Jenna's day on the farm

So the last time Josh went out of town and left me with the girls, I enticed Jenna to be good by saying we could spend the next day helping Grandma and Grandpa on the llama farm. Surprisingly, it worked! The first thing she said when she woke up was, "Can we go now?"

Here's Jenna about to help Grandma Jan drive the gator down to the fields. You can tell this girl is about to have fun!

First Jenna had to help Grandma get hay for the boy llamas in the their fields. (You see boy llamas cannot be in the same fields as the females or there can be problems.) Jenna went straight to work without complaining. in fact, she told mommy that mommy could not help because Jenna could do it herself.

Once the boys had hay, they were fed grains. Jenna is still too young to do this on her own, but insists on helping her grandma do it. Jenna was allowed to help feed grain to the boys as they are not as pushy as the females.

Gotta take more hay to the next field of boys. Look at Jenna's muscles...her daddy would be so proud! Jenna is telling her Grandma that she can do it herself, not realizing that Grandma is doing most of the work.

Next they had to put fresh water in the buckets for the llamas.

Here we are almost done with our work. Jenna practices driving the gator, while Grandma finishes feeding the female llamas. A hard days work, which will be followed by lunch and a long nap!

Greatest husband ever

So last night, Josh agreed to take on all baby duty and let me sleep. So for the first time since Peyton was born, that's 10 weeks, I was able to sleep and not get out of bed once to settle a baby, change a baby, or feed a baby. Now I did have to wake him up the two times and tell him it was time to go help Peyton, but could then just roll over and go back to sleep.

IT WAS FABULOUS!!!

Shift 2 of the toughest job

So I have just finished another tough day on the job. Josh left this morning for Chicago on a business trip. Jenna was at daycare and Peyton and I had a great day together. I was fooled into thinking things would be easy because Peyton went to sleep at 7:30 last night. Well...

We got home from playing with Jenna's neighborhood friends after daycare and Peyton screamed until I settled her down long enough to give Jenna a bath.

Then Peyton fussed as Jenna and I made and ate dinner.

Dinner was finished so I fed Peyton a bottle while Jenna wined and then I had to let Peyton cry until she fell asleep in her swing since Jenna was still fussing too. What else could I do, it was just me.

Once Peyton was asleep, Jenna and I played and then I got her to sleep. As I was finishing up with Jenna, I heard Peyton fussing downstairs.

I got Peyton's bottle ready and took her upstairs to put her to bed. It took 30 minutes and a trip upstairs 15 minutes later, but I finally have both kids asleep in their beds and am preparing for a night on my own. Wish me luck...

Toughest job I've ever had!

I have to admit that being at home caring for two kids is the toughest job I have ever had. Last night I was up with Peyton 6 times. That's 6 times I had to wake up, climb the stairs, settle her down or feed a bottle, climb back down the stairs, and get back to sleep.

After her 6 am bottle, she settled back down long enough for me to climb back in bed. Then this is the conversation Josh and I had:
(Peyton makes a funny nasal noise)


Josh: "What is Peyton doing?"

Janell: "She's pooping."

(After she finally finishes and settles back down.)

Josh: "Are you going to go change her?"

Janell: "No."

Josh: "Do you think she should stay in that diaper?"
Janell: "Yes."

Josh: "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
Janell: "Yes. I am not waking her up just to change her diaper."
(I never would have said that when Jenna was 9 weeks old, but I am a different mom now. )

By 7 I decide to get up since I know I need to wash bottles as I just fed Peyton out of the last clean one. As soon as I stood up from the bed, Jenna started fussing. When I got up to her room I discovered she had peed out of her diaper (Should I mention she is back in diapers at time as she is struggling with potty training now). So we cleaned her up and changed her sheets. Upon leaving her room, she wanted to turn out the light. Since she couldn't reach it, I turned it off for her which resulted in a crying tantrum. All of this happened before 7:20 am and I hadn't even had a cup of coffee yet!

So finally Jenna gets down stairs with help from Josh, bottles all get washed and then Peyton wakes up. I have spent the whole day juggling both of them, shutting down tantrums and crying spells from Jenna. I am now typing this entry with Peyton lying across my chest sleeping and listening to Jenna chit-chat in her room when she should be napping (She had better not be pulling out all of the clothes from her dresser drawers like she did on Saturday! I'd better check soon).

This is the toughest job as you do not get 15 minute breaks or lunch hours. You do not have adult conversations during the day. You have to have an extreme level of patience. You must be gentle in how you handle things as you are molding a life. You must be selfless as your kids need you since they cannot do things for themselves. You have to be prepared to do the same thing all day and all night, every day. I once thought 1 kid was tough, but I was wrong...2 kids are tough.

A rocky road but we're approaching a turn

Wow, what a rough road we have been traveling with our two kids. I never, ever expected things to be as challenging as they have been. With that being said I think we are making a turn toward the better with Peyton. At 2 months old, she is growing well and getting a sweet personality. She smiles now and will talk/coo to you. Her screaming fits have passed and she just cries when a normal baby would. We also have her sleeping in her crib upstairs now.

Monday night once both kids were in bed and Josh and I were sitting on the couch together, we laughed at how peaceful it felt. We were so relaxed because we didn't have to tiptoe around Peyton. I will say though that a master down home has its challenges when you have a newborn sleeping on the second floor. I think I ran up stairs 6 times last night to check on her. I am looking forward to the night when she sleeps through it!

Jenna is doing well but now faces new challenges. She has moved up at daycare to the Pre-2 classroom and is actually one of the bigger kids in the classroom. She really enjoys the days she goes to school as she gets to play with all of her friends. However, we have now entered the "Terrible Two's" phase as she is struggling through trying to have tantrums. Pair that with being jealous over her baby sister getting attention and that results in our challenges. When Peyton cries, Jenna cries. She also has digressed with her potty training so we are putting her in diapers again whenever she refuses to go on the potty and only wants to potty in her pull-up. My heart goes out to her that she doesn't get all of the attention she wants, but unfortunately that is life.

Recently, we spent the weekend at my folks house since my grandparents were visiting from Oregon and my Uncle Jim was also there one night. It was so nice getting to spend time with them. It amazes me that my grandparents still travel the way that they do. Grandma Esther was also a big help with Peyton as she helped feed Peyton and cuddle her through fussy phases.