Happy Thanksgiving!

It has been a lovely Thanksgiving day indoors today. Outdoors it was cold and rainy, but we had a lovely time at Lee's aunt's and uncle's house. The food was great, and and the girls were spoiled once again. I love that we will be having Thanksgiving Round 2 tomorrow. None of that Black Friday nonsense for us! Thanksgiving. What a great holiday! A grateful heart is a happy heart, and my heart is truly grateful and happy.

Wordless Wednesday - Besties

Making some definite weaning progress!

Lee has been on a secret brainwashing campaign with Mariele. At any given opportunity, he will remind her that she is such a big girl and she does not need na na anymore. I will remind my readers that na na is Mariele's term for breast milk. For the past several days I have been able to put her down for her nap in the afternoon without nursing her. That is huge progress! She always has to have her ba ba (baby). She loves her baby dolls so much and she will choose one to sleep with each time. Yesterday as I was tucking her in with her ba ba, she looked at me with her big blue eyes and the most earnest expression and she told me, "No mo na na." I praised her and said, "That's right, Mariele! You are a big girl now!" One huge sign of success in this area is that I can just snuggle her without being pawed and groped! She falls asleep VERY quickly (like 2 minutes or less) when I just snuggle her. When she wakes from her nap, it's a different story. She craves that na na comfort so much at that particular time of day. Lee has been able to distract her this weekend. We will see how the week goes with Lee at work. We are still nursing at bedtime and a little in the middle of the night. She is not quite ready to give those up yet. Hopefully soon! Because just look at how big she is, trying to keep up with the big girls!

Introversion and Writer's Block

I have been having both of these issues lately. I find myself so busy all the time with homeschooling and just being round the clock mommy that sometimes I really do withdraw inwardly and it is hard to come up with something to say on this blog. Lee has recognized that I do need some breaks, however, and he pushed me out the door to go to Macy's by myself the other night which was awesome! He has also suggested that I maybe find an exercise class or something to participate in. Years ago I really did love kick boxing class. Maybe I should check out this zumba thing that everyone is talking about.

Mariele was sick one day this week with a low grade fever and a snotty nose. Because of this, I cancelled a play date with a friend who has a preemie baby about a month old. I would feel so bad if my kid's germs infected a little newborn preemie!

Mariele may be a tiny baby step closer to weaning. I actually got her to sleep for her nap without nursing today. However, she woke up a bit hacked off because she must have realized that she missed her na-na. So one baby step forward and three giant steps back. I would love to get her weaned. Looking back, weaning Analese was pretty easy! Not so with little Mariele.

Today I agreed to teach the Beginners class at church for awhile. This is something that I have done before, and I have the programs from our Colorado church so it will not be hard at all. Beginners are birth to age 3.5. Cute age!

Sometimes Mariele can be unintentionally (and sometimes intentionally) rough with Analese. Analese gets pretty sensitive about it, and often she cries to me, "Mariele hurt me!" I will then get on eye level with Mariele and lecture her about being nice and gentle to her sister. I will ask her to go and apologize to her sissy. Her way of offering an apology is a hug and a kiss. One night, not too long ago, she planted an apology kiss square in the middle of Analese's back because Analese happened to be hunched over from whatever injury her sister gave her. The back kiss tickled Analese and she started giggling. That caused Mariele to want to give her more back kisses and Analese just laughed and laughed. Now whenever Marlele gives an apology kiss, Analese will hunch over and offer her back, and Mariele will kiss her right in the middle of her back and tears turn into giggles. It is quite funny to witness!

I am really reaping the benefits of their ages lately. They play together so well (when Mariele is not injuring her sissy or destroying her sissy's things). They really do enjoy each other's company. Analese has been practicing her cartwheels lately, and she can really get her legs up now! While Analese practices cartwheels, Mariele does her forward rolls, and I have to say she has perfect form! My little gymnasts!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday - With a Bonus "Show Me the Mommy"

An Amusing Anecdote

Here is the proof that candy is a very occasional treat at my house. As we were pulling up to our friends' house yesterday, I offered Analese a miniature Reese's peanut butter cup. I'm sure we are all in firm agreement that Reese's are, in fact, the best Halloween candy ever. And I'm sure that everyone reading this blog is familiar with the anatomy of a Reese's peanut butter cup. So, back to Analese and her treat....When we went inside the house, I instructed her to go and wash her hands in the bathroom. It seemed to be taking her a long time to do this simple task, so I went in to check on her. I found her standing beside the trash can chewing vigorously. She told me, "I am having trouble chewing." I asked her what was in her mouth. She told me, "Just the candy that you gave me." Turns out that she was trying very hard to chew up the black paper that was on the peanut butter cup. She had removed the foil and popped it into her mouth! Ironic, since Reese's are my all time favorite candy. Somehow I have still managed to shield my home from their influence!

Happy Halloween!

Analese was a Southern Belle and Mariele was her pet pig!



Analese chose her costume because "the dress touches all the way to the ground." This blog is written proof to her sixteen year old self that she preferred this style of dress once upon a time!



The hat is ridiculous!




Mariele was not quite as in love with her pig costume.




We kicked off the festivities at a fall festival. It was 86 degrees out!





Then we headed back to our friends' cul-de-sac for some trick-or-treating and driveway campfire. Here is Mariele with the first of about eight lollipops. She would take one from the bowl, unwrap it, suck on for a minute or two, get bored, throw it on the ground and repeat the whole process. I was not allowing this, she is just a sneaky baby and every time I turned around, there she was with yet another lollipop. There were too many candy bowls and buckets lying around.



Here are the princesses roasting their marshmallows over the campfire.