Z. and mama

I love that big, baby girl. She's still sleeping like a champ at night. Still fights naps most times during the day. I was SICKO early this morn...from 2ish to 6ish (more tummy trouble...thanks, H. Pylori?), so I'm functioning slowly today. And no, the pix. weren't taken today...I'm still in p.j.s. I just rarely have a photo op of Z. N. mom like I did with L. N. mom.

Zora wora hat

here's a cute pic of a hand-me-down from Tosca (Savannah).

silliness

Here are a few pix of the fam...taped noses & failed attempt to get both (or either!) kid to look at the camera. Enjoy!

Macomb water...our own third world country

This was our bathing water one night. I turned on the warm, went to get L. a towel & wash cloth, & came back to this "river water" bath. Yuck. We've had several boil orders during the past year, but this was NOT during one of them! B. has gotten sick from drinking our water one day just before a boil order was announced & I have a mysterious H. Pylori stomach infection...we now purchase drinking water & take lots of showers.

Sometimes it's sweet...a pre-nap par-tay

This is what I heard as I prepared ("fixed") :) L's naptime milk cup one afternoon. We do "family nap" in the afternoons...which means I nurse Z. & L. has some form of soy or cow's milk as I read to both kiddos (milk time for all!) & then I pray that they both go to sleep within a few min. of one another. Most days it works out okay. :)

Mop heads & Monkey tails

Barclay sometimes calls Langston a "mop head." Being the 3-year-old that takes all things literally, guess what he did when the spilled some tea a week or so ago? Yep, you guessed it. I wasn't quick enough to stop the instant downward dog followed by the swishing around on the floor *sigh*, but when I said, "Son, what are you doing?," he looked at me with these serious eyes & said, "Dad always says, 'You have a mop head!'" Thanks, dad.
Also, recently when Z. was crying L. told me that she might have an "industry." Sometimes babies get "industries" according to him. (Industry=injury, for those unskilled in toddlerese.) He also still says, "they're" instead of "they," as in "They're said we're all going to Bonkers." ;)
**And here's a good one. So, if you read post "Thing 1 & thing 2," you know that all L.'s toys were in time out a few nights ago. Well, he was busy w. a tissue box, a stool that he uses to climb into bed, & that plastic piece (monkey tail). He came into the living room, where B. & I were talking, sat on that stool, crossed his legs (ankle over knee), & proceeded to smoke the monkey tail. (!?) I whispered, "I think he's smoking something." So B. asked, "Son, what are you doing?" (he gets that question a lot!) He answered, "Just smoking." We asked where he had seen someone smoking (we don't even have a t.v.!). He says, "In Alabama." Okey dokey. We then had a health lesson on how it isn't good for one's body to smoke, blah, blah. He stopped. For now. I'm guessing that we might have to revisit that lesson quite a few times over the next decade or so. That's okay. We'll offer the same wisdom as a few nights ago. And hope that he doesn't smoke more than monkey tail in the future.

Thing 1 & Thing 2

Thing 1 (Langston Hadley) has officially been all over Thing 2 (Zora Gwendolyn) & therefore driving me NUTS! He loves her, protects her from other curious toddlers, must see her (esp. when she's sleeping or when he comes in from school), feeds her, "holds" her, "reads" to her,...but that is not all, no, that is not all. For some reason he also smacks her around. **And here I would like to insert that we talk to him quite a bit about what is good & not so good to do with or to sister. We also try to make him realize that he is a "big boy" to her; she looks up to him. He wouldn't want a "big boy" to him (& we name his favs, Uncle Spence, Josh, etc.) to be mean to him...he seems to "get it" for a moment, but he's 3 & that moment passes. Before she was born I would think, "L. might be jealous, but he'd never abuse Zora." Ha, ha on me. A few days ago he twisted her ear (she'd been crying for a while & I think he had ENOUGH...it was naptime on his 1st day of school, aka, worn out L.). He got a 1.time out 2.spank (which is rare in our house) 3.no story telling before nap. Later on that evening he punched her (not hard, but still...) in the tummy! I couldn't believe it! Who was this scoundrel & what did he do with that sweet boy that I knew?! Anyway, I resorted to the same 1.& 2. punishment, but 3. was loss of all toys for the rest of the night. This meant he played with a cup in the bathtub & an empty egg carton & small piece of plastic that is suppose to be a monkey tail (all he could find in his room). He's been better since then, so I think that the extreme discipline has worked for now. I know he's jealous (mainly about nursing time), but I've done all the things I know to do (read while nurse, let him "help," talk about how much Z. loves him/loves to watch him, remind him that she can't eat/do what he can...& more) & yet it's tough. I'm hoping that in the coming weeks/months, when she interacts more, he'll dig this whole having a sister thing & we'll stop the hate. The love-hate thing is rough for the parents. And I guess for the kids, too.