There's so much going on in my family that whenever I blog, I don't feel I ever get into as much detail about each girl as I'd like. So, this post is about Clara! Emily's preschool class gets a marble in their Wow Jar whenever they get a big Wow, and I think our little one has definitely been earning it lately!
It's amazing, the amount of things she can do now that she couldn't do a month ago. She now holds up her head well enough that I can carry her around on my hip, which is great because she was getting too big for the on-her-back hold, especially when I tried to do it with only one arm. She'd get all smooshed and complain about it. She really enjoys her toys, her fish gym and her bouncy seat, and it won't be long before she's got more control with her little zombie arms. We borrowed a bumbo for her to sit in, which she likes because she can sit with her sisters and watch them play, although she's only good for about 5 min at a time there. It's hard work, controlling that noggin!! She smiles so easily, like she's always having a good time! She sucks on her hands when she's hungry, which is a hilarious, slurping sound. She's also a very noisy nurser, with lots of slurps and commentary. And just the happiest kid there is. Even if she's got wicked diaper rash, she still just squeaks her displeasure - I wouldn't really call it a cry. She can wiggle herself around on the floor now, to the point where I have to be sure she's exactly in the center of my bed if I leave her there. And she loves to stand up on my lap and stretch out her long legs. Bathtime is SO fun! Emily has decided she's big enough for a shower now, so Audrey and Clara get to have baths together, and really enjoy their time together.
I'm so in love with this little girl. I love her snuffy little baby noises, and her soft, round, fuzzy head that's just perfect for me to nuzzle and kiss. She's got the best little toothless grin, and she's really involved with what's going on around her. There's no "plopping" her to the side - she wants to be up with the rest of us, sitting on my lap during dinner, seeing what's going on! she's been a stinker about taking a bottle, but she's getting better and seems to be able to get by pretty well when I'm at work. But I love coming home to her! Tonight, she nursed probably 6 or 7 times between 3:30 and 8:30. I don't mind, I love snuggling with her and feeding her, and she loves it, too. She often stops nursing to just smile up at me, then keeps grinning and dives back in for more, with the attitude that what she's doing is special, as though no baby has ever nursed like her before. I'll probably be up with her in the night tonight to feed her, too, but I really, really don't mind, because she's really fast and she generally lets me sleep pretty well. And I'm happy to see her no matter what time of day. :p
My life is to happy and dull to be a reality TV show. Nobody would watch it - too saccharine. When I'm old and senile and don't know where I am, I sure hope that I think I'm here, now, with my amazing family and happy little life. These really are the good times. It's not just that absolutely everything goes my way, although plenty of it does. I actually get satisfaction from knowing that the things that have been or could be stressors to my life are things that I've learned from and have made me a better person, and I'm happy anyway. I'm just thankful I've had pretty light doses of Real Life so far. I promise to be a quick learner of life lessons, if it means I can keep this going!
Monday, September 17, 2012
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Normalcy
I think we're starting to figure out what's normal. This coming week will be our first full week of work and preschool. So far, I think we're set up well. Clara is taking a bottle no problem now, and Amanda seems like she's into a routine with the girls. Emily LOVES preschool, just like I thought she would; her teacher comments that she loves to see Emily's smile every day. Imagine that - my girl is smiley! Audrey is handling the adjustment well, and I've gotta say that I do love my Wednesday afternoons with her. Travis has planned another trip, to Singapore this time, for the end of September, so he seems to be rolling along nicely in his job. The only hiccup in our family seems to be the project I'm currently on at work, and I'm afraid I'm going to just totally screw it up. It's either much simpler than I think it is, and I'm overthinking it, or I have no freaking clue and it's going to blow up in my face. I just don't want to make a fool of myself, whereas usually I try to actually do a good job at things. But, in the larger scheme of our family life, it's a pretty small problem to have, and I'm glad we're limited to that.
Clara is a real chatty baby now! She's discovered putting her hands in her mouth, and I fear that it's only a matter of time before she moves from sucking on her fists to sucking her thumb, but we might luck out. She seems to be capable of going to sleep on her own much more easily than my first two babies. Emily is firmly a thumbsucker and I think it will absolutely crush Audrey when we take away her baby blankets someday... I was wondering if I could soak them in something nasty-tasting, but I don't want her ingesting chemicals or other nasty stuff... maybe I could soak them in spinach juice or something. :) Anyway, my girls are having a great time together. Emily is learning that Audrey likes to keep things from her (the last puzzle piece, the other half of whatever she has) just because she enjoys what happens - Emily screams and begs and gets mad and then gets in trouble for pushing/stealing/etc. I am hoping Emily learns to outsmart that one, because it'll be a much easier lesson to teach than to try to get Audrey to stop doing that. I remember doing those same things to my older siblings because I so desperately wanted them to play with me or acknowledge me (or get their noses out of a book!), and then being forced to figure out a new way to play with them. It's hard! I won't make her do it yet, not when she's not even 3!!
Speaking of, we will soon be entering Birthday Season. I've been making a list of things that I think my girls would really like, for both birthday and Christmas, so hopefully we won't just be adding another layer of crap to our toy-filled house. I am trying to find the bright side of birthdays, in that it means I can get rid of the toys they don't play with (or with some, hide them until Clara is ready for them), and maybe it'll feel a little less congested in my house. We bunked the girls' beds - awesome!! - so there's a little bit more room in their room now. I am hoping someday to move those bunkbeds into Clara's room, when she's ready for a bed too, and turn the yellow room into a playroom. Then I can tell them to go play and they can actually have a place to themselves to do that. As it is now, if i tell them to go upstairs, Audrey gets into my eye makeup (i'm sorry, but that eyeshadow was absolutely stunning on her. what a beauty!) or my lotion or my toothpaste... She seems to really enjoy being left to her own devices. She "painted" her nails the other day with magic marker. I think I've got a real girly girl on my hands! She's in a princess outfit or a leotard probably 60% of the time, asking me, "Don't I look beautiful?" Oh yes, she does.
Emily's first preschool project was a construction-paper cookie. The kids had to cut out the circle, and then glue black circle chocolate chips to it, using the same number of chocolate chips as they counted on the roll of a pair of dice. Then they wrote their name on it. Emily's circle was absolutely perfect, and she spaced each of the letters of her name to match the location of her five chocolate chips. The next day, she and Audrey sat down at their craft table and made their own cookies, howling at me to make more chocolate chips! make more! make more, Mom!!! They each made at least 2, including using a large can of tomatoes for tracing the cookie circle. Audrey's cutting was adequate, but then Emily would clean up the edges until they were perfect and round. I'm not sure I've got the right kid in preschool... :)
In my own head, lately I've realized that I seem to be at a weird point in my life. As I was growing up, I knew that I wanted to get married someday, and have kids. In college, I realized that I didn't want to do music for a career but that I did want to have a career of some kind, and heck, why not engineering? So, now I've got it all: amazing husband, 3 great kids, a career with a fantastic company in a great location with great flexibility for my family, a nice house, wonderful neighbors, lots of great friends, happy family... so, now what? It's not that I'm unhappy without something to chase, because this truly is awesome where I am. It's just the first time in my life that it's happened!! I mean really, now what do I push myself towards next?
Clara is a real chatty baby now! She's discovered putting her hands in her mouth, and I fear that it's only a matter of time before she moves from sucking on her fists to sucking her thumb, but we might luck out. She seems to be capable of going to sleep on her own much more easily than my first two babies. Emily is firmly a thumbsucker and I think it will absolutely crush Audrey when we take away her baby blankets someday... I was wondering if I could soak them in something nasty-tasting, but I don't want her ingesting chemicals or other nasty stuff... maybe I could soak them in spinach juice or something. :) Anyway, my girls are having a great time together. Emily is learning that Audrey likes to keep things from her (the last puzzle piece, the other half of whatever she has) just because she enjoys what happens - Emily screams and begs and gets mad and then gets in trouble for pushing/stealing/etc. I am hoping Emily learns to outsmart that one, because it'll be a much easier lesson to teach than to try to get Audrey to stop doing that. I remember doing those same things to my older siblings because I so desperately wanted them to play with me or acknowledge me (or get their noses out of a book!), and then being forced to figure out a new way to play with them. It's hard! I won't make her do it yet, not when she's not even 3!!
Speaking of, we will soon be entering Birthday Season. I've been making a list of things that I think my girls would really like, for both birthday and Christmas, so hopefully we won't just be adding another layer of crap to our toy-filled house. I am trying to find the bright side of birthdays, in that it means I can get rid of the toys they don't play with (or with some, hide them until Clara is ready for them), and maybe it'll feel a little less congested in my house. We bunked the girls' beds - awesome!! - so there's a little bit more room in their room now. I am hoping someday to move those bunkbeds into Clara's room, when she's ready for a bed too, and turn the yellow room into a playroom. Then I can tell them to go play and they can actually have a place to themselves to do that. As it is now, if i tell them to go upstairs, Audrey gets into my eye makeup (i'm sorry, but that eyeshadow was absolutely stunning on her. what a beauty!) or my lotion or my toothpaste... She seems to really enjoy being left to her own devices. She "painted" her nails the other day with magic marker. I think I've got a real girly girl on my hands! She's in a princess outfit or a leotard probably 60% of the time, asking me, "Don't I look beautiful?" Oh yes, she does.
Emily's first preschool project was a construction-paper cookie. The kids had to cut out the circle, and then glue black circle chocolate chips to it, using the same number of chocolate chips as they counted on the roll of a pair of dice. Then they wrote their name on it. Emily's circle was absolutely perfect, and she spaced each of the letters of her name to match the location of her five chocolate chips. The next day, she and Audrey sat down at their craft table and made their own cookies, howling at me to make more chocolate chips! make more! make more, Mom!!! They each made at least 2, including using a large can of tomatoes for tracing the cookie circle. Audrey's cutting was adequate, but then Emily would clean up the edges until they were perfect and round. I'm not sure I've got the right kid in preschool... :)
In my own head, lately I've realized that I seem to be at a weird point in my life. As I was growing up, I knew that I wanted to get married someday, and have kids. In college, I realized that I didn't want to do music for a career but that I did want to have a career of some kind, and heck, why not engineering? So, now I've got it all: amazing husband, 3 great kids, a career with a fantastic company in a great location with great flexibility for my family, a nice house, wonderful neighbors, lots of great friends, happy family... so, now what? It's not that I'm unhappy without something to chase, because this truly is awesome where I am. It's just the first time in my life that it's happened!! I mean really, now what do I push myself towards next?
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Hi ho, Hi ho
...it's back to work I go.
Today was a tough day. Instead of grudging the details right away, I'm going to write about the few interesting things that have gone on around here lately. Just little, notable things that my girls have done that remind me of how incredible they are - and just what a job it is to be their mom!!!
Audrey was drawing letters, several weeks ago (early July). She was very proud of herself, drawing the letters A, U, P, R, and M... on the wall! in MARKER!! *forehead smack* Not that she could have done this on paper so I could save it and date it. Instead I had to take a picture (when she wasn't looking, of course), and then figure out some way to effectively punish her so she doesn't write on the walls in marker again, without destroying her pride in her wonderful work. It was tricky, so I just went with a gentle "don't do that" and encouraged her to write more on paper. She won't, though. I don't know how she's gotten the practice to draw such nice letters.
The girls have tried out biting this summer. Emily was so surprised the first time it happened that it actually cracked me up. She was holding something away from Audrey, who was mad and screaming, while Emily just quietly held it away from her (as the youngest child, this "keepaway" business really makes me mad quick!). So Audrey was fighting back, and Emily started shouting, and finally shouts, "AAIEEE!!! She BITED me!!!" which, I'm sorry, was kind of funny. and at the same time, annoying. So Audrey got hauled off to the corner, and I had to put neosporin and a bandaid on Emily's chest, just below her collarbone, because Audrey really did get a good bite on her. I'll bet it really did hurt a lot, and very nearly broke the skin, so I was concerned about infection. But it seems to have healed up okay. I really wanted to tell Emily that maybe she shouldn't keep things away from Audrey like that, but I can't condone biting... I was just pissed at both kids!! A few weeks later, then, Emily bit Audrey, not quite as hard. I asked her what she thought Audrey would do if Emily bit her. I think it finally dawned on Emily that biting was probably not the way to get her sister to move over on the couch where she wanted her to be, that Audrey would probably scream and then Emily would get in trouble. It's always a little strange to me that such simple logic must be taught, but it's satisfying when it sinks in. I don't have to be a screaming lunatic as often that way.
So, that same night as the first biting incident, I was tucking Emily in to bed and she looked up and asked me, "When you go to the hospital, do you die?" Jeepers!! Turns out, the book we had read for bedtime was about a snowplow who digs out a town buried in snow, and helps everyone get where they need to be. In the end, the firetruck gets to the fire, the mail can go through, and the doctor saved his patient by getting him to the hospital. But really, we have to talk about death at bedtime?! These crazy questions are nonstop with her. "How do you make paper?" "What do you do at work?" "Where do sunflower seeds grow on a sunflower?" "What do ants eat?" "What's the difference between a tuba and a sousaphone?" Really. It's very hard to keep supplying answers that are good enough for her! She'll ask and ask and ask until I figure out just it is that she wants to know.
I told Emily's preschool teacher that she is a very, very bright girl and she'll just love having her in her class. I hope Emily is more ready to respond to her teacher than she is to me. She seems to think that when I tell her something ("Get down off the couch!"), she is entitled to a thorough explanation of my case before she'll consider following my instruction. Even if the explanation is provided, ("If your knee slips, you will crush Clara!") and repeated ("Get down off the couch!"), she might find an alternate solution (climbing higher) that she thinks will work better. I know that she's thinking about this, she's not just ignoring me, most of the time, but jeepers I'm just trying to get Clara through infanthood without any crushed ribs, so just do it because by now I'm shouting and mad!! Off to the corner she goes. She hates the corner, and has done everything there to piss me off that she can - like screaming her most ear-piercing yell or sucking her thumb - but I won't relent. It's such a battle, and while I can get her to shape up temporarily, it seems totally ineffective as an overall deterrent to make better choices in her actions. I try to give her the choice of obeying, or going to the corner first and THEN obeying, and that works for some things, but a lot of times her temper gets the better of her. Things that put her sisters' well-being in jeopardy don't get that warning, and she doesn't seem to be putting it together that she can't just use her force to get her way. I know that everything will change once preschool starts (Monday, already!) so I guess I'll just wait for the next curveball and see if it supercedes this.
So, my first day at work. Amanda showed up on time and with her usual smile, and got the extra carseat into her back seat for Clara so they can all go out and do things together. I topped off Clara and took off for work. An hour later, as I was sitting in a meeting, my milk let down and it actually drenched my shirt. Ugh. It wasn't a huge spot, right near my armpit, but still enough that I was wet and sticky and uncomfortable. and embarassed!! Then my coworkers started filling me in on what had gone on while I was gone, and what I might do to get up to speed, except that there were a whole lot of things they assumed I knew because they happened before I went on leave. I felt so stupid - I don't even know if I have forgotten these things or if I ever knew! This is exactly why it's better to start a new job after maternity leave, because in that case I wouldn't be expected to know anything!! I've even forgotten people's names -- it's bad. It wasn't even noon and I wanted to crawl under a rock. Then I got a call from Amanda that Clara was pretty distraught and hungry, wouldn't take a bottle. So I drove home and fed her, picked up lunch, and was back in the office in 50 minutes - not too shabby! Clara slept all afternoon, while Emily went over to play with Hope, and Audrey took a nap. I thought it was nice that Amanda got a bit of a breather after all of Clara's hysterics. She'll figure out the bottle thing soon, right?? Anyway, I spent way too much time chatting with coworkers in the afternoon, but I couldn't do much else because 1) my boss was on vacation - nice, and 2) someone at Deere thought I had been fired and rescinded my access to nearly every system that requires a password. The helpdesk couldn't reset it because they were, coincidentally, having issues with password resets, but they started a ticket on it in the afternoon. I can't view the progress of the ticket, though, because - of course - I'm locked out of their system!!! Gah!! So I gave up and came home... and realized that I left my milk and pump in the new mom's room at work. *sigh*
It was a pretty much "duh" kind of day. I can't even describe the feeling - overall, pretty lousy, with a dash of futility and self-loathing, and yet a tiny amount of excitement and relief which was offset by the dread of doing this 3 days next week. Throughout, Travis was so supportive - getting ready in the morning, on IM at work, and with the kids while I prepared dinner. He didn't bother me when I was grumpy and self-doubting, but didn't let me dwell on it or take myself too seriously. So we had a really nice evening, after all that. It'll get better, right?
Today was a tough day. Instead of grudging the details right away, I'm going to write about the few interesting things that have gone on around here lately. Just little, notable things that my girls have done that remind me of how incredible they are - and just what a job it is to be their mom!!!
Audrey was drawing letters, several weeks ago (early July). She was very proud of herself, drawing the letters A, U, P, R, and M... on the wall! in MARKER!! *forehead smack* Not that she could have done this on paper so I could save it and date it. Instead I had to take a picture (when she wasn't looking, of course), and then figure out some way to effectively punish her so she doesn't write on the walls in marker again, without destroying her pride in her wonderful work. It was tricky, so I just went with a gentle "don't do that" and encouraged her to write more on paper. She won't, though. I don't know how she's gotten the practice to draw such nice letters.
The girls have tried out biting this summer. Emily was so surprised the first time it happened that it actually cracked me up. She was holding something away from Audrey, who was mad and screaming, while Emily just quietly held it away from her (as the youngest child, this "keepaway" business really makes me mad quick!). So Audrey was fighting back, and Emily started shouting, and finally shouts, "AAIEEE!!! She BITED me!!!" which, I'm sorry, was kind of funny. and at the same time, annoying. So Audrey got hauled off to the corner, and I had to put neosporin and a bandaid on Emily's chest, just below her collarbone, because Audrey really did get a good bite on her. I'll bet it really did hurt a lot, and very nearly broke the skin, so I was concerned about infection. But it seems to have healed up okay. I really wanted to tell Emily that maybe she shouldn't keep things away from Audrey like that, but I can't condone biting... I was just pissed at both kids!! A few weeks later, then, Emily bit Audrey, not quite as hard. I asked her what she thought Audrey would do if Emily bit her. I think it finally dawned on Emily that biting was probably not the way to get her sister to move over on the couch where she wanted her to be, that Audrey would probably scream and then Emily would get in trouble. It's always a little strange to me that such simple logic must be taught, but it's satisfying when it sinks in. I don't have to be a screaming lunatic as often that way.
So, that same night as the first biting incident, I was tucking Emily in to bed and she looked up and asked me, "When you go to the hospital, do you die?" Jeepers!! Turns out, the book we had read for bedtime was about a snowplow who digs out a town buried in snow, and helps everyone get where they need to be. In the end, the firetruck gets to the fire, the mail can go through, and the doctor saved his patient by getting him to the hospital. But really, we have to talk about death at bedtime?! These crazy questions are nonstop with her. "How do you make paper?" "What do you do at work?" "Where do sunflower seeds grow on a sunflower?" "What do ants eat?" "What's the difference between a tuba and a sousaphone?" Really. It's very hard to keep supplying answers that are good enough for her! She'll ask and ask and ask until I figure out just it is that she wants to know.
I told Emily's preschool teacher that she is a very, very bright girl and she'll just love having her in her class. I hope Emily is more ready to respond to her teacher than she is to me. She seems to think that when I tell her something ("Get down off the couch!"), she is entitled to a thorough explanation of my case before she'll consider following my instruction. Even if the explanation is provided, ("If your knee slips, you will crush Clara!") and repeated ("Get down off the couch!"), she might find an alternate solution (climbing higher) that she thinks will work better. I know that she's thinking about this, she's not just ignoring me, most of the time, but jeepers I'm just trying to get Clara through infanthood without any crushed ribs, so just do it because by now I'm shouting and mad!! Off to the corner she goes. She hates the corner, and has done everything there to piss me off that she can - like screaming her most ear-piercing yell or sucking her thumb - but I won't relent. It's such a battle, and while I can get her to shape up temporarily, it seems totally ineffective as an overall deterrent to make better choices in her actions. I try to give her the choice of obeying, or going to the corner first and THEN obeying, and that works for some things, but a lot of times her temper gets the better of her. Things that put her sisters' well-being in jeopardy don't get that warning, and she doesn't seem to be putting it together that she can't just use her force to get her way. I know that everything will change once preschool starts (Monday, already!) so I guess I'll just wait for the next curveball and see if it supercedes this.
So, my first day at work. Amanda showed up on time and with her usual smile, and got the extra carseat into her back seat for Clara so they can all go out and do things together. I topped off Clara and took off for work. An hour later, as I was sitting in a meeting, my milk let down and it actually drenched my shirt. Ugh. It wasn't a huge spot, right near my armpit, but still enough that I was wet and sticky and uncomfortable. and embarassed!! Then my coworkers started filling me in on what had gone on while I was gone, and what I might do to get up to speed, except that there were a whole lot of things they assumed I knew because they happened before I went on leave. I felt so stupid - I don't even know if I have forgotten these things or if I ever knew! This is exactly why it's better to start a new job after maternity leave, because in that case I wouldn't be expected to know anything!! I've even forgotten people's names -- it's bad. It wasn't even noon and I wanted to crawl under a rock. Then I got a call from Amanda that Clara was pretty distraught and hungry, wouldn't take a bottle. So I drove home and fed her, picked up lunch, and was back in the office in 50 minutes - not too shabby! Clara slept all afternoon, while Emily went over to play with Hope, and Audrey took a nap. I thought it was nice that Amanda got a bit of a breather after all of Clara's hysterics. She'll figure out the bottle thing soon, right?? Anyway, I spent way too much time chatting with coworkers in the afternoon, but I couldn't do much else because 1) my boss was on vacation - nice, and 2) someone at Deere thought I had been fired and rescinded my access to nearly every system that requires a password. The helpdesk couldn't reset it because they were, coincidentally, having issues with password resets, but they started a ticket on it in the afternoon. I can't view the progress of the ticket, though, because - of course - I'm locked out of their system!!! Gah!! So I gave up and came home... and realized that I left my milk and pump in the new mom's room at work. *sigh*
It was a pretty much "duh" kind of day. I can't even describe the feeling - overall, pretty lousy, with a dash of futility and self-loathing, and yet a tiny amount of excitement and relief which was offset by the dread of doing this 3 days next week. Throughout, Travis was so supportive - getting ready in the morning, on IM at work, and with the kids while I prepared dinner. He didn't bother me when I was grumpy and self-doubting, but didn't let me dwell on it or take myself too seriously. So we had a really nice evening, after all that. It'll get better, right?
Monday, August 6, 2012
August already??
I have a little more than 2 weeks of maternity leave left :( Clara had better learn to take a bottle - quick!!
It's weird to think how long I've been talking with Emily about starting preschool, and now it's actually going to happen! I'm so excited for her, and kind of scared at the same time. I don't know why it's seeming that much more intimidating than it was to leave her at different daycares over the years, but when I saw on the list of school supplies that she needed a backpack, something about that just totally made me get all nervous for her! I think I've got nearly everything she needs, all ready to go, and all the dates on my calendar marked, for the home visit and the trip to see her preschool room ahead of time. I just can't believe it's really almost here!
The girls seem to be getting along with Amanda just great. I've got no qualms about leaving the kids with her, although it'll be interesting for her because the job is going to get a lot tougher once she's got sole responsibility for Clara (who's been staying pretty close to me this summer :) ), and the task of taking Emily to preschool. Still not sure how we're going to manage that one, with carseats and such.
Clara is the most awesome little baby. She snuggles and snuffs just like I adore in a newborn, and wiggles and snorts and all that good stuff. She is a FANTASTIC sleeper - I can pretty much count on at least 6 hours, and usually a good 8 to 10 without waking in the night. I haven't nursed her between 10PM and 4AM in weeks!! And if I can stay rested, it makes everything manageable. She is super conversational, and I just adore sitting with her and making faces, watching her smile, listening to her most amazing little sounds. I love this little girl SO much.
And I love my Emily and Audrey, too, of course. Last night, we all went for a walk together, with Emily pushing Audrey in the umbrella stroller, and Travis carrying Clara in the baby carrier. Emily took off running, and pushed Audrey right into a bump into the sidewalk, which stopped the stroller but not the girls!! The stroller flipped, and Audrey ended up with a HUGE goose egg on her forehead and a bloody lip. Emily felt so bad about it, but it really wasn't her fault. And Audrey was pretty tough. She stopped crying right away and her bonks haven't seemed to bother her much since then. I feel like she's going to end up like Muhammed Ali, after sustaining so many blows to her forehead she'll get all demented on me! Maybe that's why she keeps having so many accidents.... :)
I checked my blog this weekend to see when it was that we started potty training Audrey, and it was September 1. In that infamous post, I believe I said that I would not spend a year on it, like I did with Audrey. I wouldn't say that it has really taken less than that. So I'm going to just look out into the future and pick a good 12-month span with nothing major goign on in our lives, and reserve that for Clara's potty training. Anything less than that will be awesome.
I'm going to go enjoy the rest of this beautiful summer day!!
It's weird to think how long I've been talking with Emily about starting preschool, and now it's actually going to happen! I'm so excited for her, and kind of scared at the same time. I don't know why it's seeming that much more intimidating than it was to leave her at different daycares over the years, but when I saw on the list of school supplies that she needed a backpack, something about that just totally made me get all nervous for her! I think I've got nearly everything she needs, all ready to go, and all the dates on my calendar marked, for the home visit and the trip to see her preschool room ahead of time. I just can't believe it's really almost here!
The girls seem to be getting along with Amanda just great. I've got no qualms about leaving the kids with her, although it'll be interesting for her because the job is going to get a lot tougher once she's got sole responsibility for Clara (who's been staying pretty close to me this summer :) ), and the task of taking Emily to preschool. Still not sure how we're going to manage that one, with carseats and such.
Clara is the most awesome little baby. She snuggles and snuffs just like I adore in a newborn, and wiggles and snorts and all that good stuff. She is a FANTASTIC sleeper - I can pretty much count on at least 6 hours, and usually a good 8 to 10 without waking in the night. I haven't nursed her between 10PM and 4AM in weeks!! And if I can stay rested, it makes everything manageable. She is super conversational, and I just adore sitting with her and making faces, watching her smile, listening to her most amazing little sounds. I love this little girl SO much.
And I love my Emily and Audrey, too, of course. Last night, we all went for a walk together, with Emily pushing Audrey in the umbrella stroller, and Travis carrying Clara in the baby carrier. Emily took off running, and pushed Audrey right into a bump into the sidewalk, which stopped the stroller but not the girls!! The stroller flipped, and Audrey ended up with a HUGE goose egg on her forehead and a bloody lip. Emily felt so bad about it, but it really wasn't her fault. And Audrey was pretty tough. She stopped crying right away and her bonks haven't seemed to bother her much since then. I feel like she's going to end up like Muhammed Ali, after sustaining so many blows to her forehead she'll get all demented on me! Maybe that's why she keeps having so many accidents.... :)
I checked my blog this weekend to see when it was that we started potty training Audrey, and it was September 1. In that infamous post, I believe I said that I would not spend a year on it, like I did with Audrey. I wouldn't say that it has really taken less than that. So I'm going to just look out into the future and pick a good 12-month span with nothing major goign on in our lives, and reserve that for Clara's potty training. Anything less than that will be awesome.
I'm going to go enjoy the rest of this beautiful summer day!!
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Saturday, Sunday
And, our vacation is now over. Back to the real world.
Yesterday was a catch-up day. The girls woke up from camping at just about the same time as normal, so they were a little cranky but we still managed to have a nice lazy day at home together. We considered going downtown to an Italian-American festival, but we just plain didn't get around to it. The girls had an early bedtime, which set us up for a really nice day today. It wasn't a vacation, really, but I did spend almost 2 hours cleaning the kitchen and dining room, and the girls' room is finally in order. I did two loads of laundry, too!
Last night, Travis had a couple of Guinesses and some whiskey, and came to bed much after I did. I don't know what time it was, but right at that same time there was a thunderstorm, so Emily came in and said she was afraid of thunder. Travis went with her and laid down in his bed, which I vaguely remember but didn't recall immediately when I woke up. I guess I was quite the bed hog, because when Trav woke up at 5AM in Emily's bed, and no idea why he was there, he tried to come back to our bed but I was diagonal across the bed, and clutching his pillow. Poor guy finished the night on the couch! It's been a long time since I've had a morning where we're trying to piece together just what happened, and how we ended up where we did. :)
Tonight, we finished off our vacation by going down to the Indianola hot air balloon festival. We didn't go in, just watched from a nearby park. It was incredible - I'll try to get the pictures posted tonight, or soon, at least. Emily and Audrey were so excited, and saw the first balloons rising above the trees, coming right towards us. But, they were floating kind of low, and we could hear the flames, which absolutely terrified Emily. Audrey said she was scared too, but I know she only said so because Emily was afraid. She was enjoying the thrill of being scared. :) Funny to see my girls react so differently. I think Clara was watching them, too, because she was laying on her back on the ground, looking up at the sky.
On the way home, we came up through downtown Des Moines, over Emily's favorite bridge. I got a couple really cute pictures of that, too. What a crazy kid she is. And a great way to wrap up our week together.
Tomorrow, it's back to normal, and I think we'll all be glad to get back into the regular routine. But, 3 and a half weeks from now, it's a new normal, when I go to work. I don't mind the thought of going to work, but I really will miss my girls. I'm getting quite fond of Clara, as her personality emerges. She cooed at me for a good 10 minutes tonight, after she nursed her evening meal. What a sweetheart she is. :)
Yesterday was a catch-up day. The girls woke up from camping at just about the same time as normal, so they were a little cranky but we still managed to have a nice lazy day at home together. We considered going downtown to an Italian-American festival, but we just plain didn't get around to it. The girls had an early bedtime, which set us up for a really nice day today. It wasn't a vacation, really, but I did spend almost 2 hours cleaning the kitchen and dining room, and the girls' room is finally in order. I did two loads of laundry, too!
Last night, Travis had a couple of Guinesses and some whiskey, and came to bed much after I did. I don't know what time it was, but right at that same time there was a thunderstorm, so Emily came in and said she was afraid of thunder. Travis went with her and laid down in his bed, which I vaguely remember but didn't recall immediately when I woke up. I guess I was quite the bed hog, because when Trav woke up at 5AM in Emily's bed, and no idea why he was there, he tried to come back to our bed but I was diagonal across the bed, and clutching his pillow. Poor guy finished the night on the couch! It's been a long time since I've had a morning where we're trying to piece together just what happened, and how we ended up where we did. :)
Tonight, we finished off our vacation by going down to the Indianola hot air balloon festival. We didn't go in, just watched from a nearby park. It was incredible - I'll try to get the pictures posted tonight, or soon, at least. Emily and Audrey were so excited, and saw the first balloons rising above the trees, coming right towards us. But, they were floating kind of low, and we could hear the flames, which absolutely terrified Emily. Audrey said she was scared too, but I know she only said so because Emily was afraid. She was enjoying the thrill of being scared. :) Funny to see my girls react so differently. I think Clara was watching them, too, because she was laying on her back on the ground, looking up at the sky.
On the way home, we came up through downtown Des Moines, over Emily's favorite bridge. I got a couple really cute pictures of that, too. What a crazy kid she is. And a great way to wrap up our week together.
Tomorrow, it's back to normal, and I think we'll all be glad to get back into the regular routine. But, 3 and a half weeks from now, it's a new normal, when I go to work. I don't mind the thought of going to work, but I really will miss my girls. I'm getting quite fond of Clara, as her personality emerges. She cooed at me for a good 10 minutes tonight, after she nursed her evening meal. What a sweetheart she is. :)
Friday, July 27, 2012
Friday
We got home late last night after going to Story City to see the carousel, and having dinner with Grandpa and Grandma Sullivan. What a beautiful evening!! We had a great time. Audrey rode the carousel FOUR times and loved holding onto the horse. Emily went twice in the whirling tub, and would not even consider getting up on a horse, or animal of any kind! Then we walked around the park (well, everyone else did, while I nursed Clara), and enjoyed the beautiful evening. We ate dinner together at Pizza Ranch, and came home after bedtime. The girls were so tired they were loopy, giggling like crazy about nothing at all. I thought for sure, after two late nights like that, that they'd sleep past 6:45, but no, up early again. Tonight, they are camping, so it'll probably be another short night for them again. But, I'm not sleeping out there. Clara and I are inside, so Travis can deal with it. And since he's taken to having an afternoon nap during his vacation, he can handle it!
So it would be no surprise that today is a recovery day. Trav took Emily to Earl May to see if they could spend their July fun-bucks, but all they found was the free popcorn that Emily loves. I did some shopping for school supplies that were on sale, and successfully did my entire outing during Clara's afternoon nap (which is getting to be more predictable! woohoo!!). We built a "crazy town" out of boxes this morning - okay, it was mostly me, with input and ideas from Emily. She's good with getting the tape off the roll, but not so secure with application. :) I think it'll be fun for them to play with for a good long while. There's lots of doors and tunnels and even a little bridge.
I FINALLY got the ice cream to freeze. It took nearly an hour, while I was fixing supper, and even then it was pretty runny. It churned so long the other day that I think the cream was starting to turn to butter, because although it's pretty tasty, it does have a bit of a greasy aftertaste. *sigh* I guess I learned my lesson about making ice cream!
We watched the opening ceremonies of the olympics tonight, and the show depicted the advancement of Britain over the last 500 years. It was really beautiful to see it all done, starting with grassy hills and turning into factories with smokestacks. It was, however, really tough to describe the Industrial Revolution to Emily! Then it turned into kids jumping on beds and crazy costumes dancing to music, and that was easier.
And now everyone is asleep, and I can be too. I transferred all the pictures from this week to my computer from my cameras, and it's going to be fun to post those. Going to wait until the week is up, though. More fun to be had, tomorrow!
So it would be no surprise that today is a recovery day. Trav took Emily to Earl May to see if they could spend their July fun-bucks, but all they found was the free popcorn that Emily loves. I did some shopping for school supplies that were on sale, and successfully did my entire outing during Clara's afternoon nap (which is getting to be more predictable! woohoo!!). We built a "crazy town" out of boxes this morning - okay, it was mostly me, with input and ideas from Emily. She's good with getting the tape off the roll, but not so secure with application. :) I think it'll be fun for them to play with for a good long while. There's lots of doors and tunnels and even a little bridge.
I FINALLY got the ice cream to freeze. It took nearly an hour, while I was fixing supper, and even then it was pretty runny. It churned so long the other day that I think the cream was starting to turn to butter, because although it's pretty tasty, it does have a bit of a greasy aftertaste. *sigh* I guess I learned my lesson about making ice cream!
We watched the opening ceremonies of the olympics tonight, and the show depicted the advancement of Britain over the last 500 years. It was really beautiful to see it all done, starting with grassy hills and turning into factories with smokestacks. It was, however, really tough to describe the Industrial Revolution to Emily! Then it turned into kids jumping on beds and crazy costumes dancing to music, and that was easier.
And now everyone is asleep, and I can be too. I transferred all the pictures from this week to my computer from my cameras, and it's going to be fun to post those. Going to wait until the week is up, though. More fun to be had, tomorrow!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Wednesday, Thursday...
We are finishing up our Ames leg of our vacation today. Yesterday, we loaded up the van early in the morning and drove to Ellsworth, where Travis introduced the girls to Ragbrai!! The route went from there to Story City, which is about 6 miles. Clara and I drove to Story City, where we met up with the bus and the rest of Team Petting Zoo. It was already sweltering by 10:30 AM, so I'm glad the girls weren't in the burley any longer than they were. They stopped for chocolate milk along the route, and thoroughly enjoyed that.
Then we picked up lunch at Battles BBQ in Ames, and took it to my grandparents to eat. Audrey and Clara (and Travis!) all napped there, while I got a nice chance to chat with Mommo and play with Emily. Then we went to visit some friends of mine in Gilbert, whose daughter was born two days before Clara. Sure was fun to catch up with them! Then we came back to Ames, to Jenny's house, and ate take-out Chinese food. Emily had been waiting all day to play with Megan and have a sleepover night. They set up tents in Jenny's enormous basement, and had a wonderful time.
This morning, we went to the Berry Patch in Nevada and picked blueberries. Thankfully, it's a little cooler today (finally!) due to a super-awesome thunderstorm that came through last night. Audrey ate every single berry that she picked, blueberry and raspberry! Emily picked about 30 blueberries in her bucket, and was very proud of herself. Then we ate West Street Deli for lunch, and are now back at Jenny's house for naptimes. Once those are over, we'll go back up to Story City to ride on the carousel, and Grandma and Grandpa Sullivan will meet us there. The way Emily is talking, this will be a highlight of the vacation, even topping the camping sleepover night.
We're really enjoying these activities, but I'm keeping the posting brief, just to get it all written down. We'll see if I get a chance to add in any more specific anecdotes later. But I'm taking pictures, too, so that will help jog my memory!
Then we picked up lunch at Battles BBQ in Ames, and took it to my grandparents to eat. Audrey and Clara (and Travis!) all napped there, while I got a nice chance to chat with Mommo and play with Emily. Then we went to visit some friends of mine in Gilbert, whose daughter was born two days before Clara. Sure was fun to catch up with them! Then we came back to Ames, to Jenny's house, and ate take-out Chinese food. Emily had been waiting all day to play with Megan and have a sleepover night. They set up tents in Jenny's enormous basement, and had a wonderful time.
This morning, we went to the Berry Patch in Nevada and picked blueberries. Thankfully, it's a little cooler today (finally!) due to a super-awesome thunderstorm that came through last night. Audrey ate every single berry that she picked, blueberry and raspberry! Emily picked about 30 blueberries in her bucket, and was very proud of herself. Then we ate West Street Deli for lunch, and are now back at Jenny's house for naptimes. Once those are over, we'll go back up to Story City to ride on the carousel, and Grandma and Grandpa Sullivan will meet us there. The way Emily is talking, this will be a highlight of the vacation, even topping the camping sleepover night.
We're really enjoying these activities, but I'm keeping the posting brief, just to get it all written down. We'll see if I get a chance to add in any more specific anecdotes later. But I'm taking pictures, too, so that will help jog my memory!
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