Vacay!

Ahhh….vacation!! That about sums up how I’m feeling right now. There’s just no substitute for the relaxed, sleepy feel of sun, sand, and a fantastic beach vacation. I feel like we’re all getting a much-needed reset, after a completely crazy couple (ok, more than a couple?) months of prepping the house to sell, putting it on the market, moving, finding a new house, starting a new job, etc. We can handle the stress – but it’s oh so nice to unwind. And for me, just so nice to leave the corporate world behind for a week and spend quality time with the family.

We haven’t done anything particular exciting this week; our days have been filled with making sandcastles, swimming in the pool, jumping in the waves, taking decently long naps, and getting to know the cousins over family dinners and walks on the beach. I say “getting to know” the cousins because these days, we manage about one trip a year to see the H side of the family; so really the kids do need to get to know each other from year to year. But this is the second year in a row we have come to (gorgeous!) Atlantic Beach – and Maddie’s third trip here – and having memories from year to year is definitely proving to be nice for building relationships with Brad’s side of the family.

But even though we’re doing the same activities from day to day, it’s nice to see how things change… over the course of the week, Maddie has gone from using a lifejacket part of the time to going without about 90% of the time in the pool. She’s doggie paddling from one end of the pool to the other, working on perfecting her underwater somersault, and getting more confident by the day. Sienna and Lyla are motoring all around the pool with their floaties; arm swimmies have been a sanity saver with Lyla, who insists on doing everything in the pool herself even though she really can’t swim yet. The sandcastle skills are really getting honed, and the two older kids have gotten fairly brave with the waves and are now enjoying bobbing up and down in the surf with lifejackets on and Mom or Dad nearby.

More to come, but the pool is calling… it’s really too bad vacation can’t last forever!

Best Sisters

I posted on my FB status this morning that I was really enjoying hearing my kids play so nicely together...and truly, it was probably one of the best Saturday mornings we've had a in while in that department! Our girls really do seem to be good friends, and because they are close in age they really play together most of the time. BUT they also fight really well together, and can go from best of friends to what would seem like lunatic enemies in the matter of seconds. Not fun.

This morning, after baths and shampoos for everyone, Lyla ended up taking a morning nap - which is rare for her these days. Madelyn and Sienna began playing together and just seemed to go from one happy little activity to another together - also rare! Madelyn, as usual, played the role of ringleader/activity coordinator, and for whatever reason Sienna was just being easygoing this morning and happy to oblige. So they started off by putting on costumes, and getting ready for the big show that they were going to put on in Lyla's room (which is a big empty "bonus room" on the second floor that has cathedral ceilings, and nothing in it but Lyla's pack-n-play and a clock radio the kids have been using as a boom box for mega dance productions) as soon as she woke up. Madelyn then decided they needed to dress up the costumes a bit more, so they moved into the kitchen and we set up craft stuff. Maddie drew huge flower petals on all different pieces of construction paper, then drew a belt for me to cut out for her (kids scissors are among the missing!) so she could glue them on to the belt and dress up her outfit. Sienna preferred to practice letters, but did a little jazzing up of her own with a headband.

After finishing up and determining the costumes were ready, Madelyn started teaching Sienna the words to her new song, "Best Sisters." The two of them sang together, arms around eachother, and it nearly melted my heart. I always wanted sisters (sorry Dave and Rich!) and I just think they're so so lucky to have each have two sisters. Amidst all the fighting that goes on each day, it was such a nice change to hear them loving on eachother and appreciating having eachother around. Soon they were singing at the top of their lungs, which probably woke poor Lyla Lu. But she woke up in good spirits and quickly joined in the singing and production. By then M had taken off her costume, but Sienna was still looking all Jane Fonda-esque in Maddie's dance leotard (backwards, of course), ballet slippers, and elastic headband. Besides being sweet to watch, the whole morning just allowed me to get so much done! I was able to wash and fold a load of laundry, make pancakes from scratch with homemade blueberry syrup, and get a whole batch of fresh tomato sauce made while they played together. Alas, it didn't last forever...the fighting eventually did start up. But it gives me hope that despite the fighting, they really are developing into the best of friends.

I couldn't resist...

After reading Madelyn a bedtime story tonight (post-pool, where everyone apparently wore themselves out!), I walked into Sienna's room to find this sweet scene:


It was just too cute to pass up the photo op. Notice it's still light outside - very light. We've had such a hard time getting the kids to bed at a reasonable hour because it's stays lighter here, later, than it did at home. I'm so relieved the kids are in bed and asleep before 8 PM! Hopefully our Saturday morning will get started on the right foot with a bit more sleep!

Who's that sleeping in MY bed?

So I'll admit that I'm pretty strict when it comes to kids sleeping in our bed. Mainly, I don't allow it. It's totally a personal decision, but I'm one of those people who thinks Mom and Dad should have their space apart from the kids. I'm sure it has something to do with how my own parents felt about it, because that's always how I remember it being in our house growing up, too; I can't ever remember climbing in bed with them. I know, too, that I need that space away from them. The days are long and tiring, and when I am able to get some sleep, I like it to be entirely mine, if that makes sense!

BUT...I totally break the rules when Brad's not home. And I have to say, I absolutely love little nighttime visits from my girlies when Brad is away, love snuggling with them and showering them with unexpected kisses during the night, and love waking up to find warm, squishy kids laying next to me. Brad's been away all week, and two nights ago it was Maddie who came in at about 3 AM and asked if she could sleep with me. By 6 AM, I had both Maddie and Sienna in with me, and then by 6:45 Lyla had joined the crew. This morning we made it until about 5:30 before I ended up with both M and S in bed with me again. What great snuggle time! Don't get me wrong...I can't wait for Brad to get home. Mostly because I've missed him, because honestly it doesn't phase me that much anymore to do it all myself. The kids are a bit older, the baby is much more self-sufficient than she used to be, and we've got a good routine going. But even though I can't wait for him to get home, I'm definitely ok with one more night of my sweet little guests.

Our little librarian

Sienna seems to be showing a real love of books and reading already. I know Maddie was interested in them, but Sienna spends so much time just poring through books of all sorts, carrying them around the house, reading them to herself...and oh yeah, destroying them as well. She has a bit of a destructive streak in her (ok, maybe more than a bit), and while she loves books she also loves to write in them, draw on pages, and even tear them from time to time. I've already got one library book that I'm going to be paying for this week that she managed to get to before I hid Maddie's books from reach.

Despite the "improvements" she seems to want to make to them, she is really adorable when it comes to her books. Yesterday, I was cleaning and organizing our walk-in closet in the master bedroom. To keep tabs on her, I brought in her Dora castle and people, and we pretended Dora was hiding away with her friends; Sienna thought it was particularly funny to pretend Dora was sleeping in the closet and kept whispering to me loudly, "SHHH! You need to be quiet!" But while in my closet, she found a paperback novel I finished recently. She must have spent a half hour sitting next to me while I sorted and organized clothes, flipping through the 200+ pages as if she were reading it. No pictures or anything, just words. She kept calling it "my book" and when I asked about Dora and how her nap was going said, "You don't take away my book!" (she's in a very possessive phase right now where she thinks everyone is going to take things away from her -- I think this is a direct result of having to fight to keep her stuff from Maddie all the time these days!). Finally, she put down the book and looked at me with the cutest puppy dog eyes and shook her head, saying, "Nope. I can't read the book. It's too hard!"

Awwww! I felt so bad for her...but it was oh so cute!

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.

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: