Too Busy for More Than Photos

Kate's in swimming lessons, everyday for the next 5 weeks. We're almost done with week one. She is doing a great job, and is already learning to roll over onto her back and float. She hates the lessons, but is becoming a good swimmer.

McLaren will be 4 months this weekend. I can't believe she's already so big. She is rolling from side to side (not rolling over yet - I think she's too chubsy for that to happen for awhile), doesn't care much for tummy time, and is eyeing my oatmeal every morning. We may be trying rice cereal this weekend. She is also teething, I think. She tries to shove her whole hand into her mouth any chance she gets, and likes to bite on the teething rings we have for her. She's also now enjoying her exersaucer, which is a great way for her to be upright and more involved in the family.

Trying to shove the whole skwish into her mouth.

And the Winner Is....the Kia

The Kia. That's right. I was at the mall this morning running errands while Kate & Claire enjoyed their time at the co-op, and when I went to back out of my parking spot, another girl was also backing out...and you guessed it. Bam! And not the Emeril kind of bam. It was a slight collission, really, since we were both backing out at about 1 mph, both looking for other cars and failing to see each other. But when I got out to look at my bumper, and then looked at her bumper, I realized that my Subaru lost the battle. I am in slight disbelief. My car is supposed to be so tough. It's an Outback. Rugged. All-wheel drive. And it lost a battle to a Kia. Her car didn't even have a scratch on it that I could see. We looked twice. I'm very disappointed, Subaru.

This photo makes it look worse than it is. It's only scratched, not dented. But still.

Mexico

Awesome. Mexico was fab-u-lous. We spent 4 days and 3 nights at the Casa Blanca resort in Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco to those who think Rocky Point doesn't sound very Mexican), enjoying the sun, pool, beach, margaritas, and Mexican food. It took us about 4.5 hours to drive there from Tucson, including stops for the kids, and we arrived around dinner time on Saturday. Rocky Point is becoming quite a destination for those living in Phoenix and Tucson because it's so close, and I think we've become one of those statistics: we'll be there again (I hope) in August or September for a few more nights of beach life.

The kids did great. I'm amazed at how well Kate adjusted to sleeping in the pack 'n play in a room that was not her own. It probably helped that she didn't nap on Saturday (at all) on the way there. She was out by about 6:45pm that night and slept in until 7:30-8am the next morning. I was afraid that her lack of nap that day would cause all kinds of problems, but she was great. Claire shared a room with her (sleeping on a towel on the floor on the other side of the bed from Kate) and also slept like the proverbial baby. Woohoo! Of course, having 2 sleeping children at 7pm means you can't take walks along the beach at midnight, but let's face it, we were asleep by then anyway.

McLaren & Jen.

Kate loved the pool (it was very kid-friendly, with an area that was about 1.5' deep for her to run around in), and even enjoyed playing in the sand on the beach. She loved running about in the condo and on the deck, but didn't want to walk on the grass. She's still not sure about that stuff.

We went to dinner at La Curva on Monday night in Rocky Point, and Kate got to experience a Mariachi band, burritos, and fried ice cream. I think she was a big fan of all three.

Happy Mother's Day!

This Mother's Day, I ask you to give a mom a break. As a mom, I now understand so much more about life, and about why moms look and act the way they do.

For instance, if you are expecting a mom to meet you somewhere at a given time, understand that she could be late for any number of reasons. She could have been up late the night before, wondering when her husband was going to get home, hoping to talk to him after several days of limited contact due to his job (and hers). She could have decided to sleep just a few minutes longer, since the kids were still quiet, although she knew that she would be pushing it later if she wanted to arrive to her destination on time. She could have decided (dammit) that she was going to take a shower even though they had to leave in 15 minutes, put the eldest child in the pack 'n play that was still set up in her bedroom from last weekend, set the youngest child in the bouncy chair and hurriedly washed her hair. She probably frantically combed through her dripping locks, scowled at the 200 hairs that came out in the comb and wondered when this post-pregnancy annoyance would end.

Then she'd pick up the eldest child and smell something funny, just as they were supposed to be putting shoes on and getting into the car. After a record-fast diaper change, she might have put the eldest child on a kitchen chair to help her put her shoes on, not noticing the (full) coffee cup that she had left there from breakfast. That eldest child might then have grabbed the coffee mug and dumped it onto the floor, soaking her mother's shorts and coating the floor, table and chairs with sticky coffee. Perhaps at that point the mother would question her sanity and wonder how their "vacation" to Mexico that weekend was going to go. That, of course, would put her into a slight panic when she realized that she had not yet even begun to pack, that she still needed to sort out the childrens' sleeping arrangements whilst on vacation, and that she was now quite late for her appointment.

So Much Fun

If you can't find us over the summer months at home, we're probably here:

Kate enjoys the misters.

Peeking out from behind a water gun.

Getting very wet.

We went to Brandi Fenton Memorial Park today along with several other moms and kids. Kate was apprehensive at first, but after I started splashing around, she did too, and she had a great time. We got to leave McLaren at home with Tim since he's on nights, so it was just Kate and me. She loved it! We'll be spending a lot of time there in the next few months, I hope.

Claire is starting to laugh now. She has this silly 'ha ha ha' rapid/forced laugh that's really hammy and funny. I hope she'll keep it up long enough so that I can get a video of her doing it, but so far I think I'm the only one who has heard her. She is growing up fast and is sleeping so well now. I can put her down around 7-7:30pm and she won't wake up until 7:30-8am. And she is taking great naps, which allow me time to spend with Kate. Claire also has this fun eyebrow thing going; she is definitely related to my side of the family, as she can already raise one eyebrow and does so often. She looks like she is skeptical of everything.

Kate is doing great, too. She's so funny, laughing when she's pulling Starbuck's string for him to chase her, and playing peek-a-BOO at the dinner table. She wants to be just like me; she puts her cell phone and wallet in her purse, and walks around the house occasionally opening her phone to say "uh-huh" and "bye-bye" and then closing it again, with purpose. We're trying to teach her earmuffs ("Max, can you earmuff for me?" Beanie, Old School) because she's learning new words pretty quickly and I fully expect her to repeat something her father (never me) has said in her presence, and it will probably happen at a very inopportune time, like at church. Anyway.

Business Time

Hysterical.

Duh-Duh Baby?

Temperance Annette.

Jessica had her baby! Temperance Annette (Tempie) was born via emergency C-section on Sunday night; she weighed 7/9 and was 19.5" tall. She's a cutie, even if she does look like her daddy. Congrats to Jess and Mike!

Over the weekend I was telling Kate that she was going to have a new baby cousin, that Aunt Jessica was going to have a baby girl. She got a worried, but thoughtful, look on her face and said, "Duh-Duh baby?" Duh-Duh is my sister, Jessica, in Kate-speak. After I disappeared Monday morning and evening to go visit them at the hospital, Kate seemed a little distraught. I think she is concerned that I am going to be bringing a new baby home. Hopefully she'll relax more when we visit them at their house and see Tempie's nursery. And then come home without the baby. We'll see.

Over the weekend I realized why they don't have Toddler Day Spas. Kate now has pretty toes, but the carpet took a minor hit of red nail polish, as did my hands and Kate's leg.

Post-pedi.

Such a good sleeper.

Multi-Tasking Gone Awry

Mmm, very burnt cookies.

I am not very good at this multi-tasking stuff. Obviously. I put cookies in the oven during naptime yesterday and completely forgot about them. I started to smell a sweet-ish smell and wondered if some remnant of food was burning in the oven. I knew it was on, as I had just made a batch of cookies. I wandered into the kitchen to check that oven to see what was cooking on the bottom or stuck to one of the racks. And what did I find? A dozen cookies that I must have put in there at least 30 minutes ago.

I don't need to eat them anyway, so I guess it's a good thing. We decided we're going to Mexico next weekend, and silly me didn't think about how that was only about 10 days away...not really enough time to get into bikini-shape. But we are headed to Rocky Point for 4 days, over Mother's Day weekend. It will be our first 'family vacation not visiting other family'. I hope that doesn't mean it's going to be hell. Be sure to check back here over the next week as I write about how stressful packing for 2 kids under the age of 2 is, and how the lack of trunk space in my car is causing much grief.

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.

Playgroup

We had some friends over this morning for playgroup: 6 kids, 4 moms and lots of noise. Overheard:

• "I don't think the kitty wants to wear a hat." (referencing the pail on top of kitty's head)



• "Eric, don't grab Jake by the hair; I don't think he likes that."



• "No climbing the step chest!" (referencing Jake up on level 3 of the chest)



• "I need a towel...for the kitty's water that is now all over the bathroom floor." (Eric)

Kate is still asleep (2.5 hours so far), so it obviously wore her out. We'll be doing more of this over the summer for sure.

Photo Update

3 months old.

Chubby cheeks.

Bar-Hopping With Your Children: A Guide

Friday night was the first night back in the squadron bar. The whole squadron building has been under construction for many months, and now most of the building is up and running. The guys had a casual Friday social at their new bar last week, and families were welcome. We, of course, took that to mean the "entire" family, so I showed up to the squadron at 1700 with Kate & Claire in tow. There was supposed to be food there, so I just brought Kate's sippy cup of milk, and Claire had already eaten. We arrived to some extra-crispy Tostino's pizza bites, some over-cooked chinese chicken, and the garlic romano bread that I had brought. Kate somehow found Daddy amongst the masses of green legs, and I put Claire in the Baby Bjorn so I could walk around hands-free. Kate immediately found the cord to the blinds on one of the doors and started wrapping herself up in it. An older woman saw Kate and helped her out of the tangled mess, since her parents were nowhere to be found.

Finally, as more people started showing up (with food), Kate had a more proper dinner to include fried chicken, pizza and chocolate cake. As I was trying to feed her a bite of cake while standing behind her, the cake fell on the floor. Before I could grab it up off the nasty bar floor, Kate wrapped her pudgy fingers around it and shoved it into her mouth. Mmm.

As for Claire, by this point she was sitting on the bar in her carseat, parked next to the Jeremiah Weed liquor dispenser. Damn, if I'd only had my camera.

The next night we went to Buffalo Wild Wings where Kate tried to drink some of Tim's beer while she flirted with a boy more than twice her age. I bet if you ask her she'll say she had a great weekend.

My sister is due in less than 2 weeks, so we'll probably be heading out for wings often to try to induce her. Keep your fingers crossed.

Aaah

Naptime, 12 weeks.

Can you hear it? The contentment in my voice? That serenity can only come with a good night's sleep, and that's what I got last night. Claire slept straight through from 10pm until I woke her up at 7:45am this morning. Say it with me: WOOHOO! She turns 12 weeks today, and I guess she decided that sleep was better than eating. I must say that I can usually agree with her on that one.

Tim had to sit Top 3 at 6am, so I woke up just after 5am when he was getting ready, so I didn't get to sleep in exactly. But I did have more than 2 hours of me-time before the kids got up at 7:30 and 7:45. I would have let them sleep a little longer, but it was co-op day and I had to get them ready so I could drop them BOTH off with Lisa and Shonda while I went to Target BY MYSELF. =)

Kate found McLaren's pants in the living room and put them on. "What?"

Tantrum

I'm not sure what this tantrum was all about, and it was hard not to laugh, but I know she was frustrated about something.

On another note, our yard is mostly finished. Here are some before and after shots:

Looking out from the back porch.

After a pool, a wall, some plants and a bit of gravel.

Side yard before.

Side yard after.

And let's not forget the bathroom.

I have finished painting, I just can't be bothered to actually take a 'finished' photo right now.

So Sad

There were several years in a row where '24' was the best show on TV. When we were in Korea, we didn't get all of the episodes, so we had Steph record them for us. When I got back to the US I layed on my sister's sofa for about 4 days straight, watching episode after episode. Just one more hour. It was an addiction, and I loved it. At the end of the season, however, I secretly hoped they would end it. Go out on a high note, Jack! Live on as one of the best shows in TV history. But no. My beloved Kiefer Sutherland signed on for 3 more seasons, and now we are left with crap. It's not his fault, really. The guy who plays the current president, I might blame him (he's terrible). Or the producers. It's just sad to see what was once a great show become so lame that I never watch it live, and even when it's playing on the DVR I'm off doing other things. Like complaining about it on my blog.

But Fox has come up with a new show, 'Drive', and so I forgive them. Did you see the first 3 hours? I think it's going to be a winner. I hope.

Kate Colors an Easter Egg

Kate colors an egg. And then drops it.

Husky, 10 weeks.

Whoa!

This is Kate's latest favorite expression. That, and 'more' everything. "More binky." "More airplane." More more more. It doesn't mean that she wants more of these things, she just likes to say 'more'. And now she also likes to add 'whoa!' to the mix. It's very cute. She is also beginning to understand counting, and counts her blocks (usually she only makes it to 2, but hey). We got her a Dora potty chair a few weeks ago, and she is wanting to sit on it more and more. I can't believe we might be at the potty training stage already.

McLaren has a touch of the stomach virus that is going around. She has been sleeping like a champ, trying to get over it, but is waking up a bunch at night wanting comfort. She's a happy baby, though, and is smiling through the vomit and upset tummy. Me, I'm trying to smile through the vomit. It's difficult.

I was supposed to talk about Easter in the last post, but was too tired and went to bed instead. Easter was fun; we took the girls to church, which is always challenging since we take them to the service with us instead of putting them in the nursery. I think church should be a family affair, which is why we like to take them in with us, but man is it hard to keep a toddler still for an hour or however long the service is. How do y'all do it? Nursery? Toys in the pew? Please share your secrets.

Ready for church.

We went to a different church for Easter service, mostly because we were running late (as usual) and this other church is closer to us. Holy cow. I have never seen so much livestock in a church before. Instead of a regular service, they put on a near-Broadway-like production of the Easter story. It was really cool, with singing, live horses and sheep, and a Jesus with a southern drawl. The only problem was that the lights went out and suddenly we were in a theater. With a toddler and a baby. And the toddler didn't want to sit still, even when the puppy (horse) with a Roman riding it trotted down the aisle next to us. "More puppy! More puppy!" This was not, of course, a quiet request by said toddler. I did mention everything is 'more', didn't I? So about an hour into it, Tim gave up on trying to get Kate to keep coloring on the church service guide with the pew pencil and took her out of the auditorium. I stayed on with Claire, since she was sleeping fairly soundly. A half hour later, after many glances at my watch and wracking my brain trying to remember when the next service was supposed to start, I left with Claire to go find Tim. I wish we could have seen all of it, and that we knew what it was we were going to be doing at the service, for we would have put the kids in the nursery and enjoyed the show. Next year.

The rest of the week was spent shoveling rock and raking the yard. We are almost done with the rock we have, but will probably have to order more, as I was not spot on when I estimated the size of our yard. Way to go, Jen.

Kate and I colored Easter eggs on Thursday (hey, she had no idea Easter had passed, and we were kinda busy last week). Kate enjoyed it for a short time. I imagine next year she'll be more into it. I have video of her coloring a purple egg, but I cannot get Google video to work for me at the moment.

More spoon.

Red hand, yellow hand, red dots on face.

From Babies to Rocks to Easter Bunnies

I can't believe it's been over a week since I last posted. I'd say I've been busy, but knowing how I love to blog and tell y'all about my daughters, you probably already know that busy is what has been going on here.

I got to host my sister's baby shower last Saturday. She is due in about 4 weeks? Three weeks? God, I just talked to her this afternoon and I can't remember. Three, I think. Anyway. It was fun; we played some (tasteful) games (not that stinky diaper game, which I think is so gross), ate some yummy food, had some cake, and she opened some gifts.

Jess gets gifts for the baby.

Right after everyone left, our rock showed up.

About 5 tons of rock. The other 6.5 tons went in the alley in the back.

We spent the rest of the 4-day weekend shoveling rock and raking it into place. We still are not done, and have most of the front yard to finish. I now have defined arm muscles, though, and am working on my farmer's tan.

And then Sunday was Easter. But I'm exhausted and so that will have to wait until (hopefully) tomorrow.

Off the Chart

It's well-baby visit time again. Kate had her 18mo well-baby check and McLaren had her 2mo well-baby check today. Kate, at 18mo, is off the chart when it comes to height. She is 34 3/4" tall, the height of your average 27mo old girl. I thought she seemed tall. She hasn't gained much weight in the past couple of months, and now weighs 27 1/2 pounds. She's still got her chubsy thighs, although I suspect she's growing out of them quickly.

McLaren is also a healthy eater, and weighs 12 pounds 6 ounces and is 23 1/4" tall.

Today was also shot day, and it did not go over well. Both girls are still mad at me, I think. Stickers helped a little, but in the end Kate just ate hers, and Claire had no idea what she was supposed to do with a Blue's Clues sticker.

Congratulations to Carrie & James and the kids on the newest member of the family: Isaac Jerald! He was born this morning at 11am sharp. We can't wait to see photos, you guys!

Dare I Say It?

I'll whisper, so as not to jinx myself: woohoo! Claire has skipped her 1am feeding 2 nights in a row, and is sleeping from 10pm-4am straight. Me, not so much, as I'm still stuck in the rut of waking up at that time out of habit. But I'll get there. For now I just look at the clock, listen to the silence, and smile as I roll over to go back to sleep.

It has taken this child much longer to skip this feeding. Kate dropped her 1am meal on her own. I remember, because we were in Vegas and one night she just slept through till 4am. I was amazed, since she was just 8 weeks and we weren't even at home. I thought kids were supposed to freak out and be up at all hours when you were on vacation.

Claire has been more difficult, surprisingly. She is now 9 weeks old and is just finally sleeping 6 hours straight at night. I imagine all the craziness here and there has caused some disruption in her life, which of course makes her want to eat. In any case, I'm just glad she is sleeping that long at a time and I can't wait until I get out of the habit of waking up at 1am so that I, too, can get 6 hours of sleep in a row.

Kate is having fun playing with playdough now. I didn't think she was old enough, but she got to try it out when I visited my friend Rae last week, and she had a blast. Today we made yellow playdough, and it's so much nicer than the stuff you buy. Kate knows it tastes horrible, but can't help herself. It's like a compulsion: she'll mush it into a 'shape' and then try to eat it. Then she'll make an outrageous face and look at me like, why didn't you try to stop me, Mama? This is icky. Very cute.

Big smile, 8 weeks.

Yawn. 9 weeks.

Sharing breakfast with Daddy, 18mo.