Hanging out

Last night my friend Tara and her daughter Taylor came by to meet Abigail:
We even got a smile out of Abigail:

Baby Sling

If you only knew what all I went thru to make this . . . I FINALLY finished working on this baby sling to carry Abigail. This isn't the greatest of pictures but you have to work with what you got in a hurry . . . and that is just take the picture in front of a mirror : )
I kept having to adjust it to have it fit right for me. But today motivated me to get it done because Abigail has been fussy all day today and wants to be held more than usual. So I have her in my sling right now while I type with both hands . . . yea!

Double Stroller

Joe had to work today so Emily and Abigail and I wanted to get out of the house a little this morning together. This was my first attempt using the double stroller that my sister gave me. Emily and I got it out of the garage this morning and cleaned it up and figured out how to open it and use it. I got a shower at 8:00 this morning to start getting ready to head to a craft fair near the house and here we are at 11:30 pulling up to the front door : ) But we made it!
Emily loved the thought of being in this new stroller so she stayed in it the whole time we walked thru the aisles checking out all the vendors. Luckily I threw together her lunch before walking out the door since it was getting so late so she ate while I wandered thru the aisles. We ended our outing with Emily getting to check out the books they had on sale. Emily was a sweetie pie this morning and our days towards the end of the week have gone so much smoother.

3 weeks old!

Abigail is 3 weeks old today!

I went to a sewing class last night and took Abigail with me. She got fussy towards the end and I think it was a combination of being too hot and over stimulated. But I got her home and fed her one last time for the night and put her to bed at 11:30. She didn't wake back up until 6:00 this morning!!! Emily joined us soon after and had fun laying in the bed together:

Emily also likes covering up with her animals and pretending to sleep:

A little success

Thanks for the emails and comments to help me with Emily. It's always encouraging to hear from fellow mothers. I plan to use the suggestions sent to me. Emily actually took a nap today! I told her that it was quiet time and that I would come get her in an hour . . . and when I went to check on her in an hour she was asleep. So I let her sleep another hour before opening her door to come out when she woke up. Of course tonight it took a little longer for her to go to sleep . . . but today was a much more pleasant day. When she woke up from her nap I told her we were going to a park to celebrate her staying in her room during nap time. So we found a park near a school. It didn't take long until Emily found a girl to go down the slide with:

It cracks me up how much she LOVES being around other children. She just loves running around with them and talking to them even if she isn't really a part of their activity. This little girl actually did play with her today.

Yesterday we went for a walk around the neighborhood and some older girls were walking around as well. She told me she needed to wait for her friends to catch up with us so she could talk to them and play with them. Bless her heart . . . too bad she wasn't born into a family that has a bunch of kids . . . she would LOVE it : )

We also focused on potty training a lot more today and Emily had 2 successes . . . still a bunch of accidents including completely soaking her bed today while she was playing (and I didn't discover the wet bed until she started to climb into the bed for her nap) . . . but I felt like she was making more of a connection today with what was going on during accidents . . . so keep praying for success. I didn't feel as stressed out about this today.

In Abigail news . . . . I didn't see the girl's eyeballs until about 8:00 tonight . . . she has slept ALL DAY TODAY! So I'm really looking forward to what tonight might bring : )

Enjoying the weather

Emily didn't have school today so I had to think of a way to get out of the house. We were starting to go stir crazy! I called Ashley and asked her if she wanted to meet us at a park. Her son Korrigan was in Emily's class last year and they like to play together:
The first park we went to was so crowded and so big that we kept losing where they were. So because I'm ultra paranoid that there are always creepy people lurking about waiting to take a wandering child, we headed to a much smaller park up the road.

Emily hasn't taken a nap in close to a week now. So I'm trying to implement quiet time for her because I need a break each day and so does she . . . even if she doesn't go to sleep. I'm fighting an uphill battle with her right now because the first few times she didn't take a nap we made the mistake of just letting her get out of the bed and not making her go back in there . . . so now that I'm trying to explain to her that she needs to wait until I come get her when quiet time is over . . . she comes out of her room about every 5 to 10 minutes to see if I'll let her stay up. Anyway, any advice anyone can give me on how to successfully have a 1 hour quiet time each day in her room would be greatly appreciated. This stressed out mama needs a little break each day.

I've learned these last couple of weeks how hard it is to take care of a strong willed child! Me and Emily have had a few meltdowns together . . . I'm trying to learn to just walk away from her tantrums instead of "insisting" that she do what I'm telling her . . . it's very hard. I sure don't handle it very well sometimes. I hope she doesn't need therapy later in life because of me . . .

In Abigail news, the girl was crazy herself last night : ) I got up to feed her about 1:30 and at 2:30 she was still frantic and fussy. I couldn't figure out what was wrong and assumed I didn't have enough milk for her and was on the verge of pulling out some formula when she spit up all over me, herself, and the bed. So gas was the culprit : ) Two hours later I was finally back in bed to sleep. Luckily we weren't disturbed again until Joe's alarm went off for work . . . and then 5 minutes later when Emily greeted us in our room to start the day . . . Mommy it's daytime!

Hoo Hoo! I really do love my children and still consider them a joy : )

First Weekend together

This weekend we hung out together as a family of 4! I was so worried on Saturday night when it started raining! I wanted Emily to go trick or treating so bad. We ran to her preschool for their trunk or treat just in case we didn't get to go out in the neighborhood:
Here is Mrs Myrna. She is the director of Emily's preschool:

Thankfully it was just a light drizzle when we got home and all the kids in the neighborhood were out, so we bundled up and walked around with several of our neighbors:

When Emily saw them she said she wanted to walk around "with my kids". Here she is with Sophia:
Abigail was even dressed for the occassion even though no one saw here because she was bundled up and covered in her stroller:

Emily got to eat a sucker for the first time:

On Sunday I went to a Sew What class with Abigail. She slept some in a corner of the store in a Moses basket I'm borrowing from a friend. I did manage to get some things done:
Hope everyone had a great Halloween!