Tuesday, 11:30pm

I should be sleeping right now...Ainsley is a little sick, Elise is 2 1/2, I need my energy during the day. But I CAN'T STAY AWAY from the OLYMPICS! Even though us "Right Coasters" have to stay up late, I know there are a lot of us staying up past 'bedtimes' for the next few weeks. So, I made myself comfy, put in my Crest Whitestrips, and finished dusting the downstairs while I'm watching. The US Women gymnasts just finished Round 2 and did very well. Everyone is pleased and it's almost time for Michael Phelps to swim again...I won't sleep until 2am at this point...it's just soo good.
I think little Shawn Johnson is adorable, but I can't help thinking of Fivel (from "An American Tail, circa 1986) when they show her...it's cute, and this isn't the best picture of Fivel for the comparison, but you get the idea...

Favorite new phrase..

Although not grammatically correct, Elise has warmed my heart twice in three days. Being 2 1/2, she loves her independence and she often says, "I ok. I do it ALL BY MYSELF"....(not in a bossy way, just informing us of her abilities.) A couple days ago, she took it to a new level of cuteness by saying, "I do it all by myself and you do it all by Mommyself".
"Mommyself"...how great is that!? Webster may not love the word, but I do.

The Lingo...

I love the Olympics. I really do. I love the competition, the teamwork, the "we all rally together for the spirit of our country", etc... but it makes me laugh to listen to ourselves as we're watching the Games every evening. In keeping up with friends' blogs, several have written about the AMAZING Men's Swimming Relay victory on Sunday night, the disappointing Women's Gymnastics showing in the prelims, the great show in fencing for the US Women, etc...and it cracks me up to read us all throwing stuff out there like, "too bad she over-rotated on that landing. All she had to do was stick the landing and she totally would've made the event finals", "Michael Phelps really uses his lower body strength to push him through the water better than most swimmers", or "The Chinese women really hold their tuck in well during the synchronized diving, but those Germans blew that one." You get the point. Very few of us would know that stuff without listening to the NBC commentators and watching the slow-motion shots, but it's fun to think we really know what we're talking about! Another lawyer in Adam's office (26 years old ish...) played big-time college water polo and was watching that competition today at their office. She has played with and against most of the women on the US team and REALLY knew what she was talking about. But it's fun and humorous all at the same time. It really is great to watch these 'kids' (because, seriously, the vast majority of the athletes are close to 10 years younger than us!) excel and to see a country totally divided by politics, College Football rivalries, and environmental zeal come together and all enjoy the same stuff for a few days. It's encouraging and cool and makes us a little patriotic together. Yay to Armchair Olympians! GO TEAM USA!

Woo-see

Our good friends across the street left yesterday for a week's vacation and we volunteered to 'pet-sit' their hermit crab, Lucy. ("Woo-see" acc. to Elise). She LOVES this little thing and would be happy to watch Lucy crawl around the kitchen floor for hours. I guess it could be worse, it could be a nasty, smelly guinea pig/hamster/ferret or something...we want her to be exposed to nature and animals and to not be afraid of silly little stuff, so I'm fine with having it around. However, it seems like once The Rettigs reclaim Lucy next week, the Moseleys will be heading to PetSmart for our very own crustacean...=)

The Harvest, con't...

On that same note of 'backyard news', we are continuing to eat the spoils of our garden (Adam insists we call it our FARM, but with less than 10 total plants, I think "Garden" really is more appropriate!). Anyway, this weekend we ate chives and two bell peppers straight from the yard- that was fun. Just DAYS after I blogged about our HUGE, yet not productive, Watermelon plant, we saw some small fruit growth hidden within the vines...in just 3 weeks, the watermelon have gone from the size of a green bean to a full-sized watermelon! unreal. We have at least 5 that are this size. Elise runs to the window several times a day and reminds us, "The watermelons are growing, mommy...look! They so big!". I love it and we'll let you know when we actually pick them and eat. The best part is that three of them have grown on the actual deck! We didn't want to damage the melons, so we let them grow right there. it's pretty funny.

A new resident

Although I a definitely consider myself a biologist and was a science teacher with SNAKES in my classroom, I DO NOT LIKE the little slitherers....so when we heard from neighbors that there have been at least two 'incidents' with RATTLESNAKES in our neighborhood, I wasn't happy. Apparently, they're pretty rare around here, but two confirmed sightings- one of them just 2 houses away...I shudder just thinking about it! Gross.
The biggest issue is just that I'm scared of letting Elise and Gus out in the backyard without my being right next to them. We love our backyard garden, great fenced in green area, good shade to play in, etc...I used to let Elise run around and play while I sat on the deck (within 20 feet of her!) feeding Ainsley or whatever. Now I won't do it. If she pays attention to her favorite cartoon characters Dora and Diego, she thinks it's ok to play with snakes, pick them up, put them around your neck, etc...but we've been practicing better snake "handling". I ask her "What do you do if you see a real snake outside?" "Run away and yell 'No snake, no snake'". Nice.
On that same note, Adam's mom has been here all weekend (a Great visit-more on it later!), and she was outside for a few minutes at one point and came running in quickly to tell me there was a SNAKE in the backyard. AUGH. My curiosity overtakes my jitters, so I grab a camera and run outside. It was about 3 feet long and, according to neighbors, it was a non-poisonous Black Snake. I still didn't like it. Here are a couple pictures. We followed him around the yard for about 10 minutes and then he slithered out under the fence. I'm VERY concerned now about another little (or not so little) guy getting in, but we won't give up. We'll continue to play in the backyard, but make a lot of noise when we go out and my eyes scan the fence and sunny spots as soon as I step outside...we'll see.

Us 4 vs. Ainsley 1

If you aren't a fan of the parenting strategy of "let them cry it out", you may not want to keep reading this....
Ainsley is 6 months old as of yesterday and earlier this week we decided that her waking up in the middle of the night to eat still just HAD TO END! I'd had enough of it and knew she had the ability to make it through the night without food. So we just had to wait it out during some middle of the night crying. It's so hard! Over the course of the week, I've sat in bed and listened to her crying for several HOURS, only caving once to go in and feed her (Monday overnight 4am). Other than that, she's gone between 10-12 hours each night without food. My little one has done it! Waking up at 7am this morning and knowing I just got 8 1/2 hours of sleep STRAIGHT is almost unbelievable....so great! I'm so thankful for Adam telling me to 'tough it out' (as he rolled back over the sleep all night long). Although I know I'll miss that one-on-one peaceful time with Ainsley, I can't wait to have more energy during the day to chase around Miss "I never stop running, and talking" Elise. =)