A Family Journal

Well, I got the cold. I woke up this morning with a heavy head and overall just not feeling well. The good news is the kids seem to be over the worst of it. Quentin still feels pretty bad, but he usually develops nasty sinus stuff with his colds that prolong it and make it worse. I am hoping I am over it quickly. The kids only seemed to have 1-2 bad days. The two little ones still have runny noses but don't seem to be feeling bad now.

And so today has been a quiet day. I even had dinner mostly set up during naptime in preparation of the kids waking up around 4pm. Just had to cook it. Today is also the first day I have made dinner for Quentin and I! Granted it is just chicken with some olive oil and seasoning that I will bake in about an hour, but I did actually manage to get it ready to go=) Quentin has been making dinners for us while I have been getting used to having another little one to care for. It is all about planning ahead!

Before naptime UPS delivered a package for Reina from the Disney Store. I ordered her some fall/winter jammies the other day. She picked out Minnie Mouse and Tinkerbell. Probably cause they are both pink=) They arrived and Reina had to immediately put on Tinkerbell. She has worn them all day. We'll see if I can get them off her before bed so I can wash them=)

Quentin's coworkers sent home a basket of goodies for Alina yesterday. It was really thoughtful of them! All the goodies will be put to good use. Reina has claimed the rubber ducky though. It helped her eat her spaghetti last night=)

Alina is becoming more and more sure of herself and her surroundings. She ventures into the play area on her own and will play quietly. She likes to terrorize Reina when she is trying to slide down our little slide. Reina will cower at the top. I don't know what she thinks Alina is going to do to her=) That is about the only time Reina has a problem with Alina now. They actually have been playing well together. Alina also likes to bounce on Daddy's back! We were playing with her last night and she crawled over to him and tried to climb on. Quentin said she saw Reina do it earlier when I was downstairs with the laundry again. So I put her on and she started bouncing. It was so funny. She gets a huge grin on her face when she is excited and you can tell she wants to squeal. She really doesn't make much noise. She will babble a bit, and she definitely knows how to howl, but she only makes happy sounds occasionally. You can tell by her face that she is excited and happy though.

Before bed last night the kids and I went downstairs to get ready for bed. While I was in getting beds ready, Lauren picked up Alina and ran around chaising her sisters. Alina was loving it! When I came out of her room to see what was going on I just started laughing. She had her face scrunched up in her happy look and was actually laughing and squealing. Her laugh sometimes sounds like a cry which is why I came out of her room pretty quickly to see if she was alright. I let them run around for awhile, Reina screaming at the top of her lungs. Then I picked out a couple books and had them sit on their beanbag chairs. Reina was up and down in her chair a lot. Abbie and Lauren sat and listened. Alina tried to eat the books and tissues I had next to me to wipe noses.

She is getting more and more used to Quentin. We are about to the point we were at when he saw her last in Kazakhstan during court. Except she doesn't want him to pick her up if I am in the room. She will let him if I am gone.

More later.......