Malia was eating her snack and I just thought she looked so cute so I had to take a picture- her shirt says "Hello Sunshine" and how appropriate is that?
Then I wanted to show Matt something Liam did the other night- I wanted to see if he'd do it again, and sure enough he did. Last Thursday in yoga, one of my two favorite instructors, Jenn, had us practice headstands and gave me some cues no other teacher has so I decided to practice at home the next night. I was trying my new tips in the playroom while the kids were playing- I thought they'd be distracted but it was the funniest thing to them. Liam came up to me and started kissing all over my face. It was so funny and I have no idea what made him do that but sure enough, he did it again today. Now I know how to get a kiss- just stand on my head!
Then I asked Matt to get a picture of me and the babies- I'd been wanting him to get a picture of us with Zachary but we kept forgetting.
Matt left us right after lunch but Zachary got home soon after and we headed to the Academy to watch some of his plebes in a wrestling event.
Zachary sold me on going by telling me the place would be huge with not too many people but it would be loud and there would be stairs.
On the way home we saw two deer- one was a baby- so pretty!
So we did our nighttime routine- baths, stories, everything- and then it was time to watch some tv. Tonight was a big night in the television world. There was the Republican debate and it was Jon Stewart's last episode as the host of The Daily Show. We found a drinking game for watching the Republican debate which was the only way I was going to make it through.
Surprisingly, we didn't get to drink that much- they weren't as predictable as Rolling Stone thought they'd be. We made it through half and then decided to watch Big Brother which, when it was over, it was perfect timing for me to watch The Daily Show live- which I haven't done since high school- thanks DVR! But I thought it was appropriate to watch this one live- I've been watching the show for so long (10 years) but not as long as he's been on (almost 17 years).
Matthew took this first picture- he then took a video just to document how rough of a start to the day we had. I got up a little early just to make pancakes for everyone. Here's what Liam thought of my lovingly prepared blueberry pancakes.
Malia wasn't crazy about them either.
We headed to the grocery store and by the time we put the groceries away and had lunch it was (mercifully) time for naps for the kids. Unfortunately for Joey it was also time for him to head to the vet. He's been having a lot of hairballs lately so we've decided to get him shaved this weekend but in order to do that, he has to have a couple of shots updated. Sorry Jojo!
Matt got into town yesterday evening so today was our first full day with him! He is such a great help when he's here. He went with us to Liam's appointments. Liam's PT appointment is an hour every six weeks for a reevaluation. However, I never realize it's going to be an extra long appointment until I notice he hasn't come out and it's five minutes past the hour. So we were there for an hour and a half today and Malia wasn't having it. It definitely took both me and Matt to keep her entertained!
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!
Both of my children have developed the habit of throwing their plates down when they are finished eating. It is infuriating and there is nothing I can do about it except not giving them a plate which is what I've started doing with Malia but with Liam I'm holding out hope that one day my methods will work and he'll stop. Today was not the day it stopped. But! The positive side of this story is that he cleaned up his mess. I was hoping making him clean up the mess would make him more hesitant to make said mess but he enjoyed cleaning it so I may have reinforced his bad habit.
With the integration of so much technology in our lives, I think parenting has changed a little bit. Every generation has a new challenge to deal with that the generation before didn't. Technology isn't new but the prevalence of it in our lives is new- one challenge my peers and I face is taking advantage of technology but keeping it in check. Yes, we want to document important milestones but if you watch every milestone through the screen on your phone, you miss out on real life that's happening right in front of you. So- for Malia's first steps- I knew they were coming and the temptation to grab the phone and get a video (especially since Zachary wasn't home to see them) was there but I decided to just enjoy the moment. That's when it is awesome to have a thoughtful mother-in-law who has a quick mind and was able to snap a screenshot of our FaceTime session! Even though Zachary wasn't there to see it, it was so awesome that Grandma and Pops were able to see them. So see- it's important to take advantage of technology- living far away from our families, we are so blessed to have FaceTime- Liam and Malia have great relationships with their grandparents and while all four grandparents make a lot of effort to come up and see them as often as they can I think we can thank FaceTime a little bit for bringing them even closer.
I think Malia's first steps came today because she got a lot of practice walking with the help of holding on to the chair as she chased Liam around it. These two were being so silly, walking and crawling around the chair, laughing and laughing at each other and themselves. It was so very funny.
Another funny thing that happened today- we have a nightlight outside of Malia's room so that when we walk around upstairs at night we don't have to turn a light on to see where we're going. However- this nightlight is, for some reason, so appealing to my children. Both of them yank it out of the outlet as often as they can. Today Liam got to it, threw it down the stairs, and on his own, said, "No, no Liam." What a nut.
Another thing I forgot during Malia's birthday party was to take a picture of the birthday girl with this sign I made listing her favorite foods, her abilities, her favorite things and her height and weight. So ten days later, I did a mini photo shoot- we didn't get any pictures where she's smiling and the information is 100% visible in the background but we got some good ones all the same:
