Catching up

Finding time to catch up with blogging is certainly not as easy as it used to be. Now, when Nora gets in bed, this is usually what is going on (see picture below): I guess it is Elyn's "fussy" time. The crying lasts for about an hour and then we are back to normal. Matthew says that he hasn't seen her awake and not crying very often. I promise she does have awake times where she is not crying...he doesn't believe me. Nora was the exact same way...he doesn't remember that. Oh how quickly we forget the bad times and hold on to the good ones.

Elyn really is a good baby! I think she chooses to "let loose" after Nora goes to bed because that is the only time when all the attention is on her. It's her way of getting back at us for being the second child. Poor neglected baby!

Last weekend Matthew's sisters and brother-in-law came to visit. We had a nice time, although they were here for less than 24 hours. We drug them to the Pumpkin Patch because we had not been as a family of four yet. The day was beautiful and we came home with some nice pumpkins.

Nora and her "picks'

I'm pretty sure Elyn did not suffer any permanent neck damage after this photo session

Nora and Elyn with Aunt Beth and Aunt Julia (isn't Elyn's hat hilarious!)

(Blogger is being difficult and not letting me put the pictures where I want them to go...I'm sure you can figure out the captions that go with the pictures)

Matthew and Nora carved one of the pumpkins yesterday afternoon. Nora really paid attention and tried to help for about 20 minutes-which I think is fabulous considering her age. She was very hesitant about helping clean the inside of the pumpkin out though. She does enjoy seeing the pumpkin all lit up outside.

Helping her daddy get out the guts
Impressed with Matthew's face drawing skills

She's bored with pumpkin carving and wants to do something else
The finished product!

Today was a big day for Nora. She took a nap in her toddler bed and is currently sleeping in her bed for the evening (fingers crossed that she stays that way all night). Matthew only had to go in her room twice at nap time to tell her to lay down. She kept wanting to get up and get some books off of her bookshelf. After the second time, she laid down and didn't utter a peep for 2 hours! When she did wake up, she stayed in her bed until we came and got her. We'll see if this keeps up. She has had a cold this weekend and that may be helping the cause some...she's so tired that she will sleep just about anywhere. I want to sneak in there right now and take a picture of her, but I am restraining just in case I rock the boat. Maybe I'll get a picture in a few days, after she is adjusted to her new bed.

Tomorrow night is our "Harvest Festival" at church. Both of the girls are going to be ladybugs. I got Nora's costume for $5.00 on Ebay a few weeks ago and we found Elyn a ladybug costume at a consignment store today for $3.50. Here is Nora in her costume at our Mommy and Me party last week. I'll get a picture of both girls tomorrow night and post it later.

Things are going well at home during the day. I haven't wanted to pull my hair out too many times. Last week was a bit of a beating. Matthew had class Monday (until 6:30pm) and Wednesday (until 9:15pm) and conferences Tuesday and Thursday (until 7:30pm), so it was a very long week for the Henderson girls. Wednesday was the worst. On the way home from church, Elyn screamed the entire way (15 minutes). Once we got home, she was still upset. I had to give Nora a bath and get through her bedtime "routine". Right before I was going to put Nora in the bathtub, she got mad at me about something (I have NO IDEA what it was about) and decided to throw a HUGE fit in the bathtub. I decided that if I tried to discipline her at that point, chances were pretty good that I would have hurt her, so I ignored her and let it go. I think I deserved a reward for that decision. Long story short, I ended up with both girls in my lap while I was reading books and finally got Elyn to sleep after she had been crying (screaming) for an hour. I was basically passed out on the couch when Matthew finally got home.

Nora has also been doing better about throwing fits. She is realizing that Elyn is not going anywhere and when Mommy says "no" she means it. (Just like I meant it before Elyn was born...I guess she thought that since I brought a new kid home all the rules were thrown out the window...think again sister). She is still so sweet with Elyn and wants to see her immediately when she gets up in the morning. Whenever Elyn cries, Nora stops what she is doing and runs to Elyn and gets close in her face and says "Shhhhhh". And when Elyn's pacifier falls out of her mouth, Nora says, "uh oh" and tries to shove it back in. Usually this results in Elyn crying because she has just been jabbed in the eyeball.

Okay, super long update...those of you that are still reading, thanks for sticking with me. To reward you, I will close with some pictures.

Nora wanted her picture taken with Elyn, in the first picture I took, Nora is sitting on top of Elyn...a little too much loving.

Everyone is ready for bed...pacifiers-check!