Oh, Look! A Swimming Pool! Just my size!

Libby is 11 months old now and crawls faster than I can run, which is how I end up losing sight of her countless times during the day. But, she can't go far and the house is close to babyproof. Pretty close.

She was crawling around the racetrack, doing her laps through the kitchen, dining room and family room when I lost sight of her. But I heard her, she was happily chattering away. Pause. Fussing now. In the meantime I had freed up my arms and finished helping Gracie, so I went to see what the fuss was about while I hoped she wasn't sucking on cleaners under the kitchen sink.

This is how I found her: grinning with her big cheesy grin, sitting in the dog's water dish, stuck. She went swimming!

Our dog uses a red igloo 6-pack cooler for her waterdish. And we keep her food and water in the kitchen to prevent ants and other critters from moving in on her feeding area. Which apparently is a perfect place for an 11 mth old to sit and get stuck.



I couldn't help but laugh! There she was sitting in the dog water! Grinning! Of course I didn't rescue her right away; I ran for my camera! Then I drug the baby stuffed water cooler over to the sink to minimize drippage and lifted her out. It was then that I noticed the rest of the mess.

Oh yes. She pooped! And there I am holding up a sopping wet poop dripping laughing baby! Oh the mess! If it wasn't so funny I would have moaned and groaned about it. It's that grin that gets me! I can't scold her when she flashes that funny face!

Now that she knows the little swimming pool is there, she tries to climb in. I have been catching her before she gets her little padded butt down into the water but the child is fast! She usually gets a leg in before I can catch up to her. I finally wised up and moved the cooler up off of the floor, but then I have to remember to set it down again for the dog.

The 5 Minute Car Seat Nap

This happens all too often.... Baby Princess falls asleep half a mile from home and wakes up as soon as I shut off the engine and open the door. Thus, completing the 5 minute carseat nap!

Invariably, this ruins any chance of a real nap. The 5 minute carseat nap is a powerful one that can get her through the rest of the day. Me? I need her to nap longer. Much much longer. But, noooooooooo! The 5 min power-nap ruins the whole day.

This short little nap doesn't mean we avoid a good case of the crabbies. Oh no. Even though she thinks she had a real nap, albeit a short one, she still has a short fuse for the rest of the day. It also doesn't mean we get the tot to bed any earlier. She can't tell time yet? Oh, please! I think she can!

Today is one of those lucky days. It's almost 8pm and currently, she is half naked and sliding down a slide of books that she built all by herself- Weeeee! - while running intermittent laps around the living room. Why am I letting her? Well, because I finally got her to quit jumping on the couch, that's why! And she won't keep her shirt on. That's an every day battle though. I don't think the 5 minute carseat nap had any effect on her aversion to wearing a shirt.

I love that quiet 2 hours in the middle of the day when she's napping and I can have a hot tea, put my feet up and read. Ahhhh! But not on the dreaded 5 minute Car Seat Nap day.

Her short fuse was getting the best of her tonight. She went bezerk with jealousy! We saw a whole new level of the toddler tantrum when we put the dog in the bathtub and not the baby. Oh, she was mad! And very jealous! As soon as the dog got out, we went upstairs to "her" tub and put her in and all was right with the world again. I guess if the dog gets a bath, so does Baby Princess.

On that note.... yes, we gave the dog a bath tonight. You see, my middle Princess went to the dog park to meet a boy there so she took the dog. She must have let the dog roll in the mud cuz when I picked her and the dog up, someone was very wet and muddy! And stinky!

The dog hung her head and did her best to avoid the tub. But I got her in there, shampooed her with Baby shampoo - extra conditioning! By the time I was ready to rinse her, my husband came in and took over because he said Gracie was screaming and crying too loud and I was cussing too much. Really? Oh, I didn't think a hundred cuss words were near enough. Ok, I wasn't in the mood to bathe the stinky muddy dog.

So after the dog's bath, Gracie got hers while the dog laid next to the tub and got dried and brushed and trimmed. She loves being brushed. I don't mind brushing her but I'm not crazy about trimming her dingleberries. Oh yes, I trimmed off her dingleberries. I also trimmed behind her ears and between her toes. She was forming armpit dreadlocks too. Gosh, when was the last time I washed the dog?

Next time, I'm not going to wash the dog on 5 min carseat nap day! I'm living and learning. This combination of events really ought to be avoided for sanity reasons.

We're Back!

We're back. We drove almost 4,000 miles through all sorts of weather. We had a busy week, saw all the relatives but we still missed Thanksgiving. We had lots of quality time together as a family doing silly things like.... talking to each other, singing to the radio, counting how many times we've each been through Las Vegas, silly things like that.

During the trip we encountered all sorts of weather. We went from 91 degrees to 1 degree. I had to buy the teens some coats! We crossed the desert and went over the snow covered mountains. The trip took us through six states.

We only had one "incident" on the trip. My baby burned her hand on Great Grandma's furnace, which is a propane stove in her living room. The burn is a second degree and didn't warrant a trip to the ER but we were all just sick over it. She has blisters but is using her hand just fine. Looks like its healing nicely.

We went on this spontaneous trip halfway across America because my father-in-law passed away last Tuesday. My husband and 16 yr old daughter left on Monday in hopes of seeing him before he passed on, but they didn't quite get there in time. I left with the rest of the crew on Tuesday afternoon. The funeral services were very nice. During the family visitation, my husband held our little one while he stood at the casket and without prompting, she pointed and said "Grampa" for the very first time. It was a very special moment. I think that one moment will last a long long time in our hearts.

We did have a nice time together on the trip (despite the funeral, weather and burn). Here are some pictures from the road. Just fun stuff here... we only take fun photos!
Oh, by the way... the Las Vegas count is as follows: Katie - 15 times, Lexie 17 times, Gracie 6 times, Sandy the dog 11 times.

Oh, to be a Dog!

I just took a big load of hot laundry out of the dryer and plopped it on the couch for folding. On top of the dog! I didn't realize she was laying there on her back stretched out and comfy. The dog looks super happy!

Ah, to be a dog! So carefree! And buried in fresh clean warm laundry.