All She Wanted For Christmas

All our girl wanted for Christmas from Santa was an umbrella.  I have a feeling Santa won’t always have it so easy.

We got about 5 minutes of rain while we were in Florida and none yet since we’ve been home.  I can’t wait until she can really use her gift from Santa.

12-25-12 M opening Umbrella 12-25-12 M with umbrella copy DSCN1460 DSCN1464 DSCN1465

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2012 Book List

1. Yoga and the Quest for the True Self by Stephen Cope
2. An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin (Rebecca’s bookclub)
3. Teaching Yoga by Donna Farhi
4. The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon (Cathy’s bookclub)
5. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
6. Until He Comes by K. Dawn Goodwin (Kate’s bookclub)
7. The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister (Jenna’s Bookclub)
8. Chaos, Wonder, and the Spiritual Adventure of Parenting: An Anthology by Sarah Conover and Tracy Springberry
9. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Beverly’s Bookclub)
10. Girl in Translation by Jean Kwon (Colleen’s Bookclub)
11. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende (less than half completed – My Bookclub)
12. Love is a Mix Tape: Love and Loss, One Song at a Time by Rob Sheffield (Heather’s Bookclub)
13. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb (a re-read)
14. Wishin’ and Hopin’ by Wally Lamb
15. Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom
16. The Keep by Jennifer Egan (Stefania’s Bookclub)
17. Bossypants by Tina Fey
18. The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman (Rebecca’s Bookclub)

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Christmas Part 1

M was so excited about her presents from us – bubbles, a tunnel (which she’s calling her kennel) and a set of suitcases for an upcoming trip. Presents are going to be so much fun this year!

M made us an adorable card with her hand and feet prints made to look like a reindeer. We also each got a beaded keychain. R’s says “DAD” and mine says “MMO.” This is only the beginning.

12-22-12 M Connecticut Xmas 12-22-12 M in tunnel (1) 12-22-12 M opening suitcase 12-22-12 M with new suitcase

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Happy Holidays!

We made it out to a local park to see Santa on Monday.  It was a super cute setup – Santa’s workshop complete with fireplace, Mrs. Clause handing out cookies and hot cocoa and a huge tree. M loved it. She willingly sat on his lap and had a nice little conversation with him. She let him know she wants an umbrella for Christmas and then he gave her an apple. Now she will tell you she would also like an apple for Christmas.
12-17-12 M with Santa (2)

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M-isms

I can’t believe I have this little person that I can just talk and talk with. I thought I should probably take a little time to jot down all the funny stuff she’s saying lately, so I don’t forget, and her funny little routines. I could fill this whole screen with the “no’s” and the “I don’t want to’s” but I’ll stick to the cute and funny stuff.

Our Drive to School – Every day we drive by a car dealership with those balloon like things lining the fence and everyday we talk about them. First she sees them when we’re at the light waiting to turn onto that street and says, “I want to go closer to the balloons.” Then as we go by them she talks about how one fell down (when it snowed) but someone picked it up and it’s ok now.  She also points out the grocery store, the gas station and the fire station.  We usually see school buses, so she talks about those. She says she’ll keep her eye out for a city bus and we usually see one of those too.  She asks me why I am sitting in the front seat, “why did we stop?”, “why is the light red?”.  She tells me, “there’s a green light for you.” She looks for the moon, we sing songs – mostly ABCs and Twinkle Twinkle together, but she knows so many songs from school.

Bath time and Bed time – She’s really into taking her own clothes off and putting them into the laundry basket. She always wants to go on the big potty before bath time and then asks for an M n M and a sticker. She always wants “big bubbles” in the tub. She must be the one to squeeze the toothpaste and she must put the toothbrush away “next to daddy’s.” She brushes by herself first and then we take a turn brushing together. She also brushes her tongue and then puts the non-brush end to her belly button and says “Belly Button – Boop” which is something her dad started. When she gets out of the bath, she runs out into the kitchen where I am doing dishes and wants to show me “her bum.”  Her dad always sings her this song at bedtime, which she calls “Come Along and Listen” (actually it’s Lullaby of Broadway).  She gets two books – one for her to “read” and one for us to read. Lately her favorite is If You Give a Mouse a Cookie but she can also “read” you Cookie’s Week from cover to cover. When I put her to bed we sing “Om Shanti” and do the “Toe Song” which is me telling her to relax her body from her toes to her head, naming each body part – something my dad used to do with me when he’d put me to bed.  Sometimes she says SHE wants to do the toe song which then turns into her saying Relax your toes, Relax your feet, Relax curtains, Relax teddy bear, Relax Mommy, Relax . . . (and she names off every person and thing she knows or sees in the room).

Baby Brother/Sister – She’s not super into her baby brother or sister.  I think it would be easier to talk up if we knew the gender.  She says Baby Sister a lot when I ask her, but sometimes says Baby Brother. She wants to name a baby sister “Kid” and a baby brother “Hummus Chocolate.” She likes to kiss my tummy and she talks about how her baby sister will sit in the backseat of the car with her, but not in the way back with Izzie.

Izzie and Jasper – She treats Izzie more like a sibling than a pet. She likes to have her chase her but sometimes she tells Izzie to “give me some space.” She tells me to tell Izzie to “stop wagging her tail.” She likes giving Izzie a treat, and can tell her to sit, lay down and roll over. She feeds Izzie dinner nearly every night and enjoys letting her outside to go to the bathroom. I open the big door and she opens the little door (screen/storm door). Sometimes when she gets too close to Jasper I ask her, “What are Jasper’s ears (or eyes) telling you?” and she’ll say “Walk Away” or ” No Thank You.”  She knows that the cat will bite her.

Random – Mornings after she has a babysitter, she always wakes up asking where the babysitter is.  She’ll say something a week or so after something has happened, bringing up something that she’s gotten in trouble for or been spoken with about. For example, “Today I won’t poke Daddy in the eye.” And I just say, “Ok, sounds like a good plan.” She was all about getting herself in her booster seat until she fell getting up there the other day, now she wants us to do it. She doesn’t want to be pushed into the table until she asks you to push her into the table. She has to pick out her own diaper. She loves to have tea parties, setting up all of her stuffed animals.  She even washes the dishes in her sink when she’s done and lays them out on the towel to dry. She loves wearing her slippers and 9 times out of 10 gets them on the correct feet! When we’re on the phone with my parents sometimes she’ll go get something so she can show it to them and she’ll hold it up to the phone. She likes to be the one to hang up the phone, and makes my parents count to 3 before they all hang up. She says “so much” when you ask her if she knows how much you love her. She loves taking her vitamin with breakfast. She loves waving to our neighbor when we leave every morning, even if he’s not out there.

It’s just so neat to see how she’s become her own little person. I can’t wait to see how she interacts with our new little one, which we will be meeting in EIGHT WEEKS! Yikes.

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Christmas Activities

Finally, we did something Christmas-y. On Friday night, we got hot chocolate and drove by a house that has great lights and broadcasts corresponding music on a radio station. The light show was not happening when we were there, but it was fun to see all the lights. On Saturday, M and I went the oldest public art museum in the United States for the Festival of Trees and a bunch of kids’ activities with her good friends L and J.  The crafts were a little old for her, but she had a great time with them anyways. It was sensory overload and the adults were outnumbered but a great time was had by all.  We both took 2.5 hour naps that afternoon!
IMG_3640 IMG_3645On Sunday, we did our Christmas craft that we’ll give to her teachers and our family.  I wasn’t sure how long it would hold her attention, but since she was working with her dad on it she didn’t lose interest (it’s so neat how much she adores him).  I couldn’t thank him enough for taking on a project like that – something that I signed up for but he made a reality.
IMG_3655

 

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Thanksgiving 2012

We had a great Thanksgiving in Contoocook, NH at my Aunt and Uncle’s house. We got to see all three of their sons and my cousin Amy from Boston. We got to hang with my aunt and uncle’s awesome friends and Izzie got to play with a year and a half old golden retriever named Dudley. M loved Dudley too! M skipped her nap, climbed out of her pack and play and threw the biggest, angriest fit I’ve seen to date on Thanksgiving night, but it was still a great trip!

 

M was really excited about decorating the tree this year and it was super fun to watch her put ornaments on the tree. Who cares if they are all at the bottom?

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My Buddy

This is my buddy. My girl. My bubba. My monkey. Me and you and you and me.

I can’t believe I’m having a baby in 11 weeks. Even more than that, I can’t believe I’ll have two kids in 11 weeks.  That’s only 11 more weekends to focus my love and attention on my little buddy. R works A LOT, so a lot of the time it’s her and me and me and her. My buddy. My girl. We’ve got it down, me and her. She’s a joy at drop off and pickup from school (always me). She’s a joy at bath time and we have our teeth brushing routine (usually me). How much is going to change when we add someone else in the mix? A lot. I know for the better, but it’s still hard to imagine having to share my time with her with another little one. I know she’s going to be a great help. If it’s a girl, I’ll have to change what I say – no more “you’re my favorite girl in the whole wide world” or even “I love you more than anything else in the whole wide world.” Are our bubble bath days over now that we’ll have a baby in there too? I’ll have to be sure to make special time for my girl – and what if I have another girl, can I still call her that? I do like the sound of “my girls.” Life is changing soon, so I’m trying to soak up as much of this quality time alone with my girl as possible. Even with all these thoughts, I know she’s going to be the most amazing big sister ever and she’s going to learn to love her little sister or brother so much. It’s going to be so cool to watch her develop into this new role she’ll be taking on as well.  It’s going to be an adventure and we’re in it as a family.

Posted in Miss M., Motherhood | 3 Comments

Hurry, Hurry

I’ve been meaning to write this blog post for weeks it seems. In fact, the issue I was having almost seems to have resolved itself, or I seem to have resigned myself to it, or a little bit of both.

I’m lucky enough to get to work a semi part time schedule, arriving at 8am and leaving at 3pm Monday through Friday. But this means I really want to make sure I arrive promptly at 8am. And mornings were starting to get rough as my 2 year old starting talking more, and stalling more. She was having fits in the evenings, and so bedtime was taking a while. I was having to wake her up at 6am and she was not happy about it overall. Breakfast time was a challenge and I was just not getting to work on time. We decided to move bedtime to a little earlier, so that she’s asleep between 7pm and 7:30pm and then we wake her up about 6am if she’s not up already.  I found myself saying “Hurry, Hurry, Mommy has to get to work” several times each morning as I rushed us through getting dressed, breakfast and teeth brushing. Somehow, the mornings have smoothed out nicely. I’m not really sure what happened but I find myself asking her to hurry less, which makes me feel a lot better. I think I kind of decided that it’s ok if I’m a few minutes late so I can enjoy a fun minute or two with my daughter before we leave each other for the day.  And I think I kind of decided that it’s ok if the dishes are still there in the evening when I get home.  I think some of it was just the overall work I did a few weeks ago to refresh my attitude and approach. Now, if she’s not getting dressed in the morning, I tell her I would like us to go eat breakfast together, but if she can’t get dressed she can stay in her room and call me when she is ready to get dressed and come eat with me. When I ask her to do something, I stick with it, not asking a zillion times and walking away if she’s not willing to work with me. Overall, life just seems to be moving along more smoothly since I started being more consistent.  I am sure they’ll be another something or other soon, and we’ll handle that when the time comes.

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Election, 27 Weeks, Recipes

The election has come and gone and I still don’t think my home state of Florida has figured out who their electoral votes will go to. Oh well, at least the winner is clear and he’s the guy I like. Check out this video we took of M mispronouncing our President’s name and cursing without even knowing what a curse word is. We’re going straight to hell for this one.

I’m now 27 weeks pregnant with baby #2 who may or may not be a girl. I don’t feel any morning, or anytime of day, sickness. However, my back is giving me some problems and this week I feel like something’s stabbing me in the pubic bone every time I move. I slightly remember this from last time around, with them telling me, oh that’s just the baby’s skull (or whatever bone) rubbing on your pubic bone. Awesome.

I managed to make two new recipes this week, which really makes me feel like a rock star. I googled one, since I was in the mood for some sort of casserole and had a hankering for tuna. It was cheesy goodness with a hint of tuna noodle casserole. It even included some spinach.  Toddler verdict = no way Jose.  She sometimes doesn’t like stuff that has a lot going on like this recipe does. Tonight I made Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Alfredo, which was a recipe I had pinned on Pinterest. I was nervous about roasting the red peppers, but it was SO easy. I was able to leave work at 3pm, drive in the snow to pick up M and get this meal on the table just a few minutes after 5pm. It made a ton of the sauce and I am actually going to end up freezing half of the sauce.  If you used a whole box of pasta instead of half you cold eat this all week and use all the sauce. It was delicious and easy. M called it spaghetti and ate it right up and then asked for hummus and cucumbers. Man, I love that kid. (Don’t get me wrong, two other nights this week she ate 5 cherry tomatoes and half an apple).

Christmas is SOON. Thanksgiving is SOONER. We had our first snowfall today. I am SO SO SO excited about the holidays this year. I am aching to see some family and can’t wait to get my fix for both holidays. M was excited about the snow today and I know that the holidays are just going to be awesome to see through her eyes. I can’t wait to put up our little fake tree and get out the holiday books. I love my crazy life.

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