I've been Tagged

I have been tagged by my friend Val. Her blog is here.

The rules of the tag are as follows:
1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write 6 random things about yourself.
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let the person know you tagged them on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when you've posted.


1. I am incredibly intimidated by Facebook. For some reason I feel as though I can't please everyone on Facebook, so I won't please anyone. For example: People write on your "wall" (whatever that is. I still don't really know what most of the things are on this site). After they write on your wall, I assume you write them back. Here's the problem. I didn't know how to do this for a while, and now, 3 or 4 people have written on my wall, and I'm afraid that if I respond to one, and not all of them, I will be detested and shunned from the community. I also feel that I don't have anything cool or funny to say, and if the entire world can read it, I don't want to sound lame.

2. I like to organize things, repeatedly. This seems to be wearing off, as my free time is eaten up by my children. I'm okay with that. Who needs to have their drawers and closets perfectly organized?

3. I love the smell of wood. I like it when it is burning. I like the smell of lumber yards or stores. Sawing wood creates a pleasant smell. It all makes me feel slightly productive. Or at least motivated to build something.

4. There are certain things that I love to look at: Office Supplies, Organization techniques/ideas, and kitchen tables. These things will occupy my attention, regardless of need or time. I don't know why pens, Post-it notes, paper clips, paper, Sharpies, etc. are fun to look at, but they are. Also, different types and ways to organize things? Always a big hit. And yes, I have a perfectly functional kitchen table, but what if I find something better?

5. I have 23 vases in my kitchen, above my cupboards. I also have 3 clear glass pitchers, and 7 champagne goblets (mostly from my honeymoon in Vegas). You know, in that useless space between the top of the cabinet and the ceiling? Where the dust bunnies gather to have large, unruly parties? Amazingly enough, I have actually cleaned all those objects. Once, when I moved into the house, (3.5 years ago) and twice, when I was "nesting" with Katie. (2.5 years ago). I was hoping to get to them again with my second baby, Elayna, but no such luck.

6. I have 4 dozen dried (Ryan likes to call them dead) roses hanging from a wire rack above my kitchen counter. And I remember where they all came from. Ryan. He's great.


I'm Tagging: Hillary,Hannah, Heather, Ryan, Clarissa, and Gillian.

Why?

Why is it that at the end of each day I have cute and fun things to tell Ryan about my day, but if I don't write them down, they disappear?
One I do remember...
on Sunday, we went to my aunt and uncle's house for a family get together. The kids were all playing outside. I went to get Katie to take her home, and as I picked her up, I thought, "I had forgotten she had underwear on. Wait! she doesn't! Where is her diaper?!?!" Thus followed a lengthy and thorough search of the backyard and inside the home. All to no avail. I asked Katie to help me find her diaper, (because I really didn't want anyone to find a used diaper weeks or months after we had been there) and she showed me where she had taken it off. No diaper. Then I asked her cousin Joseph (age 7, almost 8) if he had seen the diaper. Success! The dog had been chewing on it, so another, older cousin threw it away. Sigh of relief. Stories like that have always been funny when they are someone else's child. And it was, but mostly it was embarrassing and worrisome at the time, and funny now.

Related to that... Katie is doing very well in the potty training department. She will wear underwear until her nap, with no accidents, and then we put Pull-ups on. After her nap, she can usually be persuaded to wear underwear again. Sometimes she doesn't want to worry about the underwear, so she declines. We used to argue about whether she should wear Pull-Ups or diapers while she is sleeping, but then I decided I didn't really want to fight about her wearing the Pull-Ups when I wanted her to wear diapers (they are cheaper).
I am excited that she seems to really get the concept of going to the bathroom on the potty, and she can be bribed into doing it if she doesn't want to.
I think that if she didn't wear the Pull-ups or diapers, she would be completely trained, but I really don't want to deal with a wet bed after she sleeps.
Well, I am feeling really good. I cleaned out most of the garage this week, and compressed many many empty boxes that were taking up space in one of my storage rooms. I have felt fairly useless and unproductive until this point, so it is nice to be able to say I have accomplished something.
I think I had a little post partem depression at first. I remember thinking at around a week that I had been taking care of Elayna forever, and then I started crying because I was going to be raising children for the rest of my life! Or at least the next 20-30 years. I'm still planning on doing that, but it doesn't seem nearly as overwhelming and depressing as it did.
I also remember that the first week or two passed by so very s...l...o...w. But now, she is already 7 weeks old! She is smiling in recognition and when we talk to her. She stays awake more during the day and likes to be outside.
Katie is learning new words and phrases so quickly. A while ago, when we were sick, she was praying, and I prompted her to say "please help me to feel better" and she paraphrased it as "mom and katie better". So cute. It made me feel good to know she was concerned about me.
This morning, I picked Katie up from Irma's house (Katie spends the night there once a week). Katie hugged me and told me she had missed me. Oh! What joy! Of course, then Irma told me she had spent most of the morning talking to a statue of a girl that she called Mommy. And when I had talked to Irma on the phone earlier, Katie didn't want to talk to me. :(
Well, for not remembering anything to tell, this was a long post.

Comparisons

For those wanting to compare Katie and Elayna, these are pictures of them taken at about the same age. Elayna is on the pink and blue blanket and Katie is on the red and white one. I personally think they look quite a bit alike in these pictures.

 

 























Katie loves laying by "my very own baby sister Elayna" as she frequently calls her.
 









I think their hair is about the same color too:
 
 





















A little frown from Elayna:

 

Things to remember

I remember worrying about putting Katie in the swing for 2 nights in a row when she was really young, because I was sure she would never be able to sleep in a bed again. Now, Elayna has been fussing for most of the day, and wanting to eat a lot more than normal. Also, Ryan says Elayna just cries non-stop from about 10:00 pm until about 2:00 AM. Not fun for him. Luckily, I sleep through it all. Anyways, we are putting Elayna in the swing tonight, and I'm not worried at all about her not sleeping well. Funny how life changes. (Addendum: this was written about 2 weeks ago, and Elayna has been sleeping great in the swing ever since. She actually slept for 8 hours straight (not even eating!) for 3 nights in a row!)
Ryan was sick a couple of weeks ago, and then I got sick on the 10th. Really, really sick. I had a fever, my throat hurt worse than I could remember, and my body ached. I was tested for flu and strep, but they were both negative. Luckily, the doctor put me on antibiotics anyways, and I was better after a day or two.
I have been blessed with wonderful mothers that put their lives on hold for me, whenever I need them. I was able to sleep a lot and recover because of them and Ryan. I am so grateful I have been blessed with such fabulously unselfish people in my life.

Elayna and I went to church for the first time on the 7th. These are the outfits the girls wore.

 

 

 

My Beautiful Girls

 

Katie has grown up. She not only seems bigger, but she acts older. She doesn't throw fits as much, and she is very helpful around the house; mostly getting stuff for me when I'm feeding Elayna. She is still fighting being potty trained quite diligently. Everyone keeps telling me that she will just decide to be trained one day, but I really wanted that to be before she goes to school! With changing 2 girl's diapers throughout the day, I tend to leave the diapers lying around in piles. She will go around with a plastic shopping bag, and collect all the diapers, and then throw them in the garage, so Ryan can take them out to the garbage can.

 

Elayna is getting cuter each day. She coos and purrs while she is sleeping. She actually has slept for 4.5- 5 hours at a time, which is great. Ryan is so great about letting me sleep as long as possible. If Elayna's noises keep me up, he will take her downstairs with him until about 1:30 or 2, so I can have uninterrupted sleep until then, at least. He also will change the diaper in between feedings so I don't wake up all the way. It is really hard for me to fall back to sleep sometimes, so this keeps me sleepy enough that I can go back to sleep easily.

 

Elayna stretches a lot. She also will smile when I get ready to feed her. She has this uncanny ability to tell when I'm looking at her when she is asleep. She will be fussy, so I will sit up to look at her and make sure she is okay. When I look at her, she is peacefully sleeping. When I lay down, she starts fussing again. Pretty funny.

 

Katie still loves to pose. She is copying new words each day. She can name most of the Superheroes, action figures, and villains that Ryan has collected. She says "No thanks", and "bless you" (quite loudly and emphatically after a sneeze).