June 23-30

When my parents came to visit, they brought with them a toddler bed that they'd found.  We set it up where the crib used to be and moved the crib to the other side of the room.  Olivia was excited to climb in and try it out.  Then naptime happened, and she spent the first half hour diligently relocating every book from the middle room bookshelves to her bed.  She ended up in her crib, and that night we bought a gate.  The gate turned out to be unnecessary, because Olivia refused to sleep anywhere but her crib for the next few nights.  Then one night, she thought she might give the bed a try.  Bryan sat in her room with her until she fell asleep.  Around 3 in the morning, she woke up scared.  I calmed her down, but she wouldn't let me leave.  Finally I brought some blankets and pillows into her room and set up camp on the floor, where she promptly joined me.  When I left to go take care of Gretchen, Olivia fell asleep on the pile of blankets on the floor.  Since then, she's been adamantly against the crib and equally adamantly against the bed.  She used to accumulate all of her things in a pile by the gate and fall asleep there, but Bryan didn't like her sleeping on the hard floor, so we moved the blanket bed to right in front of the gate so that she's at least comfortable.  Bedtime is routine again, and I don't have to stay in the room until she falls asleep, but we definitely have an almost two year old who thinks the proper place to sleep is on blankets in front of her doorway.

Last weekend we visited Bryan's sister and her fiance in Cleveland.  While there we went to a water park.  Olivia was hesitant at first, but accepted all of the water as the day went on.  She reluctantly tried a couple of slides in the kids' pool, and then decided they weren't so bad.  At least, they weren't so bad when she was in the process of going down or once she'd reached the bottom.  At the top, they were pretty terrible.  Bryan coaxed her past the edge every time, though, and she happily slid down into my arms.  We did a lazy river ride that Olivia seemed to enjoy, and she also played in the fountains squirting up from the pavement.  I think her favorite part of the water park was her life jacket, though.  She had to put one on for the lazy river and didn't want to take it off, even when it was time to go home.

I don't really remember consciously teaching Olivia to say any words.  We just talked to her and she picked them up.  Recently, though, we've made an effort to teach her to say the word "up" so that she doesn't just stand there and whine when she wants to be picked up.  Olivia's rendering of this word comes out as "upt," but it's pretty adorable and serves its purpose.  :)

Gretchen had her two-month checkup on Monday.  She measured 12 lbs, 2 oz and 25 inches long.  She's one pound lighter and half an inch longer than Olivia was at the same age.

Gretchen is very smiley lately. Olivia was is often accused of being crusty, but Gretchen is (at least for the present) rather sociable and happy most of the time.

Recently Olivia has developed a quieter side.  She's also working on her noisy side ("nononononono" shrieked at the top of her lungs is a good example), but that's always been present.  Now, however, she'll sometimes just shake or nod her head.  Especially at nighttime after we turn off the light, she's more apt to pat the blanket where she wants me to sit than to yell "dit!" at me.  If I ask a question, she'll turn her solemn little face towards me and shake her head.  It's a nice change of pace.

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June 16-23

You're so jealous of my new meal planning calendar.  I bought a regular K-2 change the date calendar, made my own cards, and voila!  I wrote meals on one side of cards (a different color for each kind of meat and green for veggie) with ingredients listed on the back so that I know what I have to buy.  I put the cards in with the ingredients showing and when I have everything then I flip them around and Bryan can rearrange if he wants to.  When we're done with the leftovers, the cards go to pockets at the bottom of the chart so that we don't reuse the same meal a bunch of times.  I also made taller cards with numbers on them to let me know if we're having company (+1 to +a crowd) and cards that let me know when we're traveling and don't need a meal.

One of my garage sale finds this week was a little slide.  Check another thing off of Bryan's "fulfilled childhood" list.  Olivia thinks it's pretty much the greatest thing ever and refers to it as "guul liie."  She's always sad when we make her get off her liie so that she can come in to eat dinner.




Last weekend was the parish picnic at Bryan's home church, so we went to his parents' house to join in the festivities.  There was a kids' tent where Olivia won some prizes by picking rubber ducks from a wading pool, pulling suckers out of styrofoam, and playing plinko.  The ducks were her favorite until she learned how plinko worked.  Her biggest prize was a beanie baby (remember when those were supposed to be huge collector's items?) that she got because the end of her sucker had a dot on it.  Bryan wisely steered her away from that game afterwards so that she wouldn't be sad the next time she pulled a sucker out and wasn't allowed to choose a stuffed animal.  There was also a balloon man (the same one that was at the wedding), and he made Olivia another swan hat.  Bryan just asked him to make his favorite hat, and that's what he gave her.  Olivia was thrilled.

My parents stopped through to see us a couple of times on their way to and from Louisville for a conference.  That was fun, and Olivia enjoyed reading books and coloring with Oma.  My mother's reaction to seeing my meal calendar in person was everything I had hoped it would be.  :)

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June 9-16

We went to another wedding last Saturday, and Olivia was tearing up being super cute on the dance floor.  Bryan's sister, Keshia, was at this reception with us and she and Murry were dancing with Olivia.  Olivia was copying everything that Aunt Keshia did, although she was only able to do either arm movements OR leg movements, not both.  Next wedding I'm going to remember a video camera.  To add to the excitement, Murry took both girls over to the guy making balloon animals and got them hats.  Olivia was a swan and Gretchen was a duck.  :)

Not to be left out in the moving and shaking department, Gretchen moves and shakes.  Well, at least moves. She scoots on her back and can also rotate in a circle.  Little (if any) of it is intentional.

I've been wanting to start running again, but lacking the little push to actually get going.  When I visited my parents last, though, I found out that Josef and Alison are going to run a half marathon this October.  I've always wanted to run a half marathon!  Push found.  ...Until I discovered that their half marathon cost $95 to enter.  Curious as to how this compared to other half marathons in other parts of the country, I did some searching.  What did I find?  Springfield is having a half marathon at half the price!  The bad news: it's in mid-August.  That doesn't seem like nearly enough time to get ready.  I did some more looking.  Eight-week training plans for beginners are abundant.  It's fate!  I came home, bought running shoes, and began running.  Two days later I had to stop because of knee pain.  Apparently all joints loosen up during pregnancy and can take up to 4 months to get back to normal.  Longer if you're nursing.  How am I supposed to be ready for a half marathon by mid-August at this rate?!  After calling my running experts (mom and dad), I took a few days off and started again at a painfully slow pace with hardly any mileage.  It's going well so far, though, and mom thinks building up my distance shouldn't be too hard providing I can get my knees in a cooperative mood first...

Bryan took some videos of Olivia dancing (not her wedding moves, unfortunately).  Apparently she had some really good dances going BEFORE he pulled out the camera.  He claims you could actually tell that she was doing "Five Little Monkeys" and "I'm a Little Teapot."  In the videos we have, though... not so much.  Listen carefully for the words and then maybe you'll be able to see what the actions are supposed to be.  :)

I should try to get videos of Olivia singing sometime.  She sings along with several songs, either when she's watching videos or when we're singing with her.  Her pronunciation is actually pretty good when she sings; maybe she should sing all the time instead of talking.

A couple of weeks ago, Bryan got put on a daily 5:00 phone meeting.  Now instead of being home by 5:15 every day, he's home at 6, 6:30, 7:10...  It really depends on the day, and he's got this meeting on his calendar for the foreseeable future.  It makes my whole "dinner at 6" plan a little more exciting.  The nice part is that he's been able to take more leisurely lunches to compensate.  He also has to work the occasional late evening (going in between 9 and 11) and sometimes Saturdays.  This added complication managed to keep him from visiting my parents with the girls and me last time we went up.  It's a bummer, but he can't really get out of any of it.  His boss says all the extra work he's been having to do is good leverage for the raise he asked for, though...

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June 2-9

The girls and I went up to visit my parents last weekend.  Bryan was supposed to come with us, but ended up having to work Friday night.  He was also told he'd have to work Saturday, but then didn't have to go in. More on that whole situation next week.  Anyway.  Olivia, Gretchen, and I went up Friday afternoon and left Monday morning, so we got a few more hours to visit with people.  We also got to see my dad's parents, who were happened to be visiting at the same time.

Olivia refers to herself as "the girl."  Whenever she wants to do something or needs to take her turn (she's all about taking turns and making sure everyone gets their chance -- even Gretchen), she talks about the girl and points to herself.  Meet the Barhorsts: Mama, Dedah, Bebe, and Girl.  :)

Gretchen apparently has exactly five states of being: Bebe nees (sneeze), Bebe pit (spit), Bebe appy (happy), Uh-oh Bebe, and Shh Bebe.  Actually, that seems about right.

This week I got an actual smile from Gretchen!  Just a little one, but I smiled at her and she smiled back.  :)  Also, she's beginning to make happy baby noises.

Gretchen has a bad case of baby acne.  I remember Olivia getting the little pimples around 6 weeks old, but I don't remember it being this bad.  I think Gretchen's skin issues are aggravated by her spit.  Imagine being allergic to your own spit.  :(

Friday I convinced Olivia to wear a ponytail so that she could be "like mama."  After getting the back of her hair into the ponytail, I still had to use a barrette to keep her bangs out of her eyes.  She looked super cute, though.  Pictures below.

Another wedding this weekend, and then we're wedding-free until August (but only because we have to miss one in July).

Pictures:

May 26-June 2

Olivia can use a spoon.  She still has a tendency to spill a bit, especially liquids, but this is easily solved by tying a towel around her neck.  So every morning I put cereal and milk in a bowl, tie a towel around Olivia's neck, and hand her a spoon.  She's good enough that as long as she has a towel I don't have to change her clothes after she eats breakfast.  This newfound talent has made her more insistent that she feed herself (except for when she's being difficult and requires that someone else feed her), which is nice for freeing up my hands during meals.

I want this spot for my garden.

I want a garden, but don't really have much sunlight in my yard.  I have lovely trees, but very little sun.  My in-laws were over a few weeks ago to hang out and help with yard work.  Steve told me I should be able to put flowers in the corner in front of my house and tomatoes along the side of the shed in the back.  I'm skeptical, but who am I to argue with the son of generations of farmers?  So after we planted the ten flowers that Murry brought for Olivia's gardening pleasure, I bought some perennial dianthus and a hydrangea.  Both tags said partial shade was okay.  I also bought 4 tomato plants (their tags did NOT say shade was okay!).  All my plants are in the ground and getting... hardly any sun at all.  We shall see how this goes.  I think next year I'll just talk to my neighbors and ask if I can plant a garden in the nice sunny section on their side of our shed.

Gretchen was one month old last week, and I forgot to mention it!  This week she hit 5 weeks (less exciting, but more on time as posts go).  She's getting bigger and staying awake more, although she still doesn't do anything when she's awake.  Babies are kind of boring...  :)

...But getting less boring!  Gretchen has reached the point where some of her smiles are trying to be real ones!  Most of them are still gassy smiles and/or in her sleep, but every now and again she has a little tiny real smile.  :)

When Gretchen was first born, we noticed that she had a dimple on the back of each ear.  Bryan and I went through our relatives, trying to figure out whose ears Gretchen had.  As it turns out, neither of us pays much attention to the ears of others.  :-P  I felt the back of my ears, and asked Bryan if Gretchen's ears were like mine.  He checked, and assured me they were not.  Thus the hunt began.  We asked my family, we asked Bryan's family...  No one could place Gretchen's ears.  Until Saturday.  On Saturday, I was discussing this with Murry, and happened to brush my hair over my ear with my hand.  She looked at me and exclaimed, "Gretchen has YOUR ears!"  Mystery solved.  Also, a lesson was learned: Bryan's powers of observation need work.

Last Saturday we went to a wedding.  The last time we went to a wedding, Olivia was just barely walking and was generally content to be held during the reception.  Eight months later, Olivia is a walking pro and has places she needs to be!  Namely, the dance floor.  After being coaxed onto the floor the first time, she didn't want to leave.  Her dance moves aren't tremendously diverse yet: mostly she spins in circles until she gets so dizzy that she falls down.  Occasionally she runs in slightly larger circles.  Every now and again she would sway her hips and/or throw her arms up in the air.  And once she saw a little boy jump into the air and kick his feet, so she jumped (without leaving the ground) and then marched in place, which I guess is as close as she could come to kicking.  It was spectacular to watch.

Olivia desperately wants to help with Gretchen.  When Gretchen cries, Olivia puts her pacifier back in (usually upside down), covers her with a blanket (but not the face!), and tries to get her to hold the toy keys Bryan bought for Gretchen to play with.  The other day, Gretchen was crying and Olivia went through her routine.  The problem?  The closest blanket was under Gretchen.  Olivia tried to pull it out from underneath her sister so that she could cover Gretchen up.  Good thing I was watching, or Gretchen would have face-planted on the kitchen floor.  Also, twice I've caught Olivia trying to pick Gretchen up; guess I can't leave both of them out of my sight at the same time.

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