Potty Trainig Day1

Start off the day trying to convince the toddler she wants to wear a pull-up. Not easy. Finally the dad has a GREAT idea about just letting her run around with anything on. Not even 5 minutes after he leaves for work, the toddler reports that she has peed in her sisters floor. Nice. Score one for the toddler.

Put on a diaper, go to Target. Come home and she wants some marshmallows that I bought. I tell her, they are treats for big girls who use the potty. Excitement! She goes and produces one tiny poop ball. YAY!! It's something. She does this about 5 or 6 times, insisting that we empty out the potty chair EVERY time. She gets distracted. Give me 2 points.

Piper takes a nap, we make Piper's first food. Pears, if you were curious. Decides she wants another treat. We go to the potty. She proceeds to pull down her pull up. Warning to those who are about to start this journey. Check the pull up first. It was not pretty. The funny thing...she tries to convince me it deserves a treat. Wipe away all of mom's points give them to toddler plus one. Score is now toddler 4, Mom 0.

Fast forward to me being on the phone with my aunt telling her about our day. Alli decides again to try to use the potty. YAY!! All on her own! She actually tinkles! WooHoo! Bad part is, she pulled out the dump thingy and tried to empty it into Lilly's (our kitten's) water bowl. NOT sure what she was thinking, but I'm pretty sure she understands we don't do that.

All the while a teething Piper is fussing and thinking she needs mom to jump at every squall.

So the end of Potty Training Day 1--the Toddler is winning and the mom is wishing she could pay somebody to do it for her.

Hello and Merry CHRISTMAS!!

I know, I have not been my usual blogging self lately. I'll try to put up some pictures soon!

The girls and I got back today from Christmasing with my family. We came home with about 12 or so new outfits a piece for them. I totally could not take a stab at toys....at least 15 each. Numerous hugs, kisses, some new pajamas for mom and dad, few new movies, new set of pots and pans. (THANK YOU, Dustin and Rachel!!!) Some $$ to do whatever with. It was a good time, but as usual travelling without my husband makes me appreciate him even more.

I totally could NOT do the single parenting thing. I am very glad that we will be staying home for Christmas. No family on Christmas day, just us!! WooHoo!! Michael's family will be coming up on the 26th and 27th and we will do our Christmasing with them. I'm glad our travelling is finished. I was blessed with a good trip there and back. Piper slept the whole of both trips. Today I MIGHT have made the 3 hour drive in exactly 2 1/2. There was only 1 "oh poo" moments with a Hi-Po on the turnpike.

So now, all our goods that Allisyn has not packed out is all camping out in the dinning room until I get around to trying to find new homes for everything. Good times!!

I hope everyone has a very MERRY CHRISTMAS. I wish you all lots of peace as you open those horrendous packages and possibly have to deal with those who do not always bring out the best in you!! Can't wait to hear all the wonderful stories and see the pictures!!

4 month stats

Miss Piper had her 4-month checkup today. This was the first appointment with shots that I have had to go to without Michael. I know, I have been very spoiled. Thankfully, it went very well. Allisyn was NOT easy to get up and get going, but we did make it in plenty of time. In fact, we were in the exam room 17 minutes before our appointment time!!

Piper is weighing it at 15 lbs and 6 oz, which puts her into the 75-90 percentile. She is measuring in at 26 and 1/4 inches, placing her in the 97-100 percentile. Long and skinny! Alli was always long and chunky!

The shots actually went well. She got more upset at being held down and stopped crying as soon as I picked her up. She fell asleep quickly after, and we had a pretty good day.

The Holidays

Haa Haa, I just posted a blog with nothing but a title. I'm editing to fix it right now. Then I deleted part of my blog with one click. I'm so computer savvy sometimes, I scare me.

It's that time of year again....the HOLIDAYS. I have love/hate feeling for the holidays. I love what the season is suppose to be. Celebrating Christ and spending time with family. I love the grandparents getting excited over grandkids excitement. Though I'm not huge fan of all the stuff we have to take home because of it. I love Mississippi Mud and lasagna, and other family traditions. I love seeing Allisyn get excited about the little things. I love Piper stare at the tree when we walk by. I love that we are going to be making our own traditions.

On the flip side,I hate the consumerism of the holiday. I hate seeing Christmas stuff up in July. I hate the stress of finding the perfect gift for people who really don't care. I hate having to act like I REALLY like the old lady sweatshirt. I hate how mean people get when they are shopping. So when your out and about doing your holiday shopping this season, be sure to be nice to the cashiers out there who have to take all the abuse from the the people who forget what the season is really about.

Pictures

I had to clear out my card before we left so I decided to go ahead and put up some pictures before I left!

I'm still here

I know I haven't blogged much lately. Not really sure why. Everytime I go to blog, I decide that I really don't have anything important to say....

My last blog was about how I was glad to be home and this on is about how I don't want to leave home! HAHA! The girls and I are heading out this afternoon to my families. Michael will be joining us Friday night. Good times!

Allisyn has been telling me all morning about how she wants to see Pap-paw. I keep telling her we will see him tomorrow, but she still wants to see him RIGHT now.

Piper has found her toes. It is really cute. I will have to post pictures. When Allisyn found her toes she would bend over to them. Piper brings hers up to her mouth while she is laying down.

I went to see Twilight. The evening was good because I got to go out with some wonderful people. The movie...let's just say it left a LOT to be desired. I have been told it is better the second time around and I get to find out.... Why, you ask? Because that is what my little sister wants for her 21st birthday present. For me to go see it with her again. I'm not sure who said that my sister could turn 21, but we need to have a serious conversation.

Anyway I will be gone for just under a week. I hope everyone out there has a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!!!

Glad to be home!

So the girls and I went to stay with my family for a few days. Michael thought he was going to be working a couple of days of doubles. He ended up just working one, but we decided to go ahead and go stay with my family. It was good and bad.

The good was getting to see family. On Thursday we spent the day at the farm. My grandpa and step-grandma had a full house. My daddy, aunt Kathy, aunt Lea and her two boys, me and my 2 girls got to enjoy some wonderful food and great times! We got to pick some pecans, go for tractor rides. Allisyn got to see cows and Pap-paw's new horse. It was good times.

Wed, Thurs, and Friday afternoon we hung out with Katy and Mam-maw. Thursday we got to see my grandma. We missed out on getting to spend time with just her on our last trip, so it was really nice.

We always stay with my Aunt Sandy. She is really great about helping me out. Like at 145 in the morning when both girls are crying and needing attention. Luckily that only happened once. Piper was a great sleeper like always for the rest of the time. Allisyn, on the other hand....let's just say we could use some divine intervention.

I got to hang out with my sister some. We went in search of an Entertainment Weekly. The podunk towns of OK do not seem to carry them. It is featuring Twilight this week. She is an BIG fan of all things Twilight. It was good to spend time with her. We left the girls with my mom and Aunt Sandy. They did the unspeakable and went and got my grandmother. I do everything I can to not submit my daughters to the torture that comes along with being around her. Yes, I know that sounds horrible, but I promise you, it is for the well-being of my children.

So we had a pretty good trip for the most part. After a rough drive back, we are very glad to be back home with Michael, and he is glad to have us back. I wish he would have cleaned up a bit, but he is a guy right?

A quick catch up

Yes, I know I just posted 5 posts of pictures. Did you look at them at all? I'm catching up for slacking off with posting pictures. I have actually posted the last 3 picture posts with a sleeping Piper in my arms. Not an easy task.

Halloween went well. Allisyn did where her costume! As you can see in the pictures. Piper of course wore hers. She isn't at an age where she fights on too much. Just the car seat. She has started arching her back when we put her in. She will arch even more when she wants you to get her out of it. It is really cute.

Yesterday Allisyn had a pretty rough day. She decided it would be fun to go roar at a sleeping Paju. Hopefully she will remember the pain of getting scratched by Paju's back claws and won't do it again. Then she decided she was coordinated enough to carry some of her dishes down the stairs from her kitchen. She was about 4 steps down when she lost her balance and tumbled down. I walked in as she was falling. She got her first goose egg. It actually went down pretty quickly.

We are going to be going up to stay with my family for a few days. Michael is picking up some doubles and he works evenings until Sunday. I can honestly say that I don't really want to go. I'm not looking forward to the travelling alone, but I know it will be easier on Michael and Alli. Michael so he can sleep. Alli so she can have interaction with other people instead of just mom. That and if there was a day when Michael was gone for over 14 hours. She would NOT want to go to bed any time soon after he got home.

Anyway, I may not blog while I'm gone, but I should have more pictures when I get back. If I get around to posting them. Now I gotta go, my arm is screaming because it is asleep from holding Piper in the same position for so long!

Pictures 5--Piper

These were taken about an hour ago. Allisyn was napping so she had Daddy's attention all to herself. She was just a laughing and smiling at us! She is now 12 weeks old! Where did the time go?

First time in the jumparoo!

Of course Allisyn thought she had to help!

Pictures4--Halloween

Again, the pictures our not in the order I want, but oh well. This was at Haunt the Zoo.

Piper got tired and passed out on us!

One of the pictures with the head piece up.

In the long line.

Who wants to look at dad when there is so much other stuff to look at?

Did I mention how thrilled I was that she wore the costume? I was elated!

Not on my head!!

Pictures 3 - Alli

Hanging with Dad!

My new teeth!

Cheese!

Their favorite state of dress. I'm in trouble!

Pictures 2!!

I can't get the pictures to move where I want them so they are out of order. This is at the Children's Museum. Michael took them there by himself and I met them there.

This was at home. She was sitting in the chair talking to me!

A trip to the zoo with a bunch a friends from church. I think someone said there were 20 kids total. It was a good time!

We were trying to get a picture of them all, but it really didn't work out!

At the Children's Museum! She had a lot of fun!

They were in jail. Allisyn thinks whenever Michael kneels down to be on her leve, she has to get on her knees too.

Taken on a family zoo trip. It seemed like she would have been really uncomfortable in the position she was in, but she slept in the sling for a while that way.

Riding the little train with Daddy.

Napping on the couch.

Napping on mom's pillow.

Pictures!!

So 213 pictures later, I am finally uploading the pictures from my camera to the computer. HeeHee. Sorry it has taken so long. There will probably be a few posts of pictures so be sure to look at them all!
I don't know how many times a day I have to tell Allisyn to get off her sister! Usually Piper doesn't seem to mind.

Pretty girl!

I'm not looking at the camera, mom!

They absolutely adore each other!

Piper really isn't wanting kisses right now, but you can't ever convince Alli of that.

Why?

Thankfully Michael was off on Monday. Why was Monday the best day for him to be off this week? Because Forrest ripped out his stitches to his surgical incision and had to be knocked back out and sewn back up. Good times. We now have an E-collar. Why they thought he would leave it alone, I don't know.

If you have never seen an clumsy dog in an E-collar, your missing out. Except when your 2-year-old stands in between him and the door on his way out. She had to go all the way out before she could come back in. She wasn't too happy about it, but it was kind of funny.

You can see Allisyn's teeth when she smiles! I'm still getting used to it. So far she has yet to put on her Halloween costume. I don't think she quite gets it. We took her to the Disney store to see if she wanted to pick out a princess, and she didn't. So we went to Toys R Us and Michael decided she could be a flower. I wouldn't be surprised if we never get her into it....but whatever. At our fall carnival at church, she wasn't into it at all. She didn't take any candy. Which is kind of nice to see after her surgery.

Oh well, if she doesn't wear the costume, it won't be the first article of clothing bought and never worn.

It is over!

This morning little miss Sunshine decided she was going to wake up at 515. She went back to sleep after an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but we were not thrilled. Waking her up to get her ready to go the hospital was far from pleasant. We got there and got her signed in. She did NOT want the ID bracelet put on. They ended up putting it on her leg. They gave her a bear and one for Piper. It was cute because she said "I want 2 bears." Then she tried to grab all 5 colors. She got mad when we told her she had to put some back.

She was ok in the waiting room looking for birds out the window. When they called us back to pre-op she was less than thrilled. She again did NOT want to put the gown on. She cried and again wanted her ID bracelet off. They got her 02 levels by letting Michael put in on her finger. When Dr. Doan came in, Allisyn didn't want much to do with her, or her tech, or the nurse. The anesthesiologist chooses not to give them a sedative before taking them back. It makes it easier for them to come around but harder for them and mom's when they have to say good-bye. Yes, I cried.

Then Michael ran to get us some food because we didn't want to eat in front of her since she couldn't have anything. As soon as he got back the nurse called us and told us that she had went under fine without any complications. Then we waited.

Finally the tech came out and went over the to dos and not to dos. Then they came and got us. As soon as we got into the hall, I could hear her saying, "I want my daddy." She was really wanting the IV out of her hand. As soon as I picked her up and held her she said "I want this off." Of course we couldn't take it off. I didn't get to hold her very long before she noticed Daddy had Piper and she wanted her daddy back.

We tried to get her to drink some juice or water, and she would not. Part of it was her still waking up, part of it was her being her little stubborn self. So after an hour 1/2 they called the anesthesiologist and Dr. Doan. The anesthesiologist came by and said he was fine with her going home. Dr. Doan finally called back and said she was ok with it too.

So they took the IV out. She was saying that it hurt. As soon as it was out and she was dressed and ready to go, she started to drink the juice! The nurses got a kick out of that. So now we are home and she is sleeping. She was in a pretty good mood on the way and when we got home, so that was good to see.

Miss Piper did absolutely wonderful! Thanks for all the prayers this week!

2 blogs in 1 day?

Shocking, I know. Just updating that Forrest's surgery went well. He is now home and resting in his crate. Vet said he did very well and it seems like this should work! Now for the task of keeping him quiet for 6 weeks....

My Brother Rocks!

I would link to their blog, but they don't keep up with it. I think they tried to claim that there life was very interesting or something. This was around the time when they got to take care of Allisyn for 2 days! Anyway this is NOT about picking on him for not keeping up with his blog. This is to say THANK YOU for helping me out this morning.

I had to take Forrest in to drop him off for his knee surgery and knew there was no way I could get a 98 lb gimpy lab in with a baby and a toddler. So he came over and watched them for me. Granted it was only for about 15-20 minutes, BUT this is the first time they had been left with anyone alone together other Michael or myself. I was really afraid Allisyn might be whiny or have a meltdown since she has been up since 530, but she did great! Her Dustin was there to play with her.

Yesterday we had a good day. The girls and I went to the zoo with a whole bunch of friends from church. We had quite a group. Allisyn actually took a normal timed nap! Which was nice because I needed to get some cleaning done before our adopted girls came over for dinner. Michael had to run and get insurance stuff for Alli's surgery taken care of. All should be ready for Thursday in that area.

Then there was miscommunication with the girls (meaning I screwed up) and we got a late start to our evening, but it turned out really well. Both of our girls are really sweet. They seemed to get along with each other really well. Allisyn warmed up to them pretty well too! That is always a plus.

Off to get some housework done....maybe.

One Isn't Enough?

So as if I don't have enough to worry about with Allisyn's surgery next week, I now have to worry about my oldest fur baby. He is going under the knife on Tuesday. His knee cap isn't where is it is supposed to be. This is fairly common in small dogs, not so much for big dogs. He is an overweight 98lb black lab. Our vet is going to do a procedure that gives him a 70-75% chance of working. Of course there is the possibility that when she gets in there, she will find more wrong, but we are seriously praying that doesn't happen. If this surgery doesn't take we are looking at a $1600 procedure. When it rains it pours right?

We had a first for Alli the other day. We had to cut some of her hair. She got a marshmallow stuck in it. I couldn't even save the first curl cut. Thankfully, I didn't have to cut too much.

Gotta run, our two angels are giving their daddy a hard time.

2 month and pre-surgery check-ups

Well last weekend we had our class retreat. The trip down went pretty well. A friend and I drove down early with two 2-year-olds and 2 babies under 6 months. Not sure what we were thinking, but we prayed before we left and it went a lot better than we had anticipated. As for the actual retreat...we only stayed 1 night because Allisyn did not have a good night Friday night. She kept wanting to be rocked and wanting to go home. So we went home Saturday evening. We did not have a good trip back. We had to stop twice to try to soothe Piper.

Allisyn seems to be going through another phase of separation anxiety or something. She throws a fit when we try to leave her anywhere. Even Sunday and Wednesday night Bible class. We can forget Toddle Time. I don't know what to do. I still have her on the waiting list for a Mom's Day Out program, but now I'm wondering if she is ready for one.

Today was Piper's 2-month-checkup. She is doing GREAT! She is 23 3/4 inches. She has grown 2 inches since her last appointment. She was just over 12 lbs. That puts her in the 90-95% for her height and about 75% for her weight. Not as big as Allisyn, but not too far behind. I got lucky and Michael was able to go with me. Six evening shifts straight sucks, but I wasn't complaining too much this morning when he was there. Piper SCREAMS with shots. Allisyn cries and takes forever to console. Piper screams something terrible and calms down pretty quickly. She was asleep on her daddy's shoulder before we left the doctor's office.

We had to get Allisyn a physical before she has her dental procedure next Thursday. She is 38.6 lbs and 3 ft and 1 1/4 inches. Weight wise this means we have to invest in another carseat. Why? Because hers only goes to 40lbs and she is not ready for a booster seat. Luckily they have some that have the 5-point-harness that supports them until 65 lbs and then can be used as a booster seat after that. We also got her a prescription for Prevacid because she is still have stomach issues. Hopefully this will help.

Other exciting news, well it's exciting to me, I am attempting to learn how to make hair bows!! I have already found a pattern for a crocheted some really cute headbands! Now I have to take the plunge and attempt some bows to go with them!

Update on a few randoms

We got our garage door fixed Tues morning. It was cheaper than we were thinking! YAY!

We finally got our memory foam sleep number bed installed on Tuesday as well! I'm in love with it so far. I actually wake up feeling like I have slept! It is really nice.

Allisyn had her check-up on her teeth before her surgery. Michael got to take her on his own because I had to wait on the bed people. Hopefully they will stay in the condition they are because if they wear down any more, they may not be able to do the procedure on all 4 teeth.

This weekend we are going on our class retreat with our class from church! I'm excited about it all except for the travelling part. I'm praying that miss Piper's naps will coincide with the trip. We shall see.

Allisyn is starting to "write" she has made some pretty good A's and T's and D's. She also makes a pretty good heart for being 2. She still doesn't enjoy sharing dad, but the fits are getting less extreme.

Piper is 8 weeks today! It does NOT seem like it has been that long since she made her arrival. She holds her head really well and really focuses in on things. She has been doing this for a while and I keep telling her to slow down since she is my last baby! She doesn't seem to care! She is finally starting to fit into 0 to 3 month clothing a little better. They aren't falling off anyway, they are just baggy looking.

The past two days Allisyn took a nap on her own, but it isn't looking too promising today. I can still hope!

Sucess!

I did it! I got myself and both girls ready and we got to church on time. Actually we made it a little early! WooHoo! I've only missed one Sunday because Michael had to work. All his other Sundays that he had to work he worked the later shift and made it to church in the morning. But we did it! Allisyn did really great. I was really heartbroken to hear that she cried during the play time in Toddle Time. She would have been just fine if she would have stayed with me, but I thought she would want to play. Next time, I'll check on her before I go back to worship.

Other news, Murphy has visiting us. With Allisyn's surgery approaching and the costs of that coming up and the hospital bills coming in....our garage door breaks! Thankfully, it let me out on Friday, but it would not let me back in. It is so broken, it won't even go up manually. We have to get it fixed soon, because it so much easier for me to let Allisyn loose in the garage to get in the car. She can't go anywhere! She has been doing good so far, but I don't want to press our luck.

We did get really luck last night. Allisyn has taken to picking up Tiger, one of our cats. He usually does really well with just putting up with it and not responding to it too much. Well, last night I guess she just had him in position he did not feel comfortable in and he scratched her with his back claw. Right over her eye. You can tell she closed her eye because one of the scratches goes across her eyelid and near the corner of her eye. Thankfully it missed her eye and thankfully Michael was home to help calm her down.

Sweet Big Sister

I haven't blogged much lately because I would just be complaining about Allisyn's horrible sleeping habits. Like waking up at or before 3 am and staying awake until after having a meltdown about how dad had to go to work.

But last night, even though we all ended up in bed a little on the late side, we all slept through the night! YAY!! Michael also had the day off. Double YAY!!

So this morning we got the house picked up and then Michael took Alli to Incredible Pizza. Thursdays they have double your money on your play. So they went and played for a couple of hours and Alli of course got tickets. With her tickets she got Piper a little stuffed bear. It is really cute because she thinks Piper needs to have it with her at all ti mes.

Allisyn still has major meltdowns at times when it comes to sharing dad. Right now, she is actually okay with Michael holding Piper. But usually it is "I want my dadda back." or "Dadda hold her, Alli. Momma hold Piper." This often times accompanied by throwing herself on the floor and crying hysterically.

We have Allisyn on a waiting list for a Mother's Day Out. She is the first on the list, so hopefully we will get her in soon. I think it would really be good for her.

Well Piper is giving her Dad a rough time....gotta go rescue him!!

3 am

That is what time my wonderful little Allisyn woke up this morning. Despite the best efforts of rocking and cuddling between me and Michael, she did NOT go back to sleep. That's right. She was awake for 7 hours before we got to church for our Mom's Bible Study. Thankfully she didn't cry too much when I left. I felt really bad for the baby-sitters, but they didn't say she was horrible.

Thankfully she came home and took a 4 hour nap. I seriously would have lost all grasps on sanity if she hadn't.

Pictures

Here are some pictures as promised. I will try to do better about posting them more often. The last 3 were taken Sunday and yesterday. I was a great mom and left my camera at home today when we went to the fair. I've been kicking myself for it ever since Allisyn's priceless expression about the children's zoo.

Wonderful!

Allisyn can now open the refrigerator by herself. She has been trying for a while now, but today is the first day I have noticed her being able to do it. This is fine when she has a cup of milk waiting on her. Not so fine for just about every other reason she opens the door. I lost count of the number of times I had to get up in the middle of a nursing session to remove her from the fridge. Good times.

Another wonderful point in our day....the mail. Normally not so bad, but today it was awful. I'm getting sued by some guy who I hit in a car accident two years ago. Actually I didn't technically hit him, I pushed the car I hit into him. The damage to his car was very minimal. I was told my insurance agent the only reason he is suing is because his lawyer didn't get everything taken care of within the 2 years allowed by the law. So now I have to try to remember all the details from the accident for the law firm who is representing me through the insurance. Did I mention that I was in my mother-in-law's car? So really it is their insurance. It didn't even total out her car. Anyway I got the forms from the law office today.

We also got the packet from Allisyn's pediadontist for preparation for her oral surgery. We got our medical insurance to cover 80% of the anesthesia (Praise the Lord), but somewhere between our last visit and when these papers were sent out, our responsibility for the procedure jumped form $600 something to $1600 something. Ummmm, HOW???? Needless to say there will be phone calls made to discuss this.

I'll put up some new pictures this week. Sorry I've been slacking on that!

We are HOME!!

There's nothing like coming home after being away for a few days. We survived our trip home. Our trip there, Piper slept the whole way and Allisyn cried most of the way. She was mad about having to be in her seat. We had to stop along the road to change her diaper. A highway patrol stopped to make sure things were ok. She waited until we were just past the midway McD's to say she needed changed. When we got to my aunts she was so wired she didn't go to sleep until after 2am. It was great.

Saturday was a day spent with Pap-paw at Great Grandpa's. Alli had my dad crawling around and playing "where's pap-paw" with newspapers. Allisyn definitely has her Pap-paw wrapped around her little finger. Of course pap-paw and great grandpa were enamored with Piper. They have this endearing quality of just sitting and staring at their grand daughters when they are infants.

Sunday we had a small shower with family and friends. We got our double stroller!! We put it to use at the Tulsa Zoo yesterday before we went to Michael's parents. It is nice to have! We survived dinner at Michael's parents. They have really cleaned up their house. The changes are like they had been visited by Clean Sweep. Seriously, it was a shocking. I no loner have the excuse of their house is too messy as a reason for us not going over there.

Our trip home started out as unpleasant. Piper screamed until we stopped just before getting on the turnpike. Then screamed all the way to the first stop on the turnpike. She finally fell asleep at that stop and they both slept the rest of the way. Today was spent recuperating. Michael goes back to work tomorrow and I'm sure Allisyn will be upset, but we will get through it.

We are off!

For the weekend. To see our families. YAY!! Right? We are praying the travelling goes well. Piper does not like the car so we are leaving at night hoping she will sleep.

I should be helping Michael get the car ready.... I'm doing that now.

What was it like?

To have somewhat normal sleeping habits? I'm not even sure I remember when the last time we had normal sleeping habits. Here lately Allisyn has been waking up every morning with Michael at 5 or so. This morning she was up before him at about 430. Then she will stay up for a while and then go back to sleep. Sometimes sleeping in until 11! Of course naps are just about unheard of and if they do happen, they usually happen later than we want and on our way to somewhere. I'm not the kind of mom who will try to keep her exhausted child awake, and yes we have tried using Benadryl to help her sleep better at night. It doesn't seem to help her much.

Piper, on the other hand, sleeps GREAT! We might have periods of night that she wants to be awake and needs company, but she sleeps in nicely in the mornings.

I know I need to try to get us on a better schedule. But right now Allisyn's sleep patterns are so off and it leaves me so tired it just hasn't happened.

We made it out alive!!

We did really great at the Omniplex! We started off the morning to a less than wonderful start. Allisyn got about 5 1/2 hours of sleep. She woke up when Michael got up when Michael did and did not get back to sleep. I was working really hard to keep her awake. I went with knowing that we may not last long because she did NOT get much sleep. I almost lost her about the time when we got off the highway, but I pulled her out of her sleepy state by telling her we were going to go play. Piper screamed the whole way there.

Thankfully we got there and Allisyn was wide awake and ready to go play! It was really nice with 3 moms. We had 3 sets of eyes on our three 2-year-olds, and everyone could relate when we had to nurse! It was a good time. Allisyn passed out soon after we left and headed for home. Piper even slept on the way home. It was the most peaceful car ride I've had in a few weeks!

This morning Michael was getting Allisyn dressed so they could go spend the day together. He brings her in some pink capris and needed help trying to find a shirt to go with it. I told him, it wasn't that hard to find a shirt to go with them, but if he brought a few I would help him out. What did he bring? A bright orange shirt with red lettering. A dark brown shirt with blue glitter lettering and a yellow shirt with pink lettering. I gave him a look that must have told him what I was thinking, because his response was "I really don't get it." No Michael, you REALLY don't get it! At least he tries though. He did do her hair on his own! After 2 botched attempts, he got her hair up in a pony tail. I don't think it will last all day since she wouldn't let him put clips in it, but I was impressed!

I'm braving it tomorrow!

Tomorrow will be my first time out with the girls by myself! Not counting running to the post office to drop my phone off today. Tomorrow we are meeting some friends who also have 2 girls. Their oldest are a few months older than Allisyn and their younger are a few weeks and 2 months older than Piper. We are going to the Omniplex! I'm excited and nervous and flat out scared. Luckily the moms I am meeting can totally relate!

Other news, I got out on my own for the first time tonight. I was gone about 2 hours. Michael and the girls survived. Allisyn had a meltdown and Michael got to experience both girls upset in his arms in the chair. Allisyn ended up falling asleep. She is still asleep at 15 til 8. I just pray that she either stays asleep or if she does wake up, she goes back to sleep when we go to bed. Not holding my breath on it though.

4 years, 2 weeks, and being a big girl

Yesterday Michael and I celebrated our 4th anniversary. Piper also turned 2 weeks old. We celebrated the day by going to the zoo as a family. Piper slept in the sling the whole time. We still need to get a better one. The one we have offers absolutely no back support, but the good news is she did really well with it!

Allisyn is growing up way to fast. Yesterday she put her sandals on by herself. On the right feet. She didn't have any coaching at all. She put them on then brought Michael his shoes because she wanted to go play outside. Another thing she is doing that momma is just not ready for...riding the carousel at the zoo by herself. Michael said she did it the last time they went together, but I got to see it for the first time yesterday. She does really well. I was surprised the people let her since she doesn't quite make the height requirement, but they encourage her. It really is a precious sight as she tells me every time she comes around that she is on a tiger and dad is on a monkey!

Last night Michael and I got to do something we haven't done in over a year! We got to go see a movie! Allisyn stayed with some friends that we swap baby-sitting with. We took Piper with us. She slept through most of it. For some reason we never tried to see movies when Allisyn was tiny, so we weren't too sure what to expect. We didn't have to leave with her at all! It might be something we try to do more often!

Today is Michael's first day back at work. We had a rough night last night so I hope he has a good day. Luckily for me, it meant we slept in. Michael of course doesn't get that option. His alarm goes off at 515 regardless. So far our day has started out well! Allisyn has had a few moments of wanting dad and not wanting mom to help Piper, but she got over them quickly. Hopefully the rest of the day goes as well!

We survived

We had pictures done today. It was a great time. Allisyn decided she didn't want anything to do with her sister. We got one picture of them together.

Allisyn was trying to get away and Piper was through with pictures

Our other family shot is in my profile.
Isn't she precious?
Allisyn got to help put the flowers in the basket. It was sweet.
Pretty girl! The poor lady really had to work to get Allisyn to smile.
Beautiful eyes!!