Two Black Eyes

Piper has had a rough go with bruises on her face over the past month.

Five to be exact.

On her FACE!

I'm very thankful that there have been witnesses to causes of three of the five,

or else I might have started to worry about people talking!!

Her poor little face.

The first bruise resulted from swinging in her toy kitchen 

and putting her feet in Elliotte's toy wagon. 

This bruise was foreseeable!

The second bruise was from the latch on our patio gate.

She swung the gate open (hard apparently)

and whacked herself in the forehead.

That one bruised nicely!

The third was from tripping over a stump in our backyard,

only for her face to land on another stump.

What are the chances?

Both stumps have since been removed from the ground.

(Thank you, Daddy!)

The fourth bruise landed in the exact same spot as the tree stump bruise,

before it had even disappeared. 

It was from a collision with Elliotte's head while they were playing with a balloon.

And the fifth,

and hopefully final bruise for a while,

was the result of a collision with a little boy while at Active Start last week.

This one occurred on her left cheek,

while the right cheek is still green from bruises three and four.

Fun times for Piper's face.

Fun times indeed.

Elliotte's face has remained bruise-free for the time being,

however you will find her with red puffy eyes each night now.

My littlest has gone from loving and begging to go to bed,

to screaming for an hour during each bedtime. 

After our bedtime routine,

she will point to go in her crib and make you think that everything is fine.

Then the minute you try to walk out of the room,

she will stand up and beg for more kisses and hugs.

Then tell you to kiss and hug Piper.

Then as for hugs and kisses from Daddy.

Then more from Mommy...

When we tire of this game, 

she will start to jump in her crib and scream.

SCREAM!

If you pick her up she stops.

Put her back in and she screams.

If you leave the room,

she tries to climb out of her crib.

(We watch her on the monitor and catch her when she's straddling the top rail.)

It has been a very very rough couple of weeks. 

Piper has only slept through the night once since Christmas. 

She's now getting up between 3-5 times a night.

Elliotte is exhausted after her screaming fit, 

but will wake me at least once and refuse to go back to sleep

unless I take her in my bed.

I used to be able to fight them into going back to sleep in their own beds,

but extended lack of sleep on my part

has led me to give in.

There is only so much fight you can put up

when you are suffering from sleep deprivation.

Especially over such an extended period of time.

Maybe tomorrow night...

xo

xo

My little girls balancing beanbags on their heads again. 

Piper is fabulous at this!
Must be all that practice being poised at ballet.

This little one has trouble staying still long enough to balance the beanbag.
Plus she likes to show it to everyone,
especially mom and dad!

Here she was insisting that Daddy balance the beanbag on his head
while she wore his hat.
I seriously LOVE this photo!

Soccer time!
It's easy here to see the double-bruise on Piper's right cheek.

The light made it hard to see the right cheek bruises,
but you can see the bump and start of the left cheek bruise
from the collision with a little boy just 20 minutes before this photo was taken.
Ouch!