Good Catch

We spent some quality time at Grandpa Hoffmann's pond and Lesley had some good catches. Well, she didn't actually catch them but was sure excited about what everyone else was catching.

She wasn't even afraid to touch them.

She even wanted to kiss the fish! Lilly tried too and unfortunately we didn't get a photo of her attempt. As she leaned in for a big smooch, the fish flopped a little and she jumped and started to ran the other way.

Chili in the black pot! It was delicious...you never know how those dishes will turn out since we seriously just pour stuff into the pot and keep stirring it. You can't see the pot, but you can see the tripod my dad put together. It worked great!

These ladies look like trouble. Not sure if you've had the "Stinky Gringo" margaritas, but they are strong! One GOOD thing about switching to bottles/formula, no guilt or clock watching after a few glasses of that. It was tasty!

Andy was and has always been the best fisherman in the family. From the time he could cast a pole, he was pulling in the most and biggest fish in the family. My grandpa and dad have always been jealous of him. He did not disappoint, there's a BIG fish in that group.

Try again Aunt Denise, that's too tiny.

Papa and his girls

Papa and the little ladies disappeared for quite some time and we eventually found them launching clay pigeons. It was pretty funny, their target: The outhouse. I don't think they ever hit it, but there were a lot of attempts. The funniest part was after the girls would pull the cord and the pigeon would blast off, they'd jump up and say "Better go get it!". Then, they'd run after the orange pigeon and bring it back to try again. Unfortunately, Lesley managed to run right throw a cow pie or two and we had to buy new tennis shoes once we returned to KC Monday.

All the girls spent some time on the merry-go-round. Grandma does have a rule that you must be sitting if the merry-go-round is moving but for some reason this photo got snapped while everyone was standing.

We even stopped by the horse campground where Aimee, Mike, and Lilly were camping for the weekend. Lesley got to ride Tally the mule and she loved it! She was still talking about Tally today. Again, I was shocked that she didn't even hesitate to jump on her back.

Lesley and Lilly love Ty, Uncle Andy's dog. He is so patient and sweet to the girls.

Check out that drool and snotty face! Love her, and we really hope a tooth or two pop out soon!

Mommy's Pull ups and Daddy's Lipstick

Each and every day Lesley says something to make me smile and sometimes even laugh out loud. It's so hard to remember these cute remarks and I haven't been so great at writing them down. But, here's a few from the last couple weeks that I managed to capture.

All Aboard! - One night as we passed under, then over the train tracks near our house, she started saying "All Aboard!" from the backseat.

No more monkeys jumping on the bed. - That was her favorite "song" to sing (or maybe yell is a better verb) for several weeks.

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday... - This then became her favorite and we would hear it everywhere, in the car, on our walks, through the baby monitor at nap/bedtime, at the dinner table. While garage saling about a month ago, I found an Abby Cadabby doll and I think that's where it started. She associates Abby Cadabby with her birthday and as we walked home from the garage sales, she sang it while swinging Abby Cadabby around. The bonus, or opposite of bonus according to Jason, was that the $3 doll was still working and makes sounds, "I'm Abby Cadabby...." Annoying? Yes, but Lesley is a huge fan so we'll keep it. For now at least.

The itsy bitsy spider... - Another favorite song. We are working on the hand motions but she's always slightly behind the words.

A, B, C, D.... - Again, another popular song at our house. A new goal for me is to start helping her identify her letters. They learned the letter "F" at the sitter's last week - cut out the letter, used markers to decorate it, and glued feathers on it. She was very excited about the letter "F" that night. We put together her alphabet puzzle the other night and I would say each letter and list things that began with the letter as we worked on it. She was being a little stinker though since she wanted to play outside in the rain instead. She was purposely doing the puzzle wrong and we eventually gave up on that activity. We'll have to keep trying!

The wheels on the bus go open and shut. - She had learned "the wheels on the bus goes round and round" but then Daddy introduced "the doors on the bus go open and close." She now only sings a variation of those two lines put together, with the word "shut".

Just my size. - The night we were over at Aunt Denise's house and we got a single serving yogurt cup out of the fridge, Lesley's comment was "Just my size." I cracked up! She is used to a large container of yogurt that we just scoop into a bowl for her. So, I guess she was right about the size. She still says that from time and time and it always makes me smile.

I'm going to knife it in half. - I actually hate this comment, but it's still an interesting one. She's been playing with her kitchen set a lot lately and likes to pretend to cut things with her plastic knifes. The bad thing is she also tries to "cut" the cats and even Leah. We have had many discussions about the inappropriateness of "knifing" animals and people. I hope this expression passes soon, I just don't like it and the way she uses it.

There's a neigh! - Lesley has known her animals for a long time, but we still catch her referring to them by their animal sounds. Neigh, moo, baa, etc. I actually love this and will be very sad she stops calling horses neighs.

One night she was driving around the cul-de-sac in the neighbor's hummer (think toddler size), and she kept heading down the street. I'd have to go redirect her towards our house. One time I asked her, "Where are you going?" She looked up, tilted her head, and said, "The mountains." Either she has been reading "Big dog, little dog" too much, or she really does want to go to Colorado in a couple months.

Take Leah to the doctor. - After Leah threw up that bottle of milk at the zoo, Lesley wanted to take her to the doctor. Sounds like we have made too many trips to the doctor in recent months!

After we got home one night, Jason and I were talking about our days. Lesley came over to me and said, "How was your day?" I think she was just copying what Jason had asked not long before then, but it was still cute.

Last night Leah was having a rough night. She didn't have a temperature, no rosy cheeks, a runny nose although not snotty and gross and was just laying around whining, with a few outbursts of alligator tears. It was sad. She didn't want to eat cereal, sweet potatos or even her bottle. So, I was just hanging out with her on the floor. Lesley came over and asked what was wrong with Leah. When I told her that Leah didn't feel very good, she ran over to the little kitchen set and pulled it towards Leah saying, "I got her kitchen, maybe that will make her feel better." Love this! She then started playing peek-a-boo with Leah and we managed to get some smiles and giggles. We suspected teeth and gave her a little tylenol. That seemed to do the trick and the evening turned out pretty good. She even showed interest in her cereal and food right before bedtime and ate the whole bowl, plus 4 ounces of milk.

One morning while I was getting dressed and Lesley was snuggling with Daddy on the bed, she looked over and asked if I was putting my pull ups on. I guess her thought process makes sense and to her my underwear are equivalent to her pull ups.

She loves Daddy's "lipstick". Ha. He almost always has chapstick in his pocket or in the basket that contains his wallet, ID badge, and phone in the kitchen. Lesley loves putting on Daddy's lipstick.

A Different Kind of Puzzle

Lesley got a magnetic board as a Christmas gift from Grandma Nancy. She hadn't shown much interest in it until recently. It's hard and she would get frustrated when the pieces wouldn't stay put. Just a few days ago she asked to play with it and she did a great job! I helped her with the train pictured below, but after that point she was able to put the ducks and cat together pretty much on her own. She only asked for help one when she couldn't find enough blue squares.

What a great learning tool! We hope for many more minutes/hours of independent play.

First Zoo Trip of the Summer

Another first of the year this weekend! We headed out to the zoo after church on Sunday morning and had a lot of fun!

Leah was pretty content in the stroller which was a blessing. We quickly realized how much more work Lesley is this year than last year. And, that's even considering I was 8 months pregnant the last time we went to the zoo.

We asked Lesley what animal she wanted to see at the zoo and she said "Tiger!" So, our first stop was the tigers. I don't think she was really that impressed since the tigers were taking naps and not moving around.

She was braver than we expected and loved petting the sheep in Australia.

Our happy camper!

Lesley's absolute favorite part of the trip was the train. I think she would have been just as happy to ride that round and round instead of checking out all the animals.

Then Daddy showed her how to stick her tongue out. Ugh.

Just like Daddy.

Daddy and Leah hanging out by the elephants.

Lunch break!

Leah's first bottle of formula. It didn't last long. That entire 6 ounce bottle ended up all over mommy and the floor. Thank goodness for an extra change in clothes.

Then she had this lovely reaction to the formula. Yikes! I guess she didn't want big sister getting all the attention with her peanut allergy. So, what the heck, make mommy feel even guiltier for weaning her.

Although the rash wasn't a pleasant sight, we tried to stay calm because we knew we had an epi pen if the reaction got too bad. We decided to forgo the Africa exhibit and headed home shortly after eating our lunch and cleaning up as best as possible. Mommy was still gross and smelly! Jason wasn't feeling great either, so even though unplanned, going home was probably the best decision.

We attempted another bottle of formula mixed with frozen breastmilk and she had a similar yet not so dramatic reaction. Seriously!? We even attempted a different brand of formula and same result. Since the frozen supply will only last a couple weeks, we know we'll have to figure something out quickly. We did try yet another brand of formula tonight and although she wasn't a fan of the actual taste, her reaction was minimal. Hopefully we can keep introducing more and more of that formula in the next few weeks before the frozen supply is gone.

So, although we had a good visit to the zoo, we are already looking forward to another trip and enjoying more train rides and hopefully the Africa exhibit in it's entirety.

First Swim Party of the Year

It was pretty warm this weekend so we decided it was a good chance to get out the swimming pool. Our pool from last year had to be retired because we wore through the bottom of it and the sides were breaking. But, luckily Jason snatched the last plastic pool at Walmart the other day. I suspect we will get our $10 out of it this year too.

Lesley took charge of filling the pool with water. We wanted it in the shade so it had to be in the front yard on the slope. Not ideal, but it worked okay. Our backyard doesn't get shady until late in the day so that wasn't a good option. We did just plant two new trees and hope someday they will provide more shade in the backyard.

Remember the plastic, blow up pool from our vacation in Colorado last summer. Lesley officially gave it to Leah so she now has her own pool to hang out in. I blew it up for her, but we didn't put any water in it yet. She was quite content playing with her toys while Lesley played in the water in her pool.

Then after nap time, the neighbor kids joined in on the fun. Zach even brought his boogie boards and some buckets...but Lesley wasn't so sure.

I agree with Lesley. Really Zach...you want to "surf" in the plastic pool? :)

Leah enjoyed more time outside too.

Lesley was insistent after her nap that she didn't want to get her diaper wet, and therefore would not sit in the pool. Notice that we had to get her other swimsuit out since the first one was still wet from earlier in the day. Perhaps we have been talking too much about keeping her diapers clean/dry. I told her she could get her swim diaper wet, but she would just say "Me not get my diaper wet." So, she thought she would put her chair in the water to enjoy it that way.

Our neighborhood pool opens next weekend. I'm not sure how much time we'll spend there this summer. It was stressful last summer with just one kid at the pool, I can't imagine what it would be like with both girls. Unfortunately the baby pool is still not shallow enough. And, Daddy doesn't like to get in the pool so that's not helpful with two kids.

A Fast Learner

Leah has gotten so much more active in the last week. She crawls all over the place...well, she crawls wherever Mama is located. Today I caught her under the end table a few times. The first time I took her out from under it. The second time I just left her (and grabbed my camera). She eventually fell off and bonked her head leaving a nice mark. I felt bad, but seems like she will need to figure these things out eventually.



Since she is constantly trying to pull herself up on whatever she can find, we decided to dig out the kitchen set that Lesley had so much fun with around this age. Sure enough, Leah thought it was great. She was very fast to figure out the peek-a-boo game with Daddy and would open and close the window. Lots of giggles!



Since she has figured out how to crawl into the kitchen, it makes meal preparation a little more interesting, i.e. tricky as Mommy has to dodge the baby...or be forced to pick her up and tote her around while cooking. I plopped her in the walker the other day hoping for 5 minutes of freedom to wrap up prepping Lesley plate. I pushed her over to the fridge and showed her the fridge farm. Score! She was entertained and loved grabbing the pieces and putting them back on the fridge.



The weaning process has finally improved. I have said "I'm done" on many occasions, but couldn't bring myself to follow through. Giving this up has been so much harder on me this time. I don't know if we'll have more babies and I think that's making this decision harder. She is growing up and I'm trying to hold onto the baby for as long as possible. I love nursing, but I hate pumping. Jason and I are taking a trip without the kids soon and the thought of taking the breast pump with me is awful. Plus, she is still waking up at least 2 times a night to eat. This mama is tired after doing that for almost 8 months. Lesley started sleeping through the night pretty much as soon as I quit nursing her...so I am hopeful that will also be the case for Leah.

Last weekend I really did try, but it was awful. She was cranky, I was miserable and emotional...it was a rough weekend and I gave in. I am skeptical that she wasn't feeling the greatest because she screamed for three nights and ended up sleeping with us or her and Mommy sleeping in the guest room. But, this weekend I'm attempting a more gradual approach instead of cold turkey - I think it's helped both of us. Today was good, she took some bottles from Daddy and nursed for a few minutes just a couple of times, followed up by a smaller bottle from Daddy. Daddy took Lesley to the park before bed and I stayed home to give Leah a bath. It was getting close to her bedtime and I knew I wanted her to have a bottle instead of nursing before bed, but they weren't home yet. I was worried that she would refuse to drink a bottle from me like she has always done. We were in luck though, she got excited as I warmed the bottle up and she did not hesitate as I gave it to her while we rocked and I talked to her. It was sweet and I'm actually thankful they weren't home yet, it was so quiet in the house and I loved every minute of giving Leah her first successful bottle from Mommy.

Piggytails and Potty breaks

Lesley has started liking piggy tails in her hair. For several days in a row, she would come home with them from daycare. Chris said that Lesley would sit in her little beauty salon (similar to a play kitchen) and ask Chris for piggy tails. Typically, Lesley would pull them out on the way home until I started convincing her that Daddy would want to see them. She would never let Mama put them in her hair though...until yesterday! Mommy got home and went upstairs to change clothes with Lesley tagging along. She headed to Mommy's bathroom like normal and started digging around in my drawer. After coming across a few hair ties, she decided she needed piggytails. So we put them in, and went outside to play. We had a small fit when it was shower time and they needed to come out, but I'm hopeful she will start allowing me to put them in her hair. It's getting a lot longer and thicker these days so pulling it back when she is playing will be nice.
We have made a lot of progress on the potty training front! I am so pleased with how this milestone is turning out. Because Lesley has shown interest and understanding, we have let her lead the way. And, although it's been a long process, I would say it's still been relatively easy with few frustrations or set backs. She is still pretty young, so we haven't pushed the idea of being potty trained. She went from thinking the potty chair was "fun" to actually knowing when she needs to use it and being able to recognize well in advance when she needs a bathroom break.

Our daily routine is that she gets to wear a pull up first thing in the morning but she knows that as soon as it is wet or dirty, i.e. poopy, she will have to wear a diaper for the rest of the day. Each morning she will say "no diaper, keep pull up clean." And, she generally does a good job with keeping it dry, at least until naptime. Keeping it from getting dirty has been a slower concept for her to grasp, but we are still happy with where she is. One day last week, she actually wore the same pull up ALL DAY LONG. I was shocked and so proud of her.


We had purchased some Minnie Mouse underwear for her several months ago but we are not ready yet to strictly go that route. Some days she ends up with underwear on the outside of her pull up. We keep telling her that she can wear only the underwear as soon as she consistently poops in the potty. So far, she is successful a few days a week but that's not quite consistent enough for this mama.

With some recent road trips to Iowa, we have realized that our trips are taking a lot longer simply because we hear "I have to go potty" from the backseat 3-4 times. We'd have to locate a McDonald's or a rest area or a (hopefully clean) gas station along the way and inevitably add time on to our already long trip. It took us close to 5 hours one time! Before kids, we could get to my parents house in 3-3.5 hours. Granted, this is not entirely Lesley's doing...Leah also contributes to a few stops along the way.

Earlier this week we made a super quick trip to Iowa to say our last good byes to my Aunt Barb who passed away over the weekend. Originally, I was just going to do the trip myself, i.e. drive up in the morning and back that night. But, then my Grandma ended up in the hospital as well and I really wanted the girls to be able and visit with her. Two sweet girls with hugs and kisses are better medicine than any shot or pill they can give Grandma. So, we loaded up at 4pm Monday and headed north. I had the brilliant idea of packing Lesley's potty chair. With the new vehicle, I thought we should give it a try and see if we can eliminate some of the potty breaks. It worked like a charm! We made one stop about half way to my parent's house to grab some food, feed Leah, and use the restroom. Then, we made another stop about an hour later when Lesley said she needed to use the potty. We pulled off at the closest exit ramp, positioned the potty chair on the floor of the back seat, she sat, went and we were back on the road within 5 minutes. Amazing! We even made it in time for Aunt Barb's prayer service. Our trip back was just as successful. I think this new tactic will be very useful on our road trip to Colorado this summer!

One funny part of our road side potty breaks was a concern by Lesley about a dog. I don't know why, but she kept thinking there was a dog on the side of the road. "No doggy, right?" This happened both times we stopped to use the potty chair. It will be interesting to see if she remembers that the next time we take a road trip.

No photos of the potty training, but I hope you enjoyed the piggytails as much as we do.

Chocolate Truffle

Another first for Lesley this week! We painted her finger nails and it was so much fun. She held very still (for the most part) and was very focused on what Mommy was doing. We used the color Chocolate Truffle and she thought it was great. She has been showing off her fingers proudly.

Beautiful!

That night as I was getting her settled in bed, I told her I would tuck her in. She raised her arms above her head and said "Not my fingers!" Too funny!

The report from daycare the next night was that Lesley had a meltdown at lunch time when she realized her finger nail polish was coming off. Oh no!!! She has a bad habit of sucking on her fingers so that gave us the opportunity to talk about keeping our fingers out of our mouth.

Next up...her toes! But we need to pick a night when she's not already in her footed pajamas.