Juggle

Juggling.... a loosing battle?
I've been trying to figure out a daily schedule for us and somehow I can't seen to keep on top of everything. I let my morning exercise slide the past two weeks and tried to focus more on organizing and laundry and other chores. By the end of the day when the girls were asleep I didn't have the motivation or energy to do evening chores-- kitchen clean up etc. I've felt very sluggish and tired in the evenings partly because I had a couple of bad nights sleep in a row. I think it is also from lack of exercise.

So this morning I started exercising again. Even though we went to bed too late last night I still feel fine at 3pm. Mark and I have a date tonight to see Harry Potter. Hopefully I won't be dragging then. I think I will have more energy to finish chores in the evening and then be able to start the next day with the house in order if I can keep up with the morning exercises.

I am falling more and more in love with Emily all the time. She is so sweet and happy and curious. She wants to explore everything and is trying to figure out how to crawl. She is able to move several feet by rolling and scooting.

Upcoming events:
Claire has her first swim lesson tomorrow.
Claire has an eval by a physical therapist from the Egoscue method next week.
I plan to take her to the pediatrician about frequent wheeziness and coughing.
Emily's first birthday is next Friday.

cute baby videos

Emily is cute...



The first video was in Arizona. The babbling in the background is actually her older sister.

Second video in California this morning.

sing of summer

The air conditioner is singing baritone in the window behind me as I type and its after 8 and still 79 degrees at the other end of the house where we adults sleep. The kids room has its own air conditioner keeping it a cool 74°F.

Yesterday it was also hot, so while Jen and Emily were at the Mom's Book Group, it was "Date With Daddy Saturday" during which Claire and I swam in the inflatable pool in the back yard. I noticed Claire singing for the first time. Just the first line of "Old MacDonald had a Farm", then she'd revert to Sprechstimme for the next line. Just floating aimlessly in a warm pool brings out interesting conversation. Claire reached out and touched my back and said, "Thank you, God, for Daddy's back." The girls had been praying for my back last week since I was in such pain after the drive back from Arizona. Then I noticed that my back was indeed feeling better. The prayers of the righteous [innocent] availeth much...

Thankfully, we have been able to keep away most commercial advertisement from our Daughters. But some merchandise is just so ubiquitous, and anyway, "Dora The Explorer" seems innocent enough. She has recently had pull- ups with Dora on them. Which leads to my next anecdote...
Placating the kids is sometimes quite a challenge. Quick-thinking skills are quite in demand. For example last month I was sent to the store to get "pull-ups" which are like stretchy diapers supposedly geared towards helping with potty-training. So I grab the first ones on the shelf which covered the appropriate size by weight. Getting them home, we open them and Claire wants to try one right away. Jen says to me, "but you got blue for boys!" and indeed there was a cartoon car pictured prominently bordered in blue. But instantly switching gears, she turned to Claire and said, "Look, its Dora's car!" (Claire was first exposed to Dora at the gym where she had therapy because they had a Dora doll there. She has never seen the show.)

summer

Claire is so excited about learning to play catch. She likes to use the small volleyball that came with our portable badminton set and stands about 2-3 feet from the person she's throwing to.

Claire is working on learning to share toys.

Claire and Emily are both loving our new backyard pool. hygt565b btfrf (That last bit was Emily typing.)Pictures soon....

First Tooth

Emily's first tooth appeared on July 11th. She had a little fussiness and lack of naps but didn't seem to have too much trouble with it. I think she is working on number 2 now.
Both girls went to the cardiologist today. Emily had two small holes on hear heart and one of them has healed up. The other is very small and not problematic.. The doctor wants Claire to have surgery in the next year... maybe in the fall. He is going to consult with the surgeons at Children's hospital.

Emily also went to NICU follow up today and she is doing well for her adjusted age. She is ahead on fine motor skills and on target for the rest. They suggested having her stand and play more often. We have a music table that she likes. She stood at if on her own for quite a while this afternoon before she lunged into my arms.

Emily is still sleeping really well at night usually she wakes up once and re-settles herself. She hasn't been napping much unless I take walks with her in the pack.

Claire has been sleeping through the night most nights though last night she woke up wheezing and coughing at about 4 am. I gave her some medicine and rocked with her until it took effect.

rolling

Emily's main method of locomotion is rolling. She occasionally scoots by laying on her back lifting her tush and pushing with her feet. She has also on occasion scooted forward on her tummy if she is on a slick surface.
Her current favorite thing to say is "Ba". She likes to say it ad have it repeated every time she says it. What a fun game!

Claire has been going without tights for almost a week now. She has a few scratch marks but is doing really well considering her extreme itchiness of the past. She is glad to be rid of her tights. She has also been wearing short sleeves for over a month and doing well controlling her scratching. Thanks be to God.

We are enjoying time with my family and celebrated my grandma's birthday last night.
Love to Grammy in Oklahoma who is also celebrating a birthday this week.

Emily sleeps

Emily continues to get through the night without any help from mom. She wakes up 1-3 times for a minute or so and re-settles herself. She is taking a 2 hour nap and a shorter nap most days. Three cheers for Emily.

Claire is learning to say, "May I please" instead of "I want" and learning to accept when the answer is "No." I am also intentionally giving her lots of opportunities to practice patience. I realized that she is constantly interrupting me and I hardly get anything done so Claire is learning to wait for what she wants and ask again later.


My morning schedule has gone out the window. I have to figure out what to do all over again. Emily has been sleeping till 7:15-7:40. And I wake up with lot's of milk and uncomfortable. So for now I have to either wake her up a little earlier or do some pumping until my body adjusts. Also I was exercising first thing in the morning before Mark leaves for work but that went out the window until today when I resumed. I did go on Saturday for a long walk at the wetlands at Huntington beach with church friends carrying Claire in the Ergo about a quarter of the way. None of this has amounted to any weight loss.