Photodump

Bed Stuff

Just in case you have ever wondered what all we have to take off of Ruby's bed when we change the sheets, here it is. We've tried to get her to pare down her blankets and bed friends but she's not budging. Amongst the stuffed animals and covers were a few books and a couple hair clips. Oddly enough, Sailor is a sleeping minimalist: two pillows, one blanket and four animals that she'll occasionally shove to the floor for want of being alone in the bed. Amazing, how two sisters in the same bedroom can be so different in their habits.

Adjustment

     I keep telling myself it hasn't even been a week yet...we are struggling with the adjustment of both girls sleeping in the same room. We try to keep the bed time playing, talking and laughing to a minimum but the kids are determined and its common to have to go in a few times to settle them down. It hasn't helped that other changes have been taking place at the same time. Ru is out of school for the summer, olivia's schedule has changed, etc. It has been a lot to deal with all at once.
     What really makes the difference easy to see is the girls' moods the next day. Their attitudes are reflective of not getting as much sleep. This has effected nap time too so it really hits us hard some days. I do my best to quash it and it is getting better but its a process. I am hoping by the end of next week things will be closer to normal.
     It been so crazy this week we haven't even finished the furniture transitions. We looked at the calendar to schedule our Ikea trip and we have so much going on that it will likely have to wait until August unless we can squeeze it in somewhere or have something cancel. I am itching to get it done and confine all the toys to one area as opposed to where they are now...all over every available area of the house.

Bedroom

     Last week the girls were out of town spending some time with olivia's mother. In the days they were gone, we decided it would be a good time to pull the trigger on moving them into to the same room and making Ru's old room into a playroom/guestroom. The biggest part of the project, by far, was painting the girls beds. I can't take any credit for this one. From picking the color to taking the beds apart to every brush stroke, olivia labored over them most of the week to get them ready for the girls return.
     As you can see, the end result was well worth the labor. The color, coral, goes well with the aqua walls. The girls as still adjusting to being in the same room. Here, adjustment means giggling for half an hour before naps and bed and struggling not to take toys out of the playroom and into the bedrooms. All in all, I am excited about the change. The yard sale's purpose was to fund the guest room renovations so we have an Ikea trip in our future. This means Atlanta and a meal at The Vortex so I can't help but be excited.
     Big thanks to both our Moms for all they have done in the past couple weeks. From helping and babysitting at the yard sale to watching the girls, we couldn't have done it without you guys. You are an excellent support system and we appreciate you both more than we can say.

Creepiest Baby on the Block

     Sailor is a great baby. I mean great. Sure...she gets into things she shouldn't now and then. Occasionally, despite her new age increase, she will still dump a plate of food on her own head ...and I'm cool with that. There is something that she does that honestly, I am a little bit afraid to talk about.
     Sometimes when I go to get her up in the morning or from a nap, the lack of noise coming from her room will make me think that she is still asleep. On repeated occasions, I've been startled to find her sitting right up in her bed or crib looking toward the door. In a dark room with a noise machine going...lets just say that a calm little wide awake baby staring at you...into you...through you...well folks, that's just the stuff that horror movies are made of.
     There have been a couple other times that I have found her sleeping only to walk up and have her open her eyes up and focus right on me as soon as I look down at her. I'm not easily scared but a couple times, the speed with which her lids launched open, well I won't say I jumped and screamed like a frightened child. I mean, it might have happened like that, but I'm sure not going to admit it.
     I think the next step will probably be me going in to get her and everything will be floating, suspended in the air. She'll notice me and it will all come crashing down. After that its prom queen, a bath in pig's blood and years and years of therapy. Just what we need, another thing to start saving for...

Camping

     Another one of the things Ruby wanted to do when she returned from spring break was to go camping. She had never been before so I figured a test run spending the night in the back yard would be a good ramp up to the real deal. I set the tent up the afternoon before she got home so I wouldn't have to do it in the dark that night.
     After we concluded her Friday night "party" we grabbed three sleeping bags, a couple flashlights and a sippy of water and make the hike back to the tent. She was a very good sport about carrying her gear. While she was on vacation, she talked about camping out and her Aunt Mandy was nice enough to give her one of her cousin's old sleeping bags. Once in the tent we laid out one of the bags to use as a base layer. We unrolled both of our bags and got inside. It wasn't terribly cold but just enough to need a little cover. I didn't zip my bag and felt perfect.
     Ruby was very curious about all the noises of the outdoors and I spent some time answering all of her inquiries. The moon was bright and we really didn't need either of the flashlights but she played around with hers just for fun. She loved her new-to-her bag and it was a perfect fit.
     I asked her if she wanted me to take the rain fly off the tent so she could see the stars. She did and once I had, we had a great view. It was a clear night and very bright and it was nice to lay back and just look up at the sky. This lasted less than five minutes before it started raining and I had to get out in the downpour to hook the fly back up.
     All in all it was a big sucess. Ruby was a trooper and even with the sound of the rain hitting the tent she was able to hit a sound sleep and stay asleep. In the morning after waking up she wanted to lay in the tent a bit longer. When she was ready we rolled the bags back up and gathered up our gear and made our way back inside for breakfast.
     Later that day, she helped me pack the tent up and I snapped this photo. Note that she was still carrying her unicorn with her. The camping experiment was a great success, she is already asking to go out again. When Sailor gets a bit older we'll have more backyard trial runs and eventually we'll reach a point where we can all go together. I think by that point though we'll need a bigger tent.

And then there's this...

and it's awesome.

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