Prayer time

Lacy decided that it was her turn for family prayers tonight and that we couldn't help her at all. So here's the gist of what she said: After the basics (HF, thank you for the day, family, etc), she talked about nursing it all gone, blessed our friend/houseguest Tuana several times, jabberd on for a little while, and ended by saying, "okay, bye." We had to remind her how to end the prayer right! Dave several times tried helping Lacy but she wouldn't have it. "No, I say it by myself!"

At the babysitter's, Lacy will often tell them that she can have something or do something because "my mommy said yes." During the day, Chris or Melissa would ask her to do something and she would ignore them, but finally they would say, "Lacy, your mommy said yes" and she would do it.

Lacy had a dentist appointment today to try to fill two cavities. Unfortunately those didn't get filled, but Lacy did a great job otherwise. She followed the instructions of the dentist very well. I just kind of sat back, observed, and kept my mouth shut. We scheduled an appointment for July just before her 3rd birthday for some sedation dental work. She needs to have two cavities filled and some discoloration on her front teeth fixed. I'm a little nervous about it because it says to make sure they don't sleep on their backs if they're sleeping because they can choke, and some other things that just made me leery of the dental work. Dave gets insurance April 1 and he has a different dental insurance plan so I might get a second opinion and perhaps find a treatment a little less scary for mommy!

Speaking of teeth, Rose is cutting two more teeth. I'm hoping they'll pop through soon. She has a runny nose, a rash, congestion and a cough, general irritability... all the classic signs of teething for my children!

Tonight I went and spent my gift card at the mall. I almost spent the whole thing and only got 3 outfits, but BOY are they cute! I shopped at Christopher & Banks. I love that store! I got a cool patchwork skirt and an orange shirt to go with it, two casual work shirts and a pair of pants that will work for the weekend or the office. I'm so excited! Dave also got the girls two dresses at Gymboree but I'm feeling a little buyer's remorse about those ones... they were full price. Yikes.

Rose is climbing!

Yesterday Dave was home with the kids. He called me at noon to tell me that while he was making mac and cheese for lunch for the girls, he looked back into the living room and Rose was standing up on the couch. She was on the floor when he left her in there. Dave asked Lacy how she got up there. "She climbed," she said, nonchalantly. He kept pressing and she demonstrated how Rose got up there. So I have another climber! *sigh* I'm in for it.

We've been having a heckuva time with sitters this week. My regular sitter is sick with strep throat (actually her whole family is) and today my other sitter called to tell me her kids were all sick. That wasn't a big deal until Dave got called in for a drug test for work. He will be starting a new job on Tuesday but before he can start he has to get a drug test but he needed to leave immediately. So I'm home with the girls, again. But at least he'll be home with them tomorrow and Friday so I won't have to worry.

Lacy has been really clumsy lately and falls off chairs (which she uses as step stools because she insists on helping me make food in the kitchen). She fell off the other day and landed hard on I believe her pubic bone, and now I think it is bruised and it hurts her a lot. She's been complaining a lot about it and last night she woke up at 1 in the morning (and therefore waking up Rose, who had to pee anyway-- she had a dry diaper and wanted to keep it that way). After giving her Tylenol, Dave gave her a blessing, which Lacy was enthusiastic about receiving. She would repeat some of the words in the blessing and afterward, she said, "Thank you daddy, I'm all better now." She cuddled down with Dave and fell asleep that way. Then another time in the night she woke up and thanked Dave again. What a sweet heart. She's not totally better but the fact that she wanted a blessing and has so much faith that blessings work is so humbling to me.

We've decided we're going to set a quit by date and get as much stuff taken care of before then. It will be sometime in the range of June-September I think. Afterward I'm going to start an online business. I have a new idea for a great diaper that would work awesome if you're ECing, but would also be a great diaper for kids who aren't EC'ed as well. I'm trying to make the prototype and have the basic design figured out but I need to make some changes still. I also have to figure out how to market things on the internet and set up an online business! I'm going to be one busy mama!

Night time troubles

Lacy's sure been a handful in the last 24 hours. She was pretty good for most of church, but Dave had to keep going out with the baby so any misbehavior on her part I blame on lack of parental supervision (I'm the chorister so I'm only with the family during the "meat" of the meetings).

She took a nap okay, but since church gets out at 2:30 she didn't fall asleep until 4. We were considering skipping the nap but she was being pretty naughty so I decided that was a bad idea. I decided that I would wake her up before 5. Well, she just wanted to cuddle and nurse for a half hour or so. Finally she got up and we had a pretty good evening. We had to get Dave's mower from Tom's house, so we drove there and I followed Dave home in the car with the hazards on.

Dinner was simple-- nachos. Yum. Lacy and I had made cookies earlier so we had some of those for dessert. Rose ate papaya baby food. I don't give her baby food much anymore but since I had some in the pantry I decided I may as well use it up. She loved it. Bed time was a challenge. Dave needed to be on the road by 4 today so we were all in bed by 9 (which is pretty good for us, plus we thought it would be better because of the time change and Lacy's late nap). Ugh. It was awful. I was so sore from nursing Lacy so much that day, but that's all she wanted to do. She was FREAKING OUT. I took her into the other room several times and she cried a lot. She screamed a lot, too. I kept taking her back in and she was naughty and wouldn't settle down. Finally Dave took her in the bedroom and eventually she fell asleep. She kept drifting off then waking up with a start. Dave thinks she was scared of something, we just don't know what. I do know that she's been having nightmares a lot lately. Dave only got about an hour's sleep. He has to be in Seattle by 6 to hopefully find work from the Union so he's really hurting today. I prayed for him for about an hour this morning. Hopefully he's doing okay. He left with an energy drink and lots of cookies.

As a consolation for last night being so crappy, at least Lacy was really cute yesterday. She loves this Young Ambassador's program that we have on the DVR. She insisted upon having her hair done up in a ponytail like the girls on the TV (though she screamed when neither Dave nor I could get it right... after 5 tries!) and wanted to wear a twirly dress to dance in. She really loved the song Shapoopy and asked for us to play it over and over (and over, and over, and over...). She was spinning and dancing all over the place last night.

A little Rose story that I've been meaning to post... Rose crawled over to the bathroom toward her potty the other day. I thought maybe she was trying to tell me something. SHE WAS! I put her on the potty and she pooped instantly. YEA ROSE! Also she has 6 teeth now... did I mention that? She cut a bottom side tooth on the right. She has neither of her side left teeth but both the right ones! That's a little out of order there! Hopefully the other two will come in soon so her rash will go away.

A to Z: All About Me!

A to Z: All About Me
Available or not: In August I will have been married for 7 yeras
Best friend: Dave, my sweetie
Cake or pie: CAKE, especially chocolate cake
Drink of choice: Water
Essential items used daily: Toothbrush, hairbrush, scriptures, pump
Favorite color: Red
Gummy bears or worms: Bears
Hometown: Lacey, WA for the most part
Indulgence: Chocolate
January or February: February, Dave and I celebrate our birthdays in February
Kids and names: Lacy 2, and Rose 9 months
Life is incomplete without: My wonderful husband and my sweet girls
Marriage date: August 5 2000
Number of siblings: Dale, Leslie, Mark and Kurt
Oranges or apples: Depends on my mood! Both are yummy
Phobias or fears: Heights
Quote (favorite): "Mommy, I lud jew so much" -Lacy
Reason to smile: My kids getting into giggling fits together
Season: Spring, because I'm tired of this terrible winter weather!
Tag 3 people: You, you and you!
Unknown fact about me: My daughter Lacy is probably the only girl named Lacy who was born in the city of Lacey, WA. There is no hospital in Lacey but we lived in the city limits and had a planned homebirth with her. The home she was born in is now actually owned by a childhood friend of mine.
Vegetables you don't like: Are mushrooms considered a vegetable? Cause I can't stand them. I also dislike canned peas.
Worst habit: Procrastinating
X-rays: Most recent was for my teeth.
Your favorite food: Lately, I've been craving salmon. I also love Hawaiian Haystack.
Zodiac sign: Pisces

So, which is it?

I do elimination communication with my 9 month old. Have since she was 7 weeks old. It is a gentle type of infant potty training that relies a lot on instincts, timing, and in the beginning luck. It is a great way to learn to communicate with one another before verbal communication begins. But it is very misunderstood by many people in the western world. Someone recently accused mothers who potty train their infants of trying to make them grow up too fast (she later recanted when she realized what EC actually is, but many people feel this way and don't recant).

I also practice extended breastfeeding, based on the World Health Organization's recommendation of breastfeeding for a minimum of two years. Not something that a lot of people know about, but not something that I hide, either. But I've seen arguments where extended breastfeeders are accused of trying to keep their children infants and not allowing them to grow up.

So which is it?

Am I keeping my children babies by nursing them well into toddlerhood (and possibly into childhood)? Or am I making them grow up too fast by potty training them early? Or do they cancel each other out and they're growing up just exactly as their non-EBF'ed non-EC'ed peers do?

It just really bothers me that something that is different than societal norms is considered wrong just for the fact that it is different! I think my children are growing up perfectly, just exactly as they're supposed to. I'm so lucky to be their mother.

My parent's house was robbed

My brother Dale called me last night but I was not home. Apparently when he went over there to check on the house (they're in Hawaii), the front door was unlocked, which is not a good sign. He went in and the entire house was ransacked. They apparently only stole a bit of my mom's jewelry and a router for the computer. Hopefully nothing of value was destroyed or taken away. I'm going to ask around at local pawn shops about my mom's jewelry.

Singing in church, new tooth, mama...

I forgot to post that on the 18th I sang a solo in church. I sang "I feel my savior's love" and "I wonder when he comes again" with Brother Carpenter in my ward. I sang the first two verses of "I feel my savior's love" then all of "I wonder when he comes again" and finally the last verse of "savior's love." Brother Carpenter did a great job on the piano. I frogged up in the beginning and couldn't quite hit the high note, so I had to clear my throat, but I was okay after that. I think I did a good job. The good news is I am officially over my stage fright and didn't get even a little bit nervous. I think having my calling as ward chorister helps a lot.

I also played piano in church last sunday (the 25th). It was last minute so I didn't get to practice. I guess I haven't lost it all because I was able to fake my way through the songs pretty well, and the first song I had never played before. Yay for sight reading!

I noticed this morning that Rose cut a new tooth! I'm sure the 6th tooth will be soon to follow. It was on the top right side.

We achieved a wonderful milestone on Sunday! Rose said, "MAMA!" Dave was holding her in the other room at my folk's house. She saw me through the door and said it. It was so clear that I thought Lacy had said it. I looked around and realized that Lacy was downstairs playing with Marilyn (not aunt Marilyn, Lacy's future cousin who is 4 years old). Rose had said it! It was so sweet. Of course she hasn't said it since, but once is enough for me for now. I know she knows what it means. Rose has also been doing very well at pulling herself to standing lately, for about the last two weeks. I'm not sure if I wrote that down and I would be upset with myself if I forgot to keep track of that!

Birthdays!

Over the past couple of weeks we have been celebrating our family’s “Birthday Season.” Today is my birthday (my first 29^th birthday to be exact!). Ten days ago on the 17^th Dave turned 29. Our nephew Turner turned 2 on the 21^st and Dave’s brother turns 22 tomorrow. And there are several more birthdays in March.

Celebrations and gifts for Dave this year: On the 16^th we received a cake from Dave’s family. He also got an I-Tunes gift card from Tuana. Saturday we invited family over for dinner and had some really yummy stakes. I made him a chocolate cake from scratch with chocolate icing. Dave enjoys grilling so he made dinner. Lacy gave Dave a new set of cufflinks. Rose gave him a CD (John Mayer). Dave bought himself some boots so those were his gift from me, even though I didn’t pick them out or anything. To make up for the lack of surprise, I got Dave some candy as well, and I haven’t even eaten it at all. Sunday we went to my folks’ house for dinner. We had what was supposed to be kaluha pork but it ended up being barbeque pork. We had another cake, yellow with chocolate icing. Dave received an I-Pod from my parents (that we still don’t know how to work!).

On to me. We ended up doing the celebration with my family on Sunday and yesterday with Dave and the kids (and Tuana). Sunday we had fried chicken (though I really wanted Hawaiian Haystacks) and I received a gift card to the mall for $200. I also received a promise of a new closet organization system! YAY! Dave decided to celebrate my birthday yesterday due to the fact that he is starting a new job today and doesn’t know what time he’ll be off. He had some training for cyanide and that ended early in the day, so Dave went shopping for me and also picked up the girls so I didn’t have to (that was a surprise that I didn’t figure out until I was at my car going home!). When I got home, Dave started giving Lacy presents to give to me. It was a themed birthday this year—from Lacy, a chocolate cookbook (unfortunately it is not made OF chocolate, only about how to COOK chocolate); from Rose, a new set of heavy duty stainless steel measuring spoons, including a 1/8 and ¾ tsp measurer, rectangular in shape to fit in little spice jars; from Dave a nice set of heavy duty stainless steel measuring cups, including a 1/8, 2/3 and ¾ cup measurer; just when I thought he was done, Dave surprised me yet again with a brand new super sharp and wonderful chef’s knife (Henkels brand) and honing steel. It cuts like a dream! I already sliced my finger on it @@ Dave made some yummy ricotta and spinach stuffed chicken for dinner, and served it up restaurant style with appetizers and the whole nine. We didn’t have cake because we were all caked out at this point. This morning I dropped off the girls and Tuckerby had a present from his family—an Alton Brown Good Eats DVD collection—3 DVDs in all. I’m not sure how many episodes that is. I guess everyone’s telling me something—I’d better get cookin’!

I have no pictures of our celebrations because frankly it is boring to take pictures of adults turning older. Perhaps next year we will take pictures because we will be officially ancient.

Finally... pictures!

Ok something really weird just happened. I was typing the title and I don't know how it happened but the title I put up there changed to "Chicken Aversion." What the heck!

Anyway, I got some pictures on my computer finally! So here are some recent ones for your viewing pleasure.

More Rose milestones: She started dancing and kissing yesterday! She leaned in to Dave to give him kisses several times and was bopping along to some music. It was way cute!
Lacy and her cousin Allison

Kitty Cat Rose showing off her mermaid pocket diaper made by yours truly

Soooo tired!

Lacy did Dave's hair. Isn't it cute?

Lacy pumping, just like mommy!

WOW there are a lot of Rose milestones lately!

And here are some more!

Rose cut her second front top tooth Tuesday. She is working on the two side top teeth as well. Now there is a grand total of four teeth.

She is also pulling herself up and is starting to cruise around the furniture. I sure hope I don’t have an early walker on my hands! Lacy walked just after her first birthday and that was plenty early for me. Rose is barely crawling and I want her to get that experience for a few months before she ventures into the walking arena.

We had a GRATE Valentines Day. We were surprised with treats from Tuana in the morning. There were two cuddly soft bears, the lighter one is Rose’s and it is named Nutmeg and the darker brown is named Cinnamon and is Lacy’s bear. I had to name them for her because she just wanted to name them “bear!” She is so uncreative with naming. All her babies’ names are Rose, Allison (her baby cousin), Jesus (all the talk of Baby Jesus during the holidays, you know!), or just Baby. Usually just Baby. So I had to suggest some names for her bears! Yesterday evening, after surprising me with some flowers, Dave took me out for sushi at the Sushi House. I put a review on the Abersold Family Blog. It was yummy! Dave’s dinner was raw and mine was cooked. We also went to the bookstore, and bought a few movies at Hollywood Video. Tuana watched the girls for us. It was nice having a few hours without them, although I was feeling a lot of guilt after being gone all day and then not 30 minutes after I get home, leaving them once again. Oh well, I have a three day weekend coming up to make up for lost time.

Lacy had trouble falling asleep (again). But I did have fun reading her several books last night. Bedtime is our special time to reconnect. But once we’re finished with the reading and the hugging and kissing and nursing, she screams and cries and gets out of bed. She hates going to sleep, but she needs the rest!

Holy Hannah! Kids' stats

Yesterday at the doctor's office, I weighed Rose and the nurse weighed Lacy (it was an appointment for Lacy after all). Well, Lacy weighed 25.5 pounds and Rose weighed nearly 21 pounds! Both girls were fully dressed. I was shocked! Lacy didn't hit 21 pounds until she was nearly 2! Granted Rose started out heavier than Lacy (9-6 versus 8-5) but I was still shocked. I guess Rose is a good eater! She drinks like 4 bottles a day at Emily's (about 20 or so ounces) and she nurses a lot at home so I'm not completely shocked. Some babies are only drinking about 25-30 ounces a day. Rose almost has that beat just while she's at the sitter's!

Trapped in the truck!

I just wrote a letter to the editor of The Olympian about my experience, so if it's published I'll link it. I can't believe this happened to me! I was so careful to make sure that the car was unlocked while I ran inside to get my girls. I left the keys in the truck so I could have less stuff to bring in and out of the house. There's already too much stuff with carseats and backpacks and the like, so I leave everything non-essential in the truck, especially since they live in the country. Somehow when I strapped my girls in, the automatic locking button was pushed and they were locked in the truck. I don't know if it was my backpack that hit the button, or if Lacy did it, but no matter. They were locked in along with the keys. Fortunately, they were in no immediate danger, but they were scared and hungry and it was dark outside. After calling Dave about the situation, I decided to call 911 for help. While talking with the 911 dispatcher, she was shocked that Lacy was unable to get herself out of her carseat to unlock the door, and acted like that was something all 2 year olds should be able to do. She went on about it for a minute, so I said, "I have really good carseats." Isn't the point of carseats to restrain your children so they can't get out of their carseats and put themselves in danger while you are driving? She also told me that the police would only be dispatched if the engine of my vehicle was running, and there are "no exceptions" to the rule. I really hope this isn't true, because if it was 90 degrees outside, I would expect that the police would come out to assist me. Am I paying them taxes for nothing?

Eventually, the dispatcher called out the fire department to assist me, telling me that they would probably have to break the window to get in the vehicle. The fire department responded quickly, and the firefighter on the scene called a locksmith for me and tried everything he could think of to unlock into my truck. In the meantime, Dave (who was on his long commute home from Seattle) called his friend Chris to go to our house and grab the keys, as we had some spares on our key rack by the door. I'm so glad that I insisted we use that so we don't lose our keys! Chris got there way before a locksmith could have, so the firefighter called off the locksmith so we wouldn't have to pay them a dispatch fee since Chris was on his way with keys.

Lacy was so scared during the whole ordeal, and Rose was screaming for most of it. Eventually she cried herself to sleep, poor thing. That's the first time she's ever done that! I talked to Lacy and stayed right with her. After Chris arrived and we got the girls out, I cuddled Lacy for a few minutes before we went home. My friend Tuana has been staying with us, and she ordered Chinese for dinner so I thankfully didn't have to worry about making dinner that night! She was going to watch the girls while I went visiting teaching. Maybe there was a reason I wasn't supposed to go VT tonight, I don't know. I do know that I have a hard time dealing with the sister I was going to teach, because she is a "system abuser" and once talked to me about how she has never had to pay for electricity and that she's glad she finally moved to an apartment with a washer and a dryer so she won't have to pay for laundry anymore either. She talked with a bragging tone in her voice. That conversation really made me uncomfortable, because at the time Dave and I were struggling and I couldn't imagine using the tactics she used to get free stuff. I was on WIC and that was about as far as I would go at that time. Dave thinks I should ask to not have to visit teach her on account of how uncomfortable she makes me feel. I think I should teach her so that I can get over myself! Anyway, I'm rambling now. I should start getting ready for work! I just finished a pint of Ben & Jerrys (not the whole thing, there was about 1/3 of it left) so I'm ready to get all our stuff ready now.

Oh yeah, to make my day even better yesterday, Dave got motor grease on our brand new carpet. Right in the middle of the carpet. And now our brand new car won't start.

Recent Milestones (Rose)

Really quickly, since we have guests over:

This week, Rose has learned to

• Crawl (though she still has need of improvement in this area)
• Clap her hands
• Wave good-bye
• Get herself off the potty when she's done (not necessarily a good thing since the potty will tip sometimes as she gets off!)
  

Last week or the week before, she showed she was able to get herself to a sitting position. And I think she is currently cutting her second top tooth.

Still having technical difficulties with downloading pictures to my computer. Bummer.

New Car

We bought a new car today! It is a 2003 Kia Rio with 1000 miles on a new engine and still under factory warranty. It has nothing automatic and no a/c, but it is a nice car with no dents or dings and a nice stereo. My camera isn't working, but here's the Craigslist photo:

Technical Difficulties

I'm having some problems trying to download pictures to the computer. I'll try to download them somewhere else but in the meantime you're going to have to deal with no pictures. Bummer.

I've been sitting in at the director's office this week. It has been so boooooring! The phone rings maybe three times an hour if I'm lucky. Then people are either thinking that GA is a general information agency which is NOT at all what it is, or they're phone solicitors looking for the IT director or trying to sell me their paper product. Whatever. I can't wait until I'm back at my regular desk!

Lacy has a horrible cold and has been having nightmares because of it! The other night she woke up screaming for her daddy. It was pretty scary for us since this is the first time we've dealt with nightmares before.

Over half of Dave's crew got laid off because the worksite he's on is dangerous. Dave is the most junior guy on the crew, but he's a hard worker and he knows his stuff so they kept him on. They're desperately trying to make sure that Dave and the other guys on his crew have work for the next two weeks with this company because they are so fast. If Dave is off of work for even a couple of days he will find another job with the union (not hard with an experienced asbestos abatement technician). They want to make sure he stays with their company so they'll probably temporarily transfer him to another jobsite. Dave has several leads if they can't keep him working, though. He really likes this company and he hopes they keep him working.

I have another story about the layoffs but I need Dave to tell it to me... I need to get it just right for posterity! I'll post again in a day or two when I have some extra time. For now, I've got to sign off. I'm sewing some training pants for Lacy & Rose.

Bath Time

I just started putting the girls in the tub together within the last few weeks. Rose really loves bath time, but Lacy gets a little nervous because she knows that washing hair is generally a part of the routine. I only make her wash her hair on Saturday nights because I'm not willing to put myself through the torture of washing her hair. She screams literally the whole time it is being washed. Plus, if I insist on washing her hair every time, she'll never take a bath! Rose, on the other hand, couldn't care less about the actual washing part. As long as she gets to splash around the whole time, she's doing GRATE!

New Tooth

Rose got one of her top teeth in over the weekend.  So now we have a grand total of 3 teeth.  I’m expecting the next three to come in within the next month.  This should be a tough few weeks until she has them all in.  I’m not looking forward to it at all.  On the bright side, she seems to be an easier teether than Lacy ever was.  Plus I’m being proactive and dosing her up good with Tylenol before bed. 

 

We also started Rose on table foods.  I tried giving her baby oatmeal and she hated it.  Even when I mixed it with peaches (which she loves), she wouldn’t eat it.  She has a lot of texture issues and will not eat many of the foods we give her.  She will start to gag and often will throw up because of that.  A lovely trait she inherited from her father.  So I concluded that purees must not be her thing.  I was right!  She took to table foods like a champ and regularly eats Cheerios (broken up into small pieces) and little bits of canned fruits. 

 

It sure seems like this little girl of mine is reaching more milestones every day.  I just have to make sure I write them all down so I don’t forget any of them!  I still haven’t bought her a baby book.  Bad mommy!

 

On Friday, Dave and I went to the Bodies exhibit in Seattle.  It was expensive, but really cool to see.  We took Rose but left Lacy at home with Tiffany, a girl from our ward.  She is a really good babysitter, but Lacy wouldn’t go to bed for her at all.  She said, “I’m going to wait for my mommy.”  Little stinker has never been a good sleeper.  We didn’t get home until 11:15, but the bright side of this is, Lacy was asleep within 5 minutes of going to bed.

 

Our friend Tuana is staying with us this week during the week.  She will be staying most work nights at our house while she takes over a department at the USDA in Olympia.  She is still working up north in the Bellingham area as well, so she’s commuting between the two cities.  The commute is a little too long for a regular daily commute so she asked to stay with us.  I’m enjoying the company (especially since Dave is often gone during the week, or at least to bed by 8:30) and the extra set of hands to hold babies while I get dishes or laundry done each night.

 

 

 

Water Heater Woes

The bottom of our water heater rusted out. So that’s why we had a huge mystery wet spot on our carpet. We finally figured out what was wrong yesterday. So Dave took out the old water heater and installed a new one as soon as he figured it out. We also moved all the furniture and anything on the floor of our bedroom and pulled out all the carpet. So now we no longer have pepto pink carpet in our room! We were able to find a good deal on some Berber carpet in a light tan color for our room and our closet. We also moved the water heater to the middle of the closet instead of the corner so we now actually have more usable closet space. We will now be able to put another clothes rod on the other side of the closet so Dave can have his side and I can have mine. Plus the water heater is on a stand so we have 18 inches of free space below the water heater. We may actually end up doing some sort of built in closet configuration as well, with drawers and shelves.

 

We were also looking at buying a new bed or bed frame, until we found out the prices of new beds. Instead Dave will be fixing our bed frame so it can last another year or so. Did you know that a bed will double in weight after 10 years due to the accumulation of dust (which is made of primarily dried skin and hair flakes)? GROSS! I think we will be buying a new bed as soon as we can afford it because our bed is 6 ½ years old and that is really skeeving me out. No wonder it’s been so hard to move lately.

Sorry, Dave, I don't have many new pictures!

Dave's dad, Dave, has requested more photos on our blog! I don't have any from today and I haven't taken any since the sleepyhead photo a few posts back, but here is one I took of my kids a couple weeks ago on their potties. One of my new year's goals is to write an article about EC so I've been taking quite a few pictures of Rose on her potty for my article! I do need to take a bunch more because Rose is so close to crawling now.

Today I took a look at a bunch of literature given to me by my dental office. I was dismayed to read that they recommend weaning no later than 14 months to prevent tooth decay. I don't want to go off on a rant about this here (because, mainly, I'm tired and I need to go to bed) but the information they gave goes against the recommendations of several health organizations. Not to mention that mother's milk does not cause dental caries, and it aids in proper jaw development. I'm gathering up resources right now so I can write them a letter expressing my displeasure in their brochure.

Our floor is soaked. We have a huge wet spot in our bedroom. By huge, I mean the size of our dining room huge. So tomorrow Dave and a bunch of his buddies are going to try to find the source of the leak and fix it. I guess we'll be getting new carpeting and insulation under our house soon, because we may as well replace it if we have to pull it up. *sigh*

Here's a couple of bonus pictures taken by my wonderful personal photographer, Lacy. She took both of these ones! She's sure a busy little girl!

Rose uses sign language!

We have met several milestones in the past few days. So here is a summary of them.

Today I was nursing Rose, and she was biting me to try to get my attention (I am frequently nursing at the keyboard!). We do elimination communication, so I've been showing her the signs for "potty" and "finished." So when I look down at Rose, she has her little fist in the air just like I show her every time she sits down to use the potty. So I take her in to the potty and sit her down, and seconds later we have a poop in there. WOW! I was very impressed with her. She is quite the little communicator, and if I do say so myself, a genius.

She also crawled across the bed Thursday (1-11) night. Of course Dave was the only witness to this feat. But it was actual hands and knees crawling (I guess actually the proper term is "creeping"). She is frequently "combat crawling," which doesn't mean she has found Dave's shotgun. She is crawling using her forearms to propel her body. She started this a couple weeks ago.

Lacy also has slept in a bed by herself two nights this week. This is a miracle! She slept in the "pink bed" over at Grandma's house Wednesday night (we stayed there due to the winter storms and ice that was certain to follow, so my mom could watch the girls so I wouldn't have to risk taking them out to Summit Lake where the roads are incredibly dangerous while icy). I gave her the choice of the big bed or the little pink bed, and she chose the pink bed. She even fell asleep by herself. I checked on her and she had her eyes open for about 30 minutes, but eventually she was asleep in that bed. She fell asleep in it last night, too (we are "borrowing" it from my mom), and she stayed there all night long. She fell asleep in there another night but had a nightmare and came to bed with us. So three nights since Wednesday night falling asleep in her own bed! It's a miracle! We bought a heater for her room so we can get it all ready for her to sleep by herself next winter. It's a little bit of a bittersweet moment for me.