Plants, Paints, and Pictures

More than anything else in the world (well, maybe not more than watching Toy Story) Penelope loves to paint. Last weekend we had a painting playdate with our friends Holly and her daughter 'Busy' - Poe had a fabulous time until it was time to put the paints away and then she had an epic tantrum. The likes of which are rarely seen. But it was still a good day, and they girls made some beautiful flowers which Penelope and I "planted" the other day. Here are some pictures:


Pen & Busy


Planting our flowers


Our flower garden!!

Also? Griffin has tooth #7! Finally... it's been awhile since his last tooth. I'm hoping #8 makes an appearance so he's not lopsided :)

More pics:


Bubba loves the bath!


Penelope decided to wear her Abby costume for the day. Daddy did her hair.

Be Vewy Vewy Quiet

The last few days have been crazy, but tonight the house is eerily silent. I can't decide if I like crazy or quiet better. I think maybe crazy.

Early EARLY Thursday Bryan left for Oklahoma. His best friend's wife passed away and he went out to be with his friend for a few days. He comes home late Sunday and we all cannot wait until he gets back. I'm really glad we could make it work so B could go out there - I wish we all could have gone - but we miss him. I miss him. A lot.

And not just because the kids are super-clingy suddenly (although that certainly factors in). I miss him because, believe it or not, I really love that man. Good thing I guess :)

But until then I'm (mostly) doing ok. Tonight my parents have the kids for their regular Friday night date (it's move night, they're watching Aristocats) and so I am all by my lonesome for an entire night. That hasn't happened in over 4 years! I don't know what to do with myself... laundry is started, the living room is clean, the floors have been swept and mopped... I should probably get around to cleaning the bathrooms (ick). Maybe after blogging :)

I have a TON to talk about and I hope I remember it all. Every day something new happens with one or both of the kids and I feel like if I don't write it down I won't remember it. And I want to remember. I love these stages.

Penelope is a chatter box. She narrates everything! "Mama, see trees? Pah-pooh-pea see trees! I count them, 1, 2, 3, 4..." She can count up to 30 (which she calls twenty-ten), and is so very sweet. He big "bad" thing is hitting - she gets frustrated and hits, which we're working on. But afterward she'll come up and apologize and give you a hug. Griffin is usually on the receiving end of her swats and he tolerates them pretty well. He cry and bit and then grin at her when she gives him a hug.

G is getting very brave - he's ready to walk (mentally) even though he's not quite there physically. And we've decided that "mama" is indeed his first word. He now uses it only when he's talking about me, which is often. That child is one big mama's boy.

They're both big (in 4T & 18-24 months) and pretty much the most adorable children ever conceived. But I'm not biased or anything.

Penny sleeps with the following items: Her Jessie doll, a Buzz Lightyear toy, the Woody cake-topper, Kiki (he stuffed cat from Build-A-Bear), Cookie Monster, and her pillow pet.

When she's tired, she whispers EVERYTHING. When she knows Griffin is asleep she'll also whisper. Sometimes she talks in a high pitched voice when she's trying to mimic my "sing-song" voice or when she's calling for Griffin.

One of their favorite games is to chase each other up and down the hall. She'll say "this way Bubba! This way" and he'll crawl after her, she'll screech and he'll laugh.

His sleep is improving. He's only up 2-3 times at night and a few nights he doesn't need an extra bottle. WIC is setting me up with an LC next week to see what she thinks about my milk supply. We'll see. I don't have my hopes up that anything short of more domperidone will increase my supply enough to drop the 1-2 bottles of formula he gets a day.

I've been looking for a job since January and so far it's gone about as well as a hunt for the end of the rainbow. A lot of districts aren't even hiring subs. But I'll continue the search. Something has to turn up. Bryan and I are discussing out of state options, so we'll see where that leads.

Ok, that's all I can think of for now (kid related at least). I do have some Soab-box-y stuff I want to talk about, but that can wait. I'll end with some pictures (which are also on Facebook).


With the kids at the zoo today


Little man and I


I love the expression on G's face in this one.


The kids with my brother, Uncle "O-Nic"

Naked!

Today we headed over to Kim's place for a playgroup. It used to be a part of our weekly routine, but we haven't been since a week before Griffin was born. It was a small group today (just us, Kim & Orson, and Kimberly & Ava) but it was fun. Felt great to get out of the house and back to a semblance of our routine - and Penelope had a blast.

Kim had set up the little pool in her backyard so we stripped the kids down and let them play naked. Miraculously no one peed! Penny did not want to leave the backyard and punished me for making her leave by only taking a 45 minute nap and then being super fussy for the rest of the day. She didn't sleep well last night either. Fun and a half.

So here are some pictures...

Brusha brusha

I should really be getting ready for our 22 week prenatal appointment, but we took these pictures last night and I had to share...

Dental Hygiene Rocks!




And here are some more that I just think are cute of Penny playing with scarves at Kim & Orson's house:

Playdates and Naptime

Today was Penelope's first playdate! During my pregnancy I became friends with two wonderful mommies named Sarah and Alisha who have babies named Sophia and Linden (respectively). They're both about three months older than Penelope (August & September births). Anyway, we went over to Sarah & Sophia's house and Alisha & Linden met up with us there. We made broccoli & cheese soup (well, Alisha & Sarah made the soup), had snacks, took a walk, and had a wonderful time all around. It was nice to spend time with some other first time moms and talk about babies (and other stuff too!).

So here's a picture of the three "playing"


Hopefully we can do a repeat sometime - Sarah & Alisha both had homebirths (with the same midwives), cloth diaper, and baby-wear, so we have a lot in common baby-wise. We also seem to have a lot in common when it comes to non-baby things! Hopefully we can get all of our husbands together too :)

So with all of the excitement and activity today, Penny did not get in a decent nap. I thought she would crash when we got home but nope! A half an hour of sleep & then she wakes up and either wants to play or eat. I'm hoping this trend doesn't continue into tonight, we were just getting a decent sleep routine down!