I can't believe it is Monday already. I shouldn't be worn out from a taxing weekend as we didn't have one I'm guessing that by now it is just wired in my brain Mondays = tired. Anyway, both girls woke up fine and got ready. As I reminded Daddy he didn't have to be to work until 8am he and M had a few minutes to veg out together watching Curious George. I fed L and put her in Dad's arms and gave them all kisses and ran off to work completely forgetting that the last time I did that their car didn't start. But they made it fine today. Other than M not eating spaghetti and L having 3 messy diapers today they both did well. M played all afternoon with Howie - if they were any older I would worry but at 3 and 5 or 6 it is just really cute. On the way home things fell apart (as they always do) M started demanding things she knows I don't have in the car, insisting I am going the wrong way home, throwing things all over just inside the door but Dad got her distracted and she and I played beauty salon and colored with her Aqua doodle pages while Daddy made supper. After supper we went for a walk again, M rode her trike - wearing her little pink sunglasses she is so cute especially when she squealed as she and Daddy ran through the sprinklers. He read to her tonight while L and I did our exercises together. In my head that meant laying on the floor together and getting her to smile at me - reality meant she rolled over as soon as I layed her down and turned with her feet in my face. Then after a few minutes she started crying as she doesn't roll to her back on her own yet so we spent the rest of the time with her on her back, rolling over, crying, repeat. We could only take so much of that before Daddy just held her. I fed her at 9:30 and held her sleeping in my arms until 10 when my arm was asleep.

Well after going full steam for the last six weeks we made a decision to stay home this weekend and not "plan" anything. It was a very good thing as T woke up this morning not feeling well and I made him stay home from work. He helped get the girls ready and I brought them to daycare, M didn't want me to leave and L had already filled her diaper. I like pick up a lot better! I worked til 1pm and then came home to check on him. Poor T felt terrible. So I did laundry and picked up a few things around the house before getting the girls. We had a girls afternoon out. We went to the mall (as it was REALLY HOT outside) got a treat, played in the playland, walked around, rode a boat ride and had supper. M was really good - only running ahead of us twice and L rode in the stroller like a champ. Then after explaining to M that Daddy wasn't feeling well and couldn't yell and jump on him. It was so cute - she was so concerned. She went right upstairs and crawled in bed with him and asked how he was doing. I felt bad for T but we had a great afternoon. Then the four of us cuddled on the couch and watch Sleeping Beauty (a Disney movie other than Cinderella or Little Mermaid). We were all asleep by 10:30pm.

Other than feeling like a Monday, this morning went relativly smooth. L was in a good mood and ate well, M wanted to get dressed downstairs but after that minor request made it all the way to daycare before any tears. For some reason she didn't want Dad to leave this morning, but he got her calmed down and was only a few minutes late to work. The girls were good when I picked them up so we went home and had a quick supper before going to the pool. As M was very excited to go and I still had to feed L - Daddy and M drove to the pool and when L and I were ready we walked. It was warm but it felt great - we hadn't been on a walk in almost two weeks. We arrived right at pool break - so enough time to put L's suit on before going back in the water. M had been playing with some other girls and one of their moms doing all sorts of fun things crawling like alligators, swimming like Little Mermaid, going down the slide, etc. She loves the water. This was L's first time in the wading pool and was a little freaked out that she could tounch the bottom but it was not her bathtub. But she never cried and just took it all in (including the hugs, kisses and splashes from big sister). About 8:15 we headed home to get M to bed, she didn't want to leave but remembered how Dad had promised her one "mushmellow" when we got home. Both girls slept well.

As we were closest to the airport the party was at our house today, so T got up and mowed the lawn and I quick picked up the house. I couldn't believe it that M slept in until 9am (but I don't think she went to sleep until 11pm last night either). G&GZ, Mark & Shana, Gene & Carol, Janelle, Greg & Austin all joined us for an early brunch as they had to be to the airport by noon. Mom and Dad brought great steak, chicken, cheesy potatoes, and banana bread! I tried it all and it was excellent! M & Austin were so cute playing house together - I keep saying they are like two peas in a pod. They each had a baby to feed, one baby rode in the stroller and the other in M's old carseat. M was very sad to see Austin leave but promised they would get to play together soon - to tell her 10 days doesn't mean anything to her yet. After they left we had a pretty laid back day. We played some cards, some took a nap (not the kids), grilled out on the deck for supper and played on the swing set. M went to bed at 8:30 and L by 9 something. T & I watched the Capitol Hill fireworks on TV and then stood in the back yard and watched the neighbors fireworks. Wrigley hid in the garage, the girls slept through it, T & I marveled over the amount of people shooting fireworks in town and how much money they must have spent. We watched several nice displays before I fell asleep on the couch. I think if I didn't have T, I would have to turn the alarm on for the next day as soon as I shut it off in the morning or I would never make it to work.

I must have been tired because I kept snoozing the alarm and next thing I knew it was a 1/2 hour later. The three of us made it out of the house and to work only a few minutes late. It was strange not having to dread wrestling M out of bed. I sure hope she is going to be good for G&G today. Per Grandma Val, "M is doing fine - outside playing with Austin and Greg, slept in till after 9, and was excited to tell she didnt wet mine underwear, and ate good at breakfast." Janelle said she ate a PB sandwhich for lunch and another popsicle.

I picked up L from daycare - it was strange to only get one girl, not two. She did good (if you consider 4 dirty diapers good). She fell asleep in the car on the way home so I took a few minutes to wash bottles, unpack today's milk, pack Thursdays, and change before we went to meet the gang for supper. It was almost relaxing not getting shouts of needing juice or a snack or wanting to go outside or downstairs to play. Yet at the same time it didn't feel normal. So when we got to the restaurant and I sat in 3 different chairs before M decided I should sit by her and then she only wanted to eat cinnamon rolls and ice cream for supper I knew things were "normal" again. L wasn't happy during supper - Daddy, Grandpa John, Janelle, Austin, Maggie and myself all took turns holding her - basically she just kept getting passed down the table. Once we got done eating and saying goodbye to everyone the four of us went home and put M to bed, I fell asleep feeding L, so I put her to bed and T & I watched some of the neighbor's fireworks before falling asleep ourselves.

This morning went better than I expected after such a big weekend. Other than M wetting the bed and needing to do laundry she was in a pleasant mood and L was too. We all got out the door about 10 after 7am. M went into her cartoon comma once she got to daycare and L was all in smiles for Kelly. T dropped me off before going to work himself (good thing he doesn't have to be there until 8am on Mondays). G Val and I picked up the girls after work. M was excited to see her and talk, talk, talk so she didn't have to listen to Kelly tell me that she gagged on one bite of cheese pizza (although she just ate a whole piece last night). Kelly called L a traitor as this afternoon she tried everything to make L happy and her husband came down and picked L up and she hadn't made a noise since. I said she may take after big sister in that she would take to men over women if there was a choice. We met T at home and all piled in the car to go down to G&G's. Dad grilled supper and Gene & Carol came over to join us. M and Austin were excited as Aunt Janelle made popsicles. Then Grandpa took Janelle, M, and myself on an airplane ride without the doors on. It was pretty windy in the back seat but M had a smile on her face the whole time. Then we let M stay up late and watch them light fireworks. Bobbi was crazy - trying to catch lit ones in her mouth and barking and jumping like a puppy. I hadn't seen her act like that in a long time. T & I finally took L home and got to bed around 12:30pm. M was sure about us leaving her their but she and Austin were sharing the waterbed when we left and giggling up a storm.

The morning L tried to wake up at 4am, I was too tired to function yet so I just gave her the pacifier and let her go back to sleep. When she did wake up again at 6am she was in such a good mood. This is the first time she "talked" while in a good mood. She has made sounds before but mostly when she was about to cry. It was so cute to listen to her and I think she liked to hear herself. Too bad her good mood couldn't rub off to her big sister. Our only saving grace there is that after all the struggle and tears to get her up and dressed she is so out of it she doesn't remember. This morning when she got into the car she said, "Look Daddy, I got my shorts and shirt on". I know it is hard to believe our little princess can be naughty but she literaly makes T & I not want to wake her up in the morning and then we are both crabby until around noon when she doesn't even remember it.

Maggie was excited as she got to go swimming at the pool with the daycare kids this afternoon during nap time. So the two helpers took three girls and one little boy to the wading pool in the afternoon. Maggie said she had a lot of fun and did all the fun things her and Dad did on Monday. AND she ate her lunch all gone, so when we got home she got juice and a snack (a few crackers that she didn't even eat). Then we went outside and played and watered flowers as it was beautiful outside. While Dad grilled L and I went downstairs with M to play but she was already showing signs of no nap. By the time we finished supper she definately needed to get some sleep, after major tears and two books she finally fell asleep. All the comotion wore L out also as she fell asleep watching T & I pick up the house. Now that she knows how to roll over, we found her sleeping on her side as T said, "just like her old man".

We had promised M that if she woke up on her own when Mom and Dad were getting ready we would go downstairs and play for a little bit before going to daycare. So she woke up in a good mood and her and Dad went down and played. We all made it out the door by 7:15am - which was a shame as Tom forgot he didn't have to be to work until 8am. They could have played longer but everyone was doing good at drop off. M ate her lunch all gone and L repeated last week's routine so that is very exciting.

After work Dad took M to the pool while L and I went to the grocery store. M had so much fun - crawling like an aligator, getting squirted by the big frog fountain and going down the slide. She had such a cute smile on her face when she told me all about it at bedtime. L wanted to see things so I ended up carrying her around the store - she got a lot of comments on how cute she is!

By the time we unpacked the suitcases, did dishes, put away groceries, sorted laundry, etc. We had had it and went to bed.

Well here we were afraid yesterday was going to be hard getting M up but that went fine - today not so well. She slept through Dad getting her dressed, then wanted to have Kelly do her hair but that was after Dad had taken out her hairtie so he put it back in and she rubbed her head on the bed to mess her hair back up. No biggie - her hair is a mess. We thought we had escaped any tantrums - but no she freaked out because I had sent a big bottle for L to drink out of at daycare. What the difference was - who knows? So we told her that she could tell Kelly not to use that one and hopefully she will forget by then. Tom said Kelly got her calmed down so that's good. Hopefully the rest of the day goes well.

Other than L pooping up to her shoulder blades and M not eating her lunch all gone both girls were good when I picked them up. Leaving was another story - M cried the whole way home because another little girl opened the baby gate and held open the door for us. I thought she was being very nice but M just saw it as she didn't get to do it herself. She did calm down once we got home and she ate her supper so we could go to the Canaries baseball game. We thought it was going to be a fun outing. L did great - smiled and sucked on her hands in our laps and then fell asleep. M was very dissapointed she didn't get to go out on the field. She sat pretty good for a couple of innings before wanting a snack - so we thought as a treat we would get popcorn. Her and Dad went to get it but she took one bite, spit it out and didn't want any more. Now I can see why she may not like Kettle corn as it has a differt taste, but this tasted just like the popcorn she eats at home. So she ate the animal crackers we had packed. Then she really wanted to go jump in the inflatable bounce house so as it was $1 we took her - after one minute of jumping she fell and started bawling and we gave up and carried her to the car. I'm not sure how many more games we'll attend this summer (without getting a toddler sitter).