Libby's 18 month check-up

Libby had her 18 month check up this week. 3 shots. Yuck. But here are her stats:
weight: 21 lbs that is 7th% Yikes! (and she even got to weigh in on the big girl scale meaning she had on her clothes, coat, and shoes.) This is basically no weight gain in 6 months. What am I going to do with this girl?
height: 30 in. 9th% (no suprises there with her short parents.)
head circ: 18 1/4 50th%

The doc was super impressed with Libby's vocabulary and her brilliance ;) But definitely wants to see Libby put on some pounds. It made me super sad yesterday because I had thought we were making some progress in that direction. If only Libby wouldn't run ALL DAY. Maybe she would gain some weight. Since she no longer gets bottles, she is eating more food, but still.

Our new plan: More structured eating schedule. 3 meals, 2 snacks. Back to really trying to cook what Libby will eat (even though this can be VERY discouraging when she won't eat it.) Sigh. It is a good thing she is so fun.

Sarah and her Curtains

I had to wait to take a picture of her curtains until I got the tie back hooks. But here they are. Super girly and very fun.

Sarah now wearing her 6 month pjs!

Libby "Reads"

Some books we have now read to Libby so many times that she knows them by heart. Here she peforms two of our favorites. One is Sandra Boynton's Moo, Baa, La La La. The other is a Barney book about numbers.

New Year's Resolution...

Well, after watching WAY too much HG-TV (home and garden tv for the unaddicted) while nursing Sarah in the first few weeks of her life, I finally had the energy to start tackling some of the projects I had seen. But how to focus that energy? I decided to base my moves on the show "Designed to Sell". (Except for I am not selling :) On the show they take $2000 and update a house to help it sell. I decided to do one room (or in this case two) a month with $200. Libby and Sarah's rooms were first. I am inexperienced, so I went a little over budget. Here is the budget and some pics.

Libby's Room

shelving and coat rack behind door $26.00

window treatment (blinds, rod, and valance)

(this was my first forray into curtains!) $60.00

New heat vent cover $7.00

Tote for diaper changing gear (this is what broke the budget, but so cute!) $15.00

Frames (the photos in the frames were taken by me of the flowers Derek

gave me for my b-day and touched up in Picassa) $18.00

Paint for mats in frames and fake flowers $4.50

Total for Libby's room $130.50

Sarah's room

heat vent cover $7.00

Window treatments $80.00

Total for Sarah's room $87.00

Grand total $217.00

I still want to do light fixtures, but another time :)

Now I am onto our room (which I think will mostly be organizing, but I am checking Craig's list daily to look for a bedroom set.)

Other Birthday Fun

Derek took me out for a yummy dinner last night, and brought me flowers. (The flowers were a surprise since I bought myself a jogging stroller that was supposed to be my only gift.)
Dave bbsat for us while we went and gave me a really stellar gift. Watch out Nick, Emily, and Brian. Dave got me a controller and a Nintendo 64 tetris game for the computer. I stayed up until 10:30 or so last night playing tetris (actually Derek and I took turns cleaning the kitchen and playing). I cleared 174 lines! Yeah! So if I stop communicating, my house gets overrun by junk, and there are no more blog posts, you will know why. I am playing tetris :)

Happy Birthday from the Norton/Barret Bunch

The Barretts came over yesterday for the mani/pedis that I gave them for Christmas (except Kaj didn't want one, imagine :) Anyway, they suprised me by bringing me a birthday greeting that was truly touching! Each of them wrote on of the letters of my name and put descriptive words that describe me. My favorites from each letter--
T-- the bestest (Kaj)
R--revolutionary (Ann)
I--ingenious (Emma)
S--stunning (Paige)
H--helpful (Ann)
They also got me candy to go with each letter. So yummy. As Geneva put it, they out Trished the Trish :)

My Beautiful Sarah

I think this is my favorite picture of Sarah so far. She is getting more beautiful (and more fun) every day!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Libby decided that her gift to me would be to show me a new skill she learned--climbing onto the bathroom counter and turning on the water! Unfortunately she was all ready to go out for our jog--shoes and all!

Libby Videos

We have taken a few video clips of Libby lately. I am finally getting around to uploading them and putting them on the blog. I am putting them on YouTube first so they hopefully don't look distorted.

Sarah Smiles

Sarah has become so smiley lately. It is so fun! Here she is in a poncho made for me or one of my sisters. We are getting ready to go on a walk. Yesterday was the first sunny day in SO long! Today looks like it will be sunny too!

Happy Birthday To ME!

I love my birthday. There is just something fun about having a special day :) Today I am going to give the Barrett girls their mani/pedis that I gave them for Christmas. Then Dave is going to babysit while Derek takes me to dinner. I am looking forward to today! 32 years old!

Man I Spoke TOOOO Soon!

Sarah woke up again just moments after I started on the bathroom. She went to sleep about an hour later and then Libby woke up crying. I definitely JINXED myself with that post!

Libby's Tubes and Other Success Stories

Libby got her ear tubes on Friday morning. If her cheery disposition today is any reflection of a future without earaches--hooray! This afternoon in Target she was charming everyone! She took a great nap and had a great night's sleep last night. Hooray!

One other success story is that last Sunday night I packed up all her bottles. I explained to her that she was going to be a big girl and stop drinking from a bottle. On Monday she asked for a "ba ba" and I gave her a sippy. She kind of hesitated, but drank up. I have been doing the same thing all week and she seems to be just fine with it. She has been drinking lots less liquid and ACTUALLY EATING MORE FOOD! I know, I know. Amazing.

Lastly, tonight I am sitting down to type with everything on my to-do list for the day DONE!. Both kids are asleep. Derek is still at a wrestling match. What am I going to do to celebrate? Clean my bathroom. Then watch my new BodyPump DVD. Then, maybe watch the end of Kung Fu Panda. :)

Count Your Many Blessings

I rushed into church today, the first sacrament meeting with two daughters and no Derek because we are now on the 9 am schedule. I quickly made my way to the overflow chairs and plopped everything down as the sacrament hymn began. "Late again!" I mumbled to myself in frustration. I pulled Libby on my lap and left Sarah in her seat so we could sing the hymn. Off to our left was a man in a wheelchair. He must have cerebral palsy. I have never seen him before. As the song began I listened in amazement as he lifted his voice in song--his version of the song. He couldn't form the words, and he didn't come close to the tune, but I felt the song coming from his heart. I sat there listening--humbled. Often in this phase of life I feel so overwhelmed with the challenges that face me, but as I sat with my two beautiful, healthy daughters close to me and listened to his voice praising the Savior, I was reminded of the blessings that I have in my life.

We didn't quite make it through the whole sacrament before I retreated with the girls to the primary room. There I could listen to the talks and handle both girls with more room. As I listened to the talks on making meaningful change in our lives, I resolved to be like the man in our sacrament meeting who sings praises to the Savior despite challenges, rather than like the grumbling mother who takes her blessings for granted.

Sarah loves...

Her Libby and ... her aunties!

In the picture of Libby and Sarah, you can see Libby pointing to the letter on Sarah's shirt. She said "h". Well, it is an "e" as you can see below, but she is getting the fact that they are letters. All that Sesame Street time in the car is paying off :)

ENT visit

Yesterday we had Libby's visit with the Ear/Nose/Throat doctor. Ironically during the day she had had trouble sleeping. Sure enough, when he checked her out another infection was brewing. This makes 4 infections in less than 2 months. My poor little girl! (And her poor mommy and daddy who have to cope with her grumpiness!) So we will be getting tubes as soon as the insurance approval comes through. Hopefully it will be the end of the ear infection phase. I am a bit nervous about getting the tubes though...it is weird to think about my daughter having any kind of surgery, even minor.

Comparison, again!

Sarah at about 5 days old...Sarah at almost 12 weeks in the same outfit. She seems to have grown a bit! Now you can decide if these two look alike?

I just love comparing pictures of Libby and Sarah...and pictures of Sarah and Sarah. She is getting so big!

Love, Libby Style

Libby showed Sarah the ulitmate love today. She brought her a binkie and tried to shove it in her mouth. It was so funny because it is one of the smaller binkies that isn't the kind that Libby likes (as much). But still, Libby was torn. Twice I caught her trying to put it in Sarah's mouth, but then changing her mind and putting it in her own mouth instead. I so wish I had it on video. Libby clearly wants Sarah to enjoy the bliss that is binkie time. Sarah doesn't seem to share Libby's oral fixation however. She doesn't do any sucking unless she is hungry. Then she sucks on one hand and then the other (quickly switching back and forth) until I feed her. She has NO interest in a binkie.

Rock-e-By...

Grandma Randall gave Libby this fun rocking chair. She loves to rock in it and sing her version of rock-e-by (sp?). She doesn't quite have all the words, but she makes a good stab at it.