Me hide it...

...has become one of Elijah's most frequently used phrases. The little sneakster is quite swift and the next thing I know, my phone, yarn, measuring tape, lip balm (you get the idea) is missing. While I'm left scratching my head and talking irritatedly to myself Elijah declares that he has hid whatever it is I've "lost". Parent with love, parent with love. I'm learning to embrace these happenings; they won't always be this way and I know I'll look back and smile at the memories. Might as well not spend the time being angry that Elijah is developing such a creative personality. He is honest, after all.

Earlier this week it was nice enough to play outside. Emily fell asleep in her playpen, which was next to my Grandma who on the back deck on her laptop. Since Emily was in good hands, Elijah and I ventured out into my Mom's big back yard. We started by kicking a ball around, but after it was retrieved from under a blackberry bush, we both agreed it was time to do something else. Further down into the back yard is a cleared out area that's mostly just dried dirt, with a bunch of weeds growing all around. Elijah wanted to dig in the dirt. There's a fire pit in this little cleared area and in the dirt is a bunch of dried twigs and small pieces of broken, dry wood.

Like most two year olds, Elijah was not bothered by these conditions and plunged his finger tips directly into the dirt, raking it towards him. Fearing of splinters and whatever else being pushed under his fingernails, I decided we would pull weeds. We'd still be able to "dig" around, but it could be a game. Who could find the longest roots? Loki joined us, like he does in most of our outdoor excursions. It's so sweet to watch them together. The fact that Loki follows us around is just pleasing all on its own. Such a loyal feline.

My little Em&Em is seriously rocking the head strength. She can keep her head and shoulders lifted off the floor for close to a minute before she gets tired. She hasn't shown much interest in rolling over while on her belly, but she does put beautiful effort into making sure she can still be a part of what is happening around her during her tummy time. However, when she's on her back having naked time in between diapers, she really is on the move. The girl can almost scoot herself in a full circle. She can also roll onto her side from her back. From what I've read, rolling over typically starts from tummy to back first. I can't remember now if Elijah rolled tummy to back, or back to tummy first. I'm inclined to say back to tummy, like Emily is leaning towards. I suppose we will find out soon enough!

I can't get over Emily's hair. It's getting longer, but not heavier, that's for certain. It just stands straight up. And you know what? It actually flips backward! It's the craziest thing! The very tips of her hair flip back, instead of forward. It'll be a while before I can get bows into her hair. Speaking of bows, I've been brainstorming homecoming outfits for the kids since Daddy is going to be home soon. This is what I have picked out for Emily:

I bought it on Etsy at this shop. It came in the mail a few days ago and it looks sooo cute. I haven't been much for the "girlie" stuff with Emily thus far, but you better believe I squealed something awful when I put this headband on Emily's head. I'm planning on having her wear a white spaghetti strap summer dress I bought from Old Navy with this headband for homecoming, weather permitting!

And for Elijah, I am going to be ordering this soon:

I just need to figure out what I'll be wearing and everyone will be set!

On second thought, if Emily keeps doing this while wearing dresses, she may not be wearing them that much longer.

Neighbor Man to the Rescue

After two days of not seeing my cat, Loki, I had just about given up hope. When my mom came home from work she had a weird look on her face and said, "I think I hear a cat crying somewhere outside." I flew out of my seat and ran to the garage door and called out to Loki. Sure enough, I heard a faint cry in response that was most definitely Loki's meow. Emily in my arms, and Elijah at my heel, I frantically started to slip on shoes ready to bounce out into the night in search for my dear feline. Mom stopped me, reminded me that I needed a jacket and more than just my crocs on my feet. She started looking for the keys for the rooms under the house but I didn't think it sounded like Loki was under the house. It sounded like he was outside somewhere.

Mom took Emily from me and I grabbed a flash light, clicked it on and the most pathetic stream of light shined out. Getting rather flustered at this point, I threw down the flash light in search of another. The next flash light sucked as much as the first one! I let out an irritated groan and decided to find some batteries.

Once equipped with an adequate flashlight, I'm outside playing Marco Polo with Loki. His cries bring me to three huge trees that are tangled together with huge branches. Pointing my flash light into the trees, I'm searching for the only indicator that will allow me to know where he is in the trees: his eyes. Loki is completely black. I heaved a gigantic sigh of relief when I saw a pair of eyes reflecting back at me, bright as headlights.

Now the questions was: how in the world was I going to get him down?

A phone call was made to our neighbors and Mr. Neighbor came to the rescue! I had to wait for him to finish driving home. But as soon as he came home, he changed his clothes and was out with a 24 foot ladder climbing up into this massive tree. Once he was at the top of the ladder, he ventured another eight feet into the tree. Loki was near the end of a branch, unwilling to cooperate his rescuing, so Mr. Neighbor scooted out on a branch (in the dark! mind you) and grabbed hold of Loki.

I thanked Mr. Neighbor about 40,000 times, but I still don't feel that was enough. I've been thinking about what I can do for him to let him know just how much I appreciated his heroism.

Fast forward to today. It was actually nice enough outside to play with bubbles! Elijah has loved playing with bubbles since he was about 18 months old or so. I love to play with the bubbles with him, but I couldn't really play with him this time. Emily was awake and apparently didn't want to miss anything because whenever I put her down, she cried. And while it was nice enough to go outside, it wasn't all that warm. I made sure she was properly bundled before going out and attempting to interact with Elijah one handed. It's so cute, he pronounces bubbles, "bubbies." He used to say it another way when he was first starting to talk, but I can't remember how it sounded now! Time goes by too fast. Well, sometimes it seems that way.

Another activity I was able to partake in with Elijah today, was to sit down and read a copy of Toddler Highlights with him. Emily was sleeping at this point, which made it all the more possible. I want to give all of myself to Emily, and all of myself to Elijah. At the same time. If there is a possible way to do this, I don't know what it is. Finding a balance in sharing my attention is extremely difficult right now. I want to be able to interact with Emily in the ways I did with Elijah when he was a newborn. I just don't think that can happen. I've got Elijah who needs attention, too. Back to topic, to be able to do something that was just me and Elijah felt really nice. We snuggled and read the short stories, found the hidden pictures, and talked about the shapes and animals.

I believe the attention and efforts that go into Emily's diaper changes has reverted Elijah back a few paces. He has lost interest in using the potty. He was on such a roll, too! I've heard that this is to be expect, not at all uncommon. It's frustrating, nonetheless. Since I'm doing cloth diapers, it ups the diaper laundry load and is all around a challenge to be changing two children during the day. Plus knowing he can pee in the potty but chooses not to is, well, annoying, to be honest. Classic two year old behavior I suppose. I try to remind myself to embrace the "two year old-ness", otherwise I just might go crazy. And also, who really wants to argue with a two year old? I don't.

Elijah is sleeping with me tonight, which is not how it's been the past few nights. He has been sleeping with my mom and sometimes it's just easier that way. But in all honesty, I don't sleep as well when Elijah isn't with me. He has his own bed in my room, but still chooses to sleep with me. I'm okay with this because I know he will sleep in his bed when he wants to. He was a few months ago, but with all of the changes going on he has decided his bed isn't for sleeping, but for jumping.

So now, as I bring this post to a close, I've got Emily sleeping on my belly, Elijah snuggled against my side, and Loki next to my head. The only person I need now is my husband home from Afghanistan and my circle of love will be complete.

Blurb.

I thought it might be fun to have a blog specifically geared toward my adventures in being a mom! There are many happenings in my day that others could possibly find amusing. I didn't think so until I explained a specific moment to my sister in which she replied with something along the lines of, "I'm sorry, I know that must have been frustrating but I laughed very hard at that." I think said moment consisted of my three week old daughter, Emily, crying on the bed while I changed her diaper while my two year old son, Elijah, cried on the floor with his head attempting to push through the sleeve of a shirt.

I was successful in my attempts in making some lip balm today. It's totally exciting because I've been interested in doing this for a while now. And as beneficial as tea tree oil is, I learned that I don't care for the smell that much. My mom has loaned me her potpourri burner, which looks exactly like a teeny-tiny crock pot; perfect size for melting together my ingredients! I dug out a children's Motrin syringe to fill my tins with and used a gravy whisk for stirring. I didn't even have to buy anything except the ingredients and the tins! How perfect. The tester balms I made today have come in handy! I've put the first tester on my hands and some dry spots on my arms, as well as on my lips and even Emily's bottom to see if it could clear up some red, chapped spots. All tested areas are doing beautifully!

This brings my first post to a close. My cat, Loki, hasn't been come back from outside in over 24 hours and my imagination has exhausted me with different possibilities of why that could possibly be. That and little Miss Em keeps waking because each time she falls asleep her pacifier falls out of her mouth. This results in flailing arms, kicking legs, and little frustrated grunts of protest. I rescue the pacifier and have to coax her to take it back. She wants the thing so badly that she just jerks her head around, mouth open, tonguing the thing as though I were teasing her with it. Though once she has it her entire body relaxes and we can start the whole thing over again.