One Month

I admit that I have not photographed this baby even a fraction as much as we did Anna. I make no excuses. Today I did my best to get some pictures of her to celebrate that she has been around for a whole month!

She's in her Winston Churchill stage. Chubby and balding, I tell her she only has 1.5 chins to keep her self-esteem up.

This was not taken today. Its was hard to find good pictures of her.

I Love this picture. I love these girls.

I don't know where this picture came from, but if anyone is looking for a good album cover, look no further.

The Best Halloween Costumes You Will See This Year

Toy Story Alien #1

(hat compliments my ultra-talented friend El Jay)

ummm

yeah.

Jessie.

any questions?

Recipes That Don't Work - cookies!

A common fundraiser in our area is selling cookie dough. So a few months ago a neighbor girl came by raising money for orchestra tour or something. We bought 2 buckets. They were delivered this week, so I decided to make a dozen for a treat.

Recipe: Charcoalate cookies

ingredients

tub of cookie dough

preheat oven to 350, shovel frozen dough out of tub and onto a cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes.

Start folding laundry, soothe a crying baby, answer the phone - It's your husband! His car battery won't start (again)! gather baby and hurry out the door to save the day, remember halfway to the rescue about the cookies and hope the house doesn't burn down before you get home.

(Here's the thing about this - investment. If you take 15-20 minutes to actually mix the ingredients and mess up your kitchen, you're going to remember that you have cookies in the oven. Spooning the dough out of the tub is as forgettable as it gets. I'm not saying the tub isn't worth it. Just make enough of a mess that you can imprint the action into your brain and remember that you're waiting for something.)

Bonus Recipes That Don't Work!

For your patience and diligent checking of this blog, I give you this extra RTDW!

Recipe: Truly Scary Haunted Gingerbread House

Ingredients

1 - haunted house kit (including frosting and candy!)

1 - impatient 2 year old

1 - impatient mother

Read the directions on the package, skip any directions that say "wait 15 minutes" Get really excited and throw frosting on haphazardly until your confidence peaks. Then watch as the entire building seems to be leaning forward, or you see the roof sliding down and the frosting falling into the building.

At this point, you might expect the 2 year old to go all to pieces about her broken house. But you'd be wrong. She's happy the roof has caved in. She wanted to put all the candy inside the house in the first place.

In the end, you have a roofless house filled with bubble gum pumpkins.

and you've effectively wasted $11.

Congratulations.

pictures

Thanks to my friend Stephanie: sweetbeanphotography.blogspot.com

Round 2

The thing that makes the second baby so much easier (for me) is that I'm not reading all those condescending parenting books that are telling me I'm doing everything wrong. I feed her when she acts hungry, or when I need her to eat. She sleeps whenever she can and has figured out how nighttime works. She's only a few days old, there's no need to put us all on a strict schedule and stress us out further.

I am able to put more trust in myself. That makes it easier.

Just How Anna is Doing

We're all a little concerned about Anna's reaction to the new baby. So here are some of her reactions. pictures to come

A) Anna is in charge of the pacifier. Which means she touches it and squishes it and gives it to the baby.

B) The baby should always be in her bassinet, I'm not sure why but she is always telling me to put the baby in there.

C) Whenever she sees the baby she uses her smallest voice to point out that she has a tiny nose, or tiny feet, ears, etc... and that she is so cuuuuute.

D) After Ben got the new bouncy chair set up and Eliza was taking it for a spin, Anna got her the pacifier, and a bottle and sat next to her and read a story: "Are You My Mother?"

E) We had moved the bassinet into the kitchen so she could sleep and we all randomly congregated in the bedroom. In just a few seconds I see Anna struggling to roll the bassinet into the room with us. It was both adorable and heart attack inducing because of the thought that she might someday try to take baby sister downstairs in like manner.

F) She found the little yellow sponge that we got from the hospital to give baby her baths. Anna used it to scrub down all the furniture she could find.

I will update this post throughout the week, so check back. also, I might add pictures.

E

Introducing Eliza Nicole*

born 5:22 pm 10/01/10, 6 lbs, 11 oz. 19 inches.

lots of hair, tiny feet, loud voice.





*name subject to change in the next 24 hours.

Dreaming in verse

When Anna woke up this morning (next to me in bed) she started singing "I am a Child of God."
this is the song she has basically blocked us from singing at home. She will sing it in nursery but we are on no account to sing it at home.
So I get excited when she sings it of her own accord.

Fresh Market

The store formerly-known-as-"Albertson's" that is by our house has a fairly odd layout.

One time I went in and couldn't find any canned fruit. I looked down every aisle twice and did not find my desired can of pineapple.

Today I went in looking for body wash. Did not exist. They had their aisle of shampoo/conditioner, but no body wash on that aisle or the adjacent. So confusing.

I'm half intrigued, wanting to go more just to figure it out or have more bizarre disappointments

but the other half of me is beyond frustrated and never wants to go in there again.

Mischief

Note: This story is not particularly entertaining if you are at all aware of these small individuals called toddlers/preschoolers. In fact, I would say for most it's pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. But in Anna's case, she's never been one for mischief, never sneaking off to make messes or getting into things, so this was unusual for me.

Naptime is not a fun time at our house. In fact, it's turning out to not be a time at all. Anna fell asleep in the car at two, woke up when we got home, and I put her in her crib. Pretty standard naptime procedure. Including the endless screaming-turned-convincing-sweet-voice. She is constantly winning this fight when she turns on her convincing sweet-voice. I wasn't going to let that happen today, so I left her in there, eventually she got quiet but she would talk enough that I knew she wasn't asleep.

At four I went up to check on her. This is what I found.

See the pile of paper on the left side of the picture? That used to be a bag that held all her potty presents. Unfortunately she remembered them, opened them all, played with them, then threw them out of the crib along with her blankets. She was at this time asking me to open some of the presents that were in packages. I refused, took a picture, cleaned it all up and re-hid the toys, much to her chagrin.

I almost laughed, almost cried, almost turned around and walked out of the room again. Ultimately I called Ben and took a picture. I guess that was the right thing to do.

Vikings vs Saints

Anna and Ben are sitting together on the floor in the basement, their eyes glued to the TV which is showing the first NFL game of the season. Ben has worked hard in the off season teaching Anna how to tackle and what a football is. She's pretty pumped to be watching the guys tackle and fall down.

Overall, it's just adorable.

Kitty Face

So, Anna is almost done potty training ("done" being a relative term). I would say we are at about 60%. We haven't had a wet accident all week despite a few obstacles. I am very proud of her. We are still working on the second half of it all.

We went to a big neighborhood party the other day and they offered face painting. Anna and I decided she wanted a kitty face. She was so cute and meowed all the way home. She even told Ben that he needed a kitty face too.

A few days later, in an effort to keep her on the toilet and motivate her I told her I would do a kitty face with some ugly eyeliner I had (good reason to keep bad makeup).

After we finished on her face and she still had not completed her task, she asked for some more kitty faces on her knees.

In the end, she got a hold of the eyeliner and finished drawing "kitties" on her legs, feet and stomach. She did not end up earning any of this.

This morning was a different story. She did it! I am still so proud, and optimistic for the future. So she got her kitty face, she also got to open a present. My sweet neighbor brought over a bunch of wrapped presents that she gets to open each time she is successful. She totally loves her "Maggic Wong"

p.s. we spent the morning watching half of Sleeping Beauty and all of Cinderella in order to learn how magic wands are used. They are not for "fighting mommy's face."

2 and Half and a Ballerina

Since everyone seems to be having birthdays in August, we decided to let Anna celebrate her half birthday. She kept asking if it was her real birthday yet and I didn't want to do six months of rejection. So after a week of procrastination I made a pumpkin bread/cake and we put candles in and sang. She was satisfied.

After we got back from taking daddy to the airport we found a surprise package from our neighbors. It was a tutu with matching Ballerina ensemble (t-shirt and pants) Anna loves it and knows how beautiful she looks all pink.

This morning we were also pleasantly surprised with a visit from Lincoln, Sophia and Robyn. We all enjoyed the distraction and the macawoni.

2 for 1

I have 2 blog posts that both happened within the last hour. Instead of breaking them up, I will combine them although their tones are significantly different, perhaps it will serve as a good juxtaposition. Also I have to write the second one first because that is my current mood.
______________________________________________

Between 2:50 and 3:20 this afternoon:

Change out of sopping wet clothes, head to toe
Clean up large spill of fancy health juice
"Can I have a accident?" "But I want to have a accident!"
Pick her up and run to the toilet
Commence hysterical crying
Scab comes off her elbow
Blood everywhere
Try not to scream at her while she is screaming at me while I am trying to put on a bandaid on her blood geyser
Realize that withholding naps for a better bed time might not have been my best idea
Wrestle her into a diaper for a nap
Wrestle her into the crib for a nap
Sit down to write a blog post

______________________________________________

On our way to Visiting Teaching today we passed the park on the corner where the sprinklers were on. Because we were early I let Anna get sprinkled and play in it with her hands. She was mostly dry when we got to our appointment and I promised that on the way home she could play some more (hoping they would be off). On our way home, the sprinklers were still on. So I let her play full throttle. She ran and ran and giggled and had the most fun possible. She was soaked. I wish that I had a) a camera b) a waterbottle (for me) and c) a slip and slide (and Aunt Beetle). It was awesome, I wish we had known about it all summer, although I think the roving neighborhood gang of swim-suit clad tween girls usually play in it and would have scared Anna off. Eventually minivans started pulling up and the middle school kids started coming through the neighborhood, that was our cue. I persuaded her to come home with me. I stripped her down in the driveway and left her clothes in the sun to dry. Next time, she will wear her swimming suit. Anyone is invited to come, especially if you have a slip and slide.

Appetite

Generally when we sit down to a meal Anna will eat a few small bites, get bored and ask to get down.

Today watching Peter Pan sitting on the couch she has eaten (so far)

2 bowls of cheerios
3 forkfulls of my cup of noodles
2 handfuls of raisins (and is asking for more)

It's a really bad habit to promote, but is it worse than having a 2 1/2 year old that weighs 20 pounds?

Ingredients

When Ben goes grocery shopping he sticks close to the list (except for treats) meaning that we plan 4-5 meals and he buys only the ingredients for those meals. Thus there is little room for improvisation, snacking, lunch or last-second meals without another trip to the store. My question for you is, what are the top 5 items that you almost always buy/have for the days without a plan?

(let's think healthy, I know dad keeps a box of ding dongs in the freezer but...actually I don't know where I'm going with that... I want a ding dong.)

Boston shirt!

Anna recently became aware that while Mommy and Daddy have a fairly significant wardrobe of Boston Red Sox shirts, she didn't have any. She has outgrown all her onesies and been asking for a "boston shirt" for a few months. Luckily Daddy found himself in Boston last week and was able to pick one up for her.

I was mostly excited that she was wearing pants. I haven't seen her in pants in months, she insists on wearing a dress every day and I'm getting pretty tired of seeing those same 6 dresses over and over again. Not to mention they are getting scandalously short.

Dinner

Finally, I have something new to say on here. I was looking at this blog, which is supposed to motivate me to cook/learn how to cook and I actually found something helpful. She introduces the idea of a Dinner Doula. Someone who can help poor culinary cretins like myself to branch out, try to cook easy recipes for picky eaters and not feel discouraged. A hand holder.Anyway, she mentions that her experience as a doula was going to be published in a magazine, and for a second I thought about running out to buy that magazine, then I realized she put up a direct link to the article. Sorry magazine. I think I will try one this week while Ben is gone, although I don't know how Anna and I will eat an entire roast chicken or salmon salad. Nevertheless, if anyone wants to volunteer to be my new Dinner Doula, it would be much appreciated.

Shhhh. Be Quiet.

A) The movie hadn't even started yet.
B) I wasn't talking, I was reading blogs.
C) Despite what she thinks/may tell you, I am the boss.

footnote: If she is sitting on my lap at church, I am not allowed to sing. Same for Ben. But she is somehow allowed to sing the ABC's at any time during church.

ranty rant rant.

let's see...new blog...
new blog...
new blog......

ok.

Can I rant about how angry it makes me to see more and more Boutique shops popping up all over the place?! A) The market is already glutted with overpriced clocks and shabby chic headboards. 2) I get that you want to be a successful business owner, but try contributing something useful to society! Have an original thought! III) You will probably be around for 3-6 months, lose everything and we'll be stuck with yet another empty downtown location - and you know what will probably fill it? A boutique.

Let's try to advance our society. Build a robot. Go back to school. Invent the lightning rod. Just stop thinking that opening your own boutique with your friends is going to make you happy.

Vacations.

I just read an article about how to maximize your vacations. Apparently the length of the vacation matters less than the intensity and new experiences you have while on vacation. It also stated that pleasure in the vacation are generally highest before you go, lowest while gone, and high (but not as high) after the vacation (anticipation - actuality - memory).

Anna's anticipation to go to "Nawfoo"

Above all, the article says, the people you spend the time with can make or break your trip.

Anyway. We just got back from a 10 day roadtrip to Nauvoo for a family reunion. The reunion was great and we had lots of new experiences. We loved playing with family and making new memories with them. They were definitely the right people to spend time with. The 6 days of driving was...6 days of driving.letting her out of the car

"Rex is so silly"

An(na)tics

• At the grocery store I saw her intensely studying one of those magazine covers. I turned to Ben and noted that she was already ruining her body image. Then she interrupted and said "It's like you mommy!" I'm sure this happens to all mothers at some point. But if you have seen me lately you would understand my dismay/appreciation.
• After church she gathered up as many toys as she could into a small shopping basket and a book and hauled them into our room and next to the bed. Then she read them the book. It took me a few minutes to get the camera all worked out but I did manage to get a picture. Someday maybe I'll post it. (There is a legendary picture of me when I was 3/4, I had taken all my dolls into the bathroom and put them in the tub and floor and read them a story)
• She is really really good at working my ipod. Mostly she uses it to watch YouTube videos of Disney songs. She could do this for hours. Sometimes she does while I take a nap. She can also get into some other apps for drawing and coloring. She's really good at it.
• The other night we had to go to the store so I told Ben to get off facebook and get ready. Anna decided that she didn't want to do anything else all night but "do facebook." When we got back from the store we tried to set up an account for her but she is too young to have an email address. By then she had already seen all that facebook had to offer and was bored.
• She almost burned down her Grumma Great's house. On a Thursday we went to visit. Anna wandered down to the apartment where we used to live but came back a few minutes later. For the next day or two Grumma could smell something but couldn't figure out what. When my uncle was over helping on Saturday they decided to sniff it out. All the buttons on the stove/oven were pushed. The oven was on high and the stove tops were all on. Awesome.
• She is getting very imaginative. I don't think I was an imaginative kid but she can cook up a storyline with her dolls and dinosaurs and whatever is lying around. Today she started a plot using only a dandelion she had pulled from the yard.

That's enough for today. We'll post more later, maybe even some pictures.

Sneaker

I fell asleep on the couch last night watching The Fugitive, so Ben went up to clear the laundry off the bed so I could stumble upstairs.
When he turned on the light he was surprised and a little startled to find that a certain little brownilocks was fast asleep in the middle of our bed.
We had settled her into bed 2-3 hours earlier, and although I thought I heard her get out of her room, we didn't hear her wandering around the house so we forgot about it. Surprisingly it seems she didn't get out any of her usual mommies-bed toys or even jump around recreationally, she was just cuddled right in under the covers and fast asleep. Thankfully I was able to move her into her bed without incident. But I wonder if this is a stunt she will try again tonight.

My new novel, "The Littlest Dictator"

I need to watch a movie!
I need to go in the tent.
I need a snack!
I need to hold your computer.
You go get a snack, ok?
I need a snack then.
I'm happy now!
I'm happy to watch a show now, for a minute.

This was all she said and it was all within about 1 minute.

ps. she should have been napping.
pps. she learned how to open the door.

War and Peace

So since we got her a big girl bed (2 weeks) we've had about 3 days with in-bed naps. Otherwise she sleeps in the car or goes without. Today I really wanted to win, I got her to fall asleep in the car, and of course, she woke up as I moved her inside. Nevertheless, I left her in her room for 2 hours (regular nap length) it was heart-rending for both of us "Open the door pleeeeaaase!" Very difficult.

After her not nap we had activity days which was going to the local pool. Anna had never experienced anything like it so I told her we were going to a Giant Pool. She was excited. She kept comparing it to a castle. I'm not sure how. oh wait, yeah, it's cause the Giant in her Jack and the Beanstalk book lives in a Castle. problem solved. Anyway so we're going to the Giant Pool, It's a Castle. It was overcast and windy but still crowded. She LOVED it. Despite her chattering teeth she wanted to go everywhere and jump in and out of the pool a hundred times. No more sitting at the edge of the pool for us. but seriousna, it was cold. Eventually I felt so bad that I dragged her out and over to the towels where she put on her dry dress and she warmed up.

Eventually we gathered the girls and made our way home. Now we are sitting in the dark basement watching The Little Mermaid and she is lying on the couch in a very sleepy position. I would be very surprised if she doesn't fall asleep. But if she does, at 5:30, what do I do about bed time? I guess we are stuck in sleep limbo for awhile.

It's So Cool In My Pool

Once it got up to sweating temperatures this afternoon I thought it would be a good idea to get out our new pool. Anna agreed. It has been sitting in a box in her bedroom for a few weeks and she was giving up hope. In fact, when I got it out of the box and started blowing it up, she asked where the pool was.

The point is, eventually we got it up. And she was pleased.

Possibly my favorite picture. Of all time.

At one point she asked if there was another mommy to come play with her. So I think next time you will have to come over and swim in our pool with us, ok? We'll make lemonade.

ABC's

Here's a video for all those who want to hear Anna sing the ABC's and Ring around the Rosie.

It's a showdown

What do you do when you get your child a new Toy Story toy and they immediately stop playing with their slightly older Toy Story toy?
It just breaks my heart to see the plot being ignored so blatantly with such identifiable characters.

Do you get what I'm trying to say?

Fortunate

We had an exhausting day, blah blah blah...

Ben got Chinese food for dinner and gave me his fortune cookies!
Here are my fortunes. (or are they Ben's?)

• You have a charming way with words and should write a book
• You are wise to keep your eyes wide open at all times this week
• The project you have in mind will soon gain momentum
• You will find hidden treasures where you least expected
  

definition of success

ONE (1) lady came to book club tonight.


I will now proceed to eat a heaping plateful of brownies.

Anna's Badful day

I thought today's adventure would be exciting enough to blog about. I don't think so, but I'll give you the rundown anyway. Sorry.

PS (prescript)
I've been trying to teach Ben how to be quiet like a ninja when he's getting ready in the morning so he doesn't prematurely wake Anna. We did really well today, then the smoke alarm randomly started beeping.
She slept through it I think.


At breakfast (8:45) I got a phone call from the pediatric dentist asking if we could move Anna's sedation-cavity filling up from next Tuesday to today at 3:00. I thought that would be great because next Tuesday is way busier than today. What I didn't realize is that they were asking if I would be able to keep her from eating or drinking anything for the majority of the day. She wasn't allowed to eat anything after 9:00 or drink anything after 11:00. This proved to be quite heartbreaking and difficult. However, I figured that if she took a nap at noon, that would eliminate a lot of the most difficult times. So we went to Farm Country in the morning. Then she refused to nap because. . . she was too hungry.

Apparently the procedure went well, it seemed pretty quick to me, sitting in the waiting room. Her wake up time took a while and we were the last patients in the office so I felt a little bit like we were getting rushed awake and out the door.

When we got home she was more awake and seemed to remember quite clearly my promise of ice cream if she could wait to eat until after the dentist. Unfortunately for the both of us, it is recommended to start out with clear fluids until her stomach is firmly settled. She has yet to accept any water and is idly holding another cup of milk, still not drinking.

As I promised her different snacks and things this morning I was pretty sure that each one fell under the dentists list of deadly sins - ice cream, marshmallows, fruit snacks, juice. . .
I'm just glad she wouldn't be eating anything while we were actually at the office, otherwise I might have just packed slices of bread. <- mother of the year.

It Made My Day

I got some fabric out that I bought before our trip and it inexplicably smelled like tulips.

And that made my day.

I've been busy

No new blogs from me. Everything has been said.

paka.