The night of trick or treating started out rough. We started by going to people’s houses that we knew wanted to see the girls. We stopped at Thatcher and Jaime’s house where Hadley was throwing around sticks. One hit Thatcher and we told her to apologize and she said, “no, you say you’re sorry!” Neither Eric or I was to happy with that, so we told her she could still go trick or treating, but wouldn’t be allowed to eat any of the candy until she apologized. She still refused. So, we got in the car, and Eric and I proceeded to lecture her until she broke down in tears and asked to call Thatcher to say she was sorry.

We then headed to the dorms where the girls give away candy and it was about a trillion degrees in there. Eric and I wondered how much the college was spending to keep the dorms that hot on a 70 degree day. The heat, plus the fact that Hadley hadn’t napped was not a good combo and she had a breakdown soon after. Instead of allowing her to be a little monster, we decided to head home because discipline wasn’t working too well. She was upset, but we feel that even on special occasions her discipline needs to be first. Zoey of course, smiled and generally loved life, even though her hair was wet from sweat.

When we got home we talked to Hadley more about the importance of good behaviors and she quickly turned it around and was able to have a great evening. The Schwarz kids came over and they all played and had tons of fun.

Today we went to a trick or treating event that some of the local businesses put on. We went last year, and it seems like a good idea at the time, but in reality, it is a little rough. We went with Jenna and the three Schwarz kids, plus our own. It would be a manageable bunch, except that Makai digs his heels in and refuses to move because he hates anyone he doesn’t know. When that is paired with adults who don’t have enough hands to drag him through and a building that is about a million degrees too warm, things can get a little out of hand.

Hadley did great. She had great manners and loved the idea that she was getting all kinds of candy. Zoey loved her little costume and thought it was wonderful. We also had a last minute glitch with her costume because the zipper broke. I took it to exchange it, but there were no more butterflies, so we exchanged it for a caterpillar. She was still super cute.

We also decided for lunch to go on a picnic because the weather was so nice. Eric and Hadley discovered a couple of unsuspecting kitties.

I believe we have turned the corner on our potty training. Hadley has gone weeks with no accidents, and is getting through naps without wetting the bed. The last step is making it through the night. We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I have discovered that nakedness was key for Hadley. As long as she was nude there was no problem, and now, thankfully, we have moved on to Ariel and Flounder underwear. It feels good to be at this point.

As for today, there is not much else to say. We went to Walmart, and that was as exciting as ever. We did some cleaning, also very exciting. We also read the four Berenstein Bears books we brought back from the grandparent’s house, over and over and over and over again.

Oh yes, we also hung ghosts on the tree for Halloween and went to Starbucks to get coffee and a special juice for Hadley. Thrilling.

Hadley was still wanting to go find the horses, so on Sunday after church and lunch, Eric took Hadley out again to find the horses. This time, they found them and they fed them peanuts and apples.

On the dune buggy ride Hadley took a branch to the face and now has a wonderful battle wound to show for it. She wasn’t upset until she got up the hill and the wind knocked her down. That was apparently more upsetting than the bloodshed experienced previously.

Today we spent the day at the farm and in the afternoon headed out to Camp Fontanelle to visit the petting zoo and have fun with other activities. We first started out in the barn with the goats, sheep, rabbits and the cow. Hadley loved the animals and had a ton of fun petting them. One goat tried to eat her pony tail and had the whole hair tie and pony tail in it’s mouth. Eric had to pry it off of her before she panicked. Zoey even liked to pet the goats.

The cow liked to give very powerful licks and left a lot of slobber on everyone. The cow was not my favorite.

We then went outside to jump in the big bouncy castle, and Hadley and I had a great time.

Last, we went to the pumpkin patch and Hadley picked out another pumpkin. On the way in from the pumpkin patch, she had a very special treat and got to drive Papa’s dune buggy. It was scary. She really was steering, and she was crazy.

Hadley had also been on a dune buggy ride with Papa Mark and went to look for the horses, but they couldn’t find them. Hadley was very upset that she did not get to see them, so Eric told her they might be able to go out again before we left. She has a serious love for horses.

Today we spent our day getting packed and ready to go to Grandma and Papa’s house. No big news there. The ride however, was a different story. Hadley was extremely entertaining.

We were going to stop in at Grandpa and Grandma Schmit’s house so they could see the girls, and that is where we were meeting Grandma Julie. On the way there Hadley asked Eric, “daddy, are you my conscience?” We figured out that in the movie Finding Nemo, Dory asks Marlin if he is her conscience, so this is where she probably picked that up. The next one we are still trying to figure out.

When we were a few blocks from our destination, Hadley said she needed to go potty. The conversation went like this:

“Mommy, I have to go potty.”
“Can you hold it in? We just have a few blocks to go.”
“Yes, I can hold it in. But, if you hit me, I will let these potties go.”
“What…Hadley, why would anyone hit you?”
“I don’t know, but if you hit me, all these potties will come out.”

We have no idea where she would think that someone was going to hit her. Or how she figured out it would be a good idea to wet herself if someone ever does hit her. Eric and I could not stop laughing. I think it was hands down the funniest thing she has ever said.

Hadley had a rough day today. I suppose it was a long time coming, since she has been doing so well lately. She has been yelling when she is frustrated and gets a little bit aggressive at times. I have been putting her in time out for this, but she isn’t connecting yet that she is in time out for yelling. She was crying for “cookies with chocolate” while in time out. She seems to cry out for things that she thinks will bring her comfort in her time of despair.

Hadley and I played with Play-doh for a really long time. It was close to two hours when we finally picked it up and put it away. We are having to get creative with our indoor activities since the weather is still not great. It was actually nice to just sit and have her entertained for a while.

We also got a package from Nana in the mail. It had some fun stuff for Hadley, and she sat and colored in her new princess coloring book. Anything princess these days has her attention.
Which, brings me to her Halloween costume. She wanted to watch Cinderella, wearing her dress, and dance to “Bippidy, Boppidy, Boo.” Playing that 15 second clip over and over for her to dance to nearly drove me to the brink of insanity. Luckily she was pretty cute.

She then refused to take a nap, and came out on the couch. I had her just sit there and rest. When I went upstairs for a brief moment, I came back downstairs and she had passed out, while sitting up. She is so stubborn.

Zoey was just as fun as ever, and seems like she is getting some relief from her teething pain. She still has no teeth. She hasn’t started to actually crawl yet either, which is a very good thing. I am just not ready for that. Talk about brink of insanity, I am going to go nuts when I am chasing after Zoey going one way and Hadley going the other.

Today it continued to rain and pour and rain some more. We decided to brave a trip to Walmart. It was successful, since we got Hadley new pairs of shoes that were all very cheap and cute. She picked out the hot pink sequin tennis shoes that scream “look at me!!!” But would I really expect anything less?

She also experimented today with her happy face and sad face. In fact she would say, “happy face” and smile, and then say “sad face” and frown. She did this over and over and even let me take pictures of it.

Happy Face

Sad Face

We got home and Hadley really wanted to play outside. I had told her no, since it was still raining. About five minutes later, she went and looked out the window with her binoculars we had made out of toilet paper rolls and announced, “Look, it stopped raining!” When I looked outside, I saw it was still pouring out. I told her sorry, we weren’t going outside, and she replied, “well we need some fresh air.”

Both girls took extra long naps this afternoon, and I got caught up on laundry. We then went to church tonight where Hadley told her bible teachers that she came to class on a train, a plane and a dump truck. When they asked if it was raining at her house, she of course told them no. The teachers absolutely love and adore her and sing her praises every Wednesday night. She is polite and tells them thank you for teaching her, helps clean up her crayons and gives hugs and kisses. I am so proud of her.

Zoey chewed on a toy for her class, and drooled, and spit up some. No big news there.

Hadley has a new favorite saying…can you guess what it is? No way seems to be the answer to everything these days.

Eric went out of town yesterday for work. He is returning today, but that will do nothing to help me regain the lost sleep from last night. The evening was destined for disaster. Hadley refused to take a nap and even refused to just relax. To her credit, she had just had Makai and Lael over for the morning to play and they had a TON of fun. Lately, they have gotten into a bit of trouble together, but they only had love for each other yesterday.

It has also been raining cats and dogs here for over 24 hours, so there is some cabin fever setting in.

Zoey fell asleep at around 7 last night and I wasn’t going to stop her. I knew this would mean getting up once in the night with her, but at the time, I didn’t care. She sleeps for an 8-9 hour stretch so I figured this would put me awake at about 3 or 4 this morning. I was also being naive in thinking that Hadley would just sleep right on through the night with no incident. Rookie mistake.

Hadley wouldn’t stay in bed and it got ugly around 8pm. She finally fell asleep, after crying out “Bug’s Life!” over and over. She got out of bed at one point smiling asking me to watch a movie. I said no, and that awoke the beast. She carried on for quite some time. Finally, she was asleep.

At three this morning, I woke up to Hadley’s little face staring at me. I was too tired to deal with it, so I told her to climb in bed. She did, and did not go back to sleep. A while later, Zoey woke up, so Hadley accompanied me downstairs to get Zoey back to bed. Hadley then also asked to watch a movie and when I said no, started in with the drama again. Zoey had a bottle and then went right back to sleep, and eventually Hadley drifted off on the couch. I just ended up sleeping on the couch, too afraid to move anyone. Oh, yes, did I forget to mention that Hadley in the middle of all this had taken off her diaper and had peed in my bed? It really made for a beautiful evening.

And just in case anyone is wondering, Yes…Hadley is still in her pj’s in these pictures. It was one less battle to fight.

Today Hadley gave me a preview of what is to come in her teenage years. It was not pretty. She was upset, and I don’t even remember why, and went to run to her room. She had previously put all her toys in front of her doorway, so she had to fling all of her toys out of her way to get into her room. She then stared me down, and slammed her door. Slamming doors is not something that we do in the Eckert household…You can guess where she ended up.

After timeout, Hadley continued to cry and dramatically flung herself onto her bed to finish her theatrics.

It didn’t take long to cheer her up. She wanted to try on her Halloween costume and then posed as I took her picture. She really got into holding different poses for me.

She had many more meltdowns throughout the day including one where she cried out for Dawson in her time of need. She was in the corner crying repeatedly saying, “Dawson!!!”

At bedtime, Hadley was being especially needy and wouldn’t stay in bed. Eric offered to give her some milk to drink and she said, “no, daddy, milk makes my tummy hurt. I need water.” I am a little fuzzy on the other details, but I believe that the water was returned to Eric to have ice put in it. At some point during this escapade Eric turned to me and said, “you can add this to the blog under ‘diva.’”

Zoey has also been in the middle of exercising her right to have drama. Her idea of drama is letting out a little squeal, and looking at you so she can give you a smile. It is just so much easier with her. They are the perfect balance for each other.

Today we got up and went to church. Hadley, of course, had a monster meltdown because we went to class first. She still is having trouble with this transition. Each time we pick her up from class though, she has been great and enjoyed herself. Zoey also enjoyed her class and drooled all down the front of her dress.

We got home and Gerry made us a delicious lunch. The rest of the afternoon was fairly laid back. We watched a movie, played with toys and went outside.

In the evening, we went to the Schwarz’ house to carve our pumpkins. The kids painted theirs, and the grown ups actually carved. We had fun and the kids enjoyed playing together.

At the end of the night we went outside and sat on the porch while we admired our pumpkins. It was a beautiful night and we enjoyed it with friends.

Hadley has been a one woman show lately. First, she really did pick out her own pajamas last night. None of us could stop laughing.

While on a walk, we passed by Eric’s coworker Melanie’s house and Hadley said, “Well, I do like her…because she doesn’t bite me.” We had no idea that was the gauge for if we like people or not.

Today we went to run a bunch of errands and Hadley was an angel. Every once in a while she has these days where she is just perfect. She listens really well and is super cute with everything she does. Today was one of those days.

Hadley also helped pick out Zoey’s Halloween costume. We looked at the pumpkins and they just weren’t that cute. Since we were going to spend Eric’s hard earned money, we thought we better get something good. We decided on a butterfly, even though it doesn’t match Hadley’s Cinderella. It is cute, and we can’t wait to see Zoey in it.

Zoey has been battling her soon-to-be teeth. She has had way worse symptoms than Hadley ever did. Hadley always just seemed to have teeth pop up and only drooled. Zoey has been hit full force and is struggling to sleep because of the runny nose, constant messy diaper, drool and low fever.

Hadley is still showing great concern for Zoey and runs to her every whimper. She brings her toys, bottles, books and anything else she thinks Zoey might need. She also shushes her to help calm her down. It is very cute. This is the most worked up we have seen Zoey, so we are hoping she cuts that first tooth soon and she can be back to our happy baby.

I am not really sure how this keeps happening, but I have been getting busy and then don’t post anything for a few days/weeks. I thought I would just do one post to catch everyone up on the past couple of days.

Zoey is getting closer to crawling everyday. She is able to get her knees underneath her and sits like this for a while. She scoots backwards everywhere and is grabbing at toys and whatever might be around her. Luckily, Hadley is such a great big sister that she moves all the small objects up on things away from Zoey.

Zoey also had her well baby visit this week. She is in the 80th percentile for height, so she is slowing down a little bit. Her weight is right at the 75th percentile, which it was two months ago, so she is maintaining that. Overall, we have one healthy baby!

Hadley has picked up some new sayings over the past couple days. Two days ago, she brought out a book that has a wolf on it. She asked what it was and I told her it looked like a wolf. She said, “That’s right mommy! It is a wolf, but I don’t like it so I am going to kill this book.” When I questioned her on where she heard about “killing” something, she refused to give up her source. I have a pretty good idea it was from a certain 4 year old boy. I had to explain over and over that we don’t kill things and that is not something we say. At the end she joyfully said, “Ok mommy!” I haven’t heard her say it again, but who knows. It may surface again.

Also, when looking for something, Hadley will either say, ” I just had it in my hand” or “I put it somewhere…” Each of these statements is very helpful in finding the item that she needs at the moment.

The girls have been having fun playing together, and I am getting excited for Zoey to be old enough to really play games and pretend with Hadley. Although, for right now, we are having to focus our efforts on “baby proofing” the house again. We forget how many areas of our house need to be blocked off and what things need to be put out of reach. It seems like forever ago when we had to worry about that with Hadley, and it seems like we have to worry about it with Zoey way too soon.

Today we spent the day inside due to the rainy, cold weather. It was almost cold enough to turn on the heat, but I thought we should tough it out. Zoey is not feeling well again, and seems to have her infection back, or something similar. We go for her well baby check tomorrow, so we will see then what is wrong.

Hadley helped bake more bread today, and especially liked poking the dough. I tried to teach her how to knead it, but poking it was just so much more fun.

Hadley has also been picking out her own clothes to wear. She comes up with creative outfits that she is very proud of. The picture of her with Eric shows the creative “flower” outfit she chose. This was just her PJ’s. (Eric just informed me that HE in fact picked out her PJ’s in this picture. I stand corrected.)

We also tried to work on our colors. Hadley knows orange, but that is about it. For some reason, she is not picking up on colors as quickly as she has everything else. We will just have to keep working on it. She has been extremely successful with her potty training though, and I am really feeling like we might be close. She is waking up from most naps dry, so that is a good sign.

Zoey is getting so close to crawling. She got her knees up underneath her today all by herself and she was pretty proud of that. We also decided that she will be a pumpkin for Halloween—to match Hadley as Cinderella. They should be a cute pair.

Hadley has also been unusually hyper lately. She is running and jumping everywhere possible while yelling, “Jumping, Jumping Girl!” She also requested a dance party numerous times throughout the day.

We were busy, but the girls were good and so cute!

Today we had a bit of a rough day. This morning we needed to go to our WIC appointment so the girls could see the nutritionist. I had underestimated how long it would take me to get both girls ready since it was rainy and cold outside, and we were going to be late if we didn’t hurry. So, I tried really hard to get the girls ready quickly. Hadley had other ideas, and became very combatant. She refused to get dressed and it led to a wrestling match, where I ended up sweating, and Hadley was crying hysterically.

She then refused to go out to the car, so I loaded Zoey in and went back in for a rematch with Hadley. We got out to the car, again with me sweating, and her crying and headed out to our appointment. We got there and Hadley was very good. Almost too good…

At one point two other girls were fighting pretty intensely and Hadley said very loudly, “that girl is throwing a fit, and that other girl is not sharing!” Just to prove the point she turned to me and said, “Mommy that is naughty.” On one hand I was very proud of her for her ability to tell that those behaviors are not good, and on the other hand, I knew these two girls’ mother was looking at me. She was obviously displeased with Hadley’s announcement.

When we left, we needed to go to the store to get Zoey’s formula. Hadley was not being especially bad, just not really listening. When it was time to go (without formula in hand, because they were all out) she began to run away from me. I had to grab her and haul her out of the store while she screamed. It was a lovely scene.

As we got into the car, I told her in a very stern voice that “mommy is VERY, VERY angry.” She asked so sweetly, “because I didn’t listen?” I told her yes, I was angry because she didn’t listen. And, because she is a master manipulator, she said in her cutest two year old voice, “but mommy, I was just trying to help you.” I let her know that in the future, the best way she can help is to listen to her mother.

Later in the evening, Hadley continually asked me, “mommy, you are very angry?” I kept telling her that I forgave her for her morning behaviors and she said, “no you are very angry.” The morning must have made an impression on her. And I learned that in the future, I may need to mellow a little bit.

Zoey on the other hand is learning new tricks. She can scoot backwards across the floor, until she gets stuck against something, or hits the wall. She also is continuing to enjoy pushing up on her hands and toes. There are still no teeth, but she is continues to have all the fun symptoms of teething.

It has been super busy around our house with company here and our five year college reunion this past weekend. Zoey, however, has not stopped for a moment, and now scoots backwards across the floor. She is attempting to crawl, but really just ends up doing pushups. She has fantastic form, and really enjoys them.

Hadley has been busy playing with all of her little friends, and completing her potty training. We are going to start working on keeping her out of diapers during naps and nighttime. Today she picked out her very own ariel/little mermaid underwear, so hopefully it is an incentive to keep up the good work.

On a personal note, I did a guest post on my friend’s website/blog and if you would like to read it is HERE.

Hadley had an interesting morning playing tea party. She took out all of her animals and gave them tea and even let Zoey be involved. She had a fun morning. About mid morning she asked me if she could turn on the light. I said it was fine, but when I saw that only the fan came on, I had to get a chair to reach up to the light to turn it on. Hadley then said, “Hey, I am mad at you, mommy.” I asked why, and I also laughed.

She said, “I wanted to turn the light on, but you got the chair and you turned it on, and that’s why I am mad at you.”

I told her I was sorry and asked her to forgive me, and she slowly did, but she harbored a grudge for a little bit.

She also decided to perfect her artwork on her body this morning. I thought her tea party was in session, and was in the kitchen. She came in, very proudly, and said, “Mommy, look at me!” She had found a sharpie marker and had drawn all over her hands, arms and body. She then said, “Don’t I look pretty?” I agreed that she looked very pretty, but artwork is best on paper. I then asked where the marker is and if she drew on anything else. She said, “nope, just on me” and even got me the marker. When I told her thank you for giving me the marker she said, “well, sure!”

Zoey has been very sick and has had a fever off and on for the past couple days. I am taking her in the afternoon to go back to the doctor, since they think she might have an infection. Poor kid. She is fine when she has tylenol in her system, but I am hoping we can really get down to the root of the problem.

We have had a busy last week. The girls have taken turns not feeling well, and we have been doing some things around the house to get ready for fall and winter. The girls and I spent three solid days organizing everything in the house and switching out all of our summer wardrobes to winter ones. I discovered all kinds of cute things I bought for Hadley when it went on sale last season and I am excited to see her in her new clothes. We also have a lot of great hand-me-downs from family that we are excited about. Hadley has been taking more pride in picking out her clothes, and is really starting to enjoy girlie dresses that “spin and twirl.”

On Saturday we went to the pumpkin patch for our third year in a row, and Grandma and Papa got to come with us too. They had just gotten back from their Alaskan cruise, so they were excited to see the girls. Zoey wasn’t feeling well when we got to the pumpkin patch, and as the day went on she just got worse. When we got home, we took her temp and it was at 102 degrees. She felt better after taking a long nap and having some tylenol.

Hadley enjoyed all kinds of crazy activities at the pumpkin patch. She rode a pony, fed some goats, petted some kitties, rode some slides, did some pumpkin chunkin, and played in corn. The last thing we did was go out to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins. Hadley had fun but didn’t really understand the concept of picking a small pumpkin. A lot of them were pretty large though, so in comparison, hers might have been small. We had a lot of fun, and enjoyed spending our day with Grandma and Papa.

Zoey did not sleep well at all last night and still had a fever this morning and Hadley woke up hacking and coughing. So, we will be taking it easy today and keeping the girls home.