life with these girls

I'm tired, I'm a bit nauseous, I feel rather incapable at times (OK so most of the time...) but I must say that I am so happy being a mommy to my two little girls. They are unbelievably adorable. They make me smile. I can't imagine anything else that I would rather do than be taking care of my Cumorah and Rivers.

Wednesday we filled up the water table for the first time of the season. The girls had a great time getting soaked while I got dinner together. They ate at the table in their shirts and panties/diaper. It's the best thing ever for that evening time right before dinner. I can watch them on the deck out the window and the door while I fix dinner. We had to have the it's-not-ok-to-pour-water-on-your-sister conversation that first evening. Sometimes Cumorah brings a bucket into the kitchen for me to fill in the sink. She carries it so carefully outside. Rivers does a lot of finger dipping and sucking which is one of the many reasons we empty the water every night and try to wipe the table out often. At least she's not actually drinking from all the little cups and buckets.

We were having lunch recently when suddenly something was wildly funny. I was totally not in on the joke. The girls just started giggling like crazy. Then they would take turns doing cheesy 'haaaaaaaa' kind of laughs. Then go back to giggling. I just looked from one little girl to the other and couldn't keep from laughing myself. Sometimes there is an obvious game associated with the giggle fest, such as banging hands on the table, throwing a bean on the floor (this one is not funny to Mommy), rolling a straw cup back and forth or making a funny noise with your mouth. But I really don't know what this was about. Spontaneous giggling. Just wait until girl number 3 arrives, Brian. Perpetual princess slumber party.

Rivers takes naps in Mommy and Daddy's room. When she wakes up from her shorter morning nap I often let Cumorah go 'get' her. She loves to open the door and go play with her. Sometimes it's a really good thing, because I am trying to finish a certain task before I get Rivers out and they can be quite happy for 15 minutes or so. Cumorah slides her body under the portacrib so just her head and arms are sticking out and talks to Rivers through the mesh. She makes a lot of her special noise, too. It's really hard to explain, but she's been doing it since a little before Rivers was born. I call it her 'aggressive affection' noise. It almost sounds threatening and she does clench her teeth. It rather concerned me at first when Rivers was tiny and Cumorah would hold Rivers' little foot or hand and put her mouth up to it and make her noise. I kept wondering if she was going to suddenly bite Rivers or something. But no, it's really just one of her (bizarre) ways of showing affection. (I have mentioned that Cumorah is a little intense, haven't I?) Sometimes Cumorah gives Rivers toys to play with in the crib. Today when I went in to get Rivers out of the crib, both Cumorah and Rivers were in it. Cumorah got her trusty bathroom stool and climbed in.

Rivers is learning to fight back when Cumorah takes something away. She really grabs at Cumorah and one of these days she is going to bite her. She opens her mouth really wide and goes for her but just hasn't actually clenched down yet. I know that I really shouldn't think this, but right now I actually think that some of their little fights are kind of cute and funny. I don't think it will take long for me to not find it so amusing anymore.

Table manners are a constant work in progress. Rivers has recently discovered the throw-the-food-you-don't-want-on-the-floor game that so aggravated me when Cumorah did it. It is a little different with her though. With Cumorah it was often outright defiance and refusal to eat certain foods. With Rivers it seems more often than not extremely random, like a whimsical pastime. I'm highly suspicious sometimes that she throws it there in an effort to save some for later. If I clean up Rivers and let her down before I clean up the floor, I run the risk of her scavenging in the food she just threw down. Kind of annoying. I watched Cumorah eat yogurt the other day with her trusty Baby Bjorn bib that catches anything and everything you throw at it and was appalled at the mess she made in it. I realized that she was making no effort at all to eat neatly because she knew she had no reason to, the bib would take care of everything. So now we are talking about eating neatly, wiping the bottom of your spoon on the edge of the bowl, and leaning over, etc, etc. Sometimes I don't let her wear the bib at all. I discovered that she is actually quite capable of eating neatly, if she wants to.

Cumorah likes to help Rivers walk. They hold hands facing each other and Cumorah walks backwards. Very cute.

I like baby girls, they're a lot of fun. I'm still a little trepidatious about teenage girls, but I have a little way to go before that, right?