This time, he was on his back, trying to reach a toy that was just above his head on the floor. He arched back and flipped himself over so that he was on his stomach (left side). He hung out there for a while, then laid down and flipped back onto his back!

I haven't seen him repeat this, but yay Stephen!

It's been a while since I did a decent post, and this one my not be decent, but it's going to be all about Stephen.

This last weekend, and the first part of this week we went to the lake. I was afraid at how the kids would do at the lake, but it turned out great. While we were there, Stephen started to do the cute scratching thing... the thing where he's feeling different textures with his hands, and checking out the sounds he can make when scratching different fabrics. Totally cool.

He's been grabbing at toys for a while now, but he's really starting to grab specific items. Like my nose if I don't notice he's going for it, or my cheeks. We have this little baby swing that has a fish mobile on top, and he's been going crazy over the fish. I finally took one dow today and gave it to him, and he thought it was just the best thing ever! He's getting cuter by the day, and I can't believe he's 5 months now.

The downside to the whole "taking him to the lake" thing, is that he got used to sleeping in a real bed next to me. We got back, and he doesn't want to sleep in the Moses basket anymore. Now granted, he's been too big for it for a while now, he was happy in there until he got spoiled in a big bed. Unfortunately, things aren't quite ready to move his crib into the office and move the office downstairs yet.

Tonight, in desperation of trying to get everyone some sleep, I put him in his crib which is still in Alex's room. This means that both he and Alex are asleep in the same room. He is an insanely light sleeper, and she is an amazingly heavy sleeper. It might work. Maybe. If I'm really really lucky.

Keep the fingers crossed for me!

Today for the first time, Alex went pee in the potty!

I'm so excited! She's been showing some interest for a while, but would refuse to sit on the potty when offered, but today, she told me four times she had to pee and went to sit on the potty!

Ok, so maybe she had actually peed (pee'd?) in her diaper before each of those times and was really only identifying that the diaper was wet, but the one time she sat on the potty (for like 40 minutes because I read her stories and we played with toys while she was on there), she got up and there were a few drops in it!

I was really hoping she'd have a lightbulb moment when she first went pee in the potty, because she'd associate the trickle sound with it, and then it would be fun... but unfortunately a few drops didn't produce the trickle sound, so I'm hoping that the next time will go better.

If I can only get her trained before the end of the summer, it will cost me $100/month less for daycare!

For the first time today, I was able to make my little man laugh and giggle repeatedly. Apparently sneezes (even fake ones) are hilarious!

This week, Alex started singing the ABC's. She's not using words, but she is carrying the tune. What's interesting is that the tune is recognizable, and she periodically breaks into song at the oddest times. It's really cute.

So my 21 month old baby, who still is not speaking very much (like less than 25 words), was sitting with me watching the Dragon show.

The narrator described how Dragon couldn't sleep because a pigeon was cooing.

Alex looked at me and said, "Uh oh, a pigeon was cooing!"

My jaw just dropped to the floor.

I can't believe so much time has passed, and she's grown up so much.

This week, she jumped in the air off two feet - a 24 month milestone. I actually suspected she was doing this a few weeks ago, but I got conclusive proof Monday night.

She's still not talking much, but it's clear that she is speaking in sentences when she does talk... it's just most of the time I can't understand her.

The last couple of weeks something has changed for her and her regular happy bedtime of 9pm has been changed for some unknown reason. She is now overtired at 9pm, but we can't get her to bed any earlier, and in some cases she won't go to sleep until 11pm - a ridiculous hour.

Monday night we decided to try the old "just keep putting her back in her bed when she runs out" trick. My one friend had told me it took them 17 tries before their kid got the idea that he was supposed to stay in bed. My other friend told me it took her kid 32 tries. We gave up and admitted defeat after 41 episodes of putting her to bed. She thought it was the best game ever. I wish I knew what the issue was, what changed, why she can't fall asleep and what I could do to help her. She finally got to sleep about 11:20pm. That's just stupid.

Work is still super stressful. I'm completely exhausted. Yet notice it's 4:41 and I'm awake. Can't sleep due to thinking of all the things that need doing. At least my dad's now out of the hospital - that's one relief.

I miss her so much when I'm working this hard.

It's the middle of the night and I can't sleep due to being kicked from the inside out.

Alex decided today that she was much too hyper to possibly be able to either a) take a nap, or b) go to bed on time. As it was, she was spinning around like I'd fed her a pot of double-caffeinated coffee. Trying to calm down a wild baby is not fun. She's not a baby anymore, but I'll probably always think of her that way, so that's what she is to me.

She said "I love you" for the first time yesterday. It came out as "I wubu". I doubt she'll say it again anytime soon, since she's pretty clear she doesn't want to talk unless she's damn good and ready. She is also now finding the shapes in the shapeball so she can put them in herself.

At daycare the other week, 4 year-old Dalton, with whom she has quite a close little bond, told his mom that he had it all figured out. When he grew up, he was going to marry Alex. I died of cute right there.

I'm dreading going to work tomorrow. I'm tired, and I feel like I need more days off. This is a bit surprising after a 3.5 day weekend. Usually I'm pretty recharged after something like that.

So, what's new with you guys?

It's been crazy busy at work lately. With one girl gone on mat leave, my workload has increased by 25%. It's not unbearable, but it's pretty damn busy.

I came down with the flu on Thursday night, stayed home on Friday. The timing couldn't have been more unfortunate; I had way too many things to do on Friday to get sick.

Only good thing about it is that I was able to catch up on my sleep and relax a little bit. I'm actually wondering if the "flu" could have been stress/anxiety induced. This is the first time I've puked in about 10 years... but I'm sure I've been more stressed than this before.

Next week is looking just as stressful.

Alex is now independantly standing without using anything to help her up, and this week she managed to crawl up onto the couch without help. Nothing's safe anymore!