Memorial Day

We made a last-minute decision to visit my family for Memorial Day weekend and what a good decision it was. Just about every trip prior to this one involved cranky kids who refused to nap or sleep at night, resulting in miserable kids and parents. Finally, Anya has learned that sleep is good and Baz is a much better sleeper than she ever was at that age. As a result, we had very few meltdowns and everyone had a fabulous time!

We arrived Sat evening, with just about enough time to eat a quick dinner and assemble everyone for a trip to the Drive-In. Anya had her first drive in experience to see Indiana Jones. Of course, she only made it through the first half (and she spent most of that squirming and fidgeting), but she really had a great time. Here are some shots George took:
Both kids sorta slept in, so Sunday morning was nice and relaxed, and included a nice time in the hot tub! Grandma and Pap-Pap took the kids to the park while George and I had a chance to sit and relax- yet another treat. We did have a little excitement when George noticed a deer tick on the back of Anya's head/neck, but that ended up well. He was able to grab it and extract it quickly without too many tears from Anya and since it was there such a short time, there's little chance that it had time to transmit Lyme to Anya.

Sunday evening included a quick trip to the beach at one of the lakes near the house. Since it was fairly chilly, we didn't anticipate the kids actually wanting to get wet, so we didn't bring towels or extra clothes- big mistake! Isabella was ready to take a dip right away and Anya went in search of sea creatures! Beth and I went back to the house to get towels and clothes as the kids played in the water and none of them seemed phased by the cold. Anya "caught" about 5 snails, and thankfully she believed that these PA snails couldn't possible survive in the harsh NY climate, so they stayed behind at Grandma and Pap-Pap's house. She did insist on calling my dad today and had a long convo about how her sea creatures were doing!

Monday morning was the parade in Stroudsburg and it was a blast! We did learn a lesson about that particular parade....apparently it has a very long route, which is interrupted by a stop at a memorial during which speeches, etc are made. As a result, we sat waiting for this parade for over an hour! Also, since it was such a long route, the people were very spread out, so there was absolutely no need at all to get there early- or even on time! The kids had a ball regardless and happily chased after all the candy that was thrown to them! Both kids have been proudly playing with and waving their flags too!

Coming home wasn't even a challenge....I was fairly worried about hitting traffic on Monday afternoon, but it seems that everyone was kept home by gas prices, so we didn't have to waste gas sitting on the cross Bronx!! We even made a stop in NJ at a tiki restaurant that George has been scoping out. The ambiance was excellent- they had a canoe suspended from the ceiling with lots of tropical flowers in it as well as an entire wall made of coral with waterfalls emerging from tiki masks. George enjoyed a scorpion drink in the appropriate glass and took the pic in the entry before this one. Baz was not in a "restaurant" sort of mood, so after he gave up on any sort of sitting or even checking out the waterfalls, he and I hung out in the van as Anya and George ate.

The additional bonus for the weekend was that the kids went to bed fine (since they had been up late for the 2 prior nights, they had a little trouble falling asleep, but didn't need our intervention), and slept in!!! I woke up to my alarm- something I haven't done in quite some time! Baz got up as I got out of the shower, and I had to wake Anya up after 7!!!! Tonight went well too, so I'm hoping that tomorrow morning will got well too. Of course, George getting up to swim at 5 am usually starts Baz getting up, but I'm still hoping!

Here are a couple of other cute pics from the weekend:



I love Baz in this one:



Mr. Smiles!!!!!

At the tiki bar!

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Ladybug

Anya has been fixating on her ladybug lately. I think this is the one she found at the beach a few weeks ago that she managed to bring into the van, but it disappeared after that. She brings out the ladybug whenever she's mid-tantrum and mom and dad clearly aren't on her side and she's looking for the sympathy vote. ACK!! What a manipulator!!!!! She's even gone as far as throwing in an "I miss Aunt Re" or "Nan" when the ladybug fails! I swear that if dentistry doesn't pan out, she'll make a great actor (or scam artist, for that matter!)

On the other hand, Anya can be the sweetest, most helpful angel when she wants to.... she's great at protecting her little brother when they're out and about. She makes sure to hold his hand and keep the "big kids" from pushing him around. She also loves tattooing him whenever she gets a chance. This morning, as I left Nana and Dada's house, Baz was laying flat on his back- perfectly still- as she drew something on his leg. Too cute!

OMG, the tantrums this kid can throw!!!! After spending several mornings getting dressed and ready to go as Anya throws a tantrum about what she does or doesn't want to wear, we started having her pick out her outfit the night before. She happily does this, laying everything out
in preparation. Well, this morning it backfired.....she wanted to wear a skirt and picked out a
cute one. This morning, she no longer liked skirts with panties attached (which is necessary since the boys have tried to look up her skirt already!) and this particular skirt was "too small". I'm not about to let her change her mind that easily- what's the point of picking out the outfit if she's going to have a tantrum anyway?


45 minutes of crying and screaming later, George enters the scene and tries to negotiate a "deal". If she tries the skirt on and it is truly too small she can pick out an alternative outfit. She finally complied with this and is now wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, but man, am I exhausted! I really hope that we're getting these "events" out of the way now and her teenage "rebellion" will be tame. (I can hope, can't I?).

Baz and swimming

So the third time was the charm, although I didn't think so at first. This time, the tears started as we walked into the pool place. It was quite a struggle to get him changed, but I did manage and he only continued to cry for the first 5-10 minutes of his lesson. His teacher was able to start the basics, so it wasn't a wasted lesson.

I also took Anya in with me for the free swim after his lesson, which went over well, too. Both kids enjoyed playing in the pool with me, but it was a bit challenging to watch Anya's moves and make sure Baz's head was above water! Hopefully this doesn't turn into a weekly thing.

Anya's tantrums

It still appears that Anya is working on being as strong-willed as her mommy..... Last night, she decided that she was NOT going to eat the stuffed pepper "insides" that I put on her plate. She didn't like it and wouldn't eat it. This is not acceptable in our house....no way am I starting down the road of making separate meals for each palate, so the rule is that they have to at least try what I've made and if they really don't like it, they can fill up on the other parts of the meal.

45 minutes later, she finally realized that we weren't gonna back down and if she didn't want to go to bed without dinner, bathtime, stories, or "laydowns", she had better start chowing. And guess what- she ate it and survived!!! It's so amazing how quickly she can turn off the drama and start telling jokes.....

SHe apparently didn't learn from that stunt, though....after her bath, she wanted "trampoline" where George stretches out the towel for her to bounce on, but she climbed back into the tub after he forbade it .....bring on tantrum #2!!! This one also was a whopper, lasting at least 30 minutes and had to be uncomfortable for Anya since she was sitting naked in an empty tub! Once again, when she realized she wasn't going to get what she wanted, she turned off the tears and happily got ready for bed.

I am soooooo dreading the teenage years- I think she's really going to put us through the ringer!

21 weeks

As I wade through the early 2nd tri, this pregnancy becomes more and more real. With Anya, I never felt like there was really a baby inside me until she came out. Baz was a little more real, but after an early m/c, I was always anxious. This time it's more of the same, but the 2 sonos are giving me some reassurance. The baby appears to be healthy, but the bugger will not let us see whether we need pink or blue! We got no good shots this time, but the first scan showed one pretty good look at the "goods", so I'm assuming we've got a girl, but won't be surprised if it's a boy. I do hope we get one more chance to look before the kid comes out so I know whose hand-me downs to wash!

Where to begin....it's been over a week since I've posted anything-ack! I suppose the biggest news is that Baz is really taking to his big boy bed. He eagerly jumps in each evening and although he plays for a little while, he mostly stays in the bed until he falls asleep. The cute thing is that when I open the door to peek in, he stops playing around and squeezes his eyes shut..."fooling me" already!!!

I've also found that he easily responds to "mommy guilt". Like his sister, he just LOVES being naked, so diaper and clothing changes can be a challenge. Since my patience is limited now, I just can't fight and chase him every time. The other day, I tried a few "pleeeeease"s and it stopped his mischievous laughing. I threw in a little fake crying and my little monkey laid himself down and said "sorry, mommy". OMG, was it cute and clearly a good weapon for my mommy aresnal- gonna keep that one in reserve for the 3rd tri!!

Anya is making an attempt at a pullup-free night. We haven't done this in a while, but I'm not too optimistic. Now that she finally sleeps, she sleeps VERY well and wakes for NOTHING. I fully expect her to wake up in the morning covered in pee from the night. To save myself a little laundry, I convinced her to sleep in her blow-up bed on the floor. That way, if she does wake up during the night, I only have to change her jammies and she can finish the night in her bed. I am certainly not eager to start night wakings for her now that Baz is starting to actually sleep through the night.

Accessories

I don't know why,but our kids hate clothes, but LOVE accessories. For example, here's what I found the other day:
Anya is in the background and she actually has a shirt on, but I have to keep snap shirts on Baz or he's naked! What a goofball with a princess hat and gloves!

And here's a fun 20 week belly shot- halfway there!!!

Thanks cousins!!!

I'd like to thank the best cousins in the world for the beautiful bouquet of flowers they sent me for mother's day! Sam, Emilie, Meri, and Matt- you really made my day and brightened up our kitchen. You are all so thoughtful- I appreciate it!!!!!

Sleep

So it appears that Baz is making up for all the trouble Anya has given us at bedtime. He has taken to sleeping in his 'big boy bed" without any complaints. In fact, when we merely mention his bed, he runs to it to say hi! I'm still shocked that after reading stories this evening, I tucked him in, kissed him goodnight, and left the room. End of story..... We had sooooooo many nights of fighting,screaming, etc, with Anya, not to mention sitting in and outside her room as she went to sleep. She still insists on "lay downs", but we've been able to abbreviate that a lot. Of course, this is just in time to factor in another kiddo with the potential for even better sleep issues!

Doing a little dance

Figuratively, of course-as if I have ATP's to waste on dancing!!! My parents just showed up and whisked the kids off to the beach, and then probably right to Anya's swimming lesson. It's now 1:30 and I have a pregnancy massage scheduled for 3:45, and then hopefully George and I will go out for dinner-wahoo!!!! And I really don't have TOO much to do around the house- laundry is almost caught up, beds are already changed, and the cleaners will probably be here next week so I don't care about the floors. TIVO, here I come!!!!!

"Grandchildren

......are the parents' reward for not killing their own kids."

I've heard this several times and had to remind myself of it this morning. I almost lost my reward already! (not really.....I didn't really consider offing a kid, but they did really push.....)

Baz is working on transitioning to his big boy bed, so bedtime was a little drawn out last night. He didn't fuss or cry, but he did have a lot of trouble actually sleeping in his new bed. So for over and hour, George and I took turns going in every 10 minutes or so to put him back in his bed and tell him to go to sleep. All in all, it wasn't as hard as it could have been, but it was up there in aggravation factor. THe end result was that he slept in his bed and didn't even wake up during the night, but he was up and at 'em at 5:30- ack!

Anya woke shortly after that, so mommy couldn't catch up with some sleep on the couch and the day began. We only had a couple of little scuffles to start with- nothing huge, but getting Anya dressed was a battle (as the routine has become). She easily picked out an outfit that matched and was weather-appropriate. The issue was her footwear. Since she had chosen a skirt, she wanted "high heels" to go with it. In Anya's book, high heels are any dressy shoe that don't have laces. Today she wanted her plastic Disney Cinderella or Aurora shoes. Nope- no way can those be worn outside the house except to Disney World. ANd the tears began. I offered her several other choices (mary janes, sandals, sneakers) but none were good enough.

Her next choice were her flower girl shoes from Sam & Emilie's wedding- 2 years ago!!! Nope again....no way her toes would make it through a day of those shoes- 2 sizes too small. After a looooong time out in Baz's room, we opened discussion again. (Meanwhile, George is tackling Baz to get him dressed- another struggle.....) SHe agreed to settle on her Princess Cowgirl boots. But no socks. OK- she really just wants to fight! I offer her 2 or 3 choices of socks (with tiny seams, which is the root of the sock issue). Neither is good enough, so the tears continue. Luckily, we started this early enough that we really weren't rushing to leave yet. She then insists on tights. Not my first choice because it's supposed to be pretty warm today AND we went down this road the other day and the tights have a worse seam than the socks!

Sure enough, after a few minutes of silence as she dons the tights and boots, the tears and sobbing start again. Now it is getting late and we've gotta go....in comes Daddy and manages to talk (threaten?) some sense into the kid and she puts on the socks I originally gave her that worked fine the other day.

Whew.....now I get the car, 2 kids, myself, 2 diaper bags, bookbag, sippy cups, waffles, etc all packed in the van and we're on our way. At least we got the tantrum over before the car ride today.....it's always fun hearing Anya crying about her issue du jour and Baz responding with "don't cry Anya", then Anya paying him back with a smack or kick so that he can join in the crying.

After dropping them off at Colleen's, I head to the office and get a call on my cell. It's George, so I figure he's calling to check on how the kids are doing. Nope....it seems that I grabbed his keychain instead of mine so I have the only key to his car. AAARGH! And of course, it's the only day that he has office hours in the morning, so he HAS to get going. Since I already had patients in the waiting room, I really couldn't leave to drive a half hour each way, so THANKFULLY, Keila was willing to make the trek for us.

The rest of the day was less eventful, but still challenging. I had to stop at AC Moore and Target on the way home and both kids mostly behaved. A small incident where Baz casually tossed a package of cranberry juice bottles into the back of the cart (where ANya was sitting) turned into 2 sobbing kids, but that subsided fairly quickly. Anya went for a bonus tantrum as we went down a toy aisle looking for kites and saw kid-sized shovels. Her love for worms and slugs immediately drew her to it, but $10 for a device that encouraged her to dig up bigger holes in the yard? No thanks....tantrum ensues..

Eventually, we did make it out of the store and home, where the kids and I played in the hot tub for a bit. I even convinced Anya that she "owed" me a bubble session for all the grief she gave me today! And now, both kids are sleeping (Baz is back in the crib for now, but I don't care as long as he sleeps ok!)...what's next?

Baby

Now that we're fairly certain that this kiddo is a girl, we're trying to figure out what to name her. We do have a name that both of us like, but we'd still like some choices in case she doesn't look like that name and so we know we've explored our options. Anya is happy to join in this discussion. (But she doesn't now nor will she know the planned name until it is announced in case anyone is planning on trying to get it out of her!). Her most recent offerings are "other Anya", Angel, and Sally.

She's also utterly fascinated with my belly,as it rapidly expands. She's always looking out for cute "pregnant mommy" clothes for me and she never misses an opportunity to hug and kiss my belly. She loved the idea that baby sister can probably hear and recognize her voice already.

Sebastian is having issues with not being the baby....not that I really want to push the issue and make him grow up already, but I do want him prepared for the creature who will uproot and change his life as he knows it. I started with asking him where's the baby? He happily slapped his chest and said "baby!". OK- yes, you are mommy's baby, but there's a baby in mommy's belly. Gonna have to work on this one a bit!

Step 1

With the arrival of baby #3 rapidly approaching (I know it's still over 4 mos away, but previous experience tells me that once I hit the 20-week mark, the pregnancy zips by!) we realized that we have to prepare the kids. The most practical bedroom arrangement seems to be Anya and Baz together for now and we'll rearrange to get the girls together somewhere down the road. Besides the room change, Baz also has to vacate the crib and move into a twin bed, so we started down that path today. After a yummy (and pleasant) breaky at IHOP (it's amazing how empty it is at 7:30 am!), we headed to BJ's to get a twin set.

It went quite smoothly and the kids happily jumped and played on Baz's new "big boy bed". There were no sheets for it yet (Daddy had make his trip to the Disney store for Cars sheets), but after one try at a nap in his crib, he seemed eager to try out the bed. He laid right down and appeared to go to sleep. Until we heard him playing on the monitor. No big surprise- I didn't expect him to stay right in bed from the get-go. So we listened and listened....every once in a while it would get quiet, but then he started up again. So I finally went in to check..... and found the aftermath of hurricane Sebastian.

He had used his bed as a step-stool to reach all the "goodies" hooked onto the end of the changing table. Strewn across his floor were medicine and lotion bottles, Q-tips, Vicks vaporub, vaseline, and the best fun of all....baby powder. He also reached into the top drawer of his dresser and pulled out socks and shoes. ACK!! Back into the crib for you!!!

Disney had a great sale on so George picked up a super-cool Cars comforter and sheet set marked down from $60 to $17!!!! Even better than Target or Wally-world! I hoped that this would entice him to maybe want to sleep in his big bed, but no dice yet. He was happy to read stories in it, but went over and picked his pillow off the bed and tossed it into the crib.

Oh well- I figured this would be a process, so we'll take one step at a time!

It's a girl (we think)

I'm back from the ultrasound and although it's not definite, this kiddo appears to be a girl! Everything looked healthy and growing on track, which was the most important. She decided to be stubborn and turn away from the ultrasound probe, so the tech couldn't get a good look at her "goods", but she also couldn't see all of the heart as well, so we get a bonus sono in 2 weeks and she'll take a closer look then.

It's a girl (maybe) will

It's a girl (maybe) will check in 2 weeks

Sono today

Today's the day....hopefully we find out that out newest baby is healthy and cooperative. Of course, we just want a happy baby and we obviously know how to manage either sex, so we're just curious to find out which we have!!!! I'm going to try to mobile blog the result, but if not, I'll try to post once I get to work!