Updates

I have several fun things to share about my girls, and I'm hoping that I can remember them all, now that I have a chance to sit and write.  It's been pretty crazy around here since I started back at work last week.  I'm pretty much as tired as I was back when Audrey was first born, except I have lots more to do now!!  Today has been good, though, so I am starting to feel a little more caught up.

Audrey has the most beautiful baby smile!  She smiles all the time, and she smiles really intently, like she's really conveying how joyful she feels.  It's almost in two stages: the pleasant casual smile, and then she unleashes this incredible grin.  A lot of times there's a little waist-wiggle with it, too.  She's playing next to me in her fish gym right now, looking at a couple of fish as she kicks her feet.  She seems to be as expressive with her feet as she is with her eyes. :)  This morning, she and Emily and I were reading books on the floor, all laying in a row, and Audrey LOVED it.  Emily was only half-interested, with a severe case of Can't Sit Still, but Audrey wasn't going anywhere.  All the way through "The Little Engine That Could," she stared intently at each page, kicking, holding her little hands together almost in front of her face.  I'd turn the page, and she'd let out another "Ggggggggggggg!!!!!!!!!!"  It was great.  The butterfly on the last page of the hungry caterpillar just about put her over the edge. :)  She's had a little bit of trouble taking a bottle while at Amanda's during the day, so she had just been deciding to not eat at all until I came to get her, so I was pretty worried.  But yesterday she had a lot of success with it, so I'm hoping she'll continue to do well.  The next battle is getting her sleep and naps figured out.  She seems to sleep so much at Amanda's that she's awake more often in the night, and not because she's hungry.  I figure she doesn't like the noise there, and is fussy, so Amanda gives her her pacifier and she goes catatonic for a while.  Not sure how to figure that one out; I'm sure she'll outgrow it, but I want to do everything I can to prevent her from being reliant on the pacifier.  She generally never has one at home, but I will give her one when we're out and about if she's fussy. 

Emily had us laughing this weekend, playing with her dolls.  She'd come into the living room, announcing that "Baby went poopy in her diaper."  she'd pick up a clean diaper, and leave to go put it on Baby.  Then she'd come back in, say her line, take another diaper, and leave... and then I wondered where all these diapers were going.  I found them, perfectly folded as used diapers are, in the garbage in the kitchen!!  I convinced her that Baby wanted to learn to use the potty, so she took her doll and sat her on her "liddy" potty, and then left the bathroom and closed the door to give Baby some privacy, I guess.  She entertained herself with baby for probably half an hour, at least.  Her own progress in this area is still iffy sometimes, and other times she totally takes care of things herself.  I would describe the whole process as "one step forward, 90% of that step back." 

This weekend was a busy one, with BRR ride, the Super Bowl, and a visit from my grandfather and my cousin, unexpectedly.  The girls and I spent Saturday in Ames at my sister's house, playing with cousins and friends while Travis and others biked, and then Sunday we went to a small gathering of Travis's co-workers to "watch" the game. There are two other babies Audrey's age and two other toddlers, so there was a lot going on besides the game!!  And my extended family was here mostly because of weather that complicated their plans for attending a meeting here in Des Moines.  Now that things have settled down, I've finally got the kitchen cleaned, I've got plans for supper, and I even picked up a few of Emily's toys.  I may have as much as a full hour of naptime left, so who knows how productive Audrey and I will be in that time!

And since I have a minute, I'd like to voice my displeasure with "The Little Engine That Could."  It's supposed to be all motivating, but the more I read it, the more I hate the little dolls and toys.  Yeah, the passenger engine and the freight engine don't have to be so full of themselves, but their guilt-trip into "but the children will be sad if YOU don't help" just drives me nuts.  How come it's the Little Blue Engine's fault that their train broke down?  She didn't have anything to do with it.  And how come all the other trains are male but Little Blue is female?  Women have to help out, no matter how much it may hurt them, but men are exempt?  They may be jerks, but at least they are still functioning trains.  And they're important trains, too.   I guess, after this weekend, I have found at least one reason to like it.  Emily wanted my grandfather to read it to her while he was here, and he said he remembered his mom reading it to his little brother when he was about 12 years old.  He said it was the same illustrations as the book we have, which I wrote my name on when I was probably 4 or 5.  For Emily, that little memory goes back to her great-great-grandmother.  How cool!

Here's another little something funny - Poppo remarked today at how well Audrey is able to shift her focus.  I laughed and told him that's the first time she's ever received that compliment!  He has spent the past 60+ years as an expert in child development, though, so he knows what he's talking about. :)