Day 354

Happy Halloween! :) We woke up before the chickens, sun, roosters, and all other humans of Earth, it felt like. :/ Penelope has been waking up at 5ish every morning, and it's a struggle to keep her in bed, quiet. I hope it's a phase, and that it passes soon. Luciana wakes up alllll night, multiple times again.... But, I know how to get her back down again, so it's tolerable. We just aren't sleeping very well here, yet, I'm afraid. Maybe next year? 

Today we enjoyed chocolate peanut butter cup pancakes for breakfast (Papa's specialty), YUM!! 

After dinner this evening, we got the girls all dressed up in their costumes and headed out for a little trick or treating in our neighborhood. For Penelope's first time, she caught on pretty fast, and was the cuuuuuuuutest, cuddliest, sweetest kitty cat you ever saw! She would march right up to a door (with Daddy, of course-- he rang the bells) and say "trick or treat!". Everyone was tickled by her, how tiny and sweet. :) Mama pushed Luciana in her stroller, and she was happy just watching all that was going on-- the decorations & lights, the other trick or treaters, and of course, her sister! They both had a great time, we did too, and it couldn't have worked out any better! Oh, except for when P fell down and kind of split her lip. :( She was already saying "all better" by the time we were inspecting the cut (very small, shallow) and was ready to continue running around. Other than that, perfect evening! :)

We came back home, took inventory of P's treasures, and let her eat two things. She was in hog heaven, but didn't persist when we denied her any more than two pieces. We then handed out candy to trick or treaters, for about half an hour, and then called it a night. The girls were awake 45 minutes past bedtime... Let's see if that makes anyone sleep in! (Not. Won't happen.)

Here are the pics. We are biased, we know that-- but oh my goodness, we thought our babies were just too too cuuute! Great night.... :)

(Lu is NOT eating candy-- just chewing on one all wrapped up. :))

Penelope's first piece of candy.... Love at first bite!!

Day 353

Today was fun-- even though we were rushing around this morning, we managed to get to our play date at Zoomars with the Leffler family on time! :) Zoomars is a local petting zoo that lets children feed the animals (with little premade baskets of veggies you purchase there); during Halloween, it is also a pumpkin patch. They also have a little train the kids ride on, horse rides, a playground, picnic tables (which we totally used to feed the littles) and a cool pretend gold panning thingy with running water. Hard to describe, but verrrry cool. Did I mention it was cool? ;) The Lefflers have a 3 year old named Catalina, and she & Penelope were buddies all day, having a great time. Luciana rode in her stroller, content to watch and was very interested in everything. Mama told her what each animal was, and what her sister was doing... She was happy! Until she wasn't, so we called it a day, and rushed home to get both girls down for their (very late, for P) nap. 

Later, we carved pumpkins, and P painted hers. Luciana, again, was super happy to watch. She is so observant, making sure to note everything happening, and chiming in with screams and yells and "DA"s. :) She makes herself part of the scene.

We walked before bed, and now we are all doggie dog tired. It always amazes me how much we sometimes manage to squeeze into one day.... Or, in 13 hours, more like it-- between 6am and 7pm, we get things DONE. 

Here are our pics.... Night! 

Day 352

We had our carpet cleaned today, and the girls just enjoyed the novelty of having two big empty rooms for a while. :) It was almost too much for them at one point, seeing all tier toys piled up in the kitchen, so we headed out to get a few errands done. Papa went surfing with his new surfboard (the one we won at his work picnic!) Once we were all back home, we had to tip toe around on damp carpet, and then get everything moved back in its place. We moved a few things around, and hopefully made our family room feel roomier! 

We are enjoying all the time we get to spend with Daddy, since he's been home  for the last week. Two more days and then he's back to the grind. :/

Here are a few pics of Luciana. We had a little hat show, and then there's one of her playing with Penelope's old toy... She's growing fast now! :) Night.

Day 351

Today we got P's Halloween costume, and that's pretty much it! :) Daddy had a (well deserved) day of doing a few things on his own, and the three of us ladies had a cozy day at home until we ventured out on the costume errand. She'll be a penguin. I can't wait for the cuteness overload. Mama's head may spin around and smoke will spill out of my short circuited head. Seriously, these girls kill me with their cuteness, just fresh out of their beds, all crusty and hair everywhere!! Imagine a ladybug and a penguin?!?!

Ah, ok, I'm back now.

We will be doing Halloween stuff until the big day-- carving pumpkins, pumpkin patch/petting zoo (we won't need to buy pumpkins at the patch, we were smart and got them at Trader Joe's for 2.99), and then trick or treating and passing out candy to the neighborhood kids! I'm excited for Penelope, and a little for Luciana too. She's beginning to notice the world around her, laughing at things (she thinks) are funny, and just being more there. I'm excited for both girls! Lots of pics to come, but none today. 

Night night!

Day 350

We had a fun day at the Discovery Cube science museum today. It was for children a bit older, we found out, but we still had a good time. Penelope loved running around that place, and was suuuuuper excited. :) Lulu was very interested, really calm and was totally watching everything. I know she had fun too. :) Here are a few pics:

Wind tunnel booth

Thomas The Train exhibit (yaaaaawn, ahem, sorry)

Building space crafts with Legos

A scared Penelope being whisked out of an Endeavor space ship exhibit-- simulated take off, complete with lots of smoke. She had just laughed through it with Daddy :/

The girls looking at some ginormous, yucky bugs

Haha!!!

The rest of today was long, we were spent from our excursion. On a very good note-- Papa got a phone call from a fire chief today notifying him of his promotion!!! He already knew, but it was made official today. He begins his new assignment in a couple weeks. We are so very proud of Daddy... He works so hard for us, and always does exactly what he sets out to do. I'm glad our girls will see that. :) Go, Daddy!!! 

That's about it... Mama is DONE, and it is only 9:21pm. I'll check on P and call it a night.... Goodnight!

Day 349

We had a low key day at home, Papa watched football & made us a big breakfast and dinner! We fully enjoyed both, and I always love when we don't have 100 things to do, and places to be (meaning: rushing to get girls ready, packing, forgetting something, etc.) :) So, yeah-- LOVE staying in and enjoying the girls and Daddy all day.

Oh, we actually did go to the park this morning-- it was after that big breakfast. See, if we hadn't gone, Mama & Daddy (especially Daddy) would have passed out from being totally stuffed. Waffles. And they were GOOD. So, we walked to the playground and watched the girls have fun for a bit. They both love the swings.

Here are the girls playing with P's car:

(Sadly, Penelope whipped the door open and knocked Lulu down, after this pic was taken) :/

And here we are getting ready for bed... Goodnight!

Day 348

Today was different-- first, Papa came home, yay! The girls wen down for nap at the same time, and Mama snuck out for a little alone time (sample sale in Irvine & lunch... Didn't make it to get nails done, doh!!) and Daddy spent a couple hours with the girls. I hear they played outside with bubbles and Lulu got to finally taste the Eucalyptus leaves in the back yard. :/ 

P and Daddy had a silly moment...

(That's Mr. Potato Head's nose in Papa's mouth.)

And then at dinner, we found a little munchkin under the table:

She is getting many teeth at once, and I'm feeling really bad for her. She is waking up lots at night again, and I know that is why. :( She should have at least 6 teeth by her birthday. 

That's all for today! Night!

Day 347

It was cold cold COLD in the house this morning... I even turned on the dang heater for a couple hours!! I got us all warm with sweaters and socks, and we were nice & cozy for breakfast. Then, when Luciana went to sleep for her morning nap, Penelope and I went outside to play with the bubble machine (fan with rotating bubble wands-- genius) it was SUMMERTIME HOT again! :( I'm over it, already!!! It's OCTOBER, almost Halloween! 

Ok, rant over.

We really just kept it low key these last two days Papa's been at work, only leaving for an hour each day, and opting out of the evening walks because it got dark on us too fast! We miss Daddy, because when he's here, we do nice long evening walks, he makes us got apple cider and the girls are (usually) calm, and it makes for a nicer, more smooth transition to bedtime. He will be home for a week starting tomorrow, and we are HAPPY!! 

Here's P and the bubbles:

And here is my littlest princess, my sweet chubby angel:

She is "cruising" finally-- that's what all the baby books call it when babies walk from couch to table, holding on the whole time. :) She may walk by her birthday, yet! No rush, angel cakes, you take your time. 

Night.

Day 346

Our day was like this: wake up at crack of dawn, (thankfully) girls wake up one after the other-- which gives me time to ease into being Mommy ;)  Then, breakfast, playtime & Lulu's nap. Penelope and I went out in her little car, around the cul de sac about 7 times while Lu was down; P is very calm and almost meditative during these rides, it's nice, since she now detests riding in the stroller. She thinks she's a walker, so she should be walking everywhere. :/ Later, it's Penelope's nap time, and I have about 15 minutes to eat (shovel cereal in fast so I can hurry up and relax!!), then Lulu wakes up. This is nice-- she is still little enough that she lets me cuddle her for a while as she's waking up. But, even now she's starting to squirm, she is mobile and has places to go, things to do! I then feed her lunch, and we play. This is the time I can do: laundry, write thank you notes, vote and get my ballot out, clean up, etc. The hour before P wakes up is a calmer time, and I can sit down a bit, or put on something other than Dora the Explorer!! :) P wakes up and I feed her lunch, usually sandwich, fruit and milk. By this time, it's around 2:30, and if I have errands, I race around getting the girls ready so we can be back by 5pm-- dinner time. Today we looked for a Halloween costume for P, no luck. :/ Then it's back home, and start getting dinner ready. After baths tonight, I wanted to take a walk, but I was just so tired, so we watched Bubble Guppies and went up for stories afterwards. 

Wow. I wanted to write out our typical day, so I could remember it later and show you girls how crazy our lives were! Crazy and fun. :) We will do it all over tomorrow.... And we can't wait to see Papa after that. 

Girls are asleep in their rooms... I'll check on P before I settle in bed, but never on Lu. She's a light sleeper, and I'm scared to wake her!! :) Miss P, she sleeps like a rock, and if she does wake up, she just says "hi!", and goes back to sleep. So cute!

I'm still nursing Lulu at naps and bedtime, and if she needs to be settled at nighttime. I get lots of raised eyebrows (on lots of things in addition to this), but we are doing things just fine our way, and I think we are doing ok! 

Time to pass out. Phew! Goodnight! 

Day 345

Lulu and Penelope stayed home with Grandma Gayle today while we went to a beach  BBQ/party given by Daddy's work. It began pretty early, we left around 10am, and didn't get home until 3pm. We had a good time relaxing, Daddy surfed (tried to anyway, no waves), ate, visited with friends, and WON A SURFBOARD in a raffle! You know, just normal everyday stuff. ;) It was pretty exciting, and I'm convinced we won because our lucky charms came-- our beautiful babies. :) Gayle walked them down to see us, and they hung out for a few. What a fun day!

Later, we took a long walk around the neighborhood, showing the girls all the spooky Halloween decorations. Luciana has her costume all ready to go, but P is still going to need one... We can't wait to see them all dressed up! :)

Here are today's pics.... Goodnight.

Day 344

We went to the supermarket today. We made it out of the house around 3-- that's after Lu's second nap, and after both girls have had their lunch. Very soon I'll really work on putting the girls on the same nap schedule. That will be nice, because as it is, it's very difficult to get out at all. :/ 

Anyway, we had a nice day at home, and Mama is beyond tired.... Pics tomorrow. Night!

Day 343

It was a day of rest... Almost. :) And for running after a 1 & a 2 year old to feel restful, now that's funny! But it was a good day, just us girls, playing and talking, coloring and the girls taking turns riding in P's new pink car. :) Let me say, they both love that car, and I knew they would. But, I was worried P would be a little territorial with it-- understandably, she's 2, but she shares with no problem! Well, after we asked her to share with Lu-- it was right after she got the car and we just calmly asked her to give Lulu a turn. Well, all day today she would be in her car having a great time, and then she'd push the door open while I was still pushing, and say "Lulu turn!!!" Then she'd have just as much fun helping me push Lulu. It makes me giddy with pride and love to see them sharing, playing together, just showing each other love. :')

Here's Lu on her turn:

She waves now, and seeing her wave from the car-- you almost die from a cute attack, your heart just melts!! 

We did a quick Costco run, but were soon back at home eating dinner and getting ready for bed. Today was all about laundry, and getting the girls proper naps, getting back to our norm. Two days of different really turns us upside down! 

Look at Luciana standing (sorta). She pulls herself up like this-- I think walking is near. :)

We will begin getting Lu's birthday party stuff together now.... Time to get that ball rollin'! Goodnight.

Day 342

Today Luciana went with Mama to a baby shower, and Penelope stayed home with Papa & they went to the beach! We would have liked to be all together, but it just didn't work out that way. We are never apart when Papa is home, but there are the rare days. 

We were out from 11am until 5:30pm!! Mostly driving :/ to LA. Mommy used to live there, and going back is always a schlep, so we don't do it often. All Mama's best friends got to see and spend time with Lulu, and she was the belle of the ball-- everyone loves her. :) Also, she was very well behaved, hardly made a peep and was so happy just sitting in Mommy's arms all afternoon. She makes it so easy on me, and is so happy and sweet! My angel.

When we got home, it was bathtime, and then a walk before stories and bed. 

That is all today. We are totally resting tomorrow-- meaning NOT going anywhere, unless it's the park! It's been an exciting last couple of days. 

Here's a couple of Daddy & P.... Night!

(Yep, she got birthday cake again.) :)