The Wiggles

George, Maureen and I took the kids to see the Wiggles today and we all had a fantastic time. The show was great- a lot of fun for the adults as well as the kids! The Wiggles seemed to really enjoy what they were doing and appeared to have fun with their performance. They included the audience as much as possible. Anya didn't get up and dance, but was happy to sit on a lap or in her seat and follow along. Baz was entranced from the moment we arrived and they were showing video clips on the big screens. He went nuts for the ducks and Wags and kept getting up and down from his seat to dance and point. I was worried that he'd get bored and make this a difficult experience, but he loved every moment. Hopefully that carries over to Disney as he approaches the terrible two's! Dinner afterward was a little more challenging....both kids were wired from the show and had no interest in eating or sitting still, so the 3 grownups took turns entertaining them as the others ate (thanks Maureen!) and it turned out OK. I'm really hoping that they sleep tonight- I've got a really sore throat and they were up 78907689763786 times last night so I could use some rest! I'll add more tomorrow if I can- gotta rest now.

The Beach

We took a trip to the beach yesterday with Uncle Dimpy and Aunt Meri and had a ball! We didn't get there until around 3pm, but it was perfect...both kids napped on the way home from Nana and Dada's house and some of the way to the beach, so they were fairly well rested. Once we got there, any crowds had left so the beach was empty. The sun even cooperated and hid behind the clouds so we could see. Once I convinced Anya that she'd have much more fun in her bathing suit, we all went into the water and played in the waves for a bit. Once that got old, we started creating a "throne" for Anya. The kids had a ball playing with Meri and Phil and enjoyed the sand, too! We all had a nice dinner at our favorite BBQ place and Baz even sat still for 3/4 of the meal. Unce Dimpy volunteered to chase him for a bit so I could finish eating, but he didn't realize what he was signing up for!!! At any rate, it was fun for all and hopefully we have many more fun times like that!!!

Lazy Sunday???

I seem to recall a time in my past (WAYYYY in my past) where Sundays were long and boring. In fact, I actually didn't like SUndays because there was nothing to do. I'm glad that motherhood has not erased this memory because I'd like to think that there will come a time when Sundays once again become boring. Except that then I will cherish being bored- at least once or twice! I'm mustering up every ounce of energy I have to get these words out before my eyelids give out and I can jump into bed. George has already been sleeping for a few hours- he barely made it through bathtime and crashed on ANya's bed during storytime. He paid his dues today- mowed the lawn and cleaned the fridge. It's so amazing how different our fridge looks when the shelves aren't covered in sticky goo that used to be some sort of condiment! I even cleaned up the freezer- woohoo!

We had no formal plans for today- our trip to the beach yesterday tired us all out enough- but I managed to keep moving from sunup to sundown....loaded and unloaded the dishwasher twice- washed and folded several loads of laundry (even put them all away- yippee!), cleaned just about every floor in the house,vacuumed half of the pool (had to cut that off in the middle to prevent both kids from falling/jumping in). It doesn't seem like so much as I wrote it, but I really didn't get to sit all.day.long. The paper is still sitting in front of me, but I doubt I'll have any energy for that.

Enough about me....Anya spent the day being one animal or another...she was supercat for a while with socks on her hands and feet and signing autographs in her little rocking chair! She was good with the violence today- Idon't even recall her pushing or hitting Baz at all- go ANya! Daddy gave her a sneak peek at Aliens (2 or 3...I'm not sure)....he figured she'd get bored before the scary parts came on.....he covered her eyes when Sidney (?) had the dream about the alien coming out of her belly,but she saw enough to ask about what happened. After that, we moved on to Aladdin....ahhhh, much better!

Baz is starting to get the hang of feeding himself. He INSISTS on holding a fork or spoon when eating and today I let him go at his pasta and he did great. Now I just have to try to make food that he can stab easily and get into his mouth and maybe he'll gain some weight! He's working on 2 word phrases- "Hi Daddy" is his fave.

2 days and counting until we meet the Wiggles!!!!! (actually, more like a day and a half!)

2 Toddlers in the house.....

Our newest toddler is running full-throttle into the terrible twos.....he's still happy and giddy most of the time and occasionally can be distracted with a shiny object, but try to change that diaper and he's greased lightening! And forget about telling him no....he used to put up a feeble fight for a few seconds and move on to something more interesting. Not now- he can and will scream until he gets his point across. Luckily for me, I can tune out screaming like the best of moms. He also has the "boneless"move down pat. I really worry that he will wiggle free one of these days and get dropped on his head. He kept me running at the doctor's office today- thankfully, we didn't have to leave the waiting room- just picking up some papers and getting labwork, but he pushed the limits of that room! He also spent some time flirting with some other patients- that at least slowed him down for a while.

I did manage to get some ice cream into him...Anya ate just about all of her chocolate ice cream cone and he had a good portion of a hot fudge sundae. The problem is that I had to eat the rest...can't throw something like that out! Good thing I did Kick, Punch, and Jam today!

Anya just about pushed me to throttle her ala Homer today......I packed both kids and their bags into the car, buckled them in, and returned to the house to get the keys. We've lived dangerously since we got the van by only having 2 sets of keys (one for each of us), but I'm usually pretty good about putting them where they belong. So when I went to grab them and they weren't there, I got a little worried. OK- check some other places...purse,nope....diaper bags, nope....pockets from yesterday, nope.....ask Anya, nope....call George,nope....cursory check of the garbage since Baz's new thing is to put things in there, nope....finally, I give up....I'll deal with finding them later,but I have to get the kids out of the car and call the doc to cancel....as I go to unbuckle ANya, she says "mommy, I know where your keys are" WHAT?!?!?!?! "They're in my room under my easel" Off I run to see if this is truth or simply what she thinks will make me happy. Turns out, there they are.....I'm happy to not have to deal with lost keys, but fuming that I had to look frantically for so long. In her defense, she told me that she didn't remember at first, but later it "came to her mind". OH well....it turned out fine.

Sippy Cups

It always seems to be sippy cup feast or famine. When Baz was done with bottles, I bought a new supply of sippies and for a while, it was great- by the time we used them all up, a new batch was clean in the dishwasher. Well, now that Baz is mobile, so are the cups. I don't let the kids carry them around all day ( we don't need any more cavities, although Baz could use a little more weight...), but we do take them along in the car. I've learned to do a second and sometimes third sweep to find the lurkers because they gravitate to the area under the seats. Or between the carseats..that's one I often forget about. And what a lovely thing it is to find a sippy cup full of what used to be milk that has sat in the hot sun all day (or sometimes longer). Ugh. Anyway, we're on the upswing of the cycle now- I have a container overflowing with clean sippy cups, so maybe we can make it through the weekend.

Anya is going through a violent streak lately. I'm sure it's one of those lovely phases of child development, but still thoroughly unpleasant. It usually happens when she's frustrated- Baz is taking a toy from her or George or I told her "no" about something. Her immediate reaction is to lash out and hit/kick whoever is closest to her. Today, she was playing with George and something caused him to tell her to stop or something and she hit him hard. He told her he didn't want to play with her anymore and it hit her hard. She cried a lot of tears and took it seriously. Of course, he then told her that he would play with her again, but only if she didn't hurt him. FTR, 10 minutes later, she was pushing Baz down because he was trying to get on her rocking chair with her. ACK!

Baz's interest in EVERYTHING off limits is escalating. I do remember a time when all Anya did was head for the cat food and water at any opportunity, but he just fixates. He pops the lid off the food and either takes food out or puts toys in. He then moves down to the dispenser part where he grabs handfuls of food and tosses them in the water or onto the floor. The floor isn't SO bad- I keep the broom very handy now, but when it gets into the cats' water, I then have to clean that out, which is a bit of a production. Thank god for child gates.....as long as I remember to put the bar side of it AWAY from the toddler- very important.

Caterpillar

Anya started maxing out on exhaustion this afternoon during the "kiddie witching hour" from 4-7 pm. This is when they're tired from the day, but it's too early for dinner and they become cranky, clingy little creatures who are always on the cusp of a meltdown. Well, Anya's started for no particular reason, but she just began crying uncontrollably. When I finally got her to settle down enough to understand her, she said "I miss my caterpillar".... this goes back to the 4th of July when her caterpillar fell off her outfit and went between the slats of the deck. She reverts to this when she thinks it will get her attention and cuddles. I'm fine with that, except that I don't want her to think that she can manipulate me so easily. Luckily, George came home mid-crying fit and calmed her down. She milked it as much as she could throughout dinner, sitting on my lap as I fed her (rolls eyes...).

Baz had his first ride (with me, at least) in one of the shopping carts with a car in front. He and Anya each had a steering wheel and they had a blast! He immediately started honking the horn and steering and bringing smiles to all the other shoppers' faces. Of course, the seatbelt was broken so after a few aisles, he was climbing out through the windshield so he had to go back to his usual seat by me. It made for a nice shopping trip anyway.

Garlic baby

Baz started his day off smelling of garlic.....he loves playing in the cabinet next to the oven and often gets his hands on some of the spices, but hasn't been able to open any of them yet. Well, as I was putting our dinner into the crock pot and not watching his every move, he opened up and poured out the parlic powder. And of course, just having it all over his body wasn't enough- he had to step in it with both feet (bare- ugh!). So I had to add a trip to the bathroom to wash his feet, legs, and hands off. At least I know he'll be safe from vampire attacks today!!!

Can it be this easy?

As I just typed the title, I knew what I was bringing on...cries of "mommy, MOMMY, MMOOMMMMYYYYY!!!" Baz took 2 good naps today, but was still plenty tuckered out and went to sleep with a minimum of crying. Anya was in a typical mood and played the "who can push whose buttons worse?" game with daddy, but she still went down OK. I was able to tuck her in and walk out with any laying down in her bed or arguments about that. Of course, she's still awake, so I shouldn't be jinxing anything, but I'm living dangerously- haha! Yep, there goes Baz now...what did I start? Well, I'm a zombie anyway....besides the 5:30 wakeup call, one kid or the other is up a couple of times during the night so I'm screwed anyway. Oh boy, am I looking forward to the teenage years...you know, where all they want to do is sleep? I'm envisioning super-soakers filled with ice water......or maybe I should just let fate work for me and see what THEIR babies bring.

For those wondering, our Disney crew will be about 11 people. Geo and I and the kids, both of our parents, and 3 of his cousins. My sis, her DH and DD were going to go, but it doesn't look like they'll be able to join us (although I'm hoping they will be able to!) This is the main reason I wanted to make our ressies already- a table for 11 is pretty big so I wanted to secure the important ones that go quickly. I'm not trying for Cindy's palace this trip- that was fun, but maybe an every-other trip thing. And Tour Guide Mike is a necessity for anyone visiting the parks....he's a tour guide at the parks who created a website to help you plan your adventures. He has charts of all the park schedules, etc (you can find this on Disney's site), but he provides you with great info on how to attack the rides and not have to wait in line. He also has terrific info on where to sit for the parades and which restaurants to go to, etc. It costs about $20 per vacation and well worth the money!

Both kids had a little fun today playing in the living room....Anya took all the cushions off the couch and chairs and pretended that she was a lion. The furniture was her "cage" so she roamed back and forth. Baz had a blast just following her around and giggling. The first two words out of his mouth every day are "anya"and "daddy". He tries to go back and forth between their rooms to wake them both up in the morning!

Mickey, here we come!!!!

So my 180 advance dining reservation window started yesterday and I missed it!!! Thankfully, I got my ass in gear and made a rough outline of our itinerary and made some ressies tonight- woohoo!!!! We've got breaky with Lilo and Stitch at the Poly, dinner at the Liberty Town Tavern (fingers crossed that Disney doesn't cancel Spectro on Tues like they did last year- that threw a serious wrench in my plans!), breaky with the PLayhouse Disney characters, and the Fantasmic dinner package (getting situated for the show last year was a royal PITA, so we're set for this year!!!). Now I just have to figure out if/when we need ressies for EPCOT (probably the Garden Grill- I've heard good things...or maybe the Coral Reef Cafe) and Animal Kingdom. I don't think we'll spend much time at either of those places-half a day to see some attractions and get some pics/autographs, but if we need to eat, I'd rather do it well and stress-free....it's no fun to have hungry kiddoes at busy eatin' hours. Thank goodness for Tour Guide Mike- he's my hero!!!

If any of the trip members have any input, please let me know- none of these ressies are set in stone and I can change them, but with our group size, we should make any adjustments ASAP. I aim to please and want this to be fun for all....we did find that it's much easier to plan meals in advance rather than grab something on the run, so this is what I'm trying to do.

Keep your fingers crossed for us tonight....Baz went down great, but has already woken up once and was inconsolable for close to a half hour. Not sure why- he didn't want to eat or drink, didn't want ice or Orajel, didn't want to stand OR be held (that was interesting, but a good ab workout!), etc, etc....eventually he just stopped crying and put his head on my shoulder, but until that time it sucked! Hopefully, it was a one time thing and I can sleep until 6:20 tomorow!

Karma?

Why is it that when I need it most, the coffeemaker quits on me? Baz was up at 5am today (and REFUSED to go back down), so of course this means that my caffeine source won't work. Well, I folded laundry, unloaded laundry, and played with Baz to wake up. I just wish my eyeballs weren't burning.

ETA: Ha- I just read what I wrote earlier and see that I definitely did have some burning eyes...I unloaded the DISHWASHER, not the laundry I had just folded. Thanks to Bagel Boss, I'm finishing my large Hazelnut, but the burning continues!

Whew- this was a long Sunday....as usual, I suppose, but we're all tuckered out today! Both kids are in a rough sleeping period, so I was up multiple times with each kid until I finally gave up and just bunked with Anya. If Baz woke up after that, I didn't hear him and obviously he survived. I almost thought I had slept in when I woke up on my own and just laid in bed next to Anya for a bit until I did hear Baz moving around. When I got up to get him thinking it was well after 7- maybe even 8, I looked at the clock and saw that it was in fact 6:30. OK- he's usually up at 6, so I got an extra half hour- whoopee... He learned a new trick now....escaping his diaper. One we got out to the family room, I embarked on the task of changing his stinky poopy diaper that had leaked onto his onesie. This is no easy task because he's got the wiggling down (thanks Anthony, Murray, Greg & Jeff!), and containing the poo makes it even worse! So I got him nice and clean, but only clothed in his diaper, and moved into the kitchen to make some coffee before getting him dressed. Next thing I know, in walks naked Baz!!! Luckily, there were no puddles around, but that was only a matter of time....so I ask him where the diaper is, not really expecting an answer, and he walks over to the garbage can. Sure enough, I open the lid and sitting next to his poopy dipe is the nice clean one I just put on him. Little stinker! So from now on, he has to at least have a onesie on over his diaper!

I followed my usual Sunday routine- play with the kids until Baz's nap, then exercise, brunch, and cleaning. I sometimes wonder if I'd turn out like Marge Simpson when they went to live in the automated house and she never had to do any housework. Which is worse- feeling like a slave to housework or being tipsy all day? One definitely sounds like more fun! Anyway, I even managed to clean the pool so we could go for an afternoon dip. Anya didn't last too long, but she was happy to sit on her towel and watch the wildlife around her as George and I hung out in the water.

Oh yes, and she is in LOVE with her Webkinz, Cindy (or Sandy, depending on her mood). Thankfully, the Ganz website is such that on my computer, the bottom of the screen where the menus are is blocked by my taskbar. There's no way to scroll and I'm not sure how to adjust the screen, so she HAS to use daddy's computer to play with Cindy's room. And play she did.... every few minutes she wanted to log back on to see what she was doing or earn some money to buy stuff for her. She has yet to say anything about wanting more Webkinz, but she definitely loves what she has!


There was a brief time today when Cindy was missing, so Anya "looked and looked, but she was nowhere to be found" (these were her words). Thankfully, she looked everywhere but on the loveseat, but it was cute to see her so desperate to find her!

We ended the day with a trip to our local firehouse carnival. We got there right when it opened, so we had our choice of kiddie rides. We put Baz on one ride with Anya, but he lost interest pretty quickly and they had to stop the ride before he climbed out. We tried to go on the carousel, but he refused to sit on the horse and I wasn't allowed to hold him, so he and I sat and watched Anya and daddy. We did all ride the spinning dragons and George and I realized that spinning just doesn't have the same excitement it used to. Anya finally built up the courage to ride the kiddie coaster and LOVED it. She usually looks kinda bored on rides, but you could clearly see the excitement on her face for this one. We took some pics, but I haven't checked to see how they came out- I'll add some later.

Another crazy Saturday

Saturdays are usually long since I work early and we usually have some sort of activity in the afternoon, so it makes for a long day. Today was no exception....we had an 11th birthday party
for one of our friends' DD's and the kids had a ball. They rented a HUGE inflatable slide which both kids enjoyed. Anya was afraid to go by herself until all the big kids were gone, but she also liked going down with me. I admit it was a little scary- this thing was high, but lots of fun. Anya had a little "independent" time in the little clearing they have in their woods. When I went to check on her, she was "praying for Nan". I think that maybe this spot reminded her of the cemetery where Nan is buried, but that was completely unprompted. She got to witness her first game of truth or dare as she joined the bigger girls on the trampoline. They were unhappy to have her join them, but I told them she'd just sit there (which she did). Funny thing is that she picked up that they didn't want her there and told me about it on the way home. Luckily, her feelings didn't seem to be hurt- she was pretty matter-of-fact about it. Baz had a little issue with the trampoline....George and I both let him bounce on it, but once he got away from George, who immediately ran to the opposite side where Baz was headed. Of course, halfway there, he changed course and ran back where he came from and went over the side. Poor George about had a heart attack as he dove for his son, but thankfully, he landed ok with no major (or even minor) injuries. He went right back to being the comic relief for everyone as he laughed and giggled about everything. Anya got her first Webkinz as party favor- she didn't get to activate it's website, but she's eager to feed and play with her Tiger, who she named Cindy. SHe sang some songs to Cindy on the way home- it was adorable! I'm just hoping she doesn't join the craze and want 5437890897 of them.

As usual, the why's were bountiful today, but she had some real winners on the way home.... "mommy, why is my boogie red?" EEEEWWWWW!!! This led to "Why are boogies round?" And when I stupidly answered her that they come in all sorts of shapes, she wanted to know ALL of the shapes they came in. And when I didn't think to say oval, it was "Do they come in oval shapes?" "yes, dear" "Why did you forget oval?" "Because I forgot" "But WHY did you forget?" "Because I did" "Why did you forget?" And so on.....

I'm eagerly awaiting the blog of my receptionist Kristen as she prepares for her semester-long internship as a cast member at Walt Disney World!!! I'm so jello of her- she gets to spend 6 whole months living near the world and seeing the behind the scenes stuff! I'm bummed that her session ends a couple of weeks before our trip....wonder if we can squeeze in another mini-trip???

Each day as the kids do cuter and cuter things, I make mental notes of what I have to write her,but once they're in bed and it's MY time, those thoughts are gone with the wind......lemme try to remember what happened today..... I'm very glad that it's time for my physical next week- I think my thyroid is off again, unless maybe I'm just recovering from a bad sleep week. I've felt so completely exhausted all day today, even after I exercised. Usually, a good workout peps me up and keeps me going until I crash on the couch, but I've felt like I needed toopicks to prop my eyelids open all day. We did manage to have some fun anyway....after waking at 5:30 (ugh), Baz and I ran around for an hour or so before Anya joined us. I think he dreams about cars and pushing around his carts because that's all he wants to do when he wakes up. Not a great thing to do when half the household is still sleeping! Thankfully, I managed to redirect him to the kitchen/family room until Anya starting getting up.

Anya woke up asking for scrambled eggs with ketchup. Having gone down this road before, I asked her SEVERAL times "Are you SURE you're going to eat them?" "yes, mommy" "Are you really, really sure?" "yes,mommy" Ok, so I cave and let her help me make scrambled eggs with cheese, still not believing that she will actually eat them, but hopeful since it would be a nice addition to our boring breaky choices. Guess what.....after 1 whopping bite, her stomach was full. AAAARRGGGGHHH. I informed her that she wouldn't be eating anything else until she at least put a dent in the eggs, but I think we both forgot about that promise. Baz also had zero interest in eggs- that got super-quick tongue push out of his mouth.

Anya's game of the past few days is that she's a sick animal (she emptied out her giant teapot storage bin to puke in) and I'm taking care of her. Do you think we've dealt with too much puke around here? My mom also came up with a good restful game along these lines....the animal needs surgery, so she gets some anesthesia and "sleeps" while the other person performs the surgery. When I'm the surgeon, she needs LOTS of work, and I even need more when I get to be the victim!!! WTG mom!

Baz is working on cutting his one-year molars....poor little guy woke up so unhappy from his nap today, but thanks to a little orajel and some Motrin, he was back to his giggly self. He and I laughed so hard for about 20 minutes when I was getting him to bed. I held him in the rocker and made silly faces and he thought that was the funniest thing ever. It is so easy to make him laugh and you can't help but laugh with him. It really felt good after a long and tiring day.

We did have some outside time today- I wanted to take the kids out somewhere, but just couldn't muster the energy, so we played in our yard- duh, why did I think of that in the first place? We had our lunch on a blanket for an impromptu picnic and then chased butterflies. I really have to take some video of Anya running full-tilt after a moth with her little net in hand. I still don't know how she manages to catch any, but she sure does! Oh, and we have a slug missing in the house....eeeeewwwwww.....she caught one Wed with my dad and promptly (and without supervision, of course) closed it up in a tupperware (thankfully a disposable one). Problem is that the next morning, the tupperware was empty. None of us are sure how that happened because it appeared to be sealed, but still- the slug is/was gone. I'm certainly not eager to find that one.

I'm working on teaching Anya how to deal with her anger- she has quite the temper....it came out today when I took away a little wooden clapper that she was shaking right in Baz's face (and actually hitting him with it at times). WHen I took it away from her, she immediately got very angry and started hitting my legs. I told her to go to her TO chair or I would put the clapper in "jail" THis prompted more hitting, so into jail went the clapper. She continued to scream and hit, so next was a box of princesses. I suppose she didn't think I would stick to it, so it took another princess case or 2 before she calmed down and went to her chair. Once she stopped crying and settled down, I sat near her and talked it through with her. She told me "I try to be good, but I just don't know how sometimes" Holy cow- where did she hear that! It was funny because she was trying to say exactly what would get her "off the hook", but I'm onto her....she's already trying to work us! I'm so not looking forward to the preteen and teen years!

The kids had a ball with my parents today- they all went to the "new" park and ran around for a couple of hours. This was great when it came time for bed- they both gave minimal resistance and then crashed. Fingers crossed this will make for a restful night for all of us! Anya is starting a trend of coming into our room in the middle of the night.... I encouraged this the other night when she was calling me to her every hour, but it backfired when she showed up uninvited last night. She promised me to stay in her own bed tonight, but I'm not counting on it. Baz is starting to try to climb out of the crib. Thankfully, he can't get a foothold on the slats and there's nothing big enough to step on in the crib so he's failing- I really hope he doesn't figure it out soon- I'm not ready to move out of the crib yet! I've got to figure out something fun to do tomorrow- we've been to the park and the zoo lately...hmmmm...what to do.....

I had a nice reminder last night of the first 8 months of Anya's life.....you know, the time preceding her sleep boot camp! For some reason, she kept having nightmares or not settling down and was up every hour on the hour, starting shortly after midnight. Around 3am, I told her that I wasn't coming back to her anymore and if she needed me to come into my bed. Well, around 3:30, George and I were joined by Anya, Knuffle Bunnies 1 & 2, her music box, and her sippy cup. Sleep still wasn't easy, but at least I didn't have to keep going into her room. Baz got a little jealous, but he only woke once after this time, but man am I tired today. I kinda wish I could go to work to get some rest!!! Factor in that Anya was/is cranky since she didn't sleep well and this morning was loooong. She had 2 timeouts before 7:30 and turned me into a screaming looney just trying to keep Baz's digits intact. Unfortunately, the rain has put a damper on our beach outing today, but we did get some pretty cool thunder and lightening for entertainment.

I forgot to add Anya and my afternoon antics yesterday....after we got home from work, Baz went down for an afternoon nap, so it was exercise time for Anya and I....she donned her ballet outift and slippers and broke out Bella Dancerella in the family room as I kickboxed in the kitchen. Does that count as togetherness? We were doing the same activity, just in separate rooms- only a few feet apart!

Baz has taken to waving to Mickey and Minnie every time we pass the statues in the dining room as well as when he sees them on tv. I've really come to enjoy watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but I am a little concerned that I'm passing on my Disney obsession to Baz now too! I suppose it could be worse- at least it's not Star Wars (JK George ;) )

So we're just hanging out now waiting for GramPap-pap (as Anya calls them) as they navigate through the floods to get here. Yay- date night for George and I!!!

The Litany of the Why's

I've heard so many parents complain about their kids asking "but why?" over and over and over and now it's our turn. Anya has been asking why for a while, but lately it just doesn't stop. She often answers her own question and expects more. For example, this morning one of the many questions was "Why are they fixing the street to make it less bumpy?" What? How do I answer that? I don't have to dwell too long on an answer since there's usually another question brewing before I'd finish anyway. "Ask daddy" is another good answer, particularly since she usually forgets by the time she sees him anyway.

Baz had a good day today....2 solid naps (yippee!!!!) and a great mood most of the day. The stinker refuses to eat or drink much if he's not in my presence, but I'm finding that he drinks a lot of milk/Pediasure for me, so that makes me happy.

George bought a new toy for the kids- for some reason, it's not selling well, so it was only $10 and the kids LOVE it! It's a huge racetrack for a little matchbox car that zooms around- very cool! The box is interesting because it's got artwork from the time when we were kids so it's sorta retro-cool.

I'm off to do some Disney planning....we're almost down to 6 months left to go!!!!!

A lesson about Chlorine

Anya had swimming today and overtired mommy forgot to bring in her goggles....Usually this wouldn't be such a big deal, but they must have recently added new chemicals to the pool and my poor little muffin came out with the reddest eyes ever. Of course, the drama queen in her played it up, but she clearly had too much chlorine in that half hour lesson. Her post-swimming lollipop distracted her for the 5 minute ride home, but as soon as we came in the door, the tears started. This began the vicious cycle- the tears irritated her eyes, so she rubbed, irritating them even more and so on.....luckily, we still had some eyewash left over from Baz's run-in with the sunblock and amazingly she let me squirt a little in her peepers. Not much got in, but it made her feel better to DO something so we used that every 10 minutes or so until bedtime. I missed the whole lesson- George stayed to watch her while I did some grocery shopping....one of these days, I'll get to see her swim more!

Baz is really starting to pick up on more and more words....his faves still are car,clock, daddy, and Anya. Mommy was one of his first words, but I don't even think he says it anymore- I'm pretty sure he's calling me daddy too! He had fun "exercising" with me today. I didn't have time for a full workout, so I put in my 11 minute ab routine and laid down on the family room floor. Baz saw the perfect opportunity to divebomb me (I think I've mentioned his love of divebombing!). It made for a good workout- not only did I have to pull up my own weight, but his too. And it was definitely more fun.

Baz has also started making up for lost time in the squirting dept. After we found out we were expecting a boy, EVERYONE told me how they like to squirt you during diaper changes. OK- I was prepared...shielded him every time, etc, etc....but he never did that. Until now....in the past few days, I've become convinced that he waits until I'm about to change his diaper and starts peeing. Ugh- between that and the very loose stools from his raisin obession now, changing him is a task. Oh yeah, add in the toddler squirmies and it can be downright painful. I vividly remember dreading changing Anya's diaper because I knew how frustrating it would be for me, but I also remember that it did pass and now she can and does get dressed completely on her own!

A day at the beach...

Today was a pretty typical Sunday....Baz was up around 6 am, so he and I moved out to the family room to keep him from divebombing Anya or daddy, which is one of his favorite activities. We played and did housework for about an hour until Anya joined up. Now the 3 of us played until 8 or so, when it was time to "release the hounds" on daddy. The kids L-O-V-E jumping all over George in bed to wake him up. This is amusing because George is not what you'd call an early bird or an easy riser- he needs to slowly adapt to the awake world, so being attacked by 2 toddlers is not his way of easing into a Sunday morning. He did survive it, though, and joined us in playing. By now, Baz is about ready for a morning nap, so I put him down and took a few minutes to appreciate our new bed (ahhhhh, do I love our new bed) as he played in his crib before going to sleep. I have to admit, I definitely had a devil/angel thing going on in my head as I decide whether I should exercise or nap and of course the OCD mommy in me knew that if I napped, I'd just feel crappy when I woke up and wouldn't feel productive, so off I went to don my sports bra and sneakers.

It's been quite a while since I've done Burn it Up,mostly due to time constraints....once I go past the 35 minute mark of a workout, George starts asking me how much longer do I have, so an hour is a lot to ask. But I haven't seen a change in the scale in several weeks, so this was it. Like a moron, I really worked hard so even though I felt fine during the workout, I was incapacitated for over an hour afterward. I wasn't sure if I was going to puke or keel over or what, but I felt awful. Thankfully, Anya and George let me lay down for a bit and then I felt great.

Back to the usual Sunday....I made some cinnamon and brown sugar pannycakes and sausage for all of us (by now, Baz was up from his nap) and we started motivating towards our beach trip. Baz has a yucky diaper rash and of course he ate his weight in raisins yesterday, so we kept battling blowouts along the way. He refused to take a little nap before we left (I think he's getting some more molars, so that and the rash made for a cranky boy), so off we went. I really thought we'd only be there for 30-45 minutes. The sand would occupy the kids for a bit, but I figured the water would be too cold and rough for them to play in and they'd lose interest quickly. I was wrong....the water really wasn't much of an attraction- Anya did like watching the waves and being held as they came in, but she was too afraid of getting knocked over (as was mommy) to go in far. Baz clung to me or George for dear life as we carried him toward the water. He did seem to enjoy looking at the waves, but absolutely refused to touch his feet down anywhere close to the beach! The rest of the time was spend digging in the sand....Baz was thrilled to try to cover himself in sand with his little shovel:

And Anya LOVED being buried in the sand and then breaking out. I think she had George bury her 4 or 5 times! The weather really was just perfect- it was in the low 80's and the breeze from the ocean was perfect. Only George got a little sunburn, but I don't think he put sunscreen on, so that's not surprising. I'm glad we took advantage of the beautiful beach that is so close to us since so many people take vacations just to get that. Maybe next time Grandma and Pap-pap will come with us (or even Nana and Dada!).

It's been less than 2 hours since Baz went to sleep and he's already fussing....I think this will be a long night!

OK- I spoke too soon yesterday...I felt great from 7:52am until about 8:41 am, when my body realized that sleeping in a little bit didn't make up for being up for an hour during the night. Oh well- I realized that was feeling cranky and was able to keep it to myself (I hope). Baz had a crappy nap schedule,which made planning the day tough, but not impossible...I did manage to get in short workout and do a little housework before he was up again. The little peanut is being so tough to feed...after the checkup the other day, I've been really aware of what he eats and it really isn't much. He accepts a waffle each morning, but I find so much of it scattered around the house in bits throughout the day. When I try feeding it to him in the highchair, I think he eats even less. And usually he happily eats some or most of a baby yogurt after his nap (you know, the kind made with whole milk- oh, so good!), but I'm lucky if i can get 5 mouthfuls into him now. I swear, he would eat a steady diet of mac 'n cheese (not so bad since I make him homemade) and raisins (kinda bad- no fat and a choking hazard for toddlers).

Once he woke up and ate, we went off to the zoo, which was a fun time. Thankfully, this zoo isn't too big, so we can see the whole thing in less than an hour. We had a little treat this time- the woodchuck was up and about!!! Every other time, we have had to talk about nocturnal
animals to explain why he wasn't out, but we got to see him awake and eating- yippee! Anya had an added bonus- we went to the park next to the zoo and she was thirsty, so I went to the snack counter to get juice or something. They had to slushie machines, but they weren't frozen yet. I figured it'd be about the same as soda, so she had a practically pure sugar slushie- woohoo!!! If it weren't for the small goat-related injury, it would have been perfect, but thanks to a Madagascar band-aid, we all came home smiling!!

Today the kids got to play with their favorite babysitter Diana and then had lunch with Daddy at Mickey D's. We took a brief dip in the pool, but even at 82 degrees, they had blue lips after a short time, so we came back in. Baz has gotten really good at his selective eating ability. Since he started on solids, if something goes in his mouth that he doesn't like, he just pushes it right on out. This was a real treat with pureed baby food! Tonight we had chinese, so I fed him some lo mein and a little piece of chicken. The little turkey kept the noodles in his mouth and spit out the meat!!! At least I was able to get him to eat something- even if it was completely unhealthy! He's also got a new "thing", which is laying face down on the floor. I originally thought it was when he was tired, but he seems to do it all the time now, but he knows it's funny. He'll pick his head up and look at me and laugh- what a weirdo!

7:52

Yes, 7:52.....that's what my groggy eyes saw on the clock when I started hearing the "mommy" calls! i could hardly believe it. Of course, to earn this wonderful reward, I had to be up once early int he night to get Anya some water and then from 4-5 am calming and feeding Baz. I am happy to have gotten a little sleep, though- what a treat!

Typical Thursday

I really don't have much to comment on today....it was the usual Thursday, starting early and ending late. Anya insisted on a quick watercoloring session before we left this morning which kept her in a good mood for the ride to Colleen's. As usual, she played hard there and was resting in the back of the double stroller when I came to pick her up. The only activity she "remembered" from the day was face-painting. Ever since her recent birthday parties with facepainting, she has done pretend painting on a frequent basis. We helped daddy at his office briefly,then dinner at "the cow barn restaurant". Anya has been to Boulder Creek a total of 2 times-a very long time ago, but since we drive past it almost every day, she always asks to go there. We were reminded why we haven't gone out to eat with both kids in a while as Baz decided he didn't want to eat and instead threw everything in his reach on the floor. Thankfully, it was very early (about 4:30 when we sat down), so all of our food came out quickly and we weren't there very long. Anya was great and cheerfully ate most of her chicken and fries without any problem. We met up with Nana for ice cream after that and rather than eat ice cream, Baz took laps around the place. What a weirdo!!! Anya enjoyed her sundae but refused to eat "ice cream soup". Anyway, the day ended with a nice tub and a new motorized Nemo toy. Thanks Nana and Aunt Patty!!! Here's hoping we all get some rest tonight!!

2 Toddlers in the tub......

For some reason lately, Baz has decided that he no longer loves the tub. It was all we could do to get him washed up before he was lifting his little leg up to climb out. Weird, but I think maybe it was being supplanted by his newfound toothbrush obsession. Well, that changed tonight. He had a ball playing with a little cup in the tub until he discovered floating on his back. That.changed.everything. It's a good thing I've been working on my arms because as soon as he'd sit up, he would fling himself backward onto my arm to float on his back. Anya got a kick out of this because swimming and floating are her new faves, too. She also got a bird's eye view of his "goods" and decided to try to kick him (gently) there. Thankfully, a little convo about private parts ended that game, but it could have gone verrrrry badly. Anyway, I actually had to encourage him to exit the tub, which I haven't done in weeks, but the draw of the toothbrush helped me there. Anya had a quick evac of her own will when she stayed under a little too long while playing with her mask. I'm really amazed at how long she can hold her breath and I guess she just pushed it a little too far.

Anya had a little spill at the park today and decided to play the mommy guilt game. As soon as we walked up to the park, a little girl came running right up and asked Anya to play with her. THey were just about the same age, so off they went and had a ball. They were the only kids there, so I was able to chase Baz around and just keep an eye on Anya. At one point, she must have been climbing down from the playground and lost her footing and fell. I heard her cry right away and of course I felt horrible that I wasn't there, but I could also tell that this wasn't a huge hurt- more of a scare. Her first words to me were "I was alone" ,followed by "you weren't there". LUckily, I wasn't tired or hormonal so I could get past it and focus on making her feel better. The promise of some a/c in the van, followed by a trip to Sam's club and a hot pretzel dried her tears pretty quickly!

We had another attempt at capturing butterflies today and she actually managed to get 2 of them. One is probably flying around inside the house because I wasn't there to help her trasnfer it from her net to her "cage". The second is happily outside again....Anya made a tent from an overturned sippy cup and there the moth lived until Baz woke up from his nap. He just loves playing with empty cups, bowls, pots, measuring cups, etc etc so I had to free the moth before there was another about the house.

Baz has added a few words to his vocab lately....stroller, Dora (doodah), Backpack to name a few. He's mostly hung up on Daddy, hot, up, and quack....oh yes, and clock....he can spot one of those from a mile away. Put a clock on a car and he's in heaven!!!

Here are the newest members of our family:
He's really very cute in person and has cool lights at the base that point up towards his head. Thankfully OCD daddy is not impressed with the whole series so we don't have to clear too much space :)

ANd what home is complete without a Star Wars Pachinko game?
It looks much cooler in person- bright lights, etc! I'm not sure what the point is, but it's neat to look at!

15 month checkup

Sebastian and I had the pleasure of going to his 15 month checkup....I still can't believe he's that old already! Both the ped and the receptionist commented on how much he looks like a boy rather than a baby. He's definitely a little string bean- grew 2 inches, but only 7 ounces in 3 months. So he's in the 50th percentile for height and less than 10 for weight. Doesn't seem to be a huge concern for the doc- he clearly demonstrated his activity level while we were there, so she thinks he's just using up his calories as he eats them. She gave me a list of things to increase his calories, so maybe I'll come up with some good meals for him to beef him up a bit. He did great with his shots- not a peep for each (he had three!). Since he handled that well, we decided to draw a lead level to make sure it's going down, which he liked less than the shots, but still did well. I also learned that all of the drooling and chewing on his fingers led to his first molar popping out. He doesn't let me look in his mouth much, but he opened wide for Dr. G and there it was!

Anya had a nice day with Colleen and Maureen....she went to Pat's house and went swimming and had a lot of fun. She wasn't too interested in dinner and went to sleep very easily....this summer thing can be good! Now I just have to hope both kids sleep all night so I can have some energy too! Anya is getting some interest in losing her nighttime pullup and we are making some progress. She no longer takes a sippy of water to bed with and she doesn't pee very much in her pullup lately. She eagerly jumped out of bed tonight to pee just before she went to sleep, so that's a good sign. She told me she wants me to wake her up in the night to go potty, but I've been bad about that one. It's bad enough that I have to go settle Baz down- adding to my "up" time is not something I want to do. I suppose I should do it for her, though....

Aw crap- I can't believe that the new Harry Potter movie comes out tomorrow- I've been reading this book since around our wedding (June of 2003) and haven't finished it yet- I keep getting distracted by these babies! Oh well, someday I'll have more time that I know what to do with (I hear this every day from my patients and I believe them).

Rush

So George and I are really paying the price today for staying out last night. We went to see Rush in Holmdel, NJ last night...it was a good show, but way too far away.... we barely got there in time, but only missed the beginning of the first song, so that wasn't too bad. Thankfully, they started renting small lounge chairs for lawn seating now, so it was pretty comfy! Being surrounded by the "unwashed masses" who were drinking their faces off and getting contact highs from all directions left a little to be desired, but that wasn't so bad. Truly, if there was just a vendor for some "good" beer, it would have been great. Anyway, it was definitely a treat to have an evening just to ourselves! I'm starting to wonder if George has been hiding behind my mommy paranoia since Anya was born- he kept encouraging me to call and check on the kids, which actually wasn't on my mind at all. Of course, he was probably just giving me an out if I wanted it, but I was not worried at all!

It was hot as blazes here today and Colleen likes letting the kids "blow off steam" outside, so when I picked Anya up, she was sweaty and pink-cheeked. Happy as a clam, and sucking down ice water in her cup, but clearly hot. So you'd think she'd climb happily into the a/c of the van, but I had to struggle with her for that. Even when we got home (granted, she probably was a bit chilly from the ac), she insisted that we go outside to catch some butterflies. She absolutely did not buy that they hide inside when it's hot out, so we all put on our shoe and off we went. Thankfully, after a lap and a half around the house, she was ready to go inside and cool off! Funny thing is that she FREAKED out when a baby grasshopper landed on her arm. OK- so she loves slugs and worms, most bugs, and moths, but grasshoppers are the enemy??? Weird child.

Baz had a rough afternoon- he napped poorly this morning and mean mommy woke him up so the groceries didn't go bad and he refused to go back down after that. This made for a miserable time at swimming....Anya did great- she's starting to use her arms much more and she really can swim long distances with her head under. Unfortunately, I could barely watch her because cranky-pants wanted to run around,but only in places where I couldn't see Anya. Even a lollipop only calmed him down for a couple of minutes. I'm starting to think we should enroll him at the same time just so I can sit and watch rather than wrangle the whole time!

Thankfully, the long hot day made for a quick dinner, tub and bedtime. Baz turned into his usual happy self as he played in Anya's room after his bath. He gave both Anya and I kisses through the slats of his crib and waved bye to us before he laid down and immediately went to sleep. Anya is working on an "I'm scared of having a nightmare"angle to get us to stay with her as she goes to sleep. We've been down this road MANY times, so it's hard.....I want her to know that of course we'll always be there if she needs us, BUT that we can tell when she does "need" us vs "want" us. This stemmed tonight from her story about Babar....I've never read that particular book before and it really was sad/scary. In the first few pages, Babar's mommy is killed by a hunter and he runs off to avoid being killed by the same hunter. This is followed by a round of "Why is Babar scared of the hunter?" and "Why did Babar run away?". Then, later in the story, the king of the elephants eats a bad mushroom and dies, leaving a spot for a new king. Rather than focus on the fact that Babar will now be the king (and ignoring the fact that he's marrying his cousin), she kept asking about why did he die from eating a mushroom and why it was poisonous. George swears that he read that book when he was 3 and suffered no ill effects, but I'm seriously thinking about stashing that one away for quite a while.....I, for one, have no desire to read it again.

Oh, I wanted to mention Baz's current love of riding in the car....I swear he's like a little puppy...you mention a ride in the car and he's taking off as fast as he can to the garage door. It really is cute and a great way to break him out of a cranky mood. He was a bit fussy yesterday, so when I went to pick Diana up, I asked if he wanted to go and before I finished the question, he was waiting at the door for me! He laughed and giggled during the whole ride (all 20 minutes of it) and his crankiness was GONE. I've also discovered another key to happiness for both kids.....raisins! Yep, when I start to get that frazzled mommy look and it's a few hours until bedtime, I just break out the good ole Sunmaid box and sit them both down. Anya is happy to just feed herself handfuls, but Baz delights in feeding Anya and I as well. He does a little "yummmm" sound and nod as he eats them and as he pops them in my mouth.

OK- that was a book and I'm sooooo beat.....I didn't give Baz any Motrin tonight, so here's hoping we have a good one!

New pics

I forgot to add some new pics from the 4th:

CHasing butterflies

It was a typical Saturday... up early for work, etc, etc. George and his mom took the kids to the cemetery to visit Nan's grave, then to Ikea and home. What did Anya get out of this day? She saw a dead bird. Hmmmmm..... well, it seems like they all enjoyed Ikea and I got some Swedish meatballs and sauce out of the deal, so I can hardly complain! I fact, I even had enough time to let Cardio Party Mix 3 kick my ass! Not sure why, but I'm hurtin' now. Both kids are currently crying/whining on their respective monitors now...ANya because she wanted daddy to stay with her until she fell asleep and Baz presumably because he was woken up by ANya's cries. After last night when he was up 3-5 times (I start losing count when it gets that high), he's going to be getting some Motrin.....right about now.... fingers cross`ed that keeps him settled for a while! Anya has now stopped crying and is happily playing with her teddy,who is dressed in her jammies and Baz's robe. Her latest fascination is butterflies (well, moths really). She shanghais some unsuspecting grownup, brings them outside with her, then hands them a butterfly net from her elefun game (sorry about the huge pic- I'm still learning this blogger stuff). She actually managed to catch a moth today, but her reaction was to keep swinging her net and release the critter. George and I were so amazed that she actually caught something that we couldn't act quickly enough to help her out. After that, I asked her what she intended to do with her butterflies when she caught them. She said she'd put them in a jar like she does her worms and slugs, but I explained to her that butterflies like to fly around and she seemed to take that into consideration. She was still running around a few seconds later trying desperately to catch another!

I'm not sure if I've mentioned Baz's obsession with the Wiggles....he was a little fussier than usual today because Ikea diverted his afternoon nap and amazingly he didn't fall asleep on the way home. So I needed a little help from the boyz:As soon as the first few notes of the intro start,Baz comes running to the tv from wherever he is and starts dancing. It really is the cutest thing! I can't wait until we go to the show at the end of July. I hope the kids are in a good mood so they can enjoy it!

Oh yeah, George and I get a little grownup time this weekend- we're going to see Rush Sunday night! We have a babysitter, so we just have to brew a little coffee- the show starts at 7:30 pm and is in NJ- close to 2 hours away- ugh. Well, we'll have fun while we're there anyway!

OK- I now hear the sounds of 2 airconditioners gently blowing and Baz's noise machine, so it's mommy time!

The wonders of exercise......really!

Today started verrrrrrry slowly- of course Anya was up at 6, but she was content to watch tv in our bed for a bit, until she realized that Daddy was basking in the cool wonders of our hardwood floor and started divebombing him. So we picked up and moved to the family room where she continued to amuse herself and let mommy rest until 7, when Baz joined the fun. My lethargy from yesterday carried over to today, so I spent most that hour wondering how on earth I was going to corral both kids all day and make a dent in the chaos that was our house. Once George got up and ran interference for a little while, I managed to motivate enough to get started with coffee, etc and begin de-cluttering and de-dirting. One of my real pet peeves is walking around barefoot (hey, I'm not diabetic and I have $175,000 in student loans to prove that I can treat any problems that may arise!) and picking up dirt and debris, etc. This peeve has not passed on to Baz, who delights in sticking his bare little piggies in ANY pile of dirt he can find- ack! So I started sweeping and dustmopping like mad. This didn't last too long since daddy had to get ready for work, so I had to contain the kiddoes. Not a problem....I do like playing with them and once I have something productive done, I feel like I can take a playbreak. The sluglike feeling is still with me, though....burning eyes, tired muscles....sitting down is a baaaaad idea because I don't want to get up. Well, next comes naptime! As I plop my godsend of an easy sleeper in his crib (and he crawls over to OFFER me a kiss through the slats), I muster some mental energy to exercise. Anya agrees to let me exercise while she plays with her Barbies and off I go to work up a sweat. Hey- my resistance band workout is only 30 minutes long- bonus!!! I thought it was 50, so that was a nice surprise. As I plug along and feel my arms burning, happy that I'm losing that arm-waddle that swings when I wave, I realize that my energy is returning- hallelujah! I finish the workout and sit down to play with Anya and have a really nice time!

She picked out Hercules to watch (and really only paid half attention to it) and we started dressing up Barbie Cinderella and Batgirl. Baz slept for a good 2.5 hours, so we I did get some QT with Anya, which was nice. I also managed to declutter the kitchen and family room, as well as vacuuming and sweeping. It turns out that my mood is directly related to the degree of dirt and clutter in the house. Now that my environment is in a better state, as well as my body thanks to turbo jam, so is my mind! After nap and lunch, I venture outside with the kids. Anya has moved on to chasing and "collecting" butterflies and moths now. This venture is much less productive (she has yet to actually catch anything) but is great for tiring her out. I can't even tell how many laps she did around the backyard chasing some poor moth! Baz tried to join in the fun, but I don't think he really got what she was doing- he just loves running around and laughing. He also loves climbing.....he carried her little resin chair wherever we went in the yard, then plopped it down and climbed in. Throughout the day, he also climbed on his playschool garage, the toy bins, the stepstool, Anya's bed....the list goes on and on.... I really think we're going to have to increase the height of our childproofing in the kitchen. Anya barely tested the locks on the bottom cabinets- he's already making eyes at the drawers that he can reach with a chair!

I forgot to mention the caterpillar catastrophe on Wed....Anya found a caterpillar at the Emmons' the other day and brought him home in a makeshift home of a babyfood jar with airholes in the lid. This caterpillar actually survived for a day or two and was Anya's best friend. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for the pillar), he fell through the slats in our deck as Anya was parading around with him sticking to the front of her shirt. Oh, the sobbing that ensued..... she was truly devastated- tears and sobbing like never before! After a some consoling, Pap-Pap took her on an adventure to find a new caterpillar and she was back to her old self. She soon found a baby slug and mommy found a big slug in one of the skimmers and the caterpillar was a thing of the past....oh,the drama of a 3-year old's life!

4th of July

So our 4th was a partial washout....we went to the Port Jeff Parade and the kids had a good time. Of course, Baz was more interested in the giant clock next to where we "parked", but he watched the show, too. His fave were the giant tractors that spewed these huge flames that nearly burnt our eyebrows! He got to say "hot" and "ow" over and over, to break up the "clock" mantra. It was notable because it was the first time we stayed for the entire parade since before we had kids. The afternoon was full of barbecue and salads- I got a little carried away, so in addition to my mom's Potato salad (yummy), I made a cucumber salad, taco salad (actually, George made that one), pasta salad, and for dessert strawberry pretzel jello salad. The kids weren't big fans, but they filled up on hot dogs and were happy as clams! The fireworks were the washout part....we got to the amphitheater with plenty of time to spare and George took a gamble on the rain getting better, not worse. Guess what- as we sat in our primo seats front and center, the mist turned to a sprinkle, then a steady sprinkle, then a downpour. That's it....we packed up and ran- by now George and Anya were pretty soaked (I was OK because I had a chair and umbrella), so it would have been a looooong night. During this time, Baz was happily playing in the van with Grandma as Pap-Pap napped. Thankfully, neither kid complained that we went home without seeing fireworks and they were both bathed and in bed before the actual show would have started. Our neighbors didn't help that situation at all- I'm amazed by the fireworks they're able to get their hands on and the guts they have to set them off. I just think about the injuries that could happen from a misfire! Poor Anya called me back to her room to tell me she was frightened by the fireworks and can't I ask them to stop? Luckily, she was so tired that once I laid down with her (probably her original intent anyway) she was almost instantly asleep. Both kids even slept until after 7am, too- wonder of wonders!!!!

Baz started a new thing today- "ooh ooh aah aah" as in the monkey sound. He does the Wiggles dance that goes along with it too- soooo cute! I had a realization about him lately- thank God we had Anya first- after the sleep issues we've had with her, it's such a pleasure to put him in his crib, give him a quick kiss, and walk away. Of course, he does still wake up once or even twice in a night most nights, but it's a quick visit to reassure him, then back down he goes. If we had that first and then the horrible nights of Anya's, the adjustment would have been much more painful. Makes me wonder what a third babe might bring.....

Anya had her first dry night the other night- woohoo!!! I've really made no concerted attempt to break her of nighttime wetting and losing the pullups, but I would definitely welcome it. First, we moved her sippy cup of water to the other side of the room (just in case she has a water emergency in the night) and she did fine with that, but still woke up wet. Limiting fluids before bed is hard since we have dinner at 5:30, tub (with the warm water smorgasbord involved) at 6,then bed by 7-7:30. I'm just hoping that one of these days, her bladder realizes it can in fact hold her urine until the morning and we can cross the pullups off our list, but for now I'll take pullups over middle of the night bedding changes!

Long Day...

You know it's going to be a long day when your 14 month old wakes up soaking wet because his diaper leaked so you plop him down and turn on Noggin, but it hasn't switched from The-N yet. Well, at least I did get some cleaning and laundry done and it's just 6:15- I suppose that's good, right?

Some pics....

So it's back to the usual after my weekend away....I'm pleased that the kids did so well without me... I thought George would be in for a tantrum or two full of "I want my mommy" or "mama", but apparently I am not needed! Anya went to a party on Saturday for one of her friends at Colleen's... there are a handful of kids her age, and all of them are boys. She happily answers "they boys chased me around" pretty often when asked what she did at Colleen's. The funny thing is that her best buddy- Carter (Connor if you ask Anya- wonder if she even knows about Bud/Kenny from Cosby)- is a bit of a scaredy-cat. According to his parents, whenever he's next to Anya, he develops a newfound confidence to do things that otherwise would never happen. Anya is quite the daredevil and really has little fear of anything, so in that respect she's a good influence. I love that she's closer with Carter than the other kids because he really is a sweet, friendly little kid. He sticks up for her to the other boys and clearly enjoys playing with her. So the party included a bouncy house (Anya actually didn't last too long because the boys were boing a bit rowdy), a guy dressed as LIghtening McQueen, and a clown doing facepainting. Well, Anya was in heaven- one of her newest favorite games is letting anyone pretend to paint her face. (MIL has performed several google searches to locate nontoxic face paint, but I think we've put the kaybash ?? on that one). She told George she wanted to be painted like Sally from Nightmare, but he was able to convince her that the clown would probably do a better job at Sally, the car from Cars. I'll add her new pic to the side....

I also have new pics of Baz getting his first haircut. This happened a couple of weeks ago, but MIL took him, so I just got the pics now. He was fascinated by the activity at the salon, so he couldn't sit still, which is apparent by the uneven front to the cut. But it still looks better than the shaggy look he had before!

Anya had swimming today....I missed the lesson because I had to go to the grocery store, but George said she did great- starting to dive in even! She swam down to the bottom of the pool and back up on her own, and she's even using her arms much more. It's so comforting to know that she could manage to get to the side if she fell in the pool, but I still have one other daredevil to worry about now!