Random Thoughts Sunday

I was so excited when it started to snow. We turned on Christmas music, made cookies, then went out and played in the snow. I love waking up on Christmas morning to a blanket of white. Then I'm ready for spring.


This week we had Russ's mom stay with us. It was a lot of fun and Abbie is close to hero worship for her Gramma Gray. Thanks Laura we had a blast and Abbie definitely misses you.

I am physically unable to keep track of Savannah's socks. She hates them and every time I turn around she is wearing only one. I'm starting to think she eats the other one. The upside is at least she is eating something other than my milk. She is still on a bottle/sippy strike.
The other day after Abbie was in bed she started yelling for us. I came up to see what the problem was. When I got to her she had a long trail of green snot running from her nose to her cheek. She looked at me, very upset and said, "I said 'Bless you.'" (Allie are these quotation marks unnecessary?)

Savannah is a girl on the move. Or at least she wants to be. She spends almost all of her play time on her tummy and often is reaching and stretching to get a toy that she has pushed out of range. I think she will be crawling before long. Great. Just great.

I am slightly ecstatic for Christmas this year. I've started asking Abbie questions like, "Abbie wouldn't it be great if Santa brought you more legos?" or "Would you like a little people airplane for Christmas?"Russ is afraid I'm going to give it away. I just want to ensure that she likes what she gets for Christmas. Me and good old Harold Hill.

Russ's Amazing Artistitc.....Artwork

Today is Russ's birthday. He is 32 (and starting to look like he is old enough to be an RM). In a true gesture of love I am trying to brag about and embarrass him. First and most obvious is his latest painting, commissioned by a friend of his family. Russ is amazingly creative. He always says his talent is a result of hard work but lets be honest... we know he doesn't work that hard.

When I first met Russ my impression was, "This is a man without any guile." Five years later I do not change that statement. I only add he has iron strong integrity, a generous heart, a goofy sense of humor, killer stamina (He thinks Mt Olympus is a morning hike.), wonderful father, a detirmined work ethic, a powerful testimony, and no body fat.

As I am sitting here typing this..he (on his birthday) is feeding Abbie. So lets be honest...I need to go!

Christmas Carol Questions

I'm taking a poll?? What is the most annoying Christmas song?

For me it is a tie between "Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time" and "Last Christmas I Gave You my Heart." Even typing them gives me the shivers..

YES!!!

I - like I'm sure all of us - hate shopping for swimming suits. Well the search is over!


My New Suit highlights my face rather than my body. It It also protects against harmful UV rays
(Make sure you go to the next page for a picture.)


I am sure they have plenty in stock if you are interested!



*I am sorry but I just think these are the most hysterical things I've ever seen

Random Thoughts Thursday

Last night we drove downtown to see the Christmas Lights on Temple Square. As I drove past a gas station I noticed gas was $1.52! I was appalled - such expensive gas! I could get it for $.20 cheaper a gallon around my house. What a rip off.......... :)

At the aforementioned Temple Square Excursion we went in to look at the Christus before we went out to look at lights. As we were looking at the statue I was explaining to Abbie that Jesus loves her so much and that he wants to help her to be happy. She turned, looked at me and said...."Like Super Why?"



Um.....Yeah. Like that.

(For those of you who aren't familiar with the PBS Super Heroes who help children solve problems while learning to read - consider yourselves lucky.)

Lately Abbie has been walking around and saying "Oh, my chinny chin, chin!" (Yet another Super Why reference.)

Oh, Brother!

We took our car into the shop to have an oil leak looked at. It is a fairly new car for us and we weren't expecting any major problems. When the mechanic called to let me know how much it would cost he said, $1,500!!! For an oil leak!!!! Apparently with VW's it is time consuming to get to this particular place that was leaking. I was fairly close to heart failure at that point. Thankfully he went on to recommend that since it quite a small leak we should just put something on the floor of the garage and ignore it. He said if it was his car that is what he would do. Thank heavens for honest people.

I think being Santa is about the most possible fun for a parent to have. I am more excited for Christmas this year than I've been in a long time.

And last a short video to show what our life is often like around these parts.

Random Thoughts Friday

I will never understand how a baby that is exhausted can fall asleep for ten minutes in a car. Come home, wait up, and then refuse to take a nap for another hour.


Why does Abbie pick the most odd (meaning odd plot and poorly written) of all of the children's books we have as her favorite? The Magic Toybox..It doesn't even live up to the potential in the name.

I was at Target today and fell in love with all of the cute little girl clothes they had. They had hoodies and sweaters, cute tights with funky designs, fun retro shirts, adorable dresses just for Christmas, and oh, the pajamas! The girl who owns all these clothes would be one hip two-year-old. There is never enough money for all the adorable little girl clothes in the world.

I have done most of my shopping online this year to avoid my above mentioned coveting problem. Why are there so many stinkin' cool things for little kids?

Unfortunately those sly online marketers are on to me. Now when I go to Amazon if I even just look at a book, toy or movie. That item - a long with several similar items (based on extensive market research I'm sure) appear on screen every time I return. They will stop at nothing to part me with my money.

The other problem with on-line shopping is that either 1- The UPS man always comes at nap time and rings the doorbell OR 2 - The UPS man doesn't come at nap time and Abbie begs insistently to open the"mail". And if you've ever seen a two-year-old beg you know it is not a pretty sight.

What the......

Sunday night we all gathered at my parents house for one last "Hurrah" before my brothers left for opposite ends of the country and we could gather again in a few weeks for Christmas. We had a wonderful time visiting, gorging ourselves on food, and inventing definitions to words like begerbeglic in a game of Balderdash. Abbie loved every minute of it. She thinks being at Grandma and Grandpa's is akin to heaven (only with better toys).

Near the end of the evening my brothers put in a movie for my family to watch. Abbie was in the middle of her brownie (yet another bonus of Grandparents) and was watching as the movie started. First, there were the trailers for upcoming movies. Then a warning from the FBI that I have yet to read. Then the few seconds of black screen before the actual movie began. As we all obediently watched the black screen waiting for our show we heard Abbie yell loudly from the high chair in her raspy two-year-old voice...

"What the heck! It's broken!"






Two thoughts simultaneously went through my mind.

1 - I don't want her to see me laughing my head off so she will repeat that over, and over again. (This by the way was a fruitless effort because my family's reaction was plenty to encourage her.)
2 - I am SO glad that I don't swear.

*The picture is entirely unrelated, however any child that requests that you tie a Wal-Mart bag around her waist so she can run up and down the hall has inborn comedic genius that is only just being tapped.

Thanksgiving

I am going to be really self-confessional and say that I have felt some urge to write a blog listing my blessings as many of you have admiringly done. Yet I haven't. The reason is I have been a big grump lately. Just ask Russ he will tell you. (Or maybe he wont because he doesn't want me to know he said it and have to deal with my wrath when he gets home.)

I have been a grump because of serious sleep deprivation. I have been up between three and five times a night for the last month or so. I had one beautiful break of once a night on Thanksgiving Eve but Thanksgiving night was a joke of FIVE different times waking up. Savannah has been waking up a lot in the night. We've tried to supplement nursing with formula to help her sleep more but as you might remember - she isn't taking a bottle. This involves a long half hour process of syringing two ounces of formula in her mouth each evening while she cries. The task is performed by Russ (for which he earns major points) while I sit downstairs and feel guilty and pray she will just give in and take a bottle.

Of course this does no good in the sleep department now that she has a cold.


Yes, she was on antibiotics when she got the cold.


No, I'm not joking.

Now I know I will get responses from some of you that your children wake up way more and it is just part of motherhood. However there is one problem. I am a big fat wuss. I need my sleep. I truly am not a good Christian when I'm this tired.
However, now that I have immaturely whined to the world I want to move on and refocus my attention on my blessings.

I have an amazing husband. He has been up almost as much with Savannah. While he can't feed her in the night he rocks her to sleep. He also gets up with Abbie almost all of the time. Aside from being a great father, he is my best friend and I love spending time with him.

I have two beautiful daughters. Most of the time they are very well behaved and pleasant. They make for my happiest moments, and can make me smile and laugh faster than anyone.

I have a warm home. It isn't perfect, but it is ours.

I'm grateful for my job. I love teaching students and getting at least some of them interested in what is going on in the world around them. It lets me use a different part of my brain than the mom part - and helps me be grateful that I have the ability and education to contribute to society.


I would write more, but I have a screaming child on my lap.

Three Cups of Tea: Review

Now I always get excited about a good book - and in that process superlatives seem to overflow as I recommend it to others. But I have to say I can not remember a time when a book had such a powerful impact on me. Three Cups of Tea is the most inspirational story I have ever read. If it were fiction it would probably be called unrealistic or slightly cheesey but as fact it causes me to sit in awe of a person who knows the power in himself and in the world.

Three Cups of Tea is the story of Greg Mortenson an avid climber who, on the way down from a failed attempt to summit K2 (considered the most difficult mountain in the world to scale), gets lost and is saved by an impoverished village in Northern Pakistan. In thanks for their help, Greg promises to build the village a school. Their children had been doing math problems with sticks in the dirt. Thus begins what has turned into a quest for Greg to build schools throughout Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan - focused primarily on girls' education. His journey begins living out of his car in San Fransico to save money for the schools to running an international charity out of Bozeman, Montana. Greg believes that education not only is a key to help people improve their lives but by providing a strong and balanced education to the world's poorest we take students away from the extreme-fundamentalist education that feeds terrorist armies. As of the book's publication three years ago he had completed 55 schools and a number of libraries and vocational centers.

The book is a combination of Indiana Jones adventure with Mother Teresa like aims. It doesn't gloss over the challenges faced in this endevor and the process is made the more amazing because of the danger and oposition that accompanied the jouney. Not only is the story amazing but it is well told and captivating in this book. This is definitely a must read.

Random Thoughts Thursday

This morning I was getting some clothes out for Abbie to wear. She has a bunch of 2T and 24 month pants we got from a friend. Only two of them don't require being rolled up multiple times to fit her skinny little waist. I need her diaper to hold them up at all. That is why I haven't started potty training yet. Yea, that's it.

Savannah had her 4 month check up yesterday. She is 12 lbs. 4oz. She is in the 25%tile for weight, 80 for height and 50 for head. Lucky girl. She is also now rolling over from back to front and vice-versa (when she is in the mood).

Savannah is not sleeping for longer than three hour blocks at night. Yeah.

It is a good thing she looks like that in the morning.

About six months ago I let Abbie play with water in her little toy dishes. She loves it still. She can play for hours entertained by water and dishes. I don't know what I was thinking. For about the millionth time this week I stepped my be-socked foot in water on the floor.

In my class this semester I gave out more A's and A - than ever before. It is fun to be able to give people good grades. I have been so sleep deprived this semester it hasn't been my best but I think it has still gone okay.

I also have had more people plagiarize than ever before. Aren't we far enough into the internet generation that it is common knowledge if you cut and paste something from the web and turn it into a teacher you are a big fat cheater?.....Guess not.

I need to get started on my Christmas shopping. Badly.

With the holidays coming up and all of the errands to run and parties to attend I think potty training Abbie would be really difficult. That is why I haven't started potty training yet. Yea, that's it.

Watching the Clock

So we've already started Abbie down a long and dangerous path - that of watching the clock. My family has a long and harried history with said tradition. (Russ points out that it is definitely my family that has this problem. I point out that it definitely isn't his.) Ebert's anxiously watch the second hand..tick, tick, tick - terrified that we might not be ten minutes early to whatever event, church, work, meeting, or sadly, party we are about to attend.

The problem began when Abbie started waking up at 6:15 or 6:00 ready to start the day. This was NOT okay by us. (Yes we are marginally lazy and want to at least sleep until 7:00.) Well thanks to our good friend Dr. Weissbluth we started telling Abbie about time. She could not get up until the clock in her room said 7:00.

At first we had some difficulties. When the clock said 6:07 or 6:37 she insisted that there was a "seven" and thus time to get up. What did we do? We covered the minute side of the digital clock leaving the hour side displayed. Then, in preparation for day-light savings we moved her clock back a few minutes each day (along with putting her to bed a few minutes later each night). It might be deceptive but I was not about to have her used to waking up at 6:00 as soon as the time changed. Fall back is supposed to mean a few glorious days of feeling like you are sleeping in. It worked beautifully.

So now every morning exactly at 7:00 we hear a little cry from her room. "It says seven!" And we are up. I worry that we have started her down a long and time-stressed out path. But I don't get too worked up about it because I have been well rested.*

*Except of couse when Savannah is up in the night, which is most nights but well that is a different story!

Random Thoughts Thurday

Last night my wonderful friend Heather made an excellent point. Pictures are the hardest part of doing a blog. You have to take them, edit them and they post them (oh my life is so hard.) But because I just don't have that in me today I am skipping them all together. Sorry.

Why is it that I always get the shopping cart with the bad wheel? And why is it that I seem to curse the people in front of me in the grocery line to have insanely long stupid problems?

I've realized I enjoy the toddler phase more than the baby phase. It is a good thing those babies are so darn cute. I feel like I'm a horrible mother when I say it. I love my babies to death and think they are the greatest - I just think they get so much more fun as they get older.

Sometimes I just don't have it in me to clean my house. One.More. Time.

Other times the thought of living in constant clutter makes me crazy. Can I ever win?

A good book is a precious gift. I'm reading "Three Cups of Tea" a true story about a mountain climber who is building girls' schools in Pakistan. It is one of those books that make you believe in mankind.

Right now to get a few minutes alone on the computer I am probably letting my daughter watch way too much TV. Guilt. Guilt. Guilt. And yet I'm still here.

I need more sleep.

Playing "Red, Light;Green Light" with a toddler makes all of my problems seem pointless.

I have a near perfect husband who wakes up with my girls half the time. How did I get so lucky?

Okay that is probably enough randomness for the day!

Random Thoughts Thursday

We went out last night for my birthday to one of the most amazing restaurants I've ever been to - Cucina Toscana. Killer Italian. It was voted best Italian in Salt Lake. WOW! Prior to this my favorite restaurants have been Cedars of Lebanon in in Salt Lake and Merikesh in Portland. If this place didn't surpass them, it definitely put them in the running. I. LOVE. GOOD. FOOD.
Savannah still wont take a bottle - of any kind. This makes my life difficult considering I teach a class Thursday nights, and in the next few weeks have two bridal showers I'm helping with, a wedding, wedding dinner and reception that I'm going to. Actually - it makes Russ's life incredibly difficult.

I had no idea how fast a two-year-old could go from pleasant and cheerful to on the floor screaming because her life is over. It is really fast.


I don't know where Savannah got her stubborn streak from....probably Russ. At least she got his pleasant and cheerful temperament.

I'm glad the election is over. Unfortunately I feel surrounded by people that think this is the end of the world or the beginning of Utopian society. Obama is in trouble with either expectation. Can't we just let it be a man with a political agenda that has to work through the political system and you can either agree or disagree with him? I am convinced the world will not end in the next four or eight years. It might actually get better. On the reverse - I pity the people that thought if they voted for Obama their wildest dreams would come true. (Pedro promised that – not Obama). Politics is too much drama. Two-year-old girls would be well suited for it.

Halloween

This week Abbie threw us a curve ball. We had been talking for the last few weeks about being a fairy for Halloween. Then on Sunday she announced out of the blue that she was going to be a princess! I didn't even know she knew that much about princesses. (Abbie, being the first, has allowed us to delay the princess mania...for a few weeks or so.) I think this had to do with her friend in nursery who loves all things princess and spreads her views constantly. After a few days of discussion we came up with a fairy princess, and well here you go.

Savannah - had less of an opinion and just wanted to be comfortable.
The fairy and the flower had a wonderful time at Grandma and Grandpa's trunk-or-treat (Mother on the other had was a stress case examining every bucket and bag for a sign of a peanut.) After loading up on nut-free but sugar filled candy it was back to Grandma and Grandpa's for pizza and binging.


Now this final picture is entirely unrelated, but it just reminds me why I am madly in love with my girls! (She was, self-proclaimed - "Darling!")

Peanut Allergy

I read this blog the other day about a mother with a child with a peanut allergy. It explains perfectly all I wish I could share about my life.



http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/shannon/2008/10/what-id-like--4.html

Spelling

Abbie spells like her mother


For those of you who haven't seen Savannah in awhile, here is one of her!

Random Thought Wednesday

(I'm copying this idea from my brilliant sister-in-law's blog. I think - at least in her case it gives pretty good snap shot at life. I however am just learning the genre.)

I think it would be worth it to give birth to a one year old. The labor would be awful but they would come sleeping better at night and with an organized nap schedule.

Can anyone say "Type A" personality?

Lately Abbie has being saying, "Cachou! That's what McQueen says!" As much as I hate to buy into commercialism, it is so stinking' cute!

I love when the leaves change in the fall.

The Book Thief is one amazing read. If you can handle heavy it is well worth your time.

Savannah has the most adorable smile. It lights up her whole body. I can't stay mad at being up in the night when she does it.

Thankfully she does it a lot.

Abbie loves to give Savannah hugs. She lays on her whole body and breathes right in her face.

It is out of love, so I hope Savannah gets used to it, because I've found it impossible to stop.

ER Embarrassments

There is a doctor at my pediatrician's office that I don't like. I've only seen him one or two times when my pediatrician wasn't available and we needed someone. Unfortunately neither time went well. This doctor made me feel like I was over-reacting when Abbie broke her arm - as he was convinced there was no problem. He also made my sister-in-law cry when he said her son was malnourished. (The boy is related to Russ - enough said.) Anyway after my second bad experience I've just tried to avoid him. I figure that even if he is right about things - I don't trust him so I would question what he said, want to talk to someone else, and waste the visit.

(That is the background.)

So when I was in the ER with Abbie (see below for details) the nurse practitioner came in and was asking the normal background questions,

"Age, weight, pediatrician..."

When I told her who my pediatrician was, she acted like she knew her so I asked if she did.

She replied, "Well do you know (insert the name of the doctor I don't like.)?"

"Yes," I replied, "but I haven't had the greatest experiences with him." (Why oh, why did I need to say it??)

(Long awkward pause.)

"Well, he is my husband."

Oh. (Insert foot.)

What are the chances??????

I immediately tried to backpedal taking all of the blame on myself for any bad experiences I might or might not have had taking my daughter to her husband, said I'm sure he is a great doctor, and mentally pled that her anger at me for insulting her husband would not affect her professional judgment in getting said daughter to breathe as soon as possible.

Thankfully she was wonderfully professional with Abbie, very caring and fun, and helped us a great deal. The only major problem that I had was every time she walked in the room the big "JERK" label on my forehead seemed to light up.

Asthma Attacks!

For all of you who have a child with asthma I want to first apologize for ever - if only in my head - minimizing the terror that is seeing your child unable to breathe effectively. Honestly I had no idea how scary it could be.

This week Abbie had a minor cold - runny nose - not green. (Isn't it purely disgusting how mothers seem to have no problem discussing gross bodily fluids in their children? Probably because we deal with them All.The.Time.) But I digress. Thursday morning she had a slight cough and I barely decided to skip play group and hoped we wouldn't infect anyone. That night after my class, Russ told me the cough had gotten a little worse and started to sound croupy.

At 4:00 A.M. when he went in to check on her (Yes Russ is wonderful. He takes Abbie at night and I take Savannah.) he said that her breathing sounded labored and fast. We pulled out the baby book, called the poor pediatrician on call and ended up giving her an albuteral dose in the nebulizer - then back to bed.

At 8:00 A.M. her breathing had increased to 60 breaths a minute (For those of you who that means something to. Before Friday it would have meant nothing to me.) It didn't change after another nebulizer dose and the nurse told us to forgo the doctor's and head straight to the emergency room. Twelve hours later and after being admitted to the hospital - her breathing finally slowed slightly and sixteen hours after that we were home with a bag full of drugs for every occasion - we have daily drugs, hourly drugs, and drugs in case of an emergency.You would think we were either a pharmacy or a Colombian drug cartel.

We are still figuring out when things are good, okay, and desperate. We have several extra pages to add to Abbie's already detailed list of things to be aware of when watching her. Poor kid.

Motherhood

Whoever thought that the work day could be completed in eight hours didn't understand the work of a mother.

Hair Drama Mama

I know I am a baby when it comes to my hair. I very rarely change styles and when I do it is usually a dramatic/traumatic experience. I think it is because I'm not such a fan of my hair anyway (thin, stringy) and so any change just causes me to adjust from a look that I had just learned to tolerate - not necessarily enjoy - to something new (Yes, yes...I am an Ebert). My sister and all of my sister-in-laws (on both sides of the family) have been blessed with wonderfully beautiful thick hair. It really only serves to undermine any effort I have to improve my style as I see that whatever any of them do - it looks perfect, and I just can't keep up!

Unfortunately my paranoia (there really should be a support group for people like me) has trickled down to how I deal with Abbie's hair. For the longest time she has needed something done with her hair. She - at age two - had never had it cut. The ends were stringy and it looked unkempt whenever it was in anything other then some version of a pony tail. Yet...until Friday I couldn't bring myself to do anything about it. I'm the mom - I could scar her for life with a bad haircut. She could turn out to be like me - unable to do anything but the most minor changes with style, convinced that I have dramatically changed my appearance. (Seriously - I can't tell you the number of times I thought that I had gotten a dramatic new do only to have no one notice the difference. Russ of course has now been instructed to always notice. Poor guy.)

This Friday I gave in. I don't want an image-obsessed daughter. (I repeat over and over as we drive to my friend who cuts hair) How bad can it be? Hair grows right? Of course Abbie loved the whole process from beginning to end, behaved beautifully and if you ask her about it she will say, "I got my hair cut....so pretty!" What was I worried about?

The pictures above are before and down at the bottom after. You can't really tell from the pictures but I think it turned out pretty darn cute. (But you probably can't even tell the difference.)

Smile!!

Getting our children to smile on cue has been somewhat of a challenge for us.
Now when we ask Abbie she gets this tight cheesed-out smile that can only be blamed on her Ebert genes.



Savannah however has a better time...it only takes her a minute.




Abbie can, however, get the dinosaur to smile.

Family Hike!

Some days you know you were meant to live outdoors. (Minus of course the lack of running water, privacy, and comfortable seating arrangements.) Saturday was such a day. We went hiking up Millcreek Canyon (thanks Jen!) The weather was perfect and the leaves were in the height of transformation. Abbie was amazed at all of the colors that leaves can become and spent the hike jabbering away about them...and everything else that came to her mind. At the end of the hike she ran circles in the campground, collected rocks, and insisted that we play "games". Savannah expressed her joy by promptly falling asleep for the duration.

While I reallized that hiking while carrying an extra 10 lbs 12 oz is more taxing than hiking pregnant I had a blast as well. We would have stayed the entire day had we not ran out of diapers for Savannah - but alas the poop just ended our fun.

Goings on in the Gray House

Despite what you might think from my last few posts - all is not chaos in the Gray household.


Oh yeah... Savannah says "Hi." I know this is cheesy mom coming out, but I can't believe how fast she is growing!

The Best Laid Plans.......

So I haven't been to the temple since Savannah was born and I am going through some serious withdrawals. Today was supposed to be the day. I found a wonderful babysitter with a daughter Abbie's age and had timed it all perfectly. (I know you can already smell trouble..) But I didn't take into account two things - vaccinations and dishwashers.

Savannah had her two month check up today (10 lbs. 12 oz 50th percentile - I don't think Abbie ever made it to the 50th percentile). This included a slew of shots. We came home and shortly afterward Savannah was supposed to go down for a nap. I use "supposed" to mean "what one would expect to happen to a two- month-old baby after she had been awake for five and a half hours." Soon, she was out. (Or so I thought.) Then Abbie was out. I turned on the dishwasher then I was out. I want to say for the record that turning on the dishwasher was only to wash the dishes - no other reason.

About 45 minutes later I woke up and went upstairs to check my email. Then I heard it. Savannah screaming hysterically - the kind that you only get after a good long while of screaming - with the "ah ah ah" breathing in-between. You know the kind. I hadn't heard a peep while I was down stairs thanks to the dishwasher. In my most guilt filled thoughts she had been screaming the whole time I slept - I wouldn't know. I'll never wash dishes again. It took me 20 minutes and Tylenol to calm her down, but then every time I bumped her leg she would scream bloody murder again. She just barely went down.

Deciding that I couldn't leave my friend with a hysterical baby, (nor could I feasibly wake Savannah again to put her in the car seat to get to my friend's house) and feeling horribly guilty for being oblivious to her screams - I will have to forego the temple for one more day...Sigh.

Why?

Why do my children hate me? Savannah fell asleep at 11:15. I was SO tired. So in order to get a nap I put Abbie down at 12:00. She was exhausted so this shouldn't have been a problem. One final check on Savannah and I am off to go to sleep. But wait. Savannah is WIDE awake just chilling. I take Savannah downstairs. She needed a good nap today so I figured she would be up for 30 minutes or so and then out. Oh no.. she was up for an hour and a half. Just as she is falling asleep I hear Abbie waking up in the other room. Then I have her go downstairs to play for just 15 minutes - I just need to crash for a few minutes. Seven minutes into my nap - Savannah just woke up! Seriously...some days.

Pictures

We have finally gotten around to by-passing our MIA card reader and downloading a slew of pictures. So for those of you who having been waiting on the edge of your seats (read Grandparents) here are some updated pictures.

This is our new "tradition". Abbie can take some books to bed with her at night. Next week it is Moby Dick.

This is just an adorable picture of Abbie. She was playing with Russ's beanie and I couldn't resist taking a slew of pictures. This is only one of many cuties.

This weekend my dad's company had their party at Lagoon. Abbie thought she had died and gone to heaven. The biggest hits were the car ride and the boat ride - as both have steering wheels. She drove them over and over and over.....Unfortunately it was these rides that always seemed to have the longest lines.


Here is our Savannah Bean. Or Savannah Gigi (Hard "g", so named by Abbie) or Savanda or Savand...For those of you who grew up with Russ you know this is a never ending evolution.

Savannah Smiles...sorry the poor kid is going to be getting this movie plug her whole life.


And finally "Big Sister" and "Little Sister." Courtesy of grandma we got these adorable shirts that just begged for a photo op. So Russ obliged my cheesy sense and we took several dozen of these. Poor Savannah looks a little put out in all of them but as she is not crying I called it good.

Am I Insane?

Wait don't answer that. Honestly though what wasI thinking? The truth is I wasn't. I have an eight week old and a two year old and so realistically my brain is only half able to focus on any given situation and half focused on the other screaming child in the background. I don't think I'm insane I just think that the stuff that comes out after the baby is born- that's the brain - and it slowly ( or not so slowly) disappears with each passing child.

Today I thought I would make spaghetti. Easy. Fast. Simple. Yes...you are thinking all true. But wait - I have a two year old. The making of the spaghetti remains the same. Easy. Fast. Simple. Of course this ignores the fact that I have a constant "Mommy, help." in my ear as I do it. (Meaning: Mommy I really want to stand on a chair by the hot stove and "help" you make spaghetti.) As well as an eight week old who decides at this moment to stop from being the angel she is normally and wants nothing more than to be held and screams until she gets what she wants. But I digress.

So the spaghetti is made and served. I even was a good wife/mom and included homemade bread and a salad with the meal (Wherever mom points get posted I was doing really well.) Then must have lost control of my faculties. I actually served the spaghetti to Abbie. Yes...I did. Why you ask? I do not know. I did put a bib on her - an apron actually (so she could "help"make spaghetti remember.) This of course was a mockary to my laundry pile. A weak attempt at covering the mass spillage that inevitably took place.

I do not know if any spaghetti actually made it into Abbie's mouth. She kept asking for more and I - distracted by a screaming Savannah - kept putting it on an emptying plate. There was spaghetti on her chair, the floor, between the apron and her shirt, on the apron, on the shoes, under the booster chair. Hair, face, all covered. I think that my only salvation was that I - in a moment of clarity - aloud her not to have sauce (This however did loose me mommy points.)

Insane? Possibly, I'm too tired to tell.
I just keep telling Russ, "Remember I was smart when you married me."

Take me Riding in the Car, Car....

I realize there is much discussion in the world today about how we socialize boys and girls. Whether girls will innately turn to dolls and boys to trucks is always up for discussions among college students, social scientists and and mothers on the play ground. All I know is that Abbie's all time favorite toys are her little matchbox car and truck. She can play with them literally for hours. The drive on the piano, the couch, the tables -everywhere. I don't know if it is because all of her little friends are boys and have cars, or if she would have turned to them on her own because she LOVES to push things around. Who really knows. However while her friends cars make sounds that would indicate an immediate trip to the mechanic shop for muffler damage - Abbie's cars make no noises as they drive to the mountains, the zoo, grandma and grandpas - and most often to tea parties.

PS - I have some adorable pictures to post but for some reason I can't figure out our memory card reader is not working so we are on hold. Sorry.

Highschool Homework

You remember the assignments, I’m sure. You had to take your vocabulary words and put them in sentences. I HATED these assignments. I always wanted to write “________ is a word.” They seemed like such a waste of time and effort. I don’t think I ever wrote a sentence more than five words long. I missed out.

Russ was cleaning out some of his old papers and came across his vocabulary sentences from his sophomore year. I can’t even imagine putting this much thought into a vocabulary assignment. In fact, I don’t think I ever put this much creativity in to anything in highschool.

1 – The serene, calm mountain lake, which hadn’t been visited by humans in 50 years was somewhat disturbed by the H-bomb accidentally dropped on it.

2 - I was surprised that Filipe had the temerity to flip off the president during his speech.

3 – The cow finally relented and decided to let famer Perry milk her. But by that time, it was too late; she had already knocked him out cold.

4– The apprehension in the fly’s voice indicated to the other flies that the Jones’ had bought a brand new “Norelco” Fly-demise-o-lator electronic fly swatting system.

And my personal favorite…

5 – The old man’s eccentricity, which seemed to be connected to his strange nightly visits to the neighbor’s rain barrel (in which he bathed and played with “rubber ducky”), caused his wife to wonder about his well being.

Imaginary Friends

Abbie's imagination has been growing by leaps and bounds these days. We first commented on it when she asked Russ to blow up the balloons in a Dr. Seuss book we had. It has expanded into elaborate cooking adventures and taking Mr. Potato head to the "park" where he and his friends need to hold hands. But today was the best - we now have a pet penguin that is currently sleeping in Abbie's bed with her for nap time. As Abbie was laying down with the penguin she said "Excuse me penguin." I'm just glad she is polite to her friends.

Super Cool Kids

Abbie kept insisting that we try the glasses on Savannah so here she is ready to rock the night away. For those of you who know what this means here is Abbie smiling like and Ebert - poor kid.

And the winner is.....

Abbie is the picture at the top while Savannah is the picture on the bottom. Russ and I have been highly entertained at the guesses, reasoning, and logic behind your answers.Thanks for playing along and we will bring you more pictures soon!

Twins?

Well here it is for the world to judge how similar Abbie and Savannah look... so, who's who?

Random Pics

As requested here are some pictures of Savannah. They are somewhat out of the ordinary because she has her binki in. She was a big binki baby for the first week or so of life - but unfortunately she has digressed and now it is a battle to get her to take it. It is - for me - one worth fighting because I love having a quick solution to a screaming baby.

Here is Abbie trying out an activity I saw on my friend's blog (Thanks Bev!) You put some water filled with little plastic toys in a tupperware dish then freeze it. After it is frozen take the ice out. Give your kids a butter knife, fork, warm water, and salt and let them dig out the "treasures". It was a fun activity for Abbie and I definitely think we will try it again.

The Tradition Continues

As you may or may not know Russ and I are incredible dancers. We were both born talented and have developed our skills faithfully through the years. You could say that our marriage was a union of grace, skill, poise, and motion that guaranteed that our children would be naturals on the dance floor. Poor kids. As this video show - we were not disappointed.

Storage

Abbie has taken to storing items in different locations I have found her cars in the fridge, her Playschool Little People in the crockpot (thankfully not on) and Savannah's booties in her purse. While I was working on some stuff on the computer I heard the all too familiar "Mommy watch!" I turned to see this...


Abbie had taken all of her shoes and put them in a bag for "storage" I guess. She kept carrying it around and saying "So heavy..." I guess that finding a place for everything can't start too young.

And in the principle of equal treatment ground into me by being a second child here is a picture of Savannah sleeping. Isn't she beautiful? I would love, love, love if she looked like this through the night. (Honestly we do quite well usually but last night....well...)

The Porcelain Throne

For the last 20 minutes I have taken two baby dolls potty, Abbie potty and have parried requests to take the bear and kitty potty. (Nothing actually happened on the potty in Abbie's case, but she was sure proud of herself.) While I would love to have a potty-trained daughter two and a half weeks after giving birth wasn't when I was planning on starting. I haven't read a thing on it - I'm busy reading stuff on day night reversal for infants - and would like to feel a little more normalized before we make a go of it - but alas Abbie has other ideas.

For now I just take her to the potty when she wants - which is becoming more frequent, struggle with how in the world to explain how to pee to someone, ( I still don't have a clue to do this and I'm afraid that Abbie thinks "peeing" is just sitting on the toilet) and try to encourage without making a big deal of it because I don't want to deal with it for a little while yet...Any suggestions?

Random Bits

Over the 24th we went up to Bear Lake with my family for a little R&R. For anyone who thinks it is crazy to go on vacation this soon after giving birth I just have one thing to say: "Ten very willing people that want to watch your children while you rest and relax at the beach." Needless to say it was just what we all needed. Abbie was adored by her cousins (She is their only cousin and has the privilege of being a novelty and therefore the center of attention). She loved the beach - mostly pushing around the tube in 5 inches of water. Savannah slept, Russ wake-boarded (check out that farmer tan!) and jet-skied while I sat on the beach and visited with family. If we had only put in the memory card when we brought our camera we would have some fantastic pictures of our own. ( Thanks Allie! for sending some pictures to put on the blog!)

Today was my first full day home alone with the two girls and we are all breathing and alive and not much worse for wear. All of us are definitely getting used to two kids, Savannah is learning to love having Abbie in her face every few minutes commenting on how cute she is, Abbie is realizing that when mom is feeding Savannah she can not play Ring Around the Rosies, and I am realizing that one child was a piece of cake.