Another week down, Six more to go!

So, in case you can't tell, I've already started the figurative paper chain here. This was my first week back "on my own." And as much as I'm trying to keep a positive outlook, I've resigned myself to the idea that I won't be getting any sleep until August.

So, let's have a brief recap of the last month or so. Since the great zoo outing, we've not really attempted anything major. Mostly because for the last 3 weeks I've been dealing with sick children. First up was Ethan who had a high fever, sore throat and cough for exactly one week. It started on a Sunday and by Saturday he was starting to feel better, so of course as soon as he was done it was Grace's turn. She had all the same plus a little throwing up thrown in the mix. She was done after a little more than a week, when wouldn't you know, this last Saturday Sophie started getting goopy eyes and a little cough. Luckily she hasn't had the fever or anything else, but you can tell she just doesn't feel great. So that sucks. I'm hoping it will run true to Ethan and Grace's course and she'll be better before the weekend is out. Because she's an even worse sleeper when she's sick.

In the midst of all the sickness, we enjoyed a visit from my mom and baby brother Jacob, who drove on up from New Orleans to pay us a visit. We had a blast and they came just as Ethan was getting better so they were able to get him out of the house while Grace was sick. Ethan was in heaven because they went to the Children's Museum 3 or 4 times, and Wendy's a few more times than that.

Here is a "photo shoot" the kids participated in. A friend of ours in the ward here is starting up his own photography studio and asked if he could take pictures of the kids to use for his portfolio, etc. and that we'd get a complimentary 8X10 in exchange. Here are a couple that Scott took with our camera. Of course, his camera was WAY nicer than ours, so I'm excited to see how the real pictures come out.



While my family was still here, we decided to celebrate Ethan's birthday a little bit early with them by going to Chuck E. Cheese. It was a hit. It made EVERYONE happy.





For Ethan's actual birthday on this Monday, I made the mistake of asking him what kind of cake he wanted. I meant what FLAVOR he wanted. Ethan took it to mean what kind of CHARACTER he wanted me to make. I guess I started a bad precedent with Grace's Elmo cake back in November. For his birthday, Ethan decided he wanted an alligator cake. A what? I have no idea what made him think that's what he wanted. Its not like he's really into alligators or anything, but feeling guilty because he doesn't really know any kids around here, and he didn't have a friends birthday party like Grace did, I figured I had to give it a try. Two cake mixes, a lot of green food coloring, and 3/4 of a day later, here is the final product:


It was a borderline nightmare trying to finish it up with Ethan "helping" me and Sophie and Grace waking up halfway through, not to mention Ethan and Grace starting a peanut M&M throwing war, but it made it ALMOST worth it when I was done and Ethan kept saying "I LOVE my alligator cake, mom."

Somebody needs to give that child a bath.

To make this long day even longer, I had scheduled my hair cut for that night at 8 o'clock thinking that for sure it wouldn't a problem to make it there on time. But of course, being directionally challenged, I made several wrong turns (both getting there and coming back) trying to find the salon that was on the other side of the city. Let's just say that on the way back I found myself in northern Kentucky for a little while before I was able to find my way back home. My hair cut is a little shorter than I would have liked, but its hair -- it grows back.

Here's one of Ethan's birthday presents that we picked up for CHEAP at Goodwill. He's anxiously awaiting tomorrow when we put on the training wheels for him.

So, to all those who care about my sleep woes, they were frustrated even further this last week. I had decided that it was finally time to try a little sleep training now that Sophie is over 4 months old. Starting with bedtime, we decided to let her cry herself back to sleep if she woke up after only an hour of being asleep. The idea was not to get her until around 10 when she would legitimately need to eat again. Well, apparently Sophie is even more persistent than Ethan was as a baby, and on Sunday after being asleep for less than an hour she woke back up and started crying/screaming and continued to do so for the next 2 hours straight. At this point we started hearing the neighbors banging on the bedroom wall every few minutes. I guess they don't like hearing her scream anymore than I do. I guess I didn't think it would be such a problem at 8:30 at night. I guess I was wrong. Sleep training is tentatively on hold until we get back to "our" house in August. Six more weeks. Six more weeks.

"The Potty-Training Treats"

I decided to complicate my life even further this week by potty-training Grace. Bribery usually works fairly well with my children, so I let Grace pick out her favorite candy (peanut M&Ms) and Ethan picked out his (Reese's peanut butter cups, which he calls "muffin treats"). Because even though Ethan has been potty-trained for a year, who doesn't need a little more incentive now and then to go to the bathroom? We didn't really start until yesterday, and let me just say that she was a million times easier than Ethan. She was basically potty-trained in a day.

How can I know that for sure you may ask? Well, picture this scene. Sophie was up pretty much all night long last night. 9:30 PM, 11 PM, Midnight, 3 AM, 4:20 AM and up for good at 5:30. I got out of bed with her around 6 and once the other kids woke up I got them their breakfast, locked the door when Scott left, and finally got Sophie down for a nap at 7. At this point I told the kids to be quiet and leave me alone so I could get a nap, too. I put in our latest Netflix pick -- Dennis the Menace -- and went back to bed. Imagine my surprise when they actually left me alone! I was able to sleep for a couple of hours before my slumber was disturbed by the sound of Grace intermittently screeching. It took me a few minutes to realize that I should probably get up and check on them. What I found was Grace going to the bathroom all by herself while Ethan was teasing or taunting her about something. I was in shock. She went all day without any accidents and was able to tell me each time she had to go!

We ended up having a really good day, and tonight we had even more fun. Grace and I had a girl's night out to the mall -- she's my new favorite shopping partner. And Ethan and Scott ordered pizza and had a game night at home. Grace is a shopper who knows her mind and in Gymboree she set her sight upon a red 4th of July dress that she thought looked just like Annie's (you know, from the musical). I ended up caving in and buying the dress and she was so happy that she wanted to put the dress on as soon as we bought it. We had a really fun time and so did the boys at home. I think I sense a tradition coming on!




And finally, due to the following, I realized today that the kids have probably watched Annie a few too many times in the last couple weeks:

1.) Ethan has started calling Grace his little pig droppings
2.) Grace burst out into song today at the lunch table singing "The Sun'll come out,Tomorrow" with Ethan immediately following it up with "Welcome to the Movies"
and 3.) Grace says that she is no longer Wish Bear, but Annie

Here's to hoping the next 6 weeks fly by!

Oh and yeah, how could I NOT buy her this ensemble when I saw it at the Gap?