Giggle Box

Parker, you are a full on giggler these days, most often inspired by your sister. Last night I was playing ball with Payton and it was cracking you up. For 20 minutes plus you laughed hard belly laughs, so much that at one point you started crying. I have NO idea why it was so funny to you, watching your sister or the motion of the ball or how excited we were that Payton could catch it, but you were hysterical.

Little Angels

There are days that you girls make me so proud, other days that I'd sell you to the circus in a heartbeat, but some days I'm really impressed. Last night was a proud night. It was the Christmas party at our office. I dressed you both up in fruffy dresses, knowing that alone could send either or both of you off the deep end but trying it anyway. Instead, Payton strutted around the house pulling up her dress to show us that she had tights on, as big girls wear, and Parker just grinned and grinned, obviously quite proud of her prettiness. We loaded you up in the car right at 5 o'clock nearing the time you would both normally have dinner. As I've written before, Parker takes her eating very seriously, so expecting anything from her at dinner time is really not fair at all. But instead of a crazy hungry baby, we got a sweet charming grinner who spent most of the evening being passed around never really making a peep. Even when she did get hungry we offered her formula instead of food and she took it happily, even falling asleep peacefully for a few minutes in my arms. Payton was as good as could be as well. At first she was slightly shy, but not in a scared screaming brat kind of way, just bashful a bit, hanging out close to Mom or Dad for a while. Then she warmed up and made lots of friends. The little social butterfly made her way around the party chatting with everyone. She sat with Joanne for quite a while and at the end of the party made plans to see her again, tomorrow, as Payton often does after contemplating her schedule in her head. I did have to talk her into coming home with me instead of going to Joanne's to meet her dog, but even then there was no scene, just a precious little girl who made everyone feel loved.

A side note, I hate that Payton is holding a sippy cup in this picture! She is 95% using real cups, but for travel in the car she still gets a sippy.

Seeing Santa

Last night we did one of those crazy parent-at-Christmas-time things. We waited, in the cold, for over and hour so that Payton could see Santa. It started out harmless enough. I read about the Bonita Christmas Festival where Santa would be along with snow, tree lighting and cider. Being the Christmas lover that I am, I thought that it would be fun to take the girls to see Santa and play in the snow. So, we spent 3 days talking it up to Payton, what would she ask for, what would she say to him. I had NO idea that it would be one of the coldest evenings in Florida or that every child from Key West to Tallahassee would be there in line. Upon our arrival we assessed that the line was insane and that we would not be participating in such craziness. Thinking we could outsmart a two year old, we held her up, pointed to Santa and told her that she'd seen him. Then we moved on to explore the festival. We ate hot dogs, drank cold cider, experienced the "snow" and started planning our departure. That was about when sweet little Payton said to her daddy, "I wanna see Santa." He looked at me, his mother, and me again. I suggested we jump in the car and head over to the warm and toasty Santa who hangs out at Bass Pro Shop, but Jason, being the good daddy that he is, headed to the back of the line. And we waited. And waited. For well over an hour. It was probably 50 something degrees, and well after dark, so it seemed bitterly cold to me. But Payton never complained, never fussed, just hung out right with us like an angel. When we got close enough Jason put her up on his shoulders and at that moment it was all worth the wait. I looked up and she was waving frantically at Santa shouting "I'm coming Santa, I love you!" It was to cutest thing, made for the movies. And if I had charged my camera battery, or Jackie had charged hers, I'd be happy to post a photo, but we didn't. I was able to get a couple photos as I would turn the camera off and on, so here's what I've got.

After all the waiting, and then the rush to get us through and the next kid on his lap, I really don't even know if she got to tell him what she wanted. But I do know that we practically had to pry her off his lap. And the rest of the night she was glowing, hugging and kissing and of course sleeping with her Miss Piggy doll that Santa's helpers gave to her. This morning when she came into our room, she was still carrying Miss Piggy along with Kitty. We are still trying to convince her that it's MISS Piggy instead of MR Piggy, but who cares, she's in love.

Payton Helps Daddy

Over the long holiday weekend we decided to get some of the honey-do list done, and Payton wanted to do her part. At first she was helping by following Daddy around the house giving him moral support as he moved the ladder, climbed it, painted and moved it again. But then she walked into the brush and had a meltdown. I think that she was afraid that she was going to get into trouble, but as long as she was crying we couldn't get mad. Eventually she moved on, and decided to help paint. Yes, she ran around outside all moring in her jammie top, panties and Stride Rites. No, we are not white trash!

Mobility At Last!

Parker has discovered that she can roll. And roll, and roll. She loves to roll! On Friday I had to run out to show a property so I dropped the girls off with Grandma Jackie for an hour. When I came back I heard big stories of how Parker had crossed the room rolling. Knowing that Grandma believes that her girls can do anything (and everything) I had to see it for myself to believe it 100%. So, we headed home and low and behold the girl's all over the place. Usually for her to really get going she needs Payton around as motivation. She is so, so proud of herself. When she makes it over she grins the biggest grin, it's awesome. It seems to have given her a whole new confidence and joy in the world. She will lay on the floor and just scream in delight at herself. Here's a photo of the proud girl, and a video clip as well.

Daddy Called It

Parker, apparently I'm a terrible mother. You've had the sniffles for weeks now and I've been assuming that they'd go away on their own. In my defense, they were bad in the beginning then got better and have recently gone bad again. But you're happy and eating and nothing at all seems wrong. Except that the night before last your dad was up most of the night listening to you cough and breath heavily. So yesterday morning he insisted that I call the doctor. I took you in, and you giggled and charmed everyone there. No temp, no diarrhea, good appetite, but upon a look in your ear I learned that you are in fact sick with an ear infection. Uggh, I had to call your dad and admit that he was right and I was wrong. I REALLY hate doing that, but I'm really glad that we know. But darn it kid, if you're going to be sick would you please act out of sorts so that we know!

So, mark this on the calendar, you've had your first illness and antibiotics at 6 months old.

Paker's 6 Months Old!

This probably doesn't sound right, but it's hard to believe that she's only been with us 6 months because it's hard to think of life before her being a part of the family. She and Payton adore each other. Today they were playing peek-a-boo together and they both just giggled and giggled, it was just what a mom hopes to see from sisters. Parker was sitting in my lap, and Payton was hiding behind the arm of the chair popping up making Parker laugh, over and over. I love baby giggles, it's such an amazing sound, she seem to have no control over it, it just takes over and makes her whole body jiggle.

So what is our little bundle up to? Parker's perfectly capable of rolling over both ways, but still has no desire to be on her belly, so she only rolls about 95% of the way over if she wants to grab something, or more importantly see what Payton is doing. She is getting close to sitting up, but still needs support or she falls over after a few seconds. She picks up toys and can hand them back and forth between her hands, although it's still pretty clumsy. She loves to eat, and does it a lot, still easily downing 6 bottles a day in addition to 3 meals of baby food and cereal a day. Thankfully, Parker's getting into an OK sleep schedule, going to bed between 7-8 every evening, waking in the morning around 6 for a bottle then back down for a couple hours. She's even taking a morning nap pretty consistently these days, which I didn't think would ever happen. Some mornings she'll go ahead and sleep through a little later and then she's up for just a couple hours before going back to sleep. I love nap time! Now if we could get a CONSISTENT afternoon nap I would be thrilled.

Parker's hair is hysterical. I've decide that she kind of has a Kramer do on top (think Seinfield), and is getting close to a mullet in back with a bald spot in the middle - not exactly glamorous, but it is a good opportunity for bows and barrettes and I suppose a Bam-Bam ponytail on top if I took the time. It's been suggested that I could cut it, but I just can't do that yet. After a bath it stands straight up if it's not combed down - like 4 inches straight up.

Dear Santa,

Today we decided it was time to start asking Payton what she might want to ask Santa for at Christmas, and tried to explain that she'd need to "write" a letter to him. The overall theme is apparently PINK. She started by whispering very excitedly, "pink princess" to her daddy with her eyes all aglow. We're still not 100% certain if she actually wants him to bring a princess, or a princess doll or to make her look like a princess. We're gonna go with the look like approach. From the pink princess we moved on to a pink doll. Daddy had enough of the pink talk and suggested that she might like a football, to which she replied, "Later Daddy." Guess that will have to wait for another year's list. She also added Marmar & Papa in there, but thank goodness we kind of let that one go because she gets very excited when she starts talking about them and can't understand our inability to produce them on demand.

So I thought that maybe she would have some ideas for Parker, and her suggestion was, of course, a pink doll. Jason asked if maybe Parker would like another color of doll, and she thought that Parker would like purple, and then after a moment decided that Parker would like a brown doll. Hum, not sure about where that came from, but she was very determined that Parker would in fact like to receive a brown doll. Well Parker, we'll have to see what Santa comes up with.

As always, Jason was very good about trying to ask her for more detail on her ideal dolls, but as much as she was willing to share was that her's should be pink and Parker's should be brown. Poor Parker, she better learn to talk soon or Big Sis is gonna give her all the Misfit Toys from the island!

As many conversations end these days, we had a grand finale of tears. She just couldn't understand why she couldn't have Christmas presents RIGHT NOW. Explaining that Christmas is not here yet didn't help, she demanded it get here now. How are we gonna get through the next 4 weeks!

This photo was from last weekend, Payton's fake smile but still kinda cute.

Giving Thanks

I think that maybe Payton and Grandma have been talking alot about giving thanks with the Thanksgiving Holiday coming up. Here's the quote of the day.

"Thank you mommy, thank you for wiping my bottom."

Leaving Our Girls

We're about to take our first vacation away from both of the girls and it's not a quick weekend, it's 7 nights. While I'm a mom all about getting away from the kids, this one is stressing me out for some reason. We left Payton a few times when she was about 6 months old, but she was an easy baby and loved everyone. Now she's old enough to realize we're gone, and I know that she's gonna really miss us. She freaks out when Jason leaves for work in the morning. Parker is very much a mommy's girl, and I just hope and pray that none of her grandparents drop her off on the church doorstep after she cries her little heart out just a little too long. I know of course that they are in good hands, but 7 days is really long. I'm sure that by the time we get back Payton will be dating, and Parker will be in at least 1st grade. OK, maybe not that extreme, but still.

These days Parker is such a hoot. Today she came up with a new noise that is hysterical, it's kind of a scream/ahh/happy sound that is incredibly loud. And she's super proud of it so she does it over and over. She has also discovered that fruit seriously improves the flavor of rice cereal. She's now eating 1/2 a container of fruit with 2-3 tablespoons of rice cereal all in one sitting, and usually ticked off when it's over that there's not more. She rolls over from her tummy as soon as you lay her down on it, and just grins as to say "ha, you can't make me!" She's also spending a lot of time playing with her toes, and grabbing at toys trying to hand them back and forth to herself. She's gotten really good about bedtime, and will most always go right to sleep when I put her in her crib at 8 p.m.. She still won't nap well during the day, and likes to have a quick early morning bottle around 6 a.m., but then goes back to sleep until 8 or 9. Overall, she's just becoming a happier kid, I suppose we'll see how that goes when we abandon her tomorrow night.

And then there's Payton. Oh boy! Everything is about Payton picking now. She has to pick her clothes, my clothes, and Parker's clothes. And her nightly sucker, she must pick. When I try to rush her to eat the next bite of food on her plate she opens her mouth wide, points in, and tells me that she needs to "finish it up". She's very much into brushing her teeth (finally), and tells me multiple times a day that she needs to brush her teeth. She has such emotions, the tantrums are so dramatic, at least for the 30 seconds they last. She know when she's misbehaved and will usually go into time out without argument. The other day we were at Target and she kept running away from me. I told her that when we got home she was in big trouble and would have to go into time out. She sweetened up at that point, I assumed that she was trying to get out of it, but instead when we got home she told me time out, and marched right over to her corner. How do you not laugh at that! She still has a big crush on Karl and has to give him a kiss any chance she can, although Thomas is still her phone buddy.

I suppose that's a pretty long winded update, but I needed to get some of this silly stuff down or I'd forget.

One more picture of Payton in her Halloween costume. This one is from the community party that we had last week.

Happy Birthday! Happy Halloween!

Yesterday was Halloween, and Payton TOTALLY got it this year. Well, she did after joining up with her friends. More on that below.

As is tradition in my mother's house, there MUST be Halloween cookies, probably more important than Christmas cookies really. This year I talked it up for a few days and each time Payton told me that the pumpkins should be pink. As much as I am a pink lover, I tried and tried to convince her that orange might be an option, but she was persistent and pink it was. She helped me by choosing the sprinkle color for each one, and then actually sprinkling. What a sight, my poor kitchen will never be the same!

Right before we headed out for the night we received a box of fresh Colorado leaves from Grandma & Grandpa Orr, so we spread them out on the front porch for all of the kids to enjoy. Payton and I sat out in them and played for a while until Grandma Jackie arrived to help us trick-or-treat. Once she arrived we dressed the girls up and prepared to head out on the town, but before we could we had to light our jack 'o lanterns. Well, this is the part that confused Payton a bit. Anytime she sees a lit candle she assumes it must be a birthday, so she starts singing Happy Birthday. And this carried on to the first few houses that we went to. We told her to say "Trick-or-treat" but instead, everyone got "Happy Birthday!" I'm sure that they were pretty confused, because at one point in the night we ran into a neighbor who had heard it was someone's birthday and they wanted to wish US a happy birthday. Anyway, when we caught up with Jordan & Annika they quickly straightened her out and then she was unstoppable. We became quite the crowd with the Schiering's plus a grandma, Nerney crew of 4, Steve, Rebecca (about 48 weeks pregnant), Steve's parents, Drew, and eventually grew more when the Pabst's joined us with another set of grandparents. I think that makes us 20 in total. The long and the short of it was that Payton had a GREAT time, and went to bed telling me that she wanted to go trick-or-treating tomorrow too! This morning when she woke up she and Daddy checked out the loot and she decided that the gummy shark was the prize of the night and had to eat it first. I'm sorry to say, Parker didn't get quite as much out of the whole experience. She ended up falling asleep about 30 minutes in and Grandma brought her home for the night, so no great photos of her. You'll just have to trust me that she made a darling tiger.

Hungry Girl

For the first couple of months of Parker's life we were afraid that she was just a very unhappy being, until we realized that the girl loves to EAT. All the time, and bunches. So, when the doctor told us at her 4 month check up that we could start offering her cereal we figured it was a good idea. Well, it's a hit! The kid goes nuts for it. A few weeks in, she still hasn't completely figured out how to eat it, but she knows that she wants that spoon in her mouth, and when it's not she gets very cranky. This video is from her first attempt, but this is still pretty much what it looks like, except now she lunges at the spoon and freaks out when I take it out of her mouth to fill it with more.

I have to admit that it's been hard for us to add this to our daily routine. I think that the problem really stems from the fact that we don't have much of one. Some days I work in the office, some days I'm taking the girls around town working, and sometimes we're just out and about having fun. Evenings can be just as crazy, Jason has jumped into tennis full force and plays at least 3 times a week, I seem to have something going on at least one evening a week, so a schedule is something that other families have. We eat when we all make it back home, sometimes that's 6:30, sometimes it's 8:30. It's never really been an issue with Payton, since she doesn't eat much anyway, and only eats when she's hungry, not necessarily when we put food in front of her. ANYWAY, the thing with Parker is that she's a tough one. She never sleeps, is always ready to eat, and is quite often fussy. We can't seem to get onto a schedule because she won't sleep until she passes out, so there is no morning, afternoon or late afternoon nap to work around. So, to say she's to be fed at 5 or 6 or 7:15 is ludicrous since we're almost always trying to get her to go to sleep!

Pumpkin Patch

Today we went out on the annual hunt for the perfect pumpkin. Payton wandered around for a while, and finally we "encouraged" her to pick a pumpkin. Grandma braved the heat and took her on the hay ride while Jason and I woke up then posed poor little Parker on top of a pumpkin pile. Everyone had a great time and there were no melt downs even though it was nap time and hot, hot, hot. I know that my girls will never understand, but most kids don't wear t-shirts and shorts to the pumpkin patch.

Sucker Time

Sucker Time is the new catch phrase in the house these days. Well, it's one of them. If you say it right, it sounds a lot like "Hammer Time", but Payton and Parker will probably never know what that is, and I'm guessing that their great grandparents probably won't either. For that matter, I'm not sure that their grandparents will, but I'm certain that their Aunt Robynn and Uncle Colin are giggling right now. Anywho, Sucker Time is what happens at the end of the day when there are no accidents. I'm very proud to say that we have had a lot of Sucker Times lately! Payton has been accident free for at least the last 4 days, and maybe more. She's even waking up most mornings with a dry diaper, ah the things that make a mommy happy. She spends most of the day asking for her sucker and struts around proudly chanting Sucker Time around 8 p.m. every evening carrying her sucker telling us how good it is and what the flavor of the day is. Now I wonder, how long does this go on? Am I still going to be giving her suckers before bed when she's 16?

Today was the first time that we had to use a public toilet. We had just eaten lunch and were headed to the pumpkin patch when Payton announced that she had to potty. I started reminding her to hold it while Jason frantically tried to find a gas station. OK, maybe I was the frantic one, but who's keeping track. Anyway, I grabbed her out of her car seat and rushed into the first gas station he could get us to. As I found the hand written RESTROOM sign made with a sharpie and back side of a beer box my mind started to imagine what I might find. It wasn't the worst imaginable, but it wasn't grand either. I ripped off her shorts, panties and shoes and realized the challenges that laid ahead. Once she was done I had to try to get her clothes back on her, while balancing her on my knee and not letting her touch the floor or toilet. Of course the fact that I didn't want her to touch anything just made her work harder to touch every surface she could including the base of the toilet and the floor. Thank God at least there was warm water and soap, so I'm hoping the hand washing took care of everything she may have picked up in our 4 minutes. At least that's what I'm telling myself.
On a brighter note...
Other phrases we are hearing a lot:
I yud you - My personal favorite!
She's funny/That's funny/Parker funny
What Doin?
Sippy Cup!! - In a very frustrated/angry voice while actually asking for a real cup
Mac n Cheese
Parker's cryin'
Callin' Thomas
Take your shoes off!
Hold you, hold you
What Karl Doin'?

Mar Mar Jackie Has Arrived!

If you think there is a look of disdain on Payton's face in this photo, you just might be right. Overall, Payton's been quite welcoming to her baby sister, but moving in on Mar Mar Jackie's attention may have been the last straw for our darling 2 year old. In the past Payton's been THE center of Grandma's world, at least from her own perspective, so sharing the limelight isn't something that she's crazy about.
With that said, we're all thrilled to have Jackie back in town. She arrived about 2 1/2 weeks ago and we're having so much fun. We've been to the beach, had some yummy dinners, I've been able to work a bit, and today we went to the Pumpkin Patch and costume shopping. The girls have been giving her a workout while I sneak away to the office a few hours now and then. And this week Payton even got to have a sleepover with Grandma and Snow. I understand that she stayed up until around 10, and was ready to party again at 6:30 in the morning. Apparently it was a 2 cup of coffee morning for Grandma!
I wonder if the girls will ever understand how lucky they are to have Grandma here for 6 months out of the year, and that she is able to spend so much time with them both.

Grandma & Grandpa Come To Florida

Mom & Dad came for a visit last week using my birthday as an excuse to see the girls. This was their second visit since Parker was born, and this was WAY more fun!!

Payton spent the week before their visit telling me that she wanted to go to Colorado every time I would remind her that they were coming. I want to go to col-or-AD-do she would tell me over and over. I'd try to explain that they were coming here, but she was determined to go there. Once they finally made it she was thrilled beyond belief. Since she's still pretty young, I have a terrible fear that at each visit she will have forgotten who they are and will be shy, but oh no, she gets so fired up to see them every time.

On Sunday we ditched Parker (sorry sweetie) and headed to the water park. I think that everyone thought I was weird wanting to spend my 35th birthday at a water park, but I gotta tell you it was great! Payton got to show off her swimming and water skills and we all got to play. The lazy river was quite a hit. Payton bounced from tube to tube and loved splashing and being splashed.

We spent most of the remainder of their visit hanging out around the house just playing. I love to watch Payton with Mom & Dad. I wonder if she has any idea how lucky she is to have grandparents who can keep up with her! They bounce, they roll, and they go along with whatever her game of the moment is. She loves to tickle with them and giggle, giggle, giggle!

The saddest part of every visit is when they have to leave. Poor kid just can't take it. Every time now when we drop them off at the airport she cries and cries. I feel so terrible for her, it's like her little heart is just breaking. The good news is that she's two, and can easily be distracted with the promise of CHICKEN NUGGETS!!

Rainy Day

Last week the heat finally broke for an afternoon and Payton and I headed out for some fun in the rain while Parker slept. It wasn't like a typical Florida rain when it stays hot, hot, hot. This afternoon it really cooled off and the air was crisp like what I grew up with. I love how much she loves to play in the rain!

What My Big Girl Is Up To These Days

Everyone always says this about kids, but it's so true. Every day she changes so much! It seems like just a few days ago she was talking like a baby, using one or two words to get her point across but suddenly I hear her speaking in sentences, and ending many of them with PLEASE, I love it!!! She has such inflections and attitudes in her speech, it totally cracks me up to listen to her have a conversation. When she came home tonight from Grandma & Grandpa's she came in the door and had to asked where everyone was, "Where is Parker? Where is Oliver? Where is Mommy? Where is Parker?"
She's also making progress in her potty training. Our deal is that when she uses the potty she gets money for her piggy bank (when I remember) and that she gets a sucker at the END of the day IF she doesn't have any accidents. Well she's had suckers 3 or 4 times in the last week, and the days that she didn't there was only one accident holding her back, so I think we're almost there. Yippee!! Tonight I had to fight her to get a diaper on for bed, she really thought wearing panties was the right thing to do. Ugh, not excited about changing sheets in the middle of the night and consoling a crying kid so I'm going to put that off for a while. But I'm super proud of her.
The other thing that seems to be happening is that she's starting to take an interest in picking out her own clothes. So far, I still have veto power and tend to let her pick out a top or bottom and then I match up the other end, but I'm certain that the day is coming very soon when I loose that right. She's had her favorite shoe selections for a while, which often have NOTHING in common with her outfit. For you that have seen her strange combinations I just had to get that in so that you didn't think I made up these combinations.

Parker Gets Her Way

Today was a trying day. Parker has decided to take this whole "Princess" concept to heart, everything must go her way. All day she was only content being held, and being held the way she wanted to be held. So, I spent most of my day holding her or begging her to stop crying, which may turn out to be a new diet technique, I'll have to see how that goes.

She's 4 1/2 months old now so I've been trying to get a bit of a bedtime in place for her. Around 8 I put her in her crib for the night. Most nights she just goes to sleep without a peep, but tonight she did not want to got bed. Instead, she screamed bloody murder. I tried turning her mobile on, no go. I tried leaning over the crib and holding her hand, that didn't do it either. So, I picked her up and she was instantly calm and happy. Within a few minutes she was perfectly happy to go to bed, on her terms. Ah, can't wait till tomorrow!

Endings

Parker, it seems that you are the end, and I tend to be one that cries at the happy endings so I'll probably shed tears a lot as you do, and stop doing things. See with Payton, she will probably do everything first. She obviously rolled over, walked, and talked before you so we celebrated all of those things because we'd never seen them all done before. I wondered if things would be as celebrated for you, but now I know that they will be. First of all, you'll do them all your own way, which I'm learning will probably be very different than how Payton did them. Secondly, this is the last time we'll get to experience all of these amazing feats and maybe we'll be more aware and recognize more this time around. Like today, I watched you for 10 minutes try really hard to roll over. I knew that if you got it, this would be IT, a big first that I won't get to witness again in life. So I sit here writing this with a tear in my eye, just a little bit happy that you didn't make it over today, so I can save it for another day.

Along those same lines, I had another strange moment today. I threw away the hoses to my breast pump. For the last week or so you've been drinking formula and using up the last of the frozen milk from the fridge. So it was time to clear all of the pumping stuff out of the kitchen cabinets to make room for bigger bottles. I stood over the garbage can and hesitated for the longest time. So weird that I'll never feed you again myself. I'm so glad that we stuck it out and worked at it together to get things working for both of us, but the time has come to move on. You are one hungry little monster and I just can't keep up with you wanting to eat all of the time. So my body is my own again and I should be 100% thrilled, but there is a little part of me all ready missing my newborn baby.

Uncle Brad

I think about my Uncle Brad a lot these days. If he ever reads this I hope he'll understand why. See, I associate my Uncle Brad with poop. To many that might sound like a terrible insult, but really it's not, it's just something I've heard him talk about entirely too much, and lately I seem to spend a LOT of my time dealing with it. Lucky me.



Right now Payton is potty training, that is she's training Mommy and Daddy that she can do what she wants when she wants and where she wants. She's really good about pooping on the potty chair, now we're desperately trying to get her to do that deed on the big potty. Wiping the butt of a two year old, even my own, grosses me out.



Parker on the other hand doesn't see the need to poop more often than once a week. This stresses Mommy out. Thanks Brad for sharing that in the gene pool. The kid is perfectly happy and doesn't seem upset at all, but I wonder if this is at all OK. I have read that breastfed babies are regular if it's once a week, but now that she's drinking formula I continue my stress.



So, this post is dedicated to Uncle Brad, the man who taught me that it's okay to talk about our kids poop.

Firsts

Both girls had a first today. Probably not a good one, or the last, but a first none the less.

We were all in the living room together and I was looking at my phone while Payton played with her toys and Parker played on her play mat. One second all was well, then I looked up. To my surprise Payton had decided to pick up Parker. For those of you who recall the video of Colin and the puppy, you can almost picture what was happening. It was a very strange vision, but there's Payton standing with her arms wrapped all the way around Parker facing her. Then it happened, as Payton was trying to put Parker back down and I was in slow motion trying to grab them both, Parker dropped to the floor and bumped her head. I did stop myself from freaking out as I was right there and saw the whole thing, she really only fell 3 inches or so, but it was enough to scare both of us, while Payton looked on not really sure what the big deal was. Parker cried while I explained over and over and over to Payton that she's never allowed to pick up her sister, never, never, never. It took a while, but eventually I managed to get BOTH girls crying. At least with a few tears I feel like MAYBE Payton understands that she's not allowed to pick up her sister. And maybe Parker learned a little healthy fear of big sisters.

Suckers

Here's a recount of the conversation Miss Payton and I had in the car this afternoon on the way to Naples.

Payton: Sucker

Payton: Sucker

Payton: SUCKER

Darcee: Honey, we don't have any suckers. Would you like your milk?

Payton: Go to the bank

Darcee: We don't have any money to take to the bank.

Payton: I want some!

Me too kid, me too.

5 minutes later...

Payton: Bank tomorrow

At first I thought that Grandma Jackie and the bank tellers had ruined my non-candy eating kid, but I suppose a sucker at the bank probably never killed anyone. I actually think it's kind of cool that we live in a town small enough that everyone at the local bank knows us, our kids and even my monther in law. They love to watch my girls grow up and always have kind words for them both. Payton has learned to blow kisses and say thank you each time we go through the drive through.

Parker's Becoming a Little Person

THIS is the fun baby stuff! I have to admit that I was beginning to wonder what it is about babies that everyone finds so exciting (maybe it was the sleep deprivation blocking my memory of Payton's good times). In the beginning there is so much poop and crying and sleep -well, sleep during the day at least. But now we've rounded the corner into the 3 month + and she's becoming so much fun!

Two weeks ago Parker learned how to giggle. It was a Monday morning when Payton was at Jim & Barb's and we were hanging out together on the sofa after her breakfast. I was talking to her and she started grinning and it broke into a giggle. Of course I tried to get it on video but each time I bring out the camera she gets very serious. Since then she's totally mastered giggling and has added lots of happy expressions and loves to smile at anyone who will talk to her. I'm including this little video of what I was able to get yesterday.

She's spending a LOT of time awake, way more than I'm ready for. Today she was up at 6:30 for the day, fell asleep while I was at the gym for 10 minutes and then was awake until late afternoon when she dozed for another 10 minutes until Miss Payton woke her back up. She took little 10 minute cat naps, but momma needs more than that! Tonight she finally gave up about 9:30 and passed out on the sofa, we'll see how long this lasts.

It's Not All Fun and Games

Discipline sucks. I hate it. Hated as the kid, hate it maybe more as the mom. OK, maybe not more, but hate it now. I love to play with my girls, they are both so amazing to me, and Payton is really fun to be around when she's happy. She is awesome and lovable and sweet and cute and funny and wonderful. BUT, sometimes she misbehaves and I have to teach her that she can't do or act certain ways and it kills me to do it. I remember my dad spanking me once on the side of the road because CC and I were not doing what we were supposed to do in the back of the car. He had tears in his eyes and that made me feel worse than the punishment, but even seeing that and remembering it all these years later I had no idea how much it could hurt to have to be the bad guy. I don't want to tell her no, I want to play and give in to her every wish so that she'll be the happy kid that she can be, but sometimes I have to stand up to that darned two year old and it is no fun at all. It actually hurts.

Yesterday Payton was the biggest brat. I tried so hard to be the boss, although I think that she may have won, but I'll get to that. In the morning I had to meet with a client so the girls had to tag along. She threw a minor fit in the parking lot because she didn't want to leave the customers. Then in the car on the way to meet her friends at Kid Zoo, she was yelling and whining and waking her sister up. At this point I should have canceled Kid Zoo, but I had already made plans to meet another mom and her kids, so I kind of felt like I owed it to them to be there. So we met up with her friends and since we were there much later than nap time I thought we'd drive through BK and get her some lunch so that she could eat before she fell asleep. As I was trying to pull out of the parking lot she was crying and whining for nuggets. It went on and on as I was fighting to cross traffic and then waited behind 4 other cars in the drive through. Of course the whole time I was trying to explain to her that I was working on getting lunch for her. I considered pulling away as punishment, but I needed to get some food in her before she fell asleep. As a peace offering I ordered her a juice box which is usually only reserved for very special occasions. She was a brat about that as well telling me she didn't want it. She proceeded to eat her nuggets and drink her juice, but when we got home she would not go down for her nap. She came downstairs three times, and each time I carried her back up to bed with various tactics. I was nice, I was mean, I begged. One time she came down diaper in hand. I was ready to kill her. Eventually she did fall asleep. So on to the evening. She woke up happy and snugly. She asked for nuggets again, so in an effort to keep the peace, I made her more nuggets. I put her plate of chicken nuggets and green beans on her table for her as I normally do. She REFUSED to eat them. This is where I finally put my foot down. I was furious. I know that blowing up at her doesn't make her do anything, so I thought I'd try a new tactic. I told her that I wasn't going to talk to her until she ate her dinner. I was certain that the cold shoulder would bring her around, but boy was I wrong. For about 1 1/2 hours I ignored her. I put away all of the toys and turned the news on. She laid on the floor and played with her own feet. A few times she tried to get my attention, hugging my leg, being loud, walking in front of me. For the most part I just ignored, occasionally I'd remind her that if she'd eat her dinner I would talk to her and we could play, but not until then. The darn kid is stubborn! On and on until eventually Jason got home from tennis and I still wasn't speaking to her. Jason went upstairs to shower and that really set her off. She wanted to shower, but wasn't allowed to because she hadn't eaten her dinner. But she didn't break. Eventually she was put to bed without dinner. Here's the kicker. This morning as I was carrying her out to the car, she looked over at the kitchen counter where the plate still laid and said "No Dinner."

Brat.

Potty Training

First of all let me tell you that this is probably not one that Payton's gonna love me for in 5-10 years, but hopefully in 20 or so she'll forgive me.

I've been dreading potty training, but when the kid takes off her diaper and goes,well it's time. Jason and I have practically been doing rock-paper-scissors the last few days each time she runs into the bathroom, but progress is being made.

This morning I was upstairs trying to find something in the guest room closet while Payton played. I came out of the guest room to find her standing next to the toilet, naked, with poo spread all over the seat. Not cool. I'm thinking, crud, now I have to clean that up. If only! So I start to clean the seat off, and realize it's all over her butt as well. Double crud. I start working on the bum with TP, and decide that I need something stronger so I run to her room and grab the wipes. So I get her in ok condition and grab the Clorox wipes for the seat, while she starts unrolling all of the TP roll in an effort to help in her own twisted way. WARNING, do not try to flush a toilet with wipes and a gob of TP or you will end up running for the plunger, even if there is only little girl poo involved. Now I'm trying to explain to her what a plunger is, and that she is NOT to try this on her own. Of course by this time she'd wining that she needs to potty! Trying to maintain my composure, I tell her to hold on a minute while I grab the diaper that she discarded - SURPRISE -now there poo falling out of it and onto the floor. Fabulous, sure is a good thing that the Clorox wipes are handy. Payton's still whining that she needs to potty so we move on to the next bathroom that actually does have a potty seat in it, and that is when I was finally able to grab a camera to remember the moment by. I was shocked, even after all the mess in the first bathroom, she really did have to go more. I've often thought that she was full of it, but now I'm certain!

Saturday Night

There is no cute photo or video to go along with this post. There are two reasons. First of all, I don't think it would be possible to capture this in either. Secondly, I was just too busy enjoying my baby to bother. Last night I had one of those great moments that I always want to remember but I'm afraid will fade into the ciaos of life. Really, I'm writing this one for Payton, so someday she'll read it and maybe remember when.
Payton is very much into Mommy these days, and maybe it's more of a jealousy thing than anything, but I'll take it. So after I put Parker to bed and curled up on the sofa by myself she just had to be with me. She crawled under my blanket, but apparently that wasn't close enough so she crawled on top of me, giggling like we were on the most exciting roller coaster in the world. That's what I am to her right now, the most exciting ride in the world. We rolled around tickling and playing together without a care in the world. We snuggled and kissed and that all just made us giggle more. She doesn't know that I'm just boring old Mom, instead she thinks I'm cool and she wants to hang out with me! She loves me so completely, and I her. As much as that kid can make me shake with frustration at times, her sweet sweet voice makes me melt, I wish there was a way to capture it all, but there just isn't. She is so stinking wonderful. She loves to snuggle with me and it makes her so happy she can't control the giggles. She sits in my lap and we read all her favorites, she's getting to the point now where she can kind of tell me the story in some of them. She's genuinely hurt when I'm too busy to give her my full attention, and I feel terrible for that. So when I can I must be sure to do it, because I know this isn't gonna last forever and before I blink again she's going to figure out that I'm just Mom, and Saturday nights are not cool when your hanging out at home with mom.

Diaper Change

Parker loves to have her diaper changed. I'm afraid that it's because it's one of the few chances she gets to have our undivided attention and to escape the swing and car seat, but regardless she loves it. She grins and grins, and does her best to talk us into keeping her there all day. She is such a sweet baby and just doesn't understand at all why we have to put her down to do other things.

What Are You Doing?

This is a question that is asked a lot in our house. To Payton, to Parker, to Mommy and to Daddy, from each of us to the other in MANY different tones. Sometimes it's a question, sometimes an exclamation, sometimes an accusation. So here's the conversation that Jason and Payton had a few days ago.

Jason had gone upstairs to work at the desk on the laptop and Payton had followed. As she often does, she climbed up into the chair in front of the desktop computer and started typing away.

Jason: What are you doing? (A genuine question)

Payton: Doin' bisness.

A few minutes later...

Jason: What are you doing?

Payton: Makin' money.

Apparently she really does listen to everything we say to her!

Gymnastics A Hit

Yesterday was the first gymnastics class and it went pretty well. Payton is by far the youngest in the class, and has not completely decided that the instructor is really in charge so she doesn't always do what everyone else is doing. She stood and watched the group do their stretching exercises for a while, but eventually started tagging along with the group, at least most of the time. Ava ended up joining the class as well, so it's almost all of the girls from the hood; Ava, Payton, Kaitlyn, Annika and Jordan, but this was Jordan's last week as she starts kindergarten on Monday. Charly is still too young, but did enjoy open gym after class. It was really funny to watch all of the girls. At one point the whole class, sans Payton, had raced across the room at the instruction of the teacher. Payton was hanging out on the other wall and the whole class had to call her over to join them. She loved that and ran to there side grinning all the way. Here are some photos and a video of one of the exercises they do. You will notice that at the end Payton takes off on one of her little side trips instead of heading to the back of the line.

Somersault

Payton will be starting gymnastics tomorrow with two of her older friends, Annika and Kaitlyn who are both 3. She's been practicing so that she'll be ready to wow the crowds. Hopefully she'll be able to handle the 3&4 year old class even though she's not even 2 1/2 yet. The toddler class would have me tagging along to help keep her on track, but her friends are in the older class so I thought we'd give it a shot. She does fine without me in swimming class, so hopefully this will work out too.

Not to be forgotten

Parker's not the center of funny stories quite yet, but she's just as cute as a button. Although I've never been big on the whole "attachement parenting" theory, apparently she is. She LOVES her mommy dearly and is very happy (read only happy) when she's being held or is in the sling attached to me. I think that yesterday she spent at least 16 hours on me in some capacity, either sleeping next to me, in my arms or in the sling. Here is a photo of her after swimming at Grandma & Grandpa's house on Sunday. She apparently wore herself out in the pool.

Why, why, why???

This post could go two ways. One could be the story I intend for it to be. The other could be telling you all about Payton's favorite word, Why. Why Mommy, why? Why? Why? Why? It's pretty much every fifth word. Even more common than MarMar Jackie, which I have just learned doesn't only refer to Jackie, it also refers to Grandma Orr. Another story.

Last week Aunt Robynn left a few containers of yogurt here that she'd bought for Addy while they were visiting. Payton wanted one for lunch and after she ate her nuggets I sat her down at her table behind the sofa with a spoon and container of yogurt, and I moved on to clean up her mess of toys that had spread out over the living room. After only a minute or so, I realized she wasn't talking to me and thought that strange as we don't EVER go more than 30 seconds without conversation from the little chatterbox. SO, being the great mother that I am, I decided to check on her. This is what I found. She was proudly and enthusiastically giving her hair a yogurt treatment. Beautiful. Only two hours after a shower, now she needed a yogurt bath. Here's where the great mother skills fly out the window. I scream, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!! This photo is seconds later as I realize I might have overreacted a bit and start to see the humor. She's not seeing the humor. From here I continued to scold (as I was laughing my butt off in my head) and grabbed her, lay her on the kitchen counter and washed the hair in the sink. Hopefully no more yogurt treatments until she's a teenager and can wash it herself!

Suzie

Aunt Diana arrived on Monday night and we learned that as polite as we thought we were teaching Payton to be, she hadn't yet been taught that she can't interupt a conversation by screaming "STOP" at everyone in the room. So, we tried to reintroduce "Excuse Me" to her. She is very good at saying it if she toots, but didn't know that it had other uses as well. So, we stopped our conversation on demand, and instead of doing what she wanted explained that if she needed something while the adults were talking that she would need to say excuse me at a normal conversation voice and that we would in fact stop to attend to her needs. WELL, some how in her mind excuse me became Suzie. So, she's spent the last two days running around yelling Suzie at Diana and I every time we try to have a conversation. Diana keeps trying to get her to say ick-suzie, but it usually comes back to Suzie. Aren't kids funny!



Payton's been having all sorts of fun with Aunt Diana this week! They are the best of buddies now, and their favorite game seems to be tickling. Today we took Diana to Ava's birtday party at Kid Zoo and that was lots of fun. Diana helped Payton clumb the rock wall, WAY COOL!!

Parker Talks

Parker is starting to grin and coo at us. It's so much fun to have her interacting! She loves to have her diaper changed, although this video isn't of that. It makes me think of Addy, I remember CC being so proud of Addy grinning and enjoying her diaper being changed, and now Parker seems to love it just as much. Guess I need to get video of that too! (Alright, that line of thought MIGHT have been a bit Montgomery.)



Back to Parker...she's still sleeping a lot, but is certainly spending more time awake during the day. At night she's getting really good about sleeping in her crib without fighting it and can even fall asleep there if she's put in sleepy. The other night she went 8 hours between feedings, but the next night it was only 3, so we still have a way to go. For the most part she eats around 10:30, wakes between 2:30 and 3:30, and then again around 6:30. It's not too terribly bad, but if we could drop that middle of the night thing I'd be thrilled! The tough part of the 6:30 feeding is that she'll eat until 7-7:30 and then Payton wakes up around 7:30, and Mommy never gets to go back to bed!

Pretty Nails

Last weekend was Payton's first experience with the great girly tradition of NAIL POLISH!! I guess that I usually just slap an extra layer on my toes quickly when I'm getting out of the shower and she's not around, because it really was the first time she'd found me doing it and taken an interest. So, I put a little on her toes and went back to my own. Then after a lot of "more, more" I did her fingers as well, and of course went back to my own. "More, more" I heard again. We'd run out of nail beds on her body, but she wanted more. I had to explain that we'd done all of her nails already, and of course she gave me that look, the one that says "I know you're holding out on my you cruel, cruel mother of mine." So to distract her I sent her to show her daddy how pretty she was. He was less than impressed. Daddy apparently doesn't want his little girl to grow up so quickly, and told me that he didn't want me to do that again. Bah humbug, she's a little girl and when she wants her nail painted she will have them! His concern is that since she still sucks her thumb that she'll be poisoned by the paint. To compromise, I won't be painting her thumb until she stops sucking it, so give her a break next time you see her with 9 fingers painted!

Parker's Week In Review

So, I called everyone on Monday to brag that Parker is way ahead of the game and already rolling over, well, no progress beyond that. Bummer, maybe it was a fluke afterall. Which is TOTALLY fine by me, I'm not ready for her to be mobile yet. I fear that if she's ahead of the curve on rolling it could lead to a lifetime of being too mature for her age, and my own dear parents can tell us all what it's like to have a kid who thinks she's older than she is. I think that would be Karma coming back to kick me in the head.

Anyway, she is like her mommy socially, as she's far advanced and loves to smile at me! I was pretty sure she was starting to do it and then confirmed it when Ava and Charly were playing with her in her swing and she kept grinning at them, way way cool to see that. Hope she learns to love those girls as much as Payton does.

One of my fears in having a second child was that I would either miss the milestones, or just not be impressed by them. I was so afraid that I'd never have moments alone with either girl again, life would just turn into a big whirlwind and all of the sudden they'd be moving out and it would be over. Well, this week I've had some great moments with each. Nothing crazy that you'd go on national tv with, just moments of love with my babies. Payton and I snuggling on the sofa or dancing around the living room giggling while I tried to teach her how to do a summersault. Parker grinning and cooing at me for the first time while I changed her diaper. Thanks for these moments girls, you make your mommy feel pretty lucky to have you both.

Payton Shows Off

Alright, gonna try something new, attaching video. Payton wanted to show off her new trick, so let's see if I can do this.

Two...Three...JUMP!!

July 4th Activities

This year we stayed close to home for the 4th and it was GREAT! We loaded the girls up and joined friends at Miromar for fireworks on the 3rd. Payton had fun playing with her friends Ava, Charly, and her newest friend Jacob. She snuggled in with Daddy for the fireworks, but spent the rest of the evening trying to figure out how to keep up with the big kids without getting trampled or in the way. Poor kid was begging to go night-night the whole ride home. Miromar is only about 1 1/2 miles from home, but it took us about 40 minutes to get out of the parking lot so it was about 11 p.m. by the time we got her home. Miss Parker on the other hand slept and ate right through the whole event. The fireworks didn't phase her a bit, although I really did try to cover her tiny little ears.

Being the cruel mother that I am, I dragged poor little Payton out of bed bright and early Friday morning and made her jump in the car and head to the parade in Bonita while Daddy and Parker took the morning off and hung out at the house. That didn't seem to thrill her nearly as much as I'd expected! She just didn't get it. The floats did nothing for her, nor did the firetrucks or various cars with politicians riding in them (I'm with her on that one). What I find truely shocking is that she didn't even seem to get the whole concept of CANDY being tossed at her!! I collected some for her, I just couldn't let the candy lay on the ground in front of me. Which is really quite silly since I'm the mother who just threw away most of her Easter candy last week that I never gave to her. Anywho, I did break open a piece of Laffy Taffy for her, and she thought that was pretty good, lots of "more, more?!?!" The one thing she did seem to appreciate were the horses. After two groups of horses when by she kept asking me for "horsies, more horsies". Really she was not so much asking as demanding, didn't seem to understand that I had zero control over the parade.

We spent the evening in true 4th style, hanging out with friends in the pool, grilling and watching the neighbors set off fireworks. I was really looking forward to relaxing and doing a lot of nothing. Well, I realized something profound which Jason put best, it really does take 4 adults to take care of 4 kids. We pretty much spent the afternoon and evening waiting on our children hand and foot. Between diapers on both girls, Parker eating, Payton not eating, changing into and out of swimsuits, going in and out of houses, cooking, and keeping all of the kids from drowning I never even had time to finish a glass of wine. Which is fine since Payton and Ava thought the greatest game in life is to fill the wine glass with pool water!

Parker did have a big first, she went swimming! She wasn't so thrilled at first, but warmed up to it. We hope that she'll start to enjoy it more as we get her in the water more often.

In The Beginning...

Yesterday my girlfriend Leslie (aka AvaCharly's mom) sent me a link to her blog that she has been doing for her girls. I laughed so hard I cried, Jason was on the sofa wonding what the hormones were doing to me THIS time. It wasn't the hormones, it was her recount of what swimming lessons had been doing to her household. There were other little stories, and great photos as well. Made me think, hey, I love to tell stories of my girls lives, why not try to record them this way since I hardly make it to the baby books anymore. After that I jumped over to my cousin Angie's site to check on her trip to Argentina and it was settled, I have to have my own. So here we go!

I am hoping that I will be able to use this to capture cute stories to share with family & friends, as well as get some things down in writing for the girls to have someday. This will hopefully be in ADDITION to the baby books. I'm thinking that since my computer is always with me, and the books aren't, that I will be more likely to write things down here. And doing it this way allows all of the Payton & Parker Fans out there to catch up as well. Sorry Mom, I know you're gonna hear all the stories by phone as well, but I'm certain you'll make it.

By the way Parker, I did just fill in your 1 month page, as you are almost 6 weeks old now, I think I'm doing well.