Summer has TWO kids now! ( A blog of learning how to balance the fun of mothering )

Santa visit!

 THese past few weeks have been crazy.  I know it's not going to slow down any time soon, but while Paige is taking a rare morning nap and Caden is occupied with watching "Frosty the Snowman", I will dash off a quick blog for those of you family who might be wondering where I've been!  

 Let's see....Grinchmas rehearsals have started in FULL swing for me again.  This week is our dress rehearsal-Executive preview week and then we open on saturday!!  I am SO excited to be a part of the show again this year.  Missing it last night was hard for me, even though I was missing it for a wonderful reason, ( Being pregnant with Paige ) it was still hard to know the show was going on without me!! I am grateful to Michael Roddy who is the director of the show, for re-casting me and giving me another chance to chew the scenery and belt my heart out.  :)

 

IN the midst of all this, we have been dealing with Paige's Urinary tract issues.  We finally got the last UTI cleared up, and last week we took her to the local children's hospital for some outpatient tests.  An Ultrasound on her kidneys and then a catheter dye test to check for urine reflux to the kidneys.  We haven't heard back yet from the doctors about the results of that test, but I'm taking Caden there today for his seasonal flu vaccine, to I'll ask them then.  I would imagine that no new is good news, but I would like to know either way.  Then just few days ago, she spiked a high fever in the middle of the night.  THinking it was yet ANOTHER Urinary Tract infection, I took her to the after hours pediatric to see what was the matter.  Well, not only did she not have a UTI, she had no infection anywhere- no runny nose, no congestion, nothing.  THe doctor was stumped.  She did offer that she might have Roseola, but this morning she woke up fever-free with no rash, so who knows?  That kid is going to have an immune system stronger than any of us with all the mess she's had to deal with in her short 10 months.  

 

In the midst of all THAT, our mini-schnauzer Belle started peeing blood again, so after a 230 dollar trip to the vet for X-rays and such we now have to get a *very* expensive surgery to remove a large bladder stone.  This on TOP of getting New brakes for both our cars, and other repairs made to MY car, which, thank goodness, my parents paid for with the understanding we will pay them back.  I hate HATE owing money to family members  ( Mike's dad helped us out one year with paying our taxes and let us pay him back in smaller increments ), but there was no helping it.  I thank God for our loving family, my parents, mike's parents, his grandparents, my grandparents, my dad, my brother....all have helped us out in so many ways with our young family and all sorts of issues, and it makes me hope and pray I will be able to do the same for my kids one day.  

While all of THIS was happening, my little sister gave birth on November 6th to a GORGEOUS little boy!!  I finally got to meet Brock Allen on Thanksgiving, and holding that little man was a dream.  He is precious- long legs and big old feet- a sure sign he's going to be as tall as his momma and daddy.  I am a super proud Auntie.  :)  

 MY brother-in-law Wes took this photo.  He's an amazing photographer. :)

Hmm...okay, Oh and now the to the title of this post!!  We took the kiddos to meet Santa a couple weekends back so that I would hopefully get my Christmas cards out in time.  Still holding out that hope.  LOL!  Paige actually did remarkably well- she was loving Santa- it wasn't until the guys trying to make her smile poked her one too many times with the light up stick and she had had enough.  Caden was an old Pro.  He smiled and chatted amiably with Santa, telling him things he wanted for Christmas which were NOTHING like what he had told US he wanted.  I was ready for that though, it's totally a Caden thing to do, to do a 180 on us.  So here's a few photos I took with my camera, and then start looking for your Christmas cards to see the actual photo!

  

 

More to come in the next days or so!!  

Love to all and hope you are having a wonderful holiday!!

XO
 
 
 

9 months!! * a little late! *

Sigh.  Isn't she adorable?  I know, I know, I'm a bit biased, but seriously.  People, friends, strangers, tell me all the time that she is one of the cutest babies they've seen.  I have friends who are *NOT*  kid people tell me they would love to babysit her, she's won them over that much.  

When I found out at 20 weeks that I was having a girl, I was a *little* bummed.  Having Caden, and knowing how awesome and cool having a boy could be, and also knowing how high maintenance girls could be, I was just like, " okay. "  Don't get me wrong, I knew I was going to love her, but nothing NOTHING could have prepared me for how I feel about this little lady.  

I. Freaking. ADORE her.  Yes, she *is* High Maintenance, but I love it.  I love that she wants to be with me, that she wants to be the center of my world, that she wants me watching her at all times....she's so much like my personality that I sometimes get a glimpse of what I was like as a baby.  She is SO intense with her feelings- she loves her brother, she slaps her thighs with glee!- He leaves the room, she yells in frustration, hanging on the playgate, hollering at him to take him with her.  She loves the dogs, her daddy....she really loves everyone.  She's agreeable, and adventurous and spirited.  Being her mother has been the most exciting journey and I can only imagine what is in store for me.

A few highlights of where she is right now:

* At her 9 month appointment she measured in at 25lbs. 12 oz. and 29 1/2 in. for height.  So about 100 percentile for weight and 97th for height.  Yes.  She is a *BIG* 9 month old.  How I love my pediatrician for never getting on to me telling me she's too heavy.  I have some friends who told me how their peds would mention that their little ones might be too heavy  but mine never have.  Both Caden and Paige were healthy big babies from birth and were always on the large side as they grew, so it's normal for them.  

* All in one week she started crawling with belly off the floor with surprising speed, and pulling up on anything and everything.

*She's cruising around said anything and everything with the greatest of ease, even pulling her arms away for a moment or two, standing on her own.

* In the span of about 3 weeks she popped 3 teeth through and just popped another one through last night. 

* She's becoming much better at self-entertaining for longer than a few moments at a time, although she's usually best if someone else is nearby helping to entertain her, like mommy, daddy or her big Brother.

* She is completely enamored of The WIggles.  When we start one of the videos, she will stop whatever it is she's doing, crawl to the coffee table, pull up and proceed to watch a great deal of it without moving a muscle.  She's even started dancing a bit, bouncing up and down to the music....so super cute.

* With all the yelling she does, of course she's been making a few legible sounds.  Her favorites being "Da-da" and " AAAT! "

*She is in love with her bottle.  Caden never really cared too much- he took to learning the sippy cup quickly and so was easily weaned from the bottle right when he turned one, but Paige has shown no interest in learning the cup and will have a total freak out MELTdown if she does not receive her bottle at the appropriate time, i.e. Time for Bed, or to put herself back to sleep.  Oh man, we are seriously going to have a hard time breaking her of that.  

* She's still waking up average 2 times a night and naps very seldom during the day.  At least we got one sleeper.  :)

Alright, gotta run.  Wish us luck that we can maybe dodge the flu bugs in the house- we have too much stuff going on right now to be sick or to take care of sick kids.  Plus I really don't want Paige catching the flu- Paige got the regular flu shot, but Caden wasn't able to since they were out of his dose at the Peds office. He's on the waiting list.  Caden's actually going to get the H1N1 mist this Thursday but Paige is too little to get that one.  Ugh...stupid flu.  I'm nervous about the vaccine for the swine flu for Caden but what can I do?  He and Paige are going to be in daycare a lot these next weeks and those places for all the care they put into cleaning it, are like little germ factories.  Blech.

Food and Wine Festival 2009.

 My FAVORITE event that Disney does, right after the Not So Scary Halloween Party.   At EPCOT from the end of September to the beginning of November, the World Showcase becomes " Eating and Drinking Around the World ".  In addition to the countries already represented in the World Showcase, booths are added from additional countries, all offering 2-3 representations of their countries favorite cuisine and best local beers and wines.  Mike and I have been going every year.  It's a tradition for us along with some of our closest friends, The Ragens, The Kelly's, and every year the group of us gets bigger, and every year, we have more and more fun.  We took some wonderful photos and had a blast.  Paige was new to the whole experience as it was last Food and Wine I was preggo with her, so she thoroughly enjoyed tasting all Momma had to offer her. If there is one thing that Paige is NOT, is shy when it comes to eating new foods.  She LOVES to eat table food now, definitely preferring it to the jarred stuff.  Anyhoo, here's a few photos from the day. 

 

 

 

Have a wonderful day!!  :)  Hope you all are enjoying that I've been keeping up a little better with this blog.  Leave a comment if you'd like and let me know who's checking it out!!

Trip to the Fire Station!!!

Our good friend Christina who homeschools her oldest daughter, was meeting some other homeschool groups today at the Clermont Fire Station, and was nice enough to ask us if we wanted to tag along.

Caden, who's definitely a child of the electronic age, has never really shown much interest in the workings of Fire trucks, police trucks, or anything of that nature, so I accepted but didn't really think he was going to be too into all of it.

I was wrong.  He LOVED it.  He loved looking at the places where the Firemen sleep, their kitchen, their HUGE trucks, and all of the cool equipment they use to save people, but most of all, he LOVED getting to use the hose.  Paige of course, I enjoyed it all from my arms, and I swear my shoulder feels wrenched out of the socket.  She yelled and hollered at the Firemen and kids, and loved hearing the horn on the truck.

Here's a few photos from the day- Thank you Auntie Christina and Madison for inviting us!!!

 

One of Madison's friends, Nathan. Caden really thinks he's cool.  :)

 

Checking out the big chainsaw they use to cut through doors.

 

Getting to use the HOSE!  woo Hoo!!

 

Listening carefully to the Firefighters tell them about emergencies.

 

Sitting inside the Tower Truck.

We had a great day!!!
Enjoy your weekend!  :)

Happy Halloween!!

Our Camera is a second-hand digital, and it's on it's last legs, so these photos are not going to be the best quality, however Hope you enjoy them!!  

Mike's sister and husband and son came into town for the weekend, so we wound up going to Universal for the day, then Trick or Treated that night.  The kids were EXHAUSTED from such a long day, but they were troopers, especially Paige.  She last until 9:30 that night on only a 20 minute nap, poor baby!!

 

Caden and Kylen in the stroller- Kylen  didn't want to ride! 

 

With Captain America!

You can see mIss Paige crashed here in her stroller.  This was the ONLY time she napped the whole day!!  All the kids were really good despite how tired they all were.  Kylen got to ride some new rides too, this trip, since he had grown since the last time he had visited Universal.

\

 

 

 

xo!

Carving Pumpkin number TWO!

Yes, pumpkin number two.  Pumpkin number one was carved last Sunday during the cool front, but then our cool front turned into full-fledged summer weather and pumpkin number one decomposed in record time and soon was pile of orange goo on the ground.  SO, Paw Paw saved the day with a trip to Lowe's to get another pumpkin so we could have one for Halloween.  We chose a bigger one this time.  :)

Today during Paige's nap, Caden and I hauled the big guy out to the back porch and carved away.  Caden said he wanted a " scary " face, so I tried my best to oblige him.

 

Once the front was carved Caden took some of his cool, Mr. Potato-like pieces and made another face on the back.

 

And now the front Caden dubbed, " Wicked Jack ".

Not bad, huh?  

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Check THESE out.

Aren't these the most yummy, nibbley, delicious chunky legs you've ever seen?

Mackenzie and Paige. :)

  When Paige was about 3 months old, I went back to work.  Thankfully, instead of having to send her to a regular daycare, ( which is NOT bad btw, mike and I just wanted her to be in a home-type setting ) my good friend Christina ( who has THIS awesome blog ) offered to keep her for me, the two days I work.  Cooincidentally, Christina and I BOTH had babies on the same day; January 30th, only 8 minutes apart!! How cool is that???  Of course since she and I both had girls, and Christina was going to be keeping Paige, you have to know that the two ladies were going to become best friends.  As a matter of fact, even before I went back to work, Christina and I spent almost every day together, hanging out, letting our older kids get some much needed interaction, and commiserating on being a mom to two kids, and the everyday things of having a newborn.  Basically, since birth, Mackenzie and Paige have been, well, together.  

While I'm at work during the day, Christina will periodically send me photos and videos on my phone to let me know how she's doing, or, if the girls were doing something especially funny or silly, she wanted me to be able to see it.  Just recently she sent me some photos of the girls from this past month.  Now that they're both crawling, and pulling up, the dynamic between them is so cute.  Mackenzie just LOVES Paige.  Her little face just lights up when she sees her, and she's fascinated with Paige's hair and the fact that Paige drinks a bottle.  Whenever they're hanging out together and Paige has a bottle, forget about it, Mackenzie is AFTER it!  Conversely, when Paige sees Mackenzie, she rocks back and forth in excitement and then forgetting that she's about 10 pounds heavier, she'll lumber over to Mackenzie and "Whoomp!" knock her right over.  Christina, who is a saint for taking on the challenge of taking care of TWO infants and Home Schooling her 5 year old Madison, says that some of her favorite parts of her days with Paige, is watching the two babies interact.  SO.....here are a few photos to show you how they get along.  Warning:  Some serious cuteness is ahead.  :)

 

 

 

 

Mackenzie and Paige- August and September 2009


Cute, right???
xo

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!!!!

 I know so many of my blog readers are Facebook friends, so these photos won't be new to you.  I DO have family who checks up on this blog though, and so, this post is mostly for you! 

A couple years ago, Mike and I decided to take Caden, then 2, to the Magic Kingdom for a special ticket event they do, called, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.  It's a wonderful Halloween event tailored especially for smaller kids where the decorations are *quite * so spooky, the characters they love are dressed in Halloween costumes too, and there are trick or treat stations throughout the entire park where you can actually get LOTS of candy!!  The first year we went, Mike and I didn't dress up- we didn't know that adults dressed up, no, make that, ENCOURAGED to dress up with their kids.  Caden had gone as Anakin Skywalker and we had a great time despite the fact he was out super late and super tired for such a little guy.  ( It seems so weird to me that he was only just two then!! )

Mike and Caden at the end of our night- Caden was DONE!!!

Look at Caden- he's like, " where the HECK have my parents taken me, and who is this crazy person???" This was October 2007.

The next year, Caden was actually getting into the whole Halloween thing, being able to better understand that dressing up was fun, going to Disney was even MORE fun, and now, Mommy and Daddy would dress up too!!   Add in that Mommy had a BABY in her tummy this year, and things got even more interesting!!!  Since Caden wanted to be Luke Skywalker that year, we planned our costumes around him.  Mike was Obi Wan, and I, being pregnant, decided to be the Pregnant Padme' Amidala from Episode three.  ( For those of you who aren't Star Wars Nerds like us, she's a character from the movies. )

This was taken on our back porch before we left for the event. 

I absolutely love this photo- look at Caden's sweet face.....before he knew anything of sharing mommy with a demanding baby sister.  :)

  So, this takes us to this year.  We decided to go early this year, since our October schedule was pretty hectic and also since Ryan, Maria and the kids were to go with us, we had to stick with one of the first days or one of the last ones.  We were psyched to see there was a Party on Caden's actual 4th birthday, (Sept. 29th) and it just seemed right we should go on that day.  Plus, Ryan was off since it was a Tuesday and the whole family could go!!  In planning our costumes, Caden had made the decision to be a Ghostbuster, so again, like before, Mike and I created ours around him.  The day of the event, I took apart a red dress I hadn't worn in years, and with needle and thread, ( and NO sewing machine!! ) I re-sewed my costume to become Dana/ Zuul- Sigourney Weaver's character from the movie.  Mike only had to buy a bright orange polo shirt and a pair of fake glasses, and he became Lewis Tully's Keymaster character from the movie.  Paige, we dressed in green stretch pants and shirt to be "Slimer".  I wondered if people would know who we were supposed to be, and oddly enough, they did.  Whenever they'd see me and Caden together especially they'd say " Oh they're from Ghostbusters. " and a couple of times during the night, people yelled at me " There is no Dana, only Zuul!! " that line from the movie.  I have to say I was pretty proud of how we looked.

 

Cinderella's Castle at night.

Caden and Daddy waiting for the Parade to start!

By now, Caden is an old pro at the whole Not So Scary event.  He knows the rides are fun, Haunted Mansion's just pretend, and hold your bucket out at the end of the parade and smile cute and you'll get more candy.  Paige, on the other hand, could have been less interested.

Ah well.  There's always next year. :)

Happy Halloween!!!!!

8 months

  SO, in the midst of the excitement of her older brother turning 4, Paige quietly hit a milestone of her own, and on Sept. 30th, she turned 8 months.  In the past few weeks, she's changed dramatically. Most for the good, and some that wear on Mommy and her nerves but as people constantly remind me, ( and as I remember myself ) these babies change so fast, so often that I am trying so hard to savor all of these moments.....even if I'm sleep deprived and can't get anything done around the house. :)

 Some of the things about Miss Paige at 8 months:

* She's chunky and adorable and HEAVY....at last weigh in she was 24lbs. 5oz.  Quite a load when you have to tote it around a lot.

* She's definitely a Momma's girl.  She'll go to anyone really and be happy, but if I'm around, forget it.  Not even Daddy will suffice.  She'll whine and fuss and beat her hands on her legs and work herself up into a nice tantrum until I pick her up.  If she's particularly tired or needy, forget about putting her down.  Some days I attempt to load dishes or laundry with this monolith on my hip.

* She's not crawling- If she gets on her belly or hands and knees, she just says FORGET it.  For a good long while she would lay on her belly and cry and cry with frustration, but now she's figured out her own mode of transportation- She rolls around, gets on her side then sits up....rolls around, sits up until she gets to where she needs to go.  It's not pretty but it's effective.  She can really move around like that.

* She's still completely toothless.  It's baffling to me:  At this point, Caden had about 6 or 7 teeth...this little girl, not ONE.  She'll gnaw on her fingers, toys, blankets, constantly.  She cries with the pain of her gums but still there's not even a glimpse of white in her mouth.  This is new to me.  I don't know what to do about introducing food now, since they want the babies to have some teeth when they start solids.  She seems game to try though.  

* She loves LOVES her bottle.  Caden never really cared about the bottle.  He could have it or not.  When he turned one, we took it away cold turkey and after 3 nights of fussing, he never looked back.  Paige, I am forseeing, will not be so easy.  She LOVES that bottle and would prefer a bottle over food any day.  Sure she eats her baby food, and some soft solids, but if she feels she wants a bottle, you best get that bottle or she will scream her head off until she receives it.

* She's a very affectionate baby.  She actually gives hugs- something that's new to me as well, since Caden never did until he was older.  She giggles and smiles and hugs especially if she's being showered with attention by us or anyone.  She LOVES attention.  She puts it on when we go shopping or out and about, and will hide her face all coy when people show her love....then she looks up again willing them to pay her more compliments.  She's silly that way.

* She adores her big brother and he adores her.  When he's in the mood, he'll play with her so nicely and for so long, that I can actually get things done around the house or make dinner- I LOVE those moments. I can't force them though, or Caden will get that stubborn face and stomp away...it has to be his idea. But he *does* love his sister.  He calls her " cutie girl ".  

I'm sure there's more I should be putting down, but I have to go wrangle Caden off the other computer and start defrosting meat for dinner.  Thanks for reading.  :)