sanity check...back up to about 75%

I am so greatful to a friend for lending me her crib tent! I had been searching online for a used one to buy (very hard to find) when I decided to make a plea to my facebook friends. Hurray! less than 24 hours later I was winning the battle of bedtime with laney! She is not too bothered by the tent and is sleeping much better! It was such a fight because she kept crawling out and wouldn't allow herself to relax. Now she is only crying for 5-10 minutes and then sleeping like a baby! She never asks for her paci and does not try to suck on anything else in exchange (except for once when I was changing her diaper and she sucked on her big toe and called it her paci) :) Now if only I could get Charlie to stop sucking his thumb!!!

Pros of a private backyard

Tonight the kids played in the sandbox while Mitch and I did some yard work. They were in desperate need of being hosed off before even being allowed in the shower. We stripped them down and they had such a blast running around the backyard naked! The girls have such cute tan lines and then our pale bucky boy, well the poor thing just isn't as cute naked. It was a fun way to end the evening.

THE Fehr's Save the Goldfish...

Well....I guess we should have called the Wonder Pets. I sent Mitch a text yesterday telling him the fish were dropping like flies. There were 3 of our 21 goldfish floating in the pond. He called me and said "I guess I put to much algea killer in last night". I said "oops". :) I put some in this morning. I could see more and more fish start to turn upside down and float to the top as we spoke. Frances helped me to quickly get a 5 gallon pail and fill it with fresh water. We caught all living fish and tried to save them. We even rigged up some oxygen for them by using the portable inflator for the water toys and a straw. When Mitch got home he hooked up the filter and pump from out fish tank onto the 5 gallon pail. They were looking okay for now. This morning, not so good. My garage smelled worse than a walmart fish deptartment! There are still a few living but I don't know if they will make it. Looks like we need to visit a walmart fish department!

On a final note...we do plan to communicate better, at least when it comes to giving the kids medicine!!!

Bye Bye Paci

Today is the first day of no more paci for Laney. I did allow her to have it until breakfast as she got out of bed with it. After breakfast I took it and talked to her about being a big girl and how paci was going bye bye.

Our first paci-less nap was a little rough but better than I expected. I discovered that not only can she get out of her crib but she is tall enough to open the door and knows how to do it! I had to go put her back in bed many times and in the end she fell asleep with me holding her. She never once said anything about wanting her paci, it is like she gets it. (yeah right, wait till bedtime tonight huh?)

haircut

I cut Frances' hair this week. She doesn't hold still long enough to know if I did a good job or not:) I always thought I would have a girl with long hair but short hair just seems to work best. Must be why my mom always had me in short hair too!

up and at em

They say breakfast is key to a good day right? Well, Laney had me up a little earlier than normal today. I got her some strawberry milk and snuggled her in the chair while I went to shower. Got some laundry started too. So far better than most days:) I made a bagel with cream cheese and gave her half and then sat by her to check FB. She handed me her bagel at some point to hold. A little while later she wanted it back. I seriously looked all over and couldn't find it. I don't remember eating it! Guess I better make sure she gets breakfast too huh?

vacation

We spent a week with family at a lake in Iowa. It was a lot of fun. There was a beach, an indoor pool, two outdoor pools, miniature golf, movie theater, crafts, and we had two boats with us! Here are a few pictures. Thanks for the great time Grandma and Grandpa!!!

Then we stopped at Mitch's brothers for the night on the way back home. The kids loved riding the tractor and pushing their "monster trucks" down the steep driveway!