days of our lives

At 3 pm yesterday I sat down to write a 10 minute entry. That's when Lauren Clay came in after her brief nap and when Ty started crying for food. I think I could've lulled Lauren Clay back to sleep, but not while nursing Ty. I'm not that skilled in multitasking.

The lack of blog entries is no reflection of the days we've had here lately. In fact, we've had multiple blogworthy moments, but I've spent my computer time working on classes. As the blogable list grows, I'm less and less likely to sit down to post, knowing it'll take a while to record all that's happening. While John and the kids chat with nana and papa, I have a few minutes to do a bulleted list of the goings on.

-Lauren Clay and John went shopping for new fish while I was at Southland's Replenish a few Mondays ago. They bought a shrimp ("my trimp"), and she loves to look at it, or-- more appropriately-- look for it. Especially when she is supposed to be in bed.

-Bedtimes have been rough lately. The progress we'd made over the past few months was thwarted by Lauren Clay's sinus infection a couple weeks ago. We were almost back to square one with the bedtime routine, although now when we put her to bed she will at least stay in it (when we were first working on better bedtime habits, she would get out of the bed as soon as I put her in it. There were nights I had to put her back almost 50 times-- and I have journal notes to verify that.) She does have a way out now that she is out of diapers: "I have to go pee pee on the potty." One night we stopped counting after she'd been up 10 times to take care of nature's call. I know she was manipulating us, but how do you say no, especially when she produces something every time? Monday night of this week she was in bed by 8, but wasn't asleep until 10:30. Or was it 11:30? At least she was in her bed and I wasn't in there with her.

-Potty training is going very well. In fact, I think we are out of diapers completely. I'll probably put a pull-up on her for our trip to Alabama next week, but I think she's able to wait for the family stops. She'd been using the potty for a while, but only for pee pee. She would ask for a diaper for the other. I don't know what encouraged her to do "the other" in the potty, but now that she is, she has christened most potties in the places we've visited in the past 2 weeks (church, UK, Lowe's, school, GaGa's.) Thankfully she isn't one to camp out on the potty. When she has to go, she goes fast.

-Ty has been eating lots lately, so we're guessing he's about to hit a growth spurt. He weighs
16 pounds now. We go to the doctor for his 4-month appointment Monday. I'll post the official weight after that. He's very interactive now. Loves a bath, playing with his sister, and jumping in the Jumperoo.

-Lauren Clay has been eating the colors of the rainbow at her school. The teachers originally pitched this as a project in which the kids would try new fruits and veggies. The night before red-and-orange day Lauren Clay found the carton of grape tomatoes I'd brought home from the grocery. She pulled it out and kind of hid in the corner of the kitchen to eat them (like she was sneaking off with a stash of chocolate.) On green-and-yellow day, one of the parents brought green Jello for snack. The teachers told me that Lauren Clay said, "I don't like Jello. I want peas." At least if she isn't getting enough sleep, she is making up for it in nutrition.

Finally, we met Libby and family for the UK Gymnastics meet last night. If you are looking for a good family date night, consider that (although there is only one meet left for the season.) The girls ran hard in the halls, grooved to the music and admired Scratch (the mascot.) Lauren Clay has talked about Scratch ever since. She prayed for him last night and this morning and continues to ask about him today.

Pictures later. We have lots of good ones.