Update

I've been using Facebook so much lately I forgot about this site. (Again). Thanks to Claire for reminding me! Her family website inspired me to look at this one again. Don't have the energy right now for a major overhaul, but here's an updated picture of the kiddos, now ages 3 and 7!! Looking forward to summer vacation, and another amazing trip to Maine in July...

Oh yeah, I forgot about this...

Totally forgot about this blog. Seems like it's time to post an update. Addie is walking, talking, running, jumping, climbing... into everything! She still does a lot of babbling, but we can understand more of her words now. She puts an a at the end of most words and sounds like a stereotypical Italian from a bad t.v. movie! "Drink-a water, pees-a, Mama?" (Can I have a drink of water, please, Mom?) she also loves to use an ice pack for every boo boo imaginable. She used to call it an "ice-a cack", but since she learned to say backpack from Dora she now calls it an "ice-a backpack". She is potty training and doing really well. She's so proud when she gets to wear her new Elmo underpants. They are pretty cute. I thought of posting a picture but I know there's a lot of perv-os out there so I won't.

We're having a great summer, swimming at Lake George, going to the drive in, going to the new (awesome) Crandall Library, Great Escape... and just hanging out in the back yard or going to the Qby school playground. Trying to stay busy.

Looking forward to our trip to Maine. Not too much longer!

Different Storks??

My girls are so different from each other. Lauren is so "girly". Her favorite colors are pink and purple. She loves dresses and jewelry and make up. She's facinated with Barbie and princesses. Her favorite things to do are play dress up and put on dance shows or plays.

Addison is obviously much younger, but she already can't stand wearing dresses, peels off dress up clothes as soon as her sister puts them on her, and loves to put Barbies in toy cars and crash them into the wall! She thinks this is hysterical and will do it all day long. Her favorite things are to run fast and go down the slide and climb on furniture and jump on the bed or the couch. Preferably all at once.

They get along pretty well most of the time, though, and they are so cute to watch. They both love to read books, and share snacks and watch movies. I'm so glad I have them both, and that they have such different and vibrant personalities. I feel very blessed...

...especially after a day where I had to call a parent to tell her that her daughter with a traumatic brain injury thinks she is pregnant with her fictional boyfriend's baby, process a college application for a senior who was suspended for chewing tobacco in school and then drive a mentally ill student to the local homeless shelter with her garbage bag of belongings because she was asked to leave her home. What a world. It's so nice to come home to relative normalcy, and silly, cuddly, snuggly little girls...

That's what it's all about for me...

A Memorable Balloon Festival...

Ok, here are the traditional Adirondack Balloon Festival photos... and one from Maine this summer.

It was a balloon festival to remember. I think Bryan, Colleen and I all have fond memories of getting up in the middle of the night (at least that's what it seemed like), bundling up and driving to the Balloon Festival to watch the balloons and sip hot chocolate. I was hoping to recreate that experience for my own children and for Bryan and Jill who came into town specifically for the Balloon Fest. It was an experience all right! Addison didn't sleep much the night before, so I actually got up at 2:45 instead of 4:30 like we had planned. I finally got her to sleep in our bed a little after 4, then had to wake her up again shortly after that to go to the Balloon Fest. We all piled into the van and stopped at Dunkin Donuts so we would have something to eat if we wound up waiting in traffic for a long time. I had the brilliant idea to drive on Rt. 149 and try to come to the airport from the back to avoid all the traffic from Quaker Road. However, it was dark and foggy and early in the morning (those are my excuses) and I missed a turn and took us all the way to Rt. 4 in Kingsbury. Then turned back and ended up running over a skunk, which made the van smell just lovely. I ended up missing a turn again and found myself on Dix Ave, thus making a big, unnecessary circle AROUND the balloon festival. So we turned right and ended up waiting in the traffic that I was trying so hard to avoid. We made the best of the situation, though, and things weren't that bad. Then as we got close to the parking lot Jill noticed that Lauren was crying in the back seat of the van. All of us sudden she said she was going to throw up and proceeded to do so into her hands. Meanwhile there was no where for me to pull over since there was no shoulder on the road and we were in the middle of traffic. So I turned into the parking lot, paid to park (dumb) and made the bumpy trip into the next parking spot available, making Lauren throw up again in the mean time. Poor thing. I'm sure it was a combination of having two parents who get car sick, the early morning bagel breakfast, longer than necessary car ride and skunk scented car. From that point on things did get much better. I cleaned Lauren up (thank goodness for baby wipes) and bought her a nice, pink balloon festival sweatshirt to wear. We got there just as the first balloons were inflating and the weather was perfect. Jill got some really nice pictures of bright balloons against a beautiful blue sky. We all enjoyed the balloon festival from that point on and the ride back wasn't too bad, just a little traffic and a still stinky car. We came home and napped all afternoon, then walked around Lake George Village that night. We had a great time and I'm glad Bryan and Jill came to visit.

What else has been going on? We had a fun, but less eventful visit from Colleen and her boyfriend Nate the weekend before. We enjoyed Oktoberfest at the Great Escape. Also, Lauren loves Kindergarten and is doing very well. I didn't get the job I interviewed for at Queensbury High School, but I actually now see that as a good thing. There were some staff changes at my current school which resulting in me getting a bigger office, desk and being the most senior person in our three person department! I get along amazingly well with our secretary, she almost reads my mind. I think the new guy we hired for the junior high counselor position is going to work out really well, too. I feel like I've finally hit my stride as a school counselor at Whitehall and I'm really doing a good job. I also feel very appreciated there, by students, staff and parents. It's a nice feeling. This may be me rationalizing, but I think I can make a real difference in the life of Whitehall students, whereas the Queensbury students have so many resources that I don't feel like I would be helping all that much. Who knows what will happen in the future, but I'm doing pretty well for right now.

We had a great trip to Maine this summer, had a nice time with the Marstons at their cottage, with Bryan and Jill, Colleen and Nate and Mom and Dad. Looking forward to many more trips to Maine.

I'm also finally sure that I don't want to have more children. Tyler was always sure he only wanted two children but I wasn't totally convinced because I love babies so much. Now I'm so happy that Addison is getting more independent and I think my brain was a little muddled during all the middle of the night crying, breastfeeding and diapers. I'm enjoying starting to do things for myself again like yoga, manicures, going out for drinks with other moms and reading novels again! I love my children dearly, but pregnancy was really hard me and babies are cute but a lot of work. I also feel fortunate to have two healthy children. I almost feel like having another one would be selfish and greedy, and we might not be so lucky the next time. I look forward to traveling on family vacations and enjoying watching my girls grow up. I love to hear them giggling together...

That's all for now. Still busy planning a high school reunion for October 18th. Hope it's a success..

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...