June 2006

 

June 2, 2006

 

We just got home from our beach vacation to Sanibel Island. It was a lot of fun. Katherine’s favorite parts were the pool and playing in the sand. Lauren enjoyed the pool after a while but she didn’t seem to care much for the beach once she tossed a handful of sand in her eyes within about two seconds of arriving there. I had fun looking for shells (found some good ones) and Woody just enjoyed not having to work for a while.

 

We played go fish a few times with Katherine who is now a smarty pants and has some pretty good strategies for the game. It’s actually fun to play with her and you don’t have to let her win…she can do that perfectly well all by herself. However, you do have to pretend you don’t see all of her cards since she can’t hold them in one hand. She lays them out, in a perfect line, face up. Totally funny.

 

Katherine and I took some girl time and we took a long walk on the beach yesterday to look for shells. Then we just sat in the path of the waves and got splashed. Lots of giggles to be had there.  During our vacation, we flew her “dragon kite”, ate lots of ice cream, swam in the ocean and the pool, went on a tour of the wildlife refuge (lame-nothing we couldn’t see in our own backyard), built sandcastles, ate lots of ice cream, napped a lot, explored the island, played in the grass, and did I mention that we ate a lot of ice cream? It was really nice to be able to disconnect and spend time with the family and not be distracted by the daily grind.

 

June 7, 2006

 

Ok, I’ll admit it. Lauren’s been a twit lately and it’s really unlike her. Sure, she will have moments of toddler induced frustration but this has been about a week of real fussiness. I attributed it to teething since her sixth tooth finally broke through last week and I figure there are a few more about to explode out of her gums. She’s been nursing and refusing solids for the most part too and my boobies are SORE and unhappy. Can boobs be unhappy? Maybe not, but mine sure feel like they are in need of psychotherapy.

 

Last night she woke me up for a 1 am nursing session and she touched my face. Her had was on fire. I feel her head. I feel hot, dry skin. Really hot. I dare not take her temperature. I nurse her and rock her for an hour or so. She’s wide awake with fever. Finally we both fall asleep. Fast forward to this morning and she’s still hot and very cranky. Nurse, sleep for a few minutes, wake up screaming in pain and crying. This goes on most of the day. I convince myself it’s still teething pain but begin to think maybe it’s something else. Finally I call to make a pediatrician appointment after Motrin only brings the fever down to 102. Pediatrician not available so I make the call to take her to the ER. Since Woody is going out of town for two days, I’d rather just know if it’s viral and nothing to worry about or what. Besides, I know from experience that daytime sick, while bad, isn’t so terribly worrisome. It’s the dead of night sick that allows all of the irrational fears to creep into a mothers mind. I’d rather get an answer and be done with it.

 

The ER in the country up here is really slow and it’s actually not too bad. We go in, her temp is 104.5. They give her a double dose of Motrin and a dose of Tylenol and her temp finally drops to normal. She has an ear infection and a viral throat infection. Poor cookie. She got a shot of antibiotics and a prescription for that lovely antibiotic that causes wicked diarreah and diaper rash. Hooray. Note to self…buy tub of super diaper ointment.

 

Now I’m wondering how long the poor dear has been in pain. Kinda feeling guilty.

 

A couple of other things. Katherine was great with Lauren today and quite patient while I was playing nurse all day. We went to our neighbor’s house on Monday and swam in their new pool with their daughter Sophia. That was fun. Lauren is singing twinkle twinkle little star all the time. Ok, it’s really “Tinkle winkle winkle winkle winkle winkle winkle winkle” you get the jest. All to the correct tune though.

 

She’s also picking up the boppy pillow and bringing it to me before demanding NUM NUM’s.

 

June 17, 2006

 

June has been a busy month so far. I am working on finishing up painting all of the trim and doors in the house in preparation for our new flooring installation. I’ve also changed all of the door hardware, including the front door, to more modern fixtures. In fact, these door handles are so modern that the packaging touts “hands free installation”. Although I was skeptical, I did try to will them on to the doors but they just laid there like lumps of metal and screws. So then I sat there and waited until the genie/handyman-who was apparently supposed to show up to install them for me- appeared. I finally got tired of waiting and since the screwdriver was a bit tricky to manipulate with my toes, I eventually resorted to using my hands to install the doorknobs. So, that, along with working, taking care of the girls (who have both been sick this month) and just the day to day time-filler-uppers, It’s been a bit hectic.

 

Katherine was being a bit of a handful for a few days while Woody was working in Buffalo and I think I know why. I realized that she’s usually pretty good the first night he’s gone but the second day is almost always a total bust. I suspect that she does not like the fact that she doesn’t get as much attention as she does when daddy is home. She loves her daddy and really misses him. BUT that is no excuse to run mommy into the ground. So we’ve re-introduced the rocks to get her behavior back on track. I’ve wanted to get a sand and water table (more on this stupid idea later) for the girls to play with on the patio. So I decided that 20 rocks would get her one. She didn’t know what she was working towards but she earned the rocks in a week and so we picked up the table on Friday.  The girls were both naked on the porch playing with the sand and flinging both sand and water everywhere within about 4 minutes of getting it set up.

 

Note to any moms out there who may be a tad bit, shall we say, OCD when it comes to tidiness. A sand and water table is probably not the best choice for you. I sat outside with the desire to watch the kids enjoy themselves. Within seconds I felt the “no’s and stop it’s” rising in my throat. Seeing the sand flung onto the floor and dumped into the water made me cringe. I tried my best to keep my stupid trap shut. Yes, I realize that the irrational urge to keep things clean is my problem and they shouldn’t have to pay for it. Finally, I knew that I just couldn’t help myself so I went inside and left the screen opened enough so I could hear them. They are kids. I want them to have dirty, wet fun without worrying about what a pain it will be for mom to clean up. I want this even if it kills me (which it might). Perhaps I should look into medication?

 

I remember watching a Discovery Health Channel show when I was pregnant with Katherine. It was about childhood development and it was fascinating. One of the things that I clearly remember was the part about lying. The experiment was showing when the ability to purposely lie began to show…it was at about age 4. Guess what age Katherine is? Yeah, almost 4. On Friday, I was in the office doing an upload before we went to the toy store. She got into the “memories drawer” in the office and pulled out a map of her dads. I told her not to open it because we don’t want it to get torn but that she could ask her dad to show it to her when he got home. The little stinker took it into the playroom and a few minutes later I arrived to find the map opened up in a pile on the floor. I asked her how it happened and she said “I didn’t open the map. Maybe Mr. Nobody did it”. I pulled her aside (and I even did the thing that I hated my mom to do to me, held her chin so she would look me in the eye…oooo I used to hate that) and I said “Katherine, I’m sure you wish you didn’t do it since you think I will be angry with you. But it’s called lying when you say something that isn’t true. Now, as long as you tell me the truth, I will not get angry but when you lie that makes me very angry. Now tell me. Did you open the map?”. “Yes momma”. I trotted her into the playroom and had her attempt to refold the map, which was comical to say the least, and then that little problem was solved. I’m sure we will be having replays of that discussion for the next year or so. 

 

Lauren is starting the slow road to independent urine evacuation, otherwise known as potty training. She’s been coming up to us saying “ewwwie” and grabbing her diaper. Nine times out of ten, it is indeed dirty or wet. So, I picked up a Winnie the Pooh potty chair and set it in the bathroom. On Friday she came up to me and said “ewwwie” while grabbing her neither-regions so I checked and she was dry. I asked if she wanted to use the potty and she said “yep” so I stripped her down and sat her on it. She played with the flusher toy on the potty seat, she stood up and sat down about a million times but finally, she tinkled just a tiny bit. Katherine and I did the “Lauren went pee pee on the potty” chant and Lauren looked so proud! We haven’t had a repeat performance yet but it will come. No rush.

 

June 19, 2006

 

I’m such a weenie. Katherine got her first spanking today. I know it hurt her pride more than it hurt her butt because I've smacked a bug harder than I smacked her butt.

 

She waited too late to go pee and peed in our bathroom floor.  I’d told her the last time that it happened (twice in one day) that the next time she peed on the floor because she was waiting for someone to go pee with her, she would get a spanking. I had to follow through but I really didn’t want too. I would never spank her for a true accident but she was jumping around asking me to come with her for about 5 minutes before the actual event. I’m so over that.

 

She was fine once the embarrassment wore off. Hopefully I won’t have to do it again. I really hated it. I really never have a desire to hit either of my kids.

 

I think Lauren is allergic to something. I don’t know what but she’s had diarrhea for almost 5 days now and a rash to beat all. Poor thing is just  pitiful.

 

Fathers day was spent at Busch Gardens after daddy woke up from his peaceful slumber at 10am, ate a breakfast of bacon and eggs and showered at his leisure. He wore his new shirt and I saw a few people checking it out while we were at the park.

 

May 2006

 

May 2, 2006

 

Lauren is really into “this little piggy” lately. She’s also very ticklish under her chin. That’s good stuff.

 

May 18, 2006

 

A lot has gone on in the last few weeks. We’ve been gearing up for our trip to Sanibel Island at the end of the month, still painting and working on the house, calling animal control about gators, socializing and work. All of that has kept us really busy.

 

We have painted the kitchen now with just a few touch ups needed. The master bathroom is next. Anyone care to enlighten me about why the previous owners of this home did most of their DIY stuff in a manner that is less than perfect, but they managed to hang their wallpaper borders with the un-releasable glue? It took me almost two days to get the wallpaper border out of the kitchen. The bathroom has a border too and now I’m not so interested in getting that job done.

 

I joined a mothers group last month and the girls and I have been going to playgroups every Monday. Tuesdays and Thursdays are Katherine’s school days. Wednesday and Friday are our free days.

 

Katherine started at Creative Times Academy on the 9^th. It is a daycare center but they prep for school. Since Katherine missed the school enrollment age by one day, she can’t actually start state operated preschool until the day before her 5^th birthday. She will most likely be bored out of her mind at that point. So we still need to figure out if we are going to homeschool or not. No decision has been made yet. She’s really enjoying the playground and the teachers said she’s very poised, polite and smart.

 

Katherine also called me the first name ever. She was mad at me for making her take a nap and later that afternoon she said “I called you stinking mommy”. We had a discussion about name calling and then daddy talked to her about respect. I know it’s pretty normal but I wasn’t really prepared for it.

 

One of Katherine’s goals lately has been to eat enough to grow taller so she can ride the Rhino Rally ride at Busch Gardens. She was just a smidgen too short last time and the attendant wouldn’t let her on. She was bummed. We went to Busch Gardens on Mothers Day afternoon and she made it! 39” tall (Shhhh…don’t tell her but I think her new strawberry shortcake shoes may have had something to do with it) She got a red bracelet saying she was 39” tall and we rode the ride twice. Boy was she happy.

 

Most everyone who reads this has received the email about the gator in our back yard. For those who don’t know, there has been a big gator, big meaning 10-13 feet long according to the trapper) in the pond out back. I called the nuisance gator line on Monday after hearing about the 3 deaths by gators lately. The trapper was coming out Tuesday night. Tuesday afternoon, the babysitter took her daughter and Lauren for a walk in the stroller. The neighbors waved her back in. The gator was on the sidewalk just around the corner three doors down. (YIKES!). It’s mating season so the gators are acting kind of crazy right now and this one in particular has exhibited signs of aggression lately. So a neighbor called the sheriffs, I called the trapper and the Fed Ex guy drove his truck into these peoples yards to chase the gator back into the water. The Tampa Tribune heard the call on their scanner and they showed up too. It was a party in my back yard. They set up bait and then the gator left. Haven’t’ seen him since Tuesday night. I’m guessing he went to another pond nearby but I’m keeping my eyes peeled when I check the mail. Made me a tad bit jumpy. Death by gator sounds so unappealing to me.

 

On to Lauren. She had her 15 month appointment a bit late. Her 16 month stats are:

Still only 5 teeth but the 4th top one is coming in now. It's right there.

Saying a ton of words-Mostly “NO!” but also body parts, animals, animal sounds etc.

Understanding lots of stuff & follows direction (when it suits her)

Runs

Tries to jump

 

Height 32.25 inches 75-90%

Weight: 20.44 10%

Head Circumference: 17.32 in 5%

 

So she's smart, tall, skinny and has an itty bitty little head.

 

The only thing he told me to keep an eye out for is her "W" sitting. It's when she sits on the floor with her knees forward and her feet out behind.

It looks terribly uncomfortable to me but it’s her modus operandi. The ped said that it can lead to orthopedic problems later so I need to just correct her when I see it.

April 2006

 

April 18, 2006

 

So the month is half gone and here I am finally getting to update the journal. It’s getting tough to get much time at the computer these days. Between the girls and work and attempting to have some semblance of a life as a family, I just don’t get the free time to hang out and email, chat or update my journal as much as I’d like. So, with that said (and in between updating my work database) I’ll give you the scoop on what’s been happening with us so far this month.

 

I went in for a blood draw and it came back that I was extremely hypoglycemic. Extremely like normal is 100, they consider you hypoglycemic at 50 and mine was 30. So they had me do a fasting blood draw which came back fine and dandy. In reading about hypoglycemia however, a lot of the symptoms do seem to fit me…just not all 24 hours of every day. When they did the first draw, I had just eaten. I’m thinking I may have food responsive (or something like that) hypoglycemia. I’ll have to mention that to the doc tomorrow since I’m going back for another fasting blood draw. Basically, I turn into a mush brain after I eat anything. That would explain why the fasting blood draw came back normal. I’ll keep you updated on that.

 

My work is keeping me really busy lately. The audits seem to just be rolling in every week. It’s a nightmare but luckily I keep really good records so it’s not impossible to answer the auditor’s questions, just time consuming. Time=what I don’t have.

 

I got the hallway painted and some of the trim in there done. I planted a butterfly garden in the back yard last week and I’ve already seen a few butterfly’s and a hummingbird out there. I’m also waiting for my enrollment package for a local moms group. They have playgroups, moms nights out, family stuff, book groups and lots of other things going on. I am mainly interested in meeting some other moms who may be willing to trade off child care duties occasionally.

 

For fun so far this month, we’ve gone to Bush Gardens again, went to the Taste of New Tampa festival, went to the Italian festival in Ybor City (which was bad), played in the sprinklers a few times, hunted for the Easter bunny and eggs and just been our regular silly old selves.

 

Woody is doing well. He’s going out of town for two days this week to the Ft Erie office and then he’s taking another two day trip to Pace next week. Work is keeping him busy and he’s helping a lot with the girls since my work has put the pressure on lately.

 

We are heading to Tallahassee this coming weekend for Sarah’s 30^th birthday party. My mom is going to watch the girls while Woody and I have a much needed kid-less social hour. I’m really looking forward to that.

 

Lauren is saying more words and bouncing around like an upside down grasshopper. She’s trying to dress herself and although she has the undressing down pat, the dressing part seems to be causing her some distress. She will rip off her diaper; scream “nakee ba-beee!” and run for her life if you dare to get up and try to put the diaper back on. But if you tell her to put her diaper on, she will comply by sticking her foot into the diaper and letting it hang limply off of one leg like some sort of diaper flag. She has also kind of gotten the hang of feeding herself. Kind of.

 

She’s also become quite fond of things that latch. Especially her car seat. My number one goal in life right now is to limit the number of stops we have on any given car trip. She will climb into her seat, try to latch herself (prepare for the screams if you attempt to help her latch in until she’s darn good and ready to give up the fight) and then unlatch herself when it’s time to go. Sometimes getting into the seat is the issue. She does the rigor-mortis shuffle which involves her making her entire body impossible to conform to the carseat at all. Sometimes getting out of the seat is the issue. It’s really a bummer of a phase though.

 

Lauren’s Easter egg hunting skills are superior. If nothing else, this kid can find a brightly colored egg. The Easter Bunny hid some eggs on the patio and the playroom just for Laurens hunting pleasure. She found all of them right away and reveled in her chocolate bunny, jelly bean and marshmallow breakfast. As did I…yes…As did I. mmmmmm

 

Speaking of Easter. We tried to go to an egg hunt at the church but we thought it was at 10:30 on Saturday. I got the girls dressed and we started to leave when Candace called to let us know that they missed it too, it was at 10. Since we had the girls looking fine and their hopes up, we tried to find another egg hunt. I found one listed online and we went there but there was no-one to be found. On the way to the non-existent egg hunt however, Katherine made up a new figurehead. The Easter Rooster who can often be seen in the company of the Easter Bunny. Maybe eggs=chicken=rooster? I can not claim to have any idea how this kids brain works but it was funny none the less. She even expressed great hopes that she would have a chocolate bunny and rooster in her basket. Note to ALL: if you happen across a chocolate rooster in the coming year, please let me know. I’d like to start a new tradition befitting our kookiness. J By the way, the non existent egg hunt actually happened in 2003. When I googled “egg hunt Tampa area” I did not enter in the year (doh!) and I didn’t bother checking it. Smooth move mom!

 

So, we missed the Easter egg hunts but we thought we should at least take the girls to the mall to meet the bunny so we did. They sat on the bunny’s lap, had a train ride and went berserk in the 75% off toy store full of junk. We got a giant bag of bouncy balls, rubber snakes and the like for about $25. Good stuff to pull out for long car rides and such. After all of that excitement we went to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch and registered the girls to win an Easter basket. Katherine won the drawing so we went and picked up her basket last night. It had a Barbie type doll and some candy in it. She was very excited about winning something.

 

On Easter Morning, Katherine was beyond excited. Most mornings she comes to the bedside and whispers “mommy, time to wake up” but Easter morning you could tell she was trying desperately to keep her voice quiet enough to not wake Lauren when she said “I found an EGG!” Wonder, awe, shock and amazement all describe her face. She was so excited by the first egg in the hallway outside of her door that she totally missed the basket full of stuff in front of her bedroom door. She was literally shaking with excitement and her pupils were humongous. It was kind of weird really, but fun at the same time. She found all of her eggs, even the one that the sly old bunny had hidden in moms shoe. Good hunting kiddo.

 

We went swimming that afternoon and while we were at the pool, she was shivering again. But this time three was a reason, it was cool and the wind was blowing. She proceeded to tell a few older people who were sitting by the edge of the pool that “today the Easter bunny came to my house, and we went to Busch gardens, and tomorrow we are going to the beach and my mommy and daddy are getting married!” I immediately blushed and corrected her by saying “the Easter bunny did come to your house today and we did go to Busch Gardens but we are going to a beach wedding next weekend of one of mommy and daddy’s friends. Mommy and daddy are already married”. She is obsessed with weddings since the Little Bear episode where they have a pretend wedding. She puts her pillow on her head and says “who wants to marry me?” and stuff like that. Yeah, she’s nuts.

 

But then she’s brilliant too. Like today, she started reading. We were sounding out letters and I made the words cat, hat and boo boo. She got cat and hat and with some prodding she got boo boo too. I was astonished. She’s growing up. She also got her big girl bed earlier this month and she picked out some lovely pink and pale green lacy flowery bedding. It’s actually pretty cute.

March 2006

 

March 2, 2006

 

Lauren has been extra clingy and kind of fussy since Monday. Monday night, she didn't go to sleep until 3:30am. I attributed it to teething and gas (she had some serious gas going on whew). Yesterday, I picked her up after her nap and she was on fire. I took her temp and it was 101.7 axillary. I had an aha moment and thought, it all adds up, ear infection. So I called the ped and scheduled an appt.

We get there and our regular ped is off so we see a new lady...who I now HATE and hope I never have to see again. After she decided that L's ears were in fact fine, she stuck the popsicle stick in Lauren's mouth to get a look at her throat and she gagged her so I was covered in barf and holding a squirmy, upset baby and trying to calm K down because she was freaking that her sister was so upset & barfing. Oh, K was also wearing her dragon costume...Thanks Amy! LOL

So the ped decides that there is no obvious reason for the fever and she gives Lauren Tylenol and tells us to wait a bit. They come in 45 minutes later and now Laurens temp has not gone down. In fact it’s gone up to 103.8 but she's still acting ok. Kinda fussy but pretty normal. So I'm not terribly worried. Until the ped tells me that it could be an infection and she wants to catheratize Lauren to get a urine sample for testing. Well we do that, much to Lauren's dismay and K's disbelief. "why are they sticking that tube in Laurens bahgina mommy?" asks the little dragon with fear in her eyes, who I'm SURE will NEVER go to the doctors again without a fight.

That came back fine so the ped sends us to after hours urgent care for blood work and x-rays. I'm still thinking that it's all a bit extreme but when the ped is talking about possible blood infections and stuff...it's hard not to worry. We get to urgent care and they take L's blood (which she hated of course) and then they put her in that baby xray torture contraption (the little plastic tube with her arms in the air? way too much for me) all to have the dr tell me that it's something viral and to follow up with the ped today.

We have an appointment at 1:55 with our regular ped who I love. I'm really ticked off about torturing poor L for nothing.

 

Oh, and Lauren’s 5^th tooth has finally popped through. The top to the left of her first front teeth. And, she was almost 20 lbs at the peds yesterday. I may be able to turn her carseat around soon.

 

March 17, 2006

 

Last month we ended with a cliff-hanger. Turns out Lauren had Coxsackie virus also known as Hand, foot and mouth disease. It causes painful mouth sores and high fevers for a few days. It sometimes also causes a rash on the hands and feet which she did not have. It’s highly contagious and the only place I can figure that she got it from is the gym daycare.

 

After she got all healed up, all of us girls caught colds again. They were more the runny nose, itchy eyes types of colds so no biggie. In fact, after the flu, these viruses are really going to have to bring it if they have any hopes of making me terribly miserable. As I’m typing this I’m realizing that the “colds” have been around for about 10 days. Wonder if they have anything to do with the fine dusting of yellow pollen on our outside furniture. Hmmmmm?

 

Tallia is gone. She went to live with someone else (wink wink). The kids loved her and K gave her big giant hugs on her last day but the barfing and constant coughing was getting to be too much. She upchucked in the middle of our bed for the second time in a week and that was the final straw. I have enough secretions to deal with, I don’t really need additional work. Rest in Peace fat furry one, you will be missed. Here’s to hoping there is an all you can eat tuna buffet and no barf-ies wherever you are now. 

 

What have the littlest Wright’s been up to this month? Lauren stopped giving open mouth kisses yesterday. It’s all about the pucker now. I’m sort of sad to see that go.

 

She is now napping in her crib and she actually just put herself to sleep without help. I know you can’t see it but I’m actually doing the happy dance. I didn’t have to pat, rub, sing or anything. Ok, I did do something; I laid down on the bed and watched her play for a few minutes until she conked out. I figure at some point, I’ll be able to just put her in there and walk away. Of course by that time she will be in the toddler bed and I’ll have to rework the entire plan.

 

She is saying “Nakie bay-bee!!” with great enthusiasm now whenever she is nude, just like her big sis. Caught that on video. Good stuff that I’ll have to share if you ever visit.

 

We turned her car seat around. I haven’t received the official “she’s 20 lbs” from the pediatrician but she was 19 lbs 11 oz the last time we went in and she’s been eating like a horse. I’m sure she’s 20 now. She’s 15 months old for the love of Pete! Let the child turn around already.

 

We went to Sea World with a couple of the families from the message board I frequent. We had fun but the highlight of the day (for Woody and I anyway) was Lauren’s reaction to the Shamu show.  As soon as she caught sight of that whale, she was standing on the bleacher, craning her neck, pointing and screaming “ISH! ISH! ISH!”. I believe there were even a few foot stomps thrown in there too. Wow was she excited. It was great.

 

Katherine is having her room decorated. I painted it a lovely shade of pink and put some green circles on the walls. But now I’m painting over the green circles. I need to find some bedding and then do the polka dots. Guess we need a bed too. I’ve found a few I love but who wants to spend $300 on a bed? Our bed doesn’t even cost that much. Ok, our bed was free from Mom and Brad but really, $300.00? man!

 

Katherine is no longer taking naps but she is supposed to do quiet time. That’s been not working so well lately though. One hour in her room playing quietly, that’s all I ask. I’m getting frustrated. I also made a call to the pediatrician earlier this month. Katherine had licked the peanut butter off of a piece of toast at breakfast and had one cup of apple juice. Then she wouldn’t eat for the rest of the day. I asked if it is possible for a 3 year old to be anorexic, he said it’s not likely and basically told me to back off and relax. Easy for him to say, he’s not the one cooking meals all day and watching his kid stay small. Oh well, I’m taking his advice and trying to not stress.

 

Other than that, she’s been fine. She was a wonderful hostess for Jade when she came to stay a weekend with us. She shared as well as could be expected and all in all was awesome. She keeps surprising us with these big words like “delicious” and “abominable”. I swear she has the vocabulary of your average 7 year old and she actually uses the words in context. It’s hysterical to hear some of the things she says.

 

March 22, 2006

Lauren made her first sentence. She stood by the rocking chair and said "wok baby". I said "you want me to rock you?” and she said "yes

 

March 23, 2006

Today was a good day. Well, besides Lauren’s ongoing case of the fussies. We’ve been working on the crib thing for nap and bedtime and she gave me a good long screaming fit for naptime today. I was in there with her….well, not in the crib, in the room….but you’d think I’d gone to timbucktu. Geez.  I’m wondering if she isn’t cutting another tooth. This is the third day of her being really whiney and clingy.

 

We all got ready and went to the gym. I rode the bike for 7 miles in 35 minutes. Got the girls out of the gym daycare and took them to the park. They ran around for awhile then we came home for snack and naptime. They both took naps. Wahoo!  I think the key here is that I took them to the park in the morning and let them run themselves ragged before naptime. I’ll test that theory tomorrow.

 

Katherine has started to show interest in dressing herself and picking out her clothes. I moved all of her clothes to the bottom three drawers of her dresser so she can get to them and told her to go at it. She did good today everything matched and she put it all on by herself. Ok the panties were backwards but I seem to recall having trouble with that when I was a kid too. In fact, I believe GiGi had to sew ribbons on the left side (or maybe it was the back) of every pair of panties I had so I would put them on correctly. Maybe it’s inherited suptidity? Probably time to bust out the ribbon and the sewing kit.

 

Grandma and Aunt Carol are coming for a visit on Saturday and we are taking the girls to Busch Gardens. Katherine is so excited to show “her park” to them.

 

March 24, 2006

 

Oh boy is Katherine ever funny. Her favorite game right now, besides the stuffed animal social hour, is Cinderella. This game consists of Woody or I sitting on the couch and barking orders to her. We also have to be very mean and make her do lots of chores. It’s so funny to see her run up and say “what next stepmother?”. Way funny.

 

Katherine’s art and writing are coming along nicely. She often will color at the kitchen table while I cook lunch or dinner. Recently, her scribbles are looking more and more like real things. Tonight she drew a butterfly on the magna-doodle and I knew exactly what it was. It was quite detailed. So of course I took a picture of it. Man I love digital cameras. At lunch today, she was working on the letters of her name. Most of them were really good but the K and N were giving her fits. In a creative mommy moment, I came up with “K looks a little like a big mouthed frog”. So now the poor girl is awfully confused. I’ll have some ‘splainin to do when she starts school & she’s starting her name with a drawing of a frog.

 

She actually has started to do chores. She clears the table after dinner and puts some things in the dishwasher. She then wipes the table off with a wet rag. She’s quite meticulous too. She not only wipes all of the table top. She also wipes down all of the chairs, including Lauren’s booster seat which seems to have a magnetic force that attracts sticky food items. Katherine’s positively beaming when she’s done.  It makes my sweeping and mopping a bit less painful once I see how much pride she takes in her chores and the excitement that they elicit.

 

I can see it now. Whaoooooo I’m going to sweep now! See me sweeping? Oh, wow there’s a very big chunk of dried fish stick from lunch right next to that blob of congealed macaroni & cheese! See me sweep it up? Did I do a good job? I did didn’t I? I didn’t miss a spot!  Can I have a cookie and chocolate milk please ma’am? If only.

 

March 29, 2006

Let me preface this by saying that Lauren has not slept well for 4 days. I'm taking her to the ped this morning since she is just not being herself lately. So, I was a little grumpy this morning after the third day of 4 hours or less of sleep. I snapped out of it though. So, on with the Katherine show.

She made this one up all by herself this morning.
Knock Knock.
who's there?
Horse
Horse Who?
Horse you glad you aren't a grumpy mommy anymore?

And her other one...it actually took me a minute to get this one but once I did I thought it was quite clever.

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Cow
Cow Who?
Noooo...Cow's MOO Owls Who.

 

March 31, 2006

That Katherine is a bugger. She now says that she got the above jokes from Little Bear. I thought that was pretty advanced. J

 

Lauren has started getting time outs. She’s been hitting and standing on the couch. Got to nip that in the bud. On the other hand, she’s been napping in her crib exclusively. That’s wonderful.

 

April 18, 2006

February 2006

 

February 4, 2006

Lauren cut her 4^th tooth today. Her second top one. She seems to be recovering well from her bout with the flu and she’s crazy as ever. She’s started dancing with her sister and saying “yeah” to any question.

 

February 13, 2006

And they are here. The toddler behaviors are here with a vengeance. Didn’t I say a long time ago that as good as Lauren is as a baby, I’m sure I’ll pay later? Well, I’ve whipped out the wallet and I’m paying. Boy am I ever. She’s got a temper and she knows how to use it. Tantrums have begun. She’s also in to EVERYTHING and to top it off, she’s a climber and a daredevil. Here’s an example of a typical 10 minute period. This all happened today by the way.

 

-Lauren strips off shirt. Now she’s just wearing pants which she can’t yet remove. And that is good because she CAN remove her diaper. That is bad as evidenced by the poop stains on the playroom carpet from a diaper-stripper episode a few weeks ago. It’s never good to hear “Mom! Make Lauren stop putting poop all over the place!”

 

-Lauren climbs into child sized rocker and rocks back and forth while chanting “wok wok wok” at the top of her lungs. Kinda cute right?

 

-I walk into the kitchen and when I turn back around I see Lauren is now standing in the rocking chair, rocking, chanting and giving me the most defiant look ever

 

-I tell her no (and she repeats “no, no, no”) and set her on the floor. She pops right up and follows me into the kitchen

 

-I go to the bathroom

 

-I come back and she has her hand in the cabinet under the sink. There are safety things on the cabinets but they still open just enough to get her arm in there. Go figure. So she’s wrestling something in there and I find it’s the dish detergent thingies. She’s got her hand in the bag and almost has one out. That would have fit nicely in her gaping maw. Perfect!

 

-Lauren poops so I change her diaper and find it’s Oh so pretty. Sparkly sequins dot the poop. I’m actually happy to see that her foray into the craft cabinet last week has finally cleared her system.

 

So, she’s keeping me on my toes. Katherine is being really great for the most part. Today she didn’t nap and we’ve had a bit of a struggle due to that but usually she’s awesome. We’ve been doing crafts & just having fun. My favorite time with her is in the mornings before Lauren wakes up. We sit on the couch and snuggle. It’s lovely. 

 

February 26, 2006

 

Once again, here we are at the end of the month and I’ve written hardly anything. Here is a brief rundown of what the family has been up to.

 

Woody has been working a lot lately. Nothing really new there.

 

We finally broke down and bought a DVR. That’s pretty handy with two kids. One of them starts screaming in the middle of an intense scene? Just pause & rewind when the situation is calmer. Love it!

 

We booked our summer vacation. We will be going to a resort on Sanibel Island, about 3 hours south of us. It looks like fun and I’m really looking forward to it. Katherine is all about the beach these days.

 

We finished painting the living room today. We went from taupe to grey with white trim. It looks really nice. It’s amazing what a new coat of paint (or three) can do. The whole room looks brighter and cleaner. Next up is Katherine’s room. It is currently yellow but she said she wants it pink and blue and yellow and purple with polka dots. <Insert crazy face here> So, I’m thinking pink with some circles in the other colors. I’m still contemplating that one. Once we get all of the rooms painted, we will get to have new flooring all over the house. I am so very excited about that. The linoleum and Berber carpet are both just used up and nasty.

 

We also had the exterior of the house painted a couple of weeks ago. We went from a sunbleached pinky-beige color to a taupe with white trim & a sizzling red door. It’s really pretty. So pretty in fact, our neighbors across the street are painting their house the same color. The funniest part of this whole thing is that the main reason we decided to paint the living room in the first place is that we were unable to get a color match to repair some areas where the paint was having problems. Our sitters next door neighbors house is the color I chose for the exterior because I really liked the way it looked on their place. We got a sample of the color and brought it home. I painted it on a piece of paper to see what it looked like and lo and behold, it’s the living room wall color. So we still have the taupe, we just moved it outside. J

 

Katherine has been awesome lately. Going to bed easily, and just being a really good girl. She was such a good girl last week that she earned 27 rocks! Rocks are her currency. She earns them by being good then she exchanges them for things she wants…tv time, computer game time, extra books, Busch Gardens etc. This week we took a trip to Busch Gardens. She was even super good there…the whole day! I love it when we are in an upswing.

 

She’s also been being really great with Lauren. Last week at the gym, when I walked into the childcare room after my workout, she was sitting on the floor next to Lauren. She told me that a little boy made Lauren cry by taking her toy and she made him stop and say he was sorry. How proud was I? Oh, you just can’t even imagine. Standing up for her little sister? I love it. Then at Busch Gardens yesterday, they were side by side in the stroller. We got K an icecream cone on the way out. Did she give Lauren bites of her ice cream? You bet she did.

 

Lauren is still testing us but dang is she ever cute. She’s saying more and more words like “car”, “touch”, “shoe” and “Mama”. She also has most of the animal sounds down. I like to take her outside for walks but she tries to either run into the street or eat all the junk that’s on the ground. I have to be very vigilant when we go outside.

January 2006

 

January 1, 2006

 

Well, lookie here! A whole month has flown by with only one entry. Between the cooties, the holidays and visitors, this month has been hectic. Let’s see if I can recap.

 

I did a lot of online shopping so that was done early on. I still had to wrap and ship some things though. Katherine and I baked 7 hummingbird cakes for our local friends.  Katherine started becoming a bit more aggressive towards her sister. I suspect the lack of one on one time with dad and I may have something to do with that. We went to the zoo and Lauren really liked the monkeys. We took walks to the playground almost every day. Both girls love to swing and play. Katherine received a purple dragon costume from a friend of mine. After I scared her with it by putting it in her room while she was sleeping only to have her wake up screaming (bad mommy!) she put it on and wore it everywhere for three days. Target, the playground, walks, pizza place…where ever. She also roared at people. I realized on the day before Christmas eve that the kids had so many gifts that they’d be overwhelmed on Christmas morning. So, Woody and I made the decision to let them open all of the gifts that night from friends and family. Both girls received lots of clothes and some groovy toys. Myrna and Carl came down on Christmas Eve for a week long holiday visit. We all got dressed up and went to the candlelight Christmas eve service. Came home, had hot cocoa, opened our new pajamas, set out cookies, milk and carrots and went to bed.

 

The next morning, K woke up to find that Santa had left a puppy named Scamps under the tree. Scamps is a voice activated puppy and she loves him. Lauren received a busy box from Santa and that was a winner too. The stockings were filled with treats and once again, there were so many gifts that Katherine got bored with opening them. We really had to coax her to open the last 4.  I will seriously try to remember that next year.

 

Lauren weighed in on the 30^th at 18 lbs 7 oz. I had to take her in for another suspected ear infection but alas, it was actually just teething. Her top tooth is almost in and it’s causing her some pain.

Well, the pictures will show what we’ve been up to better than my trying to recap it all so enjoy!

 

 

 January 11, 2006

OK, Lauren’s letter is a bit late. Here goes.

 

Dear Lauren,

 

1 year (and 10 days) ago, the doctor placed you on my belly after an exciting labor. You were a perfect newborn. The rush of love that I felt at that moment was overwhelming and it has grown every day since. Even though I was not sure how you’d fit into this family before you arrived, I now see that we wouldn’t be “us” without “u”. Oh geez…that sounds like something your grandma Susan would write. I was really worried about how I’d be as a mom to two little girls. I think I’ve done a pretty good job so far.

You have been a mellow baby and such a good girl. I just love staring into those big brown eyes and running my fingers through your curls. Now that you’ve started walking, you are on the move most of the time, but you fall right asleep when you need too.

Good eater, good sleeper, cuddle-kins, all the milestones met? You are perfect on all counts.

I love you so much and I can’t wait to see what this new year brings. By your next birthday, you will be talking more, running, chasing and harassing your big sister and hopefully, if I get my wish, still my darling little cuddle-kin.

 

Love you bunches Cha-Cha,

Mom

 

We bought an annual pass to Busch Gardens as our Family Christmas gift. Been both weekends this month so far. The first weekend we did a walk through to see where everything was. The place is huge and I realized that night, while looking at the map, that we totally missed two entire areas! We saw the baby gorilla who was cuddled in his mom's arms. Both of them sleeping near the glass so you could really see them. Mom had her nose on the baby’s head and it was just too sweet. We took the train ride around the park which was pretty neat but Lauren was not so enthused…she fell asleep. They have kids rides scattered throughout the park and Katherine wanted to ride on the motorcycle ride. I thought she was going to freak out when the thing took off, around and around. She was concentrating very hard and it didn’t look like she was having much fun. When she got off though, she said she had fun and she held on “vewy tightwy”.  

 

The second time we went with the intention of only going to the “kids” area, Dragonland. From the time we walked into Dragonland, until we left 3 hours later, Katherine was way too excited. She literally bounced the entire time from sheer excitement. They had a stage show with Dumphry the dragon. Katherine went to hug the dragon when the show was over and she reported back that “there is a man in that dragon coat”. Gosh, I sure hope she isn’t one of those kids who ruins Santa Claus for all the others. Just a bit too big for her britches I’d say. Dragonland is Busch Gardens’ kid mecca. 52” is the height restriction and if you are over that height, “you must be accompanied by a child”.

 

Katherine rode every single ride, some alone, some with dad and one with a little boy. She was going to have to wait for the next run of the cars and she was looking a bit disappointed. The mom said she could ride with her son, who looked to be about 3 also. K got in the car and the boy promptly put his arm around the back of her seat. K took over and was “driving” the car the whole time. She’s such a character. I was so worried about her being shy and small and I was very concerned about her being bullied but now I see that this kid can take care of herself. I need to give her credit for being so willing to try new things & not let the big kids run over her. For a wee tot, she sure is brave.

 

Lauren is a runner. She loves to run away from me. Inside, outside, whatever, she doesn’t care. She just wants to be chased. K stuck with me pretty well at this age, but Lauren is a wanderer. We were out front blowing bubbles a few days ago and she just kept taking off and heading for the street. Earlier today she was putting some bit of garbage (a piece of wood this time I think) into her mouth. She stayed just out of reach of where I was sitting and was taunting me with the drool drenched wood. Putting it in and out of her mouth and watching me the entire time. When I got up to take it from her, she ran away squealing.  Good gracious, this child is going to give me a heart attack.

 

Lauren is also talking more. She says “Shoe” “yes” and “na” and she’s learning the animals & some sounds. She gets very excited when she shows you her book and she says things that sound like words…but they aren’t really. She’s also grasped up and down. Her favorite thing right now is chasing sister all over the place and being chased. She also really enjoys peek a boo and playing “where’s Lauren”. Tip: She’s probably in the tunnel or the tent. She’s eating better but that stupid top tooth still hasn’t broken though. Can they retract? I honestly think it did…no lie. Oh, she is also saying “no, no, no, no, no” and she sounds just like me. Oy!

 

Katherine’s most recent joy is stuffed animals. She is not, however, ok with playing alone with her stuffed animals. I hear “mommy, do you want to play with me” about 50 times per day. When you do play with her (I’m usually the moose…hrumph) the animals are doing something mind numbingly boring like; getting ready for naps, or swimming. After you’ve finally gotten comfy on the floor with your stuffed moose, she runs off and plays the other room but she gets so upset if you get up. Wierdo.

 

She had an eye appointment today. I was a bit worried about something I’d seen on some pictures so I made the appointment last month. I really botched this morning up though because I not only had the wrong directions, I wrote the wrong number down from the phone boo. So when I was lost, I called the number…it was an eye clinic and they gave me directions…but when I got there, we realized it was the wrong one. They finally helped me figure out where we were going and we were only about 10 minutes late. Anyway, they dilated K’s eyes which was a rough experience for her. She screamed and cried a lot but it was mostly because we were holding her down. Then they checked her eyes (which she was very brave for). No big problems but she does have a slight cross (which must be very slight since I’ve never noticed it) and he wants to see her again in 4 months. I feel better knowing that there are no big problems. Illness, even the possibility, in your kids is just one of those things I’d really rather avoid. It really affects me badly.

 

January 12, 2006

Lauren’s top front tooth finally broke through today.

 

January 13, 2006

Lauren had her first haircut today. Not much, just the bangs and a bit of clean up. She was great and didn’t fuss at all.

 

January 17, 2006

Boy that husband of mine is a special fella.  I'm in the office trying to knock some work out. I can hear him playing techno music and dancing with the girls in the living room. I just heard him tell Katherine "let me show you a dance move...it's called stir the pudding". Then he taught her "the lawn mower". Next he'll be teaching them the smurf. 

 

The man can't dance a lick but boy he sure is a good daddy.

 

Lauren does shake her booty but she mainly watches Katherine, twirls around, screams and trys to stay out of K’s way. She loves it when big sis dances.

 

January 22, 2006

Lauren had her one year checkup. Here are her stats.

 

Weight: 18 lbs 9 oz (10-25%)

Height: 29 ¾ inches (75%)

Head circ: 45 cm (50%)

So, she’s long and lean, like big sister. She’s meeting all of her milestones and everything is A-OK!

 

January 26, 2006

K burned her hand tonight on the stove burner. We took her to the ped and she has first & second-degree burns, only the thumb was spared any spots. Her index finger took the brunt of it. Poor baby cried and cried. L  Practically broke my heart. I’m sure it hurt a lot but the pediatrician put some salve on it, bandaged her up and gave her Tylenol with codeine so she’s now sleeping hard.

Besides that, we had a fun day.  I got some interior painting done & then we went to Busch gardens. Katherine rode her first big girl ride (the log flume, rather tame by their standards but one big drop) and she loved it. She went 4 times in a row. Once with me and the other three times with daddy.

December 2005

 

December 7, 2005

Ugh. Katherine caught a cold last week. Runny nose and such but she was ok. Then Lauren got it. She didn’t sleep well for four nights (3 am wake ups every day) and she started smacking herself on the side of the head so I took her to the pediatrician on Tuesday. Double ear infection and her two top teeth are about to come though. Poor kid. He gave us a stronger antibiotic, which causes thrush and diarrhea, if not taken with yogurt, and some numbing drops for her ears. For being that sick, you’d think she’d be a monster but she’s not really. She’s awake at 3am but she seems to want to play. Not unhappy, just not able to get comfy. The right ear is worse than the left too. I think I will make an appointment with  the chiropractor for her tomorrow. Apparently they can manipulate babies who are prone to ear infections and it reduces the lymph fluid that collects. I’ve heard it works for some and not for others. I’m willing to make a $15 co-pay to find out.

 

Of course with all of the close contact with the girls and the lack of sleep, I caught the cold too. My cold was different than theirs though. Mine was more of a sleeping sickness. I started feeling poorly yesterday and by last night I was full on coughing, congested, achy etc. Lauren and I were up from 2am till 5:30 am and when Woody woke up, he said he’d stay home. He is so awesome. I think I may have literally died if I had to face the care of two sick kids while I felt like I did. So I basically slept all day. Up for an hour here & there but Woody took on both girls like a champ. Katherine was testing him today and I think I butted in where I wasn’t wanted. She was being a turkey and I’ve found that if you let her see that you are getting angry, she acts even worse. If you focus on the positive with her, she does much better. I think Woody had lost his patience way before I came out an tried to give that little tidbit of advise though. He did a great job with them and I am totally grateful for the break. I feel a lot better now & hopefully, after a good night’s rest, I’ll be up for a full day with the monkeys tomorrow.

 

Laruen’s numbing drops tickle her ears I guess. After her bath, I was nursing her on the bed and she was diaper less to let the rash air out a bit (see above evil antibiotic that causes diarrhea and rashes on the bum). I put the ear drops in and while she was nursing, she was digging in her ear with her toe. It was very primate of her. J

 

She is also walking all over the place now. Yes, she still looks like a drunk sailor as she staggers all around but she’s pretty good at it. She is also saying woof woof and really pointing out things while trying to say what they are. When Katherine leaves the room, Lauren starts in with a loud “Dat Duh!”…she misses big sis.