Just the Mommy

Little People, Big Girl

2007-11-06T23:08:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Tonight, Abby broke my heart. It's been coming for a while, but tonight was the end. Over the last few weeks, she's been more and more involved in her babies (dolls). Baby Sally is the current favored child. So much so that Baby Sally not only has her own "huggies", but she also has her own baby doll, who has been named Molly. Abby is not short on imagination. She's also been talking a lot more about being a big girl. But I have been playing dumb and trying to ignore the signs.

Earlier tonight, we finished the cleaning project in Abby's room that we started over the weekend. We put away all of the Barbies and their clothes (Barbies! At three! I should have seen this coming!), and were rearranging things to make room. We got to the top of the dresser, where the Little People play sets were currently being stored and she said, "I don't play with Little People anymore." And just like that, it was over. My little girl is gone. She made me take all of them out. The City, the Amusement Park, the Barn, the Castle, the HOUSE! We swapped the baby doll clothes that were being stored under the bed with the Little People who were prominently stored in the three-drawer unit next to her closet. The Peeps, they are away. It's only a minor victory that they are still in her room and not banished to the garage, as she had originally requested. The play sets were all supposed to go to the garage attic, but a few of those actually made their way back to her closet: "For Baby Lexie." Baby Lexie has been to our house once, but apparently, Abby is stocking up in case there's a return visit.

So now we've left the land of Little People and entered full force into the land of baby dolls and Barbie dolls and Disney Princesses. And of course, she already asks for makeup. God help me.

And I'm guessing that means the Mercado out in the garage was not the smartest early Christmas present I've ever purchased...

Get it?

2007-11-01T22:38:00.000-04:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

A conversation at dinner tonight:

"Dad, did you get the tickets?"

"What tickets?"

(flexing his bicep) "To the gun show!"

I know you'll be shocked to learn that Andrew learned that joke from Daddy. But he wasn't done. Here's another one:

"Why did the tiger win first place in the race?"

"I dunno, why?"

"Because he was the fastest. Buh dum bum!" (Yes, you have to actually say 'buh dum bum')

And another:

"Why did the tiger hop over the road?"

"I dunno, why?"

"Because a car was coming." (pause while Daddy gives a very confused
look) "Get it? He had to hop over the car..." um, that wasn't
one of the best.

Here's the best:

"Why didn't the skeleton cross the road?"

"I dunno, why?"

"Because he didn't have the guts! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha..."

That is Andrew's all time FAVORITE joke. He loves that one. He KILLS with that joke! And do you know where he learned it? That's right, from Mommy!

Making sure you have plenty of opening lines,
Mommy

Over the river and through the woods

2007-10-16T11:01:00.001-04:00

Dear Andrew and Abby,

This past weekend, we visited your Papa and Grandma Dottie. It's been a while since we went to see them (July!). We had a very fun time - we carved pumpkins

(Abby's is the frog-o-lantern, Andrew's is the mummy-o-lantern)

and went deer-sight-seeing

and Andrew went fishing and then we went to the Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur on the way home on Sunday.

You love going to Grandma and Papa's house. Their house is bigger than ours - there's a basement! With a toy closet! And a big TV! And a fun yard! And Grandma cooks yummy food! And Papa takes you fishing! And there are lots of other exclamation points there!!

There were a couple of trouble points, though. First, Mommy got an idea - and you know how those usually turn out. I packed your little mini tents and sleeping bags; you know, the ones you kept up in your rooms for a week. I thought (first mistake) that you would be thrilled to set up both your tents in the basement, and then Mommy and Daddy could actually have the bed downstairs without trying to cram four people into a two-person bed. Well, that was a bust. Of course, you ended up in bed with us Friday night. For Saturday, Grandma stepped in and put you both to bed in your own beds upstairs. I wish I knew her secret, but you both went to sleep without yelling and stayed there all night!!

Andrew got to go fishing on Sunday, but unfortunately, he didn't catch anything. He was NOT happy. And then there was Abby and her issue with the arrangement of Grandma's bathroom. Apparently, there is a BIG problem with the placement of the toilet paper roll. Here it is, in all of its wrongness:

Abby asked all weekend to have it moved to the other side of the potty (just like at our house, I suppose). She was very troubled by the whole thing.

In all, it was a great weekend. My favorite part was our visit to the pumpkin patch. Mommy loves going to the patch. I think you get pretty tired of Mommy trying to make you stop for pictures. But mostly, you go along. After all, there are PUMPKINS! Here are some of my favorite shots:

in front of the hay maze:

Abby as the Pumpkin Queen, complete with pumpkin crown:

the coolest scarecrow ever:

Mommy's pretty pictures:

eating ice cream with Grandma:

From now until the end of the year, things are going to be fun...

Love,
your Mommy-o-Lantern

A week in review

2007-10-07T22:53:00.001-04:00

Dear Andrew and Abby,

Well, it was another exciting week and weekend in our house. Let's talk about Andrew's excitement first.

That picture is about three days in to the healing process. I was a little too...upset...to think about photographing the evidence of the crime until then. You see, I've had a love-hate relationship with day care in general, but one of the staff members in the school-agers class at our current daycare in particular. I won't mention his real name - let's just call him Barney. Barney is some undetermined, but fairly young (19-ish?) age. As such, he is a lot of fun for Andrew, but also not exactly experienced in the care of children, or exactly the most responsible person I've ever met. Over the summer, he showed Andrew how to jump from the top of the play set (he jumped because all of the 8-year-olds were standing below and egging him on). He was also the instigator of the rough-housing that led to Barney pushing another boy and causing him to land on Andrew's toe full force which caused the toenail to turn black and threaten to fall off. Needless to say, Barney has not been my favorite. This week, Barney and the rest of the boys were playing and Barney shoved a plastic basket into Andrew's face to keep him from getting away. The lip looked awful. The best part of it all? Barney wasn't there as an employee - he no longer works at our day care. He was just there visiting. You know, to see his friends. The eight-year-olds. Okay, that's not fair or nice. Barney is a nice kid. I can call him a kid because I'm old and I'm a mom. He is nice and he plays with the kids and actually interacts with them instead of just ignoring them. All of that is great, and I really do like that there are guys who work at the day care. I just, you know, wish there was a little more maturity to go along with all the fun.

As for Abby, she is growing up faster than I can keep up with. She had her first play date at a friend's house this weekend. She was invited to Abi's house (that's pronounced Abby-Eye, as opposed to Abby-Why), along with seven other play mates. I wasn't sure if I was expected to stay or not, but the other parents were all planning to leave. I told Abby that the other mommies and daddies were going, but that I could stay if she wanted. Her reply? "No, Mommy. Leave." And then she turned back to playing. I was dismissed, just like that. At three, she has already learned that it's not cool to have Mom around when she's with her friends. Oh, are we in trouble come junior high...

Remembering bix

2007-10-03T21:30:00.000-04:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

I found something in an old notebook today. It took me a minute, but I finally remembered that this was part of my big Birthday Newsletter plan. I envisioned a newsletter layout full of short news-blurb articles about all the things you two had been doing over the year. It would look great, and be sent out at exactly half-way between your birthdays (Februay 4th). That was just before Abby turned one and Andrew turned six. You are three and eight now. I guess I missed that target date by a little bit. Maybe I should start planning now for your high school graduations, so that I have enough time.

Interview with Andrew, Regarding His Upcoming Birthday

Mommy: How do you feel about turning six?
Andrew: Good.
M: What new things will you learn this year?
A: No pushing, no kicking, no bad stuff; crafts and projects and to make paper airplanes.
M: What were your favorite things about being five?
A: Learning to read the words at the bottom of my Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Taking care of Abby. That was my most favorite thing. And playing with Abby was my most favorite FAVORITE thing.
M: Did you do any fun things?
A: Where?
M: Did you go anywhere?
A: To Grandma Jamie's, opening presents (note from Mommy - that was for Grandma Jamie's 50th birthday). To Grandma Dottie's. I like to play Sorry with her. And to Michael's - you know him, the neighbor? I like playing with him and eating popsicles and watching TV. Can I tell you the poem yet?
M: Almost. Where else did you go that was fun? (whispering: Canoeing)
A: The frog swimming pool with Grandma Dottie. I'm so excited for my birthday party - it's almost here!
M: Yes. Where else did you go?
A: The zoo!
M: We didn't go to the zoo this year.
A: A long time ago!
M: But did you go anywhere fun with Mom and Dad?
A: No.
M: Did you go canoeing?
A: You don't have to tell me! I can think!
M: Okay.
A: The store! I went to the store with Mom and Dad! That was fun. Can I tell you my poem now?
M: Okay.
A:

When I was one, I just begun.
When I was two, I was nearly new.
When I was three, I was nearly me.
When I was four, I was just before.
When I was five, I just be five.
When I was six, I was nearly bix.

M: What is bix?
A: It's a name you can just name things. You know, I named one of my show-and-tell things B-B-Bix. You can name things that. Are we done?
M: Yes.
A: Am I still five?
M: Yes.
A: Okay, but just for a little while, right?
M: Right.

Love,
the Star Reporter of Your Lives, Mommy

Work Schmork

2007-08-31T11:00:00.000-04:00

Dear Andrew and Abby,

Work stinks. I want you to remember that. Right now, you are young and have more freedom than you will understand or appreciate until you are older and lose it. Now, you are both in a hurry to grow up, to get big, to do the things Daddy and I "get" to do. Well, that's just crazy. Grown-ups have no freedom and we don't "get" to do much. Our lives are all about "HAVE" to's. And the biggest one is that we HAVE to go to work. Well, I suppose we don't really. But I do know that you two are both pretty fond of eating and I think the novelty of sleeping under the bridge after we lost our house would wear off pretty quickly.

What I really want to do with my time is play with you two, be able to drop Andrew off at school in the morning and pick him up in the afternoon, take pictures, write down all of the things that strike me as interesting or funny or poignant about you and our lives, and oh about a million other things that do not involve sitting at a desk in a little fabric-covered three-sided box surrounded by a bunch of other (some very LOUD) people also sitting at desks in fabric-covered three-sided boxes with no windows. Oh, sure, going to work sounds fun to you. But that's because you get to just visit here. And then you leave.

Last night, I came home from a quick two-day trip to Texas - for work. When I finally got home and got you two settled down enough to go to bed, Abby and I snuggled for a little bit. I told her she needed to get to sleep so she could get up for school the next day (yes, it's just day care, but we just call it school because it's simpler) and Mommy could go to work. She cried and said she didn't want to go school and she didn't want me to go to work. I was thinking that she wanted us to both stay home all day because she had missed me. Silly, Mommy. When I asked Abby where I should be the next day, fully expecting the answer to be home, she said she wanted me to stay on a plane all day. And when I asked where she was going to be, she said on the plane with me. Believe me, it is not always as fun as you might think! But I asked her where we would go on this plane. Her answer? Pizza Hut!

Clearly this would be so we would not waste precious minutes on driving that could be spent waiting for the cinnamon breadsticks to be put on the Wednesday-night buffet. She is so my daughter.

You might get the sense from my earlier ranting that I'm not very happy with work right now. That's not exactly true. I am very happy with my work. There are things I don't like about it, but for the most part, it's about as good as work can get right now. Except that I HAVE to. Work, that is. And this work is seriously infringing upon all of the other much more fun things I WANT to do, like fly to Pizza Hut with Abby.

It ain't easy being green

2007-08-21T22:24:00.001-04:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Today, we need to talk about Abby. Abby and her obsession with a certain pair of shoes. I feel the need to document the importance of these shoes in our life now, before something even more dire happens to the shoes. That, or Abby actually moves on to a new obsession.

The shoes, of course, are the green flip flops.

These shoes were not purchased at a fancy designer outlet. They weren't even bought at the Payless at the mall. Nope, they came from the Wal-Mart in our town. The same Wal-Mart where we, a couple of months later, lost the green flip flops. We searched the store - at closing time - and couldn't find them. There was much sobbing from the Princess over the loss of her special green flip flops. None of the other twenty pairs of shoes in her closet could make her happy. She cried herself to sleep. Luckily, they turned up at the Customer Service desk the next day. I know it was the next day because I had to call as soon as we got home the next day to ask. And then immediately run to get them. I guess it's a good thing they are so clearly "loved in" - they didn't make me pay for them a second time!

This is also the same pair of green flip flops that we accidentally left at Grandma Jamie's house a couple of weekends ago. Because we had taken four other pairs of shoes for our two day visit, their absence was not immediately noticed. It was late when we got home Sunday night and we were all pretty tired. It wasn't until Monday morning, while in a last-minute rush to leave the house that we discovered the green flip flops were not in the house with us. They were not even in the same state! There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. And then there was much demanding to call Grandma Jamie. Grandma Jamie was kind enough to overnight express the special shoes - in a protective padded envelope to protect them on their journey - back to their home. After Abby hugged them, she put them right onto her feet.

This morning, I went searching for the green flip flops before I asked Abby to get her shoes - I can be taught, after all. I found them forlorn, wet, and forgotten outside in the back yard. They had been drenched in some mighty thunderstorms that came through here last night. I brought them in and laid them out to dry. Abby tended to them like she would an injured bird. And yes, she tried to wear them. But she doesn't like her feet to feel "yucky" - and they didn't match the outfit today, anyway.

You might wonder how it is that these shoes keep getting misplaced if they are Abby's favorites. If she WEARS them all the time, how is it they keep becoming separated from her FEET? Well, my little ones, that's because Abby has a love-hate relationship with shoes. She loves her shoes. Likes to match them to her outfits, to sort them, to stomp in them around the house (LOUDLY), sometimes even to play with them like any of her other toys. And she will gladly wear them when we leave the house to go somewhere. They are lovingly put on her feet and she walks proudly out to the van. And before the van has actually made it out of the driveway, the shoes are off again. You see, she likes shoes. But she doesn't like to wear them.

Raising the next reincarnation of Imelda Marcos,
Mommy.

Today is done, tomorrow will be another one

2007-08-02T10:41:00.000-04:00

Dear Andrew and Abby,

Well, I was very neglectful of our journal in July - only 1 entry! That is terrible! I do have an excuse, and yes, I know that making excuses is bad, but let me explain.

July = Summer.

There, that's it in a nutshell. I could go and try to explain all of the things we've done this month, and I might still do that, but for right now, I kind of want to move on. Thinking about it all just makes my head swim a little. Let's just sum it up with the word BUSY. We packed a whole lot of summer into a short time this year, starting at the end of June when we had Cub Scout day camp, Vacation Bible School, two baseball games, and a dance class all in the same week. I guess that should have been some kind of warning sign, because we didn't slow down after that until this week, when Andrew went back to school.

This year, Andrew is in the third grade. Wow, do I feel old. I think it was just yesterday I was wondering when this little screaming infant was going to ever learn how to walk and talk, and now, well, now I can't get him to stop running and yelling. This year, he only gets one recess and has Social Studies. I think next year he grows a beard.

And then there's Abby. Princess Abigail. Last Sunday Daddy and Andrew went to the Brickyard race and I thought it would be a great idea to have a Girls' Day Out. The original plan was for the Children's Museum, but that had to be scrapped when Mommy's lasagna-making took a little longer than planned. Abby was more than a little upset about the change in plans (she gets that from me - change is bad). I got a little desperate and then I came up with this ~great~ idea. So, we called up My Jody (formerly Fairy Godmother Jody) and My Alyssa and invited them to Libby Lu's with us. And oh. My. Goodness. WHAT have I done??

She looks about thirteen in this picture, don't you think? Well, okay, maybe not. Thirteen-year-olds don't smile. I remember when I was one. Abby had a BLAST at Libby Lu's. That's her personal sparkly lotion she's holding in the picture. On her back is her Libby Lu pack with all of her stuff - lip gloss, bracelets, the makeup they used on her, and the lip gloss that she got to make HERSELF. While she was getting hair and nails done (at the same time!), she had this look on her face that made me a little fearful for all retail clerks and beauticians in her future. It was a look of serious concentration and study. A look that said, 'I'm watching you, and your work had better live up to my extremely high standards, or there will. be. consequences.' And trust me, I've lived through those consequences. All I can say is that the sweet smile in the picture masks a fury I liken to a caged wild animal. And that might be understating it a bit.

It seems this week has been full of little moments when it is suddenly clear to me that my little girl will not be little for much longer. At daycare, they are talking about moving her to the Fours class, even though she won't technically be four until January. They say she can already do the things all the four-year-olds can do as far as counting and writing and colors and numbers and whatever else they are supposed to be able to do at four. So she's a little SuperStar-in-training. That's all fine. But she's not a Four! She's a cute little Three! She can just stay a Three for a little longer. She might be ready to be a Four, but I'm not ready for her to be.

And just to kick me when I'm down, this morning, she stopped wearing nundies. With no pretense, no warning, no discussion. I pulled out her cute flower nundies and when I told her it was time to put on her nundies, she refused. She stopped me and said, in a tone eerily like a teenager explaining that the cool kids don't say 'Bitchin' anymore, "No, Mom, that's my underwear." I tried to argue for nundies a little, but she wouldn't give in. Nundies are dead to her. It's underwear now. Where has my little girl gone? I blame the Barbies.

Hanging onto your childhood by my fingernails,

Mommy

And your Daddy just rolled his eyes

2007-07-02T11:21:00.000-04:00

Dear Andrew and Abby,

Hello my dears! I have been very neglectful of our little journal, but I had a good excuse - we've been BUSY! Last week was Vacation Bible School and wow! did we have fun, but it was also very exhausting. Andrew also had Cub Scout Day Camp at Camp Belzer Monday through Thursday and a baseball game on Monday and Friday. And Abby had dance class on Thursday. And Daddy was out of town on Tuesday and Wednesday. Whew! We're still recovering from being so worn out!!

I have lots of pictures from VBS still to post online, but here are a couple...

Abby and Elijah:

Andrew in the photo spot:

With such a busy schedule, our house has been in a state of disaster most of the week. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if someone had tried to rob us last week, they would have taken one look around and figured that someone had already hit us and left the place ransacked. So I guess it was at least a good crime deterrent. But last night, because we had almost put the house back into its normal state of only mild disorder, we decided to add some more chaos.

Our friend Alyssa, who is almost 9, has grown too old and mature for her Barbie collection. She had decided to sell them, and when her mommy, your Fairy Godmother, Jody, told me that, I promptly made a deal to purchase them. The plan was to keep them for Christmas presents. Well, that didn't work out so well. A situation came up and Jody needed the extra space in her garage that was being taken by the Barbies, so they had to come to our house a little sooner than planned. And there was no hiding them to save them for another six months. So our living room currently has been turned into Barbie Central. Oh. My. Goodness. There are a lot of Barbies. An entire trash bag full of them. And a house. And a bus. And three jeeps. A horse-drawn carriage. A playground jungle gym. Plus some extra non-Barbie bonuses - a kids' table and chairs, a Madeline playset, a ceramic ballet-themed tea set...sigh. These would have been terrific - and cheap - Christmas gifts. Now I have to buy more. (hee hee).

But the best part about bringing in all the Barbie stuff yesterday? When they came in, it wasn't just Christmas in July for Abby. Immediately, both Abby AND Andrew were into the bag of dolls. Fighting over who got which one. Posing them in the Barbie RockStar Van (it turns into a stage). Dressing them. It was the cutest thing EVER. My inner feminist was doing some serious cartwheels watching Andrew play with the Barbies. I was careful not to comment at all about what was happening. I've learned not to draw attention to these things. I was worried that Daddy wouldn't let it go by without comment, but he didn't say a word. Luckily, you didn't notice his facial expressions.

Supporting your well-rounded development,

Mommy

All the world's a stage, as long as Mommy is in the audience

2007-06-19T20:05:00.000-04:00

Dear Andrew & Abigail,

Just a quick note tonight, a ballet update from last week. If you remember, Abby's first ballet class was a bit short, thanks to a scheduling error. That means Mommy wrote down the wrong time, in case you weren't clear.

So last week, when Mommy was away, we had to make some other arrangements. Andrew had baseball practice at the same time as Abby's ballet class, and Daddy helps with practices. So we called in for backup in the form of Fairy Godmother Jody. She and her daughter, Alyssa, agreed to meet Abby and Daddy at ballet, stay to watch Abby during class and take Abby back to their house until baseball practice ended. Of course nothing happened much according to the plan. I'm sure that's because we did not clear the plan with Princess Abigail before hand.

Daddy ended up staying for the class, after all, and when class was over, Abby refused to go home with Jody and Alyssa. So she went back to baseball practice with the boys.

And what about class? Well, I'm glad you asked. Remember how we talked about dance class for over a month before it started? Remember how Abby practiced dancing on her toes and moving like a butterfly for weeks before class started? Remember how, when we got to the first class 25 minutes late (yes, for a 30 minute class), Abby jumped right in and joined the other girls? Well, apparently, even though Mommy has no skill at getting to class on time, Mommy has some other magic that is what allows Abby to dance. Without Mommy, there is no dancing. None. Abby refused to join. When I got home, she informed me that she would never dance if I wasn't there. Wow. I am humbled by the bestowment of such power from the Princess herself. I will do my best to live up to the station into which I have been blessed.

OH! And I forgot - even though we were only there for five minutes, I did manage to get a couple of pictures from the first dance class. Prepare yourself for all the pink you can stand:

Serving at the will of the Princess,

Mommy

As if there was really any doubt

2007-06-08T21:38:00.001-04:00

Dear Andrew and Abigail,

My life as your Mommy is full of many things. I am full of hope for your future, full of laughter at the things you say and do, full of love for your little mushy squishy faces, full of prayer for peaceful bedtimes. What it is not full of is accuracy. Or awesome displays of my parenting skills. Or, oh I dunno, remembering things.

I have a planner. Daddy actually referred to it as the bible the other day. I thought I was the only one who did that. So, this planner - Franklin Covey, by the way, live above the line, kids (do as I say, not as I do)! - this planner holds all of our activities. Everything from doctor appointments to baseball games to school vacations to grown up nights out. And when we signed Abby up for ballet class, I promptly wrote down on each and every Thursday "Abby ballet 5:30." As the first day of ballet class approached, we talked a LOT about ballet class in our house. Abby has been practicing dancing on her toes and waving her arms like a butterfly since the first day we went and watched our friend Autumn at her dance class, and that was over a month ago.

Thursday was the big day. I left work a little early (but not quite as early as I had planned), rushed home to get the special ballet clothes and shoes, then back to the baseball field to pick up Abby from while Daddy stayed with Andrew at practice. We got up to the ballet studio and I changed Abby into her beautiful pink ballet clothes in the van before we went inside.

When we got in the studio, I noticed that a lot of the kids waiting looked like they were there for the tap dance class, not ballet. I thought that was just a little odd, since tap class didn't start until after ballet. As we went upstairs, I got a few odd looks from mothers. When we got to the top of the stairs, things finally started to click into place in the dilapidated shack I call my brain. There was a cluster of small ballerinas - all dressed in pink, looking like a flock of peeps, all squishy and sweet. They were, um...finishing up the class.

Yep, Mommy blew it. We were 25 minutes LATE to ballet class, which started at 5:00pm not 5:30. I quickly shoved Abby's ballet shoes on her feet and shoved her out onto the floor so she could "leap over the pond" with the other girls. And I looked for a place to hide. Happily, since Abby is three and doesn't yet have much concept of time, and Andrew wasn't there to rat me out by explaining how much of class she missed, I don't think she noticed that she was lacking anything much at all. On the up side, there are about 25 mothers in our town who are feeling a WHOLE lot better about their parenting skills this week.

Daddy and Fairy Godmother Jody will be taking care of ballet class this week. I know I told you that Mommy will be out of town for work, but the truth is that I had to call in some experts to manage this ballet project. Let's hope they do a better job. It shouldn't be too hard, since I've set the bar nice and low. Your mommy is nothing if not supportive of helping other people feel good about their accomplishments.

Love,
Your clock-challenged Mommy

Manic Mommy

2007-06-06T17:37:00.001-04:00

Dear Andrew & Abigail,

Today, I come home to you. I left you on Friday evening with your Grandma Dottie who babysat for Daddy and me so we could go to a wedding and to a dinner theater (the Wizard of Oz at Beef & Boards, it was Mommy's birthday present finally!). Then I left Sunday on a plane for Texas for work. While Daddy was picking you up, I was checking my luggage and getting on an airplane in the sky.

We have had a pretty rough couple of months. Mommy has had some struggles within her own head that have not helped. The fighting and screaming at bedtime almost every night has been hard for Mommy to handle. I dread bedtime and have been very frustrated with the situation, my inability to make this work, and your insistence on behaving in a way which makes me want to run screaming into the night. I hate to admit it, but I was not completely sad at the thought of escaping the bedtime battle for a few days. But then you left and then I left and I have missed you terribly ever since I pulled out of the McDonald's parking lot. Okay, actually, I went to the bookstore first and I really didn't miss you too much while I wandered down the aisles in the peace and quiet of the bookstore without chasing you or hearing your voices throughout the entire store. But right after I left the bookstore. Then I missed you.

It seems that Texas also has small children about your age. Amazing, I know! And apparently, they all were out on display for me because I saw them EVERYWHERE. And every time I saw one of those small children, I missed you a little more.

I am sitting in the airport right now, nearly giddy with excitement to get on the plane already and fly home to you. Of course, by the time my plane lands and I actually make it home, you two will probably be asleep. But that will not stop me from snuggling and kissing and smelling your sweet sleepy smells as soon as I get home. And I guess it will be nice to see Daddy, too.

Next week, I'm going to do this again. I will be leaving for Texas very early Monday morning (before you are awake, probably) and coming home late Friday night. And then, hopefully, I can stay home for a while. This trip has confirmed, in more ways than one, that I am not meant to be a traveling consultant. I really am happier in my own space, even if I have to share that space with two small people who do not like to sleep.

miss you like crazy, love you like crazier,
Mommy

It's come to this

2007-05-31T19:19:00.001-04:00

Dear Andrew & Abigail,

Tonight, we reached a turning point. I have said frequently (usually at bedtime) in the last months that I have seriously considered locking one or both of you in your rooms. Your aunt Audra reached that point with cousin Georgia. To be honest, I judged her for it. Well I am paying the price for that judging now. I tried to understand then how things could possibly reach the point where the only way to control a three-year-old child was to lock her in her room, but I just could not imagine the level of frustration and desperation that would lead to that. It seemed so extreme. NOW I understand. I understand the temper tantrums. The hitting. The kicking. The screaming like a caged wild animal. You think I exaggerate. If I could load audio and video here - and had a camera person from Super Nanny's crew to film it all so I could still have hands free to ward off the blows - I would find a way, just so I could have a record later of what happens on an all too regular basis in this house.

And so here we are.

I know that the reason we are here on this specific evening is because of our weekend. As fun as it was to see our friends in Tennessee, I know that the repercussions of disrupting your schedule so drastically are these fits from both of you, but more fiercely from Sweet Abigail. For Andrew, everything is hard, frustrating, unfair. We're hearing a lot of exasperated pre-teen "GAWD!!!" (ooh, I HATE that!). For Abby, living and breathing is just pure torture. The tiredness possesses her little body like a demon, turning my Sweet Abigail into Screaming Mimi. There is nothing to do but wait it out. But an audience of any kind feeds the demon. Isolation is our exorcist. And so, the lock.

I would much rather be talking about how much fun we had this weekend visiting Patrick and Ainsley and the Dinosaur Bounce House. You both did so much better on the drive than I had hoped for -- thanks to our pre-travel purchase:

You had fun swimming, bouncing, digging, sliding...all the things summer should be about. Bedtime in the hotel was okay each night, with only one major fit-throwing incident when we passed the point of no return with Abby. But mostly, you two snuggled in with Mom, Dad, or sibling and fell asleep on your own without major drama. A blessed change of pace. And Mommy and Daddy got to spend some time with our long lost friends. It was one of the most wonderful Memorial Day Weekends ever. But then we came home to reality. And now our reality includes a lock on Abby's door to keep the demon contained. I am sad, and I'm wishing for a Super Nanny fairy to come and fix this. Clearly, your parents are not having any luck. I feel like a bad mommy. That I am failing you both. That I should be able to make this work. But I have resorted to locking Abby's door. And it makes me sad.

Why can't every day be like vacation?

love,

Mommy

Updated: Daddy wasn't home when I put up the lock. He is not happy with Mommy, but I think he's mostly angry that I put a hole in the door. He is not seeing the problem. And that is making me even more sad. love, Mommy

Yo yo yo check it out - it be yo Mama's day!

2007-05-14T23:52:00.000-04:00

(5/15: edited to insert pictures)

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Yesterday was Mother's Day. I know that the gifts you give me now while you're young are going to be by far the best ever. I am treasuring these gifts now so that later, when you're teenagers and you give me a piece of gum or worse, an oven mitt, I won't break down into the sobs of a broken woman. Well, I might, but at least it won't be because of the gifts.

From Abby, I got a hand print in Plaster of Paris

and a calendar with original Art by Abby.

From Andrew, I got a beautiful mug

and this awesome Top Ten list (did you know that David Letterman is from Indianapolis?!):

Andrew's been working on his cursive! But that picture is pretty hard to see, so here's the list (the underlined parts are what Andrew filled in himself):

Top 10 Reasons Why I Love My MOM, by Andrew
10. I love my Mom because she reads me a book.
9. I love my Mom because she helps me fix stuff.
8. I love my Mom when she makes me laugh by saying funny things. (Apparently, "It's bedtime" is one of those funny things)
7. I love my Mom because she taught me how to ride my bike.
6. I love to hear my Mom sing rap.
5. I love my Mom because she finds time to play a game.
4. I know my Mom cares because she is nice to me.
3. I know my Mom is smart because she knows lots of things.
2. I love my Mom because she works so hard at home.
1. I love my Mom because she's the BEST MOM EVER!

Wait. Did you catch #6? Read that one again. I'll wait.

Yes, Andrew is letting out all of my secrets. Your mommy is a closet rapper. The coat closet, to be exact. That's where I go to let out my mad rap skilz. I keep my bling in there, too. It's big. And blingy. My bling. Blinga bling bling. See, I can barely keep myself from rapping right now.

love,
the Big Mac Mommy (although I really prefer the fries over the Big Mac)

Andrew's staring problem

2007-05-10T09:39:00.000-04:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Today I'm going to tell you the story of Andrew's seizures.

One night, when he was about six months old, Mommy and Daddy woke up because strange noises were coming through the baby monitor from Andrew's room. We went in to check on him and when I picked him up, he wouldn't look at me. He was making a bah-bah-bah-bah sound over and over and was pretty listless. Mommy and Daddy didn't know what was going on, so we freaked out a little. We took Andrew to the emergency care center where they told us that what we had seen was a febrile seizure. Andrew had a high fever and an ear infection when they checked him out, and the doctor said that the high fever probably brought on the seizure. But not to worry, febrile seizures were fairly common and children usually grew out of them pretty quickly. Many only have one and never have another. Unfortunately, that wasn't true for Andrew.

Over the next two years, Andrew had several more seizures. Each one was different, but most were not full blown gran mal seizures. The worst one happened while we were out of town at Grandma Jamie's for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, we knew that one was coming, but couldn't get the Tylenol in time. It was a gran mal. Andrew convulsed and turned blue. I called 911 for an ambulance and had to stand just out of reach from Andrew on the wall phone while I watched my little boy turn very very blue. Daddy was holding him, but I couldn't reach him and it was horrible.

After that, he started taking medicine for his seizures. I still think that we should have had tubes put in Andrew's ears, but your Mommy just didn't know enough to push our very conservative pediatrician at the time. In my mind, if the seizures were caused by spiking fevers (always), and the fevers were caused by ear infections (almost every time - and if it wasn't ear infection, it was strep throat), then we should treat the ear infections. But the ear infections finally went away. Unfortunately, the seizures didn't.

After Andrew was on medicine and he grew out of the ear infections, he didn't have many seizures. But then he grew (always with the growing!) and the seizures crept back in. Also, Mommy and Daddy let you stop taking the meds. Because we're bad horrible parents. We know. The seizures that showed up without the meds were called "absence seizures." It took us a while to really believe they were seizures because they looked mostly like zoning out - and Andrew is VERY good at zoning out. But these episodes were different. He couldn't hear or remember what happened while he was zoned. And then one of his teachers noticed and called us. It was the validation from another adult that finally convinced us that we were really seeing what we thought we were - we're not the most confident parents. But that's probably because we're so bad at it. So we called the neurologist, confessed that we are terribly inadequate as parents, and Andrew is back on his medicine.

This week, we went back to visit Dr. Hamati at Riley Children's Hospital. Part of me will be just a little sad when (if?) we are done visiting Dr. Hamati, because she is just so wonderful. Even when she's scolding your neglectful parents. But you know, not seeing Dr. Hamati will also mean that Andrew is done with seizures and seizure medicine and for that, I will be very very happy. We will be scheduling another EEG for Andrew in October because it will officially be two years since Andrew's last seizure. We're hoping for a very boring reading. If we get a boring reading, we get to try weaning Andrew off the medicine - this time with permission!

I know we could have it much worse. Andrew has not been diagnosed with epilepsy and his seizures are mild and controllable. He suffers from no noticeable side effects from his medicine (Lamictal). But still, Mommy would be happier if you did not have to take two pills in the morning and two pills at night every day.

Daddy and Mommy also take medicine every day, for various things. We're old, that's what happens. Abby has asked why she doesn't "get" to take medicine every day. The day she asked me that, I almost cried. And then I gave her some gummy bear vitamins. Remember, I'm not very good at this parenting thing.

love,
Mommy (hey, I gave birth to you, that counts for something!)

Our Very Busy Weekend

2007-05-07T19:17:00.000-04:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

I am afraid we are in for a very busy busy summer. I think this weekend was just a taste of what is to come. It's going to be fun, but Mommy is going to be t-i-r-e-d! The good news is that you two might actually get worn out enough to sleep a couple of times. That would be a nice change of pace.

This weekend, Grandma Dottie and Papa came to visit. They got to our house Friday night. That of course meant that Friday evening was when we cleaned the house like little whirlwinds. We really have been doing a little better at keeping the house from looking like it's been ravaged by an army of litter-bugs and mess-makers during the week, but we still don't really get things completely put back together until the weekend. So when we have company arriving Friday night, that bumps the schedule up a bit. And we wouldn't want to plan ahead and try to do extra cleaning all through the week...no no no. That's just crazy talk.

Grandma and Papa came to see Andrew's very first baseball game of the season on Saturday.

So we stayed up late Friday and got up early on Saturday - it's such a good idea. Andrew had to be at the field at 7:45 (yes, in the morning!!) for pictures, so Daddy took him; the rest of us went up for his game at 8:45. Between Andrew's game and the Little League opening ceremonies at 11:30, we went to the garage sale at our church. While we were there, Daddy helped load the walls that they framed in the church parking lot to be transported to the site of the house our church is helping to build with Habitat for Humanity and we watched the duck family with all their little ducklings (13 of them!).

Then we went to another garage sale and chatted with our friends who live on the same street. Daddy and Andrew went back to the ball field for the opening ceremony at 11,

while the rest of us went home to start the grill for lunch and try to get little miss Abigail to take a nap (now THAT's funny!). Whew. Are you tired yet? Of course you're not. Silly question.

So...while we were trying to eat lunch - Daddy and Andrew hadn't made it home yet - Abby fell over backwards in her chair and her tongue helped her teeth break their fall.

There was blood. And more blood. Luckily, Grandma was there and she has experience with this sort of thing. When Daddy was three, he rode his tricycle down the basement stairs and bit his tongue, too. He actually almost bit the whole thing off and had to have stitches! Abby's was not quite that bad - there were no dangling tongue pieces, thank goodness! But it did take quite a while to get her settled down and for the bleeding to stop. And then? She went to sleep! Huh.

Wow, after all of that, the rest of Saturday was pretty boring. We cooked out again for dinner (Mommy's barbecued chicken...mmm) and sat outside. Then, your Grandma told Mommy and Daddy they could LEAVE. When there were baths to give and dishes to wash. Have I mentioned how much your Grandma likes to clean and how much Papa loves to give you baths? They are awesome. Mommy and Daddy went up to church to put away the signs for the garage sale (because they are big and heavy and we made them seven years ago and so it's always Daddy's job to put them out and put them away. That's just the way it is.) and also to finish tilling the church garden so we can plant some things.

Sunday. Church Day. Mommy and Daddy and Andrew went to Sunday school and Grandma, Papa, and Abby came for the service. Mommy was in charge of the nursery and children's church so I did my best to get all the kids excited for Vacation Bible School. Mommy is really excited for VBS and I'm in charge this year, so I want everyone else to be excited, too. After church, we went to one of our very very favorite places to eat (at Abby's request this time, instead of Mommy's), Parky's. Mmm...barbecue. We like barbecue.

And then...yes, there was just a little more...Grandma and Papa went home. I think we probably wore them out. We went to the fun Tractor Supply Store to look for seeds and stakes and string for the garden and you BOTH had big ol' bad temper tantrums. So we took our seeds and went home and you both went to bed! Abby slept, but Andrew didn't. Sigh. Later, there was biking and Dairy Queen for you two and Daddy while Mommy stayed home in the quietness. Bedtime was...do I really need to say it...rough. Abby slept too long at nap time. Of course!

And that was our weekend. And that will be our summer. Next month looks especially busy - Andrew will have baseball games and Cub Scout camp, Abby will have dance class, and we all will have vacation bible school. I'm both dreading and looking forward to it at the same time. I think we're going to have a lot of fun and make a lot of memories. But I also think it's going to be hard for Mommy and Daddy to figure out how to juggle everything and keep our happy voices. We'll be practicing our patience a lot. And you two are going to have to practice your sleeping. A lot.

love,
Mommy - who will be sleeping for the next three weeks in preparation for summer

One reason to be glad for no recent growth spurts

2007-04-30T20:54:00.000-04:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

You know I write a lot about bedtime here. It's usually a pretty painful process. We also frequently deal with nighttime visits. Sometimes one, sometimes the other, occasionally both. Our bed is not big enough for all four of us plus both cats, but it's been known to hold all of us anyway. Our visits from Andrew used to be every night. Most of the time he didn't come in until about 4am, but sometimes it was more like midnight or 1am. He seemed to learn pretty quickly not to come to Mommy's side. Mommy is a light sleeper and I would usually make him go back to bed. But Daddy would sleep right through the visit, allowing Andrew to snuggle in undetected until the morning alarm clock rang.

So, now we fight to get you to bed, but once you're out, the visits are less frequent. But once in a while, we still get a visitor.

Last night was a visit to remember.

Bedtime came late - it was a gorgeous evening and we stayed outside until almost 9pm - Mommy and Daddy blow the bedtime routine yet again.

**As a side note - part of the reason we were outside past bedtime is that Andrew was practicing riding his bike with no training wheels. I'm thrilled to report that this afternoon after more practice, Daddy and I feel pretty confident that he has it mastered. Yay!! Go, Andrew!**

You two fought and fought and did not finally pass out until after 10pm. Daddy and I were asleep a little after 11pm. And at 12:30, I woke up to a noise I couldn't quite place. And maybe I sensed something amiss?

Andrew was standing next to my bed. And I heard a noise like water running. Uh oh.

"Andrew, are you peeing in my room?"

No response. But now my eyes had adjusted to the darkness. And there was definitely an exposed boy part next to my bed. He took a step back and then walked back to his room. I realized he was sleep walking, so no point in yelling. It's not like he was peeing in my room on purpose. He was back in bed and asleep before I could even get to his room.

I returned to my room and told Daddy to turn on the light. Not only did he pee. He PEED. The floor. The side of the bed. The photo albums next to my bed. Oh dear. And then Daddy started laughing.

As I cleaned up, Daddy laughed and laughed. When he could finally tell me why (after he caught his breath from his laugh attack), he said, "If he had just been six inches higher...he'd have been peeing all over YOU instead of the bed!" And then there was more laughing. I am pretty sure he laughed himself to sleep. After we changed the sheets.

Love,
Mommy, whose bedroom is NOT the potty

Green - it's a family color

2007-04-25T22:05:00.000-04:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

About a year ago, we got more serious about our efforts to recycle. We set out the recycling bins and did a great job at sorting our trash. Until the bins were full. Then we kind of got stuck in a "what do we do now" moment. Getting to the recycling center is a challenge since we are not in town during their weekday hours and they are only open on two Saturdays a month from 8am-12pm. There are many Saturdays when our family is not cognizant of a world beyond our own orbit before noon, so remembering which Saturday it is and getting dressed in time to leave the house with any extra time for a quick stop at the recycling center has proven to be difficult. But for the last few months, we have been doing a much better job. We're doing great with the cans, plastic, and glass. I've figured out that it only takes - literally - two minutes to drop off a bag of cans at 7:30 on our way to day care. If I make you two stay in the van. If I let you both help, it takes - literally - two years. And that makes Mommy pretty late for work.

Our problem now is the cardboard recycling. Have you ever noticed how many boxes of crap we go through in this house?! Wow! We are really going through those trees! I am conflicted about this because I'm pretty sure most of it is my fault. Convenience (ie, boxed macaroni, frozen fish sticks...) seems to come with more packaging. But convenience is also what allows Mommy to feed you more for dinner than your shoelaces on many nights (don't worry, we'll always keep Shoelace Dinner Night - I know how much you love it). And again, Mommy does pretty well at remembering to sort out the cardboard from the trash. Unfortunately, Mommy is short. Um, yes, it does too matter! You see, the recycling center keeps the recycling separated in giant industrial-sized dumpsters. Dumpsters that are about the size of a giant blue ox. Mommy, she's not as tall as all that. They use the same dumpsters for the cans and plastic, but those dumpsters have a lovely set of stairs with a landing. The cardboard dumpster is just sitting all by its lonely self. No stairs. So we have a very large and rapidly growing pile of cardboard in our garage. Mommy's going to have to bring the ladder with us...or find a giant lumberjack who's willing to give us a hand.

So anyway...Last Sunday was Earth Day. You two don't know much about Earth Day, and my feeble attempts to explain it gave me a glimpse into what it must be like for your Daddy to try explaining all the intricacies of automobile seat manufacturing. But you do understand trash. Oh, do you! We are pretty massive trash-generators in our family. Somehow, trash just seems to magically appear all throughout our house. I don't know where it all comes from. Besides all the shoelace boxes. That's a given.

On Saturday, we went to the park for Andrew's Cub Scout Raingutter Regatta. I'm not going to try to explain why he was racing boats in a raingutter right now. Here's a picture, that might help.

You two and I walked home with the wagon. As we were leaving the park, I noticed a soda bottle and asked Andrew to pick it up so we could take it home and throw it in with the rest of our recycling. Something clicked and the rest of the way home, you both picked up EVERY piece of trash you found. Yes. Every. Tiny. Piece. It was a long walk home. But I was so thrilled that you wanted to help keep our town clean. And Andrew especially seemed to get it. I talked about how it helps to keep the earth healthy when we pick up our trash. Before long, Andrew caught on to "saving the Earth" and when I said that kind of made you like super-heroes, well, I hit the gold mine. You two are now the Earth Superheroes, who save the Earth by picking up trash. I can't stop you. You point out trash on the street as we're driving to day care in the mornings, and I think you may secretly be plotting to put me in Earth Superhero jail because I won't stop to pick up the gum wrapper you noticed back there when we turned the corner.

This is our wagon full of trash (Abby had to give up riding and make room for the garbage just over half-way home).

Mommy is going to be much more prepared on our next trip to the park with garbage bags and several pairs of gloves. You two were even checking out the "forest" in our neighborhood commons area. And fighting over who got to pick up the envelope-sized scrap of paper or the near-empty soda bottle. Fighting. Over trash. Seriously, will you two fight over anything?!

And because you are such cute little Earth Superheroes, here are a couple more pictures.

Oh, and Andrew won 1st place in his den at the Raingutter Regatta (4th in the overall pack). He is SO excited about his trophy - his "very 1st trophy in Cub Scouts!!!!" Congratulations, Regatta Champ!

Love,

Mommy

Finding beauty in the two of you

2007-04-20T13:17:00.000-04:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

I've been struggling with what and how to write to you this week. It has been a bit of an emotional week in the world. On Monday, someone hurt and killed a lot of people including himself in a place where they all should have been able to be safe. No one really still knows why, and I think that makes everyone even more upset. Grown-ups like to be able to explain things, especially to you kids. When we can't, it's hard. This week also has marked the anniversaries of two other events where a lot of people were hurt and killed, for barely understood reasons.

I've been sad about these things all week, and wondering what I would say to you if either of you asked about some of the things you have seen and heard, despite Daddy's and my efforts to shield you. I'm guessing it is being talked about at day care and at Andrew's school. So far, neither of you has asked or seems to be having nightmares (Andrew had nightmares about planes crashing after September 11, 2001, even though he was only 2 1/2 at the time).

And then today, I read this quote on my daily quote calendar:

Think of all the beauty that's still left in and around you and be
happy!

That was written by Anne Frank, who you will both learn about in school one day. She was a little girl who lived during a very scary time in a place that is not as safe as where we live. She was very brave when it was almost impossible to have hope.

Thinking of her and her ability to still find the good in her world, today I'm thinking about a few things you two have been up to in the last couple of weeks that help me find beauty in life, even when I'm sad for some of the things going on in our world.

Abby has recently been having a lot of fun pretending to be a mom or a dad and assigning the rest of us different roles. Apparently, she has picked up a lot of ideas about what it means to be Mommy and Daddy. One day last week, she announced, "I'm a mom. I need a Diet Coke." Hmm...I wonder where she could have picked that up? Then, a couple of days ago, Daddy allowed her to have one of his fudgesicles. She happily climbed up into the rocking chair and announced, "Now I'm a dad!" She's also developed some pretty strong opinions about things and is noticing the world around her. The other day when pulling in at day care, she pointed out that the car next to us was "cute." "Oh, yes," I agreed, "it's nice." "No," she said, "it's CUTE." Today, she wore a long sleeve shirt underneath her short sleeve t-shirt, just like Andrew likes to do, because it's also "cute." And last night, she fell asleep on her bedroom floor. On purpose. Daddy put her back into her bed before we went to bed for the night, and this morning, she woke up very angry, crying and yelling "I want to sleep on the floor!" So she moved back to the floor for the few minutes before it was time to get up.

While Abby is learning what it takes to be a mom and a dad, and shunning her bed, Andrew is consumed with baseball. He started Little League a couple of weeks ago, and I think Daddy and I are starting to settle into the routine a little better. Games don't start for a couple more weeks, but practice is scheduled for Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. He's not the best player on the field, but he is pretty good. And he is very optimistic. At the scrimmage game last night, he missed a pop fly, but instead of focusing on that, all he could talk about was, "Did you see that hit I made?!" Even after I said yes, he told me all about it any way. In teeny tiny detail. Reanalyzing and replaying every moment...hmm...I think I know which parent he got THAT from (yes, I'm looking at you, Daddy). Even though he wouldn't admit it in a million years, I think Andrew is struggling to adjust to the extra activity and has been pretty tired. He's alternated between moody, sweet, grumpy, and hyper much of the last week or two. Summer should be fun.

And there is some good news in the Bedtime Wars. While not perfect, or even conflict-free, bedtime has been slightly less of a nightly battle. Mommy has not had any more moments of debate about whether or not to call in reinforcements from down the street, hire someone outright to put you to bed while Daddy and I sit at Dairy Queen and wait, or to just run screaming into the night. This makes for a much happier mommy. And I'm sure you both find it much more enjoyable in the house without the Mommy Ogre making nightly appearances.

I think it has also helped that this sadness about the events going on has helped to give Mommy a little perspective about the truly important things in life. You two are tops on that list for me, and if that means that we have to fight it out a little at bedtime, I guess I can deal with that. To paraphrase something I heard recently, if that's the biggest complaint I have, then I'm a pretty lucky Mommy. We may live in a sometimes scary world, but here at home, life is good.

love,
Mommy

Easter recap, new obsessions, and Oh My God, this has to stop

2007-04-11T20:58:00.000-04:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Well, we made it through Easter. I know! Hard to believe. We actually stayed home this year, which is unusual for us. We usually go to Papa and Grandma Dottie's house, which is also fun. But this was one of the few times we stayed at our house and went to our church and the Easter Bunny came to our house! On Saturday, there was the Easter party at church and I think you two had a really good time. You made hand print lillys and I am still proudly displaying them. Since they aren't relying on Mommy for watering, they will probably do better than our house plant.

Sunday morning, you found the baskets that the Bunny left for you and you were both VERY excited. Andrew said he LOVES Easter!! I think that is mostly due to the fact that there was an umbrella in his basket and he has been pining for an umbrella for a long time now. I've never seen a kid so excited to get an umbrella.

This week, he has been spending a lot of time studying the weather forecast to determine that it might rain and he should really take his umbrella today. On the way home from school today (it was a rainy day and he did take the umbrella), he offered to go and fetch the mail - IN THE RAIN - if Daddy hadn't already picked it up. Of course that offer was rescinded once we heard thunder and saw lightning, but that's okay.

You also both had some other junk in your baskets that cost 50 cents or a dollar or so a piece (the Easter Bunny told me that). Yes, you two are fairly spoiled in quantity, but luckily, you aren't concerned too much with quality or cost (at least not yet).

Church was good and you were reasonably well-behaved. Of course Mommy (and the other Mommies and Daddies involved) did not make the best decision in allowing the Trinity Gang to all sit together in a pew.

It felt like a really long time until Pastor invited all the kids to the front for the Children's Sermon and then you were off to the nursery for Children's Church. We are so blessed to be part of a church that accepts and embraces families with small kids the way ours does. It helps that we all sit where we're supposed to - back left corner. That's the Noisy Corner. Most people know that that's not where you want to sit if you actually want to be able to hear the entire service.

Because we stayed home, and because Mommy likes to go crazy every once in a while, we invited people over to our house to eat Sunday afternoon. Mommy loves to have friends over and to cook lots of food. So it's a good fit. Of course, the problem is that we do not have a large house. And our not large house is not even very well designed for entertaining. But that's never been known to stop us. Also, we have a lot of friends! We are SO popular! Mommy tried to keep it small - so I just invited the Russells (family of 4), the Fishers (4), the Stenbergs (4), the Herrins (4). We're all such tidy two-kid families (for now!!). But even with that, do the math with me...4 times 5 is...20! Very good! TWENTY people. Of course, half of them are kids, so that's not too bad. Oh, and wait! We also invited the Wallaces - there's just three of them. Then I got word that the Russells were also bringing Don's mom and dad - who live in town and who we know. That's cool. And then we also invited the Campbells (4) - because we just really like them and I wanted them to come. And they did. The Herrins and Wallaces already had other plans, but everyone else came. So did you keep track? That's 22 people altogether. It was so much fun! I cooked a Big Ass Ham (over 19 pounds!), and made special Easter Egg Potatoes that I love. Everyone else brought something and we had a great time. You kids got to play, the grown-ups got to talk, and there was lots and lots of food. I don't remember an Easter when I have ever felt more content and at peace, and surrounded by friends, which is all I could hope for you for any day in your life.

And then Sunday night came.

And Monday night.

And Tuesday night.

And tonight.

I don't even have the words to describe how awful bedtime has been. We've had good structure, followed our routine, and Mommy and Daddy have worked together. And yet...

Fits. Screaming. Throwing. Crying. Defiance. Threats. Hitting and kicking. Punishment. Spanking (yes, I said it. Spanking. On. Your. Butt.).

Last night, I actually looked up the application for SuperNanny. That's how bad it is. I guess the good - and bad - news is that I don't think you're bad enough for us to make it on to Jo's schedule. Last night, Mommy was in tears by the end of the night. Tonight, I was afraid. Afraid I was close to losing control. Daddy took over and I mostly hid in the living room. Neither of us quite knows what to do. We've heard it all and we've tried it all. How can I possibly continue to simply put Abby back in her bed each time she gets up when I don't even make it out of her room before she's on my heels? Are we really going to have to throw or give away Andrew's toys before he will give up his stubbornness and stop with the back talk? You two are only three and eight. If it's this bad now, I am really frightened of how ill-equipped I will be to handle either of you as teenagers. I can't even talk about it anymore. We need help. Real help. Not the unsolicited parenting book advice kind of help. We need SuperNanny or someone willing to pretend to be her for us. And I just don't know where to get that kind of help.

If only we had some kind of umbrella-wielding super-hero who specializes in sleep-resistant children. And no, the Penguin is NOT who I have in mind. I think adding nightmares to our already stressful nighttime would finally push Mommy right over the edge.

I love you I love you I love you. No matter how frazzled I feel trying to get you to sleep, once you finally give up the fight and close your eyes, I go in to your rooms, snuggle on you, smell your sleepiness, and kiss your cheeks and heads and hands. I adore you. Now, please.

GO TO SLEEP.

love,
Mommy

1000 pictures are worth a word

2007-04-05T23:04:00.000-04:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Mommy loves to take pictures. I love my camera and I carry it with me ALL the time. Sometimes I take pictures of random things, just because. It's what I do. I've always like picture-taking, but I kind of developed an obsession when Andrew was born. In his first three months of life, I filled a 600-picture photo album. I've slowed down some since then, but you two are still my very favorite photo subjects. Just as you are my favorite writing subjects and conversation subjects...

I have a bunch of pictures posted on Flickr, but they aren't really connected to these blog entries I write. A few entries have had pictures, but not too many. And my hope is that one day, you'll read through all of this and get a feel for what our life was like when you were little (hopefully you will still like me after you read all of this, but I'll try not to worry about that too much). So, I'm going to try to add more pictures of you to the entries I post. Maybe not every post, but most of them.

To get started, here are a few of my favorites from the year so far...

January - cheering on the Colts:

January - Abby's 3rd birthday picture with the birthday hippo:
February - Andrew's 8th birthday, Crown Royal bag full of "treasure" (coins) - probably his favorite gift:

February - Abby posing before school in one of her new outfits and with her special new pink cowboy boots:

February - Andrew on one of the "King Mountains" of snow drifts after our Valentine's Day snow-in:March - Abby showing her "diva" look:
March - Andrew looking intent during a basketball game with friends:

February - Valentine's Day, showing some sibling love while Daddy shovels snow outside. You really liked each other when you were 8 and 3. One day, I'll show you this picture to prove it:

love,
Your picture-crazy Mommy

Because I said so!

2007-03-30T14:14:00.000-04:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

This is Mommy's list of Things That Must Stop Immediately:

"Is it hot in here..." (Yes, I know Daddy does it, too. But he's bigger than me and you're not. So stop it.)
Accidentally-on-purpose wetting the bed while you are still awake but trying to prolong the torture of sleep.
Encouraging your sister to be the one to go ask for another drink of water or to come and climb in your bed after you've both been told No more getting up!
All. The. Spilling. How do you manage to make even just spilled water sticky?!
All allergic, lethargic, dramatic, and horrific responses to bedtimes and baths.
The tunnel-vision request for nothing but macaroni and cheese to eat. I'm afraid that if I told you that you will turn in to a macaroni noodle if you don't eat something else, it would only supply you with a new goal for which to strive.
The cutting. Yesterday, Daddy found the Discover card bill cut into a few pieces. Of course, he blamed Mommy for trying to hide those new purchases. Maybe you were trying to do Mommy a favor, but this must stop. Or at least do a better job of cleaning up all the evidence.
Getting up no later than 6:30am on Saturdays - the ONLY day we don't have to get up early - and resisting all attempts to pull you to the land of the awake before 7:30am on any other day (when you are supposed to be up at 6:30).
The pre-adolescent response of "GAWD!!" to any request, demand, or reprimand delivered by your parental units. And yes, Abby, this means you, too.
Being so stinking cute that I forgive you for all of the above and so much more.

I must have been distracted by all the heat in here

2007-03-29T00:12:00.000-04:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Hey, Mommy found a post I forgot to publish! Oops! This is from the end of February after Andrew's birthday weekend - when we had about four million things going on in the same weekend. I guess it really did take me a while to recover! So here's the link: http://justthemommy.blogspot.com/2007/02/weekend-what-weekend.html.

In other news...Daddy has taught you a fabulous new funny saying. One of Daddy's cute little quirks is that he likes to sing bits and pieces of songs - usually he only knows one line. Or, he makes up new songs. Oh, they are clever! And now, Mommy is so lucky because he has taught you both this new trick. He starts out with: "Is it hot in here?" And you two little trained monkeys reply: "Or is it just me?" I heard Daddy earlier telling Andrew that he needs to change it a little when talking to the teenage girls: "Is it hot in here, or is it just you?"

I am a lucky, lucky Mommy.

Love,
Mommy

I'll bet Dora doesn't like Oobi, either

2007-03-26T22:25:00.000-04:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

I think I have discovered the tell-tale warning signs of too much television in our house. Specifically, too much Noggin and Disney. For the last couple of weeks, I noticed that Andrew is able to sing along with a few of the theme songs: Wonder Pets, Little Einsteins, Higglytown Heroes, Kim Possible (he's had that one down for over a year, but that one is okay - Kim rocks). And Abby has become the master of Dora sayings. Everytime we get in the van, I hear "Seatbelts on so we can beee safe!" And we certainly know that it's the Map we ask when we don't know which way to go. No, it's not all a bad thing. But it worries me a little that you can both recite this stuff so well.

Unfortunately, even Mommy isn't immune. Last week, I saw a guy with his hand hanging out his car window and I couldn't stop laughing because his hand looked just like Oobi:

What was even scarier? Oobi Was SMOKING! Okay, kids, that's it - we're going to have to start cutting back on the t.v. time! Oobi creeps me out in the first place, but seeing him (it?) with a cigarette hanging out of his ?mouth? was too much.

So now I have a whole new reason to add to the list of Why You Shouldn't Smoke: It doesn't make Oobi look cool, and it won't make you look cool, either.

Love,
Your Loony Mommy

Two peas from the same sick little pod

2007-03-22T22:36:00.001-04:00

Begging for a slumber party
Originally uploaded by Cheri13.

Dear Andrew & Abby,

I have been wanting to post this week, but I have been dealing with being very sick and that has made it hard for me to find the cuteness or noteworthiness of pretty much anything you two have done. Not that there haven't been lots of cute or noteworthy things I could mention, it's just that they kind of lost their impact on Mommy while she was lying on the couch waiting for her fever to break or wondering if it was time to switch sides so the other side of her nose could drain.

Daddy was sick first, while I was in San Diego. Remember? Andrew had to be the Big Brother in Charge for a couple of days. When I got back on Thursday Daddy was still pretty sick. Since then, the rest of us have had our own versions. Mommy has been down for the count since Friday night.

Luckily (for ALL of us), you two have had the most mild symptoms. The worst thing is that the virus traveled to your ears and you each now have an ear infection. But since that is an infection and not a virus, we have yummy pink antibiotic for that! So it's been a week full of snot and thermometers and medicine in our house. I was glad that the weather has been nice a couple of days so we could open the doors and windows and air out some of the sick that is hanging like a haze in our house.

This is the first time you two have been sick at the same time, and I have to say, it works out pretty nicely. You have been fairly inseprable over the last couple of months and being sick together has at least prevented me from having to constantly try to keep you apart.

It amazes me that a brother and a sister, with five years between them no less, could want to spend so much time together, even at bedtime. You can ask Uncle Travis and Uncle Dusty - we NEVER wanted to spend that much time together when we were little. A couple of months ago, there was a night when we let you two sleep together in Andrew's bed. Mommy and Daddy have now added that to the list of things we would never have agreed to if only we'd been able to foresee the consequences. Now you want to sleep together EVERY night. Unfortunately, this doesn't work very well for actual sleeping. There is a distinct slumber party atmosphere to the whole thing, which is why this practice has never been allowed on a school night (which, as I recently explained to Andrew, is any night before you have to go to school, which does include Sunday!). But that doesn't prevent you from asking. And asking. And, when you get an answer you don't like (that is, any answer that is not Yes), from just climbing in bed together anyway and clinging to each other like castaways on a wooden raft in a thunderstorm. Mommy has to literally pry you apart (that crowbar Mommy keeps by her bed has come in very handy), and then drag one screaming child (usually Abby) back to her own bed.

I am so glad that you two love each other so much that you can not bear to be apart even in sleep. I do have to say, though, your combined forces are surprisingly strong and have made Mommy more and more convinced that the two of you are more than we'll ever need. Can you imagine if you had a third member of your army? Sometimes it's enough to give Mommy nightmares!

love,
Mommy

Maybe the Mother-of-the-Year Award is still in my future, after all

2007-03-16T22:12:00.000-04:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

There are many times when I feel like one of the worst parents in the entire world. I think it's a pretty common side-effect of motherhood. I have spoken to other women who have had the same thoughts. Of course, we can't all be the worst parent in the world. At least not at the same time. Occasionally, I like to indulge in watching SuperNanny (when I can sneak in a few minutes between Daddy's Sports Center and World Poker Tour) because it helps to prove that there really are other parents out there struggling with bigger discipline issues than we have in our house. But sometimes I doubt the truth of SuperNanny. After all, it is television - reality television. And how real can that be, when Rob and Amber have been kicked off the Amazing Race?

Luckily, I need look no further than our local news for solid proof that your mommy is at least not the worst parent in Indiana. Several months ago, this happened in Indianapolis. See? At least your mommy always makes sure you put on a hat when you go for your daily walk down the interstate. And then just this week, there were two more stories meant to help reassure parents all through the great Hoosier state that, in the race for last, we aren't even in the running. Do I need to remind you that Mommy makes sure that you are wearing your helmet and knee pads before throwing you from the car window? And the feces - hey, Mommy always wipes up the poo after we have finger poo-painting time.

Okay, clearly, I joke. But my first reaction to the latest story about the boy who was stabbed was a phrase that is abbreviated WTF - and one of those words is definitely a word you two should not be hearing or saying. So I joke to avoid thinking about the kind of parents who consider some of these home situations normal and acceptable for their children. And really, based on a couple of other stories in the news recently - the father in Pennsylvania who knocked his child unconscious and left her outside to die, the Michigan father who strangled and then dismembered the mother of his two children while they slept down the hall - Indiana isn't the only one with parenting issues.

In all seriousness, stories like these make me want to go crawl into bed with both of you and cuddle and kiss you and promise you that I will never leave you in filth, let you walk down the interstate in just your undies, or associate with anyone who would ever stab you and throw you from the car window. And then I want to lock you in your plastic bubbles so you will never be exposed to this kind of insanity - so you never even know it exists. But since I've managed to catch whatever bug you and Daddy have had, I guess for tonight I'd better just take my ibuprofen and climb in bed. Right after I set the timer to record SuperNanny.

love,
Not the Worst Mommy in Indiana, or even the Mid-West, at least not this week

I'll take my super-sized order of guilt to go, please

2007-03-08T20:38:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Wow. Where to start? I have been gone to a conference for work in San Diego since Saturday and got home very late last night. While I was gone, Daddy got sick. He ran a fever from Sunday on, had a very sore throat, and was generally pretty miserable. When I called Monday to check on everyone, Daddy told me that Andrew had been great. He cooked dinner several times - you two ate a lot of Spaghettio's - and kept Abby playing quietly in his room so Daddy could rest. He was such a grown up - a Big Brother. I was very, very proud. Plus, now we know he is capable of such behavior. Hah hah!

Abby missed Mommy and asked every day if I was home yet. I left the van in Indy before I left and when you guys picked it up, Abby was even more convinced that, every day when you got home from day care, Mommy was home.

On Tuesday when I talked to you both, I told Andrew that I would take him to a special dinner at Chuck E. Cheese as a big thank you for being such a good helper while I was gone. After that, when Daddy tried to take you guys out to grab some food, Abby refused. She said she only wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese so she could see her mommy. I maybe should have waited to tell you about Chuck E. until I got home.

San Diego was beautiful and the weather was perfect. My conference was good and interesting. I learned a lot and got to see a couple of friends I hadn't seen for years. But knowing that Daddy was pulling all the weight while he was sick and Andrew was having to step up and help out, boy did I feel guilty. But it was San Diego, after all, so it's not like I didn't still have fun. I got to go to Sea World for our Tuesday night event and I thought about you guys the whole time I watched Shamu and friends. And I did spend over $80 in the gift shop in guilt gifts. That counts for something, right?

And besides, I think I have been paying for my absence pretty much non-stop since I got home. First, I climbed in bed with Abby when I got home at 1 am - I didn't want to catch anything from Daddy. She peed on me some time before 2 am, so we were up changing sheets. I couldn't get a corner of the pillow for my own, so my already stiff neck screamed everytime I moved. Let's just say there wasn't much sleep for Mommy. And the house. Oh. My. Goodness. I don't remember the last time I saw our house looking in such a state of disaster. And considering the normal state our house is in, that is saying something. Pieces of paper from a cutting craft of some kind. Used Kleenexes STUCK to the floor. A counter overflowing with empty water bottles. Another overflowing with dirty dishes. Clothes every where. It was bad. Super bad. So far, I have the living room in a more presentable state, have done a bit of grocery shopping (you know, we were low on Spaghettio's), started the laundry, made dinner, waited on everyone, and put both of you to bed. The dishes are waiting. Daddy is feeling a little better, but his improved health has only helped him focus on the March Madness which has begun in our house.

So my guilt is starting to ease up some. While I was away, someone accused me of being high maintenance. After being home again, I'm thinking that she doesn't know from high maintenance until she meets you guys! I love you and I am so glad to be home. But next time I leave and Daddy gets sick, I'm hiring a professional nurse/maid to come and take care of things until I get back.

Love,
NurseMaid Mommy

The second rule is money found in the dryer belongs to Mommy

2007-03-03T11:00:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

It's confession time. Mommy is struggling. We've been having a rough time lately, and I am running out of ideas. The Mother of the Year Award is a long abandoned dream now (see trying to kill you with applesauce) and now I am concentrating on just trying to stay out of Mommy Hell and/or avoid having someone take you away from me and Daddy and give you to someone who actually knows what to do with little child people.

Before we had kids, we talked some about what it would be like. I thought about it a lot. I was ready. Ha ha ha ha ha. If you EVER hear anyone tell you they were ready when they had kids, they are LYING! No one is ever ready. No matter how many books you read or people you talk to, you just can't know what it's like until it's your turn. I didn't know it then, but there is a secret parent society. The first rule of Parent Club is - you don't talk about Parent Club. Oh, sure, you let other people THINK you are talking about it, but you're not. You're saving all the really gory details for the members-only discussions. And even then, there are some things you just don't share with anyone. For example - and I'm about to let out a big Parent Club secret here, so I'm taking a big risk to tell you this - your dad and I have only discussed a particular incident with Baby Andrew a couple of times since it happened. The incident when Baby Andrew was so constipated that he had a poop of clay that got stuck. Yes, stuck. Half-way. Apparently, based on the wailing and the very red and angry face that Baby Andrew made, there was a good deal of pain and discomfort associated with a poop of clay sticking half in and half out of your pooper. Mommy freaked out and called the nurse, but before I could bring myself to explain the situation, Daddy was busy solving the problem (you are so lucky to have him as your dad). We - no, HE - had tried to pull the clay poop out and that didn't work. So he PUSHED IT BACK IN. And then Baby Andrew was able to get some momentum behind the effort and get things worked out within a few minutes. Now, I tell you this at risk, not only of my Parent Club membership, but that I have successfully given you all the reasons for birth control you'll ever need and I will never have grandchildren. It's a risk I'm willing to take because I need you to understand just how far I am feeling in over my head with you both right now.

Another thing Parent Clubbers don't tell outsiders about is what happens when you add more kids. In the case of raising children, 1 + 1 does not equal 2. Sometimes it feels closer to 20. At 3 and 8, you have figured out how to work together, and your tag team efforts to resist sleep and rules and routines and in general anything your dad and I want you to do have created an exponential, synergistic (in the evil kind of way) force that just might kill me.

Bed time has become Hell on Earth. Worse than dealing with clay poop every hour of every day. At least clay poop doesn't get out of bed 500 million times a night after it's supposed to be asleep. Or scream and cry. Or jump on the bed. Or sneak out of its room to pilfer drinks of water which lead to bed-wetting to the point where Mommy's newest addition to the bedtime ritual is to remove any kind of water-holding vessel from the bathroom. No, clay poop just sits there. Half in, half out, being its clay little self. There are times - usually about 9:30pm when we have been in the "going to bed" mode for two hours and you are both still getting up out of your beds to laugh and play in the hallway or Abby is screaming and Andrew is whining for more book time - I long for the return of the clay poop days. I've come to realize that - another Parents Club secret - babies are easy. Yes, there is the whole lack-of-sleep thing, and the eating all the time, and the fragile you-might-break-them issues. But for the most part, a baby's life is a simple one. Eat. Sleep. Poop. Repeat. Babies stay where you put them. They don't talk back. They don't get out of their beds. They don't play in the bathroom when they are supposed to be brushing their teeth and make a big mess with the water. They don't scream and kick when you're trying to put their pajamas on. Okay, I'll give you the last one. But baby kicks don't have the same impact that three-year-old kicks do. Or the same anger. Woo! Do they have anger management classes for toddlers? Because "use your words" doesn't seem to be working too well in our house.

Now, I know that there are all kinds of people out there who have a lot of advice they could offer your Mommy. And they'd all be happy to, if only I would ask. Or publish this post on a parenting support site. The trouble is that I already know what I'm supposed to do. I know you both need a routine. And we have one. Of course, we (and by that I mean Mommy and Daddy) haven't been very good at enforcing it or even reminding you of it on a very consistent basis. We're tired. Work wears us out. Truthfully, life wears us out. The rush to get home, get you from daycare, make dinner, eat dinner, make sure Andrew does his homework, run off to any functions we might have...it's a lot. And since we don’t get you two picked up and home until almost 6pm and bedtime is at 8pm, we only have a couple of hours to get it all done each night during the week. So by the time we need to put you to bed, we’re tired. Our last ounces of energy have been sucked from our bodies like a cowboy sucks barbecue sauce from a slab of ribs. And we had gotten to a certain comfort level with Andrew before Abby was born - and even for a while after - that we could let him have some independence from us during the bedtime routine and he could and would do some things on his own. But now that we are dealing with the Power of Two, we can't do that anymore, and neither of us has adjusted well to that new truth. In fact, I'm not sure your daddy has even acknowledged that it IS truth yet.

I'd like to think that it would be better if I was a SAHM (that's Stay-At-Home-Mom), but I don't think I can believe that, either. I'm afraid that if I was at home all day, I would still be this worn out and frustrated and unorganized and not as good of a mom as I want to be. I'd just have a little more time at home to think about it all.

So, my little ones, loves of my life, Mommy needs a little help. I'm on my way to San Diego for a work conference right now and I won't be back until late Wednesday night. But when I get back, I want to start a new day in the House That Chaos Built. It will only work if you help. It's become quite apparent that I can not cope under the current environment. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to convince Daddy that the point of no return is upon us. So for a while, until he faces reality, it might just be us. You help Mommy keep her sanity, and Mommy will try not to look and sound like a crazy scary banshee mom. It's a good trade-off, right?

Love you still, but even more once you give it up and GO TO SLEEP already,
Mommy

Weekend, what weekend?

2007-02-28T15:11:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Well, now that we've made it to Wednesday, we've almost recovered from last weekend. Of course, we've also been out doing things every night so far this week, so we haven't completely recovered.

This weekend we celebrated Andrew's birthday. We also attended the annual Cub Scout Blue & Gold dinner and Mommy participated in the Chili Cook-off at church (obviously, neither group consulted our family calendar before scheduling their events). And we had to finish up Andrew's Science Fair project. Gosh, am I forgetting anything? Mommy felt like a whirling dervish in the kitchen Saturday and Sunday - we made a corn casserole for the Blue & Gold (Grandma Jamie did most of that, thank goodness!), chili AND vegetable soup for the Cook-Off, and meatballs and roasted red pepper dip for the party at our house. Whew! And I haven't cooked since then! But really, Mommy loves to cook, so I had fun doing all of that, I just got a little stressed about trying to do it all at the same time!

Your Grandma Jamie (Poppy Ted had to work, so he couldn't come) and Grandma Dottie and Papa all came to visit for the birthday, and they got to go to the Blue & Gold dinner and to the Chili Cook-Off with us and that was fun. I'm not sure if they had a good time doing all of that or not, but it was nice that they got to go to Andrew's Cub Scout event. It's hard because we live about three hours away from both sets of grandparents, so they miss out on a lot of the stuff that other grandmas and grandpas get to go to. The Blue & Gold includes a Father-Son Cake Bake, which you and Daddy didn't enter this year, but there were lots of fantastic cakes to see. At the end of the evening, the winning cakes in each of several categories get auctioned off first, and all the other cakes are given away in a raffle. There was one cake in particular that Andrew had his eye on - a volcano cake made by a boy in his den. He put a LOT of raffle tickets in for that cake. It occurred to me that if we took home a cake from the dinner, I wouldn't have to make one (as I was planning to do that night after we got home - because Mommy had lost her mind somewhere when we were cleaning up the house). I got more raffle tickets for Andrew and we put them in for the volcano cake, but I still worried we would not end up with the volcano cake and Andrew's dreams - and Mommy's - would be crushed. Then the auction started and there was a beautiful tropical island cake up for bid. In another moment of insanity - and desperation to not have to bake a cake - Mommy bid on it, and won. Woo hoo! No baking! So when the raffle started, I was actually hoping we would not win the volcano cake - we no longer needed it. Except Andrew really did want it, so luckily, we won it. And then one of the last cakes went up for raffle, and they called Grandma Dottie's name. So we went home with three cakes. That is a lot of cake - and a lesson in Be Careful What You Wish For.

The Chili Cook-Off was fun for Mommy - I got to make my Chili Con Cheri and my yummy favorite Old World Vegetable Soup, but I don't think it was as much fun for either of you. Andrew was a big help at my table and helped hand out soup samples and Abby mostly sat with Grandma Jamie, so I don't think you hated it, but it was probably not the highlight of your weekend. Sadly, Mommy did not win Best in either category, but I did win Most Original Soup Recipe and Best Table Presentation. The funny part is that your daddy decorated that table in less than five minutes using leftover decorations from our Fiesta! VBS last year. He's so clever!

After the Chili Cook-Off was over, we went back to our house and got ready for your party. Originally, we were not going to have two pirate parties, but that's what we ended up with. Saturday night and Sunday morning, I finished up the new treasure hunt clues - I made TEN this time, since five didn't seem to be enough the last time. They turned out great, and I have to say, I do think our tricks to making them look authentic work really well. We had SO many more people at this party than we did your first party. Which is great and I think you had a wonderful time. The kids seemed to enjoy the treasure hunt and you got some very nice gifts.

And we all survived the entire weekend! Whew!

Love,
Mommy

Happy 8th Birthday, Andrew!

2007-02-27T10:38:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew Michael,

Today, you are eight years old. You have been counting down the days to this birthday all month long. And before that, you were counting months. The calendar of our lives revolves around holidays and birthdays. It's nice that Abby was born in January, because it was our only gap between Halloween in October and Easter in April (yes, or sometimes in March, but that's where Mommy's birthday is), although you are still a little unhappy that her birthday is "before" yours.

This year, you have just gotten bigger and bigger and you are learning so much in school. You are in second grade and your favorite subject (other than recess) is math. Like your dad, you just "get" it somewhat instinctively. I am amazed at how quickly you work through the problems. Usually, your mistakes come from going too fast, and I have to wonder sometimes if you're bored - if it's just too easy for you. English, on the other hand, not so much. We have struggled with punctuation to end sentences, particularly the question marks. But it is getting better, and you are much less frustrated than you used to be.

Tonight, you will spend your birthday participating in your very first Science Fair. Because your parents procrastinated (and because Daddy didn't believe me when I told him he was in charge and I was leaving it up to him), your project was put together pretty quickly. But it's a good project and I hope you gain something from the experience. Your dad and I want you to enjoy all kinds of learning and not be nervous about participating in activities beyond classwork. This year and next year the science fair is voluntary, but in fourth grade, it's required, so we want you to get excited about the experience now while the final outcome isn't as important and it can just be about fun.

You are getting tall and there are times when I think you might be all arms and legs. I look at you sleeping at night sometimes and wonder how you get into those strange positions. You are a heavy sleeper, and have been known to talk in your sleep. Occasionally, you still come into Mommy and Daddy's bed early in the morning. We're pretty sure you aren't really even awake when you do it, but you've gotten so good at it that we don't usually know you're there until we wake up. Of course, it helps that you always go to Daddy's side and he sleeps just as heavily as you do.

In many ways, you are a very typical 8-year-old. You like to watch SpongeBob and Power Rangers (when I give in and allow it) and you like those blasted Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Although I'm starting to suspect that the Yu-Gi-Oh fascination is really more related to what your friends are doing than what you really like - you have been grounded from those cards for over two months now with still a couple of weeks to go and have only asked about them a couple of times - when you wanted to play at a friends' house. Where you are different is that, unlike most kids we know your age, you don't have a gaming system of any kind and you don't have a t.v. in your room. I know, you think we're evil, ogre parents. But the truth is, you're just not that in to video games. You like to play the games on your WebKinz and some that we have downloaded from the Internet for you. Sometimes you'll hit the Disney or NickJr. sites, but for the most part, you would much rather get someone to play a game of Sorry! or Yahtzee! or Monopoly Jr. or Sleeping Queens, or your new favorite - Chomp. If all that fails, there's always the good old standby - poker. Oh, yes, you're quite the poker card shark. You have beaten Poppy Ted out of some money and have come close to beating Papa. I worry about your future with such a habit forming so early. Unless, of course, you get really good, win the World Poker Tour Championship, and support your parents in the lifestyle to which we only dream of becoming accustom...

I have loved watching your relationship with your sister blossom over the last year. Now that she is bigger, you two play together. You have even starting teaming up against your dad and me, which is frightening. You have recently started learning how to use Abby as the pawn, thinking she'll get less harsh retribution than you might. Unfortunately for you, Daddy and I caught on to that game pretty quickly, because you are not yet very sly with your sister manipulation. Our day is coming, I'm sure. But for now, it is obvious that Abby absolutely adores her big brother, and you kinda like her being around, too. Someday soon you two probably won't want anything to do with the other. We've seen brief glimpses of that already when you need a break from a little shadow and tell Abby to stay out of your room. I will be sad when that time comes, but until then, I am going to enjoy watching and documenting you both love each other and I will count on the fact that the closeness you have now will survive the years of puberty that I already dread.

Some of your favorite things right now:

board games - especially Sorry!
card games - especially Chomp and poker
dice games - Yahtzee
Pirates of the Caribbean
WebKinz
cinnamon toast
cooked broccoli with cheese
watching movies on your portable DVD player
your snow boots and snow pants (you want to wear snow boots EVERY day!)

Sweet boy, little Buddy, I know we are quickly reaching a point where you will become too old for me. My heart aches a little on the mornings when I drop you off at day care and you won't hug and kiss me. It's not every day, yet, but I know we're getting close. I hope that you will at least let me snuggle you when we're at home for a while longer. You will always be my first Sweet Pea.

I love you,
Mommy

What's with all the questions?!

2007-02-26T09:35:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew and Abby,

Last night when I tucked Abby into bed and told her "I love you," she said, "I love you, too. Why girls don't have wee wees?"

This morning on our way to day care (where we passed Andrew's bus to school as it pulled out of the parking lot - Blast!), Andrew asked me why they don't check to see if you have guns when you go to Wal-Mart like they do at the Pacers basketball games.

Uhhh...you two are going to have to stop being so observant and inquisitive until Mommy gets some kind of a "Why is the sky blue" answer book. I'll be Googling and Good Searching for that later this evening.

More later when I have time to talk about our exciting and over-scheduled weekend!

Love,
Mommy

It's Signing Time with Andrew and Abby

2007-02-20T18:31:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew and Abby,

The other day, we got our very first comment on your little diary. And it was from someone who is a celebrity in our house - Rachel Coleman from Signing Time! Wow, are we excited or what?! (Rachel, if you're reading, thank you so much for stopping by and saying hello!)

Rachel's kind note got me to thinking that it would be a good idea to add an entry to your diary about your signing. I think it was about two years ago when Mommy bought all nine of the Signing Time videos (there were only nine then, but there are four more now - they are on Mommy's wish list!). A dear friend of mine introduced us to Signing Time and it was an instant hit in our house. Both of you started learning the signs very quickly. For a while in our house, every time I turned around, Abby was signing "more" or "eat" or both!

At first, we were watching at least one video at least once a day. There was a span of two or three weeks when the "Down on Leah's Farm" song would NOT get out of my head, because I heard and saw it multiple times a day. We also listened to the music in the van, and Mommy tried to make signs while driving to day care (BAD idea!). Once we got to day care, we would have to sit outside and play the "Silly Pizza" song with Mommy trying to keep up with all the pizza toppings before we could go inside. My favorite time to turn on the videos was in the morning while you two ate breakfast. I know, watching t.v. during meals is a bad, bad thing. But I felt like Signing Time was an okay exception (and it's not like we haven't broken that rule before anyway). You were more attentive to the signs when you were eating, and it kept you entertained while Mommy finished getting ready. The only bad thing about that arrangement was the Mommy couldn't see the signs, so I was behind and had to catch up! After a while, we started watching the videos less often. I'm not sure what happened, other than we just got busier and you two started figuring out how to play with each other once Abby got a little bigger, so you were off doing things together, which is also a good thing.

But a couple of weeks ago, the videos came back. I'm not sure what did it, but Abby has rediscovered the Signing Time videos and Mommy is so happy! We have been watching the Favorite Things video a lot - and singing/signing the Rainbow Song. It's now a standard bedtime song request (except I have to change the names from Alex and Leah to Andrew and Abby, of course). We have also been watching the Family, Feelings, and Fun video a lot - Mommy's favorite song is "In a House, In a Home."

I would love for you both to learn second and even third languages (if I could find videos that teach Spanish as well as Signing Time teaches sign language, we'd have those, too!) and I know now is the time to start. Being able to sign is such a valuable skill - I wish I was much better at it. So I'm going to work hard to help you both keep learning. One way I want to try to do that is to take pictures of you both making signs. And then we can post them here! I think it will make it fun for you and it will also give us a good record of what you're learning.

So for our first Signing Time with Andrew and Abby, here are pictures of you signing "A" - for Andrew and Abby!

Update! I found out that there is a live performance of Signing Time this Saturday in Indianapolis (that's just south of where we live) - and it's FREE! Unfortunately, Andrew is supposed to go to the Blue & Gold dinner for Cub Scouts from 4 - 7pm and the Signing Time performance is at 6pm. I asked Andrew about it and he actually said he'd rather go to see Signing Time! Me, too! I'm not sure if I'll let him skip the Cub Scout thing or not...it's hard for me to be objective because I think you would both have such a good time and I would SO much rather go see Signing Time. I may have to let Daddy make the final decision.

I'll let you know what we decide - and I'm sure I'll have pictures!

love,
Mommy

Missing pirates

2007-02-19T14:16:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

This weekend, we had Andrew's birthday party - the first of two. Why two? Well, we've talked about this before, but your Mommy is a touch crazy in the head...and that's pretty much the reason for lots of strange things that go on in our house. You see, Mommy's thinking went like this:

Andrew's birthday is February 27th, so his birthday party would normally be the weekend of the 24th/25th. Except we already have things going on both Saturday (Cub Scout Blue & Gold Dinner) and Sunday (Chili Cook-off at church, which I am entering). The party will have to be moved up a week to the 17th (at the point when these thoughts were happening, that was about a week and a half away - your Mommy is a bit of a procrastinator). There are 24 students in Andrew's second grade class. Invitations taken to school have to be given to everyone in the class, so no one gets hurt feelings. We also have family who will come from Illinois and church family, which could potentially add 40 more people (only slightly more adults than kids). That's too much to deal with in one weekend, plus we only bought enough pirate-themed party favors for 12 kids - I hope we don't have more than that come from school! - and they were kind of expensive. We should split it up and only deal with the kids from school (who I don't know and whose parents won't be there to help wrangle their kids) on the 17th. Then we'll have family come and church family over on the 25th after the chili cook-off. It's just family and we'll keep it low-key, no problem.

That's what I thought. Funny, huh?!? I think Daddy tried to talk me out of this whole mess, but I didn't really listen. This is the point in the story where your Daddy, if he was reading this, would laugh and say "Hah! See! I was right!" And then he would dance around and point and laugh at me some more. Maybe not really, but he does that in my head for sure.

So we sent Pirates of the Carribbean invitations to school for the 17th, this past Saturday (except we ran out of Pirates invitations and when Mommy went to Wal-Mart they didn't have any more, so some of the invitations were Disney Cars). Friday night we cleaned the house and Mommy made some wicked cool treasure hunt clues (photos here). Saturday morning we hung up our pirate decorations and put together the treasure chest goodies. We only had two RSVP's, but I've found that is not unusual for kids' birthday parties. It's nice to know there are other parents out there who are just as scatterbrained about responding as I usually am (but I'm trying to be better, and you should both live above and beyond my example!). So we didn't really know how many kids to expect. Ashley's mom called and talked to Daddy on Friday to see if we were still having the party, what with ALL THE SNOW coming. Yep, that's right, MORE SNOW! I don't want to turn this diary into the weather channel or anything, so I won't go on and on about it, but we did get about four more inches of snow. On Saturday. Party day. After the dumping we took last week, I think the sight of more snow must have freaked people out and made them scared to leave home because only two kids showed up: Jonah and Ashley. Yes, two. One, two. Daddy and I felt pretty bad for Andrew, but Andrew didn't seem to notice or care. Jonah was actually way more concerned about it than Andrew. Still, the three of you had a good time playing swords and looking for the treasure. I made five clues and that apparently was about a third of what I should have made - the hunt was such a HUGE hit that you took turns re-hiding and re-finding the clues several times. We had Pirate cake and you played Pin the Flag on the Pirate Ship. You had fun and got a couple of presents. Daddy bought you a bow with suction cup arrows (grrr!) which you loved (double grrr!), but it broke on Sunday (yay!).

So after your friends left, we started talking about the party for next weekend. You said you wanted another Pirate cake (thank you, Kroger for saving me from making a cake!) and wanted to do the treasure hunt again and the pin the flag game. Basically, you wanted to do the same thing all over again. I told your dad that and he said, "Yeah, that's what I figured we were doing." Oh. I guess Mommy was the only one who thought next weekend's party would be just a nice get-together where the kids ran and played and the adults sat and talked, kind of like most of our gatherings, except then we'd have cake and ice cream. So now I needed to think party thoughts. Oh, and we didn't have invitations! Which we needed to deliver the next day, on Sunday, at church!

Since the treasure clues turned out so cool, I thought we'd do that for the invitations. Saturday night, I made the invitations. Sunday, we passed them out...Now I have to order another cake and make a trip to the party store to buy more of the expensive treasure hunt goodies that I was trying to avoid buying and we have way too much going on this weekend, which I was also trying to avoid. But it's going to be fun. Mommy might have to make some Pirate Sangria to help her actually relax and enjoy it, but it will be great!

Oh, I also forgot to mention that on Friday night, Mommy's best friend, Jody, called. Jody is Fairy Godmother to both of you, part of our church family, and Zack and Alyssa's mom. Zack is best friends with and lives next door to Jonah, who is in your class at school and one of the two kids who showed up. We didn't invite Zack to the first party, because he is coming to the second party (you see what a bad idea this was? Why didn't someone stop me?!). But Jonah's mom called Jody, who didn't know about either party yet because we hadn't decided all the details, to see what Zack was getting for Andrew for his birthday. Jody called me because she was concerned that there was some issue between our family and hers that she didn't know about and wanted to know what was wrong that caused us not to invite Zack to the party. Ohhh....noooo....Luckily, Jody likes me, and once I explained it all - and apologized as many times as I could in the span of three minutes for making her worry - I think she forgave me for my stupidness. Erg. Mommy can be so dumb sometimes!

So let's make our goal for next year's birthday to just have one party that gets mostly planned at least two weeks ahead of time. You might have to help.

love,
Mommy

I'm dreaming of a white...Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T23:14:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Today was our second day of being snowed in together. We got about 15 inches of snow altogether, and some of the drifts were several feet high. Here is a picture of the front of our house. The drift by the front door is almost four feet tall!

We were outside for a while playing a little and shoveling. Here's Abby helping Daddy with the driveway (she's using a broom to sweep it up):

And here is Andrew on the biggest "King Tower":

He said all the really tall ones were his King Towers, and the smaller ones were for Abby. You two had fun tromping through all the snow, but it was pretty hard to walk. We tried to make more snow angels, but it was so deep that it was really hard to get back up after we made the angels, so they didn't turn out very well. I thought you would want to build a snowman or dig tunnels in all the snow, but I think you both were just too cold. It was only about 20 degrees at the warmest today.

Since it's Valentine's Day, Mommy even helped Daddy shovel. I thought it was only fair to help since he shoveled so much yesterday. Here is what Mommy shoveled:

Isn't it pretty! Can you see the big wall of snow next to the sidewalk? Wow, that is a LOT of snow! Here's what Daddy did:

The whole driveway!! I helped a little on the side, and I did some of the front sidewalk, but Daddy really did most of the work. He's very strong. He used the big shovel. I didn't like the big shovel because it got pretty heavy with all of that snow and Mommy is not nearly as strong as Daddy. I used your shovel. Unfortunately, your shovel didn't quite make it:

Notice the handle is gone, and the corner of the shovel is broken off. It's all for the best, though, because you two fought a lot over who got to use the shovel. This way, neither one of you really wants to use the broken shovel. We'll get you two new snow shovels, though, just as soon as they are back in stock in any store any where. Since I think this snow is going to be around for a while, and we're supposed to get a little more on Friday, you may have to wait a while.

I hope you both had a nice Valentine's Day being snowed in with Mommy & Daddy. We didn't do too much that was exciting, but it was a nice family day. I was a little sad that you didn't want to make mini-pizzas in Andrew's Real Meal Oven or build cushion forts with me (Mommy & Abby's nap didn't help with our planning much, though). But I'm sure there will be other times for fun. It was pretty nice to have some down time, too. Abby even sat on my lap to watch a Signing Time video.

When you two are happy and playing together or cuddling with me, those are about the best times on Earth. I try hard to remember that when you're fighting with each other or fighting me at bedtime. But even then, I love you oodles and bunches. You are my little Sparky Joe and Sweetness, and I am the Mommy who loves you.

Happy Valentine's Day

love,

Mommy

Snowed in!

2007-02-13T22:47:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Today, we all stayed home, even Daddy. Snowed in. School cancelled, roads declared unsafe to drive. We woke up this morning to at least six inches of snow, more snow and ice coming down, and wind gusts up to 30 mph, which made for lots of blowing and drifting. It has snowed all day. As of 10:30pm, the snow is STILL coming down. In a few spots, we can see grass because the wind blows the snow away. In others, where the wind has blown the snow to, we have drifts of three feet or more. Daddy has shoveled the driveway and sidewalk twice:

He had to take a break after that:

Looking at it now, you can't tell he shoveled twice. There are at least six inches in the driveway, and more than that in the road - the plows have stopped running for the night.

Here's the view from the front door earlier today after Daddy shoveled for the second time:

And here it is now:

Poor Daddy!

Here is a view from our back door at about 6pm:

I would show you a picture of it now, but all you can see in every picture I take are the falling snowflakes. Lots and lots of falling blowing snow...

Though you both love to help Daddy shovel, you weren't out long today. That wind was pretty fierce. Here's what you two did today while Daddy shoveled:

Don't be fooled by this picture. This moment lasted about 4 minutes. There has been a lot of yelling and wrestling. And some playing. Moments of brilliant sibling love, intermingled with ferocious screaming matches. It's been a pretty cooped up day.

Our county has declared a Snow Emergency, schools are closed, and the day care will be closed tomorrow. So it looks like we'll be home tomorrow, too. Daddy's work has said they will open at 11am, so I think he's going to try to make it in then, and it will be just the three of us. Mommy is going to have to put on her creative thinking cap to come up with some ideas to keep you two busy and to wear you out. Bedtime tonight was rough because you were all wound up - too much energy! We'll have to work on fixing that for tomorrow...

love,

Mommy

Should I start looking for a 12-step program now?

2007-02-10T16:42:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew and Abby,

I have created a monster. I don't know how I did it. I'm not sure exactly what I did, but I'm sure it is my fault. Andrew and Daddy went to a Pacers game the other night, so Abby and I had a night for just the girls. I asked her what she wanted to do on our night together. And she said...are you ready?

...Shopping!

Oh, no! How did this happen?! I don't think Mommy is really a shopping fiend or anything. I don't go out buying new clothes every weekend. But we have been looking for clothes for Abby a lot lately. First there was Christmas. And then her birthday. And there's this sudden growing thing she's been doing. So very often when we go to a store, I check out the good sales, and very often lately, I've ended up buying clothes for Abby. Somehow, she STILL doesn't seem to have enough pants, though! At any rate, since Abby wanted to go shopping, that's what we did. How could I say no? First we went to dinner at "the apple place" (that's Applebee's). Then we headed to Kohl's - such good and affordable kids' clothes, plus a big big sale every weekend! And yes, Abby did end up with a bunch of new clothes, and a new pair of tennis shoes. But seriously - those sweatshirts were $3.60!!! And as for the shoes - well, she was wearing size 7's, but I bought size 9's. I think those were a necessity. And one more nail in the coffin of my hopes for Mother-of-the-Year.

Today, we went to lunch with the Girls - that's Mommy's friends. We met at the downtown mall for lunch. I had plans to stop at the Gymboree and exchange something for a bigger size - again with the growing. And when I mentioned it to Abby, she was all about it. She wanted to go shopping. So we did. First to the Colts store to get Valentine's gifts for Daddy. Then we attempted to go to Gymboree. That would have been great except the Circle Center Mall CLOSED Gymboree. So we walked and went in a couple more stores. When it was time to leave - without any clothing purchases for Abby - she was not ready. She wanted more shopping. More stores. If she hadn't fallen asleep ten minutes after we were in the van, I think we might have been in for a fight.

Daddy left a little while ago to pick up a few things from Wal-Mart. Abby's last command to him was that she needs pants. I am thinking about picking up a second job now to start planning for Abby's teenage years...

love,
Mommy

A shiner and an angel

2007-02-06T22:37:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew and Abby,

If I told you that one of you came home from school yesterday with a black eye and the other was obsessed with making snow angels in our first really big snow of the year, who would you guess was who? Well, my little pumpkins, surely your mommy has taught you better than to stereotypically fit a boy into the violent bruiser role and a girl into a sensitive nature-lover?!

Abby is the lucky winner of the shiner. Fortunately, there was no fighting involved in obtaining the black eye. Just a loss of balance on a step stool and some building blocks. Still, it's a beauty. And right before I tried to take your Valentine's pictures! Mommy pays the price of procrastination once again! Here's Abby and her eye, 24 hours after the incident:

So that leaves Andrew and his snow angel. We have had a pretty mild winter here in central Indiana. Until last week, we hadn't seen too many days below freezing, and only one brief and small dump of snow. But nonetheless, Andrew has been telling me for a month or two that he needs snow pants so he can make snow angels when it snows. I really didn't intend to buy any this winter since we're so far in to the season, it's been so mild, and it's highly unlikely that a pair of snow pants that fit Andrew this year will still fit him next year. It seemed like a good way to waste some money. However, last weekend when Grandma Dottie was here, we did a little shopping at the Children's Place and found a pair of snow pants for cheap, so I bought them, if only to make Andrew happy. And he was. And then it SNOWED!!! We got six inches of snow today. I knew that Andrew would immediately be heading to those pants so he could finally make his snow angel. In fact, he made several. I managed to get a picture of one (notice the awesome snow pants keeping his legs dry and warm!):

Both of you had a fabulous time playing in all the beautiful snow. And to you, playing is helping Daddy shovel our driveway, a neighbor's driveway, and the sidewalks in front of our house. You two are good, good kids. Here's Abby with her turn at the shovel receiving pointers from Daddy:

I love that you are such unique people with such defined personalities, but you get along so well. I hope that never changes. But we could live without the black eyes.

Love,

Mommy

With support from a frog in a cheerleader costume, how could they lose?

2007-02-03T07:03:00.000-05:00

Andrew, Abby, Buddy, and Hoppy (along with Mommy & Daddy and everyone else around here) will be rooting for their favorite team to win the Super Bowl this weekend.

Go Colts!

And the award goes to...

2007-02-02T10:53:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Abby is a drama queen. There's no simple way around it. I've known this was coming for a while. The last few weeks have seen an increase in the dramatic tears and tantrums. But this morning Abby might just have won the award for Most Dramatic Loss of a Spoon.

It all started with your morning oatmeal and the Blue's Clues spoon. It has a Blue's Clues blue rubbery handle. Granted, it's a cute spoon and all, but it's a SPOON. I wasn't in the kitchen when the spoons were selected, so I honestly can't say how the problem began. All I know is that Abby came into the bathroom while I was still in the shower crying and wailing about the blue spoon. I misunderstood the issue and told Andrew to get the other blue spoon (it has a darker, not rubbery, but still blue handle), thinking that it would solve the problem. You were both back minutes later. This time, I figured out what was really going on. Andrew had the Blue's Clues spoon. And Abby wanted it.

I have to stop here to apologize to Andrew. Over the last couple of months, Abby has developed a very strong - and loud - will. She throws fits like Andrew never did. Because Andrew doesn't do that, Daddy and I have a tendency to find the fastest way to make the noise stop, and that often includes giving Abby what she wants, even if it means taking that something away from Andrew or making Andrew compromise enough to convince Abby she is getting her way. That's not fair to Andrew. I have been trying to stop myself from doing this. Both because it is unfair to Andrew and because it's not doing Abby any favors in the long run, either. Obviously.

So this morning, a large part of me wanted to just tell Andrew to give Abby the spoon already. It's just a spoon, for crying out loud! But for once, the smarter mom inside of me stood up and said, yes, it's only a spoon, but it's not about that - it's about making Andrew give in, and it's not fair. I offered some options to Abby, none of which she was interested in. Finally, I told her that she could wait until Andrew was done eating his oatmeal and that I would wash the spoon for her. So she waited - right next to Andrew, screaming and crying the entire time. Here is Andrew eating his oatmeal with the Blue's Clues spoon:

I tried to get Abby in the picture to show the drama, but she ran away. Here she is checking the spoon drawer to see if another Blue's Clues spoon has appeared and running away when she discovered that a) there was still no second BC spoon, and b) Mommy was trying to take her picture:

And here she is after waiting for Andrew to finish and Mommy to wash the spoon so she could eat her cold oatmeal:

Notice the drama has passed as quickly as it began. All is right with the world, and it's even okay to take her picture now. Abby, start practicing this now: "I'd like to thank the Academy..."

love,
Mommy

SnuggleFest '07

2007-02-01T08:56:00.001-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Today, we were running late leaving the house. Again. As usual. Normally, this would cause great frustration and most likely some yelling from Mommy. But today, I didn't really mind.

I started out pretty tired, so I didn't get up early enough to walk on the treadmill - I will have to be good and do that when I get home tonight. When I went to check on Abby, she was awake but not ready to get up. I laid down next to her for a minute and when I said I was getting up to do the rest of my exercises (it's just a few push-ups, sit-ups, and stretches), she threw her arm around my neck and told me to "Lay back down!" She said she wanted to snuggle. Well, how can I say no to that?! So we snuggled for a few more minutes. And I tried to get up again - I really did plan to do my push-ups and sit-ups. Really, I did. But Abby pushed me down again. Okay, so maybe I didn't resist too much...

I called for help from Daddy and his answer was to bring Andrew in and put him in bed with us. He was totally (see, I did it again! No wonder Abby says it all the time!!) on board with the snuggling today, too. Pretty soon, I tried to get serious about getting up - it was getting late, after all. But that's when you two kicked into high gear. You SAT ON ME to keep me from getting up and then told me to do my push-ups like that. I tried, but laying on a bed with a 30+ pound weight on your back (Abby) and a 50+ pound weight on your butt (Andrew - who has a bony little tushy!) is not the best position for doing effective push-ups.

Eventually, I managed to slide out from under you and run away to take my shower. The rest of the morning went pretty much like all of our other weekdays. This is what I sound like:

"Abby, get your shoes. Andrew, do you have your shoes on yet? Did you get your backpack? Is your homework in your folder? Is your folder inside your backpack? Abby, come here so I can brush your hair. No, come here. You have to have your hair brushed! Do you have a baby and a blanket to nap with? C'mon, let's go!"

Sometimes I yell, but today, I stayed pretty calm MOST of the time. It's hard to be too grumpy with a morning snuggle still keeping my heart warm.

love,
Mommy

Like, gag me with a grody spoon to the max!

2007-01-30T22:56:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew and Abby,

One of the things no one explains to grown-ups before they have kids are the many millions of tiny ways in which their lives will change once they have babies. Oh, sure, everyone knows that life changes in those big, huge, non-reversible ways. But they overlook the little things. Your daddy and I have been dealing with one of those things a lot lately, and that is the many ways in which you two are like little mirrors, reflecting back to Daddy and me all kinds of idiosyncrasies we have overlooked in ourselves, like the words we use the most often.

Case in point: Several months ago, Abby learned a new favorite word. Her new favorite word started with an "S", ended with a "T" and had a friendly "Hi!" in the middle. And the best part, she used it IN CONTEXT. Oh, yes, little ones, at not-quite-three, little miss Abigail was using big time words in exactly the same way Mommy and Daddy did. It reminded me of little Andrew when he was about 2 1/2. He had a little toy hammer and every time he hammered on his little toys, he would repeat that same friendly Hi word over and over - just like Daddy often did when he used his Daddy Hammer. Hmmm... This time, Daddy blamed me. And it's true, I was the most frequent offender. However, I was also the most quickly rehabilitated. I think I have only slipped a few times since the problem started, but your dad has to be reminded a time or two each week. Although, usually, Abby does it before I have to: "Daddy, you not s'posed to say that word!"

This morning, a new word popped up for which I have to take full and sole credit. I am quite certain your daddy doesn't use this word except in rare - and appropriate - contexts. Sometimes in the morning, we like to turn getting dressed into a race. It helps you both get moving and speeds the process along. Until recently, Andrew has been the strong favorite in the morning races, even with Mommy helping Abby. But Andrew's been a little more tired in the mornings lately. I think maybe he's going through a growing spurt - he's actually been eating, too! At about the same time that Andrew lost his edge in the Let's Get Dressed Race, Abby's interest finally peaked. She's able to do more of the work herself, she's starting to really understand the concept of games and winning, and she has a sense of humor and a streak of fire to pester her big brother. This morning, she was up and dressed before Andrew was really even fully awake. And though he tried to claim that he was not participating in the race today, Abby could not be deterred. She looked at me with a big smile and exclaimed, "I totally beat Andrew!" And for the rest of the morning, she repeated it over and over. And over and over. "I totally beat Andrew!" "Mommy, I totally beat Andrew?" Never just "I beat Andrew." No, it was always a TOTAL beating.

Then, this afternoon, I called on my way home from work, and you two were already home with Daddy. Abby got on the phone and said to me, "I totally beat Mommy to my house." Yep, totally. Uh-oh. So obviously, Mommy totally has a problem.

Unfortunately, I also watch a lot of Grey's Anatomy, and I know I have started to integrate "seriously" into my normal dialogue more often than I used to. So if I'm not careful, I'm going to have the next generation of Valley Girl in my house, and she won't even be four years old!

Totally and Seriously,
Mommy

They should call it Spend-Too-Much-On-Stuffed-Animals-You-Could-Get-Anywhere-And-Lots-Of-Unnecessary-Accessories-Because-Those-Kids-Are-Just-So-Cute

2007-01-28T23:45:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

First, the applesauce update:

*Cinnamon applesauce - HUGE hit with Andrew. I had one serving, Andrew ate the rest in two sittings. And asked for more.

*Strawberry applesauce x2 - mixed reviews. They ate some, said they liked it, but are a slightly resistant. I think it's great, but still like the chunky better.

*Next - I bought 6 more pounds of apples so I can make Andrew more cinnamon applesauce and I am going to try some pear applesauce. I have to hurry, so I can give my friend her Pampered Chef corer/peeler/slicer back. Even though I don't really want to give it back ever. You two should seriously think about getting me this for Mother's Day. If I promise always to blend and chill the applesauce before I make you taste it? Please?

Anyway, this weekend, Grandma Dottie and Papa came to visit. On Saturday, we had the big Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. Andrew and Daddy worked on the car all week and it looked pretty good. He came in 2nd in his Wolf den. He was a little disappointed, but I was very proud of him. I did get a little irritated with Papa for commenting that he didn't think they ran the race fairly and that they should've raced Andrew and Logan's (the boy who won) cars again, and on and on. And ON and ON! I might have agreed with him, but Andrew would have been better off not hearing that. He picked up on the talk of injustice and started saying he should have won. I had to talk to him about good sportsmanship. Eventually, he worked through it and was fine. But I think Papa might need another lesson.

Daddy and Papa left the Derby to go to a basketball game (Purdue vs. Illinois), and Grandma Dottie and I took you both shopping. For Abby's birthday, Grandma wanted to get her a Build-A-Bear. We took a trial run the week before and Abby told me she wanted the frog. This is particularly funny because Grandma Dottie is TERRIFIED of frogs. In fact, it is a running family joke that we always sneak some kind of frog gift in for Grandma at Christmas. It's my way of helping her to get over her fear. And it's being a little bit spider. (You two probably don't get that last comment. I'll explain it some day.)

When we got to the Bear store, I tried to talk her into the beautiful sparkly pink and purple bear (her two favorite colors) with butterflies on its nose and one paw. It is really very cute and very Abby. I almost had her convinced, and then she remembered the frog. She literally threw the bear down and yelled, "I want the frog!" So, she got the frog, and picked a Cinderella outfit for it. Grandma took the frog-worship in stride, and even let me take her picture with it. As she said, it doesn't look like a REAL frog. She takes the frog jokes pretty well. I think the frog Christmas gifts are really helping!

Andrew also needled Grandma into buying him a Build-A-Bear for HIS birthday (which is still a month away). He picked a cute husky dog. And a puppy that magnetically sticks to the dog's mouth. And a Jeff Gordon racing outfit. Poor Grandma spent a load. I also bought Colts outfits for both of your animals: football player for Andrew's Buddy, cheerleader for Abby's Hoppy.

Then, Abby had a mega meltdown right when we left B-A-B. Complete with screaming, throwing herself to the ground, tears, judgemental stares from strangers, the whole shebang. The cause was my refusal to carry her through the mall. Why? Because we HAD A STROLLER for just such a reason. I had to forcibly strap her in, then tip the stroller back on two wheels to push it through the mall because she was lurching forward and to the side and dragging her feet on the ground. Thankfully, the straps held, because I'm guessing there would have been more judgemental stares from strangers - and maybe Grandma - if I'd managed to let Abby leap headfirst from the stroller and land on the hard cement floor. We stopped to throw pennies in the fountain and the tantrum finally passed. I chalk it up to Grandma's influence keeping me in line that I did not offer to give you away to a random stranger. Maybe you two should be asking her to come over more often.

This afternoon, we went bowling before Grandma and Papa had to leave for home. Andrew scored 100! He beat Daddy! And almost beat me, but I did manage to squeak by with a 106 (this is very shocking because normally your Daddy is the better bowler, but I was good and didn't gloat!). Obviously, we're not a family of bowlers. But you both love it and you had a good time. And considering how tired and cranky you were before we left, you must really like it, because you were both very well-behaved. Daddy and I agreed that we should take you bowling more often. I think Daddy just wants to practice so he can beat Andrew.

This is getting pretty long, but I do have one more thing I wanted to write about. With all the Colts mania going on, we talk about them a lot in our house. The other day, Andrew was listing off the players he knows. I had to get this down for future reference. Here is Andrew's list:

Peyton Manning (his favorite)
Marvelous Harrison (that would be Marvin Harrison)
Reggie Wayne (sometimes referred to as Wayne Reggie)
Shockley (apparently, he doesn't have a first name)
and my favorite, Joseph the Guy (that's Joseph Addai)

He also likes to tell me that he only likes one player for the Patriots - Tom Brady. I told him he needs to keep that to himself because he's in Colts Country!

Love,
Mommy

If only I could duplicate Motts' label...

2007-01-26T19:20:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Today, I am going to tell you about Mommy's wonderful new obsession - homemade applesauce.

Your mommy likes to watch the Food Network. Sure, I don't get the chance to watch very often, but once in a while, I manage to luck out and the channel stays on this station long enough for Mommy to see something interesting. This is usually when Daddy (aka Controller of the Remote) is not at home and you two have tired of cartoons. Recently, I watched Dave Lieberman make his grandma's strawberry applesauce and I was inspired! You both LOVE strawberry applesauce. I am required to have individual cups of strawberry applesauce on hand at all times in order to satisfy your desire for strawberry applesauce. AAANNNNDDD...I always always buy the natural kind of applesauce that does not have extra sugars and preservatives in it...just like homemade! So of course, if I made strawberry applesauce at home, you would both LOVE it and I would never have to pay for pre-packaged applesauce again. It would be healthier, cheaper, and it would win me Homemaker-Mommy-of-the-Year. Right? Right?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

So I made the strawberry applesauce. And was amazed at how easy it was. Including peeling and chopping, about an hour after I started, I had turned 3 pounds of apples into beautiful pink strawberry-flavored applesauce. I tasted it while it was still warm and it was heavenly. I used a potato masher to mash it up so it still had chunks of apple in it to give it texture...and that is just the first place where I went wrong.

First, I tried to get you both to taste it while it was still warm. GAAA! What was I thinking? Applesauce is not served warm! It should be cold from the refrigerator or room temperature from the pantry at the warmest! Andrew ran for cover when I approached him with the spoon. Abby isn't quite as fast, so I managed to get to her and when I got a tiny (and I do mean tiny - think smaller in circumference than a pencil eraser, and only a third of the depth) bit on her tongue, she refused to let the tongue re-enter her mouth until the dot was wiped off with a tissue. And because I tried to resist the wiping with a tissue and told her to just taste it, she gagged and almost threw up on the living room floor. Yes, that's just how much Mommy loves you both - I tried to kill you with homemade strawberry applesauce.

So the next night at dinner, I tried again. The applesauce had sat in the refrigerator chilling for over 24 hours. Neither of you saw where the applesauce came from when I put it on your plate. I should mention that I took applesauce to work with me that day, shared it with some grown-ups (who LOVED it) and gobbled up my own serving. Mmmm...it is good! So at dinner, Andrew was clever enough to ask "Is this the stuff you made?" I dodged the question. He asked again. I conceded. He tried it. Abby tried it. It was deemed acceptable. Until the chunks were discovered. Andrew thought he had stumbled across a strawberry and said he didn't want to eat the berries. I told him it was an apple chunk - it's yummy! He gave me the "What are you, crazy?" look. And that was the end of the applesauce. Abby ate another bite or two, that was it. She was siding with Big Brother.

Sigh. So Mommy has eaten - and loved - the chunky strawberry applesauce all to herself. But I refuse to give up. I questioned Andrew "If it didn't have chunks, would you like it?" He said yes, he would, but there had to be no chunks (you know, like it comes from the store - DUH!). And would I please make cinnamon applesauce instead because it is his favorite. Really? News to me, but whatever.

Last night, I borrowed my friend's Pampered Chef apple corer/peeler/slicer. Oh, what a fun toy! Within minutes, we had peeled, cored, and spiral-sliced 3 pounds of apples. 45 minutes after that, there was cinnamon applesauce. After I put it through the blender to remove the chunks, of course. I thought it was quite good (but I am still partial to the strawberry). You were both already in bed, but I had promised Andrew he could have cinnamon applesauce for breakfast. This morning, he ate TWO BOWLS!!! Victory, thou art mine!

Tonight, strawberry applesauce redux. Sans chunks. And maybe I should put it in individual cups...

love,
Mommy

P.S. Andrew, you lost your third tooth last night! It was one of the top front teeth. And yes, the Tooth Fairy came. But you should know that this inflation is making the Tooth Fairy crazy - $1 for a little ol' tooth?!? It's highway robbery! Or so she tells me. You have already lost your two bottom front teeth. And you actually LOST the second one before you could get it home from school. Luckily, the Tooth Fairy accepted a note explaining the situation and STILL left you money. See what I mean, highway robbery! love, Mommy

Superman and a skeleton

2007-01-24T01:12:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

We had another busy night tonight, but thankfully, bedtime was a much less war-like experience than last night.

We went to church to see a mini concert by the Heritage Christian Singers. They are a group of teenagers from Heritage Christian High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin who tour and sing as part of their education. They are an amazing group of young people (and now I know I must be old to actually have just referred to teenagers as "young people." Sheesh!). Their singing is awesome, but on top of that, they witness as if it is completely natural. That is an ability that I think I will never have, and they have it down before they're 18. You were both mesmerized by the singing for the first 15 or 20 minutes. Abby stood on my lap and stared at the singers. Andrew stood on the other end of the pew. The spell did wear off a little, but you were both better than I expected, right up until the end, when I had to take a screaming Abby out so she didn't drown out the singers.

After the concert, there was fellowship time with ice cream and cookies. The Superman ice cream was a big hit. Yes, I let Abby have two helpings - I was living on the edge. She decided that the ice cream was actually called Batman ice cream and that SHE was Superman. So yesterday a fishy, today Superman. Hmm.

Andrew sat at a table with six of the singers, smack dab between two of the girls, of course. I'm not sure what all he was talking about, but by the looks of him and the girl he was talking to, he had the charm on full force. I should have checked his hand for a phone number before he went to bed. At the end of the get-together, he went around to each of the singers and told them his favorite joke. I am proud of the fact that I taught him the joke at Halloween, but I am amazed that it is still such a hit. Here's the joke:

"Why didn't the skeleton cross the road?"
"Because he didn't have the guts."

HAHAHAHA...

So tonight, in an effort to keep the joke from getting stale (too late?), I taught him a modified version of a joke I learned from Melissa at AlphaMom:

"Knock knock."
"Who's there?"
"Interrupting dog."
"Interrup-" "Woof woof woof!"

I like it. But I think Andrew still likes the skeleton joke better. Apparently, I need to work on more new material.

love,
Mommy

What's blue and white and T-I-R-E-D? A fishy!

2007-01-23T00:00:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Oh, so much to talk about today...

As I type this (at 9:15pm), you are both sniffling in your beds. We have spent over an hour fighting about bedtime. Your dad and I are both ready to pull our hair out or sell you in a garage sale. Luckily for you, it's 9 pm on a Monday night in January, and there aren't many garage sales going on in the neighborhood, so I guess Daddy and I are going bald. We're pretty sure it's a holdover from our late night Sunday night. We live in Indiana, close to Indianapolis, home of the Indianapolis Colts, AFC Champions. Go Colts! It was a great game, and I don't regret letting you stay up to watch it, but it was a late night and we are paying for it tonight with over-tired, cranky, back-talking, whiny children.

Andrew was actually grounded from wearing his Peyton Manning jersey for a week during the bedtime wars tonight. Considering the desperation with which he begged for the jersey, that's pretty serious grounding. We had to make a special trip to the mall last Saturday to find that jersey. FIFTY-FIVE DOLLARS!!! Okay, it's not a fortune, but holy CRAP that's expensive. Luckily, I was able to convince him to get the bigger 10-12 size instead of the size 8, even though it was white instead of blue. So at least he should be able to wear it next year. I'm trying to get that cost-per-wearing ratio as low as possible.

Abby was also pretty into the game and has "Go Colts!" down to an art form. Today there was a new variation that came out as a result of her favorite book, "A Story of Christmas" (she calls it the Baby Jesus book). The new saying for the day is "Baby Jesus Go Colts!" I don't know why...
Last night, Abby also decided that she is a fishy. I'm guessing it's somehow related to the Laurie Berkner DVD we watched almost ALL DAY yesterday. I think we watched the Goldfish song a million times. Or maybe it just felt that way. This morning when I went into her room and said "Good morning, Sunshine!" the reply I got from a face buried in her pillow was a tired-sounding, "I a fishy."

Finally, I think my little fishy and her big brother are sleeping. Let's hope it's a restful restorative sleep and we don't have to do this again tomorrow night.

love,
Mommy

Go Colts!

Think he can make me a set of balloon earplugs?

2007-01-20T01:56:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Often, when someone is pregnant for the first time, they like to ask for parenting tips. Okay, so they don't always ask, but people sure like to give them. Oh, they tell them all kinds of things about diapers and bottle-feeding versus breast-feeding and co-sleeping and on and on. And do you know what I tell them? Here it is: Go to the movies. Right now, before the baby is born. Once the baby is here, movies will be on hold for awhile. Going out to eat, that's a piece of cake - don't worry about that! You can totally take a baby out to eat. And I mean it. We did it when Andrew was a baby. It was great. He slept in his little carrier and Steve and I enjoyed a nice meal just like we used to. No problem.

But as I was reminded tonight...well, things have changed. You two aren't babies any more and that whole going out to eat thing...you sure don't sit quietly in your carriers any more.

Tonight, your dad and I lost our minds again and took you both out to eat. We are SO CRAZY! TGIFriday's, Friday night, 7pm, Indianapolis. You two were non-stop through the 40 minute wait (Andrew: "This is taking forEEVVVEERRRR!!"), the waiting for our drinks (Abby: "I want CHOCOLATE milk! Where's my MILK?"). Then we got your food and there was about two minutes of quiet while you put food into your mouths. Andrew actually ate really well - a whole grilled cheese sandwich, all the mandarin oranges, half of Abby's spaghetti, and the breadstick from my salad. Abby, not so much. After yelling at me that she did not want to eat her spaghetti with a fork and ordering me to CUT IT UP! she ate about two bites. The rest of the time was spent bouncing, dancing, wiggling, and sliding around on the seat, and getting the contents of her spoon on my sleeve. Thank goodness for the balloon man - that offered another three minutes of relative peace. Of course then there was the fighting with the balloon animals later: Andrew's dangling lure hat and blue wiener dog and Abby's black giraffe (she picked the color - that's my girly girl!). I'm not sure how it is that a booth that can hold six adults can barely contain our family of four.

Through it all, I did manage to eat a salad, a few bites of my fish, avoid two bones in the fish, and enjoy most of my angel mousse cake (yummy!). Not to bash TGIF's, but other than the cake, it was a pretty horrible experience all the way around. I'm not sure the $30 gift card we were spending was really worth the hassle. But that's what happens when Mommy & Daddy lose their minds. At least we got some lovely balloon animals out of the deal.

Once we left, for about the first half of the ride home, you both talked non-stop and over the top of each other, mostly to me, mostly starting with "Mom? Mom? Mom!" You are both incapable of continuing a sentence or thought until I respond to my name. There are days I wish I could change my name from Mom to something - anything - else. But then, Abby fell asleep and Andrew zoned out...ahhh...quiet.

Love,
Mommy

At least it wasn't a frog

2007-01-19T00:24:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Here's a new one. Yesterday, when I picked you up from day care, I noticed that Andrew's coat was wet in the corner by one pocket. I asked why and got the standard "I dunno" answer I love so much. So I grabbed it, trying to figure out how wet it was and I felt something a little crunchy and squishy in the pocket. And what do you think I discovered inside the pocket? Go on, guess! Well, when I pulled it out and asked Andrew what it was (not in the gee-i'm-confused-and-curious-as-to-what-i'm-holding way but more in the surely-i'm-not-holding-what-i-think-i-am kind of way), he said "It's a crystal." Sweet Boy, I love you, but that was not a crystal. It was a chunk of melting ice and snow. In your pocket. Inside. Melting. Honestly, when I first pulled it out, I thought one of the other kids must have put it there as a joke. Surely my almost-eight-year-old son knows what ice is! And what happens when you put ice in a pocket and then take that pocket indoors where the heat is! I was completely at a loss...

"Andrew, did you know this was ice?"
"I dunno."
"Where did you get it?"
"Outside."
"Where outside?"
"On the ground."
"Was it cold?"
"Yeah."
"Was it wet?"
"No. I swear! What?!"

Sigh.

And I have another new one. As I type this, Abby is sleeping in her "gib girl" bed IN UNDERWEAR. That's right. No Pull-Up. This will be our second attempt. The first try was Tuesday night when she was wearing her new Cinderella undies ("nunies") and didn't want to change before bed. I should explain: As of right now, Abby has been daytime potty trained since last fall. For the last several weeks, there have been no accidents during naps, either. But bedtime is a different story. She hasn't been able to make it through the night dry yet. So she wears Pull-Ups to bed. Until Tuesday. We were nervous, but we went with it. I put on the mattress liner, laid out another set of sheets, made Abby go potty ONE MORE TIME before bed, and expected a rough night. At about 3:30 am, I was awaken by a little whisper next to my bed, "I want a Pull-Up." Abby had had enough. She was still dry (DRY!!), but I think the anxiety was causing her not to sleep. So I put a Pull-Up on her and tucked her back in. In the morning, she was STILL DRY! And the angels sang and the sun shone...

Well, let's just say I was pretty excited. I was envisioning an end of the Pull-Up Era. So I went to the day care and bragged on my genius child. And so that day of course there was a little accident at nap time. Oops. It happens. It really isn't a big deal. It was just yet another reminder that Mommy knows diddly squat and should really learn to just sit back and wait. It will happen. Abby is not going to leave for college with a pack of Pull-Ups. Of course not, they don't make them that big. We'll have to move up to Depends. Hah! Just kidding!!

So anyway, here we are again. Abby chose to sleep in nunies again tonight. She was up to potty three times before she fell asleep. We'll see how the night goes. I have no expectations. And besides, as Steve oh-so kindly pointed out to me, I might actually be sad once the Pull-Ups are gone. It will be the end of the Pull-Up Era, yes, but that is also the end of the Baby Era. We'll be in to Little Girl territory. Wow.

Pretty soon, Andrew will start showing you where all the good crystals are for your pockets. You two are going to wear raincoats every day.

Love,
Mommy

Happy 3rd Birthday, Abby!

2007-01-15T13:11:00.000-05:00

Dear Abigail Ann,

Yesterday, you turned three years old. Wow! I just can't believe it. You had stayed the night with Grandma Dottie and Papa at their hotel so you and Andrew could swim and when you got back to our house in the morning, you ran through the house yelling for me. When you found me, you held out your three fingers and said, "I three now!!" You were so proud.

I looked over at you sitting by Daddy last night and couldn't believe how tall you are, it seems to have happened over night. You were just my baby Sweetness the other day and now you're a Little Girl. I think you had a fun birthday. Since your birthday falls during NFL playoffs, this is the second year in a row that you had a celebration during half-time of the Colts playoff game (Yay, this year they won!). This year, you also had a little party (and lots of presents) on Sunday with Mommy, Daddy, Andrew, Grandma Jamie, Poppy Ted, Grandma Dottie, Papa, and Great-Uncle Sam. You were pretty good the whole weekend, though you did look pretty tired last night after everyone left.

This year, you have grown so much. You are almost completely potty-trained, and have been at this stage for about six months - dry during the day, but you still need a Pull-Up at night. In the last two or three months, you have had hardly any accidents, even during naptime.

You love to sing and dance and there are many many times when I ask you what you are doing and your answer is "Spinning!" as you turn circles in the living room. You haven't hit your head on anything yet, but I'm expecting our first trip to the ER any day now.

It is so hard to leave you to come to work. When I am away, I can't wait to get back to you and your brother because you are both at such a great stage right now. You play together and love each other as I only dreamed you would. It may not last, but right now, it's pretty great. Recently, you discovered puzzles and are starting to learn a few games and your relationship with Andrew has blossomed even more.

These days, we laugh every day. You are so funny and have a wonderful sense of humor. You make the cutest and funniest faces, sometimes unintentionally. And I think you are one of the most beautiful little girls on the planet. I envy your hair. I am in awe at how it can be so similar to mine and yet so very very different.

At times, I'm a little afraid of what the adolescent years are going to bring to us. I am especially afraid on days when you are in a bit of a mood and put up your hand when I'm talking and say, "Don't talka me!" Oh, the teenage fires are going to burn bright...

Here are some of your favorite things right now:

your new pink cowboy boots
macaroni & cheese
Cinderella
Smarties candy
M&M's
Little People
playing kitchen
puzzles
Dora
Laurie Berkner (especially "We Are the Dinosaurs")

And we are STILL listening to the Veggie Tale version of Feliz Navidad several times a week - it would be multiple times a day if I allowed it. Christmas music knows no season for you and your brother (who's current favorite is the Veggie Tale rendition of Go Tell It On The Mountain). I have to find a new favorite CD soon!

I love you, my Sweetness.

Love,
Mommy

Another day in Cell Block A

2007-01-09T23:59:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

This time, I have a story to tell on Andrew...

Andrew, for a while now, you've been testing the waters and trying to figure out how to sneak things out of the house and in to day care and/or school without being caught. I wouldn't be telling you now how it was that I always ALWAYS knew, but I sense it won't matter for much longer. You are getting sneakier. In the past, you have given yourself away by your behavior when we arrive at day care. On normal days, you trudge along, usually follow me to Abby's room first, then wander to wherever you are supposed to be until your bus leaves. However, on mornings when you have contraband, you fly from the van, race into the building, and make a grand gesture of "I'll just kiss you here, Mom, so you don't have to come down to my room. Really, it's okay." Or something along those lines. Since you are also a poker fiend (a topic for another time), I'll use a poker analogy: it's your tell. But this morning, something new happened.

You have some new Yu-Gi-Oh cards that you got from McDonald's (wow, THANKS, Day Care, for feeding my kids Happy Meals for lunch - Seriously, don't they know they are supposed to be BETTER care givers than I am and not feed you guys that crap?!?!) and I saw you leaving your room with them hung slyly by your side. I reminded you that you would not be taking those to day care (we have a rule: No toys go to day care/school. A rule instituted after the Great GameBoy Debacle of 2006) and you said you just wanted to play with them until we left. Ooookay...So I informed you that I would be giving your pockets a pat-down (yes, prison guard style) before we left.

Later, when we were leaving, I noticed you in your room, putting on your stocking cap. This was a little odd, since your hat wasn't in your room to start with and you didn't have your coat on or with you, but I think I might have let it slide if it had just been that. But then you said this while pointing to the Yu-Gi-Oh cards stacked at the end of your bed: "See, Mom, all my Yu-Gi-Oh cards, right there." See what I mean, it's your tell. So when you walked over to me, I just put my hand on top of your hat and gently squeezed. Amazingly, your hair felt flat and cardboard-like, much like a Yu-Gi-Oh card tucked into your hat might feel. Oh, wait! Those ARE Yu-Gi-Oh cards tucked into your hat!! You crack me up. And the fact that you were SO MAD at me for catching you was just priceless. You didn't speak much to me for the rest of the morning, but I still had to stifle a laugh at this latest attempt. I could just see you thinking: 'She said she was going to check my pockets. Fine. I won't put them in a pocket! That will fool her. BWAHAHAHA!!!' After I dropped you off, I immediately called your dad and told him we're going to have to reinstitute the daily prison-guard pat-downs and be even more vigilant - you are starting to figure out this whole sneaky thing. Let's hope we don't have to escalate these to strip searches. That will really mess with our morning schedule.

love,
The Prison Guard (Mommy)

Sharing you with the Internet, or at least Grandma Jamie

2007-01-09T10:09:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Today I decided to open this diary so other people can see it. Being a parent, I am of course convinced that you two are the only children in the world who do the hilarious things you do and it is only natural that everyone else would want to know about it. It would be selfish of me to keep that all to myself. Plus, it might be an incentive for me to remember to write here on a regular basis.

I'm not sure how this will go, for now, it's just an experiment. Kind of like your mommy trying to be a Cool Kid. Not that you have to try to do what the cool kids are doing at school just so you fit in and don't feel like a loser. No. Peer pressure is bad. Just say NO. But writing on the Internet might be okay. Just don't write bad things about people that you wouldn't say to their face - unless you're prepared for them to ask you why you wrote bad things about them or fire you from your job over it. Trust me, Mommy reads Dooce - she knows.

Okay, Mommy is rambling. I'm cold and tired (the tired part is only Abby's fault today, by the way. Andrew, much better sleeping last night!!) and have to get to work.

I will write more later. I have a great story to tell on Andrew today about how he got grounded from Yu-Gi-Oh (That's Oh as in Oh-how-mommy-hates-yu-gi-oh)...and Abby learning sleep avoidance tactics from the master (yes, you, Andrew!).

love you,
Mommy (aka MommyBlogger-Wanna-Be)

These prison walls can't hold me

2007-01-08T09:54:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Last night was not a good night. I had intended to type this entry last night after you were both asleep. However, apparently, your dad and I missed the memo about you two sleeping in shifts last night. Abby went to sleep fine at 9pm, but Andrew was up until almost 12:30am - which is when Abby woke up! Girl, you've got to quit the rock-star partying!!! You wrestled with your dad for space in our bed until about 3:30-ish. I'm pretty sure I got more sleep than he did, but we both woke up at that time to the sound of you dragging your fingers across the bars on our headboard - like a convict might drag his tin cup across the metal bars of his cell. Last night, sleep was prison to you and you wanted nothing to do with it. We still don't know why, other than the explanation you sheepishly gave about being afraid of the monster in Andrew's closet. I'm pretty sure you made that up because that's what Andrew said was keeping him up until post-midnight, but who knows. Daddy tried to take you back to your bed after the prison scene, but you screamed for me until I caved and took over. I wasn't sleeping at that point anyway, and was starting to panic that you would wake up Andrew, thus beginning the next sleep/awake shift. I told your dad that there was no point in us both being awake. Once I went in, you calmed down and started to fall asleep. After several minutes of the post-traumatic hiccup sobbing, I think you passed out. It's hard to know for sure because I think I beat you to it. Needless to say, your daddy and I are going to have a hard time at work today.

What I really wanted to talk about was this weekend. Abby, you won your very first game - Go Fish! It is so much fun to see you play a game and start to understand how it all works. Lately, one of your favorite expressions is "That's not fair!" - such as when I tell you it's bed time, or you have to wear your coat, or it's time for dinner...all very unfair things of me to demand. But you played the game without complaining when your turn didn't go well, and you were a very gracious winner. I think Andrew is also excited that you are now old enough to play games with him because Mommy and Daddy could never play enough board or card games with your brother to satisfy him. Be prepared for marathon Monopoly Jr. sessions in your future!

Andrew, this weekend I read to you a little of what I have already typed here in this diary. Your response was to write me a letter back. You typed it on the computer, just like my letter to you, and I totally did not expect that, but I loved it. Here is what you typed:

Dear Mom.
Thank you for the letter.The Christmas tree is cool it is almost Abby’sbirthday so be happy! We should make a cake for Harry’s birthday. We should be very, very, very, very happy. The Christmas tree looks nice. It was fun at the Hammerle’s my favorite ornament is Mater and Lightning McQueen. My favorite game is swipe. I love you Mom!!!!

You guys are awesome. But you seriously have to figure out this whole sleeping thing. Soon.

Love,
Mommy

Happy New You!

2007-01-05T22:45:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

So now on to the fun stuff. The stuff I want to hurry and get out of my head before I forget.

Here are a couple of the things you've been doing over the last few weeks that made it completely clear that I have to start getting this stuff documented somewhere before I get old and forget, you get old and don't do all these cute things anymore, or for those days when you aren't actually acting all that cute and I need a reminder...

1. Abby, When we asked you a few weeks ago what you wanted Santa to bring you for Christmas, my favorite answer was "big hands like Mommy and Daddy." Just last night, you came up to me holding out your little hands and told me that Santa didn't bring you big hands. It made me laugh and broke my heart all at the same time. And it makes me wonder what it was that you couldn't pick up or hold or reach the way you wanted that made you want those hands. Whatever it was, I will be happy to help you, just yell for me.

2. Andrew, yesterday, you packed up my lunch. I gave you the things to put in it, and you put it all together for me. I had a pudding and a yogurt, and you made sure to put one spoon in for each item. You told me that you did it so that I wouldn't have to lick or wipe off the spoon in between each thing. It was one of those moments when I think you must be the absolute sweetest boy in the whole world - no other boy could possibly be that thoughtful. And then I felt a little inadequate because just the day before, I had packed your lunch with a pudding and a fruit cup, and I only packed one spoon. I am so sorry! I will work hard to be a better mommy from now on.

3, 4, and 5. New Year's Eve
Both of you were such a blast at Hammerle's house for New Year's Eve. Andrew, I love that after you had played games on their computer for a while, you made the decision to "take a break" because your hand was tired from using the mouse - and also I think because you were bored and lonely. You never went back to the video/computer games because you were having too much fun dancing with Abby and Sara and playing board games with everyone. I love that you are not addicted to "screens" like so many other kids your age. I fear that this ambivalence may not last, but I am taking pleasure in it while I can.

Speaking of dancing, the dance you both did with Sara was seriously the highlight of my night. I know I must be old, because I couldn't have cared less what was happening in Times Square when we had front row seats for your Naked Mole Rap dance. I am so glad I got a little of it on video and I definitely plan to hold on to that bit of evidence to use against you both later in life. If either of you become famous, expect to see a clip of that performance on one of those "How We Knew He/She Would One Day Be On Stage" segments. And yes, it will be the part where you both do the splits.

And then there was Abby's wish for us all at midnight - yes, you both made it to midnight; well past midnight in fact. At midnight, when we all yelled "Happy New Year!" Abby greeted us all with "Happy New You!" and continued to wish us happy new selves all the next day. Considering that so many resolutions (including Mommy's) have to do with improving health and wellness, I think it is an entirely appropriate thing to say, and I may adopt it for myself for next year.

Okay, that's enough for today. I don't want you to think all your mommy has time for is gushing about the two of you and how cute and wonderful you are. But you are cute and wonderful. The cutest and the wonderfulest

snuggles and cuddles,
Mommy

Why am I here?

2007-01-05T21:55:00.000-05:00

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Hi, it's your mom. It's the beginning of a new year. A year in which Abby, you will turn three years old (in just over a week - on January 14th - I can hardly believe it!), and Andrew, you will turn eight years old (on February 27th when, as you like to point out, you will be only eight more years away from getting your license - my head pounds just thinking about it). Recently, I've become inspired to begin documenting your lives in writing. Since you are almost 8 and almost 3, you might be wondering what has taken me so long to make such a simple decision. Well, besides the fact that you two can be pretty exhausting and that I did just finish my college degree all of two weeks ago (woo hoo for Mommy - but let that be a lesson to both of you - do NOT wait to finish college until you have jobs, bills, and family responsibilities! It is too hard, and your mommy wants an easier way for you!), I discovered the world of blogs just a few months ago. I'm a bit behind, but I finally feel a little more in tune with the world that lives on the Internet. Initially, I scorned the bloggers - online diary-writers, sharing their journals and diaries with the world. Why? Who wants to read someone else's diary? Well, turns out, lots of people do. And I am one of them (your daddy, not so much - he doesn't know I'm writing this now - he wouldn't understand. I'll tell him later). I'm devoted/addicted to one in particular (Dooce) and have discovered many others I like from links on that site. There are some amazing people out there on the Internet. Amazing writers, fabulous photographers, and people much braver and more resiliant than I think I could ever be. By reading what the writer of Dooce has to say about her life and family and daughter (who is just a few weeks younger than Abby), I feel connected to someone who is sharing some of my struggles. And she makes me laugh, something I love to do. She also writes lovely monthly update newsletters to her little Leta, and all of that, combined with recent evidence of my aging and failing memory, put the idea in my head that I should be documenting the things you both do that make me laugh and cry and even sometimes want to pull my hair out.

So here we are. I hope for several things by starting this project. First, I hope I can stay devoted to this for longer than I was to your baby books! Second, I hope that someday you read these entries and know that you were and are loved very very much and that you will be able to appreciate some of the experiences we shared as you grew up that you may not remember when you're big. If I find that I can keep up with this well enough, it will also be a big help to me so I can send updates to our family to tell them about all the fun they miss since we live here and they live there.

love,
Mommy