We went to Minneapolis last weekend to go to Mark and Lea's ("leah", not "lee") engagement party, and we really had a nice 48-hour vacation. Trav took the afternoon off so we could travel during Audrey's nap on Friday, and Emily did really well in the car. We made it to the hotel in time to swim for about half an hour before we had to get cleaned up for supper, and Emily screamed most of the time in the water. She was pretty freaked, but I think she was enjoying it on some level, deep down. Audrey was more transparent about what she liked and didn't like. Since the pool was 3' minimum, we had to take them around with us the whole time, and they didn't get to just run and play in the water. But it was a good experience overall - by the time they swam on Saturday and Sunday mornings, they were both kicking like crazy and using their hands out in front of them as Travis and I floated them arond. Emily liked to sit on the steps of the pool and practice blowing bubbles. They'll be fine swimmers once we get them started... I think.
Anyway, we met up with Minnesota friends who both have newborns, so it was fun to put our kids to bed in the hotel and stay up chatting with them, enjoying their little ones!! The next morning, after swimming, we took the girls to the sculpture garden and got some great pictures of them running around in the sunshine. We ate dinner at a cafe that was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, which is something I've always wanted to do because that show makes food look SOOOO good. They find places where things are homemade and made out of real ingredients, and this place really was fabulous. And, even though it was the middle of November in Minnesota, we were able to eat outside! It was a gorgeous day and we sure took advantage of it. The girls were plenty tired to take solid naps (both of them) on Saturday afternoon, so Trav and I decompressed while they slept and then got ready for the engagement party.
Lea's family is Greek, and their wedding will be in a Greek Orthodox church in Minneapolis. I absolutely adore Lea - she's so cool! And her family is wonderful, too. We really enjoyed meeting all of them, and a lot of their family friends who have known her since she was a tiny girl. We met her cousins and grandparents and felt a little overwhelmed but definitely welcomed. Lea has said that her wedding will probably be kind of like the movie Big Fat Greek Wedding, not exactly, but yeah, kinda, and I can totally understand now! The people we met weren't over-the-top characters, but at one point there were three ladies singing children's songs in Greek to my girls, who just sat and watched in amazement. They sang "wheels on the bus" and "itsy bitsy spider" to Emily and Audrey first, and they just loved that, so they launched into something in Greek, and then they laughed and said, "oh, they probably don't know that one!" Yeah, not really! And then the waitress brought more wine and everybody said "Opa!!!" and the party continued. This was just a 2-hour informal reception in the back room of a restaurant -- I can only imagine what a full-out wedding will be!! I'm so excited!!
My girls did really, really well during this party, considering that it was loud and crowded and they didn't know anybody except their Sullivan grandparents and Mark and Lea. When we walked in, Audrey saw Lea and immediately leaned in for her to hold her, and snuggled up under her chin. It was SO sweet, and I just love that Lea's family got to see a little genuine taste of how much we all love her. But after that, everybody kept coming up to me and saying, "Oh! These must be Mark's nieces! We've heard so much about them! they're so beautiful!" And the girls just clung tighter and tighter to me. They loosened up after a while, about the point where they couldn't contain their wiggles anymore, but they really, really handled things well for being so intimidated. Then Lea's brother started playing silly games with them, and they thought that was great, too. Emily is SO excited to be a flower girl for their wedding, and I wonder if Audrey might be invited to be one too, since she'll be 3 1/2 at the time of the wedding, almost as old as Emily is now, and Emily will be FIVE. yikes!
And the weirdest part - I will have a one-year-old then, too. :) My due date is May 24, 2012, and their wedding date will be May 26, 2013! I'm 13 weeks along now, and have heard a heartbeat so I think things are all good there. I haven't announced on Facebook yet, but people at work know, and of course family and close friends. so, now my blog knows, too! I spent weeks 6 - 8 sleeping on the couch in the afternoons, during which time Emily complained that she was lonely because she was the only one in the house who was awake - oops. The nausea seemed worse this time than with the other 2, but a few weeks away and I'm already thinking it wasn't really that bad in retrospect. I did manage to throw up a prenatal vitamin on the day of Audrey's birthday party, though, which is a TERRIBLE experience. I don't recommend it!
So, that's the scoop on the weekend, and things. All in all, it's good to be me. :)
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
raising a stink, apparently
So I should be flying high today, on a beautiful sunny day with my girls at home, happily playing, enjoying the new snow that's sure to disappear soon. I had my year-end review yesterday with my boss, and he had nothing but glowing, wonderful things to say about me and my performance last year - and a high overall rating, too, which was apparently unanimous when "normalized" with other managers in my group. Compliments are so good for my ego! :)
But apparently I offended a few people, my husband being one of them, when I asked a group of friends to back me up in supporting my sister, to whatever degree they are comfortable doing. Travis argued that the intent was fine, but it was poorly worded, such that I expected other people to confront her husband should he show up uninvited to an affair (tailgate, party, bike ride, etc.), even if he brings the girls in a cowardly attempt to shield himself from such confrontation. I was surprised that I got two email responses - one from someone I've always liked and respected, and one from someone I've not held in as high esteem but never really had a personal reason to dislike either. It was amazing that the person I was not so crazy about replied with outright support, saying this guy's actions were not cool and he's on board with what I suggested. The other person told me to "back off" and that i had made it uncomfortable for everyone by bringing up someone else's problems. I'm having a hard time getting over it, because I was actually called selfish in the email, and my feelings are hurt. I really know that it's best to let it go, not ruffle any more feathers and just realize that not everyone understands the severity of domestic abuse. But it still stings, and it's made me grouchy today. Travis and I stayed up last night discussing it - fortunately it didn't cross the line into a real argument, but it was definitely heated - because he could see this person's point. I just can't understand how telling my friends that my family won't be offended if you don't offer Dave a beer the next time you see him is really asking that much of people, especially considering what all Jenny is tolerating on a daily basis and what Travis and I have done for other friends in this same group over the years. And I just can't fathom that anyone could tolerate domestic abuse on any scale, at any level. At very least, you'd think that pointing out that he BEAT UP someone they know and like and who couldn't possibly deserve it (really?? what could a wife do to deserve to get beaten up???) would mean something... but I guess not. The worst irony is that I've heard so many people talking and posting about how awful the situation at Penn State is, where young boys were abused and people knew and didn't do anything to stop it. Yet, situations like this can go on in your neighborhood where women and their kids are abused, neglected, berated, and emotionally beaten down for YEARS and everyone can say, well, they're intelligent adults, i'm sure they'll work it out. Or worse, they actually think she does have it coming. Yeah, sure. Until somebody ends up dead, either the guy going on a shooting rampage in a beauty salon or the wife "runs off" with some mysterious guy never to be seen again, or the wife finally kills the husband to stop the abuse, people will never believe it. "He seemed like the nicest guy!"
I'm not fooled anymore. My few dear loyal readers, I hope you aren't fooled either, and will listen with a new ear the next time you hear a girlfriend complain about how her husband abandoned her with the kids for a weekend while he went off playing, or he told her she can't have friends over because the house isn't clean enough, or he spent all their money on himself when it should have been spent on the kids or family, or how she was told she was overreacting when he misused her belongings. Did he make it up to her? did he apologize? did he understand he was wrong and reacted positively when she gave him the ultimatum to not happen again? Or, did he bring up something he thinks is really her fault and make the argument about that instead? It's up to us to help our friends out, because they might be being told at home that they're overreacting if they get their feelings hurt, that they're lonely because their friends don't really like them, that they're not as attractive as when they got married, that they're unreasonable, they're bitchy, they're PMSing, that they HAVE to have sex because a husband is entitled to it, that they're just like their mothers... and so on. If you were being told those things constantly, would you feel like you deserved help??
So, if you're suspicious that a friend needs help, give her access to the Power and Control Wheel and read through it with her. Each of the sections is as important as the other. Even though they may seem like little things that everybody puts up with - they're NOT. Domestic abuse isn't just a black eye or suspicious bruises.
And we have to help each other out, because I've lost all faith in the male gender.
And, please read the comments on this blog. If that doesn't convince you, I don't know what will!
But apparently I offended a few people, my husband being one of them, when I asked a group of friends to back me up in supporting my sister, to whatever degree they are comfortable doing. Travis argued that the intent was fine, but it was poorly worded, such that I expected other people to confront her husband should he show up uninvited to an affair (tailgate, party, bike ride, etc.), even if he brings the girls in a cowardly attempt to shield himself from such confrontation. I was surprised that I got two email responses - one from someone I've always liked and respected, and one from someone I've not held in as high esteem but never really had a personal reason to dislike either. It was amazing that the person I was not so crazy about replied with outright support, saying this guy's actions were not cool and he's on board with what I suggested. The other person told me to "back off" and that i had made it uncomfortable for everyone by bringing up someone else's problems. I'm having a hard time getting over it, because I was actually called selfish in the email, and my feelings are hurt. I really know that it's best to let it go, not ruffle any more feathers and just realize that not everyone understands the severity of domestic abuse. But it still stings, and it's made me grouchy today. Travis and I stayed up last night discussing it - fortunately it didn't cross the line into a real argument, but it was definitely heated - because he could see this person's point. I just can't understand how telling my friends that my family won't be offended if you don't offer Dave a beer the next time you see him is really asking that much of people, especially considering what all Jenny is tolerating on a daily basis and what Travis and I have done for other friends in this same group over the years. And I just can't fathom that anyone could tolerate domestic abuse on any scale, at any level. At very least, you'd think that pointing out that he BEAT UP someone they know and like and who couldn't possibly deserve it (really?? what could a wife do to deserve to get beaten up???) would mean something... but I guess not. The worst irony is that I've heard so many people talking and posting about how awful the situation at Penn State is, where young boys were abused and people knew and didn't do anything to stop it. Yet, situations like this can go on in your neighborhood where women and their kids are abused, neglected, berated, and emotionally beaten down for YEARS and everyone can say, well, they're intelligent adults, i'm sure they'll work it out. Or worse, they actually think she does have it coming. Yeah, sure. Until somebody ends up dead, either the guy going on a shooting rampage in a beauty salon or the wife "runs off" with some mysterious guy never to be seen again, or the wife finally kills the husband to stop the abuse, people will never believe it. "He seemed like the nicest guy!"
I'm not fooled anymore. My few dear loyal readers, I hope you aren't fooled either, and will listen with a new ear the next time you hear a girlfriend complain about how her husband abandoned her with the kids for a weekend while he went off playing, or he told her she can't have friends over because the house isn't clean enough, or he spent all their money on himself when it should have been spent on the kids or family, or how she was told she was overreacting when he misused her belongings. Did he make it up to her? did he apologize? did he understand he was wrong and reacted positively when she gave him the ultimatum to not happen again? Or, did he bring up something he thinks is really her fault and make the argument about that instead? It's up to us to help our friends out, because they might be being told at home that they're overreacting if they get their feelings hurt, that they're lonely because their friends don't really like them, that they're not as attractive as when they got married, that they're unreasonable, they're bitchy, they're PMSing, that they HAVE to have sex because a husband is entitled to it, that they're just like their mothers... and so on. If you were being told those things constantly, would you feel like you deserved help??
So, if you're suspicious that a friend needs help, give her access to the Power and Control Wheel and read through it with her. Each of the sections is as important as the other. Even though they may seem like little things that everybody puts up with - they're NOT. Domestic abuse isn't just a black eye or suspicious bruises.
And we have to help each other out, because I've lost all faith in the male gender.
And, please read the comments on this blog. If that doesn't convince you, I don't know what will!
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Audrey is Two!
My sweet baby is two years old today. What a great day we had!
Since it was the start of daylight savings time, the girls were up and in my room at 6:15, and we had some family snuggles before getting up and having breakfast. It was good we were up that early, because there was plenty to do before family began arriving for the party at 10. Mark and Lea were already here, because they came the day before to watch Iowa State win their football game, and then just hang out with us in the evening, which was really fun. It was especially awesome this morning, because Audrey hung out with Lea while I was straightening up the kitchen and things, and Emily and Mark and Travis worked together to get other things ready. It was just great. When 10:00 rolled around, we were all just chilling in the living room, taking a break, since everything was ready. I love that it's so easy to get this group together. Not many people look forward to having their in-laws hang out with their family, but I do. it's a really fun bunch, and I am looking forward to the day that Pat and Tilly join us regularly for these things.
Unfortunately, Milo got sick right around lunchtime, so Dan and Kerri ate quickly and took him home. They ended up taking him to urgent care where the doc said he had bronchiolitis, which I think is caused by RSV but the doctor was unclear on that. Anyway, it's a big bummer that he's so sick, but he's such a good sport! His mom and dad are so intuitive with him that he hardly has to fuss and they meet his needs, so, of course he's agreeable. What a sweetheart. Megan also wasn't feeling well, but she was a trooper, too, until the end of the day when she crashed on the couch with a blanket. It's crazy that my kids' birthdays seem to be full of sick children, but at least they're sweet kids about it -- and this time it wasn't either of my kids!
The food was fantastic, I might add. I was pretty pleased with the way things turned out, especially since I did a pretty severe degree of recipe wrangling. I never make things exactly the way the recipe says - I tweak things, or intentionally try something different. I made pumpkin pancakes by adapting Mommo's recipe for buttermilk pancakes - added whole wheat flour, took out the butter and sugar, added pumpkin and spices. I made cranberry-strawberry sauce by combining two recipes I found online and adding orange juice, just because it seemed like I should. I made pecan pie bars, which was also an adaptation but one that I did a while ago so I had made a few times. I added more pecans and some interesting spices, and lessened the gooey part a bit. Plus, egg casserole and grapes. Mmmmm :) Next year, Audrey can tell me what she would like for a birthday meal, but this year I had a good time deciding on her behalf what she likes (and I was right, too! she ate a ton!).
Audrey got really fun birthday presents, and did a great job opening everything. She especially likes a singing purple hippo that I bought for her when she and I went to the toy store to shop for her birthday. I remember doing this for Emily, too, when she turned two. She picked out the things she wanted for her birthday - a schoolbus, BucklePig, and a few others - and I just put them in the basement and then when it was her birthday, well, what do you know? Exactly what she wanted!! This singing hippo plays songs or you can play his teeth like a keyboard, and the notes are labelled in solfeg, which is what convinced the music geek in me that it would be okay to have one more noisy toy.
And, for me, the best part of the day is that Audrey was DRY ALL DAY!! She even pooped on the potty after lunch, while everybody was here and the excitement was going on! She had a bit too much mango for snack yesterday which was just too much fiber for her, so she had a couple of surprise poops later on after people left, but just before bed, without any prompting at all, she actually took herself potty!!!! It's been a whole week since we re-ditched the diapers, and she finally, finally trusted herself. She even scolded me for following her to the bathroom, so I just turned on the light in the bathroom and left. Then a few seconds later I hear, "Yeeaahhhh!" No kidding, yeah!! I sure hope this means i have reached the bottom of my double-dip potty training trend, and things are really headed up, but even a plateau at this point would be just fine for a while. She sure seems happy, so I'm gonna just go with what we've got for now. it's SO much better than diapers!
Travis and I had a discussion last night, after he got home from his trip, about how I really needed some kind of a noteable success so I could relax about other stuff that may not be optimal. Because, really, does anybody's life really get more blissful than mine, in general?? I have absolutely everything a person could really want, and yet, i still get grouchy and feel sorry for myself. But today, and this whole weekend, was absolutely a success, from start to finish. I woke up this morning hugging my girls, feeling like I hadn't seen them in a week, I was so happy to see them. They snuggle and wiggle and chatter and I just want to smother them with kisses, I love them so much. I just marvel at every little thing, from the clever way Emily puts her sentences together, to the way Audrey operates so expressively that words really aren't that necessary. I can't even put it into words, really. And then I look at my husband, and I feel just as strongly about him, and how good it feels to be his partner, while allowing each other to still be our own selves. When I look down the road and wish success and happiness for my girls, I can only hope that it's the level I've got now.
It was a fantastic weekend!
Since it was the start of daylight savings time, the girls were up and in my room at 6:15, and we had some family snuggles before getting up and having breakfast. It was good we were up that early, because there was plenty to do before family began arriving for the party at 10. Mark and Lea were already here, because they came the day before to watch Iowa State win their football game, and then just hang out with us in the evening, which was really fun. It was especially awesome this morning, because Audrey hung out with Lea while I was straightening up the kitchen and things, and Emily and Mark and Travis worked together to get other things ready. It was just great. When 10:00 rolled around, we were all just chilling in the living room, taking a break, since everything was ready. I love that it's so easy to get this group together. Not many people look forward to having their in-laws hang out with their family, but I do. it's a really fun bunch, and I am looking forward to the day that Pat and Tilly join us regularly for these things.
Unfortunately, Milo got sick right around lunchtime, so Dan and Kerri ate quickly and took him home. They ended up taking him to urgent care where the doc said he had bronchiolitis, which I think is caused by RSV but the doctor was unclear on that. Anyway, it's a big bummer that he's so sick, but he's such a good sport! His mom and dad are so intuitive with him that he hardly has to fuss and they meet his needs, so, of course he's agreeable. What a sweetheart. Megan also wasn't feeling well, but she was a trooper, too, until the end of the day when she crashed on the couch with a blanket. It's crazy that my kids' birthdays seem to be full of sick children, but at least they're sweet kids about it -- and this time it wasn't either of my kids!
The food was fantastic, I might add. I was pretty pleased with the way things turned out, especially since I did a pretty severe degree of recipe wrangling. I never make things exactly the way the recipe says - I tweak things, or intentionally try something different. I made pumpkin pancakes by adapting Mommo's recipe for buttermilk pancakes - added whole wheat flour, took out the butter and sugar, added pumpkin and spices. I made cranberry-strawberry sauce by combining two recipes I found online and adding orange juice, just because it seemed like I should. I made pecan pie bars, which was also an adaptation but one that I did a while ago so I had made a few times. I added more pecans and some interesting spices, and lessened the gooey part a bit. Plus, egg casserole and grapes. Mmmmm :) Next year, Audrey can tell me what she would like for a birthday meal, but this year I had a good time deciding on her behalf what she likes (and I was right, too! she ate a ton!).
Audrey got really fun birthday presents, and did a great job opening everything. She especially likes a singing purple hippo that I bought for her when she and I went to the toy store to shop for her birthday. I remember doing this for Emily, too, when she turned two. She picked out the things she wanted for her birthday - a schoolbus, BucklePig, and a few others - and I just put them in the basement and then when it was her birthday, well, what do you know? Exactly what she wanted!! This singing hippo plays songs or you can play his teeth like a keyboard, and the notes are labelled in solfeg, which is what convinced the music geek in me that it would be okay to have one more noisy toy.
And, for me, the best part of the day is that Audrey was DRY ALL DAY!! She even pooped on the potty after lunch, while everybody was here and the excitement was going on! She had a bit too much mango for snack yesterday which was just too much fiber for her, so she had a couple of surprise poops later on after people left, but just before bed, without any prompting at all, she actually took herself potty!!!! It's been a whole week since we re-ditched the diapers, and she finally, finally trusted herself. She even scolded me for following her to the bathroom, so I just turned on the light in the bathroom and left. Then a few seconds later I hear, "Yeeaahhhh!" No kidding, yeah!! I sure hope this means i have reached the bottom of my double-dip potty training trend, and things are really headed up, but even a plateau at this point would be just fine for a while. She sure seems happy, so I'm gonna just go with what we've got for now. it's SO much better than diapers!
Travis and I had a discussion last night, after he got home from his trip, about how I really needed some kind of a noteable success so I could relax about other stuff that may not be optimal. Because, really, does anybody's life really get more blissful than mine, in general?? I have absolutely everything a person could really want, and yet, i still get grouchy and feel sorry for myself. But today, and this whole weekend, was absolutely a success, from start to finish. I woke up this morning hugging my girls, feeling like I hadn't seen them in a week, I was so happy to see them. They snuggle and wiggle and chatter and I just want to smother them with kisses, I love them so much. I just marvel at every little thing, from the clever way Emily puts her sentences together, to the way Audrey operates so expressively that words really aren't that necessary. I can't even put it into words, really. And then I look at my husband, and I feel just as strongly about him, and how good it feels to be his partner, while allowing each other to still be our own selves. When I look down the road and wish success and happiness for my girls, I can only hope that it's the level I've got now.
It was a fantastic weekend!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Happy Home
Travis traveled to Florida this week, leaving on Sunday morning and got back Wednesday afternoon. It was a tough 4 days but the girls and I managed to have a really nice time, in stretches. :) Now we're on to plan Audrey's birthday party on Sunday. Can you believe she'll be TWO??
I haven't been updating this blog as much lately because much of my typing effort is being done on the ohcrappottytraining.com forum. Last Saturday was the first day of our Reset, so we threw out the diapers and she was happy to try pottying again. Each day had more and more accidents until yesterday, when she had only one success early in the morning and varying styles of poop and pee accidents the rest of the day. So frustrating!! I finally looked her square in the eyes and told her she MUST stay dry. She MUST put it in the potty. No more accidents - it all goes IN the potty. And this morning, I got her up onto the potty as we were getting ready to go to ms. Teri's, and she refused. I reinforced what I told her last night, and then just left her in the bathroom while I went to wake up Emily. Lo and behold, she took down her pants, climbed up there all on her own, and went!! I heard her from their bedroom, and then her little shout of delight. So, something about laying the smack down and setting the expectations did it for her - only one accident today and she was seriously distracted by play-do. And she was home with her Dad, who hasn't laid the smack down yet ;) and he didn't probably know the last time she had gone at daycare. But she was even dry after nap!! Rockstar! the advice i got on OhCrap was that I've gotta be 100% all-in, because Audrey is sensing my hatred for the process and assumes I will fix it to make that go away. But I'm stubborn - I'm going to make Audrey fix it. heh heh!!
So I went back over this blog, and found a particularly insane rant of mine from April 2010, when Emily was going through her casual pooping phase. I essentially did the same thing to her, although I phrased it as "hitting bottom." I told her I was NOT dealing with that any more, and she was going to put ALL of it in the potty. I don't know if doing that sooner might have shortened her phase down from 4 months to something more reasonable, but I'm glad to have at least caught on with audrey!
Now, to something less excrement-related. The girls and I went out and picked up pizza for supper the other night, and they really enjoyed that. The next night, we ate random leftovers and then went to Coldstone where I spent a coupon to get us all ice cream for super cheap. It was a lovely evening, and we even ate outside!! In November!
Halloween was really fun, too. We went down the street on Beggar's night (Sunday night - yup, Travis missed out!) with our neighbors across the street, who Emily adores. Okay, I adore them too. They're an awesome family. Anyway, we tagged along with them down the hill, but the girls and I came back because half an hour was plenty for them, and their buckets were plenty full by my standards. :) They were the cutest little bumblebees!! They also got to be bumblebees at an outing that was sponsored by my workplace, out at Sleepy Hollow Sportspark. It was really fun, and they had set it up pretty well for young families. It was pretty fun! A pretty successful Halloween, I must say!
I haven't been updating this blog as much lately because much of my typing effort is being done on the ohcrappottytraining.com forum. Last Saturday was the first day of our Reset, so we threw out the diapers and she was happy to try pottying again. Each day had more and more accidents until yesterday, when she had only one success early in the morning and varying styles of poop and pee accidents the rest of the day. So frustrating!! I finally looked her square in the eyes and told her she MUST stay dry. She MUST put it in the potty. No more accidents - it all goes IN the potty. And this morning, I got her up onto the potty as we were getting ready to go to ms. Teri's, and she refused. I reinforced what I told her last night, and then just left her in the bathroom while I went to wake up Emily. Lo and behold, she took down her pants, climbed up there all on her own, and went!! I heard her from their bedroom, and then her little shout of delight. So, something about laying the smack down and setting the expectations did it for her - only one accident today and she was seriously distracted by play-do. And she was home with her Dad, who hasn't laid the smack down yet ;) and he didn't probably know the last time she had gone at daycare. But she was even dry after nap!! Rockstar! the advice i got on OhCrap was that I've gotta be 100% all-in, because Audrey is sensing my hatred for the process and assumes I will fix it to make that go away. But I'm stubborn - I'm going to make Audrey fix it. heh heh!!
So I went back over this blog, and found a particularly insane rant of mine from April 2010, when Emily was going through her casual pooping phase. I essentially did the same thing to her, although I phrased it as "hitting bottom." I told her I was NOT dealing with that any more, and she was going to put ALL of it in the potty. I don't know if doing that sooner might have shortened her phase down from 4 months to something more reasonable, but I'm glad to have at least caught on with audrey!
Now, to something less excrement-related. The girls and I went out and picked up pizza for supper the other night, and they really enjoyed that. The next night, we ate random leftovers and then went to Coldstone where I spent a coupon to get us all ice cream for super cheap. It was a lovely evening, and we even ate outside!! In November!
Halloween was really fun, too. We went down the street on Beggar's night (Sunday night - yup, Travis missed out!) with our neighbors across the street, who Emily adores. Okay, I adore them too. They're an awesome family. Anyway, we tagged along with them down the hill, but the girls and I came back because half an hour was plenty for them, and their buckets were plenty full by my standards. :) They were the cutest little bumblebees!! They also got to be bumblebees at an outing that was sponsored by my workplace, out at Sleepy Hollow Sportspark. It was really fun, and they had set it up pretty well for young families. It was pretty fun! A pretty successful Halloween, I must say!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
on and on...
I wish I didn't have to title posts. I never have a point, you know.
It's been a fairly uneventful week at the Sullivan house. Travis decided not to go to the football game today, which was nice. It was Homecoming weekend, so it probably would've been fun to go up and socialize, but I just haven't felt up for it this year. So we had a nice Saturday at home, on a beautiful day. Travis did a bunch of landscaping, and I did some sorting and other things that are hard to do with two children underfoot. I picked up Indian food for supper tonight, and after the kids were in bed, I made molten lava chocolate cakes for dessert, just the two of us (I only used 1 egg yolk instead of two, and some unsweetened chocolate in place of the semisweet, and it was still plenty rich and sweet!). The girls were driving us nuts for a good portion of the day so it was especially nice to work in the kitchen without being bothered, and then enjoy a treat without it being such a big deal.
I guess the biggest thing is that Audrey has fully unpottytrained herself. OhCrap told me to do a reset, so we're doing disposable diapers for two weeks. Next Saturday will be the new Day 1, and hopefully she's receptive to it and not uberpissed like she was when I gave it up. She seemed really concerned the first few times she used her diaper, but I just changed her and hugged her and sent her on her way. Now, I think she really likes how easy it is... so this may be tough. But she's gotta do it sometime, and it's gotta be soon. I'm a little worried about setbacks the following weekend at her birthday, but that's a long way off. I've gotta say that it's been really nice to not have Audrey's bladder on my mind constantly, but I hate diapers. I really, really hate them. I think the train went off the rails when Audrey had several accidents in a row, and she decided she was terrible at it and didn't have any idea what she was doing, and didn't want to try. It wasn't true, but I couldn't convince her. When I reset, I'll have to be careful of her ego, and make sure that I do my best to help her have a whole string of successes right off the bat, and then make a big deal of accidents or successes, either way, so it's not such a big deal to her if she succeeds or fails. Easy, right?? Sure...
Wednesday was fun because Grandma Sullivan came to spend the day with us!! We really made it special by going to Old McDonald's for lunch and then to the spice store, which the girls really enjoy because they have a table set up to color at. They may have enjoyed that more than the playland at McD's, which was loud and full of obnoxious children. Then we made rainbow cupcakes, wihch we are still working through. I should've sent them to daycare on Thursday because I'm sure tired of the whining and fussing for multiple cupcakes every day. And while they were a superawesome treat when they were fresh, they look particularly unappetizing now and i just keep finding more fingerprints in the frosting. Gah!!
Emily has been really enjoying her piano books. We don't do it every day, but probably every other day we sit down together and play things out of both books. One book has 4-measure exercises that are supposed to sound like the action that the stick-figure that accompanies it is doing, like Walking or Skipping or Rolling or whatever. Yesterday, Emily played 5 out of the first 6 in the book! I was SO impressed!! She was delighted and said, "let's play the other book!!" so we did a little of that, too, and all in all it's less than 10 minutes of work, but I can tell that's all she's up for. It's crazy how a short period of intense learning can really make a difference, and really wear her out. But then after supper yesterday, she sat down with a baby book with me and she worked on reading off her letters. The book is so simple - a picture of something with the word printed underneath. She would read off the letters, and then say the word because she knew it from identifying the picture. Today, I covered up a picture and asked her what the word said, and she looked at me so funny, as though, how could she know without the picture?? So we sounded it out together, and it was so fun then when I uncovered the picture and she was right. What a great grin that girl has! And again, we can't do that much of this before she gets squirmy and it's obvious she's at the end of her attention span. But it's hard for me to hold back when she's picking up so much of what I'm telling her and we're having such a good time! Oh yeah, she's only 4, and it's ridiculous that she's doing this degree of sitting-still learning.
And we're still trying to get Audrey to talk, but she's getting a little braver. She knows, she just won't do it. I wonder if she practices at Ms. Teri's? She's gotta practice somewhere!!
It's been a fairly uneventful week at the Sullivan house. Travis decided not to go to the football game today, which was nice. It was Homecoming weekend, so it probably would've been fun to go up and socialize, but I just haven't felt up for it this year. So we had a nice Saturday at home, on a beautiful day. Travis did a bunch of landscaping, and I did some sorting and other things that are hard to do with two children underfoot. I picked up Indian food for supper tonight, and after the kids were in bed, I made molten lava chocolate cakes for dessert, just the two of us (I only used 1 egg yolk instead of two, and some unsweetened chocolate in place of the semisweet, and it was still plenty rich and sweet!). The girls were driving us nuts for a good portion of the day so it was especially nice to work in the kitchen without being bothered, and then enjoy a treat without it being such a big deal.
I guess the biggest thing is that Audrey has fully unpottytrained herself. OhCrap told me to do a reset, so we're doing disposable diapers for two weeks. Next Saturday will be the new Day 1, and hopefully she's receptive to it and not uberpissed like she was when I gave it up. She seemed really concerned the first few times she used her diaper, but I just changed her and hugged her and sent her on her way. Now, I think she really likes how easy it is... so this may be tough. But she's gotta do it sometime, and it's gotta be soon. I'm a little worried about setbacks the following weekend at her birthday, but that's a long way off. I've gotta say that it's been really nice to not have Audrey's bladder on my mind constantly, but I hate diapers. I really, really hate them. I think the train went off the rails when Audrey had several accidents in a row, and she decided she was terrible at it and didn't have any idea what she was doing, and didn't want to try. It wasn't true, but I couldn't convince her. When I reset, I'll have to be careful of her ego, and make sure that I do my best to help her have a whole string of successes right off the bat, and then make a big deal of accidents or successes, either way, so it's not such a big deal to her if she succeeds or fails. Easy, right?? Sure...
Wednesday was fun because Grandma Sullivan came to spend the day with us!! We really made it special by going to Old McDonald's for lunch and then to the spice store, which the girls really enjoy because they have a table set up to color at. They may have enjoyed that more than the playland at McD's, which was loud and full of obnoxious children. Then we made rainbow cupcakes, wihch we are still working through. I should've sent them to daycare on Thursday because I'm sure tired of the whining and fussing for multiple cupcakes every day. And while they were a superawesome treat when they were fresh, they look particularly unappetizing now and i just keep finding more fingerprints in the frosting. Gah!!
Emily has been really enjoying her piano books. We don't do it every day, but probably every other day we sit down together and play things out of both books. One book has 4-measure exercises that are supposed to sound like the action that the stick-figure that accompanies it is doing, like Walking or Skipping or Rolling or whatever. Yesterday, Emily played 5 out of the first 6 in the book! I was SO impressed!! She was delighted and said, "let's play the other book!!" so we did a little of that, too, and all in all it's less than 10 minutes of work, but I can tell that's all she's up for. It's crazy how a short period of intense learning can really make a difference, and really wear her out. But then after supper yesterday, she sat down with a baby book with me and she worked on reading off her letters. The book is so simple - a picture of something with the word printed underneath. She would read off the letters, and then say the word because she knew it from identifying the picture. Today, I covered up a picture and asked her what the word said, and she looked at me so funny, as though, how could she know without the picture?? So we sounded it out together, and it was so fun then when I uncovered the picture and she was right. What a great grin that girl has! And again, we can't do that much of this before she gets squirmy and it's obvious she's at the end of her attention span. But it's hard for me to hold back when she's picking up so much of what I'm telling her and we're having such a good time! Oh yeah, she's only 4, and it's ridiculous that she's doing this degree of sitting-still learning.
And we're still trying to get Audrey to talk, but she's getting a little braver. She knows, she just won't do it. I wonder if she practices at Ms. Teri's? She's gotta practice somewhere!!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Lousy parent
It's been a rough week here. I spent Wednesday in some kind of frantic state... I can't even say what it was all about but I was seriously annoyed that I couldn't get good behavior out of Emily, and I was freaking mad. Audrey was driving me nuts because she's decided not to be potty trained anymore. Guess that was a fun little experiment, honey. I've gone back to my forum, begging for help. She totally had it all figured out, and now she's not making ANY effort at all to even tell me when she has to go, and she fights like hell if I tell her she must sit and try. Then 20 minutes later she comes back to find me with wet or dirty pants. I am so frustrated, and I'm probably doing everything wrong, but I just don't know how to get past this. Hopefully OhCrap lady has some ideas.
I finally got some good sleep Thursday night after a late night (upset with myself for the way I parented Wed), and a long day at work and an evening out to celebrate a new product release with some coworkers. Yesterday, I pretty much operated on the idea that whatever I would have done on Wednesday, I would do the opposite. We went to the store to buy paint, and Emily worked on a project while Audrey took a fantastic 3-hour nap, which was preceeded by a poop on the potty. It was all looking up. Today, pee everywhere. There never really was anything that wrong with Emily's behavior, in retrospect. I hope I've turned a corner with that.
So, I just heard that someone I knew from marching band had a 4-month-old who died of SIDS this week. Horrifying! I told Travis about it after lunch today. Apparently Emily overheard that, even though I didn't say much more than I did in this paragraph, but she got to thinking about it. This afternoon, she sat on my lap, and said she didn't like dying. I said i didn't either. She asked me if I was going to die, and i said not for a very, very long time (I can't lie to her!). She then started crying really, really hard and said she didn't want to die because she would be all alone!! Oh my gosh, I wasn't ready for this conversation yet!! I told her I would always, always be with her because I love her more than anything in the world and she's not getting rid of me! That seemed to relax her a bit. It didn't seem like the right time to introduce any kind of religious teachings, since her fear was so very literal. Instead, I talked to her about how Mommo used to be a little girl, and then she grew up and had a little girl, and that little girl grew up to be Grandma, and it took a long time to tell the story so I hoped that would show her just how long her life will be (hear that, Universe? WILL be!). And then she asked something about a birthday, and I said I have a lot of birthdays left, and that Emily has even more. That seemed to satisfy her all right, and we snuggled and talked for probably an hour after that about just fun random stuff. What a sweet girl. and an unexpected way to spend the afternoon!
Trav and I took Emily down to the parking lot near our house to see if Emily could balance on her new bike. No go. Not even excited about it, just wanted to walk (or dance, really) most of the way back. oh well. She and Audrey spent a good amount of the afternoon outside playing and watching/helping Travis work on the landscaping out front. Trav is exhausted tonight from the work, so we'll all sleep well tonight. If I can get past my own conscience...
I finally got some good sleep Thursday night after a late night (upset with myself for the way I parented Wed), and a long day at work and an evening out to celebrate a new product release with some coworkers. Yesterday, I pretty much operated on the idea that whatever I would have done on Wednesday, I would do the opposite. We went to the store to buy paint, and Emily worked on a project while Audrey took a fantastic 3-hour nap, which was preceeded by a poop on the potty. It was all looking up. Today, pee everywhere. There never really was anything that wrong with Emily's behavior, in retrospect. I hope I've turned a corner with that.
So, I just heard that someone I knew from marching band had a 4-month-old who died of SIDS this week. Horrifying! I told Travis about it after lunch today. Apparently Emily overheard that, even though I didn't say much more than I did in this paragraph, but she got to thinking about it. This afternoon, she sat on my lap, and said she didn't like dying. I said i didn't either. She asked me if I was going to die, and i said not for a very, very long time (I can't lie to her!). She then started crying really, really hard and said she didn't want to die because she would be all alone!! Oh my gosh, I wasn't ready for this conversation yet!! I told her I would always, always be with her because I love her more than anything in the world and she's not getting rid of me! That seemed to relax her a bit. It didn't seem like the right time to introduce any kind of religious teachings, since her fear was so very literal. Instead, I talked to her about how Mommo used to be a little girl, and then she grew up and had a little girl, and that little girl grew up to be Grandma, and it took a long time to tell the story so I hoped that would show her just how long her life will be (hear that, Universe? WILL be!). And then she asked something about a birthday, and I said I have a lot of birthdays left, and that Emily has even more. That seemed to satisfy her all right, and we snuggled and talked for probably an hour after that about just fun random stuff. What a sweet girl. and an unexpected way to spend the afternoon!
Trav and I took Emily down to the parking lot near our house to see if Emily could balance on her new bike. No go. Not even excited about it, just wanted to walk (or dance, really) most of the way back. oh well. She and Audrey spent a good amount of the afternoon outside playing and watching/helping Travis work on the landscaping out front. Trav is exhausted tonight from the work, so we'll all sleep well tonight. If I can get past my own conscience...
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Lots to catch up on
Travis's uncle died suddenly on Thursday. I can't seem to find his obituary online, but he was only 63 and it was as sudden as you have ever heard of. One minute he was getting ready to go drive his school bus route, and the next, he was on his way out. Apparently, a post-mortem x-ray showed a pulmonary embolism; they weren't able to resuscitate him in the ambulance. His daughter, Travis's cousin, was on her way to fly to Iowa with her 2-year-old daughter to visit Tim and Nancy, and then come to Emily's birthday party on Sunday. We had visited them in California last spring, and had a great time with them. When she arrived in Dallas for her layover, she changed her connecting flight when she got the news that her dad had died, and flew to Minneapolis instead. I feel SO bad for that family. I really liked Gerry, and I've always had a great time with Travis's cousins. It's been weird to be planning a joyful birthday weekend in this beautiful weather, knowing the degree of mourning that people I care about are enduring.
So, Nancy drove the 7 hours up to Lake Park, MN (almost to Fargo) the very next day to help her sister, nieces, and nephew plan the funeral, and has been there ever since. I cannot tell you what an amazing heart that woman has, to drop everything in her life and do that for them. Travis and Tim drove up today to be there for the wake, and they'll come home late tomorrow after the funeral in the afternoon. It's been very, very weird. I would have gone with them and left the girls with my parents, but I was needed here, as you'll see below.
We moved Emily's birthday party to Saturday instead of Sunday, and fortunately that worked for everybody except Nancy. Everything was going just fine - the cake was ready, lunch was ready, everybody was here and eating, but Emily said it was too loud, too many people, and she wanted to just sit in the living room where it was quiet. She ended up falling asleep on Travis's lap, and he put her in her bed to sleep for at least an hour. She had a fever of 102!! When she woke up, we gave her a full dose of tylenol, and within half an hour she was chipper enough to enjoy the party. She loved the Frances cake, and the gift that Audrey gave her: a Chompo bar (a snickers bar in a wrapper I made) wrapped in pretty paper with ribbon. Those of you who know A Birthday for Frances will appreciate that!! She LOVED it. She opened all of her presents, and really enjoyed everything she got, especially the umbrella that she had picked out and wrapped for herself. Very thoughtful and awesome gifts! She's got some pretty great family. She was so excited about the gift that Mark and Lea gave her that she marched right over and hugged Lea. I thought it was hilarious that she already knows that it's the females who are to credit for things like that - ha!! :)
Travis and I thought Emily would be ready for a real bike, with no training wheels and everything, and she was kind of excited when she saw it, but not like I thought she would be. In her defense, she was still feeling sick, but she was a trooper and climbed up on the seat while Travis held it, and Grandpa took her picture. We're going to go pick out a helmet tomorrow, on her actual birthday, to round out the gift. Her head is so big that I wanted to be sure she was a part of the selection so we go something that fits!!
So, I thought I would be up all night with a sick kiddo, and have a lousy day taking care of her fever today, but she has felt fine all day. However, I was up all night anyway because she had to keep getting drinks, and pooping (? who does that at 2 AM?), and worrying about Audrey, who also took her turn being up crying. I was up every 20 minutes for a good 2 hours last night. Travis left at 6:30 AM, so i talked to him for a minute before he left (i don't think i opened my eyes, though!) and then at 7:15 Emily was in my room with a bloody nose, and my day was off to the races. Needless to say, I will be headed to bed shortly here!!
The girls and I had another nice day enjoying the beautiful weather, and for the most part, we had a lovely day. But wow, what a weekend. apparently, my sister-in-law met her biological dad for the first time this weekend, so it'll be interesting to hear how that all went, too! Life just keeps on happening...
p.s. since i've been posting potty training progress here, I will note that we started Audrey on probiotics that were specially formulated for children, and she is finally, finally not sliming every few hours. It's been AWESOME. It was seriously like finding a magic pill - within a few hours of her first dose, it was a whole lot better. Now she'll actually go a full 24-hours without going, and when she does go it's no problem at all. YAAAAYYYY!!! I am so happy for her!! and me, too, of course :)
So, Nancy drove the 7 hours up to Lake Park, MN (almost to Fargo) the very next day to help her sister, nieces, and nephew plan the funeral, and has been there ever since. I cannot tell you what an amazing heart that woman has, to drop everything in her life and do that for them. Travis and Tim drove up today to be there for the wake, and they'll come home late tomorrow after the funeral in the afternoon. It's been very, very weird. I would have gone with them and left the girls with my parents, but I was needed here, as you'll see below.
We moved Emily's birthday party to Saturday instead of Sunday, and fortunately that worked for everybody except Nancy. Everything was going just fine - the cake was ready, lunch was ready, everybody was here and eating, but Emily said it was too loud, too many people, and she wanted to just sit in the living room where it was quiet. She ended up falling asleep on Travis's lap, and he put her in her bed to sleep for at least an hour. She had a fever of 102!! When she woke up, we gave her a full dose of tylenol, and within half an hour she was chipper enough to enjoy the party. She loved the Frances cake, and the gift that Audrey gave her: a Chompo bar (a snickers bar in a wrapper I made) wrapped in pretty paper with ribbon. Those of you who know A Birthday for Frances will appreciate that!! She LOVED it. She opened all of her presents, and really enjoyed everything she got, especially the umbrella that she had picked out and wrapped for herself. Very thoughtful and awesome gifts! She's got some pretty great family. She was so excited about the gift that Mark and Lea gave her that she marched right over and hugged Lea. I thought it was hilarious that she already knows that it's the females who are to credit for things like that - ha!! :)
Travis and I thought Emily would be ready for a real bike, with no training wheels and everything, and she was kind of excited when she saw it, but not like I thought she would be. In her defense, she was still feeling sick, but she was a trooper and climbed up on the seat while Travis held it, and Grandpa took her picture. We're going to go pick out a helmet tomorrow, on her actual birthday, to round out the gift. Her head is so big that I wanted to be sure she was a part of the selection so we go something that fits!!
So, I thought I would be up all night with a sick kiddo, and have a lousy day taking care of her fever today, but she has felt fine all day. However, I was up all night anyway because she had to keep getting drinks, and pooping (? who does that at 2 AM?), and worrying about Audrey, who also took her turn being up crying. I was up every 20 minutes for a good 2 hours last night. Travis left at 6:30 AM, so i talked to him for a minute before he left (i don't think i opened my eyes, though!) and then at 7:15 Emily was in my room with a bloody nose, and my day was off to the races. Needless to say, I will be headed to bed shortly here!!
The girls and I had another nice day enjoying the beautiful weather, and for the most part, we had a lovely day. But wow, what a weekend. apparently, my sister-in-law met her biological dad for the first time this weekend, so it'll be interesting to hear how that all went, too! Life just keeps on happening...
p.s. since i've been posting potty training progress here, I will note that we started Audrey on probiotics that were specially formulated for children, and she is finally, finally not sliming every few hours. It's been AWESOME. It was seriously like finding a magic pill - within a few hours of her first dose, it was a whole lot better. Now she'll actually go a full 24-hours without going, and when she does go it's no problem at all. YAAAAYYYY!!! I am so happy for her!! and me, too, of course :)
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