Super Sitter

Olivia started sitting up unassisted on Thursday of last week (I know... it's Monday...I'm busy). She's up to a minute or so before she grabs for sometime and takes a dive. But she really, really enjoys the view from the upright position and loves being able to interact with Abby. Olivia is also right in the middle of getting some teeth, or something, I hope. Last night she had a bad night, so she and I ended up spending the second half of the night (after 2 am) sleeping together on the couch. I'm hoping that is the last night of such nonsense. I need my sleep too...

The girls stayed with their favorite babysitters on Friday night so Steve and I could enjoy some adult conversation (and Dairy Queen without having to get some for Abby). Abby is getting better about staying with a sitter or at the church nursery with each attempt, we are still waiting for the day when she doesn't cry about it. Olivia, on the other hand, could care less. She is just a flirt, so anyone is generally fine unless she is tired.

This weekend Steve, with the help of our friend Mr. Dodge, removed the big, rotting, brown shed from our backyard. Or maybe I should say cut it up, since one wall completely fell in when Steve started taking things out of the shed. We found some interesting treasures inside including a really old, really tall men's schwinn bike. It's free to the first to claim and remove it from my back yard. Thankfully we don't have to worry about the shed falling down on our children anymore, but I think I may have to take some time out soon and go pick up any stray nails and screws that are left out there.

Sun-Day

After two days of icky weather we are back to beautiful sunshine! Abby has been spending a lot of time outside enjoying her swing set, sandbox (which now has sand in it), and sprinkler. We had a pool out for a while, but Abby had a problem remembering not to pee in it, so we drained it and decided a sprinkler would be a better way for her to cool off.
Olivia has been a lot more alert and interactive in the last couple weeks, so Abby has been enjoying more and more play time with her little sister. She loves sitting with Olivia on the chair. Olivia seems to like Abby too and gives her great big smiles. She just won't do them when I have the camera.
This is the pool girl right before she had her accident in the pool. So consequently her daddy drained it. We have had unusually warm weather around here for most of the last week and we supposed to hit 90 at least one day this week. I'm thinking beach...
So basically, Friday we were busy baby sitting Abby's friend Maddie at lunch time and her friends Autumn and Abby in the evening. Abby had a great time with all her friends. I got exhausted. That's a lot of running. And on Friday I managed to whip up 2 baby slings and a baby blanket for gifts - and they had to be done ASAP since one recipient is leaving the U.P. for the south side of Chicago on Friday night. Saturday was a lazy day, except for the part where Steve and I dug the sandbox out so that we could put in 10 to 12 inches of sand. The box as it was built would only hold 3 or 4 inches and we decided that wouldn't really meet Abby's needs. So we did some back breaking labor hunched over since the roof over the sandbox was about 4 foot high. Today we had lunch with our friends the Dodges, went to a graduation open house for one of Steve's co-worker's children, and then used our new sandbox and sprinkler to play in the back yard. I didn't realize how busy we had been until I sat down and typed all that out. I'm getting tired just thinking of it all... I think tomorrow is going to be much less busy.

Almost Swinging

Our swing set is just 3 boards and 4 stakes away from being totally finished. Steve has done an amazing job putting it together - it looks great. Abby has already been enjoying lots of rides down the slide and will be swinging away as soon as we have the stakes in and the swings up. It is going to be a whole lot of fun to play in our backyard this summer. Now we just need to get a play date schedule set up.

Abby and I also did some sewing today and made a blanket for our friends Andrea and Kevin - they brought home a brand new foster child on Sunday and he needed some manly blankets since their previous foster babies have been girls. We got the little guy set up with a Tigger blanket and can't wait for him and Olivia to get big enough to play together. Now each of Abby's best friends will have little brothers Olivia's age. I have a feeling our little girl may have to be a bit more of a tomboy than her older sister if she is going to have playmates her own age.

Olivia is still growing like a weed, or maybe I should say like the running bamboo that is taking over my backyard. She is now wearing size 3 to 6 months and we've had to put away all her newborn and 0 to 3 month sized clothing. She wore blue jeans for the first time yesterday. It was so fun to dress her more like her big sister.

Building Time

We have been busy, busy building Abby and Olivia's swing set. I think between Steve and I we have all of the major structures put together and now we just have to get them connected and staked down. Abby has been having a great time watching, helping, and digging as we put up the structure. We should be able to finish it up tonight, I hope.

Abby, Olivia, and I went to playgroup at the park this morning and had a great time visiting and playing with her friends. She may be a social chicken, but she still enjoys getting out and seeing other kids. Other than the building and play grouping, we've been pretty boring around here. Doing laundry, cooking, and doing the normal daily things. Abby wants to be outside all of the time. Olivia wants to eat practically all of the time. I want to sleep basically all day, but I don't get to. The normal stuff...

New Photos on Walmart.com

Abby helped me upload the rest of the photos from March and the ones from April to our Walmart.com photo sharing site. You can get the link on the right hand side of the page to view and order them.

We had a great time yesterday playing with lots of Abby's friends and enjoying a backyard barbecue. Abby played so hard that she ended up climbing onto my lap around 6:30 and falling asleep within about 30 seconds. So I spent about 30 minutes of the party with two small girls sleeping on my lap - adorable, but awkward. I think my arm fell asleep within about 3 minutes.

Today Steve (and me too sometimes) is working on putting together Abby and Olivia's swing set. So far we have the base for the fort and the slide put together. I think Steve is out working on the platform for the slide right now, so maybe by the end of the evening we will have the slide ready to ride on. We'll have to see. The weather is cooperating and so are the little people - for now.

Easter Egg Hunting

We took advantage of the nice weather this morning (it is now raining and supposed to rain tomorrow a bit too) and let Abby have her own Easter egg hunt, since we will be missing the Easter egg extravaganza at Great Grandma Jennie and Grandpa Steve's house tomorrow. Our small group had brought by an "Easter" basket for us as a gift and it had lots of great things like diapers, wipes, candy, bedtime body rub, and filled Easter eggs. So we took those filled eggs, filled a few more that I picked up at the store, and sent Abby out into the backyard to hunt eggs. She found one, opened it, realized it was full of candy, and decided she was all set. It took some major coaching to get her to pick up another egg, but after about the 3rd or 4th one that she found and opened she realized that there was lots of eggs and lots of candy available. It was pretty funny. So was her egg hunting outfit. I love how she refused to wear her "fuzzy boots" all winter when they would have kept her feet warm and has recently decided they are the best shoes ever. It makes life interesting around here... we never know what is going to tickle her fancy.

Olivia decided to pass on the egg hunting fun and took a nap instead. We picked up some gas relief drops for her (she was and is a gas passing champ) and we have all been sleeping much better in the hours that we are sleeping. It has really solved her grunting/moaning/groaning all night long problem. So it must be working at making her feel more comfortable, although it isn't really preventing the gas passing. So while we are sleeping better, we are for some reason also getting up much more frequently. I think she must be about to grow a ton since I was up about every hour and a half to hour and forty-five minutes last night. I was really hoping for the every three hour schedule, but it was not happening. I'm hoping we aren't in for many more nights like that. She has been back on the two to three hour schedule during the day today, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Since we've got the gas problem about under control, Olivia decided it would also be a good day to have a plugged tear duct. So her eye looks crusty and yucky, but it doesn't seem to be bothering her and she doesn't have any signs or symptoms of sickness. We are keeping a close eye on it, but other than needing some extra washing it seems to be manageable.

Steve and I are starting to find a routine for dealing with a newborn and a precious little lady who is hitting the terrible twos with all her might. Our only problem this weekend is exhaustion coupled with an ill dog (digestive issues... worse than having to clean the biggest diaper blowout). So we are pretty tired... to the point where I remembered to move the laundry from the washer to the dryer and then walked up the stairs without starting the dryer. Whoops. I did manage to get a nap for a whole hour, so that should help. I think another nap is in the plans for tomorrow - the weekends and having Steve home are so much nicer.

First Real Bath

Olivia had her first real bath today at the same time that her big sister Abby was washing up. We just put the little tub right next to the big tub so that I could see both girls and then we did some major scrubbing.

Olivia also had her first playtime outside. She rode in my baby carrier, so she was pretty much snuggled up next to me and with the new moby wrap carrier I have she was totally covered in fabric. Abby had a great time with her sidewalk chalk and we all enjoyed the 65 degrees and sunshine. I even planted some seeds so I'm counting on the weather staying warm enough for them to make it.

Muddy Buddies

Abby and Maize took advantage of some 49 degree weather after having lunch and took their first outside adventure of the year. Abby was more interested in being outdoors than Maize. She helped me sweep off the porch and we checked all around the backyard to see what was growing now that we've had almost a week straight of 40 degree days. I know it's way to early to expect Spring in the Upper Peninsula - I'm sure we will get some more snow and cold weather - but it was nice to enjoy some springy weather today. It's just a shame she wouldn't turn around and give me a smile for a picture. And her pants are pretty muddy, especially the bottom since the yard was kind of tricky to walk in.

Abby, Steve, and I spent the evening yesterday with our friends the Dodge family, including Abby's great friend Maddie. They had so much fun dancing and hugging. They are pretty adorable together. Steve also got his first - and probably last - dose of the Academy Awards. Neither of us are really movie people, so we really didn't care who won what or who wore which dress, but we did have fun with friends and Abby got to spend time with one of her two best buddies, so we always jump at the chance for that to happen.

Today Abby is using her imagination and is pretending to be Grandma Mary's puppy "Bark-ski". The real puppy - who's name is Barski - moved to a new home, but I'm sure Grandma Mary would rather have this new version of her puppy visit. We even had to get a dog leash out so that Bark-ski could go on a walk around our house. And she's crawling everywhere around the house instead of walking, since dogs can't walk. What a girl...

The Great Melt

I've been racking my brains trying to figure out what to get Abby for her birthday. We didn't want to spend a whole lot on birthday presents, since a new swing set and play place is in the plans for this summer. Boy this girl is hard to shop for - she has everything a kid could want or need. Last night I took some well deserved personal time to go out and do some birthday browsing. I was met at the door by Abby, who could have cared less about what was in the bags and was only worried about the fact that I had princess wrapping paper with me.

Abby is acting like she feels better today, but her nose is still pretty runny and stuffed up. She's a tough little lady. In fact, I don't think she would have taken a nap today if I hadn't physically placed her into her bed and then laid down in "mommy's princess" bed (also known as the second twin bed in Abby's room).

Baby Sister is still trying to escape and Abby is still plotting and planning with her at every chance. I hope that Abby still thinks her little sister is cool when she is outside of my belly. Last night Abby randomly put her hand on my belly and got a nice, swift kick from her little sister. Unlike the last few times, when she was majorly freaked out, Abby thought that was pretty darn funny. So today she's been pushing on my belly hoping to get kicked again.

On a weather note, we are supposed to be above freezing for the next 7 days (at least) and we are having some major melting going on. I can almost see the whole deck again (and all the "presents" Maize left on it this winter) and the yard is getting some pretty thin spots where the grass will be showing soon. Now it's time to start planning where we are going to place gardens and swing sets and all of those fun things we couldn't do since we moved a little too late in the season last year. I'm even thinking a fire ring would be a nice addition... but then again maybe too dangerous for Abby.

Bird Feeding

Abby and I set out our bird and squirrel feeders so that we can attract more friends for Abby to watch this fall. A couple days ago we had two big blue jays on our back porch and Abby spent the better part of an hour waiting for them to come back. She really enjoys watching for animals out our back windows.

It is raining buckets this afternoon and cold! We stayed warm napping and heading to Wal-mart to get more bird and squirrel food. We also had fun playing with Abby's friend AJ this morning. While they were playing puzzles and little people Abby actually looked at me and told me to go away. Geesh. I thought I had a few more years of enjoying playtime with Abby and her friends, but apparently they are already too cool for moms.

Cranky Pants

If you want to be in Abby's gang you'll need to practice the gang sign. It probably won't take too much practicing before you get it right. Abby kept practicing last night long after we told her that double picking your nose is not a good idea.

Abby has been super crabby today. I'm not sure if it is related to her molars coming in or if she is just being in a foul mood today. Either way we are not having very much fun today. We have been outdoors trying to get as much work done on the yard as we can before the weather gets bad. I've dug out a whole lot of day lilies and peonies and have been ripping the ornamental bamboo out by the roots. I'm hoping that ripping it out will keep it from coming back. Abby's been enjoying digging in the dirt with her bucket and shovel. She is keeping the ground nice and loose.

Abby has a new favorite movie, Pocahontas. We've watched it twice in the last 24 hours. Steve and I laugh and laugh at her while she watches it. She can't quite say Pocahontas, so she calls it "pokey-gun" and actually watches very intently for such a small girl. I'm hoping she has a new favorite movie soon or I will know every line to Pocahontas within the week.

Abby's New Play Space

Abby has been busy using her new back yard, so we have been busy supervising her back yard experiences.

She and Maize have had a good time exploring their new boundaries. They really like going to the farthest corner of the yard and sitting together. Weird, I know.

They also have been on the lookout for all the neighborhood cats and have enjoyed spying on them from the front door. This girl and her dog spend a lot of time together.