Parker's Wish List and Other Updates

Parker is certain about what she wants, and doesn't want, from Santa this year. To anyone who asks (or sometimes doesn't) she will announce "Pillow Pet, no poopy head, bike and kitchen toooo!" I have no idea where the poopy head came from, but it makes me giggle. I'm pretty sure this is how she presented her wish list to Santa, the old guy probably thinks we're one odd family.

She's totally into Widget, our family Elf on the Shelf, this year. Each morning she comes downstairs and searches the house for him, SO proud when she finds him, pointing and yelling "Widget, Widget, I love you Widget". Now if only we could get her to buy into the fear factor that he's supposed to instill. Instead she's bull headed (like her dad) and when we threaten no pillow pet, she says fine, and continues on her naughty ways. I've SERIOUSLY considered her not getting the three items, but can't bring myself to hold out. Wonder if there are parents out there who have????

I hate to even put this in print, but for the most part, gulp, Parker is potty trained!!! She still has an occasionally accident (usually in the morning when she just refuses to go when she gets up) but overall we're done with diapers. It was so wonderful to remove the basket of diapers and wipes from our living room! She is even sleeping in panties, which I'm just supper dupper proud of her for. It's been a bit of a process for her, I'd say it took us 2 months to feel like we're there, but so so so happy about it. And here are my favorite potty training quotes:
1. POOPY COME OUT!!!! - as she's sitting on the potty yelling between her legs
2. Bye bye poopy - As anyone in the house flushes the toilet and she runs to look at whats headed down
3. I go poopy in the potty! - This is how she greets people at our front door. She's not telling you she's JUST gone, just making a general statement
4. I go potty, get candy - When we first started working on the potty, she'd get a sucker for success. That's been gone for a long time, but she holds onto the idea, just in case WE forget it's over.
5. Mommy I NEEDED YOU!!!!! - This means she's pooped and needs me to run from whatever I'm doing to wipe her butt. The day that they both wipe their own butts will be a great day for this mommy.

And my very, very favorite Parkerism right now is this, I love you. She repeats it over and over, will go back and forth with you competeing for the best "I Love You" or "I Love You TOO" and will toss it out to everyone, because she knows how it melts hearts. Of course I love it most when she saves it for me, but love that she shares it too. She really is a sweetheart, she just wraps he sweetness in trouble!

*** Ha, ha, ha - I just ran spell check and poopy is apparently not a word, half of my page lit up red.

Reality Is Close

I feel like we live a pretty charmed life and our girls are pretty (I thought) sheltered. Until recently. I'm discovering that reality is right there, and Payton is getting old enough, and observant enough, to see what's there. Yesterday she asked one of her friends where his daddy is. What she doesn't know (I don't think) is that this little boys parents broke up long ago, and he and his mother live with her parents. This little man is one of the most loved children I know, but his father is not in the picture much and it's probably better this way. Today she asked me why another friends daddy lives with her other friends mommy, and if that friend has a mommy. Seriously, where does she get this stuff? All of this while walking through Costco! I didn't really know what to say. Heck the whole thing took me a few days to digest! How do I explain divorce and separation to a 4 year old, why do I have to? I tried to lightly tell her that D's daddy and L's mommy like each other, that they're good friends and leave it at that. And that of course D has a mommy. Luckily she was fine with that explanation and went into the next conversation about who to invite to her birthday party in 6 months. Eeekk! And these are the little things. Upcoming I know that it's going to get much tougher. Thank goodness I had some great teachers in dealing with the tough stuff!

Payton's Wish List

Payton has had her Santa wish list made and posted for weeks now, it was up before Halloween. I admit, I kind of encouraged her to make it, and my reason was two-fold. First of all, I hoped that by writing it down she would stop telling me how much she wants a unicorn pillow pet. Secondly, I hope that by putting it in writing, she might stick to the things that are on the list so that I can buy these things now and not have a totally different list come the week before Christmas, I pray this works. So, the list goes like this: pillow pet - #1 priority, game - she probably doesn't know what this is, but I really want to get her the Leapster game to help her practice writing and fine motor skills so I've taken her to the store and encouraged her to ask Santa for one, bike - because all the other kids on the street have them and we fight for them, reindeer with a nose that lights up that she saw 2 months ago at Costco that is LONG gone and unfortunately her Santa didn't get one, kitty - no idea why she thinks she needs another one, ball - again, we certainly don't need more balls in the house, and jewelry box which I think is actually for Grandma Jackie because Payton thinks she needs one in her bathroom - I'm still very unclear on this request. The other bonus to having a list made is that we can kind-of-sort-of use it to remind her that she needs to be good so that Santa will come. Not sure how well that parts reall working out, but it's a thought.

Parker Takes on Two, With Spirit!

This a photo of how I found Parker napping a few days ago, she FINALLY passed out on the floor in our bedroom.

Parker, Parker, Parker. You are two, very much two. I've recently realized that the reason God makes toddlers so incredibly cute is so that we don't kill you, we're too busy admiring you - that is your beauty, your cunning, your willpower. You can be SO difficult, it's hard to even put into words. You can not stand to have anything not go exactly your way. For example, every morning you come into my room and wake me up, telling me to GET UP, if I take too long (longer than 6.2 seconds) you yell at me, pull blankets off and occasionally HIT me. I've tried ignoring you, trying to talk reasonably to you, threatening you, but I've learned that it's easiest to just jump up and head downstairs on demand. Of course you immediately turn on your 2 year old charm, grin, and insist that I carry you down the staircase. You are in fact a bully! I think that mostly you bully me, because for some reason in the last few weeks since your dad and I got back from vacation I'm having a terrible time hurting your feelings, I'm completely (mostly) wrapped around your finger. Not in the way we say we are with our sweet babies, where we still make them eat, and go to sleep, because we know it's best for them. I'm wrapped in a terrible way where I feel horrible telling you to go to bed, I will actually lay in your bed rubbing your hair, begging you to go to sleep, which is not at all the kind of mom I have ever been. When you get up hour on end, I find it terribly difficult to spank you to get back into your room. I let you sleep with your door open and with a light on, and I'll let you go on for hours. What is wrong with me! As soon as we got back you started telling me how you missed me, and that melted my heart, so you figured out to use it whenever you wanted to get to me, Mommy - I missue, I missue mommy (translates to - I miss you). Works every time. Ugh, I've got to put a stop to these manipulations, but oh how I love you sweetheart.

Scariest Moment

Yesterday I had the scariest moment that I can recall in my entire life, I have no idea if it was over a 3 minute span or 10, but it felt like an eternity, and I'm pretty sure it was closer to 10. You girls were "helping" me help Grandma Jackie move into her new house from her condo. We'd been going hard all morning and st oped at Chick-Fil-A for a bite of lunch. It was time to head out and get back to work and I thought I'd get you a treat and ordered a milkshake for you to share. At the same time Payton decided she needed to go potty, and Parker, you of course decided you did too. I don't know exactly how it happened, one minute you were both flittering between me and Grandma, then all of the sudden Payton was alone. As usual, I questioned Payton first, where did your sister go, but she didn't have an answer this time. At first I figured Parker had started to wander towards the bathroom, so Payton and I headed that way leaving Grandma in the dining area waiting and watching, feeling as helpless as I did. I started to get nervous as I didn't see Parker in the hallway to the bathrooms, then went inside assuming Parker had gone inside alone somehow. This is when I started to panic. I grabbed Payton by the hand and ran out of the bathroom, telling her she needed to wait with Grandma, that we had to find Parker. I ran to the play room, to the exit door that was near our car, no Parker anywhere. I started asking people around the dining room, no one had seen her, the whole time trying not to turn into a lunatic. I ran out the main door into more parking area, by this time working hard to hold back tears. Even typing this it's hard not cry, I was absolutely terrified at this point. I'm not much of a worrier, I believe most people in this world are basically good, and most situations work out in the end. I don't usually have those crazy mom fears that there's always someone lurking in the wings waiting to steal my babies, but after 5 minutes or so, I was questioning my own senses. Not inside, not outside, where on earth could she be? I thought to myself that IF she'd been hit by a car, there would be a commotion around the scene by now, but if she'd been taken...I just couldn't let my mind go there. Then a young guy came out to the parking lot telling me that an older woman had my little girl inside, I ran in after him with a rush of of relief, only to be temporarily disappointed to find him looking at Payton still standing next to Grandma as she'd been told to do, thinking that was the little girl he was referring to I turned to go back out and finally saw one of the CFA employees with my sweet Parker snuggled up against her chest. Apparently Parker HAD gone back to the bathroom, only she chose the men's room, which I never considered. I think I mumbled some thank you's to the woman and took Parker into my arms now even more emotional than before. I still don't understand how she got away, but I'm so thankful that nothing bad happened and hope that just maybe we both learned a little lesson. I've been a mom for 4+ years now, and this is the first time that I've really been terrified. I can't really put into words what I felt in those moments, but I pray that you girls never ever pull another disappearing trick on me!

Florida Babies

In our daily driving we often pass a sign on the interstate that reads "Gulf Beaches" this exit, and each time I think to myself, how cool that my girls are growing up THIS close to the ocean. I mean really, what percentage of American kids grow up within a few miles of the coastline, heck, if you really think about it many kids don't ever even get to visit a beach! They will likely have no idea how special it is, but I do. We get to head to the beach for an hour or two any given weekend. We think, ugh, it's so much work, the whole 10 minute drive, all the sand and such, blah, blah, blah. Then, we get there and it's just magic to watch them play and giggle, get knocked over by the surf and giggle some more. They pick up shells like they've never seen one before, chase birds and search for crabs. Heaven to little girls. Parker's two years old, and barely bothered by saltwater in her face. This weekend I took them with some girlfriends and at one point looked over to see both of them floating around on noodles chasing eachother and making trains with their girlfriends. Bliss.

And then a really special opportunity came our way this weekend, we were invited to a turtle release! So after a morning at the beach with our friends we packed up with Grandma Jackie and headed BACK to the beach in a thunderstorm. I have to tell you girls, Grandma thought that maybe I'd flipped my lid dragging you all out with lightening and rain, but in the end it was great and the beach didn't have lightening (not much anyway). You girls ran around playing with all your friends in the rain up and down and around the boardwalk and eventually were so excited to check out the baby turtles when the turtle rescue volunteers finally arrived. They were so tiny, but kicked their little feet like they were going places, which in the end they certainly were. We stayed until around 8:30 (way past bed time) when they were finally released. I think that Parker was somehow under the impression that she was going to get to keep one, or maybe she was afraid for them, but she started crying for the turtles as they released the babies and they crawled for the water. Rita (Ava-Charly's grandma) calmed her right down by telling her that they were going to go find their mommies. Seems like Rita's got these little girls all figured out! I'm pretty sure that you girls won't remember the night, but I sure will. I'm also certain that we'll have to do this again!

Party Pooper

Parker, I'm writing this from hearsay(thank goodness)! Tonight I went out to run a few errands and left you and Payton home with Daddy to go over to Ava and Charly's to swim. As the story has been told to me, it started to get stormy so you girls went inside to play, and the daddy's stayed outside talking. At some point the big girls must have lost track of you, because you went into the half bathroom downstairs to take care of some dirty business. Well, they eventually found you and ran panicked to the back door, "DAD, Parker needs you! She's in the bathroom and she's crying!" As the story goes, your dad (and I assume Karl) came in to find you with poop smeared on your legs and who knows where else, and you'd used every bit of toilet paper in some attempt to clean yourself up only managing to rub yourself raw removing very little of the poop. So your poor daddy had to clean you up, flush the toilet using a plunger and many attempts, and somehow attack the mess that is our dear friends bathroom. You must have been EXTRA sweet to him tonight because he was able to laugh about it in the end, and somehow you got a sucker out of the whole thing because he was really proud of you for trying to use the potty. I have been told that the two of you had a long in depth talk about always letting Mommy or Daddy know when you need to go poop. Oh how I wish Leslie had been there with a camera! (OK, not really Leslie, but that someone would have taken a photo)

The Future According To Payton

The day after my last post about Payton and her fears of college we had the following conversation in the car.

Payton (in an almost startled voice): Mommy, when are we going to make me a car?!

ME (very confused): What, why would we make you a car? We don't make cars, we buy them, but why?

Payton: I'm gonna need one to go live at school!

After trying to explain that was a long time away we moved on. From there we had a deep conversation that moved from school, to her house, to her being a mommy and of course her having 2 little girls, and deciding that Parker would live in the house next door and be her neighbor. Living near Mommy & Daddy somehow lost it's priority level from the night before. In fact, she wasn't even sure if she'd know the way to get to our house anymore once she realized that Parker could be her neighbor.

Snuggle

I'm a bit sad this week, as Parker continues to prove she's growing up. For the last few months my favorite Parker-ism has been her word, nuggle. She uses it to get out of trouble, to avoid bedtime, to work her way between Payton and I, pretty much to get her way. She nuggles up with me on the sofa and it melts my mommy heart. But I've noticed that she's finding the s more and more and it's turning into snuggles. I guess that's okay, as long as she keeps doing it.

Now if only she'd prove her grown-up-ness by using the potty...

College

Tonight as I was tucking Payton into bed I mentioned that tomorrow is Anna's last day with us, because she's leaving for college. Payton somehow seemed stunned. I tried explaining that she's going away to school and she will live at her school, apparently that didn't make it any less strange or frightening. Now she's starting to get worried, she knows that next week SHE starts school, I could see the little wheels turning in her head. I assured her that when she gets to be a big girl she too will go away to school, but not for a LONG time. Still not buying into all of it. Suddenly, she starts grinning, and announces she wants to pick out a pretty house, and all was well in her world when I assured her that I'd help her pick out a pretty house, someday. She was getting into it all, but just had one more requirement. She wants a pretty house that is close to us. I'm okay with that.

I Take It Back

Parker has lost her big girl bed status, and we'll all so much better off! As I wrote before, she did great the first week. Then she figured out she could get out of bed and she started coming into our room earlier than we'd like, but still acceptable behavior. Then she had a cold and started getting up in the night and wandering around the house and coming into our room even earlier. One morning I woke up to her with two cookies in hand. Apparently she'd headed downstairs to check things out before coming in to see us this day. The final straw was that she didn't want to nap anymore, and not only got out of bed 32,000 times, she'd head into Payton's room and made sure that she couldn't sleep either. I dealt with this a few days and finally couldn't take it. After 2 hours of fighting her, begging her, and a few swats to the butt where she laughed at me I was done. I put her in her bed and made her sit there while I screwed the front panel back on. She pouted and pouted and when I was all done she said, "I want my PAYTON" with her cutest and biggest pout, bottom lip out and pathetic. BUT, as soon as I shut the door she slept like a baby. Ahhh, love the cage...I mean crib. We'll revisit when she's 12.

Big Girl Bed

Parker's graduated, sort of. About two weeks ago I got brave and took the front panel off of the crib turning it into a "toddler bed". Dumb concept, but it keeps us from having to buy another bed for the time being so I'm going with it. The first time I layed her down, I was amazed. She layed there and slept, even stayed in bed after waking until I went up to get her. Same thing that night, and for the next week. I was thinking that she was setting a new standard of greatness. Since then, she's figured out that she CAN get out (apparently she didn't get it at first) and she does. Boy, oh boy does she. Nap time is becoming more and more challenging as her FAVORITE place to veture off to is Payton's room. Now it's a good 30 minutes to get everyone settled for naps. The saving grace is that she is still staying in bed at night, and doesn't get up until 7:30 or so in the morning.

This picture is of her first nap in the bed minus rail. Following Payton's lead, she has to have a bed full of stuff to sleep.

We all know that kids say funny things, but of course I'm certain mine are the funniest. For example...

Driving down the road one recent afternoon, Payton shouts "MOM, LOOK! The sprinkler is in the sky!" It's summer time in Florida, so I assume she's trying to tell me she saw lightening maybe confusing sprinkler/sparkler/lightening, so I try to correct her asking if she means lightening as I'm making a u-turn to get where we're headed. "NO MOM, the sprinkler -SEE!" I look over to see a fountain in the lake we're passing. Sprinkler - fountain, it's pretty much the same.

Also in the car, we pass a community where one of our old friends, Lily, lives. I pointed out that we're passing Lily and Laura's house. To this she responds, "Does Lily have a daddy?" I'm certain now that this was an innocent question, but it startled me, because they are one of the few couples that we know that have divorced in the last year. I know that Payton has no concept of this, but I'm panicking in the front seat. What do I say, what do I say?? Back to reality, "Of course she has a daddy, remember her daddy is Mark!?" I think I've settled this, as she does know Mark and I assume we're all set. In fact, we saw him at a festival not too long ago with Lily. For some reason she still doubts me, but eventually I did convince her. Dodged THAT talk!

Recently I've been trying to get myself back to the gym, but for some reason the girls fight me on it every day. They have fun there, but just can't seem to motivate to get there (something about apples falling far from trees comes to mind). Anyway, today we're driving to the gym and Payton is questioning me as to WHY we have to go. I don't want to warp her mind telling her Mommy's fat, or needs to loose weight so I go with the healthy aspect. I'm trying to tell her that I'm taking care of my body, this is why we ask her to eat her dinner, and why we don't eat cookies and candy all of the time. We want to keep our bodies in good shape, so that we can be around for a long, long time. To this she responds, are you going to die Mommy? Ugh, another one of those questions a parent doesn't really want to get into. Luckily, once again it was an easy, "Not for a long time honey, what do you want to eat for lunch?" kind of answer that she fell for. Dodged another one!

Parker's conversations aren't quite as deep at this point, but still just as charming. My current favorite Parker-ism is the word NUGGLE. This is her version of snuggle, and I may just add this word to the family dictionary because I love, love, love to hear her say it. It's usually used at either bedtime (to avoid it), or when I'm exhausted and laying on the sofa and she wants to climb under the blanket with me. Either way, she usually wins.

Going to the Beesh

Apparently my girls don't think we spend enough time at the beach. For the last couple weeks Parker gets in the car and chants "BEESH, BEESH" at me. In itself, it's cute and makes me feel bad, because we're really headed to the grocery store, Target, the gym, etc., but never to the beach. But to add insult to injury, Payton's taken to explaining to her "Parker, we only go to the beach when Grandma's here. Either Grandma Jackie or Grandma Teresa, that's when we go to the beach". Really kid, is that what you think? So sad, we live 10 minutes from gorgeous beaches, and I can't find time to take them other than when Grandma's here. This must be corrected! So, on Sunday I packed the girls up and we headed to the beach. The plan was to spend the morning hanging with the Nerney's and of course be home in time for a quick lunch and naps, as we never really last more that 1 hour, or 1 1/2 tops. But, my girls are growing up, and they LOVE the beach. So as we were packing up to head home two hours in, we bumped into the Pabst's and instead of dragging them away from their friends I chose to spend another 2 hours there! It was great, they played and played, never argued about me chasing them around with sunscreen every 30 minutes, and I got to enjoy a great day with great friends too. There was little whining, and they were even too busy to really get hungry or tired. Maybe there is a light at the end of babyhood!

Change Is Good...

It's crazy how fast Parker's learning to talk. It seems like only a month or two ago that she started calling Payton by a recognizable name (Pay-Pay) and all of the sudden, she's "Pay-un" as perfect as 1/2 the adults in the world. She's calling Oliver by some version of a word that starts with O, not 100% clear, but something close. She's speaking in sentences and she's even learned to say "No Thank You" as sweet as can be when she doesn't want something. Of course she still have moments of babble, but they are rare.

And then there's her swimming, WOW! Tonight we were at the pool for a party with the other neighborhood kids and she was doing great. We've been trying to get her prepared to start swim lessons next week, and I think she's super ready. She will jump in from the edge and swim underwater to get to me. Of course, she's not figured out how to come up for AIR, but still, no fear and she's moving through the water all before Kimmy comes near her. I think she's gonna be the star student!

Parker's Two!

How do I love you, let me count the ways. I love the way you shrug your shoulders to really add extra cuteness to your already amazing grin. I love the way you look up to your big sister, and how you know how to push her buttons like no one else. I love that when I come in to get you out of your bed in the morning two weeks after your birthday party you still tell me "Thank you mommy for Mickey Mouse Cake" each day. I love how you say "beech" when you beg to go to the beach. I love that you beg for candy each day, even though you know we're not going to give it to you. I love that when I come home from work at night you and your sister come running at me to give me hugs and kisses. I love that you can count to ten, and love listening to you counting to yourself throughout the day. I love how you can run like the wind, and even when you fall down, you jump up and keep going. I love you at two!

Parker, you're a total firecracker, sassy and sweet in perfect balance. You totally crack me up with your latest displays of attitude. When you don't like the answer you've been given(usually "NO") you will either wag your finger at me and say "NO, MOMMY, NO!", you'll tell me to "BE NICE" or you'll say nothing at all and just bat your eyes and stick out your bottom lip - this is HYSTERICAL, but when I laugh you look at me crushed. This of course makes me realize how cruel I am, because sometimes I forget, these little things that you want to do really mean the world to you. On the sweet side, you are always ready with a quick snuggle or a thank you for anything we give you. Makes me so happy and so proud. You love to snuggle with me, daddy and Payton, especially if we can all do it together! Your grin is a gift within itself, completely lights up a room, and we're blessed that you give them out often.

Each day you learn more and more words, and we all love this! One of my favorites is to hear you talk to Payton, or Paypay as you call her. The two of you are best friends and she sometimes has to translate for us to understand you. You spent a few weeks at Allie Gator School before we started having Rachel come to the house. In those few weeks you started learning to count to ten. It is the cutest thing in the world to hear you walking around the house, or hanging out in your crib counting your little heart out. Of course you do it best on your own, and when we try to get you to count on cue for video, you won't say a word. Totally Parker.

You are my mischievous child, and this may mean you're going to be in your crib until you're 18. You have inspired me in the last two weeks to put baby locks on more and more bathroom cabinets, and even to seek out a lock for the pantry. I've found you on the sofa drawing on yourself with a highlighter, walking around with lip gloss, open containers of bronzer splashed throughout the house, and then there was the childproof bottle of allergy medicine that daddy found you with spread all around you on the bedroom floor. Last straw there. There was the day I found you trying to climb Payton's bookcase or the time you were reaching for something on the kitchen bar from the kitchen table and the chair fell, thankfully landing against the bar. Daddy is constantly on your case for turning on every light in the house. If there is trouble to find, you are my #1 player. And each time you get into trouble, you lay your head on my shoulder and say "I sowwy" and think that's going to make it all better. At least I can be thankful that you're polite. Your daredevil side means that at any given time you have at least 4 bumps, scratches or bruises on your body. Currently a crack on your chin, bruised shins, scraped elbow and torn open toe. I know how the elbow happened, no idea on the rest.

what else should I cover? At this point you're still a pretty good eater, but I see you getting more and more selective. You're a bit bashful and don't care for large parties, but usually warm up to people pretty quickly. You are ready to start swimming, but since we haven't started swimming lessons you are pretty dependent on us in the water. As far as sleep, you are still taking a nap in the afternoon and go to bed around 8 at night. You hardly ever fall asleep right away, you kick and talk and play forever, but at least you're in your bed with your kitty and your blankie. You love Mickey Mouse and beg Daddy to play it on his phone any chance you get. You are an amazing child and I look forward to the next year!

Hugs and kisses sweetheart!

2 Year Check Up

The following story is pure Parker. When it's not her way, it's not going to happen.

I took you in for your two year check up this morning. I've always been the one to take you girls to the doctor and other than the moment of shots, it's always been a friendly happy place for you. Until today. Today was horrid. Today was terrible. Today was exhausting for everyone. We arrived at the office and you were happy to play in the waiting room, spread books around and drink/play with the water fountain. Then the nurse called us back, and it all went downhill quick. You would not stand on the scale so we moved on and figured we could come back to that. You were fine while she asked me questions about your development, including "Does she have tantrums/fits?" to which I answered "yes." Then she needed to listen to your heart, and your response was to scream, cry and flail. She tried and tried, but there was no chance. So, we moved on to taking your temp, which somehow we did get done. Back to the heart, no way. So we tried to lay you on the table to measure you. I don't know what number she came up with, but with the three lines above your head and the scraggly one at your foot, it couldn't have been right. The end of the line seemed to be your head circumference. NO WAY were you having it! Eventually we had to get you on the scale, and since you wouldn't stand on the big girl scale I had to get your clothes off to use the baby one. Have I mentioned that you were kicking and screaming?? Well, you were. The nurse took you from me and told me to go into the room while she tried to weigh you. I have no idea if she actually weighed you or if she made it up since no one was watching, but there's a number in your file and it's over so I don't care. She determined that her numbers, other than weight, were off so she sent the doctor in to try. We got to do it all over again! Fun! I have to tell you that you are one lucky kid, because Dr Foley and her staff are all saints. They never got frustrated with you (or at least didn't show it), and may have even given you a little sympathy. At some point in your fit you broke open the scab on your arm and had blood dripping everywhere. So, we had to wrestle with you to get a band aid to cover that and to wipe blood off of you and me. Dr Foley got some numbers down that she could live with and we moved on. Finally it was time to take a drip of blood for a hemoglobin test and give you your one shot that was due. We all braced ourselves and you for the worst. I held you down, Payton cowered behind me very very concerned over the whole ordeal, and the nurse started jabbing. I'm not sure who started crying first, you or your sister, but I do know who cried longer - PAYTON. As soon as the nurse pulled away from you you were over it. Payton was not. So now I'm trying to console you and Payton and get you dressed and escape this evil place, while keeping all of your bleeding parts off of my white t-shirt. We did make it out of there and you did live, but I'm not really sure how or if we'll ever be able to go back. I'm not sure that I can live that experience again.

Parker's Party

Another great Schiering bash to celebrate Parker turning 2. It started off a bit rocky, Parker of course wasn't certain about all of the commotion surrounding her. I tried to get her into the swing, but she spent the first 1 1/2 hours pretty much clinging to Grandma Barb, well, there are certainly worse ways to go.

Finally the food was ready and I was certain this would bring her out of her shell. What I didn't count on was her new found fear, RAGING fear of flies. Yep, flies. I have a little idea where this came from as Payton had been talking about them a few days earlier, but have no idea how it became so traumatic. Seeing her one would think I'd dropped her into a tank of copperhead snakes, but instead I tried to get her to sit in her booster, in the house while a fly (or two) flew by her tray. I will admit there were an insane number of flies in the house, but only a few taking interest in her. At first I tried to laugh it off with her, then I tried to be stern, but in the end I had to take pity on the poor kid because she was honestly terrified! So, instead of eating she clung to me for dear life and cried into my chest. Eventually we moved on, and now I realize, that girl never did have any dinner!

As the party moved on, she finally found her happy place. That place was with the guys on the side of the house playing a game of bags (our friends version of horseshoes or boccie ball). She was in heaven, watching her made me think of David Cox and all of my own dad's friends from my childhood. I'm so glad that my girls will also have such great men in their lives. And of course I find it a bit humorous that like her mom, she'd rather hang with the guys than a bunch of screaming girls. Can't blame her for that!

Yep, MOMMY made a Mickey Mouse cake! I had to laugh because before the two year old Parker even had a chance to figure out the blowing part of it, our friend Kaitlyn had taken care of it for her.


By 10 or so Parker had enough looking at the pretty packages, and broke in!

Growing Up Without a Cell Phone, and other things you'll never experience!

Grandpa Mark just forwarded the following to me in an email, and it is so much a letter I could write to you that I thought I should save it for you. What better place than your blog!

Growing up without a cell phone If you are 40 , or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning... Uphill... Barefoot.... BOTH ways… yadda, yadda, yadda.

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a Utopia!

And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

When I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our butts! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and screw it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

We didn't have fancy stuff like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends." OH MY GOD !!! When you HAD to make a call, you used a pay phone. Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your butt and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons!

And not many of us had microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!

And car seats and seat belts - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before!

Goodbye Snow

Last week we lost a family member, Grandma Jackie's cat, Snow. It happened the day before Payton's birthday and we held off telling her until this week, didn't want to taint her birthday with such bad news. This is the first time we've had to address death with her and we had no idea how she would take it, nor did we really know what to say to her. A few months ago we had a preview when it was explained to her that Grandma Joan's husband, her great grandfather, had died years ago. She was upset by the whole concept then and so I feared this would be traumatic for her.

We waited until Parker went to bed and Payton snuggled in with me. We tried to keep it very simple, since she is only days into being 4. We told her we had some bad news, that Snow had died last week. He was sick and he died. I expected tears, but instead her eyes got really big and the first thing she said was "Grandma Jackie's gonna be so SAD!!!" She was so worried about Grandma, we told her that yes, Grandma's sad, but it she be okay. We also tried to tell her that he was really sick, but that just because someone is sick doesn't mean they will die, and reminded her about Oliver being sick recently and that he's okay. I asked her if she had any questions and she really didn't seem to. We talked about Snow being buried in the back yard, and tried to reiterate that he wasn't alive anymore. She was uncomfortable by the whole talk, and snuggled in a little deeper for a few minutes. Then she had a question, I was ready for anything. "Can I have some grapes?" Stunned, we got her grapes and assumed we'd moved on. A few minutes later she had another question, something along the lines of, "Can he walk around?". Apparently she's not really getting it. We gave it one last shot, no honey, he's dead, he doesn't do anything anymore.

It's been a day since we had the talk and I'm surprised, but she hasn't brought it up again. I am sure that someday soon, out of the blue, we'll be having this talk again, but for now the bad news is delivered and we can mark this off of the list of terrible things a parent has to do. We're so sorry for the loss of our girls dear friend Snow.

My I Love You Turns 4

You Are My I Love You. That is the name of a book that Grandma Jackie gave us when you were born. That is you, you are my I love you. To this day when I read that book to you the words of the story make zero sense to me as a story, but they ring so true somehow. You are my giggle, you are my wiggle.

I've been thinking for days what to write to you about who you are at 4. You are a lover, you are a crack-up, you are sweet as can be, you are totally a girl, you are sensitive, you are darling. How many silly stories I should be able to recount, cute phrases, and your current fears and ambitions.

Let me elaborate. You have never really known a stranger, you want everyone to be your friend. Whether we're walking through the grocery store or hanging out with friends, you make a huge effort to make everyone giggle around you, or at the very least crack a smile. You get frustrated when we run into an old fart that isn't amused by you, but that rarely happens. You're always telling people how much you love them, you've always done this. But as you get older, I realize how much you really mean it. You'll list off who you love, it may be "Ava, Charly, Jack, Leslie, Karl, Annika, Jordan..." and so on through the ENTIRE neighborhood family we have or it could be "Your Mom, Your Dad - he's SO funny, Colin, Robynn, Addyson, Jackson" you'll tell me. I crack up because you often refer to your grandparents as "Your Mom, or Your Dad" when you're talking to us. I have no idea why. It sounds so grown up and silly at the same time. It's not that you don't know that they're your grandparents, you just seem to want to relate it to how I can understand who you're talking about.

As you'll recall from a previous post on the Estero High School, you are terrified of getting shots. To be honest, I can relate, but I don't let you know this. As your 4 year check up was approaching I wasn't sure how to address it with you, so I did what any mother would, I just didn't. The morning after your birthday I announced that we'd be going to see Dr. Foley, while Daddy took Parker to school. For the most part you were okay with it, that is until I said it was time to get in the car and you tried to hide behind the bookcase. Pretty futile, and you knew it. So we loaded up and headed off. You quizzed me a few times on the likelihood of shots, I remained non-committal. We went on to have a heated debate of whether or not Tikerbell is a princess or a fairy, or both. You are 100% certain that she's a princess AND a fairy, I tried to defend the position that she's a fairy only. Not sure who won, but it was fun to hear you standing for what you believed in. I'm sure that some day I'll eat these words, but I hope that you maintain the ability to stand up for your positions in life (and I hope you get better at it because you didn't have much backup to offer). I'm certain that with your gene pool you will. Back to the Dr visit. We went through the usual hoops, but at a 4 year old level this time. Now you have to give a urine sample (interesting) and you had to take a basic eye exam with a chart of shapes instead of letters. You chatted and charmed the nurse and Dr Foley, who you have always loved. They seemed impressed by your verbal skills, and amused by your you-ness. Then came the nurse to give the dreaded shots, which you still didn't know were about to happen. I set you up on the table, laid your head back and the blood curdling screams began. I held you down and you begged for your daddy. Of course this broke my heart, but I just tried to get you through the whole thing. As much as your daddy loves you, he has very little tolerance for crying and meltdowns, this is exactly why I came with you, so that I could be comforting and kind to you, and what did I get in return, a little girl begging for Daddy. Humft! Anywho, the shots were quickly over, but the tears were not. I tried to keep you in the room until you gained a bit of composure, but there was no point. So I led you out of the room and to the treasure chest hoping the distraction would calm you down, it didn't. You looked down into the treasure chest and pointed to a ring, sobbing that you couldn't bend over, "Please I want that one". So I reached down and handed it to you. You kept looking and looking, I wasn't sure how many toys you thought you could work us for, but I was going to go with one more. Instead you pointed to another ring, and sobbed "That pink one for Parker". How stinking sweet are you, thinking of Parker through all of this drama! I was taken with you once again, and of course you got some serious points with me for that. THIS is the whole point of this long story, your ability to love and always be thinking of those you love. Final note, you cried -SOBBED- the whole way home.

Speaking of your sister. You girls seem to be the best of friends, and of course, you two can make each other crazy. You're almost always looking out for her, and you love to play together. For your birthday you received a Barbie house and I'm so impressed at how well you share it with her. I'm not saying you guys don't fight over it, but it's never occurred to you to say this is MY toy, leave it alone. She is like a wrecking ball every time she touches the thing, but you seem to just go with it. Of course you get mad when she takes something out of your hands, but you don't mind playing with her. I love that you two will always have each other.

Let's see, fears...Right now you are terrified that turning 4 means that we are going to ship you off to 4 year old school. You love Allie Gator, and are terrified of a new school. At first you thought you'd be joining Annika and Kaitlyn who are currently at 4 year old school (aka VPK), but when I cleared that up for you, you were so sad. You don't want to leave your friends and you don't want to leave Ms Christian. An now we're throwing a whole new twist in, and you're going to spend the summer here at home with your sister and a babysitter at the house. To be honest, this is really hard to do to you, but it's just so expensive to send you both to Allie Gator, and this great girl, Rachel, is available, and it will make life so much easier for all of us, but it still means that you will be leaving your friends, your first bit of independence, and a great school. I know that in the fall when you start at VPK you will quickly make new friends and this will all be behind us, but for now I share in this fear with you.

So for fears we have shots and 4 year old school. Ambitions, well, much funnier. This year we're all determined that you will learn to wipe your own butt. Yep, that's right. As I tucked you into bed for the last time on April 20th as a 3 year old, your final statement to me was not "when you go to bed come give me a hug and a kiss" as it usually is, instead it was "you're gonna have to teach me how to wipe my butt". As I write this we're 5 days into 4 years old and you've not made a single attempt,I'm hoping any day now. I just don't really know how to teach you, but I have got to figure it out. What other ambitions??? I suppose I could mention that you are still a closet thumb sucker, and we are doing what we can to try to break that one. It's usually just in bed, but sometimes too when you're sleepy or watching cartoons we'll catch you. Ultimately you just see 4 as a way to get to 5, so I think you're thinking you'll just survive 4, it's just a blip between 3 and 5.

Oh Payton, I love you so much. I can't wait to see what the next year brings us, I'm certain it will be fun!

Sun n' Fun

We spent the last two days visiting Michael and Alison Anthony and their kids who were staying at the Marco Island Marriott. We spent many, many hours playing in the pools and at the beach and just had a GREAT time. Unfortunately, today Payton's paying the price. She's got very tender shoulders, and she doesn't know it, but she also appears to have a blistered nose. I feel terrible, but I swear, I was trying to keep sunscreen on them both the whole time.

But there is a funny spot to all of this. As we were driving home Friday evening Payton looked over at Parker and asked "Why is Parker BROWN???" We just had to laugh, she has no idea that some day she's going to hate Parker for her ability to tan, while she's been blessed with my very fair, and freckled complexion. Someday I'm certain I'll be teaching her all about tan in a spray can!

Parker Talk

Babies are sweet and yummy, but a ton of work. I joke that we survived the first year, and THEN it gets good. I have always loved my girls, but I have to admit I especially LOVE it when they get really mobile and start talking, they start becoming PEOPLE, more and more capable of giving back (and talking back). And Parker is so there right now. She has SO many new words, it seems like every day she adds more. She's excited and proud of them, and I love it! This has been happening over the last 2 months or so. It seems like at Christmas and even afterwards, she would get so frustrated and I assumed it was because she couldn't tell us what she wanted. I'm not saying that she doesn't get frustrated now, but at least she can sometime KIND OF tell us what she needs, now she's just irritated with us that we don't understand all of her "words". Some of her favorite words:
HAPPY - This is one of my very favorite words to hear her say, she is so purely happy when she says it, or she's talking about a cake (birthday cake) and that of course makes her happy!
Mouse (anytime she sees Mickey or any other mouse)
No, Mommy, No - used frequently, and it still makes me giggle
Paypay - Payton
Mommy -used for me and for Grandma
cereal - I just think it's funny when she can tell me what she wants
apple (used for ALL fruit beyond bananas)
pizza - used for I'm hungry
Me: "Parker what do you want to eat?"
Parker: "PIZZA"
key-key - this can be her kitty, but very similar sound for her blanket
wa-er - water, really this means she want a cup, but she is only allowed to have water in a cup, this is our means of mopping the kitchen floor
rock-a-baby - she sings this and rocks her baby AND/OR is asking you to sit in the rocker with her and snuggle (briefly)
monkey
go, uh-wah-go! - I want to go, anywhere, don't care, just I want to go somewhere
peez, Daddy, peez - Daddy has food, it MUST be good and I MUST have it!
Nice - This is what she shouts at the television if there is a fight scene in a movie or show
Moo-wee - When she wants me to turn on cartoons or a movie
Bunny - She completely understands the Easter Bunny idea and loves it
Beesh - Beach, another reason to GO!

Potty?

Parker, Parker, Parker, you are obsessed with the potty these days. I know that as a mom I'm supposed to be thrilled, and I do love the idea of no more diapers in the house. BUT, I am not sure about this whole thing. I think it's more of a game to you than a reality. This morning I sat you on the potty chair fist thing, and you practically filled that puppy. We all did the happy dance for you and you loved the praise. A while later Payton announce that you had a poopy diaper and I changed it. Maybe 3 minutes later you were telling me "potty, potty" again. I didn't really believe you, but being a Saturday morning and not in a big rush I plopped you on the potty chair and my self on the floor in front of you. To my surprise you started pushing and POOPING in the potty. I was shocked, and secretly groaning. See, as a mom, we get the dirty work of this transition. Each time you poop in the potty chair I get to spend the next 10 minutes cleaning the darned thing. Yuck. So, after another happy dance party, off I go to clean the dreaded potty chair. Move on another 10 minutes, and I find you sitting next to Payton on the sofa without a diaper. Crud, where is it, AND where did you pee? I find the diaper in the garbage can of course and put it back on you. This happens two more times over the next 45 minutes. So far I've found a small wet spot on the rug, and a HUGE puddle in the laundry room. My point in all of this is that I'm still not convince you don't just take off the diaper for the attention. Do you know you're about to pee, or do you just take it off and let nature take it's course whenever it may come? I guess we'll find out in the coming weeks...

Estero High

This morning we were leaving the neigborhood to take Payton to school at Allie Gator, and as we do EVERY time we leave our house, we passed the high school which also happens to be the place that the county gave the H1N1 shots this past fall.

PAYTON (voice quivering): Is that were we got shots?

ME: Yes, that's the high school. Someday you will go to school there!

PAYTON (almost in tears): I don't wanna go there, I don't wanna get shots!!

ME: Honey, it's okay. It's a school! That's where Leslie and Karl went to school. It will be fun! They don't give shots every day.

PAYTON: I don't wanna go there. And neither does Parker. Me and Parker aren't gonna go there.

ME: I promise there won't be shots there, it will be fun and you will want to go. But we can figure that out later, it's gonna be a long time before we need to worry about it.

PAYTON: Are there toys there?

ME: I don't know, but you'll like it. Leslie and Karl liked it. You can ask Leslie about it.

PAYTON: Or I can ask Karl. I don't wanna go there.

ME: OK

Memorable Moments from Disney 2010

This is as we arrived for our first day at Magic Kingdom

Since we came home from a two day trip to Disney last year Payton has been asking when we're going to see the princesses again. So this year when the stars aligned pointing us there, we had to take the opportunity. First off, we've been looking for somewhere we could go with Grandma Jackie as a little mini vacation forever. Then Dad's annual conference was scheduled in Orlando, and then the Disney god's themselves sealed the deal offering 4 day $99 tickets to Florida residents. What else was a mom to do, but book a house and pack the car! And that's what I did. I found a great 4 bedroom house with a pool about 15 minutes from the parks. I convinced Mom that she should fly in with Dad for his conference, and convinced Jackie that it would be FUN to ride in the car and push the girls hours on end around the parks. I won't offer a play by play of the whole 5 day trip, but I will say we had an awesome time, and it's a trip the girls will cherish for a long time (as will the rest of us). I will post a few of my favorite highlights of the trip. This gets really random from here on, but I went crazy adding photos!

Parker was trying to have a cup of tea at Minnie's house, not sure why she can't get this cup off the table.

Payton sitting at Minnie's sewing machine.


Thursday before we left Payton was very concerned about leaving Oliver. I tried explaining that cats don't like to take trips and that Collin and Laura would take good care of him. Her idea was that we could take him, and then bring him back home at night. Nope, not happening! All weekend she kept telling me that she wanted me to send pictures to him. So sweet how much she loves her kitty.

Friday morning at 6 a.m. as I was waking Payton up to get into the car
ME: Honey, it's time to get up and go to see the Princesses (in a sweet motherly whisper)
PAYTON: NOOOOO, I wanna see GRANDMA AND GRANDPAAAAA!!!

About 4 hours into the car ride, Parker's getting a little fussy and I'm trying to convince her we're about to be there
ME: Parker, are you happy? (This is one of her favorite words to say)
PARKER: No happy mommy, no happy


Daddy and Parker on the Teacups
Waiting in line for the Teacup ride, our first ride of the visit I kept asking Parker if she wanted to ride, and I'd point over to the people getting into the cups and spinning round and round. She'd just grin, point, shake her head and say "es, es!"


Riding the ferry boat
As we're taking the ferry boat back to the parking lot after a day at Magic Kingdom, we're all sitting on the floor watching the water with the vibrations rattling our brains
PAYTON: It tickles where I go poop!

Pulling into, away from, anytime we're coming or going from the parks
PARKER: Hi Mickey Mouse, Bye-Bye Mickey Mouse in the most adorable almost two year old voice imaginable with a big grin and outstretched hands


Payton got to see Mickey and Minnie while Parker was napping
Every time we'd leave any charater, or as we'd see a character on a parade or even walking down the street
PAYTON: I LOVE YOU MICKEY or PRINCESS or FROG (aka Jimine Cricket) or MINNIE

Parker spent the weekend shocking me with new words, such as "Mickey Mouse" & "cheese balls". I know there were tons more, I just can't think of them.

The girls were so well behaved (for the most part). I have discovered that Payton has a serious streak of me in her. Each day as we were rushing trying to get out of the car and into the parks she was a bear a beast and a monster all rolled into one. I could totally relate, and I felt terrible for giving her these genes! But once I figured out that either ignoring her and using sugar instead of threats to get her going worked WAY better we were good to go. They spent a lot of time in their strollers, and when we did let them out to run around, they never took off running as I assumed Parker would do.


watching the Dreams Come True show at the castle
I think that their very favorite part of the parks is the show at the Magic Kingdom with the whole crew, Mickey,Minnie, Donald, pricesses and all. We watched it once as we were arriving, once we waited for front row seats, and once more for good measure. Each time their eyes were glued to the stage, I can still hear Payton screaming "DREAMS COME TRUE, DREAMS COME TRUE, DREAMS COME TRUE!!"


This was our rainy day that we spent at Animal Kingdom, and did I mention it was cold too? At one point in the day we could see our breath, but it greatly improved and Jason had a blast getting everyone on this roller coaster!


Payton loving life with TWO grandmas on a ride, I think this was at Epcot.


Payton posed for this photo all on her own. She was so proud of herself for coming up with this!

Diaper Drama Part 2

Seriously kid! You are no longer allowed to sleep in nightgowns, I thought that would solve our problem. Nope. You've learned how to take your pants off, so now you've been found in your bed pantsless, running around the house pantsless, you are unstoppable. Yesterday you put Grandma through the paces at nap time removing everything and of course peeing everywhere. Today I thought I'd beat you, I changed you into a onsie for you nap. Well, I was wrong. You were able to remove the diaper without unbuttoning the onsie. I guess for now you're gonna have to get jammies every time we put you in your bed. Ugh.

Payton Stories

Sometimes I'm more and sometimes less aware as a parent. There are times when I'm just in survival mode and don't take the time to SEE what the girls are doing, just reacting and getting by. Other times I'm able to "stop and smell the roses," as they say.

I have friends who's kids are all about the latest music, they are little girls and know the who's who of "in crowd". They know the words to the pop songs on the radio, and I think that's super cute. But I LOVE that when I get in the car with Payton and I have on a pop or a country station she demands that I put on her songs. That is a CD of songs such as "Wheels On The Bus" and "If Your Happy And You Know It". She sits back there and tries to sing her little heart out, and so does Parker. I love, love, love that she's still enjoying being a little girl!

On another note, I'm a wee bit concerned that she has some genetic obsessiveness in her. In the last couple of weeks I've found her becoming a fanatic about making her bed and cleaning up both her and Parker's rooms. The other morning before she even came in to wake Jason and I, she'd already made (in her mind) her bed by spreading her two blankets out smoothly over the entire bed. This morning as I was stepping out of the shower I heard her arguing with Jason about how to make OUR bed. Wow, that bed making gene did NOT come from me, but I'll take it!

Night before last I sat down with her to address Valentines to her classmates. I knew it was going to be a frustrating process for me, addressing 17 Valentines with her, but I was determined to have her write her name on each one. It was a challenge for me, but totally worth it. The fun began when I was trying to spread the cards out, tearing apart the perforations and getting everything organized so that she could pick which card would be for each classmate, while she worked hard at stacking them all up and spouting out classmates names that should go on each. Then it was time to actually write. At first I was calling out the letters to her, and they were randomly falling on the cards, P in the middle, A in the corner, some crazy version of Y maybe under the P, the T's had two lines down, O's were often left out, and N's, looked a lot more like W's or M's, I'm still not sure which. But as we moved on we both got better at it. I decided to draw lines like she's have on a piece of paper at school, that helped up get them going in some sort of order. She eventually told me to stop telling her what the next letter was, because "I know Mom!" By the time we finished I may have had a few less hairs in my head, but I was also very proud of her, I would say that maybe 1/2 of the cards her name was legible!

Alright, for now I better get back to surviving life as there's a weeks worth of laundry that isn't going to wash itself and a rental application that needs me to look it over! It's great to be me!

My Girl

This morning Jason woke me up and said that it was 7:45 and we needed to get Payton up and going for school. I pleaded that we play hooky and call the whole day off. He layed there a bit longer nagging that we had to get the girls up and going. Eventually he crawled out of bed and headed to Payton's room. This is esentially what I heard (remebmer I, too, had my head burried in the pillow)

Door opening

Payton: SHUT MY DOOR!!!

Jason: It's time to get up

Payton: LEAVE ME ALONE!!!

Ah, the apple doesn't fall far does it?

Diaper Drama

Parker, Parker, Parker! For the second time this week, Daddy found you in your bed this morning, covered in pee, with your diaper NEXT to you. I guess this means no more cute nightgowns for you. Apparently they're not going to go to waste, Payton told me she will take them and she's already quite excited about your Tinkerbell nightgown.

Christmas 2009

We had SUCH a wonderful Christmas this year, I can only imagine it will be more and more fun in the coming years as you girls get older! First of all, you ladies are spoiled!


We started out the holiday season with Payton's Christmas Program at school, where Payton did a great job and we all loved her first "official" performance which was scattered with her many times sticking her tounge out at me. I'm assuming this was an act of nervousness, but it was a bit odd. Santa made an appearance and suprised us all by giving Payton a scooter! Boy oh boy did this send me for a loop. See, I thought that Santa had intended to give Payton a scooter at home for Christmas, so this second (actually first) scooter was a new bump in my road.

Since we were headed to Colorado for Christmas Day this year the Florida grandparents got to celebrate early with you girls, and boy oh boy did they. You were showered with lots of gooodies, games, art supplies, and a plethera of warm clothes, which came in quite handy when we arrived in Colorado to two days straight of snow.

In speaking of the trip to Colorado, I will only breifly mention the two HORRID days of travel, and try to focus on the fantastic 8 days in the middle. The travel days were wicked, terrible and aweful, both days including Parker vomiting on a parent. Enough said.


Now on to the 8 days of fun. I was trilled to learn that I have snow babies! We started off the visit by waking up and taking the girls out in snow suits to play with Addie on the sled in the driveway. I had my fears that Parker might be intimidated (for the first time in her life) but she loved the snow. When she did a face plant, she got up, grinned, and started licking the snow off of her face.

The following days included tons of play time with Addie, Grandma and Grandpa. We tried to dedicate as much time as possible to giving the girls time to play together since they only get to see each other a few times a year at most. This is the worst part of living so far apart, the cousins just don't get to have the closeness we had growing up with our cousins closer to us.



Jax was adored, but not quite up to playing yet with the big girls. When it got late in the evening and Addie and Jax weren't around, the girls loved hanging out with Grandma & Grandpa entertaining them with kid antic.

I was pretty impressed overall, the girls were troopers and were angels for the most part, even though they were up late most every night. We got to see friends, and spent some time relaxing and enjoying family time. It was a full week, and we had so much fun we were exhausted when we got home! Of course Santa had dropped off MORE gifts at our house so when we arrived from the second horrid day of travel the girls perked right up when they found more new toys to check out.

Santa did make an appearance in Colorado as well! You can see our Christmas Eve story in the previous post, but this is about Christmas Day. Christmas morning all the kids woke up together and came down to find that Santa had been there overnight. It was picture perfect! Kids ripping open paper, trying on jewels, playing with 40,000 new toys at once. I loved getting to share this time with Colin & Robynn and their kids, it was awesome.

Another highlight of the trip was that Payton potty trained Addie. Now I'm certain that Robynn and Colin feel they are due some credit here, but this is my post, so I'm giving credit to Payton, with a supporting role going to Parker. See, these three little girls spent HOURS and many stickers in the bathroom during our visit. And, upon our arrival home I learned that Addie now wears big girl panties to school without accident! Kuddo's Payton & Parker, and good job keeping it up Robynn & Colin, it's good of you to keep it going.