Sippy Cup Blues

I failed to get us to church on time this morning...again.  Thank goodness we at least made it in time to have sacrament passed to us in the foyer.

Once home, I started a movie playing for Alegria and went and nursed Odette, who fell asleep pretty fast.

Then I made Alegria and myself some lunch.  While said lunch was being had, Cameron sent me a message saying he was online and for me to join him.  So I did.  Shortly afterward, Alegria joined me and she and I messaged with Daddy for a while.

A little before 2, I took Alegria in for her nap.  She's starting to not want to take naps, so I've started telling her that if she doesn't want to nap, she doesn't have to, but that she must stay in her room for some quiet time.  She gets the staying in the room part...but the quiet part...?  Not so much.

Today she fussed and fussed and was the complete opposite of quiet for about 30 minutes...after which she ZONKED OUT!  But...she'd stayed in her room... 

She slept like this for an hour:

At 2:30, right about the time that Alegria finally fell asleep, Odette woke up.  *sigh*  I told that to Cameron and he said that they were starting to get ready to close up shop there anyway, so we said our goodbyes and he said he'd call tomorrow night.

And then I went to get Odette.  I nursed her and then she and I just hung out.

When Alegria woke up at about 3:30, we all just relaxed a little bit before giving Odette some rice cereal.  Slowly I've been adding less breast milk to her cereal, so the consistency is much thicker now than when we started, and she's still doing really well with it and eating it all up.  :)

However...we did try giving her a sippy cup today...she did not seem as interested in it as I had hoped:

I had started Alegria off on a sippy cup with water and Alegria took to it really well right from the start.  She more than anything was curious about the cup and loved just holding on to it!  Since Odette didn't seem to like the sippy cup very much, I wondered if I were to put breast milk in it, if it would get her attention more and make her like it...but the opposite was true:

ARG!  I was hoping that since she isn't taking a bottle, that if she liked a sippy cup, I could get her to take milk from that!  But I guess not.  :(  Oh well!

After trying out the sippy cup, I fed Odette what she wanted and then we took her 21-week pictures:

And here are a few close-ups of Odette graduating from her stud diamonds to the little blue rhinestone half-hoop earrings that I mentioned yesterday!  Pretty!  :)

Then I got a few pictures of Alegria in her dress which this morning as I dressed her, she said is her "princess dress" and it's "booful!" (beautiful)

As much as she'd wanted to get in on the pictures when I was taking them of Odette, she was not very cooperative when I was trying to get pictures of just her.  I wanted to get a close-up of her wearing a pair of earrings that my little sister, Almalia, got me for Christmas, which Alegria loved and kept shaking her head back and forth to feel them on her cheeks, but she was not staying still or smiling very well!

She finally started twirling in her dress and I finally got a cute, real smile out of her!

Finally I got Odette ready for bed and we came out to the living room to have family prayer with Alegria...

...and to try to get a picture of the two of them together.

Alegria whispering to Odette: "I know a secret...I get to stay up later than you!"

Odette: "Mommy, is that true?" (As Alegria smiles her evil smile in the background!)

When I told Odette it was true, Odette was NOT happy!

Odette: "That's SO not FAIR!!!" 

Alegria: "I told you so!"

Alegria to Odette right before giving her a sweet, sisterly kiss: "Don't worry, when you're a big girl like me, you can stay up late, too!"

Odette was pretty tired and was asleep by 7:25.

When I came back out to the living room, I took Alegria's ponytails out...and the result was so funny, I just HAD to snap a picture!

Alegria: "Stop Mommy, please!  My hair looks horrible!"

Me: "That's why I want a picture!  Haha!"

Alegria: "Fine, but I'm not happy about it, so I won't smile."

Alegria and I played a little bit more, but then by 8:15, we got her teeth brushed and watched her Daddy movie, and I put her in my bed by 8:35.  I thought I was done for the night with the girls at that time...

Well...only about 5 minutes later, I heard Alegria making loud growling noises, so I went into the bedroom and told her quietly that she needed to be quiet and not wake Odette up or else she was going to go sleep in her own room.

5 minutes after that, I heard Alegria being loud again...and she'd woken Odette up this time!  So I went in there, told Alegria that she had woken up the baby, that she was supposed to be quiet, and that she'd better not make a sound for the rest of the night or else she was going to sleep in her bedroom.  And then I got Odette out of her crib and began nursing her to get her to go back to sleep. 

All of a sudden, Alegria started talking again, so I put Odette back in her crib, and took Alegria to her room and told her she was sleeping there tonight.  Then I went back and nursed Odette again and finally got her to go back to sleep.  This whole time, I could hear Alegria crying and carrying on.

Once Odette was down again, I went to Alegria's room and explained yet again why she was in her room and not in "Mommy bed" as she kept telling me.  I got her settled down and sang to her.  Then, surprise of surprises, when I got done singing the "Elphy song" (Baby Mine...from Dumbo) to her, she asked for "Gia" and since that's how she says her name, I knew that's the song she wanted!  She never asks for any other song! 

Anyway.  Even after I sang the whole repertoire a few times, she was not satisfied and when I left the room, she still cried.  She eventually fell asleep, though. 

I did my usual end-of-the-day/night chores and came here...

But Odette woke up again at about 11:30, so I went to nurse her again...which means I'm up late again.  I KNEW last night's before-midnight going to bed wouldn't last!  :(

Oh well.  :)  I'm finally done blogging and now it's time for bed, so...toodaloo!  :)