Happy Days

My days are always happy when I'm in Maryland, I love being here. I love that I grew up here and I miss it when I leave. Its not just my family that I miss its the actual state. I miss all the green, I really miss the beach, I miss going to museums, I miss all the people, I just miss it. I love coming back to visit and we always have so much fun. This trip is no different, the last 4 days have been filled with playing, outings, reading books, coloring, decorating the Christmas tree, and seeing Santa again. Our flights out were so much better then I anticipated. I once again flew out with both girls by myself since Jacob couldn't come out as early as we were. I beyond love flying with Savannah. She is the most amazing flyer hands down. She doesn't throw a fit, she stays with me, listens, and is so excited the whole time. She is just a joy to travel on a plane with. Olivia had me a bit more nervous because she is in the stage of life where she hates to sit still. The night before our flight I kept telling Jacob I was so nervous I thought I might throw up. Oh and as a side note the night before our flight Savannah threw up chocolate all over my mother in laws white carpet, our furnace blew up literally, and the girls both woke up repeatedly. Anyway back to our flight, Olivia exceeded my expectations greatly and only threw a fit during out layover in Salt Lake because she wanted to get into things she couldn't while walking around and the last hour of our flight into Baltimore. She basically just screamed because she hadn't slept all day and was done traveling and was just beyond tired. She fell asleep on the way to my parents and was so passed out she didn't wake up while being taken out of the car seat or while having her shoes or coat taken off. She slept all night in her pack-n-play which was another worry of mine because Olivia is very particular about where she sleeps. She only likes to sleep in her bed which is very annoying to be honest. She only threw a fit twice the next day about having to sleep in the pack-n-play and now she goes down just the same as if she's in her own bed. Its a huge relief and just plain fantastic. Savannah has become quite smitten with my dad and whenever he's home you can typically find them doing something together. They watch movies, play air hockey, read books, and when we go out to eat Savannah asks to sit next to poppa. Its very sweet to watch. Olivia really only wants me all the time which is a bit tiring and it makes me very excited for Jacob to join us. I can't believe how fast our trip is already going and soon enough it will all be over but I'm trying to enjoy these happy days in Maryland as much as I can and we'll see how much we can squeeze into our stay.

Jump Time

So we went to Jacob’s work party last night and it was fantastic! This is the first time they’ve had a party where the whole family could come and it was just so much fun. There was something for everyone and our family had a blast. I didn’t get any good pictures because we were all running around so much I couldn’t get anyone to sit still long enough to get a picture in focus but these 3 are suitable enough. The girls loved the trampolines, Olivia wouldn’t let me hold her while we were on them at all. She was content to try bouncing on her own and walking around and falling over a lot. She’d just giggle and squeal and had a permanent smile on her face almost the whole night. Savannah loved jumping and playing in all the bounce houses they had too. Her favorite was the one shown below with the slide. She and her little friends she made had a blast running up the steps and all sliding down together over and over again. She also really enjoyed running down the long trampolines into the foam block pit. Jacob’s work also provided dinner so we had pizza, sandwiches, veggies, chips and tons of sodas and water. After going to these parties for the last 5 years I can say this one was my most favorite and we all loved every minute of it. Thank you Woodland Manufacturing for a great night.

Quite Time

I started quite time at our house and I absolutely love it as does Savannah. Some days she even asks me if its quiet time yet. Her quiet time starts when Olivia takes her afternoon nap (yes Olivia still takes 2 naps and sleeps from 7:30pm-8/8:30am, I know that I am quite lucky with this.) Anyway back to Savannah while I’m putting Olivia down for her nap, Savannah goes to the bathroom and gets in her bed. She then has to stay on her bed for 45 minutes. I give her a drink and some books that she can look at, if she gets up at all I add 5 more minutes to her time. I have come to love this and have questioned why I didn’t start this sooner. I honestly think Savannah wouldn’t have taken so well to quite time if I had started sooner. Savannah needs to understand why something is happening and she needs to feel in control like its her doing and she is finally at an age where I can reason with her. The way I explained quite time is its not nap time and she does not have to take a nap (at least 2 times a week she does end up falling asleep.) She is allowed to have her door open but I do close the door to the girls hallway so some of the noise I make is muffled. I tell her what I’ll be doing so that she knows I might be making noise and I tell her when the timer goes off I will come and get her and that she will then be able to get out of bed. I tried to make quite time not seem like a punishment and I also explained that mommy is having her quite time too. I rarely have to add more time, sometimes I do have to remind Savannah to whisper because she’s reading her stories to loud. Overall quite time has been a huge success and it allows me to clean up from the morning of playing and I can usually work on a project, catch up online, or read a book. Also it calms Savannah down for the afternoon and gets her ready for the evening. I love quite time.