Helping Daddy

Camille liked helping Daddy install our new kitchen faucet and checking things out under the sink on Sunday. We had recently bought a new faucet, but it turned out to be a poorly designed product and already broke. This photo looks posed, but Camille really was helping.

Matt's been working long hours. I'm off work 3 days this week because my mom is out of town and I don't have childcare for Lily. The day went pretty well yesterday but Lily didn't sleep that well. I ran some errands in the morning to get things for Lily to start daycare on Monday. Lily really only sleeps well when she's wrapped up cozy in her bed. She screamed on the way home from Target. By afternoon she was tired but agreeable. I decided that since the weather was beautiful (actually hot) that I would load up Lily in the double stroller and pick up Camille from preschool on foot. I brought snacks for us and bread for the ducks, and we went home by the duck pond. Unfortunately, the ducks were hot and not at all interested in the stale hot dog buns Camille desperately wanted to feed them. The ducks would see us coming and take off in the other direction. That started off a crazy evening for me. Lily napped for a short while in the stroller, but after picking up Camille she stayed awake. When we were about half way home Lily started crying. She was tired and out of sorts. So, when we got home I got Camille set up with the TV. Lily helped me cook dinner sitting on my hip and not in a good mood. I started grilling our chicken and then Lily really started to cry. I held her off a little and then decided to turn down the chicken to cook slowly and nurse Lily. Well, Lily has recently decided that nursing is for babies and she likes bottles. What a pain! I thought her nursing strike had to do with the milk not coming out as fast, but yesterday she proved otherwise. When I tried to nurse her she just diddled around and let the milk soak her shirt, and then she hollered for a bottle. So, I rescued the chicken off the grill and then made her a formula bottle (which she actually drinks without batting an eye) because I didn't have any pumped milk thawed. I fed Camille and myself our cool chicken and the rest of our supper and then got Lily down for a brief nap. Camille took a bath and then was a pill about getting ready for bed (she's getting good at that behavior now). She's also practicing her drama skills and is getting really convincing! She's become obsessed with having me use q-tips on her ears and she'll cry and carry on "My ear HURTS soooo BAD" as she cries and makes faces in the mirror. She'll say "I need you to look in my ear with a q-tip." As I was putting Camille to bed Lily woke up. She was cross too. For about 5 minutes Camille was crying because she wanted to read a third book and Lily was crying, I guess because she was tired and somewhat hungry. I seemed to be making no difference in consoling either of them. Since Camille was mad at me, she started demanding her Daddy. I took Lily and went down stairs. Matt rolled in around 8:30pm and the night continued crazy as Lily was quite fussy and difficult to put to bed, and the house looked like it had been stirred with a stick. All four of us were exhausted. Luckily today is already going better. Lily is taking a good nap upstairs in her bed. I really should be cleaning sinks and toilets, but what fun is that?