Lately, I've been reading a book on productivity. So far, it has been very good, but I don't want to recommend it until I finish reading it and test it out. So far, however, it has made me markedly less productive, since I have been reading the book instead of doing work. I know it will be challenging for me to implement because it involves a lot of front-end planning work. If you are familiar with my heritage, you know that would be difficult for any Tolleson to undertake. If you know me personally, you know it will be against my highly procrastinating grain. I think it will change my life (and my family's lives) for the better, so I am finding my motivation.

I am very excited right now because I just finished writing a ten-page motion. I have not done many of these, and it feels good to be doing more "lawyerly"-type work. I think I did a decent job on it, but I wonder how much better it could have been if I were fully rested and stress-free. This way of thinking is pretty crazy, because I know of no person who is actually fully rested and stress-free; I do, however, know a few lucky ones who are a little more rested and have lighter stress. To all who may read this post: may your productivity increase, your fun increase, your rest be adequate, and your stress be low. Peace.

She woke up this morning still in pain and refusing to put her weight on her right foot. Unfortunately, Bill also woke up with a great pain in his back. I decided to call our chiropractor (who, by the way, has an identical twin-chiropractor sister). She called in a prescription for some x-rays of Parker and made appointments for treatment and an hour-long massage for Bill. (Maybe my back's starting to hurt, too!?) So, Annie and I loaded Bill and Parker into the car, dropped Bill at the chiro's, and took Parkie to the x-ray place. She was a little scared but was very, very brave. They had an aquarium with all the "Nemo" fish in it, so the girls were in heaven. We finally got home at 10:30, Bill was asleep by 11:00, and the girls and I drifted off at 12:30--before having lunch. We all slept until 3:00! Bill had taken the day off in order to "organize" things and "catch up" on things. All any of us caught up on was sleep. Very nice, though. The chiropractor called us at 4:00 and told us Parker had no broken bones, and that I could tell her it was ok to walk on it if she wanted to. We had company over for dinner, and she finally walked on it after supper. She's doing great now. Thanks for all the prayers.

Oh, she also mooned us this evening. As we were playing outside, she and Annie had very wet diapers. Since we'll be potty training soon, I just stripped them down and left their dresses on. They've been in to Princess "bowing" lately, so Parker bowed to the neighbor's house. She also picked up her dress and stuck her little white tushie out at us. I haven't laughed like that in quite a while.

Today was Mother's Day Out at church. Luckily, my frequent babysitter Patrick is in charge of the program. Since he lives so close to us and the church is a little bit of a drive, he drives my car and takes my girls for me. When they came back home today, he reported Parker had an incident. He said she was involved in a brutal game of ring-a-round the rosies. Apparantly, she fell and twisted her ankle good. She had fallen asleep in the car, and when she got home, her ankle looked fine. When she awoke, however, she cried her poor little head off for an hour. I bent her ankle around, moved her toes, twisted her knee, and worked her hips. No pain. When she stands on it, though, she screams. (We'll be taking her to the doctor tomorrow.)

When I was talking to my mom on the phone this evening, she said that when my brothers were about three or four, Grey hurt his leg. She informed she got out a little wagon, and Greg took him anywhere he wanted to go. I thought, "genius"!!! So, I got out my little umbrella stroller. Annie pushed Parker around for about 15 minutes, but since she is two-and-a-half, she then started asking, "Annie's turn, Annie's turn?!" Oh well, it was worth a try.

We now have big girl beds!! We thought we were just going to put their crib mattresses on the floor for awhile, but since a) they were so traumatized when they thought I was getting rid of ALL of their things, and b) I received my Oregon public employee retirement account check, we decided to splurge and go ahead and get the twin bunkable beds.

We bought them late in the evening, so when we got home, we put the girls down in our bed. Papa and Mama stayed up late that night assembling the beds. After we assembled the beds and when the girls were sound asleep, we gently slipped them into their new beds. When they awoke, they were "freaking out," squealing with excitement. It was a good decision to buy the beds, because they have slept all night for two nights in a row now! The only problem is getting them to fall asleep initially. This evening, I sat in their room with them to make sure they stayed in their beds. They were so cute and funny, it took all I had not to laugh at everything they said. It reminded me of when I was a little girl at "bunkin' parties." ("Sleepovers" for you Yankee readers.)

Finally, it got quiet. I thought to myself, "yay, this is it!!" Then Parker raised up and said, "Annie, you asleep?" Annie replied "no." Then they both started laughing hysterically. I giggled and had to leave the room to ask their Daddy-Bear to finish the role of "sleep monitor" for the evening. It's quiet up there, now!! I just hope it takes less than an hour-and-a-half for them to drift off to dreamland tomorrow night.

After two exhausting weeks of VERY little sleep, my husband was entertaining the girls with his math skills. He said "one plus one is two, two plus two is three..." When that came out of his mouth, I said "umm," he quickly realized his mistake, and we both laughed hysterically. He decided to leave all future math teaching to me. Ugh. And to think I went to law school to try to avoid math. (No offense, brother!)

Yesterday we ate pizza and learned our shapes. I asked the girls what shape the pizza slice was. They replied "triangle." I asked what shape the plate was. They replied "circle." I asked what shape the table was. They replied "square." I thought, good, they're three for three. I then asked them what shape daddy's head was. Annie replied "square." We all four died laughing.

Parker Grace, our younger twin, is very tall. They both are, but this story is about her. She can reach higher on the counter than my husband and I realize. A couple of days ago, she found Daddy's travel coffee mug from the day before. I was downstairs, and when she arrived, I noticed her drinking the day-old java. I told her "no, you cannot drink that," and explained that "little girls should not drink coffee." With tears streaming down her face, she replied, "I want coffee!! More coffee! More coffee!" Through my laughter I told her I was sorry she could not have more. This half-bred Pacific Northwest baby sounded just like her Daddy.