Blog Blog Blog...

I have not updated my blog in forever... I don't know what it is, at the end of the day I am exhausted like I've run full out all day long. But looking back on my days I cannot for the life of me figure out what we've done or accomplished that day. My house is still never clean, worse than before if you can imagine. But that is okay with me, I do know that at the end of the day when the house is a mess it's because I have focused all my attention on the girls and they are better off for it. We try to get out every morning for a walk, roughly 2 miles and we have been pretty good about it too. We have rejoined Gymboree, and have the occasional play date, but other than that... So here is what I know has been accomplished in the last month. Lily started to smile, really smile in early January. She is so cute! Her eyes squint up to almost nothing. I forgot how heart stoppingly cute the toothless smile is!! Then about a week and a half ago Lily discovered her laugh, again, so cute! If I could figure out what it is that makes her laugh, I would spend all day every day doing it... But for now it occurs in the midst of our daily chats, and I love it. Grace has gotten laughs out of Lily when she get about an inch from her face and says "Hi Sister!" This week Lily discovered her hands. I love watching her amazement at these foreign objects in front of her face and her wonder at what they are and why they are moving like that... Ahhh babies. And lastly for Lily she is discovering new and fun sounds everyday. The best is her facial expression the first time she makes a sound. It is... there really are no words, but her surprise at both her ability to make the sound and the shock that the sound came from her are so worth the pile of laundry and dishes that never get done! Now for Grace... Ah Miss Grace, she really is a very good big sister. When Lily cries you will usually hear Grace say "It's okay Lily, it's okay..." however if after a few minutes this does not work she then proceeds to yell "STOP CRYING LILY!!" So, patience may be a virtue, but I am not sure how much patience Grace has... Grace continues to be too smart for my own good. After a battle of wills a month or more ago to put Grace in "Time Out" I finally won (It took 20 minutes one time, but that was all it took) and now she sits on the "Time Out Mat" until she is told she can get up, but... She has tried to put Lily in time out on more than once occasion for hitting. Lily's little arms flail still, she is after all barely 3 months old, but Grace knows that hitting is a "Time Out Offense" so when Grace catches an inadvertent right hook from Lily she demands Lily be placed in "Time Out". It does not stop there, she has tried to put me in Time Out a few times for telling her what to do. She also tried to put a friend who said "Mine" in time out since, saying "Mine" in this house is not allowed. She's a smart one. Her new favorite saying is "Oh Man..." It's hard not to burst out laughing when I ask her to do something and she looks up at me and sighs, then says "Oh Man..." She chatters on pretty much non-stop. The best, well I think it's the best, happened the other day. We were in our backyard, trying to enjoy this lot that was once a dream and now is a horrible, horrible nightmare!!! Oh, don't let me get started, so... We were in the yard, and the construction workers (said through gritted teeth) were on top of the monster of a wall 10 feet from my back wall yelling to each other "Hey! Hey!..." to which Grace of course replied "HEY!" they then all turned to our yard and proceeded to talk to Grace, GREAT! Just what I want, my lack of privacy to be amplified by the construction workers actually trying to have a conversation with us. Then Grace went and made everything okay by shouting to the workers "Careful! Careful guys, no fall go boom!" We all had a good hard laugh at that and they went back to work. Priceless. This month Grace has learned to jump and actually get her feet off the ground and to blow bubble for herself. Teaching her how to blow her own bubbles was the best! Now poor Lily doesn't have to put up with me dripping bubbles on her head while trying to entertain Grace. Grace can and does blow bubbles for us now. So while I feel like my days are crazy with out having done anything I guess a lot has happened. We have spent a lot of time in our yard. Grace is now an expert ball kicker, next step, soccer skills. We have drawn tons of murals on the wall in our backyard with the sidewalk chalk, we've been in the pool in the backyard, and at the end of the day I guess I can look back and say I've done something productive just by being there to witness my girls grow up. Okay, I feel a little better now...