Read 'til You Drop

We got a Little Mermaid book from the library this week. When I pulled it off the shelf and showed it to Hazel, she gasped! She's carried it around with her all day long ever since.

Yesterday I put Hazel down for her nap at 1:00. At 1:15 I could hear her talking to herself as I drifted off to dreamland on the living room couch. At 4:00, she was still asleep. Todd and I went to check on her and leave her door open a crack (that usually does the trick to wake her up gently) and found her dead asleep like this:
The Little Mermaid book was on the floor next to the chair, standing on its edges in an upside down "V". I couldn't stop grinning. She's so cute.

The Bedroom Merge

We've now survived four nights in a row with Hazel and Jack sleeping in the same bedroom. Hooray! The freedom is scrumptious. 15 lb, 24 1/2 inch Jack just could not fit in his bassinet any longer, so we bit the bullet and did it Thursday night without really knowing if we were ready. No real game plan. He went in around 10:30, ate around 3:30, then woke up again to eat at 6:30, at which point I put him back in the bassinet anyway because Hazel was close to waking up and I was afraid of how that would go down.

When I was nursing Jack in the middle of the night, Hazel woke up and saw her door was ajar. I could see the wheels turning in her blond little head for a bit, then she peered over at the crib and noticed a jumble of blankets. "Hi, Baby Jack," she whispered as she daintily wiggled her fingers in a wave. My heart melted. She proceeded to whisper an entire minute's worth of welcoming information in the crib's general direction before Jack burped and she looked behind her to where Jack and I were sitting in the gilder. "Hi, Mommy!" she whispered in a delighted voice. I said hi back, then quietly explained that little Jack gets hungry in the middle of the night and I was just feeding him, please lay your head back down and go back to sleep. She laid quietly until I left, but wanted a goodbye kiss.
Friday night Hazel woke up screaming at 4:30 with pins and needles in her legs (she likes to sleep on her knees, unfortunately). Todd rushed in there and settled her down, then came back with the report that Jack was sniffing and wiggling a bit, but still sort of asleep. I laid there hoping Hazel would fall back to sleep before I had to go in to feed Jack, afraid of the mess I'd be in with two crying kids in the middle of the night. But to my amazement, all four of us fell back to sleep instead. Jack woke up to nurse around 6:30, and this time I dared to put him back in the crib. When Hazel woke up around 7:15, she turned on her light but left Jack alone, and came out quietly. Hooray!

Tonight I tried to put Jack in bed just thirty minutes after we put Hazel down, and she was still awake. When I came in, she started talking loudly, and when I urged her to whisper and not wake Jack up, she started to cry, then scream. Jack woke up. Bummer. Well, I learned my lesson there. Wait until Hazel's soundly out before bringing in the young one.
So, it's definitely an experimental process, but I'm thrilled that Hazel still seems well rested in the morning and everyone is adjusting alright. I was so afraid of this milestone, especially because Hazel is a light sleeper, but I think we'll be alright living in a two-bedroom apartment for a while yet. ;)

Jack got blessed today.

Jack is two months old now. He is 24 1/4 inches long and weighs 14 pounds. He was in the 95th percentile at his check-up, in both height and weight. He loves to cuddle and it is really easy to get him to smile. He's a happy boy.
Today was his baby blessing at church. It was very nice, and we were happy to have Todd's dad and his sister Beany with us. I'm so grateful to be married to a worthy Priesthood holder. Yesterday we all went to the beach. It was great, because Larry and Beany were more than willing to watch the kids, so Todd and I got to pull on our wetsuits and go body boarding for the first time in years. It felt wonderful to walk into the ocean, board strapped to my wrist. I got super excited with my first mouthful of salt water. It brought back memories. I loved to look at the water, which was blue-gray and silky. The ocean has a completely different appearance when you're a little bit into it than when you're standing on the beach. I'd forgotten.

Crazy story. Todd and I each caught a wave and were back out trying to catch another. I just kept waiting for a wave to come. Todd caught one and I just kept waiting, but after that, it seemed like no more were coming for ever. Then this lifeguard showed up and shouted to me through her megaphone, "If you can hear me, wave your arm." I waved my arm. She said a few more things I couldn't understand, then said, "Something, something, wave your arm," so I waved it again. I looked around and couldn't see the surfers that had been nearby before. Suddenly, I was like, oh my gosh, is there a shark nearby? Is she clearing the water for a shark? I started to panic and swim hard, then thought, what if that draws attention to me? and slowed down. Then she asked me to wave my arm again, so I did, and she hopped on her surfboard and came out to me. By that point, I was almost to the beach. Turns out, no shark, I was just stuck in a riptide. She had said, "If you need help getting back, wave your arm," and of course I had waved my arm. I was so embarrassed.