Day to Day Changes

A walk with Grandma in Bonnie Springs.

Kate took 1st Place in the bean bag toss for grade school at her first track meet.

Walking the lines during the running events. I am hopeful that at least ONE of my children will one day compete in running events.

Luke checks out a caterpillar.

Yesterday, we were swimming in the pool. Today we are inside wearing sweaters and pants. (It went from 90ish yesterday to 68* + 50mph wind gusts today.) And we're setting up the tent for an indoor camping trip. ? It's easier than packing up all our stuff for 2 days. And also, warmer.

Milestones That Make Me Want to Cry

Need I say more?

I think she can read

Over the past several days, Kate has pulled out random books...and read them to us. The first one was a story from her brand new Highlights magazine, one which no one had read to her yet. She gets stuck on multi-syllabic words, but I think she can read. My baby's growing up.

Half Marathon: check

I have not a single photo of the event, due to my refusal to carry a camera for 13.1 miles, and to various children's tardiness, willful disobedience, dragging of feet, and lethargy, but I ran my first half marathon this morning!

Even though it's Las Vegas and it's warmer here than in many other parts of the country at this time of year, it was still freezing at the 6:15am start line. I stayed downtown last night (at Excalibur; you can imagine the girls' amazement. Claire: "Where are you sleeping, Mommy?" Me: "At the castle, Claire!" BIG. EYES.) to avoid what was sure to be pure chaos trying to drive to the strip where 28,000 runners were converging on the inaugural event. It was my first time staying without any of my children (besides births of children, which, frankly, do not count) in several years. I got an excellent night of sleep, after my anxiety receded and I actually fell asleep. I set all of my alarms for 5am, not having used any of them prior to this. At 5:00 I was greeted by my cell phone, PDA, running watch and the hotel's alarm clock. My neighbors might have hated me.

I found my way, by following the hordes, to the start "area" on the strip in front of Mandalay Bay. I watched the fireworks go off at the starting time, and inched my way up to the start for another 40 minutes. Next time, I will be sure to register for a closer corral, especially since I was passing walkers before mile 2.

I ditched my RHS gymnastics sweatshirt (circa 1989) around mile 5, and my hat around mile 7. I was super glad for my gloves, as I wore them the entire race. I ran and ran and ran, slowing down for an occasional drink, and grabbing some Gu at mile 9. I never stopped, fearing that I wouldn't be able to start again. I saw places on the strip that I didn't know existed. I saw casinos I want to go into, and some I would rather not. I witnessed the eruption of the volcano at the Mirage, which was fun and warm. I ran an entire mile north of the Stratosphere, the northernmost casino on the strip. From there, they directed us west into neighborhoods I had never been in, and likely will never see again (the area north of the Stratosphere is notoriously dangerous). Finally, just before mile 9, we rejoined the strip. Mentally, this was huge, and I was so happy to see the Stratosphere. Somehow, adrenaline kicked in at about mile 10, and I picked up the pace for the last 3.1 miles. I finished in 2:11:00, and am proud of my time!

Thank you, Tim, for helping me complete this milestone. I couldn't have done it without you. You're next!

When did that happen?

I was sitting at the family medicine clinic on base this morning, playing with Luke, when he opened his mouth to babble at me and I saw two teeth poking through. The bottom middle ones, to be all scientific about it. And they are fully showing their ridges, so it's not like they just popped out last night. Or maybe they did? I feel like I haven't been paying attention to him enough to know when his first two teeth appeared! GAH. Next I'll find that he can crawl and I just haven't happened to notice it yet.

I was at the lovely clinic this morning because I have had a sore throat for more than two months. I know. The nurse looked at me the way you are looking at me right now, too. But I have three kids. Life is sort of . . . hectic . . . around here. I finally got annoyed enough this week to actually make an appointment, and because I really want to know if I have mono or strep, the only two illnesses that would sort of make sense given my symptoms. Anyway, they gave me a prescription for deconamine (because they say allergies and congestion are causing my sore throat), which after minimal research on my part, sounds like a bad idea given that I am still nursing Luke. The nurse on base said I was okay to take it, but I have a call in to my OB, *just to make sure*. C'mon, ask me how I feel about more government health care!

The girls have been making me crazy lately. Or maybe it's just that I'm exhausted (see reference to sore throat above). They are back to their nighttime antics, which include staying up until approximately 9:30pm, or sometimes even 10:00, talking, shrieking, and generally misbehaving. Then, they wake up between 6-7am, crabby but unwilling to go back to sleep. This morning Claire laid down on the kitchen floor, refusing to put her shoes on and get in the car for school. Awesome. I'm trying something new tonight: Kate will be in bed by 7:00, and will hopefully fall asleep before Claire arrives for bed around 8:00. Wish me luck. Or send me some whiskey. Someone is likely to need a stiff drink tonight.

Random thoughts, and Hallelujah!

We hosted a squadron farewell at our house on Friday night. After going to bed after midnight, and waking up to Luke yelling (not crying or screaming, yelling! Because he could!) at an earlier hour than I would have liked, I let Claire eat some brownie for breakfast. This morning, I asked her what she wanted for her first meal of the day and she said, "I want chocolate cake."

Luke started sleeping through the night sometime last week! I'm still waking him to feed him between 10-11pm before I go to bed, but he'll sleep straight through until about 7am now. At least I think he's sleeping straight through...with all the fans on, I did manage to sleep through a thunderstorm last week. I am so much more well-rested now. And yet still mysteriously exhausted. Maybe it's the whole 3 young children thing.

I had milk on my oatmeal yesterday and I think Luke tolerated it. He was a bit fussy, but nothing more than normal. I might try some cheese with dinner, or ice cream later tonight! Oooh, living dangerously.

Our dishwasher has been making a high-pitched whining sound for several months. Its one-year warranty is due to expire next week, so I had a repairman come out today to fix it and it wouldn't make the noise. The repairman left 30 minutes ago. The cycle is still running and the whine is back. Awesome.

Kate is getting excited about her birthday. She's a September baby, so she has a ways to go, but she doesn't understand the time thing very well yet. She does, however, know the months between now and then: "May, June, Goliath and then September!"

It's been sizzling outside for the past week (109* today), so we've been getting plenty of pool time. Claire knows that she must have one thing on before going outside: "sunscream".

I am at a loss for the whole bed wetting thing. Kate has been potty-trained for months now, but still wets the bed at night. She had several dry nights a couple of months ago, so I know it's possible for her to make it through the night without wetting the bed. We limit what she drinks at dinner, and even wake her up before we go to bed for one last trip to the bathroom. I was determined not to go back to diapers at night, because she gets lazy, and because I don't want to confuse her. But I am tired of washing sheets every single day! I am pretty sure kids are either bed wetters or they're not, but I don't know how to get beyond bed wetting. If you have ideas for me, please comment.

Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf?

It turns out Kate is. I got her The Three Little Pigs book recently, and she's woken up in the middle of the night several times now, worried about the big, bad wolf. We keep telling her we live in a brick house, but she is still scared. Oops. I plan to hide the book away today, in hopes that she will forget all about it.

We went to Agua Caliente park last week for the first time. I had no idea there was a park with a pond and ducks so close to us. Kate and Claire loved it. We wandered as far away from the park personnel as possible before feeding the ducks an entire sleeve of saltines (there were a lot of signs about not feeding the water fowl), and Kate even shared Claire's goldfish crackers with the ducks.

Claire has a new word: puffs. It doesn't come out perfectly, but it's understandable, which is impressive considering she has the flu and is very lethargic and whiny. I think she's going to be a linguist.

Kate is jumping. She has been trying to figure out how to get off the ground for ages, but has just now mastered it.

We are putting out house on the market next week. Next week! This does not leave much time for painting (which, by the way, my realtor said I didn't really need to do? Hmm), or anything else. Everyone is sick here, and Tim needs to work this weekend, so we'll see how much I can get done. There is a Lot to do. And I'm more than a little stressed out about how I'm going to have the house in a showable condition for the next couple of months. We are all going to be learning how to clean up after every single mess. The kids are going to HATE it.

It snowed yesterday, here in town. It didn't stick, but it was fun to watch!

A new sleeping arrangement

Kate took her Saturday afternoon nap on the sofa (Daddy's the Best), and today she wanted to sleep on her floor for naptime. She played for about an hour, but then did fall asleep for about 2 hours. I think Tim will have another job this week: converting her crib to a toddler bed. My baby's growing up.

Day 2

I am guessing by your silence that you are either:

1. Busy and have not read about my toy despair, or
2. Do not agree with my method of fixing the situation and are trying to avoid me, all the while *tsk-tsking* me and my mothering skills.

It is day 2 of Operation Clean Up Your Toys or Else. It is also school/daycare day, so it hasn't been a good measure for how things are going. We haven't been home much yet today. (Big thank you to Camille for a lovely lunch!) But I do think that Kate knew I was unhappy with the situation yesterday, and as Tim pointed out, I don't think she likes it when I'm mad at her. She was extra sweet to me this morning. I'm not really mad at her; I'm just frustrated with the level of mess that this house has reached, and she is a big contributor. So we're working on that.

And she has ways to earn her toys back. If she gets things out and then puts them away when asked to, she will get a toy out of time-out. She's a pretty smart kid, so it will probably be Thursday morning when all of her toys have earned a pardon.

Claire is cruising now. I think that's what you call it when they walk along the furniture? Leave her at one end of the coffee table, come come back moments later, and you will find her at the other end of the table (especially if there is a beer or a remote control at the other end). She is also walking behind her push-walker by herself.

What?

Pumpkins and crawling

Where's Kate?

Hold on to your shoes! Hide your breakables! Return all coffee mugs to their rightful place on top of tables and counters! Guess who's crawling? Good guess. Yes, Claire is finally getting somewhere when she gets up on all fours. For the past couple of weeks she would crawl a pace and then collapse on her belly. She got around a bit doing this (i.e., she wouldn't always be in the same place that you left her if you walked away for a bit), but now she is full up crawling. She must have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night. It's amazing the things kids can do after a good nap or a long nights' sleep.

Yesterday we went to Apple Annie's orchard in Willcox. Fields and fields of pumpkins! Corn! Hay rides! Sunflowers! It was wonderful. Last year we went and it was freezing (probably like 55* or something silly like that), so we were prepared this year. And of course it was 75* and I was roasting. A group of us went, including my sister and her family, and Dana and her family. Kate and Eric waited for the great pumpkin together last October, but this year they were more interested in playing in the dirt.

Hayride.

Remember the Great Pumpkin, Kate?

Let's go find him again!

Playing in the dirt is better than waiting for the Great Pumpkin.

Oh, Dear. And: what's new here

It's 3pm. I put Kate to bed at 1:35. I know that it's outside of my window of nap heaven, but I was late picking her up from daycare, and late getting her back for precious nap time. Claire started rubbing her eyes at about 1:50, so I put her down, too. They are still awake. Still! Awake!

I just went in and told Kate to lie down and go to sleep. Claire looked up with expectant eyes. I picked her up (she had backed herself into the corner and was stuck) and she started smiling at her sister. I couldn't tell if it was a "Ha! Mom picked me up and not you!" smile, or a "You are so funny, big sister!" smile. I leaned Claire in real close to Kate for a kiss, and they both started giggling. Cute, oooglie, girlie, baby giggles. So Cute. Love.

As for what's new:

Kate is going through a growth spurt. Is this normal for 2-year-olds? She is eating like crazy. I don't know if it's because we switched her from whole milk to 1%, but she is eating like a big kid. We're talking a whole hot dog, 3/4 of a cup of peas, a whole sippy of milk, some cheese and some chicken. At one sitting! Whereas she used to just eat a quarter of a sandwich for lunch, she'll now eat a half a sandwich, a cup of fruit and some milk, and still seem to be hungry. Some of you might think I'm making up the part about the peas. I am not. How did I do this? It's a bit of a game: I pour peas from the spoon in the big bowl directly onto her little spoon and she shovels them into her mouth, all the while asking for more. Big spoon to little spoon to mouth. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. She ate half of Tim's portion (in addition to her own) the other night.

She is also talking up a storm. Hurricane force! Here is a mini translation guide:

• Ohhhh-tay, Mommy! = Okay, Mommy! (that was easy, huh?)
• Beee = big
• No sugs! = No slugs!
• Wheh yu goin Mommy? = Where are you going, Mother?
• How 'bout... = How about....(usually followed by "playdoh", "too-tee" [cookie], or "outtide" [outside])

As for Claire, she has gotten 4 teeth in 2 weeks (2 on top and 2 on bottom). She is still in swimming lessons, but will finish on Thursday because her instructor is going on vacation. She is almost able to flip herself over a good portion of the time when on her belly, but not quite.

She is also keeping some solid food down. Imagine my distress on Saturday when she bit into a grape and swallowed half of it without chewing it first! We were at a party and I had forgotten her mesh bag, and thought I would share some grape with her anyway. I thought she would suck the juice out of it, not bite into it! Of course this was silly thinking on my part. But. She kept it down, along with the baby food carrots I fed her the day before.

So today I gave her some teeny chunks of banana. No vomiting. Of course, this brings up (pun not intended) my current dilemma. I sort of don't want to feed her solid food yet. And it's totally for selfish reasons:

1. I weigh 7 pounds less than I did when I got pregnant with Kate. This is not because I've been good about eating right or exercising like an aerobics instructor. This is all Claire, baby. And I love eating my peppermint patties and chocolate cake. Not to mention Swistle's brownies.
2. Stinky poo. I used to sing 'Smelly Cat' to Kate ('Smelly Kate' in my version) after we started her on solids.
3. Umm, I guess those are my biggest reasons. But she seems to want real people food so bad that I am starting to give in and give it to her. Stinky poo and all.

Ahhh! 3:15 and it is silent! Yesssss.

Thank heaven for baby medicine

That's right, I drugged my daughters and they are now both sleeping peacefully. Last night: not so much. And today I figured out why at least one of them was crabby: McLaren has another new tooth. Yes, another one. The second one this week. The new one is her upper left front tooth (my sister could tell you the name and number, but I'll just call it what everyone knows: the upper front tooth). After finding the tooth poking through this morning, I am impressed that she slept at all last night, or this past week for that matter.

Kate is still all congested and snotty-nosed, and cough-y on top of that. Now, after some toddler's Dimetapp, she is sleeping soundly! I have high hopes that this will allow me some continuous sleep tonight, as well. Because last night sucked, I tell you.

Tim is cross-country. For you non-flyer types: he flew a jet out to some big to-do function on the east coast. Except that he broke in San Antonio tonight, and will probably not be going to his destination, but will still hopefully be home early next week as planned. As for me, I'm not using my time wisely. I had the computer on from earlier today, and I've been sitting here, reading blogs and such for nearly 2 hours. I could have been reading Harry Potter. Or cleaning up around here for once, or watching the chick flick I got just for this weekend, or sleeping for God's sake! But I've been unproductively surfing the internet. Addict. I'm an addict.

Tomorrow I plan to be firmly planted in front of the TV, watching the Michigan-Oregon game, and willing the network to switch mid-game to what is sure to be a much more interesting match: Washington vs Boise State.

Crack, teeth and family time

We didn't turn the computer on yesterday. When is the last time you did that? I spent very little time surfing the internet over the weekend, and then just decided to (gah!) not turn the computer on yesterday. I think the internet is sort of like crack for me. I turn the desktop on in the morning, and it hums at me, beckoning. Well, I tried to go a day without it, and I survived! It was quite nice, actually. No headlines to stories that won't get read, no random blog reading (of course, this means I have lots of blogs to catch up on today), no wasted time reading movie reviews of flicks I'll never see, no flipping through emails that I need to respond to. Instead, we swam, watched college football, played with the girls, worked on Claire's walking skills (I know, she's not even crawling yet), cleaned house, and got a lot of stuff done.

Claire has her first tooth! I noticed it on Saturday; it's her bottom front right one. And the left one next to it is just about to break the skin, too. And, while she was doing her silly snorty-nose thing this morning, I saw what I think are the top two (2!) teeth just under the surface. I have no idea how she is sleeping through the night, what with all those teeth just about ready to pop out.

For those interested in the follow-up to the banana story from last week, here it is: she kept it all down! Then yesterday I gave her some avocado, and it stayed down too. She didn't have much of those foods, so I'm still taking her in on Thursday for her upper-GI scan, but I'm hopeful that she's fine and will stop barfing at the sight of solid food soon. Maybe she just doesn't like rice cereal. And who can blame her? That stuff looks gross.

Kate started pre-school today. Really it's just daycare, but I feel better calling it pre-school. I'm a stay-at-home mom (who is never home) and now I'm farming my eldest daughter out to daycare pre-school twice a week for 3-4 hours. She had fun today, playing with other kids and other toys. I think she gets bored here. She is now trying to get Claire to play with her, which is so cute, but so sad since Claire just has no clue how to play yet.

I didn't get a lot of stuff done while she was gone; Claire had swim lessons and I had to get on the internet and make sure it was still there. But I'm hopeful for tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll get more stuff done.

Confessions of a 30-something drama queen

Okay, okay! I'm fine, really. I know that after that last post most of you are wondering if I am doing okay in the mental department. I'm fabulous, really. It's just hard being a mom of 2 small children sometimes, you know? Anyone? Someone back me up here. Anyway, these things make for good blog stories, and so you have to take some liberties.

Like yesterday, with Claire the Sprinkler. That's a fun story. But I promised Tim the rights to that one, so you'll have to wait.

Kate surprised me last week. We were over at Dana's and she started saying her ABCs. She does this often. But this time, she kept going. I think she made it all the way through V. Since then she has done this several times (including WXYZ nowIknowABCsingwithme), so I know it's not just a fluke. She is also counting past 10, but I'm not certain where past 10. I heard 19 once, but I can't recall if I heard all the numbers between 11 and 18 first.

Claire enjoys a nice amber ale.

The Drive

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, we made it. Actually, we made it here about a week ago already. Time flies. The trip up was...interesting. We drove through Phoenix to LA where we picked up I-5 and headed north for what seemed like Forever. And we, of course, learned some things along the way.

Like:

• It's probably better to not leave for vacation after your husband has worked a half-day. It is very unlikely that you will be able to leave within, say, a few hours of when you thought you would.



• Also, make sure your doctor tells CVS that you would like your prescription ready sooner rather than later when she calls them to order it for you. That way hopefully it will be ready in less than 4 hours.



• It is probably better to have all car maintenance performed on your vehicle before you leave for your trip.



• If google maps says it will take you 4 hours to drive from Tucson to Blythe, and you have 2 children under the age of 2, and you are leaving at rush hour on a Friday, it will take you far longer than what google says it will.
  
  
• In 'N Out Burgers near the freeway cause traffic jams for miles.



• Booking your hotels online prior to leaving on your vacation does not allow for much flexibility.



• Almost-2-year-olds get a little giddy when they miss their nap every day for 4 days and also go to bed at 10pm every night.



• 5-month olds just get crabby with above schedule.



• Sitting in a car for 8-10 hours a day is no fun for anyone. Especially for the driver who is sitting in front of a toddler who can kick the seat.



• California traffic is horrible. It's probably a good idea to plan for an extra 1-2 hours each day for that alone. If you don't plan for traffic, it is highly frustrating when you realize how very wrong google maps is on drive time.



• Potty breaks with 2 children under the age of 2 do not take 5 minutes. Especially when the Patton museum is right next door and the toddler's daddy wants to show her the cool 'targets'.

We did learn some good things on the trip. It's great to spend so much time with your kids; you learn a lot about their habits, their preferences and what they know. For instance, Kate can now count from 1 to 10, and is speaking in 3-4 word sentences. She is also able to say the alphabet from a-g, and will sometimes say more with help. She loves to sing, and often tries to sing Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star and Black Horse by KT Tunstall. Who knew.

We are pretty sure we saw a McLaren pass us on I-5 in California. It was going too fast for me to get a picture.

And you never know what you will see on your drive through Cali. For a moment, we thought we were back in Korea.

Independent Spice rolls over

McLaren rolled over for the first time today! I know she is 5mo, but she's big, and Kate was the same way: slow to roll over, quick to walk. I'm sort of hoping Claire is not as quick to walk as Kate was. But Claire was on her back this morning, sticking her feet up in the air and rolling from side to side. Side to side, side to side. Then, out of nowhere, she rolled over all the way to her tummy. She was very proud of herself for about a minute, and then she got frustrated when she couldn't roll back over.

Her other favorite things to do lately include pushing away from you when you're holding her (I don't need to hold on to you, Mom), and also letting go of your fingers when she is standing up.

She tried pears the other day, and they did not agree with her, either. I'm not sure if it's fruits and vegetables, or if it's cereal, but I think we're going to pause the whole solid food thing for a few weeks. She is very good-natured through the vomiting incidents, but it's sort of a mess to clean up. ;-)

On another note, it is HOT here. I absolutely did not think that I would say that on this trip. I mean, we live in Tucson, land of triple digits. But it's been in the mid- to upper-90s here since we arrived, and there is no Air Conditioning. Also, there Is Humidity. About 50-60% of it. The kids are doing great through it; it's just me who is whiny. Go figure.

Time to let Claire have a nap. I'll try to post a bit about our journey up here in the next couple of days. Until then, photos of my girls:

A trip to Silverton park.

McLaren and Great-Grandma Irene.

Firsts

Overheard yesterday at the mall: "Okay, Kate, you get to be WSO."


We went mattress shopping yesterday at the mall with the girls and decided to try something new: we put Kate in the back part of the stroller (the Weapons Systems Officer's position, as Tim refers to it as) and sat McLaren up in the front seat. Why I ever thought I could live without a double stroller, I will never know. Anyway, that is neither here nor there. I think McLaren enjoyed sitting up and having a view of things, although I'm not sure how much she enjoyed having her sister kick the back of her seat incessantly and pull her hair. We ultimately ended up with Kate in the front and McLaren reclined in the back so she could take her nap.



After we got back from the mall, McLaren got to try her first solid food, rice cereal. She didn't care for it very much.

First rice cereal, 4mo.

Then, after a late nap, we packed up and headed to Reese's house for her 2nd birthday.

Megan, Reese & Carly, blowing out the candles.

Mmm, cake.

Right now, Kate is very into hot dogs. She particularly enjoys the 'rib-eye' version, the sausage version and the roast beef version. She knows she likes meat, and now associates all of it with hot dogs.

Oh, and before I forget, I have new stats on the kids (for weight, at least):

Kate (20mo): 29.6 lbs

McLaren (4mo): 15.8 lbs

My babies are chubsy.

Too Much

I really have got to stop trying to do so much in a day. For some reason I just think that I can squeeze a few more things in, and it is stressing me out.

I wanted to get Kate's hair cut, but wanted my sister to come with me to take pictures. It's a big event, after all. Jess is going to be induced on Monday, and we have other things going on all week, so it had to be today. We left the house late, and then had to wait at Great Clips (I'll spend more when she stops putting peanut butter in her hair at lunchtime). Kate did very well, and escaped without any cuts to the skin. I wasn't sure that was going to work out okay, considering how much she was squirming in my lap. She now has a neater appearance (except when she puts her syryp-covered fork in her hair after breakfast), and I have a lock of blonde curls to put in her baby book.

Before the haircut.

Her first trim.

After the haircut, we raced to lunch at Rocco's, late again. I think I hit every red light on the way there. Claire was starting to fuss a little due to hunger, but she hung on until we got "situated" in the restaurant. We were all sitting inside, and if you've been to Rocco's, you know there is hardly any room in there. Especially when there are 4 moms with 5 kids trying to squeeze into a booth. Carseats were everywhere, Kate was trying to climb out of her highchair onto the table, and there I was attempting to nurse Claire with a knit blanket covering us. We were hot, Kate was hungry and getting tired, and I was getting more stressed every minute. I had wanted to get together with friends to catch up, but somehow that didn't work out so well. I don't know why I keep thinking it will...pretty much every outing with 2 kids and 1 parent makes me stressed and I leave wondering what I was thinking. Having people over to the house works so much better; I think I'll stick with that for awhile.

Tonight while Tim was giving Kate a bath, she stood up and said, "up up up!". This, in the past, has been an indication that she needs to use the toilet so Tim quickly picked her up and put her on her Dora potty. She sat there for what seemed like 10 minutes, soaking wet, playing with her bath toys...and then she peed in the potty! Sorry for the graphic, folks, but this is a bit of a milestone for us. About 6-8 weeks ago she told me she had to go and I put her on and she went and then: nothing for the next couple of months. She'd want to sit on the potty, but wouldn't do anything. I had pretty much lost hope, until tonight, of potty training until she was a bit older. We'll see if we can continue to progress. And of course you'll be able to read all about it right here. That's why you read this, right? To hear about potty stories? That's what I thought.