Catch up from this week...

Ruthy-
Sunday Ruthy woke up with a sore tummy and a small fever so we stayed home from church. She ate meals just fine and played fine but did take an afternoon nap. Monday she woke up the same way. Tuesday we went to Mom's Connection which met at a local gymnastics place, called The Flip Shop. Ruthy jumped on the trampoline a lot and loved it! She didn't feel good after that but after a nap was much better.

She is really learning to read and write. She is great at memorizing what she has seen. She has read "no", "go", "on", "love" (and writes it really well too), and tonight she counted to 100.

Moriah-
Moriah has been fine through this 'sickness' thing. She loved hanging on the bars at The Flip Shop. She also loved walking on the balance beam. She climbed up there several times by herself while I was watching Ruthy. Thankfully, another mom was usually nearby to help her walk on it.

Moriah was starting to get a rash from wearing the Pull-ups so since we were home a lot this week with Ruthy being sick, I put Moriah in panties. She loved it and it was a struggle to put on a pull-up or diaper for naps and bed time. But, Moriah was having trouble keeping her panties dry (where she had kept her pull-ups dry for an entire week, minus an accident or two). We were having to change her about every couple hours because she was wet. Then she asked me why she went potty when she coughed. SO, today we went to the doctor. If you read the last blog I wrote, I mentioned I was ready to look for a new doctor....

We found a new doctor!! And he's great!!! His name is Dr. Holmes!! His daughter was a youth intern at CCO when we moved here so we got to know her some. We visited with him at a Parents as Teachers event a few months ago. He is very laid back and calm. He in no way made me feel rushed or crazy for coming in. He related what he has done as a parent and what he would do if Moriah was his daughter. He really listed to what I had to say and wanted to make the kids feel comfortable too. It was such a nice experience!!

I took Moriah to the doctor today to see if there was anything we could do for her and the potty issue because she was starting to get discouraged about getting wet. He said she will probably outgrow it and there are some exercises we can teach her as she gets older if she needs them. He recommended putting her in a pull-up all the time so she feels she is dry and will keep her morale up. Moriah cried while he examined her eyes, ears, etc but when that was done she quit. I think it was just because he was new but he is at the same office we've been going to for 7 months. (and the last doctor gagged Moriah last week to look in her throat and so she was a bit scared still).

She is becoming very independent. At W-Mart now I usually have two kids either in front of me or lagging behind. Moriah likes to walk some of the time (although she would prefer to be held or to sit right beside Javan). She can zip her coat, put on her shoes and velcro them and half the time even get them on the right feet! She loves to laugh and make other people laugh.

Javan-
Javan is such a calm baby and easy going. He's just happy if his family is around and he's fed. He is doing better with the constipation thing but I'm trying to decrease the amount of meds he's on for it, so we're working on that.

I sure thought I heard him say "mamamama" when he was crying today. Of course it was when he was crying that he was hungry and no one else heard it. : ) I thought I saw him starting to crawl this morning. I know he was up and moved one leg, but the other leg didn't follow, so I'm not sure if that counts or not?!

In other news...
The girls have been saving their nickels. They get a nickel for each 'incentive' that they do. Their chore each day is to pick up toys in the playroom. But they can earn five cents for each additional job they choose to do (laundry, sweep, dust, get the mail, set the table, etc). It's then up to them to do however many extras they want to earn money. They are both doing a good job and have continued to work hard for several weeks of this.

They have been saving their money and today we went to the dollar store that is having a 50% off sale, so everything is 50 cents. Each girl got a package of rings/lipstick then Moriah bought a piggy bank and Ruthy bought her Barbie some doll clothes (that unfortunately didn't fit her doll). They had a good time picking out what they wanted and using the money that they had earned!

I was going to make some doll clothes for Ruthy out of some scrap fabric tonight, but I think I'm just going to go to bed. I have a head ache and Javan will be up here in a few hours ready to eat again. He's still waking up every 3 hours again (he was doing better, although last night he did one 6 hour stretch). I don't mind too much though. I figure that since he's losing weight he needs the extra nutrition so it's good for him. I know I also might be starting a bad habit with him but we'll deal with that when we get there.

Good night & have a good weekend!

PS- You can keep my sister, Meredith, in your prayers as she will be having her baby on Tuesday morning. Baby #3. Also, my parents will be traveling 8 hours to go out there on Saturday and be gone for a week.
Meri- we love you and wish we could be there with you and the rest of the family. xoxox