A Wonderful Weekend

This was one of those rare weekends where we didn't have a million different things to do. Elizabeth had soccer practice on Friday night, and after that we went out to dinner with our dear friends Tom and Charlotte to celebrate Charlotte's birthday. Cake at our house afterwords with more of Charlotte's friends felt like real life, full of friends and laughter and community. It felt good! Saturday and Sunday were free, and we had fun. Hobby Lobby on Saturday morning to pick out invitations, decorations, and party favors for Elizabeth's "Garden Girl" party at chick-fil-A! Very exciting. Then a trip to the Easter party at the Secret Garden children's shop -- a lovely afternoon excursion for Elizabeth and me. There was face painting and a cookie walk, door prizes (I won a big one) and a photo session with the Easter Bunny. Very sweet!! Then onto The Chocolate Festival -- picked up Dadday and baby and Aunt Britt and headed to RBC to fight the crowds. And crowded it was. But The girls got to ride a few rides and had fun. We topped it all off with dinner on the patio at Villa Fiesta. A really fun Weekend. Sunday was SS at Rainbow and church at GVC -- the perfect combination. And yummy spaghetti to boot!! Thank you, Lord, for beautiful weather and precious children and family to enjoy it with!! And Oh....we can't forget to mention a big problem that Elizabeth has been having....she doesn't want to go to sleep because every time she closes her eyes she sees a monkey beating up a little girl!! Prayers appreciated. :)

In Sickness and in Health

When you hear those words, you think of marriage vows. Well, they apply to kids, too. When you welcome precious little ones into the world you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into. sleepless nights with coughing and fevers. Day after day of runny noses and coughing fits. Fussy toddlers who refuse to take their medicine. For a busy mom like me who works and manages a family, there is another side to sick kids. Sick kids = time at home. No running around, no play dates, no daycare or preschool or work. Just time at home on the mend. This week I've spent the whole week at home with E.A., who has had bronchitis and now E.C., who has RSV, a respitory virus. Although I don't like for my little ones to be sick, I do enjoy uninterrupted time with them. E.A. is growing up. She can watch a movie now and follow and analyze the plot. (Megamind this week). She has an imagination that is interesting and wonderful. I hear her playing in her room and creating all kind of dramatic interatctions and storylines for her dolls and toys. She can also dole out the discipline when needed! Lots of spankings and time outs for disobedient dolls. When Emily isn't trying to compete with her big sister for attention, she is a true delight all on her own! She loves to laugh and has started singing songs. She sings a,b,c, jingle bells, happy birthday, twinkle twinkle, patty-cake, and counts. She seems kind of mechanical. She likes things that snap together and likes to turn lights on and off. Just today she has started saying "ow" constantly. Ow, my back. Ow, my finger. Ow,Ow, Ow. I'm not sure what to believe. Always changing and fascinating. These beautiful girls. Now, back to the amazing tunneled world of zuzus!

1/1/11

Well...It's time to record some special moments from the last 6 months. My sweet bagy, who was one at the last posting, has now turned 18 months old!! I can hardly believe it!!! Today - 1-1-11 - is her half birthday. She's halfway to 2! She's talking in sentences now, "I want my paci!" I want some milk" Momma, Dora and Boots." and words, "Einstein," "Tubbies," Momma, chocolate!!!" She's extremely polite. "Bless you, Momma." "Thank you." "Yes." "Please." She's a character. She adores and copies her big sister --- jumping around, and off of furniture (oops). She loves to play with shape sorters and to put things into containers. She loves to laugh and giggle and play peek-a-boo. She LOVES to play outside. She already colors - with crayons and markers. She's a firecracker! Not sure if it's because she has an older sister to watch or just the way God made her....but....she can flat pitch a fit! Screaming, wailing, and hitting anyone who gets in her way. When I correct her and tell her not to hit others....she hits herself!! I'm praying this spunky, feisty, energy can be channeled and used for good. Meanwhile, big sister is holding her own. 4 1/2 and growing up too fast! She loves pink, and barbies, and dolls, and anything that's not even remotely scary. That means no bad guys. Which means nothing but preschool-aged shows on PBSKids and nickjr. Dora, Max and Ruby, Blue's Clues, Gullah-Gullah Island, etc. STrawberry Shortcake is OK, and so is Charlie Brown. But most of Disney and Barbie are off limits. Which is fine by me, actually. She loves drawing and painting. She loves being outside. She loves plants and flowers. She loves dogs, but not cats so much because she thinks she's allergic. She's a leader. I pray that strength will serve her well. A new year. Just a few months before my precious E.A. starts Kindergarten. It's hard to imagine. Happy New Year!!

One year old

My baby is one. She's not a baby anymore. Officially, she's a toddler. But she doesn't toddle. She runs. She never really toddled. She started walking at 10 months and never looked back. She's recently become very interested in climbing. She climbs onto small little stools, toys, and pieces of furniture and sits on them. She climbs on the sofa and on chairs and hangs out a while, and then she backs down off of them. She even climbs on the sofa and does summersaults off the sofa onto E's floor chair and then onto the ground. She is fearless and adventurous. She loves books. She loves to look at them and have them to read to her, and she's all about the flaps. She's independent. She likes to feed herself, and she plays really well by herself. She's loving and social. She says "Hey," and "bye" and "night, night." She's started giving hugs and kisses, kind of.
She loves music. She delights in fun music and dances and spins around. She is starting to talk, and realizes that things have names. She can say "dog" and "ball" and "thank you" and her favorite, "Uh-oh." At her check-up she was 23 lbs, 75%, and some length that was almost off the charts!! She's such a part of our family that after only one year I can't imagine our family without her.

Big sister is really growing. I just can't believe how grown-up she is. Everything about her. The way she talks, and reasons, and jokes. She loves art. She loves to draw and paint and create things. She is so into imaginary play. She dresses up like princesses and ballerinas and lines up her animals and puts on little plays and tea parties. She loves her friends and believes in being honest and doing the right thing (most of the time). She is a delightful human being and I am unbelievably blessed to be her mother.

Sisters

When I was expecting my second child, I told everyone that I didn't care what the gender of the baby was, but that it would be nice if it were a boy...then I'd have one of each. When I found out that I was having a girl, I was honestly, absolutely thrilled. I think deep down inside I really wanted a girl. I don 't have a sister, so I don't know what it's like to have one. But I have always imagined that it would be wonderful. Now my girls will be able to share that very, very close and special relationship. I'm already praying that they will be close, and really love each other. So far, so good.
Em was 10 months old on Sat. On that day, she took her first tentative steps. Just one or two, but so thrilling. She'll be running around the house in no time. At the moment one of her hobbies is sneaking in the bathroom and wreaking all kind of havoc -- unrolling the toilet paper, turning on the tub faucet, and - yuck- playing in the toilet! El had her 4 year check up last week. She was 44 pounds and 44 inches. Her hearing was great and her vision was great, too. Her only problem is that she coughs alot. Probably allergies, possibly reflux. She's about to start taking allergy meds. 4 is a wonderful age. She's a little more mature, so a LITTLE more controlable. But still free and fun. She loves her dolls and playing princess and making tea parties for her animals. She makes a mess faster than anyone I've ever seen in my life. And she HATES soccer. More on that later. She also states as fact things that she wishes were true. For example, she really wants me to go back to work so that her little sister can go to her school. So she tells her teacher, "my mommy is at work today." Wishful thinking. If you say something enough, maybe it will come true. Hey...I think I've found the Secret!!

parenthood

Babies are easy. I used to think they would be hard, but I think they are easy. If you love them, and feed them, and change them, and give them a routine and some consistency and some stimulation and an opportunity for attachment to their parents and other significant caregivers, then they learn that the world is a safe place and that their needs will be met and that there are people whom they love and that love them that they can count on. Babies are adorable. At least mine is. She is pure delight. She crawls around exploring her home. She loves to examine all kind of objects and will just look at little toys and play with them for a long time. She will play in a play pen and just enjoy those toys and hang out. She loves being in her big sister's room and she really loves being in the tub. She also loves her pacifier, which her big sister didn't. She can find it now and put it in her mouth. She's just....so.....cute. I adore her. She really wants to stand up on her own. She can pull up and stand for a while holding on to something. You can tell that she wants to walk like her big sister. She is very tactile. She wants to touch everything. She's not an observer. She doesn't sit back and survey the situation. She's right there in the middle of it. She can also communicate. She waves (backwards) and sometimes says bye-bye. She can say da-da and ma-ma but doesn't say it often. But she can. Much earlier than big sister. Her eating skills are slow. She can only eat very pureed foods. She gets choked easily. But she loves her veggies and her fruit and cereals. She'll get there.
And then there is big sister. So much love and devotion. But so much drama and whining. It's exhausting. Lots of love, but I need the patience of Job, which I don't always have. The older they get, the smarter they get. E.A. is a master negotiator. It's like some kind of constant arbitration at my house. How many books? When is snack time? What's for snack? When can I go outside? Do I have to clean my room? How about later? Nothing, nothing, nothing is easy. But the joy. And the love. And the fun. It's all worth it. E.A. said yesterday, "I want to be 2 (she's almost 4). I don't want to grow up." It's tough to be big sister and to see a baby, whom you love, treated differently than you. But E.A. loves her sister. She loves being a big sister. She also loves that she can control her. When she grabs a toy out of baby Em's hand, there's no reaction, really. It's not gonna last, and it's gonna get interesting. But both my girls are delightful. Everyone told me, don't have another one, because Elizabeth was a great baby and apparently that only happens once. They were wrong. When I asked Elizabeth what she wanted for her birthday she said, "I want a horse with wings that can take me to rainbow land." Does anybody know where I can get one of those??? Elizabeth is smart, and creative, and strong, and beautiful. I never dreamed I could love someone like this. And be so challenged by someone so young. There are questions I can't answer, like, "why did that dog die and where is she?" Grief. I miss Jenny (Aunt Britt's dog who died). Dreams, good and bad -- monsters and scary creatures, or kitty cats and butterflies. And Fantasy, "You know, there's an alien in my room now. We'd better be careful."
9 months and 4 years. It's magical, and challenging, and daunting. Lord, give me wisdom and knowledge and patience and endurance!!!

7 months old

Emily is 7 months old. She can sit up. The world is a different place for her now. She has started playing with her toys. She wants to grab anything and everything. She has NO USE for any time spent changing diapers or getting dressed. The minute you lay her down on her changing bed she flips herself onto her tummy, looking for something to do or see or touch. It has become a kind of wrestling match. She says da-da-da alot, much sooner than Elizabeth did. I'm not sure if it's just babbling or if she's saying daddy. I kinda think it's just babbling. She loves to eat! She'll eat large portions of almost anything you give her. She loves sweet potatoes and rice cereal made with formula. She loves fruit, but not peaches. She likes squash and peas and different fruit/grain foods. She's started eating these little yum-yum rice crackers. It's so cute to see her munching on them. She really loves her big sister and her mommy and daddy (especially mommy). She seems to have some separation anxiety. Whenever anyone comes over she gets fussy and starts crying. I think she believes that we are going to leave. I hope she grows out of that!

It's so sweet to see Elizabeth with her. Elizabeth really enjoys her. They have started playing together, sort of. Elizabeth is very kind to her and that makes me happy. She's an awesome big sister. Emily is probably days away from crawling. She scoots and rolls around. She gets up on her knees but just hasn't quite gotten the crawl down pat.

Emily can take a bath in the big tub now that she can sit up. She LOVES it. Elizabeth "helps" bathe her, and it is very sweet. She's a wonderful baby and I love seeing her grow. She was 28 " (0ff the charts) and 14 lbs. 13 oz. (25%) at her 6 month check-up. So she's long, but kind of lean. Danny calls her a supermodel baby.

The pic I posted is in honor of the facebook look-a-like week. People always used to tell me that I looked like Ally Sheedy. I don't see it, but that's the best I could do.

A New Year

A new year is here. 2010. It seems like time is flying by. E.A. is going to be 4 this year. Elizabeth is changing so much. She's really curious about things. She wants to know why things happen. I have a hard time answering her questions. How do you know it's going to snow? Because they said so on TV! How do they know? Why did Brittany's dog Jenny die? When is she coming back? Where is she? Are monsters real? Oh....and don't even think of saying....not every little girl has a pretty bed like yours (after a request for another bed). The response is: really? Do you know someone who doesn't have a bed? What's her name? She's also getting really imaginative. She said if a friendly giant would come by and lift her up she could touch the sky. She's all about princesses right now. And she's decided she doesn't like the color white -- she likes pink. She loves to do crafts - painting and cutting and taping and gluing. Her latest thing has been making "cookies." Painting glitter glue onto pieces of old play dough. And she loves her baby sister. Her latest thing to tell people is: "We're 2 sisters. I'm the big sister and she's the little sister." Little sister is growing. She's six months old. She can roll all over the place. She was 14 lbs. 13 oz. at her 6 month check up - 25%. And she was 28 inches long. Off the charts! She isn't a very good napper, which is frustrating. Some days she hardly naps at all! At least she sleeps through the night. Being home with these girls is a challenge. So much mess. So much clutter. So much whining. So much fun. So much love. I wouldn't be anywhere else.

Welcome to the family, Emily

Next week our new baby will be 3 months old. She is an absolute delight. She's been sleeping through the night since she was about 2 weeks old, starting at about 5-6 hour stretches and now she goes 8-9 hours at night. She's a beautiful, happy, sweet little baby. She doesn't cry that much -- usually just at night, when she gets tired or hungry or sometimes gassy. She was 11 pounds and 24 inches at her 2 month check-up. Elizabeth adores her. She's always giving her hugs and kisses. She's very gentle with her and she's learning to back up a bit when she talks to her, and not get RIGHT IN HER FACE when she's saying, "Hi, baby sister." Everyone talks about regression. Elizabeth has had some, but not too much. She'll put a pacifier in her mouth every now and then, and she'll want me to carry her around some (which isn't easy at 40 pounds!) and she'll whine some and try to sit in my lap when I'm holding the baby, but for the most part, she's been great.

Being home full-time with both girls is a big change for me. Some days I simply can't get much done because if I'm not tending to one, I'm tending to the other. But I really enjoy being with them. As a dear friend of mine recently said to me, "The days are long but the years are short." I can't believe how Elizabeth is growing. The other day we were all together in the den, just kind of hanging out and I started to hum a tune. She turned to me and said, "Mommy, be quiet, I"m doing my homework!" And sometimes after she goes to bed, if she hears us talking, she'll come out of her room and say in an annoyed tone, "be quiet guys, I'm trying to sleep." She's funny! She's had a cough lately and the doctor gave her some medicine. He said it might make her sleepy....not so much. She still ran around and jumped and danced and twirled as much as usual. I'm not even sure she remembers how to walk because she runs everywhere she goes.

I think she's going to be a princess for Halloween. As she often tells us, "I love princesses and pink is my favorite color." She has started putting her baby dolls to sleep around the house in different places. She'll put them on little blankets with a pillow and sometimes a cover. And she puts her baby dolls in time-out, too.
She's really interested in the alphabet. She wants to read and write so badly. She can recognize all the letters. She can write most of the letters, and she's trying to learn how to write her name. Maybe I should have named her something shorter, like Tina.

3 years Old

It's been MONTHS since I've posted. I've been in a pregnancy fog since November, but I felt inspired to document E.A.'s 3rd birthday. Time is going by. In general, I don't feel sad that she's getting older. I love that I can talk to her and to see how she's growing and how much she's learning. She's pretty much potty trained. The worst of it was a short phase of pooping in her room durning nap time, taking off her diaper and stashing the poop in a bag somewhere in her room. Thank GOODNESS that didn't last long. She's doing great and doesn't even use pull-ups or diapers anymore. Woo-Hoo! At 3, she's really starting to develop some interests. She loves to paint and color. She is fascinated with bugs and insects and is really worried about them coming in the house. She loves to play dolls now. She wraps them in blankets and sometimes spanks them and puts them in time out. And she loves pouring water or bubbles or anything she can get her hands on to pour from one container to another. She loves to be outside. She loves to see animals and she loves flowers. She calls dandelions "poofy heads." She loves to climb and swing and jump. Especially jump. I'm thinking of getting her a little trampoline. She loves music. She loves to sing and especially to dance. She's really excited about being a ballerina at school next year. She loves books, and she can write the letter E. Every little picture she colors at school comes home with the letter E on it, that she wrote. She's also getting excited about her baby sister, who is due on July 4. She loves Camila, a Brazilian student who has lived with us since August and is moving out this week. We will all miss her so much. And she is starting to say hilarious things. Some examples: At school she walked in one day and told her teacher: "My room has a bad smell. It smells like a racoon." She also told the kids in her class that she had a swimming pool with a big diving board, and invited them over to swim. We don't have a pool. She makes up crazy things to try to get out of going to sleep. The other night she said, "Momma, I can't go to sleep because the ants might come and eat my hair." She's smart and beautiful and funny and delightful. But I"m totally biased, I know!

The Big Event

What: Yard Sale
When: Saturday, September 13, 2008 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Where: My house

Come one, Come all, and shop, shop, shop!!!!

back to work

It's official. Labor Day is over and I'm back at work full time. My summer of fun is over. I love my job and I love the students but it's still hard to go back. E.A. and I had such a good time together this summer. We did fun things like go to storytime at the library, go to imagination place, go to the playground, play outside and swing and play ball and play in the sprinkler. We watered the plants and went for walks in the neighborhood and watched TV -- Max and Ruby and the Backyardigans are my personal favorites! I'm looking forward to a great year, but this summer was probably one of my best summers ever! Thanks, E.A., for being such a blast!!

terrible 2's

The terrible 2's are here. I know what they mean now. They mean your otherwise angelic, adorable child (see photo) who turns into someone you've never met before. She pushes, and hits, and screams, and grabs, and won't even think about letting anyone else touch anything that belongs to her. Play date? How can you play with someone who's crying because you just pushed her down and grabbed the fake peas out of hand? Heaven forbid that your friend play with one piece of your 100 piece playfood set! Later that night, after the disastrous "play date" was over (which ended in a bath, since E.A. ground dirt into the other kid's hair while the moms weren't looking), E.A. looked at me and said, "I don't want my friends to cry." I just said, "Well then you need to share your toys and be sweet to them. If you hit your friends they will cry." She thought about it, and said, "O.K. mommy." We'll see.

Sleeping Woes

A new era has begun. It's the big girl bed era. After numerous successful attempts to crawl out of her crib when she just didn't feel like being in there, we decided it was time to change to a bed. So it was bye-bye crib (oh how I miss you, old friend) and hello bed. We decided on a single bed, since we could use it for a long time (as opposed to a toddler bed). In the days of the crib, bedtime was pretty easy. A bath, some quiet play, a few books in the rocker, and then off to the crib where a relatively contented E.A. would read and play and talk and sing herself to sleep. The rules are different now. There's still the bath, and the play, and the books...but no more contented toddler cocooned in her own little world. Now there's a preschooler in a real bed who doesn't WANT to go to sleep. Who wails and cries and demands all kinds of unreasonable things. "I want to sleep in your room." "I need some milk...some water." "Where's my little teddy bear." and on and on and on. After about 10 days of hysterics and night wakings and trying to convince her to stay in or go back to her bed and lying in the bed with her and sitting in the chair forever and, and, and....we have a system. After story time and prayers, We (meaning me - Momma)sit in a rocking chair near the door until she falls asleep. Then around 2:30, she gets up and comes in our room where she sleeps on a little pallet on the floor. She seems to be O.K. with it, and until further notice this is how it is!

2nd birthday party

 

These are pics from E.A.'s 2nd birthday party. She prayed hard for a swingset and her prayers were answered! I can't believe she's already 2. The party was fun. It was a sweet family time.


If you haven't noticed...I have a new blog name. Stormy Wunderblatt. It was given to me as my spy club name and I'm VERY proud of it. Thanks, Spy Club president. I don't know your name and I hate to reveal your true identity.

One of my duties in the spy club is writing limericks. I'd better get to work!

First Birthday Part 2

 

Here she is diving into her cake -- a first birthday right of passage. I'm thinking of trying to make my own cake, or cupcakes, this year. Any suggestions??

Elizabeth's First Birthday

 

Elizabeth is coming up on her 2nd birthday. I can't believe it! This is how she looked one year ago. I can't believe how she's grown!!!!

She's growing up

 

Elizabeth is growing up. She likes to drive her car. She LOVES her baby dolls and every Pooh character. She's afraid of the count on Sesame Street. She's really into nursery rhymes right now. Her favorites are "Ring around the Rosies," "Little Bo Peep has lost her Sheeps," "Baa-Baa Black Sheep," "Yankee Doodle," and tons more!! Her vocabulary is AMAZING. She has some kickin' grammar. Example:

Me: "Where's your xylophone?"
E: "I don't know. Let me check. I'll be right back." (goes to her room and then runs back). "It's not in there
Momma."
Me: "Yes it is."
E: "Oh. It must be in my closet." (Runs back in her room and then back to me). "Here it is."

She knows the alphabet. She can count to 12 (sometimes she leaves out 8). She makes stuff up. Yesterday in the car she said, "There's a unicorn, Momma." Ha-Ha.

She is VERY auditory. She hears every little sound outside. Birds, dogs, cats. Sometimes when she hears an ambulance she says, "There's an ambulance. Somebody needs help."

She loves to roar like a lion, but she's not very scary. :)

She's also really into hanging out in the bathroom. She loves "washing" her hands and "brushing" her teeth. She REALLY wants to put on makeup and she's obsessed with chapstick. Unfortunately, she recently discovered the toilet. She has no interest in going potty. The bathroom is her playground.

That's all for now. I can't believe she'll be 2 in just over a month!!

Bah Humbug!

We did our annual Christmas photo shoot, sans Dame Catoe, on Saturday morning. We missed her, but I think Danny did a good job. This is how she really feels about photo shoots, but she enjoyed being outside on the beautiful grounds of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection.

On a completely different note, Elizabeth's weekly day at preschool always goes smoothly. She never cries when I drop her off. I've figured out why: It's the pampers my mom bought her. They have Elmo on them, and we don't have them at home. She knows that when she goes to school she gets Elmo diapers. The last two Mondays one of the first things she does when she gets there is go up to her teacher, Judy, and say "Elmo diapers." I can't believe the pull of brand name products has already got her in its grasp.

18 months

At this rate, I'll only be blogging at E.A's annual check-ups. There has been a lot going on. We bought a house and moved and that's been kind of crazy and we are renovating our new house which has been more craziness and we have tons of stuff to unpack which is even crazier and, and, and.... We love our house and we have cool new red furniture and we're happy about moving forward.

E.A. got her 18 month check-up today. I'm not at all satisfied with her measurements, though. They had new ways of measuring and weighing her, and I'm not convinced that they are accurate. Anyway, they said that she was 33 1/2" long and
29 1/2 lbs. That means she grew 1/2" and gained 3 1/2 lbs. Possible, but I think she gained more like 2 lbs and probably grew at least an inch. Anyway....she was healthy and happy and cried the most she ever has when she got her shots. 3 this time. She got the MMR shot, which is a big one. No more shots until she's 4. YEA!