Christmas in a nutshell

Christmas really began on the Saturday before Christmas.....after a looooooong day at work, I braved the mall and learned a great lesson. No matter how jam packed the mall is, it's still easier to navigate than when I drag both kids and the double stroller! I was in and out in a few minutes and really had a pleasant time of it. Anya was at home getting upset that Santa on the fire truck was avoiding our street like the plague. THis happens every year, which is weird because we have a TON of kidson our street, but George was able to satisfy her with some explanation.


Sunday was spent cooking and baking for Christmas day. ANya helped me with a few batches of cutout cookies and peanut butter blossoms and then I moved on to the other projects. I was super exhausted that night, but pleased with the amount I got done.

Christmas Eve was another looooong day. Work was busy but not too crazy and then the fun began. We went to Uncle Jerry's and had a really nice time. THe kids played well together and enjoyed meeting Santa (or Sousa as Baz calls him). Anya happily jumped up on his lap and told him she loved him, but Baz wasn't too sure so he stayed with George and I. Santa gave out Reindeer food to all the kids, so a very groggy Anya insisted on spreading it out on the yard to show the way for Santa's reindeer.

Santa didn't skimp on our kids at all- they completely enjoyed opening all of their gifts and seem to enjoy every single one! We had a great time with the rest of the family when they arrived later in the day.

Christmas part II was this weekend at my parents' house. Once again, they enjoyed opening the piles of presents and playing with the treasures inside. Anya and Isabella mostly played together great, but there were a few fights that got a tad crazy!

I'm eager to get back into our "usual" routine, whatever that may be. Anya has gotten used to staying up late so that needs to be fixed ASAP. Stay tuned to our other website for pics and videos from the holidays- I have a ton, but have to sort through them all!

Wow- it's been a crazy couple of weeks. Before I recount our holiday activities, I want to share some of Baz's cute things.

He's quickly moving into 2 and 3 word phrases.. "my turn" or "I fix it" are popular ones. This evening as I was rocking him, we both heard Anya crying in her room. He put down his sippy cup and put his arms out and asked "what happened?" He also proclaims "OK" whenever he falls down or knocks something over loudly. It makes my life a bit easier!

Anya's parties

THanks to this book and her birthday party, Anya has a deep interest in having parties now. TOday we had at least 3 of them! She makes up an invitation and delivers it.....once today, the doggy led me to the "mailbox" where the invite was! We then go to her room where the party is and dance or watch her show and eat some pretend food. She is also turning into quite the fish- she loves being in the tub and insisted on a "bonus" bath once Baz was in for a nap. Oh, what a nice life we'll have once we get a hot tub....we can spend all of our "free" time in it! (A girl can dream, right?)

Baz is talking!

He's been working on words here or there, most of which are missing the first consonant (ilk for milk, at for cat, etc), but now he's on to 2 or 3 word phrases. Today is was "are you?". He started the morning out looking for Sousa (ie Santa) and saying "sousa are you". It continued throughout the day....adorable! He's also begun chanting "Hi, Anya's kindergarten" as turn the corner to go past her future school.

His Star Wars fascination is also building. I don't think he has a favorite character yet, but he can clearly identify Luke, Han, Leia, Chewy, R2, 3PO, Boba Fett, Lando, Vader, Yoda, and maybe a few that I'm forgetting! He also LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (yay for me- I love it too!!!!) and Goofy (Oofy) is by far his favorite! I so hope he isn't too afraid of the characters when we go to Disney so he can enjoy his friends!

It seems that my blogging is pretty pathetic lately, so I'm going to try to do better!

Last week was tough since the sickies visited our house. After having a typical mild cough/cold for a week or so, Baz starting spiking high fevers (103-104) for a few days, so I finally took him to the peds to discover that he had bilat ear infections. His lungs were also junky, so in addition to abx, he was given nebulizer treatments. The first couple of treatments were tough until I realized that he just wanted to be asked to put the mask on his nose. Then it became a game!!! I even had to intervene so that he and Anya took fair turns with the nebs.

At the same time, Anya kept insisting that her ears were "counting to me". SHe never complained of pain, so I kind of wrote it off, but since Baz's got so bad I figured it was worth getting hers checked out. Bingo- her ears were in fact telling her that they were infected- baaaad mommy.

Anyway, the sickies have left our house for the time being- yippee!!!!!

First school pics

Here is Anya's first school pic:

Today's day

Today was NOTHING like yesterday...I got to work, so that took up a huge chunk of the day during which I had the luxury of single-tasking!!! I did have to pack up last night and prepare for today, then wake up just before 6am (as the kids slept- wahoo!). Once I was dressed and packed up, I finished up the diaper bags and the overnight stuff in case they slept at Nana and Dada's during our holiday party.

THe hardest task of today was getting both kids up and dressed. Usually one or both wake up on their own before I get them up so it's easy getting them ready, but that didn't happen today. Factor in that neither wanted to get dressed and things became complicated. THankfully, Baz is always up for a ride in the car or to see Nana and Dada and I can negotiate with Anya. After a short time of chaos, we were all packed into the van and on the way.

The day ended very well thank to the snow storm...no holiday party, and no dentist because I screwed up and scheduled us with the wrong one. Anyway, we had a nice family evening in our clean house and I'm ready for a nice family bedtime!

Ear Infections all around!!!!

I don't think I blogged about this, but earlier in the week, Baz's cough worsened and he started spiking fevers. When the fevers continued, I took him in to the peds and it turns out he had full-blown infections in each ear. She was a little concerned about the possible wheezy sounds in his lungs, but after a nebulizer treatment, he sounded much better, so he's getting abx for the EI and nebs for the cough. I spent a good 5-20 minutes fighting him in the office trying to keep the mist close to his face as he screamed his head off. It turns out that I just had to ASK him to put the mask on his nose- he was thrilled to do that when we got home. THe nebulizer has become the most fun toy in our house!!!

Anya had an earache last weekend, but that was treated with Motrin and some eardrops. She clearly was in pain then and then clearly got better. In the meantime, she's told me multiple times that her ear is "counting" to her. Leave it to Anya to find a creative way to describe things! Anyway, in light of Baz's apparently painless EIs, I took Anya in today to have her ears checked. Sure enough, she does have a mild infection in one ear, which I suppose explains the "counting". Now I had to convince her that the medicine does in fact taste good, which luckily wasn't too hard.

A day in the life

As I sit here in my lovely massage chair sipping a glass of wine, I'm thinking of all the bazilion things I did today and thought 'd try to recap the day. Unfortunately, I'll guarantee that I've forgotten a good number of cute (and not so cute) things the kids did, but here goes:

5:04am- Baz wakes up....no possiblilty of settling him down- I try, but he clearly is ready to get up, so I pick him up and trudge slowly out to the family room. I'm already tired because he was up twice or so during the night. No fevers, though- his ear infections seem to be on the mend.

Thankfully, he's happy to sit with me on the couch and drink his Pediasure and watch MIckey Mouse Clubhouse. He actually asked for it by name (Icky Ouse House) so I got a mini-nap in

5:30-ish....he's had enough of sitting still and gets down from the couch. I continue to doze on the couch- luckily he doesn't do anything dangerous (that I know of)

6:00-ish....Anya and George appear...it seems that she's decided to go straight to our room to wake somebody up and since I wasn't there, Daddy got nominated (wahoo for me!!!!) I continue to doze off and on until 7, when the intermittent "Mommy, mommy" requests break through and I'm up. The kids have now pulled out a good number of their toys, which are strewn across the family room floor- round 1 begins!

7:00- I've barely made it into the kitchen to get orange juice and bagels for the kids and George has taken over the couch and is O-U-T. OK- I definitely understand being tired, so I move into the kitchen and start with the day's projects. I start by making sugar cookie dough with Anya. My initial plan was to make the dough early, put Baz down for an early nap (10am) and have time to exercise, then make the cutouts. (If you think this plan actually happened, I do NOT live in fairy tale world....this is reality, Greg). ANya was great helping add ingredients and helping the mixer turn, only snitching here and there. I figured we were on a roll and we moved on to peanut butter blossoms. Both kids helped with this one- adding ingredients, rolling the balls in sugar, and when the cookies came out, putting the kisses on top!

8:00- I'm in mommy heaven.....the kids move into the living room and begin playing in their "tent". This tent is Nan's couch with the cushions standing on end and the cushions from her chairs forming the roof. Anya is being some animal- a dog or horse, I think, with her brown boots on her feet and her princess boots on her hands. I don't care one but because the beauty is that they are playing happily together. This is my cue to start cleaning...after making George's sandwich and making coffee for both of us, I break out the Flip-It and mop the kitchen floor. That's the first bonus of the day- I didn't plan on this, but it sure needed doing. Oh yeah, somewhere in there, I put in a load of wash or two.

9:00- I start waking George up, which becomes difficult because Anya wants to have a surprise party in her room. Sebastian and I are ordered to "get the room ready" for a surprise party for me. Apparently this means gathering up and posing a bunch of her dolls and stuffed animals. After this party, ANya had a "sale" of her toys for George and I. I bought several stuffed animals- yay me!

10:00- George has gotten up, showered and dressed and left. As usual, both kids ran to stand on the back of the couch to wave goodbye to him. Baz blew a bunch of kisses and waved his heart out- it was really cute. Baz is now showing signs of getting tired (not surprising based on his sleep pattern over the preceding night and being sick), so I figured I'd give him a nebulizer treatment and put him down. The neb went fine- turns out I just had to ask him to put it on his nose and he did- silly mommy (I spend the entire time at the peds yesterday trying to get the mask close enough so he got afew breaths of it as she screamed bloody murder). THe challenge this time was that Anya wanted some too, so I had to make sure they both got equal time with it.

10:20- Baz goes down after about 10 minutes of screaming (I hate it when this happens because he usually goes down so easily). Anyway, I don't care THAT much since he is sleeping, which means that I have at least 2 (more likely 3 hours) to only monitor one child. I play with Anya for a few minutes, then ask her if I can please exercise. Not that I want to (the devil on my shoulder was becoming very persuasive and I wanted to get it over with before I gave in) but I had to get it in today. She wanted to lay in my bed, so I picked up her Knuffle bunny, her music box, and her sippy cup and moved them to my bed. She followed behind and happily snuggled in to watch Noggin.

10:30 I broke the cardinal rule of motherhood...as I was kicking and punching, I allowed the following thought to enter my brain: "this is so great....I can workout by myself as my kiddoes happily sleep and rest quietly in other part of the house" Yeah, RIGHT. WIthin seconds of having this thought, I hear "Mommy, Mommy, MOMMY!!!!" OK- pause Turbo Jam and run back to see what's so dire that ANya has to scream for me. It turns out that her music box batteries are dying so it sounds crappy. Ugh...I assure her that she can watch TV without listening to her music at the same time and I'd be happy to replace the batteries when I finished. Now that my heart rate has gone back down to normal, I start back up. The exercise gods are with me in that I get through the harder first half (once I've made it through the anaerobic part, I've done the important part), but that's the end of my "luck". Less than an hour into his nap, he starts screaming.

11:00- I go in to try to settle Baz down, but it clearly isn't going to happen, so I pick him up and take him to the family room. I'm hoping that somehow engaging him in TV will allow me to finish my workout. No such luck, but he was interested in the leftover kisses on the counter. No prob- have a kiss and be quiet- worked for a few minutes. I still have 15 minutes or so left, but he only wants to be held and now Anya has appeared and is asking for lunch. ACK! I tell her to give me 5 minutes to finish the important stuff and I'll make her pizza. She disappears to torment the cat and I get Baz into watching Einsteins so I can exercise a little more. I heat up the pizza and put it on the coffee table for them to eat. Anya shows up and munches away as I finally finish working out. I just *love* it when a 50 minute workout turns into 90.

12:00- Now I'm tired......sleepy because I got very little sleep and was woken up at an ungodly hour, and tired because I did a hard workout, which was stressful from the added interruptions. I know Baz is tired, so I plop him in his crib and see if he'll cry it out. He does fuss a bit (and play with the 15 toys he insists on taking in with him), but doesn't really cry. I seize this opportunity and jump in the shower. ANya sees what I'm up to and asks to join me. No prob- it'll keep her occupied once I get out. Since I don't hear Baz screaming, I take my time and even shave my legs- oh lucky day! As I get dressed, I still hear Baz talking and playing, but he seems happy, so I run around picking up odds and ends as Anya "cleans" the shower door using my Calgon body wash. Small price to pay... I continue the laundry (the loveseat is filling up with clean clothes to be folded), pick up toys in Anya's room, family room, and kitchen. I replace her music box batteries, chat with my parents, and periodically check on her. Eventually, she's had enough and I get her out and dressed....and now Baz has had enough "quiet time" in the crib.

12:30- I really can't remember what happened now.....at some point, Anya asks to see movies from when she was first born, so we move into the family room and I dig up the requested videos and we all watched for a bit. Somehow, things line up so that I think I can mop the hardwood floors. THere are a handful of spots that have been bothering me, so I set my mind to cleaning them up.

1:00- This was when started thanking Nintendo for coming into my life. Anya asked to play Mario 64 and I was thrilled to oblige. SHe's happy to play it and Baz stands there like he's missing a chromosome watching open-mouthed. I really don't care because it allows me to start cleaning and clean I did......Living room, dining room, hallway, Anya's room. As I was cleaning her room, I hear Baz make an "I'm really hurt sort of cry. I drop my mop and start running. Problem....the floors are wet and my rubber slippers don't have enough traction to fight that. As I turn the corner to the dining room, I feel myself taking flight and begin bracing- this is gonna hurt.....I did manage to catch myself on some furniture (not sure which) and continue on to save my baby. I soon see that he's standing in the middle of the floor and Anya isn't anywhere near him, so this was a frustration cry, not hurt- ack! I'll be feeling that one tomorrow! After I see that he's OK and get Anya settled back in with Mario, I finish mopping the bedrooms - mission accomplished!!! I even find time to grab the vacuum and sweep the area rug in the living room AND Baz's room.

4-ish.....I've now cleaned every floor but the family room (George earlier did our bathroom), kept the kitchen clean, and finished washing and drying the laundry- I see the light at the end of the tunnel! ANya asks me to hold her like she's a newborn baby and watch Wonder Pets- how can I resist? So I have a little quiet cuddle time with her- that was nice. I then realize that I haven't heard Baz in a bit, so I have to check on him. He wasn't doing anything bad, but I bring him in to the family room so I can see him. He now wants to be held, too, so the 3 of us sit on the couch and watch some animal action.

4:30- I now have to get dinner moving, so I chop up the broccoli that Baz has been asking for all day and toss it in the steamer. The turkey tenderloin has been cooking in the crock and is just about done. I set the table and move into the family room to finish the last room to be cleaned. I sweep and mop it up (Baz has finally learned his lesson and stayed on the rug lest he fall on his ass) and tackle the laundry. Once that's folded neatly in piles, I go back into the kitchen to finish dinner- this is easy since it's mostly prepackaged.....Stove Top in the microwave, gravy on the stove, cranberry sauce on a plate....

5:30 George arrives home- Yayyyyyy- reinforcements! As he greets the kids and changes his clothes, I put dinner on the table. Thanks to the promise of a cookie for dessert, Anya agrees to eat all of her dinner. Baz munches away on everything as she eats only the meat and broccoli (what kid doesn't like Stove Top????), but we let her get away with that since she ate the good stuf and she has her cookie.

5:45-6:15- George plays with the kids in the family room as I clean up from dinner and pack up for tomorrow.....I LOVE it when everything is done so that I can rest when the kids are in bed. This doesn't happen often, but it's a good day when it does.

6:15- the kids head for the tubby....Baz pleads for bubbles and opens the drawer where they are kept. I rush back to the bathroom when George lets out a cry of pain. Turns out he didn't know that Baz had opened the drawer and when he went to sit down, his arse made contact with the corner of the drawer- ouchie! After he recovered, I returned to the kitchen to finish packing up and putting away laundry.

6:30- My housework is done!!!! Now I just have to get Baz in bed and I can relax! I take him into his room and he quietly sits as I read Goodnight Moon. He rarely sits still for a book, so I know he's either really tired or really interested (my money is on tired), but it's only good for one book- he has no interest in the Bely Button book. He insists on saying goodnight to Anya and Daddy, so we go in there to kiss them, then back to his room. He makes a move for the toybox, but I grab him and take him in the rocking chair. He doesn't fight as I rock and sing to him. I only have to perform one encore before he was out COLD. (Not surprising...he was up at 5 am and only had less than one hour of his usual 3 hour nap). He did sweetly mumble "baby" followed by "potty" until I put them in bed with him.

7:10- Ahhhhhh..... I sit in my massage chair with my computer on my lap....peanut butter blossom in one hand, white zin in the other..... one interruption by ANya so far....her sleeper jammies were too hot, so she had to have her Dora nightgown instead (has to have outfit changes even in bed!).

Wow- that was long.....and I'm sure there were a bunch of other little things that happened, but that was my day.

Anya has been having a rough time adjusting to being 4. I don't know if it's her birthday or hearing that Baz gets away with some things "because he's a baby" or what, but she's been exhibiting some regressive (is that the right word?) behavior lately. It started with baby talk, which was tolerable, but irritating and escalated to a handful of pee accidents. She's also had a serious of MAJOR tantrums....we're talking full-on screaming, grunting, acting like an animal. Clearly, those stem from control issues, which are typical for her age, but still not fun. Thank goodness for my fellow mommies who are having similar issues and can keep me from worrying!

During the non-tantrum times, she's really developing her imagination. She loves playing dress up (or being naked like animals) and creates the most intricate storylines! This evening, she was being a doggy and had to hide under the piano with her giraffe to avoid the storm that was going on in the rest of the living room. She also plays veterinarian a lot also, even though she INSISTS that she wants to be a dentist when she grows up.

Sebastian has been talking up a storm lately- he's always surprising me with the words and phrases he knows. He's been playing peek-a-boo lately, covering his eyes with his hands and today when he was doing it, I hear him say "Bastian"! Sure enough- he repeated it several more times throughout the day. He's also taken to announcing Anya's kindergarten as we pass it. I've been gearing her up a bit to ease into the idea, so when we pass her school, I'll point it out. Now, as I approach the school from either direction, Baz starts saying "Hi Anya's kindergarten!!!"

He's adopted a baby doll as his new playmate for the past few days. For some reason, he decided that the tiny toilet that goes with Dora's house is the key accessory for this doll. Yesterday, he insisted on taking it into his crib at naptime so he could teach baby how to go potty! This morning he couldn't wait to show Nana his baby and he carried that doll around EVERYWHERE!

Pics from the day

Here are some pics from yesterday:

Christmas in NYC!!!

So I decided to meet my parents with the kids in the city to see the Christmas excitement yesterday. I was fully prepared for traffic, crowds, and keeping a toddler and a preschooler entertained and happy. The trip in was fairly easy- we had no traffic, but a couple of quick stops so Anya could pee in a diaper. I didn't want to lug around the potty chair in the van so we had to improvise, but it worked out OK. The first snag came when I packed the kids into the stroller bundled up to the max so I couldn't hear Anya when she was telling me that she had to pee again. OOPS, bad mommy! What was the result? A full-on accident completely soaking her pants- ugh. I didn't realize this until we had met my parents (as they drove across Broadway and we walked up to that intersection- couldn't have planned that!) and went into Virgil's for lunch. THis brings me to the second snag....our plan was to hit TRU first and ride the Ferris Wheel. TRU was CLOSED.....supposedly, there was a pipe explosion or something- rats! Luckily, the kids were so happy to see GramPapPap that they forgot all about TRU.

Our lunch at Virgils went great- Anya spent half of it wrapped in my coat as I ran out to the Gap to get her new pants (I sported my dad's jacket!)....what parents do for their kids, huh? Baz wouldn't be separated from PapPap. I was a distant second to my dad- even when he tried to go get my mom's coat from their car, Baz insisted on going along.

The next stop was Rockefeller center. By now, the snow was coming down fairly heavily and it really felt like Christmas!!! Baz was maxxing out on the cold and lack of sleep, so after a quick look at the tree and the ice skaters, we stopped in the Nintendo store to warm up. Yep- even on a trip without George, we hung out with Mario!!! We actually had to drag both kids out- if it weren't for the promise of seeing Mickey, I think we'd STILL be at Nintendo!!!

Disney came through with the usual magic.... as we entered the store, Baz popped for the lifesize Goofy statue. Both kids ran gleefully though the store, only getting more excited when they discovered that there was yet another level to explore. Baz went nuts over the stuffed LMQ pillows and ANya zeroed in on the Haunted Mansion Clue game that she decided to use her bday money to buy. As we hung out in this area, I heard an announcement about characters arriving shortly- woohoo!!! As I did my research the day before, I found that Wednesdays were not a usual day for meet and greets, so this was a surprise (or I would have made sure to pack Anya's autograph book- we play autograph session on a daily basis). We then had the pleasure of meeting Santa Goofy and Xmas Chip & Dale. Baz unfortunately is behaving as a toddler and wanted nothing to do with these characters unless we were separated by a pane of glass. A high five warmed him up a bit- I guess we have to practice a bit before our trip!

The ride home was tedious since we hit the peak of rush hour, but the kids handled it well, so it was OK. Anya couldn't open her game fast enough, but I think it'll be a while before she really "gets" it. She threw a massive tantrum at bedtime- this one was a real doozy, but she did eventually break out of it and go to sleep. The aftermath wasn't even bad- she got up with no problem, got ready for my office and school with no drama- yay!!!!

Congrats Meredith!!!

Congratulations to Aunt Meri for getting her Apartment- woohoo!!! I'm so happy you'll finally have your own place! Can't wait to see it in person!!!

Christmas Immersion

So we decked our halls today....the kids helped me find all the xmas decorations in the basement (and organize a bit too) and bring them upstairs. I really have to thank Turbo Jam for getting me in such great shape- I clearly remember being knocked on my ass for a while last year after making so many trips up and down the stairs for the same task! As I was moving books around to make room to move the storage boxes, I came upon George's 8th grade journal- he was not very happy about this, but it made for a half hour of great entertainment!

Anya and I got a little mommy-daughter time to see Enchanted- it was great! SHe did lose interest a bit in the middle, but I think that was because of the live-action part. I was more than happy to sit and watch McDreamy play a real-life prince and get his one true love!
Anya had some issues understanding why Giselle couldn't/wouldn't be with the prince and that McDreamy was her one true love, but she got over it and I think she enjoyed the movie.

We came home and put up the tree (ziggy is what she named him:) ) and decorated it. Anya did great with Daddy,and even made up her own star to go with his on Nan's Nativity set.

A fun Sunday

OK- somebody remind me why Andy Rooney gets a soliloquy at the end of 60 Minutes each week... I KNOW it's CBS, which means that it caters to seniors, but come ON.... to quote a great philosopher (you know who you are) "He makes me want to throw a shoe at the TV"

In case you're wondering, CBS is on in preparation for the Amazing Race- 1 of 2 times that channel is on all week (the other is Mon nights- How I met your mother and Big Bang are really funny shows)

Whew!!!!

Wow, did this week just fly by!!! I last posted on Tuesday....I can't really remember Wednesday- I think it went well. Thursday was super long....work as usual, then George and I went into the city for a concert. At this concert, I realized my "true" age..... I no longer enjoy standing for 2 hours listening to loud music and seeing lots of drunk kids act stupid- go figure. In fact, I was so tired that I spent all of that time standing 10 feet from the bar and only drank a Diet Coke!!! Well, it was a night out with my sweetie AND I missed out on Baz's pukefest (sorry Maureen!). All in all, it worked out well because the kids were easily transported home in the middle of the night. It would have been even nicer if they had slept in a bit, but we all made it through the day.

In case I somehow forget this, I want to note for the record how incredibly awesome it is to have a clean house. Yes, it is slowly accumulating dust and dirt in the cracks and crevices, but overall, it's pretty clean so I just have little cleanups each day. I take a few minutes each day to straighten up and clean up the big messes and work on maintaining it- it's fabulous! I just hope Eva and crew can come back to us once in a while- so very worth the money!

Here comes trouble!!!!

Baz is galloping into the terrible twos, but not because of tantrums. He's just getting curious and mischievous. Over the weekend, we had to start keeping the bathroom doors closed at ALL times. Why? Because his new favorite pastime is using the cup that holds the toilet brush to scoop water out of the toilet and spill it on the floor- eeeeeewwwwwww!!!! He also loves to flush the toilet and unroll the TP, but I can live with those- not the play with the brush and cup- ugh.

We had to break out the drill this morning when he figured out how to close (and lock) Anya's door. For some reason, the little hole in the middle of the handle wouldn't unlock it, so we had to actually take the knob off to get in. Luckily, Baz was happily playing on the other side of the door- that could have been a nailbiter if he was hurt or screaming!

Anya's poops

Anya has lately started telling me what is happening with her poop just prior to its arrival in the toilet. For example, if she has some farts, that means her poop is telling jokes inside her. Last night, her poop was finishing eating its dinner so it wasn't quite ready to come out. I really don't get where this is coming from, but it sure makes potty time interesting!

Preschool video

As promised, here's Anya's musical debut....I got tired of fighting with Movie Maker, so you'll have to skim through if you don't want to watch all 7 minutes of 4 year olds singing!!!

Best TG and Bday ever!!!

I would like to thank everyone who helped us to have the best Thanksgiving and birthday party ever!!! From start to finish, this long weekend was just flawless. As far as I can tell, everyone had a great time at Thanksgiving dinner, Anya's party, and the party at our house!!! I'm working on uploading the pics from the party and maybe some video, too...stay tuned!

"I had a good day"

Anya thoroughly enjoyed her bday....from the moment she woke up until she fell asleep. She loved her Spiderman bike as well as her Princess Wii game, costume, and Color Wonders book. She also loved her blinky Princess cowboy boots- they really are adorable! Her show at school was fun for all of us- including Baz. He loves her classroom and got the chance to play there for over an hour!!! After playing at Nana and Dada's house for a bit, we had some bday 'za and called it a day.

I'm so excited to have the cleaning "crew" come to scrub our house tomorrow- Merry Christmas to me!!!! (and all the people staying here this week- lol!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANYA!!!!!

I can't wait to see you enjoy your special day(s)!!!

4th Birthday eve

Wow- 4 years...how on earth did that happen? It's funny because I remember my mother telling me about what she was doing x years ago on my birthday. After a few years of this, I kinda knew to expect it and almost felt like I remembered being born. Well, I'm definitely falling into the same pattern. I asked Anya several times today "Do you know what I was doing 4 years ago today?" (My labor with her was about 24 hours and she was born at 1:50 am, so most of it was on the 19th). She's very excited about her bday tomorrow, as well as all the festivities in store for the week. Her first round of presents will come in the morning, when she'll see her Spiderman bike and open the gifts we got for her. She'll probably continue to get presents throughout the week as she sees different friends and family members and then the finale will be her party on Sat.

I'm so excited to see her school's Thanksgiving show tomorrow. She gets to introduce a song and I asked her if she'll be too shy to say her line in front of a lot of people and she said yes. I told her I'd wave to her to let her know it's OK and she said that would help. I'm guessing her one little line is going to turn into no little lines when she sees all the people!

Pictures

So now I remember why I haven't taken both kids to get pics together solo since Anya was 6 weeks old. It turned out just fine, but it was a little hairy at Sears when both kids had maxxed out on their good behavior!

We got to the mall just before Santa started so I figured we'd squeeze in a pic with him before our appt, but we were 5th in line and the camera broke after the 3rd kid. Rather than wait forever and learn that it wasn't going to be fixed at all (would be my luck), I left the line to head to Sears. Santa was super-cool and made sure to tell me to wave when we came back and he'd skip us to the front of the line!

Of course, when we got to Sears, they were down a camera, so we had to wait about 20 minutes, but it wasn't bad because the kids happily played with the toys and other kids there. The problems began when I tried to sit Baz down with Anya for some pics. He almost completely refused, making for a very un-fun photo session. We got some nice ones of Anya and I had to sit down with them just to get him in them, but at least it's done. The upside of being alone
with 2 crazy kids was that I got practically no pressure to buy tons of pics, so I didn't end up spending much.

We did get pics with Santa, too. The line was very short so I didn't push my luck trying to cut in front, even though Santa said he'd let us. Of course, Baz screamed, but I fully expected that. Anya happily chatted with Santa and told him what she wanted.

Here are some of our pics from today- don't be surprised if any show up in a Christmas card!

Spiderman Bike

So we've decided that Anya wants/needs a bike for her 4th bday. We show her some circular with a lot of kids' bikes in it and what does she focus on? Spiderman. Hmmmm...now I really don't want to impose gender stereotypes on her, but Spiderman? In a year or two, she's going to realize the difference between boys and girls bikes and be REALLY unhappy that she has a boy's bike. OTOH, if she's set on Spiderman this year and she doesn't get it, she'll be devastated. And I can't get her to change her mind for anything- she won't even look at bikes in the store (she insists on her Spiderman bike...period). Ideas anyone?????

Let the holidays begin!!!!

With one short week to Anya's birthday, it really feels like the whole holiday season is about to begin. First is her bday and her school's Thanksgving show on the same day, followed by the real turkey day on Thurs. Then, her party on Sat. Not too long after that is Christmas and New Years. THEN, we get Disney.....wahoo!!!! Of course, I haven't done any shopping yet, but I'm not worried about that- even if I had bought something for everyone already, I'm sure I'd still keep buying things, so this is really a money-saving task!

We had an Operation emergency today....the game is being kept in Baz's room, which was where I happened to be reading bedtime stories to ANya tonight. Luckily, George had just come home, but was in the midst of emptying his bladder when Baz made the mistake of trying out the game. He lifted up the lid, at which point Anya began covering her ears and clutching me for deal life. He then managed to pick up the tweezer thing and touch it to one of the sensors. He then remembered HIS mortal terror and ran away like lightening. The problem here was that the tweezer fell in a position that it was propped up in one of the little slots as the buzzer went off. There was no way I was getting up to extract it, so the 3 of us were calling for George to come save us. Thankfully, he came to our rescue pretty quickly, but it was touch and go there for a bit! I'm hoping that was enough to teach Baz that he hates that game and to leave it alone. Anya seriously freaks out when the game is even mentioned!

Operation

For some reason, George dug out our Operation game this weekend. Anya, who fears nothing, is TERRFIED of this game. It's really amusing because Baz is curious about it and ran around saying "ocean" every 15-20 minutes. Once we opened up the game and set off the horrible buzzer, he immediately said "all done" and ran away. Anya won't be anywhere near the game at all....if it's in BAz's room, she's in the family room. It's so funny to see this kid who's afraid of nothing be so completely terrified by a silly game!

4:30am

I can't muster up much to post today- Baz was up at 4:30 for the day. I let him cry for close to a half hour and tried to fake him out in his room, but he was just not having it. Once I gave in and let him play, he was happy as a clam. Of course, HE got to take a 3 hour nap today.....I got to go to work, do a little shopping, unload from the day, make dinner, make beds, put away laundry, clean up from dinner, bathe the kids, and pack up for tomorrow. I'll be surprised if I make it to 8pm! Thank you Prison Break for becoming stale- I won't feel bad about sleeping through it!

Welcome home Zac!!!

We've known that Zac would be coming to live with my parents, but we thought it woudn't be for a few more weeks, but he was discharged today and is en route to the Poconos as I type! I know the whole family is so excited to have you around regularly now! I hope your trip out and transition to new living quarters goes smoothly, but I imagine after spending so much time in the hospital, anything will be nice, right? We all are excited to see you this coming week as well, but don't expect to rest- these kids are busy!

Preschool woes

Today, Anya had an "incident" at school. Not big enough for a call or anything, but when I picked her up, her teacher told me that another kid put her "in jail" and that she cried for quite a while. Now, this teacher is nice enough, but seems to be lacking a bit in that uber-sweet quality that most PS teachers have. No biggie usually- Anya doesn't seem to mind and the assistant definitely DOES have that quality and makes up for the teacher. So Anya's version was that the kid pushed her into the block basket and held the lid down. She started crying and once she got out of the basket, she was afraid of the other kids in the class. It's hard to get a great idea of what happened, but by bedtime tonight, she was already talking about her friends at school (including the one who trapped her) so hopefully that's the end of that!

On a better note, I got several RSVP's for her party- all yesses!! I'm so excited for her and I hope she's having a good day for the party so she can really enjoy it. Also, we have to pay for 12 kids minimum, so the closest we get to that, the happier I am!

Forehead kisses

Both kids are very affectionate- Anya insists on hugging and kissing almost everyone when we come or go- but Baz has picked up on forehead kisses. He hasn't gotten the whole puckering thing yet, so his kisses are a wide-open mouth, usually with lots of drool, so it's a good thing that he now wants the top of my head to kiss! He loves to hug, too and usually puts his head right on my shoulder as soon as I pick him up.

Fun day

Today was just a fun day. After crashing SUPER early last night and only having to get up once with Baz, I didn't have to get out of bed until almost 6am! I first heard him fussing around 5:30, but since it wasn't terrible screaming, I ignored it as best I could until 6. In my pre-mommy days, 6am would NOT have been a great wakeup time, but now I'm thrilled with it! Both kids woke up happy and cooperative and George even let me get my workout in before he left. I'm such a happy camper when I can get my exercise over with early- I can then really start my day (coffee, etc- if I eat or drink prior to exercise, it's barf-city).

Before lunch, I managed to plan the rest of the day, do the usual cleanup stuff (empty dishwasher, fold laundry, make beds, pick up toys), organize the kitchen drawers AND shelves (this has been bothering me for weeks) and deal with the papers, etc (has also been nagging me). Once Baz went down for a nap, I had time to read stories to Anya, play with her a bit, and even take a shower!!!

We had a nice trip to the park after lunch (although it was cooooooold) and both kids played with the 2 little girls brave enough to endure the nippy wind. Dinner, bath, and bed also went smoothly. It was just a nice day and I felt like I accomplished all of my goals and even had a little time for myself.

I am no longer a fan of "falling back". I used to look forward to the extra hour of sleep...no longer. Today was day 3 of Baz getting up at 5:00am. I swear these kids have little clocks ticking in their brains- as soon as I hear him calling me, I look at the clock and it's 5:00 on the dot! Anya does the same thing, but thankfully it's usually 6:00 or even 7:00. I think it's daddy's turn to get up with him tomorrow- this is enough already!

Eureka!!!!

After weeks and weeks of spending Anya's entire swimming lesson chasing Baz around and around the waiting area, I finally figured out the trick. I took George's recommendation (yes, I am giving you credit for this one!) and brought in the portable DVD player. Not only did I not have to chase him one bit, but I didn't even unbuckle the stroller seatbelt!!! I think I made another mom's day too since her DD joined us in watching Little Einsteins so we all sat quietly. Once again, I know that one time does not a pattern make, so I'm just going to enjoy the relaxing swimming lesson I had tonight.

In fact, there must have been some good karma floating around me all evening because Anya "toned down the crazy" and was a pleasure to be around. She's been incredibly difficult for the past few days- testing our boundaries and limits on EVERYTHING and it's getting old. I was not looking forward to an evening of chasing Baz around saf-t-swim followed by feeding, bathing, and wrangling 2 kids by myself and I was so wrong. They cooperated- both ate well, got in and out of the tub, got dressed, and listened to stories without a peep!

Now if only Baz would adjust to Daylight savings- I tried to let him CIO it bit when he was up at 5am, hoping that maybe he'd go back down. I have to give in after 15-20 minutes when he got so desperate to get out of his crib that he stopped calling for mommy and daddy and just called
"Anya, Anya, Anya" over and over.

Happy Birthday Uncle Donovan!!!

We all hope you're enjoying your birthday Don!!!! Enjoy your visit to the Poconos! We're looking forward to seeing you for Turkey day!!!!!

Fun day out!

The kids have been cooped up for the past 2 days (more or less) so I knew we had to take them out today top burn off some steam. The problem was that the weather today was miserable and we have negged the indoor park for a while after Anya's horrible tantrum last week. So where can we take 2 small children to run around inside for a couple of hours? The answer is Dave and Buster's. And it worked out fabulously! We first went to the arcade and played games (and looked at the bright lights) for a while, then hit the restaurant. Our timing was spot on.... we had no wait at all,but shortly after we had ordered, ALL of the tables filled up.

Moments after sitting down, Baz started his usual antics- running around and doing anything but sitting. After 4 years of parenting, I finally came up with a great restaurant activity. They have these giant paper cups to hold your tickets, so I dumped out our tickets and had George empty his pockets. Our newly made up game of "Put the change in the cup" kept Baz happy for quite a while. When he tired of that, we played "put the sugar packets in the cup"...I added some sound effects and it kept him busy until the food came! Forget the crayons and DVD players, etc.... we'll be sticking with "move a bunch of small objects into a container" game from now on!!!

All of us ate together (in fact, Baz took the longest to finish eating) and we headed back to the arcade to finish off our tokens. I'm still amazed at how great a time we all had and how pleasant the kids were. It really helps me to see what the post-infant and toddler times will be like and look forward to having kids that we can relate to. Not that I'm wishing away the baby time- that has its own joys- but there are definitely lots of fun times to come!

Congratulations Zac!!!!

Yesterday was a very momentous day for our close friend Zac. After several years of having an esophagus completely closed by blisters from Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), Zac's had a successful dilatation and was able to drink a can of ginger ale!!! Hopefully this is the end of tube feedings and the beginning of a somewhat normal diet! Shortly after discharge from the hospital, Zac will be moving in with my parents and will be around for our family functions! We can't wait to see you again!!!

Anya's loves

It seems that Anya has several "princes" already. She and Carter have been best buds since she started at Colleen's and now there's Dylan. I've been told by Dylan's mom and grandma that she is a very popular topic in their house! Of course, when I asked Anya about her boyfriends today, she denied having any. Those boys are just her friends, but someday she'll marry her prince (who she hasn't met yet). Go Anya!!!

Siblings

It really is heartwarming to see how close Anya and Baz are becoming. Thursdays when my parents are here are a weird change from the norm because Anya comes with me so she can go to school while he stays at home. This leaves Anya and I with an empty seat in the van, which is jsut kinda odd. I imagine it's weird for him to have the house to himself, too. In fact, he woke up VERY upset that neither mommy,daddy, or Anya was there. My mom said that he actually put his arms down from the "pick me up" position when she went in to him after his nap when he "only" got Grandma! He got over if pretty quickly, but shows how important we are to him! On the ride home, I was talking to my mom and Anya asked for the phone. She didn't want to talk to Grandma or Pap-Pap, but her baby brother! She started baby-talk and asking "do you miss me Bean"? and reassuring him that she'd be home soon.

Anya told George that someday Baz would be her prince and they would be married-ummmm, she's gonna regret saying that someday!!! They are very affectionate with each other, too. They're generous with the hugs and kisses in general, but they eagerly offer each other kisses before bed, naps, etc.

Yay Halloween!!!

We had a fantastic Halloween week...I already posted about our first attempt at trick or treating, but the subsequent attempts more than made up for that failure. Monday was fun because when we visited Sandee's house, Kayci came with Keila and Anya had a ball playing with her. Tuesday was costume party day at school. Anya wore her Cinderella bunny outfit and had a blast playing with her friends at school.
After school, we dressed up for Trick or Treat Street at the local high school. Anya continued with Cinderella bunny and Baz became Eeyore. The HS kids clearly had fun decorating the classrooms in different themes and made it a fun time for the little ones. Baz was pretty confused by the dark halls and flashing lights, but didn't get scared! They also had a "haunted house" which was very tame, but Miss Scared-by-Nothing was terrified of the "trapdoors" on the floor. These trapdoors were just pieces of cardboard duct-taped to the floor, but they sure scared her! They even had facepainting, so it was most definitely a hit!

Wednesday brought GramPapPap and Halloween! We had significantly fewer T or T ers than usual and they started later than usual. Anya insisted that we all join in the festivities, so all of us put on our costumes and went trick or treating. This only consisted of our cul-de-sac and the adjacent street, but there was plenty of candy in their bags!

Anya distinctly remembered the "skeleton house" from last year. This was a house with a small plastic skeleton that talked and lit up when you went near. Why this scared her, I have no idea, but until we actually went up to that house and she saw just how benign the skeleton was, she got over it quickly!

Baz also took a little time to warm up to Pap pap once his face was painted. He never cried or ran away, but he refused to go to him and wanted to be nowhere near him. I have to admit- with the hat, cape, and face painting, he did look a little scary! After a while, Baz got over it and saw how silly we all looked and he did warm up to Pap pap.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with all of this candy!

Remote found

So we had the cablevision tech here yesterday to fix our On Demand, which he easily did. I mention this because shortly after left was the last time I remember using the remote. I put new batteries in it and put on Yo Gabba Gabba's (or Yo Gumma Gumma as Anya says it) Halloween special. We went back to our daily routine (or lack thereof) and I didn't even think of that remote since we usually use the Tivo one. I only needed the cable one for On Demand. Well, the reason we even called cablevision was so George could watch wrestling on demand and now that it was fixed, he wanted to watch it. We spent a short time looking for it last night with no luck. After our T or Ting debacle today, we spent quite a while looking this afternoon. We managed to get several trouble areas in our house organized, but no remote.

So we finally realized we had to do what neither of us wanted, but had to do....tackle the garbage. It paid off.... Baz LOVES putting things in the garbage and apparently he must have put the remote in, too. Luckily, it was in the second bag we checked and we didn't really get too dirty! Mission COMPLETION!!!!

Curses and drats!!!

Our day started out great- Baz actually slept until 6:45 am and woke up chanting "daddy, daddy, daddy" and to my delight, Daddy actually responded when I elbowed him. I got to sleep until 8am!!! Woohoo!!! Of course, I was up for a while with Baz in the middle of the night, but I'm pretty sure I slept from 2am until 8- that's 6 hours straight!

We successfully packed and loaded the kids up and dropped them off with Nana and Dada in time to make Harriet's funeral. Of course, our condolences go out to that entire family- she was a wonderful and strong woman and she will be sorely missed. George and I then enjoyed a child-free breaky (ruining my chance of repeating my goal weight that I reached today- yay!!!!) and went to pick up the kids.

I read in the paper this morning that Stony Brook was having trick or treating in their historic town as they did 2 years ago, when we took Anya. Anya absolutely insisted that George and I dress up and since the last time we went, many of the parents were dressed as well, so we agreed. Unfortunately, the listing I read was only for the scarecrow exhibits in the town- T or T ing was only at the museum down the street. So we amused the handful of people wandering about the town and let the kids look at the scarecrows before loading back into the van. Amazingly, Anya wasn't too upset about not getting to T or T today- I think she's just happy to have any dress-up opportunity. And she really did look cute as Cinderella bunny!

Licking- eeewwwwwwww

It becomes very apparent after spending even a little time with Anya that she likes acting and pretending to be someone (or something) she isn't. SHe's always liked pretending she's some animal or another and that game is still quite popular. So yesterday, she and Baz are playing together (yayyyyy!!!!!) and I hear silence, then giggles. Again, silence followed by giggles. OK- I'll bite- what are they doing? Turns out Anya is playing kitty and is covering Baz's face with sloppy kitty kisses. Yuck! But you know what....they're both happy, so I let it go on. Except for Anya's slobber all over his face, it really is a cute game. I'm sure they'll love reading about this in years to come and get grossed out, but whatever.

As requested, we took the kids to the "indoor park" this afternoon. After being cooped up all day,they needed a little running around and it started out great. Of course they split in different directions (Baz has now started that little squeal of glee that Anya used to do when we put him down and he realizes what's ahead of him), so George followed him and I got Anya. I definitely got the better end of that deal. Baz is adorable and sweet, but he's 18 months old so all he wants to do is run run run. Anya is now old enough to navigate the entire place- get to the high places and ride the big slides. She also has the common sense (and instruction) to move out of the way as the sweaty, crazed 10 year olds tore through the place, taking out any smaller kids in their way. I really get upset when we go on busy Sat or Sun afternoons when there are so many bigger kids taking over the place and ruining it for the smaller kids. There are plenty of places for those kids to play and really they just have to be told to calm down a notch.

Our trip ended abruptly when Anya decided she HAD to have a soft pretzel before we left. George and I both said no since we planned on going out to dinner. When she asked nicely, George agreed to get one wrapped up for later, but when he wouldn't carry her to the counter, she started again. By the time I got Baz with me and met up with George, she was in the midst of an all-out spinner. Yep, we were THOSE parents carrying our screaming, thrashing kid out the door. She got so worked up that it took both of us a looooong time to calm her down enough to get into the van. We had to threaten starting to drive just to coerce her into her seat. (Lou and Lou's saftely patrol prevailed- she freaked out when the van started moving and she wasn't in her seat!). We stopped and got pizza instead and had an uneventful bedtime, thankfully. She promised to sleep in tomorrow- 7 or later.....here's hoping!!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!!

Today is Grandma's birthday!! Unfortunately, she has to work, but I hope she has a nice dinner and gets to relax a bit before work tomorrow. We're all looking forward to seeing both Grandma and Pap Pap this week for Halloween!!!

Anya's future

As we were driving home today Anya started telling me about what life will be like when she has her family. She has meltdowns if/when we talk about her growing up and living on her own, so I let her think she'll want to live with us forever. Today, her plan was to build an addition on to our current house, and she'd "let" George and I live there with her. And her 6 kids!!! She went on to describe her train-car type of van that would have to be "very big" so she'd have room for all of her carseats to keep her kids safe!

When I asked her what her kids' names would be, she responded "Wouldn't they just know what their names are?" When I informed her that it would be her (and the daddy's) responsbility to come up with names, she decided to let me help her with that one. And I've already been volunteered for babysitting...we all know she's going to be a dentist, so she'll need help with these kids. She didn't have to think at ALL about who would watch her kids when she works. She yelled and pointed at me "YOU". Well, as long as I can give them back to her at the end of the day, I think I could handle 6 grandkids!

Could it be???

I know better than to count on ANYTHING and also not to push things, but I think Baz might be starting to potty train!! We've always thought that he'd be easier since he's never liked a wet or dirty dipe (unlike his sister who refused to stop whatever she was doing to be changed) and sometimes he even waits to have a clean diaper to poop. Well, lately he's tried sitting on Anya's potty chair and syang "poop", but when I take his diaper off, nothing happens.

Yesterday as I was getting him into the tub, he asked to sit on the potty so I put him on and guess what happened.....he PEED!!! Anya and I started yelling and screaming so much- he didn't know what to do. He did get a super-proud grin on his face and clearly knew he had done something good. He asked to go in the tub then and a couple of times he asked to sit on the potty and peed a little each time. I tried a couple of times during the day today with no results, but this evening he did the same as last night.

We'll see what tomorrow brings!!!

The upside of the day...Baz finally has a cool forehead. Not that it's been super-hot, but he has been running a low-grade fever for several days and it was such a treat to feel it and not debate whether or not I should break out the rectal thermometer.

The downside....Anya was in full 4 year-old diva mode all.day.long. And Baz is dealing with more teething and the onset of a cold so he was uber-clingy all day as well. They both had issues last night so I was tired from wake-up. Then he refused his morning nap and screamed every time we tried to put him down- not the usual for him. When he finally settled down, we had a mere hour of peace before he was up again- definitely not enough sleep- ugh! Mind you- since we are a working family, we don't have a whole day to just hang out and enjoy being a family- we (I) get to run around all day cleaning and organizing from the past week and trying to prepare for the coming week. So, from 6-ish am until 7-ish pm I spent my "day off" tending to one screaming child or the other, interrupted by frantic cleaning, cooking, and 53 minutes "burning it up". We did have a nice time at the park- what a treat it is to have daddy there so I only had to worry about chasing one kid at a time. We had a nice visit with Nana and Dada and their friends, but of course the second they left, the kids reverted to "parental" mode.

Why is the irony of life such that when we're young, we can't afford to hire people for the daily household stuff so we have to cram it in WITH childrearing. When we're older and have no kids to worry about, we'll probably have a cleaning person, landscaper, etc and have so much time on our hands we don't know what to do with it. (I realize that this is overstating a bit, but you get my drift). I'm really curious to see what future me thinks when I read this in 20 years....hopefully I'm not still crazily cleaning the house to keep it barely passable each SUnday!

OK- off to start another week!

Movie time!!

So I won the mommy/daddy lotto today and got to take ANya to see NIghtmare Before Christmas. The second I walked in the door from work this afternoon, she was all over me, begging me to take her to the the-A-ter for the movie. I felt bad because George is the one who introduced NBX to her (against my protests), but since she went with him last year, she wanted to go with me this year! It was so cool to go with her- she's like a little person now- we could chat and hang out before the movie started. She sat happily through the movie- thrilled that the 3-D glasses fit her now that she's not a "little person" anymore! I was happy that there were a good number of small children in the theater besides us- we're not the only crazies that are letting our precious offspring watch Tim Burton's darkness.

Anya and I then went to the grocery store and it was such a treat to tour the store with her.

As I write this, George is trying on his Jack costume- I slipped and told her what his costume is (thinking he already told her) and she's giggling with glee. It does look really cool- yay Disney for putting their Halloween costumes on 50% sales!!!!

Restaurants

I'm putting this in here as a future note for myself, in case it's ever relevant. 18 months is a TERRIBLE age for eating at a restaurant. Anya was difficult from birth. Until lately, George and I spent every single dinner out taking turns inhaling our food as the other entertained our princess. Baz was an angel until the past few months. We could take him anywhere and he was easily distracted with toys, etc until his food came. By the end of the meal, we did end up doing laps around the tables, but it wasn't such a big deal. Lately, we get a minute period when he'll sit happily and that's it. After that's up, we're back to chasing a toddler around the restaurant. Add to it that Anya wants a piece of the fun, so she joins the parade. The result is a rushed meal with 2 aggravated parents wishing we had just ordered in. I'll try to remember to notate when this period ends, but I'm not anticipating it anytime soon.

The dancin' duo

Guess what we'll be doing this weekend? As a matter of fact, Anya has already seen Jack in the theater (thee-ayyy-ter as she says it :) ), but she's still excited to see her favorite movie on the big screen. SHe's going to be so excited when she sees the Jack costume that George bought half off at the Disney store yesterday!

She spent most of her pukefest being entertained by Beetlejuice. She spent the entire car ride to school yesterday bellowing "Day-o" the whole way. After a while, Baz joined in- it was a riot!

Whew!

I almost hesitate to say it because who really know when the craziness ends, but this week has been HARD. I was so worried about last week with all the extra activities, etc and no granparents for backup, but this week was the real problem. Anya has made a full recovery- in true toddler style, she transformed almost immediately from puking barfmonster to happy-go-lucky kid. I truly wish I could turn around so quickly, but I'm glad for her. Everything worked out very nicely- my TUes schedule wasn't too bad because of the field trip, so I didn't miss too many patients to stay home with the kids. Both of them slept for the morning, so I was able to clean up the horror that our house was becoming. I think this is a type of "fight or flight" response for me because I rarely escape whatever tummy bug enters our house and as bad as the puking is- it's made SO SO SO much worse by puking in a toilet in a dirty bathroom and looking at dirt and messes. So I cleaned all the major spots in preparation for my inevitable puke-fest and am so thilled that I have escaped so far!!!

The other part of things is that Anya's school had 2 days of field trips- one for the Tu-Th kids and one for the MWF kids, so her teacher said that if she was better, she could come in on Wed am for school and join that group for the field trip. THis was perfect because my parents met us near the farm for lunch, then joined us for the trip. We had a hayride with pumpkin picking, a petting zoo, train ride, and lots of playhouses and gyms. All of us had a fantastic time so I'm glad Anya didn't have to miss it.

I'm still recovering from the stress of her sickness...her past pukies have often lasted for days and days, so the prospect of dealing with several days of barfing was not pleasant. I also had visions of Baz puking and trying to chase/corral both kids in between my own trips to the bathroom. I am VERY pleased that it ended with Anya, but it seems that my neck and shoulders have not gotten the memo so I have to find a way to settle them down!

Puke, puke, and more puke

The result of Anya's fingers in her mouth (or so we think) was the pukefest that began yesterday morning. Based on her previous history of motionsickness, I figured that she was carsick when she threw up on the way to Colleen's. Colleen is aware of this as well and happily agreed to keep Anya (after I changed her, of course). So I spent the morning running back and forth from the laundromat to wash and dry the carseat cover and scrubbing the straps and buckles in my office. Thanks to ANya's stomach, I've gotten quite good at cleaning all the nooks and crannies!

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of the story as she resumed puking last night.....and then this morning...... She missed school and her field trip and I had to cancel work (which luckily wasn't too bad because of the field trip). It was a long day since I had no idea just how long this bug would last- I think our last episode was the one that ended in the ER with iv fluids and Zofran. Oh yeah, and pre-ecclampsia for me! (ALthough I don't think that's right- it can't be 18 mos since our last tummy bug). Anyway, besides worrying about keeping up on her fluids, I'm worrying about keeping Baz from getting it and counting the minutes until George and I get it. So far so good, although I've been fairly queasy for most of the day- I'm hoping that's just psychological.

The nice thing is that ANya's teacher said she can come to school tomorrow if she's feeling OK and that we can go to the field trip with the MWF kids- yay!!! I know this is good news for Grandma and Pap-Pap because it means they can go too! Now to make sure the sickies stay away from the rest of us! I've also heard lots of people talk about the current bug going around having a relapsing-remitting pattern where your symptoms subside for a day or two and then return. I truly hope this doesn't happen!

I knew Anya was back to her usual self this evening when she started fighting Baz at storytime. She chose his big book of trucks and vehicles to read and then struggled with him as he turned the pages back to see his favorites. After telling her twice to stop fighting that we would manage to read the whole book, she pushed the cardboard page really hard so that it hit Baz in the face. I took the book away and told her that was the end of that book and the tantrum commenced. I remained firm and watched as Baz stared at her bemusedly. She finally backed away from her door so I could let him out and he marched into his room. I picked up his sippy and sat in the rocker with him as Anya continued with her spinner. Apparently Baz had had enough of her screaming because he slid off of my lap, walked over to his door, closed it, and came back to me. It really was comical!

Anya stopped her screaming long enough to give Baz a kiss (I know- the germs....but she INSISTED and they always give each other goodnight kisses), then began again when I closed his door. It finally ended when I said firmly "I said no and that's what I mean". Not that I wasn't firm before that, but for some reason it worked! She turned off the drama and we finished our bedtime routine sans incident!

We could use some good thoughts that the sickies stay away if anyone has some spares!!!

Museum of Natural History

So we decided to take the kids into the city to meet up with Aunt Meri on Sunday. We opted for the train, which I'm not sure was the best idea, but it worked out OK. Going in was fine- the trains were pretty empty on a Sunday morning so we were able to walk Baz around. Since he wasn't strapped into his carseat he wanted to MOVE! The other issue was that the restrooms were every other car- a problem for a 3 year old bladder! We made it though and enjoyed some nice scenery from the train. We had dinner in a BBQ place with Aunt Meri and Baz was great! He's usually a good kid, but like most toddlers, he doesn't want to sit still. Luckily, he was happy to sit in Aunt Meri's lap while mommy got to eat!

After lunch, we headed to the subway to get to the museum. I had never been there and boy howdy is that a huge museum!!! I can see how being forced to look at and read about each exhibit could become tedious, but the toddler-ized version was loads of fun. We visited the Butterfly exhibit and saw some pretty neat looking butterflies. We even saw a birth- it was cool to see its wings open up.

I was amazed at how well both kids did with the space show- I didn't know that's what we were seeing until we walked into the theater so I didn't have time to worry about it, which was good. Baz was maxxing out on awake time, but once the stars came out, he laid back against George and watched away. Anya was amazed by the whole show and happily sat still through the whole thing. The only time she commented was when the announcer said "Maybe someday one of you will become an astronaut". She immediately told me "But I want to be a DENTIST!!!"

Of course, the trains home Sunday evening were packed, so we had to camp out in Penn Station to await the track assignment for our train. We competed quite well in the mad dash down the stairs to wait AGAIN for the train to arrive despite the fact that we had a double stroller and 2 toddlers in tow! I was proud of myself for getting a good spot on the train as well- it was standing room only and I would have NOT been a happy camper trying to keep a sleep-deprived toddler under control while carrying several bags, a stroller AND standing the whole time!

If only Anya had listened to George about not sticking her fingers in her mouth ALL-EFFING-DAY.... He even had a discussion specifically about that as we sat on the floor in Penn Station waiting for the train and she still put her fingers in her mouth. Which leads me to my next post......

Crab bisque....

So I made my very first ever batch of crab soup for Anya today- it was less than appealing to me and Anya really didn't take to it, but I'll try again. I wasn't able to find "fish stock", so I settled on clam base and it came out pretty fishy. Next time I'll use chicken stock and I think it'll be fine.

Thanks to George and Maureen, I enjoyed a lovely massage today. This therapist was very nice and friendly, but not nearly as aggressive as the ones I've had before so I don't think I'll go back to her, but it was fantastic to just lay back with my neck and knees supported and R-E-L-A-X.

Baz is still waking up several times a night, so I feel like a zombie, but this has to end sometime, right? Anya did eventually start sleeping through...he's gotta follow he path soon!

I just realized that we made it through the week from hell.....an extra swimming lesson, long days/nights for George, rearranged office hours for field trip, pediatrician appt (5 shots total between the kids), rescheduled day due to postponed field trip, and Sat with babysitter (who happened to be sick so her wonderful mom filled in!!!!). Go team!!! I'm so looking forward to my parents' visit this week and George and Maureen coming home.

Busy Friday

Today was a but crazy,but mostly fun. It's so nice that the kids are starting to play together- it frees me up a bit. We discovered a playtime at the library- there's a room off of the kids area that's filled with toys, so both of them were in heaven! THere were only 2 other kids today, but I'm sure it'll be more fun if/when there are more. We had an uneventful trip to BJ's and spent the rest of the day playing. Of course, we had to visit the pumpkin when we came home- we have the most loved pumpkin in NY!!!!

Anya's new food interest is crab bisque,which is remarkably hard to find,so I bought some crabmeat and I'm going to have a go at making some soup tomorrow. She had better like it, because Baz and I aren't going to go there!

Baz had his first real exposure to Star Wars today. He's had the plates hanging in his room for a while and of course, there's a box of figures in the family room, but he's starting to understand that they all go together. George put on Jedi today and he went nuts for Darth Vader and Jabba. He was transfixed and sat still for a VERY long time just watching. I guess Lucasfilm got him with the "secret chip" too....ugh.

Time to myself???

After rearranging my entire week (moving my Thurs afternoon patients to Wed morning) so I could take Anya to her field trip, it was postponed until Tues because of the weather. Ugh....irritating, but the upside was that after seeing the patients for Tues today, I was still finished about an hour and a half before Anya was due to get out of school. Ummmm...ok,
what to do with that time? I can't remember the last time I had a chunk of time without kids OR work- it was weird! I got myself a nice big pumpkin latte and headed to Michael's. After buying the supplies for Anya;s project, I headed over to the car wash. Oh, our van was soooooo happy! They did a great job- of course, I looked like an idiot getting the car washed as the raindrops started falling, but it's been MONTHS and it's still better than not doing it at all.

Colleen met me at the school with Baz who really loves going to pick Anya up. He chants "Anya....school.....Anya....school" over and over and over. They both start playing in the playroom across from her room and it's getting harder and harder to get them out of the school. He starts going boneless to escape my grip and she starts asking me to pick her up.

My cutie patootie!

So we finally are getting some chilly weather and ANya can wear the clothes daddy bought her for school. In addition, she decided last night to put her hair in pigtails for bed and she kept them in for school today! Here's our adorable little (?) girl:
Sorry about the graininess- I'm still learning my new camera and I'm bummed myself! EVERYWHERE we went today, she got comment upon comment about how great she looked. I think it helped because she had a perfect day- zero timeouts, hardly any reprimands at all! She behaved like an angel- woohoo!!! Of course, she still hasn't gone to bed, but how bad can that be (insert sarcasm here, of course!)

We have our first school project next week!!! Anya, by virtue of having the only first name starting with "A", is the first "Star of the Week". THis means that we have to put together a poster collage with pics of her favorite things- family, etc. I'm excited to do it, but I think it'll be tough to find and print out the pics she wants. I bought some posterboard today and some neato glitter construction paper to matte the pics. Hopefully daddy will add his creative instincts since mommy is lacking in the artistic field!

Thanks!!!!

I'd like to thank my friend Erika for her artistic help with my blog. I've tried to jazz it up a bit, but the HTML coding is beyond me, so I really appreciate your help Erika!!!!

Mommy of the day award

So it appears that I have to realize that Baz can now speak. When he woke up from his afternoon nap (yippee on the nap!), he was cranky and fussy. This is no surprise- he usually is for a little while until he totally wakes up- but it lasted a little longer than usual and was worse than usual. So he keeps saying "soup" over and over, or so I think. Genius mommy puts him in his highchair and feeds him his dinner and he sorta settles down, but continues to repeat "soup". Bathtime comes and I take his clothes off and realize something..... he wasn't saying soup....he was saying POOP! THe poor kid has been running around with a poop-filled diaper since he woke up from his nap. No wonder he was so cranky! Ack- mommy of the day here.

We had a peds appt today- Anya had a flu shot which she didn't feel a bit- yay! I had Colleen put on some EMLA about an hour earlier, so I'm sure that helped. I'm just glad I didn't have to deal with shot-related drama!

Baz is holding his stats- 50-75th percentiles for length and head circumference and 15-25th for weight. He went up a tiny bit on the chart, so that was nice! He had 4 shots which he definitely didn't like, but he was quickly back to running around the office like a maniac and blowing kisses at the doctor!

Storytime with Anya

Lately, I've tried sharing my dreams (when I'm lucky enough to sleep long enough to have one) with Anya. I don't go into great detail, but I'll tell her the general gist of the dream. I wasn't really looking for anything in return, but it has inspired her to tell me about her dreams. Of course, they tend to follow along the storylines of her favorite books, but she adds in her editorial notes and it's really interesting.

Tonight, she told me about her dream that paralleled "The Wolves in the Walls" She wasn't scared in the least, but really seemed to enjoy her "dream". She always tells me she's going to have a nightmare in the hopes of getting me to lay down with her for longer, but it doesn't work anymore. SHe went out like a light tonight, so I'm hoping she's in a good mood tomorrow....she has school, so I know she'll be happy!

Of course, my kids have to play with my mind and always keep me guessing....after figuring that the bliss of 2 naps was over and even trying to adapt to one nap (for a day), Baz decided to take 2 naps today. Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT complaining....just confused, and happily so! I've also realized that there are a tremendously huge number of variables controlling sleep. Why did he sleep ALL night long 2 nights ago, but was up at least 4 times last night? What was different? Number and length of daytime naps, morning wakeup time, amount and type of food eaten for dinner, bedtime, warmth of room/jammies, ambient noise, etc, etc, etc. I'm embarrassed to say that I have resorted to giving him a cup of milk in bed....in my defense, this began in the midst of his molars coming in (they're almost all in now), but he clearly requests his "ilk" if I try to leave without giving it to him. Once we get into a better pattern, I'll break him of that, but I really need to get a couple of nights of good sleep before I can consider it.

He's also adjusted to Colleen very well...the past few times when I've dropped him off, he's screamed and reached for me as I leave. Today, I put him down and he ran in the door and started looking for the toys he knows now- yay!!! She told me that he didn't cry one bit after I left- woohoo!!! This definitely alleviates some of my mommy guilt, not that I feel much about leaving him there- he's always happily playing when I pick him up.

Anya had swimming today- it feels like forever since we've been there- last week was cancelled due to a "poop incident" and the week before we were away. But we get a bonus this week because her teacher had an opening for tomorrow so we can make up last week's lesson then. t just further complicates an already crazy week- 2 swimming lessons, 2 days of school (one with a field trip), a ped visit, and an extra day of work for me (to accomodate the field trip). She's so cute with her teacher- she's generous with her hugs and kisses (as she is with everyone).