Pre-K Graduation

Lauren's Pre-K graduation was cute. They did a play which was really cute, but totally inaudible. We videotaped it but you can't hear a thing except the teacher narrating. Lauren recieved a scrapbooked yearbook which is such a nice keepsake. One of my favorite things included was a list of her "favorites". I included the list below.

My Favorites

Animal: birds

Food: ice cream

Game: hide n seek

Number: 6

Toy: Lambie

Holiday: Halloween

Place: The Great Escape

Thing to do with Mom and Dad: watch a movie

Color: pink and purple

Movie: Barbie Swan Lake

Sport: volleyball

TV Show: Noggin

Book: Anastasia

Restaurant: El Mexicano

Vacation Spot: Mimi & Pop Pop's

Outfit: "the one I'm wearing"

We didn't even know about this so we couldn't coach her, either! I wonder what outfit she was wearing? So cute. We went out for ice cream afterward at Friendly's. One of Lauren's teachers commented in her yearbook that she is one of the brightest kids he's ever taught (out of about 100). All the teachers commented on her reading skills and outgoing personality. I suspect she'll do just fine in Kindergarten next year.

Addison goes to sleep so easily now. I think the key is doing the same exact routine every night. She starts yawning halfway through the routine out of pure conditioning. She happily lays down in her crib, smiling. Then I leave the room and she plays and babbles for a few minutes then goes right to sleep. Usually around 8 pm so she'll sleep till 6 or so. Why do second babies sleep so much better than first babies? I don't know...

Pics

Science Museum in North Carolina
Photo we are using on Lauren's birthday invitations.

Cute photo of the two girls from Mom and Dad's house in Oak Ridge.

Crying it out...

I have never been a fan of the "crying it out" method, but I'm finding that it has it's merits. Both with Lauren and with Addison so far I mostly nursed them or rocked them to sleep, which is one of the nicest things in the world to do. However, it makes it almost impossible for them to go to sleep any other way. Some nights that's just fine, but other nights I really want Addie to go to sleep so I can get a couple of things done before I crash for the night. Those nights I try nursing her and rocking her and giving her a bottle and giving her Tylenol... and she still doesn't seem sleepy and I've just spent and hour an a half just trying to settle her down and it's now 10 o'clock and past MY bedtime. It gets frustrating. The past three nights I've tried everything and she won't settle down. She pushes away from me when I try to rock her or nurse her, and refuses a bottle. So I eventually give up and put her in her crib with a kiss, and a sippy cup of water, a binky and a teether toy. The first night she cried for about 5 minutes, then I went in and silently comforted her and left. Then she cried for 10 minutes and I gave in and picked her up and brought her back to my bed. She was so tired from the crying that she fell right to sleep and I moved her into her crib later. Last night she cried for less than 5 minutes, then I heard nothing. So I was worried that something happened, but I didn't want to go in there in case she was awake and would start crying again if she saw me. It took all of my willpower to wait, but I did, and when I checked on her 10 minutes later she was sleeping peacefully! Then tonight, we did the whole bedtime routine, then I put her down to sleep. She knew what was up and tried to climb up me as I laid her down in the crib. She cried for about 5 minutes and I haven't heard anything in about 10 so I'll go check on her in a minute. They say it's an important skill to learn, to put yourself to sleep, so hopefully she's learning that and not feeling abandoned by her Mommy. Mommy is much happier to see her in the morning after a good night's sleep!



Lauren has been much better about bedtime. She really liked sharing a room with Addison, and she went to sleep sooner because she knew she couldn't have lights on or make a lot of noise. Lately she's been sleeping in the guest room because she can't hear her music over the sound of the crying, but I expect that they will share a room again in the near future.



We're enjoying a week off. Lauren slept over at Linnea's on Saturday, and we had dinner with the Careys, Careys and Wileys on Sunday night.Today Leila spent the day with us. We went to see Mr. Twisty, a free magician/comedy show at the Queensbury activity center, and then went to Friendly's for lunch. We have lots of other little activities planned, if I can keep up with them. Both girls will spend some time at daycare tomorrow and Thursday so I can do some other things (we're paying for it anyway!)



Bye for now...

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!