The Color Monster Struck Again

Just when you think she can be trusted again... Arabella goes long intervals in between doing this sort of thing. For the most part I can trust that when I sit her down with crayons and her coloring books that she'll still be sitting there when I return. We use this method a lot because I have to put two kids down by myself at night, which ultimately means she's left unattended for a brief period of time. Of course last night she got a wild hair and went on another coloring binge. I walked in and she was still sitting at her table coloring but when I turned to the dresser to get an overnight that's when I saw the carpet, followed by the dresser, followed by the frog.

I kept my cool, and proceeded to get her ready for bed. I skipped reading her books without so much as a word. She didn't even question me, I'm pretty sure she already knew the reasons why. This morning I shared with Adam her lovely art and then we proceeded to make her clean it before nap time. She was more than happy to pose for me with her art.

The problem is that she doesn't see the "punishment" in being made to clean her own mess. She enjoys it...too much. Seriously, does her face say remorse? No it says "hey this is fun."

I guess the good news is that crayons are cleanable...thank goodness it isn't like permanent marker. Maybe one day she'll understand that we just don't draw on furniture (or carpet) and that it's best to stick to paper...

Pee Head

This afternoon was TERRIBLE for naps. Neither child wanted to go down at all. Finally at 5:30 Arabella gave in, too little, too late. Of course when I woke her at 6:30 for dinner she was super grouch and refused to eat.

Evan on the other hand has been nothing short of a PITA. After three hours of fighting him including two nursing sessions, I had had enough. I went in, changed him one last time and left. I didn't even bother putting pants on him, just left him in a t-shirt and diaper.

Not ten minutes later I hear him screaming, very weird. It wasn't the usual "my leg is caught" or "I smacked my *insert body part* on the crib" or "I just don't wanna sleep" cries. So I of course trekked back in there, open the door only to see a naked butt staring at me. The little monster managed to rip his diaper off. Now he was lying face down, so I wasn't sure what he was fussing about until I rolled him over. Apparently he ripped his diaper off while lying on his back and managed to soak his shirt in urine, hit himself in the face, and the ear. Somehow, that's where it was all contained. I didn't see/smell a single drop on his sheet. Ugh.

So I cleaned him up, using baby wipes because I was still upset at him, and he laughed at me the whole time. Apparently using baby wipes for washing is ticklish to him. I dressed him, put him back in the bed and left. A half hour later I couldn't take the screaming any more so he got to come out and play. On the up side he was quiet, he ate extremely well for dinner, took a short bath, and then passed out in about 5 minutes for bed.

Now I just have to find a way to get Arabella to play by herself without having a melt down while I'm trying to put Evan to bed. I feel sorry for Adam because I had to wake him to get her to shut up so Evan could go to sleep. Did I mention I really dis-like his company for continuously changing his shift?

Snuggles

It's the little things you don't realize you miss with your second child until they finally happen.

Tonight after I put Arabella to bed, I put Evan down for a late evening nap, then did the dishes and baked a cake. But before I could get the cake in the oven he started to scream. If you know me, you know my children have very huge lungs and aren't the least bit quiet when it comes to crying. So I hurried the cake into the oven and set the timer. I walked down the hall to find my little man had rolled over onto his stomach but was still stuck on his shoulder. He can get his body rolled real easy, he just has to figure out how to get his upper half whipped around.

So, I scooped him up and calmed him down. I nursed him a bit to get him calm enough that I could rock him. The opportunities to rock my little man when he isn't nursing are far and few between. In fact he's nearly 4 months old and I've never been able to just rock him. So the fact that I was able to calm him and have him fall back asleep lying on my chest while I was rocking him was an amazing feet and one of pure joy for me. I just sat there, rocking my little man, and I had the biggest smile across my face. I truly wish we could have more peaceful bonding moments like that. But again, with a 16 month old it's near impossible. But, there is hope.

fAnS! FANS! Fans!

I am so sick & tired of fans! We bought a fan a couple of weeks ago for Evan's room. At the time it was the cheapest & closest thing to a box fan at Target. It had bells & whistles we really didn't need, like a remote control, but the timer feature was neat.

We hadn't really used it all that much until Arabella's fan went kaput. So Adam moved it to her room. Her room gets unbearably hot, so it was necessary. Then he noticed a funny smell in her room. At first we blew it off as her pee filled diaper. But last night I had a theory that it wasn't. So I opened her door, turned the fan off and waited for ten minutes or so. I returned to her room and did smell a full diaper, but not the funny "burning" smell we had noticed before. So I called Adam and told him the fan was going back. Forty dollars and a smell like that isn't worth it. I was more concerned about her safety. What if something inside truly was burning? In general her fan runs for 12 hours over night.

So this morning I decided to be a trooper and take both kids with me to Target. In reality it was either that or wait until Friday and I wasn't going to make her (and me) suffer overnight. So I tell the girl what was going on and she said no problem. I got my money back and went to the fan isle and was able to replace the $40 fan with two $15 box fans that they now had in stock.

I get home, both kids are out. I take Evan in, then one fan. I get it ready in Arabella's room only to find that the box is damaged. No biggie I thought. I pull it out only to find four different dents, not dings, but dents in the damn thing. The entire bottom corner is caved in. It doesn't seem to affect the function of the fan, but it is rather annoying. It's supposed to be BRAND NEW???? So now I'm debating, should I take it back and replace it also? Arrrggghhhhh.

On a happier note, I was in such a hurry to get out the door that when I posted my You Capture challenge, I forgot to see what next week's assignment was. So as soon as I got home I looked and it is "yellow." How perfect? I was buying the kids shorts, cause they don't have any, and I happened to pick up a $3 yellow tank shirt for Bella. And I have an awesome coordinating onesie for Evan....PERFECT! So I can't wait to see what other yellow happiness I can find for next week.

Bologna

Whoever said it gets easier as they get older is full of it! It's especially difficult when one is sick and refuses to let Mommy nurse brother. So if I hear "it gets easier" one more time, I'm likely to go all guns a'blazin on that someone...word to the wise.

She's Mobile

My little munchkin is still perfecting the art of crawling, but for now she's attempting more of an army crawl/leap movement.

Tonight she some how managed to go backwards when I wasn't looking and wedged herself under Daddy's recliner. I don't know what I'm going to do with her now that she can get around.

In other news she has decided to day that she needs to live on the boobs. Constantly nursing and the only reason I can think is because she's going through another growth spurt. I don't think it's in relation to her new tooth. Yes, Bud's friend Lizzie decided to move in permanently today. You can bet I'm excited because she has already managed to bite my cuticles today. This evening she finished up yesterday's sweet potatoes but for some reason wanted nothing to do with the green beans. After trying for five minutes I gave up, cleaned her up and let her play on the floor. Shortly after I set her down she decided to start screaming. I picked her up and she instantly tried to nurse through my shirt. So she didn't want real food, just juice. Sometimes it's enough to drive a mom insane.

Packing up

Today was a fun day I suppose. Bella practiced her crawling some more and of course didn't sleep any. No, my floor isn't dirty, that's just her drool. She can't seem to keep the saliva in her mouth these days, so everything gets soaked.

This evening once Adam was home I was able to begin packing up Arabella's clothes that no longer fit. It was joyous, yet sad at the same time. I was excited because I was able to break out the 6-9 month outfits that had been lying in storage. The past month she's be wearing mainly onesies because I was just too lazy to do it. So as I went through every thing I was sad. Sad that she can no longer fit these cute outfits, sad that there are so many things she didn't get to wear because she outgrew them so fast. Sad to think she was ever that tiny. I suppose I'm not the first Mommy to go through this and I certainly won't be the last. So now my little darling is ready to wear some awesome and cute summer jumpers, shorts and skorts! And as usual, she decided to go to bed at 8:30, but that lasted only until 10:30. Go figure.

OMG!!!!

YAY!!! Our morning nap went amazing. Granted I nursed her back to sleep, but still...a two hour nap. You heard right, my non-sleeping child gave me two hours of peace, from 9:30am to 11:30am. I was ecstatic that she went down with out a fight, but to have her sleep on her own for that long was just down right awesome. It got even better when she woke up. I didn't turn her monitor on like I normally do, so I didn't hear her wake up. I'm not sure how long she'd been in her crib playing. But when I heard her squawk I went to check. I was so surprised by what I found...

She was wide awake and smiling. But even better she was flipped around in the crib. I always lay her head at the other end. Not only was she turned, but she had been playing with her toys. The teether hand was nearly falling out of the crib and her dolly was soaked with saliva. She was just so happy to see Mommy. It was a great feeling. Let's just pray the rest of the day follows suit.