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.

Let the Madness of March End

I have become one of 'those' moms.

I think it started 2 weeks ago when Tim had to work through the weekend. He had to fly that Saturday, and then work the airshow that Sunday. I was not pleased; not only did it mean that he wouldn't get a weekend and much-needed rest, it meant that I wouldn't get a weekend, either. And we all know I need my rest.

Since then, it seems like we've been playing catch up. But I haven't quite caught up and I'm wondering when I'm going to finally feel like we're on top of things. Add in craziness like a doctor's appointment for me on Monday, a dentist appointment for me on Tuesday (both of which took several hours when you add in time for driving the kids to and from daycare), me getting either food poisoning or a short case of the flu after a trip to the mall food court on Wednesday, a photo shoot of the girls earlier that morning, and Kate having some flu symptoms yesterday and today, and you get very behind.

Three loads of clean laundry on our bed.

Living room disaster.

Tim came home on Thursday night and suggested we hire a maid for some 'help' once or twice a month. Some women would take offense. Not me. Hire away, sweet husband! The dust bunnies that are bigger than Claire need to be tamed. How do other mothers do it? I guess it gets easier as the newborn becomes not so newborn? I hope so, so I can actually get around to updating the baby books, ordering photo prints, and dusting my bedroom. Also, I apologize to those of you who have called in the past, say, month, for not calling you back. You're on my list.

In the meantime:

Come On, Vamanos!

Nap hair and summer teeth.

Everybody, let's go! Aaah, Dora. She makes me crazy. Rather, her songs do, but Kate loves her Dora the Explorer. Her face lights up when Map or Boots shows up on the TV screen. She dances to the silly songs that get stuck in my head for days. Her little head bobs back and forth as she smiles, watching Map tell Dora how to get to the high tower.

Is it just me, or does Map sound like that gay actor with the bad teeth? I for the life of me cannot think of his name, or I would have told you who I was talking about. Anyway. Map totally does. Nasal, with an east-coast accent. Odd for a children's cartoon, no?

And does anyone else have this compulsion to root for Swiper the Fox to steal whatever it is that Dora and Boots are holding? Maybe it's just me.

So I survived the scorpion incident. I was lucky; by 36 hours my foot was almost completely back to normal. Now, of course, I'm more freaky about them than ever. Anyone who knows me, I think, knows how obsessed I was with them before this sting. Maybe it was just Tim who knew. I don't know. But now I'm positively OCD about the whole thing. I've got glue traps in the bathroom, in the hall, and I need to call the Orkin guy to bring more out. I've stuck one of those Sylvania sticky LCD lights on the bathroom door so I can light the hallway at night. And every time I get up in the middle of the night, I diligently shake out each slipper before putting it on my foot. If it were convenient, I would make Kate wear shoes in the house at all times. If I knew of some place that sold full-body armor for children (and socks for adults), I'd buy them and make us all wear them. When I'm not wearing shoes, I'm always watching where I step. Paranoid? Yes. Damn scorpions.

McLaren is now 2 months old. I can't believe it. She's just under 12.5 pounds, and is almost sleeping from 10pm till 4am straight. One or 2 more nights of getting up to give her a binky at about 2am, I hope. She's getting pretty good at falling asleep on her own, and does so for most of her naps. She knows where she is and what to expect in some cases here at home; for instance, she knows the mobile over her crib and knows when we put her in there that it means we'll leave and want her to sleep. She knows the mobile over her changing table and knows it means a new diaper. Hence, more crying in the crib than on the changing table. Smart kid, this one. My favorite thing is when you put her down for a nap in her crib and turn the mobile on: often she'll eye it suspiciously out of the corner of one eye, intently watching one of the arms go round and round. The look on her face is priceless.

Kate is 18 months, and is teething (?) again. She has been grumpy, whiny and generally crabby for the past several days. She spent 2 hours at the CDC (daycare) today and cried almost the whole time. Joy. But she's getting smarter every day. Last week she said, "One, two, three" pretty clearly. She can say many letters of the alphabet when you read her ABCs book to her, and she is trying to say her name. She loves dolls, and always wants to burp them, give them a binky or feed them a bottle. I can't imagine where she got those ideas. I think she loves being a big sister, but is struggling sometimes with the diminished attention she gets due to her baby sister being around. Claire, on the other hand, stares wide-eyed at her big sister, and it's so fun to watch them interact.

Tantrum.

2 months.

2 months.

How to Ruin Your Night

1. Hear baby cry and get up to give her a binky.


2. Shuffle back down the hall in the dark to return to bed.


3. On the way, feel a sharp pain in your foot.


4. Immediately turn the light on the the bathroom next to you, certain you know what caused the pain.


5. Watch as the scorpion that just stung you slinks across the tile floor in search of more things to sting.

It was just after 1:30am when I heard McLaren crying. I'm trying to wean her off of her 1am feeding, so I got up to put a binky in her mouth to help her get back to sleep. I walked out of her room to go back to bed, and nearly immediately felt a sharp sting. I knew what it was even at that hour. Son of a bitch! I turned the bathroom light on and sure enough, there it was on the tile, scurrying away. I grabbed Kate's bath cup and stuck it over the pest, and walked quickly into our bedroom. "Tim. Tim! I just got stung." Huh? He woke up pretty quickly. I limped to the kitchen to get some ice, as what had felt initially like a bee sting was beginning to hurt a hell of a lot worse. Tim got the Raid and I heard him spray the thing to death. It didn't give me much satisfaction, as my foot began to feel like it was on fire.

I grabbed the phone and the list of emergency numbers from my desk, and called poison control. The woman who answered told me that I was probably going to be okay, since I'm 33 and in generally good health. She said that children under 3 (hello, I have 2 of those) are the most likely to have problems. I recalled the toddler on the northwest side who got stung last week and didn't get better after 3 days so they had to take him to another hospital and give him an experimental antivenin (he is now fine). For children, you have to watch for muscle twitching and convulsions. I can see why, as my foot spontaneously twitched for several hours afterwards. Having lived here for 2 years now, I had hoped that none of us would ever get stung.

It is now almost 12 hours later and it hurts to walk. Starbuck stepped on my foot this morning and caused shooting pains. My foot is numb, but a burning type of numb, not the kind where you just don't feel anything. Earlier this morning, I had numbness halfway up my shin. Occasionally I feel a stabbing at the site of the sting that feels like I'm getting stung again, sending me into a fit as I drop everything to look down at my foot and make sure there is no scorpion on me. This is particularly hazardous while driving. I talked to my friend Katie who got stung twice here about a year ago, and she said her whole arm was numb for 4 days (she was stung on each wrist after putting her son in the baby bjorn - it was hiding there and she was thankful it didn't sting him). I like Arizona, but I am about ready for our next assignment please.

All in all, I thank God that it was me who got stung, and not one of the girls. I cannot imagine dealing with that.

The Brilliance of FedEx

Dear FedEx Guy,

It's almost spring here. Having lived in Tucson for 2 years now, I know that 'spring' is synonymous for 'hot'. I assume that you live here, since you delivered this gift box to me sometime on Friday, or maybe on Saturday. Since you, too, live here, you probably knew that it was 93* on Friday, and 95* on Saturday.

I have become (somewhat) accustomed to the weather and now wear long sleeves anytime the temperature falls below 76*. But you and I can both agree that 93* is rather warm. Warm enough to say, melt chocolate. I also assume that you can read, since you delivered this box to me and not my neighbor. What I don't understand is why you put the box in my carport instead of putting it on my doorstep.

It was by chance that I walked out to the mailbox on Saturday morning with my daughter, and she walked over to my car and pointed to the box lying next to it. What probably caught her eye was the bright neon pink sticker that says 'Perishable Items Enclosed'. What caught my eye was, of course, the word 'chocolate'. You, being the professional that you are, ought to have put those 2 pieces of information together and put the box somewhere that I might see it when I walked out my door, not next to the passenger side of my car. I've included 2 photos for your reference, and hope this correspondence will help you please your future customers.

Sincerely,

An Owner of Melted Chocolate Bunnies

It used to be a bunny.

P.S. Thanks for the chocolates, Niki!

The McLaren Connection

"Did you name her after the car?" Tim gets asked this question a lot at the squadron bar, after people hear we named our daughter 'McLaren'. In a word, no. There will probably come a time in her life when she swears she was named after the car, but since she's still in diapers, I think we have a few years. For those of you who are a bit foggy on your sports car trivia:

Developed by McLaren cars LTD, a subsidiary of the McLaren Formula One Team, the McLaren F1 GTR is the fastest, most powerful and most expensive production car in the world.

The McLaren is powered by a BMW 6.1 Liter V12 engine producing 627 hp with a 0-60 mph time of 3.1 seconds and a top speed of 230-240 mph.

The original McLaren F1 was started in 1991 and 64 cars were made. The LM model was introduced in 1993 with 5 cars built. The GT model had 3 cars. Finally, in 1995, the GTR was introduced, and over the next 3 years, 28 cars were built.

Unfortunately, production stopped in May 1998 after only 100 cars were built.

Indeed, I can see why their eyes light up when they ask about the car-name connection. Sounds like a sweet car. Looks like one, too.

McLaren F1.

Clockwise, starting with the baby: my great-aunt Phyllis, her grandmother Mary McLaren, her mother Helen McLaren Gaines, and her great-grandmother MacKenzie.

According to my great-aunt, they left their clan McLaren (in the 1800s?) and came to the United States from Edinburgh, Scotland. I imagine they were into horse/buggy racing, but I can't be certain.

It Was Funny Until...

Kate had a nice long nap today, allowing me time to post photos, get some household chores done, and read some articles on the internet. I swore that wouldn't happen for years. Anyway. She got up and I made some juice for snack, which she drank while she ate her goldfish crackers and dried fruit.

I was cleaning the juicer, allowing her to finish her last dried blueberry, a dried cherry and a goldfish that were left on her tray. The thought occurred to me that perhaps I should take that blueberry away; it was just the right size to fit into her nose... I don't know why that thought popped into my head, but I should have heeded it. Moments later, Kate began whimpering, and sounded rather stuffed up. The blueberry was gone. She pointed to her nose and said, "boom", which I believe is synonymous for "ouch" for her (we say "fall down go boom"). It was a cute "boom", all nasal sounding. I tried not to laugh. I asked her if she had put the blueberry up her nose. She looked at me, confused. She scowled and whimpered again. Then blue goo started to run out of her nostril, and I knew. I called Dr. Mom (Tim's mom) and asked her through my laughter what we should do and had any of her sons ever stuck anything up their nose. She laughed a little and told me that we needed to get it out, either here or at the doctor's. Oh. I was about to call Tim to let him know that perhaps if he were to come home soon that would be great, when he called. He was on his way home.

Blue goo coming out of her nose.

I called the doctor's office. And that's when it ceased to be funny. No, they couldn't do anything for us, we had to go to urgent care. Are you kidding? The ER here took like 4 1/2 hours last time, just to be seen. I started looking around the living room for that damn blueberry. And I found it! Yahoo! I called the doctor's office. They told me that no, they still couldn't do anything for me, except have a nurse call me back. Tim packed Kate, food and toys into the car and headed to the ER to get in line. I waited at home with Claire.





The nurse finally called and told me that she is probably fine and that we should just take her in later if she seemed irritated or stuffy. Tim and Kate are on their way home. The blueberry incident is now funny once again.

The culprit.

2 More Videos

Kate is definitely her mother's daughter: here she gags slightly on a tomato and tries to wipe the taste off her tongue. Icky.



Kate waves buh-bye to everyone.

JC Penny's Photos

I took the girls in last week for their first photo session together, Kate at 17mo and Claire at 1mo. We ended up photographing them seperately for the most part, for reasons you can see. If you would like to order a photo, let me know and I'll email you the order information.

Kate's famous scowl.

Note Kate's glee at her sister's angst.

Revitalized

Kate can now open our door. She's wearing a dress of mine from when I was 3. Yes, she is only 17 months.

Kate plays with matches.

Sleep. It is a magical thing, something that I have lacked for oh, about 5 1/2 weeks now. But last night I think I got some of the best sleep I've gotten in weeks. Claire is still eating about every 3 hours, but I think she's on the verge of dropping a feeding. Yahoo. She woke up around 1:15am and cried until I sat up in bed, mere seconds later. Then all was quiet again. Yeehaw, I'm going back to sleep! She did wake up again about 45 minutes later, but that was a whole extra 45 minutes of blissful sleep for me. She did the same thing around 4:15am, not needing to actually eat until 5am. Then, then, both kids slept until almost 8am. Big sigh of contentment here.

I feel like I can do just about anything. I am so well-rested (comparatively) that I hardly know what to do with myself. So I'm blogging. I ought to be doing laundry, picking up all the toys in the living room so one can actually walk to the sofa, writing thank you notes, or any number of other things. But that can wait. I'm taking a break.

Have you heard about this? Washington state's interscholastic activities association's director (sports authority) wants to ban booing at sports events. Are you kidding?