Dumpster Diving and Alphabet Diving

Let's be honest. As much as I hate to fit the stereotypical stay at home mom with no make-up, a ponytail, and lazy clothes, I admit that on the days I know I'm not going anywhere or seeing anyone, I do just that. While it does feel good to do myself up sometimes, it also feels good to take a break from that and just be comfortable. Today was one of those days. Monday's are my laundry-doing, weekend-recovering (a.k.a. cleaning up the tornado that went though our apartment over the weekend) days. So, I put on some sweat pants and a Lowe's t-shirt (random, but it's one of my most comfy shirts). I realized partway through the morning that I needed to take the trash out and I couldn't change my clothes or get my shoes because I didn't want to wake up Madison. The only shoes available were my high heals from Sunday and Jason's running shoes. I decided the heals would look less ridiculous (Jason's shoes look like clown shoes on me), so out I went in my interesting outfit.

Lovely, right? But wait, it gets better. I assumed I wouldn't be seen by anyone, at least not up close. After all, it would only take about 15 seconds to take out the trash.

As I approached the dumpster, I saw a bunch of stuff sitting in front of the dumpster. Random things like furniture and books. A couple things caught my eye. Some mirrors and a silver trash can.

The mirrors looked like the beginnings of some DIY project and a great way to decorate my home for cheap. Even though they were right next to the dumpster, I still felt weird about taking them, so I walked back inside and glanced back at them out the window. Then I saw a couple bringing things out of their apartment. They were cleaning out their apartment, putting some things next to the dumpster and others in their truck. After a while of hesitating, I decided to go ask them if the stuff was up for grabs. As I walked outside, my neighbor friend pulled up. She was pretty amused at my outfit. The man who was moving stuff out said I could take whatever I wanted, so I grabbed some things.

 I got the mirrors, trash can, and a basket, which I was pretty excited about. I love baskets and always find myself wanting them, but they're usually a little pricey for me to justify buying them when they're not technically a necessity. 

So, one other random thing I wanted to show is what Callie did today while I was nursing Madison. She frequently takes that time to get into trouble. I heard the water running in the kitchen and I kept telling her she needed to turn it off and get down off the chair she was standing on, but she wouldn't listen. I don't like interrupting Madison while she's nursing, so I waited until she was done and this is what I found:

(Ignore the laundry on the counter.) If you'll notice, the water was just about overflowing, and yes, those are alphabet magnets in the bottom of the sink. Callie had peed on them earlier, so I put them in a bowl full of soapy water in the sink. Callie saw the bubbles and wanted to play with them. When I came into the kitchen she realized her shirt was soaking wet, which bothered her. She wanted me to take it off before she got down, but I was a little more worried about the water that was starting to overflow. As I started cleaning it up, Callie peed on the chair...

In moments like this, I just have to take a picture and laugh. It makes things a little more fun and a little less frustrating.

What Daddy Does at Work

I've been delaying my blog posts, partly because it's hard to find the time with my girls during the day and hard to find time when I'm hanging out with Jason at night and partly because they require me to get pictures off of my phone.

Anyway, I had to document this hilarious conversation with Callie tonight. We were eating dinner without Daddy because he had to work a little late, and she kept asking where he was, to which I kept responding that he was at work. So, here's the conversation that occurred a little while later:

C: "Is Daddy playing basketball?"
Me: "No, he's at work."
C: "He's playing basketball at work?"
"No, he's just working."
"He's working at basketball?"
"No. No basketball, just work at work."
"He's playing basketball at work."

I think she's a little confused about what Daddy does at work.

Locked In

Not long after we moved in to our apartment, we turned Callie's door knob around because we were afraid she would lock herself in her room. It's also nice to have a way to keep her in her room for sleeping and time outs.

A while ago, Callie learned how to lock the doors and she even locked herself in the bathroom once. It scared me, but she did figure out how to unlock it before I frantically called management.

She likes to lock her sister out of rooms to keep her away from her and her toys (which drives me crazy).

On Friday night, while Jason and I were in Callie's room, we started talking about the door-locking issue. The question came up of what we would do if she locked us in her room. We mentioned a few ideas and then Jason changed the subject. I said, "wait, I think we should talk about this some more, because it's probably going to happen..."

The next morning it happened. Jason was gone playing basketball at the church (and was pretty sure he wasn't going to Denny's with the guys afterwards, but we both knew he would probably call and see if I was okay with him going).

I went into Callie's closet to get a shirt and heard Callie close her door.

I came out and she said something she didn't want Madison to get and said "I lock it." Sure enough, she had locked us in her room. Madison, unfortunately, was not in the room. If she had I wouldn't have had a problem waiting until Jason got home. I tried almost everything Jason and I had talked about doing. I even found some baby nail scissors that I used to unscrew one of the screws in the door knob, but the other one was stripped. At one point I called out to someone I saw passing by (she stopped for a second and kept walking).

My most desperate move would have been to take the screen out of the window, climb bare-footed and pajama-ed over the pokey bushes, bang on my neighbor's door, and beg to use their phone to call Jason. Since Madison sounded okay and happy, I never got that desperate, but I got pretty close when I heard my phone ringing a few times.

I knew it was Jason seeing if I was okay with him going to Denny's. I just prayed that he would take me not answering as a sign that he should come home and make sure we were okay.

After about an hour of being locked in, Jason did come home and freed us!

I hid a mini screwdriver on the top shelf of Callie's closet to make sure I can get out if/when there's a next time...

Swings

Last week we went with our neighbors, Audra and Caiden, to the park to swing! Callie sat in a big swing for the first time all by herself! Last time she tried it was with Daddy. He sat her on the swing, gave her a push, and she fell right off. I was surprised she was so anxious to try it this time, but she did great.

Callie had an accident while on the playground, so what did I do? Stuck my kids in the trunk with treats so that I could change Callie's pants. It was no big deal, but a few months ago, the possibility of an incident like this kept me from doing things without a second adult there to help (or, in other words, at least as many adults as kids). I was proud of myself!

Madison at 9 Months

Stats

 Weight: 15 lb 3 oz (<5 nbsp="" p="">

Length: 26.6" (20%) 

Head: 17 1/2" (55%)

I knew she was tiny, but I didn't think she was less than the 5th percentile! Maybe it's because she's so active, because she definitely eats a lot. Or maybe she's lost some weight being sick lately. She has been eating less than usual.

Madison's Development

Madison has been standing up while holding onto things for a few months, but she is starting to stand a little longer on her own (like the middle picture below). She can stand for up to 5 seconds on her own. She's also getting closer to being able to stand from sitting. If she is leaning on my legs or something close to the ground, she can stand from there.

This silly girl also likes to come and attach herself to my legs with a crazy strong grip. She'll stand, hanging onto me, which means I can't move anywhere, and it's quite a task to detach her from my pants.

This month, she started closing her eyes when she was done eating something. Whenever I would put a spoonful of food close to her mouth, she'd do her funny little cue telling me she was done. She doesn't do it as much anymore (probably because I was so amused that I kept taking pictures instead of responding to her cues). 

We're also venturing into finger foods. It's a little difficult when she doesn't have any teeth, but she loves it. The other night, I made some baked sweet potato fries for dinner. Jason was holding her while eating and he let her try a fry. She loved it and begged for more, so I put her in her Bumbo and gave her some cut up fries. She gobbled them up.

 Madison is getting a little more feisty with Callie. She's endured 9 months of bullying from Callie and now she's starting to retaliate. Sometimes when Callie comes over to take a toy away, Madie starts waving her arms and protesting with little yells. It's so funny! 

Poor little Madison has been sick the past week (along with the rest of us). On Thursday, she came crawling into the living room where I was and she was wheezing and breathing hard. This continued into Friday, so I called to see if we could get her in sooner for her Well Baby Check (scheduled for 2:00 that afternoon). They told us to come in right away. 

After checking her breathing, doing a breathing treatment, and checking her oxygen levels, the doctor said she has reversible wheezing (sometimes called baby asthma) with her cold or RSV. He sent us home with the breathing treatment machine and prescription for the Albuterol. He said this could be a one-time thing, or it may come back every time she gets sick (in which case we'd need to buy one of those machines), but she should grow out of it. Hopefully she'll start feeling better soon!