Lo-lo and the Goose

We have such silly nicknames for the girls, it's a wonder they even know their own names. I like nicknames, though, they seem to imply a close, playful relationship. I always wanted a nickname and tried to make up some for myself, but they never really stuck. The only one that really stuck was KK, which Monica started to call me in college. It stuck and I liked it. Even when someone calls me Kris, it makes me feel somehow closer to that person.

I'm flying solo tonight. June offered to watch both girls, and Tyler is at volleyball practice. I don't know what to do with myself! There is plenty that I could do (clean), but instead I'm enjoying a little "me" time and a glass of wine or two. I'm really enjoying working on this class reunion project and I spend a lot of free time contacting people and working out details. It gives me a goal and a purpose other than being a Mommy and being a school counselor.

I guess this blog is more about me than the girls, but that's OK, I am the Mommy after all. I've noticed that I have a really hard time making decisions. Not so much at work but in my personal life. Sometimes I wish I had a decision maker following me around and making all of my choices for me so I wouldn't have to think about it. Like what to make for dinner, whether I should buy this shampoo or that one, whether I should buy myself some new clothes, or what I feel like doing during my free time. I find myself asking Lauren to decide for me, but I really have to watch that, because then she feels like she can make all of the decisions and gets mad if I decide something that she doesn't like. I think I'm rubbing off on her, too. The other day we were looking at Valentines, and I gave her two options and she was about to make a choice. Then I said "or what about this one, or this one or this one" and overwhelmed her with so many options that she wanted me to choose. So I narrowed it back down to two again, made a suggestion and she went with it. (We decided on puppies and kittens because they are gender neutral). I'm also always trying to please everyone, which is impossible, so I'm working on that, too...

Also, I'm surprisingly disturbed by the death of Heath Ledger. I don't know why. It's not like I know him or anything. I really loved his performance in Brokeback Mountain, and a few other movies... Maybe it's because he has a little girl and I think about how much she will miss her Daddy. And because he was only 28 and had so much going for him. It makes me so sad and I think about it a lot and keep hoping that it's not true... I admit I want to think the world is a happy place and bad things only happen to bad people. I guess I just want to think I'm raising my kids in a good place where they are likely to be healthy and safe and it scares me that I can't be 100% sure that they will be...

On a lighter note, Addie is MOVING!! She started really crawling last Sunday and now she can really get around. She does this funny, diagonal crawl where she starts with the right arm and leg and kind of scoots the left arm and leg behind. It works, though! She also pulls herself up to stand and is always babbling. She coos to herself in the crib, and she'll repeat "Mama" if I say it first. She's really growing up by leaps and bounds, which is fun, but a little sad because she's my last baby. I want her to grow up but I don't want her to at the same time. I'm sure Mom knows what I mean... She's had some separation anxiety, and wants me to hold her all the time. She does OK at school, though, because I'm not around and there's always a lot going on. Her class has grown from 2 babies to about 6 or 8 depending on the day. Fortunately she's more independent now, and the teachers seem really great.

Lauren has been much better lately, at home and at school. She loves her teachers, Mr. Hoffman and Ms. Jessica. We rarely get any complaints about her behavior. I think she was not a good match with the teacher from last year. I also think the adjustment to a sibling affected her more than I thought. She's so in love with her sister that I didn't see it at first, but she's missing having my full attention. She asks me to rock her and sing to her like I do with the baby, and she wants to be carried a lot. She's also learning to be a lot more independent, though, and she's really good at keeping Addison entertained for me. Sharing a room has been working out well for them. And we acquired a guest room, which as really just been a storage facility for luggage and laundry and various other items that don't have a place.

Hmm... that's about all for now. Think I'll make some more phone calls before I go over to pick up the baby. Bye for now!

New Year

Had a great time over the holidays. The girls got way too many gifts, but of course they we love them all, (thanks to everyone!) Happy to be home, but a little sad about going back to work and daycare. We'll be OK once we get in the groove again.

Had a nice, quiet New Year's Eve with friends, and caught up with loads of laundry today.

Addison is now crawling backward, and can clap! She claps often, it's so cute. One hand is held out in a funny way and the other one claps it. Makes a little noise and everything! She's fascinated.

Lauren LOVES her bouncy house. It inflates in seconds, and actually fits in the basement. It's big enough for 2 kids, we put Addison in there for a little bit and she loved it, too. Great job, Santa...

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...