Life in Maggie and Abbie's World

Lost my rhythm

2012-01-16T19:50:00.000-06:00

I seem to have lost my posting rhythm lately. Work has been super busy and with Abbie running around like the destructo girl that she is - by the time they go to bed I am pretty darned wiped out. There are so many things I know I am not documenting when it comes to Abbie (and Maggie too) that is makes me sad. So let's hope this is the start of posting a bit more than once a week!

This will be a short one tonight but let me relay a few things the girls have said that have totally cracked me up....

Tonight after I put Maggie to bed - she got up and went to the bathroom (again). I went in to see what she was doing and she asked me when daddy was going to be home (Sean is working 2nd shift this week). I told her that she would be sleeping when daddy got home, which she immediately replied, in total seriousness "well I am not GOING to sleep momma." Not sure why but this made me laugh.

I then asked her what she was dong in the bathroom (she had literally just gone). She said she had to go pooh pooh. We waited a few minutes and I asked her if she really had to go. Her response? Well it smelled like I had to go momma! I laughed out loud at this one and had to control my giggles while putting her back to bed.

Abbie - well Abbie doesn't quite have sentences but she can now say "Maggie". It's so sweet to see her running after her sister saying Maggie! Maggie! Maggie! The funniest thing this week was when she kept yelling "mine! mine" and point to my plate at dinner. I finally looked at her and said in all seriousness "NO MINE!". She stopped, got the most quizzical look on her face and sat staring at me for almost a minute before bursting out laughing. Not sure she quite got it but she sure found it funny!

Now I am going to relax a bit - and maybe think of something funny to post tomorrow!!!

Catch up

2012-01-07T12:19:00.000-06:00

Work has been so busy and the girls have been crazy lately, plus add in that Sean and I are both getting over colds and those are my excuses for not posting in forever.

Not that much exciting has really been happening. Maggie still throws a fit before every bath - though her fits lately have only been at home. It has maybe clicked that she should NOT throw fits at school!

Abbie has been bitten at school THREE times in the last month! The latest was yesterday. The good thing about the first two times? She was already on antibiotics to help clear up infections on two fingers from HER biting herself! This third time didn't leave a mark so I think we are good.

Abbie's vocabulary is increasing by leaps and bounds. It's funny to hear her say bah-pah (backpack), Mayme (Maggie) and a gazillion other things. She has her own name DOWN! We'll call for her when she's in the other room and she responds back "ABBIE!".

Gosh - that's really about it here. The holidays are over and we are settling in for the long winter. Luckily it has been a warm winter. Let's hope it lasts!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T15:57:00.000-06:00

Like I said yesterday - Christmas Eve 2011 will go down in history as the day of the "fit". Maggie felt the need to get out ALL of her anger at everything and everyone in one short 24 hour period. Threats of no Santa had ZERO effect what so ever and we finally just gave up.

That's not to say that we didn't leave out a plate of cookies and carrots for Santa.

Sean and I tracked Santa on the NORAD site and like the goofballs we are - rushed to get the cookies out when we saw Santa near Michigan. Maggie should thank us because who knows if he would have stopped otherwise.

Abbie was the first one up but she had no clue as to what was going on. We got Maggie and headed down to see if Santa had actually shown up - and guess what??

HE DID!

There were numerous princess items.....

The look above says it all. Maggie's favorite saying these days is "this is what I always wanted!!" and the princess paints and markers made her SOOOO HAPPY!

Abbie didn't quite get the concept of opening the gifts but happily tore at some paper after a little prodding.

Our living room looked like a wrapping paper factory blew up but it was Abbie's favorite part!

After breakfast, a quick cleanup and packing of the car, we headed up north to my parents house. Abbie felt it was her DUTY to sit down and eat with whoever chose to eat some of the goodies my mom put out. No pictures of the food fest for my little one - mostly because she just kept asking for "mow!" all day long!

Barbies were dressed, undressed and dressed again.

Presents were opened...

and then some time was spent catching up with family. We tried a "grandkids" picture but Abbie was NOT cooperating. Not unless mommy joined in that is!

Then we got a family shot which looks pretty darn similar to our Christmas Card!

It wasn't too long after that we had to start packing up for our trip home. The only truly sad / bad part of the day was when I was trying to pull things together and left Maggie downstairs with the rest of the family. I came down to get her and she was crying on the couch. I asked what was wrong and in between sobs she said "I thought you left without me.". I felt HORRIBLE. No one saw her sitting on the couch alone and she didn't see us so she got a little scared. It just made me want to cry.

Overall we had a great day! The girls had lots of fun and it was great seeing my family.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! And hopefully this is the last Christmas where the girls don't get to see their Nama and Papa! You two were missed VERY MUCH!

Our Christmas preparations!

2011-12-26T19:36:00.000-06:00

OK - I have either been too busy or too lazy to post lately. So many fun things have been going on leading up to Christmas that I just have to document them! For the grandparents I will have a Christmas post too!

First - Maggie and I tried our hand at our very first gingerbread house! Being the novice that I am - I totally screwed it up! Too much icing, too little sit time (you know so the icing could set) and decorating WAY to soon. All this lead to one giant rookie mistake - a GIANT mess!

See the icing sliding off the house? Not a good sign!

We went from this....

To this.....

To this - all in a matter of seconds!

I immediately went out and bought a new kit for a second try. That came much later in the week though.

To add some variety to our weekends, Maggie and daddy baked cookies not once but TWICE!!

Then it was time for the Christmas parties to begin! I went to Maggie's Christmas party at school where we ate goldfish, fruit snack, marshmallows, cookies and drank chocolate milk! I took a picture of Maggie's plate because it cracked me up!

Well then the holiday weekend actually began! Friday I STARTED construction on our new gingerbread house. I icinged the walls together and let it sit for an hour. Then I put on the roof and planned to let it sit the recommended 2 hours but by that time it was dinner time. Just to be safe - I did a little icing tuck pointing and let it sit overnight.

Since I promised Maggie a "project" that afternoon - we decided to make our cookies for Santa one day early. Next year I will know to bake the cookies first and THEN tell her we are going to decorate. She must have asked no less than 20 times if it was time to frost the cookies yet!

But finally we were able to frost and decorate. Not many pictures of this event since I was the one helping Maggie and Sean was off chasing Abbie.

Saturday we were FINALLY ready to decorate our gingerbread house. Let me tell you this house has some solid construction! I won't say it's level and plum but hey - it's pretty darn straight!

We decorate the heck out of it too!

Can I just say - it is still standing?? I am quite proud of myself!! The only thing that kind of bummed me out is that I had to go out and get extra candy to decorate with since this kit came with so little.

So we were all set to celebrate Santa's arrival. That whole adventure will be in tomorrow's Christmas wrap up - but let's just say that Maggie must have thought she needed to get all of her temper tantrums out in one day because Christmas Eve 2011 will go down as the day of the fit!

I wonder if Santa came!

Grindl shows herself!

2011-12-11T14:54:00.000-06:00

So twice this week I was able to get a picture of the elusive Grindl - our Pixie Christmas Elf! I saw her first on Friday stuffing a mini-candy in Maggie's calendar:

I told Maggie about it and she couldn't WAIT to get home to see the picture! So today, while minding my business and watching football - she showed up again! This time, feeling a bit more comfortable, she decided to show Mr. Snowman a Christmas Jig.....

Then she was nice enough to leave a few treats for Maggie...

before taking a quick rest prior to flying off!

I have to say that Grindl has held true to her word about NOT giving a treat to Maggie when Maggie has had a bad day. So far we are on day 11 and on two of those days a treat has been missing.

Oh and if Grindl looks suspiciously like a mini-Barbi, perhaps sold at Target - I would agree with the resemblance! A moms gotta do what a moms gotta do!

Mommy & Me Monday - Christmas Play

2011-12-04T20:50:00.000-06:00

Maggie's Christmas play was Friday night. She got to wear her super special Christmas dress again and she wanted me to dress up as well so of course I obliged!

Some one was a little miffed that SHE wasn't included in girls night out - but celebrated with a "girl power fist pump" when she jumped in front of the camera!

Maggie did an awesome job singing and did a great job on her "solo". Her line was "We sing Christmas Carols" and she said it nice and clearly!

Overall it was a GREAT night! Maggie and I had a lot of fun getting ready and she had a blast performing. I wasn't able to truly capture on camera how overly dramatic she was during her songs - let's just say that we got multiple comments afterwards on how Maggie should take part in local theatre or how she is going to be a performer some day!

Thanks again Krystyn for hosting!

Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

Grindl the Pixie Christmas Elf

2011-12-01T19:40:00.000-06:00

So we started using the Advent Calendar that I bought a few years ago. Maggie opened up the door with the "1" and found a Hershey's kiss. She was so excited! I told her the Pixie Christmas Elf put it there (not sure HOW I came up with that combination - I combined two different pretend species!). Anyway Maggie immediately asked the Pixie Elf's name. I told her I didn't know, that she had to tell me. I got the whole "I don't know mamma" so I started throwing out names. The name Maggie picks?? Grindl!

So now Grindl the Pixie Christmas Elf is watching and if Maggie is good - she will leave a little treat behind that day's door.

Before Maggie went up to bed she told me she was going to look out her window for Grindl - just in case she flew by!

Who needs Elf on the Shelf - I've got me some Grindl!!!!

Nothing like that dreaded call

2011-11-29T19:19:00.000-06:00

So I got a call from daycare today and it wasn't to tell me one of the girls was sick. It was a call from Maggie's teacher to tell me how horribly she was acting. Ok she didn't really say that, she just told me that at one point Maggie said

"I don't have to listen to you. I only have to listen to my mommy and daddy!"

which would be fine in some respects if she actually DID listen to us.

So basically Maggie's level of disrespect towards her teacher has reached new levels. It just leaves me at a loss as to what to do.

I've actually pulled out a few books I bought when Maggie was 2 - should have read them then - all about how to raise a strong willed child.

This whole day just makes me tired

and sad.

I have the problem child at school - who would have thunk it?

Mommy & Me Monday

2011-11-28T14:51:00.000-06:00

So a picture with me and the girls didn't work out so well on Saturday.

Abbie hit her "I'll sit still for 5 maybe 6 pictures tops" limit!

Then it was all "GET ME OUTA HERE!!"

Even having her "buddy" join in on the fun didn't help!

Luckily ONE of my girls decided to cooperate! Who knew it would be Maggie? Yeah - and I am not sure what is up with my hair! I just need one big strand to stick up in the back and you can call me Alfalfa!!

Thanks again Krystyn for hosting Mommy & Me Monday!

Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

Thanksgiving tidbits

2011-11-25T19:12:00.000-06:00

So Black Friday is over and the only time I left the house today was to get coffee. It was a fun Thanksgiving with a few memorable moments so I thought I would share!

Abbie learned how to say "touchdown!". While it is not super clear you can definitely tell she is saying it!

We all said what we were thankful for before we ate our dinner last night. Maggie said "I am thankful for you!" Then she added "Abbie is thankful for her roll!" which she was stuffing into her mouth as we went around the table. It was quite appropriate!

Abbie tried stuffing (a hit), sweet potato casserole (BIG hit!) and ham (not a favorite).

Maggie tried NOTHING new - well except marshmallows.

Maggie asked if today (Friday) was another "feast" day. I told her no but asked what she liked about "feast day". Her response? Marshmallows at dinner!

A good part of today was spent watching Frosty, Rudolph and The Year without a Santa Clause. Now it's time to put up the tree and sufficiently Abbie proof it - not sure how that will actually go over but we have to try!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T12:50:00.000-06:00

So yeah - obviously I am not participating in NaPoBloMo this month because I can't even post once a week! I did want to make sure I wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving a list a few things I am thankful for this year (big and small)....

I am thankful that my 15 (almost 16) month old LOVES to sleep and rarely wakes us up before 6:30 am!

I am thankful that Maggie's temper tantrums only come in spurts and aren't every SINGLE day like they used to be.

I am thankful for a wonderful boss who allows we to attend Maggie's school functions - we had a wonderful Thanksgiving "feast" at school on Tuesday!

I am thankful for 2 loving and snuggly cats - even when they think that racing around the house trying to tackle each other is a perfectly fine thing to do at 5:30 in the morning!

I am thankful for a roof over our heads, cars that continue to run fine, jobs to support our family.

I am thankful for a wonderful extended family - even though we won't be spending this holiday with any of them - they are all in our hearts!

I am thankful for a husband who indulges my whims, cleans the kitchen after dinner AND takes care of the litter box!

I am thankful for two little girls who make our family complete.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

15 month visit

2011-11-13T20:20:00.000-06:00

We finally managed to get Abbie's 15 month visit handled. We were told to wait one month from her first flu shot for her second - only to be told at the actual visit that she didn't need the second half (I am thinking she got the full dose at visit one and that was that).

So anyway - my little eating machine tops out at 27 pounds and is 32.5 inches tall!

Nothing exciting at this visit - she is where she is supposed to be words wise (though I think I underestimated her vocal ability while at the doctor). Abbie can now put two word sentences together (daddy bye bye!), say "more" in sign language AND knows how to do ring around the rosey!

She walks all the time now - no more crawling here! That means she can start to wear a few of the dresses that I have from when Maggie was 2.

The rest of her teeth are coming in. By "the rest" I mean about 6 - 8 bottom teeth are pushing through on the bottom and a few more random ones on the top. Either these don't hurt or Abbie is just getting better at handling it. She isn't super crabby - she's not even drooling outrageously. She still wakes up at about 2am every morning to let out a few screams before going back to sleep but even that has almost stopped.

All around Abbie is still a super happy baby! She is a healthy, snuggly, cute little peanut!

and we all love huggin' on her!

6 is the new 7

2011-11-07T20:56:00.000-06:00

or an alternate title could be "How Daylight Savings Time kicked our BUTTS!!".

No I didn't plan ahead for DST this year. I didn't follow the advise to put the girls to bed 10 - 15 later each night for the week before the time change so that when it rolled around we would be all set. The girls didn't cooperate very well either - they woke up EXTRA early Saturday morning just to screw with me!

What did we do? We tried desperately to keep Abbie up a little later than usual. She made it approximately 20 extra minutes before her pitiful sleepy eyes and screams of exhaustion told us it was ni-ni time. Maggie stayed up until 8:15 watching Toy Story 3 only to pass out in her bed the very second she laid her head down.

The result of this "later" bedtime? Both girls were wide WIDE awake at 5:45 am on Sunday.

DAMN YOU DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME!

So we pledged to plow through Sunday - work our way through the crankiness and get to the other side but what was the first thing we see?

After further examination we determined it was a bloody nose - exacerbated by a LOT of added snot (that's my technical description anyway).

Sean managed to get a few pictures of this before running upstairs to tell me Abbie's face was COVERED in blood (he actually spoke in capital letters).

Now mind you - I had just finished rocking her in her room for like ten minutes and didn't see a thing. There are blackout blinds in there but I was rubbing her face as she snuggled up against my sweatshirt. The blood didn't seem to bother her at all - well that is until I tried to clean her face!

When I managed to get up to her room to change her crib sheet (which I should have taken a picture of too) it looked like she had held her own toddler fight club in there! Man she moves around when she sleeps!

So the day started on a stellar note and really only got worse. Let's just say that Sunday seemed to last 57382984 hours and 57 minutes. I have never been so happy for bedtime to roll around. Sean and I were in bed ready to sleep not even 2 hours after the girls went down and I am sure tonight won't be much different.

So to close - DAMN YOU GOVERNMENT ENTITIES WHO FELT IT WAS FINE TO MESS WITH TIME! It will now take me weeks and WEEKS to get the girls back on a normal schedule and back to sleeping until 7am! So around here - 6(am) is the new 7(am).

Off to bed now - it's 9pm but really 10pm so man I'm tired!

WW - remembering

2011-11-02T19:01:00.000-05:00

On days like today - when Maggie throws a colossal fit leaving daycare - I try to remember how cute she can be....

and then I eat a bunch of Milk Duds and feel really happy that bedtime has arrived.

Happy Wednesday............

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T19:15:00.000-05:00

So far I haven't managed to post any of our pumpkin farm pictures, nor have I updated everyone on the fact that Abbie is a little walking fiend now but I can't let Halloween pass without some cute pictures for the g-parents!

Our town does trick or treating on the Sunday before Halloween, and of course yesterday had the worst weather we have had in weeks! That didn't stop my girls from looking super cute and from Maggie getting her share of goodies!

Is that not the most frightening looking skeleton you have EVER seen?

Here is our little rainy day Rapunzel - all ready to battle the wind and drizzle all for some yummy candy!

So after all the hard work was done, scavenging the neighborhood for chocolate and caramel we still had to dress up for school!

Miss Abbie decided to be as cute as a (lady) bug in a rug in her oh so comfy black and red ensemble. She wowed them in the 1 year old room!

Maggie, on the other hand chose to be bold in green and flit around like the cute fairy she is! She puts Tinker Bell to shame!

Next year should be the best one yet. Abbie will get the chance to trick or treat with her big sister (she napped this year) and maybe even momma and daddy will get dressed up too!

Happy Halloween to my two little sweeties!

5 years

2011-10-21T03:43:00.000-05:00

Five years ago today I married the man of my dreams...... my handsome puh-rince (as Maggie likes to say).... the man who would give me two beautiful daughters, love, laughter and joy.

I love that we can make each other laugh so hard we cry.

I love that your arms are always open for those much needed hugs.

I love watching you with our girls and seeing the love that they have for you!

I love our life together and the years we have shared.

You are my Prince Charming!

Happy Anniversary Sean!

Love always,

Bren

Random things on a random day

2011-10-20T10:38:00.000-05:00

Maggie and I are going to a pumpkin farm tomorrow with her school. It had BETTER be nicer out than it is today (40 some degrees and windy right now).

Abbie no longer even CONSIDERS drinking out of a bottle. She totally weened herself!

My neighbors - who used to park in front of our house for days (weeks) on end, are moving out. There is a huge oil stain on the driveway of their house (or I should say the house they are renting). Now if we could only get the OTHER neighbors to move - you know the ones with the kids who throw rocks at our house? Wishful thinking I know.

When either Sean or I whistles the song "On Wisconsin" (the University of Madison fight song) our cats immediately run up and start jumping all over us. And it's just that song. The Univ of Illinois song has no affect what so ever!

I have made Pioneer Woman's blackberry cobbler 3 times in the last month (though the last 2 times have been with blueberries). IT IS SO GOOD! I think Sean would eat it everyday!

I am thinking of making lasagna for Thanksgiving. It's just going to be us (we usually go to my sister's but she will be in Florida) and neither Sean or I really are that into turkey. Is that sacrilegious?

Abbie eats more than Maggie does at dinner EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!

Maggie says more during dinner than I think I say out loud all day long.

I downloaded Peter Rabbit on my Nook and Maggie LOVES listening to it. She particularly likes the British accent and they way they say Beatrix Potter (sounds like Potta). She asks me every time - "momma what is Potta?"

I had something else funny to write but for the life of me can't remember it. Oh well - Happy Friday's Eve!

WW - Picture Day

2011-10-19T07:46:00.001-05:00

Well picture day was a roaring success! Both girls took very cute pictures and we even got one of them together!!

I'll admit that Abbie does not look the happiest in this picture - but she's also not a screaming mess - so SUCCESS!

I personally think she just wanted the limelight all to herself!

And of course, once again Maggie took a wonderful picture!

And we had Mr. Hippo in one last school photo! He's getting so big isn't he?

My big grown up babies! Maybe I'll actually get these pictures hung up on the wall!

A conversation with Maggie

2011-10-18T15:28:00.000-05:00

On the way to the doctor's office last week Maggie and I had a little conversation where she educated me on a few things:

Maggie: Momma what is THAT place? (pointing out her window)
Me: That is a car dealership
Maggie: silence
Maggie: oh momma - you are so silly! That's not a ship! There is no water - how could that be a ship?
Me: ummmmm (sitting puzzled because I had no idea where she was going with this)
Maggie: And cars aren't ships momma - COME ON!
Me: ohhhh - ok - it's a car store.
Maggie: I didn't think it was a ship - oh momma you are so crazy sometimes!

This coming from a girl with the "pot hat"! I know I posted this pic before but it still cracks me up!

What a week!

2011-10-12T20:02:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness it has been a week.

Abbie started walking! Though she still crawls most of the time, she is capable of walking all by herself for at least 4 - 5 steps!

Abbie is also getting over Mystery Virus #27. We went to the doctor on Thursday for flu shots and by Friday night girly had a temperature. Mix that with teething (bottom molars) and you've got yourself one out of it little girl who thinks screaming at 1am is THE THING to do! The fever broke Sunday night but I kept her home on Monday just for some extra rest. Tuesday she heads back to school and lasts a whole hour and a half before I get the dreaded call. She broke out in a rash which I was told by the doctor during our second visit in a week - is quite normal.

During this little illness weekend Abbie also decides to ween herself from her bottle (yes she still drinks from a bottle! or she did until a few days ago). The problem? She won't drink much from a sippy cup either! I was so afraid she would get dehydrated that we had one very messy lunch where I poured milk in her mouth! She loved it but had a little trouble keeping her bottom lip to the cup I was using.

What makes me sad about the whole bottle thing is that she only likes snuggling in the rocking chair at night if you are feeding her. No bottle - no snuggle. Damn the girl is growing up to fast!

I know more exciting things have happened but honestly I can't remember them. One more night of almost uninterrupted sleep and maybe I will be back to normal. Maybe.

WW - it's kind of a hat or something

2011-10-05T05:54:00.003-05:00

I don't even know what to call this post - Maggie made a "pot hat" in school last week. I think it's supposed to be like a hat worn by Johnny Appleseed?

All I know is that is totally cracked us up!

Abbie just wanted to rip it off Maggie's head and beat it on the ground. That would have been pretty funny too but we have learned we have to protect Maggie from Destructo Girl (aka Abbie).

At least she was proud of her creation!

Mommy & Me Monday - Crazy times!

2011-10-03T19:03:00.000-05:00

So after dinner and before bath I wrangled the girls together for a quick picture. Let's just say Abbie was not too into the fact that she had to sit still.

The sad thing is - it's one of the few times Maggie has actually looked at the camera and smiled for a picture!

Oh well....

Join the fun at Mommy and Me Monday hosted by Krystyn!

Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

No walkin but lots of talkin

2011-09-26T20:06:00.000-05:00

So Abbie is going to be 14 month old in 2 days and no she is still not walking. She can cruise the furniture like nobodies business and will walk if you hold her hands, but no real steps on her own yet. The doctor told me not to worry because "bigger babies" take awhile longer to take steps on their own. Not sure I believe it but I'll go with it for awhile.

What is she doing though? Saying LOTS of words. She's got the momma and dada DOWN! She says hi, bye and sometimes ni-ni. She started saying ducky, kitty (more like ki - eeee), bottle (baaaaaaa) and baby (baaabaaaa).

Oh - she's getting in ALL her molars at the same time. Boy that's fun let me tell ya!

Her other - cuter than cute thing to do - blow kisses! She's like a beauty queen blowin' kisses at anyone and everyone! She even has the kissing sound down pat!

What else does she have? A TON OF HAIR!

So while we may need to still be carrying my little oompa loompa awhile longer - she just needs to flash her super cutie grin at us and it makes it all worth it!

Happy almost 14 months sweet pea!

WW - New Looks

2011-09-21T19:26:00.000-05:00

Someone got a haircut....

(I know - hard to tell but it's a good 4 inches shorter!)

and someone sat still long enough for Momma to get her hair out of her face!

(this look lasted a whole 5 minutes!)

And let's not forget the newest look in toddler wear - JEGGINGS for BABIES!!!

They don't photograph well and look kind of like spandex but boy did she look cute!

Happy Wednesday!!

TGIF - man I can't get my act together!

2011-09-16T20:00:00.000-05:00

Another week has flown by - so quickly that I couldn't seem to get my act together and post more than once. Days are speeding by lately. Work is crazy busy, the girls are crazy busy (being crazy and keeping me busy) and life in general seems nuts.

Abbie is STILL not walking. I guess she is more than happy to speed crawl. I wish she would walk because her pants are FILTHY when she gets home from school. She seems pretty happy in the one year old room so I'm happy about that. The teachers in there are not as talkative as I would like (meaning I don't get any good updates other than "she had a great afternoon" which I hear EVERY DAY). She's napping though and that is important.

Maggie has once again phased out of her morning clingy phase which I am OH SO GRATEFUL for! 4-k is going swimmingly and she has even had a couple of "homework" assignments (done mostly by mommy and daddy but still).

So the sucky news around here? Abbie has learned how to throw a temper tantrum. Our darling little sweet pea has turned into a little screaming meemee! I am chalking it up to the usual; molars, frustration at not walking, over tired, not able to communicate etc. The funny thing is - she screams and cries but out of the corner of her eye she is looking to see if we are watching her. All this does is make us laugh which makes her even more angry!

Maggie - yeah she rediscovered the temper tantrum. Fun times......

2 screaming meemees means momma has been eating a lot of cookies, ice cream and cake at night to sooth her stress.

I'm tired, in need of some sweets and ready to relax so I will leave you with this cutie.

It was a rough day!

Did I post this picture on here? This was after a jam packed day of playing with the cousins! It made me laugh out loud to walk in the living room after putting Abbie to bed only to see this!!!

Happy Friday everyone! Off to eat some cheesecake!!

WW- Guess what - it's PICTURE DAY AGAIN!

2011-09-14T19:23:00.000-05:00

Can I just say that since daycare has picture day twice a year I have become totally lazy in my persuit of professional pictures! I am still determined to eventually get a family portrait done but for right now we have been VERY lucky in the oh so cute shots we have gotten at school.

So yesterday was picture day again. We ate breakfast very carefully.....

Maggie asked if she would have to wear a bib EVERY day. I was nice and told her no.

We practiced our smiles.....

Then decided to finish it off with a super model pose....

I'll just say now - the bow in Abbie's hair didn't even last through breakfast. And Maggie had three different hairstyles by the time we got to school. I was able to stick around during the pictures so I was able to help out (ie. holding Abbie still) during the picture of the two girls together. I hope it comes out.

So phew - another picture day in the books. No stained clothes, no totally messed up hair (at least I don't think so) so let's all keep our fingers crossed for another set of good pics!

WW - 1st day of 4-K!

2011-09-07T08:58:00.000-05:00

Maggie started 4-K yesterday at her daycare. She was so excited about all of her school supplies and was pretty disappointed when she didn't get to bring them back home!

Just imagine if that backpack actually had HEAVY stuff in it - she would tip backwards!

I know - she doesn't really LOOK excited but I actually think she was nervous! She wouldn't / couldn't eat her breakfast and even after explaining several times that "school" was still in the Forest Room at school - she just wasn't too sure.

She had a great day though and got to write with her NEW PENCILS!!!

Let's hope when we do kindergarten pictures she looks MUCH more excited!

Mommy & Me Monday - Labor Day addition

2011-09-05T12:58:00.000-05:00

I am stealing Krystyn's idea and posting my "Labor Day" pictures of me and the girls!

Maggie Hannah

OK - so this was a few hours later because she was born at 1:38am so we were all a little exhausted!

Abbie Claire

Our first meeting since I was knocked out during the c-section. Best buddies from that first moment!

Thanks Krystyn for the idea of "Labor Day"! AND Mommy & Me Monday!

Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

TGIF

2011-09-02T07:48:00.001-05:00

So apparently I totally forgot that I had a blog to post on. I forgot that my girls are wild and wacky and their antics should be posted on the internet at least every other day. Or the fact that they are just the cutest little things (when they aren't screaming their bloody heads off) and grandparents want to SEE such pictures. No instead I have been wasting my evenings watching Nova programs (well program because stupid PBS SAID the next show was also Nova but ended up being Masterpiece Theatre), baseball, cruising Facebook and trying to get over my cold (thank you daycare!).

So what has happened in the last two weeks? Hmmmmmm

Abbie is well adjusted to the 1 year old room now. She supposedly naps on a cot (really??) and drinks out of a sippy cup (which I have seen NO evidence of here at home). She has decided that waking up and SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER at 2 am is the IT thing to do and then waking up at 6 am for a quick 7 ounces of yummy milk before fitfully sleeping in until 7:15. Oh where oh where did my super sleepy baby go? At first I thought it was teething, then I blamed it on the whole "she's about to reach a milestone" thing but really, after a week of this I am just plain tired and don't care what it is as long as it stops!

And how is Miss Maggie you ask? Well let's see. Maggie has resurrected her ability to go from happy, to questionable to FULL BLOWN SCREAMING FIT in about .15 seconds when we tell her it's bedtime. It doesn't matter what we do before bed but as soon as we say it's time to go up - the monster arrives! We have taken to putting on her pajamas, going potty and brushing teeth as soon as dinner is over - just to ensure these things get done before the tornado that is a crabby Maggie arrives.

There have been some good moments over the last few weeks....

Maybe....

Ok - the girls were really cute making each other laugh in the car this morning, that is until they both started SCREAMING as a way to make each other laugh. Do you all see a pattern here with the screaming? I seriously wonder sometimes what our neighbors can hear and what they think.

So that's about it. Hopefully we'll get back to the "look at my little cuties" real soon. You know, as soon as things quiet down a bit.

WW - Movin on up!

2011-08-24T20:08:00.000-05:00

This little chickie is now an official member of the 1 year old / toddler room at school!

She now has to wear SHOES to school (which luckily I had just happened to get her a pair because HELLO - IT'S SUMMER - babies don't wear shoes in the summer!). She also has to use a sippy cup. A SIPPY CUP! I am convinced after three days that she is barely getting any fluids at school because she sucks down her night time bottle in 2 minutes flat! (yes she still gets a bottle before bed. can't remember when that is supposed to end and I enjoy the rocking time!).

So we are all getting used to the transition. It is nice though because Maggie's room is right next to Abbie's so Maggie can peak her head in and say hello!

My baaaabbbeeeeee is growing up to faaaaaaaassssttt!

Seriously - I just want to get there!!!

2011-08-15T10:52:00.000-05:00

So I am set to return my THIRD new GPS in less than a month. How can I have one for 5 years and go through 3 in just weeks?

GPS number 1 - on sale, and for a good reason. When I am driving down a windy road with multiple streets branching off from it, I need more than "turn left in 500 feet". I need the STREET NAME! I'm sorry - I simply cannot estimate 500 feet while driving 50 miles an hour down the road. I managed to pass story problems in grade school math but not while operating heavy machinery. Oh and it kept telling me to TURN RIGHT on a street that simply did not exist. THERE WAS NO ROAD TO TURN ON! Turns out there was a road on the left - and that is where I was supposed to turn but right and left are two different directions!!!!

GPS number 2 - also on sale. This one was almost exactly the same as the old one I currently have. So what is the problem there? It would cost me a ton to update the maps on it (no lifetime map updates) so for all I know the maps haven't been updated in ages! It led me astray twice and could not seem to locate my own address. Oh it let me pick my address - it just decided after I picked it that I was wrong and actually lived on a different road.

GPS number 3 - again, on sale. This one did have lifetime map updates but that didn't seem to matter. It not only kept telling me I lived two streets over, it didn't recognize the road just up the street from here. It has locked up no less than three times on me (almost making me miss my exit) and then yesterday decided that Jo Schmo's house outside of Madison was where the new Target was located. Hmmmm. I don't think he has my frappacino waiting for me after the shopping is done!

I usually don't have such bad luck with electronics but I have just about given up on getting a new GPS. I will admit to being directionally challenged, especially since my car does not have a compass to tell me what direction I am heading in - but even I know my house is on the RIGHT side of the street and not the left!

Guess it's back to printing off directions from the internet, trying to read them while driving full speed down the highway and HOPING that THEY are actually right!

Abbie - 1 year well exam and Baby's got Back!

2011-08-12T19:55:00.000-05:00

OK - not the best title in the world but every night when I turn on the video monitor and see her big tushy glowing on the screen I start singing that song!

Abbie had her 1 year well exam this week and here are her stats:

32.5 inches tall
25 pounds

Basically the size of your average 2 year old! She is WAY off the charts when it comes to the whole percentile thing so I don't even ask anymore.

She is also working on tooth number 5 & 6 as well as her ability to stand with only a few fingers on the furniture for a balance check! The doctor said she may walk a little on the later than we expect because she is so darned tall and it takes awhile for her muscle strength to match her bone growth. I'm not sure I believe it - the girl has PLENTY of muscle strength - heck her and Maggie were wrestling for a toy tonight and Abbie won!

Speaking of Maggie - she decided on Thursday to fall face first (again) into the bookshelf at school. I was thisclose to taking her to the doctor to see if her nose was broken! She woke up though with no pain, no swelling and just a scrape so I think we are all good!

Last update for tonight - Abbie is moving up to the toddler room after next week! OMG! My wee wittle babeeeee is growing up too fast!

Happy Friday - maybe when summer is over I will get back in the swing of posting on a more consistent basis!

WW - hungry?

2011-08-09T19:18:00.000-05:00

If only she could REALLY cook us something in the "kitchen"!

She sure is a cute little chef though!

WW - MMMMMMM cake!

2011-08-03T06:06:00.001-05:00

Abbie's 1st Birthday party was awesome! We visited with friends and family. We ate a lot of food. Abbie enjoyed some cake!

Hmmmm. Why am I sitting in the middle of the kitchen mama?

Really? All of these people are here for me? GET OUTA HERE!

What? You say there's cake?

Mmmmm - let me take just a little taste!

Wow! Can I have some more??

What flavor did you say this was? Super duper yummy oh my gosh I need some more???

Kind of busy here - no time to talk!

Do you think anyone notices that I might have made a teeny tiny mess?

Shortly after the cake eating extravaganza, Miss Abbie was whisked outside, stripped to her diaper (there was more cake ON her than IN her!) and taken upstairs for a bath and a quick nap before present time.

She ended the day on a high note - totally ignoring her presents but having a grand old time hamming it up for daddy!

Maggie got to enjoy her second birthday cake as well. Let's just say she ate it like a lady - picking off the frosting flowers very neatly with her fork!

Thanks to all the family and friends who came to spend the very special day with us! We all had a blast and are so thankful for such a wonderful loving family!

Abbie Claire

2011-07-28T06:22:00.005-05:00

I'm having so much trouble writing Abbie's birthday letter. The love I feel for my little peanut is just impossible to put into words. A whole year has passed, a gazillion milestones reached and our days made brighter and happier from all the many minutes and hours spent snuggling with our little sweetheart. How do you convey such love in a blog post?

I could list all of the things my Abbie has learned to do in the past year, what a great eater and sleeper she is. How she crawls so fast and wants so badly to walk. I could post pictures of the cutest little face in the world but that still won't totally express how she fills my heart, all of our hearts with joy every single day.

So here is my message to my peanut....

Dear Abbie - you have made this family complete. Your daddy, Maggie and I love you more than words could ever say. Our lives are so much better for having you in it and we can't imagine this world without you. Your laugh is music to our ears and your smile lights up our world.

Happy Birthday Abigail Claire - we love you!!!

TGIF

2011-07-22T19:31:00.000-05:00

Oh how glad I am that it's Friday. Now how this day ended isn't so great (4 temper tantrums in 2 hours) but it is finally the end of the week.

My high school reunion is tomorrow. Sean is staying home with the girls while I go off to visit with people I haven't seen or talked to in many MANY years. Should be interesting?

So some highlights in our world?

Abbie's front two teeth are coming in! No fever or irritability this time. Heck we didn't even know they were making an appearance until Sean was playing with her and she tipped her head back to laugh and he spotted the little chicklets! I have a feeling a few molars are going to make an appearance soon to but we'll see.

No the picture isn't off-center. I just had to make it extra large so you could easily see her little teeth.

Abbie will eat absolutely ANYTHING you give her. She added kiwi and melon to her repertoire this week. We are going to try a few more fruits and maybe some meat next week. I have also starting transitioning her to regular milk. She doesn't seem to mind the colder temperature of it so hopefully it is an easy switch. Can I say though that the girl still doesn't hold her own bottle - at least when we feed her. I gave her a sippy cup the other day and all she did was play with it.

Maggie - well she's Maggie. We have started having issues in the morning again with drop offs. She clings and cries. But when I go to pick her up in the afternoon? She cries because she has to leave. These are "oh I'm sad I'm leaving my friends" tears. They are YOU ARE TAKING ME AWAY FROM ALL THE FUN - WHAT'S UP WITH THAT??" tears. Not fun.

So tomorrow night I will have one afternoon and night away from the drama. Poor Sean - I hope he makes it through!!

WW - A Birthday and a Fair!

2011-07-20T07:15:00.001-05:00

So yes, Maggie's birthday was about a week and a half ago and I just NOW downloaded the pictures. So let's recap the Birthday Weekend!

The Birthday Girl started off with a smile on her face! She knew that cupcakes were going with her to school and she would get to EAT ONE!

While Maggie was at school, momma managed to bake up a Princess Birthday Cake - per the Princess' request! I only found out later that Maggie wanted a chocolate cake - not a pink one.

After school (and a bath) it was time for PRESENTS! Once again the big three (Belle, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty) ruled the day! Needless to say, these are now her favorite jammies!

And to complete the "dress up drawer" compilation we HAD to add a Belle dress!

Did I mention that Nama and Papa showed up too?? I think that was really her most favorite birthday present!

A song was sung....

Cake was eaten! (and yes - Abbie enjoyed the cake much more than Maggie did!)

And then Maggie and Nama disappeared for a few hours of intense play time!!!

What better way to follow up a Birthday Party?? By going to the County Fair!!!

Cheese sticks and cheese cubes - YUMMY! We also had corn dogs but I didn't get a picture of those. Mostly because Abbie wouldn't stop yelling until I actually gave her some! The girl was all about the corn dog (ok not the dog part but what does she know?).

Maggie made sure to drag Nama on a few rides (though she was quite particular about which ones she actually wanted to ride). Being the seasoned carnival ride professional now - she decided to start off big!

Can I just say that they SHOT down this slide? Nama said she felt like she "caught some air"!!! Maggie LOVED it!

Then Maggie went on her very first roller coaster! (a roller coaster with the MOST ANNOYING ride operator! It took ten minutes to load everyone up for a ride that lasted like three minutes! The girl is a speed junkie I tell ya!

We ended our ride adventure on the merry go round. We had to talk Maggie into actually going on! Too boring for her I guess.

Abbie, on the other hand. LOVED IT! The whole time she just kept saying "oooooooh! oooooooh!". She was probably just so excited to get out of her stroller!

Our day at the fair ended with ice cream and a fruit slushy (which once again I think Abbie ate more of than Maggie did!). The ride home was PERFECT. Why?

Need I say more?

Next blog post? The adventures of Abbie the eating machine!! Let's just say the girl has tried a wider variety of foods than her big sister has!

One birthday celebration down - one to go!

And on this day....

2011-07-08T01:38:00.003-05:00

A Princess was born! Princess Maggie is 4 years old today! WOW! FOUR! We've got us a big, grown up girl here! Let's do a little photo recap shall we?

The day our princess was born....

Your 1st Birthday Celebration (Where is the cake?!)

Turning 2 brought out your devilish grin!

Three brought out the silliness, craziness and full blown personality.

Three was the year you went from being an only child

to being a big sister. I still am not sure who is more unhappy in this picture!

Three was the year that you decided you would NEVER WEAR PANTS AGAIN! And I am not kidding. You have not worn pants since October 2010.

Three was when your inner DIVA decided to become known to the world. All dresses all the time. Everything must match. There is no such thing as too many accessories!

Need I say more?

This was the year you got your own big girl bed - complete with Princess accessories of every kind imaginable.

You found out you could have fun in your very own backyard!

You learned how to play. HARD!

You learned how to tease your little sister.

You learned how to deal with changes at school and at home.

You, my first born princess, learned how to be 4. I am amazed constantly by all the things you know and want to share (well except your toys with Abbie but let's not go there). You are so smart, and funny, and loving. We have made it through these first four years together and have really learned so much from each other. Now is when I wish I were a better writer to really express what having you as my daughter really means to me. Just know this......

Your daddy, Abbie and I love you so much!

Happy Birthday Princess Maggie!

4th of July festivities

2011-07-03T21:30:00.000-05:00

We decided to hit the local 4th of July festival in town and needless to say - it was puny! No petting zoo (though I recall seeing it advertised). A total of 7 carnival rides (8 if you include the "fun house" which looked too scary to be fun. We got some good pictures of the girls though - at least good pictures if you add some captions!

We are going to the festival?

Yeah! Rides! Cotton Candy! FUN FUN FUN!

What do you MEAN I am too little to ride the rides and eat cotton candy?!?!?! Seriously???

Yeah a carousel!

Yeah........yippee...........

Wheeeeeeee! A BIG SLIDE!!!

How do I get this camera to UN ZOOM?????

I CANNOT BELIEVE MY 3 YEAR OLD TALKED ME INTO TAKING HER ON THIS RIDE!!!

Can you see my arm muscle there? I was holding on so tight I am surprised I didn't break the bar!

Oh please mama - oh please can I have cotton candy??

HEY! ME TOO! I want some cotton candy!!!

MMMMMMMMMM!

Yeah. Whatever.

So I didn't get the pictures of the massive temper tantrum that occurred a right before bedtime. It was one for the books that's for sure. I really hope the county fair we are going to try to go to next week is WAY better than what we saw today. Anyway - Happy 4th of July everyone!!!

WW - the one where I post a lot of pictures I have been meaning to post but didn't!

2011-06-29T12:53:00.000-05:00

What are YOU looking at??

Father's Day 2011

Hey! Those are MY sunglasses!

Wet? Who's wet? I'm just shiny!!!

Pay no attention to the girl behind the towel!

and lastly - he THINKS he fits in this chair but we all know the truth!

Abbie at 11 months

2011-06-28T19:06:00.000-05:00

Another month is over! Abbie is one month away from her big FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!! It was a huge month for milestone! So what can my littlest princess do now?

Crawl like the wind!

Pull herself up to a standing position!

Say "uh-oh!" and "hi" (though I am sure she is just repeating and has no idea what she's saying).

Eat anything we put in front of her including cut up banana, shredded cheese, scrambled egg, peas, carrots, puffs, yogurt bites, cookies, mashed potatoes, french toast and probably a few other things I have forgotten. Now granted she is not eating a full on meal of these items but she asks for more every time I give her something new. It is so exciting!

Only needs her nuk at nap time or bedtime! Yes that deserves an exclamation point!

Has more hair than some kids I have seen in the two year old room at school!

and if you look REALLY closely you will see it! ONE FULL TOOTH!!! Another is coming in and should be visible in possibly another 6 weeks (they are slow I tell ya!).

Time is flying by all too quickly. Oh this girl, everyday she makes us all smile, and laugh, and cringe (as she rams her head into something or falls straight backwards onto the floor). It's been eleven months of so much fun - just wait until she starts walking (gasp!). Life certainly hasn't been boring with our little peanut around!

Abbie - you are the peanutiest!!!! We love you!

Friday wrap-up

2011-06-17T14:14:00.000-05:00

So once again I have neglected to document anything that has occurred in the last week so I am scrambling to remember and get it posted!

So here we go!

Abbie is a crawling FIEND!!! The girl is everywhere! The latest news is that, according to her teacher, she STOOD UP IN HER CRIB!! Now she hasn't done it at home but the girl keeps trying!

We put her hood up to see what she would do. She was all "home girl" about it and went with the flow!

In other news - Maggie started in the 4 year old room this week. I was SURE there would be tears and angst on Monday morning so I made sure to drop off Abbie first in order to spend a little extra time getting Maggie used to it. After about 5 minutes of clinging to my leg - she was off an running! There have been no tears this week at drop off AT ALL! Every morning she has walked in, put Mr. Hippo in her cubbie and barely remembered to turn around to say good-bye to me. What a welcomed change!

Oh and I can't forget this one. Last Saturday Sean got a bee in his bonnet and decided he was going to cook me dinner! He hasn't cooked me dinner since I tried, unsuccessfully, to get him to cook 6 years ago and he freaked out over the timing of cooking pasta, garlic bread and sauce all at the same time!

It was yummy! We had some left over asparagus so I cooked it the next day with chicken and garlic and put it over linguine. Two good meals in a row!

My last update happened just this morning. I told you how we were teaching Maggie how to actually LEAVE her room when she had to go to the bathroom and she was a bit timid about it. Well this morning the girl went all by herself to the bathroom, turned on the light, did her business and was all ready to go back to her room by the time I got upstairs to see what she was up to! So proud! Now if we could only stop the 5 post bedtime trips she makes AFTER she has already gone. I need some kind of system because she is becoming the girl who cried potty!

So that was our week. This weekend is Father's Day and with my incredible lack of blog posting ability lately let me just say that Sean, you are the best daddy ever!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Friday wrap-up

2011-06-10T06:28:00.001-05:00

Today is Maggie's last day in the 3 year old room at school. I can hardly believe it. The next class she will go into will be kindergarten! KINDERGARTEN! Yes I know it's over a year away but I am already starting to freak out!

So we have been preparing for this move for weeks. We have talked about it, explained what will happen and all this week Maggie has been spending part of each day in her new room. I know Monday is going to be a bit stressful because Maggie notoriously hates change but we will get through it.

So how has Maggie been doing otherwise? Well she's been playing ...... HARD!

The uni-brow look isn't very becoming is it. There is nothing more exciting than picking up your OH SO DIRTY child from school. It's like they sprayed her down with sunscreen and she went out and immediately rolled in the dirt. Oh and that shirt she was wearing? Yeah it's now pretty much a brown tinted shirt. The dirt and grime would NOT come out.

I will say that Maggie is interacting more and more with Abbie every day. They "play" in the car on the way home from school and we are even sometimes successful in getting them to share toys (Abbie's toys that is). And yes I know these are very patriotic outfits - I was afraid that Abbie would outgrow this dress before the 4th rolled around!!!

The last big update? We have been having to teach Maggie how to leave her room and go into the bathroom when she has to go potty at night or in the morning. Seriously. She is so afraid to open her door and walk the 6 feet to the bathroom. I have no idea why either. After several accidents and several discussions (and one night of wearing a pull-up) things have been better. I really have no idea when kids figure this out and since the girl can "hold it" for well over 12 hours at a time it really never came up before.

So it's been a big week here and I am tired!!! Happy weekend everyone!

And we're off!

2011-06-09T15:26:00.000-05:00

It was a big BIG day here on Monday. Why you ask? Abbie officially became mobile! The girl can crawl!

She is so determined while she is crawling! Her little chunka lunk legs are still a little difficult for her to maneuver but I expect by this weekend she will be all over the house!

Of course with this new milestone comes the interrupted sleep (or should I say waking up at 5am) so that she can try to crawl around in her crib! I need to look in Maggie's baby book to see when she started crawling. I know she crawled for a VERY short time before she was off and running. Abbie is already trying to pull herself up to a standing position but unfortunately our furniture is a bit high!

My baby is soon no longer going to be a baby!

Last weekend

2011-06-03T15:05:00.000-05:00

We had a jammed packed Memorial Day weekend - one where I actually took pictures but in my extreme laziness have just now downloaded them to post here. So here is a brief recap....

We planted our garden!

It was a little chilly out - thus the sweatshirts. Maggie got so excited to dig and find worms! She wouldn't actually touch them - even with her princess gardening gloves on!

Abbie watched from the patio. That is until she decided she would "park her ride" in the one convenient spot.

How she managed to back up into that spot is beyond all of us. I just know at one point I looked up from gardening and asked "where's Abbie??" She must have wanted to get out of the wind!

On Sunday Maggie's cousins came over for a visit. The weather wasn't any better. It was chilly and drizzly - but that didn't stop the kids from running around the backyard! No pictures here - I was too busy being social I guess!

Monday was SUNNY! And WARM! Perfect day to break out the sprinkler!

This lovely little $6 contraption lasted all of 2 hours before getting a HUGE hole and leaving a muddy mess! Look at those super white legs on that girl!!!

As usual, poor Abbie was stuck in her walker! That face says it all doesn't it?

That's ok though - she cheered up quite a bit when mommy got the Push-Ups out of the freezer!

Abbie LOVED the push-up! She kept yelling every time I took it away from her mouth! MMMMMM creamy sherbet!!!

Maggie loved her little treat too! What a sticky, drippy mess we made (mine dripped quite a bit on the patio!) but boy was it good!

After that it was bath time! Clean little Abbie decided to show off her best cheer leading moves....

Maggie complained that she wanted to go into the sprinkler some more and we all passed out from sheer exhaustion! Well the girls did anyway!

Big highlight of this past week? Abbie has learned she can actually roll over in her crib and move around! She has slept on her tummy a few nights too! This from a girl who usually, once you lay her down, barely moves all night because she sleeps so hard! She has already figured out she can throw her Nuks out of the crib! Next thing you know I will walk in there one morning and she will be standing up!

So this weekend looks to be a repeat of last weekend. I got a new sprinkler for Maggie to run through. I remembered to buy more push-ups at the store and hopefully tomorrow will be warm and sunny! Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Abbie at 10 months

2011-05-28T18:09:00.000-05:00

This little 10 month old can.....

scootch her way all over the living room
pull herself up to her knees
do the chinese splits (see earlier post)
eat puffs like NOBODY'S business!
sleeps 12 hours a night
can repeat "mama" and "dada"
can "walk" all over the kitchen while in her walker. She can even back up!!!
LOVES to clap her hands
LIVES to smile and laugh
ADORES her sister Maggie

Soon this little girl will be crawling anywhere and everywhere, cruising along the furniture and probably eating food off my plate (she is OBSESSED with watching us eat). She really is just the happiest little girl ever (well except when she desperately needs a nap and refuses to take one!).

Abbie Claire lights up our world and brings us so much joy everyday. I can't believe we have hit the 10 month mark - this means she turns one in TWO MONTHS!!!!

We love you baby Abbie!! Happy 10 month birthday!

2011-05-23T11:35:00.000-05:00

Abbie has learned to get from the laying position to sitting up by herself! It's very exciting for her (and us) as she comes ever closer to actually crawling. How she changes positions though is really quite amazing.

Looks a little painful if you ask me! Oh and that cheesy grin? Anytime you hold the camera up to her now it shows up!

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

She is quite the goofball!

So I haven't posted many pictures of Maggie lately. She seems to have suddenly stopped being a "little" girl and is a full on big girl now!

Maggie has already informed me that for her birthday she is GOING to have Belle cupcakes (not princess cupcakes but specifically BELLE cupcakes). Hmmmm - hope the local store can accommodate that one!

I can't believe in a few short months I will have a 4 year old and a 1 year old. Crazy times ahead!

WW - these little Wild Things

2011-05-18T15:11:00.000-05:00

They make my heart sing!

Maggie's idea of a tea party - spreading out every last puzzle piece, game piece and fake food item she has on one blanket!

HA! You may have thought this one was crawling but... no. She can't seem to get her little chunka legs in the right position! Any day soon now!

And why am I showing you a picture of Mr. Hippo with his face smashed against a catalog? Well....

He was admiring the picture of himself from his recent photo shoot! Our Mr. Hippo - super model!

I will leave you with this picture. We tried VERY HARD to get one nice picture of me and the girls on Mother's Day.

AND WE DID IT!

Happy Wednesday everyone! The week it halfway over - weekend here we come!!!!

WW - my little supermodels

2011-05-11T06:13:00.001-05:00

I finally managed to scan the girls' school pictures this week. Yeah - they are a month and a half old, which means that Abbie already looks slightly different.

This year's pictures though - have launched a new mini-super model. I introduce to you....

SUPER MODEL MAGGIE!!

She's got the head tilt and sly grin down, doesn't she?

Just a chillin' with Mr. Hippo on the (fake) grass and (artificial) sunlight!

She never smiles like that when I want to take a picture!

The only thing that bugs me (as usual) is that with an entire school full of women teachers, none of them there know how to put a barrette in her hair. That is NOT how we looked when we got to school.

And last but not least - here is Miss Abbilicious herself! ABBIE CLAIRE!!

50 snaps of the camera and only one pose offered. Well at least she is cute! Those cheeks - OH THOSE CHEEKS!

Our next picture taking adventure probably won't be until July. I can get Maggie's 4 year old picture, Abbie's one year old picture and maybe, just maybe a family picture all at one time. Should be interesting!

Happy Wednesday! We are halfway to the weekend!

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-07T09:34:00.000-05:00

My first mother's day weekend was spent alone. With a sick Maggie. She had a double ear infection (I think - who can remember that far back) and got HORRIBLE hives from the antibiotics.

Sean was in Chicago having a "boys weekend". Can you tell his friends are NOT married and do NOT have kids? Yes I was the nice wife who let her husband go. No he has not gone for a "boys weekend since". I think his friends are too afraid to ask! So while it wasn't the best, first Mother's Day, it certainly was indicative of what being a mom can be like.

Fast forward three years and I got me another sicky on Mother's Day weekend.

She is still not over her "soar throat", though the crying isn't as bad when she coughs. And really - it's just coincidence that they are both sick and in the jumparoo. I probably needed a 5 minute distraction for each of them.

So anyway - my point is this. While 2 out of my 4 mothers days have not been the best, these girls are the lights of my life. I have been so lucky to have beautiful, healthy, happy girls as well as some great women in my life who have been helpful and supportive in my journey as a mom. The girls LOVE their Nama, Gramma T, Aunt Stacy and Auntie Andi so they have great role models when it comes to love and family.

So I want to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. It is not always fun to walk through life covered in spit, puke and sometimes baby poop but there is nothing better than your child giving you that special smile meant only for you.

So here's to you (as I raise my Saturday morning latte). Have a wonderful weekend with your beautiful children!

"Well" visit

2011-05-05T13:37:00.000-05:00

So I finally managed to get Abbie into the doctor for her 9 month well visit, except she wasn't actually "well". We knew she was teething (finally) but the crabbiness was INTENSE I TELL YOU! When you have a baby that rarely cries, you forget what it's like to have one that cries ALL. THE. TIME! Poor thing has been miserable since late Tuesday and it turns out it is not just teething. I suspected ear infections but luckily(?) it is just a soar throat. No prescribed medicine to fret about - just a little crank ball to deal with.

As for her stats - my little chicka weighs in at a whopping 24 pounds and is 31 inches tall! She is so off the charts in terms of size that it's funny. Her head though - right on target! Love the 9 month visit - no shots! Abbie was a trooper. Drooling all over the place. No worries about her being dehydrated with all the waterworks flying out of her mouth. We have gone through 5 bibs already today and I'm doing laundry to make sure we have some for tomorrow!

So here are some picks of the little sicky. Can I tell you, it is funny how she goes from this....

to this when she realizes there is a camera pointed in her direction!

I think with the fact that she is going to be "statuesque" as the doctor informed me today, and her LOVE of cameras - I may have a super model on my hand!

She is such a cutie! The red light on the camera turns on and so does her smile!

Luckily she is sleeping better today. I forgot how exhausting it was to wake up to hear screaming several times a night. Let's hope that soon I will have pictures to share of a little pearly white in that big ole gummy mouth!!

:)

Abbie Claire is 9 months old!

2011-04-28T18:49:00.000-05:00

Our sweet, happy little Abbie is 9 months old today! I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by. Every day we get smiles and laughs mixed in with her new ability to yell out when she wants attention! No crawling yet but lots of scooting on her bottom or pivoting while on her tummy. After months and MONTHS of drooling - Abbie still has no teeth. Someday.....

No more "safety boppy" is needed while she sits on the floor. Even if we put it around her, she manages to move away from it pretty quickly. We can't use the bouncy seat anymore either because when we do - she does this...

She refuses to sit back in the chair and threatens to tip herself over!

We are down to 4 bottles a day but now eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. Nothing more than baby food at this point though because Abbie hasn't quite figured out that you don't swallow puffs whole! We try once a week and once a week she tries to swallow it immediately, chokes a little bit and freaks her momma out!

I can't wait to see her personality develop even more over the next few months. So far she is all giggles and smiles and while I can hope she stays that way, I am sure we will see the stubborn side she most likely inherited from both her daddy AND me!

Happy 9 months my sweet little peanut! We love you so much and are now on official count down the to big "1"!!!!!

Tuesday tidbits

2011-04-26T20:33:00.000-05:00

Work has just been kickin my butt lately - so much so that I am just a zombie after the girls go to bed and zombies don't do a very good job of updating their blogs do they?

Some news from the last few months that I never got around to posting.....

Maggie is 100% diaper free. No pull ups at night anymore! It has been sooooo long since she has had an accident that I am not sure why I waited so long to send her to bed in undies. Guess I was just too lazy to even contemplate a middle of the night changing of the sheets! No big to-do about it. One night we just told Maggie "you are a big girl now - no more pull ups" and she was all "OK". Done.

Abbie is still in diapers though. Size 5 diapers. Maggie was in size 5 diapers when I moved her over to pull ups when she was 2? Yikes!

Maggie has decided that kicking, screaming and knocking stuff over is appropriate behavior at school. It doesn't happen every day but it does happen a couple times a month. We are working very VERY hard on "using our words" and "making good choices". I'm not overly concerned. Seems unrealistic to think she would be good everyday - all day - day after day. It's more that she doesn't know how to express the very STRONG emotions she feels. I can see her mind working when she is upset - she just hasn't learned how to say what she's feeling. Like I said - we are working on it.

Abbie on the other hand, babbles CONSTANTLY. I think she is going to talk before she can walk. She practices her sounds and will repeat some of them after we say them to her.

Oh and we moved Abbie over to a real car seat. No more infant carrier for my little oompa loompa! Seriously - my arms couldn't take it anymore! She almost seems to small for the car seat but she was definitely too big for the carrier.

One funny thing about Abbie being in a car seat - she can reach Maggie's sippy cups from the cup holder that is in the middle of the back seat. Once last week I looked in the rear view mirror to see Abbie trying to suck on some of Maggie's milk and then that afternoon she snatched Maggie's cup of juice! Guess it's time to transition away from the bottle soon!

Well now I have to go send myself an email to remind myself to make Abbie's 9 month check up. Yeah - she is 9 months on Thursday and I haven't remembered to call the doctor's office. Thank goodness no shots this time!

Later taters........

No point to this picture - it's just what we see 5 nights out of 7 in this house as Abbie seems to like to nap immediately after eating her dinner.

WW - catch up

2011-04-20T06:55:00.001-05:00

Abbie is all about sitting up these days - even when she is in chairs where you are supposed to kind of be lying back. Guess it was easier for her to play with the dangling fish?

She still continues to be SUPER HAPPY BABY which makes everyone SUPER HAPPY!!!

OK, I'll admit that she wasn't really happy about this hat. She looked adorable if you ask me but in her opinion she was over accessorizing.

She quickly recovered her all around good mood after some "daddy time".

Maggie was there too but shortly after this picture was taken, a bug had the NERVE to land on her and it basically ruined the rest of her afternoon. I have no idea how we are going to get through the spring and summer (if they actually decide to make another appearance) if bugs can come nowhere near Princess Maggie without a major meltdown happening.

We really are ready for some better weather. Don't let the pictures above fool you - we had one nice day. Today? 32 degrees, windy, rainy with sleet and snow mixed in. IT'S APRIL PEOPLE!!!

Anyway - happy Wednesday!!!

WW - Vegas Baby!

2011-04-06T13:38:00.000-05:00

OK - it's about time I got off my butt (but not really cuz I am sitting while writing this) and posted some pictures of the FIRST vacation Sean and I have had since getting married.

We went to Vegas Baby!!

We stayed at the Paris Hotel.....

Little side note here - on our first night while trying to find our way back to our room - I literally almost RAN INTO Barry Manilow! I was so star struck I could barely speak! Yes I love Barry Manilow - I am a geek that way. Sorry no picture - even if I had actually been carrying my camera I am not sure I would have been able to get a picture. I can say though that you know how he looks kind of strange and tight faced on shows like Entertainment Tonight? Well in person he is a tiny bit more scary looking. I think it's time to stop with the plastic surgery if you know what I mean!

This is my favorite picture. So artistic, don't you think? We went up in the tower for a view at night. Not sure it was worth the money but we can say we did it.

I had kind of forgotten all about Siegfried and Roy until we saw these giant heads peaking out of the plants. I won't post the one with my head in the lion's mouth.

We walked up and down the strip several times a day. It was very pretty at night with all the lights etc.

I never did get a super great shot of the fountain at the Bellagio. We saw three different shows while we were there and all of them were very cool. Once while we were up in the Eiffel Tower (but you couldn't hear the music).

We saw New York.....

Italy.....

Paris....

and the land where rich people stay!!

We had a great time staying up late. eating our dinner without having to tell a 3 year old to just "EAT ALREADY", and generally just spending time together. I wish the weather had been a bit warmer but it was certainly better than the 30 some degrees it was at home.

And the saying is true - what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Especially the money out of my wallet! Oh but I am still dreaming about the Burberry tennis shoes that I saw. Some day.......

8 Months old!

2011-03-28T19:21:00.000-05:00

Every month goes by quicker than the last. It has been such a busy month for Abbie and she has hit so many milestones that I can't believe I have waited until now to document them.

#1 - Little Miss Abbie has fully embraced eating - including various MMMMMMM's and AAAAAAHHHHH's as she eats.

(can you tell eating totally exhausts her?)

Now those aren't necessarily exclamations of her enjoying her food - more likely it is her yelling to shovel it in faster! She is still strictly on pureed food as she had no idea what to do with the puffs we gave her and they ended up disintegrating in her sweaty little hands!

#2 - Sitting up by herself!

She's still learning how to KEEP sitting up but she is doing a darn good job!

#3 - NO MORE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT FEEDINGS! Can you tell I am slightly excited by that? She's been slowly working her way later and later to the point that waking at 6am is more the norm these days. Oh she still wakes up at 3am, but she giggles, kicks her legs a few times and goes back to sleep.

#4 - She went 4 nights without seeing her mommy and daddy. Sean and I went on a little trip to Vegas (pictures later) and Nama came to play with Maggie and Abbie.

#5 - learning to communicate via the iPad. No not mine - Nama's! I hear she loved it and I guess we will have to consider getting her one for her birthday (ha ha!).

The next few months are going to be a whirlwind of crawling, walking, talking plus so much more but we are really enjoying right now. There is nothing better snuggling with my little pudge bucket on a lazy Sunday afternoon!

Sweet little Abbie - we love you!

WW - Pretty in Pink

2011-03-09T19:24:00.000-06:00

So today was picture day at school and once again I am keeping my fingers crossed that the photographer managed to get at least one good shot of each girl.

I took Abbie in for her shots right when we got to school and of course this was the ONE morning she was crabby. No you can't tell from the picture above but she would just burst into tears for no apparent reason. So how did pictures for Abbie go? Let's just say that the smile above is probably the only smile she directed at a camera all morning. She froze under pressure and wasn't too sure about the whole process.

And Maggie? Well she immediately refused to take pictures with Abbie. I didn't push, I just let her be and hoped her teachers could work a smile out of her later. Heck she wouldn't even sit next to Abbie at home so I pretty much knew there was no chance of her doing it at school.

Oh and of course this morning it was a wet, snowy mess outside.

Anyway - another picture day down.

They are both pretty in pink though aren't they??

My Abbie is (almost) back!

2011-03-07T21:16:00.000-06:00

When I walked into the baby house at daycare, I was met by one little girl who had the HUGEST smile and laugh for her mama! While Miss Abbie is not yet 100% healthy - her little smiley face and her laughs let me know she is well on her way back.

The diaper rash / infection is starting to really clear up as well. It is not so much a ruby, maroonish color anymore - it is more a dark pink with spots of red.

She also managed to drink enough formula today so that I can stop worrying about her being dehydrated (she was only taking 2 - 4 ounces every few hours and is back up to about 6).

My Abbie is back! Oh how I missed her!

Long weekend

2011-03-06T15:59:00.000-06:00

So the diaper rash actually turned out to be a fungal infection. I am thanking the eye ointment prescribed last Saturday for her pink eye for causing it. Oh and we also got the diagnosis of a DOUBLE EAR INFECTION! Here we thought that perhaps Abbie was teething. Mother of the Year award here I come!

So Abbie was on the antibiotics for approximately two days before I stopped them. Why you ask? Well because besides the (on-going) diarrhea, Miss Abbie was throwing up everything and anything we gave her. Not just spitting up either but we'd put 6 ounces in her tummy - and 6 ounces came out in lightening speed! I was puked on approximately 4 times before, you know, getting the hint.

The funny thing is- with Maggie's last two ear infections we decided right away to skip the antibiotics because the side effects of the medicine were always ten times worse than the illness itself. That plus all of the pro / con literature really makes me question the effectiveness on antibiotics for an ear infection. Especially ones with no fever, very little discomfort and a generally happy baby. I am not sure why I thought Abbie would be any different - because - SHE'S NOT! It was a horrible two days that we are just starting to recover from. Abbie can now successfully keep down 3 - 4 ounces of formula at a time and even enjoyed some Banana, Plum and Brown rice dinner last night.

So no, I am not a doctor, but the wait and see approach is definitely how we will be handling these situations in the future. I just wish I had remembered this all on Friday. It would have saved on a lot of stress, not to mention the several loads of laundry I was forced to do.

I am just glad to have my sweet pea back cuz it was just horrible watching her feel so bad.

Abbie says - "Watch out everyone! I am (almost) back!!!!"

My poor baby

2011-03-03T19:33:00.000-06:00

Does this face.....

Look like someone

Who has super duper, horrible

diaper rash??

It's so bad that we will be starting out our Friday with a trip to the doctor's office. IT'S THAT BAD! It doesn't seem to be affecting her much except that she's a tiny bit cranky but seriously, you would never know there is a problem!

She is still so darned cute!

Oh - so besides the rash, the beginning stages of teething and the pink eye earlier this week, Abbie's hands and feet will get all purpley and get cold. They warm up again (at one point her hands were almost hot) but they were so cold today that Abbie's teacher called me to tell me about it.

I seem to remember Maggie's doing this too but not to this extreme. One more thing to add to my list of doctor questions.

So let's hope it's a good Friday for us - that the doctor can give us something to sooth the rash and that we can get through the weekend without another trip to urgent care.

7 Months old

2011-02-28T19:03:00.000-06:00

Happy 7 month birthday Baby Abbie! It's been an oh so busy month for you!

You can roll over!!!

You can eat real (baby) food!

You can sleep through the night!

You can (almost) sit up by yourself!

You smile and laugh at Maggie CONSTANTLY and simply light up when ever she is near by!

You have started teething! Literally TODAY (or tonight rather). I always thought that the front teeth came in first but you are acting like it is a molar coming in. Hmmmm - guess I will be googling teething tonight! Oh and I wonder if this is going to end our "sleeping through the night" streak!

You are seriously the best tempered little 7 month old on the planet and you have made this family complete!

Happy 7th month birthday sweet pea! We love you!

I just can't seem to get into a groove

2011-02-27T19:28:00.001-06:00

Every day I think "I am going to put up a post today" and the day ends with me zoning out on the couch and once again - no post! Heck I have barely even taken pictures of the girls lately!!

What has happened in the last week or so? Abbie has rolled over TWICE! Both times at school so Sean and I haven't seen her do it. Abbie also has her first official case of pink eye. Nothing like spending a Saturday morning at urgent care. Thankfully we were in and out in an hour. Poor thing woke up all goopy on Saturday and her little eyes were so swollen. After my internet search on pink eye, it looked like it was most likely bacterial so off to get drops we went! She is much better now and it looks like nothing is wrong at all.

Maggie has been Maggie all week. Man I can't wait for spring so that she can run around outside to blow off some steam. She was up before 5:30 Sunday morning and was SOOOOO cranky by noon that when she got a time out after lunch, it (thankfully) turned into an hour and a half nap! We're having trouble again with her screaming NO at us. This results in super quick time out. Some day - SOME DAY - she will get the hint that screaming no at her parents is really not the best idea.

OH - Abbie is sleeping through the night!!! 5 nights in a row from 6:30 pm until at least 5am! Whoop whoop! We had ONE night of sleep training because I was oh so tired of going into her room at 1am, 2:30am and possibly 4am to stick her nuk back in her mouth. So Sunday night we did it. Abbie woke up super happy and smiley Monday so her little scream fest in the wee hours of the morning didn't seem to phase her. After that - no more crying!

Now that I've jinxed it by talking about it - we'll see how long it lasts!

Oh and to try to get the girls baby books up to date (and, you know, actually PUT something in Abbie's) I had over 140 pictures printed by Snapfish. Why do I mention Snapfish? NOT because I am getting anything from them but because they did a SUCKY job! Over half the pictures came out horribly. It wasn't the picture itself (because I have looked at ALL of them and know which ones I figured would come out blurry etc.). They were simply printed VERY POORLY. Guess I will need to find somewhere else to have my pics printed.

Oh well.

Happy Monday everyone!! Hope it's an awesome week for everyone!

Mommy and Me Monday - So smiley!

2011-02-21T10:13:00.000-06:00

I actually wore make up one day last week and took that opportunity to get a quick pic with my little smiley bundle of love!

Abbie is so quick to smile and laugh these days! Oh and big news! Abbie actually ROLLED OVER last week! Whoopeeeee! Now of course she hasn't done it for us but both teachers at daycare saw her do it!

Happy Monday!

Thanks Krystyn for hosting Mommy and Me Monday!

Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

WW - one more Valentine's Sweet

2011-02-16T19:28:00.000-06:00

She's so sweet I could just eat her up!!

So many smiles and giggles lately she just brightens up my WHOLE DAY!

My Valentines!

2011-02-14T07:16:00.000-06:00

Here are my sweet girls in in their cute little matching outfits for school on Friday. Maggie had her class party that day and the teachers asked they dress in pink and red. This was the one time I didn't even have to THINK about an outfit for her to wear! And surprisingly I had gotten Abbie an outfit in the exact same pattern!! Maggie was also nice enough to sit next to her sister for a picture!

Yes these two have my heart on this Valentine's Day - well them and their daddy!

I mean really - who couldn't fall in love with THIS face??

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you get a hug and kiss from someone you love!!

Where has the time gone?

2011-02-09T11:57:00.000-06:00

Poor Nama and Papa probably think Maggie and Abbie moved to Siberia because their bad BAD momma hasn't posted any of their shenanigans in over a week! Well poor momma has had an earache (that is FINALLY gone) and got a cold (as did Abbie) so we have been lying a bit low around here.

Should I say that we have continued our streak of post doctor visit illnesses? Yes, approximately 5 days after Abbie's 6 month check up, both of us were stricken with a BAD cold. Abbie is a bit worse then me, but then again, she is unable to blow her nose so it may only SEEM worse.

We had a snowstorm last week too. Or I should say a blizzard. Over a foot of snow in about 48 hours, most of it during the night. The winds were horrible. Sean stayed home from work and the girls stayed home from school so I got to juggle being mommy and working from home. It went ok.

I went to an ENT on Monday and got my ears cleaned out. All I can say after that experience? NO MORE Q-TIPS!! But like I said, my earache is gone and a sinus headache has replaced it.

In other news.... Sean and I are going to Las Vegas in March! Yeah! We are very excited. 4 full nights of uninterrupted sleep! I am still contemplating getting tickets to see Barry Manilow - yes I am a full on geek! I am just disappointed that the Star Trek exhibit thingy that USED to be in Vegas is gone.

OK - I have to sign off for a training call. Just wanted to say YES we are still here!

Abbie's 6 month appointment

2011-02-01T13:39:00.000-06:00

Miss Abbie had her six month appointment yesterday and my little sweetie is one BIG girl! She weighed in at a whopping 21 pounds, 12 ounces and measured in at 28 inches. I looked up Maggie's stats and it turns out she weighed about a pound and a half more and was 1 inch longer when she was ONE!!!

Abbie is trying to win some large baby contest that is only happening in her head.

She was quite the trooper after what I considered doctor's visit from hell.

So we show up 5 minutes before our appointment and check in. At 10:30 (our appt. time) another mother walks in with her son. It was very clear that she knew everyone in the doctor's office (the nurses, the receptionists etc.). Ten minutes later SHE is called back to see the doctor. Ten minutes after that, another child who came in after us was called back. Finally at almost 11am it was Abbie's turn.

What did Abbie do to wile away the time? She pooped in her pants, up her back and all over her clothes of course! Now I told you before that Abbie is a stealth pooper. I sat there LOOKING at her the whole time we were waiting and I am still not sure exactly when she pooped!

So we get into the room and I proceed to strip her down. Luckily I had stuck a diaper and a package of wipes in my purse. Unluckily her poop was ALL OVER her back, including her shirt and pants. I managed to finally wipe her down and get her semi-clean (after getting poop ALL OVER the exam table. At least it was covered in paper!

We went through the normal questions the nurse asks every time - and types in the computer EVERY TIME (only for the doctor to then ask the exact same things 30 minutes later). Then - as I just stated - 30 minutes later the doctor comes in. Abbie's exam was quick. She's healthy and happy and chubby. Except for the fact that she can't roll over - we are all good!

Since I had to wait all that time I ask the doctor to look in MY ear, which has been bugging me for 2 weeks, Abbie was all set for her shots. Poor thing had to get 4 shots today (3 vaccinations and 1 flu shot). She screamed and cried of course. Then I had to try to get her back in her baby carrier while she was wearing only a diaper and socks. Poor thing was probably so uncomfortable!

Luckily Abbie slept most of the afternoon because even on my day off I ended up working about 6 hours.

So my little chunka made it through another wellness visit relatively unscathed (well except for her wounded pride, having to leave the office almost naked!!). Next visit is at 9 months and that one has NO SHOTS!! Whoo hooo!

Off to get the girls from school early - a blizzard is a comin' people!!!

Fun in your own backyard

2011-01-31T19:29:00.000-06:00

Literally!

We have lived in this house for over 4 years and we FINALLY got to take advantage of the sledding hill that IS our backyard!!

First Maggie and daddy got all bundled up!

Then after climbing the hill - Maggie got to zoom down the hill!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Daddy was NOT to be left out of the fun!

Then Maggie got up the courage to go down WITH daddy!

Where was I this whole time? Inside the nice and warm house on our comfy couch of course! Someone had to stay with Abbie!

How nice is it though to have your very own sledding hill! After Maggie came to the back door about 25 times in an hour and a half to tell me how much fun she was having in the snow - we finally managed to get her back in the house. But only after promising cookies!!!

I'm glad we finally had a day that was not freezing cold, or too windy that she could go out and play. I am thinking it may be awhile until the next outing. We are expecting over a foot of snow in the next day and a half and she had trouble walking in the 6 - 8 inches we had in the backyard!

Yeah winter!

TGIF and it's someone's half birthday!

2011-01-28T15:44:00.000-06:00

This little person.....

is 6 months old today!!!! I can hardly believe it! Time has simply flown by. Just like every other day, Abbie woke up with a smile on her face and a laugh for her mama!

I swear I have never seen such a happy little girl ever. While she still isn't able to roll over (without assistance) and can't quite sit up by herself (though she is getting close) the girl does now how to bounce like a maniac and nibble on her friends....

Abbie's favorite thing to do though, is to watch her big sister Maggie act like a goofball. It's hard to get Abbie's attention if Maggie is anywhere around. She really is a cutie who just lights up our lives.

In other news this week - Miss Maggie has graduated to a BIG GIRL BED! No more toddler bed for this little diva. It's princesses galore and oh so many pillows!

She likes the bed best when the guardrail is up. Go figure.

Maggie was so excited when she saw it - it was like Christmas morning all over again. Now if we could only get her to act like a big girl we would be all set.

Now back to my baby chunka....

She says "oh yeah! I'm cute!!". We are starting solids again this weekend so wish us luck! That cute little face all smeared with squash and peas and sweet potato!

Happy 6 month birthday Baby Abbie! We love you sooooooo much!

I am sad

2011-01-27T17:07:00.000-06:00

Today I got Maggie's report for the day and it made me so sad. She has been having a bit of trouble lately listening to directions from her teachers. Her first response to any situation is to scream NO! and throw a fit. Today, I guess, she had a doozy which included hitting her teacher.

We talk about making good choices.

We talk about consequences of her actions (well not the word consequences but you get the point).

We take away privileges.

We put her in time-out.

All this leads her to scream and kick and hit her teacher.

She can tell you all of the things she is not supposed to do. She can tell you she made a bad choice and tilt her head and say "sorry" in a timid little voice but it doesn't stop the fact that lately she just can't control her temper.

So what do I tell her teacher tomorrow about how we handle these situations at home? If they have any ideas I can tell you I am open to them!

For tonight though - I am just going to be sad (and upset and frustrated and tired and wondering what to do next).

TGIF

2011-01-21T12:34:00.000-06:00

OK - so I seem to be having a problem with what day of the week it is - but it is definitely Friday today! I was up at 2am on Tuesday morning and for some reason thought it was Saturday. Yesterday (Thursday) I posted a WW (wordful/wordless Wednesday) post. Hmmmm. Maybe it's the cold since my car thermometer read -12 on the way to daycare this morning! Brrrrrrr!

Highlights of the week:

Maggie's big girl bed arrived. No mattresses yet though, they don't come until Tuesday. Boy is she going to be surprised when she sees her Princess comforter and Princess sheets! Maybe that will keep her in bed past 6am (I doubt it!).

Abbie is testing out her vocal cords more and more. She is jabbering constantly and when she cries it almost sounds like she is saying "maaaa maaaa". I know she's not but it certainly pulls at my heart strings!

Big football game this weekend! Bears vs. Packers. I will actually be happy when it's over because I am getting pretty tired of 50% of our news being taken up by talk of Bears fans in "enemy territory" and junk like that. It should be a fun game to watch though!

Our cats have decided that they HATE the Grinch doll we bought Maggie this year. Every morning I find him in some random place. Wonder how many bite marks he has on him!

I'm cold.

I snow blowed the driveway for the first time by myself this week! Boy was Sean surprised! Then I posted a nasty message on Facebook to all my idiot neighbors who, AFTER the plow came by, decided they would blow the snow from their driveways out into the street. Nothing like driving through snow drifts created by your own neighbors!

I still have yet to capture a really good picture of Abbie smiling. Our camera's "red eye" light seems to put her in a trance!

Either that or she hadn't had her coffee yet that morning! Ha ha - I kid!

I need to go warm up now and maybe dig into some chips and dip meant for this weekend's football festivities. No one will miss them if they never knew I bought them right??

Happy Friday!!

WW - How does she look?

2011-01-20T11:14:00.000-06:00

So Maggie put on her crown, princess sunglasses and matching pink princess shoes, looks up to me and says......

Momma - I look dic-lee-us!!!

It took me a couple seconds to figure out what the heck she was saying - but yes she does look ridiculous - either that or like one of the Housewives from New Jersey!!!

Abbie on the other hand likes to show off how veryclose she can get to rolling over, without actually DOING it!

She pulled the, whatever this thing is called, down on herself several times but STILL has not rolled over. Oh well - I don't think rolling over is a requirement for college or any job I know - except maybe circus acrobat so I think we are still good!

TGIF - REALLY

2011-01-14T17:08:00.000-06:00

Another week in the books. It was a very up and down week here in Maggie's world though. Let's bullet point it out shall we?

Sean celebrated his 30th birthday. YEAH! He's a real grown up now!
I got a note that Maggie's teacher wanted to talk about her ability to scream NO at the top of her lungs when asked to transition to a new station during the day. BOO!
I celebrated my birthday. Yeah? Boo? Not sure yet.
I found the booster seat I wanted at a local store ON CLEARANCE! They had 2 left and I snatched them up! The priced was marked down so much it was almost like buy one get one free!!! SUPER BIG YEAH!
Several people I work with got laid off this week - one is the person who actually hired me. Boo!
I picked up our organic pork today! YEAH! BACON!!!!
They gave me 6 packages of ground pork too - not quite sure what to do with it yet. Suggestions?
I ate cake for breakfast today. YEAH!
Today is Aunt Stacy's birthday!! YEAH!!! (but her birthday card is still sitting on my kitchen counter! Sorry Stacy! It's all Sean's fault! )
Abbie started laughing this week - a real fake kind of HA HA HA HUH! It's very funny!

More good than bad that's for sure! Here is to a football filled weekend and catching up on some sleep!

Happy Friday everyone!

WW - Happy Happy Birthday Birthday!

2011-01-12T19:37:00.000-06:00

I introduce to you.....Handsome Prince Daddy!

Princess Maggie

Baby Abbie (because according to Maggie she is not big enough to be a princess!)

And Queen Mommy!

It was a very royal celebration that included an expertly decorated cake for his royal highness......

(ok - not so expertly decorated but I had limited time ok??)

We ate a nice dinner interrupted by only ONE temper tantrum. We sang. We ate cake! It was a wonderful little family celebration.

On that note - did I mention that today is MY birthday? Leftover lasagna, leftover cake but at least MY birthday dinner had no temper tantrums!!

The best thing about my birthday was NOT the fact that both girls decided to get up pretty much an hour early (5:45 is NOT the time to sing loudly and put together puzzles Princess Maggie!) but that I got to spend it with the three best things that ever came into my life. Thanks Sean, Maggie and Abbie!

Oh and the iPod touch was a great gift too! Thanks Sean!!!

Happy Birthday Sean!

2011-01-10T15:50:00.000-06:00

Today Sean is old. Ha ha! No really - he is! He turns the big 3-0! Not sure how I got so incredibly lucky to find him. Not only is Sean a GREAT husband, he is an awesome father and an all around wonderful guy who always has a hug or kiss to give and laugh to share.

Plus he helps to make some beautiful babies doesn't he?

Maggie has recently taken to calling Sean her Handsome Puh-rince - and she is right!

We love you Sean! Happy Birthday from your princesses!!!

TGIF in five minutes

2011-01-07T19:22:00.000-06:00

Let's see how much I can get written in the 5 minutes before I have to take Maggie up to bed.

So this week I have spent more time in two days researching exactly what booster seat to get for Maggie than I ever did with ALL of my new car purchases. Really? Hours and hours on the seat that goes INTO the car but barely any time at all on the ACTUAL car. Hmmmmmm.

Abbie is still the cutest little boo boo bear on the planet!

Finally new shows are coming back! Yeah!

I had an iPad for all of three days this week before realizing it was really not an expense I could justify. Not when I could use that money to buy new booster seats and perhaps bunk beds. It was fun while it lasted - maybe an iPod touch??

I put this together today......

Yeah - just call me Norm Abrahms - master carpenter! Now maybe we can keep the book clutter in Maggie's room a little bit more organized.

Oh and I smiled and laughed today too!

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!

2010-12-31T21:54:00.000-06:00

Catchy title eh?

2010 has been an exciting year here in Maggie's World. The most obvious event was having Abbie join our family. I can't imagine our life without her. Seeing that smiley face every morning just makes the whole world a brighter place.

Maggie has grown by leaps and bounds this year. We got through potty training, moving up to the three year old room at school and getting a new baby sister. We started the year here....

and ended it here.........

Where as Abbie started here....

and ended the year here.....

Can I just say that I feel like we couldn't have had a better year? So many wonderful memories, so many great changes. I can only hope 2011 holds the same happiness for us.

Happy New Year every one!

WW - Christmas 2010

2010-12-29T07:05:00.003-06:00

OK - I finally got around to downloading pictures from Christmas so let's do our little wrap up shall we?

Maggie finally started to "get" Christmas this year. By this I mean she heard through the daycare rumor mill that someone named Santa might be bringing presents! In reality the girl had several days of present opening starting on Christmas Eve.

Maggie and AJ tearing into their presents

Maggie showing off her princess nightgown and AJ just standing around looking cute!

Maggie playing with her new "store" from Nama and Papa

Abbie was there too! She preferred to watch the festivities from the sidelines!

So after a major meltdown - we managed to get Maggie to bed on Christmas Eve - after which Sean was up until 1am putting together her Christmas present! When she got up the next morning I asked her if she thought Santa had come while she was sleeping. Her response? "No mama because I made bad choices last night." Oh did that make me just want to cry!! I assured her that Santa knew she was just tired and had been such a good girl all day.

The green presents are Maggie's while the red ones are Abbie's. I think Abbie got the short end of the stick!

Someone got a magic wand!!!

and a REAL OFFICIAL PRINCESS DRESS!!!

In this picture Maggie is saying "I got a! I got a! I GOT A KITCHEN!!!" It was so funny how excited she was!

We managed to get our Christmas dress on and then it was time to wait for Abbie to wake up. Poor little girl had her first official cold and was simply miserable for a good part of Christmas Eve and just slept and slept and slept. Maggie couldn't WAIT for her to wake up so that she could "help" open more presents.

Fianlly at about 9:30 Abbie joined the fun.

Look at that smile!!!

A few hours later the ENTIRE family arrived (mine and Sean's) so it was quite the full house. We managed to get a shot of the four of us before chaos totally took over our home.

See what I mean about chaos?? Everyone seemed to have a good time. Maggie got to play with ALL of her cousins and Abbie got to be passed around to every relative she has! Overall it was a really great day talking and eating and just enjoying the day.

plus Santa left us a cute little Christmas elf!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday weekend!!!

5 months and still super cute!

2010-12-28T19:05:00.000-06:00

Abbie is FIVE MONTHS OLD today!!! I would love to say she has hit so many milestones that I lost track, but really she has just continued to be our sweet, wonderful, super cute baby. Oh and she can roll onto her side! Not all the way over mind you but she's thinking about it!

I haven't been pushing the "real food" issue but plan on ramping things up a bit over the next few weeks. I think she is about done with the rice cereal so it's time to move on to veggies. It would be much easier to try to feed her solids if the girl was ever actually awake during dinner time!

She's still growing like a weed too. I actually bought her a few outfits today that were sized for 18 month olds! Now I know they will be big on her but after the last couple outfits just barely fit and they were size 12 month - I wasn't taking any chances.

The only other big milestone I can think of is the fact that Abbie actually slept 13 hours straight for two nights in a row! Now don't think I am jinxing myself - she was up at 3 am last night so two nights in a row appears to be her limit!

So happy 5 month birthday Baby Abbie! My sweet, cuddly, smiley, spitty, goofy girl!

(she's having a staring contest with the Grinch here! Either that or they are trying to see who can open their eyes the widest!!!)

Hardrock, Coco and Joe

2010-12-21T21:11:00.000-06:00

I hope this works. I have attached three Christmas favorites that are YES WAY BEFORE MY TIME but were still played on Chicago TV when I was a kid. I think of them every year and can't wait until the time I can show them (over and over again) to the girls.

Man I love the internet!!!

Yes you may think I am crazy after you watch them - but they make me all nostalgic of watching WGN TV (before it was a "superstation") and those CCD Christmas parties that they always had in the church basement!

Happy Christmas!!!

Before the craziness starts

2010-12-20T12:41:00.000-06:00

So this is a very short work week for me. I'm working today, traveling to a client lunch tomorrow and then off the rest of the week (well except for that pesky client call I HAVE to be on mid afternoon Wednesday). There are so many things I need to get done in the next few days and seriously not enough hours to get them done so here is a quick recap of things happening in Maggie's world....

Maggie will only wear colored socks now. They must match her leggings that must match the dress that she absolutely HAS to wear (she hasn't worn pants in months). This wouldn't be too bad except when the outfit clashes with her pink maryjane tennies.

Abbie is up to 8 ozs per bottle now. Oh she still eats about every three hours or so - just more each time. Still eating rice cereal at school (not so much for me) and honestly I have not had the time to stretch her food horizons much. Though Sean did give her a tiny bit of mashed potatoes the other night.

All NINE teachers at daycare got their gifts. Yes NINE! Then there was the director and a few more people who I opted out of giving to this year because really - I couldn't carry everything!

Maggie now recognizes Santa but it still hasn't totally clicked for her that he may be bringing presents. This just means that I can't threaten her with NO SANTA presents if she doesn't behave. Maybe next year.

Abbie rolled half way over the other day! I was so excited! You would think that since she is so round that rolling would be easy - but apparently it is not. Let's hope by her 6 month visit she has this milestone down!

I remembered to by pre-cut, pre-decorated sugar cookies to bake for Santa on Friday. Yeah just call me Suzy Homemaker!

I have about ten bags of shredded cheese in my fridge right now. Some for lasagna, some for other things I am making but mostly because I have a phobia of running out of cheese.

Sean cleaned the stove this weekend which means I can't cook until Friday. Why? Because regardless of what I am cooking I make a TERRIBLE mess. Heck I routinely let water boil over! Oh well - looks like frozen pizza for several nights in a row!

OK - my lunch ten minutes is over and I have to get back to work. Well and maybe eat something too.

Happy Monday everyone!

Aren't her little tennies super cute!! That was my answer to her kicking off her socks every ten minutes. My home girl is lookin good!

TGIF - On a Friday even!

2010-12-17T06:53:00.000-06:00

Another week almost over - ONLY ONE MORE WEEK UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!

I am almost done with our shopping! Maggie and Abbie are completely done and I even have a good portion of the presents wrapped. Too bad I can't put some presents under the tree, but since I have a couple of knuckle head cats who like to EAT wrapping paper - the gifts will remain hidden until next week.

My shopping list for hosting Christmas is GINORMOUS!!! Good think Sean has today off to help me with the shopping.

I bought Abbie a few new outfits this week (man I LOVE Kohl's!). The only problem is - the Carter's 12 month one piece outfits just barely fit. I may get a few weeks use out of them. Getting a size bigger isn't good either because the next size is 18 months and come on! A 5 month old in outfit for an 18 month old?? Guess I'll start putting her in dresses and leggings too - at least her little belly will be covered!

I told Sean all I wanted for Christmas this year was pot holders. In a way it's true. I really would like an iPAD but the pot holders fit a little better into our budget! :)

I ordered Sean socks for Christmas..... He knows - he was sitting next to me when I did it. We really are a romantic couple aren't we?

I thought I was really on the ball this year in regards to Christmas cards. We took the picture in November, I waited two weeks to figure out who I was going to order cards from. It took over a week for them to arrive. I finally addressed them yesterday and today. OK - I guess I took my own sweet time once again!

I haven't made ANY Christmas cookies this year. Heck I am lucky if I can remember I have to cook dinner each night!

Here is what I REALLY want for Christmas - an on call pedicurist (is that a word??) to take care of my feet since I obviously can't. An on call barista to make me decaf lattes after the kids go to bed (because I seem to REALLY crave them then) oh and some to come and cook my damn dinner every night! This cooking thing EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT is getting old!

K - I will end on a positive note. Brach's Wintergreen Christmas Nougats are REALLY YUMMY!

Happy Friday!!!!

WW - Sisters, Sisters, never were there such devoted sisters

2010-12-15T07:37:00.002-06:00

OK - I am aging myself by quoting a song from White Christmas with Bing Crosby but anyway....

Maggie actually ASKED to take a picture with Abbie in front of the Christmas tree the other day. Let's just say it didn't go quite as planned...

Am I sitting close enough?? I don't want to sit any closer!

I guess she really DIDN'T want to sit next to me!

Where did she go??

Is she coming back??

Momma - we feel kinda funny!

What are you lookin at??

Cheese!

If SHE'S not smiling then I'M not smiling!

OK - we will sit still for ONE picture!!

All of that in just under three minutes I think. I swear I look through these pictures and just laugh and laugh and laugh! The outtakes are MUCH better than the "nice" picture. Someday maybe they will actually WANT to sit next to each other for a nice picture but for now I am going to enjoy the hassle of trying to MAKE them sit together!!!

TGIF a few days late

2010-12-12T19:29:00.000-06:00

I'm only calling this TGIF because I forgot to post Friday and it is my excuse to then bullet point a bunch of stuff:

Maggie's fingernail fell off. At first I thought it was just the glue, but it was the nail. She is doing ok with it as long as I keep her in Princess band aids. She's addicted.
We are working VERY HARD on breaking Maggie of the "no" habit. If you ask her she will tell you "don't say no, don't say uh-uh, don't say mmm-mmm, don't shake your head no" but then two seconds later we get the full on attitude "NNNNNNNNNO! Right now she is without her DVD player, without her favorite princess skirt and shoes and was not able to watch any cartoons today. It was a long day but we survived with no time-outs!!
Abbie still just sits around soaking everything in. She does this funny little thing with her tongue right now. Kind of how Michael Jordan used to stick it out when he was in deep concentration? Abbie does it constantly.
Abbie ate some peas. By some I mean like three bites.
Maggie has eaten her entire dinner for at least 4 nights in a row without us pleading and begging for her to eat some time in this CENTURY! The trick? Eating 15 minutes later than usual - I guess she is so darned hungry she will actually eat stuff.
I had to go out an buy Maggie more underwear - not because she is growing but because of all the pooping in her pants that has been going on. Sometimes it is just too much for me and it's just easier to throw the underwear away. If you know what I mean.
I swear the cats can tell when both of the girls are cranky and losing their minds. That is the exact moment the cats start meowing, getting in the way and acting all bizarre. Like we don't have enough to deal with!
I am having my first after dinner glass of wine in YEARS - that's the kind of afternoon we have had.
I'm done bullet pointing things out. I think I will go do something mindless now and try to relax.

WW - there is a 2 hour minimum at Urgent Care

2010-12-08T06:56:00.002-06:00

So yesterday while leaving daycare I took my eyes off Maggie for a split second to open the outside door for us to leave. In that split second she managed to get the tip of her left middle finger smashed in the inner door as it was closing.

My heart just broke into a gazillion pieces at that moment.

She screamed, she cried and she bled EVERYWHERE!!

I was able to get her washed up, band aided and in the car so we could go get Abbie (who is in a separate building). We got home and I finally got a good look at her finger. It was not pretty.

(and yes I realize she desperately needs her nails cuts!!)

This isn't even the worst that it looked as it started to swell and turn purpley. I was so upset with myself and of course unsure of what to do. Did she smash the tip? Did she break the bone? Luckily for us our hospital emergency room is really also an urgent care facility so we don't get socked with the ER visit but just a copay. I know it was probably not necessary to take her in but the fact that she just kept saying it "really really hurt mama!" and kept swelling up I figured better safe than sorry.

So off to Urgent Care we went. At least this time we waited until she ate dinner. We were the ONLY people being seen (seriously - it was EMPTY). So why then did it still take over 2 hours to get 3 instant read x-rays, wash her finger and apply glue??

X-rays were to be done immediately (over 30 minutes later) and soaking her finger was supposed to be for 5 - 10 minutes (but actually was closer to 20). I always feel like they forget we are there.

We did get to watch Frosty's Winter Wonderland and part of a Hallmark movie with Gary Sinise (LOVE HIM!) but really - over 2 hours???

Maggie is good. I am good (could have done without the trip out at night when it was 10 degrees out). Hippo? He needs a good bath.

Oh - it was funny seeing her basically give the finger while they did an x-ray. The x-ray guy stumbled a bit on his words while trying to explain what he wanted. It was classic!

I guess we were due for an injury or some kind of trip to the hospital since it had been so long. I always end up feeling a little foolish when it turns out to be not as bad as expected but you know what? I would have hated myself if I took her into the doctor today only to find out it WAS broken or DID need stitches (which we came close to getting).

Another fun Tuesday night in the books!

TGIF

2010-12-03T07:39:00.002-06:00

Another week almost over and our first REAL snowfall is on the way. We are expecting 2 - 4 inches on Saturday. The sucky part? Sean has to go to work Saturday and will have to drive through all of the ick.

One of these days I need to start Christmas shopping for someone OTHER than Maggie. She is going to have a Princess BONANZA on Christmas morning. Right down to her new princess underwear! I feel bad not getting Abbie very much, but she won't even know what's going on and really - what do you get an infant? I got her a few toys I could never seem to find for Maggie (cuz, you know, we NEED more toys!) but other than that? I am at a loss.

I love the line in "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" where the Winter Warlock says "Ha ha ha ha! I guess I'm not such a loser after all!". Cracks me up every time!

The other day Maggie looked at our wedding picture and said "Mommy! You were dressed up like a Princess! And daddy was a handsome puRince!!" It was so cute!

I can smell where Abbie spit up on my shoulder. I really need to go change my sweatshirt!

I just got my order from Old Navy. Let's just say I CLEANED up with their $5 Cyber Friday sale! New t-shirts and fleeces and comfy pants! It was a HUGE box and pretty much one entire load of laundry!

Abbie's baby legs came today in the mail too - so what happened when I stopped at Target? They had a similar product. They NEVER had them before - trust me I looked. How annoying! Oh well - hopefully Abbie's little legs will be toasty warm now!

We started Abbie on rice cereal this week. She has eaten it twice and then totally rejected it when I tried giving her "dinner". Oh and I found ALL KINDS of organic veggies at our store! Fresh and frozen! Home made baby food here we come!!!!

On a sad note - a baseball legend has died. Ron Santo, former third baseman for the Chicago Cubs is gone. I LOVED Ronnie. He was funny and goofy and made listening to the Cubs games on the radio so much fun. It's a sad day in our house today. Ronnie will be missed!!

Smart Cooke? I think not!

2010-12-01T18:28:00.000-06:00

For some reason, Sean takes great pleasure in putting Abbie's pants on her HEAD while he is changing her diaper.

I call this one - "Yeah - not such a smart cookie after all huh?" It should be perfect for one of those photo montages at her graduation party or wedding right??

I guess when you weigh 19 pounds but don't have enough muscle control to even ROLL away - you have to put up with this kind of thing.

Can you hear her thinking "really daddy? So mature of you!"

I wonder how much mileage we will get out of this when she's older!

4 Month visit

2010-11-30T15:08:00.001-06:00

So Abbie had her 4 month check up today and get this......

SHE WEIGHS 19 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How is that possible? Thank goodness we got the baby carrier that handles up to a 30 pound child because if not - we would be scrambling for a new car seat like YESTERDAY!

She is also off the charts on height too so she is not totally round. At 26 and a half inches the girl is going to be in 12 month clothes in about a week.

Miss Abbie did great during the entire visit, until of course the shots came. She SCREAMED and SCREAMED! She calmed down much quicker this time though so by the time we got to the lobby she was all good.

The other bit of news - we got the ok to start her on solids. Well as solid as rice cereal can be that is. She ate a small bit for lunch and didn't turn her nose up at it too much. Maggie downright refused to eat cereal so it was immediately on to the real stuff. I hope to get Abbie to at least finish the box I just bought her! Oh and I have decided I am going to try my hand at home made baby food. I have everything I need except the ice trays so why not give it a whirl! Plus it should be way cheaper than the store bought stuff. The organic baby food is getting pretty darn expensive and the least I can do is give her organic food right? Guess I ought to price out organic veggies before I totally commit......

My little sweetie peetie is upstairs napping now. It was quite the day for her! I can't believe I thought she only weighed about 16.5 pounds - guess my arms are stronger than I thought!

She may be a chunkster but she is the cutest chunkster on the block!!

4 month old!

2010-11-28T19:15:00.000-06:00

Can you believe it? We went from this....

to this.....

It took awhile but we FINALLY got a picture of Abbie smiling. It's not that she doesn't smile a lot (she does), but once she sees the "red eye" light on the camera - we get the "oh" look!

So in the last month Miss Abbie has really starting showing her personality. She has always been fairly easy going but has really hit her groove in the last month. We get smiles constantly and in the last week or so she has really started to laugh. It takes a bit of work to really get her going - but it is so cute to hear.

She has her 4 month visit on Tuesday. I am going to guess now and say she weighs in at over 16 pounds. My girl is BIG! She is long too so if she is under the 90th percentile for weight and height I will be really REALLY surprised!

The months ahead are going to be so exciting. So many "firsts" are just around the corner and since they will be our last set of firsts, I really want to enjoy them.

Happy 4 month Birthday Abbie! We all love you so much!!!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-26T15:22:00.000-06:00

Abbie's first Thanksgiving was great! She got to see her cousins, snuggle with the grandparents and generally be cute on demand.

Abbie with Grampa T.

She was so happy to just sit and watch everyone so needless to say she was a happy baby all day long!

Me, my parents and our little butterball!

She was FIXATED on my dad's watch. So much so that we tried "hiding" it so we could get a picture, but she knew where it was!

We barely saw Maggie all day. She was so excited to play in her cousin's play room. It had a play kitchen that kept her occupied for HOURS! She was good enough to sit with daddy for a second for a quick shot! Oh and as for her eating dinner - she ate one teeny tiny bit of sweet potatoes (which were AWESOME by the way) but other than that it was her stand by of crackers, cheese and applesauce!

It was so nice to see my brother and sister and their families. Although there were some tense moments during a discussion on Play-Doh. We are anti Play-Doh in this house (as is my sister). My brother, however, doesn't see the harm in it. Explaining that I have cats that will eat ANYTHING they are not supposed to and subsequently puke it up somewhere didn't seem to matter.

The meal was fantastic. The conversations were lively and the fact that I was once again at the children's table didn't matter one bit.

Now it's off to cyber search for a new Christmas tree since our old one has decided to no longer light up in the middle.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Mommy and Me Monday - family picture

2010-11-22T09:35:00.000-06:00

While Sean's mom was visiting this past weekend I figured it was the perfect time to get a "family" shot for our Christmas card. I am usually scrambling mid-December to find a good shot of Maggie to use and thought this year it would be good to show the whole family. I also thought Sean and I should each have one of ourselves with the girls.

Maggie, of course, did not want to cooperate and had to be pushed a bit. Abbie was willing (cuz really, what can she say??). Her outfit though? Not so much. I bought her a cute little corduroy jumper for Thanksgiving - in size 6 months - THAT BARELY FIT! Yikes this girl is growing fast!

So here is the pic of me and the girls...

Luckily you can't see the legs riding up on Abbie. And every picture of her she has that "O" look to her!

Here is our new family picture....

Such a happy little family!!

Thanks Krystyn for once again hosting Mommy and Me Monday!!!
Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

WW - Big girl jammies

2010-11-17T20:28:00.000-06:00

Now that Abbie is swaddle free - she gets to wear some comfy, cozy, fleecy big girl jammies! She doesn't really know what to think of the situation.

No - she can't sit up by herself yet! I was quick with the camera and am probably holding her one hand so she doesn't topple over!

She's such a strong little peanut too! And she is growing so fast! Time is going by too quickly and I already feel like there are so many pictures I have missed taking. I am going to try much much harder to get more pictures of our little Baby Abbie cuz darn it - she is cute!!!

Can't quite pull it together

2010-11-16T16:37:00.000-06:00

I know the blog is here. I think of funny things to write about during the day, you know, while I am working - but they never seem to get written down. I guess I will do a quick recap of how things have been....

Abbie is sleeping wonderfully again! I think all of those wake ups were actually a hint that she was DONE with the swaddle and I wasn't bright enough to pick up on it. She is now waking about once a night (or should I say morning since it's usually around 4am). She now sleeps so long I had to hunt down some size 3 overnight diapers.

Yes Abbie wears a size 3 diaper. At this rate she will be wearing 2t size pull ups in about a month!

Maggie has been DRY AT NIGHT! I can't remember the last time she got up in the morning and her overnight pull up was wet. No coaxing on my part here - she is doing it all herself.

Maggie is also learning to sleep UNDER her blankets as opposed to NEXT to them. The girl currently has 3 blankets and a comforter on her bed but only manages to cover up with one of them. I guess she'll learn now that it is down right cold at night!

Hmmm - I got to go to Chicago last week. I had the perfect day for it - beautiful, sunny and about 60 some degrees! I looked SOOOO like a tourist, snapping pictures with my Blackberry!

I didn't say they were good pictures.

Anyway - the trip was good. Took the train in from Milwaukee, which is pretty handy (it would be even handier if our stupid Governor-elect hadn't decided that Wisconsin doesn't need high speed rail!). The sucky part? You have to pay for parking at the train station, which is fine, except for the fact that people drive like maniacs to get out of the station, almost killing other drivers, all because you have to get in line to pay your FIVE DOLLARS!! Really??? Five dollars?? Is that really worth the anger and frustration caused to everyone trying to get the heck out of there?

The holidays are almost here - can you believe it? I was in Kohls this morning and it was the first time I heard Christmas music! I was all set to try to find the girls outfits for a Christmas picture. Nothing super matchy matchy - just two outfits in the same general color scheme. Well it turns out the "in" colors for babies and the "in" colors for three year olds are not compatible. Guess I will have to just keep looking. I did score a couple cute pairs of shoes though - don't tell Sean!!

OK - I have rambled enough. All is well here. Hanging in and hanging on!

Breaking the habit

2010-11-14T13:49:00.000-06:00

Abbie is three and a half months old and for three of those months she has been swaddled TIGHT every. single. night. The swaddling helped her to sleep and sleep and sleep. We all enjoyed the sleep and didn't want the sleep to end, but there were problems. Abbie is a big girl (I am guessing 16 pounds but we will find out in two weeks) and she is long so the "swaddle blankets" all quickly became too small. I had two larger ones but they are made of stretchy cotton (not fleece) so by morning the swaddle was pretty loose and just not doing it's job.

This weekend we went cold turkey.

I had started Abbie out for the night with only one arm swaddled like many of the baby websites say to and we did ok for awhile. By 3 am though, she was totally free. That was it for any swaddling. I have to say she did manage to freak me out by scratching her ear and bleeding all over her sheet. I thought she had burst an eardrum or something! After a quick clean up and bottle she slept peacefully until 7am!

Saturday night she slept in regular pajamas (you know - the sleep sack kind but with arms) and only woke up once at 2:30 for her nuk.

Success! No more swaddle! I thought it was going to be a long LONG process of looser and looser swaddles - but instead the cold turkey approach seemed to work. I guess she was just ready.

I say this now after only two nights. I can guarantee, with it being Sunday and me having to work tomorrow, she will be up every hour on the hour!

One bad baby habit down - one to go! So let's see when I get up enough nerve to take away her nuk!!

Messin' with sleep schedules

2010-11-08T20:13:00.001-06:00

I was all set to post about how I HATE THE TIME CHANGE!!!! except for the fact that it went surprisingly well. Both girls slept an hour later than usual Saturday so we just kind went through our day ending it one hour later. Sunday everyone woke up at about the new normal time and we were all good!

The bad part of the weekend? Abbie has decided to start waking up again every 3 - 4 hours. I haven't come up with a plan yet on how to deal with this. We are still swaddling, she still uses a Nuk and I had hoped to end both of those soon but you know what? I would rather let her use her Nuk for another year and get more sleep!

Maybe she would sleep longer at night if she could actually stay awake a short time during the day!

Now I am off to bed because while THEY are used to the time change - I have not adjusted well at all!

TGIF - Whassup???

2010-11-05T12:51:00.000-05:00

Yo yo yo! Abbie's in da house!!!!

Ok - now that I have spread some cuteness, I will get on to my normal Friday ramble....

A kid in Maggie's class has lice. I spent all day Thursday washing clothes, bedding and coats in super hot water. Fun times. I didn't hear anything at the end of the day so I am guessing the nurse they had come in to check all the kids' heads didn't find anything. That hasn't stopped me from itching CONSTANTLY!

Abbie slept ELEVEN hours Wednesday night! ELEVEN! Can I say that one more time? ELEVEN! Oh how I wish she would do that every night! It won't happen again, I'm sure, for another 6 months!

Maggie and I got our flu shots today and now my arm is killing me. Maggie got hers in the leg so hopefully it doesn't hurt as bad as mine!

I can't believe I am already seeing commercials for Christmas! They come earlier and earlier every year.

OK - I obviously don't have much to say today. Let's close with Maggie in all her purple glory! She will only wear the purple dress if her purple socks are clean. And of course we MUST add the purple Disney high heeled shoes!

What I really want to know is - where did she learn the whole "hanging of the sunglasses on the shirt" thing??

Happy Friday!

WW - Sisters

2010-11-03T15:43:00.000-05:00

Back to the archives I go to find out how Maggie looked three years ago on Halloween compared to what Abbie looks like now.....

First Maggie

Then Abbie

Well they have the same round head, pudgy red cheeks and the same blue eyes! And both are so cute I just want to eat them up!

Mommy and Me Monday - Halloween

2010-11-01T15:33:00.000-05:00

I actually remembered to have Sean take a picture of me and the girls before Maggie hit the streets to beg for candy! Can I just say that the picture confirms my works fears - I officially have Justin Bieber hair!! Yikes! Time to call the stylist again!

And Maggie was the only one smart enough to wear sunglasses! They are actually princess sunglasses to - we are all about the matchy matchy here! Oh and by the way - I was dressed as a lazy mommy who wore sweatpants and an old college sweatshirt for Halloween!

Once again - thanks Krystyn for hosting Mommy and Me Monday!
Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T19:19:00.000-05:00

So our plans had been to do a quick trip up and down our street and then drive out to my sisters and do round two of trick or treating in a much bigger neighborhood. The problem with this? Maggie woke up with her nose running like a fire hose and coughing like crazy. There was no way - Halloween or not - that we were going to go traipsing around at 6:30 at night when it was under 40 degrees out. Heck as I write this it is 7pm and Maggie has been in bed for 15 minutes.

Having our plans change didn't really matter though because Maggie had a great day.

First she tried on dress number one:

and while she liked it - it was for the new Disney move Rapunzel and she doesn't know who Rapunzel is. We got it because it had short sleeves that we could easily put a sweatshirt under (since it is NEVER warm here on Halloween).

Then after lunch we brought out dress number 2 - Sleeping Beauty!

Maggie was a BIT more excited about this dress (she wore it the rest of the day!). We had planned on giving it to her for Christmas but I just couldn't help myself since she just didn't seem that happy with dress #1.

We got Abbie dressed up as well - though not as a princess. Yes poor Abbie was put in the chicken outfit!

Isn't she a cute little chickie?? She didn't seem to mind one bit being stuffed into the outfit and moved all over the place as we tried to take pictures!

You can hardly notice the thick sweatshirt under Maggie's dress - it blended in pretty well. Abbie was more interested in the football game on tv!!

We tried taking pictures outside but it was a bit too sunny and neither girl could keep their eyes open against the glare! Oh and look at how our pumpkins imploded due to the slightly warm weather we had last week! They pretty much melted!

Maggie had a GREAT time trick or treating with Daddy! Oh and get this - she got one of those HUGE Hershey bars - you know the ones that are like a pound of chocolate - from one of our neighbors! I couldn't believe it! For such a small neighborhood she got a lot of stuff!

Next year Abbie will make her first go of it and not just wear a costume for 5 minutes and be done.

It was a good day - made even better by the fact that there is a small amount of Halloween candy left for US to eat and the kids were both so tired they went to bed extra early!

Happy Halloween everyone! Don't get sick by eating TOO much candy!!!

TGIF - Little Ballerinas

2010-10-29T09:25:00.000-05:00

Another Friday - another week almost over.

Abbie turned three months old this week and has been celebrating by waking up before 6 am - AND STAYING UP! I have to get up earlier and earlier every day just to have time to get dressed and brush my teeth!

Today was Maggie's day to dress up for school. I didn't send her in her real costume (a Disney princess dress) but rather got her a tutu to wear. After I picked it out I realized I had bought Abbie a remarkably similar outfit about a month ago!

Little Ballerina #1

and Little Ballerina #2

And now both Ballerinas together (which took quite a bit of coercing to get Maggie to sit there!)

It was a crazy morning but surprisingly we made it out the door without Maggie getting any breakfast on her shirt or Abbie pooping all over HER shirt. It took some careful planning and timing but we did it!

On Halloween we plan to go trick or treating with my sister and her kids. I don't think Abbie will be going out (though that would be a great way to get more candy!!!). That doesn't mean she won't be dressed up though! I think I will have to pull out the chicken outfit Maggie wore when she was little.

Boy she really had the chubby cheeks too - didn't she! She was not very happy in the outfit but we didn't make her suffer long - just long enough to get a few shots!

Happy Halloween everyone!