Too Fast

Some days I can't wait until my girls are a little older.  And some days I just wonder where the time has gone!

November 2009

April 2011

Train Table

I've been wanting one of these for the girls for a long time, but they're always expensive, even used, and I thought such a luxury was far into our future.  Not so!  I found this at a consignment sale this morning for $10!

Green Drink

Sally LOVES spinach smoothies!  (This one has blueberries in it, so it's more brown than green.)

Zoo

We went to the zoo this morning.  The weather was absolutely perfect, and we had a nice relaxed time. (Until the very end, when I made the foolish decision to take the girls to the sea lion show.  I loved it; they did not.  The loud music freaked out both Mariah and Elaine.)

Burned

Elaine experienced her first burn yesterday.  Sad.  She got up on a stool to "help you make dinner" and put her fingers down on a hot burner.  Two fingers blistered.  I had her wash all the veggies for dinner, which kept her in cold water for a while.  Then I put honey on her fingers for a few minutes, and then wrapped them in gauze with Noni juice on it.  (I keep a bottle in the fridge just for burns.)  Miracle burn healer!  No pain after 10 minutes and no blisters today!

"Hold your fingers up for the camera."

She asked to see the pictures and was distraught that she looked so sad.  I asked her if she wanted to take some happy pictures.  Here they are:

Jobs

Mariah does jobs as part of her therapy.  Often, when Mariah's working, Elaine will come and ask me for a job too.  This time I stripped her down, filled a bucket with water, gave her a rag, and told her to wash my shower.  She went to work and was happy for a long time, just asking periodically for more water in her bucket.

And Mariah can make those windows shine!

Respite

Lacy started respite last week.  We've done it twice now, and my life is forever changed!  Last Thursday, while Mariah was at Lacy's, Elaine and I made cookies while Sally napped.  Our house was so peaceful, and it was so nice to have some one-on-one time with Laney.  Yesterday, when I dropped Mariah off again, Elaine asked, "Are we gonna make cookies?!"  She went to play with Evan instead.  I put Sal down for a nap and READ A BOOK!  IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY!

Tomorrow Lacy's coming to get Elaine for a few hours so I can have some time with Mariah.  I cannot even describe how amazing this woman is!  Oh, and last night, she treated me to a yoga class.  It felt so good.

The Temple

During the Sunday afternoon session of conference, we decided rather than trying to watch at home while battling children, we'd instead take the kids to see the temple and watch the session after they were in bed.  Wise decision.

Sally went exploring.  She would crawl away for a minute or so, and then cruise back to me, cling to me for a few seconds, and then off she'd go again.  (As I was watching her, I realized Mariah never did the return-to-Mom-to-regroup thing when she was a baby.  She'd crawl away for as long and as far as I would allow; then I would have to go get her.)

We spread a quilt and ate popcorn.  These two spent the majority of the time collecting sticks to defend themselves against "Big Cat" (from Angelina).

Sally ate puffed millet and raisins.  She'd dig for the raisins and quickly discovered she could easily make the millet fly everywhere if she "splashed" in it.  Just like water!  I wish we had a video of the puffed millet fountain she had going.

Getting the girls to look at the camera and smile for pictures is basically a joke.  I don't really try anymore.  (I just noticed Mariah's dress is off the shoulder in these.  Don't ask; I don't know.)

"I am a Mormon Because I'm a Feminist."

Beautifully written and well worth the read.

General Conference

I have always loved General Conference.  However, since having children, and because of Mariah's issues, I have lost some of my enthusiasm for the 8 hours of meetings.  I have, of course, read the conference addresses later and thoroughly enjoyed them, but the actual days of the conference have been a little less than peaceful.

Until today.  Truly amazing!  I remember saying last conference (in October) how nice it was to have a system for Mariah, and how much better that conference was than the previous one (2 weeks before Mariah's diagnosis).  I also remember saying I'd be able to mark her progress from conference to conference.

Well, we've made progress.  The girls were absolutely amazing today.  There were only 2 talks (in the afternoon session) where I thought, "Hmm . . . . didn't really get that one. I'll have to read it later."  The entire 1st session was peaceful, and we were able to watch (and actually pay attention to) every talk.  We only had to send Mariah to her room once, and only for a few minutes, Elaine played with "dollies" the whole time, and Sally slept for most of the session.

Here are some pics of the set up.  The General Conference Picnic.  I packed lunch for the girls for the 1st session, they napped between sessions, and I had snacks ready for the afternoon session.  They made it all the way to the halfway point of the second session without real problems.  Three hours!  And, possibly the most amazing (and blessed) thing was that little Sal took a 3 hour nap (longest of her life!), sleeping through almost the entire break and most of the second session.

And now Mike's at the church for Priesthood Session.  I love knowing that so many men who hold God's power are assembled throughout the world right now.  I don't even mind being left behind to put kids to bed.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is amazing.

(I don't necessarily have high hopes for tomorrow.  Two days in a row might just be too much to ask.  I think we'll start the 1st session and see how it goes.  I imagine Mike and I will end up watching the sessions delayed, during nap time, and after bed time. But that's ok.)