Helper Alice and a Restless Jane

I would literally be going insane these days if not for Alice. (Though some days she drives me insane, too). She still loves to help get Jane ready for the day and feed her and watch her and play with her.

There have been very few times where I have absolutely needed her help and she doesn't want to, which makes it take twice as long to get anything done because she will start to help then she will stop and I have to go back to remind her that she is helping me so we can get ready and do things.

Jane, who is now 9 1/2 months, is getting to be more and more restless every day. She doesn't like being put down unless it is into a sitting position on the floor. She holds herself up really well, but has the occasional tumble as she tries to figure out movement. She will get into a position where it looks like she is trying to crawl but the put her face on the ground and cry until someone picks her up.

She is also, so far, unable to push herself into a sitting position from a laying down position. I let her cry it out on her stomach for a little bit, but she gets upset to the point of vomiting - which makes her even more reluctant to try to crawl.

She has managed to do minute scooches on her bum on the hardwood floors, but it takes her a while and she sometimes gets her legs stuck to the floor and face plants. I wish there was a way to make her figure out how to do things that I know she has the muscle tone to do.

She is a very happy baby, though. Only crying when something is bothering her or when she is hungry or tired. Not a whole lot scares her and she is starting to cuddle me (I love it!) and show affection towards her sister as well.

The jolly jumper is an absolute Godsend. I had to get the a-frame jumper because she jumps so hard that the clamp on the other would come right off the doorway. She will jump happily for upwards of fifteen minutes - but has recently started to cry if people leave the room.

It wouldn't be so tiring with Jane and Alice if I had a tv. I don't let Alice watch tons and I don't use it as a babysitter, but sometimes the bright colours distract Jane long enough for me to shower. Or they keep Alice occupied while I give Jane a bath. Or we all sit together and watch tv and movies. Really, anything that makes it so my whole day is not catering to their every whim while my needs (and a few wants) fall to the wayside.

Overall everything is still good though. I may be tired (and sometimes smelly) and the girls might want to play when all I really want to do is curl up in bed and sleep, but I'm happy and I can't really complain. I have two gorgeous, happy little girls who love me and I love them. I had a roof over our heads and clothes on our backs. And while sometimes I eat more peanut butter than I'd like, it's so the girls can have nice, full tummies when they need it.

But I would still love a nap.

What a Frustrating Seven Minutes!

Today started off wonderfully. The girls and I went shopping with my mom. When we got back I took the girls swimming for hours. We didn't come in until it was time for Jane to nap. Alice said she was tired too so I suggested we all have a nap. I told Alice to wake me up when she got up. Instead I woke up to a living room full of toys that she was claiming to be too tired to clean up and burst into tears when I told her she had to put her toys away.

And while she did put them away, she did not do so before I stepped on a train causing me to step on several other painful, pointy toys and scared Jane when I yelled out a mild expletive in reaction to the searing pain in both feet.

I left the living room and went to the kitchen to grab dinner (leftovers from last night) and she had decided to leave a full glass of lemonade perched precariously on the edge of the fridge shelf - it fell over as the door opened and spilled right into dinner. No biggie, until the cup kept rolling and fell on my foot - luckily it didn't break, though I think it might not have hurt so much had it broken and the force was transferred all over the place rather than directly onto the knuckle of my big toe. Then, after making sure I was ok (after yet another expletive...this time it was less mild) Alice started to cry because that was apparently the last glass of lemonade.

I sighed and I threw out dinner. I then picked up the glass, checked it for cracks or anything. I didn't see any so I decided to put it on the counter to be washed. It decided to go postal and break into 20 little pieces (ok, medium sized pieces) and this is the ONLY time out of the 4 other times I've broken one of those glasses where it didn't break into two or three neat little pieces.

After cleaning that up I was pretty ticked. The final straw when Alice asked where her lasagna was. I sighed and came to the bedroom to hit a pillow.

I think I'm all good now.