Happy Holidays

I love the holidays. Getting in lots of good family time. Had a nice visit with Mom and Dad, and a delicious dinner at the Montcalm on their anniversary. The girls loved having them visit. Addison was a little cautious at first because she hasn't seen them since August, but she warmed up right away and was soon giving them big smiles and giggles. I love her laugh... Brent and Sarah are visiting from TX. Lauren, Sarah, Salma, Leila and I went to the movies to see "Enchanted" today, we all really liked it. Tonight we had dinner at the Carey's, drinks at O'Toole's with Jer and Cassie, Eli and Kristen, Brent and Sarah. They fell in love with Addison, of course. Lauren had fallen asleep on the Carey's floor so she stayed there until I got home to get her. Tomorrow, Christmas brunch in Schaghticoke at Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's, Christmas Eve dinner at the Carey's. Then Christmas morning at our own house and leaving around noonish(?) to drive to ME for more Christmas! We are going to be exhausted, but happy. Can't wait to see everyone in ME.

I know I should correct Lauren when she says a word incorrectly so she doesn't learn it the wrong way and have to unlearn it, but some of the mistakes are so darn cute I don't want to. She thinks the little pink things on her chest are called "nibbles". I thought it was cute -then she announced at a holiday party that her "nibbles hurt". I think because I sometimes complain about my "nibbles" due to breastfeeding an infant with two new teeth.

Addison's latest cold seems to be fading. June recently had a vaccine against shingles (adult form of chicken pox) which contains an active virus. She isn't supposed to be near Addison for 10 days since she hasn't had the chicken pox vaccine and it's driving her crazy. We hadn't seen much of her lately, but went over today and June had to stay across the room. I know all she wanted to do was hold Addison.

We've been trying to decide how to spell Addison's nickname. If anyone actually reads this, how about some feedback in the comments? Addie or Addy? Thanks. Of course she has many nicknames, including Addili, Goose, (from silly goose??) Goosey, Baby Girl, Pookie, Pooks, Pookie-pooks, Pookie-princess and various others but I'm thinking those won't stick when she's older.

Merry Christmas!

Sick-O

Up with Lauren most of the night. She must have some stomach bug that started at 12:40 last night. What a messy, exhausting night. It amazes me the way instinct kicks in when your kid is sick and you just do what you have to do. Tyler and I both just jumped into action and got everything cleaned up and taken care of without a word. Weird. She seems to be feeling better today. Lots of ice water and popsicles, naps and cartoons.

Someone invited me into the strange world of Facebook. My account seems to have taken on a life of it's own, inviting people to be my friends... Not sure what I think about it yet, but I'll give it a chance.

SO excited for Christmas, vacation and family time. Can't come soon enough!

Feeling a little better...

I'm feeling a little better after some more conversations with Lauren. I think she defines "unpretty" as mean like the villains in the movies. (Cruella, Ursula, etc...) I love that there's a book/story for every moral. We talked about the ugly duckling, rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and the rainbow fish... I think she's getting it.

Now we're fighting nightly dinner battles. I understand that kids tend to be picky, but I don't understand why she's deciding all of a sudden that she doesn't like things that she used to love. (Turkey, peas, chicken tacos, pizza...) I'm fighting that because if we give in she'll only eat grilled cheese sandwiches and macaroni and cheese. It's exhausting and makes dinner time miserable. She eats what I made or she doesn't eat. Also, if she eats her dinner one of these nights we're going to make gingerbread cookies as a reward. Hasn't worked yet. Still hoping...

I know I complain a lot, but I also love them both to pieces and I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world!!

Smile!

Pretty Scary...

I think it was Jill that said something about Lauren starting to ask the "hard questions". All of a sudden she's got a lot of them. Some of them have been:

"How does Santa get down the chimney if he's so big and fat?"

"Did God make people first and then they had babies?"

A few days ago we had this conversation: Lauren said something about only wanting to be friends with pretty people. She's been saying lately that she wants to be the prettiest girl in the world. I've been feeling heartbroken that my little girl sounds so shallow and wondering what we did wrong. I've been trying to explain that being pretty is not the most important thing in the world. I asked her this question: "Would you rather be friends with someone who is pretty, but always mean to you, or someone who is not pretty, but is very nice and always a good friend". She said she doesn't know what to choose and "please let me think about these questions you are asking me." She said she wants friends who are pretty and nice, not unpretty and mean. I tried to explain that they don't always go hand in hand. (This is all happening while she's on the potty and I'm blow-drying my hair getting ready for work. ) I gave her the scenario of someone with a big birthmark on her face, something she can't help. First of all Lauren wanted to know if birthmarks come off. Then she decided that she will be friends with that person if they are nice and they WANT to be pretty. I wonder what her definition of pretty is?

She's also talking a lot lately about getting married and boyfriends and yesterday she kissed one of the boys in her class. We told her it's not nice to kiss someone if they don't want to be kissed and that she can't get married until she's about 30 so why think about it now? Just be friends with everyone that you can.

This parenting stuff is HARD!!!

Also, today Lauren said she was building a super-fast, super-strong, super-heavy race car that not even Uncle Bryan or a giant could lift. :)

HO, HO, HO

Lauren had a great weekend. She had her first sleep over at our house. We went to the Festival of Trees with Jill, Jon and Linnea, which was lots of fun. Linnea, Lauren and Addison had their photo taken on Santa's lap. Addison was fine, she was very curious and grabbed Santa's shirt and stared into his face. Then Linnea came back to our house, they played, we had dinner and then got dressed up for the Sugar Plum Ball, a dress up party for kids and their parents. They had a blast. Danced the night away (for an hour and a half), had cookies and punch and even participated in a contest. Lauren was so confident, she volunteered for everything, even a High School Musical Trivia contest during which I'm sure she wouldn't know a single answer (we discouraged her from doing that one). But they did a Santa impersonation contest, basically lining up all the kids (35 or so?) in a line and having them say "ho, ho, ho" into the microphone. Lauren was second to last in line, and after a lot of nearly identical answers Lauren came out with this incredibly deep voiced Santa impersonation that got a lot of laughs. She made in into the next round, and the next, and she won! It was funny to hear such a deep voice coming out of such a little girl. She is so confident, I love that about her. She tries my patience, but I think her confidence and persistence is going to pay off for her as an adult. I think her teenage years will be rough, though...

Then the next morning they went to Grandma June's house for a cookie decorating photo op for the Post Star. A reporter for the Food page heard about June's cookie talents and asked to take pictures of her making cookies with her grandchildren. They should be in Wednesday's Post Star. I'll be sure to buy extra copies for family.

Addison had a 3 night sleep through the night stretch, but the last week or so she hasn't been sleeping well. I have to get her back into the habit of falling asleep on her own. It's hard...

Back to work and school tomorrow...

Sleep!

Last night was one of the best nights ever! Lately Addison has not been sleeping well, I think because of the tooth coming in. She hasn't been able to sleep unless someone was holding her, which makes it very hard to get anything done or to get any sleep myself. She was the same way at school and at June's on Saturday. Then last night I put her to bed in her crib (rare) and she fell asleep around 9 and I went to bed at 10. I was amazed to wake up at 4 o'clock when she started making noises. Then I brought her into my bed and she slept until 5:30. Had a great day at school and slept in her crib there, too! Small pleasures...

Also, I don't like it when Mom's brag endlessly about their kids, but permit me to brag about Lauren a little. Last year's teacher commented that Lauren was very good at thinking of words that began with a certain letter. This year a paper came home with a note from her current teacher saying " As usual, Lauren was able to come up with MANY T words, some abstract ideas, too, like together - she drew kids playing together. " The pictures she drew are of: a table, a triangle, a tic-tac-toe board, a tomato, kids playing together and Daddy (Tyler) thinking about chocolate chips and watching TV. :) Strangers are always commenting on how smart she is and how she sounds older than she is. She's not shy at all, either. Tyler had his end of the year banquet for volleyball at Uno's and we went. Tyler was playing guitar and singing a parody song he wrote, and Lauren insisted on performing, too. She didn't have a musical instrument she could play, so she stood next to him and did a little interpretive dance. It was so cute. And during the slide show she danced and sang "I like to move it, move it" and "Baby where you get your body from..." She loves the "bollyball girls" and wants to be one someday. I've never seen Tyler smile wider than he did when she said that. She also asks when Mommy and Daddy will go somewhere so one of the girls can babysit her. She has her own Jr. Spartan Volleyball shirt that the JV coach had made for her - she's very proud. (I am, too, can you tell?)

Boy, being a parent is HARD! It's just so much work and you never get a break or any time to yourself. Just going to the bathroom by myself with the door closed is a privilege. (I sometimes stay in there much longer than necessary just for a little peace and quiet!) It's still very rewarding, though, and the little things make it all worth it.

Day off

Lazy day... Addison loves to bang on the keyboard. Here is her latest masterpiece:

BG`BN MMMMMMMMMankl00000000000000000000000000000000iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiluNM NNHGN8 GH GGHGH GHNM GN MGNMJ JNM MJNM \ BVCV SBV D KLJK 67 GHGGH KHJ\,./..

Neither of my girls sleeps very much lately. Lauren can't stand it when other people are sleeping, either, and is constantly waking people up... They play nicely together in the playpen, though, it's cute.

Also, Addison thinks Lauren is hysterical. Lauren can uaually get a laugh by jumping up and down and making silly faces/noises, but Addy thinks the funniest thing in the world is to watch Lauren brush her teeth. She cracks up every time! It's a great sound...

Firsts...

I had my first night away from Addison this Friday when I went to the New York State School Counselor's Associaton Conference in Syracuse, NY. It was so great to sleep by myself in a big, soft, comfy bed and not be woken up by anyone. I had a great time with my co-counselor, Colleen. It was a great time. Addison spent her first overnight at Grandma's. (Tyler was on a field trip to NYC with the art club and didn't return until midnight, so they all stayed over at Grandma and Pop-Pop's.) It went great, Addison was fine drinking formula from bottles. She also has her first tooth! It just cut through. She's had a cold and the sniffles for two weeks, I guess sinus trouble can be a sign of teething. She's also rolling like crazy. If you lay her on her back she immediately draws her knees up and thrusts them over and flips, then pushes up on her hands and smiles. You can tell she's so proud of herself. Then she'll go back the other way. She's very strong. She's also got the hang of the Johnny Jumper and loves it. She's getting better at sitting but still flops over occasionally. Disappointing news... not enough families were interested in helping with the parade so we're not going to be in it. :( I'm sad. Fortunately I didn't tell Lauren. We'll still go watch the parade, though. Sounds like we'll have Thanksgiving at the Carey's, Christmas morning at our house and go to Portland after Christmas. Can't believe it's November already! Thanks for all of my birthday gifts... I'm enjoying them all!

Fall

We went apple picking at Hick's Orchard. It was fun, but pricey. Also, the other day I went on a short hike and leaf hunt with Lauren, Kobie, and Addison in the hiking backpack. Actually, to clarify, just Addison was in the backpack. It was a lot of fun, the weather has been great. I'll include a mysterious quote from Lauren:

Lauren: (Wearing my hat backwards.) "I look just like Dan Stewart!"
Me: "Who's Dan Stewart?"
Lauren: "Just... a nickname for myself."

... Weird. Does anyone know who Dan Stewart is?

Food, glorious food...

It's not that they're not doing cute things. It's just that I don't have time to sit down and write about them. I don't think I've ever been busier or more tired in my life than the last few months. I think it's starting to get a little better, though. I hope.

Addison is SO interested in food. I started cereal at 4 months because she's been lunging at any sort of food or drink that I'm holding and sucking on my cheek. She loves it. One day I didn't get a chance to give her cereal in the evening but at night she was sucking on my cheek so hard she gave me a hickey. I mixed up a bowl of rice cereal and formula (yuck) and she wolfed it down, banging on her tray if I paused while spooning it into her mouth. She's tried rice cereal, baby oatmeal, applesauce and peas. I think she likes the rice cereal with formula the best. She's grabbed for brownies and graham crackers that were in our hands while holding her, though. Smart girl. I wonder if she's old enough for teething crackers?

Lauren is the proud owner of a blue and gold shirt that says Jr. Spartan Volleyball. She is so excited to match the "bollyball girls" and wants to be "on the team". She's asked for a number on the back of her shirt. (4 if you're curious.) She has been having very good days at daycare. Her teacher, Mr. Hoffman, is just great. Addison's very happy at daycare, too.

Last weekend we visited "Uncle Great Great Fran" and Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Wiley. It was fun, I'm glad we did it. We met Alonna and her husband and two children at Fran's house. It seems like we'd have a lot in common. Too bad we don't know them better.

Hoping to go Apple Picking this weekend, and buy a pumpkin, and maybe back to Fright Fest again. We're going to participate in the TD Banknorth Parade (Formerly Joy Store parade) on Nov. 18th, World Class Kids is doing a Candy Land float. Fun!

Can't remember anything else right now...

Visitorphobia??

Is there a word for the fear of having people come over to your house? I was not the best housekeeper before by any means, but add a 4 year old, a baby, a dog to the mix and our house is a disaster zone. If I ever turn up missing, it's likely that I'm buried under a pile of dirty laundry or dishes.

Addison is 15 lbs., 25 inches, that's 90th percentile for each, if you're keeping track. Still happy as can be...

Milestones

Addison laughed for the first time yesterday! What a great sound. I was bouncing her in front of the mirror and she just laughed and laughed. Later that night Megan Capone was bouncing her and she laughed again.

Even more exciting, she slept through the night! Tyler's parents were watching both girls and Addison had a bottle of formula before bed which probably helped. She slept until 5:15, nursed, and went back to sleep with me. Hopefully it's a pattern that will continue, I could get used to this.

Lauren reached an interesting milestone. She has her first crush! I had no idea it would happen so early or the way it did. The first time she saw the contractor building the porch at Tyler's parents house, she just stared at him. His name is Brody, and he's probably 28 or so; he is quite handsome. I guess she kept bringing him cookies, and lemonade and flowers. The other night she told me she had a secret, she said Brody is her first boyfriend, but she's too shy to tell him! She said Grandma and Grandpa could tell him, though.

In other news, we traded our Ford Focus for a Ford Windstar. I never thought I'd own a minivan but it really is convenient for kids! It's a few years old but the mileage is low. It's got two sliding doors, bucket seats in the back so the girls' car seats are not right on top of each other, and lots of other neat features, like the warning alarm when you're backing up and something is behind you. Tyler will mostly use it to drive the girls to daycare and back and forth to work.

We had a great time at Bill and Hilary's house yesterday. Lauren swam in the pool for hours, and had fun playing with Grace Frasier and Sophie Campopiano. It's so strange to see my daughter playing with the children of my friends from high school. When did we get old enough for that???

Happy Labor Day... hope you're enjoying the nice weather.

Maine

"This is the life." -Lauren

We had a great vacation in Maine. Lots of family time, lots of swimming and relaxing... and a brief stop at Six Flags, New England, which was more fun than any of us thought it would be!

Now it's back to work. Lauren is back at "school" and Addison is coming with me to work each day. A babysitter (one of my students) watches her for me in the school library and brings her to me when she needs to nurse. Boy, will she get a good letter of recommendation! It was a last minute arrangement, but it's working out great. On the 4th Addison will join her sister at daycare. Hopefully I'll still have time to update this as the school year gets under way... no promises!

A Day at the Track...

We went to the track last Sunday. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

The Adventures of Porca and Tomkey

You may remember the twin baby dolls Lauren received for Christmas this past year. She loves them, but they are taking a real beating. They started out as Porca and Tomkey but their names change almost daily. The pink baby has been to Haviland's Cove, on the swings and to the top of the monkey bars, from which she fell into the sand numerous times. She is pretty dirty and doesn't appear machine washable. The blue baby has been to the camp in Newcomb and on many other day trips. Oh, and she decided they wanted to have their faces painted so she colored all over their faces with ball point pen which will not come off. One is a lion and I forget what the other is. The blue baby is mostly named Jason lately and Lauren nurses him when I nurse Addison. He has a funny, rubber mohawk wig that is black and purple. Hope you get to meet them again soon...

We had a nice visit from Bryan and Jill, glad they stopped to see us! I talked with Bryan about how kids choose funny names for toys and such. Some names Lauren has suggested that I like are Davin and Bustin. She also used to have a doll named Tunafisha Jameson Tanya Tanya. I guess I should be glad that Lila was the name she suggested for our baby.

Speaking of Addison, she is now 11 pounds 6 ounces. She had to have 3 shots yesterday :( but she did fine. Lauren covered her eyes and couldn't watch. She wanted Addison to squeeze her thumbs while she got the shots (that's what she does when she has to take her nose spray or have tangles combed out of her hair. Addison is right on track for weight, height, etc. and is generally healthy. We are very grateful. She's a happy baby who is happiest in the morning, she usually gives beautiful smiles to anyone who smiles at her and makes eye contact. She likes to be outside and she loves her vibrating baby seat. She likes to be where the action is and seems to nap the best in her seat wherever we are. I think she likes the background noise and doesn't like to be alone. She's generally fussy in the evening, but usually going outside, nursing or just changing her environment helps her to calm down. She has been sleeping long stretches at night, last night from 9:30 till maybe 3:30 or so. it was the best night of sleep I've had in a long time.

That's all for now...

Little Miss Interpretation

Last week Tyler overheard Lauren singing a song: "Knock, knock, knocking on Kevin's door..."

I took Lauren and Addison to the Saratoga "Counting" (County) Fair on Sunday. It was great. Lauren is pleased by such simple things. Some highlights were the school bus shuttle ride from parking lot D (she was awed by her first school bus ride and helped remember that we were in lot "D for Daddy"). She buckled herself with two seat belts and sat near the back.

She was thrilled to find some farm toys like toy tractors, a barn and farmers in one of the dairy barns, she would have played there all day by herself! It was a nice place for me to sit and nurse the baby while she played, though.

She loved the animals, had some nice conversations with the goats. Wanted to know the names of all the rabbits.

She was ecstatic to stumble upon a dance recital, she sat in the front row and squealed like an old lady at a Neil Diamond concert at the tap dance and interpretive dancers. She planned out her own dance recital with friends from school and parents in the audience. She even plans to dance with boys. Not sure how that will go over with them...

She also loved the maple sugar candy and the play set at the Garden Time display. We stayed for hours. Addison was awake and content for most of the time. Then she cried all the way home (fussy time) but slept for 6 solid hours at night, what a treat...

Nice bonus... we didn't make any messes at home because we weren't there! And Tyler was caulking the windows and doing other outdoor projects so he didn't make any messes either. It was a great weekend... back to work this week.

Bottle Blues

We are having a hard time getting Addison to take a bottle. She has to learn how to do it before August 20th because that's when she starts daycare. Tyler gave her a bottle last night to try and let me get some sleep. It kind of worked, but she does not like bottles at all. I heard about a kind of bottle that is most like breastfeeding, so I guess I'll buy those and try it.

I was feeling guilty about how much of the day Lauren spends watching movies, so I encouraged her to do other things yesterday. I set up a water play table for her outside, encouraged playing on her playset and doing other things. It was successful in that she didn't watch t.v. until after supper when I turned it on so because I was exhausted and wanted her to be contained for a while. It was frustrating in that she made messes all over the place. A beading center in the dining room. A fort of blankets and books in the baby's room. She created her own water play station in both bathroom sinks and spilled water, soap, mud, etc. on the floor. She tortured bugs by trapping them in jars of water with lids. We did have a picnic lunch on her picnic table outside, which was great, but of course created another mess that had to be brought inside.

I felt bad because she kept asking Tyler or me to play with her in her fort, etc. but we were busy mowing the lawn and taking care of the baby, respectively. I wish she had a playmate her own age that lived nearby. Linnea is a great playmate for her, but they live near Saratoga and are often busy. We try to play when we can, but it's not the same as a playmate or a cousin. I look forward to Addison being big enough to play with her, but at the same time, I want her to stay a baby forever. In a way, she's so easy at this age. She's predictable, stationary and sweet!

To quote Looney Toons, which is always playing in our house now, "That's All Folks!"

Running Errands

I think everyone knows that kids can say and do the cutest things. And of course everyone thinks their kids are the cutest. I'm no exception. It occurred to me that most of the time when my kids do something I think is cute there is no one around to share it with. I thought I would start this to keep my family updated on cute things that the kids do that don't necessarily warrant a phone call in the middle of the day. (Since my family are the only ones that might be interested in these moments.) Don't know how often I'll find the time to post, but here goes...

I was out with Lauren and Addison, after I told Lauren we were running errands. Soon after I heard her say to Addison 'Mommy will feed you when we're done getting earrings".

I asked Lauren what she would wish for if she could have anything. She wished she could live in her own house (she has told us she doesn't want to live with us anymore because we're boring). Her house will of course be pink and full of princess stuff. She will live there with her husband, her daughter, her baby and her dog (sound familiar?) If her husband doesn't like pink he can have his own room.

Lauren currently wants to marry Harry Potter because he sounds like her and he's cute.

At least she no longer wants to marry Tyler or Kobie.

Lauren is expressing her own fashion sense. Yesterday she wore a pink plaid shirt, with a white crocheted sweater, blue plaid skort over pink capri pants, with the infamous striped rain boots, a raincoat and a pink plastic ring to complete the look.

Addison makes the cutest noises and smiles, but that's hard to record here. She likes to stand up with support (she's so proud of herself). She likes to be outside and feel a breeze. She thinks Lauren is hysterical and smiles at her more than anyone else. Oh, and she likes milk.

That's all for now!