chugga-chugga

For about two years our train table has been up in Rachel's room holding her Playmobil toy zoo and toy school.  The trains and track have been packed away in the drawers. 

A month or so ago we got a couple of the trains out and Rebecca's been carrying them around the house.  But yesterday we brought the table back downstairs, where it once was, and set up the track and trains again for Rebecca.  We got it all ready while she was napping, knowing she'd be so surprised when she got up.

We were right!  She usually wakes up super crabby.  Yesterday was no different, until Daddy brought her into the playroom and there was the train table.  It was like Christmas morning!  I got her full reaction on video, but here are a few pictures I took, too.  (Notice the bed head!  She had just gotten up when I took these.)

She's been playing with little else since then.  It's Rachel's favorite new toy, again, too. 

tuckered

This is what happens when you wake up before 5:30 AM every morning.

She fell asleep while Rachel was watching a video.

Isn't she sweet?

I just wish she'd learn to sleep later.

to the dentist again

Over the summer I wrote about Rachel's terrible first trip to the dentist.

Today was her 6 month check up.  I've been d-r-e-a-d-i-n-g it all month (really, for 6 months...but I've seen it looming on the calendar at the end of January for the last 24 days, and have worried and worried about it).  I really didn't want a reprise of the last visit. 

She knew it was coming up, but didn't actually know it was today until we told her last night.  I didn't want her freaking out about it for days, so I waited to tell her.  Last night she and Daddy re-read her "Going To The Dentist" book and today she and I role-played a dentist visit.  She told me she wasn't scared and was excited about it.  I was doubtful, but hopeful at the same time, that things would be better this time.

And they were!  She did GREAT!

She opened her mouth wide when needed, didn't grab the cleaning utensils from the hygenist's hands, didn't complain, cry, or in any way show that she was displeased.  She was a pro. 

During the x-ray part she did say her tummy hurt and she had to go potty, and then afterwards she said she didn't.  I'm pretty sure that was her nerves, but she stayed still and let the lady put the x-ray things in her mouth, even though she didn't like it.

I was SO proud of her.

Oh, and she made it into the "cavity free club."  She got a t-shirt and everything.

The dentist showed me on the x-ray that her two front teeth are probably going to come out any time now.  Her adult teeth are pretty close to pushing their way out.  That's going to change the look of my sweet little girl--I think kids look so grown up with the adult teeth in on top.  :(   I'm not ready for that.

What a big girl she's getting to be.


(But this comment from her yesterday reminded me that she's not SUCH a big girl yet....  She was watching a video from the library.  The library DVDs often have lots of scratches on them and get "stuck" in spots.  Some of them are so bad that you can't even finish watching them.  Her movie got stuck, so she was pressing the "skip" button on the remote to try and get past the stuck part.  It didn't work.  She said, "Mommy, why did it get more stucker when I pressed the button?"  Little things like that make me smile.  She's still a little girl, and hopefully I can keep her that way for as long as possible.)

sick?

I've been stuck at home the last couple of days because Rebecca's had some reeeeeeeeeeeeeeealy nasty diapers for three days.  She doesn't seem to be sick in any other way than this, but I haven't wanted to chance her giving this "bug" to anyone else (if it is, in fact, a bug), or take the chance of her having one of her really gross diapers while we're out somewhere, for either myself or someone else to deal with.

I called the doctor this morning since it's been three days.  They don't want to see her because she doesn't have a fever, but said to feed her applesauce, bananas, and hard cheese to try and stop it.  Thankfully she loves applesauce and bananas, so that part is easy.  We'll see if it works.  They say they like to control it with diet when they can.

So I don't know if this constitutes her being sick or not, but it feels like it, since I can't really go anywhere.  I'd been so good at sticking to my MWF gym schedule, but I didn't want to take her to the playroom this morning (they don't change diapers there, so they'd come get me if she had a yucky diaper, but I didn't want it to happen while I was in the middle of my workout or my shower!).  So I missed for the first time in two weeks.  It was a good thing I didn't go, though, because she did have a messy diaper, which meant another change of clothes (she's gone through a LOT of clothes in the last few days, and had lots of baths, too!).  I'm glad that didn't happen while I was at the gym.

We did go to the grocery store briefly both yesterday and today (I forgot some things yesterday and needed to stock up on applesauce today anyway).  So at least I got out of the house.

So here's what she's been up to at home.  She likes seeing her picture on the little screen on the back of the camera, so whenever I get the camera out, she enjoys posing in different places and then running over to see "Becca!" (as she calls herself) on the back of the camera.

Posing for Mommy (I forgot to turn the flash off--that shadow in the background annoys me!)

Playing with her tractor (from Great Grandpa for Christmas--thank you, Great Grandpa!  You weren't there when she opened it at Christmastime, but she LOVES it!  She plays with it several times every day).

Her face looks so funny because just as I snapped the picture she said, "There it goes!"  (it moves and had just taken off!)

"Gock-Gock" (this is what she calls sitting in the rocking chair--what she means is "rock-rock." )

Love my handful of a cutie-pie.  Hopefully her diapers will be back to normal soon and we can get out again.

attention

The last two days Rebecca has been a little bit less of a handful.  The reason, I think, is because she's gotten more attention.  Yesterday Rachel didn't have school, so they played together (some) and I also have been more intentional about playing with her and giving her my full attention.  So getting my positive attention=less trouble.  But here's the thing:  when I'm paying more attention to her, I can't do the things I need to do (dishes, laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc). 

So I go back and forth in my mind.  Of course she is more important than those things, so she should come first.  But those things still need to get done.  You'd think after 5+ years of being a mom, I'd have a balance down, but I'm far from it.

When she does the things that annoy me, I get frustrated that I'm interrupted from the things that need to get done.  When I pay attention to her, she does fewer things to annoy me, but then I'm frustrated that the things that need to get done aren't getting done.  Either way, I'm frustrated.  Maybe one of these days, I'll figure out this stay at home mom thing without so much frustration. 

Someday. 

But right now she's in bed, so I'd better go get some of those things done!

high maintenance

Children are high maintenance.  Or at least, mine are.

Example:  As what I thought would be a special treat, I took Rachel to see "Beauty and the Beast" in 3D at the theater today.  Here I thought she'd be thrilled.  And she was, until halfway through the movie, when she started complaining that
a) she was hungry,
b) she was tired, and
c) she wanted to play with her leap pad

She said she could finish watching the movie at home.

AHHHHHH!!!  I was really annoyed....and told her we had paid money to see the movie in 3D and we were going to stay until it was over, and she had to wait until we got home to have something to eat.  We had already bought popcorn, so I wasn't about to go spend another small fortune to get her anything else to eat. 

When we got home I told her dad what she had said.  He told her that he didn't care if she was hungry or tired, that she needs to learn not to say those things.  (How do you teach tact to a five year old, anyway?)  It'll be a long time before we take her to the movies again.  Ugh.

And then there's this child....

This one is the epitome of high maintenance right now.

Climbing, getting into things, constantly wanting to eat, doing things she knows she shouldn't with a grin on her face....  I don't remember Rachel ever being this much of a handful.  I count the minutes until naptime and bedtime, just because she'll be contained in her crib and can't bother anything.  Oh, I forgot to mention that last week she actually climbed out of her playpen.  She piled two toys on top of each other, stepped up on them, and somehow got over the top.  She landed flat on her back on the floor with a thud, screaming (I was drying my hair, and over the hairdryer noise I heard the thud, turned the hairdryer off to investigate, and then heard the screaming).  She was fine, just scared, and hasn't tried it since (I also took the big toys out of the playpen so she can't pile them to try it again). 

A handful.

But ohhhhhhhhh.....how I love them.  Last night Rebecca woke up in the middle of the night, screaming.  If she wakes up, she usually fusses a little and goes back to sleep.  But this was big crying.  I don't know if it was a bad dream or what, but she was obviously upset.  I went in, scooped her up, and she put her head on my shoulder, where she was quiet and calm.  It was so sweet.  As I got back in bed a few minutes later, I realized that I'd gladly put up with the daily frustrations for those moments of sweetness. 

And last night Rachel and I were baking cookies together, and we were joking about something.  "Mommy, you're so funny," she told me.  Or she'll sit on my lap in the mornings and say, "Mommy, I just love you so much!"  They are both so sweet, giving me hugs, kisses, and grins.  It makes the other parts worth it.  I just wish the balance was a little more even--equal parts sweetness and frustration!  Right now it seems like the frustration is outweighing the sweetness.  But I'll keep them.  I know there will be days where the sweetness wins out.

dressing up

Rebecca loves doing everything her big sister does.  (Rachel, in turn, wants to do everything her little sister does, too!) 

So lately whenever Rachel plays dress up and puts on a princess dress, Rebecca comes up to me saying, "dess?  dess?"  because she wants a dress, too.  I knew I had some smaller princess dresses somewhere put away that Rachel used to wear, but I couldn't remember for sure where they were, and didn't want to take Rebecca with me to look for them.  So I always had to try and satisfy her with a hat, beads, or shoes, instead of the dress she was wanting.

So over the weekend I was finally able to look for the smaller dresses, and found them!

So here's Rebecca in her first princess dress.

She kept touching her chest, saying "pitty!" and then saying "La La!" ....telling me she was a pretty princess like Cinderella. 

So when I took Rebecca's picture, of course, Rachel wanted her picture taken, too.  Instead of a princess dress, she had elected to dress in her way-too-small Care Bear costume with her new Belle shoes, which she got for Christmas.  Quite an ensemble.

reality

Last week it was back to reality.  No more Christmas vacation laziness.  Rachel went back to school on Wednesday, I started back at the gym (I hadn't been since I got sick....was that November???)...it was like starting from scratch.  Not that I had done much to begin with, but I had built up some stamina until I got sick.  Then my sickness, the girls' sicknesses, and then December/Christmas got in the way, and...well....excuses, excuses.  But anyway, I started back at the gym.  Hopefully I can be consistent.

Girl scouts starts back up tomorrow--anyone want to buy some cookies????  Cookie sales start next week!

I finished another book--yet another one that I started (a YEAR ago!), returned to the library, and finally got back around to.  This one was "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."  Everyone talked and talked about how good it was, and now the movie's out, so I wanted to finish it, but I felt like the first half of the book was soooooo slow.  It took me a long time to get into it, which is one reason why I never finished it.  After about halfway, though, I couldn't put it down.  That's hard when you've got two little girls around who need you.  I struggle sometimes with reading--I enjoy it, but when I'm in the middle of a good book it's hard to do the things I'm supposed to do, so then I get frustrated and sometimes I think it's better if I'd never started it!  But anyway, I finally finished it, a year later.  Now I want to read the next one in the series.

Rebecca's sleeping hasn't been quite so good.  She had been doing so well, and then at the end of last week her naps started getting shorter and she started waking up early again.  I don't know what's going on.  She goes to the doctor on Tuesday for a recheck of her ears, so we'll see if there's anything physically wrong with her, or if she's just her usual poor sleeper-self.

Rachel's enjoying school.  On Friday they started "Favorite Toy Friday," where they get to bring in...you guessed it...a favorite toy!  It can't be anything electronic, so she was very sad that she couldn't take her new favorite toy, which is the Leap Pad Explorer that she got for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa.  So instead she took a book that we made on the computer with her new Crayola Story Studio kit, where we made a coloring book of Cinderella with Rachel in the coloring book.  You scan in your picture, it morphs it into a coloring book drawing, and adds it into the pages, which you print out.  She loves that she's on the same page with the princesses.  Anyway, she took that to school as her favorite toy!  She's already trying to decide what she wants to take next week.

We've finished our bathroom remodel, and now my husband wants to move on to the guest bath in the upstairs hallway.  The problem is that our checkbook doesn't match his ambition.  He loved doing the bathroom, was really happy with his work, and wants to continue.  I don't know what we'll end up doing--maybe just a couple of small things that do need to get done (like fixing the hole in the wall that he made recently because he saw some water damage and wanted to know what was causing it!).

2012

Happy New Year!

I already finished a book this year.  It was Water for Elephants.  I actually had it out months ago, didn't get to it, and got it out again to read over Christmas vacation.  I can't believe I actually got it finished (I'm good at starting books and not finishing them) before vacation is over!  Now I want to watch the movie.

We're almost done with our first house project of the year, too (Actually, I've hardly done a thing.  My very hard working husband has done almost everything).  For over a month now he has been plugging away on our master bathroom.  We needed a new floor badly.  So he ripped out everything except the shower (we wish we could've done that, too, but we decided not to spend the money on a new shower).  He ripped up the old floor, fixed some water damaged spots in the floor, and tiled the floor (his first time doing tile--and it looks great!).  Then he took out the old medicine cabinet, patched the resulting hole in the wall, painted the ceiling and walls, then put in a new vanity and sink.  Last night (our new years eve excitement) we put up the new mirror and cabinet on the wall.  Today we picked out towel racks, etc, and he just got done putting those up.  The only things left to do are to put up the base trim, which he stained yesterday and today, and then put the toilet back in place.  I can't wait for it to be done and am so thankful for a husband who is so handy!

Rebecca is starting the year off with some awesome sleep for her very thankful mommy.  The last few days she's napped 3 hours--this is the same girl who has had trouble sleeping past 45 minutes for her entire life!  And she's slept until 6:30 or 6:45 the last several mornings as well.  After 19 months, she finally seems to be figuring out this sleeping thing.   Way to go, Rebecca, and Happy New Year to me!!

Rachel is beginning 2012 as the cleanest five year old in town.  She got a bunch of bath toys for Christmas--Disney princess Barbie-type dolls that go in the bathtub and some other Disney princess foam "paper doll" type things that you stick up on the bathtub wall.  She's begging me twice a day to take a bath because she loves playing with them so much! 

Rebecca loves baths just as much as Rachel.  If I'd let them both play in the bathtub all day, they'd both be as happy as clams (and would probably be in a lot less trouble, too--the bathtub is pretty good at containing my little mischievous Rebecca!).

I don't think I've written on here that we've caught her three times up on top of the kitchen table.  She has learned how to climb up on the kitchen chairs, and then she continues up to the table.  So we can't put anything of any importance on the table anymore, and we have to watch her like a hawk. 

She's still talking up a storm.  She now calls herself "Becca" (we never call her that, so that's just her own version of Rebecca) and she calls Rachel, "Day-tul," which is actually kind of close to what Rachel used to call herself before she could say her own name.

home again

We're home after a fun Christmas.  I'm surrounded by toys, suitcases, and dirty laundry, so I have my work cut out for me today, while trying to keep Rebecca out of everything she's trying to get into.  Rachel's loving playing with all of her new toys.  Rebecca plays with them for awhile, but then goes back to getting into stuff.  Ugh.  Hopefully I can get something accomplished.  In the meantime, enjoy some pictures from our Christmas celebrations (sadly, we didn't take very many--too much excitement to remember to grab the camera!).

 Rachel in her new Belle dress from Santa--the gift she wanted most--

she took her PJs off right away to put it on, and has had it on much of the last four days.... 

Holding Wilber, the pig, from Charlotte's Web, a book we read together recently.

 

 Rebecca in her new chair

 Rebecca and her new car ramp--mostly she just likes holding the cars

 Again in her new chair--getting ready to leave for Grandma's house

Waiting to open presents at Grandma's house

Merry Christmas!

(This is the best picture we could get...Rebecca wouldn't sit still)

The stockings are hung from the chimney with care, the cookies are out, and Rebecca's already in bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in her head.

Rachel's beside herself with excitement.  I hope she can sleep! 

(Writing a note to Santa)

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

more December fun

Today the little number 23 door said that we were going to the local science museum, where Rachel has been asking to go for months.  We went several times over the summer, but hadn't been since then.  They have a special Dora and Diego exhibit which is about to leave, and Rachel's really been wanting to see it.  My husband took the day off, so it was a good day to go.

Rebecca had a great time in the Dora and Diego exhibit (Rachel did, too, but it was aimed a little more at younger kids).

She especially loved the balls in this portion of the exhibit, and chased them all over.

Rachel loved pretending to be a butterfly in this flower garden.

And dressing up like an astronaut (if there's dress up involved, Rachel's in!).

They also had a special train exhibit for the holidays. 

It was a fun morning.

Nutcracker

Last night was the night!

She loved it.  I loved watching her love it.

Thank you, Dad!

santa fail

Rebecca wasn't impressed with Santa.

She was excited while we were waiting in line, saying "ho ho ho" and pointing at him.  But as soon as I tried to sit her on his lap, she wouldn't let go of me and started crying.  I had to pry her off of me and sit her down and watch her cry while my husband snapped pictures and we laughed.  What kind of parents do that???  Sit their child on a strange man's lap, let them cry, and laugh about it???  Well, apparently, we're that kind of parents.  It's a rite of passage.  I picked her up and she calmed down immediately.  She even waved goodbye to him once Rachel was done.

Rachel loved it, and told him the things she had written on her list (a Belle dress, shoes, gloves--"all yellow, please," and a princess doll).  He knew that Belle wore a yellow dress and she was impressed! 

Afterward we walked around outside and saw the big Christmas tree, trains, and nativity.

Rebecca loved the trains and kept saying "too too tain" over and over well after we left.

Then we went in Barnes and Noble to get warm and let Rebecca play awhile.

Despite the crying, it was a fun evening.

And here's one more picture of Rebecca....just because it makes me laugh.  This face of hers is even more priceless....but Rachel's isn't as good, which is why I chose the other one for the first one.

six pink peppermints 'til Christmas

Growing up, my mom always sang that song.  (It's six pink peppermints 'til Christmas....and there's lots and lots of things for us to do....)  I remember I would wait and wait for it to REALLY be six days until Christmas.  So here we are today!  Six more days!  Rachel thinks it's an eternity.  I can't believe it's already this close. 

We had Christmas celebration #1 this weekend with my husband's family.  Rachel had a great time with her cousins.  They have a Wii, and Rachel's been lamenting for months the fact that we don't have any video game systems in our house, so she was thrilled to finally get to play some video games for the first time (the only way she even knows what video games are is from commercials--she's seen commercials for X-box 360, so she keeps asking for one--we've told her she's too young).  So anyway, she got to play the Wii.  And even though she didn't really know what she was doing, she enjoyed it.

All of the cousins had a great time decorating Christmas cookies.

Yesterday we wrapped presents.  It's made Rachel even more excited, seeing presents under the tree.  She keeps asking to open "just ONE before Christmas."  "A week is such a loooooooooong time," she tells us. 

This morning she opened the little "19" door on the advent calendar (and read it all by herself!), and started jumping up and down.  It said, "Go see Santa."  She's been asking all month to go see him, and we just haven't had a chance to do it.  We've got a lot going on this week, so either tonight or Thursday night are our last two shots.  We thought it might be a little less crowded tonight.  So tonight it is!  It'll be interesting to see how Rebecca does--whether she screams in fear or not.

Rebecca is watching Sesame Street as I write this--her first time.  She's been really excited about Elmo lately, so I thought she might like it.  She's not a big TV watcher at all, but she's watching it off and on, in between stirring the "tea" in her play teapot and eating it with a spoon.  Every time Elmo goes off she keeps asking for him to come back.  But she's equally enthralled with Big Bird and Ernie.

Oh, and these are some more cookies I made last week.  They look cute, but didn't work out too well.  The pretzels kept falling off.  One of the recipes called for chocolate covered pretzels, and I think next time I'd try those, since the chocolate would melt when you push them in the hot cookies, and then harden, to help keep the pretzels in place.  But they looked good until you picked them up, anyway, and Rachel was excited about them.