Gretchen is beginning to understand and utilize the strengths of a younger child. Recently I watched as Olivia approached the swing where Gretchen was beginning to fuss. As Olivia approached, Gretchen eyed her apprehensively. Olivia reached her arm forward and Gretchen let out a loud cry. Normally, I would assume that Olivia had been too rough. This time, however, I clearly saw that Olivia had not yet touched Gretchen. Sneaky, Gretchen.
The original bedroom plan was to have the girls share a room and maybe turn the middle room into a playroom. Since Gretchen was born, she's been sleeping in a little crib in the middle room so that she wouldn't wake Olivia up in the middle of the night. She's outgrown the little crib, though, so we decided to move her to the big crib. The only problem with this plan is that Olivia sleeps in the doorway of that bedroom, so if Gretchen were to wake up in the middle of the night then I wouldn't be able to get her without stepping on Olivia. On to plan B. I moved the crib and the changing table into the middle room and the baby cage (with all of Olivia's toys) into Olivia's room. Meanwhile, I've been moving my desk and other things out of the middle room and into the corner of the great room where my drafting table is set up. Mostly I've managed to make a spectacular mess, but I have hopes that it will get better. Someday.
I came across the idea of a quiet book one day and thought it sounded neat but never did anything about it. Then my friend, Steph, said that she was making one for her daughter using mostly felt and embroidery floss and that it was actually pretty easy. I decided to get some pages done for the Traverse City trip and then add to them as I had time. So far I have seven pages done and ideas for about 15 more. :-P
Gretchen is not very discriminating when it comes to thumb sucking. Olivia was on the floor next to Gretchen and started petting Gretchen's cheek. The next thing we knew, Gretchen was sucking Olivia's thumb. Olivia of course thought this was highly amusing and wanted to see if Gretchen would also suck on her other fingers (she would).
Usually when I come back from a run I walk past Olivia's door on my way to take a shower and she notices me and wants to get up. Not so last Wednesday. She was still fast asleep when I walked past. She must have woken up while I was in the shower, though, because as I was drying off I heard, "rawr! rawr! rawr rawr rawr!" Since that morning, she periodically runs around the house practicing her dinosaur noises.
We've got peaches on sale here, so I decided to make jam. I've been trying to make jam all summer (pretty much every time peaches go on sale), and Justine keeps telling me to wait until later in the season when the peaches are sweeter. I decided this was late enough, though. Besides, I had the sale and the time and they might not coincide again. So Steph and her kids came over and we turned 16 pounds of peaches and 4 pounds of plums into jam. For the die-hard Sure Jell users out there, we tried out Ball Pectin and it works fine. The trick is to add the pectin to the fruit, bring it to a boil, and THEN add the sugar and bring it to a boil again. We also used the low-sugar version, which allows you to put in only as much sugar as you want (because this pectin binds to the calcium rather than binding to the sugar like regular pectin does). All our jams look good and the ones in my fridge are delicious.
Olivia used to flail all of her limbs in excitement when she heard me coming into her room to get her. Gretchen does that to some extent, but more often she waits until she can see me and then starts doing crunches. She'll lift her head (and sometimes her feet) off the mattress in an effort to make sure I understand that she wants to be picked up.
The First Annual Barhorst Fun Run will take place over Labor Day weekend (August 30-September 2). The exact date will be determined when we know what works best for those who plan to come. In addition to the half marathon, we hope to have a 10K, a 5K, and a 1-mile run measured out. ...Also 2.8 miles, because 6.2, 3.1, 2.8, and 1 add up to 13.1. :) Bryan wants to design a course that runs past the house several times so that he can cheer from the porch. I'm rooting for a bike path course, because that means no stoplights, no repetition, and no need to run up the large hill near our house. We'll probably let participants help decide that, too. If you're interested, let me know!
Pictures and Video:
Gretchen spit up all over me. Twice. She got my arm, my chest, and two separate spots on my skirt. This is not overly unusual, but Bryan wanted to document it:
Olivia in her sunhat:
Daddy and Gretchen:
Quiet book pages:
Olivia loves Gretchen:
Bryan introduces Olivia to the video games that he played as a child:
Gretchen testing out the Johnny Jump Up for the first time:
What the girls did while we prepped fruit for jam:
Olivia reads a book to Eli:
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