Catching up ...

Ack! I'm officially a blog truant. I can't believe that I've let myself lapse into the very very occasional update. Keeping a record of my life is very important to me. I've had a journal of some type since I was 9 years old and I'm not going to quit now! In very many ways, my blog is my journal, albeit a very public journal. So here goes ... Fasten your seatbelts ladies and gentlemen and get ready for a very fast recap of the last few months!

Firstly, I'll say that I can't BELIEVE how fast my little girls are growing. Clara is 6 1/2 months and she is thiiiiiiiiiis close to crawling. She wants it sooo bad and I think it won't be but another couple of weeks and I won't be able to put her in one place and expect her to stay put. *Sigh* She absolutely idolizes her big sister and Lydia is really loving, most of the time. Lydia has also finally gotten used to having someone else steal mommy's attention from time to time. THAT was quite the adjustment, let me tell you. She still exhibits classic jealous behavior from time to time, i.e. stating that she wanted a toy (which she's been completely ignoring) the minute I offer it to baby sister. And she has this tendency to "burp" Clara whenever she gets the notion to whack her on the back so I have to watch her closely. But sometimes when I'm just about to get after Lydia for doing something she oughtn't, I hear Clara just laughing and giggling so it must not be bothering her that much.

Clara is on a really great schedule now, sleeping 12 hours continuously at night and napping twice during the day. As difficult a little sleeper as she was at the beginning, she's settled down, rather, been forced coaxed (because I was fed up) into a really great routine. Now, if only I could get to bed before 1am I'd be getting some really great sleep! Except that my sweet little Lydia has started waking up before 7am, presumably because there's too many things to do and she has no time for sleep. And here I was thinking that she was going to be my night owl. Well, actually she is. Most nights she doesn't get to sleep before 9 or 10, even though I try to have her in bed by 8:30 (for the sake of my sanity). But, she still naps in the afternoon which is my saving grace right now ... uhm ... because of my 1am bedtime? That means that the girls take tandem naps! I know, I'm so spoiled. I wasn't trying to pretend otherwise! I suppose this can only last so long so I'll take advantage of it while I can.

Lydia ... well, let's just say I wasn't sure I was going to survive the "trying threes". But, she's gotten a lot better over the last couple of months. I've tried really hard to give her some mommy and me time, and specifically what's worked really well is changing up the bedtime routine so that for at least 5-10 minutes right after prayers and right before she goes to sleep, we snuggle in her bed and tell each other stories. She always asks me to tell her stories about "when we made banana cake," or, "when we went to Aldi," so it's not like they are anything special, but they are stories about her and I think that's why she likes them so much. Anyway, bedtime has become a very sweet and special time for both me and her and I noticed a pretty big change in her behavior once I started this bedtime routine. For that matter I've noticed a pretty big change in my own sanity and I find myself getting less frustrated with my daughter all because of this one simple routine. It's been a mini miracle.

Well, speaking of bedtime routine, I'm going to have to cut this a little short. Ben is starting seminary tomorrow and the 1am bedtime simply will not do any longer for either of us.

But peas taste so much better with toes!

You sit on my changing table cat and I will get you

Wearing Uncle Matthew's fancy hat

Playing in the pool--this lasted all of about 5 seconds