I'm pretty sure....

I'm pretty sure that Audrey is cuter than you and that Zoey is far prettier than any of us could ever hope to be!! (The photo of Zoey has her best friend in it - not to be confused with her blond sister!) Look at these girls.....

Finally a good photo!!!

Just thought I'd share this.....my brother took this photo of me and Audrey over the weekend. I NEVER get my photo taken with the girls - I'm always taking their photos!! Finally, someone got a picture of me with a baby and I like it!!! Of course, it bothers me the way the light hits my nose....it looks kinda big!

Have you seen a "Wuprichan-d"?

Happy St. Pete Patty's Day!! That's what Zoey has been talking about all last week. Mom, is it St. Pete Patty's Day yet? Nope that's tomorrow. Oh, OK! I only corrected her a few times - its much cuter to think of it as St. Pete Patty's Day.....and technically it was!

Zoey's teachers have been busy all week long for teaching the kids about St. Patty's Day. In the mornings when the kids got to school, there had been mischief afoot the night before. Napping towels hidden around the room, chairs laying down on the floor, little green footprints all over the floors, on the sink!, on the tables, looking at the hamster's cage, etc. The kids LOVED it. Zoey learned all about leprechans. Some are nice and sweet, some are mischevious, some play tricks on you! Some bring you chocolate gold coins. So cute. The best part of all, though, was hearing Zoey talk about the "Wuprichan-d". Of course, we tried not to giggle openly. And did a pretty good job too. We tried to help her pronounce it. My dad said that one time he went over it with her slowly. She said "lep - ru - kan - D". He said it was pretty cute - she just about had it, but then added a "D" to the end. Of course, we will continue to discuss it with a straight face, but oh, it was priceless to hear her come into the house and with these big ole eyes say "the wuprichand left footprints on our sink!!"

Another story of note from the last week. The kids were sick yet again. Allergies, reflux, viruses. It never ends. Last Sunday night, Zoey spiked a 103 fever. On Monday or Tuesday after 2 days of spiking high fevers, she got up and got dressed. Like Olivia the pig in the great book by the same name. On one page, it says "Then Olivia gets dressed." Two days of being sick and Zoey got dressed. Necklaces, earrings, bracelets galore, hair things, socks, gloves, hat, skirt, shirt and shoes. And she came in to see me while I was working on the computer and goes "ok, mom, I'm ready to go." I didn't know we had anywhere to go, but I took her to McDonalds just b/c she was so cute and she came in and asked me to. How could you say no to such a formal request??

Toddler is the devils child

No, I'm kidding. She's not. But she is my little monkey. It's just that if there is something to break, throw, or steal, well, she's on it. If I put food on her plate, she throws it on the floor. If it's breakable, she is guaranteed to want it and YES, she will most definitely break it within 3 minutes of touching it. Tonight she managed to cover the kitchen floor with all the dirty laundry within 2 minutes. It took her one minute and thirty seconds to take all the clothes in the hamper, two loads of laundry that is, and strew it about so that it covered every square inch of tile in our kitchen. It was impressive. When she's done, she takes a deep breath, looks around and has this like " there, all done!" expression on her face. Quite obviously and expectedly, her favorite word is MINE. Tonight in the tub - bathtime was five minutes after the laundry incident and about 30 minutes after throwing her food and stealing my drink at dinner - her sister needed a washcloth. So Audrey took the only one in the tub and wouldnt give it to her. This is because she knew Zoey had just said that she needed one. So I hand one more to Zoey. Audrey grabs it. I hand another one to Zoey, ditto and repeat. Finally I scold Audrey and get one to Zoey. Audrey had 5 washcloths in her hand and looked at me with a huge grin and said MINE!

Audrey and some hygeine issues...

So before I tell the latest....looks like everyone is sick again here. Oh boy! This time of the year, we're on one week and off the next. Oh well, it's nights like tonight when I give both of them some benadryl and they get some sleep...and I get some peace and quiet :-)

Audrey has some real hygeine problems developing, aside from the picking the scabs thing that I last described. Zoey hates getting her hair washed, hates it. Water in my eyes, water in my eyes, aaaaahhhhhhhhhh, get the kittty towel......So of course, Audrey, monkey see, monkey do. She used to love getting water in her face, she would stand in the shower with me and look UP at the sprayer. NOT ANYMORE. First it just started with her getting upset that I was getting water in her face when I washed her hair. I noticed this weekend, that she is now taking it to the next level - she's getting upset that her hair gets WET at all!! I've learned with her just to be quick. Maybe not use a ton of shampoo. And then just quickly douse her head and try not to get it down the face until the end. Well, now instead of just crying about having water in her eyes, she'll calm down, and then feel her hair and start crying again. All the time pulling her hair away from her head and motioning to me to dry it too. It's just a total toddler temper tantrum!!! Which now that she is approaching the TWOs......The other night, CJ went to giver her a kiss and goes ew, her head smells. I wanted to suggest that he try washing her hair the next night and see how well it goes!

Also, she has the desire to wipe. Constantly. Whenever anyone uses the potty, Audrey insists that she gets to sit on the potty and wipe her peepee too. This is cute and all until like the 4th time of the day and its only noon or when you have two kids in a public restroom stall with you and the toddler is pushing you off it so she can sit down. On the dirty seat. Ewww, gross!! And if you dont let her sit on it, then she throws herself down on the floor next to the toilet. Face down on the tile if she can get there faster than I grab her. On the dirty floor in the public restroom yes. And keep in mind, I usually at this point have my pants down around the ankles and am trying NOT to catch something contagious from the public toilet seat. Funny, haha, I know. NOT. Then there's the issue that sometimes she just gets so excited to go into the public restroom since she knows what's in store...wiping the peepee, with tisssssuuuuu on the pahyeee. Well, those times she just walks right up to the toilet and starts to touch the seat. Ew, gross. Also, she likes to pull off pieces of toilet paper and put them in the potty. Usually dropping them about a half inch above the water level. I always try to wash her hands, but you know, the next time you see Audrey, you might want to wash your hands before eating.....ha, ha, thats a joke....while Audrey may not have her hygeine routine down yet, her mommy does! If I had it my way, Audrey wouldn't be allowed in a bathroom with a real toilet for another year!

Zoey's getting married. She informed me today. She said momma I'm so excited. I'm getting married! I was like "OH, that's nice honey. When?" When I get older. I breathed a sigh of relief!! And did I mention that I invited her boyfriend over for a playdate at our house. No one has been able to get together yet, cuz guess what, we're all sick!! But when I first told her about the playdate invite, she said oh, can he come over to my house? Yes Zoey, would you like that? Oh momma, I would like that. Alot. And can he come over without his mommy?? Uh, no, I dont think he can. What's with that? What does she have in mind for the poor sap?? Oh and she was in a store over the weekend where they had dresses for girls that looked like brides dresses. I dont totally know why they have wedding dresses in a size 4-6 (flower girls?), but let me tell just how excited Zoey got!!! Oh momma momma momma, LOOK, Can I get one of those dresses? Fairly certain, if she did get a dress like that, she wouldn't take it off. For weeks.....

Imperfections

The baby really has a developing case of OCD. I worry about it. It surrounds imperfections. She notices things differently than her sister ever did. Her attention to detail is unnerving and yet something I could only strive to achieve. And yet she is 20months.

It began when she was younger. My dad mentioned that he noticed she would put her hand up his shirt sleeve and start picking at the pieces of skin that weren't smooth with the rest of his arm. She did this to me as a baby when she nurses; it drives me nuts since its usually under my shirt. She had her first scab recently. She immediately picked it. Ew, gross. Then she picked it again. And yet again. And yet again. And still as it is STILL healing, she rubs it to make it smooth or to check its smoothness or to just feel its imperfections. I would def put it under the obssessive column. Obviously she is a kid, a toddler who loves to put her hands in the pudding and feed herself by fingers. And yet in a different situation if something sticks to her hand, her leg, her fingers or her toes, she will instantly start whining and ask for a tisssssuuuu. At this point I dont even bother trying to figure out what the matter is, I just go get her a wipey or a towel. Funny thing though, she is so clingy and whiny right now she is getting some teeth. Usually in any circumstance, if I try to put her down to get something else for her that she wants, she wont get down. But if it involves a wipey or towel need, she's fine to let me go get it for her!!

Then the compulsive side. She may not be growing up in the clean enough house for her. I feel bad sometimes. I've definitely been able to get things organized more lately, but she just seems to be bothered by it. She has this uncanny knack for taking something out and sometimes making it a darn right point to put RIGHT back where she got it in the first place. Literally. For example, she was playing around with the stuff in her closet and I let her bring something out since I was busy trying to get the kids ready for school. She had to bring the thing downstairs with us. Five minutes later when she was done, I caught her going up the stairs herself. I watched her go upstairs dragging the toy behind her and put it right back into her closet. WOW. Now, this doesn't happen all the time, b/c she is afterall a toddler. But WOW. Right back to the exact spot. Funny. I hope this trait continues......

Dont even get me started about the dishwasher. She is SUCH a big help. She is actually unloading what I let her. Now that is awesome. And turning on and off lights at the right moments. We have a big girl growing up here.....

One last story before bed. Zoey got this new necklace last weekend. Its fake gold so every night she has to take it off before bath. One night this week, as I took it off Zoey and went to put it on the table next to the tub, Audrey reaches over and goes "me, me, me" and tries to motion to me to put on the necklace. It was so cute....she wants so much to be like her sister. She's one and half going on 3. Zoey will crawl around on the floor like a kitty meowing, and sure enough so will Audrey, not even knowing why.....they are so cute!

The Perfect Day

Well, not quite. But it was a good one!! Having just finished the last two weeks which were by far some of the worst, I'm totally slammed this week. CJ and I are both really busy, really distracted and really focused on things beyond the house, kids, etc. I would say that I've been holding onto household management by a thread. On Sunday night, I went into our shower to get shampoo and conditioner for the bottles in the girls bathroom. It was then that I realized that there were two bottles of conditioner. Since I managed to shower last week all of twice, I think, I felt really sorry for my husband who did shower every day. I wonder if he was still able to lather rinse repeat?

About that perfect day. Being a work at home mom has its perks, one of them would be scheduling time for the kids to play during other people's work days. We are really having some of the best weather of our entire year this month and next. Me and some other moms took advantage today by taking the kids to the park for lunch. I only pick up fast food for the kids once a week, but today was one of those days. So from Zoey's perspective this was the majority of her day - get up, go play at school with her friends, go get McDonalds, go to the park, go home and watch an hour of tv, eat dinner and play until bed. Not bad!! Anyway, this photo is one from the day. This is Audrey and two of her little friends (the younger sisters of some of Zoey's friends). They were pretty cute all lined up. I just couldn't resist. So I told them to smile and say cheese and they all did!! They are lined up in order of age with Audrey being the youngest at 20months, then Emily at 24mos and Laurel at 36mos....of course Audrey is the largest even when she isn't standing on the high part of the bridge!

Some more words to add to Audrey's babble. Done. Nooh (nose), Mou (mouth), Doha (Dora). She can also point out her belly, her nose, mouth, head and sing a few parts to the theme song for Dora which by the way she absolutely loves. She also loves the Backyardigans which is this really cute kids show with great music. The poor thing is teething horribly right now - post nasal drip causing her reflux to act up and for her to puke and cough all night. Not to mention the pain and discomfort which cause her to whine and cry all day. Poor baby, poor mommy!! She is getting her top two eye teeth (k-9) and her last molar (until her two yr molars start to come in). She has pretty much been getting all of her teeth since our trip to France. Considering that she only had 2 or 3 when we left France (in Dec) and now it's Feb and she is just about done getting them all. UGH. She got them late, but they come in huge bunches all at once. I imagine that it feels pretty bad.


As for Zoey, these days she's got one boyfriend. For privacy sake, we'll call him William. But to Zoey she calls him by all three names (first middle last). It's pretty cute. They are going to get married. Apparently. Lately she's been telling me that when she gets bigger she and William are going to get married first. So then he wont be able to marry Gaja which btw is her best friend in the class. Funny thing, in talking to his mommy today, she said he never comes home talking about any little girls other than Zoey. She said maybe its just a ploy to keep her affection? Cute, very cute. Last week, he drew her a picture and put it in an envelope. When she went to school this week after missing all of it last week, the first thing she opened in her bag on Monday was this letter. OH, mommy is it a letter for me?? YEAAA!. Guess who its from Zoey? Who? William. OHHHHHH, WOOOOOW!! She melted. It was very cute. We're having him over for a playdate next week. His mom and I decided that we should get to know each other better if we're going to be inlaws....