Yes to Play, No to Sleep

• It was quite the weekend! My parents and my brother with his wife and two girls all came to visit on Saturday. Activities: the toddlers played outside, met more extended family for a  reunion luncheon, watched a 5-6' black snake slither up and inside a tree (I missed it!), the toddlers "napped" in the same room which resulted in no naps, splash pad fun, dinner... It was Aolani's first time at a splash pad, so Ricky held her and ran around with her until she got bold enough to run around by herself and chase her cousin :) Sunday involved another joint church service, lunch with my parents before they left, watching Italy beat England in the Euro Cup online plus napping on the couch, and then an outdoor daughter/father soccer match ensued.

 

• Yep -- we have the two blond-haired, blue-eyed, pale-skinned cousins and the two brown-haired, brown-eyed, dark-skinned cousins pictured together! Seriously, they all look totally unrelated.
• Aolani's antics: fell asleep face-down on the hardwood floor three times yesterday morning before her nap (the weekend just wore her out), tried to scrub off Micaiah's birthmark on the side of his face using a wet wipe, naughtily unravels all of the toilet paper off of the roll constantly (and willingly does time out for it every day), stands 34.5" tall (just under 50% for her age; 75% for her weight), and is scared to death of the lawn mower (today she hid in the bedroom holding onto the baby's crib for 30 minutes). Potty-training update: She now tells us when she has to go pee while we are out -- yay! The pull-ups are now limited to naps and bed time. Story: When we put her in her crib for one of her recent time-outs, Aolani retaliated by peeing everywhere of course!
• Micaiah's mishaps: saw his head pop up when I went to get him after his nap yesterday because he started rolling over from his back to belly (after I cheered, he cried that first time I found him because he couldn't flip back over), knows what the Boppy means and giggles when he sees me grab for it, hums while he nurses, weighed 16 lbs and measured over 26" long (50% in length for his age; 25% for his weight), ripped down his mobile in his crib today :(, reached the book I keep stashed in his crib -- sad ending, and rejected (spit them out; tongue-thrust reflex) the little bites of avocado and banana we tried yesterday (I'll wait a while to try again, at least wait for him to start mimicking our chewing motion. Remember, Aolani didn't like/eat food until a week before she turned one year old! So, no worries!).
• Sleep documentation for self (skip this if you want): Aolani -- takes one 2-3 hr nap in the afternoon (goes down between 1-2 p.m.) and sleeps 10-11 hrs at night (we put her in her crib between 8-9 p.m. and she plays/talks for 15-45 minutes). Micaiah -- takes 2-4 naps a day totaling ~3 hrs (takes all of his naps in his crib; the first nap of the day is around 9:30 a.m. no matter what it seems and another nap occurs with Aolani napping in the bedroom, too) and sleeps 11.5-12.5 hrs at night (put him down approximately 2 hrs after he woke last and always nurse him last thing but not to sleep; sometimes he goes right to sleep after I transfer him from the Boppy to his crib, sometimes he fusses until I lay my head down with him in his crib and then drifts off, and sometimes he will fuss for an hour or more until I cave in and nurse him again).
• Verses to memorize this week (and probably a few more weeks after!) -- this is my favorite description of my Warrior Jesus, makes me cry every time I read it (don't know how I'll be able to quote it out loud) -- Revelation 19:11-6 ~ Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress. On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords.