At wits end... and tired!

Avery is not a good sleeper. From the time she was born she has been horrible as far as sleep goes. I can count on my hand the times she has slept through the night, and 18 months later I'm still waiting for it to happen. It wouldn't be so bad if it was once a night but its some times up to 6. This presents a problem becaues we only have 2 bedrooms. The girls share a room and like last night one wakes up then they wake up the other. Then we have to fight with them till 3AM to get them back to bed! Then they are up again at their regular time of 7. Which then leads to me having no patience, being exhausted and too irritared and grumpy to deal with 2 tired and grumpy toddlers. We have tried everything I can think of. We have a set bedtime and routine and always have. We have tried giving baths before bed and warm milk. We have music scientifically made to create alpha brain waves. We have tried leaving lights on and having Jinger sleep in our room (on the floor)to let Avery cry it out. Which works ok but now Jinger expects to sleep in our room. I have talked to the doctor and he says it sound like we are doing everything we can and that some kids just don't sleep well and to just keep working through it and eventually she will figure it out. (which doesn't help me one bit) I don't know what else to do.....grrrr!!

MIA

Hi, Everyone
Its been a while since I have posted! Things have been super busy around here. I have been working abut 30-35 hours a week and I had a bunch of final papers I had to finish up, one of which was a group project which I hate. It take 3 times the amout of work and time!
In the middle of all this Miss Jinger decided that she didn't want to wear diapers anymore so we did potty training! She really must have been ready cuz I told her if she wanted to wear "big girl panties" she needed to only go in the potty and bam, she was pretty much trained! We had a few accidents mostly when we went other places, but other than that its been nice to have her done with diapers. The hardest part was the first week when she had to go every 10 min, just a bit. We would spend about 15 min in the bathroom going, washing and cheering only to do it all over again 10 min later. So I spent about 95% of my days in the bathroom! It's kind of sad cuz she is growing up so fast. but I'm glad that it's done!

Pictues of the girls

I took some fun new pictures of the girls and I posted them on my photography blog. There is a link to it on the right side of this blog its Brooklyn's Photography Page.

Hair Cuts All Around

I decided that it was haircut time for all the girls in our family. It had been over a year for me. Jinger, with her curls, was starting to get snarls at the ends which made it almost impossible to comb out. You would never guess it but her hair is to the bottom of her shoulder blades! Avery looked like she had a serious mullet going on, long in back and short around the ears. Plus it was starting to get into her eyes, so I could never leave it down. Jinger was so excited to be getting her hair done and she sat there the whole time with a great big grin on her face watching in the mirror. Avery, my little wiggle worm, did surprisingly well. She actually sat pretty still and both the girls look really cute with their big girl hair cuts!

P.S. I was shooting these in manual mode so some of the coloring is off. I'm just glad that they are all in focus! LOL!

family hike

Last Saturday we went on a little hike in the foothills above Ogden. The girls have so much fun when we do this and it's so much funner for us now that Avery is good little hiker! Their favorite thing to do is find treasures and throw rocks. Jingers front pocket on her hoodie was so full of treasures it was about to her Knees! Avery gets so excited any one walks by us with a dog and she has no qualms about aproaching it so we have to be sure and be close. Luckily most of them are just as excited to see her!

What am I gonna do with them?

This morning I have been atempting to finish a paper for school and Jinger and Avery have been super busy climbing all over me, making messes all over my room, moving into my room with all their toys and just driving me crazy in general. I finally told them to go in the living room. I turned a movie on which I figured Jinger would sit and watch and gave Avery stuff to play with. After a bit I noticed that it had gotten really quiet so I decided to go check on them. I peeked around the corner and this is what I found.....

They were, as Jinger put it, "cookining you breakfast! With EGGS!" They were SO into this that they didn't even hear me come into the room. They were cracking the eggs into the pot, then Jinger was giving the shells to Avery who was taking them to the garbage (and mushing them as she went). I had a trail of egg shells from the living room through the kitchen and everywhere but the garbage. There was also a broken egg (no shells) under the fridge and the kitchen table. You can't really see it but there is egg smeared all over the table under the pot they are using and it is all over in Averys hair and their clothes. I can't really get mad at them for wanting to cook me breakfast can I?
P.S. I think I'll give up on homework for the day.

P.P.S. Note to self. Egg removes finish from wood....

My Wonderful Husband

I just have to say that I have an amazing husband! He is so good to me and the girls. He is always so willing to give of himself to make us happy. He also works hard and goes to school full time and provides for us quite nicely. I love that he loves to be with his family and that he can't wait to get home every day to see us! He is suppoetive of all my conquests and thoughtful in everything. He decided the other day that he was going to send me flowers just to make me smile! Thank you for loving me and thank you for being wonderful!

Pumpkin Painting

I decided that this year, having 2 very busy toddlers, that we would paint pumpkins instead of carving them. So I got crayola paint and lots of fun paint brushes and set the girls and some friends to work. They had so much fun. The first thing Avery did was take a taste of the paint (thank goodness it's non toxic), and then she painted for 2 minutes. The 3 boys lasted about 10 and Jinger started crying 1 hour and a 20 minutes later when I told her we had to clean up! She loved painting and didn't move from her sopt the entire time. I guess I will have to enroll her in some art classes.

Avery was being so silly I wanted her to look at me and show me her mouth so I could get a picture of her full of paint but She kept opening her mouth up wide and then turning her head to the side.

The Pumpkin Patch

Saturday was a beautiful fall day and decided to take the girls to the Pumpkin patch! They had so much fun picking out pumkpins. Their only qualifications for a good one was being able to pick it up. They didn't like the big ones Galen and I picked out for them. They had a mini maze made of hay and they had fun walking through it.

Jinger wanted to pull the cart and sit on it at the same time.

I have decided that its impossible to get a good family picture of all of us, so this was the best one of mom and dad, and the girls are cute anyway! Can you tell they are more interested on the gourd than a picture? Well that was a dried gourd and when you shook it the seeds rattled around, the girls had a blast playing with it.We ran into Becca Bruce and Gavin when we were there. Aren't These 2 silly, they blend right in!

Avery serious like always!

Halloween Shoot

I decided to do a photo shoot with my girls and their cousin Kaleb earlier this week. Despite the fact that there were 2 toddlers, and an 8 month old, and despite ther fact that NONE of them were all to happy about having their costumes on I got some pretty cute shots!

Jinger is always pretty eays to get a good shot of even when she is being silly.

That's about as big of a smile I can ever coax out of miss Avery. She just usually looks at me like I'm crazy. And she never sits still long enough for me to get a clear shot.

Kaleb has such a sweet smile and he looked so darn cute in his little horse costume!

I don't know if Kaleb was tired of getting his pictures taken or if he was afraid of the girls in their costumes. He was so sad. Jinger and Avery were so concerned.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!

She knows what she wants!!

Little Avery has a cold. She is so miserable , and I feel so bad for her. But I have to say that even when she is sick she still makes me laugh. Today Jinger, Avery and I were in the living room and I was helping Jinger dress her baby. Avery kept trying to lean around me saying "nose" and pointing to her nose. So, I'm attempting dress the baby and play the game. "yes, that's your nose" "Wheres your mouth?" but she was adamant about showing me her nose. Well after a few minutes of that miss Avery disappears. I finally get the doll dressed the way Jinger wants it and I start thinking that Avery was being awfully quiet so I went to find her and this is what I found....




I guess she wanted me to blow her nose! If I wasn't going to do it she was going to take care of herself!! What a girl!

Beauty

I love fall! It's my favorite time of the year. The colors are beautiful, but I also love the feeling in the air! It's not too hot or too cold. It just feels clean and crisp. Today The girls and I went on a walk.... well it was more like walk a few steps, then stop and look at some neat rock or bug or bird. Then take another couple of steps and then find something new. I think we went a total of 50 feet in all. LOL! I love watching their eyes light up with wonder and their excitement as they bring me their treasures. I so enjoyed showing them the colorful leaves on the trees around us. Asking them what colors they were and hearing Avery say purple to every one of them made me laugh. It's the most amazing thing to watch them discover the world. Even though I have been a mom for more than 2 years it still brings a smile to my face and fills my heart with joy. I hope I never get used to it!