A disaster for the second born...

Well, this is definitely a case of second child syndrome! Its Lily's first day at school and on a school bus and the ran totally got in the way. First the photo shoot at the end of our driveway was soggy (do it every year in same spot for proof that they grow). Then, the bus came down the wrong way on our street and we had to cross the street in the pouring rain. Lily tripped and stomped in a puddle, soaking my feet and PJ and her pants. Rob had the camera while standing in the garage, so we don't have any photos of them getting on the bus, and we don't have photos of them on the bus because the windows were too fogged up! Finally, I had planned on getting to school ahead of them so I could sneak a picture of Lily getting off the bus (like I did PJ his first time), but I had to dry my feet and put on different shoes, which started me off late. And traffic was horrible due to the rain. So, I missed my second born's first trip on a school bus. I'm laughing now at all that happened, but I have to say it was bitterly disappointing this morning. I may have to do a retake on Monday! Can I do that?

Need some mess...

I've been too good, just posting the "bliss"-ful moments. Right now, I've got a bit of a "mess" with my two-year-old. First, I get a phone call from my husband, early Sunday morning when I'm away at a scrapbook weekend (a chance to escape the two-year-oldness), with a "How do you get vaseline out of the carpet?" She was bored, climbed up on her dresser, went way up high into a basket we thought was out of reach, and finger painted with a huge jar of vaseline. Clothes, hair, carpet, chair--nothing was too good to get a coating. Rob did a great job cleaning, and emphasizing that this was not a fun game and had her cleaning as well. (Bless his soul, and glad I missed this one!)

Second, I am getting an extra dose of "gimmes," "mine," and "no!" My favorite today was the constant arguing. I think she will make an excellent interrogator someday because she just keeps going until there is no more logic left.

"No more snack today," "YES! More snack today!" "I don't have any more in the car," "YES! There's more in the car!"

"Me want ice cream!" "Not right now," "YES! Right now!"

And my favorite: "I'm done talking to you, Lily," "NO! You not done talking to me!" "Fine, you got me, I'm talking to you." Sigh.

I'm so dizzy right now.

Bed 1, Bed 2

PJ has officially been moved up to a Big Boy Bed! He was in his crib until last July, when we decided to take down the crib rail to make his crib into a toddler bed. The plan was to keep him in the toddler bed until he was sleeping successfully through the night with underwear. He actually decided to do that last fall and only had one accident while he was trying. We went a little longer than we wanted because the holidays got in the middle of things, so last weekend we went shopping for a mattress, box spring and frame. PJ's crib was a convertible, so the last stage was the headboard that came from the back of the crib. The directions said the headboard would work with a full size mattress, so that's what we bought.

The store was right down the street so Rob became our delivery service (with some help from Uncle James). I had bought and washed all the new, full-size bedding (the comforter was a pain), and had it all ready for the installation. I even went to the library and got lots of books on moving to a big bed so that PJ would understand what was coming. Rob had the bed installed, we had the cameras rolling and shooting, and PJ was all set in his new bed...

Well, I woke up at 5 am the following morning, saying to myself, "It's too big!" The bed took over half the room, which means less space for a four-year-old to play. The crib was now useless because we were only using the headboard, and we were going to have to store all the other large parts, or God-forbid, throw them away (as Rob suggested--I'm sure you can see my look of horror!). And PJ just looked so tiny in such a large bed--I had to climb onto the bed to kiss him when he was sleeping.

So we went back to the mattress store, and hopefully didn't make the guy think we were crazy (or just idiots). We exchanged the full-size bed for a twin-size bed. I exchanged the sheets and comforter for a twin-size set (in better colors too!) And everyone is happy all around.

This explains my craving...

Before I was pregnant with Lily, I really disliked baking. Or rather, I never did it, so I didn't know if I liked it or not. So, it was a very odd craving for me when I got pregnant with her to want baked goods. And more importantly, I had to bake them. That was when I first learned how to make chocolate chip cookies, so either my love for baking came from her in-utero, or it rubbed off on her while she was growing in my tummy.


This night was particularly fun because I had several favorite parts...

First, while we were mixing the ingredients, Lily noticed that I kept looking at my recipe, so she started checking it too. My favorite was when she said we needed milk and juice in the cookie dough!

Second, I love our matching aprons thanks to Grandma Nona...

Third, halfway through making the cookies, Lily turned to me and spontaneously said, "I love you, Mommy!" And that just melted my heart.

Too tired to play

Lily's room is finally safety proofed, but she gave me a scare anyway! I was working in our bedroom, right down the hall from her room, and I had the monitor on. She started her nap playing and trying to get out (we needed to turn her bedroom lock around to keep her from wandering the halls unsafe during naptime) and then she got quiet for awhile. I could see under her door that her light was on, so I decided to see if she had climbed back into her bed for her nap.

I quietly opened her door, and closed it behind me. No little ball of energy greeted me, so I looked in her bed to see how asleep she was. But she wasn't there. Then I looked under the bed (because we had found her there playing from time to time), but she wasn't there. I started to panic and think I had a little houdini on my hands, since she had made her way out of a locked door (and locked it again), and past the room I was working in, all without making a sound. Then I turned around...

She had made a little nest in the empty part of her bookcase! I covered my mouth to keep from laughing out loud and ran from the room. I then called Rob and my mom and they both thought something was wrong because I was laughing so hard I was crying! My mom suggested I take pictures (of course) and video. This will be so much fun to show at her wedding rehearsal dinner!

(She eventually did wake up when she tried moving in her sleep and kept hitting the sides of the cabinet!)

Ta-DA!

We were so spoiled with PJ, and we took for granted that it would be the same for Lily. She has been climbing out of her crib for several months now, but somehow I had her convinced that she could only do it if I was in the room. So she would wait in her crib until I came to get her, sometimes for awhile, and then she'd climb out and we'd go on business as usual. Sometime last week, she decided she didn't have to wait, and would climb out and start exploring her room, including under the bed.


Did I take those months of her staying in the crib to safety proof her room--heck no! So now she is finding all the goodies, including her dress shoes that are in her dresser. She did get them on the right feet so good for her, but they were also, fashionably, two different colors.

Ta-DA!

Buildin' Man

PJ's has had his "quiet play time" for awhile now, with a few toys in his room, so I can have a little time to myself. I have always had to pull out some toys from the bins and shelves in the bookcase because he has difficulty "planning" what he wants to play, so he doesn't know to get particular toys from there. One of his favorite toys from Christmas was a carrying case to hold all his Disney cars, so he can play with them both upstairs and downstairs. On this day, I discovered that he had his usual line-up of cars on his dresser, but he had also incorporated legos from a bin in his bookcase, which I had stopped pulling out because he didn't seem as interested in them. I asked him what he had made, and he said, "This is my garage!" And he was so proud, as I was of him.