Whoosh!

That's the sound of 3 months passing by like lightning. Maggie's still doing awesome. Still sleeps pretty good, eats pretty good, and is as content and happy as one could ask for. I didn't think she was even close to rolling over, but just last week she made some big improvements in that area and I think it won't be too much longer before she accomplishes it.

Check out that head control!

You may notice from this picture that she's wearing a g diaper.  Bring on the home school Annette, I'm doing cloth diapers :-)  It's actually not that bad.  The g diapers have a disposable insert you can use also, which works well at night and during the day I use the cloth inserts.  So far, no leaking, no rashes and they clean up nicely.  I wasn't crazy about the orange and green, which were the only sets available right now, (you can buy other colors individually) but it turned out I had at least one shirt that went with the orange and most of the time they're covered anyhow.  I love that we're not going to be at Target every week buying diapers, since just being in the parking lot of that store costs a person at least 100 bucks every time.
Molly's had a big week too:

She fed her baby.

She hung out with her friend Grayson, Landon and Colbie (not pictured). It was cute how animated she was about them coming over "I can't wait to see my friends!"

So much fun that she just passed out on the couch.  Just 30 minutes and it ruined her going to bed by herself streak.  Oh-well.

This video  was from a few weeks ago, but I just managed to get it up.  In case you can't understand  her she's saying that she wants to play with Maggie, but she has to wait until she gets bigger...she'll grow and grow, just like a flower...like the flower on Maggie's shirt.  I thought it was cute.

Bedtime

For awhile now, we've been trying to figure out how to get Molly to go to sleep by herself. Starting at the beginning of the month, I tired to convince her to do it by giving her rewards.  First we told her that if she could go to bed by herself 5 days (5 stickers) she would get a special treat or gift.  5 days proved to be too abstract a concept for a 2 year old, even when represented by stickers.  So of course we piled even more incentives on top of the 5 day incentive so that she would get a small treat every morning after a night she had gone to bed solo, this has mostly been chocolate milk with breakfast.  But what really, truly has made all this possible is getting rid of naps.  The one day last week that she took a nap (which I made her take because she was driving me crazy) was the night that she just couldn't do it.  In the end, she did get her 5th sticker and I gave her the choice between a book, a toy or going out for ice cream, but she told me what she really wanted was a lollipop.  So that's what she got.

She of course had to rub off all the dates on her calendar.  Not sure why "November" wasn't touched.

Enjoying her breakfast lollipop.

Today my mom and dad had a little helper with their painting project.  She later told Mere that she had a GREAT day!  I'm pretty sure that this was why.

Maggie is starting to out grow her bassinet.  I debated on where I should put her, there wasn't any way I would  be able to put her in her room yet, but her crib wouldn't fit in our room.  Mere has a porta-crib at her house that I thought I could bring over, but in the end I got out the Amby baby.  I didn't want to at first since she does pretty good all on her own, but since we've been seeing her head get flatter and flatter, we thought we'd give her a fighting chance at a normal looking head.  The crazy baby hammocks are supposed to be good for preventing that from happening.  So far she's done really well in it.  The trick is going to be keeping Molly out of it.  I think she's feeling the sibling rivalry a little stronger lately.  Luckily most of her rage is directed at me and not Maggie.  The worst day so far was yesterday when we were at Sam's Club and she couldn't get over not being able to ride in Maggie's stroller.  We had her "helping" push it for awhile, but that eventually wasn't going to be good enough for her, and it all ended with me carrying her out (while pushing the stroller) while she screamed...awesome.  I was THAT person.  Despite it all, I do feel bad for her, I know her world has completely changed and that has to be hard.  Seriously though, I may loose my mind.

Crazy baby hammock.

Let's end on a happy note.

Flathead

I'm starting to worry that Maggie is going to have a flat spot on one side of her head.  She's such a good sleeper, but it's coming at a cost since she almost always lays with her head looking to her right.  I try to move her, but she usually ends up looking to her right again...I guess she's just broken in that side too well to give it up.  It's starting to become noticeable, I hope she doesn't end up having to wear a special helmet or anything.
Some people might think I'm crazy for even thinking about it, and others might think I'm crazy for not just doing it, but I'm thinking of switching to cloth diapers.  I bought one diaper (gDiapers) and 6 cloth inserts just to give it a try.  So far so good I guess, but the more I read about it, the more terrified I am of it.  Rashes, infections, how to clean them properly, not to mention there are like 3 billion different choices of diapers and they ALL claim to be the best. Starting to think I'm in over my head.  If I do decide that it won't kill me, I have my cart filled and ready to order a full set of supplies.  We'll see. 

Cluck Cluck Cluck!

Cluck rhymes with...I could have done some terrible things with the title.  I decided to keep it clean.  You know, for the kids and all.
We have just completed our 3rd Halloween, 2nd amidst the trick or treating madness of Picacho.  Both of the kids did awesome.  Molly was a charmer as always, screaming "trick or treat" and giving enthusiastic "thank-yous" and Maggie was a trooper in her stroller past bedtime. It was fun, but I'm glad it's over.  Herding Molly back onto the sidewalk and eventually having to carry her (because she decided to just plop down and I guess lay an egg or something) wore me out.
The pictures are mixed up a bit, but I'm just going to go with it.

We know that in this case, the chicken came first.

Too many sweets.  Ramsey the hygienist warned us!

This was a few days ago, Jonny carved an Elmo for Molly

Granny and Papa Kevin took Molly to Rural Metro's festival.  She had a ton of fun and was super excited that she got a kitty face to show off to everyone.

I was trying to get her to do a "claw" but this is what she came up with.

Trick or Treating with the Morris':  Firefighter and his Dalmatian.  See Maggie in the back passed out?

Rear view chicken

So that's it for the Halloween installment, but I have more pictures from this week.  Molly has a play camera (it does take actual horrible pictures though) and she loves taking every one's pictures.  The other day she wanted to get all her "friends" together for a photo opp. 

She looks so sad! Where are my REAL friends?











Molly wanted me to take her and Maggie's pictures the other day with their matching bows.  She of course will not wear one in real life and I always feel bad putting one on Maggie's head since it seems uncomfortable, but it was cute for the picture.

Maggie in headlights!  She's been doing great.  I forgot to mention that at her 2 month appointment she weighed in at 11lbs 7 ounces.  Packing them on! 

One last super important story.  Today we have reached a great achievement in potty training.  We were in the drive through with 2 cars ahead of us as well as cars behind us and Molly springs the whole "I really have to go" bit.  I'm pretty sure this is going to be bad.  I can really only expect so much from a 2 year old's bladder, but still, I begged her to try and wait.  She said she would, but a minute later she's asking again.  We finally get to the front of the line, I pay and ask the guy if I can pick the order up inside and sped off to the bathroom.  I'm happy to say that she made it!  So proud of her for holding it!

Huh?

Molly's new favorite word is "huh?".  It's not so much a statement of misunderstanding as a statement of refusing to understand.  At times she can be a stonewall of "huhs?" and I have to admit, it's pretty obnoxious.  "Molly I need you to stop doing abc..."  "huh?" "stop doing abc." "huh?" "seriously, stop it" "huh?".  It doesn't always work, but the key to stopping the cycle is to turn is back on her.  "What are you supposed to stop doing?" "oh! abc!".  Hopefully this quirk passes quickly.
Of course I'll probably be seeing round two with this one.  Lately Maggie has been quite the talker as well moving on from "ohs" to include some "goos", "a-boos" and "pfttts".  It's too freaking cute.

Molly is still a little overly enthusiastic in her love for her sister.

We're still getting ready for Halloween.  We bought a Sesame Street carving kit and Molly put us to work. Of all the characters she could have picked, she picked the most difficult one, the Count.  In the end it Jonny made it work.  Molly was impressed anyhow.

One! One pumpkin!

Buzz Kill

So, I'm a complete buzz kill.  I've always been this way.  Even when I was a kid I was always ruining every one's good time with my downer attitude.  This is the complete opposite of Molly who is determined to have a good time and go crazy.  Today Molly went on a shopping trip together and I had almost forgotten how much she talks when we're out and about.  95% of the things she says start with "Mama can I please..." and 95% of my answers are "NO!".  I feel bad about killing her buzz, but in the end I think the world is a better place when I don't let my kid disassemble an entire aisle at Target.  So then we get home and it's time for a nap and she's going bed jumping crazy.  I loved jumping on the bed when I was a kid and so it hurts even more when I have to step in and kill the buzz.  The truth is though that when she falls off and busts her head, just like the monkey's had forewarned, I don't want to deal with the blood and crying.  Then there's my buzz kill theme of the day:  You can't have a balloon (she asked about a dozen times today).  Jonny bought her balloons (he's definitely not a buzz kill) and really that should be okay, you blow it up, she runs around with it for the day, but no!  It's not that easy.  Jonny taught her that if blow up a balloon and then let go of it, it goes flying, so that's all she wants to do with them.  This can be a pain in the ass for me since she can't blow a balloon up and she has an insatiable appetite for watching balloons fly.  The whole thing is compounded because the particular balloons we have are really terrible balloons that pop after only a few flights.  Super messy and super load is a recipe for me killing a buzz.
Anyhow, on to the pictures!

This little dress was mine when I was a baby.  When Molly was a baby we took her picture in it on Mere's front porch, so we did it again.

She wasn't into the bonnet, but she endured because she's such a congenial baby.

We're getting ready for Halloween!  Molly's going to be a chicken and Maggie's going to be a chick sitting in her egg.  My mom is going to make them for me because she's better at that stuff than me.  Here's Molly during one of her fittings.  I considered that maybe she could be the stay-puffed marshmallow girl, but we're still going with chicken.  It's really awesome.

Can't believe it, but Maggie's going to be 2 months old in a couple days.  She's getting so big and she's so unbelievably happy and sweet.  Everyone should  be so lucky to have a baby like her.

So Sleepy

Yesterday I gave Molly a choice between napping and no napping.  She of course chose to not take a nap.  Her body betrayed her in the end and she passed out on the couch watching Gabba.  I was thinking that maybe I should take this approach with bedtime too.  I can just lock her in the living room with the TV running and go to bed and hope that she eventually falls asleep too.  This week I've been having to deal with Molly at bedtime since Jonny is out of town and it still blows just like I remembered.

This baby on the other hand seem to love to sleep.  Not to brag, but last night she slept from 7:30 until 4:45...over 9 hours!  Totally insane.  I know that I keep bringing up the sleep thing, but seriously after Molly's  questionable sleep habits, this is amazing.  Repeat after me:  Don't get used to it. Don't get used to it...

Gran and possibly the happiest baby on earth (although she doesn't look it here).  Check out her long sleeved duds!  It was a bit chilly yesterday!  At least for an August baby.

So yesterday after her couch nap, Molly was walking around in the kitchen when she started crying and altogether freaking out.  I finally get it out of her that her foot hurt.  I try to look at it, but every time I get near her foot, she looses her mind. After almost 20 minuted of fussing and crying I figure out that that she has some sort of splinter in her foot.  I keep trying to convince her to let me try to get it out, but despite all of my bribes she kept screaming at me, "Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" and "Don't hurt me!  Don't hurt me!".  I decided to just leave her alone and let her calm down, which seemed to work except anytime she wanted to go anywhere, I had to carry her since she refused to walk.  She eventually graduated to tippy toeing everywhere, but she still wouldn't let me touch her.  Later that night, my mom helped me convince her to let us get it out.  We put some Orajel stuff on it which she seemed to approve of (just a tip for anyone who might have a similar problem in the future).  When I finally pulled out the splinter I couldn't believe it.  It was about 1/2 inch long and some sort of super thin metal wire.  My mom suggested that maybe it was from a little wire brush bristle that had somehow been tracked into the house.  Now I understand why she was pitching such a fit.  Poor thing.