Not One But The Other

Melody is sleeping happily as I type. Julie, however, is having a full-throttle, gasket-blowing tantrum about bedtime that has been going on for an hour now. We've rocked, cuddled and sung, but the only thing she wants is to be out of bed and hanging out with me. To top it off, she has finally discovered how to climb out of her crib, which she can do even while screaming her head off. We started having bedtime issues shortly after coming home from China, but they were minor. Instead of her normal routine by Daddy, she wanted me to rock her before going into her crib. No problem. It seems to have escalated, however, to the point where the mere mention of "time to go upstairs" brings on amazingly violent protests. I'm trying to think of it from her perspective in order to understand where this is coming from. While in China, she slept in our bed each night, which she clearly enjoyed. Since coming home, individual time with me has been a lot less than previously, so I can understand why she wouldn't want it to end at night. But...she still has to go to bed! Maybe it is time to switch to a big girl bed? I've heard that sometimes helps. We might as well, since she can get out of her crib anyway. Not only that, but she can also take off her duct-taped diaper. This morning we found it on the floor and we found Julie sleeping happily in a pee-soaked blanket, sheet and mattress pad. Lord, give us patience because we really need it! Parenting is most certainly not for the faint of heart.

On a lighter note...here is Melody snuggled up with Larry in the recliner. I love how she is tucked in so sweetly.


A friend from my Bible study brought over a huge amount of clothing and supplies for both girls. I was blown away by the generosity of those who contributed to her "campaign" to find things for us. I am even more blown away by my dear friend's efforts. Thank you so much, Heather! The picture below shows just some of the clothes that she brought over in five stuffed garbage bags. She also brought us a wooden high chair, a tandem double stroller and an awesome wire bead toy. She also located an exersaucer for $7 from someone who just had a garage sale, but we didn't need it. Can you believe she asked around at the public pool until she located one? Heather, if you're reading, I want to reiterate that you have the gift of giving, or is it service, or maybe both! In any case, you are a blessing to us and many others!


One of the items in the bags of clothes was this costume. Julie had to put it on, of course. So what if it is labeled 12 months (which I think is obviously wrong, but my opinion on the inaccuracies of children's clothing sizes is material for another post)!


Here are the girls playing with the wire bead toy. They love it!