Amelia's Version

Amelia still has a limited verbal vocabulary, but she loves to sing and occasionally you can even understand a few words.  She loves to sing "beep-beep" when we sing 'the horn on the bus goes beep-beep-beep', "go-go-go" when we watch the Cat in the Hat take off in his Thingamajigger, and "ei-ei-o" when singing Old MacDonald.
But it made me giggle when we were singing "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam" and Amelia energetically sang it as sun "beep".

Happy Valentines Day Everybody!

Amelia and Sophie received new dresses from Grandma Diane and wanted to show them off! It's hard for them to sit still though.

Here is Amelia trying to hold Sophie up and pose for the camera at the same time....meanwhile Sophie is falling over....HELP!

Sophie solo in this one. You can see that she has found her thumb. I think she will be the "thumb sucker" and Amelia the "binky" sucker.

Sophia is such a good sport with the blankets and "bugs" we put on her. I think she is thinking of being a nun. We'll let's hope not, but she looks cute with a flowered habit! Happy Valentines Day from the Schnells!

I love . . .

• I love sunshine, except when it makes it super obvious that I need to dust and clean my house.
• I love birthdays, and celebrating birthdays, but I get stressed when it comes to deciding on presents.  I make Ken help me . . . unless it's for him . . . okay, I lie, especially when it's for him ;)
• I love extra bedrooms, but I am finding that our spare bedroom is turning into a storage space for all those projects I want to complete and don't have time for, ie. scrapbooking, baby quilt, taxes, etc.
• I love that Amelia is growing up, but her growing pains (new teeth, transitioning to a toddler bed, not being able to communicate) are as painful for me as they are for her.
• I love ice cream and so does Amelia, except when we eat it too fast and get brain freeze.
• I love Sophia's new "talking"; it sounds so serious, like she's really trying to say something important.

3 Months

Sophia is 3 months old and growing.  She loves to smile and giggle.  She "talks" to anyone who will listen.  She has started to reach for toys and has found her toes.   Amelia loves her sister and loves to share (as long as it is her idea, and not mine).

A Lack of . . .

Forgive the whining, but we're lacking a few things at our house and it's making me crazy.

• routine - Everything I read said that babies need a routine.  I have one for Amelia, but can't seem to get a routine for Sophia.  I think I'll just stop reading baby books/blogs/etc.
• sleep - Sophia barely sleeps during the day and it's driving me crazy.  Amelia did the same thing, but it's a whole different ballgame trying to deal with that while taking care of Amelia too.
• patience - Due to Sophia's lack of sleep, and Amelia's almost-terrible-two tantrums, I have a lack of patience most days.  Sorry Ken!
• motivation - And due to my lack of patience, I have a lack of motivation to move Amelia from her crib to the toddler bed.  But I can't keep putting it off, or Sophia will end up in our bed until she needs the toddler bed.
• initiative - And then there is my church calling - the ward web administrator.  It's a "train yourself" and then train everyone else sort of calling and I am lacking initiative to get started on it.  It's simple, in theory.  Learn how to manage the ward calendars, with every organization's activities, then train the organizations how to manage it themselves.  Hhm? Maybe next week? 

But despite all of that, I was the "fun" parent tonight and made cookies (gluten-free) with Amelia.  We've never done that before, and frankly, I thought I must be crazy to make cookies with Amelia, without Ken's help, with Sophia needing a nap, and bedtime for Amelia just around the corner, but crazy or not, I did it and I even had fun.  Amelia didn't like all the waiting involved, but she did like licking the spoon at the end.  Thanks Amelia for being a great helper!

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Things I Learned with No Power

• 47F inside a house is cold enough to see your breath.
• Being in a house with no power is NOT like camping; it's worse.
• When your camping, your prepared for no power and cool temperatures.  I was not prepared for a loss of power.
• I have a minimal food supply, but almost none of it can be eaten without cooking.  We have a camp stove, but neither Ken nor I were motivated to use it.  It was easier to go eat meals at the hospital where Ken works.
• Sophia did fine in the cold; I just bundled her up and she slept through it.
• Amelia had a harder time with the cold, and it didn't help that she had a cold too.  It's hard to take a nap when it's cold and you can't breath.  But I think she did better than I did with no TV/ Internet.
• I can live without TV but it was harder to be without the internet.
• Being without power was harder than I thought it would be.  I really feel for people who had to do it longer than the 1 1/2 days we did.
• I think I saw my neighbors more during this week than during the last few months.

Back to Normal

Our power came back on about 1:30pm on Saturday and our internet came back on today.  We are loving being warm and connected again.