So it's November

Yep. November.

I am so behind on this here blog that I feel like my online community card must be expired by now. Is that even possible?

So what have I missed... a lot. I have Lydia's birthday part and a one year update for her and Halloween and I am sure there is a million other things I should be blogging about.

And yes. I am fully aware my header says September. I should never have started a monthly header. EVER. Lesson learned. Look for something less timely in the future. (but don't count on it being the near future... )

And the photo on this post? Part of a blog post that I may or may not EVER get around to writing. It is a good one. Now I have set you up to be disappointed. Isn't that great? Now I feel guilty. Maybe I will write that post sooner than later. I hate to disappoint people.

Don't tell me I'm a disappointment. Even if I am... just lie to me. Please. Then maybe I'll post more. See, it's all on you.

Love ya.

mg

The post where I admit I might have a problem with crafting

So in preparation for Lydia's first birthday party I realized I am crazy.

My house was a mess and I needed to clean almost every inch. So what did I do? I made a birthday banner out of felt!

My self refelction continues as Halloween approaches.

Tonight I needed to grade papers, prepare lecture and activities for the class I'm teaching tomorrow night. So what did I do? I sewed Madeline's halloween costume.

I promise photos of the craziness. Until then, can you send me resources for craft a holics? My husband would really appreciate it.

mg

A letter to my second daugther on her first birthday

Top to bottom, left to right: October 2009 through September 2010

Happy Birthday Lydia.

Today you turn one and, as cliche as it is, I can hardly believe it. To mark this occasion I have decided to finally write the story of your birth. It wasn't dramatic, but it was ours. I hope you enjoy it.
__________

Friday, October 16, 2009

Three days before you were born I celebrated my birthday with a doctors appointment. (Not exactly how I thought I spend my 30th birthday but what ever!) According to the doctor I was getting closer to your delivery, but it could have been an hour or a week away.

I was ready for you to be born. Really ready.

Your Dad couldn't wait either not to mention your very excited big sister.

So, on my 30th birthday, I scheduled an induction for 12am Monday morning. I was going to meet my second baby, my #2.
__________

Sunday, October 18th, 2009

After dinner at Maw Maw and Paw Paw's, Dad and I kissed your sister goodbye and left her in the capable hands of your grandparents. At home we packed the last minute items into a bag, tooth brush, deodorant, chap stick. It felt like we were packing for a weekend away. At 10pm I called the hospital to make sure they had a bed for us. They asked us to come in at 12:30am. So we waited, we tried to sleep a little and as I rested you kicked around. I like to think you were excited too.
__________

Monday, October 19th, 2009

We left the house about midnight and as your dad drove I sat very uncomfortably next to him. I was having small contractions all the way to the hospital. Once they checked us into the hospital and hooked me up to the monitors it showed that I was in fact having some contractions. You were as ready to meet us as we were to meet you. They started my induction at about 1:25am. Dad tried to sleep a bit. I rested as best I could hooked up to machines and IVs and all.

At some point in the mid morning hours (around 7:25am I think) the doctor came in to check on me. She had just finished an emergency C-section and wondered if she had enough time to go home for breakfast. She didn't.

What seemed like moments later I was ready to push. With the doctor and Dad at the ready I pushed for a total of maybe 10 minutes. I think it was three pushes and you were here. At exactly 8am my second daughter was born.
_________

Now, a year later, there is so much that could write about: How you have changed our lives. The love that you and your sister share. Your very first steps. The silly way you dance. Your goofy ear to ear grin. Instead I will just say that you are a perfect fit for our family and you will always fit perfectly in my heart.

Love,
Mom

mg

Thirty One

Today we celebrated Lydia's first birthday. The party will be a post of its own but I am really hear to tell you that I am just not ready for this.

In the last two weeks Lydia has started walking. She is talking more and more every day. She is full of energy and silly to the bone. I love Lydia at one.

I am just not ready for this.

As I welcome Lydia the toddler into our lives, that means saying goodbye to Lydia the baby. Although I do not miss the sleepless nights or the hour long crying jags of infancy, it is still hard to say goodbye to my baby.

I am just not ready for this.

I wasn't ready for her to wean from nursing, which she did a month a half ago. Much to my chagrin.

I am just not ready for this.

It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating Madeline's first birthday. Madeline has grown up so quickly I just want to stop time and take this all in because it feels like it is going too fast. Before I know it, Lydia will be a high energy 3 1/2 year old and Madeline will be 5.

I am just not ready for this.

__________

P.S. Today is my birthday. Leave me some blog love, eh?

mg

So cute it hurts to look at her

Well, either that or I need to consider her wardrobe a little more critically in the morning.

mg

Best grandma photo EVER

Mainly b/c Granny looks so very happy and her girls look 16, 14, and 13 instead of 3, 11m and 2m old. There were about 20 photos of Granny and her girls on my camera when I uploaded to my computer (taken by my dad I think). This was hands down the best one.

At least Granny looks good.

And a note to Granny: I hope this makes your day a little better... :)


mg

It will be better when...

This has been a mantra of mine for as long as I can remember. At least since I entered my 'adult' years starting with college. And although it helps me get through life, I hate it. I feel like I'm wishing my life away.

It was almost exactly a year ago that my mind was focused on how much better I'd feel once the new baby was in my arms and not in my belly. Then it was how I'd feel better once I was getting more sleep. Which changed to thoughts of how much more I would get done once Lydia was taking solid scheduled naps. Then I focused on how much nicer it would be when the weather got warmer. Then, after the super hot summer we had, how nice it would be to spent time outside when the weather cooled off. And I looked forward to Madeline starting school with more hope and desire than I can explain in a blog post.

So what is it now? Life will settle down after Lydia's birthday. But will it?

But it never gets easier. There is always something next. Always something else that stands in the way of me feeling like I am on top of life.

So far, my family has not starved, no one has gone without clean clothes (although Madeline has come very close to going without unndderrppannttss*, which isn't a surprise to some (I'm looking at you Auntie Maine)) and my house isn't imploding from dust bunnies and dirty dishes.

ARGHALAFARGHALADARGALARARGALA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, instead of blogging about feeling behind I need to work on Tuesday's to do list.

Yep, Tuesdays.


__________
*I'm sorry I don't want pervs finding my blog by googling the correct spelling of that word so unndderrppannttss it is...

mg

This girl has got quite the style

She's my own little Rachel Zoe.


I die.

mg

Iowa 2010, fin

After a sleepless Friday night, Saturday night both of the girls went down (relatively) easy. AND they stayed asleep!

Sunday morning we were looking at a five hour road trip ahead of us so after a super yummy breakfast we packed up the car to head home.

But not before getting some group shots of the kiddos.

Do you know how hard it is to get a "good" photo of three kids three and under?

I know Q is a cutie, but look over here girls!

Madeline? Madeline? Madeline?

Well I guess that works.

It's kinda like trying to organize a bunch of squirrels.

Lydia practiced her walking.

So a HUGE thank you to Aaron and Jenny! They were the most wonderful hosts (for the second year in a row) and had a fantastic weekend! I am sorry Madeline got sick in your bathroom... although I am not sorry I cleaned it for you! You are welcome at our house at any time and we can't wait to meet your number 2!

mg

Iowa 2010, Part II

And by tomorrow I mean two days later of course.

In order to move on to Saturday of our trip I must first address Friday night. Friday night was eventful. Madeline didn't want to go to bed. She was so wound up from being in a new place, with new people, and a new bed that she wouldn't calm down. To add to the crazy Lydia was equally crazy. She didn't want to sleep in the pack n play. So after three hours of crazy Madeline finally settled down and fell asleep. Lydia was shortly there after. That was until an hour later...

Madeline slept through, but Lydia cried every time we tried to set her in bed. For the rest of the evening she slept in 45 minute shots whilst being held by Kevin or I. None of us woke up rested.

Lydia had no interest in napping in the pack n play either. She konked out in the sling instead.


So we made guacamole.


Her neck isn't nearly as strained as it looks in this photo. Promise.

Madeline and Quentin got along famously. They played together all morning and kept each other entertained for most of the football game.

Did I mention the football game? The whole reason we headed up to IA was for a barbeque with Kevin's friends from his Iowa State days. The Iowa State vs. Iowa rivalry game.


This is Lydia watching some other game.

So now for the story you've all been waiting for.

During the game the big kiddos were playing outside in the sand box. Somehow Madeline got sand in her eyes. In order to clean them out as quickly as I could I used saline solution to wash her eyes out.

I have to stop here and interject a bit of commentary. Madeline hates getting water in her eyes. Bath time leads to a huge melt down if water even comes close to her eyes. So me spraying saline into her eyes was probably her personal idea of hell.

By the time I had washed all the sand out of her eyes she was really upset. So upset in fact that we had a repeat of the infamous crying induced vomiting episode. That's right. She puked all over Aaron and Jenny's bathroom, the floor, the shower curtain, herself and me. I had to launder my clothes, Maddy's and the bath mat. I washed the shower curtain separate (because that is what the instructions told me to do) and I cleaned their bathroom.

I couldn't have felt worse. Now I know that it wasn't on purpose. I also know that they felt bad because of the sand getting into her eyes in the first place, but I don't know that I have ever done two loads of laundry and cleaned a bathroom with so much apologizing afterward!



After that was behind us, Madeline recovered quickly. There were cupcakes involved. I truly believe cupcakes cure all.


mg

Iowa 2010, Part I

Two weeks ago (because I am about that far behind on everything in my life including laundry and dishes (just kidding (sort of))) we hopped* in the car and headed north to Iowa.

It was a very eventful weekend. The weekend started with a 5 hour car ride with two small children. That is not fun. Period. I know there are a million websites that will tell you that traveling with kids is great if you have the right stuff to keep them entertained, but that is just a bunch of crap. You know what I need? A never ending supply of DVD's for my three year old and a intergalactic transporter a la 'beam me up Scotty" for my 10 month old. Just kidding of course. They don't let children that young transport alone.

So after a short nap for Lydia and about an hour of mild fussing by both the girls we stopped for lunch at a park. I was navigating and as we got off the highway the road I directed Kevin onto turned into a gravel road only 100 yards off the highway exit. He was more than skeptical.

But I didn't lead him astray and we found a park with picnic tables and a play ground for the girl to burn off some energy.


Did I mention it was freezing? It was freezing.

Eventually we got the girls to go back into the car. It was like we were torturing them or something. Hell in a Nissan. We are so flippin' mean.

Eventually we made it to Iowa to hang out with Quentin and his parents.

Madeline promptly found a even smaller spot to hang out in. See! She loved torture by Nissan.

They didn't spend all weekend in a bucket.

The train table was pretty cool too.

Tomorrow's installment: How Aaron and Jenny got me to clean their entire bathroom, do two loads of laundry AND apologize for it! Stay tuned!
__________
* and by hopped I mean we spent hours packing to leave the house for only three days and two nights.


mg

Doing my part to "green" my daughters

Do you read a million blogs like me? Do you need one more?

One of the newer blogs I read is Greening Sam and Avery. I love her blog because she focuses on simple activities and crafts to do with her children (who are about the same age as mine) that focus on getting out into nature and caring for our earth. She is a very passionate naturalist and is sharing her ideas for all of us who may not be like minded. I mean I try to live by reduce, reuse, recycle. Try.

Each month Abbie presents a challenge for her readers. In August it was camping. That wasn't going to happen. This month she as asked her readers to make something new out of something from your recycle bin. Although I have a larger project for some glass jars I rescued from the recycling bin, but who knows if I'll get to that in time to meet the deadline. So today, when an idea for a VERY simple craft and reuse hit me I thought of the Greening Challenge.


I emptied this small plastic spice jar today.

So I had Madeline clean it out and we dried it really well. See that part with the holes on the right? I threw that back in the recycle bin.

Then Madeline filled it up with dried pinto beans.

See?

We only filled it a third of the way because:



The shake is just so much more satisfying in person. Promise. Lydia loves anything that makes noise. She shook that can for ever and carried it around under my feet as I cooked dinner.

It is a tiny little project I know. It took all of 10 minutes. That is my kind of project.

So go check out Greening Sam and Avery and let's hope there is more time in my life for her wonderful activities!

mg

Too much

random Lydia photo to please the masses (or the 4 of you)

I have too much going on.

I need a second set of arms.

No, you know what I need? I wife.

Many moons ago, when I was paying my way through school and working 35+ hours a week as a nanny the mom once referred to me as "her wife." I thought that was very fitting. I cooked, I cleaned, I did all of the laundry and I cared for the children. I was, for all intents and totally gender stereotypical purposes, her wife.

There is a new TV show staring on TLC called Sister Wives. THAT IS TOTALLY NOT WHAT i AM TALKING ABOUT HERE!!!! Although I haven't seen the show, and I have no desire to really, I am talking about someone in the house to do all the stuff I am not so good at.

Case(s) in point:

1. The last load of laundry is in the drier. It has been there for over 24 hours.

2. My dishwasher is full of dishes. They are dirty. I probably won't go back downstairs to run it tonight. Which means that after breakfast tomorrow I will have a dishwasher full of dirty dishes AND a sink full of dirty dishes.

3. We went out of town last weekend and although we've been home for 4 days, I still haven't unpacked my suit case.

4. There is very little visible counter space in the upstairs bathroom. Most of the junk is mine.

5. Our floors are kinda gross. By kinda I mean really.

So who wants to come be my wife? Anybody? I'll pay you in banana bread, Madeline hugs and Lydia kisses. Anybody?

mg

My First...

Day of preschool!

Ok technically today was the second day of preschool but wouldn't know know it a bug kept her home for the "first" day. So today was HER first day.

She couldn't be more ready to go to school.

She busted out in a first day of school dance.

I gave her a perfect 10.

I always give her a perfect 10.

Her new back pack is from here. She picked it out herself. It is the junior size and it still looks like it might swallow her up whole. I guess sometimes she's still my little Loula Belle.


She'll always be my little girl.

Go get 'em bits.

mg

This photo about sums it up

The look on her face is how I feel on the inside lately.

Madeline came down with a stomach bug on Saturday night. Of course it was after she spent the entire day at my brother's house with my month old niece. After her one bought, she slept through to morning. She woke up and ate and ate and ate. Girl was hungry. She was fine and didn't have any symptoms of her previous night.

She did, however, have a cold. So did her sister. So I've been dealing with two stuffy, crabby, slimy girlies since Sunday morning. This is the head cold that just won't leave. Today both girlies have developed the most devastating cough. Each time Lydia coughs it breaks my heart a little bit.

Then to add to the crazy, Madeline woke up with about 4 dozen little welts on her legs that I thought was bug bites or a rash. Upon further inspection it was dozens of splinters. We had dinner on my parents deck last night and at one point she was sitting on the stairs. I can only assume that is where the splinters came from. I spent a hour this morning picking tiny splinters out of her legs (and one out of her hand) with tweezers, a straight pin, Follow That Bird and M&Ms. Don't worry, I sanitized them before hand. (The tweezers and pin, not the movie and candy...)

These are all things I can handle. Illness and crabbiness and splinters and stress is what mothering two small children is all about. So why do I feel like Lydia in the photo above? My weekend was NOTHING like I thought it would be. My week has not started out the way I thought it would. My life is not what I thought it should be in the last 4 days. That's hard for me. I like to know what is going to happen in my world. I like plans. I like clear expectations. This weekend did not fulfill my expectations. That kinda stinks.

Exacerbated because my brother and one month old niece have come down with something and I can only assume it is the same thing that my girl(ies) have. Although I have no control over that and I had NO idea Madeline and Lydia were ill when we saw them on Saturday (because the LAST think I would have done was expose her to an illness) I feel bad. Real bad.

AND

Because today was Madeline's first full day of preschool and I was scheduled as the parent helper and she missed it. I had to call in sick on her very first day of preschool. I know it isn't that big a deal, but it still makes me a little sad. As a child I missed my first week of kindergarten due to a major illness. Of course I didn't even remember this until my mother reminded me yesterday. Will Madeline remember her missed day? No. Did she even realize she had missed a day of school today? No. Thursday it is. (be assured there will be photos!)

I will survive. Thanks to my husband I did get a couple of errands run today. Because of those errands I was able to cross to major projects off my to do list. Then tonight the girls and I ran out to Target and scored a major deal on some sheets for a twin bed. I was thrilled! the combination of those things make a huge difference in my day. If I feel like I got something accomplished I am a much happier person. Even if my sink is still full of dirty dishes!

mg

A perfect STL day

I hate heat. I hate humidity. Honestly I do and I know that I live in the wrong part of the country, but this summer where was the right part? I digress... Because of this hatred we haven't spent too much time outside. We would spend some time at the park in the mornings, but only until I couldn't stand it any longer. And when you wake up at 8am and it is already 85 degrees day after day, you don't stand much of a chance.

A few weeks ago, after the summer heat wave (of 95 degrees or higher days) broke, we ventured out doors.

First stop, the St. Louis Zoo.

No trip is complete, for Madeline, without a ride on the conservation carousel. Most of the time Kevin is her riding companion. That day I got the pleasure AND we were the only two people on the entire ride. Although she looks like she might marf, I promise Madeline had a good time.

Lydia watched us pass with amazement and waved frantically. Totally adorable.


Too cool for zool... or something like that.


By the time we rode the train Madeline was worn out and it was past Lydia's nap time. The managed to muster up the strength for a couple of not-screaming-crying-or-whining- photographs.

Second stop, Gus' pretzels.


We told Madeline there was a surprise in the center. Her face tells it all!

mg

September 2010

When exactly did they get so big?

New month, new masthead.

mg

How do you grill with two small children under foot?

You wear one of them.

Although she wasn't terribly happy in the back pack, she enjoyed her dinner.

A lot.*

Your welcome little girl!

__________
*did you see the left side of her head? That is some serious post dinner hair. Lydia, like her sister did, tells us when she has finished eating by spreading as much food as possible into her hair.

mg

Loves

mg

What 10 months looks like

For the past two days this is what 10 months looks like:


Let me be clear. She was smiling seconds before this photo was taken. She was smiling seconds after as well.

Lydia has discovered her voice. She breaks out in shrieks whenever she needs attention.

As the second child and, more importantly, as the little sister to attention monster Madeline Opal, Lydia is always trying to get more than a scrap of attention.

I know her shrieks are shrieks of love.


I just wish she'd show her love a little quieter.

mg

August has disapeared before my eyes

Three weeks ago I started teaching again. For the first time since Lydia was born.

I love it.

• I love my students, or at least most of them.
• I get out of the house a couple of nights a week.
• I get to teach what I know and love. (Public Speaking and Interpersonal communication)
• I like money.
  

I hate it.

• I hate the extra time it takes out of my already full life.
• Although I know I said I loved getting out of the house, it is always very hard to leave the girls and Kevin.

There is only so much time in my day and the blog has been back burnered. I know there is so much that I am missing. I loved May because I made a point to blog even the little parts of our days. Now I miss that. That is what this blog is about for me. With Madeline's start of preschool just around the corner, a short trip and the fall birthday season approaching hopefully I will get on the ball. Until then, enjoy the real reason you visit...

Maddy in my bathrobe!

mg

Meet Manny

Manny came into our lives way back in 2002. Kevin has a thing for Manatees and I picked this stuffy up on a trip I took to Florida while we were still dating.

Lydia has taken a liking to Manny as we now call him.

Ok, it is more like a loving. He is her bedtime lovey and she loves him dearly. Could I have used the word love any more times? I guess I love that lovely word. (I make myself sick.)

Today I had a little photo shoot with Lydia and Manny.

I imagine this is the smile she will give me when she is 12 and no longer wants to smile for her momma. That might be wishful thinking, because this is still awful cute.

But not as cute as this:

Man is this little girl a happy thing. I love how she smiles with every inch or her face!

mg