So I took a nap today. I keep telling myself it's never worth it- the mess I have to clean up afterwards... but then I decide maybe I've been wrong every time before and it is worth it. This is what I walked into post nap today... so you decide.
Here's a Kayleigh bath picture...
And a picture of her crazy hair post bath. I laughed at Zachary for styling her hair that way but he promised he didn't do anything to her hair- that's just how it dried.
And then later I got a picture of Kayleigh's feet because baby feet are the best thing in the world.
All of our fabulous new baby stuff came and there were two identical, large boxes so I thought we might could have some fun with them before we threw them away. I was right. I gave the kids some markers and had them decorate their "houses" while we listened to music. Jackpot.
There are no words for this so I'll just leave it here...
Sometimes, Rosie disappears and takes naps in the weirdest places- this is one of those times:
So our new daily routine consists of putting both kids in Liam's room for "rest time." Eventually, I let Liam out and Malia is typically asleep around that time. Today, though, Liam actually fell asleep!
We went to St. Margaret's again this morning- the 9:00 service. The greeter asked us to bring the elements up to the altar for communion today and the priest was impressed- when we handed them to her she said "Wow, you guys are brave." After church, we went to the gym- I'm doing a challenge that started today where you put $20 in and everyone who puts money in that goes to 24 or more yoga classes in 42 days, splits the money. So at the very least, if you finish the challenge, you get your money back. So I went to yin yoga this morning- the most relaxing thing you've ever done in your life. I love it so much. Then we headed to the mall/food court to get some lunch because we had some hungry kids!
Liam got some stickers in his kids meal- we love stickers.
Malia was full and happy:
and so was Zachary:
Today we started off with MOPS. Today's meeting was called "Tea and Treasures." We had a really nice breakfast on China that people brought in and then we listened to a lady's testimony. It was beautiful and inspirational and a great morning!
MOPS is a little early for us so when we got home it was time for a quick lunch and a good nap. Here's Malia trying to wake Liam up from his nap.
Then it was time to take some selfies.
I think because I'm used to having Zachary's help on the weekend and used to not having it during the weekdays, the weekdays are so much easier for me than the weekends when I'm by myself. So I'm thankful today is Monday. We started the day by going to the gym. After the gym, Malia took a nap:
and Liam didn't:
We tried a new activity today too! Using tongs, Liam transported these yellow poms (our color of the week) from a container to the ice cube tray. He did a great job!
Today was President's Day so Zachary had the day off. He knows what to do with a day off... take a nap! When I was looking at this picture later, I really thought it was Liam but then saw the paci and knew it was Malia- I think they're starting to look more similar!
Malia did this:
For dinner, we had chicken casserole and corn on the cob- the kids love them some corn on the cob!
Later, Daddy gave some free rides... both kids had lots of fun playing around with their Daddy on his day off!
Zachary
has some of his midshipmen on the basketball game so we wanted to go
support them- he and I went not too long ago and while we were there we
thought maybe the kids would be able to tolerate it. Well our timing
was a bit off- Malia fell asleep on the way there...
...and Liam was super close to falling asleep.
So
I thought the kids would be miserable during the game but they actually
did pretty well. Thankfully we were able to bring snacks inside- the
candy cane went a long way with keeping them happy and of course- the
iPad.
Merry Christmas Eve to a sleeping Zachary & Daisy. She's such a snuggler.
My life:
Liam's still really into this put a blanket over your head thing...
We took the kids to the playground today- it's been super rainy so they haven't been able to go outside very much but finally today it stopped for a while so we took advantage!
One advantage to outdoors time... it wears them out!
It finally dried up enough outside that Liam could roam around the back yard a little bit.
We got some laundry done and Malia thought it would be fun to put them all on her head, one at a time.
And then she discovered a rocking horse.
Then it was time to go to Christmas Eve service. Now this is probably Zachary's favorite part of the Christmas season. However- things have changed a little bit since the addition of these two. There was no childcare at the service Pops had chosen for the family to read verses and light the advent candle so Zachary and I discussed a strategy and... it failed. This was the last picture I got before being in full chase them down and keep them from screaming mode.
Oh little Miss Malia. Every night she hates going to bed. But last night was exceptionally rough. We tried to let her cry it out but she was so very angry- it was such a different cry- that I couldn't leave her in there. Zachary got her out of the crib and that made her happy but she could sense when he even thought about putting her back and started screaming. Zachary's patience goes a little quicker than mine so I went in for reinforcements. I started rocking her and she was pretty happy with that. When I started rocking her, the fifth song of her "Guitar for Stress Relief." When we got to the end of the last track, the fourteenth, she had been lifting her head up with her eyes closed, turning her head, and putting it back down. She was asleep. So I decided to try to put her down. Nope. Sat back down and tried again. Got back to the fifth song and decided to try something different. I thought we could go back to our co-sleeping days so I took her downstairs and tried to see if I could fall asleep in the recliner. I'm a picky sleeper and I could tell immediately this wasn't going to work but it led me to my next idea- I thought I would try to get her to fall asleep on the floor of her room and then I could sneak out. I took my sleepy little lady upstairs, got a blanket out and spread it on the floor, put her on it and waited for the magic to happen. Nope again. She came alive. She wanted to play with everything on the changing table and just thought everything was so funny. I decided to grab a glass of water so I put her in her crib and turned the light on for her and when I came back to rejoin this party of two I heard nothing coming from her room. I waited for a few seconds... still nothing. Apparently all she wanted was a light on. So I finally got to go to sleep. We don't have an alarm clock in our room- thanks iPhone!- so I didn't see what time it was when I finally got to sleep but I know it was late. So this morning I woke up at 7:00 and couldn't go back to sleep. Instead of wasting time just laying there, I decided to go downstairs and make breakfast for my perfect sleeping family. The smell woke Zachary up and so we got the kids dressed and ready for the day and had some taters 'n' eggs. Then the fatigue hit. I asked Zachary if he minded if I grabbed a nap and he encouraged me to do so. Fast forward- I wake up and come downstairs to a completely clean house. The dishes are done, the toys are picked up, the counters are cleaned- everything! It was amazing. And getting out of a round of dishes made up for the late night!
As I was changing Malia's diaper, I heard a crash and was waiting to hear Liam cry. The cry never came but I very quickly got Malia's diaper on securely and ran out to the living room, where I heard the sound... and saw this:
Well when I encountered this situation, Liam was on the other side of it having just pushed it over. The hooks on one side broke off but he wasn't hurt thank goodness. Looks like Liam will have to accompany me while changing Malia's diaper from now on.
Here's some more cute pictures from today:
