Butterfly Farm

In continuing our summer adventures, yesterday our play group went to the All a Flutter Butterfly Farm in High Point. The tour taught us first about butterflies, specifically monarch butterflies. Did you know they breathe through their stomachs and only live two weeks? Monarchs hear with their knees and smell with their antennae.

Well despite being told that there is no way the butterflies could hurt us Kirsten was scared of them and refused to hold the sugar pad given to us to attract the butterflies. Bailey loved them and in fact grabbed one and was trying to figure out how to put it in her mouth before I saved it.

We didn't know ahead of time but the butterflies are particularly attracted to white, orange, pink, and purple so there were butterflies around Bailey a lot.

We brought two caterpillars and a milkweed plant home and ate looking forward to watching our caterpillars become butterflies. We will keep you updated with their progress!

The zoo

On Wednesday we took our first summer field trip to the North Carolina Zoo. This zoo is nothing compared to the Columbus zoo. It's a bit more spread out, a lot more woodsy, and a lot further. We only went through one half of the zoo (the Africa side). We saw some chimpanzees, gorillas, wild hogs, lions (that did nothing but sleep), elephants, zebras and giraffes. This zoo also has a dinosaur exhibit which has robotic lifelike dinosaurs that roar, spit and move. My little dainty princess did not like these at all. She walked through the whole exhibit holding my leg. It was almost comical. Despite being hot it was a lovely day with friends.

Summer begins

After a fun filled weekend at the beach, we officially began summer with a trip to the doctor and a visit to the children's museum. Bailey is a little peanut as suspected weighing in at 16 lbs 9 oz (15th %ile). Kirsten as usual weighed in at the 75th %ile as usual. She is now over 3 feet tall.

I did it!

> So I did it....I have not nursed my daughter since Thursday morning. Two Fridays ago (i think although the days are fuzzy) I stopped nursing Her during the day. As you know we were very routine based so it was before her nap. I offered her milk in a sippy cup and she took a few sips but then realized it was a substitute and not happy. I will have to admit, tho first two days were tough. I had to put her to sleep by letting her cry it out. Not fun! By the third day my mom was able to put her down without any crying and the rest of the week went well. We read a book and snuggle with her blanket and I can now put her down awake and I don't hear a peep.
>
> I was going to start evening weaning earlier this week but she was sick and not herself so I decided to hold off. She was feeling great on Wednesday afternoon so Joe and I decided that we should start Thursday night. We chose Thursday specifically so that we had the weekend to work together and in hopes that by Sunday when Joe wouldn't be here for bedtime that I could put her down without nursing. Thursday night was ok, she cried for a few minutes. Friday she went to bed ok, but she woke up around midnight and had a hard time going back to bed without nursing. It took until about 1:30. Saturday was HELL. She was so needy and was so grumpy all day. We did learn some things. She woke up upset and we fed her immediately. This helped. This morning we fed her as soon as she woke up and it helped with her mood. We also learned that not nursing has increased her already large appetite. Tonight, I put her to bed and all went well. She didn't even root. In place of nursing I sing her a song.
>
> So it's been since Thursday morning, so I would say I'm done. No, I'm not sad. In fact I'm happy and relieved that I made it this long. It was good while it lasted and I'm glad I did it, but I'm also thrilled to be done!

First day of preschool!

The move is done

Blogging will begin again as soon as I have internet but for now... The move is done, boxes still need to be unpacked and rooms still need to be painted. We are all getting used to life in the south.

fake tressel

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