Just because I've not posted a pic in a while

Here's one of Morgan at the park recently. There of course are plenty of swings, slides, monkey bars and the like. And of course, Morgan wants to do what she could just as easily do at home - if I'd sit in the front yard with her that long.

Naps take over my mind

With my thoughts turning toward the coming of the new school year, I'm obsessed with figuring out how to get both kids to nap at the same time. So far in my quest I can get them to overlap by 20 minutes to an hour. If I expect to get any work done without having to pay someone to sit at my house every afternoon while I work in my office, I'm going to have to get better at it than this.

Today, my obsession came at the expense of remembering that Morgan had a doctor's appointment set for this afternoon. This morning I reminded Mike that I would bring Kenna (if she were in a good mood) to the shop when I took Morgan to the doctor. Then when lunch was upon us and Kenna was still napping, I was trying to figure out how late I would try to go before putting Morgan down for a nap so that she would wake up on her own in a good mood but early enough to not interfere with our plans to go to the pool or her bed time.

With all of that over exaggerated thinking and planning I completely forgot that she had a doctor's appointment at 2 PM until it was 2:37. It's a bit late at that point to get the kids loaded up to drive over there. I called and they rescheduled me, but dang it. That was one thing we were gonna get done this week.

Ahh, well. I made the next visit for in the morning so it (hopefully) won't foil my attempts to have dual napping kids.

Morgan's most infamous words so far

My husband's best friend is in town. Yesterday when Morgan saw him she very politely said "Hi, Uncle Ben." He greeted her and then she said: "My Momma hatched a baby from her vulva." He has a 2-year old (Happy Birthday yesterday McKenzie) so he handled the news very well.

Ahh, the joys of a little one who knows body parts and what they're for. We're still not sure why she felt the need to tell Ben this, but it gave us enough giggles that we don't mind. I mean heck, we had kids so they would entertain us.

Words of Wisdom from Kenna. This information is for all of those little sisters or brothers out there who have a big sister hanging around. Read it with care.

What big sisters are good for:


1. smacking you on the head, which makes you cry

2. pouring water unexpectedly over your head, which sometimes makes you cry and sometimes makes you giggle

3. biting your fingers, which always makes you cry

4. laying on top of you, which sometimes makes you cry and sometimes makes you giggle

5. climbing in bed next to you to read you books while you're sleeping, which makes you cry and then smile

6. yelling while you're just drifting off to sleep, which makes you wake up crying

7. snatching toys from your hands, which makes you fall over, bonk your head and cry

8. shaking a stuffed animal in your face while making silly noises, which makes you giggle like crazy

9. telling your mom or dad that you're eating something you shouldn't, which makes you cry when they come to take it away from you

10. giving hugs that make you giggle so hard you fall over and bonk your head and cry

Basically, big sisters are good for making you cry and making you laugh.

I felt Morgan's ribs!

Can you believe that? It must really tell you how much my baby has grown up and not out in the past several months. I picked her up today and noticed (through her clothes) that I could feel her ribs. Honestly this is the first time I've noticed this with her.

I think the slimming down has really picked up in the last week or so while she's running around the house screaming like a banshee. For some reason (humm, wonder what it could be, the fact that she's 2.5 can't have anything to do with it), she gets really mad at the drop of a hat. I'm blaming it on that. I'm sure it has nothing to do with her growing up.

Although I don't get excited about fireworks

Morgan sure did. For the 4th we enjoyed a party with plenty of food, swimming, and firework watching at our friends' house.

This was the first time Morgan has seen fireworks (except in books and possibly movies). It was quite a treat for me to watch her as she sat on her dad's shoulders watching. I couldn't see the fireworks from where I was sitting, but I could see the red, white and blue, glow on her face. She was grinning from ear to ear saying "pop" each time one went off (we were pretty far away from them).

In case anyone is wondering what Kenna thought of the fireworks, she conked out just before they started. I don't blame her, she'd been up for an hour and a half past her bed time watching and playing with all of the other babies and children.

Morgan Jo aka the fish

We've been working to help Morgan keep comfortable in the water and to learn to propell herself. We've been going to the "big pool" at least once a week (as I mentioned earlier I think). We were having a really hard time getting her to actually move toward us while swimming.

This week we went to visit a friend with a pool and Morgan wore those swimmy arm things. While wearing those she figured out how to move herself in the water to get to where she wanted to be. She of course was swimming with her head above the water in that instance, but she was moving.

Yesterday we got to test her new forward momentum skills at the pool. The swimmy arm things seemed to have given her just the edge she needed. Now, she can jump off of the wall and swim a foot or two toward us. She also reaches our her arms to grab onto the wall while swimming underwater and kicking hard to get to the wall. I'm hoping to take a camera the next time we go to the pool to give you a real view of how well she is swimming.

I just can't say enough about the Diaper Dolphin swimming video that we have. It has really helped me know what to do to help her keep comfortable and learn to swim. I recommend it to anyone who has a youngster.