Meeting Jaren

We took the kids up today. They had excited grins on their faces going in and seeing grandma holding him. Then Aunt Sarah changed his diaper and their expressions changed to total awe and adoration. Later Mia held Jaren and was staring intently at him for the longest time. Later she asked if she could hold him again. She just kept saying, "He's so cute." Cailey sat by me and watched him for awhile, but was hesitant to hold him. I don't blame her; he seems so small. Since Jaren was sleeping Lukey wasn't too interested after the diaper change. I was glad he didn't seem to be jealous at all. I know mom got some great pictures of them looking at Jaren, so I'll have to put on on later.

New Cousin!

I got to meet my new nephew today. Jaren was born this morning. When I showed the kids a picture I took, the girls said, "Awwww," and Lukey said, "Awww. That's my baby Jaren. He's sleeping. He's sleeping in his room." Jaren was wide awake at first taking it all in looking intently at his mom and dad. The kids will go up tomorrow to see him. They can't wait! Grandma took these pictures and created the scrapbook layouts.

Third in Command

This summer has been a new experience in that the the girls and Luke now fight. I'm constantly refereeing. Mia tattles on Luke all the time and I usually say something like, "Luke stop hitting your sister."

The other morning David and I were listening to the kids play in the girls' room. Cailey cried out, "Mia, Luke is hitting me!" So Mia, without missing a beat, says, "Luke stop hitting your sister." It was funny hearing her so in charge. I've heard Luke asking Mia for things or going to her when I say no. I guess she's third in command.

On a totally unrelated note, I just spent a nice quiet afternoon while Luke napped watching "The Devil Wears Prada." I haven't sat and watched a movie in a while. It was nice. However, when the movie was over I tried to rewind the DVD. Stop and think about what I just said; I tried to rewind the DVD. Took me a minute to figure out why it wasn't doing anything.

Lukey just woke up from his nap. Sat bolt upright. Ran to the playroom to see what the girls are doing, running right by me as I asked how he was. Ran right back to the couch. Pulled his blanket back up, found his "taggies", and momentarily went back to sleep. Now he's sitting there quietly talking to himself and looking at a book. My sweet, funny boy.

Potty Training Trials and Tribulations

Despite some potty training triumphs recently, we still have a way to go. Today Lukey was hiding, playing quietly, and passing gas. I thought it was a perfect chance to get him on the potty. Well he fought me on it. We sat there for a long time and the whole time he argued with me. He didn't have to. He wanted a clean diaper. He was just farting. It's too hard.

The funniest arguement just made me laugh. Luke has this tendency to make up phrases for things he doesn't know a word for. For awhile he was totally making up words for things. Then he just borrowed other words to use instead. So today he told me, "The poop door is closed you silly girl!"

Uncle Jeremy's Birthday

Tonight for Jeremy's birthday we went to the Cheesecake Factory and then went bowling. This was the second time for the girls. Hopefully I can get some of the pictures mom took to post here since they were having so much fun. Well, at first.

Cailey got my competitive and perfectionist tendencies when it comes to sports. I stopped playing tennis when I learned there was no way I'd ever beat David years ago. Well, Cailey was not happy since she was the only one who hadn't knocked all the pins down. Nevermind that she had a higher score than me and her sister, she wanted to knock all the pins down and nothing I could say about just having fun mattered.

Well she cried and pouted and cried some more. Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Jeremy all tried to help. Each frame was just more disappointing. It was sad watching her head drop after each ball. Poor kiddo. Finally at the 10th frame of the 3rd game, last ball of the night, she got a spare. You would have though she just bowled a 300 perfect game the way we whooped it up. I was glad she was able to end the night on a positive note.

Mia's Teeth

Well, Mia has caught up to Cailey in the teeth department. In one day she lost two teeth and the new one is already coming in, taking their spots. Like Cailey, there is room for ony one of the adult teeth where the two baby teeth fell out. David is going to have to enroll in the dental plan offered by his company so these girls get double covered.

Mia's first tooth came out while supposedly Cailey was poking at Mia's mouth or something, though Cailey claims she was no where near Mia's mouth. The next tooth came out while they were cleaning and Mia bumped her mouth on a toy. That didn't quite get it out all the way, but left it hanging at a really disgusting angle. About 10 minutes later Mia was looking in the mirror at it and it came out.

Cailey was so excited for Mia. Mia was not quite as excited about it. Turns out she's a little squeamish about blood. She spend the night rinsing her mouth with ice water and biting on gauze to try and stop the bleeding. Yuck. She also was a little grossed out by the feel of the empty space left behind too, though I think she's used to it today. Another milestone for grandma to capture and scrapbook!

Ready for Preschool!

So we tried going cold turkey out of diapers. Luke did fabulously. He went 4 times in the potty Monday morning and was rewarded with a Hershey Kiss each time. He apparently has heard us say he needs to be potty trained before he can go to preschool, because after the 4th time he decided it was time to go to preschool then. He was ready. He put on his underwear and sweatpants and was ready to go. He was concerned about being late. He was going to school. I tried to tell him that we don't go during the summer, but no, he was going!