Bath time Tales

It's 7:30. Time to get my children bathed, dressed, and into bed. I encouraged Lucas to continue playing with his train track while I bathed baby sister. Well, all was going smoothly. Then, while I was getting Abrianna diapered and soothed ( diaper rash was stinging), I told Lucas to get undressed for his bath.
He went into the bathroom. I thought he may have climbed into the tub- but was hoping he hadn't.

This picture met my amused/annoyed gaze. There was my son in all his glory. Missing one shoe and sock- the other shoe sopping wet in hand. He declared he'd "pooped". Oh no! Yuck!
First things first. Abrianna was only diapered- not dressed. I proceeded to dress her and put her in the exersaucer, hopefully to remain happily occupied while I went to take care of "the mess".
About that time, I hear Lucas declaring he had to pee. Knowing that he'd mount the toilet -facing the tank -in the bigger bathroom after shedding his clothes... I ran to the bathroom. He as already merrily squatting and peeing.
I picked up his shorts and underwear. Low and behold the "poop" was simply a wet bottom from sitting or squatting too low in the tub. Thank you Lord!
Bath time finished without another hitch.

Drinking water

She is growing so very fast. Every time I'm holding her and get a drink she grabs at my cup for a drink.

She's getting better at commando crawling and going forward instead of just rolling.

My Big Girl

Wearing jeans and tank tops just like mom!

Bottoms Up

Lucas yelled from the bathroom, "come wipe

me, mommy!" Then I heard, "I way up high!"

Yes, this picture was taken at the correct angle.

It is not rotated. He was doing a head stand

with his feet against the wall, waiting to be

wiped. So funny!

"Ice cream"

For those of you who were at" MOPS" on Tuesday, you'll appreciate this picture. I made spinach "ice cream" giving to him while he was in the bathtub. He called to inform me that he was done.
This is what I found.

Abrianna rolled herself up in the blanket. Covering even her head. I uncovered it for the picture.

First meal

Abrianna's first meal consisted of a spinach smoothie. She loved and grabbed at the spoon for more. She didn't spit any of it out. Only slurped it down!

Happier News

For those who've been asking... Stacie is doing well. She's coming up on 31 weeks now and still pregnant.
On a whim yesterday, I picked up small toys that might be a problem for Abrianna. I'm thankful I did.
When she woke from her nap, she figured out she could roll and scoot-everywhere. I mean everywhere. She went to the couch and then to the fireplace. These are 5 to 10 feet stints. Lucas never figured that out. So this is new for us. She's happier and more frustrated at the same time.

The end of a long sad day

Today has been quite a ride. I thought I was tired and cranky from a three hour shopping trip with my kids. Then the tragic news came. Nicole Scruggs called me to tell me that my good friend Jenee's husband Thad had been killed in an accident. I've been crying all evening along with other friends I've spoken too. I've been praying all evening for God to comfort Jenee'. I'm praying that I can be the support she needs. I'm also praying for Stacie Sayler. She's 29 weeks along now. She was in the hospital last night with preterm labor. Sometimes life is so tragically sad.
Lucas knows somethings wrong. He's been following me around all evening begging to cuddle. He refused to go to bed. This is how I found him after I'd finally managed to put away my groceries over four hours after getting home.
COME QUICKLY LORD JESUS!!

Tasting grass part II

While sister ate grass... Lucas was drinking out of his dump truck. Logical, if you're thirsty, get a drink. Except the dog was doing it first.

Tasting grass

I try to take my kids outside for an hour or so each day. We've got to take advantage of our Indian summer.
Lucas plays in his sand box. He makes roads with his cars.
I start out putting Abrianna on a quilt. She works her way to the edge and insists on playing in the grass and weeds. I was able to catch her play really well. Very thrilled with these pictures!







Close up of her little mouth.


















What Mommy??






















Trying to disentangle the grass from her little fists.

Nap time

Some kids take teddy bears to bed with them for naps. I sent Lucas to his room for his nap. See what he sleeps with??

Biggest Fear!

Lucas' biggest fear with potty training is falling in the toilet. Today I thought he was ready to remove the insert and just sit on the seat. The first time he did fine. A few minutes later he was insisting he needed to pee. "Okay, but you can't get up again!" ( It was nap time). I was visiting with my sister-in-law on the phone , when I heard panicked cries of " HELP, MOM! HELP, MOM!"
I rushed into the bathroom where I burst into giggles. There was my boy, bottom in the toilet bowl. His seat in the water feet sticking up desperately trying to climb out. I rescued him. He's "recovering" in the tub. He just asked to pee again. He did do his business on the big potty with mommy's help. :-)

Whose socks?

Whose socks are these? Do you really believe the sizes?

"Burping " up

Here's a story for you all. Those of you who have more than one child will nod your heads remembering similar incidents. Those with one... look what you have to look forward to:-)
I was in the kitchen taking advantage of the fact that big brother can entertain little sister for short periods of time. I heard Abrianna making happy noises. No big deal... right? Wrong! When I glanced in several minutes later to see what they were up to, big brother was merrily standing over little sister "burping up" aka spitting/drooling all over her head. SICK!! I told him he was NOT to be "burping" up on her anymore. sigh... Someday he'll learn what is and is not appropriate.

Church campout

Friday evening found us at Camp Wooten on the Toucannon river for the annual church camp out.
These are the only pictures I took. Too bad, as we did more than attempt to sleep. Notice Abrianna voicing her opinion of the situation as Daddy plugs his ears.
The highlights for each of us was...
Rick- drumming at the meetings and visiting .
Lucas- playing outdoors- especially with the Allen girls.
Abrianna- trying to sleep and eat in the cabin.
Me- being out of the house and visiting my family and friends.



Lucas slept well. Sabbath morning he crawled into bed with me.I didn't mind. He had a painful surprise. The mattresses extend beyond the bed frame. Unfortunately, the edge gave way and dumped him on his head. I grabbed his foot trying to stop him. It didn't work. He's too tall or the bed was too short.








Sweet bliss of mommy's arms.

Yucky Mommy

You know you begin to wonder about your cooking when you child insist its yucky. You all remember we're potty training. Well, Lucas asked for a bean burrito for lunch. I make my own beans. So after I gave it to him, he ate it for awhile. Then we began a perpetual argument that went something like this. "This yucky mommy. No its yummy Lucas." "This poop mommy. No, Lucas mommy wouldn't give you poop to eat." We went round and round about that for 5-10 minutes. I beginning to doubt my ability to make good beans. Then he stood up telling me it was yucky poop on his seat. I figured he'd gone in his pants. Wrong! He'd spilled beans in his lap. Maybe I need to go back and take a cooking class or something. Just look at what you guys get to look forward to Jenee' and Laura!

Cherry picking II

I just got these pictures from Stacie.
Both boys were dirty and sticky. Guess who was dirtier?
These were taken in June.

My long day

Sometimes as a stay at home mommy you wonder,
" What do I have to show for my day's labors?" Clean children? Not today. Lucas was in his jammies all day. As my day winds to a close he is just now in the tub and clean!
My long day really began last night. Against my better judgment, I put Lucas to bed in underwear. He'd had a drink awhile before bedtime but it hadn't made it through his system yet. At 1:00 AM, Lucas wanted in bed with us. I thought, "I'd better take him to the bathroom." Which I did. He did use it, but was already wet from shoulder to toes. I thought it would be easier just to put him in dry clothes and deal with the mess in the morning. Hah! If I were to do it over, I'd have cleaned up his bed last night and put him back into it!
The remainder of the night was spent wedged between my children with my husband grumbling periodically about HIM being crowded. He had half the bed to himself!

I did get to "sleep in" until 7:20. My darling daughter loves to wake up early and coo to me.
After rising, I gave Abrianna a bath. She didn't get one the night before. Lucas should have followed suit. But I felt my need for a walk was greater than his need for a bath.
Both children enjoyed our walk. I love my walk- for sanity sake. Lucas was wearing his footed doggy jammies.
I told Lucas he'd have to ride in the stroller if he continued to leave the trial. Normally this isn't a problem. Today though, he kept getting stickers in his feet. (I kept thinking about how that is like us in our relationship with God. He tells us no to things knowing what pain we'll endure if we choose to disobey.)

As you know, potty training as been in the works for the past 10 days.
Lucas has been doing really well. There are several things that could stand improvement! First, that he stay in the bathroom when he poops!!
He's so excited he coming running out of the bathroom ( thank God for tile instead of that carpet) shouting that he pooped all by himself while leaving a trail of splats across my floor. Now he isn't continuing to poop. He just hasn't been wiped yet.

Secondly, its only appropriate to pee outside. He was running to the bathroom with his underwear around his ankles when he noticed that I was headed out the door with a pan of scraps for the garden. He quickly changed his course to join us. We'd gotten about 2 feet off the cement when he stopped. A look of concentration on his face. Before I realized what he was doing poop started plopping onto the ground. Jasper, who is always nearby, began to eat it. Yuck! Lucas must have agreed as he began yelling no and hitting at him. I don't know whether he connected or not. I decided the best thing I could do was get rid of the of the scraps so I'd have a free hand. I had Abrianna over my arm - she was in my arms ALL DAY due to teething and an upset tummy. Lucas was redirected to get his cars from the sand box ( the original reason for coming outside). Then we made our way to the hose were I attempted to spray off his bottom and legs. To no avail. Too much peanut butter. I finished wiping him of in the bathroom.

Later on the phone with my mom, she mentioned some coconut oatmeal cookies my grandma Florine used to make. It sounded good. The pictures are of Lucas and I making them while Abrianna rode on my hip. Daddy declared them good.

Otherwise my day was uneventful. :-) minus at least one burp bomb. I'm truly not complaining. As this day draws to a merciful end, I hold my finally sleeping baby on my shoulder while my son keeps whining for "he'p" with his train track. I'm thankful for my upcoming sleep. Hopefully tomorrow my back and clogged milk duct will have resolved too. Goodnight.

Like my hat?

Lucas likes hats. Can you figure out what this hat is??