Baybay & Baybee: Week 96 (6/5-6/11)

96 weeks old!

I'm happy to report that nighttime sleep continues to go smoothly! Both girls have been sleeping well, though we still have wake-ups a couple times a week. Maya has also been talking in her sleep occasionally. When this happens, she mostly says, "Ella".

The majority of the wake-ups this week have been from Ella. When this happens, one of us will just walk her back to bed and she usually goes right back to sleep. Other wake-ups from the girls are often a result of a lost doggie. A repetitive and very sleepy pleading of, "Doggie? Doggie?!" occurs until one of us goes into their room and finds whoever's doggie is lost under the pillow or blanket and tucks them back to sleep. Not really so bad, all in all.

I know I've posted a lot of videos of the girls on slides recently. Here is one more. They've just been enjoying them so much!

After playing a few times recently at the YMCA playground, I decided to do a trial membership to see if Maya and Ella might enjoy playing in the child-watch while I do some exercise inside. We went in the mornings on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. I only left the girls for short times, the longest being about 40 minutes one day. Though they did cling to me as I was saying good-bye, there wasn't any crying for me to stay and I think the whole experience was harder on me than it was for them. The third day, when I came back to get them, Maya was pretty sad. I didn't like that and it made me question the whole thing. She just looked as though she was about to burst into tears. According to the Childwatch staff, she had been hovering near her sister for a while before I came to get them. I'm pretty sure she had some sort of need but didn't feel comfortable or know how to communicate it.

By the end of the week, the girls were getting sick so we didn't go the last day of our trial membership. Honestly, as good of an idea as it seemed, I didn't enjoy it very much.

We randomly met a dad with his twin boys at the YMCA playground one of the days of the trial membership. Maya spontaneously hugged with the boy in the pink shirt!

Trying out the climbing area inside the YMCA.

On Saturday, we went to Lydia's 3rd birthday party. We all had a lot of fun! There was a train to ride on, which was very exciting (mostly for Ella), yummy snacks to eat and lot of toys to play with. It was also fun for us to have a chance to catch up with Dan and Darleen!

The girls gravitated to the slide as soon as we arrived.

Ella playing catch with Dan.

Three different heights.

Water table fun.

Eating some snacks.

A ride on the train with Dada.

I think Maya and Ella's favorite part of the party was riding on Lydia's trikes! They can almost pedal by themselves.

Cupcake!

The frosting is the best part.

Finger-licking good.

Maya's turn.

She didn't enjoy how the frosting got on her fingers.

Just sitting together eating cupcakes.

That same afternoon, we went to our neighborhood's potluck block-party. I made a delicious massaged kale, strawberry, and avocado salad. It was a long day with the two parties, but they were both a lot of fun. We were all worn out by the evening.

We brought some juggling toys along with the salad to the potluck.

Ella helps/watches Dada show some kids how to juggle.

Maya and Ella loved the chance to spend time with Chloe.

A new thing for the girls has been flipping through books on their own. They will pick out a book, sit down with it and then flip through all of the pages as if they are actually reading it.

On Tuesday Ella had a fever and she slept most of the day. Grandma Kathy came down to visit and took Maya to the park. When they came back I got to go do a little gardening while both girls played inside with Grandma. There has been lots of rain, so it was good to do a little catching up out there.

Brett and I had a date on Friday night for Restaurant Week in town! Selena came and stayed at our house while the girls slept.  I wore a pretty dress and we went out to a restaurant we wouldn't otherwise eat at, and although we tried not to we mostly talked about the girls and the new house (that we closed on last week!!!).

Maya and Ella have not been listening very well. This is a new behavior and it was especially noticeable on Thursday. It was such a challenging day. They were purposefully challenging everything we asked them to do or not to do.  We have no real consequences in place for inappropriate behavior because up until this week, it hasn't been an issue. We're not sure what we're going to do about it, and we have been talking about how we want to respond to their pushing.

Maya after her second-ever hair trim.

Ella!

Eating cereal at their little table in the morning.

Wearing Grandma's shoes.

This is what Ella did while Grandma and Maya were at the park.

Reading stories and eating popcorn with Grandma, while I got to do some gardening.

This is what happens when both girls pick out the same pair of shoes to wear.

Food at Cup and Top.

More food another day.

Playing a game together.

I made this strawberry jam!

Sleepy.

Baybay & Baybee: Week 95 (5/29-6/4)

95 weeks old!

It's been really hot outside. I've been having the hardest time with this sudden jump in temperature. There have been a few moments that I've felt a little dizzy, which is unsettling. I'm not sure what is causing it, if it's just the heat or if I'm getting a cold or something. Whatever it is, I don't like it. I've never felt well in very hot weather, but don't remember times in the past that it made me feel dizzy/sick.

Maya and Ella stayed cool by spending a lot of time this week outside playing with water.

Filling up cups at the rain barrel.

Giving their new baby doll (from the All 4 Kids sale I went to this week) a bath with the hose. Maya is also wearing a new hat from that sale.

Ella in her cute hat.

Time to get rinsed off!

They even washed her hair.

More All 4 Kids sale finds included this beautiful dress.

And these sunglasses (excuse the dirty mirror).

Where are your eyes?

There you are!

Maya's cute curl of hair in the back.

On Wednesday, both girls slept all night long, from 7:15 p.m - 5:15 a.m with no wake ups! Brett and I opened our eyes minutes before the clock was set to switch colors. We heard Maya in her room quietly moving around. As soon as the clock turned, Maya came running out, big smile on her face, repeating "Yellow! yellow!" Ella happily followed her out of their bedroom.

Brett and I have been trying to schedule more time in the week so that we might feel that we are getting more accomplished.  This has included more chunks of time where one of us is with the girls, while the other is doing something else. It's worked well for us so far and I hope we can continue to plan ahead a little more. I think we really DID get more accomplished this week than we regularly do.

Outings with Brett included a bike ride to the park.

A picture of all three of them on the swings.

Brett also took them to Cup and Top another day. He got this short (but SO sweet) video of the girls going down the slide together. Make sure you have the sound turned on, so you can hear Ella say "Two" just before they go.

I also took a video of the girls on a slide when we went to the YMCA playground together.

We did a bunch of cooking together. Here is Maya helping to crack an egg.

This lemon meringue pie was the result of the following conversation:

Me: "What do you want to do this morning?"

Maya: "Cook!"

Me: "Okay! What do you want to cook?"

Maya: "Pie!"

I got to pick strawberries for the first time this season!

I also got to do some weeding in the back garden. Maya watched.

Selena came home from her adventures in Europe! Maya and Ella were delighted to have their friend back in town.

Ella can say, "Bill" as in, "I would like to listen to the Bill Staines CD, please!"

Maya reading to her sister.

Eating cucumbers, holding pacifiers and playing Blokus.

Maya makes handprints with water outside.

Watering the pavement...

"We made a puddle to jump in!"

Toward the end of the week, our beloved sandbox got used by a neighborhood cat. We had to cover it up until we get new sand.

We put a piece of plywood over it, which quickly became a great place to draw with chalk.

Heading out for a walk, well prepared with a snack and sunglasses.

We decided to take the wagon.

And they pulled it most of the way around the block!