Trapped in the Bathroom

I'm behind. Catching up seems daunting, but I'm starting the process. It's not that there are tons of people out there chomping at the bit to see what I have to say, but this is my journal. Really, I need to find a way to store this stuff because I'm fully counting it as my personal history. Much has happened, but I'll start with this amusing little story.

A little while ago, I was in the bathroom. (you can tell it will be good, right?) Sally decided to come in with me, and Alice was crawling around just outside the room. The picture is what the set up of our bathroom is. The door on the right goes to the hall, the camera is in is the sink part of the bathroom, and the door on the left is the toilet and bathtub portion.

So anyway, Sally and i are in the potty portion when along comes Alice. She pushed the hall door all the way open, which created this situation.

This picture was taken from the bathtub part of the room. Both doors here are fully open, and you can see the hall door is blocking the doorway out of the toilet chamber. This is no big deal, because Alice can't keep us in, right? There's no way a nine month old could trap her mom and sister. Except for this.

This is taken from the doorway of the potty part of our loo. See those menacing drawers? Usually, they are not so menacing, but our sweet little Alice pulled the bottom drawer open; all the way open. This made it impossible for me to get out. So, I was stuck in the bathroom with this darling,

While this sweetie had the entire upstairs to roam. By herself.

Luckily, she pretty much stayed by the door the entire time.

My first thought was to try to coax Alice into closing the drawer. Being nine months old, she didn't oblige. I then tried- many, many times- to reach my fingers through the crack and help the drawer closed. This never worked. I could get my hand painfully through, but it created more pressure on the drawer, and it wouldn't budge. I tried to get Sally and her smaller hands to help, but that wasn't working either. I tried using the handle of a toilet brush. I took down the shower curtain rod and tried to go over the top of the door. I tried folding a magazine and going under the door. I tried to comfort myself thinking perhaps Bill would be coming home for lunch. In about 3 hours. None of this worked.

Meanwhile, Sally is saying things like, "Oh no. This is so crazy!" and "We're never going to get out." Alice is crawling around, and mostly being pleasant, but starts to get weary of only seeing my fingertips after about fifteen minutes. After being in there for 25 minutes (and deciding to always take a cell phone to the potty), I decide we need help. Sally and I knelt down in the small space and we said a prayer.

About one minute later, two things happened. Alice pushed a thin cardboard tube (the kind that goes on a wire hanger) an inch or so under the door. She also bumped the drawer so that it closed a little bit. With the drawer in a bit and the with my new "tool", I was able to jimmy the drawer shut and open the door to our freedom. We were reunited at last!

Little Sally was relieved to be out,

And Alice was happy to be held and fed.

They were happy to be together again.

I was the most relieved, I'm sure. It was good to be out, but even better to be reminded of the power of prayer. This was the kind of experience that kids have, and maybe it was for Sally's benefit, but I was completely floored. The answer to our prayer came swift and sure. I think Heavenly Father heard my plea, and decided I needed some help. I am very grateful for that help, and for the opportunity we have to communicate with our maker at any time.

PS These pictures were from a little tea party we had. I dressed up too. We had special petit fours and pink milk for tea- delightful little lunch.

Battle with the Hornets

Despite the sound advice made by some of you, I went ahead with the operation "Sting First."

If you click the image you can get a better look. There are several hornets attached to the outside of the nest.

Although it's summer time in Atlanta, I put work gloves, a ski jacket with velcro sleves and a scarf--you know, to keep the hornets out of my jacket. I opened the window just high enough to get my arm out. Then I sprayed the entire can into the nest from about 4 feet away.

Hornets started streaming out of the nest. Some escaped and started hovering around. The operation was dicey there for a minute. There are still some hornets out that are not able to return to the nest.

From a downstairs window, some of the hornets can be seen. They are large and evil looking. You can see the stinger from a mile away.

Removal operations will commence on Monday.

Computer Panel Explodes

Imagine you're on the Starship Enterprise. Your sole job in life is to man a certain control panel, press the buttons and turn the dials when appropriate. Then an alien probe wanders by and implodes your control panel. Now what!? Aaaahuuhuuuuhhaahhuuuh!

Hornets: Not friendly.

Does anyone want to help me do battle with this hornet's nest? This is on the second floor near the master bedroom window--so it's way up by the roof about 25 feet high or so.

Snapshot of June

So, I've been lame in the blogging world. I still haven't posted about when my family came to town, and I plan on it. It is even started, but so much happened, that it seems a little daunting. in the meantime, I thought I'd share some of my awesome kids' developments. I also didn't realize Bill was posting some things at the same time. Check out his below.

Alice-

Alice is still about the sweetest little thing ever. She sleeps well, eats well, and rarely cries. When she does, it's short. She is laid back and beautiful and brings me so much joy every single day.

This girl LOVES to eat. She can't get enough. The only think she's snubbed has been the baby food turkey that more closely resembles cat food. I understand her rejection of that. She also wants her food continuously. If you wait too long between bites, she'll let you know. We've been giving her lots of table foods, and she likes everything. Her love of food has prompted some communication. She is always signing more! Her version involves putting the tips of her thumbs together. It's so sweet.

She has such beautiful eyes. And everything else. When we're out, I often get nice comments about her cuteness. Especially in the eye department.

I love this face- she often has her eyebrows pulled in this quizzical look. I think she's really trying to figure everything out. I think this curiosity is good. She'll use it to learn all kinds of good things.

This is definitely a water baby! She can't get enough. The second she touches water she kicks and splashes and gets very excited. She doesn't mind her face getting wet. It's so fun to see her! Here's a little clip of her splashing around. I love the legs!

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The biggest development in little Alice's life has been her ability to move. She's mobile now! Which is great, but changes my life quite a bit. She has the cutest little crawl. I can't decide if it's like an inch worm, or a frog. Either way, she's getting very good at it. She gets around wherever she wants to go, and leaves rooms with ease. Here's some footage of her in action.

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Sally-

Sally is such a passionate fun girl! She loves life and wants to enjoy it to its fullest. She is outgoing and friendly and loves to learn. You never have to wonder how she's feeling, she'll let you know. She's also very affectionate and I routinely get cuddles, kisses, hugs and love affirmations from this cutie.

I know this is blurry, but check out her face- she's plugging her nose with her upper lip- just like I can do. If only I could convince her to put her head in the water, she could put that skill to use.

Just like above, but clear and no funny face. I like this picture- yellow is such a happy color.

I know this picture has nothing to do with friendliness, but I'm using it to talk about that anyway. My grandpa used to say of me, "Emily knows no stranger". Sally is usually the same. She occasionally gets shy, but is usually ready to make friends with everyone around her. The other day at the playground, I was particularly impacted when she went up to some random kids and said, Hi, I'm Sally! Do you want to play with me?" She has no fear of rejection, just the desire to share her joy with others. Especially kids. She wants to be every child's friend.

This is Sally sitting at the computer. She loves playing games on this thing. we'll go to pbskids.org, and if i let her, she'd stay there indefinitely. She can move the mouse and click on all anything she wants. She'll follow the instructions and figure it out. It's amazing that she is using a computer already. She's not even three yet.

She has been all about books these days. She routinely wants to read 14 books in a row. She also likes to read them by herself. She has a few pretty well memorized (below is a clip). Lately, she's been wanting to put me to bed. It is so sweet. She reads, sings, says prayers, and gives me goodnight loves. I love it. I should say that the reason the video below is so shaky is that Alice was very interested in the hanging lens cap. She kept tugging at it.

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Here, I was trying to catch her singing. You can hear a little bit, but it's the overall behavior I find so funny.







Yes, she's asleep on the potty. So funny! This brings up two issues. Is Sally potty trained? No. She'll occasionally sit on the potty, but usually she wants nothing to do with it. She does have some cool panties that she likes to wear, and I think she really tries to keep them clean. mostly, though, she hold it in. I'm not pushing it super hard, because there's resistance and I don't want to make it a negative thing. It will come.

The other issue here is sleep. The reason she crashed here, was that she didn't get a nap this day. I'm torn, because she really needs a nap still- she does much better in the evening when she has one. (not to mention me needing her to nap) But she's having trouble settling down at night. She is often awake at 11:00 or later. In her room, but awake. We put her down, but she just wants to play. This doesn't happen when she doesn't nap. I've been trying to shorten her nap. I think that's the compromise we'll live with for now.

Together, the Nicolich girls are SO fun to be with. They love each other and life. They are so different, which is great. They both make me so happy.

This is a typical picture of Sally mauling Alice

We've been doing lots of fun things lately. playground trips (when we can stand the incredible heat), swimming trips, and blueberry picking. And of course, lots of fun and games at the homestead.

Sally loves these boots- even in this weather. I love her wearing them- super cute.

One similarity between our girls is their love of all things daddy. And with good reason. He is such a fun and loving papa. We are all lucky to have such a great man in our lives.

Game Night

We had Chad and Julie over for blueberry cobler made by Emily and a game of Settlers of Katan.

Julie Won.

Growing

I went to Alice's room one morning lately and found her sitting up. She has also held the top of the crib and "stood up" with her knees. Soon she'll be on her feet. So, it's time to move the crib bed to the lower position. She has grown a lot and is becoming mobile. Yay for Alice!

Good morning Alice! How are you today?