Neck muscles of steel

Ro scared the buhjeezus out of me today. The girls were eating lunch in their high chairs when she suddenly went all zombie-like. No talking, no movement, arms curled up and resting on the tray (one hand still holding up a spoon), no eye contact. She didn't respond to anything until I freaked the hell out and frantically ripped the tray off her highchair. Then she looked up sadly and said "Mama, seep!" (first time in history she's asked to sleep). Yikes. The girls both have colds and I guess her tiredness just caught up with her and kicked her butt. I've felt that way sometimes when I'm sick. Ree said she wasn't tired and that she and Yellow Nanni wanted to play but Ro started for the stairs and said sternly "Ree seep!". Heh. Anyhow I helped them upstairs, put them in the pack-and-plays, and they both crashed instantly. Ok... Since they were good as gold today, and I'm all stress-free and happy, I wanted to calmly mention that we have entered into an extreme whining stage. On certain days (thankfully not all of them), one of the girls will respond to each of her sister's "unforgivable" toy thefts with glass-breaking shrieking and nails-on-a-chalkboard whining. It is truly an unbearable sound. Your instinct is to run far far away. But you can't. So we're working on it. If you have any suggestions (or just some sympathy and hugs), please let me know. To end on a positive note, my little bro took this photo while he was visiting, and we decided it should be called "Bliss!" I think little Ree was born to swing. She gets this look on her face every time and asks to go higher and faster by saying "Mo fass Mama. Fass!!" And here are a few other recent photos of the girls in the moments when they were having fun and not taunting each other by seeing who can grab Yellow Nanni and run the fastest. View them all on one page or in a slideshow. PS: I wrote most of this post earlier, while the girls were napping, and just needed to wait until the girls went to sleep tonight so I could finish it. Unfortunately, I am no longer stress-free. Something freaked Ree out again after bedtime (maybe Ro tapped her pack and play, maybe she heard a noise, I don't know) but she started screaming and crying that the bed had moved. TubaDad and I just spent over an hour going in and out of the girls' bedroom, calming her down, convincing her that everything was ok, then leaving only to have her start scream-cry-hyperventilating and darting her eyes all around the room again. It was awful. She's finally lying down and quiet, asleep I think, but now poor little Ro is wide awake and singing and talking to herself. Ugh. I'm exhausted, TubaDad and I yelled at each other when we couldn't figure out what to do, and I have one of those microwave neck-warmers permanently attached to my body.