Good, Cheap Fun

Indiana, Again

Her fanny pack full of dog treats

Boyd's corn on the cob

The girls and I decided to take advantage of the fact that there is no school, no work, and they feed us for free. So we are in Indiana for the week, again. It's just so much more fun to play outside here than in our backyard! Over the past couple days Reesi's been working on training Sophie and Elye's been raiding the pantry.

The Fourth of July

I think this is my face trying to decide if I should let her lay her little head on a dirty goat or make her scream.

I decided to let her lay her head on a dirty goat.

Reesi at Sweet Cece's.

Sarah and Elye

This is the dog that Elye fell in love with. She would lay her head on him and wrap her arms around him. The sweet little dog just let her do whatever she wanted.

Our no good, horrible, firework spot. We'll know better next year.

On the actual Fourth of July Larry got home in time to celebrate. We headed downtown Franklin for Franklin on the Fourth. We ate with Karen and Van and walked around looking at the booths set up. After about an hour in stroller Elye was ready to get out. We let her out and she started dancing to the music immediately. She loved it! We also went to the petting zoo. Elye would go up to the sheep and goats and lay her head on them(I did try to sanitize her head afterwards). She loves animals!

We then ran into Bob and Sarah from school and went for some yogurt at Sweet Cece's. At this point Elye had already decided she was not going to get back in the stroller. Sarah was sweet enough to help us out with holding her and following her as she tried to run away. Elye was loving it! After Lori Morgan performed we went to find the perfect spot for fireworks. It turned out it wasn't such a great spot after all, but we made the best of it. We didn't get home until 10:15, which is the latest Elye has ever stayed up. I can't believe she made it the whole time without a major breakdown. I think she just loved being outside and being able to explore!

The Third of July

The Third of July

After my 27 hour tour of baby duty, I was ready for a break. Reesi, Elye, and I headed to White House to party it up with all our WH friends. Elye stayed for a couple hours until Julie came by to take her home to her house for dinner and bed so I could enjoy the rest of the party. Reesi stayed in the pool the majority of the time. She also loved the super long sparklers. I tried to take pictures of the night, but the pictures I missed were Lofton and Jude cleaning out the swing set boat. Apparently, their favorite thing to do is to pee in the boat, in the boat's telescope, and on the slide right before they go down it. To a mother of girls, this was hilarious to me, but I don't think Carmen and Amy are laughing anymore.

After the fireworks, Reesi and I headed to Julie's to spend to night. Elye was sound asleep when my head hit the pillow at 10:10. The rest of the night went as follows:

10:30 Elye cries

10:40 I get her back down

10:45 Elye coughing

10:50 Elye crying

10:55 Elye coughing, gagging, and then throwing up down my back

11:00 Elye not wanting to go to sleep. Normally, at home I would put her in the crib, shut the door, and let her cry. However, little Easton is right next door and is just beginning to improve his nighttime sleeping issues of his own. I knew I couldn't let her cry or she would wake him up and cause even more problems. During this hour of trying to get Elye to sleep she was pretty sweet. I remember at one point while I was walking her around she was laying her head on my shoulder and holding on so tight. Then I felt this little hand start patting my back. Even during frustrating times babies will do the sweetest things that make it all worth it.

11:40 Motherly frustration after walking the floor trying to get Elye to sleep

11:50 Throw in the towel, load up the girls and bags into the car

11:55 Reesi stays asleep, Elye is quiet for the ride home

12:15 Elye's screaming wakes up Reesi who just wants to go to bed. Elye stealing Reesi's blanket. Reesi's mad. Blanket goes back to Reesi. Elye screams and cries the rest of the way home.

12:37 Finally, pull into our house.

12:45 Elye in bed, crying

1:00 Elye finally asleep!!!

Not a good ending to a fun day, but thankfully I dodged all the drunks on the road and my bed never felt so good!

The Second of July

I had to pull out the Moby Wrap so I could feed Easton without Elye screaming.

Easton never seemed to notice that Elye was being a little selfish with the toys.

I pulled out a bath seat so Easton could sit on the rug. Look who ended up in the bath seat.

My holiday weekend started out with me and two babies. Larry was in Atlanta for the whole weekend, Reesi was at Mimi and Papoo's, and I was home with Elye and my sister's 5 month old, Easton. The challenge was me, 27 hours, no other adults, a 14 month old, and a 5 month old. During this 27 hours, Elye's jealous bone showed up several times. Everything Easton did, she had to do. When I changed his diaper she laid down next to him for me to change her diaper. When he ate baby food she had to eat baby food. When he had a toy, well, she made sure he never had toys for very long. When I held him she screamed until I held her. It was a long 27 hours, but I made it. I think teenagers should have to do this for a couple days because it is a wonderful form of birth control!

Little E. at 14 Months

The Bite!!!

Little Elye, at 14 months you . . .

-have been walking full time since June 8th.

- will try to say many words. You also try to woof, meow, baa, roar. You've got the meow and woof down pretty well. Call Reesi Sissy (Reesi's request), but it comes out more like ti-tea. Call me Mama or Mimi, but will only call Mimi Mama. I think you may love her a little too much!! You will sign and say more(sounds like or, but totally have copied my inflection). Other words: bi-bi (baby), I can't think of any more right now but I know there are more so I will come back and add them later when I think of them.

-are off the bottle and formula. I started using a training spout with your bottles and you never blinked an eye. I have slowly been adding more soy milk to your formula and are drinking full soy milk cups now.

-love a food one day and throw it on the floor the next. You are so fickle when it comes to your meals. If you take a bite and don't want it, then you throw it on the floor immediately. This is the only time I have ever wished I had a dog.

-blow kisses and make a real kiss sound.

-love to give love. We will say, "Give them love." Whether it is a baby, kid, book, stuffed animal, or photo you will lay your head on them and say, "ahh." However, beware, because in the nursery at church you do this to a friend and then pull their hair as soon as the love is over. -can be a stinker. You like to pinch, pull hair, and recently bit your sister. On your defense she does tote you around all the time. You scream to let her know to stop, but she doesn't listen. Maybe she will listen now!

-learn so much everyday. I should really do weekly updates. You will repeat everything.

-are facing forward in the car now. I know I am supposed to leave you backwards until you are like 12 years old, but our vents in the back of the car aren't positioned well. You would never get any air and would be sweating bullets every time I got you out. You also were screaming constantly. I thought it would actually be safer for me not to be halfway twisted around trying to hand you a toy behind that gargantuan car seat of yours.

-have started sleeping later during the summer. You wake up anywhere between 7:15-8:00. The later wake up time has messed up your two nap a day schedule. Most days you aren't tired enough by 2:00 to go to sleep and you still refuse to take your second nap if we don't lay you down by 2:30.

-will bring me my cell phone when it rings. If you find a snack laying around or a water bottle you will also bring that to me for a bite or a drink.

-are, to quote Meemaw, "FULL-TIME!" Aunt Jenny says that's why God made 1 year olds so cute. I think she is right. You have the sweetest laugh, cutest smile, and I am amazed at how much a 1 year old can do. It's a good thing you have so many qualities that make me want to squeeze you and kiss you because you are "FULL-TIME," especially at a restaurant.

Swim Lessons

Reesi has had quite the fear of swimming for a while now. She did swim lessons at three, but they did no good. We should have done them last summer, but we didn't want to spend the money. This year we knew we had to do them. So she had eight private lessons with Nancy Anderson, an amazing swim teacher. I was worried there would be screaming and tears, but she did great. She will now swim underwater without holding her nose. When she is in a pool where she can touch she does so well. However, the last few days of swim lessons Mrs. Anderson had her tread water. Reesi did not want to tread water in the deep end. It was pretty tough to watch. Reesi would tread, but when she started sinking and going under Mrs. Anderson didn't help her back up. She made her get herself back out of the water. Reesi could do it, but it scared her half to death. She hates treading water and is too scared. So when we are at Meemaw's pool, where she can't touch at all, she relies on her swim vest. Larry is much better at making her swim without it and she will do it, but just not full time. Mrs. Anderson is wonderful, but Reesi started from ground zero and she really needs several more weeks of lessons. I just wish we started with Mrs. Anderson when she was three! We've maxed out our budget for swim lessons this year so it looks like it's up to Larry. Hopefully, with several trips to Meemaw's this year Reesi will be treading water without the look of terror in her eyes!