about an hour or so she's tired and crabby again because she didn't nap long enough ... ugh. Also she has started sometimes waking at night about forty-five minutes after going to sleep the first time, as well as waking in the middle of the night to eat which she hasn't done on a regular basis since she was about 3 months old. I am hopeful that this is just a passing phase (please, oh please, let it be a phase) related to learning a new skill and that we will get back into our old groove soon, or at least figure something out that means a less tired and crabby baby.

No new snow today but I hear we're supposed to get some on Tuesday. How is it, then, that when I wanted to buy some flannel sheets I could hardly find any, yet Target is fully stocked up on bikinis and Kohls has shorts and ruffly little short-sleeved shirts on sale? (MIL found some flannel sheets for me, though, and boy are they nice and warm.)

49 days till spring!

Late Night Thoughts

Last night the Boogie had the hiccups. She was coming down the hallway in front of Eric when all of a sudden he grabbed her and swooped her up. She wasn't expecting it at all and was so startled she burst into tears. He hugged her and kissed her and apologized ... but the hiccups were gone!

Later she came up to me with a sad face and said, "I really need a band aid on my finger." I thought it was a fake sad face so I poked a little fun at her to try to make her laugh, but instead of laughing her eyes filled with tears and her chin started quivering and she buried her face in my leg. I think I hurt her feelings. Bad mama. :(
 
When Pheeboo wakes up from her nap the Boogie will often climb into the crib with her to keep her happy while I finish doing whatever I'm doing. Today she called to me from in there, "Come see, Honey, we're two babies baking a cake!"

Often, early in the morning after Eric leaves for work, she will climb into bed with me. She snuggles up against my back and sometimes puts her arm around me. If Pheeboo wakes up she comes in too, and I get to watch them play and listen to them talk and babble and laugh.

I love watching them together.

When I lay in bed at night trying to turn off my brain so I can go to sleep, I always start thinking about my girls and how cute and sweet and funny they are.

I think about the things that they did during the day and the things the Boogie said.

It makes me smile in the dark. Sometimes it makes my heart skip a beat.

I love those girls so much. I am so thankful to God for letting me be their mama.

Smarty Pants

One day in the car (we seem to have a lot of interesting discussions in the car) the Boogie asked me, "Honey, where is my smarty phone?"
I knew what she meant but played dumb. "Your what?"
"My smarty phone," she repeated. "I don't know where it is!"
"I don't know where it is, either," I said. "Where did you hear about a smarty phone?"
"Well, it was just on a commercial. That boy had a smarty phone, and I have one too ... but I don't know where it is."

Too much television!

Last week I went to a used-clothing store and found some long-sleeved knit dresses for her. One is pink with cupcakes all over it. She wore it today and when I gave her a snack she smoothed down her skirt and said, "I won't spill it on my lovely, lovely cupcake dress."

For Christmas she got a hooded bath towel. The hood is supposed to look like a crown and it says "princess" on it. One day I wrapped her in it after a shower and called her "your highness."
"I'm a king!" she said.
"No, you're a girl so you're a queen or a princess," I told her.
"Oh, where's my seat?" she asked.
"You mean your throne?" I sat her on the toilet. "Here it is. It's a toilet throne!" She thought that was hilarious and now every time she gets out of the tub she must sit on her toilet throne, giggling hysterically.

The Phebis is starting to pull herself up on everything, like my legs. She follows me around crying and whenever I stop she attaches to my leg and pulls herself up. I pick her up and hold her a lot, but then I often need two hands to do something and have to put her down again. When she cries she won't stop. She lays on the floor and rolls around and kicks her legs and cries and cries and cries and cries ... I'll sometimes ignore her if I know she is okay and just wanting attention. I figure she'll stop eventually but she doesn't! At least, she doesn't until she gets what she wants, which is me holding her. Then she climbs up me and stands on my hip and squirms and wriggles around until I can't stand to hold her anymore and put her down and the whole thing starts all over again. Maybe I need to try wearing her in the sling for an extended amount of time every day. She's just so wiggly. I wish she would be cuddly sometimes but she never is, EVER. She is constantly climbing and squirming and grabbing and poking and pulling hair.

That reminds me that she has discovered that we have eyelashes and she loves to probe our eyelids with her chubby finger, which makes me laugh. She is endearing despite her wiggly neediness.

Blainder and Blonder

The Boogie has imaginary friends. She has two babies named Johnny and Jack that she takes care of, and Blainder and Blonder are twins who have made a recent appearance.

"Are they twins, like Johnny and Jack?" I asked her once.
"No!" she insisted. "Johnny and Jack are babies. Blainder and Blonder are just ... guys."
"Oh, twin guys?" I said. She thought about that for a minute.
"Yes," she replied firmly. "Twin guys."
When she talks you can hear the italics.

Today she found me and said, "This is Blainder. He's really dead."
"Oh no!" I said, "What are we going to do?"
"Well, we have to put him in jail."
"He's dead so we have to put him in jail?" I asked.
"Yeah, he's one of the really bad ones."
I truly do not know where she comes up with this stuff. I promise we don't let her watch things about people dying or going to jail.

The Phebis is hives-free. Tooth #6 has made its appearance. I finished unpacking toys and setting up the playroom (pictures of furnished rooms to come soon!) and she loves it! I put baby toys at baby level and she frequently disappears in there to bang rattles and chew on blocks and strew board books all over the floor.

We have a closet in the living room. It's right by the front door. Inside the closet, which doesn't have any doors at the present time, is a shoe rack. Phebis is magnetically drawn to shoes which grosses me out since they are all kinds of dirty. Also that is our entryway and I figure the floor isn't too clean, so we have a barricade to keep her away from that general area. The barricade consists of different things at different times; currently it is the ottoman from my glider/rocker and her carseat. Today while I was at work I received this picture via text message:

She is a determined little monkey. Of course it was only a matter of time before she figured out that she could crawl under the table, anyway.

We got about six more inches of snow last night. It is only the second week in January and I have seen enough snow to last me until next January, thankyouverymuch. Now it's windy and cold cold cold.

Only 68 days until spring!

8 Months Old

The Phebis babbles a lot, just like her sister did (now the Boogie just talks a lot.) She makes a lot of different sounds but says "Ma-ma-ma-ma" the most.

Today I was in the kitchen. She cruised up in the walker, grinned up at me and exclaimed "Mama!"

I'm counting that as a first word.

It is past midnight so officially the twelfth, but I haven't gone to bed yet so it's still today, right? Happy 8-month-birthday, baby girl. You sleep all night, now. Don't wake up the mama ... or anyone else.

Blotchy Baby

Poor Phebis. She has the hives. I noticed it yesterday morning at bathtime. I wracked my brain and did some sleuthing and the best thing I can come up with is that she is sensitive to the strawberry/apple/banana blend baby food she had on Friday. Since she's had apples and bananas with no problems I'm guessing that strawberries are the culprit. She looked worse this morning than she did yesterday, but seems a little better tonight. They don't seem to itch or bother her -- she is blotchy but otherwise happy!

You can't really see the hives ... but isn't she cute?

This is what her face looked like tonight, a bit better than this morning.

Toofers!

A few spots didn't keep her from having some fun with Daddy.

Picture Time

Come on, girls, let's take some pictures of you in your new matching jammies!

Oh, so cute. Sit up, now.

Look at Mama! Smile!

No, no, don't pull sister's hair. Look over here! Over here, baby!

Oh, help her sit up. Sit up, baby!

Oh ... oh ... sit her up ...

Okay, never mind.

Let's try some on the floor, then.

Yoo-hoo, look over here!

Both of you together, look at Mama!

No, don't come over here, just look over here.

Oh, well, let's try to take one with me in it too. Lay down, baby ...

Oh, well, forget about the baby. Oops, I blinked. Boogie, scoot down here closer to my head.

That's better. Oops, now you blinked.

Ew, ew, yuck, a soggy toy on my face!

Aaaand now baby's on my face.

I give up.