Brooke-isms and Camille (and Daniel, too)

Brooke and Camille have been changing so much over the past few months, since we got back from Christmas in Oregon. Brooke started potty training, and is doing marvelously, I do believe. It's been a few weeks, and she hardly has any accidents anymore. We haven't started night training yet, and she's still sleeping in her crib. But she does have her quiet time during Camille's naps in her big-girl bed, and I think once we get back from Oregon, I'll start that whole transition. She's growing up so fast! Her clothes are already starting to get tight and short. And I feel like I just changed them out a few months ago! It's crazy!

Camille has been walking, and she's started saying a bunch of words already. I've been trying to get her to try saying words, and I've also been teaching her what noises some animals make. She has growling down, though she's had that one down for months. ;) She has been growling at people and things for a while now. And usually when I ask her what some animal says, her first response tends to be growling. She knows that a duck says 'quack quack', but it always comes out somewhere between a growl and a quack. It's pretty cute and funny.

So here are some things the girls are doing and saying --

Brooke:

• Brooke opened a puffs container filled with cheerios, and all the cheerios go flying everywhere. Brooke says, "Oh, no, Mom! There are cheerios everywhere!"
• While at the park, riding her bike, I told Brooke that it's okay for her to ride her bike into the grass if she wanted, and she responded, "The grass is not a sidewalk!"
• Brooke has been singing everything -- she'll sing as she finishes up in the bathroom and washes her hands (she tends to narrate her actions in song, in these cases); the other day, as we were going home from shopping, she started singing about 'beautiful goats' and making me sing along: "The gooooooaaaaatsss are soooo beeeaaauuuuutiful!" I never know how the songs are going to go, so when she wants me to sing with her, I tend to just say random things or mumble in a sing-song voice. That usually satisfies her, with minimal effort on my part. :)
• "Brooke, do you want sugar and peanut butter in your oatmeal?" "Yes, that would be lovely."
• "That tree has snow on it!" -- they were little white flowers. :) It's springtime here.
• Brooke loves riding her bike. She's gotten so good at it, and every time we go anywhere, she asks, "Can I ride my bike?" She cruises! She's pretty fast.
• Brooke has had a hard time playing by herself lately. She seems always to need me to be at hand or right there in the midst of playtime. On the one hand, it's very cute that she wants to play with me, and I often accommodate her. I aim to please. :) On the other hand, it gets frustrating for us both when I have other things to do. She tends to have a one track mind, and she'll ask for something over and over and over and over again until she gets it; even when I tell her, "just a minute!" Ooo, it ruffles my feathers sometimes.
• Brooke has kind of gotten over whining when I tell her 'no' to something, but she does this funny little, "Aww." all sad-like. Much better than fits! And it's kind of cute, too.
• She loves her little preschool. She loves hanging out with her friends, and she's been really learning her letters, as they go over one each week. I'm glad that she has a little weekly playgroup, some structure and some learning. I hope we can keep doing it for the next year, though I know most of her little classmates are going into a real preschool.
• Brooke's imagination is running wild. It's sometimes fun to be around when she's playing. She is especially into coloring, drawing, painting and playing with play-dough lately. Every day she seems to do at least one of those things sometime during the day. 

Camille:

• Camille's new words : Mamma and Dadda (which end up being "MAAAA!" -- usually shouted; and "DA!" as she points to Daniel); Grampa (Bampa); Jesus (too hard to write phonetically); ball; Brooke; bath; she did 'car' tonight, and I've been working on 'thank you' and 'banana'; she says 'done' as she signs it, which is really cute; she indicates hot (whispering 'ha-ha' and pointing to the oven or whatever)
• Camille has started taking longer naps lately, since we got her on a tighter schedule. She goes down between 11:30 am and noon, and she'll sleep for at least an hour and a half, but lately it's been 2 hours and upward. One time in the last couple of weeks, she was sleeping late, and I went in to wake her up. She has taken to sleeping on her stomach with her blankie pulled up over her head and kind of wrapped around it. It's so funny!
• She is walking a ton, now. I have to be more conscious of putting shoes on her when we leave the house. It's not something I'm in the habit of doing, but needs to happen at this point. The problem is that we don't have many pairs of shoes that fit her little feet -- especially ones that she can't just pull off, and ones that are conducive to little feet just learning to walk. I think it's adorable how she just will walk around for a long time, not doing anything else in particular or going anywhere in particular. She just likes walking, so she does it. Today, she was being so cute. Daniel had given her a bouncy ball, and she would drop it and watch it bounce away, and then chase after it, and do it all over again. She was having the time of her life!
• Camille is getting opinionated. She gets more upset when Brooke takes something she's playing with, and she resists naptime and bedtime (she knows, now, when that is happening). She protests when we do something she doesn't like. But she's a good girl, and she is pretty easy to calm down again.
• Millie has started to pay more attention to books lately. She'll sit down and let me get through most of a book, usually. She's especially attentive at bedtime. When I'm sitting in the loft with the girls, while they play, she often walks over to me, book in hand, gives me the book, crawls into my lap and looks at the pictures. Sometimes she lets me read; sometimes she just wants to look. But either way, I'm so glad that she's taken a greater interest in books these days.
• Camille likes playing with balls -- throwing them around or rolling them back and forth with Mamma. She likes to be with Brooke -- she follows Brooke around all day and likes to get into whatever she is doing. She doesn't like when Mom has to make dinner, and often follows her downstairs in the late afternoon, fussing a little and walking around the kitchen while I'm trying to make dinner. Eventually, she gives up and starts pulling things out of the cupboards. Or she'll wander away to mess up something else. :) She likes playing with our big duplo blocks when we pull them out. She's pretty good at connecting and disconnecting them.
• Camille is the best eater on the planet! She eats almost everything I give her to eat. She doesn't seem to be picky at all, and she eats a whole lot at every meal. It's really refreshing, after Brooke, who is quite finicky.

And I can't forget about the most important person in my life! Daniel is my best friend, my most favorite person in the world! Here's what's up with him:

• He's just working a ton lately. I often stay up late waiting for him, which isn't always smart. But I hate going to bed at night without seeing him. I miss him during busy season, even though I try to keep busy.
• He still seems frustrated with his work, although I do think it's getting better. It always seems to go better when he actually has things to work on. The last few weeks he has, so that's good.
• He is so good and kind to us girls. I think he really misses seeing his little girls. He doesn't get to see them much at this time of year, and it makes him a little sad. And Brooke especially misses him, too. Every night, when it gets close to dinner and bedtime, she asks if Dadda is coming home. And usually, I say, "No, I don't think so." And she says, "Aww."
• He's such a good and nice husband. He's so quick to forgive my mistakes and shortcomings. He doesn't seem to see them at all, even though I know that can't be true. He always tells me how glad he is that he married me and how happy I make him. He always says he's the luckiest man in the world. And he's always telling me that I'm beautiful. I don't think he knows how good he makes me feel. He's always complimenting me and telling me he loves me. I'm pretty sure I'm the lucky one!
• Poor guy hasn't been able to work out much, because he's working so much. Life will get infinitely more exciting for him once busy season is over. 
• We have been reading the scriptures for our couple study and also the 1st Harry Potter book, both in Spanish. It's been very fun and exciting to develop our language skills doing this together. I love learning from him in this way.

Valentines Day

Valentines Day this year was on a Sunday. Last Sunday, actually. Which was Stake Conference for us. So, Daniel and I had planned to go out and do our Valentines Date on Saturday night. But, funnily enough, none of the young women in our ward were available to babysit! Our friends, the Hebdons, couldn't find a babysitter either. We had an at-home date instead. Daniel went to pick up Thai food at our go-to Thai restaurant. Then we did a little salsa dancing, looking up tutorials on some good new moves. And we finished up the night with a little marshmallow roasting over a fire that Daniel built. It was a wonderful V-Day date.

For Valentines Day, after naps and such, we went for a little walk and then I made dinner, with Daniel's help. We had a little Valentines themed dinner: Heart-shaped roasted potatoes, bowtie pasta with red sauce, a salad, and a bright pink, heart-shaped cake for dessert. We had fun. It was the first family dinner we've had in a long time. We got the girls some lovey dovey books for Valentines gifts; Daniel bought me new sheets for our bed (hooray!!); and I made Daniel a fancy photo card and got him a few fun things.

Hormones

So, my last post was pretty intense, huh? I'm fairly certain that those 4-ish days were partly or mostly due to hormones. Normally, my cycle doesn't effect my mood too much. I feel like a pretty even-tempered person most of the time, which is probably why that little period threw me off so much. But there was one day, maybe a day or two after my last entry, when I woke up feeling as off and grumpy as the past days, and then halfway through the day, it just went away. Just like that, I felt better. So weird.

Since then, the girls and I have been doing our own thing mostly, over the past 2 weeks. We haven't seen many of our friends, we haven't gone out to do much. Brooke had preschool every Wednesday for the past couple of weeks, and Camille and I do our shopping during that time. It's nice to be able to shop with just one. :) We also went to the library a couple of times. It's a nice little outing for us. Brooke loves looking at and reading new books, and Camille loves pulling dozens and dozens of books off the shelves for library workers to put back. I got a few movies to watch while I work on projects.

Speaking of projects, I've half finished a new baby book, for our next baby. I have also done a few simple and quick sewing project and fixes. And then there's the usual annual list of house things to get done, reorganization, and what-not. Daniel's been working really late every day, so I have ample time to do these things.

I've been reading a lot, as well, and listening to books. I finished listening to A Tale of Two Cities, which I really loved. And I read Hard Times and the very first Newbury Award Winning book, The Story of Mankind (which literally took me 3 months to read, it's so huge; Daniel said it was like a brick -- finally done!!).

It's been a pretty low-key week and a half. Not much going on. We had a regional Stake Conference last Sunday, broadcast from SLC. It was broadcast to all of the west side of the country, and it was really great -- all about having more faith in a fearful world and time; being kind; doing the little things always that bring the Spirit. And then, yesterday, Daniel took a little break from working like a mad-man and we went on a little hike as a family, up Placerita Canyon. We had fun. Brooke was especially excited and enthusiastic about going on a "hike in the woods" just like "Pig, Dog and Frog" (from one of her favorite TV shows, Word World). That is, until she had a couple of spills on the trail and got a little scraped up. She wasn't so thrilled after that; although, she did perk up about half way back down the trail.

All in all, though, I'm feeling much better, though still a little short on patience, which I'm striving to correct. Hopefully I can do better this week.

I Quit

Can I do that? I'm pretty sure that I can't. But. That's how I feel this week. Since about mid-week last week, to present, I don't want to be Mom anymore. Can't I be someone else for a while?

That's all silliness, really. But in reality, it's been a rough week for me. Both Brooke and Camille have been abnormally and excessively fussy, whiny, demanding and bossy (mostly Brooke, for that last one), and I think I reached my limit sometime since last Thursday. I'm fed up with it! I'm tired of Brooke telling me what to do or not do. I'm tired of Camille fussing endlessly. I'm tired of them both being under foot while I'm trying to, I don't know, get dinner on the table or do some housework. I'm tired of Brooke saying everything in either 1) a fussy whine or 2) baby talk, neither of which I can understand very well. I'm tired of the messes. I'm just ... tired.

It's sad really, that I'm currently feeling this way. I really love being a mom. And I want to be excited about my job as mom and Household Manager. Usually, I am. So I don't really know what's going on with me lately.

It could partially be due to potty training. I think Brooke did pretty well for her first week at it, last week. But we seemed to have turned a corner this week, and she's had more accidents already. I realize that things will likely have to get worse before they get better where potty training is concerned. But my patience is thin as it is.

It could also be busy season (can I blame everything on busy season?). Daniel is working a lot right now, so I'm alone at night, which isn't much fun. Even if I do have several projects to work on. But more than that, his work schedule is so weird and fluid. He just got released from an assignment that was meant to take up most of the next full month, so now, he's not sure he'll have any work to do for those weeks. And the girls and I are taking our trip to Oregon sometime during those weeks. It really makes the whole trip rather pointless, if he's not going to be working overtime. We're both rather frustrated about it.

Mostly, I'm just really feeling the need for a break. I'm rarely ever away from the girls or the responsibility over them. Even when they're in bed, I'm here. Even when Daniel's here, I do most of the care-giving (that's not to say that he's at fault at all, just the time of year and the fact that he's pretty busy most of the time anyway). Diane and Houston came to spend the night with us Saturday on the way to their cruise, which left on Sunday. We loved having them here; we played games and visited and ate cookie dough -- it was fun! But, while we were talking, I thought about it, and realized that I have never, ever been away from the girls for longer than a few hours. Diane and Hou are taking this trip without Owen -- he's being watched by 2 sets of grandparents. I have never done anything like that. Every time I go somewhere, the girls come with me. Which, again, means that my main job and title is mom. I never get to be anything else.

I know. I'm being really negative tonight. It's just my mood. As with all things, this phase that the girls are in, and this mood that I'm in, and whatever it is I'm struggling with presently, it will all pass. Maybe these occasional days and weeks that I get down and lose it are Heavenly Father's way to remind me that life isn't perfect; that it's messy, and that I don't have it all together. Life is hard sometimes, and it's okay. Just as long as this doesn't last for very long. It's hard for me to feel like I'm being a bad mom. And that's just exactly how I'm feeling. I don't want to be frustrated with my kids, or dread when they wake up. I don't want to lose my patience over every little thing. I don't want to not feel like playing with them because they are irritating me. I don't want to be snapping at them in the middle of Joann's (which happened, by the way, yesterday).

In summation, it's been a rough week. I am struggling. And the girls really are being obnoxious. But ... it'll get better soon, I'm sure. These slump weeks never last for very long. I'll write tomorrow and probably be feeling different about everything. I love my kids and I love my husband. And for now, I guess that will have to do.

Mommy Preschool

So, we are on DAY 4! of potty training. This is how it's gone: Day 1 -- one little tiny accident, during her quiet time, when I wasn't monitoring as much; Day 2 -- two slightly bigger accidents, one upstairs on the carpet, and one downstairs, right in front of the bathroom (both times, she was on her way to the bathroom, and I guess just couldn't hold it); Day 3 -- one slight accident (almost pooped in her pants, but we got her on the toilet before it got really bad) in the morning, and then success for the rest of the day -- and we even went out for about an hour in the late afternoon; Day 4 -- successful so far...

I try to stay on top of her, reminding her to go to the bathroom frequently. On the first day, it felt like too much. I set a timer to go off every 15 or 20 minutes to take her, and she often couldn't let anything out, and on the times she did, it was very little. So, the 2nd day, I didn't set a timer at all, and just tried to remind her every now and then, but -- we had 2 accidents. Now, I don't set a timer, but I have her go frequently anyway. I think it's going pretty well, though! And I'm really proud of her.

She does this cute little thing when she's in the bathroom. After she's done her business, and she's finishing up (flushing, getting her clothes back on, washing hands), she sings about what she's doing. "I finished going potty, and I have to remember to flush. I'm washing my hands and then I'm going to dry." All in a sing-song voice, with a little tune (probably one she knows, from another song). This morning, she started singing "Frosty the Snowman", and then it morphed into one of her made-up songs, narrating her actions. It makes me laugh. She's so cute.

All-in-all, it's been a very exciting week so far. Aside from Brooke's potty training, Camille's been walking like a champ! I think she's loving her new-found mobility and freedom. Also, yesterday, I started Mommy School with my friends. Allison Leishman, Emilee Mapp, and Denae Garrison and I are doing a Joy School with all our little kids that are the same age: Lucy, Daisey, Tad, and Brooke. I offered to take the first day, yesterday, and it was pretty fun. I prepared the night before to teach 'A' and about Arctic Animals. I printed off coloring sheets, 'A' tracing and practicing pages, and other things. When the kids all came, I started them off coloring while they all arrived and while I finished preparing. I did a quick story time, did my spiel about Arctic animals, and then took them to the table to learn about 'A'. Daisey didn't hardly participate at all; Tad was the most attentive, with Brooke following closely behind him; and Blake (I invited Blake to come be with us, even though Nicole isn't going to be put into the rotation) and Lucy were somewhere in between those extremes. When I was done with what I prepared, I gave them a snack, and let them go play. We all had a good time! I loved watching them play and learn, and Brooke just had the time of her life with her little friends.

The ladies and I are rotating weeks, so I won't have to do it again for another 3 weeks. It'll be nice for Brooke to have a little more structured learning and a break from the usual. Besides, she loves being with her friends.

We also had little Jonesy come over while his mom had a doc appointment. He came just before all the other kids were leaving. So I put Camille to bed and let him and Brooke watch a little tv while she slept.

Last evening, after the rest of the day (which was rather uneventful), the girls and I went to pick up pizza for dinner and a movie (for me to watch after the girls went to bed). Denae and her boys joined us for pizza, oranges and salad for dinner, while our husbands were busy working late. It was fun! Brooke was so excited about pizza and Tad coming over again, she couldn't stop bugging me about it. :)

I watched Far From the Madding Crowd after they left and the girls were in bed. The house was a little messy, I didn't clean up or anything. It was kind of a busy day for me, and I just wanted to be a little lazy, so I just sat and watched my movie. It was good! They followed the book better than I thought they would, but, as always, the book is much better. I finished listening to it a few weeks ago, and I really loved it. I've been getting through lots of books that way, listening to them. And it's been really nice.

Potty Training

Well, this has just been a very exciting day for us. We've had all kinds of progress and improvements today, the girls and I.

Today was Brooke's 1st day of potty training. We started off the day putting some panties on, and I explained to her what was going to happen, and what she needed to do now that she was out of diapers. She was none too thrilled at first about the whole thing. I took her in to the bathroom right when I got her up, and nothing happened. But when I brought her and Camille down for breakfast, she wanted to go in the downstairs bathroom, and she went a couple of times right away. It was very exciting for both of us! And I tried to play everything up as much as possible so that she would be excited and have more of a desire to go in the toilet.

We played downstairs all day. I wanted Brooke to be on the hardwood floor, in case she should have an accident; so we brought a box or 2 of toys down for the girls to play with, I set a timer to go off every 15 or 20 minutes for us to go into the bathroom and give it a go, and that is how we spent the whole day. All 3 of us were in the bathroom A LOT today; even Camille, who was very interested in what Brooke was doing. She kept climbing up and standing by the toilet while Brooke was sitting there, and looking and pointing into the bowl. She was also fascinated with toilet paper, and kept pulling at it and tearing pieces off. It was pretty funny.

Brooke did very well, I thought. She was cooperative and went in to try when I told her to. She went often, and even did a poop in the toilet. She only had one accident, a little bitty one, and that was at quiet time. We both have to learn how quiet time is going to go now that she is not in diapers. I put her in her toddler bed with books and told her to stay put and do her usual quiet-time activities, and only to come out if she needed to go potty. She had problems, at first, following those orders. But when I put her back in her little bed and explained it all to her again, she was TOO good at following orders. She was on her way out of her bedroom when she had her little accident -- there was a little wet in her panties and a little wet on the carpet. But other than that little hiccup, she did very well, and I told her how pleased I was with her.

Another exciting improvement that was made today was that Camille started walking all by herself today! After last week, when we went to the doctor and got all of that ... flack ... about her walking, she started walking today. I was turning around, after helping Brooke finish up with one of her bathroom trips, and I saw Camille standing close to the table and take a few tentative steps by herself. Well, when I saw that happen, I got really excited about it, and encouraged her to keep walking and to walk to Mamma, and she did! It was so fun and exciting! Brooke and I were getting really into it. Camille did that little number a few times throughout the rest of the day, and I just loved it. It really was a day full of progress!

The rest of last week was fun -- the girls and I went to a block party at our friends, the Garrisons, house; Mamma and Heather did a hard, but awesome, 6 mile run Saturday morning, and then Mamma dropped the girls off at Nicole Faucette's while she went to play for a funeral; Saturday evening, we had some friends come roast hotdogs and marshmallows over a fire in the backyard; it rained cats and dogs for half of Sunday (bringing, oh, such warmth and joy to my little Oregonian heart); and we got to hang out as a family on Sunday, before Dadda went back to a long week of work this week. We had a pretty awesome week last week, and I think this one is destined to be like the last.

*Brooke, wearing her new panties. We had to send this picture to Dadda at work; we were pretty excited about the whole thing.*