WHAT'S UP AROUND HERE

I have been trying to post this for over a day now, but Blogger has been down....

First I'll start with the "excuses" for why I haven't blogged in a long time....

1. I have been busy trying to finish up the Spring Cleaning around here. Yuk! It's taking forever!

2. Last week it was our turn to help serve the meal at church. (We have a Fellowship Lunch every Sunday after church and each Sunday three families are in charge of preparing and serving it.) Jared had graduation he had to be at, so he couldn't even be there to help. I'm always glad when that busy day is behind us.

3. It has been too nice outside to be stuck indoors.

4. We have been going with Daddy to some of his softball and baseball games. (Morgan has finally mastered, "Go, Birds!" It is so cute.)

5. This past week, my mom and I had a garage sale at her house. Whew! What a lot of work....but it was worth it. I made about $330.

6. Garage sales.....going to them, I mean. There have been some big subdivision sales around here that I went to this week....ones I wait for every year! Check out some things I got!

I have been looking for this game at garage sales for a long time. I thought she'd have fun at least putting the pieces in the slots and later we can use it for patterning and color sorting until she is ready to really play the game. I was super excited to finally find it this week!

I was equally excited to find this huge, wooden floor puzzle for 1.00! I will start by just doing one line at a time with her. But she already has enjoyed finding the pictures and the letters that I ask her to find.

Isn't this little Radio Flyer wagon just the cutest thing? It was in great shape and very clean, and I knew Morgan would just love it. And I was right! She has spent oodles of time already taking her baby for "walks" in it. I heard her say once, "Go for a walk, Baby? Okay, let's go!" So cute!

Jared has been wanting a jogging stroller for awhile now so he can take her out on his runs. I've seen some at garage sales for anywhere from $40 to $200. The other day, I saw a couple of them, but just wasn't sure about them and didn't want to spend the money they were asking. Then, I happened to stop by a sale at the last minute close to our house on our way home, and what do you know.....there this one sat for only $15! It's a Schwin, and it folds up, too, better than any of the others. The only down side...no canopy to keep out the sun. I suppose she can wear her sunhat or something. I was a bit bummed, though, because the next day I saw another one at a sale for the same price that had a canopy. Oh well. Oh, and the Radio Flyer tricycle in the background..yeah, got it for a buck! Found out the parent steering handle doesn't work that great, but hey, for a buck, we'll get our use out of it!

I have been trying to figure out what to do for window treatments in this room since we moved in three years ago. I wasn't sure about color or what kind of curtains in general. I found these neutral panels for 1.00 each and decided to try it at least for a temporary fix. I just have them stuck up for now tucked into the blinds just to see if I like it. I need to get a curtain rod now, and I need to wash and iron the curtains. We can't decide, though, if they should be like this or put two together on each end. Any suggestions? At any rate, they will work for now until I can decide on something nicer. (Or until we move all this furniture to the basement and get new stuff upstairs.) That's the beauty of garage sales, if I decide to change it later, I am not out a gob of money.

7. Headaches....I've been getting a lot of headaches and just not feeling great.

8. Morgan has suddenly developed some pretty intense fears that are wearing on us....the biggest one being that she is TERRIFIED to go to sleep all of a sudden. She will cry and SCREAM her head off when we even just start her naptime or bedtime routine. Plus, she will sometimes wake up crying in the middle of the night. She has always been a great sleeper, and has NEVER, EVER acted like this, so we are a bit perplexed.....and tired. We are wondering if it is the new allergy meds she is on, as the doctor said a side effect is nightmares. I am thinking she is having nightmares and therefore is scared to go to sleep. The only way she will calm down is if I lay on the floor next to her bed and hold her hand through her crib slats. (I hesitate to get her out of the crib and hold her too much as I don't want her to get used to that. But then again, she is getting used to me holding her hand, too.....sigh.) I have had her cry it out a couple times, but it takes her 30 minutes or so to cry herself to sleep and it breaks my heart knowing she is scared. If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to let me know.

9. On top of all that, Morgan got her bottom two-year molars last week. She was not a happy camper.

Okay, here are some other things we have been doing the last few weeks:

1. We visisted a new library in a nearby town. It had a great children's area, and Morgan loved this big ABC rug. She'd run around the edge, stepping on the letters and saying their names. We got to check out a few board books that she has come to really love reading: "The Eye Book" and "I Went Walking" are her two new favorites. She can pretty much "read" them to herself now that we have read them so much together. "I Went Walking" was the first book in our reading curriculum every year that I taught first grade, so I am having fun reading that book and "teaching" her a few things along the way. :)

2. Like I said above, we have been playing outside a lot lately. Here are some things we had fun doing.

She loves flowers, so she had fun helping me water the flowers one day....and pick off a few petals in the process.

Taking a wagon ride with cousin Molly at Grandma's house during the garage sale.

Blowing bubbles....She tries to do it herself now. Every once in awhile she'll get a few out, but mostly she gets her mouth full of soap. :)

I took out a squeeze bottle one day full of water and showed her how to "draw" on the driveway with the water. It was a big hit!

Then, I "drew" some letters on the driveway for her and we worked on some of our new lowercase letters.

3. Morgan LOVES to play in the bubbles in the sink. She'd do this all day if we would let her. I think I need to try and find a water table at a garage sale.....

4. Morgan has finally "mastered" drinking from a "big girl" cup all by herself. It took Grandma's special little cup to finally get her to do it, but now she loves it! Oh, she gets plenty wet in the process (we only give her water for now in her cup), but practice makes perfect!

Hopefully, this week we can stay at home and get back into our normal routine. We haven't really done Tot School in about two weeks, so I am anxious to get back to that as well. But I have a feeling that this summer, it will be hit and miss with that. We'll see.