Birthday Parties

Annie had her neighborhood birthday party on Friday. She had so much fun, and hasn't stopped talking about it since. (She gives me this rundown, starting with the recap of how one little girl couldn't come, because her Mom was sick, but they dropped off a present, a My Little Pony, before the party . . . it starts there, then the narrative runs the entire length of the party. It's adorable. And amazing all the stuff she remembers.) We aimed to keep the numbers a little smaller, inviting the kids that Annie requested by name, and who's homes we can see from ours. (Thus eliminating several kids she's in nursery with, because when there's this many kids her age in one area, you have to narrow it down somehow!) How cool is it though, that we can make up an entire kids birthday party just from houses we can see from our front yard. (And there are kids around her age that live within a few houses of us that we didn't invite . . . we had to stick with the ones she talks about more, since there are so many children who live around here. Have I mentioned how much I love this neighborhood?)
We set up an obstacle course, and the big bouncy house, in the backyard, and the kids had so much fun playing with it all. We decorated cupcakes, played on the swings and slides, and the girls went down for awhile to the play room to play dress up. After the party, some of the older neighbor kids ventured over to see what all the hoopla was . . . they had so much fun bouncing and playing with the games. Then our neighbors (who's backyard is open with ours) filled up a big kiddie pool and situated it under the slide . . . I think Annie spent most of her afternoon outside, just sliding into that pool. The last few days have seen Annie outside playing, or over at friends' houses, pretty much all day long. I am going to love summers here. It blows me away that she's an old enough kid to be doing this kinda stuff now. Playing outdoors all day with all the neighborhood kids. She's 'one of them' now. A kid. Not a baby or a toddler. Or going to a friend's house to play, and being gone for hours (without a diaper on!) When did she become this grown up? (Do you know how much house work I got done while she was gone and Ellie actually took a decent nap?! It was AMAZING!)
Anyway, I did a little collage of some of the pictures from her friend party. And please, try not to notice our dead, dead grass. It's embarrassing. (When we left on vacation, green lawn . . . when we came back, something (probably grubs) had wiped out half our back lawn. We need to start the chemical warfare on Monday, we just didn't want to do it with all these parties and kids out on the back lawn this week.) Prepare to die grubs, 'cause we want our lawn back.


In related birthday party news . . . it's raining outside. And we have an expected 20 people or so coming over this afternoon for a family birthday celebration. There's tables and chairs all set up outside. I'm now feeling really good now about the decision to not go with a barbecue this year.

Stop the Train, I Wanna Get Off!

So, I'm decidedly not a fan of potty training (I'm sure that's normal though). I mean, sure, the end result will be well worth all that we're going through right now . . . but I look at that box of diapers in the closet and think, "Am I sure we don't just want to wait awhile longer?!" Although, that's not really an option anyway. Annie is done with diapers. Several nights back, as we were getting ready for bed, she told me, "I'm three now Mom, I don't wear diapers anymore." And ever since then, we've been all-panties-all-the-time. Which has meant more laundry and nagging on my part. But a sense of accomplishment on maturity on her part. So I guess that wins out. She's only had one accident at night this week, which has amazed me. But, I've decided I am not a fan of the 3AM potty break. It's worse, more exhausting, then night time feedings were, by far. It's out of bed and having to be aware enough that we don't end up covered in pee. Washing hands and getting all situated in bed again. At least one of us has to be fairly awake to accomplish this all. And then there's the matter of getting Annie to sleep again. Y'all know the nightmare that is Annie's sleep. Well, it's only mildly easier to get her to sleep again in the middle of the night. She had a full on meltdown for Greg a few nights ago, and I think it was a half hour from the time she woke up 'til when she went back down (and her screaming woke up Ellie in the process.) I fared a bit better last night, but ended up falling asleep on her bedroom floor next to her bed for awhile, to assure that the Ellie-waking-screaming didn't happen. I would pay that kid money to just wear diapers during the night again, so we could all just sleep. But, I guess if I want her potty trained by Kindergarten, sacrifices must be made.
And as much as changing dirty diapers sucks, there is nothing that compares to the awfulness of changing poopy clothing and underwear. Ewww. I swear, it's worse than throw up. I've thrown away underwear twice this week. I sit there and stare at them for awhile, thinking, "Clean this out, or pay a dollar for a new pair?" My frugal side doesn't stand a chance against the stank. Ugh.
But, we're pushing forward. I mean, the kid is three now, I wouldn't want to wait much longer anyway. I guess it's just time to pay the piper. As long as I don't mention it, suggest anything or offer support, she even does really well on her own. Just don't try and get involved . . . I swear that's when the revenge peeing happens. (How dare I suggest trying to sit on the potty for a minute when we're leaving on a long walk and it's been 6 hours since she used the bathroom last?! What was I thinking?!)
I think we're closer than I realize. I look back at this whole week and realize she hasn't had a diaper on the entire time, and really how few accidents there has been (she's even played at a friend's house for 5 hours without any problems), and I start to realize we're really on the cusp of something. I just wanna be there already. Seems like we've been riding this train forever, and I just wanna reach the destination already.


A little blast from the past . . . here's pictures from when Annie first got her little potty. Back in February. Of 2008.

Growing Up

Now that Annie's three, we've collectively decided it's time to board the Potty Train again. The first full day of this was met with mild enthusiasm by Annie. The problem with mild enthusiasm, is anytime something comes along that warrants more enthusiasm (neighbor kids playing out back, tricycles or butterflies), the potty thing becomes a mere after thought. And something's gonna get peed on. So, we had mild success matched with our mild enthusiasm the first day. The second day was about the same. My carpet only had to be shampooed once, which was nice. Then last night, as I was getting Annie ready for bed, she commented, "No diapers Mom, I'm three now. I'll wear panties to bed now." Crap. We hadn't come up against this one before. I didn't want to discourage any initiative she was taking, and yet, I didn't want a ton of laundry in the morning. In the end, my desire to build her self confidence and independence (and wanting her potty trained one day) won out, and the kid went to be in panties.
And at 5:30 in the morning, she called me into her room, we walked her sleepy self into the bathroom, she peed then went back to bed. Both her and the bed were perfectly dry in the morning! Huzzah! I'm so proud of my little girl.
Although, my Mom so sweetly rained on my parade this morning when she commented, "That's great! You know, you were night trained by two and a half . . . it was a whole 'nother year before you were potty trained during the day." We're just gonna hope that for once my eldest daughter decides to be a little less like her obstinate, independent, difficult child mother, and more like her sweet, mild mannered, docile father who loved to please others and make his parents happy. One can hope, right?
And so far today, the potty training thing is on track, so who knows? Maybe it's starting to take . . .

Yesterday I was out pulling weeds while Ellie was napping, and Annie was riding her tricycle. Annie was watching me, at first with mild then building to intense interest. Finally she asked, "Mommy, what are you doing?" "I'm pulling weeds," I grunted, while ripping out some grass looking thing who's weeds were half way to China. Annie observed for a minute, then asked, "Can I try?"
I told her which ones she could pull, and she happily went to work taking the heads off of various weeds that's roots are laughing evilly because they've lived to see another day. Several times during this, she'd suddenly gush, "Thank you Mommy! Thank you!" Um, sure kid. If you clean your room and make your bed tomorrow, you can help me unload the dish washer!
If only I can find a way to keep this level of interest in weeding in the future . . .

Today we had Annie and Ellie's annual check ups. Both got a clean bill of health.

Annie's asthma medicine is being scaled back a dose (yay!) since her symptoms have pretty much disappeared. Ellie's skin is being watched though, since yesterday when her face touched the grass she broke out in a little red rash all over her forehead and cheeks. That kid has some seriously sensitive skin . . . we try to avoid using wipes, and will rinse them out as much as possible when she has even the little redness or she breaks out into horrific diaper rashes. Discussing the family history of asthma and allergies, the doctor kept shaking her head and muttering, "Oh my . . . oh my." Then she offered, "I'm so sorry." Kinda to be expected though, we did genetically screw our kids over with all the allergy and asthma genes floating around in our family. My sister gets bit by a bug and swells up into something resembling a Klingon, and Greg's sister is allergic to her own sweat. Then add in my asthma and allergies, Greg's excema, both family histories of severe seasonal and food allergies, and our kids didn't really stand a chance of getting through this life without using more than their fair share of tissues and Zyrtec.
Anyway, besides the triple threat of allergies (asthma, excema and allergies) plaguing the kids, everything else went really well. Ellie played Patty Cake with the doctor, and Annie showed off her address and phone number reciting skills (now including an area code!) to the nurse. Ellie was smaller than I'd expected. She's felt heftier lately, even looking chunkier. So I was kinda surprised when she weighed in at only 17 lbs. 1 oz. (3%). She's over 27.5" now though, leaving her in the 10th percentile for height. And in true bobble head fashion, her head is a whopping 83rd percent.
Annie weighed in with a fairly average 31 lbs, putting her in the 58th percentile. Her height is up to the 15th percentile, at just over 35 inches (which we already knew, since 35 inches is what it took to get her on the Matterhorn.) Her weight is falling on the charts a little each time, and her height is gaining (up from 9% just a little while back). The doctor said it looks like she's 'growing into her build,' and will probably reach a good equilibrium in the next few years. She's already growing out of the toddler look so much . . . she still has the baby fat in her face and belly, but I can't believe how much she's thinning out, as she's out there running around like a little person, and not a toddler.
They both got shots, but did really well with them. It was awful holding them down while they got repeatedly poked, but I think we're all already starting to block it out . . .

Universal Studios

I'm a big fan of Universal . . . I LOVE the back lot tour far more than a person should. Even if King Kong and the Back to the Future set burnt down. Possibly not the single most kid friendly of all of our different outings, but there was a really cute Curious George play area with splash fountains and a cool indoor ball pit like nothing I've seen before. It was a fun, although short 10-5 day (what theme park is only open 7 hours?! What a rip off! At least we walked onto almost every ride, so that made it a little more worthwhile.)

Ellie and me . . . we found on this vacation that Ellie is always game for sticking her head through holes and being photographed . . . don't know why she loved it so much, she just did.

Me and Greg. And yes, I realize I'm Fred and he's Wilma . . . that was the point, despite several bystanders shouting out our 'obvious' confusion.

My family with that famous great white . . .

Ellie resting sweetly against my chest on the back lot tour . . . she almost fell asleep . . . if only the Curse of the Mummy part hadn't blown air and water at us.

Annie (flashing gang signs) and Grandpa on the tram tour.

Cody and my Dad. They're so cute.

Annie and Grandma in line.

Annie kept kissing Cody's cheek 'cause he'd wipe it off and she'd cry out, "Cody! It's NOT gross!" and kiss him again. I think it's how he gets most of the girls to kiss him.

Waiting for Water World to start. Best live show at any park.

During Water World.

Talina, David, Annie, Ellie and Grandma hanging with Curious George. Dora also lived here. With all the Sesame Characters at Sea World, and Disney ones at Disneyland, we pretty much hit all of Annie's favorite beings on earth in one trip. (Although right before our trip I showed something to Annie with Elmo on it and she informed me she wasn't into Elmo anymore, she likes Princesses now. "Maybe Ellie will like it Mom." Ha!)

Ellie's like, "Oooh! More furry people to attempt to eat!"

Well, She is Three Years Old Now . . .

Apparently Annie's ready for some added responsibilities now that she's so grown up. I came in to find that she had taken the clothes out of the washing machine, put them in the dryer and got that going. Then put a load of laundry in and started the washer. Of course, that pile of laundry she put in the washing machine just happened to be the clean clothes I'd just sorted and still needed to hang up. And one of Annie's pillows from her room. But still, it's nice to know I'll have some help with laundry now. :-)

Universal Studios Children's Area Videos

Annie cycles through loving all things water, to being shy and fearful of spouting jets of the stuff . . . this was a more timid Annie . . .

Wild Animal Park Videos

Ellie's First Birthday

So, Ellie turns one today. This last year has flown by. I can't believe we're on the verge of toddlerhood with this child. She's still just my baby. (This illusion is helped by her baldness, her mere 17 lbs and her one little tooth . . . even teeny tiny Annie at this age had a little more hair and 8 whole teeth in.) I'm not ready for Ellie to be one. Not that I have a lot of choice though.

She is amazing me more each day though. I recognize her words for balloon, bird, doggie, Daddy, Mommy and sometimes Annie (she's inconsistent in what she calls Annie). She's refusing to take more solo steps, but you can't help but trip over her as she barrels back and forth in the kitchen pushing some wheeled toy around at breakneck speeds. She's still a mommy's girl, but she definitely loves her daddy. Last night Greg was in Annie's room, behind closed doors, assembling Annie's new bed (i.e. her birthday present) and Ellie stood outside that door yelling, "Dada! DAA! Daaaaaaaadaaaaa!" for a good five minutes trying to make it to her Dad. She thinks Annie is hilarious, but is rightfully wary of her when her older sister comes in for a hug (which usually ends in tears by the poor squished baby). It has been an amazing year, to watch her go from a newborn to this baby right on the verge of childhood.
I'm just hoping this next year doesn't go as fast!

Here she was yesterday, while we were celebrating Annie's birthday. First, with Grandma.

Excitedly playing with the birthday girl.

Here she was yesterday showing off her 'balloon' talking skills. I'd hoped to get more of her words on video, but she kinda just digressed to yelling back and forth with Annie.

And here she was, 'talking on the phone' on vacation.

Annie's Birthday Celebration

As I've mentioned before, Annie gave up sleeping in her bed, and has been on the floor the last few weeks. So, we'd decided on the princess bed of her dreams for her birthday, in the hopes that this would make bedtime a little easier. Well, she was awfully excited, just gushing about her 'adorable' new bed. She even told me, "This bed is beautiful, I don't have to be scared of it!" (Why was she afraid of the old bed?! Who knows!?) (It should be noted that as excited as she was about the bed, and even with her willingness to sleep in it, it didn't really help us out much at bedtime . . . she still freaked out, and for quite awhile. Good times.)

She also got a cute little "Elmo Medical Kit" full of cute little Sesame Street themed medical instruments from her sister Ellie. She loves it, and ALL of her baby dolls have since had thorough physicals.

Here's her new bed, with cute new bedding. And her two presents (the Elmo stuff from Ellie, and a Princess nightgown from Greg and I.)

Her seeing her bed for the first time.

Ellie thought the bed was cool too!

So happy. And cheesily posed.

Here's Annie singing "Happy Birthday" to herself . . . and then being adorable with Ellie, including repeatedly calling her "dear" and singing to her.

Beach Baby

Here's Ellie enjoying the sand and sun (in her freakishly adorable cover up).



And here she is dancing in Disneyland's Bugs Life area . . .

Wild Animal Park

It was the last major attraction we visited and although we had a lot of fun at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego, I think everyone was so done with vacationing and walking, that we didn't explore as thoroughly as we could. We did do the safari tram tour thing twice though. It meant you could sit. :-) Did I mention I majorly tweaked my foot, straining a ligament in my arch or something, our second day there. From there on out, walking could, at times, bring tears to my eyes. And we did a lot of walking. It was pretty painful. Actually still is . . . I hobble up stairs like a little old lady (a little old lady who's deathly afraid of putting any weight on her right foot, that is). Anyway, when we hadn't gone to see the baby elephants or the baby tigers yet, and Annie was getting grumpy, and my foot was killing me, we were all, "Oh well, I'm sure we'll see newborn elephants and tigers again some other time . . . " It probably would've been another story had we hit this attraction earlier in the vacation. Either way though, it was fun. Annie and Ellie both loved seeing the animals, and Ellie loved to point and yell at them on the safari tour. Then she'd turn to me and just babble and smile, like she was telling me all about them. Loved it.

Aunt Talina and Annie.

Lacy with Ellie and Annie down in the big fake tree.

Cody & Lacy in a giant weaver bird nest.

Cody & Ellie.

Annie & Greg.

Cody & Ellie checking out the meerkats.

Annie enthusiastically pointing stuff out to her Daddy.

Ellie and me & Greg and Annie in the Wild Animal Park sign.

Ellie & Lacy out bird spotting . . .

Annie & Greg . . . Annie apparently missed all the 'Do Not Feed the Animals' signs.

And the 'Keep All Arms & Legs Inside the Tram' signs . . . she was so fascinated.

Ellie, our little tour guide.

Ellie and I on the tour.

This is one of my favorite pictures from all of the vacation . . . my Dad got out his cell phone and tried to take a few pictures of the birds . . . they swarmed him and landed all over him. Awesome.

Everyone look up . . .

Annie, me and Ellie as butterflies.

Sea World

Sea World has always been a favorite in my family, so I couldn't wait to share it with the girls. (I think each and everyone of my sisters and I wanted to be a marine biologist at some point.) I was a little disappointed that the girls seemed basically uninterested in the shows at all, but it was magical, for lack of a less cheesy word, to watch them watch the swimming polar bears, the sharks, the penguins and the sting rays in complete awe and wonderment. Amazing.

Uncle Cody, Annie, me & Ellie with Shamu and Grandpa in the background.

Me, Ellie, Cody and Annie with Shamu again!

Ellie and I cuddling. I was soaking wet at this point, because despite it getting down to like 60 something degrees right at the end of our day, the brave (or stupid) of us decided to go ride the water ride, a few times. We were very wet and cold walking out to the cars.

Ellie and I with Shamu again.

Cody, me, Annie, Lacy, Grandma and Greg with a sleeping Ellie all congregated around Annie at the tide pool to watch her touch star fish . . .

Annie running through the splash park.

Annie and Lacy in the water.Many, many adults vegging out in the infant/toddler play area watching Ellie crawl around.

Ellie playing in the baby land.

Annie and Greg in front of the giant shark mouth.

Ellie and Daddy in the shark area.

Star and I showing our disappointment because we thought the Shamu show was a little lame. And preachy.

Annie and Greg in an aquarium.

My family by the manatee statue.

Penguins were, by far, one of Ellie's favorite things to watch . . . she practically dived into the water with them!

Ellie pointing out penguins to Mommy.

Greg, Annie and me . . . I just liked this one, 'cause it showed off my daughter's tongue, that is out like a good 50% of the time!

Watching the polar bears swim and wrestle with the giant half-ball toy they had. It was so cool.