Baby tricks

Lillian does not do baby tricks.

I keep trying anyway. Here I am trying to get her to say pillow. Towel and pillow were her newest words back mid-June when I shot this video.

Now Lillian says, "peek boo." It's super cute. 

As I mentioned she doesn't do baby tricks. 

I tried for a long time here. I may have caught a quick few. We had fun playing at least.

She's adding on quickly to her vocabulary. 

She says, "pet, crab, sit, tub, rag, hat, bubble, teeth, chee (cheese), poo (pool), co co (color), mo (more), and gna gna (all done).

Holiday weekend at the Lake

Out of town we go for the second weekend in a row.

Up we go to the cabin on Upper Red Lake for the long Holiday weekend. Surprisingly we had no traffic leaving town at 4:30 on Friday before a Holiday??!!? I kept knocking on the dash board even though it's not made of wood. 

What a weekend full of beautiful weather!

She just looks too little to be toddling around :)

and way to little to be playing bolo

Maren enjoyed all the rocks that washed up since we'd been up last. Kids just get a big kick out of throwing rocks into water. 

Gamma loves to see the kids. 

Maren came down after taking a nap in the loft and fell asleep on the couch 

(another opportunity for me getting to see the kids sleep)

Matt had two lanterns stashed at the cabin. We knew Maren would love these after the movie Tangled came out. The first one crashed and burned but we got to watch the second one float off into the evening.

Super exciting!

Messy

I told Maren she'd get ice cream today. 

The problem I'm currently having is that Lilly wants everything that Maren has. 

So we each got a vanilla shake. Maren wanted to have hers right away. I checked to see that Lilly could drink it in her car seat without tipping it too much, it looked good so we drank our shakes on the ride home. We were almost home and I asked Maren if Lilly was drinking her shake like a big girl. 

She said, "no, she's not." Oh great! "She's taking the straw out and making a mess."

Sure enough, a big mess.

Notice the melty shake pool under her seat... nice. Not my best idea. 

What a mess. I let her finish her shake inside in her highchair, a much easier clean up.

I knew I would have to clean up that car seat after she went to bed. Little did I know that I'd be cleaning the tub too. I gave her a bath after dinner due to this mess and she made a whole new mess. Yep, a huge poo in the tub. Gross! I can't believe it I made it this long with that never happening but I did. My streak is over. I had a long night of cleaning up. Messy.

Socks

In Mommy and Daddy's room the girls can easily get to a basket of Mom's socks on the bottom shelf.

And they do, often. Maren's new thing is putting on as many pairs as she can one right over the other until they are so tight and her feet are so big that she can't get another pair on.

 

It's pretty funny because she ends up with round, fat feet.

There's about 9-10 pair there.

I'm guessing that when I start wearing socks again I may find that they are a bit stretched out.

More truth

My last "MOM" entry may not have been the most positive, uplifting thing to read so I've tried to turn it around a little the last month and am hoping this one comes across a bit more upbeat. I am still struggling with the truths that surround us especially given the large cyst found on my left ovary but boy am I happy to be here.

I went through a lot the day Lillian Mae was born and have been since. I have been unemployed for a whopping 22 months. It's a struggle to take care of the kids, the house, and search for a job with a very limited budget. Not to mention that I have completely forgotten to take care of myself. I have recently discovered that I am also no good at being bored. I eat and find myself NEEDING something to do. I have forgotten how to just BE. While I need to work on that I have found myself being more present with my girls.

What a wonderful time of their lives to be unemployed! What a gift I have been given to be able to be with them full time. Even before Lillian was born I worked from home part-time and only had to be in the office 3 hours a week! I had it great. No doubt about that. I got paid well for doing a job that was pretty darn easy, that was actually in my field, and for a company that allowed me to go part-time from home while still being eligible for all benefits. It's what I wanted! I was able to do it for 18 months! I took my work on vacation and could do it anytime. What a blessing. I don't miss the work. I do miss the benefits, especially health care. We are a pretty healthy group, that was until the cyst.

I guess I should tell those of you who don't know. Two weeks ago I felt crampy, not that I have a uterus to cramp, but that's what it felt like. Lying down at the end of the second day I massaged my pelvis to find a large, painful lump near my left hip bone. An ultrasound revealed it was my ovary. I still have both of those. It is 8cm, which is over 3 inches, the typical size being about that of an almond. Mine is now more like a potato. The problem is, it isn't a simple, liquid filled cyst that women usually get in their ovaries. No, mine is more complex than simple. Meaning it is a mass, a group of cells growing where they shouldn't. One that they suggest I get surgically removed. Great. The good news it that I don't have any risk factors for ovarian cancer and my CA125 (a blood test used to try to "mark" cancer) is plenty low. The hard part= sitting in a doctors office all alone and having to hear the word cancer. Sort of makes you reevaluate things, fast.

I love my girls with all my heart. I am lucky to be alive and to see them grow and to spend every minute of their days with them (although most days that feels somewhat more like a curse than a blessing). I have a wonderful family, extended, and sometimes not even related. I have a great house, and two working cars which allows me to up and take the girls to the beach any and every nice day in the summer. I have a lot to be thankful for. A nice tan, a flexible schedule, sitting at my mom's house once a week where I have extra eyes, ears, and hands to help with the two girls, and an outlet like this blog where I can brag up these beauties and tell you all about our daily goings ons. I want to thank those of you who read it and look at all of my many photos. I want to thanks those of you who have helped me through this last year.

Reunion Weekend

I don't get a chance to see my kids asleep. We live in this old house and the stairs and doors are so squeaky and creaky that there is no sneaking up to peek on these precious little girls. It's nice when we aren't at home in a place that doesn't have creaky doors or squeaky floors that I can see these babes sleep. I can't resist taking out the camera and taking some photos (sans flash). 

We traveled up to the Grand Forks area for a Sletten family reunion. Luckily while we were in town we got to see some Menge family too in town from Phoenix. So good to see you Warren, Cheryl, and girls. We took a walk to the park following pizza for dinner.

This girls loves to drink water. I can't even have any at dinner time because she screams points and yells "wa wa"! Then I have to sit and help her drink out of the bottle or glass that I have. It's almost annoying. It's like she's obsessed. I don't have to struggle to get enough water in her though. She'll chug it. 

A LOT of it.

Saturday was the reunion in Larrimore. We realized that there is another Maren Sletten. Here she is with our Maren. Two beautiful blondes. The little guy is Magnus, her son.

Maren took a liking to this shy little guy. How cute!

Apparently pools are fun even when they're empty.

But more so when they're full.

It was a beautiful day to be outside, peruse the museum, and enjoy the games planned with by the committee. 

We arrived around 11am and were really pushing Lilly's 12:45pm nap time when we left a little after 3pm. Before we packed up we got a pick of me and the girls with Matt's, ah, stem mom?... Anna.

Back home Maren and Lillian took a nap. Matt came home later with the spoils of our adventure. We picked up some great stuff at the silent auction and Maren won a container of peanut M&Ms by guessing the right number of M&Ms inside. 

Her guess, "all of them." 

She was right! 

Lilly loving the puppy, Lars. He's a gentle giant.

Maren was more than willing to share her M&Ms with everyone (nice, I'm not sure I'd have shared).

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Fun Pics

Matt got new rain gear for fishing this year as a gift for Father's Day.

Maren was EXCITED!

Look Dad, it fits!

Still fun to see Lilly walking. She toddles around. She is just so cute.

Maren fights going to bed AND taking naps. So now she's fighting waking up?? What? She fights it for so long that she gets so tired finally falls asleep then won't wake up and I can't let her sleep till dinner. Here she crashed out after waking up and coming down to the couch. I don't get to see my kids sleeping much so this warranted a picture.

Lillian is closed out of the bathroom because of her tendency to play in the toilet water and the toilet paper. When she gets in there now days she goes for the accessories. She picks this one up (it's hers from Easter) and says "pretty" and tries to put it on. I put it on for her. How cute! Check out tootyfruitymonkeyluv on etsy (I did the design work :)) for great hair accessories like this!

And of course Maren won't be outdone.