We spent the afternoon outside today. It
was beautiful. We went out to plant veggies in the garden and
our neighbors (daddy and 2yr old) came to help and another
neighbor (8yr old) also came to help. It was so fun. I dug
little trenches and they planted the seeds. Then the 8yr old
watered the garden and the little boys got their little rakes
and we raked the back yard for awhile. Our yard is full of pine
needles and leaves from last fall. The daddy also did some
raking, which was the most real help of the afternoon! The
three boys played together and had a great time. Eve wasn’t
sleeping very soundly and kept fussing, but around 5pm Jan, our
Good Beginnings volunteer, showed up and held Eve so I could do
some raking as well. It was a beautiful afternoon! I love our
house and our neighborhood.

I opened the skylights upstairs this
afternoon because it was so hot. We don’t open them often since
there are no screens, but I did today. Later, Alan took Lex up
for a bath. After his bath Lex ran into his room, “naked boy,”
he loves it. Alan took a minute longer in the bathroom then
went into Lex’s room, and found him standing on the back rail
of the changing table, face and arm out the skylight, trying to
climb up the wall. If Lex had thought to climb on the nearby
dresser we could have had a serious accident! Alan called for
me to come see (standing right next to Lex, of course, to keep
him safe). It was scary. Don’t think I’m opening that window
again! Or maybe we need to rearrange the furniture so he can’t
reach the skylight…

I know it’s been a
while here. I’ve been busy and oh so tired. Eve and Lex both
have lingering colds. She sleeps a lot and he cries a lot.
Luckily they don’t both cry a lot! There is always so much to
be done so I don’t end up sleeping as much as I probably
should.

We made our first attempt at
potty training this past weekend. It was ok, but not great. I
don’t think Lex is really ready for it yet, but I don’t think I
can deal with six more months of kicking and tantrums every
time I try to change his diaper. I’m trying to find a Love and
Logic way to handle it, but haven’t found anything yet, and I
find myself getting frustrated quickly when I’m tired, he’s
been crying all day, and now he’s kicking me and grabbing for a
poopy diaper. It’s hard to think clearly in situations like
that :) But we will survive. Still debating about how to handle
the potty training. Some friends recommended doing it outside,
which would be cool, but a little weird in our new
neighborhood. We did a “naked day” and Lex loved it, though I
don’t think he liked the constant attention as much. Alan and I
took turns watching him like a hawk in the hopes of preventing
“accidents” on the carpet. He used the potty a few times, but
used the carpet as well. Besides the vigilant watching, the
other hard part was that we couldn’t really do anything else.
Can’t do housework or anything and watch him close enough. It
was such a beautiful day too. “Naked day” ended up being only
half a day because when he woke up from his nap he asked to go
out outside “go outside, want to play with Jack” and it was so
nice and Alan and I really wanted to go outside as well. So
that was the end of potty training.

Anyway, along the lines of sleep, I should probably go
back to bed now. I’ll be up again soon enough.

Lex has taken to calling me “mamoo” or
“moomoo” or “memoo”. He’s very silly and only two (almost) so I
don’t get too offended :)

Today Lex and
I started a garden. Eve slept peacefully nearby. We dug a
rectangle (about 3′ x 6′) and turned over the earth and all
that good stuff. It ended up looking a bit like a fresh grave
:) Then we picked up Alan from work and popped over to our
local garden nursery to buy some Moo Doo (organic compost, the
people there said it was very good for gardening). Tomorrow Lex
and I will spread it out and maybe this weekend we’ll put some
seeds in the ground. We have carrots, green beans, peas,
cucumbers, and tomatoes (from seedlings, not seeds). I’m new to
gardening, so wish me luck!

Not much to say at the moment. Had a good
weekend. Visited Jim & Julie. Trip down was great, trip
back took awhile because Eve decided she wanted to nurse every
hour! Good times were had by all though. We have her 1 month
appointment this week. I’ll let you know how that goes. Anyway,
really just wanted to post a few photos here.

Aunt Betty sent a big box of presents for Eve
and Lex. Not only were the presents great, but Lex sat at the
dinner table and quietly opened presents and read his new books
while Alan and I ate. It was great. I even got to read the
whole newspaper the next morning because he wanted to sit at
the table and read the new books again. Here he is in a
snowsuit they sent for Eve. The tag says 12mo, but I think it’s
pretty big for that (seeing as it fits Lex just fine!) He
picked it up and said “want to put snowsuit on and go outside.”
:)

Here is Eve in her little bow from Joyce. So
cute.

Jim & Julie bought a bocce ball set for
their backyard, so Alan and Jim play a round. Lex tried to play
too.

Eve slept in my arm as Julie and I discussed
gardening.

Bedtime stories with Jim. He liked this book and
understood it on a whole different level than Alan and I ever
did. I guess we’re not really smart enough for Baby Einstein.
:)

  

Both 3wk
pictures. I think it’s fairly easy to tell who’s who. No
cheating by looking at the background of the pictures!
:)

PS. Lex is 23 months today!! One more
month and I’m gonna have a two year old!! So cool, and a little
scary, but mostly cool. He’s such a cool kid really.

When Eve was first born Lex had real
trouble dealing with the crying. Whenever she cried he would
kind of freak out and start throwing things or crying himself.
I kept explaining that Eve can’t use words yet and we made a
game out of guessing why she was crying. It seems to have
worked. Lately whenever she cries Lex says “Eve is crying” and
goes over to her and asks “Why are you crying Eve?” It’s very
cute. I sometimes have to prevent him from laying across her
while asking, but he means well. :) I’m so happy about this
development because when she cried and then he cried I think
they just spurred each other on and gave me a real headache!
Now her crying is much more manageable.

We were at story time today and I was talking with a guy
who just had his second baby. He said his daughter (a few weeks
older than Lex) wasn’t handling it well and really didn’t like
sharing mommy. She is a very cute girl. Towards the end of
story time Eve started crying and this little girl started
giving me the evil eye. I think she was thinking “I came here
to get away from crying babies!!” Her dad kept trying to show
her Eve and explain that all babies cry, but she wanted no part
of it. I told her dad it would probably get better. Her baby
brother is just 8 days old, so hopefully within the next few
weeks she starts to adjust.