Splashing In The Tub!

This picture was taken during a peaceful moment (and it was just a moment!) in the tub.

Bath time can be pretty hectic at our house; by this time of the evening, both of the babies are tired (as is mommy), Elliot is a little unsteady in the tub and in constant motion, chances are they want to sit in exactly the same place (next to the faucet) and they always want the same toy-Curious George. But, they also are just too cute in the tub; they love to be in their birthday suits and splash, splash away.

Treasure Chest

Delaney is very much into keeping her stuff out of her little brother's hands. It's a constant battle. For all of us. And I can't even count how many times a day I say, 'Laney, if you don't want Elliot to have that, then put it up on the table / in your room / on the couch'. As the places that Elliot can not get to are fewer and fewer, Delaney has become increasingly frustrated.

Today Delaney tried a new strategy. She emptied a basket and then ran around the house, gathering all of her favorite posessions, and put them into the basket and then pushed the basket towards the back of the couch. So, what are her most prized possessions these days?--Her 'pop' (lollipop), 'little, little doll', 'Shorge' (Curious George-who happens to be about 2 inches tall, leaving me to spend hours a day searching for him), 'ka' (milk), 'little, little dog' and her favorite ball of the day. Quite a treasure chest!

Man On The Move

Elliot is very much into getting around and keeping up with his big sister. If Delaney is still sleeping when we wakes up from his nap, he'll immediately crawl over to her door and stand up-trying to push the door open. The other morning, he woke up insanely early (as in 3:30 AM-and was up until his noon time nap) and while I was making my coffee at about 6:00 AM, he had managed to push her door open and wake her up. Delaney tends to wake up about as well as her father-very slowly and crankily, so while Delaney's presence always makes life interesting, I seriously question his judgement.

Delaney can be pretty tough on Elliot, taking all of his toys and trying to limit where he goes; the other day Delaney decided that all of the furniture in the family room was 'hers' and that Elliot couldn't touch any of it---her declaration made for a very, very long day. But then today, they were eating lunch and making funny noises and just laughing hysterically at each other. Delaney will pick up a little crumb off of the floor give it to Elliot--gross, yes, but she actually is trying to be sweet because she knows that Elliot only eats little pices of food. They do always want to know what the other is doing-it's pretty cute.

Duck Pond

It has become a weekly tradition to head out to the duck pond. Delaney loves to feed the 'biiiig', and 'little, little' ducks and Elliot loves it when Daddy carries him, chasing all of the ducks. The duck pond has quickly become one of Delaney's favorite places and she'll run to get her shoes on the second that we say 'let's go feed the ducks'.


While feeding the ducks, Delaney tends to take a nibble of whatever stale bread we've been saving, and then tosses a piece to the ducks-or about 5 feet in front of her little feet--whichever is closer! Some of the geese are seriously almost Delaney-sized and I have this constant fear of them attacking her and of her falling into the rather nasty water. Good thing that she has a more relaxed Daddy! I typically spend a lot of my time at the pond gasping.


We usually try to keep Elliot in his stroller for as long as possible, because he really only wants to be on the ground, crawling around and putting anything and everything into his mouth, and God knows we can NOT let him crawl around anywhere even close to the duck pond. He's a good sport about it, but I can tell that he can't wait to be able to run around with Delaney! Here he is wearing a Halloween skeleton shirt-he looks like such a tough guy wearing all black.

Binky Withdrawal

Well, it's been tough, but we've made it through 1 1/2 days with no binkies. Yesterday morning was pretty brutal; after realizing that she couldn't have her binkies outside of her crib, she went ballistic-for well over three hours. It was really, really difficult-for everyone. But then, she got over it for awhile, and played happily for the rest of the morning. Later in the afternoon, she had another tantrum when we wouldn't hand over her binkies, but only for about half an hour.

She did great this morning, and this afternoon, there have been a few tears, but nothing too bad-yet.

We're far from home free but making progress and sticking to our plan.

We've been keeping her on a lollipop-drip to ease her pain.

It's Time

This day has been creeping up on me. And it's finally here. And I'm more than a little afraid. But I've had it.

It's time for us to wean Delaney from her binkies (yes, she has not one, not two, but three of them). I can't understand a word that she says when she has a binky in her mouth and I am so, so sick of searching for the darn things all over the house and up and down the streets (yes, I have actually done that-many times).

So-our plan: Starting today, no more binkies outside of crib. At all. Whining-No binkies. Temper tantrum?-No binkies. Mommy desperately is trying to get something done?-No binkies. Delaney goes absolutely crazy for days on end-No binkies.

It certainly won't be pretty because God knows that Delaney has a much stronger will than Dave and I (and most of the world). She can wear anyone down. We should have known when we gave her the middle name 'Nevin' (after her great-grandmother) that she would be stubborn. But, she'll deal; I know that she can do it-but can we? YES.

Ten Months!

Elliot is ten months old today. In a number of ways, I can't believe that he's already nearing his first birthday, but I also feel like he's been a part of our family forever, and I certainly can't imagine life without this little boy. He is absolutely delicious. He warms my heart and makes me smile every hour of every day. He's curious and so patiently persistent. He is smiles and smiles, hugs and slobbery kisses.


This was a particularly chaotic week. Daddy went on a short trip and was super busy at work, so the babies and I were on our own for much of the week. And it was hectic-we had fun play dates, outings at the park, LOTS of walks in the stroller and a whole lot of temper tantrums.

Yesterday, we hosted our first play date here in Carson City. It was crazy and Delaney had a tough time sharing some of her toys and had a complete and absolute meltdown-worthy of a time-out. So-it was stressful. But the other mommies were wonderful-no one asked if I needed 'help' (my ultimate pet-peeve--it's like, what exactly do you think that you can do to make this situation better??) and no one said 'oh, should we leave?' (which just would have been embarrassing); everyone just looked the other way and kept playing.

While it was difficult, Delaney ultimately needs to 'practice' sharing and calming herself down, so we'll definitely host another play date soon (but not too soon!). And Elliot had a wonderful time, trying to keep up with the 'big kids', eating snacks and buddying up to other 'babies' (everything is relative when all of your guests are under the age of 2 1/2!).