Today was such an interesting day.  Hadley was on top of her game.

First, she had been drinking a fruit smoothie.  Hadley has never liked bananas, but we aren’t sure why.  I always just figured she refused to eat them out of being stubborn.  Eric smashed up a banana and put it in her smoothie about mid way through and she took a couple of bites then stated that she didn’t like the smoothie because of the “marshmallows.”  After really grinding it up, she ate it and continued to talk about how she doesn’t like marshmallow smoothies.  I am going to use some deductive reasoning and say that she must not like the texture of bananas.  Funny kid.

Next, Eric had eaten a twizzler and went to tuck Hadley into bed.  She said, “Oh daddy, you smell like candy.”

Lastly, it was close to midnight and Eric and I were heading up to bed.  I had one more thing to finish on the computer so Eric headed up just before me.  He promptly came back downstairs and said, “drop what you are doing and go upstairs.”  I went, expecting to see some sort of weird creation of Hadley’s.  Nope.  She was sleeping soundly in our bed.  We put her to bed in her own room just before 8pm tonight.  We have no idea how long she had been up there sleeping.  When I went to move her she woke up, smiled, and said…”I slept in your bed.”  She was very proud of herself.  That kid just cracks me up.

While America may have spent today feeling hopeful, I was only trying to make it through the day.  Hadley was especially hard nosed and Zoey Belle just wanted to climb all over either one of us all day long.  It was rocky to say the least.  I believe it could be the fact that we have been cooped up inside for the better part of a month now and could really use some fresh air. It was just one of those days.

Hadley did say some funny things to me though.  Some of the Inauguration festivities were on TV and she asked me, “Who is that?”  when Barack Obama came on.  I told her he was our new president and his name is Barack Obama.  She asked, “The new mama?”  I tried to clarify, but she just kept saying, “new mama”  over and over again.  I don’t think she has a future in politics.

Zoey Belle was as wacky and wild as ever.  She likes to make sure everyone is looking at her, and throw herself backwards on the floor.  Then she checks to make sure everyone saw and smiles from ear to ear.  Who needs boys when you have crazy girls like I do?

Eric came home and gave me a really nice break and I retreated upstairs to take a long nap.  He even did the dishes for me.  I never asked him to do it either.  WOW.

I am just going to hope for a good nights sleep so that if tomorrow is as hectic as today, I will be able to handle it better!

Don’t let them fool you.  They look super cute, but can run amok.

One thing I am not good at is spontaneity.  I generally follow the same routine most days and feel very task oriented.  Most days I measure if it was a good day in terms of productivity.  Today, I threw that all out the window and really enjoyed myself.

Hadley and Zoey Belle were giggling and shrieking in their room and I peeked in to see what was so great.  They had shoved Hadley’s mattress on to the floor (which is the new thing to do), taken out all the stuffed animals and were jumping and rolling around having a fabulous time.  Hadley invited me to join, and usually I would just watch from the doorway, but today I decided I would stop what I was doing and have some fun with the kids.

Today I had fun with the girls because I realized my house will always be here to clean, but my kids won’t always be here to play with.

****I can’t seem to get a picture of Zoey in focus because she won’t stop moving.  Silly Girl.

Our weekend was nothing crazy and we really enjoyed it.  The girls played and Eric and I got to spend time together.  Since nothing too abnormal happened, I thought I would share what our weekend looked like in pictures.

Lately,  I have been in a “reflecting” mood and have compiled a list of my favorite things about being a mom.  The list goes something like this:

1.  Peeking in at my girls when they are sleeping.

2.  Peeking in at my girls when they are playing together.

3.  The sound of the girls giggling together.

4.  The smell of their hair after they have had a bath.

5.  Cuddling and rocking them as they are falling asleep.

6.  Watching the excitement on their faces when they see Eric coming home for lunch, or at the end of his work day.

7.  All of Hadley’s funny comments, stories, ideas.  Pretty much anything that comes out of her mouth is hysterical.

8.  Seeing Zoey’s eyebrows furrow when she is trying really hard to figure something out.

9.  When Hadley asks “can I help” anytime I am baking or cooking.  And when she asks, “should I put it in my mouth?” when she knows we are making an especially yummy treat.

10.  Reading books to them.

11.  Going to the park, on walks, or doing anything outside.

12.  Singing with them/ to them.

The best part is, I get to enjoy nearly all of these things everyday.  There is not much to complain about huh? 

Last night was a long battle to get Hadley to go to sleep.  In all fairness, she did fall asleep at 3:30pm and took a long nap.  Zoey Belle fell asleep fast, and Hadley just played in her bed for approximately 2.5 hours after bedtime.  Each night, before closing the door to their room, I sneak in and take a peek at them.

Here is what I saw last night.

One goofy two (almost three) year old, sleeping the opposite way that the bed is intended to sleep in.  But who says she ever does things the way it was intended?  Oh yes, and that is a framed picture of Piper, Aunt Emily and Uncle Glenn’s dog, next to her.

Zoey is just one little ball of blessing.  I will note, however, that she is also sleeping in the opposite direction that I laid her down in.  Crazy Kiddos.

I couldn’t remember if I had shared this story with most of you, so I thought I would post it.  Some of you have probably heard it numerous times, but it really is a gem.

Hadley is into everything “princess”  so she is loving all of the hand-me-down dresses that she recently got.  One morning I was putting on some makeup and getting ready for the day.  Hadley asked if she could play with some of the makeup.  I only let her use the brushes and she began to “put on makeup”  As she was doing this she was saying things like “I am going to be so pretty,”  “look at how beautiful I am”  “I am a little princess” and things just like this.  Then she asked to put on a twirly dress so she could be a princess.  This was getting to worry me a little because I realize her idea of beauty is something external.  So, I started to talk with her about princesses and beauty being something that is internal and how beauty is really being nice etc…etc…etc…  So after our five minute discussion (where she nodded in agreement the whole time) she then turned to me and said, “mommy, will you lift me up to look in the mirror so I can see how pretty I look?”

Clearly something to work on…

And just now as I was typing this, Hadley and I had a conversation about lunch.  It went like this:

“Hadley, we are having pizza for lunch!”

“Oh…(sad face) I want chicken!”

“What???? Why would you want chicken?  I didn’t even know you liked chicken so much.”

“But, mommy, it is soooooo yummy!!!!”

Who knew.

For the past two days there has been nothing out of the ordinary happening.  We have hung out, watched some TV and movies and general monotonous chores.

Today I was inspired when looking at some other people’s blogs and wanted to improve my photography skills.  Eric taught me some things when he got home for lunch, and I messed around with his camera some more.  It was pretty fun, but the girls got tired of me following them around all day.   In case anyone is wondering, Zoey Belle’s hair is in a mohawk.  Why???  Because she let me.

Enjoy some of my “practice” shots.

Today we got up after a long drawn out night of Zoey’s crying and headed off to church.  I was a little nervous that the morning at worship was going to be a disaster of epic proportions.  Eric is not feeling much better, Hadley is always touch and go, Zoey Belle and I slept about 3 hours total, and that was on the couch while her bottle drained down both of us.  Surprisingly, we all made it through pretty well.  Hadley is getting closer to making it through the whole time, and Zoey Belle hung out with her best buddy Larry.

I think our plan today is to do more of what we did yesterday.  Nothing.  It should be good.

We did literally nothing today.  Well, almost nothing.  I did laundry and the kids played.  That is about the extent of what was done today.  Overall, it was very nice to have nothing to do.  Eric is not feeling so great, so he rested a bit and took a nap.

I suppose I also baked bread, and Hadley was supposed to help, but every time we were at a point where she could jump in, she had a mental breakdown.  So, the bread was baked without her.  Eric and I also assisted Zoey in learning to walk.  She is getting better.

Today we had a busy day.  Zoey Belle had her 9 month well baby visit.  She is doing just fine, and now fits in the “average” range for height.  I am questioning if the nurse measured her right.  Her health is good and she is a happy kiddo.

This afternoon it started to snow and Hadley immediately asked if she could go outside to play.  I held her off until it was time for Eric to get home and he took her out for a bit.

Zoey Belle and I stayed in and got some hot chocolate ready.

Hadley also appears to be reading.  We are not sure what is actually going on though.  She is good with letter recognition and pointed out that Eric’s shirt said “TNY” which, it did, but she just read it from right to left.  Then she got a book out and said “let’s read Berenstain Bears Clean House” and this is a library book.  She hadn’t read it yet, and I don’t remember telling her the title of the book.  I couldn’t get a clear answer out of her as to how she knew that was the title.  I probably mentioned it to her at some point, but it is still a little freaky.

The girls also had another successful night of going to bed at the same time.  It really is nice for Eric and I to have both girls in bed at the same time.  Zoey is also doing well with sleeping through the night.  She makes it anywhere from 6-12 hours without waking up.  If she does get up after 6 hours she is back in bed in about 15 minutes.  The sleep is doing me wonders!  We are especially excited for Saturday because we love to have Eric at home all day with us.  It just makes family time so much more enjoyable.

Today was a decent day…if not a funny one.  Hadley and I got all of our “chores” done around the house and headed off to the library mid-morning.  Of course, Hadley picked out Berenstein bears books.

Before leaving the house I was fixing my hair.  I had half of it up in a pony tail holder on top of my head and the hair sticking out of it was pretty much straight up in the air.  Hadley came rushing into the bathroom, VERY excited.  I could never guess what she would say next.

“Mommy, Mommy, you look just like the Grinch!”

I suppose I have been called worse things in life.

Also, lately when Hadley apologizes to someone, it goes something like this…” I said I was sorry but they didn’t say it is ok.”  Then Eric and I explain to Hadley that maybe that person (usually Zoey) doesn’t understand the process of apologizing and we still say it even if they don’t say anything back.  With that in mind…

At supper tonight Hadley was not listening and Eric told her it was time to apologize to me for her attitude.  She turned to me and said, “I am sorry mommy ” and before I had any time to respond to her she turned to Eric and said, “She just doesn’t understand me!!!!”  I am well aware that I will hear this more and more as her teenage years approach.  Eric and I could not stop laughing.

Finally, tonight at church, I asked Hadley how she was in class.  She said, “pretty good, but I did push Emma when she didn’t share her dishes.”

Emma is probably the sweetest child to ever come to the earth and Hadley is about 3 times her size.  I was a bit horrified that Hadley did this and I asked if she said she was sorry.  She said “No I didn’t say sorry, I was shy.”  I marched her right over to Emma and Emma’s mommy and Hadley apologized and gave her a hug.   As we walked to the parking lot Hadley asked me “Do you feel angry, happy or sad?”   I wanted to say embarrassed, but figured she is only 2 and still learning.

Just writing this post is making me realize the cycles of emotions that this child can go through in one day.  No wonder I am so tired every night.

Tonight, I could tell Zoey Belle was tired when it was time for Hadley to go to bed.  Usually, we let Hadley fall asleep and we sneak Zoey in to lay her down afterwards.  I just thought we would put both them down at the same time tonight and see how it goes.  After walking out of the room, Eric and I heard the girls laughing and giggling together and I could hear Zoey moving around and knew she was standing up.  Hadley ran out to give us a play by play of what Zoey was doing and then ran to jump back into bed.  A few minutes later it was completely silent.  I went to see what they were doing, and both girls were out cold.

What a day.

It is 8:10am and the girls are both still sleeping…I haven’t heard a peep out of either of them since last night.  This is one of those moments where I am so excited to have gotten a full nights sleep, I could cry.  But then my neurotic side kicks in and I resist the urge to go check on them.  They are fine…just sleeping (it just doesn’t happen so often so when it does I think they must be hurt or ill.)

I have finished one full cup of HOT coffee…oh how I hope the day continues to be this good.

Well, since the new year started, we have been flying by the seat of our pants.  With Hadley and Zoey Belle, that is not such a great thing.  Hadley responds very well to structure and balance…and let’s face it, Zoey Belle could care less, she is just happy all the time.  I will confess, I also do best when there is structure and routine to our day.  (Hadley and I are VERY much alike…except she has excuses for the tantrums, while I do not.)

It has seemed latley that I have been struggling through every day and couldn’t pin point why.  I figured out it just seems like the work is never done and as if I am putting out fires all day long.  After some time in thought, I was able to discover that it has been 9 months since Zoey was born, and I am still searching for a bit of normalacy.  Her schedule seems to change, since you can never tell when she is actually tired, and that there are few things in our day that are the same.  So, for the past two days I have been concocting a “schedule” in my head of what will give us a little bit of routine.  I have high hopes for one new element I am adding into our routine.  We never have had a set time to read the bible to the girls.  For all of the other lessons that I am trying to teach, I have been fairly certian that this element should be a key part to starting our day.  So, I am going to start to read a story to the girls at breakfast.  I think this should be a decent time, because they are hopefully sitting still and not talking.  Meal times are the only times of the day that I these two things happen at the same time, so I figure I had better do what has the largest chance of success.

Speaking of success…Zoey Belle is just days away from walking.  She can balance for a few seconds on her own and is attempting to take steps without support.  She did take two tonight, but she hasn’t done it again since.  She is very proud of herself, and we are proud of her too.

I have also included some pictures, just because I haven’t done it in a while.

Enjoy!

Well, Zoey Belle is having troubles sleeping again…Surprise, Surprise.  I do think that it is her teeth that keep bothering her.  She is now back in a bedroom with Hadley, and it has actually gone better this time around.  I have let Zoey Cry for 20 minutes or more and Hadley has not woken up yet.

The day was fairly uneventful, which is not always bad, and we went over to the Schwarz’s house in the evening to celebrate Eric’s birthday with them.  We had a lot of fun and Hadley had a lot of mental breakdowns.  She seems to lose all ability to cope whenever we go over there.  We decided it was time to head home fairly early so Hadley could get into bed.

Zoey Belle got a  second wind when we got home and was as giggly as ever.  We let her play for about another hour before putting her down to bed too.  She showed no signs of slowing down, but we did it anyways, and she fell asleep quickly.  It was almost as if it never occured to her to be crabby when she felt tired.   She is not as easy to read as Hadley is.

The office had become Zoey Belle’s second room.

She hadn’t been sleeping well with Hadley, so lately we’d had her sleeping in the office.  This, among other things, had led to my office being filled to the brim.  It was time for a good cleaning.

The girls helped out by sitting in the pack and play and goofing around while Lindsey and I reorganized things.  I also got the crib ready again for Zoey Belle in Hadley’s room so that she can start sleeping in there again.

It’s been quite difficult for me to get work done at night with ZB sleeping in the office from about 830 on, so hopefully this works so I can go back to getting website stuff done at night.

Tonight, Lindsey went out with a friend for dinner, so it was just me and the girls.  Hadley and I had a turkey sandwich for supper.  I then fed Zoey Belle spent about 30 minutes tickling Hadley.

The girls are currently watching “Thumbelina”, well a few minutes of it before Hadley has to go to bed.  No nap today, so 7pm bedtime.  Zoey will probably play until 830 or 9, so hopefully the night goes smooth after that and I’ll be able to get some stuff done.

Besides some minor meltdowns and whining, Hadley was really good today and was very sweet to her sister and the cats.  Zoey Belle was a smiley face as usual.

Well, turned 28 today.

No big deal, but I came home for lunch and the girls gave me my present and Hadley kept yelling “Happy Birthday!” over and over.  It was great.

Next, we all went out to Subway.  We don’t really go out to eat anymore, so it was a nice treat.  The girls were well behaved.  Zoey Belle kept staring and smiling at everyone in line and they were doing the same back.  Hadley ate her sandwich and then spilled chocolate milk all over her dress.  Classic.

After work, I came home to find double bacon cheeseburgers waiting for me.  We were all excited to eat, so we did.  Hadley only ate the cheese off of her burger.  Zoey enjoyed some sort of pureed vegetables.  For birthday dessert, I made fruit smoothies for everyone.  Hadley loved hers and ate the whole thing.  I gave ZB some of mine and she really liked it.  It’s probably amazingly sweet compared to what she normally eats.

The rest of the night was fairly anticlimactic.  The girls went down to bed well and Lind and I watched a movie with friends.