Doodle's Six Months Old

Sorry about the lateness of this post. I should have done it last month!

Doodle loves to eat anything! She is a great nurser and does well from a spoon and little cup. She'll laugh when you put something extra yummy in her mouth! Not only does she love cereal and mashed fruits and veggies, but paper and wires! It's great fun! We're in BIG trouble when she starts to crawl! Which, won't be too long! She can get up on her hands and feet and hands and knees. She'll rock back and forth a lot. She can pivot, roll and scoot all over the room. She can only go backwards with the occasional and accidental forward movements. I think if she knew that it was possible, she'd be crawling!


Doodle is very curious and loves to find anything she can! She can sit up, but only for short times. She loves to eat her toes, but only when she's not dressed. She usually leaves them alone even when she isn't wearing socks. I don't quite get it!



She loves to babble and is very social. She she still dances when she is going to sleep. She loves to be sung to.

She loves her brother and sister! There is definitely some idol-worship going on between those two!



She has had almost a constant cold since she was 2 months old. Her loving siblings won't stay out of her face. I think the fact that we are exposed to two new schools and a different set of germs in the neighborhood and church make it all that much harder! Hopefully, it will lead to a strong immune system??

She is an awesome napper, but won't sleep for more than 3 to maybe 4 hours at a time at night. I think a lot of that is the stuffy noses she keeps getting!

Anyway, we are loving our little Doodle! She is amazing and such a sweet little girl! I'm so excited to have her in our home!

Another Pottytraining Update

Friday was a horrible day of potty training! I'm not sure Princess "went" in the potty even once. I wanted to quit! It didn't help that the dog had made a huge mess of our carpet the day before with Amish bread starter! She ate almost the entire bag. Bag included! Then, on Friday, she threw it up! Just one more nasty mess on my carpets. I think we may be getting new carpets when our last child is done potty training. OR at least getting them professionally cleaned!

But, we kept going and today has been wonderful! She hasn't had a single accident and even went #2 after telling me she needed to! She went on my MIL's toilet with a potty seat on it and it has been a day to be happy that we are doing this!

Inauguration

I am really excited to watch the Presidential Inauguration. I have been the most involved in this election than any in the past. It must be my age. I've been the most informed (though still not as informed as I'd like to be) and the most interested in what happens.

So, tomorrow, I hope to fit the inauguration into my day!

CODE REMOVED

It is always "historic" to see a new president take the oath of office, but this time it is more so. Plus, I think it's really cool!

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Sweetheart

Princess loves to sing. I caught her at a great moment and got her to sing several songs!

"It's Working!!"

***Potty training update!

Things are going well. I think the difference is that I have the confidence, understanding and readiness. She is ready, too. She doesn't want to wear diapers anymore and she is doing great.

We had a couple of days where she just couldn't go on the toilet. She would say, "It's not working." Then, when she was finally able to do it, she exclaimed, "It's working!!" Every time, when she pees on the potty, she says that. It's so cute and we use the terminology, too.

So far, it is working. Yes, I'm mostly the one who is potty trained, but she is so willing and is enjoying it!

Finally!

Two Weeks

I had CM and Indy home for two weeks, well more if you count weekends. It was awesome! I miss them, now. Sure, there were a lot more messes and Doodle is still not back to her normal napping schedule, but it was great. We were able to get the house into order that it hasn't seen since we moved it six months ago. CM also did a ton of projects. We have more outlets, coat racks, a clean basement, and a lot of other things that just aren't coming to mind. I wish he could be home more.

In some ways, it's nice to be back to normal, and Indy needs to go to school, but I loved having them home. I can't wait for the next break.

It's nice when the holidays match up because CM teaches in the same school district where Indy goes to school. Yet another reason I'm glad we moved!

Magic Ernie

When Indy was a baby, we were given a wonderful toy!

It's a magical toy really. It's power is to stop babies from crying.


I don't know what it is about this particular toy, but it is amazing! It plays the Sesame Street theme song. It's hands, feet and ears move back and forth, playing peekaboo with the baby. It is quite cute.

I love it because it works.

Do you have any magical toys?

Woodworking

Indy loves to help his dad. CM recently tore down our coal room (yeah, we still had one!) and turned it into a work bench since he's been doing a lot of projects. This has led to great things. One is that we are REALLY organizing the basement. It is awesome!

Another thing that has come of this is that Indy got the chance to really help on a project. We needed another set of coat hooks for the kids' room.

Indy got to choose the router bit and paint. He had a lot of fun and is learning to work with wood.

Here they are together while Indy uses the drill.


And here is the finished project.


He is so proud!



I'm so glad that CM has the skills to teach the kids these things. I am learning as we go as well! It is so nice to be able to say, "Hmm I'd like a ...." and one of us can usually make something to do the job!

Baby Dancing

Doodle has become quite the mover and shaker in our house. She loves it when we sing to her. Usually, she wiggles around, but today she started doing this:



I thought it was too adorable to pass up getting a video of her.

She started getting around by scooting on her back around Christmas time. Now, she has added rolling all over to that and she can get into some decent trouble for a not-yet-six-month-old. It is pretty cute.

Sad News...

So, I am designing some crocheted socks for my dad. I got him to measure his foot from various points since I don't have him here to try them on.

Well, I also measured my foot for a reference. My feet are only slightly smaller than his. This is not so say that he has small feet, but that I have large ones!

I wear a women's size 10 shoe. Wide width is usually not wide enough for me and I have never found a cute strappy pair that worked. It is a curse that I have sadly passed to my children.

At least so far, they haven't had trouble with it. Maybe they didn't get them SO wide.

Actually, when Doodle was born, rather than counting her toes, I made sure her feet were narrowish. She may have missed that bullet!

The Year of the Potty

This is it! I'm finally going to potty train Princess. Actually, I'm going to start the process with Doodle as well. I know, I know it sounds crazy, but I've been reading a great book about it. (For a later post!)

We have a great little potty from Ikea. And we are ready to go.

Well, I am ready. I just hope my girls are!

Sisters, Sisters

Most times when I see my girls being cute together, I start singing the song "Sisters, Sisters" from White Christmas. Usually just: "Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters."

I got them to be adorable for pictures in their new Christmas dresses. It's really nice to have a MIL that is practically a seamstress. She is amazing! I usually (when I actually sew clothes) go to her for the hard parts. She usually finishes my project for me... It's nice! I feel bad, but they end up better than I would have done it.

She has started making Christmas and Easter dresses. I love it. I don't have to do all the work that I don't know how to do. Perhaps I should get her to teach me more...I guess that would involve actual sewing, from an actual pattern. I do like to sew, but not generally clothes.


And, in case you are unfamiliar with "Sisters, Sisters" here it is!

Funk

Don't worry, I'm only in a blogging funk, not a general funk. Christmas is still in my heart. I'm enjoying the joy and high the kids are still on.

I don't know why, but I just haven't had a lot to write about. I don't feel particularly clever. I don't know why. Maybe I'm just not clever. I think that must be it.

Add to it that I've been crocheting like crazy for Christmas/winter that I haven't had a lot of time to think.

We had a great Christmas and we are now trying to dig out from the storm that hit us yesterday. We definitely got a white Christmas...and then some!

Now, I'm in the mood to (it's scary: ) CLEAN! With all of the cooking, baking and playing that has been going on here, it's a big mess!

So, hopefully I can come up with something fun and exciting for you to read...until then, I'll be cleaning!!

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! Keep the spirit of the season in your hearts throughout this day and the whole year! It isn't easy to do, but it is so worth it. There are such hard times and if we can all keep Christ in our hearts, it is so much better!

12 Days

Total Cost of 12 days of Christmas in 2008

$86,609

Wow! That's a lot of cash!

Webelos Cookies

The Webelos made cookies at our house yesterday.


They were for pack meeting.

Needless to say, I'll be making cookies today! (At least they're my favorite kind.)

The crazy thing is that these boys had never baked cookies before. They are 10 years old. I can't cook anything without a helper and I love it! I think the great thing about it is that my kids love to be our "sous chefs" and they are learning while they do. They ask lots of questions and we teach them along the way. So many people are afraid to cook and don't know what to do. I never want my kids to be afraid, so they are working with us and learning how to do things. Maybe they'll only eat Ramen by choice...

I hope they are always helpful like this. Do any of you have experience with this? If you have expected and allowed your kids to help around the house, are they still willing (and wanting) to help when they are older?

Yellow Belt

I am so glad that we were able to switch karate schools. Indy is now learning American Kenpo Karate, instead of a type I've never heard of and couldn't find online. His teacher is awesome! He has learned more here than the other school and he was there for twice as long. He teaches more real-life skills and wants the kids to be prepared for things that could happen.

Indy just earned his real yellow belt! He is so excited and proud of what he can do. He is eager to practice and loves to go to class.

(It's also about half the price for twice the lessons!)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!

This morning, CM said that he was ready and excited for snow. I had already let the dog out, so I had seen that it was snowing, so I told him to look outside.

It's supposed to snow. It's nice to have snow in December. We haven't gotten a lot of it, yet this year. It looks like winter, now!

Now, we just have to hope we'll get more for Christmas!

Tom's Diner

It is so funny what you learn when you do a little research into something.

This song is the song that I start to sing randomly. I have done it for ten or fifteen years. I don't know why, but this is the perpetually-stuck-in-my-head song! I guess it's just one of those songs!

It's called "Tom's Diner" and it was written by Suzanne Vega!

This is a video with the version of the song that I like the best, but it is only her singing with a static picture. (I usually only get the Da da da da part stuck in my head.)




And, I didn't know this song was by the same person! Where was I? Oh, yeah, I was nine! This song is so sad! I heard about it when I was single and had a bird I named Lucca. This one is called "Luka". Enjoy.



Wow! She's apparently the "Mother of the MP3"!! And here she is in Second Life. It's weird, but it's an interview with Suzanne. She explains how she's the mother of the MP3, even though she didn't invent it. At the end she sings the song in it's original form.



So, hopefully I didn't get it stuck in your head to.

I was told that if I did a "big finish" I could get the song out of me head. I haven't tried it yet, but I think to get a song out of my head that is there so much is going to take a huge finish!!

Waste or Not?

When I first moved from Florida to Utah, I tried to maintain relationships and keep track of my friends, but none of them wrote back when I wrote letters. More recently, I have gotten in contact with several old friends through email and blogs. Then, a couple of days ago, I joined Facebook and I've found several people I have wondered about for a long time. I have also wasted a ton of time and I hope I don't stay too addicted to it!

It doesn't really matter whether you move 2000 miles or 20, it is hard to keep up with friends. I am so grateful for the Internet, email, blogs and facebook! It has been so nice to reconnect with old friends!