Hey Santa!

The big guy definitely made a visit to our house this Christmas, and brought with him a big gift for three girls: a play kitchen! We were really thrilled by this, since Maddie had been asking for it for months and telling everyone she could think of that Santa would be bringing her a kitchen. So hooray Santa!

The problem? Apparently Mr. Claus didn't quite understand Miss Madelyn's request or...ummm...expectations.

In the spirit of the Christmas traditions I remember (and I've been reflecting a lot on the fact that I just automatically want to recreate some of those traditions in our home...so I'm thankful for the fact that my mom and dad really went out of their way to make holidays special for us!), we gathered up the kids and sat them on our stairs, while I went down and checked to make sure Santa had, in fact, come. In other words, I turned on all the tree lights, took photos of the calm before the wrapping paper storm, and got ready for action!

Video camera rolling, we brought two very excited little girls into the living room, where the first thing they saw was this:

(Another aquired tradition: gifts from Santa aren't wrapped in our house!) A rather subdued Madelyn - and by that I mean no high pitched exclamatory remarks or shrieking, which is generally her way of showing excitement - stated matter of factly, "He brought me a kitchen. Not a REAL kitchen, but it's ok I guess..." HUH? Mommy Santa experienced a moment of pure disappointment followed quickly by serious anxiety over the fact that this was the MAJOR gift, particularly for Madelyn. If she didn't like this, Christmas was pretty much going to be a bust!

Me: "What do you mean, a "real" kitchen, Maddie?"

M: "You know, one that works. This one isn't real, look. The sink doesn't have water and the over (turning knobs back and forth) doesn't work."

Me: "Oh well I don't think Santa could bring a real kitchen, Maddie. Kids can't have real kitchens you know, they're kind of dangerous. You know, working ovens get really hot and..."

M: "Well it's ok. It's cool anyways."

And with that, the excitement actually kicked it, she recovered, and she was off... ooohing and ahhing over the kitchen and everything else, including the not-so-fun things like her new winter coat.

PHEW. And thanks for okaying it, Princess M! After my moment of temporary panic, I actually started thinking about how funny it all was and how happy I was to have caught it on video. She didn't come off as ungrateful or anything (and I'll admit I was a little horrified at first, thinking she might be about to act truly spoiled), just genuinely perplexed by the fact that she had wanted a real kitchen and this one wasn't going to actually cook stuff. I guess Santa can come around again next year after all...

Nothing like a little train ride...

to spread the Christmas joy to our children!

[Side note: It's been a while since I've updated (what else is new...I need to get better about this, and I swear it's on my list of New Year's resolutions!) so I'm going to back post a number of Christmas season updates and photos. Might take me a bit, but I'll get there.]

We decided to go to Edaville Railroad on December 23rd, which is the best place I know of to get in the holiday spirit. I remember going there as a kid, and to be honest -- not much has changed. And I love it that way! Edaville's claim to fame is a lovely old fashioned heated train ride (about 25 minutes) through the woods and around the local cranberry bogs, right through their Festival of Lights. The light displays contain over 7 MILLION lights and some really fun scenes, including Noah's ark and all the animals, a Christmas Village, dinosaurs (one of Maddie's favorites!), a castle, etc. Since it was a really mild day -- but still a bit of snow on the ground -- we decided it would be a good day for a trip. We called my mom and asked her to come too, so the 6 of us headed in at about 5:30.

My mom said that my dad didn't really want to go, since it wasn't his thing...and I joked that she should remind him that it would be fun seeing Christmas joy through the eyes of a child (or three, as the case may be). But seriously, even I probably couldn't have imagined the thrill and excitement that this trip would stir up for our girls.

It took us probably 45 minutes just to get down the entrance walkway, where there were little wooden houses lining the walk, each containing a moving animated Christmas scene. Madelyn loved the one of Santa's living room with Mrs. Claus in a moving rocking chair, as well as the one with the elves making Christmas toys in their workshop. They also had a man carving reindeer, beavers, etc. out of big logs, which Sienna was amazed by. Even Lyla was thoroughly entertained by the whole night and didn't really fuss once. She is definitely at her happiest when "out and about" shopping, sightseeing, etc.!

The train ride was obviously the prime event of the night, and we all really loved it. We were near the front of the line and managed to get seats in the first car, which had comfy booth-like leather seats and nice HEAT to warm us up! Once we got off the train, the kids went on a few rides and climbed up in some of the real antique train cars. The merry go round seemed to frighten both of them, for some reason...but everything else was a huge hit.

Not to go unmentioned was the fact that it was just as fun to see how excited my mom was to watch the kids' excitement as it was to see them! It was also nice to have another set of hands, so Brad and I could enjoy a couple of rides with the older two while my mom stayed with Lyla and the stroller. Thanks, Mom!

Finally -- three cheers for Starbucks, who had set up a fabulous tent right at the entrance way and was handing out beautiful little cups of steaming peppermint hot chocolate, complete with whipped cream and sprinkles. They were giving samples both on the way in AND the way out, along with coupons to everyone for a free beverage of your choice at Starbucks when you buy one at full price. I have to say, this little touch was just the icing on the cake for a really nice holiday night. The yummy cocoa was just the right size for little kids and just the right amount to warm you up. And from a marketer's standpoint, I gotta say that it was just the right amount to make sure that I will return to Starbucks and give them some business. They're sure to get some really decent conversion out of this particular sampling tactic!

Snow Babies

Winter officially arrived here this weekend. Wow, what a crazy burst of blustery weather! It seems like it has snowed for much of the past four days or so, and we finally got some decent accumulation. Yes, that's right -- I DO like snow and winter weather! And I was just thrilled that the kids were finally going to be able to get out in the snow and make a snowman. Last year was so disappointing! The weekend storm finished up with nasty snow/sleet/rain and dense fog this afternoon and evening, which made for a real mess and kept us inside the entire day. But you know, that was ok too. It gave me a good excuse to get my holiday baking done, and the girls and I worked in the kitchen most of the day, making caramel & chocolate dipped pretzel rods, peppermint biscotti, pumpkin bread, and even fun "reindeer food" for our neighbors to sprinkle on their lawns Christmas Eve.




There's just something incredibly cute about kids bundled up like State Puff marshmallow people, playing in the snow. Of course, getting Sienna to STAY bundled is a whole separate issue. Though she kept complaining that her hands were cold, she insisted on taking her mittens off so she could feel the snow. Maddie is a bit better about it, but I remember going through the same thing with her at this age.

She's FOUR!

Happy 4th Birthday Madelyn!!

It's birthday time in our house, and today was #2...I can't believe it has been four years since I gave birth to Madelyn, and since we first became parents. It's so weird to have this actual child in our house now...it seems like we just yesterday decided to have children, and now we're already out of the baby and toddler phase with our oldest, and she's 4 going on about 14!

Four years ago today, we were in a hospital in Chicago gazing with absolute wonder at our new addition, wondering what this little person would be like, and how on earth we would ever learn the ropes of parenting. It's funny, but most days I think we still look at her in absolute wonder...and I think we still wonder how we're ever going to REALLY get the hang of this parenting thing! LOL!

Seriously though, here is a picture of Maddie today on her fourth birthday. We're having a combined party for the girls next week, but we wanted to make each of their actual birthday days special. So today, we began the day with presents and special birthday pancakes shaped like hearts and flowers. Maddie got her turn as "princess for the day" and had fun wearing the tiara I bought for the event. I think it was hard for her to watch Sienna wearing it the other day - she kept saying she wanted her birthday to be first! It was no consolation to her that hers was technically "first" given that she was born two years prior to Sienna. I was really happy that her big gift - a Fisher Price Kid Tough digital camera - was a huge hit, and she was so incredibly excited to be taking her own pics with a "REAL" camera (which she kept repeating as if she couldn't believe it!).

After helping me put up Christmas decorations (one of Maddie's favorite activities!), we took the kids outside briefly...it was only 22 degrees, BRR!!! and then headed out to do some errands. While bending over and rummaging oh so gracefully through the kids' coat closet to get Lyla's hat and mittens, I hear a loud "CLICK" and knew instantly that my butt had been permanently memorialized on Maddie's new camera. She thought it was hysterical and went around hooting with laughter and showing it off proudly to Daddy. Nice one, Mads!

We ended up stopping by my parents' house for a nice visit, and my mom had set up a cute little celebration for both Maddie and Sienna with birthday gifts and a little cake candle. So cute! The kids were thrilled and it was a nice end to the weekend. (Thanks Mom & Dad!)

Birthday Girl

Happy 2nd Birthday Sienna!!

It's so amazingly hard to believe that two years ago today, we were welcoming little Sienna into the world! Time has gone by so fast, but at the same time it's fun to think back on the millions of laughs and smiles we've had since her arrival. Taking a trip down memory lane, here is a pic of Sienna on her birth day... and today, two years later! She's such a funny, loveable kid -- I feel so lucky to have her!

Turkey Day already?

How did it get to be Thanksgiving week?? This whole fall season has just flown by, and I can't believe that 1) we are going to be having Turkey in three days and 2) my girls are going to be turning 2 and 4 in less than two weeks! I'm busy trying to finalize details of their party amidst crazy holiday schedules for everyone. I'm not sure I'm really ready for the work involved in planning birthday parties for three kids, but I guess that's what I signed up for, LOL.

In addition to Thanksgiving, we have an appointment for the kids to have pictures taken on Wednesday afternoon. I hope it all goes well...this is the first time we will be trying to get all three of them in one professional picture, and that just seems like an amazing task to me!

Even though the holiday has just totally appeared out of nowhere this year, it seems, I'm still really looking forward to turkey day and, in particular, my mom's delicious Thanksgiving spread.

sweet baby talk

Little Lyla has gotten quite vocal in the past week or so. She has developed this really LOUD cry/yell/laugh combo which is really kind of funny. You never know whether she's really happy, really ticked off, or just sad and wanting some attention. But you definitely know she's got something to say.

Yesterday, she began using her voice in another way - and started babbling! I just love baby voices, so I'm so thrilled to hear hers so regularly now. It's like something clicked, and she went from just making baby noises to "ba-ba-ba-baa"ing and "ma-ma-ma-MAAAA"ing all over the place! Of course, in our house (as in most, I think) Brad and I have a bit of a "friendly" competition going over whether the babies say Mama or Dada first, and he's conveniently reminding me that she doesnt' really mean anything by "Mama" yet. Thanks, I know that...but score one for Mommy!

Here's a video of chatty little Miss L. It's such a fun phase, I just couldn't resist putting a video up.

Out of the mouths of babes...

So I have to 'fess up... we left the below mentioned toy store with toys for all three girls. How the heck do you go to a toy store and not buy them all something??? Maddie had asked if she could get a toy, and I told her that when she was Sienna's age, we did the same thing with her - and she traded her paci's in for her baby doll. Now it was Sienna's turn, because she was giving up her paci's, etc. etc. Well, Maddie quickly figured that she could get a toy too -- she just needed to give something up! So she runs upstairs and comes back a few minutes with a baggie of her own, stuffed with her two yellow silk "lovies," which are little 1 foot square security blankets. She's had these since she was about 1, and I honestly wasn't even ready to have her give them up. I wouldn't even care about paci's if they didn't interfere with speech and teeth. So I said, "Are you sure you want to give those up? I'm not sure you're ready..." And she said, "Why, are you worried I won't have anything to love on, Mommy?" In any event, we brought them to the store, and she fell in love with a Disney Princess cash register. She was so cute, and so willing to give up her lovies to get it. But in the end, she said "Mom, I'm just not sure I'm ready to give up my lovies. Maybe in a few more weeks..." My heart just melted, she was so cute. There was no way on earth we were walking out of that store without the cash register. She was so well behaved, and didn't ask for anything while we were there because she knew that she needed to give up her lovies to get a toy. I was really, really proud of her - and I didn't want her to give up her lovies. You're only a kid once.

When we got home, we let all three kids play with their new toys (because of course Lyla had to get one too!) and it was the first time that I've really seen them ALL fight over toys. They played well together for the moest part and were so excited to have new toys. In our house, it gets a bit desperate by fall because both Maddie and Sienna get all their gifts during the same time of year, wheras most kids have birthdays that are somewhat separated from Christmas time. So our toys are really "stale" by this point in the year, LOL! But man, Lyla is becoming quite the scrappy little thing, especially now that she's mobile and can pretty much army crawl her way anywhere. She was all over that Disney Princess cash register! At one point, I saw Sienna push her little arm right out of the way and say "No Lyla, that's not yours!" Guess the third one has to fight for everything, huh?

Maddie eventually wanted to play with the Dora castle, but Sienna was still very much engrossed in it and was having a hard time sharing. So Maddie says, "Hey Si Si, why don't you go play with my castrator??" OMG, I almost died laughing. I asked her to repeat herself, and she said "I want Sienna to go play with my castrator!" Guess cash register isn't quite an everyday part of her vocab yet!

Paci Free!!!

I was inspired by my friend Andrea, whose daughter is the same age as Sienna and did a great job a couple of weeks ago giving up her pacifier when it was lost. We have been struggling SO much with Sienna and the paci lately, because it's become such an addiction for her that it was interfering in day to day life, it seemed. We only let her have it when she's going for a nap or to bed, so she has been asking to go for a nap constantly throughout the day, just to get the paci. I'd taken to hiding them beneath her pillow in the crib, but then she figured out how to use a toy fishing rod to get under the pillow and "fish" them out. And then she had developed this strange ritual before bed of always wanting me to wash them both (she has a pink one and a purple one) before she'd go to sleep. Anyhow...

We decided enough was enough. She is a very big talker, and it had gotten to the point where she would be talking around her paci and it just seemed like it couldn't be good for speech development. Plus, I have this theory that her behavior has been worse as of late because she's constantly obsessing over the paci and having tantrums (and you all know that her tantrums are legendary, sometimes make-myself-faint kind of events!) when she doesn't get them.

Monday night, we packed up all three kids and had Sienna put her paci's in a Ziploc baggie, then headed to the toy store so she could pick something out and "pay" for it with her paci's. She immediately fell in love with Dora's magical castle, and it happened to be on super sale. So after casing the whole store (Have to admit I was trying to get her to buy a baby doll or a stuffed animal - like we did with Maddie - so she would have something for comfort at night in place of the paci. No dice!) we left with the castle and she was in heaven. She was SO incredibly good in the store, it was just the best trip to a toy store that we've ever had. Even with all three kids, and two of them walking instead of being in a stroller!

At bedtime, Sienna remembered that she had given the pacis to the cashier (who looked at me like I had three heads when I asked him to just take her pacis in payment and then give them back to me when she wasn't looking), but she wasn't happy about the fact that he had them. She also remembered that we had one left that we couldn't find before leaving for the toy store, so she was pretty adamant that we should look for it. It took a little convincing, but after only about 10 minutes, she went to bed without much fuss. Naptime the next day was a bit harder, but after 3 nights we are now completely paci free...and she's not even asking for it anymore! HOORAY!!

Thanks for the inspiration, Andrea!!!

First School Pictures

Oh my gosh...I picked up Maddie's first EVER school pictures today and it seriously felt like she had grown up five years right before my eyes. I can't believe she's old enough to have school pictures taken - even if they are only preschool pictures! I don't quite have my scanner working right now, but a picture of the picture will suffice for now...

Here's Madelyn, 3 years 10 months old:

And here is her preschool class... all 9 of them!

We made it through Halloween!

I was very nervous about Halloween...this was our first year having to think about Sienna's allergies, and I honestly could have just skipped the holiday altogether (and that's without even taking into account the fact that I really don't even like Halloween!). But what's fun for the kids is usually fun for me too, and Halloween was no exception.



Madelyn dressed as - what else! - an adorable princess. Sienna fit so well into Maddie's turtle costume from last year, and loved it so much, that we decided to use it again. And Lyla was a cute little tiger (also worn by Sienna last year, but who's keeping track? LOL).



We began the festivities the day before Halloween with a preschool party for Maddie. She and I had a lot of fun baking Halloween cupcakes; cooking really seems to be our "thing" to do together and I think we both really enjoy it. She's such a good little helper in the kitchen. We dropped her off in her costume, then all the parents came back at 10:15 for a costume parade around the cul-de-sac where her preschool is located. Parents and kids had yummy treats, then did some Halloween crafts together. All in all, a very fun time. Maddie marched hand in hand with her friends Olivia and Katrina, and they were all just adorable!

Halloween night, the kids all got dressed up in their costumes, and Maddie and Sienna headed out with Brad while I manned (sp?) the door with Lyla the tiger. I think I literally saw about 1,000 Disney princesses. Guess that's what happens when you live in a neighborhood where there are kids under 5 in almost every house! My parents came over to see the kids in their costumes, so all three girls had a lot of fun with Grammy and Grampy when they came back from trick or treating. Sienna was really good, and the allergy issue was manageable, thank goodness. I packed a bag of safe treats for her, and she actually didn't even take any treats from houses (for fear of cross-contamination from candy with peanuts). As it turns out, Maddie was so quick running up to doors with her friends Jonathan and Theresa, that by the time Brad and Sienna got anywhere near the door Maddie and cronies were already done! Sienna just had a ball dressed in her costume and being out and about in the neighborhood with all the big kids.


Madelyn's primary question before going trick or treating was, "Mom, where's your costume? What are you going to be?" And, true enough, I hadn't even thought about a costume. So next year, I guess I'll be thinking a little further ahead. I'm sure it will make Halloween even more fun for them.

I'm back!

Yes, I am still here. Yes, we still have children. And yes - I have completely neglected my blog! Amazingly, Maddie, Sienna and Lyla seem to have found a way to remind me to update (umm...thanks, Mom!). Things have been busy this fall, and somehow posting has fallen by the wayside. But stay tuned for Halloween pics, as well as the latest update...

Cereal...yum!

Not quite the first time Lyla had cereal -- but the first time she really got any in!

Handy Mandys

In our house, the kids pretty much only watch programs that we record for them on TIVO. They usually watch the same two or three shows in rotation until we get tired of it (mainly, when Brad and I find ourselves humming the catchy little theme song in public places and wondering how on earth it came to be that Noggin preschool tunes are topping the list of our most listened to music). So even though it’s not a new show, my kids have just discovered the fascination of “Handy Manny” … or, as Madelyn calls it, “Handy Mandy.” For some reason, she can’t seem to drop the “D” out of poor Manny’s name – though interestingly enough, Sienna has no problem pronouncing it correctly. But since we have all girls in our house, Handy Mandy seems to suit us just fine.

If you haven’t seen the show, it features a cute little Spanish-speaking handyman with 8 talking tools that accompany him everywhere, fixing whatever problem one of the townspeople call him to assist with him that day. He answers each phone call with a peppy, “Handy Manny’s Repair Shop! You break it, we fix it. This is Manny!” And the tools are all appropriately named… the hammer’s name is Pat, the tape measure is Stretch, the pair of pliers is named Squeeze, etc.

Since becoming huge fans of the show, the girls have taken to becoming their own little versions of Handy Manny. Madelyn has always had a fascination with Brad’s tools (think back to her helping us with the kitchen renovation project in Chicago…) so we had given her a set of plastic tools the Christmas she turned two, so she could help with projects. Well, the tools have now made a huge comeback in our house, and we’re constantly finding Maddie and Sienna (or Handy Mandy and Handy Mandietta, as I’ve now nicknamed the dynamic duo) working together to fix something in “need” of repair. Yesterday, the two of them dismantled the paint tray from the front of their easel. Madelyn is regularly measuring Lyla with Stretch…whether Lyla is interested in the idea or not. And we suddenly discovered that the wheel is missing off the bottom rack of the dishwasher… we’ve got a hunch the Handy Mandys might be behind that effort, too. Even if they’re not quite learning the ins and outs of actual repairs, at least they’re learning some useful Spanish. Sienna can count to 10 in Spanish now just about as well as she counts in English, so that’s something. And watching them with those tools is pretty entertaining!

Back to School

It's been such a busy week with all of the fall/back to school activities! Madelyn had her first week of preschool at her new school, and even though she's been before I still had a hard time thinking about my little baby going off to do her own thing. It's still such a strange thing to get used to - even if only for 3 hours.

She did great on the first day, though she was a bit shy. By the end of the second day, her teacher told me she was "emerging as the group leader" and very chatty with all the other kids, often saying "Let's do this, guys!" or "Come on over here and play, guys!" (At our house, we often remind Maddie not to be a "bossy Gillis," which is a term her Grampy uses a lot. She's got no shortage of self confidence and has no problem herding other kids to go along with her idea of fun. The challenge for us will probably be to make sure that her "leadership" is constructive at preschool, and doesn't turn into something else...)

In other Maddie news this week...she started dance lessons! Very exciting for her, as she absolutely loves to dance and just perform in general. She's doing a one hour combo class of ballet, tap and tumble. I quickly realized though that I may be one of the only moms there that isn't really "into" it as a serious effort, if you know what I mean. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally fine with her doing dance if that's what she's into. But at age 3.5, we're pretty much just letting her try different things and see what she likes. Last year it was gymnastics, this year it's dance, and I think next year will be soccer once she's finally old enough to take soccer lessons like Dora! But all of the other parents there had clearly been coming for a while, and had multiple kids in dance.


And speaking of doing things on her own...the dance instructors won't let parents anywhere near the dance studio, because parents are distracting. I asked (sort of jokingly...maybe with a hint of sarcasm??) if I would ever get a chance to see her and what she was learning, and the instructor told me yes... at the recital in June. I know Maddie is pretty self sufficient and doesn't "need" me for things like this right now, but it just put me so on edge to have her down on another floor, with a teacher she'd never met before, doing something she'd never done formally before...with no parent there by her side, even for the first class. She was a trooper and didn't mind a bit -- it was me who was kind of a mess. I guess we'll just keep trying it as long as Maddie is happy doing it, though. I'm sure I'll get used to it too!

I'm getting sleepy...

There's something so cute and sweet about seeing your kids imitate your behavior towards them (well ok, most of the time...you just have to remember they imitate your not-so-finest moments, too!). Sienna just put me to bed, and it went something like this:

Sienna: "Lay down, lay down, lay down Mommy..." (in her sweet sing-songy voice)

Me: "Ok, I'll lay down."

Sienna: "Want blanket, Mama?"

Me: "Ok, I'd love a blanket. Can you put the blankie over me?"

Sienna: "Ok, here's blanket (throws it over me). Kiss. (Leans over and smacks her lips, giving me a big one.)"

Me: "Want to sing me a song?"

Sienna: "I wuv you, you wuv me...na na na na na na na."

Off she goes, heading to the door. "Bye bye!" and closes her bedroom door, leaving me laying down, covered up, on her bedroom floor.

So, so sweet. What a nice way to end the day. I hope that's the way they feel each night, too.

YAY for videos!

I finally figured out how to make the videos on my camera small enough to put on my blog... hooray! So here's my test video. A little bit of singing, a bit of fighting, a bit of painting...it's all in there, LOL!



(ETA: I've resolved the technical difficulties...I think. For those wondering about Sienna's crazy hair, I'm in the process of growing her bangs out - but it's driving us all crazy so I think we're going to have to cut it!)

Long time, no post...

It's been a while since I've updated. What with the holiday, getting ready for fall activities like preschool, etc., and trying to be better about working out on a regular basis, I feel like I haven't had much time for things like blogging (or scrapbooking for that matter -- man am I behind!). So a quick recap of what's new here...

- Labor Day weekend was fun, but far too short. We went to my parents' for a cookout and got to see family and friends that we don't see all that often, which was really nice. The weather was gorgeous, so we spent lots of time outside. We took the kids to the playground and for a nice bike ride along the canal with the new bike trailer. Maddie loves it, but Sienna is still in that "I won't be confined!" phase where she wants to walk everywhere, never ride.

- We've been transitioning Sienna from two naps to one and it has been PAINFUL. She is a kid who really needs a decent amount of sleep, and it's a little rough getting to one nap. Some days she can do it, and others she's begging for a nap by 9:30 a.m. I'm so ready to just get through this though, so she and Maddie can nap on the same schedule and we can have a little bit more flexibility to do fun stuff during the day (rather than having someone always asleep!).

- Maddie started her second year of preschool, in a new school this year. She only had a short one hour day with parents, but seemed to enjoy it. She's really looking forward to meeting new friends. I hope this school is a good fit for her.

- Lyla is getting super mobile, and it even up on all fours rocking on occasion. She does a bit of army crawling and can get anywhere she wants to go by rolling. Where has my little newborn gone to??

- See post below about sisters. I mean to post this update first, then the pics of the three girls. Can't figure out how to change the order of my posts, so I guess I'm stuck with it!

Sisters

It's pretty obvious that my kids each know they have sisters, but I've noticed that they are really starting to act like three sisters these days, too. Maddie and Sienna love to take turns holding Lyla, and like to put on "concerts" for her in her room before they all go to bed, singing and dancing up a storm. For her part, Lyla rewards each of them with huge smiles and shrieks every time they come anywhere near her, like being next to them is just the highlight of her day. Yes, there are arguments...but so far, they are far outnumbered by the happy times they seem to have just being together. I just love watching them have fun together and love eachother -- I think they're so lucky to have eachother! Some recent pics of bedtime:

8 Years Ago (yesterday)...

This is what Brad and I were doing:



OMG, can you believe how young we look?? Thanks to my Aunt Joyce (who I know reads from time to time), we have a fantastic wedding video to remember the day by...and this is the last couple of minutes of the video, that the videographer set to music and turned black & white. So much has changed in 8 years - the most obvious of which is the three amazing little girls we've added to our family. But one thing that hasn't changed is that I still think Brad's the greatest guy around, and I love him to pieces. I'm looking forward to many more years together.

Time Flies

Can it really be Sunday afternoon already? Where did my weekend go?!?

It's been hot and muggy this weekend, which has really been a welcome change from the odd cool weather we have been having. The kids got some fun time in their little pool and spent a lot of time playing outside with the neighbors. Today I took Maddie to College Pond for a swim while Sienna and Lyla were napping. (Slight vent here: this is seriously the only way I get out of the house these days, is by taking one or two of the kids and leaving Brad behind with whoever is sleeping. Otherwise, someone is ALWAYS napping in our house!) She had so much fun is definitely getting braver about going underwater and getting a little deeper. Swimming lessons start in a couple of weeks, and I think she'll probably make good progress this time around. She seems really open to the idea of learning how to swim right now.

Brad and I went out for dinner last night for our anniversary, which is coming up on the 29th. My mom offered to stay with the kids so we could go out (thanks, Mom!), and we ended up deciding to go with my brother and SIL. We don't see them all that often, but we have such a good time when we go out. We all agreed that we should try to make it a regular occurence. We had yummy Italian food at a place called Rustic Kitchen...mmmm.

I. Am. Tired.

Have I mentioned lately how tired parenting makes me? We just got home from taking the kids to the library, and stopping at McD's on the way home since it was getting late. I had somewhat of an ulterior motive though... I wanted to take out some parenting books to help give some guidance with Sienna. Man, does she wear us out.

Sienna is such a challenge -- she's so adorable and cuddly/lovable, but she's also such a handful and already a discipline challenge. She's very verbal and has been having tantrums since she was about 13 months old, but now she's becoming a force to be reckoned with. I always thought tantrums had to do with frustration over NOT being able to speak, but it seems like the more verbal Sienna becomes the more difficult her behavior is. Even the phrases she chooses to use can be fairly fresh...if that's possible at 20 months old?

Tonight, we were coming home from the library and I had to reach back to give Lyla her paci. I undid my seat belt and reached back, and Sienna looked at me and yelled "SIT DOWN! Sit down, Mommy!" I asked her the other day if she could help pick up toys, and she said, "Maybeeee...." as if to say, "maybe, maybe NOT!" Then, I had her sitting at the counter to eat lunch and she yelled "RIGHT NOW!" out of the blue. I asked her what she wanted right now, and she said "I want more grapes. RIGHT NOW!" I swear, I do not think she is getting this from us -- but it gives me such a guilt complex thinking that we're teaching her bad stuff already!

She's also very independent. You can hardly do anything for her; she'll say "I do it. Do it MYSELF." about pretty much everything, from feeding to reading a book. She's the one who will take off her own diaper and get into the poop if you don't get her a new diaper quick enough (eww, just had another smearing incident yesterday); she's the one who will look at you and giggle menacingly when you tell her to do something, then do exactly the opposite; but yet she is the one who will be the first to yell "TIME OUT!" when Madelyn does something wrong -- so she clearly gets the idea of discipline.

At the same time, she is so sweet. She always, always says "please" and "thank you" for everything, and she says "excuse me" and "bless you" after sneezes. She never goes to bed without asking for one more hug. She never lets anyone leave the house without asking them for a hug, either. She says "I wuv you" regularly and just makes your heart melt.

So I'm hoping these toddler discipline books will help shed some light. Maybe we're just approaching it all wrong. I know it's easy to have selective memory, but I can say with absolute certainty that by this age, Maddie was listening and following directions a lot more than Sienna is. I know Sienna gets it -- because she acknowledges you and does just the opposite -- but she just isn't interested in following directions when it's not something she wants to do. And I'm not even getting into the tantrums, which are just world class.

I better get reading so we can save a little bit of sanity for when Lyla hits the toddler years...

My Story (A Survey)

Hi, my name is: Dawn

But you can call me: um...just Dawn, no need to add to it!

Never in my life have I: Seen the Star Wars movies - any of them - in full!

The one person in my life who can drive me nuts is: Madelyn...because she's just so much like me it's scary!

When I'm nervous: I talk. A LOT. Try to fill every empty space in the conversation.

The last song I listened to: "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie

If I were to get married right now, it would be to: Brad, all over again -- but in a different dress!

My hair is: Desperately in need of a cut and color, which I'm getting on Friday -- hooray!

When I was 4: I closed my brother's pinky finger in a heavy wood door at my baby sitter's house. He ended up having a big cast on his little finger and I remember climbing in to his crib each morning to give it a kiss! (I've just told this story to Maddie because she closed Sienna's finger in a door, gently, the other day and I've been trying to teach her to be careful of little fingers.)

Last Christmas: was the first time I realized exactly how much Sienna already knew at 1 year from having a big sister around, when she took one look at Maddie's new Dora doll and squealed, with perfect clarity, "DORA!" It was so much fun.

I should be: finishing off some emails and getting dinner ready.

When I look down I see: some leftover baby belly that I'm hopefully going to get rid of in the next 6 weeks of the Biggest Loser challenge.

The happiest recent event was: Lyla's natural birth -- what a wonderful, fantastic experience and an amazing baby girl.

If I were a character on 'Friends': I'd have to say Monica I guess...but I'm not sure I'm really any of them. I'm definitely not as anal or as organized as she is!

I know these girls: Who totally keep me going each day and aren't even living nearby! (Man do I wish they were closer!)

By this time next year: I hope we will have been back to Aruba, this time with two more girls!

My current gripe is: that all of the toddler/preschool activities around are scheduled during the week days, when I have to be working. And that working and breastfeeding are just so much work.

I have a hard time understanding: why I get sucked in to Noggin whenever it's on in our house... Handy Manny is for preschools and not moms, right?? What's the draw? LOL.

If I won an award, the first person I would tell would be: Brad, followed closely by my Mom (because she's probably my biggest fan!)

I want to buy: a swingset for the kids

Where do you plan to visit: My inlaws in Virginia (hopefully soon), Aruba in March, Kristen in New Hampshire, my brother and sister in law in Boston every now and then!

If you spent the night at my house: you would be absolutely amazed at the chaos and noise that three little girls can create between the hours of 5 and 8.

The world could do without: mosquitos! SO annoying!

Most recent thing I've bought myself: A new lipliner. It's pretty much the only makeup I wear.

Most recent thing someone else bought me: a cute giraffe print signed by the artist to hang in the girls' jungle-themed bathroom. Thanks mom!

My middle name is: Well, I have two. Ellen is the middle name I was born with; Conner is my maiden name, which I retained as a middle name when I got married.

In the morning I: wake very easily and am anxious to get my day started.

Last night I was: cooking dinner for my parents...yummy ratatouille!

There's this guy I know who: is the best father a family could ask for -- I don't know how I'd do it without him.

If I was an animal I'd be an: absolute wreck -- I do not like animals!

A better name for me would be: Mommy

Tomorrow I am: working...what else is new?

Tonight I am: hoping to rally to do some scrapbooking. I'm getting behind!

My birthday is: December 17th

A little about me

Since Erika tagged me, I guess it's my turn to put up a little info. on myself! (Soon to be followed by the story/survey about me when I get a minute...)

Jobs I've had:
- babysitter
- camp counselor
- t-shirt imprinter (you know all those wacky decals and letters you could have put on a shirt?)
- salesperson at The Limited
- editor of technical manuals
- shipping room manager
- reporter/editor
- au pair
- class notes transcriber for deaf students
- financial services marketing intern
- web administrator
- legal assistant (criminal defense - now THAT was an interesting one!)
- senior brand manager (now we're getting to my career here, LOL)

Movies I never get sick of:
- Sense & Sensibility
- Armageddon
- Notting Hill
- Father of the Bride (1991)
- Legally Blonde

Places I've called home:
- Merrimac, MA
- Plymouth, MA
- Hanover, NH
- Chicago, IL
- Brookline/Boston, MA
- And for a short time... Baltimore, MD; Siena, Italy; Malpensa, Italy; and Buenos Aires, Argentina

TV shows:
- Grey's Anatomy
- Prison Break
- Lost
- Amazing Race
- Damages (new this summer with Glenn Cose -- SO GOOD!)
- Project Runway (it should be time for a new one soon!)
- Property Ladder

Favorite Vacation Spots:
- Aruba (Erika said it best: "oh.my.gawd - heaven"
- Anywhere on the coast of Mexico
- Lake Ossipee, NH

Websites:
http://www.connectedmoms.com/
http://www.people.com/
http://www.askdrsears.com/ (a lifesaver when you have a sick kid!)
http://www.kellymom.com/ (a lifesaver when you're nursing!)
http://www.celebritybabyblog.com/ (cheesy, I know, but I love all the gossip)
http://www.realtor.com/ (I'm a real estate junky and always a little antsy!)

Places I'd rather be:
- playing with my kids
- anyplace in the caribbean, sipping a nice frozen margarita or pina colada
- at a crop getting some scrapbooking done
- Chicago lakefront in the summertime
- riding a giant rollercoast...cuz you gotta love the thrill!

Baby no more...

Sienna is officially turning into a little girl. She's losing some of her "baby" look, among other things. Just thought I'd post the latest pics of her, though I don't have much to say about them other than what I just posted below...man, do they grow up fast.

Houston, we have a problem!

My 3.5 year old is getting married. Yes, that's right. Married. At least that's what she has been insiting on lately. She and Jonathan, our neighbor, are getting married -- his idea. His aunt is going to make her a chocolate chip wedding cake, he says. He has told her this numerous times lately, and she has seemed pretty excited by the idea of scoring her own wedding cake. But then one night last week she told me, "Umm...I don't really like chocolate chip wedding cake, Mom." Hmmm...

This is the picture that is hanging in our kitchen right now:


It's a picture that Maddie drew of her and Jonathan. (She's the one with hair on the right, in case you couldn't tell.) I love how each of them have a million fingers. It's just too cute.

But after she hung that up on our sliding door, she told me that Jonathan says he'll come over for a sleepover one day. And I watched him plant a big kiss on her cheek a couple of times this week. (I'm starting to get nervous -- how are we gonna make it through the teenage years if we're starting at age 3, LOL??) Jonathan leaves her notes in our mailbox regularly, cute little drawings he has done with "messages" for her. She's also left a couple for him...who cares about violating postal laws when you've got a preschool romance to maintain? Guess I'll be looking for that wedding invitation to appear in the mailbox soon. Man do they grow up fast.

Butterflies!

For the past couple of years, my mom has raised monarch butterflies to release into her garden. She's made this a really fun project to share with Madelyn, and Maddie has become quite the little expert on everything from caterpillars to metamorphasis to crysallis...and finally, to butterflies. It's really cute to see her using my mom's magnifying glass to watch the caterpillars eating through milkweed leaves, or to see her concerned about cleaning out their home and getting new leaves for them to chomp on.

My mom bought a little mesh laundry hamper than she's using to keep them contained in the house once they emerge from their chrysalis, until Maddie gets a chance to come over and set them free in the yard.

Last weekend (gosh, it's been a while since I blogged!) we went to my parents' house and a few more butterflies had emerged. Maddie and my nephew, Hunter, had fun letting them go in the yard. Hunter was a little scared of them, but Maddie (being the pro caretaker at this point, LOL) put her finger right out for the butterfly to climb on. Sienna was a little more perplexed by the whole event, and seemed alarmed that we were letting them go.

It's Friday!

While I'm thrilled that today is Friday, I have to say that this week has gone by REALLY fast -- despite the fact that Brad was out of town for a couple of days, which always seems to make things go by much slower. I'm embarassed to say I had a little "incident" while he was gone that made me feel like I'm sort of helpless without him around... I was taking a break on Wednesday, making myself lunch while the kids were eating, and all of the sudden all of the fire alarms in the house started going off simultaneously. Seeing as we have a new construction house that's right up to code, we have about a million of them -- one in the basement, one in the attic, one in every single bedroom, three in the downstairs hallways. Truly ear shattering levels of high pitched noise. Needless to say, the baby (who was trying to go to sleep) started screaming, Maddie and Sienna were understandably alarmed and pretty agitated, and Rachael developed a headache about 5 minutes in. I sent them all outside while I tried to figure out how to turn the darnn things off, to no avail. I had already checked all throughout the house, and knew there was no smoke or fire anywhere. I couldn't reach Brad, who is often inside the equivalent of a fortress while on his business trips (meaning no cell coverage!) and while my dad tried to help over the phone, nothing would work. I tried disconnecting individual ones, pushing the test buttons, flipping each circuit breaker and then even the main breaker for the whole house, thinking it might turn them off. Nothing worked. I ended up having to call the fire department, who brought a truck and all the gear and figured it out in about two minutes flat. We were all so relieved to have some silence after at least an hour of blaring fire alarms. And I was so relieved that the fire department at least left the sirens off...maybe just a little less embarassing!

On a different topic altogether, the kids are starting today VERY happy little campers. I finally found an eggless pancake recipe, so I made some pancakes from scratch this morning. We've been on a pancake strike ever since Sienna's appointment with the allergist, where he confirmed her serious egg allergies. Never underestimate how happy a yummy pancake will made a toddler or a preschooler, though! :-)

I'm getting a vision...

Of my daughter in her teenage years. Scary, my friends, scary! Just kidding, of course. But take a look at how I found Madelyn this afternoon:



What a character. She's such a fan of the camera these days, and after posing from some pics, proceeded to ask me to videotape her singing a song, etc. She put on her best "fancy" poses (a la "Fancy Nancy") and had quite a bit to say. I'm going to have to try to get that one up on this site, but I'm not quite that good at blogging yet, LOL.

While Sienna wasn't dressed for the occasion (and it would have been hard to top Madelyn, though she would have tried!), she decided to join her sister for a pose or two. I just love how the two of them play together now, and love to be together. They do their share of fighting, but seeing them together always reminds me why I wanted a sister.

The latest...

Pics of Lyla, at Christine's request! You're right Christine, I haven't posted any new pics of Little Miss L lately, so here she is! Looking pensive:

Rolling happily on her playmat: (Do these shots all look familiar? We're on child #3 with these toys and this one in particular seems to have made it into SO many photos, LOL!)

The Stats

Well, we're back from Lyla's 4 month appointment and both kids survived their shots. In fact, they did really well! Lyla fell asleep in my arms while we were waiting for the nurse to come back and do her 3 shots, and while she did cry when they gave her the shots, it was almost like she was crying in her sleep...as soon as the bandaids were on, she was right back to sleep like it had never happened. Sienna was a total champ and didn't even flinch when they gave her the shot -- no tears or protests whatsoever! I was a proud mommy.

Lyla seems to be our little peanut...she's dropped down to the 40th percentile for weight (13 lbs 5 oz.) from the 72nd percentile at 2 months, but she's in the 68th percentile for height at 24 3/4 inches. I'm totally not used to having a child that's not filled with rolls by now...I joked with the pediatrician that it's such a new experience to have a baby whose neck I can actually find while bathing her! Ha ha. Given that she's meeting or exceeding all of her gross motor skills development milestones and moving all over the place, the pediatrician isn't concerned about her drop on the weight curve. She figures she'll probably start evening off by the time she hits her 6 month appointment, so I guess we're ok until then.

Ohhhhh...it's Monday night already. Where did my weekend go?

Brad and I are exhausted from working on landscaping projects for the second weekend in a row. This weekend was HOT HOT HOT, so yardwork was particularly grueling. I would have said before last week that I knew nothing about landscaping whatsoever, but now I'm actually feeling kind of proud of myself (and of Brad!) for having gotten so much done in the yard. I'll post pics when it's all done.

The kids had a whole lot fun playing in the yard with us virtually all weekend. Maddie got a kick out of helping to pile sod in the wheelbarrow after we had dug it up while reshaping our front flower beds, and then scoring a fun ride back from Daddy, through the woods and around the yard. She also got a decent amount of squirting as she ran around the yard in her bathing suit while I watered her at the same time as the flowers, LOL. She was actually pretty good helping me shovel dirt, etc., and the guy who helped us at the nursery gave her a flat of yellow marigolds that I let her plant right at the end of the bed, in the front of the house. She was thrilled. They don't exactly go with the rest of the bushes/flowers, but they make me smile every time I see them and think of her doing all the planting herself.

Sunday night I was so tired from all the work, heat, etc., and was totally craving an icecream sundae. Note on the diet, but necessary! So Maddie and I went out to Friendly's and had ourselves a treat, and brought some home for Brad to enjoy. We parked by the canal and watched the boats for a few minutes, then headed home. Yummmy!

Today we've had a totally weird day of heavy thunderstorms. We've lost power twice, and we discovered we have a small leak in the roof of our one-year-old house. Good thing the house is still under warranty! The street out in front of our house flooded severely with about 18 inches of water in a very short amount of time -- the rain was just torrential! Here's a pic of the flooded 'hood:

172 Points

172. That's how many Pampers "Gifts to Grow" points I have at the moment...and I have at least 4 code stickers that I haven't yet entered. (For those who don't know what the "Gifts to Grow" program is, it's Pampers' loyalty program. You peel the stickers off the inside of diaper packages or get the code printed on the side of wipes packages, and enter them into their website. Then you can redeem the points for toys, books, etc. that they have in a catalog on their website.) Now I am 100% loyal to Pampers -- which the marketer in me knows is very rare and your absolutely most valuable consumer to hold on to -- and have been collecting points for a long time. And we are going through diapers and wipes at an alarming, expensive rate. At this rate, I'm going to be getting that 320+ point Kettler tricyle before you know it.

But I'm starting to see it: the light at the end of the two-kids-in-diapers tunnel.

Sienna is showing more and more signs of being ready to potty train. She's telling me whenver she has to pee or poop, though she often waits until the last possible minute before going. Yesterday she told me she needed to go potty, made a beeline for the bathroom, took out her Dora seat and put it on the toilet. I asked her if she wanted to go on the potty, and she said "Yes. Peepee. Go potty." So I took off her diaper, put her on, and she immediately peed a diaper's worth. HOORAY!!! She's getting so much more predictable about it. SO...it's time to buck up and commit to the idea of potty training. I think she can do it. And even though it seems kind of early (she's 20 months), Maddie pretty much self-trained at 21 months so I guess we'll just hope that we've got easy trainers all around.

As I'm typing this Sienna told me she had to poop, then pooped in her diaper. I told her I would be right there to change her, so she walked in to the other room and then came back one minue later with poop in her hand. AAAHHH!! It is SO time to get rid of the diapers! Add that to Lyla's early morning wakeup with a poop blowout all over her crib, and you can see why I might be anxious to get away from two kids in diapers...

Anyhow. Screw the Kettler tricycle I'm saving up for. I'll ditch the points anyday for a few less diapers.

The Babbler & The Roller

I think certain toddler phases are just so adorably cute that it's hard to want to move past them. Right now Sienna is in the phase where she is talking up a storm, in many full sentences, but she still spends a decent amount of time having an entire conversation of jargon that seems like she has something very important to tell you, but only has a word or two here or there that actually make sense. If she stops to think about what she wants to say, she can generally say it. But when she wants to go for speed and full chit chat, we start to get the toddler babble. I LOVE it. She's likely to come up to me, gesturing hands and all, and say:

"Goodble duecelks blakeuullley GOLDFISH. Gooodswerttbl umberloofy UPSTAIRS."

And she'll tilt her head to the side, wide-eyed, and look at me like I am absolutely crazy for not understanding her. If I could bottle up those cute little non-sensical conversations and store them forever to bring out when I was feeling down, I'd totally do it. You can't help but smile.

Now Lyla, on the other hand, is going through a somewhat less enjoyable phase: the rolling phase. She rolls both ways, and rarely stays on her back anymore if you put her there. This is fine during the day, but at night it's like she forgets how to get herself OFF her belly, even though she can, and wakes herself up by practicing rolling all over her crib. I end up having to go in at random hours and pick her up off her belly, help her get back to sleep, and usually end up feeding her. It's like we've gone back towards the newborn days again all of the sudden, which I really don't mind except for this nagging tiredness. Hope she masters this skill soon so her little mind will let her sleep again at night (maybe even -- dare I say -- through the night?) and therefore let mommy sleep again at night!

One year ago...

I just realized that it was a year ago this past week that we moved to Massachusetts. Honestly, I can't possibly get my head around the idea that it has been a whole year since we totally uprooted after 10 years in Chicago. Where does time go?

It's crazy to think that in the span of a year, we have...Moved 1,000 miles across the country. Endured 6 painful months of owning two houses...but managed to survive it ok, LOL. Found out we were pregnant. Had another baby (I'm STILL surprised by that one!) Painted 10 rooms. Only two left to go! Finished Maddie's first year of preschool. Watched Sienna turn into a walking, talking, thinking little toddler.

ACK! How does a whole year go by that quickly?

Funnyisms

I just get endless hours of amusment out of my kids these days. It's so interesting watching them turn into their own little unique personalities, all totally different from eachother. Nothing really exciting happened today, but they all managed to entertain me at various points during my Monday, so here are a couple of cute little anecdotes:

Sienna is such a ham -- and she KNOWS it. She loves to make us laugh and she's the first to let you know she's funny. Today they all got up fairly early (nothing unusual there!), so all 5 of us were downstairs by 6:30. Brad was really reluctant to get up, so he was trying to doze on the couch for a few minutes while Maddie and Sienna watched TV for a bit before breakfast. Sienna -- not easily amused by television for more than a few minutes these days -- starts jumping up and down and dancing in front of the couch, yelling "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP DADDY!" It sounded suspiciously like the Wiggles' "wake up Jeff!" chant... hmm...wonder where she picked that up?

At lunch, Rachael and I were getting her some food and Rachael tried to feed her, since I had heated up turkey meatballs and they were hot. She starts yelling "No, no, NO! Self!! Self! Feed self!!" Now she's always independent about feeding herself, but I found it pretty amusing that she was demanding to feed herself.

After helping to get lunch out, I figured I better head back up to work.

Me: "Well, I guess I better get back to work..."

Madelyn: "You know Mommy, if you don't get to work, Miss Rachael is going to GO HOME!"

Me: "She is?? Why?"

Madelyn: "You remember Mommy...when you and Daddy don't work, Rachael stays at her house. So if you don't go to work right now, Miss Rachael is going to go HOME!"

Me: "True enough, Maddie. Back to work I go!"


At bath time, I was having yet another little battle with Sienna over her paci, which she is totally addicted to. I keep talking about needing to take it away at some point and wean her off of it, but I just haven't been ready to face the process as of yet. So once again, I was trying to convince Sienna that she didn't need her paci (which she named "popeye" early on, for some reason) at bath time, that she would have it in a few minutes at bedtime. Maddie was still in the tub, and I was drying Sienna off.

Me: "Sienna, it might be time to use your popeyes to get a toy. How about that? Would you like to get all your popeyes together and bring them to the store so you can buy a new toy?"

Sienna: "No. Want popeye."

Me: "You don't want to get a new toy with them? That's what Maddie did when she was younger. She turned in all of her pacis for a new baby doll."

Sienna: "No. Want popeye. Where's popeye??" (starting to whine and get impatient now...)

Madelyn: "Mommy, I want to turn in my lovies (her two satin security blankie squares) for a new toy!!!"

Me: "But then you wouldn't have your lovies anymore, Maddie. You'd just have the toy."

Madelyn: "But Mommy, I want the toy -- I don't need my lovies!!"

HA! We'll see about that.... Sienna, in the meantime, snuck behind me and found her paci on the counter, and made off with the darn thing. Little devil!

A rainy Monday

Starting the week off with rain...which is a good thing, since we spent the entire weekend landscaping and all of our new plants should really love the wet weather! The kids probably won't be thrilled though, since it means they'll spend the day inside.

I've been so busy this weekend I haven't had a chance to get online for more than a couple of minutes. We quit work right at 5 on Friday and took the kids to the playground at what will one day be their elementary school, which was a nice way to start the weekend off. They were the only kids there since school is out for the summer, so they had their run of the place!

I owe a huge thanks to my parents for their help the rest of the weekend -- they helped us transform our yard into a fairly sad looking thing with some dead shrubs to a much prettier version (thanks again, Mom and Dad!). We had bought a vinyl lantern post at a fence company last week, but it was a LOT of work to lay electrical wire all the way from our garage to the end of the driveway. Brad and my dad rented a trencher from Home Depot and had to dig 12 inches down or so, and even had to trench under our concrete walkway to reach the power source in the garage. We cut out a nice flower bed around it and put in some daylillies (and will soon add hosta), then replanted the beds in front of the house with tall grasses, hydrangeas, spyrea, etc. I'm going for that beachy/cottage feel since we live near the ocean. We're not done yet, but it's a huge improvement! Now we all need another weekend to recover, though!

We spent some time with my brother on Saturday after finishing up for the day. It was good to see him out and about and I think he is just so happy to be back home.

The weary traveler returns...

I seriously think I need to write a book or an article or something about pumping on the go. Another city, another public restroom that I've visited with my pump. Let's see...this week I've pumped in the backseat of my Jeep; in the back seat of a sporty little red two-door compact rental car; in the public restrooms at Boston Logan Airport, St. Louis Lambert Airport, and Northwest Regional Arkansas Airport; in the public restroom at my office; in the parking lot of a Chick-Fil-A restaurant, and in two different hotel rooms in different states. (Last week I also pumped in an the bathroom on an American Airlines jet -- yuck.) I've gone through security at three different aiports, having to explain to each of them why I was carrying a little cooler with icepacks and hearing three totally different protocols for dealing with 35+ oz. of breastmilk in a carry-on bag when you're not actually allowed to bring liquids through security anymore (if it's more than 3 oz.). I got a little bit flip with the TSA agent who said to me, "Well, it's because you don't have the baby with you, and if you did... " To which I responded, "Yeah, well if I had the baby with me I wouldn't need all of this gear -- I'd just be feeding her!" Oh well, at least I'm home. I got stuck overnight in St. Louis due to weather, but at least my bags made it home with me this time.

Complaining aside, I'm debating about whether I should take on the task of writing some letters on this topic to government agencies. I really think there needs to be a way to be a little bit more supportive of working, traveling moms trying to manage breastfeeding. It seems that with all the fancy security equipment that exists, they should be able to find a way to screen you (without damaging the milk) so that you can bring it on board -- even without the baby -- without having to go through the trauma of being told you're going to have to get rid of it. (Note: this is when I nearly start to hyperventilate at security...I told the TSA agency yesterday that I was seriously going to have a breakdown if he didn't let me through; did he know how much energy, time and love I had put into this effort for my baby??? I could not possibly throw out liquid gold...). In any event, I'd be happy to go through a hand search or whatever they need to do, I'd just like some sort of a written policy that can be implemented across the various airports so I don't have to worry about totally different practices in every different one. And the policy really needs to allow moms to bring their milk on board, regardless of whether the baby is with them.

On a happier note... I'm SO glad to see my kids. Maddie gave me a huge warm welcome with big bear hugs, and Lyla was all smiles. Sienna was napping, but she'll be up soon. I really missed them. Off to play for a while.

3 More Days

I'll admit to having a strange fascination with the whole jail "thing." But fascination aside -- it's very hard to see your brother in prison.

** Disclaimer: I will probably take this post down in the near future, because it doesn't seem like something we need to share with the world. But as of now, only a very few people know about this blog, and I know all of you are aware of my brother's situation and are interested in an update. **

I ended up going to visit Rich with my mom, which I was glad about -- because it was really awkward at times. You get thirty minutes to visit with him...but just what exactly is the right thing to say to your brother when he's talking to you on a dirty telephone receiver behind soundproof glass, dressed in prison garb? Small talk somehow falls a little short, and most of the daily goings-on seem somehow irrelevant.

All that aside, I was glad to see him. He has lost more than 20 pounds and, to be honest, he looks fantastic. He's always been a very built guy, who places a lot of energy into keeping himself extremely muscular - almost too built, really. But after 27 days in prison he has really trimmed down and has been forced into quitting smoking, so he looks really good. This despite the Lyme's Disease, which he seems to be recovering nicely from. He was in a very upbeat mood, because he only has three (long) days left -- and he is going to be so relieved to get out of there. I asked him what the first thing he's planning on doing when he gets out is, and he said he's planning to run like hell out of the parking lot and never look back. Very good idea, in my opinion.

I was surprised that he's not in a low security area of the prison, given what he's in for. But he says he's mixed in with all sorts of bad criminals, including a new guy who just arrived to serve his sentence for breaking into a home and killing an entire family, including an eight year old girl. According to Rich, people who harm children are placed instantly into protective custody, since they "won't last a day" without another inmate trying to kill them. No country club here...he's in with some really BAD people.

He seems very committed to the idea of getting his GED when he gets out, after finding himself a better paying job. I really hope some good comes out of the situation, and that all this time he has had to think about his life brings about some positive changes. He could really use a break in life, just a little something to make things easier for him so he can start turning things around. I'm willing to help him in whatever way I can, but sometimes it's hard to know what to offer.

I saw his cell block as we were leaving. They have a pretty large common area that they get to come out of their cells to hang out in for a number of hours each day, and it was cleaner than I expected. I still somehow felt dirty leaving there, and I borrowed my mom's Purell to wash my hands and arms. It's just a weird thought to think of all the people that are going there visiting murders, robbers, etc. There were plenty of people there who obviously knew the ropes, and had been visiting for quite some time. I told the guard I was hoping not to have to come back.

I'll be really, really happy when he's out. Saturday can't come soon enough.

Is it nap time yet?

I would give anything to be able to join the kids at naptime today and get a little snooze in... I'm dragging! For some reason I could not sleep last night, and just kept thinking of all that I had to get done today, both at work and at home. Insomnia drives me crazy. I did a little surfing around, edited my blog a big, etc., hoping that would make me sleepy. But instead it just made think about different things. In any event, once I did get to sleep, morning came all too quickly. I dragged myself down to the treadmill to get in 30 minutes before work though, and I think that's probably saving me from falling asleep at my desk. It's going to be a long afternoon. Who says naps aren't a good idea for everyone? I think Italy and Mexico have it right...afternoon siestas everyday would definitely increase my productivity.

Monday...already!

The rest of the weekend was uneventful. I really enjoyed my time with the kids yesterday, even though it was a lot of work. Madelyn and I spent a long time outside doing one of her current favorite activities -- writing the alphabet all over the driveway with sidewalk chalk -- while Sienna napped and Lyla kicked around in the stroller with her toys. Maddie's getting pretty good at writing many of her letters (though the loopy ones are always a bit more challenging!) and it's pretty funny to drive into the driveway and find string after string of letters written in brightly colored chalk. As much as I'm happy she has an interest in letters, words, books, etc., it always makes me a little bit sad to realize that one day before I know it, she'll be in school!

This morning Sienna was eating breakfast at the counter and Madelyn was jumping around dancing in the family room. For some reason, they were all a little bit energetic and giddy this morning. Sienna just broke down laughing, and looked at me and yelled. "That's SO funny!" and then "That Maddie!" (which she pronounces like "Ma-yee"). She cracks me up -- I forget how much "parroting" they do at this age. She sounded just like me! At the moment, she's napping. After a heads up from Rachael, I went in to check on her (did I mention lately how much I love working from home?) and found her sound asleep, butt in the air -- NAKED! She's wearing a little knit dress today and apparently decided the diaper was NOT something she needed while napping. Figures I just changed her crib sheet yesterday... She has been telling me whenever she has to go to the bathroom lately, and has even gone on the potty a few times. But we are a long time away from dry naps, LOL! Guess I'll be changing the sheets again today... but the laugh of seeing those cute chubby bum cheeks while she snoozed away is definitely worth it.

Flying Solo

It's a girls' weekend...Brad left on a business trip Friday afternoon, so we were on our own. As much as I love spending time with the girls, I really hate weekend business trips -- for anyone -- and I totally miss having another set of hands.

I decided to take the girls to visit some friends yesterday, so I packed everyone up as soon as they were fed and dressed and we headed north. It should have been about a 1 hr. 45 min. drive, but we hit major traffic at the tolls and it turned into about 2 hr. 10 min. Seriously, we would have been fine if it hadn't been for the darn tolls. That was about the time that everyone started melting down, except for Sienna, who FINALLY fell asleep. Anyhow, we got there and my friend had invited several other moms with kids over, so there were about 10 kids altogether and 4 moms. Her neighbor was gracious enough to let us all pile into her above ground pool, so the kids had a ball swimming and splashing around. I was worried about having all three of them to manage, but after some craziness trying to get everyone suited up, floatied, sunblocked, etc., while Lyla cried to be fed, we were ok. Lyla fell asleep for a nice little lap on the pool deck as soon as I nursed her, and I was able to jump in the pool with Maddie and Sienna. Sienna is such a little water baby and wanted to be tossed up and down into the water almost the whole time. She's such a funny kid! (Pic above is of her and my friend Allison.)

After the pool, the other families left and we got the kids all on bikes and went for a little ride down to the cul-de-sac at the end of their street. From there we headed to another neighbor's house to pet and feed the chickens (this neighborhood in the country is MUCH more interesting than our new construction subdivision with no trees, LOL!). Maddie and Sienna thought the place was great. There were even grape vines and crabapple trees, so they were finding all sorts of yummy stuff they thought the chicken would love to eat, poor bird!

The ride home was crazy. All of them needed naps, but Sienna would not give in and kept waking the other two up. Maddie was totally ticked off about it, since Sienna kept yelling at the top of her lungs. She also kept scaring the baby awake, which meant that Lyla cried most of the way home. We made a mid-trip stop at McDonald's out of desperation, where I nursed Lyla and finally calmed her down while the other two ate. We're all strapped in and ready to get back on the road, and Maddie makes the dreaded announcement that she has to go potty. YIKES. Now I'm totally kicking myself for having remembered my friend Christine's idea to put the potty seat in the minivan, but having forgotten to actually DO it! I think Maddie must have actually sensed my desperation (could it be because I was begging her to PLEASE hold it for Mommy, just this one time, because Mommy really didn't want to have to take unload everyone and take all three kids into the stall at McDonald's...) because she agreed to hold it for the 40 minutes remaining in our ride. I felt so bad for her, but she didn't really seem like it was all that urgent. And it definitely saved my sanity a bit.

Anyhoo... we got home in time for a reasonable bedtime, which was good since we were all exhausted. I'm planning a much more low key day today, though I'm really glad I got to see Allison and the kids got to play with their friends.

Milestones

It was a big day in our house today.

Lyla decided it was time to start rolling from back to front, and went quickly from never having given it a try to actually succeeding! She rolled from front to back at 5 weeks, and then did it for a few weeks and got tired of it. She rolled front to back again for the first time in a long time yesterday, and today went the other way. Where is time going???

She also went to sleep, right at 8 PM, by HERSELF! I fed her, changed a dirty diaper, then put her to bed in her crib with her paci (which is just starting to like). She was fine for a few minutes then started crying, so I went back in and put my hand on her chest for a couple of minutes, reinserted the paci, and voila -- I haven't heard from her since! And this was the second time today she did this...she also put herself to sleep at naptime. Do I dare get my hopes up??

Maddie had her own milestone of sorts -- she got her first bike! She was thrilled when we brought home her new Arial/Little Mermaid bike, pretty purple and turquoise with lovely beads and streamers hanging from the handlebars. She put her helmet right on, climbed up, and off she went. Gosh did she look like a big girl!

And as for Sienna...well, she put on her first pair of high heels today. Does that count? They may have been play heels, but it was the first time I've ever seen her putting them on and trying to walk around in them. Visions of teenage girls danced through my head... yikes, I'm SO scared even thinking about those years, LOL!

Earplugs, anyone?

I'm quite certain that I have selective memory. I really and truly don't remember Madelyn screaming her way through toddlerhood - but it's gotta be selective memory.

We always joke that Sienna has been in the "terrible twos" since about 12 months, when she started getting pretty verbal. But that was NOTHING compared to now...she can talk up a storm, but why talk when you can scream at the top of your lungs? Funny thing is that it's just as often a shriek -- which can easily be a happy sound -- as it is a scream of madness or frustration. She and Madelyn have taken to having screaming matches, where they get louder and louder trying to out-shriek eachother. They think it's absolutely hysterical...but man is it loud around here!