July 7

Well. Night  #4 of night weaning/sleep training did not go very well. Lily woke up at 3:45 and basically refused to sleep unless she was held, so we alternated listening to her scream and Chris holding her until 5:30, when Chris had to get ready for work.

Not fun.

Even less fun was trying to put her down for her morning nap at 8:30 (it's not usually that early, but see above re: early). That girl fell asleep in my arms, but every time I laid her in the crib she woke up and began screaming. FOR TWO AND A HALF HOURS.

Really.

She finally fell asleep around 11:15, and slept well into the afternoon. Poor girl was exhausted.

But back to the morning, before I knew that Lily was trying to kill me. Since we were up so early, we had time to play on the front porch in our jammies before it got too hot out. The kids played; I drank my coffee. It was lovely.

Lily wanted so badly to play bubbles with the big kids! She even practiced blowing, like she was blowing bubbles.

This is why Lily's hair is usually in a ponytail these days. If I don't pull it up, it's a shaggy mop in her face. I'm not willing to cut bangs, and the girl won't keep a clip in her hair, so ponytail it is.

Look at that stinker. Can you see the defiance in her eyes? She's clearly thinking, "What, Mom? I'm not going to tip these bubbles over! Wait, yes, I am. the moment you turn your back, I am going to dump these everywhere."

I love how focused Lily is on Caleb as he blows bubbles!

The three of them had a good game going: Caleb blew bubbles, Daisy attempted to catch the bubbles in her bucket, and Lily sat and smiled. That's what I call teamwork.

And then Lily was desperate to drink my coffee and Daisy had to intervene. The ensuing fit from Lily was what led to the epic battle of naptime. Let's pray that tonight goes better!

July 6

Have I mentioned that we started working on night-weaning Lily this weekend?  Chris and I are planning a weekend away at the end of the month, with my mom and Chris' Aunt Maggie sharing childcare duties for us. Because I'm confident they'd never speak to us again if we didn't address the nighttime issue, we decided to go for it. Our goal is to have the girl sleeping through the night by her birthday.

Night #1 was ROUGH.

Night #2 was better - Chris had to hold her for a while, but it worked out fine.

Night #3, last night, Lily woke up and needed some comforting at 9:45, which is unusual for her. Other than that, she slept through the night! I heard her wake, whimper, and settle herself back down once or twice, but it seemed like she was getting the hang of soothing herself back to sleep.

We'll see how tonight goes; I started trying to put her down before 8:00, and as I type this she is still fussing. It's hard work being a baby.

Today involved church,  a trip to Costco with the big kids while Lily napped and Chris worked on stuff at home, a long nap for me, pool time for the big kids, and breakfast for dinner. Somehow I didn't manage to document any of it. I did manage to catch Lily doing one of her favorite things, though: cruising under the kitchen table.

I love how pleased she is with herself!

She's just the right height to walk around under the table without bonking her head, and the table is just the right distance from the bench to provide perfect support for walking practice. 

What a big girl!

And what a quiet girl, now. She finally fell asleep.

July 5

Remember how we used to live in a different house? And then Daisy came along, and our two bedrooms weren't enough, and Chris' hour-long commute made us crazy? Remember how we put our house on the market, but it didn't sell, so we ended up renting it out and buying a foreclosure?

Well, after two and a half years, our tenant decided not to renew her lease.

Boo.

We spent the morning out at the old house, taking pictures and meeting with two potential tenants. Our current tenant has done a lovely job of caring for the house and making it her home, which left my heart overflowing with thankfulness. Now, Chris and I are praying that God will send us the right tenant to replace the old one.

Lily had never been to the house, which is strange for me. We brought Caleb home from the hospital there, and Daisy was born there, but Lily? Nothing.

So here's Lily, exploring the place that used to be our home:

When I saw this picture, I realized that I have very few photos of this girl on the move. She's crawling and cruising all over the place now!

Later, back at our real house, Chris took the kids outside to play while I made dinner. They were having so much fun that Chris came in to grab my camera for a few pictures. Thirty minutes later, when he returned the camera with a big grin on his face, he proudly informed me, "I have your blog post for the day!"

He was right. Check this out: 

Chris set up our backyard "water slide" again, but this time with a sprayer nozzle mounted up high, and the kiddie pool at the bottom. Brilliant!

So. Much. Fun!

It kills me how good Chris is at framing shots and choosing good angles for pictures. I try so hard to take good pictures, but he's effortlessly excellent. I'm lucky to have a man like him!

Goodness. Don't you love it?

Over and over and over and over and over again!

Sploosh!

And Lily was fascinated.

Also, she was annoyed by the feeling of the grass on her skin. See how she's lifting that one leg completely up? Ha!

That is one happy girl.

And a cute girl, too.

Then Lily found a surprise in the grass - an Easter egg! 

I don't even want to think about the fact that she's trying to eat an egg that has been in our yard since April. Yuck. But at least she was happy!

July 4

Our Independence Day involved painting baseboards and crown molding, a trip to the pool, naps for all three children, and a fantastic party. It was a long, fun day!

Do you remember last year, when Lily was still stubbornly inside my belly? Her due date was July 8, but she didn't come until the 19th.

Notice Daisy's dress?

Lily wore it this year. 

The dress has certainly made the rounds, because Daisy also wore it two years ago.

Now I'm feeling sentimental, so here's what the kids looked like three years ago on Independence Day.

What? You want more? How about Caleb in Lake Michigan, four years ago today?

And I have no pictures of five years ago today, because though Caleb was due on July 3, he didn't come until July 9.

But back to the present.

Our friends Jessica and Travis hosted an awesome party in their hundred-plus-year-old house. The kids wore their patriotic best: Lily in that dress, Daisy in a too-small tank top and a headband I made when she was a baby, and Caleb in his favorite American flag muscle shirt.

Daisy loved swinging with Daddy, until I tried to take a picture.

Lily was so good, and happily entertained herself with Stella's toys.

Stella entertained herself with a chicken bone. 

I got the bright idea to corral all of the children on the stairs and take a picture. These kids came from nine families. 11-month-old Lily was the youngest, and 9-year-old Jack was the oldest. 

Stella didn't want to cooperate for the first picture, but do you notice Caleb and Daisy in the top left?

They're smooching.

On one hand, it was cute. On the other, how embarrassing! I think we will forever use this picture as blackmail.

Stella finally cooperated because she wanted to be next to "Baby Lily". Look at how Lily put her little foot on Stella's foot!

There - all the children, no smooching.

We ended up staying until 9:00. Fireworks began at 9:20 just blocks away, but Caleb and Daisy were fading quickly. We knew that if we stayed, we would either have to stay inside and not watch the fireworks, or forcibly hold the children outside and endure their shrieking about the noises.

So we went home, and didn't watch the fireworks. 

Lame, right?

I think Chris and I both regret our decision, but it certainly was easier for everyone. Maybe next year...

July 3

Today was another beautiful day, and though I briefly entertained the idea of taking the kids somewhere for an adventure, we ended up spending most of the day playing in the front yard.

It was just what we needed.

Caleb drew this on the front porch the other day, and I finally got around to taking a picture.

I didn't think it looked like anything special until Caleb explained it to me:

"It's God and his sheep!"

See, God is the blue person with a smile and a shepherd's crook. The sheep is the white thing with all the legs. I'm not sure if maybe some of the legs are actually green stripes, like the ones under "God", which could mean they are grass... Regardless, I was impressed. Caleb's memory verse last month was Isaiah 53:6:

 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

    each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

    the iniquity of us all.

Apparently he gets it? That God is trying to lead us to the good stuff, but we try to go our own way instead? I love it. That boy is something special.

Later, I popped some popcorn on the stove for a special afternoon snack. Even Lily got to have some! 

Look at how excited she was about it!

(Don't worry, Mom. I know that popcorn is a choking hazard for babies. We supervised her closely.)

 

I think Lily felt like one of the big kids with her own bowl of popcorn!

Then Chris' mom came over for a little afternoon playdate. Caleb and Daisy - and even Lily - were over-the-moon excited to see her! The big kids spent the first fifteen minutes running around, yelling, "Grandmother! Look at me! Over here, Grandmother! Watch this!" Lily, meanwhile, spent a lot of time kicking her legs, grunting and squealing for Grandmother's attention, and trying to walk to Grandmother.

Eventually, the kids settled down enough to actually play with her. They got out the hula hoops, and Gayle demonstrated her hula-hooping prowess. 

Did you know she once won a hula-hooping contest? 

It's the truth.

 

What a perfectly pleasant day!

July 2

It was in the 70s today.

I dressed Lily in pants for our outdoor playdate this morning, and we were chilly in the shade.

It is the second day of July.

I have no idea what is going on, but I'll take it.

Since Turtle Park was on Caleb's summer to-do list, and a thunderstorm ran us off last time we went there, we decided to meet Amber and her brood there this morning. Aside from the 8 jillion people looking for Zoo parking there, it was perfect!

Lily is seriously weirded out by grass on bare skin. When I set her in the grass, she whimpered and whined until I spread my sling out as a blanket for her, even though her feet were the only part of her that were exposed. Once I put her on the sling, though, she was happy, happy, happy, even gathering some of the fabric up around her to snuggle. 

Does that look like a saucy saunter, or what? Also, Daisy and the turtle have similar facial expressions.

Caleb and Daisy sat on these turtle eggs until they "hatched". Ha!

And then Catherine, bored of the turtles and ready to move on, came along and scooped up Lily. She carried her around for a while, before settling her on a turtle's head. Can you tell that Lily was extraordinarily pleased with the situation? Catherine said that Lily kept trying to push Catherine's hands away so that she could ride the turtle by herself.

Then Mary got upset because Lily wanted to be held by Catherine, but not Mary. I felt bad for poor Mary - it hurts to be spurned by a baby! - but I felt so thankful to have children vying over the affections of my sweet girl. I am lucky to have a friend like Amber, and even luckier that Amber has such phenomenal children!

All of the kids except Lily on a birthday cake!

I love Michael peeking out from behind the cake, Daisy with apple still in hand, Mary's firm grip on little Gussie, and Caleb before he became concerned about too many people on the cake. Also, the kids were all singing "Happy Birthday" while I took this photo.

We returned home in time for lunch. While Caleb and Daisy ate, I fed Lily some yogurt, which she loved. When it seemed that she was finished with her yogurt, I set the bowl aside and went to the computer for a minute, maybe two. 

I was literally two steps away, with my back toward the girl.

When I looked back, I saw this: 

Dear Lord. That is a mess. But boy, was she happy!

I was cursing myself for making such a rookie mistake; you should never leave a bowl of food within a child's reach! But as we laughed about it at dinner tonight, Caleb revealed some more information. He was the one who gave Lily the bowl of yogurt! I had put it out of her reach, after all, but Caleb was trying to be helpful, so he got it for her. He tried to feed her a few bites, but then he decided she could be a big girl since she is almost one (these are his words!), so he gave her the bowl and the spoon. And then the mess happened.

At least he was trying to be helpful.

At least it wasn't entirely my  fault.

Before Lily went down for her nap, I put Caleb and Daisy down for "rests". Caleb's lasted an hour, until the music on his iPod stopped. Daisy "rested" for three hours, and Lily napped for three hours. It was lovely.

When Lily woke up from her nap, Daisy and I went in to get her and found this: 

This is the first time I've found her standing in her crib, and I love how happy she is about it! Lily really is a big girl

July 1

On Sunday night, I looked at our schedule for the week and thought, "Wow! We have the whole week free! Nothing scheduled at all!"

Not so much anymore, but we're having lots of fun! We started the day with a playdate with Amber and Drew, but we had so much fun that I forgot to take pictures.

Just as Lily woke up from her nap, Sara texted that her brand-new pool was full of water and ready for guests. We scooted over there before she could change her mind! Our friends Jessica and Stella came, too. 

Lily was the first of our children in the water, and she was clearly quite pleased with herself. She didn't mind that the water was a little bit cold! She was swimming!

Look at that sassy face! 

I didn't get any pictures of Caleb, but he spent the whole time jumping and splashing. He loved Sara's new pool! Daisy, however...

I think she splashed her feet in the pool at one point, and later went as far as the steps. That's it. She's been having a rough few days, with dramatic tantrums and lots of clumsiness.  

It's rough being three.

Lily got lots of Sara snuggles, so she was a happy girl.

Kisses, too! Aren't they sweet?

And then it was time to go. When we got home, I found this: 

(Don't worry, Mom. His seat belt was buckled for the ride home; I unclipped it, then decided to take a picture.) He slept like that for at least 45 minutes, then woke with just enough time to change back into his swim trunks for kickboard practice.

Caleb got a special ribbon - with his name on it! - for participating in the race last week. He was pretty excited.

And Lily spent her time cruising all around the picnic table.

After dinner, Chris helped her do some walking. What a big girl!