Santa Time

We took both kids to see Santa a couple of weeks ago. Roo kept saying that she was "a little bit scared" so I was assuming that the picture would be of a baby and hysterical little girl. But then Roo saw that Santa had candy canes. Apparently candy takes priority over fear.



Both kids were great and Roo had a chance to tell Santa that she really wanted a bike. He guessed a pink bike with a basket and bell. She immediately corrected him and said "no, no Santa. A ORANGE bike with a PINK basket." My kid is, if nothing else, specific with her requests. So Friday we will know, has Roo been a good enough girl to get the bike of her dreams? Probably.

Big Boy

Cal still has his reflux and since he will officially be 3 months old on Christmas Eve, I am hoping that it eases up soon. Until then we are still visiting the doctor for medication adjustments. We just went last week and the little bugger is 15.6 pounds. Bigger than his Sister was at this age and she was well above average. I guess we grow 'em big.

I am still holding onto hope for a future football scholarship. We shall see...

Fun with Reflux- Cont'd

So, I last left off with today's wardrobe changes. Three to be exact, before I even got downstairs. I know for a fact that he has been changed two more times since. So that is five outfits for today and it is not even one o'clock.

Our lives will continue to be vomit-ful, with no end in sight. His doc says it will be a month or two before we see any real improvement. Until then we will use rice cereal in his bottles, keep giving him Zantac and keep doing laundry. Lots and lots of laundry.

Fun with Reflux

Yep, baby Calvie has reflux. For all of you out there that have experienced this daily challenge with a newborn you understand what a pain it can be. For those of you that haven't experienced I hope you don't ever have to.

Cal isn't as bad as other babies I have known. He doesn't cry hysterically or freak out when he throws up, which makes the whole thing more of a laundry problem than anything else. This morning he went throu

So Many Questions

I remember the days I sat and stared at Roo just waiting for her first word. I now take that all back and wish she could be quiet for 5 minutes so I could think. Horrible to say as a parent, but totally true.

Her latest habit is that when we are in the car and music is playing she asks three essential questions:

1. What song is this Mommy?
2. Who sings it Mommy?
3. Is it a boy or a girl? (pronounced gurl)

Last week we were in the car and she asked all three questions to which I replied with the song's title, artist and gender. Then Roo threw me for a loop by asking, "is she a little gurl Mommy?" To which I replied, "no, she is a big girl, a big Mommy." NOTE: "A big Mommy" in Roo's world these days translates to "adult." Then I made the mistake of saying, "well, maybe she is not a big Mommy, she is just an adult." At that point I opened Pandora's box of questions.

The conversation then went a little like this:
Roo: "I am an adult."
Me: "No honey, you are a kid."
Roo: "No Mommy, I am an adult."
Me: "Really? Do you have a job?"
Roo: "Yep."
Me: "Really? What do you do?"
Roo: "Work."
Me: "What kind of work?"
Roo: "I work on my pink computer." (her Vtech pink computer)
Me: "OK. Well, do you drive?"
Roo: "Yep. Stop driving Mommy and I will show you."
Me: "I don't think your feet can reach the pedals."
Roo: "Yes they can! Let me show you."
Me" "How about later? I need to get you to school"
Roo: "OK Mom, but one day I will drive and you will sit in the backseat, OK?"

I guess she is right, that can totally happen. Visions of Driving Miss Daisy were in my head the rest of the day. She sure is cute, but she sure asks a lot of questions.

Frustration & Chaos

In an effort to try to stay more connected with my blog, I am going to try to write something every week. Since I am not a full time stay at home Mom, that means my updates will not always be about my kids. So, if you are reading this because you just want kid updates feel free to skim through any commentary that focuses on me. Regardless of what I end up writing it will ultimately somehow tie back to the kids, because after all, I am their Mom.

Today I find myself at a client meeting at 7:30 AM (had to leave the house at 5). The truth is that I should not even be here. I am on my 8th week of a maternity leave stint that (let's be honest) I didn't really get. Who goes to work after only having had a baby 8 weeks ago? Me. Do I like it? No. Am I mad and disappointed? Yes. Am I the main income earner for my family? Yes. Therefore I find myself in NJ at a client meeting.

The person I should feel really bad for is my husband. Although we have our nanny showing up around 8:30, my absence still requires him to feed the baby before the crack of dawn while also trying to get three year old Roo up and ready for school. Whining will take place, lunch will need to be packed, breakfast made, outfits picked out and they will need to be out the door for preschool by 8 AM. All before the nanny arrives. The first 2-3 hours of our day is usually the toughest and now my poor hubby has to do it all on his own. Another reason to be frustrated about being at work today.

So, it is what it is. I will drink as much caffeine as possible so that I can stay awake and sound intelligent because I have to. I will pump prior to my meeting in the public bathroom since am trying to continue to breast feed my kid because that is what I am supposed to do. Then once my meeting is over I will rush home to see my kiddos and give them a great big hug because I want to.

A Long Time

It's been nine months. A LONG nine months and a lot has happened. The biggest thing of course is the birth of Roo's little brother, baby Calvie. Our newest edition arrived the evening of September 24th and life has been complete chaos since. You know when they say it is twice as hard with two kids? They lied. It is WAY harder than that. Regardless, we are enjoying ourselves and our new expanded family. Welcome Cal!

Disney

At the end of February Roo and I went to visit “Miss. Tracey” in Orlando. She talked about it for weeks before we went, telling all of her teachers “I go see princesses.” It was a girl’s only trip and Roo received the princess treatment the whole time. We had a blast.

Upon arrival, Tracey’s nanny picked us up at the airport (along with her girls Ella Grace & Anna Catherine) and we headed to the barn where Tracey was having a riding lesson. Up until this point Reagan has been scared of horses whenever she has gotten close to them (I am assuming she is overwhelmed by their size). We watched Tracey ride Zee, her horse, for a little bit and then Ella Grace walked us up and down the outdoor paddocks to visit all the other horses at the barn. Roo was actually excited to see them and not scared at all. Once we had completed our walk, we wandered around the barn grounds visiting all the barn cats and dogs until Tracey’s lesson was done. Then Tracey brought Zee over to meet us and Roo didn’t even flinch. It was so cool watching her get over a fear. She even helped groom Zee’s legs, neck and cleaned the tack, all three girls did. Very cute to watch the three little busy bee helpers.

On day 2 we headed to Disney. Before heading out all the girls had their hair and makeup done, then each got to pick out a princess tiara to wear. Tracey had given Roo a Cinderella doll as a gift, so of course she picked the Cinderella tiara. These girls were ready to go. Once we got to Disney, the first thing we did was show Roo Cinderella’s castle, then we headed to meet the princesses. Roo got to meet Cinderella, Belle and Princess Aurora. She was so happy, but I think a little overwhelmed. Nonetheless, she greeted each princess with a smile, got a hug and then got her picture taken. She felt like a princess and I even got her a princess autograph book for all the signatures. Next stop- meeting Mickey and Minnie Mouse. I though she’d freak because every time she gets up close to the characters she starts shaking, but she was so happy to meet Mickey and Minnie she blew them kisses. The last characters we met were Tigger, Pooh & Eyore, that is when she freaked out a little bit. It was way past nap time and at that point I think she was just done. In fact, she fell asleep in my arms as we were in line for “It’s A Small World.” We also rode a couple of rides, but with three kids under 5 it takes a LONG time to get around the park. At the end of the day we headed to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to stay overnight.

The lodge was cool and we had all kinds of safari animals right outside our window, but let’s just say our stay was less than great (I think Tracey is still arguing with Guest Relations at Disney about it). Besides the room accommodations being less than impressive and horrible food, Reagan woke up at 1 AM throwing up all over me and Anna broke out in some kind of crazy skin rash. We couldn’t get out of there fast enough. We spent the rest of day 2 recovering at Tracey’s house, Reagan slept most of the day. So unfortunately we didn’t get to go to The Animal Kingdom. Maybe next time.

On Day 3 Reagan announced that she wanted to meet Curious George so we headed to Universal. We got to see a couple of shows- Barney and the animal show, but the biggest thrill for Reagan was meeting The Man in The Yellow Hat. There was a performance and then kids could line up and meet several different characters. She was so excited to meet Curious George, but I think the actual size of his head freaked her out. Thank God for The Man in The Yellow Hat, he helped her recover and we got a couple of great pictures. She is still talking about meeting them.

Day 4 and it was time to go home. We all had a great weekend with very few complaints. Reagan was sad to go home. In fact once we got home and had to get back to our regular routine on Tuesday she freaked. During breakfast she kept asking Kerry, “I go Disney?” Kerry said “yes, some day, but not today” she threw herself on the floor and preceded to cry inconsolably for what seemed like fifteen minutes. I haven’t seen her do that in a long time. She finally recovered and we went on with our day as usual. It is a good thing my best friend from college lives in Orlando, because I think we are going to have to go back pretty soon.

Ice Skating

This year (courtesy of Auntie Court), Reagan has officially taken up ice-skating. Not consistently, but I think we have gone 5-6 times this winter and Roo LOVES it. She has her own pink skates (with a coordinating monogrammed skate bag of course), and a couple of skating outfits. She only lasts on the ice about: 30 most times and if I am on the ice with her, forget it. So typically if Court is around I watch with pleasure from the waiting room. She has gotten pretty good and for the most part can “march” on her own for a few feet at a time. She could probably go further if she wanted to, but she is only 2 ½, I guess my expectations can’t really be that high. Maybe next year she will be ready for lessons…what am I getting myself into?

More Firsts

So my New Year's resolution of being better about updating this hasn't really become a reality, but the truth is, I am doing the best I can. And on that note, here is my latest update:

For most of my two year old’s life I have eagerly anticipated most of her “firsts.” Sitting up, rolling over, first tooth, first foods, crawling, walking and first words. One particular first seems to have escaped my attention…potty training. I can’t say that I dread this particular first, but I do think maybe I have been avoiding it. You sort of get used to diapers…especially the smell (although I am not sure my husband would agree). Plus, in my opinion as a family on the go, I find diapers somewhat convenient and am dreading the need to constantly stop for potty breaks. So, it is not like I am avoiding it, I am just procrastinating a bit.

But I have soon discovered that daycare slows for no one. Their job is to help your kid develop and potty training is no exception. So potty training has commenced at daycare and we have begun to follow a sort of regimen of our own at home. But, clearly my child is not all that interested.

She has a potty, two in fact. Elmo stays downstairs and her singing potty stays upstairs. Bribes have been purchased—jelly beans (for when she goes potty), supplemented with occasional chocolate, marshmallows (for when she tells us she has a “poopy”) and stickers for her “rewards” chart. In addition we have several sources of toddler reading placed in our bathrooms for Roo’s potty entertainment. Always present are Elmo’s ABC’s, Lila Ladybug and Moo, Ba, La, La, La (which by the way is almost ALWAYS requested).

This potty training takes a lot of patience (which by the way I don’t have) and time (which I don’t have much of either). Roo is always saying “I do it” and it takes what seems like an eternity for her to pull down her pants. And if I dare try to do it for her, a full on toddler breakdown begins and there is not a snowball’s chance in hell that she will try “going.” So I am stuck in potty limbo, trying to patient and encouraging, yet ready to pull my hair out. And this is only the beginning…