I love my children. . . when they're sleeping.

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Let me clarify. I love them when they're awake too. But right now, right this very minute, Quincy is screaming out her lungs in her crib and breaking my heart. We are sleep training her and I have to keep telling myself that it is for her own good. We actually have made serious headway with her, but WOW babies should just come knowing how to sleep. What's so hard about that? Seriously.
Once I was holding Avery as a young sleeping baby in my arms as I talked to a bank teller and I commented that there is nothing better than a sleeping baby. That young teller gave me the dirtiest look, as if thinking that I am so put out by my children that I only like them lying in slumber. But I think any mother can understand my sentiment. It can be a long process to get a baby to sleep. It can involve crying and rocking and nursing and so on. You know when your baby is tired, but they need convincing. So there is definitely a moment of "phew" when your child falls asleep. And then there's that whole surreal transformation when all of the sudden he or she is an angel. I'm not talking 'a cute, serene child'. I'm talking an out of this world celestial little being. There is such a pureness and peace to that sleeping baby that I have seen no where else.
Oh, by the way, 40 eternal minutes later, Quincy is asleep.
As I said, we are trying to sleep train Quincy. She went from waking about 6 times a night to sleeping through 3 full nights. Considering that Avery is still not sleep trained, I didn't know babies really could do that! I mean, I've heard... You see, I have a threshold. Any attempts we made with Avery were bailed on because he far exceeded my threshold. It felt like we were torturing him with no results. And I'm not stupid. I know it takes consistency and determination, but I swear Avery is one of a kind. I need to read a book on strong willed children. He was born that way. If I told him to eat candy, he'd eat vegetables. When I tell him to go to time out, he yells back, "No, you go time out!" Sometimes he pushes Quincy and then runs straight to time out himself. I'm pretty sure it's a calculated decision that time out is worth the prize. Very rarely I threaten a swat on the butt as a last resort. He yells, "No, I spank myself." And in hilarious fashion, he proceeds to do just that. Good times. And most recently, I was holding Avery in my arms telling him how wonderful he is: "Avery, you are my favorite little boy. You are kind and smart and handsome. You love your Mommy and your Daddy. You love Quincy and you love Jesus." His response to this was, "I don't WANT to follow Jesus!" That came from the mouth of my incredibly defiant two year old! HILARIOUS... I think. Back to the sleep subject, when I do get Quincy to sleep, I hold my breath that Avery doesn't bang on the door or jump in her crib in both inadvertent and blatant attempts to wake her. Wow, nothing frustrates me more. But in his cuteness, Avery says, "Look! Baby's awake now!" Anyway, such frequent frequent frequent antics are yet another reason that sleep is so very welcome in our house!
By the way, she's awake now.

YOU GOT TO SEE THIS STUD UP CLOSE!

Logan's Baby Animal Days

Avery loved Logan's Baby Animal Days!  He wasn't afraid of the animals and he even rode a horse!  He held a duck and a rabbit and pet a pig, a goat, and a sheep.  He needs a little work on his candy snagging skills after the Candy Cannon.  The other kids kicked his butt.  Same with Easter.  We'll work on that.