Another tooth gone

Annabelle has lost a second tooth. This time, she didn't lose it and was able to put it under her pillow. It’s right next to the one she lost over a month ago. The strange thing is there is no sign of a permanent tooth poking through where her first lost tooth was, and as I said, it came out a while ago. When she went to the dentist in February earlier this year, he said that one of her bottom front teeth was missing (as in it doesn't exist and she is one tooth short of the normal number of baby teeth that most kids have) and he couldn’t tell from the x-rays of her mouth if she was missing the permanent one as well.  

Anyway, she was thrilled to lose it. It had been hanging by a thread for days before finally coming out. She got a dollar from the tooth fairy and can’t wait to spend it at the carousel.

This is a video of how Jillian drinks the milk in her cereal bowl after the cereal is all gone.
Step 1: Tuck the napkin so far under her chin that it defeats the purpose of catching any milk that should spill down her front.
Step 2: Slurp the milk as loudly as she can.
Step 3: Tilt the bowl as much as she can to get the maximum amount of milk in her hair.
Step 4: Untuck the napkin and wipe the front of her shirt to get the milk that spilled and then wipe her mouth.

RUNNING

When Sarah was about 4 weeks old, I started running again. It's felt great to get out and start exercising. My body has quickly responded to the physical activity and I feel really good. I still have a ways to go before I get rid of all the baby fat, but it's slowly coming off. I've never been much of a runner. The only time I would ever do any serious running up until about 7 years ago was when I would play frisbee. In the first 5 years of marriage, I would kind of get into running, but it would only last a short time. After Jillian was born, I spent that next 8 months running quite seriously and grew to love it. Then it became too cold to run and right as it was turning nice again the next spring, I got pregnant with Sarah. So it's now been about 2 years since I was in running shape, but I've noticed that it's only taken a couple of weeks for me to feel like I'm back to where I was 2 years ago.

What I'm most excited about is the last 2 Saturdays, I've run up to the temple. That's almost a mile of straight uphill running. This past Saturday, I left my house to run while almost everyone else was outside. 4 miles and 45 minutes later, I return home ready to share my triumph of running up to the temple and this is what everyone else was doing.

This was fine with me, though. I got to have some quiet time with Sarah as I cooled down. I look forward to another summer of running (wait, did I really say that?) as well as my first ever 5K in July.

Jillian's a big kid now

A few weeks ago, I decided that it was time to potty train Jillian. I was tired of having two kids in diapers. Three weeks ago, I spent the week prepping myself mentally and preparing Jillian. Finally after the previous 9 days of sitting in the bathroom for hours and hours, on Wednesday of this week, something in her little brain clicked and she is now informing me when she needs to use the bathroom. It's wonderful! Of course, we still have several accidents a day, but she now recognizes the urge and can tell me. Way to go, Jillian!

Amazing...

Sarah is such an awesome baby. Last week, at 7 1/2 weeks of age, she slept from about 10:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. or later all week long. I didn't even know that was possible. Of course, it came at the best time because I began potty training Jillian last week so I needed as much sleep as possible so that my frustration with the potty training didn't get out of hand. This week she's woken up once to eat around 3 or 4, but then goes right back to sleep until 7 or 8.

Sarah also smiles at me. When we blessed her last week, she smiled at everyone else but me. I'm talking about people that she was only seeing for the first time. I have been constantly smiling as her since she was born, but still she showed me no love. Finally last week, I got her to smile at me and she does it quite often now. She also can fall asleep anywhere no matter what noises are going on around her. Her favorite position is with her arms raised above her head, sometimes with one hand raised in the air. I love this girl!

This video was taken while I was sitting in the bathroom waiting for Jillian who is being potty trained. The man's voice in the background is from my i-pod. Jillian was playing with it while she sat on the toilet.

Recital

 The day after Sarah was blessed, I held a recital for my piano students. Thankfully, my brother and his family and my sister-in-law were able to stay for a couple extra of days and help out with things. Since I was starting to potty train Jillian that day (I was planning on waiting until Tuesday when the recital was over, but I ran out of diapers), nursing Sarah still fairly often, had three piano lessons that day, and needed to make treats and prepare and set up for the recital, they were a huge help and I appreciate their assistance.

Both Annabelle and I were performing in the recital. Annabelle was so excited and has been working hard on her songs for weeks. I forgot to tape the beginning of her first song, so I only caught the end. I was going to continue recording her second song, but when she opened her other book for her song, the paper clip we put on the page that the song was on came off and she had to take a few minutes to find the right page. So I stopped recording and stared again when she was ready. She did fabulessly! I am so proud of her. She had a blast and can't wait for the next recital in December.

 My brother's daughter is 7 months old and the cutest thing. She smiles all the time and is such a happy girl. My kids loved having a baby around that was old enough to interact with them, unlike Sarah who just kind of lays there.

Sarah's Blessing Day

 

We blessed Sarah this past Sunday. It was such a special occasion. Sarah is such a happy baby and she brings so much joy to our family. Both of Michael's brothers and two of my brothers and their families were able to come. Sorry for all the pictures, but I have such a photogenic family that I couldn't stop.