Day 355

What a day.... What a long day. Well, we usually have good days, sometimes we have tough days due to crazy kiddoes, but sometimes we have really tough days. Today was tough. Penelope fell out of her crib this morning, and somehow dislocated her elbow-- they call it "nursemaid elbow", because old nursemaids used to yank on kids' arms and hurt them! :( Sounds terrible, doesn't it?! She was in a world of pain, and Papa was at work; I had to rush her to the ER, and THANK GOD above, the doctor snapped her ligaments (or whatever) back into place, and then put us in a playroom to see how she did. She started to play, and we saw it would be okay. (Insert huge sigh of relief here, and also a tear or two-- it was absolute torture seeing her like that!!!) Anyway, Grandma Gayle was an angel, and rushed right to the hospital to help us, and we totally needed it. It would have been impossible to deal with both babies (who were crying, tired without naps!) having her help made it much less of a nightmare, we are so grateful for it! :)

After we were released, I got the kids home, fed them lunch and then we all got into bed-- Papa included, he came home from work, thankfully. We slept like four rocks. 

When we woke, Dad made P's crib into a big girl bed, and she is sleeping in it now, as peacefully as ever. She was sore all afternoon and evening, crying and clinging to us... She needed the rest! We'll see what she does at 5:45 am-- cry in bed, or get up and play in her room? Maybe stand at the gate (we put a gate outside her door to prohibit going downstairs, or God forbid, falling downstairs in the dark), and calling for us? We shall see.

Through it all today, Luciana was a trooper. She was a little weirded out at the hospital when I had to leave the room without her, but other than that-- she was amazing. :) 

Here is the only pic I snapped today-- P sitting in the waiting room at the hospital, watching Dora on Mama's Kindle. Goodnight... Goodbye to this tough day!!!

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!