When we're in the car and Felicity's crying and Seporah can't quite reach her, Seporah will reach over and pat Felicity's carseat and say "Iz awl rite" (It's all right).

When Seporah sees something she wants and I decide to give it to her, her response to tell me that she wants more than one is "2,3,5!"

I don't know if it'll stay that way, so I should write down that Felicity has fine bright red hair (I'm really hoping she'll stay a carrot top, don't know where it came from, Steven jokes it's a good thing the mailman is Hawaiian).

Whenever Seporah comes and sits with Felicity in her baby gym, Felicity stops crying and stays happy (if I could, I'd make Seporah stay there alllllll day).

Seporah has tried to share many things with Felicity including oranges, bread, gapes. candy and cow's milk. She usually tries to smush it into her mouth and Felicity scrunches up her face as if to say "Hey Big Sis, whatcha tryin to pull?"

Seporah hugs and kisses Felicity all the time now. I know you guys have heard the sound, but the kisses are adorable and sound like "mmmmwhaaa!"

We can't pass by a balloon without Seporah going absolutely crazy "BABOON! BABOON!" (even if she has one in her hand)

We can't take out the vacuum without Seporah going a different type of crazy "NO! NO! BYE! BYE! NO! NO! ALL DONE! ALL DONE!"

Whenever Felicity and Seporah are actually sleeping, it's sometimes hard to go to sleep because they're so cute (I have to think, ok time to sleep, both girls sleeping and if I don't sleep, I won't find them cute in a couple of hours).

Seporah's word for popcorn is "pop-pop."

When we yell really loud at Seporah because she's doing something she really, really shouldn't be doing, she makes the biggest frown ever, starts crying and hides behind the curtains in our bedroom (it's really sad and really cute and we don't yell that loud at her very often just when she really needs to stop RIGHT NOW, is that enough "reallys" in one really long run on sentence).

must not say anything good about felicity's crying or sleeping on blog, even as a footnote. it will come back to bite me. written at 4:42 am.

So there's this lady at our church who's in her 20's and she gave a talk on Mother's Day. I was really impressed with this talk, maybe because she validated what I was feeling, running around chasing a toddler while having the pregnant morning sickness. I didn't know her name, but I really thought she'd be cool to hang out with. However she didn't have any kids and I've got Seporah, who's not easy to hang around with for women who have kids. Women who don't have kids, well Seporah's an excellent form of birth control, but anyways. I never even figured out her name since she works as a leader in the teenage women's group and I'm in the women's group.

Flash forward to now. I tell every pregnant lady I know about my doula and that she was great and terrific and the best and to hire her (www.laborofloveoahu.com). This lady has become pregnant, I haven't seen her in a couple of weeks and well I'm really tired as you can tell from previous postings. Last Sunday I decided I was going to talk to her so I go to young women's and ask for the skinny pregnant lady who spoke on Mother's Day. They give me her name and tell me she's been on bedrest. Oh, I'll have to give her a call. Putting it off, putting it off.

Today I actually pick up the phone to call her, maybe chat, I know bedrest bites, a lot. "Hi, you really don't know me, I'm Märia Rushing, I'm in your ward at church, I had a baby a few weeks ago, I loved my doula, wanted to tell all the pregnant ladies I know about her, yadayada (lots of rambling)" Her very tired, hesitant response, "Um...I just had my baby yesterday." "Oh sorry, I guess you don't need a doula." Um yeah, I was embarrassed.

Well I realize it's not the first, but I thought I'd tell everyone my resolutions now anyways. Steven says he won't be telling his, I don't even know what they are.

1. 20 pounds in 6 months-I've never had a weight New Year's Resolution before, but since it's the number 1 done (and I just had daughter number 2) I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. I think most people say 6 months because that's when swimsuit season is. That's not the case with me; this is Hawaii, I actually went swimming on Christmas Eve. Actually seeing myself in a swimsuit was probably what really influenced this resolution.

2. I'm going to write at least 1 snail mail card a week-I love to get real mail, Seporah loves to get real mail (seriously, it's like a holiday for her) and I'm sure so does everyone else. So I thought I'd spread the love. I'll tell you what though, writing a thoughtful note to one person is a lot harder than writing cynical blog posts to a number of people. So if you get an early note and you're like, this is the stupidest letter I've ever read, please realize I should get better. If you would like to get snail mail and you don't think I have your address, please email it to us at steven.rushing@gmail.com .

3. Read the Sunday School Lesson before Sunday-Since I've had 2 girls my reading material consists of other mommy blogs, comments on this blog (which I really enjoy), directions to the carseat and the book "The Happiest Baby on the Block." ***see below*** I haven't even read my magazine's I've gotten in the mail or any of the books I've bought. The scriptures are there like every 4, 5, 6, 7 days and then I'm like, where do I read. Steven's 1 of 2 Sunday School teachers, so if I get him on board I should be able to finish at least the lesson by Saturday night at 11:59.

There you have it, my New Year's Resolutions, can I make it past January 31st? We'll see, I'd say this blog makes me somewhat accountable to them. However since I doubt very many people will remember their own resolutions past January 31st, I'm not all that worried about you guys remembering mine and quizzing me on them.

*** "The Happiest Baby on the Block", I only read 4 days ago. I have been applying it's principals and I can now stop Felicity's crying in less than a minute usually. Holy cow! This actually should have a post all to it's self, but I didn't want to jinx myself the first day. I never thought I'd read a how-to-get-your-baby-to-stop-crying book but I have and I am utterly shocked it actually works! She is also starting to understand the difference between night and day and she's actually sleeping at night. True she still gets up every 3 hours to eat, but she's going back to sleep.

For all the many, many difficult parts of being the mother to 2 difficult girls under the age of 2, there are some very wonderful, magical moments. A lot of the time they happen while on Mom and Dad's bed. Seporah wakes up and comes to snuggle with us. She tucks herself in (for about 2 seconds), we play peek-a-boo, pillow fight, rough house and get lots and lots of hugs and kisses. Felicity quietly eats, looks and tolerates being squeezed and smushed as her older sister hugs and kisses her. The 4 of us bask in the warmth of each other, ahhh, those are the moments I live for. When they're both unbelievable cute and adorable, yeah that's what makes baby screaming bearable. There ARE moments that look the way Hallmark cards sound.

toothpaste
kid's toothpaste
sunscreen
bar soap
shampoo
baby liquid soap
hand sanitizer
desitin
nystatin
deodurant
lanolin
tums
raw onion
raw garlic cloves
chapstick
mascara
lotion
face foundation
room scent makers
markers
glue
dead cockroach
bird poop
Diet Pepsi

This is what you get when your toddler can climb everything and even though you've put it out of her reach, she can still get to it. It's a really good thing all adult meds have child proof lids, she hasn't figured that one out yet. I'm not sure if I should toss the adult meds, I think I should and then I get a headache from her screaming because I took away the toothpaste she climbed onto the bathroom counter to get and well, I really need the tylenol.

You'd think I'd get better results from my parenting considering I'm a pediatric nurse.

BTW I have poison control on speed dial in my cell phone.

I will second Märia's post about sleep. Here it is 5:30 and I am up with Felicity. We were both up last night until 10 with her, trying to satisfy whatever she was bellering about (Trusty's word, not mine =). Finally we decided that ONE of us was gonna have to get some sleep and so I got up with her and we hopped and swung and ate bottled breast milk until about 1115 when Felicity finally went to sleep. She was in her swing which was in the living room, and I didn't want to move it for fear of waking her up, so I went to sleep on the couch next to her swing. I slept until about 130 am when she woke up again. Well, I picked her up and took her to her mom and said "tag, your it". Thinking about it this morning with a clearer head and wider, less sleep filled eyes, I probably should have changed her first at a minimum, and perhaps could have warmed up another bottle, but I just wanted to sleep. So I gave the little one to her and am honestly not sure what Märia did or how many times she was up last night, but it was my turn again at 515 this morning. =) You know, it isn't easy typing with a baby in one's arms! But I am up to the task. Left leg is hopping up and down, left arm is falling asleep from the baby, and hands are a typing.

So um, yeah, Merry Christmas to you all! I have a renewed belief in the intrinsic value of sleep. We should transfer our monetary base to it or something. Call it the sleep standard! Ok, yeah, I know, that was an early morning bad political joke. =) Merry Christmas to all and to all a good (eyes closed sleep filled) night!

Here's one example of a typical night
8:01 Place Seporah to bed after a 30 minute bedtime routine
8:05 I go to bed after brushing my teeth for an unacceptable 15 seconds and going to the the bathroom
8:06 Felicity wakes up, and I don't mean to eat, I mean she wakes up, completely 100%
10:15 Felicity goes to sleep after eating, being changed, being rocked, screaming because Mom put her down to try to sleep after not sleeping all day because her children can not nap at the same time, getting picked back up eating again, changed again, falling asleep for 3 minutes, waking back up and then falling sleep again.
12:23 Felicity wakes up again, change, eat, cry, scream, cry, scream, cry, cry (that one's mom's), screams (op, mom's again), eat, eat, eat
4:30 Felicity asleep
6:00 Felicity awake, eat, eat, eat, scream, please sleep, eat
6:25 felicity did sleep good
6:30 Dad home from work "she went to sleep 5 minutes ago, I don't care that she's on your side of the bed, if you wake her up, you're dead, I'm going to sleep." Dad goes to computer. Mom goes to sleep
7:15 Felicity wakes up, eats and Dad takes her, Mom goes to sleep
8:30 Felicity goes to sleep, Dad goes to sleep, Mom gets up. Seporah watching movie, Mom eats breakfast, checks email, plays with Seporah and stops 3 temper tantrums (and gives a couple spankings)
9:46 Mom fills bathtub and gets in with Seporah, Seporah mostly gets clean, Mom gets shampoo in hair
9:58 Felicity starts screaming, Mom gets soap off of hair, gets out of bathtub, feeds Felicity
10:05 Seporah gets out of bathtub, finds starburst from off of computer table, gets very sticky in about 3 seconds. Mom gets halfway dressed with Felicity screaming on floor. Gets Seporah unsticky and dressed. Seporah throws huge temper tantrum because she would rather be naked and kicks toys at Felicity's head (I should probably not admit how many times that's happened, CPS may come get me)
10:20 Seporah gets a very hard spanking and placed in crib for time out
10:23 Mom, Seporah and felicity all crying, that's it, Dad gets Felicity and Mom gets the couch. I'd say it's only 9 hours, 38 minutes until bedtime, but that's sure a lie.

BTW, I did not send out Christmas Cards.

And this post was written at 1:30 am the next night.

And last Monday I asked for 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep. I went to bed at 8pm, please don't wake me until midnight, there's milk in the fridge. Did I get to midnight, no, I got until 10:09. To be fair Steven was the one not asleep with the not asleep Felicity.

Go here --> www.apple.com/getamac/

When you first go clothes shopping after having a baby you should ALWAYS bring a friend. This friend will kindly and secretly rip out the size tags of all items you are trying on and repeatedly tell you how fabulous you look, "No Märia you don't look like you had a baby 5 1/2 weeks ago, in fact you look like you've never had a baby!" I didn't know this after I had Seporah and went shopping alone. I knew it this time around, but forgot it since the first incident occurred 2 years ago. Big Mistake.

3 hours, 8 stores, 8 dressing rooms, and a whole lotta clothes later, I have one shirt to show for the experience. And I didn't even have a child to blame it on, Steven had them... Well tomorrow is my 6 week check up and the treadmill is ready to be used. Now if only I had some exercise clothes to wear...

Hatched! The Big Push from Pregnancy to Motherhood by Sloane Tanen

If you are thinking of becoming pregnant, are pregnant, or have a child 2 years old or under, buy this book! It includes 80 pages of pictures with chicks and funny captions.


 
Baby Uggs: $85.00. Bugaboo Stroller $800.00. Knowing your child is better looking than your best friend's kid: Priceless



Goodnight Moon, hello Martini

Well.. Too all my adoring fans, I say hello once again. It has been quite a while since I have put my fingerprints on the webpage, and for that I apologize profusely. I am thrilled to be an Uncle the second time, and everyone should definitely buy diapers for Seporah's big #2 coming up a couple of weeks! That is.. for Felicity ;-). I imagine Steven is probably spending an expansive amount of time trying to make his oldest handle this aspect of her life on her own. Good luck, Brother!

Well.. it's my favorite month again, and it has brought me to a mild state of anxiety. I am currently taking Humanities 101 and this Art History course is really kicking my butt. Mostly because I'm doing all 8 weeks of it in one week, thanks to conflicting Liberty University and Uncle Sam's Misguided Children (USMC.. haha I made a funny) policy. USMC states that I can not get out of a class due to field activity if they were not made aware of the class before hand (aka.. if they didn't pay for it). Liberty University states that I can not drop a class after the first 10 days OF that class. Well.. I was in Yuma for the entirety of this class, and I only logged in once... to tell my instructor that I couldn't complete the course and needed to be dropped. So.. I didn't get dropped and I'm stuck with the idea that I have to finish the course and pay for it out of pocket.. and get credit for it. Or I can not finish the course, pay for it out of pocket, and not get credit for it. So I took a week of leave and did nothing but work on it full time, and have almost completed it now, and I will pay for it out of my GI Bill... and get credit for it!

Okay.. scary thought.. There is a girl in my life. I promise, I will NOT keep you posted. I drive Maria and Steven crazy with excessive amounts of this kind of information so I will spare all of you details. But.. it is kinda nice :-). I promise... You'd all like her.

Well.. I know what you're all thinking... How much longer until you are no longer a Misguided Child.. NEVER! I will always be a Misguided Child!! But I won't be Uncle Sam's anymore come April the 15th. Four more months, and my 5 year enlistment.. is over. *cues Angelic singing*

So what's next? No idea.. :-( I could stay in California over the summer and goto a Junior College, or I could go back to Texas for the Summer and stay with dad and goto Temple College. I could go straight from here to Lynchburg, Va where I have been accepted at Liberty University, and I have to give them an answer about that by March 1st. I could goto UMHB back in Temple, or Cal State here in California. I could goto Point Loma Nazarene College, or possibly Biola..

A very distant but APPEALING idea might be to go to college with Pete in Northern Arizona.. and I really do like this idea. We could be roomates again, and the college itself seems very appealing as a central ground between Texas, and California. I could travel back and forth easily and see those I care about in both directions. I don't know.. give me advice about college.. because I don't know anything :-(


I have so many decisions to make.. I just think I'm going to vomit due to stress sometimes.. lol

Keep me in your prayers.. and I promise you will be in mine.


Jas

I have come to an important conclusion. Seporah has come to the point where she is not allowed out in public with us. Public includes restaurants, movie theaters, anywhere with breakables, the commissary (at least not until we're absolutely starving), and anywhere with breakables (oh wait did I already say that?). Some might say this is harsh. However she'll get her justice. I'm sure in her own time (like when she's 13 years old) she will come to the conclusion that we will not be allowed out in public with her.

Would you believe my not quite 2 year old can peel an orange all by herself? I was going to peel it for her, but she demanded to do it. I didn't think she would have the dexterity to do it, but hey what do I know, I'm just the mom. She did a good job too, it was nice and neat and she split it down the middle and then ate it section by section.

According to these pictures, we have 2 little angels. Yeah... right... We have 2 little devils is more like it.

Everyone's probably tired of me saying how active my babies are, but I have witnesses this time. Grandma Pam and Grandpa Russ. They have come for a visit (mostly to see Seporah and Felicity, Steven and I just come with the package). And I got an early Christmas present (probably the best present they could have come up with), family pictures. Last night, I could not fall asleep I was so worried about it, I was imagining all the havoc Seporah could wreak while Felicity screamed her head off. I wasn't far off.

Seporah's dress is older than she is. It's been hanging in the closet for when she was big enough (thanks Grandma Lynda). However, this did not impress her. Both her and Felicity found the dresses to be itchey and not made for tumbling. We tried to explain to them it wasn't time to run around and play, that it was time to sit still and smile to no avail. We thought about bribing them with french fries and cookies but Seporah's really not old enough for negotiating and we would have just had another temper tantrum. And Felicity, well I think they would have been a choking hazard. Instead there are raisins in all the pictures (or a stolen Christmas ornament off a Christmas tree) and a sleep induced Felicity.

But thanks to a 4'11" woman with too much coffee this morning and a surplus of patience (who really scared Steven), there ended up being some really cute shots. They even had a sign that said "We work on baby time, please be patient" (Insert plug for Sears Portrait Studios). We got 3 seconds of angels between the hour of devilness.

(we then paid for the few seconds when we got home and put Seporah down for her nap...she woke up with a crib full of poopies...she was laughing)

1. After a horrendous trip to the commissary, Seporah would not take a nap, leaving a tired Mommy to continue to be tired.
2. The $1500 water heater which was replaced 2 weeks before Felicity was born started tick tocking like a time bomb, making it so no one got a shower and we all smell like a mixture of sweat, breastmilk, urine, and mud.
3. A huge storm occurred last night, waking Seporah up 5 times screaming, leaving a tired Mommy and Daddy to be even more tired.
4. A tired, scared from the storm Seporah ripped her diaper to shreds to get attention, leaving the crib and nursery smelling nasty (at least there was no poopies).
5. I won $1000 off a radio show, since I'm now a stay-at-home-mom with all the time in the world to listen to radio shows and with nothing better to do.

(as a side note, the day before Steven went back to work we had this conversation):
Steven "You're ready to go back to work aren't you?"
Me "Yeah, how'd you know"
Steven "Because I'm ready, I need a break"

Chorus to the song "The Humour of the Situation" by Barenaked Ladies:
"Come on now, now
Come on now, now
Enjoy the humour of the situation
Come on now, now
Come on now, now
Enjoy the humour of the situation"

...it was even worse than the day before Thanksgiving. It was the first time out of the house with 2 babies by myself. Holy Cow. At least I fed and changed Felicity before we started.

Somehow Seporah lost one of her shoes before we made it out of the car. I decided to ignore it, she wasn't even going to be touching the ground, just the shopping cart (some mommies would say that's bad enough, but desperate times call for desperate measures).

I always use to call my friend Felice SuperMommy because she would carry both her babies and the diaper bag around. Well I reached SuperMommy stage today by carrying about 50 pounds from the car to inside the commissary between Seporah, Felicity and the diaper bag. I then found the "cool" shopping cart, the one that looks like a car and put Seporah and the diaper bag inside of it and continued to carry Felicity in a sling. Down about 40 pounds, it was much easier to shop.

Then came the I want, I want, I want. By the time we had exited the store, I had opened and Seporah had eaten banana cookies, dehydrated minifruits, prunes, strawberry gum and another lady's in line's pretzels (God bless understanding older ladies in line who don't mind sharing their pretzels with a screaming toddler).

Due to the temper tantrums, I shopped as fast as I could. I only spent $52.96, that's a record for me. Felicity only cried a little bit in the VERY long line that took about 25 minutes. All I could think was it's Monday afternoon, why are all these people shopping, I picked now so I wouldn't have to mess with the line.

When we got to the car I realized Seporah had helped me steal the pack of strawberry gum. I thought about doing the right thing and going back inside and paying for it. But instead I put the girls in the car and decided to chew a piece myself as the girls whined in the backseat.

Some of you will remember these pictures from forever and ever ago. These are of the banyan tree in front of the Honolulu Zoo in Waikiki.

Well, we had a Ron Paul picnic right there about 20 feet from the tree this last Saturday. Seporah and I went, leaving Märia and Felicity at home to get some much needed rest.

We were all set up and most of us were there (about 7 guys although some more came later) when this park guide came up to us and told us we had to take our signs down. We had some signs hanging from the tent. He said they were against some park ordinance or something. We essentially said "Show us the ordinance" and sent him on his way. Well, all this time Seporah was playing with the helium Ron Paul balloons and running in the mud and generally doing what toddlers call "having a good time".

So the park rule enforcer guy comes back with the ordinance and a police officer. We all look at the ordinance and it is absolutely obvious that it is not meant to be applied to political signs. Basically the ordinance says that if you are going to put up "commercial advertisement" like signs or fliers and so forth, you have to go through the park and pay them so much money and so forth. This is obviously meant to make sure that Kapiolani Park (the place where the banyan tree and we were) got it's cut of any sponsorships of say concerts or such things. Basically it was meant to apply to Coke and Pepsi, not Ron Paul, if that makes sense.

So I think I am a half decent dad, honestly. I was looking up every 30 seconds or so to check on Seporah while I was reading the ordinance, but I looked down, and looked up, and she was gone! She had been playing over by the banyan tree and then she was gone! No big deal at first, I try to keep my nerves down. But by the time I had walked all the way around this tree and not seen her, I was totally scared. So we ALL scattered to look for her. 20 minutes or so passed of looking. I was on my way back to the picnic area after scouring the first 2 blocks of Waikiki when Seporah's ball comes rolling out of the banyan tree followed quickly by Seporah.

Now really, I walked all the way aournd this tree, but there must have been a blind spot where she had been. I was so so scared, but happy that she had never been in any danger or anything. Really, she never had even been more than 20 feet from the picnic site. =)

Oh yeah, and the police made us take down the signs. Oppressors!

The Ensign is an monthly LDS adult magazine (there's also a teenager and children's magazine). Each month there's a Q&A section that anyone may write in and answer. Apparently one of the next magazine's questions is "I love and am grateful for my young children, but I sometimes get distracted or discouraged by the practical details of raising a family and struggle to remember what an important work it is. How can I better align gospel truths about family with my day-to-day actions and attitudes?" I don't think at the present moment I should write an answer for the question. It would be a long vent about young children right now. Tomorrow Steven is going back to work, so if I wrote it then it might be even longer.

So does anyone else have an answer? They are taking submissions until February 8, I'm hoping by that time I could have an acceptable one or at least one that they wouldn't send social services on me.

The Return of Ron Paul Balloon Girl, Swingin', Chuck E Cheese and Decorating the Christmas Tree!

This is a longer video... 16 minutes, so find a comfy place to sit before you start! =)

Edit: Actually I ended up cutting it into 3 individual movies. Enjoy!