Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

I can't keep up with documenting my little sweeties. Heaven forbid I have more than two kids to write about. :) Still, they make me laugh, cry, scream and smile. But mostly, they make my heart feel like it's on the brink of explosion. When Clara and I lay in her bed and giggle. When we talk about feeling the Spirit and she gets tears in her eyes. When I check on Hazel and see her peacefully sleeping on her left side, right leg crossed over the left. When Clara tells me she got sad at school because she forgot to give me a hug and kiss. {I reminded her I did give her a kiss. "Well, I wanted a hug and lots of kisses!"}

HAZEL - 8ish months

Hazel is not a snuggler. At all. When I am laying her down in bed, I give her the pacifier, lay her back, give her a blanket and sing her a song. If I sing/hum for more than 30 seconds, she pushes away from me as if to say, "just lay me down in my bed already!" Then, when I pick her up, she pushes out from my chest with both hands. She doesn't even like being held on my hip, she wants to be facing out.

Hazel will crawl and crawl around until she sees me. She immediately stops, acts like she's parachuting by balancing on her stomach, and starts making noise.

She is so, so mellow. I was looking at pictures when Clara was this age and she had SO many facial expressions. She was just so Clara, even at just a few months old. Not so with Hazel. She is content and smiley and saves any other facial expressions for her solid foods. Someone asked my mom how to have a baby as calm as Hazel. My mom answered, "Marry someone like Jason." The more I think about that, the more it makes me laugh because it seems Hazel has Jason's personality in my body while Clara has my personality in a female version of Jason's body. I wonder if I will struggle more with raising myself or my husband. Time will tell.

I am always amazed at how innate personalities are and how they are so prevelant from the very beginning. Hazel is very calm, but doesn't hesitate to voice her opinion. And she has an opinion. She's easier to get laughing and harder to stop crying. She is also a beautiful baby. Everyone loves her and she puts a smile on everyone's face just like Clara did when she was a baby. (And usually still does).

One thing I've noticed about Hazel from day one is how quickly she picks up on things. I remember one day I was heading towards the spot on the couch that I fed her most often and turned around to get something. Upon turning around, Hazel started wailing. At just a few months old, she knew I was going to feed her and when the path changed, she was not happy. She also will lay back and start sucking her thumb almost every time I get within a few feet from her bedroom door to lay her down for bed.

Most of the nights I put Hazel in her bed, I will put my forehead against her head and hold her super close. I take deep breaths and want to breath every detail in. It's not just her smell. It's her chubby cheeks, her soft babbling, her cautious fascination with the world, her little giggles, her fingers slowly picking at the fringe on her blanket, her hands rubbing across new textures and her sweet, sweet smiles. Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out.

Hazel screams (especially if she can see me - I try to stay out of sight while she's playing on the ground) from when I feed her around 3:30pm until I stick her in the bath around 7pm. It was giving me a headache and would stress me out. I had the impression to give her some blueberries. So I stuck her in her high chair and my little chubs ate a bunch of blueberries. Apparently she's just going to skip the whole baby food stage. Fine by me! She loves to feed herself and chews everything with her two front teeth. Between her chubby cheeks and the way she smacks her gums makes me smile over and over and over. So far, she's had blueberries, bananas, avocados, apricots, broccoli, cheerios and bread. My mom gave her the apricots and said she ate 1 1/2 of them. This is definitely a benefit of getting lots of teeth super early that I had previously overlooked.

CLARA - 4 1/2ish

I couldn't possibly record all the funny things Clara says. However, I do hope that I can record enough to memoralize her awesome little personality.

She is going through a little growth spurt and her rib cage is really expanding. I have such bittersweet feelings about her growing up. I think I am mostly excited to watch her learn and grow.

She is still on her funny prayer kick. Here's a prayer from 8.18.2011: "Please bless that I can see more rainbows. Please bless Abby that she'll know not to touch my piggy bank. Please bless that I can live with Care Bears that are real someday." I wonder if Heaven to a four year old involves rainbows and Care Bears.

And my current favorite from last week: "Please bless my friends that they will believe me when I lie."

I have learned that the best way to see yourself through your children's eyes is by listening how they talk to others. It's totally comical and somewhat horrifying.

7/2011

C: Abby, I have a job for you.

A: What?

C: Can you clean up the play dough by yourself so I can find this thing?

A: No. (HAAAAAAAAAAAA!)

(Later that same day when Clara was not sharing very well)

C: Abby said it was okay if I did this and she didn't and that she would be patient and calm and wouldn't scream and would just be berry calm (still working on those v's) until next time.

7/2011 (to a friend)

C: Don't talk with food in your mouth. I can't hear you.

8/2011 (to Jason)

C: You already said that. Mom doesn't like it when you say things over and over again.

C: Dad, if you don't do this I am going to spank your bottom when we get home.*

8/2011 (Jason was teasing me in the car)
C: Mom, don't worry, I'll take care of him later.

*I have never spanked Clara, nor do I usually threaten her with that. I will ocassionally ask her if she wants to be spanked, so I suppose this is where this came from.

I love watching Clara with Hazel. One day last month, she decided she wanted to push Hazel while riding her scooter. It was entertaining, no doubt.

Phone Calls & Spontaneity

On Saturday (8.20) I got a phone call from a former client asking for help. All week. On site. I said I would if I could do short days. I called to make sure I would have someone to watch my girls. And then I started having major anxiety. What was I thinking? I've never worked with a nursing baby. I didn't know if there'd be an office for me to pump in, which would mean I'd have to do it in the bathroom (just one room, no stalls and the only bathroom for about 15 employees and patients) or in my car. Why did I think I could go from not working outside of my house to working an entire week?

On Sunday (8.21) I got a phone call from Ryan telling me about the fire sale on HP touch pads and that Amazon.com had some in stock. In a few minutes, I decided to buy one for Jason. It was such a great deal and I knew Jason would be so happy. So there I went, being spontaneous again.

On Monday (8.22) I got a phone call from my mom telling me she saw a car for us. I've been casually looking at cars for a long time (all year). I would go back and forth. I'm so practical it makes me sick sometimes. We don't need a bigger car. My car still runs great. But lately I've felt like even though we can't pay cash for a car right now, we need to be able to fit in one car when we go camping and sell my car before any major repair comes up. Not to mention how nice it will be to be able to give Clara's friends rides without having to take Hazel's base out, switch out Clara's 5-point harness seat for her booster and then spend 5 minutes buckling the girls in. The biggest hang up was finding a good car. I was 99.9% sure I wouldn't buy anything other than a Honda or Toyota. But the cars with lower mileage were out of my price range. So when my mom told me about a 2006 Toyota Sienna with 56,000 miles sitting on the side of the road, I decided we needed to look at it right away.

On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I worked 5-6 hours at my client. Holly watched the girls the first three days, Angela the last. The HR lady was gone consistently at the time I needed to pump, so I was able to use her office. Hazel wouldn't take a bottle. Not at all. But she wasn't fussy. I survived. My kids survived. The nannies survived. (I like calling them nannies... makes me sound important).

On Tuesday we decided to buy the car after taking it for a quick test drivce. I hate loans. I haven't had a car payment for 8+ years. I didn't ever want one again. But I decided it's best to take advantage of a good deal now than make do with my car and hope nothing happens to it while we save for the next 3 years. Also, I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but I'm a lot more likely to be frugal to pay down debt than I am to save extra money.

On Wednesday I got an e-mail saying our touchpad order had been cancelled. Bummer. Super bummer.

On Thursday we closed on the loan for our car. It makes me laugh that I've bought more houses than I have cars. In fact, until Thursday, it was 3:1. It's way easier buying a car. Obviously. Though I was surprised at how easy it was. They asked me a few questions and I didn't have to give them a single document. I didn't have to prove anything. They didn't even ask to see a pay stub, but were still happy to give me some money to buy our pretty new {to us} car.

On Friday, I was glad the week was over. Way too much working and way too much adventure for me in a week. I like working. But I definitely like working from home and being a mom even better.

Since I can't neglect my weekly wrap up after only one week, here are some other pictures and thoughts from the week.

The benefits of working "short days" were many and made the week much more manageable. At least half of the time I was gone, Hazel was napping and Clara was at school the first few hours. When I got home on Monday, we had some fun in the irrigation outside. Both of my girls love being outside and love water. I like to call it our redneck pool. I love that it's free and there aren't the same safety hazards as a pool. Not that we wouldn't like a pool someday, but this is a pretty great substitute for now, especially with little kids. (And behold! Hazel can sit up on her own much longer.)

While outside, Clara caught a little baby cricket. She was so excited and said, "Look! This is like my very first pet! It's my first real pet!" See how the tip of her finger looks blurry? Well, it's really her pet cricket.

I also arranged my schedule so I'd be able to take my little spazoid to school. This was easier for the nannies (there I go again!) and helped me feel less neglectful.

Jason won the Cannon Ball contest at our Ward swim party

I went to another funeral. It just breaks my heart to watch the trials some of my friends face. They are so brave and so strong.

I cleaned behind my nightstand. I'm not a slob, I promise. I just set things on my nightstand and then they "fall" behind it. "Fall" as in, they get pushed off, either by my computer or my little assistant.

And Clara found the very first chicken eggs from my mom's chickens. She was ecstatic. Her excitement still makes me smile.
Today has been a happy one. A really happy one. A perfect way to end one good week and start another.

Weekly Wrap-up

I am always going through my pictures on my phone and camera, wishing I had time to do posts on everything. Since that is totally unrealistic, I think I will try to post all my "leftover" thoughts, pictures and happenings from the previous week that I haven't recorded. I'd like to think this will become a weekly event, but since I'm not so great at commitments, we'll take it one week at a time, starting today.

On Thursday Jason called me (six times) within 30 minutes to let me know he was home from work. This was unusual because it was before 11am. Their server at work went completely out and therefore, they could not access any of their files. Since it was unlikely they'd be able to find a server big enough to purchase locally, they got sent home. That was probably the highlight of my week. Jason home unexpectedly in the middle of a day for the rest of the day on a Thursday? I got Clara from preschool, we went out to lunch and then we worked in the garage for a bit. It was fun.

Friday night we watched The Help with Ryan and Kathryn. Since the movie was starting right when I'd be needing to feed Hazel, we took her with us. I've taken her to two movies previously and she did okay. Not so much this time. I fed her in the hallway and then Jason stood in the walkway into the theater the entire movie. She fell asleep, but he didn't want to chance her waking up. I guess that's the last time she'll be going to the movies for a while. (PS I haven't read the book, but really enjoyed the movie.)

At the beginning of the year, I noticed our faucet had a tiny little drip. It would drip a few times if the faucet was on too long, so I just put a towel under it and called it good. Last week I noticed water was also now coming out of the disposal if you turned it on. Like lots of water. Plus the water from the faucet. So, we need a new disposal and are looking for a new faucet. Wouldn't you know, my favorite faucet was $527. Seriously. Who pays that much for a faucet? I don't care how much I like the look of it, I don't think I could do it. I definitely prefer the more budget-friendly practical items. Speaking of... I know that we save and budget so that when things like this come up, it's not as stressful. But I always get a little bummed when we have to use that money for something so boring as a garbage disposal.

Now that Hazel is crawling (well, gimp army crawling), it's funny to see where she ends up. Since most of the surface area she's roaming is tile, her noises are nice and loud and echoey and I can never tell exactly where she is.

I broke the first dish from our set of dishes ever. Almost 8 years and no casualties until this week. Having incomplete sets of things gives me anxiety.
I was worried we had a false sense of security regarding these little nasties since we moved in when it was cooling off and they were starting to hibernate. Fortunately, our indoor scorpion sitings has been limited (it seems we saw about 3 last year and 3 this year). I am sure it's because of Jason's effort to eradicate the little devils. (This one was in our garage and dead, just the way I like them.)
The other day Clara was so excited to show me Hazel's hair. I left them playing together and Clara put some water on it and made her a "mohawk". Ha ha.
Friday night I discovered that if I hold the spoon of food by Hazel's mouth, she'll open up and bite it after a few seconds. I guess she's okay with it if it's her idea. So far she's tried applesauce, bananas, broccoli and peas. Surprisingly, the latter were her favorite. Keep in mind this means that instead of 95% of the 5 bites I give her ending up places other than her mouth, about 90% ends up in her mouth. She still doesn't gobble up solid food.
We picked our one honey dew from the garden almost a month ago. It's been sitting in our fridge and we finally ate it for breakfast. It was delicious. Super sweet, super crunchy and super satisfying knowing it grew in our garden.
Clara called it our honeymoon. Ha ha. Do you blame her?
Beka and boys came to play. Clara and someone (Braden?) were practicing their dancing.
Last night we had some friends over for games. We had so much fun that we held them captive until almost 2am. I felt a little irresponsible, but hey, it's always fun to feel like a teenager again. When they left, this giant moth was on the wall. It was huge compared to most of the moths here. (Small compared to the bird-sized moths we saw in the Riviera Maya.)
I love taking pictures of my kids after church. They are dressed up and are usually pretty happy.
Look! She can sit up long enough to take a few pictures. Of course she does nothing to stop herself every time she topples over onto her face. I guess she'll learn someday.
Uh, usually pretty happy. Today they were pretty grumpy. I got a few pictures of Hazel looking, but this picture is a little better depiction of how they felt. At least Jason was happy and kept his hands to himself.
Clara happied up in a little bit.
I realized today Hazel hasn't got her K9's in. I misinformed you. It's her teeth on either side of the two middle teeth. The one on her left is in. I wish this one would hurry up and come in because it sure has turned Hazel into a little crab.
This never gets old.
I'm gearing up for a busy week. It will be an adventure.

Day 2 + Babbling

We cut it kind of close getting to preschool on time the first day. Being the responsible/organized/on time parent I am, we left a few minutes earlier on day 2. Roughly 5 minutes after we left, as I was gloating over my awesome self, I realized Clara's back pack never made it in the car. I totally forgot it even existed. I turned around, rushed home and rushed back to preschool. I think we were about 1 minute late. I considered that an accomplishment since having to turn around and go back cost us about 10 minutes. I brushed it off, headed home and looked forward to a repeat of Tuesday.

Tuesday was a dream. I switched Hazel to 4 feedings a day, hoping to sync her schedule a little better with preschool. I remember reading that babies don't necessarily get less to eat if you feed them a fewer number of times. After 3 days of testing this theory, I believe it since the number of minutes she spends eating is much greater than before. Anyway, on Tuesday she napped for 2 hours in the morning (so I got a ton of stuff done!), I fed her, we picked Clara up, ran some errands (i.e. visit Mom and take advantage of $1 tacos at Fil's), put Hazel down for her afternoon nap, which lasted a good two hours and then was surprised, but happy, that Hazel was so manageable those last 4 hours. Back to Wednesday. I expected a repeat of Tuesday. Wednesday was worse. Much worse. Hazel woke up an hour after I laid her down with a poopy diaper and wouldn't go back to sleep. Finally I cued in and realized she was not feeling good. I flipped up her top lip and behold, here come the K-9's. Her poor little "I" teeth looked miserable. Sad baby.

Because teething only bothered Clara at night, I gave her medicine so she'd sleep. Because I'm not always super intelligent, I didn't think to give Hazel something with the pain so she was happy during the day. Then Wednesday happened. She fell asleep in the car and would not go back to sleep for her nap. She finally went to sleep and after just over an hour, I had to wake her up to feed her so I could take Clara to her music class. I waited too long to wake her up, wanting her to get every possible minute of sleep, and then she took longer to eat than I am used to. This all added up to me being 10 minutes late to our first day of our 45 minute music class. It made me feel pretty bad. After I picked Hazel up from my mom's, she kept crying and crying at home. She was not happy no matter what. I gave her some Motrin and put her to bed at 6pm (I did wake her up around 7am to feed her one last time). She slept until 7:20am, thank goodness. Thursday I noticed that one of the teeth broke through (#5). She was much happier having one less tooth to push through her little gums. Phew. Morning nap was just over an hour, thwarted yet again by a poopy diaper and her afternoon nap was barely over and hour and a half. But I could tell she felt much better. Hopefully by next week things will go a little smoother.

Clara loves preschool, which is no different than last year. But this year she gets 3 days and 17 other kids in her class. She is silly and social but lately I've really started to see her little "class clown" personality come out a lot more. She loves to entertain and make other people laugh, especially kids. Every day she'd come home and tell me a few more friends she met. I wish I could see how she acts, treats others and interacts with everyone when I'm not around. It's been fun, but this week was tiring for Clara and I know it was an adjustment for her. By Thursday afternoon, I could tell she was just exhausted. She was grouchy and we had already invited her friend over to play, otherwise she definitely would have taken a nap. I am sure it will get easier, but at this point, I am happy we decided just to stick with school and her music class. I considered putting her in a dance class, but for now, two things is enough.

Do Your Best

As I was sitting in Church, I observed two families. One with lots of kids all sitting reverently, the other wrestling their rambunctious kids. The thought came to me that each of the families was doing their best and that's all that matters. One "best" had a different result than the other "best" and it dawned on me that doing our best isn't about the end result, it's about our effort. I couldn't think of a better theme for the new school year, even though we're still just in preschool. Always trying your hardest and never giving up seem pretty important when it comes to education, no matter her age. It doesn't matter if she does her work better than everyone, has the most friends or can run the fastest. What matters is that she always does her best, gives her best effort and tries her hardest. Making this a habit now will help her later on as her education progresses. It's also a good reminder for me. As a rather critical person and a perfectionist, I need a constant reminder to focus on and acknowledge and praise the effort not the outcome. Doing our best is far more important than being the best.

We decided to have a little celebration before my anti-committal self is totally committed. (At this point, 3 days a week feels totally committed.) I actually think this is one tradition that I think I can manage continuing. Clara requested pizza (cheese and pesto) and a cake. I added a salad for nutrition and root beer for fun. We never have soda in our house (Izze and Martinelli's don't qualify as soda, right?) so Clara thought it was the coolest thing. Dan and Karen celebrated with us. Good thing because Clara would have been pretty bored with just Jason, Hazel and me.

After dinner, we had a quick FHE lesson on doing our best. Clara got her first "back to school" Father's blessing. My dad did that every year and I don't think I fully appreciated that special blessing at the time. It really did make a difference in each school year.

Then it was time for the cake. When I say cake, I mean THE cake.

I've been wanting to make a layered cake for a long time. But that's a really awful thing for a lazy person to want to do. I decided I'd give it a shot for our special celebration. It turned out lovely! It was not as much work as I expected. Not bad at all. I am not a frosting person so I didn't put much in between the layers, but still looked pretty. It didn't have the best taste (it was okay, just not the best) but I was so fascinated by my Rainbow Brite creation, I didn't mind. Plus, now we have all met our Red Dye 40 quota for the next year with all the food coloring consumed in just one piece.

Today was Clara's first day of school. The last few months I have been so glad I signed her up for preschool. Then last night, I started having a little panic attack. Leaving her at a stranger's house for 2 and a half hours suddenly sounded like a really horrible thing. Who came up with that idea anyway? If you really think about school, it's a little bit crazy. Just take your kids somewhere and leave them with people you've met once or twice with a bunch of other kids you've never met. Obviously I think about things too much, obviously she'll be safe and obviously this is an important step for both of us as we prepare for Kindergarten next year. I am glad she's in preschool, but still. It's hard for me to watch her grow up.

As Jason was leaving for work, he asked me what I was doing today. Pretty much my only goal was to get Clara to school on time. Success. And I even managed to make bacon (I cooked it in the oven... why haven't I been doing this for the last ten years??), eggs and toast too. When I dropped Clara off, she didn't say bye or give me a hug. She just got lost in the shuffle of the other kids and obediently went to the classroom. That's Clara. I know she loves me, but we have no attachment issues with her, that's for sure.

She had so much fun and had a huge smile on her face when I picked her up. Her favorite thing she did was eat snacks. She met three new friends: Courtney, Annie and Bobbi. She learned that "if there is anything in your nose that bothers you, you can use a tissue to get it out, then just wash your hands".

It's gonna be a fun year.

Little Darlings

When Clara was a baby, I thought I'd remember all her milestones and the funny things she did. In the moment, they seemed unforgettable. I remember a few, but mostly, if it isn't written down, the memory passes with time. I wonder if my memory goes twice as fast now that it seems time is moving in double time. Just in case, here's a little update on my darlings.

Clara.

It's amazing, entertaining and hysterical to watch the thought process of a four year old mind. Last month she said, "Mom, did you know McDonald's has ice cream that is church ice cream?" I didn't understand at first. She said, "They really do. It's like church ice cream." Then I realized she was referring to their sundaes. Apparently "church" and "Sunday" are synonymous when you're four.

Last week after church we had the following conversation:

C: Did you know people are born all kinds of ways? Some people are born with red hair because their grandma might have red pants.

M: Huh?

C: My teacher told me.

M: Maybe she was talking about something else.

C: No, she really said that if the grandma wears red pants, they might have red hair.

As I started to explain to her that our hair color is determined by our genes, I realized that's what her teacher had said. However, when Clara heard "gene" she pictured a pair of red pants.

Clara is still in her own little world pretty much all the time. She's always Sonic or a hero or this or that. She still "reads" books out loud for hours and hours. I love listening to her stories, the words she uses and her tone of voice. It's so sweet. She still loves helping me around the house. She rarely, if ever, complains about doing her jobs. She does get mysteriously sick and tired often in the middle of cleaning her room and needs to rest frequently.

I've noticed she's starting to mature emotionally. When she does something wrong, especially towards others, and I talk to her about it, I can tell she feels remorseful. Before it seemed like she didn't fully grasp the fallout of a bad decision.

I de-junked her room on last week. I find myself less attached with each round of de-junking. I threw a bunch of stuff out and we gave an entire box of books and toys to my mom to give to a family in her Ward. I was happy to discover that Clara was much more generous selecting things to give away when I told her about this family that probably didn't have a lot of money for books and toys. If we are just giving it to DI or the garbage man, she's a little more stingy. It made me smile to see her willing to give up a few of her favorite books and some cherished toys for someone less fortunate.

Clara's sleeping issues have mostly gone away. Every now and then she wakes up and comes into our room, but it's no longer preceded by terrified crying. Moving and adding Hazel really seemed to intensify her night terrors, sleep walking and vivid dreams. There was too much going on and it really affected her sleep. Now she is back to her 11-12 hours of uninterrupted sleep (assuming I'm responsible enough to get her into bed between 7:30apm and 8:30pm).

She talks to everyone like she's their mother, even Jason. We're working on that one, you know, trying to get her to worry about herself first. She is very social and has no problem striking up conversation with anyone wherever we go. Kids at a playground, servers at a restaurant, nurses at the doctor's, etc., etc. She is a good eater and tells people she loves watermelon and Taco Bell just like her dad. She loves raw vegetables and definitely prefers her broccoli, carrots and tomatoes to be raw. For breakfast she loves oatmeal. Often, she'll request that it be uncooked in milk. No sugar, no cinnamon, nothing by rolled oats and a little milk.

Clara is trying desperately to learn how to whistle, unbuckled and took Hazel out of her seat (safely) today, helps me bake and cook and is learning to wash her hair by herself. As Clara gets older, it seems she says funny things less often. Fortunately, quality has replaced quantity, especially when it comes to prayers. Lately Clara has been saying really long, thoughtful prayers that leave Jason and I choking back laughter and burying our faces in her bed to muffle our childish giggles.

She's been obsessed with praying for Grandmas lately, as is evidenced by this 7.31.11 prayer:

Please bless Hazel that she won't suffocate and die or get stung or get aten by lightening. Please bless Grandmas that are really, really old that they will be safe if a storm comes. Please bless 20 people and 10 people and 6 people and 3 people and 4 people and 5 people and 6 people. Please bless that there won't be any more tornadoes in the land. We're thankful for light and that we can breathe. Please bless my Grandma that's really, really old that lives in Taylor but not my Grandma Penrod* that she will be safe in the storm and that no tornado will get her.

*Obviously she wasn't saying not to bless Grandma Penrod, just wanting to make sure Heavenly Father knew which Grandma she was talking about, Great Grandma Penrod.

My mom is trying to downsize her toy collection. To help, she let the grandkids pick out things they wanted. Clara picked some horses and this hippopotamus. I laughed so hard when she told me their names. (I know technically "potamous" is spelled wrong, but I'm not about to re-do it. Especially since it's a name so we can spell it however we want, right? :))

Hazel.

Hazel's fourth tooth broke through Sunday, August 7th (was that really only a week ago?). She definitely teeths differently than Clara did. Clara wasn't fussy during the day while teething. The night before a tooth broke through, she'd wake up an hour after I laid her down, an hour after that and then an hour after that, when I'd usually give her something to deal with the pain. Hazel? She is just really crabby during the day several days before the tooth breaks through. Not to mention the timing. At this point, Clara still didn't have a single tooth and Hazel has four.

Hazel can sit up for a little bit (a very little bit - like 5 seconds) unassisted, but I don't dare move my hands further than a few inches away from her. At a moment's notice, she will face plant. The last few days she has finally started moving by means other than rolling. A few weeks ago, she tried really hard to move forward and scooted herself backwards. However, until recently she'd rather stick both arms and legs straight out, rest on her belly and scream for someone to pick her up. Last week and into the beginning of this week, she finally started pushing herself forward with her feet a little more. It was funny because she'd push herself onto her arms and they'd be stuck under her until she rolled over. In the past few days, she's started pushing with her feet and pulling with her arms, so she can move forward more than a few inches. Today I got a video of her crawling a few feet. Clara was army crawling everywhere at 6 months. I am okay that Hazel isn't that mobile yet. It's going to be a lot more work to baby proof this house, not to mention the hoards of tile.

Hazel has the funniest personality. She thinks I'm hilarious when I shake my head side to side and she'll copy me. Jason will pat his mouth and make a noise to sound like an Indian (do you know what I'm talking about?) Then he'll stop and Hazel will open her mouth and make a noise for Jason to pat her mouth. It's pretty cute. She'll also make a noise and rub her whole hand past her mouth, which makes the noise or will pull her lip with her finger making the "brrbrr" noise. She is very playful and gets so excited to see Jason come home from work. He made the comment that he doesn't remember Clara doing that and I reminded him it's because when Clara was this age, he wasn't around much. He was working full time and going to school full time. There would be days that he never even got to see Clara. I'm glad we're past that phase of life. :)

Hazel yells from 6-8pm if she doesn't get 150% of my attention. I do not remember Clara being like this in the evenings. I think it could have to do with the fact that Clara played on the floor a lot more than Hazel for the simple fact that we had carpet and now we just have tile in the family room and I don't like laying her in the living room where I can't see her. Until recently, I would never lay Hazel down. Now I have a blanket I put her on, but still. Back to the yelling, it kind of makes me feel crazy. She doesn't cry, just yells. Despite the heat, a walk to the mail box is a guaranteed way to calm her. I'm looking forward to cooler weather so a.) our walks can be longer and b.) Hazel and Clara aren't all sweaty when we get back home.

Hazel is still not interested in her solid food. Some days, I don't even try, especially after she regresses. She does, however, find complete fulfillment in blowing bubbles into every mass of food I attempt to put in her mouth via spoon. I am feeding her five times a day, am anxious to move her to four, but will until I can get her to eat more solids. Which won't be any time soon if she continues to put more of the food on her face/neck/clothes than in her mouth.

Hazel doesn't sleep as long at night as Clara did, but part of that is because I never had to "sleep train" her. After a few weeks, she'd sleep 5 hours straight, a few more weeks another hour, until about 6 weeks I'd only have to wake up once in a 10 hour period or so. (I really kind of feel like I skipped the whole newborn phase because of this.) When she started waking up early, I didn't really know what to do. I didn't have to do anything to get her to a good point, so I didn't know what to do to get her back. I'd always justify why it was okay to feed her, whether she was sick or we were out of town. Anyway, I need her to sleep until at least 7am. Clara's day normally started around 8am, but now that we are actually going to have to be places in the morning, I think we'll shoot for a 7:30ish time. The past three days, we've made it, so that is good.

Look alike, don't look alike, look alike, don't look alike. Clara and Hazel looked very different when they were born. I still don't think they look very much alike. However, sometimes I see pictures of Clara and think I see similarities. Maybe they look like sisters? I wonder if they really look alike or if it is their mannerisms or if they are just making a common baby expression that creates the similarity.

Hazel today (8.14.2011)

Clara August 2007

I love these girls so much I could scream. Ahhh! I do scream sometimes since I can't contain all my love for them in one little heart. And squeezing, kissing and hugging doesn't ever seem to be enough to adequately express that love.

A Little Catch Up

I don't know why the last few weeks have felt so busy, but for whatever reason, I'm glad it's the weekend. Wednesday was busy, but that was a little out of the ordinary. Thursday was a little more representative of what most of the other days were like. I did a little cleaning, made meals and went to Home Depot but then relaxed all afternoon while Hazel napped and Clara played the computer. I have a charmed life. I did a few other things during the week but nothing that justifies me feeling exhausted.

Maybe I felt busy because these two cute kids were in town.

Niece Alexis and nephew Justin flew in Tuesday the 2nd. I briefly saw them a few days later and then we left. After we came back on Saturday, we went to the Mekong Plaza and did a little shopping. Who needs to travel to The Orient when you have an awesome Asian market 10 minutes away? Not I. The candies and snacks were fascinating, but I'm pretty sure this Jack Fruit takes the cake on oddness.
On Sunday we had dinner at our house, but I just did the main dish and had everyone help with sides and dessert. On Monday my mom and I swapped cars so I could take the kids to the movie while she had a meeting. It made me anxious for a bigger car. Clara played in the splash area by the theater for a bit before heading home.
Hazel and I sweated profusely.
Today, Friday, was fun busy. We dropped some orange scones off at my mom's for her birthday (Happy Birthday again mom!) and Clara gave her the card she made. (She thought she was so clever for using the tail on the Y in birthday for the E in love).

Then I had lunch with my friend Katy. Since I've felt like my kids have been farmed out enough this week, tonight was family date night. We spent the night with Landry, Keirsten, Jordyn and Ethan. Dinner at Honey Bears BBQ and then Fiddlesticks (that place is pretty sketchy, I'm not sure we'll go back). The boys hit golf balls
Hazel enjoyed the backpack (especially since we didn't have the stroller)
and the moms and kids played inside for a bit. Which is where Clara learned tickets do no belong in the token slots and I realized places like that should probably be illegal like ponzi schemes. Think about it. You trade a dollar for four tokens with no value. The tokens are inserted into games that may or may not work. If they work, they spit out tickets, even more worthless than tokens. And with said tickets, you can barter for garbage, worth even less than paper. I shouldn't be so cynical, but who's idea was it to have people trade for things of lesser and lesser value? Aren't we supposed to "trade up"? Thank goodness these girls loved their prizes. I guess those smiles are priceless, so maybe it's not so ponzi after all.
For the grand finale, I took Jordyn and Clara on the bumper boats. They laughed and giggled and squealed and loved every minute.

For the Record (that may or may not matter in 100 years)

6:30am - Hit snooze on my phone

6:35am - Alarm goes off again, decided to be responsible and get up instead of wait for my second alarm at 6:45

6:35am - Get ready

7:15am - Feed Hazel

7:30am - Mom picks up Hazel (it worked out that she was heading home from the store, which saved me a trip to her house - perfect timing)

7:38am - Wake Clara up and help her get dressed

7:40am - Leave for Clara's Dentist appointment

8:05am - Clara drinks sedative (and then tells me for the next hour, "I'm sleepy" but never passes out); I wonder how parents deal with surgeries, life-threatening illnesses, etc. I got worked up over a simple oral sedative for dental work. It's just hard to watch your kid be out of it.

9:40am - They come get Clara (they were running behind...)

9:45am - Clara's teeth get worked on, I get to sit and watch and ask the Dentist 100 questions (he assured me it didn't bother him); 4 fillings, no silver cap, just the results we prayed for

10:25am - Pay for the pretty fillings and head to my mom's

10:45am - Find Hazel sound asleep at my mom's (what a relief!)

11:15am - Feed Hazel

11:30am - Go to Relief Society "Back to School" brunch with Hazel - Clara would rather watch TV at Grandma's

12:30pm - Back to Grandma's to get Clara and go to Sprout's

1:15pm - Feed Hazel and put her down for a long afternoon nap so I can make dinner (ha ha ha)

1:30pm - Play playdough with Clara

2:30pm - Hazel wakes up (and does not go back to sleep. at. all.)

5:50pm - Finally finish dinner, only 20 minutes behind schedule despite my nap defying screamer (yes her, that pretty little girl down there)

5:55pm - Discover Hazel under all these toys in her swing, a sock on one foot and tape on the other (Clara cracks me up - she told me she gave her some blocks. I didn't realize that meant she gave her every single block.)

5:58pm - Load up the car to take food to someone

6:02pm - Deliver food... except for the dessert, standing in their doorway, I realized I left that at home (awesome!)

6:09pm - Return with dessert (that Jason later ate, made a disgusted face and asked, "What is this?" Hmmm, hope they enjoyed it, ha ha)

6:15pm - Feed Hazel

6:30pm - Eat dinner and let Hazel blow in her rice cereal a few times

7:00pm - Put Hazel to bed

7:05pm - Begin cleaning kitchen

7:25pm - Relinquish Clara from finishing emptying the dishwasher, she's exhausted and asks to go to bed; she had a long morning.

7:30pm - Put Clara to bed (Clara prayed for: "no hurricane to get us", "no tornado to come upon us", "no stranger to get Hazel and no hurricane to go by her room")

7:45pm - Clean kitchen with Jason

8:00pm - Hazel wakes up

8:30pm - Feed Hazel and put her back to bed

9:00pm - Blog

I'm going to bed at 10:00pm. I have a pounding headache and I'd rather wake up early to work then do anything tonight.

But first, can someone explain to me why I feel like a whirlwind goes through my kitchen whenever I make dinner for someone? No joke, this is what my kitchen looks like every time I make dinner for someone. Tonight was no exception (although you can't tell the severity from this picture). It doesn't look like this when I just make dinner for our family, so I don't know what's going on. If you have the answer, let me know.

Cibola Vista Resort

Last December I got suckered into signing up for a time share presentation in Peoria. We were asked to provide $100 and 2 hours of our time, they provided $125 in Bass Pro gift cards and a 2-night stay at their resort. Since I knew we could use a little vacation for our family and that Jason would gladly spend the Bass Pro $$, I obliged. We went last weekend and had a fun little getaway weekend. A few days before we left I warned Jason: I hope you're not expecting to do anything, because basically I'm planning on sitting around all weekend. Of course I couldn't handle sitting around doing nothing all weekend, but pretty close. We left Thursday night and came back Saturday afternoon. I'd do it again, which for me means, it was worth it. We watched TV, swam, shopped, ate and enjoyed pretending like we were far from home. Clara said her favorite thing was watching TV all day. I found that rather funny since on Friday, we spent 2 hours at the presentation and she was at the pool for at least 3 hours. But, several hours of TV felt like all day to her, since at most she gets to watch a movie at home.

Funniest moment: watching Jason sit on the head of the sofa pull out bed (where Clara was sleeping) and seeing the foot of the bed raise about 4 inches off the ground. (See picture below, although it doesn't do it justice.)

Most startling moment: seeing a bug (I think it was a small sun spider) run past me as I was about to step in the shower. I screamed so loud Jason thought I was being eaten by a monster. Please tell me I'm not the only one that feels extra vulnerable unclothed.

Scariest moment: choking. I must have inhaled just after I bit down on my food and a piece of egg from my breakfast sandwich lodged into my throat. We were in the car and I couldn't breath, couldn't talk and after unsuccessfully trying to cough the thing out, I pointed to my back. Jason reached over to administer a mini-heimlich thrust and up came the egg. Maybe he made it come up, maybe he didn't, but it sure sounds romantic to say he saved my life. (Later that night he said, "You owe me, I saved your life.")

Most uncomfortable moment: sitting on Clara's bed (the sofa bed). I first compared the mattress to a collection of springs covered by a mattress pad. I think that was too generous.

The funny thing about this picture is that I unknowingly changed the setting when I turned the camera to angle it. I know how to do the color accent, but I spent hours trying to figure out how to accent multiple colors (back when I first bought my camera). I never figured it out. But apparently I did last weekend.
Jason didn't complain when I asked him to take pictures of me with the girls.
(Note to self: do not allow husband to take pictures while wearing polarized glasses.)

I let Clara paint her nails all by herself. She did pretty good.
Foot of bed being elevated...
We decided to take advantage of our geographical location and stopped by Lake Pleasant before heading home. It was my first time being there. Hazel looked at me like this in every family picture. You would have thought she had never seen me before by the way her eyes were affixed on me.
Not quite as good as Dippin' Dots, but still fun.
I finally got rid of my sunglasses that have had a lose lens for nearly 2 years. The lens was easy to pop right back in to my broken frames, but a few weeks ago, the lens went missing. Someone probably stole it to make me give in an buy new glasses.
We drove up to Anthem for a little shopping before returning home. Even though we were only about 50 miles away, it felt like we were in a different state. It was easy packing knowing we'd be so close to home and knowing exactly what type of weather we'd experience. The presentation wasn't as bad as the last one I remember going to and it was a nice excuse to spend some time with our little family.