attempt at a photo with santa, take one

The weather was freakishly balmy last night for being almost December, so we headed downtown for our 2nd annual photo in front of the Pioneer Courthouse Square Christmas Tree and to get a photo with Santa. I dressed the girls in their matching Christmas shirts (size 4 and size 9 was the best I could do, so do not be at all surprised to see these again next year, and maybe in 2010 if we're lucky):

How cute are they??? Everything was going swimmingly at first... found a great parking spot, made it Pioneer Courthouse Square without getting hit by a car, a bus or a MAX train... and that's pretty much where the good luck ended. The kids were way too hyper to stand still for a photo in front of the tree. One of the big kids was doing some sort of jig during each of the pictures that I snapped and then Josie was done. Off to Santa we went!

Santa was taking a cigarette dinner break when we first arrived, so we had to wait 15 minutes (easier than it sounds)... but we ended up first in line so that made it okay. Josie entertained herself by going up and down the escalator a few dozen times, her favorite pastime.

When he finally arrived, Santa was very chatty. And I mean very chatty. [Avery thought it was hilarious when she said she didn't know what she wanted for Christmas and Santa told me just to email him when she decided.] You might notice from the above photo that Josie was not partaking in any of his chit-chat. She was not fond of the man with a beard. In fact, she wanted to stay as far away as possible:

Can't really blame her I guess. He was kind of scary with all that make-up on. But, that doesn't mean I won't keep trying. Somehow, some way... I'll distract her enough to get one photo with her and St. Nick, I'm sure of it.

her future's so bright...

where's my new office?

We went on a little field trip Wednesday all the way downtown (it's about 2 miles) to see Andrew's new office building. Thankfully, his company seems to be doing just fine during this economic downturn (knocking on wood and crossing all my fingers and toes) so they have moved on to bigger and better digs. Several people mentioned it was nice, but I must admit, I was fairly surprised by how nice it is.

The guys (and a couple of gals) have a 14th floor, 180-degree view of Portland, facing east, one block off the waterfront. For those of you from out of town, that view would include Mt. St. Helens & Mt. Hood, the Willamette River and several bridges. These pictures don't do it justice by any means. It's absolutely stunning. I'm not sure I'd be able to get any work done if I worked there. But I'd be willing to give it a shot. Maybe they're hiring?

gobble, gobble

Lots of yummy food was had by all yesterday. With both sets of grandparents within walking distance (on the same street), there's never a shortage of food on Turkey Day. Maybe a shortage of photographs, but never a shortage of food.

Avery ate like a champ. One meal at 3:00, complete with turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, yams, glazed carrots, shrimp cocktail, and pumpkin pie & whipped cream. Another meal at 6:00, complete with turkey, stuffing (2 kinds), rolls, broccoli, salad, and pumpkin pie & whipped cream.

Cayden ate about half a meal at 3:00 (just turkey, yams and shrimp cocktail), then retreated to play with Legos. At 6:00 he didn't want to eat, just skipped right to the Legos.

Josie stripped down to a shirt and tights (too hot with all those people around!) and ate a lot of whipped cream. With a little bit of pie on it.

Some of us (who are not me) even tried some tofurky. Sounds like it was okay, but maybe a bit too chewy.

Avery's First Blazer Game

If you have ever been to a sporting event and felt a little foolish participating in the various applause and chants, my suggestion would be to bring along an 8-year-old girl. On Monday night, Avery and I attended her first NBA game at the Rose Garden. Blazers versus the Sacramento Kings. It was a pretty sloppy game, but a great time. Here is how it went:

{pregame photo by Avery}

• Walking to the Rose Garden, Avery asked who the Blazers' best player was. I said, "Brandon Roy," and she corrected me, saying that the video game we have lists him as "Roy Brandon".

• We needed popcorn. $6.00 for a small bag, and $6.50 for a large. Being the sucker consumer that I am, I had to go large. $11.25 total for a bag of popcorn and a small orange soda. Gotta love that.
• Upon sitting in our seats, Avery couldn't wipe the smile off of her face. That's an embarrassing situation for an 8-year-old-girl, but she was visibly excited.
• Just before tip-off, Avery said, "So who should we go for? The Blazers or the other team?"
• Just after tip-off, Avery noted, "It sure seems like a lot of people here are going for the Blazers."
• With 7 minutes left in the first quarter, the Blazers called a timeout, and Avery asked, "Is this half time?"
• Sometime in the middle of the second quarter, Avery declared her love for Brandon Roy and resolved to get a Brandon Roy shirt. Oh, and by the way, she did decide to enthusiastically "go for" the Blazers.
• Avery seemed increasingly concerned about the fairness of the Blazers having a dance team, a junior dance team, a stunt team, a mascot, a scoreboard with the words "Portland Trailblazers" written on it, and thousands of fans, while the other team had none of these things.
  
• As Roy prepared to shoot a free throw, I said, "Come on, Brandon Roy." He missed. Avery said, "See? I told you it was Roy Brandon." From then on I was only allowed to say it backward.
• By half time, Avery was trying to get players on the other team to miss free throws by discussing loudly how embarrassing it would be if they missed.
• During a timeout, the Blazer stunt team used gigantic sling shots and air guns to shoot T-shirts into the stands. For the next several minutes, Avery sat fuming that they didn't shoot one to her.
  
• Near the end of the third quarter, Avery said that we should try to get the Kings to miss free throws the way Josie would do it. From then on, we had to shout, "No! Mine!" while they started to shoot. It actually seemed to work for a while.
• Avery frequently asked me what time it was, so she could celebrate being up long past her bedtime.
  
• After asking me what several horns and whistles meant throughout the game, Avery commented in the fourth quarter that the Kings had just picked up their fifth team foul, meaning the Blazers would shoot free throws on every foul for the rest of the game. That's my girl.
• Following many tense chants of "De-fense" (which Avery originally heard and started chanting as "You suck" before I corrected her), the Blazers eked out the victory. There was much celebrating.

{game-time action, by Avery}

By the time your child is in third grade, it's pretty rare to be able to sit with her while she experiences something new and exciting. It was a lot of fun to watch her take in all of the ridiculous "entertainment" that occurs during the breaks in the game, and even get into the game itself. It was also fun to scream and yell along with her, because when you're with a kid you're pretty much obligated to make a fool of yourself, aren't you?

Next up, Cayden Wagner and the Portland Trailblazers versus the world champion Boston Celtics. Maybe I can talk him into nachos instead of popcorn.

just in case...

Just in case I'm too stuffed from my 2 turkey dinners tonight:

Happy Thanksgiving!

And just in case you can't wait for your own feast:


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wordless wednesday #2

national de-lurking day

Okay, so I made that up. In my mind and on my blog, today is National De-lurking Day. We have fancy, not so mysterious ways of seeing how many people are reading each day and there are lots of you out there who have never even left us a simple little comment. So now's your chance! The topic: bedtime footware. Let me set the scene for you.

This evening, while getting ready for bed, Cayden said to me, "Mama, guess what! One day I accidentally wore socks to bed and slept with them on for the whole night! Can you believe that?" My response? "Well, yeah, I can believe that because I wear socks to bed every night. I can't sleep without them."

So... that got me thinking and wondering and contemplating... what do all of our readers wear on their feet to bed? Socks? Slippers? Or do you prefer to go naked (so to speak)? I realize it's almost Thanksgiving but surely you have a moment to spare and leave a comment. It's easy, I promise.

you might think it would go without saying

pre-thanksgiving grocery store survival

We had to make a major trip to the grocery store this afternoon. I'd been putting it off for about 3 days so it was time. There was no more denying that fact by pretending we had enough food in the cupboards for a family of 5. But, call me crazy, something about the thought of 3 kids trudging through the grocery store (for "big shopping" as we call it in our house) 3 days before Thanksgiving seemed like it might border on child abuse. I needed a plan. I remembered seeing a coupon in the paper for a free turkey if you spend $150 or more. I knew we'd at least come close to that, if we didn't go way over, so I told Avery & Cayden it was their job to make sure we spent that much. Not that we really need a free turkey.

So both kids trailed through the store with a calculator in hand (they each had their own because heaven knows sharing one would make things even worse) and added up every item I put in the cart. We learned a lot about rounding, because decimal points are still a bit much. Mostly we rounded down, unless it was really close to the next dollar, to make sure we met our $150 goal. I'm sure everyone who saw them thought we were penny pinchers trying not to spend too much, when in actuality it was almost the exact opposite. Which, let's face it, is a lot more fun all around.

When we had picked up everything on our list, their estimated total was $139 (which I knew was too low because I purposely underestimated the produce costs). Luckily, I had a few back-up items in mind... things we didn't really need yet, but that we could always use more of. Diapers! A $16 pack of Pampers put us over the top for sure, so we headed to the check-out.

Thirty minutes later (I kid you not), we were on our way... free turkey and all. Our exact total was $162.20, but would have been $180.24 if we'd had to buy that turkey that we didn't need.

parent teacher conferences

This morning, bright and early, Andrew & I made our way to school just as we normally would if the kids had school. But, they get the week off and we got to go in for a conference with each of their teachers.

Every year I'm struck by how awkward it is... sitting there in a chair made for a child, with your knees up to your chin. Listening to your child's teacher tell you how they're doing, which I bet correlates pretty well to how they think you're doing as a parent. I'm sure the teachers are taught to stay totally objective and try their hardest to do so. After all, everyone knows that a "difficult" child doesn't necessarily have "bad" parents, but I betcha 50 bucks most teachers probably think that's the case if they were to be totally honest.

Anyway, we got some good feedback from Mrs. R and Mrs. D and the kiddos are right where they should be. They can read & write, add & subtract, and there have been no in-class tantrums or cursing fits so far this year. Turns out we're half-way decent parents after all. Nice to get that little affirmation (however indirect it might be) from an outside source.


*On another note, after almost 2 weeks of feeling crappy, I'd estimate that Cayden is now at about 85%. He is still much more tired than normal, but he has stopped napping (just going to bed a little early and sleeping in a little later). He spent the whole weekend bouncing. off. the. walls. As annoying as that can be, it's nice to have him back.

sushi

I love the way it looks. I love to go out with a group of people who all order different types of sushi and to see the big, colorful platter that comes out. But that's about where my appreciation for sushi ends. I actually tried some very mild sushi for the first time a couple weeks ago and it wasn't bad, but I wouldn't say that I loved it. I actually craved more later, but when I had more last night, it didn't do much for me. But I still love the way it looks.

23 days into NaBloPoMo... and quickly running out of things to talk about, at least on the weekends.

we just want a couple trees...

... is that too much to ask? Just two in our front parking strip and two or three in our side parking strip (we have a lot of parking strip on this corner lot!). But, despite all the benefits that trees provide, the city of Portland makes it nearly impossible.

First, you have to call and get an on-site inspection. Naturally, I don't want to dig into our water main or gas lines, so I was all for this idea. I waited two weeks, then noticed a couple of spray-painted marks on the sidewalk and got a list of approved trees in the mail. Andrew and I headed out to our favorite nursery with list in hand and decided on a Japanese Maple (pictured above).

When we were just about to make our purchase, I noticed at the bottom of the tree list a notation about calling to get a planting permit before you buy a tree. When I called the number back, I was told that I'd have to call the specific guy who inspected our house. I got his number and left him a message. Once he calls back, he will have to okay the specific type of tree we want, at which point we can buy it. Then we have to fax him a copy of the receipt, and he will come back to our house and issue us a planting permit.

Am I the only one who thinks this run-around is a bit much? I get the fact that some trees can damage the sidewalks and are bad for parking strips. But we got the recommendation list and we plan to follow its guidelines. Is all of the other bureaucracy really necessary?

tough times at the neighborhood dairy queen

ways to (barely) stay entertained while home sick

Scorpion stickers on the face. A must-have.

A fort in the dining room. Old stand-by.

When all else fails: Video Games, for sure.

it's friday! yippee!

[Videographer: Cayden]

confession

Today was a crappy day. Super crappy. If I thought for a second that I could've gotten away with it, I think I might have tried to escape when Cayden and Josie were napping. Good thing I didn't because Josie woke up with an upset tummy after just 45 minutes. I would have needed much more time away than 45 minutes so I definitely would've gotten caught.

When Avery got in the car after school, she proclaimed, "I feel like I'm going to throw up and I have a really bad headache." That was when I thought I was going to scream. I cannot take one more sick kid. If she is home tomorrow (the last day before a 10-day break), I will scream. No doubt about it.

Okay... just 30 minutes 'til bedtime. I think I can, I think I can.

insomnia

I'm in a bit of a fog today. Even though I went to bed before 10 (!), I only got about 5 hours of sleep, which was the exact opposite of what I needed after an already-long week (isn't it Friday yet?). Josie woke up briefly at midnight, and although she was back asleep after a quick sip of water, I was wide awake until 3:30. Why does that happen? I was up for all of 3 minutes with her; I should have been able to drift off again no problem. But I couldn't stop my mind from racing.

Mostly I was thinking (already) about the auction that I'm planning for Avery & Cayden's school. It's not until March but oddly, in the middle of the night, it felt like it was coming up tomorrow and that I was totally unprepared. I must suck at asking for volunteers because I don't have half the number of people I need to help at this point. But just yesterday, I heard from three people who offered to help out, so I know it will all come together. Somehow, it always does. But if I'm losing sleep over it now, things could get really bad in January and February!!

I was also thinking about Cayden, realizing there is no way we're going to be able to keep him from "rough-housing" for the next 3 months like we're supposed to. I let him go outside after school yesterday with some friends (we were picking up Avery) while I checked in with his teacher and I came out to find him racing around the playground, playing tag. I know he needs that kind of interaction with his buddies, that he thrives on that level of activity, but I can't help worrying. When we got in the car, he said that a couple of friends were calling him "mono boy" and that hurt his feelings. And that he wants to go back to school. He tells me this about 100 times a day.

Maybe a shower will help wake me up a bit. Surely it can't make me any more tired. Yaaawwwn.

wordless wednesday #1

my 6-year-old has "the kissing disease"

I'll give Cayden this: he's got a high tolerance for pain and discomfort. Turns out his on again-off again fever/sore throat/headache from the past week is actually an ear infection/possible strep throat/monofreakingnucleosis. No school for him until at least after Thanksgiving (and no sports for up to 3 months but sssshhhh... I haven't told him that part yet).

When one of our friends (jokingly) suggested mono last night, I laughed it off, thinking "kids don't get mono!" But the more I thought about it, the more his symptoms reminded me of Andrew's mono symptoms from high school. He's been absolutely exhausted, taking daily naps and going to bed by 6pm every night. He's been complaining a little about having a headache and has had a fever on and off since Friday. By far the biggest sign has been his lack of energy... a huge change for him (have I ever mentioned before how busy he normally is???)!

After I did some research online, I made him an appointment with his doctor, but never mentioned the possibility of mono because I didn't want to seem like one of those crazy hypochondriac moms. I decided to see what she suggested and only ask about at the very end if she never brought it up. Sure enough, she brought it up before I did and ordered a blood test. Cayden was a trooper through the appointment, which lasted almost 2 hours in total. Josie was a bit of a challenge, as she remembered being there 2 weeks ago for shots and was not about to go through that again, thankyouverymuch.

As for me, I'm running out the door now to enjoy some drinks and dessert with a couple of friends (two nights in a row! what a maniac!) and then crash. It has been a long day.

no such luck bowling

We made an attempt to go bowling last night at the semi-new Grand Central Bowl. We set up a triple date with two other couples to celebrate two birthdays that just happen to conveniently fall a week apart. We all got babysitters (harder than it should be), made reservations for a lane, and headed on down. We thought we'd be clever and eat there, so we could be on-site right when our lane was open. As the evening went on, the service got worse (really, really bad) and our bowling aspirations were eventually dashed. First our reservation got pushed back 15 minutes, then 30 and finally at least 40. With teenaged babysitters at home who had to go to school the next day, the delayed start time didn't work so there was no bowling. But, we did get cards for free shoes next time! (And needless to say, we had a great time.)

[The funny about last night is that I've been trying to go bowling at Grand Central for months now. I've never actually made it inside before, so last night was definitely progress. Every time I make plans to go there, something falls through. Andrew has been a couple of times with work, but it just doesn't appear to be in the cards for me.]

for everette

Cayden was thrilled to hear that his favorite 3-year-old comes to our blog to see pictures of him. He wanted to put up a video for her, but only if he could show off his chon-ji moves (again). Everette, this is for you!



[I could not get the $*%*#&% video to load up in Blogger again. Arg.]

deal breaker

I have just given up all my presidential aspirations. Although I still think I'm just as qualified as what's-her-name, I no longer have any interest in running for the highest office in the land. Why? Because I just read that the President is not allowed to send or receive personal emails or texts*. That is a total deal breaker.


*Another article I read said that Obama could choose use a personal email account but the messages would become public property. No thank you!

how does it do that???

Okay, so I know this blog is read by a lot of tech buffs, so I'm going to risk sounding stupid and ask... How in the hell does the iPhone app Shazam work exactly? I've seen the new commercials and I just don't get it. It's an absolutely brilliant feature and was made specifically for people like me, who can never remember the name of a song and/or artist if his or her life depended on it. Yeah, yeah, and it's also a good way of discovering new music. But how does it work?

[Okay, so that was a totally lame blog post. But, I'm participating in NaBloPoMo so I have to post something before midnight. I knew weekends would be the toughest part of this project and sure enough, here I am. Sorry.]

cow licks

I'm pretty sure Josie has the most effed up crazy hair I've ever seen. She has two counter-rotating cowlicks in the back, so all her hair gets pushed up right into her face (click on this link and then check out the photo on the right to get an idea). On the day she was born, I'm pretty sure it was my friend Amy (Josie's future teacher) who first noticed this oddity, warning us that she was going to have a lot of trouble with her hair. Sure enough, it's been kind of a disaster since day 1.

For the first few months, the hair on the top of her head was about 4 inches long and the rest of her head was almost bald. Since all the hair on the top of her head all shoots right down towards her face, it natually made kind of a mohawk as a baby. Then when it got a little longer, it laid flat on the top of her head, but totally stuck up in the back. At 4 months or so, she was able to keep clips in to keep the hair out of her eyes. At about 10 months, what would be her bangs (if we ever cut them) got long enough to make a little side-ponytail and that's pretty much how she wears it every single day. It can't be parted down the middle, only on her left side. It can't be left down because it covers her entire face and it doesn't want to stay behind her ear, as I hoped that it would eventually do. As much as I like the little side-ponytail, we thought we'd try something a little different today and experiment with some different 'dos.

One would think that pigtails would be the way to go, but since her hair can't be parted down the middle, that didn't really work very well. It looked okay from the front, but the back was pretty wonky. Plus one pigtail was much higher than the other and it was impossible to pull in all the hair from the front, so she had strands in her eyes.

Later in the day, Josie got into her barrette bowl and convinced Avery to put all of her barrettes into her hair. This might actually be her best bet for taming her wild mane.

wonder if white leggings would look as cute on me

{I think I doubt it.}

q: how can you tell when cayden is sick?

A:{2nd time he's ever fallen asleep on the couch in his life. He's been sick both times.}

Whose children are these?

Josie started crying this morning at 6AM, which is maybe 20-40 minutes earlier than usual. I stumbled out of bed and got to her room as quickly as possible because, we have learned, if you can get in there before she stands up and hurls Bear on the floor, she might possibly go back to sleep. Probably not, but you don't stand a chance once she's on her feet.

I picked her up and she went through her usual list, pointing out the door. "Sissy?" "Sissy is sleeping." "Mama?" "Mama is sleeping." "Cay-cay?" "Cayden is sleeping and it's time for Josie to go to sleep." "Cay-cay seep." I put her back down and handed her Bear, and things seemed promising.

I closed Josie's door and glanced into Avery and Cayden's room and noticed Cayden staring at me, wide awake. He clearly was up for the day, just biding his time until 6:40, when he was allowed to get up. I went in to talk for a moment. Avery was curled up in a ball. Cayden said he had a headache, and I suggested that he tried to go back to sleep and see how he felt when he woke up. From the other side of the room, Avery's wide-awake voice reminded him that if he felt well enough he was going to a friend's birthday party. She, too, had just been lying around, counting the minutes until 6:40.

I just sat there and shook my head and wondered how it was that I ended up with three children who all seem to naturally wake up before 7AM every day. Who does that? Avery reguarly slept until 9 or 10 until Cayden was born. Now she's the earliest riser of the bunch, responsible for waking me up in the morning to take her to school. Josie would probably sleep later than the other two if their school-preparation activities didn't wake her up, but still almost never past 7:30. I guess sleeping patterns aren't hereditary.

I look forward to the day when Josie is self-sufficient enough (or at least out of a crib so that she can be Avery-sufficient enough) that Amber and I are no longer forced to get up before 7 on weekends. Being forced to wake up at 6 on a Saturday to deal with a grumpy toddler should be against the Geneva Conventions.

tgif

Perfect summation of my week: Just now, I gave Josie her usual breakfast: Life cereal. Every day. Same same same. I thought today I'd spice things up a bit and throw some O's on top for her. After all, when she's really hungry and has eaten all the Life, she sometimes follows it up with a bowl of O's. So I set the bowl down in front of her and she burst into tears as if her childhood puppy had just died. It was more funny than annoying, because I knew exactly what was wrong. And I had to respect her for knowing what she wanted... plus I'm totally willing to pick my battles these days. So I picked out all the O's and brought the bowl back, which she is munching away on now, quite happily. Sigh.

The whole week has been full of these little incidents. Josie is a new creature now. She wants things done her way, which is okay sometimes... and not okay other times. We're entering new territory (her favorite two words to put together? "no! mine!") and it's been a long week. Needless to say, I'm very glad it's Friday. Not that weekends are really easier with little kids, but at least there's back-up. Not quite as outnumbered. I'm really hoping this sunny weather (who would've guessed after that crazy storm?!) sticks around so we can get. out. of. the. house.

Happy Weekend!

full classload

Now that Josie is 18 months and ready for some "real" classes, I've got her scheduled to the max. It reminds me of that year in college when I was signed up for 18 credits. Kind of.

She's got 4 classes each week... 2 Gymnastics, Messy Art and Creative Dance. All 4 classes are taught by friends of mine (moms from school) so Josie has so far been a little confused to see them out of context. I'm just hoping a little socialization with kiddos her own age will help her out of her pre-2, Miss Independent funk.

stormy weather

We are in the middle of our first heavy rainstorm of the season here in the good ol' Pacific Northwest, flood advisories and all. True to our reputation, there will be many more storms on the way I'm sure. It's been steadily raining all day, storm drains are clogged with leaves and people are driving like loonies. I love nights like this if I have nowhere to go. It's the perfect night to curl up in front of a nice fire with some hot chocolate and watch "The Office" (my fave). Alas, I have an auction prep meeting (that I'm supposed to be planning for now) at 8:15 there's no fireplace* in my future. But hopefully a wee bit of booze, which is just as well I suppose.

*Truth be told, we don't even have a fireplace, but it sounded good. And while I'm being honest, I never make hot chocolate at home. But you get my drift, right?

Updated 2 seconds later: Oh wait, it's only Wednesday. No "Office" yet. Rats. Getting ahead of myself.

a nice thought to go with breakfast

I'll admit it, I've never been the kind of mom who wipes down the shopping cart handle before I put my kids in. I always figure that they need some exposure to germs to build up their immune systems. Since we wash our hands regularly, I've always figured we'd be fine.

Lo and behold, I heard on the Today Show this morning (you might want to put down your fork if you're in the middle of a meal) that they did a national experiment and 40-90% of the shopping cart handles they tested were positive for E. coli. How disgusting is that? Thankfully, Josie's not a cart-handle-chewer but the thought of that gives me chills. I guess from now on I will be wiping down the cart handle (or better yet, maybe buying one of those shopping cart covers that I always thought were a wee bit over the top {bad mom}). Am I the only one who's been exposing my poor children to deadly germs all this time???

prop 8

I have been wanting to comment on the passage of Proposition 8 last week in California, but have had trouble stringing the words together. But, I ran across a video from last night's Keith Olbermann show (love him) that summed up all my feelings to a tee. I know this is a very touchy subject with strong emotions on both sides but I think Prop 8 is a disgrace, and casts a sad shadow on an otherwise joyous election.

One (giant) step forward, two (giant) steps back.

oh, to be a fly on the wall here...

like summer break{but not sunny or fun}

We're almost 3/4 of the way through a 4-day weekend here. The kids have today and tomorrow off from school (for Veteran's Day and some other, unknown reason) and so far things have gone less than stellar.

Avery spent the night at a friend's house and arrived home in a very foul mood (can't really blame her--I'm sure she was having more fun there). Any time she doesn't get her homework done first thing on Friday (it comes home on Friday and is due on the following Thursday) she gets all panicky and crabby. Which is exactly what she did this afternoon, despite the fact that she has 2 days off... and is done with soccer, which was eating up a good chunk of her time.

Cayden is just being normal old Cayden (can we go to the park? can I ride my bike? can I play video games?) except he's in the middle of a huge growth spurt so he's been hungry all. day. long (is this what we can expect from now until he's 20?). Without Avery here in the morning to absorb some of his energy, I was about ready to strangle him by noon. I swear he makes a much bigger mess than both girls combined. He's like a little tasmanian devil.

Josie is crabby. She's been crabby for about 2 weeks now; I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this. I think she's crabby because we can't understand what she wants, and we're frustrated because she's crabby... and because we can't understand what she wants. Half the time I don't even think she knows what she wants. I'm sure it's hard to be completely aware of the world around you but to have so much of it be off-limits. She is finally catching up on some sleep after the stupid freaking daylight savings time switch (I will have to write about that another day... grr) so it's not as bad as it's been in recent days. But, combined with the other two, it's been a rough go so far today. Let's just say that our lunch date with my mom was a bit disastrous.

Which leads me to tomorrow. Yikes. Andrew has to work late and can't work from home during the day, which is what he normally does when he has to stay late. So we're looking at 12 hours of the three of us. Together. Alone. With no school. I need a plan now. Josie has her very first Tumbling class at 11, which I've really been looking forward to... although I sure didn't anticipate having to drag the older kids along. So what I need to plan for is after naptime. Like this exact time tomorrow. When I'm at my wit's end and ready to scream and banish them all to the basement (which is their playroom, not like a dark dungeon or anything).

never gets old (to me)

Deja vu?
She actually gets some air now, though!
Practice, practice, practice.

sickness has invaded my space

*Warning: This post does include talk of bodily fluids. Proceed with caution, and my apologies in advance.

We thought Josie might be making progress on her 2-year molars last night when we heard her whimpering in bed at 11:00pm. She's been chewing on her fingers all week now so I'm assuming that those chompers are causing her some discomfort. However, when we went down to check on her for the second time at about midnight, it was clear as day (from the smell alone!) that she was sick. She had thrown up all over herself and her bed (and Bear!!), and proceeded to do so again 3 or 4 times before finally going back to sleep for the night at about 2:30am. Since she only has 2 waterproof mattress covers, we had to act fast and keep throwing the soiled ones into the washer, so there was lots of laundry done, a bath given, a little bit of quiet playtime, and lots of rocking. At some point, she was trying so hard to throw up more, but her little stomach was completely empty so she gave in and went to sleep.

So far today she seems to be doing much better. She's eaten about 1/2 of a waffle and a saltine or 2. She's had some gatorade and a touch of milk, and is now down for nap #2. Let's hope this is a quick bug... that no one else catches! It's made its way through some friends' houses and it does not sound pleasant. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

rain, rain go away

Is it Spring yet?

The Goal, by Avery

Today Saturday November 8, 2008 was my last soccer game of the season. It was really really rainy. I played forward for my second time and scored the last goal of the whole season!!! {forward is where you score the goals.} The next thing I knew everyone was cheering and screaming Avery! I'm good at defense {where you are a little in front of the goal and stop the ball before the goalie has to deal with it} but today we had a mix up day. I always start playing defense in the beginning of the first half and the beginning of second half which means that you are good. There are 3 places for defense. One in the middle one on the right and one on the left. I'm either on the left or the right. Today was a very exciting day because of that goal!!!!!

Unforeseen Consequence of Obama Victory

Apparently there is a huge fear that all the newly-elected Democrats are going to enact tougher gun laws, so there has been a huge spike in gun sales across the country. Great. Just what we all need--a bunch of gun-wielding folks who are probably unhappy about their new leaders in Washington. The first few lines of this article made me sick to my stomach:

"When 10-year-old Austin Smith heard Barack Obama had been elected president, he had one question: Does this mean I won't get a new gun for Christmas? That brought his mother, the camouflage-clad Rachel Smith, to Bob Moates Sports Shop on Thursday, where she was picking out that special 20-gauge shotgun — one of at least five weapons she plans to buy before Obama takes office in January."

18 Months

18 things I love about 18-month-old Josie:

1. She stops in her tracks and yells "buur-DEEE" every time she sees a bird (or hears an airplane) fly by.

2. She gives great hugs!

3. She runs for the door yelling "Go, go, bye, bye, car, car" every time someone even hints about leaving the house (these hints could include mentioning the word "shoes" or "coat" or walking close to the door).


4. She searches for the moon any time we exit the house or the car in the dark.

5. When she's begging for something (going downstairs, for example), and you finally understand and ask, "Do you want to go downstairs?" she replies with an excited, "Yeeeeeeeaaaaaah."

6. She follows me around the kitchen, closing any cupboard doors or drawers as I'm cooking. And of course she still loves getting into the dishwasher... pulling out the dirty dishes and stashing toys, phones, shoes, etc. in there. That last thing isn't so much something that I love.


7. Two of her newest phrases are "it's cool" and "sweeeet." Wonder where she learned those?

8. She tries to climb onto everything... much more successfully than just a few weeks ago. This does include the bench at the dining room table, then up onto the table, which is proving to be worrisome. No more candles for us!

9. She can spend ages (you know, like 10 minutes!) stacking things, watching them fall down, then starting all over again.


10. She is just starting to understand and follow simple directions. If I ask her to "go get me your shoes," she will often times be back moments later, shoe (usually just one... baby steps) in hand. My mom asked her to bring her a dinosaur from a toy box at a restaurant yesterday and she quickly returned with a brontosaurus, much to my surprise. (This was one of the questions on the new "autism test" from the doctor this morning, so I was relieved to be able to check it off.)

11.She refers to all fruits and vegetables as "apple."

12. She regularly uses several "baby signs" (milk, more, all done, new diaper, etc.) even though I was fairly skeptical and barely even taught them to her. Turns out folks were right and they're very helpful.


13. She is still totally in love with Bear. She only sucks her thumb when she is holding him one certain way. It's completely over-the-top adorable. After the shots at the doctor's office today, Bear was the only one who could console her.

14. When I go to get her out of her crib, she always starts jumping... and jumping and jumping and jumping. The girl needs a trampoline for Christmas.

15. She loves her bath again, after a short time when it wasn't so cool. She sits in there (freezing, I'm sure) until all the water has drained. When she hears the water running, she quickly grabs a few toys to toss in (usually her farmer and some animals).


16. Every morning, the first words out of Josie's mouth are "Sissy" and "CayCay," asking for Avery & Cayden. If they have already left for school, she gets visibly sad and runs to look out the window. After each nap, she asks again, and gets very excited to find out it's time to get them from school.

17. She never even seems tempted to go in the street when we're playing outside. I'm not sure why but it just never happens, knock on wood.

18. She's trying to learn how to wink and it's got to be one of the cutest things I've ever seen.


18 Month Stats:

Weight: 27 pounds, 4 ounces (84th percentile)
Height: 34 inches (95th percentile)
Hair Length: 9 inches (100th percentile, I suspect)

Smashing Pumpkins(literally; not the band)

(I should really figure out how to make one of those cool slideshows.)