Once we were back from Washington and officially had our new puppy, it was back to business as usual. Stephen didn't have to go back to work until the first full week of January, so we had him at home with us for half a week and it was wonderful. He devoted most of his time to training Coco and getting our house puppy-proofed, but he also found time to complete home projects and take care of the girls so that I could complete this ice skating panda cake for my friend's nephew. I will not admit how long that little melted jolly rancher frozen pond took me or how many dishes and jolly ranchers I burnt in the process, but at least the results were very very cute!
I spend all of October wondering why we live in this fire pit while everyone else gets to experience a beautiful fall, but then I spend all of January remembering why Arizona is so awesome. While everyone else deals with snow and cold we are at the park and eating lunch outside every day. Over the holidays the girls sleep schedules got really, really bad so we had to do a hard reset as soon as we got back. I put them to bed between 5:30- 6:30 pm every day now, and have to make a determined effort to tire them out during the day, so we had A LOT of park time. Ada figured out how to climb the stairs and do the slide all by herself and I am now the mom at the park who gets to sit and chill while her children play. It is glorious. And how wonderful is baby slide hair?! It cracks me up that she can look so bald most of the time, except for when the static electricity hits and then she's got loads of hair!
Coco has proved to be a very smart and very sweet dog. The first few nights Stephen slept out on the couch with her and was up a lot at night calming her and taking her out to use the potty. I enjoyed the role of a dad who can't help much and slept right through the night. I wasn't the one missing out on sleep, but it seems like by night three or four she made it through the night in her crate and by night five had even moved back into our room. Stephen gets up with her to use the bathroom in the morning, but besides that she stays pretty quiet and happy in there. During the day she likes to stay with him in the office so the girls and I see her most around her meal and potty time. In the evenings she sleeps around the house while Stephen finishes work and I watch shows. Then we move her to the crate when we go to bed and like I said, she sleeps through the night. I expected puppies to be so much worse, but she really is pretty easy. There's been only a few times that I have had to be in charge of Coco and the girls, and I got overwhelmed and sent her outside pretty quickly, but how awesome is it that you can just send dogs outside when they are bugging you?! That doesn't work nearly as well on Rory.
Ada loves Coco and we have quickly realized they are basically the same person. They fight over all the same toys, love eating off the floor, and cry if we don't give them enough attention. They grab and bite/pinch and roll around and get messy. They are so so funny to watch together, and Coco really is endlessly patient with Ada. Rory is hit or miss with her affection with Coco. Early on she would tell me things like "I wish Coco would find a new house, she's smelly." and I thought oh no, she is too much like me! But as Coco has gotten more trained and used to us, she's calmed down and she and Rory have had a lot more happy time together. Rory likes Coco best when she has friends over because all of Rory's little friends are obsessed with her new dog. Coco for sure loves Stephen the most forever, Ada is probably second because of how much she feeds her, Rory and I probably tie for third because we both mostly yell at her and send her outside. I love that Stephen has a little emotional support animal to get him through this busy season and he really does seem quite a bit happier than he has in past busy seasons. No commute and a new best buddy will do that to you!
Rory's Parks and Rec Class for this session is a little discovery science class. They do science experiments every week and she loves it. Ada and I have some one on one time while she is in class and she is one busy little bee. She loves the park outside, but only for a little while and then she is much more interested in trying to run into the parking lot while I block her path. They have a mini sink in their restroom, and sinks just happen to be Ada's current obsession. If I had less pride or health concerns I would let her play in this sink all day and I'm sure as long as I let her keep the water on she would gladly do so.
Rory has been working on her makeup skills and she is the artist behind this complete makeover photoshoot. Make up, posing, photos- everything. She kills me!
Easily the most exciting part of January was the birth of Kristy and Trevor's second miracle baby, Darcy! Her 19-year-old birth mother bravely decided to give her up and we are all so ecstatic to have her in the family.
For my birthday I was gifted eyelash extensions from my friend Marisa and so I got to go and take a three hour nap while my other friend Sarah watched the girls and my new "lash girl" made my eyes beautiful. It has been an adjustment but I had to document them before the start of dance class the next day.
Also for my birthday, my mom got me an annual pass for the Legoland Discovery Center and the aquarium next door at the Arizona mills mall. We have already made good use of it. They have a fun little ride where you shoot the bad guys to earn points, a climbing play place, and tons of legos to build and play with. The girls love it and they employees are starting to recognize us.
We hit a big milestone this month and Ada moved in to Rory's room with her! She still naps in our closet, but at night time these two party it up in their big girl room. The transition has actually gone surprisingly well. The number of times they have made each laugh outweighs the number of times they have made each other cry, which was not what I had anticipated. The other night I was gone at the church and Rory got out of her bed to ask Stephen for water. She said, "I climbed in to Ada's crib and I smelled something yucky. So I looked in her diaper and saw something black. Want me to go check if it's poop?" So helpful, that girl! We had to get matching jammies to celebrate the big move. One more step closer to baby sister getting here!
This is Stephen smiling while he works during busy season and I had to snap a picture to see that it was possibly. Coco is a miracle dog!
I made the girls fruit smoothies one morning and Ada quickly turned hers into a crime scene. This baby sure keeps us on our toes these days. She cries and screeches to get what she wants, and she is so loud that she usually does. She loves toothbrushes and toothpaste and carries them around all day long. She would be happiest if we let her eat fruit snacks all day long. She loves shoes and wants to be wearing her own shoes or trying on Rory's. She loves Coco, only a little less so when Coco totally knocks her over. She still only has two modes, happy as a clam or crying/ screaming at the top of her lungs. We spend a lot of the day saying, "Chillax Ada!" She loves running to Stephen's door and crying until one of us gives in and opens it so that she can interrupt his work. She's the cutest and the worst all rolled up into one and we are soaking up every minute of the last of her baby days.
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