Flying Solo

("Designs by Dylan" - call for your free consultation)

So, Charlie has been gone for the past three days now. Well, technically - he didn't leave town until Monday evening, but I didn't get any help from him at home on Monday night, so it counts as one whole day alone in my books. But, I must admit. I really haven't been alone. My dad is also flying solo since his jet setter wife is off on another three week adventure here, there and everywhere. So, Pops, Dylan, Penny and mommy had cheap pizza night at our house. Then, on Tuesday we got a visit from Mimi in the afternoon and then went to Pops for dinner. Today (Wed), we had another fun visit with Mimi and Pops came over for some food. While I miss Charlie very much and am flying solo in that respect, I haven't been hurting for help with the kiddos - which is an enormous blessing. So nice to have such sweet family surrounding us. It will be very sad to leave Tennessee if it comes to that.

I think Charlie has had a good time in Denver - busy, but fun. He should hear by next week about an offer. Exciting times. Can't wait to see what happens.

Penny is rolling all over the place these days. I can see my days of leaving the room with her lying on the floor by herself are quickly dwindling down. However, I am glad that the ability to roll both ways (front to back and back to front) has been close to mastered - especially the more difficult back to front as this was causing her to wake me 2 and 3 times per night. We start solid foods in about a week and I am very interested to see her reaction. Part of me thinks that since she has been so enthralled by the whole process that she will take her first bite and think - "really, what's all the fuss?" I think I might have the same thought if my first bite was rice cereal. We'll see what reaction sweet potatoes gets. We'll try to remember to document with pictures. Til that time - here are some to keep you coming back.

--Sarah

Stinker

Penny has been a bit of a stinker about naps lately. I guess I should be honored - I must be so cool she just wants to hang out with me all the time. She makes a pretty good fuss about the whole thing. She has also been waking up more at night lately - which has me none too pleased to wake up at all hours of the night. Who knows what's going on with that baby - she sure is fun though - think we'll keep her in spite of it all. She does make up for it by giving you the biggest grin when you come to get her in her bed.

Dylan has been super-excited about feeding Penny the last few days. Even though we haven't started any foods yet - Dylan kept insisting that she feed Penny. So, we bought Penny some sippy cups last week and Dylan has been feeding Penny some water. Dylan loves it and Penny loves the sippy. I think she has been jealous of Dylan's for awhile now. The problem is - Dylan does NOT want Penny to try and wield the cup on her own and Penny REALLY wants to wield the cup on her own. Dylan usually wins that battle.

Dylan loves getting books from the library. We try to get new books at least every few weeks to keep it fresh. The other day we were reading one of the library books - "Little Rabbit Goes to School" and she said "this book is my best." It took me a minute to realize that she was communicating that this book was her favorite. I love it - I hope that she never learns the correct way to say it. I should walk around with a recorder so that I don't forget all these awesome moments.

--Sarah

Little Charlie

Some people say that Dylan looks like me or looked like me when she was a baby. But, now - there really is not much resemblance between me and my first daughter. She looks exactly like Charlie - just a girl version. I have no problem with this as I think my husband is a nice looking individual. Penny I am told looks like me and even looks like my dad. Sometimes I think she looks a lot like my dad.

The girls and I have been spending a lot of time outside in the front yard lately - and on the back deck in our new hammock swing that Jenny, Fenton and the girls got me for Christmas. Yesterday morning, Dylan, Penny and I were in the front yard and Penny was hanging out in her bouncy seat. I was trimming a shrub and could see both girls in my peripheral vision - 5 ft away or so. I noticed that Dylan was crouching over Penny so I turned to get a full picture. I then noticed that Dylan had decided to stuff a large bunch of grass in Penny's mouth! I ran over and pulled the grass out and of course told Dylan that we can't put things in Penny's mouth - especially not grass. The weird thing is - Penny wasn't even crying or protesting about it. She has been so very interested in the food going into our mouths the last few weeks - grabbing at it, watching it from plate to mouth, slobbering and sucking at the food - that I think she was happy to get in on some of this "stuff in mouth" action. I promise to feed her more tasty things than grass. I wish I had a picture of the grass hanging out of her mouth - but I don't think I would be living up to my motherly duties if I went inside the house to get the camera while my 5 month old had grass hanging out of her mouth.

Enjoy the Spring blooms - we'll write and post more pics soon.

--Sarah