The Nelson Narrative

Here is a list of things that I wish I could do with the girls on rainy days, or any day really just for variety and to get out of the house: Go to the mall's play area Go to the Childrens Museum Go to a Kindermusic class (or similar.  I'd love to do Gymboree but we've already been to a free trial and we can't afford a membership, plus it really is for just one child per adult) Go to any store/business I want without worrying whether the double stroller can be accomodated But alas, none of these can be done with just me.  In the first two examples they would be off in two different directions and even though the mall's play area is very contained, it's also quite large and I would worry that while I was chasing down one of the girls the other would be somewhere at the opposite end and maybe push another child or something and I wouldn't be there to prevent it and/or correct her. So as far as weekday outings go we're pretty much limited to storyt...

I knew this time would come eventually, but oh, did I not want or expect it this early.  The days of the 3+ hour naps are (sniff) over.  Miss Kayley started having issues with staying up WAY too late at night, so I've resorted to waking her up after two hours of nap.  And about every 3 or 4 days she refuses to take a nap at all .  Olivia started not going down as easy at night either, but she seems to be over it now and back to normal.  I miss my nice long 3+ hour break, but most days I still get 2 or a little more so it could be worse.  Obviously the day will come when they won't nap at all and then I'll be really sad, although in a way it will be good because we can do more fun things during the day.  But for now I'm going to soak up every minute of blissful quite that I can!

Last Sunday we took the girls to Jubilee Farms. It was so much fun! We took a hayride to the pumkpin fields where we searched high and low for two (that was all we could carry) perfect pumpkins. Kayley especially loved tromping through the fields examining every squash in her path saying "apple, apple" over and over. I'd correct, "no, Honey, that's a pumpkin" to which she'd reply "apple". Sigh. Everything round is either a ball or an apple, depending on whether it has a stem or looks food-like or not (pears, squash, etc are all "apples"). Olivia, on the other hand, was a little more focused on all the dirt and mud and therefore not as thrilled with the whole pumpkin hunt as Kayley. She let us know it was time to get back to dry/clean ground when I attempted to get a picture of the two of them together with our prized picks. Oh well, back on the hay wagon we went. After Paul hauled both our pumpkins to the car while I chased the ...

It's been a rough couple of nights. It seems to have started last week when poop kept interrupting Kayley's naps. After several days of shortened or non-existent naps she slept long and late on Friday, until about 4:40. That night I put her down at her normal time (9:00) and at first she went to sleep (or least was quiet). But a half hour or so later she woke up and would not go back to sleep until 11:30 or so! She still got up at her normal time Saturday morning and I figured she'd take a great nap that afternoon but, no, not happening. I think she went to bed at her normal time or a little earlier that night, but Sunday she had a short nap again and was still up until 11:40 that night. Monday she had a normal nap, Olivia had a short one and they were both up until 10:30. NO idea why Olivia was up that late having had a shorter than usual nap and otherwise being a perfect sleeper. Totally weird. But as for Kayley, I'm beginning to wonder if she's getting...

I wish it wasn't so difficult to just grab a latte whenever the mood strikes. Today we went to storytime, and then to pick up a few groceries. The store and the library are right next to each other so we were able to walk in-between. Going to storytime is hard enough, because (and this is the case whenever we go anywhere that doesn't have shopping cart returns throughout the parking lot) I have to get one of the girls out, go around to the other side, put her on the floor of the car while I get the other one out, and then juggle them both plus my purse plus the keys so I can lock the car, all the while trying not to let either one run out into the parking lot or street or wherever, then carry Olivia while I let Kayley walk (because Olivia HATES to hold my hand)...it's such a pain in the butt. Anyway, after storytime we walked to the store and I put them in a shopping cart and we did our shopping. Then I went next door to Starbucks to get a latte. Turns out it's much eas...