Call Day #113, 7/31/12

Enjoying a game from a recent package from Aunt Linda.  The cards are "sight word" cards and one of the suggested games was finding a word with the same first letter.

 Then we read the words.

 At breakfast, Claire was sad that she hadn't gotten to hug Daddy before he left for work.  So, here are lots of hugs from the girls to you, dear.  (Is that a tight hug from Eleanor of what?)

Couldn't pick just one... 

Fun faces. 

While I was cleaning up breakfast, Eleanor made "a hammock."

Actually looks quite cozy!

Claire got in trouble while hanging out in Eleanor's room.  Here she is learning how to clean marker off of a duvet cover.

We went to story time at a library we'd never been to before, one some friends frequent.  The librarian was great!  Thankfully, the kids were enthralled enough to stay put while I had to answer a phone call mid-storytime.

Doing crafts after the stories.

After the library, we had lunch with two other moms and their kids.  Eleanor and Leilani had big hugs for each other when it was time to go.

After nap, we went to other friends' house to play.  We were so social today!

Eleanor loved picking pears from the tree in the yard.

Claire can improvise a baby to take care of from anything.  Pushing it in the swing.

Eleanor learned this trick from watching her friends and now she's big enough to do it too--climbing across the top of the swing set.

 Made it all the way!

And down.

Call Day #112, 7/27/12

Since Claire had a fever during the night, we decided to cancel our scheduled play date for the morning.  Puzzles kept us occupied for a little while.

Claire fed her baby.

The girls played "tree house."  See the legs?

What they were really doing behind the easel was creating colorful artwork of which they were very proud.

We played a game from High Five magazine that used coins (and taught how much a nickel and a dime were worth!).  Eleanor really enjoyed it.  The grape juice was a hit too.  We don't usually have juice at home so it was a treat.  I was actually just trying to get Claire to drink something since it was obvious she wasn't well.

If Daddy's not home to give his expert opinion on sick kids, you can always go to Daddy!  Thankfully, Erik wasn't busy this particular night so we visited him at BMC.  He confirmed croup.

A stop at CVS to get medicine.  While we waited for the prescription to be filled, the girls were happy to look at cards, especially the musical kind or any with princesses.

Poor sick Claire.  She did NOT like the liquid medicine she was supposed to drink.  Unfortunately, there was a lot of it.  After holding her down and squirting it in her mouth, she finally realized she would have to take it one way or another and drank it without fighting.  After about 95% of it was in her, she threw up.  Bummer.

After a bath to clean up Claire, the girls got to watch a Curious George even though it was super late.  Claire had cooperated so well in taking the majority of her medicine and I couldn't put her to bed without her promised reward.  It was kind of a crazy end to the day, BUT she did not have to go to the ER in the middle of the night!  That was the goal since taking two kids in the middle of the night would've been a bit much.

Call Day #111, 7/23/12

We didn't start out knowing today was a call day.  Erik was already at work for a normal day but got called to work a different service overnight.

This morning we went to a homeschooling information session.  We played at a park across the street afterwards, and the girls did a great job playing with a few of the other kids who had come even though they were several years older.  Eleanor and Claire were so busy playing that they didn't stop to eat the lunch and were probably pretty tired and hungry when I told them it was time to leave.  The biggest joint meltdown I can remember ensued.  It was actually comical because they were both so totally losing it.  After I got them to sit down for a few minutes and start eating things got better.  

Erik got two hours at home this afternoon before we had to take him back to the hospital.  Eleanor has enjoyed "driving cars" (ie playing Wii) with Erik for a while and now Claire's getting in on it too.

Pictures after taking Daddy back to work would've looked a good deal like the crying one above so I didn't take any more.  It was a great day for an early bedtime!

Call Day #110, 07/07/12

Claire and I spent the morning at a baby naming ceremony for a friend's little girl at their synagogue.  We got to have lunch with several St. Louis friends (now also living in Boston) who we don't see very often.  Erik was supposed to be off today and come too but was on sick call and got called in for a 24 hour shift.

 Claire with new princess underwear she earned for going poo on the potty, a milestone we've been working on.

 Excited and proud.

 Yelling "Underwear head!"

Talking on the phone with Eleanor who has been spending the week with Nanny and Papa. 

 Dancing to "If You're Happy and You Know It" before bed.

Happy girl.  

(If she looks big, I measured her last night and she's grown two inches since her birthday!)