Compare - Abby and Olivia 7 Months

Can A Mom Get A Break Around Here?

And lately the answer has been no. But that's okay - like I told Grandma Jennie, there will be plenty of time to rest when I'm dead. Or when they grow up and move out. Then I'll probably wish I was back to the craziness and exhaustion that has defined my last few days. In fact, as I am typing this, my children are both confined in Olivia's exersaucer and jumper (yes... Abby climbed into the exersaucer again and she can't get out. I am leaving her there for now. It is safer).

So... our craziness started Saturday. We took the girls to Mackinac City for the day with the intention of getting Abby some winter appropriate shoes of some sort and we heard that the Hush Puppies store was having a sale. It was a great sale, so great that they were all out of Abby's size. But we had a good time being tourists and checking out the other stores. Sunday was also busy - we attended the birthday party of Abby's friend Autumn and tried to get cleaned up a ready for a busy week. And I committed myself to helping our friend Andrea with two extra emergency foster kids (she already has 2 adopted foster kids and another that she has permanently and will be adopting). So yes... I willingly put myself into a situation where there would be 7 kids and 2 adults with all the kids under 5 and two of whom didn't speak English. It was a hard day to begin with, then my friend Kimberlee called to tell me that the doctor thought her water had broken and she needed someone to take her two little boys so she could go get that checked out. So... 9 kids, under 5, two who can't communicate with Andrea and I. Yep... I'm tired. Still. Luckily, Kimberlee's water hadn't broken, so we are still waiting for that baby to arrive in a few weeks. And the Spanish speaking foster kids were moved to a Spanish speaking foster home near the school where the little boy attends. But boy, did that day wipe me out.

Olivia hasn't helped matters any. She has reverted to newborn sleeping habits at night. She is up at least once, and some nights twice. And if I don't nurse her, she is not going back to sleep. We tried Monday night to get her back to sleep without nursing. After 1 hour I gave in and fed her. After 2 hours she finally was sleeping soundly enough for me to lay her down. Grr..... Some days I wonder why she can't get with the program. It wouldn't be so frustrating to be up in the middle of the night every night had she not slept for 11 hour stretches just a few months ago (for like 9 weeks). I know she can do it. I don't know how to get her back into the sleeping habit without depriving the rest of us of a lot of sleep. The Ferber (cry it out) Method does not work for this child. So yeah... I definitely have 2 strong willed children. This could be a long, long 18 years.

And all of that only brings me to Tuesday, when my willingness to watch Kimberlee's kids for a dentist appointment and house viewing turned into another 5ish hours of extra children. They had a lot of fun. Maize, maybe, did not. I am happy to have them around to entertain Abby, but it makes resting or getting anything done impossible. Abby loves having "her boys" Rian and Huron over. She even thinks they are her brothers. So, we'll keep them around. Then she can have 2 "brothers" without me having to have 2 more kids.

Now onto Thursday and Friday and then Trick or Treating. And maybe by December my life won't be so crazy busy. Or Olivia can sleep through the night. Or something...

Olivia Rolls Away

We have now retired changing surfaces other than the floor for Olivia, since she's developed the nasty habit of rolling off them. Ouch! She also rolled the entire length of the nursery at church this morning. I'm sure she could crawl if she wanted to, but she seems to be content to roll her way around. Funny girl!

Abby and Olivia's Disney Adventure

Well, we made it to Disney and back in one piece. After we returned... well that may be another story. We had a great time enjoying some warm weather (okay... hot... high 80's may be warm for some of you, but we are yoopers now and that was HOT!). Abby really enjoyed the swimming pools and splash pads around our resort. Olivia liked the water too, as long as it wasn't splashing or spraying around her. We probably caught Abby at the bottom of the tot water slide at least 100 times. It was marvelous and perfectly clear and sunny except for Thursday, when some hurricane related clouds rolled through.

We had great flights and mostly great behavior from our little helpers. Neither one of them really had too much trouble on the plane. Olivia cried a little, but not too much and it was crying because she was tired not because her ears hurt. Abby had a great ride both down and back sitting between Grandma Mary and Grandpa Scott. She really had a wonderful time with them (we all did) and their extra hands made the vacation a lot less stressful. Let's face it, watching two small kids at a busy resort and theme park is hardly vacation. It's more like work. But with help from my parents we had a great time and even got to squeeze in some relaxation.

We took Abby and Olivia on their first visit to the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday. Abby was super excited to finally see the "princess castle." She had a great time riding on the rides. She rode most of the rides a person of her size can go on. I was bummed that It's A Small World and the Spinning Tea Cups were closed for refurbishing, but we still managed to fill our day with lots of great fun. And I'm pretty sure that the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger ride was Abby's favorite anyway, since we rode it twice. We also stood in a very long line to meet the Disney princesses. After waiting 30ish minutes to meet Aurora, Cinderella, and Belle we were excited for Abby to have her big moment. It did not go as planned. Abby and I went to meet Aurora and you could tell Abby was a lot freaked out by the fact that it was a real woman and not a statue like the Aurora we saw at Downtown Disney. She did pose for a picture and said thank you to Aurora. Then we got into the line to see Cinderella (which at this point was one person long since they let a small group into the princess pavilion at a time). Abby looked at me and told me it was my turn to see Cinderella and she would take pictures with Dad. So, I sent Steve to take her and meet Cinderella. Again, the look of terror was on her little face, but she smiled for a picture. We finally got to the line to see Belle, who is her all-time favorite and who she had been asking to see all week, and she told us there was no way she wanted to see Belle and that she was done. So we left without the Abby and Belle picture. She went out and told Grandma Mary that "Belle was over it and I didn't want to see her." Oh well... maybe next time.

Along with that great quote she had some other funny moments. We were feeding her and Olivia some cheerios for breakfast one morning (yep... Olivia is eating cheerios and everything she can get into her mouth), when Abby announced to Grandma Mary that we got Olivia, or "that girl" as she is frequently called, from a Happy Meal. If only it were that easy... I'd have a whole slew of kids. She was also shocked and amazed when she saw another random girl at the pool with the same bathing suit. She kept looking at the girl and saying to me "hey Mom, that girl is wearing my swimming suit." She had her other suit on, so she was sure the girl had gone into our room and stolen her bathing suit. I couldn't talk her out of it. She also got to be on the big screen at the Mike's Laugh In ride, which is a screen show based on Monsters, Inc. If you've seen the movie then you'd know that she looks a little bit like Boo, the toddler girl in the movie. During the ride's show, they used cameras to show various people from the audience on the screen as characters from the movie. Abby was amazed when her little face popped up in front of the whole theater. She hasn't stopped reminding me of it yet.

So... you can tell we had a great time. We enjoyed the Grandma and Grandpa time, the pool, and some quality time with our girls. And now we are enjoying some laundry and cleaning to get our house back into shape. And I'm working on new recipes, since last night "the dinner" made Abby throw up (her words, not mine).

Bathing Breakthrough

Olivia generally hates bathing. Up until last week, when I started letting her sit in the tub unassisted, she would scream as loud as possible and cry crocodile tears at the thought of being near the tub. Now we are down to freaking out only when I wash Abby's hair. I'm not sure what it is about Abby having sudsy hair that freaks Olivia out, but it does create quite the reaction. At least now I can get Olivia to spend some time in the tub playing, which makes bath time a lot easier than our old way (scrub one, dry, dress, scrub the other).

We are leaving tonight for Disney World! Abby was so excited this morning when she woke up and it was finally Disney Day. Now I just have to find ways to keep her occupied until Steve gets out of work. It may be a very long day for her, but it is so much fun to watch her little girl excitement. She insisted on wearing all Disney things from head to toe. She should have a great time even if playing in the pool with Grandma and Grandpa is all she does.

And... the best news of the week... Olivia actually slept the WHOLE night last night. Finally. I'm sure it was a fluke, but it was nice not being up in her room at 3 am. Not that I didn't wake up, since I've been doing it for almost two months now, and I didn't get right back to sleep, but hey... I was in my own bed, so it was wonderful. And of course it was just in time to leave and get her out of her bed and routine, so I'm sure it will be weeks and weeks before I sleep all night again, but it was a very pleasant surprise.

Not A Newborn

Olivia is decidedly no longer a newborn - she knows this during the day, but at night she seems to forget this. She had her 6 month check-up yesterday and continues to grow well (17 pounds 12 ounces (75 to 90th percentile), 25 3/4 inches (25 to 50th percentile), 17 inch head(50 to 75th percentile)). She also got her shots. And in the last week she's mastered feeding herself little snacks, which Abby would very much like to get her hands on. But she persists in waking everyone up at least once in the middle of the night - like 2 am middle, not 5 am. Last night we tried to make her cry herself back to sleep. After an hour I went in and tried rocking her. After an hour and a half of crying I nursed her and laid her back into her crib. After two hours she finally fell asleep. At that point Abby woke up - why she didn't wake up during the two hours of crying baffles me. I really need a vacation...
Which is perfect, since we leave this week for Walt Disney World. Now I'm just hoping and praying that Olivia doesn't scream the entire plane ride, which is a very real possibility. Abby is beyond excited to go. I'm hoping that the excitement will translate into being brave enough to enjoy Disney and not be glued to my leg. At least Abby and Olivia are both going to be able to get into the park free, so if it's a total bust we won't have three or four tickets to buy.

I finished another kitten bonnet for cousin Emma and started one for Aunt Emily, but we had a slight knitting mishap with Emily's hat. I missed the count on one row and all of a sudden the kitten ear was sticking out the side instead of on the top. Oops! So I pulled that one apart and started again. Maybe we can get that done this weekend, if I can find the energy after all my sleepless nights and days... man do I miss Abby napping.