Summer doings

My sister Caitlin and niece Camryn, who’s 5, are down here with us for the rest of the summer from New Jersey. It has been a little bit of an adjustment having two more people in the house, but it’s actually been fun overall. Caitlin and I have not spent more than 4-5 days together at a time since we’ve been adults, usually just once a year, so it has been really neat to finally see who she is as an adult and as a mom. She’s going through a lot of things right now and I’m glad Matt and I are able to be a resting place for her and Cammie. Caiti is really crafty and creative and has so many great ideas for projects for me and the girls, and she also loves baby Ryan. That is awesome for me, because all Ryan ever wants is to be held, and Caiti is glad to oblige.

We got a really nice bunk bed off Craigslist since we were going to have to put the girls together in a room. I don’t have a picture yet, but it has built in drawers, shelves and a computer desk. Cammie sleeps on top and Addie is in the cave part underneath, which is perfectly fine with her. The sleeping arrangement has gone very well…. in the morning, they both appear, usually holding hands, and come downstairs together. It’s very sweet and cute – for about 30 seconds, and then the bickering starts.

The girls jumped immediately into siblinghood. Camryn is an only child, and is not used to sharing her toys, or not getting her way. Addie was enthralled with Cammie and had a very hard time understanding why Cammie would run from her, take toys away, or refuse to play with her. Cammie had a hard time understanding that she had to share and that Addie didn’t appreciate teasing games, keep-away, or "scaring" her (harmless fun for 5 year olds, but not for 2 year olds). We have been trying to give Cammie some alone time, and some big-girl activities, and she is in a performing arts camp at the YMCA this week during the afternoons. I think with time, they will adjust and be fine. It’s been two weeks so far, and I am already tired of refereeing and telling the girls to keep their hands to themselves. I thought I would have a couple of more years before that, but I guess it’s good practice in seeing what’s effective and what’s not.

On the 4th, our neighborhood had a parade and we got the girls all dressed up to watch while Matt stayed home with Ryan. Addie was excited because her swimming lesson coach was there with the swim team, spraying water guns and throwing candy. It was a cute little parade, and there were a lot more people out to watch than I thought there would be. Afterwards, we walked down the street to the clubhouse/pool, and got to take a tour of the brand new volunteer firestation in our neighborhood. The girls got plastic fire hats, and Matt met us with Ryan for free hot dogs and chips.

Fourth of July Desserts

The firefighters' recliners in their media room

After that, we all piled into the Blazer to go to a pool party hosted by our wonderful church friends, the Martins. Caiti and Cammie met most of the people from our ABF, and Uncle Matt played in the pool with the girls while Ryan ate and ate.

We then came home to relax. Addie took a nap and Cammie watched a movie and dozed. We met up with Matt’s sister Jennifer and husband Todd and cousin Hunter (3.5), and we all went to a humongous fireworks/family festival at a church up in Spring. It was an amazing place and a wonderful community outreach program. Free food (hot dogs, chips, fruit, ice cream, snow cones, popcorn, soft drinks, water), glow necklaces, seat cushions, even blankets to sit on were provided. There was music and a live band, and a big fireworks display. Oh, and moonwalks and bounce houses for the kids, and charter buses to take us to the big parking lot down the road. The girls were angels, and Ryan was great too. We didn’t get back home till almost 11 p.m. (Ryan wouldn’t go to sleep for anything), but we had no fits or meltdowns. It was an exhausting but really fun day.

Last Friday was Dress Like a Cow Day at Chick-Fil-A. If you dressed like a cow from head to toe, you got a free combo meal. Normally I wouldn’t attempt such a thing, but I knew it would be fun for Cammie, and hence for Addie, and with Caiti to help, I figured why not. We all went, and all got free food. Luckily for us, some neighborhood friends were there and immediately took the girls off to the playplace while Caiti and I got the food. Addie was scared of the big cow suit costume, which was very funny.

She mixes up her prepositions a lot, and says things like, "Come sit for me" instead of "next to me", or "Come upstairs for me" instead of "with me." My favorite of all is when she says "I’m scared for it. Save me for it!(instead of "from it"). She had a bad dream about a rooster once (at least that’s all I can figure, since for a week she would randomly look at me and say, "Mama, I’m scared for the rooster. It’s in the spider web, and it fell down, and I’m scared for it." Instead of "scared OF it".) So once when she was babbling about the rooster, she began to get worked up and cried and fussed and said, "Mama, I’m scared! Save me for the rooster!" and I said, " Oh, I’ll save you for the rooster, all right! I’ll save you for it until it gets here!" Matt and I laughed a lot. So the point was, she was very scared for the big cow at Chick Fil A and wanted me to save her for it. I told her I would.
Her other thing that cracks me up is when she is still hungry. Somehow, she got confused when I would ask her if she wanted something else to eat, because now she will say, "Mama, I’m still hungry. I need else to eat. Can I have else to eat?" It is so cute that I usually do give her else to eat.

Ryan has been standing alone quite a bit over the past two weeks. The longest he stood was about 9 seconds before falling back on his bottom, but he’s also really good at bending his knees and lowering himself to the floor from a standing position. He climbs up and over everything and everyone. He also puts everything in his mouth – we are constantly fishing things out of his mouth, and today I found a button in his diaper. Who knows when he ate that! I wonder how long it will be before he takes off running. He finally got two teeth poked through the bottom gums, but still has been having a terrible time with pain, runny nose, diarrhea, and even fever. I don’t know if it’s all teething related or not, but he is unhappy/in pain about 70 percent of the time. He also doesn’t nap very well, and overall has been so different from Addie. It’s been pretty difficult in a lot of ways, and I have been praying for a lot of patience and grace to deal with him. When he’s happy, he is an absolute delight –smiling, giggling, babbling, and being silly. I just don’t know if he has a high-maintenance personality or just doesn’t feel good a lot of the time.

Not a real update, just a sneak peak.

I will update soon, I promise! For those of you who don't know, my sister Caitlin and 5 year old daughter Camryn have moved in with us for the summer, so there are all sorts of adventures and stories to tell, but as you can imagine, my free time has become severely limited! I don't even really remember what happened before July 4th, so when I do post, I will have to start from there. We have lots of cute pictures of the girls all decked out in red, white, and blue, and I'll have to post about the new bunk beds, cow suits, ballet lessons, and kids' arguments that I thought I wouldn't have to hear for a few more years ("I'm not touching her, I'm just almost touching her"), etc. Fun times ahead for all!

Lunchables and Cokes

A couple of thing about Addie before I forget -

Around Super Bowl time, there was a great sale going on at Randall's on 12 packs of Coke. I never shop there because they are too expensive (they are, Mom!), and I don't usually buy Cokes, either. But we were having a Super Bowl party, so I figured I'd stock up. We got there and on our way to the Coke aisle ( I almost put Isle - some isle that would be!) I walked by the meat to see if there were good deals (there weren't). But we did pass the lunchmeat section and I decided to get Addison a Lunchable. She's never had one, and she was really into putting things together, so I knew she'd get a kick out of layering the meat and cheese and crackers, plus the Capri Sun and cookies would make it super special. I put it in the basket and told her it was a Lunchable and she was intrigued. She kept looking at it and asking questions, and I told her how she would put it together and that it was a special treat and what not. I got the Cokes and drove home, and Addie held the Lunchable the whole time. When we got home, I unloaded the 12 packs into the garage, while still explaining to Addie about her Lunchable. She ate it and loved it, the end.

Except a week or so later, when Matt brought in a 12 pack from the garage, she said, "Oh, Mama, I love Lunchables!" She ran over to it and pried open the end and took the Cokes out and stuffed her toys in the box and drug it around and played with it. She kept calling it a Lunchable, and when we'd go to the car, she'd see the stack and call them Lunchables too. I laughed frequently and repeatedly told her that those were not Lunchables, they were Cokes, even though we got them at the same time as her Lunchable. She appeared to comprehend this, and then kept calling them Lunchables. To this day, she still calls the long skinny 12 packs of drinks Lunchables. What a nut!

Also, I may have mentioned this before, but she calls all medicine "Addison". As in,

- "My itchy bite hurts, I need some Addison on it."

- "You need some medicine? Here, let me get the medicine. Medicine makes it feel better."

- "Yes, Addison makes it feel better. Lots of Addison."

I know she can say medicine, she's just choosing not to. I have a feeling that this is going to become one of our family jokes. Just like I wonder if Ryan is going to be Baby Ryan till he's 18.

Happy Father's Day!

Since I don't know how to do video collages of pictures, I will resort to uploading the pictures that I used for Matt's DAD frame that I have done for the past two years. It started with just Addison, and now Ryan gets his place too. Here is one of her pictures from last year (I'm still looking for the ones when she was 7 months old - they're here somewhere).

Matt is such a huge part of her life, even more so because he works from home and sees her most of the day, every day. She gets a big smile on her face when she sees him, and gets very excited to go up to his office to tell him about big events in her life, like how she did at swim lessons, or that she went potty like a big girl, or to show off her pretty dresses and bows. Matt is very patient and makes an effort to stop what's he's doing to give her attention and tell her how proud he is of her. He is also the one who comforts her when there are tears, especially on days when she's fussy for no reason and wants nothing to do with me - Daddy can make her smile just by cuddling with her.

He plays catch and builds lego houses with her, and reads books and gets her breakfast. He is also a huge blessing to me throughout the day. He will hold Ryan for a few minutes while I get Addie down for her nap. He comes downstairs to help me get out the door with kids and bags and things. He gets food for the screaming baby while I'm wiping up messes in the bathroom. And best of all, he is willing to be available during naptime, so that I can sneak out and do shopping and errands while the kids are asleep. If they wake up, he uses his lunch break to watch them until I get back, even though this interrupts his workday, or means he gets no lunch break at all. He is as hands-on a dad as you can get, and would not have it any other way. Sure, we look forward to the time when the kids don't NEED quite as much hands-on in the physical sense, but Matt is patient and loving even when I can tell he really needs a break. I am so thankful that I have a man who wants to be involved with his kids and doesn't just feel like it's the mom's job to raise them. And I know our kids will have the security and strength that Matt provides them to build their own lives on. We love you, honey!

Here are two of the "outtakes":

Ryan playing blocks

He's also been letting go and balancing on his feet for up to 3-4 seconds at a time. He loves the pool and can walk all over the baby pool in his floaty, although he is a little too tall, or it's too low. It's giving him lots of balancing practice. He has started yelling at us when he's mad, and did I mention that as soon as I start to sing Pat A Cake, he will begin clapping on his own? I don't even have to touch him, he just is very smart and knows that we clap during that song. I am excited and grateful to see these changes in him as he gets older and can communicate and interact so much more. He's really turning into my little boy now instead of just my baby.

Addie's musings

Addie started swimming lessons yesterday, and it was her first time in any kind of instructional class. She did really good, although she did get a little restless sitting on the steps waiting for her turn. Most of the kids will go on to be in the neighborhood swim team, so their parents have them in goggles and swim caps. Addie borrowed someone's pair today, and she actually kept them on the whole time. On the way this morning, she said, "Mama, I don't like people." I said, "You don't? How come?" and she said, "I just don't like people." I snickered to myself and said, "Well, there are people at swim lessons, so we can go and be nice to people at the pool." She thought about it for a minute and said, "I want to do swim lessons, and I don't want to see people." I told her that she had to see people to do lessons, and she said, "I don't want to do swim lessons, I want to play in the baby pool." I told her that even if we don't like people, we still are nice to everyone. I don't know if it sunk in.

This afternoon, we were upstairs going through stuff and Ryan was touching everything that Addison was playing with, and she was having zero patience, even when I sharply reprimand her. After pouting for a bit, she said, "Mama, I want to play downstairs, and Baby Ryan can play somewhere else." I said that Ryan had to come with us, and she frowned and said no, he needs to play somewhere else since he can't share toys (I tell her that sometimes). On the way down the stairs, she said, "Baby Ryan can play with doggies," and she ran down and got her big box of plastic dogs and set them all up and said, "Mama, you put Ryan here and he play doggies and you come in here with me." Miraculously, Ryan is still in the other room while Addie is playing with a set of nesting dolls I had.

Ryan has been in a fantastic mood lately. His first bottom tooth is finally breaking through, after about 5 months of teething-related fussiness. Addison had two teeth the day she turned 5 months, so he is about 3 months behind. However, twice today, and a couple of times over the past few days, he has let go while he's standing up and tried to balance on his own two feet. He has been pulling up for over a month, but hasn't been cruising much. He's still pretty stationary and prefers to crawl. But I don't know where this letting-go thing came from. He can only balance a second or two before grabbing something or falling. I wonder if he'll be an early walker. Addie walked two weeks after she turned one, but she'd been pulling up and cruising since 7 months old.

June Update

Addie has done great in her new bed. She really likes being a big girl. We moved her crib and changing table into Ryan's room, and moved the futon upstairs into his room too. We have an entire nursery set of Noah's Ark that we've been using for Ryan, but Addie's jungle stuff is a lot cuter. However, although she is out of her crib, we still have the comforter and accessories on her walls, the matching rug and light switch covers, picture frames and wall border around her room. We're not quite ready to buy a new bedding set and new theme stuff for a "big girl" room, and the animal things aren't babyish at all, so I am ok with leaving everything up in her room until we decide what we want to do, and if we want to get a twin/bunk/loft/whatever kind of bed for her eventually. On the other hand, I hate to use the less-nice Noah's Ark stuff instead of the jungle things in Ryan's room. I guess I will leave it alone for now.

I have been rearranging nearly everything else in the house. We moved my computer into the old playroom and used the bigger computer room as the new playroom. I painted the bottom of the playroom a bright maroon color and we bought a plaid sleeper sofa off Craigslist for $50!! It's in really great shape. I am debating what other painting I want to do in there, and if I have the talent to do it. We moved my big bookshelves upstairs to our bedroom, and brought a smaller shelf down from Addie's room for all her books.

In the living room, we moved the furniture yet again and I think Matt and I are finally happy with how it turned out.

I've been buying a few new clothes as I see them, here and there, since I have lost a lot of weight and don't intend to gain it back! I got a couple of new swimsuits and dresses, and a few tops. I turned 30 last week, and got a card, roses, and birthday donuts! Addison was so excited to give me the card. Matt had drawn little stick figures of our family, including Ryan crawling. He put big round ears on the Ryan figure and when I asked Addison who they were, she said, "Mama, Dada, Addison, and a mouse!" I laughed and laughed.

Here are some things Addie is saying and doing:

One night we were having something for dinner that she didn't like and just picked at it. Later, after her bath, she went into the kitchen and said, "I'm hungry." She climbed up in her booster seat and said, "Mama, I want NEW dinner." She had better learn soon that she isn't going to get "new" dinner just because she didn't like what I fixed! Of course, this time we got her some new dinner and she ate it all.

I was in the bedroom getting clothes and she came up and said, "Mama, I trust you." I said, "You do? I'm so glad." And she said, "That's what Barbie says." I think it was from the DVD Barbie Mermaidia that we let her watch on the car rides to Dallas. I don't think she has any idea what it means. She also said, at dinner one night, "I'm cold. I think I'm getting sick." I have no idea where that came from.

On morning, she pushed Ryan over and got put in time out. Then she pulled his shirt and he fell on his eye and made it bleed from the corner, so I put her back on the chair in time out. She cried so hard. Then I let her get up and she just wasn’t playing much and I asked her if she was ok and her face crumpled and she cried and hugged me and said she was sad. Hunter was over, and he was laughing and jumping and I told her to laugh and dance with him and she said she couldn’t because she wasn’t happy. I told her to go play and she said, "But I can’t play, I’m sad.” I said if she played she would be happy, but she shook her head and said, “I can’t play, because I’m just so sad. I’m not happy, I can’t play when I’m sad." It was very cute and sad.

Speaking of cute and sad, last night we were out shopping late, and when we got home it was time for bed. She ran into her playroom, but Matt told her it was time to go upstairs. She said, "But I just want to play just a minute, I want to play just a minute." We said no, and she crumpled up again and sobbed, "But I just want to play just a minute." She cried as she walked up the stairs and was completely miserable. It was so sad and there is still a part of me that wants to let her do whatever she wants, whenever she wants. Because she is cute and precious and adorable and my baby. Even when she's fussing or crying, it is cute.

Ryan is making his presence known loud and clear. He is crawling everywhere, pulling up on everything, and getting into everything too. His favorite thing is to crawl into the bathroom to see if we've left the toilet open, because if so, then he like to reach into the water. It is so gross and the bathroom door is shut all the time now. He also delights in crawling into Addison's face and lap, usually while she is diligently working a puzzle or reading a book. This has resulted in lots of pushing, shoving, and some clawing on Addie's part, and I try hard to keep him away so I"m not constanly having to discipline her reactions to him. He is just so in love with his big sister and everything that she does, and she is still too little to understand much about him. We have had a few instances of them really playing together...she gets a kick out of him laughing, so she will sometimes do things to get a reaction out of him, like hiding and popping up, or throwing the blanket on his head and letting him pull it off. Ryan likes to yell and bang things a lot.

He pounds his tiny fists on his high chair tray, and drums his hands on his legs and boxes and the dog. This morning, I heard him clapping and turned around and realized it was the part of Dora where they sing, "Where are we going? (Clap clap clap)" . I couldn't believe it. He is very smart. He has also somehow started "smiling" for the camera. I am not sure what's going on, unless maybe the red light on the camera makes him squint and makes faces. I got probably 8 shots in a row of him doing this as soon as I pressed the button.

Addie starts swim lessons tomorrow at our neighborhood pool. They run for 4 weeks, and we are both excited. Addie has been in the pool several times already this year and is like a little fish. I can't wait to see what they teach her. I will chill out in the baby pool with Ryan.