A Day In The Life of Payton & Parker

Right of Passage

2012-01-15T17:18:00.000-05:00

When I was pregnant one of the big fears was that you might be boys and I'd have to make the circumcision decision, so as I learned you were each girls I had a sigh of relief and moved on to the next big decision...when would your ears be pierced?!?! There are SO many opinions out there, some parents do it when girls are babies, some at a certain age, some when a specific goal is met, but what to do, what to do? For each thought, there are plenty of people out there to judge and criticize. Personally, it's a little strange for me to see a baby with ears pierced, so my thought was always that we'd set some goal, and when it was met, you could pierce your ears. One of the challenges of that, is that Me Too, I mean Parker, has NO concept of the fact that she's two years younger than Payton. I knew it would be heartbreaking for Parker to watch Payton get it done and not have her own, but I was prepared to handle it. For a long time I set the goal for you, Payton, that when you stopped sucking your thumb you would be allowed to have earrings, assuming that would entice you. To be honest Parker, I hadn't to date given it much thought as to what yoru goal would be, just figured there would be a "right time" sometime. It took me a couple of months to realize that you Payton, in fact were afraid to have your ears pierced because I was also honest and told you that it would hurt. You had zero motivation to stop sucking your thumb with this as the reward. So I dropped it and instead just occasionally mentioned the ear piercing idea and each time you'd grab at your innocent little lobes and scream "NOOO! It HURTS!!!" In doing this, sometimes I'd turn to Parker and as if she wanted to have hers done. Usually she'd grin and say no as well. Until Christmas break this year. We were hanging out with Frances and Paxton at Miromar one evening and walked by a shop, I tossed out the idea, and Parker said "Yes!" I was a bit surprised, but by the time we were ready to head inside to do it, she'd decided that it wasn't gonna happen, so we moved on. A few days later Parker woke with a sparkle in her eye, and announced that "Today I want to get my ears pierced." Sure thing I thought and went about the day. But she was persistent, and even got Payton on the bandwagon. We headed out to run errands, and I told you we'd also go back to the mall for ear piercing if you still wanted to. I was certain that you'd back out once we were in the parking lot, but you didn't. Then I thought well, they'll quit now, we're walking toward the store. Nope. Finally we're there, and no one's backing down. Crap, I better call Daddy; we hadn't really talked about this. I started trying to reach him, but he was in a meeting. Upon arriving at the shop we find a mob of people, including a family of 10 with two little girls, probably around 7-8 ahead of us. So we wait, and wait. I keep thinking you girls are gonna tuck your tails and run, instead you watched the other girls and held your ground. Not to say you didn't have a few moments of hesitation, but overall I was impressed with your determination. While we're waiting I learn that at this shop earrings are buy one get one 1/2 off, so if we're going to do this, you both have to be on board because ear piercing isn't as cheap as I remember it being as a kid! I'm still trying to reach

Daddy, and as you're sitting down in the chairs he finally answers. It was a little too late for me to drag you out, so we're lucky he didn't have any major objections. I'd decided that we'd be best off if Parker went first. A few reasons. Payton's a drama queen, so if she went first and performed her typical hysterics Parker would be too scared to go through with it, heck, anyone would be. Secondly, even if Parker cried, she'd get over it quick, AND, there's no way a big sister could walk out with her baby sister having accomplished the mission. And that's pretty much how it went down. Parker choose some darling pink crowns and Payton sweet white and yellow daisies. I was so nervous for them, but they took it like champs. There were some tears initially, but over all I was very proud of my girls!
So why didn't I hold to the original plan of setting some big goal? Well, on that day, you guys had the courage and the excitement; it was fun for all of us. It wasn't something you were stressing about, I wasn't pushing or suggesting, you came up with it and were able to show me how brave you could be, together. You were proud of yourselves and excited to do this together as sisters. I feel like it was a bonding moment and I'm happy that we were able to have fun doing it. You guys have been good about reminding me to clean your ears and making sure we turn them.

We have had two hiccups in the whole thing. First off, the crowns Parker picked out are a bit of a nightmare. They have these cute little tips that get caught in everything - towels, washcloths, clothes, blankets, pillows, you name it. But, three weeks in, we've all learned how to be careful and we're having a lot less run-ins than we did the first couple weeks. The other hiccup was that earlier this week you girls were wrestling on the floor after school one night and somehow Parker's hair got caught on Payton's ear and ripped the earring out of her ear. Luckily, it didn't tear the ear, but we couldn't get it back in that night and it hurt a bunch. Everyone was crying, I've honestly never seen Parker shaken up so much because she felt SO bad for hurting Payton. I think Payton stopped crying long before Parker did. So today we had to go BACK to the shop and they put the earring back in with the special tool. Today was way more traumatic than the first time, although I think ultimately it didn't actually hurt, you were just scared that it was going to. When we walked out you were fine and never spoke another word about it.

Halloween

2012-01-11T21:33:00.000-05:00

I am a holiday nut it seems. I've always loved Christmas, the spirit, the fun, the whole month of people being just happier than any time of the year. Your Daddy's always just kind of stood back and laughed at me and my crazy spirit although I think he even kind of gets a kick out of it. But as you kids get older and I do too, Christmas does get stressful with all of the activities, the parties, the gift giving, the spending and so on. We start shopping and Christmas activities the day after Thanksgiving, and by the time Christmas actually rolls around, I'm a wee bit worn out. Thanksgiving, well it's good too, but I really miss my family with a four day holiday that I never get to see my own parents and grandparents. I have great memories from childhood and time when I lived in Missouri close to everyone were we'd all pile into Grandma and Grandpa's 2 bedroom house with all of the cousins aunts and uncles for 3-4 days at a time, and start planning for Christmas.

Now I've clung onto a new spirit, it's Halloween Spirit, and I seem to have it bad, so bad that Grandpa Mark and Grandma Teresa ventured to Florida to witness the madness this year! Halloween's just a fun holiday, at most it lasts a week, and it's not one where people have to get fancy, no one really travels, so we get to hang out, dressed up silly with all of our friends and collect candy. When Payton was a baby, I started the tradition of coordinating a neighborhood party for all of the kids, and each year the party grows a little and runs a bit more smoothly. Last year, or maybe two, we started another tradition of hosting a (mostly) adult pumpkin carving party at our house on Thursday night before Halloween. Last year we also started preschool at the Lamb of God Church, and have added that schools Trunk or Treat to our tradition on Wednesday night with all of our friends from the neighborhood. You might notice the "tradition" list seems to be getting long. Just wait, I'm about to explain to you ladies what torture I've put your little butts through this year. You might want to sit down for this.
This year Grandma and Grandpa decided that they'd like to come down and celebrate with you girls and see what the fuss was all about. About the same time, Payton, you declared that you wanted to be a unicorn. Let me tell you, in all of the World Wide Web there are NO CHILD SIZED unicorn costumes to be had. There are a few baby ones, and some very falic looking horns that can be purchased, but no kid costumes. Super Mommy to the rescue, I put on my thinking cap and made you a costume for the first (probably last) time. At first you were okay with it, but to be honest, by the time Halloween actually rolled around you practically refused to wear your horn and mane. Your first outing with it was to Trunk-or-Treat at the preschool. You were both darling, Payton as a homemade unicorn, and Parker as the cutest little cheerleader ever. The fun thing about living in a small town is that at the events we see pretty much everyone we know, so even the parents have a good time because we get to catch up a little too. That could have something to do with why we lost Parker within the first 10 minutes and Charly 30 minute later, but all's well that ends well, as they say. Anyway, back to the timeline...I started getting excited for MY mom and dad to arrive, and planned our pumpkin carving party for the evening of their arrival, Thursday. I must say, a great time was had by all and once again we ended up with some fantastic jack o lanterns. Each year Collin comes up with a more elaborate sculpture and Bobby with a more gross one.

On Friday we woke up to another full day - day 3 of the insanity. Parker's class was to have a party both Friday and Monday, so as class mom I spent the week stressing about how to get parents to bring all the right stuff since the whole party idea had been sprung on me Monday. Thankfully, when I arrived at school that morning there were goodies galore and all was well. BSPFA decided to have a book reading themed day on Friday as well as a Fall Festival that evening, so that all the kids could show off their "Book Themed" costumes without calling it a Halloween celebration. Another mother and I decided we'd put together some little treats for the class. The treats turned into a full blown party, including book reading by Grandpa and cookie decorating. It turned out to be a fantastic party, probably better than any of us expected, and I'm 100% sure the other teachers were jealous of the event we pulled off and I'm 100% happy we did it!

But, the day wasn't over yet...that evening we loaded back up with the whole family, who hadn't had a good night’s sleep since at least Tuesday night, and headed back to school for Fall Festival in the rain. That event didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped since it was raining everything had to be moved inside and we had two very tired and cranky little girls. We only stayed for a bit, and after 12 or 15 meltdowns decided to call it a day. On Saturday we took a break from the Halloween activities, and headed to Naples for the Stone crab Festival, and boy oh boy was it worth it! We had yummy stone crabs, and had a blast watching Parker rock out in front of the bandstand all by her little self. It wasn't so long ago that Payton would have been right there beside her, but growing up makes a girl more aware of onlookers. I suppose it won't be long before Parker is self conscious too, but for now it was fun to see her just feeling the music.

Sunday was the big event, the 4th(?) Annual Lakes of Estero Halloween Party! Every year I love to put this together, but spend the week previous stressing myself out over it as if the queen herself would be judging my party hosting skills. I must say, this was the best yet. We had some great activites, including a photo station at the front door, an ooey, gooey station and of course cookie decorating and pumpkin decorating.
By the time Halloween finally arrived on Monday evening we were all about done. The weather man kept threatening that rain would arrive, and everyone was nervous. Alas, it held off, and we had sucessful night of candy collecting. Grandma and Grandpa got to witness the madness that is our Halloween tradition. We may have lost a kid or two, had a few scraped knees, maybe a unicorn missing a horn, but overall, it was a blast!

School's In Session

2011-10-25T22:49:00.000-04:00

In reality, it's been in session for 2 months now and I'm just getting around to writing about it, bad mommy. But the long and the short of it is, kindergarten is going great, as is three year old school!

I will try to recap the first day, but to be honest, it was pretty much as you would expect. We all loaded up in the car together and headed out the door with showers taken, breakfast eaten, and lunches packed, all by 7:40 in the morning which was quite a feat until this day in our lives. Now as I write this, it's somewhat old hat, but, on that day, it felt monumental. We headed off to Bonita Springs Preparatory and Fitness Academy to deliver Payton to Mrs Fangmeier's classroom. On the first day, we were encouraged to walk our kindergartners into the classroom, get her settled and move on. We took a few minutes, took photos, and off we went. Payton was super excited, but as we left she did shed a few tears. I swore to myself I would be strong and not let her see me cry, so I put on my big girl panties and smiled, waved, promised to come back, and walked away, with a few tears hidden away in mommy land. Jason thinks I'm silly when I cry at these things, but he let me have my few tears in the car as we headed to Preschool at the Lamb to unload another! What I haven't mentioned to now in the story is that as the morning was progressing, I was coming down with a nasty stomach illness, that makes it all somewhat fuzzy, and each step of the day fuzzier. So, there aren't many pictures of Parker's drop off, and my memory is not 100%, what I do know is that Parker was returning to her classroom from the previous year and already knew most of the staff quiet well. She was still hesitant, but didn't make too much a stink. And I headed home to an empty house. Bliss, I'd been looking forward to having an empty house for years, and I finally had it! Too bad I was too sick that day to really enjoy it. I figured out a few things to do with myself until pick up time, and headed out to get Payton. She came bouncing out of the school so excited to tell me how much fun it was, and I was thrilled for her!
She told me that she really wanted to ride the bus the next day to get home. I told her that she might be able to later, but for the next day I'd be picking her up so that I could take her to dance class. Well, things didn't work out quite like I had planned. I knew that Tuesday afternoons were going to be crazy this year because I'd scheduled Parker to be in a dance class from 3-4 with me running over to the school to pick up Payton at 3:45 and rushing her back for her 4:15 dance class, and this was to be the first of these crazy afternoons. What I didn't plan for was the school sending her on the bus! I pulled up in a rush into the pick up line that had gone so smoothly the previous day, asked for my second day kindergartner only to be told that she had been put on the BUS! By this time I was worried about Parker coming out of her class at 4 scared because I wasn't there to collect her, so I rushed back to the dance school, on the way calling Jason to tell him to get to the bus stop. After collecting Parker, I decided to go back to the school, just to make sure Payton REALLY had been put on a bus. The thought of her waiting at the school thinking I'd forgotten her made my stomach hurt, so I just had to go back and confirm it hadn't been a mistake. Poor Mrs Fangmeier looked like she wanted to cry when I asked to confirm that and asked WHY she'd been put on the bus. See, it was also her first year of school at BSPFA, so she was trying to learn the ropes too. Apparently the school had Payton on the bus riding list, because when I signed her up for the school last February I'd checked a box to inquire about using the bus service. I tried to reassure her that I wasn't mad, but that for future reference she'd be picked up. That was until I got home, and the darned kid was SO proud of her bus riding that she insisted on riding it full time! That lasted about two weeks and the newness wore off. Now we're both happy to meet up in the pick up line each and every afternoon at 3:45 without fail. For now it's fun to have that bit of time in the car together, wonder how the next 14 years of it are going to feel...

Colorado Bound

2011-09-12T12:16:00.000-04:00

In late July early August we snuck in one last trip before we have to start playing by the public school god's calendar, packed our bags and headed for summer fun in Colorado. The girls spent the whole month of July asking, "Is it today,is it today? Are we getting on the airplane today?", precisely why I don't tell them about ANYTHING fun until the moment it's happening. But alas, the day arrived. I had some dread going into the adventure, but kept my hopes high, and expectations low for the travel days. It was the first time since Christmas '09 that we had all four flown together, and this time we had connections and planned to carry on all of our luggage for 8 days. The last trip involved vomit both directions, so I was rightfully nervous. But, as they often do, my girls impressed me and were mostly perfect angels the whole time. They tried hard to help carry bags, behaved well, played well, and even tried to help a baby in the seat next to us by sharing their snacks. I was very proud of them both.

Once we arrived in Colorado we had a jam packed week planned, starting with an overnight camping trip with Grandma & Grandpa, Collin, Robynn, Addy & Jax and Cousin Angie. Once again, a new experience that caused me some anxiety as we were unsure how the girls would do "roughing it". The girls were in HEAVEN. They tromped around with Addy and Jax as if they'd been camping all their lives. They were naturals! The Birthday Twins, Payton and Angie, took off right away crossing the creek walking over a downed log. Then the girls found a nice big well burnt log that was long enough that all three of them could wrap their hands around to pick it up getting black soot all over themselves before anyone could stop them. They played in the ice cold stream water as if it were 95 degrees. Jax worked hard to keep up with a grim most of the time, well, that is when he wasn't falling over things. Parker learned the hard way that we don't wear our shoes into tents when she tracked Baily poop into Angie's tent in the first 30 minutes or so. Maybe Angie learned a lesson about not inviting 4 little kids into her tent, we'll have to ask her about that. As the evening moved on it began to rain. And rain. And then it rained some more. But, as we Orr's were taught to do, we partied on, no stinking rain will ruin our parade! We played in the camper for hours and the kids never really thought much of it. Eventually we started to get hungry, the rain slowed and we started dinner, which quickly became dinner under canopy as it started to rain again. So we huddled up, snuggled up and ate in shifts holding kids. Payton loves a good storm, Parker Addy and Jax were not so sure about it all. There might have been some tears, and there were definitely 6 little ears with hands over them. Soon enough we gave up on the canopies and moved the kids back to the camper and started tucking them in for the night. This is the first time P & P have shared a bed, and I had no idea how it was going to go. The plan was that our girls would sleep in one bed, Addy and Robynn in the other, and I would sleep on the table/cot area in the middle. Jason, Collin and Jax had the big tent. Sounded like a great plan. As the night progressed things changed. I ended up in bed with my girls, Robynn ended up - well, I'm not really sure, and Jason ended up in the camper on the table/cot area because Jax was not into the whole sleeping thing and cried for a good part of the night. We woke in the morning, some of us laughed it off, and had breakfast. Payton had big dreams of roasting marshmallows on our camping trip and I couldn't stand the thought of disappointing her, so, after a healthy breakfast, we sent Grandpa and the kids off to hunt for marshmallow roasting sticks. There really aren't words to describe moments like those, watching Grandpa and the 4 of them tromping around makes my heart go pitter patter. They returned, and had a ball roasting/burning/eating marshmallows. That's what camping's all about! Since returning home Payton's already been making plans for our camping trip NEXT summer. Oh boy.

The four of us took a day trip to Boulder and Jason gave us a quick walking tour of the campus. It was either orientation or tour time for incoming students, so we saw tons of 18-19 year olds walking around with their parents in tow, doing the same thing we were. Walking in buildings, poking around, trying to imagine. For them it was what will be, for us it was what was and also what could be. Very strange to think that in 13 years we'll be those parents which is

The rest of the trip was so much fun, but I can't type for days on end so I'll try to cut myself short. We had a chance to catch up with friends on Sunday at Arapahoe where the girls had their first diving board experiences. The loved it, too bad there are so few of them around anymore. Then we had a party at Mom and Dad's to catch up with many other friends. Payton worked on her Jody chant and charmed everyone. We spent every moment we could with Addy and Jax, and the girls loved every bit of it. I do love living in Florida, but I sure hate that the girls are so far away from everyone in Colorado. We're so lucky that we do get these blocks of time, and that everyone makes such an effort to set the time aside to get together, to travel and to make the best of the moments. I have so many photos from the week, I have no idea how I'll choose which ones to post here.

Fishy, Fishy

2011-07-19T21:52:00.000-04:00

I know that I spend a lot of time venting, laughing and releasing frustrations in my blog, but not today. Today is all pride. Today I want to tell you what it's like for me to see my girls succeed.

We live in Florida and our girls have been in the pool and ocean practically since day one, at least since day 20 or 30 for certain. They've always loved to be in the water, alone or with us, just love to splash and play. For Payton, I think swimming came more naturally than walking, she was literally all over the pool by herself as soon as she first had lessons starting right about when she turned two. That summer she was a swimmer, she'd jump in, swim across and do it over and over again. To be honest, it wasn't pretty, it was actually pretty scary/disturbing to watch, but she could do it and we were proud. That was three years ago, and since then it's gotten less painful to watch, but it still wasn't graceful. Until now. This summer we decided to sign both girls up for swim lessons at the public pool away from their friends and with a new teacher. It was hard to say the least, because Payton's class was at 8 a.m. for 2 weeks, 4 days a week, but so worth it. Payton is a ROCK STAR in the water! Both girls had an amazing teacher, Chris, who really knows how to work with kids. In watching Payton I've learned something about her, she is a pleaser. I guess I knew that before, but seeing her working with the teacher, working so hard to do exactly as instructed, it was so obvious. One day I suggested that she try to rub her tattoo off while she was in the water during class. She set me straight right away, telling me that she has to pay attention to the teacher and can only do what he tells her to. Who could argue. Throughout the class Chris complimented Payton, and it just fueled her fire to learn more strokes and to do them even better. By the time the session was done, he was suggesting we look into getting our little fish into the swim team. And then there's Parker. Parker's struggled more to master swimming, and it's been hard for all of us. She LOVES to be in the water, but being the youngest of the girls in the neighborhood and not having learned to swim, it's always a little frustrating for her. She plays on the steps while everyone else is everywhere, she begs for us to carry her around, she sometimes just plays around the edge of the pool when she gets bored on the steps. She's had lessons before, but she's just never been able to GET it. She gets close, then has a scare where she swallows a little too much and panics, and we're back to her clinging to a grown up. Well, not anymore! I can't even describe the feeling watching her figure it out over the last few weeks, I sit on the pool deck fighting back tears that well up each time I see her. And then she looks over when she reaches the edge and gives me a HUGE grin, and of course another to Chris. It's almost too much for me to take. I'm sure that a few weeks from now it will be old hat to all of us, and we'll forget the days of Parker on the edge, but for now, I'm one proud mama! Scares me to think what's ahead.

Little Ballerinas = Big Ego

2011-06-23T15:49:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago the girls had their Spring Dance Recital, wrapping up their first full year of dance classes and receiving their first trophies ever. Both girls are enamoured with the trophies, they carry them around, play with them and even took them to school to show them off. We're very proud of them both, and they have received lots of congratulations from everyone including family and teachers. Payton's being moved up to a class that competes and Parker's moving up to the class that Payton has attending this year. We are supper proud of them. Everyone's been telling Payton how she was the BEST in her class, and apparently she's taken it to heart. Here's the conversation we had in the car on the way to class.

Payton: You know, I really deserved that trophy, because everyone tells me that I was the best in my class. So I really deserved that.

Me: Yes honey, you were very good.

Oh boy, we've created a monster.

Marriage

2011-06-23T15:34:00.000-04:00

Recent Conversation with Payton

Payton: Mom, guess what.

Me: What,Payton.

Payton: Sophia's mommy and daddy got married. they even kissed. But now they don't love each other. Today Sophia's daddy picked her up, but usually her mommy does.

Me: Okay...

Sugar and Spice x Three

2011-05-27T16:43:00.000-04:00

Sugar and spice, and everything nice...WHAT?!?! That's what they told me little girls were made of. My dear Parker, I'll give you a little sugar, a LOT of SPICE (like cayenne pepper maybe) and everything nice, well, that one's tough. You are three now and you are three times trouble. I often tell you that either your middle name is trouble or that I spell trouble P-A-R-K-E-R. You are all attitude, weather you're being bad (often), argumentative (also often), sweet (usually right after bad/argumentative), or charming, you do it all with attitude. Daddy and Grandma Jackie like to blame me, but I think I'll pass the buck, you get your "spice" from the Kipp side of the family, and maybe some of your Grandma Joan in there too! The problem is, you are so stinking gorgeous it's hard to get really mad at you, although we have mastered the ability to do it. At school Miss Deb and Miss Angie tell me how sweet you are, and how smart you are. They tell me that you are very good at following directions. Of course, I know you're smart. You impress (and distress) me daily with your smarts. Last week when we were trying to teach Payton her phone number, you picked it right up along with her. You were bumped up to the 3 turning 4 year old class room when you were 2 because you were too far ahead of those 2 year old "babies" in the other room. I had a "portfolio review" with Miss Deb just yesterday where she went on and on about you, I don't know what you do to her, but she believes you are the bee's knees. She bragged and bragged about your cutting skills and a cute little house you had built by yourself out of popsicle sticks. I have to laugh as she brags about how well you cut, since I've found little snips out of TWO of your favorite dresses. At home you're forbidden to touch scissors, but apparently she's got you trained well at school. You've learned to open the fridge on your own, so you think you can help yourself to anything you find. When you go missing we always know there's trouble to be found.
Grandma Jackie calls you "Me Too". You really don't have any concept that you are two years younger than Payton. You believe, and for the most part do, everything she does. I'm not sure how you're going to handle her going to kindergarten next year, you are both going to miss the other one an insane amount. You are dying to "go to soccer" because we told Payton that she's going to learn to play soccer at school next year. I mentioned to Payton that she could get her ears pierced if she'd stop sucking her thumb, and you’ve decided that you want your ears pierced and there's no need to wait since you don't suck your thumb. Now I hear it about every 30 minutes, "Mommy, get my ears pierced NOW?!?!" It was hell waiting for your birthday to roll around, you were certain the whole time we were planning and celebrating Payton's last month that it was also your birthday. And the funniest little sister/big sister recent story is that last week I heard Payton SCREAMING from upstairs "MOMMY, MAKE HER TAKE MY DRESS OFF, I WANT TO WEAR THAT!!!!!" Oh boy, it's gonna be a looong 15 years. The only relief I see is that your feet are going to outgrow Payton's in the next couple months, and well, we do have a LOT of clothes, so hopefully we can find something you will both like every day that isn't the same item. Soon enough Payton will be in uniforms at school and it won't be such an issue.
With all of this said, you are the light of my life, you make me laugh and cry. Each morning you wake me up about 7, and when it's not a school day that gives us an hour or so before anyone else is up in the house. Sometimes I put on cartoons for you and go back to sleep. But other times we have fun together snuggling, or making eggs or playing together. As much as I hate to be up at such an hour, I do love a little one on one time with you. I can't wait to see what your future holds Baby Girl.

Did I mention you THINK you can read? Here you're reading a card that you tell us says "Happy Birthday Parker, Charly, Leslie, Jack...Karl...and AVA"

2011-04-25T20:19:00.009-04:00

Payton you've just turned 5, and we adore you at 5. In the fall you'll head off to school, all day, every day, to "five year old school" as you fondly calls it. The other day the realization that you'd be in school all day hit you and you were so sad that you would be away from us so much. It's a little shocking to me too.
At 5 you are darling, sweet, caring and so grown up! You've always been a pretty good kid, but these days you are easier and easier, and more and more fun. You're inquisitive, asking questions such as "How does the car run?" and sometimes the tough ones like "Where's Ava's mom?" You love to dance and to dress up, but you also love to fish in the lake, and can't wait for your big fishing day with Collin and Laura out on the boat. You're starting to take a lot of interest in writing, asking how to spell all sorts of words, and then practicing, even writing your own thank you notes this year (painful for both of us). At your five year doctor appointment the doctor asked if you knew your phone number, and I felt terrible that I hadn't taught you, so in a matter of two days you learned it, and now know both mine and Daddy's. I love that you have the self confidence to speak to adults, and ask questions, even if you're a bit shy at first, it makes you even more charming when you do come out of your shell. You love to swim, and you jump at any chance you can get to have Daddy take you to play tennis. You can't get enough of your friends, especially your BFF Charly, sometimes making your other friends jealous of your relationship. Even though you girls are a year apart, you're the best buds and play wonderfully together. I admire you for always including your sister, even when she makes things harder, you still include her in your circle of friends and sometimes even watch out for her. At school you spend your time drawing flowers, rainbows, and practicing your hearts with Sophia. Your little stick people are the BEST.
A lot is happening around us right now, so many life changing events for our loved ones. You're dad and I lay in bed at night wondering how to explain it all to you. You're so observant, you know when things are out of wack, and, being inquisitive, you ask questions. For now, we try to answer your questions simply without adding any stress to you're little life. All we want you to think about is playing, learning and enjoying the year to come. We'll handle the rest.
We love you princess!!

Shampoo and other Parker Troubles

2011-03-28T12:54:00.001-04:00

In less than one week Parker has gone into the shower, pulled down my shampoo and filled her dry (previously clean) hair with gobs and gobs of shampoo, twice. I don't know why, and I'm pretty sure that there is no good reason other than she's Parker. The first time I thought it was a little funny, told her it was bad, grabbed her, stripped us both down and jumped in the shower. The second time didn't go so well. Instead, I grabbed her, tossed her alone in the shower with her clothes on and turned on the shower, which starts off pretty darned cool. I rinsed her off while she tried to figure out what was happening, all the while reminding her that using the shampoo without mommy is naughty. Wonder if she's going to try this again, or if I'm going to have to start locking the bathroom doors.

Guess I'll add shampoo to the shopping list.

This is the same month that I found her in her bed at nap time with her legs, sheets and wall covered in ball point pen. I've since learned that you can't get ball point pen off the wall with Magic Eraser, and you can't cover it with yellow paint. Still looking for a solution to this one.

Are we three yet???

Nah, nah, nah LOO LOO!

2011-03-25T12:37:00.000-04:00

I think that Payton brought this phrase home from school, and Jason QUICKLY broke her of it, teaching her it's not nice and not tollerable. Somehow Parker hasn't gotten the memo, so her new favorite past time is running around torturing Payton chanting it at her. Payton's convinced it's a bad word and has a very naughty meaning, I just think it's hysterical. Guess I should stop her, but I'm pretty sure it's better than some things she could be calling out to her big sister.

Seriously?

2011-02-28T13:40:00.004-05:00

I'm sitting at my desk (which is right outside Parker's door) frantically trying to get a few things done while the girls are supposed to be napping, when I hear the clinking of a fork against a plate. That's strange, both girls appear to be in their rooms. I race downstairs to see if someone (Parker) is at the table eating the rest of lunch that had been abandon. I notice that Parker's plate is missing from the table, but can't find her anywhere. Thinking she might have snuck downstairs to finish up, I look in the laundry room, all the corners and under the table. Nothing. I'm thinking I've lost my mind, where could the plate have gone? So, I head back upstairs to my desk, thinking I'll pop my head into her room to see how the nap is progressing. I find her sitting in her bed, plate in lap, using her fork to eat the remaining chicken and broccoli. wow, just wow. How did I not hear her go downstairs, carry a plate of food - with silverware back upstairs (with one arm in cast) get into her room, close the door, climb into bed and proceed to eat a meal I previously battled her to eat.
This story takes place about 10 minutes after I found her with my Clinique powder poured out all over her sheets, also while I thought she was in her room.

Angel Face

2011-02-16T17:03:00.010-05:00

These days Payton seems to be our little angel, each girl takes her turn as angel and devil, so don't think I'm playing favorites. The devil stories are funny to read and write. While the angel times are wonderful and proud moments, but I often forget to write them down. So here's my tribute to the current "good girl".

Payton seems to mostly know right from wrong, and often even chooses the right. She's inquisitive, always coming up with questions that make you go hmmm or give you a good laugh. She makes up songs and dances moving with grace (kind of). It's darling to watch, although sometimes frustrating to hear her constant noise that often has no real message to get across, just noise to amuse herself.

Right now she has a constant quest to write. In the last few weeks or so she's fallen in love with writing. She loves to practice her own name, Parker, Mommy, Daddy, Oliver, Ava, Charly, Grandma. We hope and pray this love of learning will continue into kindergarden next year.

Payton adores music. She's had a girl crush on Taylor Swift for a while, she LOVES to "Rock Out", and can party until the cows come home. Payton has a few songs she's deemed her own, with her own names for them. Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" is known in our house as "Short Pants" and is also affectionately called our song (Payton and Mommy's), Pink's "Raise Your Glass" is know as "My Rock Out Song". I wish I could think of some of the others, it's too funny to hear her go on about them.

Payton's has had her own revelation recently that she's growing up, she likes watching "grown up" shows. It seems to have started a few weeks ago with I-Carley ( a Disney channel kids drama) with her friend Jordan and when she sat down and watched the movie "Powder" with Daddy. Now she points out to us any time she's tuning into what we've got on the tv, guess it's time to REALLY start paying attention to what's on the boob tube!

We recently lost our cat Oliver, who I've had since I turned 21 years old. Payton loved Oliver dearly, and Jason and I were very concerned about how she would take it. Payton is a very emotional girl, so I was terrified of telling her, probably more so than making the decision to do it. We decided it would be easiest on her to tell her after the fact instead of before hand having her say good-bye and having to explain our "choice" in killing a member of our family. Ugh, I even hate typing it out. So we picked the girls up from school, brought them home and just told them that Oliver had died that day, no need for tons of details for a 2 and 4 year old. She was a trooper, I was so proud. Of course she cried, but I was so thankful that she didn't get mad or blame us, she was just sad for the loss of her friend. Within a few minutes she was okay, and although she's asked some basic questions since then, she's done very well with it. She even helps us out when Parker asks, over and over, "Where's Oliver?" Always the good big sister she pipes up "Remember Parker" Oliver's dead" and goes about her business.

My little angel.

Parker's Broken Arm

2011-02-09T20:18:00.004-05:00

We all knew it would happen, but I'd hoped not QUITE so soon, not at 2 1/2 years old. Parker landed in the hospital with a broken arm last week. The part I find funny is that she didn't do it jumping off the 5th stair in our house, or climbing the fence, or even falling off the top of the playground equipment. Nope, she did it innocently (I'm told) sliding off the bottom of the slide at school.
The story goes something like this. 3:45 p.m., my phone rings, it's the school saying Parker fell off the slide and is now favoring one arm over the other. They didn't exactly say come get her, so I didn't think too much of it, said I was going to finish the errand I was running, then I'd come over. I headed to the school about 15 minutes later, and as I was pulling in the parking lot the phone rings again with the teacher suggesting that I need to contact the pediatrician right away. I'm thinking, seriously, she bumped her elbow people! I head inside to find a bawling little girl, but I'm still not convinced. I pick her up off the assistant directors lap and tried to sooth her to no avail. I'm starting to buy into the hurt theory, but not serious injury. The whole time the director is telling me she needs to be seen, she needs an x-ray. It seems she could sense I wasn't buying in, so she made a point to tell me that they'd be footing the bill. This made me a bit more willing, but I still wanted Jason's 2 cents before jumping into the excitement of it all, not to mention the details such as what to do with the OTHER sister, Jason's 5:30 final walk-through in Lehigh and who's gonna do anything with her at 4:30! So, I loaded the girls up in the car and headed home. Here's where I need to offer my poor baby a public apology that she can throw in my face as an adult. Remember sweetheart, I really didn't think it was broken. In loading the girls in the car I had to finagle Parker's arm into the car seat, and it sickens me now to realize how much that probably hurt her, I'm so, so, so, so, sorry honey. I hope that I was gentle, but I'm certain it hurt a bunch. From there we headed to the house and as soon as Jason saw it swelling he sent us on to see someone. Payton headed to the Pabst for the evening, Jason to Lehigh, and Parker and I to Bonita Community. I am so thankful that A. they got her in quickly and B. Grandma Jackie dropped what she was doing and came to help. We were in and out of there in an hour with an xray and diagnosis of a broken humerus, right at her elbow. The bad part is that they sent us to Heathpark where we ended up spending the night. Poor kid cried for what seemed like days, but it was only hours. She was scared and hurt, and no one was making it better. It was after 9 by the time the nurses got around to giving her anything for the pain. Looking back, I feel really bad that I didn't fight more for her, but once we were in our room (at 7) she calmed down and seemed happy to watch cartoons. Eventually they did come in and started and IV, which seemed to make her more mad than the broken arm itself. She had her broken left arm in a splint, and her right arm/hand all tied up with the IV and the hand taped to a pillow/pad thingy so she couldn't use either hand. The night went pretty well and in the morning they took us down for surgery. It was pretty quick, and within 30 minutes or so the surgeon came out and told me all was well. A few minutes later the nurses took me back to her in recovery. You always wonder how you will react to anaesthesia. Well, Parker is a violent one! She woke up kicking and punching! ME! I feel a bit bad admitting this, but I was very thankful for the nurse who gave her some more something to calm her down, something went into the IV and she was suddenly happy to snuggle in my arms. Daddy arrived shortly thereafter and we all headed upstairs to wait for her to wake and head home. She was released that afternoon and we headed home for a LONG weekend. Parker was whiny and demanding, Payton was pouty and demanding, Mommy was fussy exhausted, and Daddy, well, he was trying. Eventually we all got the swing of it, and now it seems our only big frustration is bathing. So, we just avoid it! Not really, but maybe a little. I have a countdown in my head of days left to getting her really clean, and we're at about 14 days, can't wait.

So, I've learned a few things from this. First of all, I am my mother. I feel like I underreacted just like my mom would have (I do mean that in a good way). I didn't freak out at anyone or about anything, I didn't cry (not until she was in surgery and couldn't see me) and I didn't really think anything was wrong until I saw the x-ray. Love ya mom, thanks for the cool head. Also, I learned that if you have to take a kid to the hospital, unless it's a dire emergency DO go home and grab some basic items (computer, phone charger, toothbrush, FOOD) cause you're just gonna sit and wait for a really long time so you might as well take 5 minutes to prepare. I've learned that washing a kid with a cast is misserable, but that otherwise they jump right back into life. Oh yeah, one more thing, I learned that Tylenol with Codine seems to be the one thing that will make Parker fall asleep when put to be at 8 p.m.. Sure wish we had more of that stuff!

Catching Up

2011-01-05T16:39:00.007-05:00

Christmas has now come and gone, and we're back into the swing of things, but I don't want to let it go without capturing a few of the great moments with the girls. As I suspected, it was such an incredibly fun fun fun year in our house. Payton's now 4.5 and Parker 2.5, and they are both in love with the holiday.
Both girls were in ah every time we'd leave the house in the evening seeing all of the houses with lights and decorations. On more that one occasion Parker gleefully shouted out "I see a REINDEER" to which Payton would respond "A REAL one?!?", and each time Parker answered "YES!!!"
Payton was quick to decide that the Pabst light display far out did our lights, due to the simple fact that her icicle lights were colored, while ours were white. Seriously kid, you're starting to give mommy a Leslie complex! She also informed me this season that it would be okay if I died and she didn't have a mommy (a terrible threat I threw out when she almost knocked me off the ladder) because she could just go live with Leslie. Wow, just wow.

This year is the first time we have had the girls enrolled in a dance class, and therefore there was a grand performance for the holiday. We of course had no idea how this would play out, so tried to keep our expectations in check. Last year I'd taken Payton to watch some of her friends dance recital at a mall stage, and when I asked her if she'd like to do that next year she was quite sure that she did NOT want to get up on stage. Apparently she's over THAT. Both girls did a fantastic job, maybe not catching all the steps just so, but they got right out there on a huge auditorium stage and danced their little hearts out,brought a few tears to my eye. Payton's already asking when they can do it again. I honestly don't remember ever doing anything like that so young, but I do remember going to see Angie (I think) at a recital in St Louis when she was little. That has got to be terrifying for them, but I was super duper impressed by both girls. When the show was over, we learned that Parker is the youngest student at the school, la-tee-da, as Grandma Orr would say.
As I suppose every generation realizes, Christmas just gets better and better for kids! There were SO many things to do in the weeks leading up to and even after Christmas. We had party after party, craft after craft to do. We went on an nature winter lights walk with Grandma Jackie and roasted marshmallows for s'mores. We had a cookie and craft party at Kaitlyn and Karyn's house. We went to the winter festival in Bonita Springs with the Nerneys, the girls played in "snow", Parker and I even got to go sledding! Of course there's our tradition of visiting Santa at Bass Pro, where I think the girls get almost as excited to see all of the fish in the big tanks there as they do to see Santa. So many events that we had to skip some, just to save all of our sanity.
In trying to make the most of our Christmas Eve we decided to cram in a day full of activity. We started by letting the girls open a few gifts. This is when I learned that Payton has become quite particular in what she likes and doesn't. I was so excited for her to open a fantastic deep red leather jacket, when she quickly burst my bubble, with a very flat "I don't like it" accompanied by a quick toss to the side. The next day it became more and more apparent that if it isn't pink it has no place in her closet. Thank goodness Grandma came through with Zhu Zhu pets, as the girls were very happy to have a fun toy to play with. We'd also invited Grandma Jackie to join us for a movie, Disney's version of Rapunzel, Tangled, at the theater so off we went with candy in hand. That went pretty well with everyone happy when it was all said and done then we rushed home for an abbreviated nap, then drug the girls out of bed and into their Christmas best to head off the madhouse, I mean church. Our good friends Tom and Jill had been talking about preparing a traditional Seven Fishes dinner, after going to church, and they invited us to join. At first I was hesitant and nervous. Hesitant because I'm not familiar with Catholic traditions, nervous to have my unruly children in a church service. But, as Jason said, he had to go as a kid, so our kids could too! We arrived early enough to get seats in the very, very back, and to have 10 minutes to sit before the service started. That was just enough time for Parker to get antsy. So, in the first 5 minutes of the service she and I headed outside where she informed me that she was ready to go home. Ha, ha, ha, not happenin kid. So back in we went. She made it a little longer, then headed outside with Daddy for a stint, then back in to finish off the service. Overall, I thought we did pretty well, and Payton was a very good girl throughout. We headed back to the Nerney's and had a yummy dinner and time to enjoy our dear friends, realizing how truly blessed we are.

From there I'll tell a story that is now funny, although it certainly wasn't at the time, and hopefully the girls will not remember. Momma got sick, very very sick. We got back from the Nerney's around 9 and the girls rushed off to bed after putting out Oreos in hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there. We'd eaten a ton, and I was so full that I suggested Jason and I set an alarm clock and lay down for a bit before doing our Santa duties. About 10 minutes before the alarm went off, I woke and rushed to the bathroom, which is pretty much where I spent the remainder of Christmas Eve and into the wee hours of Christmas morning. I'll spare the gory details, but I've NEVER felt so bad. I had thoughts of rushing to the hospital, but couldn't stomach the thought of destroying Christmas morning for the girls. How do you explain to two little girls that we'll be watching mommy barf in the emergency room instead of diving into Santa's treasures! Poor Jason was in a horrible predicament. He had a wife who was certainly dying, had very little knowledge of what/where Santa had hidden things around the house, and two little girls with big expectations. I tried and tried to go into the hiding room to get him started, but each time had to run back to the bathroom. Eventually he found the bulk of stuff, and tried to get some sleep while I tossed turned and ran to the bathroom all night. Eventually the sun started to come up and the reality that the day was coming and I was going to live (a little drama here). I was in good enough shape to realize I HAD to have a shower, but rough enough to not be able to do it myself. Jason showered my pathetic being, and we headed downstairs to see the girls in all of their amazement. And even though I was a mess, it was so much fun to see their excitement! Santa came through and delivered bikes for both and a kitchen to share. After playing for a few minutes Payton stopped dead in her tracks and said with a little fear, "but...where's my pillow pet???" We pointed out that there were still unopened packages and she was quite relieved to find her much coveted unicorn pillow pet, thank goodness. So the hits of this Christmas would be Pillow Pets, Zhu Zhu pets, bikes and the kitchen. They also seem to spend a lot of time playing in Parker's new tent and fighting over Parker's camp chair and Payton's Leapster game. There was so much that some of their gifts I've put away and will break out over the next few months so that they can enjoy everything as toys loose their luster. We played in the street with the Pabst crew and headed to Grandpa Jim and Grandma Barb's house for more gift opening and another great meal, which I could still hardly partake in at 6 p.m.. So sad, it looked amazing and Jason and the girls loved it!
We rang in the New Year with yet another party at the Carlson's and finished off our night dancing at the Nerney's until the wee hours of the morning. Boy oh boy are we gonna have trouble on our hands in the coming years. These girls danced until 1:30 in the morning and would have kept going if we'd let them.
I have to laugh at myself, because before the two week school break I was kind of sort of dreading being stuck at home with two hiped up Christmas junkie kids without being able to attend to work and have my moments of peace being in the office with adults. But I have to admit, it was really fun. The girls are getting old enough to do things and they just get so excited about it all! I even found myself getting weepy that this time in our lives is going to be so short. In the next few years they will learn about Santa, they will think that dancing with Mom and Dad in the wee hours of New Year isn't so cool (then in their 20's hopefully they will figure out it is cool), their wish lists are going to be harder to influence and in turn to fulfill, they won't be amazed by the REAL REINDEER in the neighbors yard. For now, I'll just savor the moments we have had, and look forward to next year!!

Parker's Wish List and Other Updates

2010-12-17T10:24:00.004-05:00

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

2010-11-15T14:53:00.003-05:00

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

2010-11-12T16:35:00.002-05:00

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!

2010-10-26T21:27:00.004-04:00

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

2010-09-11T15:45:00.004-04:00

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

2010-09-07T20:45:00.002-04:00

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

2010-08-28T05:22:00.002-04:00

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

2010-08-24T19:26:00.005-04:00

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

2010-08-17T21:16:00.002-04:00

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

2010-08-17T21:09:00.004-04:00

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

2010-07-12T14:31:00.002-04:00

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

2010-07-01T14:17:00.003-04:00

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.

2010-07-01T13:43:00.004-04:00

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

2010-06-15T21:36:00.002-04:00

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...

2010-06-15T21:11:00.006-04:00

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!

2010-05-31T15:03:00.005-04:00

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

2010-05-24T20:37:00.003-04:00

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

2010-05-20T10:44:00.004-04:00

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!

2010-05-08T13:59:00.003-04:00

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

2010-05-01T08:45:00.004-04:00

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

2010-04-23T10:08:00.006-04:00

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

2010-04-11T10:01:00.003-04:00

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

2010-04-02T14:52:00.008-04:00

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?

2010-03-20T15:20:00.003-04:00

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

2010-03-17T13:04:00.003-04:00

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

2010-03-05T13:27:00.004-05:00

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

2010-02-18T15:12:00.003-05:00

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

2010-02-12T13:37:00.003-05:00

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

2010-02-10T16:28:00.002-05:00

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

2010-01-25T09:28:00.005-05:00

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

2010-01-15T15:24:00.006-05:00

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.

The Night Before Christmas

2009-12-26T10:01:00.003-05:00

There are moments in parenting when I say something to the girls and immediately want to take it back, this is the story of one of those moments. !Christmas Eve we spent the night at Colin and Robynn's house so that Santa could make one stop for all the grand kids and they could all wake up together to check out the loot. By the time we got to their house Addy and Jax were already in bed. I put Parker to bed and got started with Robynn and Payton setting out cookies and milk for Santa. Robynn offered to read "The Night Before Christmas" to Payton to help her get into the mood for bed. That was lovely, but not convincing. So we sat for a bit chatting and trying to get Payton convinced. A few minutes in Colin innocently mentioned that he thought he heard something outside, maybe Santa?? Thinking I was going to help, I said, "OH NO, I hope he doesn't skip us since we're still awake!" WELL, that was more than Payton could take. She flipped, started stomping her feet, crying and begging to go to bed right NOW. I felt about 1 inch tall. I thought I'd peak her interest and that she'd want to go to bed, not loose her poor little mind. From there I tried to take her up to bed in the room she was to share with Parker. That too was somewhat of a disaster. When we walked into the room Parker was still up. I tried to put Payton down, asking her to try to be quiet and not talk to Parker. I gave Parker a hug and kiss and put her back down in her pack-n-play, and left the room. Within minutes Payton came back out frustrated and still a bit scared that Santa wasn't going to stop. "Parker's talking to me" she said. So, plan B. I decided that I'd put her down in C & R's bed to fall asleep. That would have been fine if she'd have stayed in bed, but she didn't. She tried to come out, but instead we heard her bawling at the door, since she couldn't get the bedroom door open she thought I'd locked her in. When I finally got to her she was crying more, and once again begging to go to bed in her bed. Thankfully by this time Parker had given up and fallen asleep, and Payton was able to go into her own bed and crash. Poor kid, Christmas Eve shouldn't be so tough on anyone

Darnedest Things

2009-12-20T08:48:00.005-05:00

Here's our current list of kid phrases in the house:

HOLY MOLY - Payton's exclamation phrase, we assume she learned this from someone at school since Charly is saying it as well

Openmeal - Oatmeal Payton style

Peez - Parker saying please, impossible to say no to this regardless of what she's asking for

key key and or gee gee - thank you or kitty , depending on the situation - but both cuter than cute and always said with enthusiasm!

ta te? - Santa, always said with a big smile and a waving finger in the direction of any picture of Santa

appy - happy (we think)

MMMMMMAAAAAAA! - You've just been sent a BIG kiss from Parker

ank you - Payton's thank you

New Daddy

2009-11-19T09:24:00.002-05:00

Here is a conversation I had with Payton in the car a few mornings ago.

Payton: Daddy's broken so I got a new daddy, Jason.

Me: Huh? You got a new daddy?

Payton: Yeah, Daddy died so I got a new daddy, Jason.

Me: Really?

Payton: Mommy died too, so I got a new mommy, Leslie.

Me: Leslie??

Payton: Yeah. Leslie. but not Karl, just Leslie

Me: OK?!?!?

Payton: You and Daddy were broken, so I put you back together, I put on your necks...and your heads...And put you back together.

Yep, if I go apparently Payton's got a back up plan all worked out. I wonder which friend I should credit for giving her these ideas???

Unt!

2009-11-16T15:08:00.003-05:00

This morning I went into Parker's room to pick out clothes for her and she followed to help. I picked out clothes while she tugged at her Halloween costume telling me "unt, unt!" I walked back into my room and heard a snap in her room, wondering what might have been broken I looked around the corner to find her walking my way holding her Tinkerbell Dress with a now broken hanger continuing to tell me "Unt, unt!" with a great deal of enthusiasm. I tried to reason with her, suggesting we put on her clothes to go to Grandma's house, but she pushed the costume demanding that she unt (translation = want) the Tinkerbell suit. How can you argue with such a cute face! Payton had to get in on the fun and ran to get her Ariel dress as well.

Time Out!

2009-11-11T20:08:00.002-05:00

Parker does understand what I say to her. A few minutes ago she was trying to steal a toy from Payton by wrapping her arms around Payton and pulling with all her might. I told her no, and asked if she wanted to go to time out. Apparently she did, because she grinned at me and marched right over to the time out spot and sat down.

Holidaze

2009-11-10T22:23:00.003-05:00

Payton's been working very hard to understand holidays/the calendar/time for the last couple of weeks. Before Halloween she started asking about fireworks and planning her birthday party. She would ask (daily) when is 4th of July? What month is that? And then she'd go on to tell me how she wanted to buy herself a birthday card for her birthday party. Each time I go though the calendar, first we'll have Halloween, then Christmas, then Valentines, so on and so forth.

Progress!

2009-11-08T22:48:00.003-05:00

Parker is more aggressive than Payton ever was as a toddler, and we're trying to figure out how to teach her how to rein in her outbursts. It's a little funny, but we can't let her know that. She bites sometimes and hits when she's trying to get your attention or is excited. So we tell her to be gentle, and show her how to touch softly. So over the last couple days when she starts to hit, I say "gentle", and she stops hitting and starts gently rubbing her hand on my arm and grinning at me knowing that she's making me proud.

When's Daddy Coming Back?

2009-11-08T21:03:00.005-05:00

Jason's been gone for 2 days of an 8 day trip to Denver. I have been dreading this for weeks for fear that I might loose my mind and run away or be locked up, but it's going amazingly well. Payton's been on her very best behavior, all thanks to her desire to please Santa and Daddy. I've been giving her huge amounts of kudos after each outing or situation she's handled well, hoping to encourage more of the same. Parker, well, she's been more of a handful, working hard to make up for any ease that Payton's offering me. After each round of high fives Payton reminds me that Santa likes it, and he doesn't like fits or whining so Parker's not going to get presents. Tonight I had to remind her that Parker is trying to be a good girl (I truly want to believe), she's still a baby and learning how to be good, and that Santa will probably understand that and still bring her presents. I'm not sure that she bought it, so there may be a problem on Christmas morning when Santa does treat Parker equally.

As well as things are going, we all miss Daddy. Each time we come through the garage and see his truck Payton's convinced that he's home. Every few minutes (no I'm not exaggerating) she asks if he's coming home today, even though I'm quite clear that it's 6 more days. It's hysterical to hear her on the phone with him, filling Daddy in on how good she's being and how bad Parker is being. I felt so badly for her last night at bedtime, she seemed very uncomfortable without Daddy in the house, even though she didn't vocalize it I could tell she was nervous. Parker misses Daddy too, but is somehow afraid of the speakerphone and clings to me when Jason tries to talk to her on it, I'm hoping that tomorrow when he can talk to her on Skype she'll loosen up. The rest of the day she walks around talking into everything saying da-da da-da da-da. I am afraid to fall asleep, somehow thinking I need to stay up all night to keep everyone safe from the bad guys. I won't even go into our diet for the week, man we really need Jason around here!

This morning we ventured out to Chuck E Cheese, yep, me and the girls for Jake's birthday party. I was pretty convinced there was no way this could go well, but I couldn't NOT take them so off we went. I was proud of us, we arrived happy and unstressed, only 20 minutes late which they didn't even understand AND made it there with a gift in hand. I had visions of Payton clinging to me, begging to be carried as Parker sprinted off in multiple directions all at once into the ciaos. I was pleasantly surprised when Payton met up with Charly and tagged along with anything she wanted to do. Parker was thrilled to ride the merry go round over and over, and then again. She'd kick and get mad when I'd take her off of it. I was impressed with all the things that she found that she could do. I had so much fun watching them playing together and with their friends. It is funny that they can be so amused by the simplest things. Mind you, it's all wrapped up in a crazy place, but truly the things that they loved where the same rides that we had in front of K-Mart when I was growing up, the little car/train/horse that goes up and down maybe 6 inches, the barely-merry-go-round with horses that don't move just go around three times and stop. Ah to be a kid!

Mommy

2009-10-25T01:55:00.002-04:00

This is the word that plagues me these days. I've decided that on average (waking hours) I hear this word at least once every 30 seconds, maybe more often. I now have two darling voices chanting at me, mom-mie, mom-mie, all of the time. It's making me a wee bit insane. Yesterday Jason reminded me that there was a time that I longed for this, and that made me think that there will probably be a day when I miss it, but today is not that day, and I don't think tomorrow will be either.
I've come up with different responses, sometimes I'm chipper, sometimes loving, sometimes helpful, sometimes not. When it's not, Payton responds with "I love you" in her sugary sweet voice, just right to make me feel terrible. And then she says again, mom-mie? Really kid?

Catching Up

2009-10-12T11:23:00.003-04:00

Here is Parker playing in the pool last night.

Payton has developed some awesome softball skills! She kept Grandpa Jim busy for 30 minutes last night throwing balls to her to whack. Needless to say, these skills did not come from Mommy.

I've been slacking in the blogging lately, and really don't have an excuse. You girls just keep me too busy? Everything you do is cute, so to put them all down is too exhausting? I'm a lazy slacker mom? What ever.

So, here's what you're up to.

Payton, you love to tell us what letters you see in the world. From the TV screen to signs on the street, you'll point them all out as if you've just discovered a buried treasure. I suppose if you thing about it the alphabet really is that, a treasure. You can spell your name, and do over and over and over. We've tried to work on O-H-I-O, but it tends to come out O-H-O. When I try to tell you how to spell Parker you get so hung up on the fact that there is a "P" and an "A" that we can't get any farther than that. You crack me up because you tell me that every letter "starts with" your name, as in "A", MOMMY, "A" STARTS MY NAME! And you have such enthusiasm for it I have a hard time correcting you. It's only October, and you are already planning your birthday party. You're also starting to plan for Santa's arrival, which is serving me well. I can always remind you that Santa doesn't like whining and that seems to slow you down a bit with it. You love Baby Jack, but always remind us that he's too little and you can't touch him yet. I'm glad that you got that message early in the game and don't really even bother with him. You are LOVING that Grandma Jackie returned last week, and are anxious to sleep at her condo in YOUR room. I think it's going to kill you when you realize that you have to go to school three days a week while Parker is with Grandma all day.

As for Parker, well, you're usually up to being a daredevil. Today you have three bruises on your face. I have no idea where they came from. You love to climb up on the sofa, stand up and fall over backwards. Usually you land on the sofa, but sometimes you'll just fall right off the end, and you don't seem to care. You run around the house yelling like a mad woman on a mission, but you're not going anywhere. Sometimes you run into things, sometime you don't but you just keep going, and giggling. We love to just watch you. You're still speaking 99% Chinese, but you jabber and jabber. On a rare occasion we think we hear a word, but when asked to repeat you tend to come up with something else. You use MA-MEE for everything and everyone. You have one other word you're using a lot right now, tickle-tickle-tickle, and you wiggle your fingers like you're going to tickle someone - or scratch their eyes out! You love to drag the "Brown Bear" book around the house and are constantly demanding it be read to you. You will sometimes even sit still long enough for us to read it, if we read REALLY fast.

Together you girls are a ball! You are the best of friends, chasing and running and tugging and pulling on each other. I catch both of you trying to steal toys and of course hitting each other, either trying to thieve or trying to defend, I'm never certain who's doing which. You run around and giggle forever.

Thanks for the memories girls

2009-09-21T22:40:00.002-04:00

Today was Mommy's birthday, and you girls were left to help me celebrate while Daddy headed off to a football game with the boys. I picked you up from Grandma Barb to find a very fussy Parker. I made a deal with you, you had to help me work for a little while and we'd go for BBQ and then meet friends for ice cream. Well, work ended up being us spending an hour with a customer in a vacant (and hot) house waiting. Payton, of course you kept reminding me that you were being a good girl, and that being a good girl meant that we'd be going for ice cream. You also announced twice that you needed to use the restroom - once to pee and once to poop. Great, just what this guy wants to hear. Parker, you don't get the whole making deal game yet. You proceeded to be a wreck. I don't really blame you, it was a long hour, but you fussed, you hid in closets, you demanded to play with ink pens, you fell repeatedly but you survived. At long last we got to leave there. We made it to Shane's for dinner and you girls turned on the charm! You made friends with the staff and found the ability to control yourselves in a manner that made me proud. Once, you Payton, asked to go to the bathroom. I knew you'd just been, twice, and told you to finish your dinner. We bid farewell to your new found friends with apologies for the small mess, and moved on to find our old friends at Marble Slab. This is where the evening gets exciting. As Ava and Charly and then Jake arrive the energy level multiplies and we all headed into the small ice cream shop. We were lucky, there was only one other family in the place and they were already at a table. I quickly order for us, and hand Payton her ice cream. I take a bite of mine and start to get some ready for Parker, as Payton looks at me and tells me she has to potty. I am trying to figure out the logistics of this event as I look down and see a puddle forming. So, there are 4 kids standing there playing around the puddle, Parker strapped in a stroller and I'm holding an ice cream cone. Now what! As I calmly walk her to the bathroom she's leaving a trail behind her and Ava is happily following along seemingly oblivious to what's happening. I don't know how or why, but I kept my cool. Luckily I happened to have her suitcase in the car from Grandma's house so she got a fresh skirt and panties and marched out to continue her ice cream. The best part is that all of the kids just went on as if nothing had happened. I have no idea if it was the great parenting skills of my friends, or if the other kids just didn't realize what had happened but no one teased her or said anything to her. The shop owner mopped up and didn't say a word. We all went on to enjoy our ice cream. That is until Charly started yelling from the bathroom. Leslie goes in to discover diarrhea and a clogged toilet. At this point I'm pretty sure that they've added a poster of our mug shots in the back as people that are banned! Once again, the kids didn't seem affected a bit and moved on to play outside. Thank God for my wonderful girls, good friends and their fabulous kids. I had a wonderfully memorable birthday.

STOP

2009-09-08T09:52:00.003-04:00

Parker you make me laugh every day. You've not been a great speaker up to this point, instead excelling at things that require fine motor skills which is just fine by me as eventually I'm certain you'll start speaking and never stop. But this weekend you've come up with your first command, STOP. You use it when appropriate, and sometimes just to make me laugh like last night when I took you up to bed and started putting your jammies on, you looked up, grinned and yelled STOP, well, your version of it which I can't even attempt to spell. Funny Girl!

Princesses Are Old News

2009-09-02T21:53:00.002-04:00

Last night Laura sent me pictures of Lily all decked out in her princess atire for her 3rd birthday party which made me stop and think, somewhere along the last couple of months Payton has grown out of the princess phase. How is that possible?? She still loves to strut around the house in my high heels carrying a purse, but she seems to be over the ball gowns and fairy wings. Seriously, she's only 3 I am not ready for her to move on to the Barbie's and Hannah Montana gear! She does still ask to go see the princesses (Disney World), but she's just not IN a dress all the time like she was not that long ago. Now she insists on wearing skirts or jeans every day. She tells me when I'm brushing her hair to make sure I don't make it flat. I really don't know where she's getting it. Obviously she does have some older friends, and we know that Ava's quite the diva influence, but I just didn't realize that she was paying that much attention. I'm certainly no great example of fashion, and we rarely see the Disney chanel with the hip attire for her to copy. Where is this coming from?? Oh well, we'll see what the future holds.

Swine Flu?

2009-08-27T22:10:00.002-04:00

These days if you turn on the evening news, or flip on the laptop, you will undoubtedly hear how the Swine Flu is taking over the world! And being a family with two kids in two daycares, we were sure to run into the drama of it all. And we have. Last Friday Parker's daycare provider, Toni, called me in a panic to tell me that there was a "confirmed" case of Swine Flu at her daycare and went on to tell me how she was certain she'd be shut down by the health department. Blah, blah, blah. I was not sure what to do. We had plans to meet up with a bunch of neighbors that night, and of course lots of kids. We'd been at the gym all morning with the girls in the Kid Zone. We were STANDING in Jill's living room while she was on the phone freaking out at me and I was supposed to be leaving the girls there to meet with clients 10 minutes later. What to do, what to do? So, I ran out the door with the EXPOSED child and met my clients 5 minutes late and frazzled carrying a baby that might be exposing the world. Called the pediatrician (love this woman's grip on reality) who confirmed my thoughts, that it's a freaking flu and to go on with life. If she gets sick, give her Tylenol and fluids. Skipped the family evening out in the hood, and low and behold woke up to a baby with a pretty good fever come Saturday morning. Darn, now I started waiting for the vomiting and diarrhea, but it never came. She did have a fever over the weekend, but then just a runny nose come Monday. And on Tuesday we went in for her 15 month check up, and being the cruel mother that I am, I let her get 4 shots because the pedi confirmed that she just had a cold so it was ok. So the poor kid is now a complete mess! She has a nasty cold (or Swine Flu), 4 shots, and 4 new teeth coming in. Really, could I be any worse? I have at least not sent her away, and have spent every waking moment with her for 7 days. And I still like her. Hummm, maybe I am ok at this mom thing after all.

PS - AFTER the dr appt Tuesday I called Toni to tell her we were in the clear only to learn that the "confirmed" case was really just suspected, and that the health department wasn't involved at all. Toni didn't like that Parker hadn't been tested, and treated as some of the other children had been. That Toni BLEACHED everything in the house (I think even the light bulbs). I also learned that Toni tried to rat me out to Payton's daycare. I may have been a bit to vocal in my frustration over her overreaction when we talked. She in turn called Nancy to get her opinion of the situation. I'm SO not impressed by this, but only 5 more weeks then Grandma will be here and I won't be dependant on Miss Toni anymore. Ah, the joys of day care. Next year I think Parker's on her way to Allie Gator.

2009-08-26T10:40:00.003-04:00

Kids come up the funniest stuff, and Payton, well, she's ahead of the crowd in this area. Here are a few recent conversations to prove my point.

To set the stage for this one you must know that Payton rarely gets genuinely frustrated with her sister, maybe at us, but not so much at Parker. But being sick for a couple weeks must have been wearing on her. We were driving down the street and both girls we buckled in their seats behind me. Both yapping away, Payton pro baby telling me some great fable and Parker repeating her favorite word, Dacky, as she's talking to her stuffed animal. Suddenly Payton whips her head around to Parker and yells, It's not Dacky, it's a DUCK!

A few weeks ago I may have set a bit of a bad example, shame on mommy. I was driving the girls home from Naples through a nasty storm, one of those where you can't see the highway in front of you. I don't recall what happened, but I mumbled "Shit" under my breath. of course, as kids will, Payton somehow caught it and started repeating it over and over and over. Being the witty woman that I am, I quickly corrected her and told her that I thought we needed a SHIP to get home in all of this rain! She went right along with it, and for the next 20 minutes wanted to talk about the ship that we needed to get home. Now any time it starts raining (every day in Florida) and she and I are in the car she tells me "Mommy, we need a SHIP!" She's so proud of herself.

And here's a picture of my not so adventurous little girl, screaming NOOOOO...... Last weekend we took the girls out to dinner for some BBQ, their favorite. Afterwards we were wandering around the mall and I thought that maybe Payton would enjoy the big bouncing swing thingy that is set up there. We watched a few other kids do it, and she seemed like it was an OK idea. I handed over my $10 and my big girl to the attendant. As soon as he started strapping her in I realized this wasn't going to go well. But, I pushed her and kept talking her up, reminding her how much she LOVES to jump on the bed, and how she's always walking around the house showing us how high she can jump. This apparatus would help her jump REALLY high. She was not buying it. We got her to jump once or twice, but then she was done. And begging to get down. She is so my offspring - she was wearing a skirt and whining about how it hurt her legs. I knew exactly how she felt, but wanted so much for her to get over it and just enjoy the trampoline!

Bigger Girls Have Less Vices

2009-07-31T13:07:00.002-04:00

It's a week of change in our house, and it seems it may actually be harder on me that the girls!

We started the week off when Jason dropped Payton off at school to learn that she's been moved to the next classroom up, and that in the 3 year old classroom Kitty is no longer welcome for nap time. I worried and worried all day. I even went as far as to call and complain that we weren't given any notice and I thought it was really wrong to not give us the weekend to prepare her. It seems I was the only one bothered. She came home from school at the end of the day never even mentioning it. Two days later when I went to pick her up she came running to me proudly exclaiming that Kitty isn't here, he dones't come to school anymore. I guess we're over that.

Since Payton's weaning went so well, I've decided it's time to wean myself, I mean Parker, from the paci. See, we're both addicts, probably me more than her. In theory she gets the paci for bed and car rides only. But, then she also gets it at the gym, and if Mommy needs to make a call, or she's finds it, or we're out and about and she's being loud, or we're in the office, or Daddy needs to make a call...you get the point. A few weeks ago she was at Jill's for the evening and Jill put her to bed without even thinking of it, and she was fine. So last night I decided we'd quit cold turkey. I put her to bed without it, and listened to her fuss and play for almost an hour. Eventually she went to sleep and I thought, that was easy, a little noise in the moniter no big deal. So today we loaded up in the car to head to the gym, it was a long 10 minute ride, but ok. The gym she was fine I was told. Then came the long trip to run some errands - about and hour of her fussing, yelling and exhausted in the back seat, man I really needed that paci. So we finally got home and headed up for a nap. She usually falls asleep right away, this nap took 15 minutes for her to fall asleep, and then only lasted 45 minutes. I've been told that this will only take a few days, and I hope so or I may not make it!

Rock Out Parker

2009-07-31T12:53:00.004-04:00

I know all babies love to dance, but right now I'm convinced that Parker is the cutest of them all. You will be too when you see this. She gets her shoulders going, arms swinging, head bopping, hips swaying, feet stomping and grins eat to ear.

Daddy loves to turn the Reggae station on the TV for her. She "rocks out" as Payton would say, and seems to have some rhythm even!

Did I mention she does this for any music weather it be a commercial or in the car?

P-A-Y-T-O-N, Sort Of

2009-07-30T10:50:00.004-04:00

Payton and Daddy have been working very hard at spelling her name.

Money = Disney

2009-07-29T09:30:00.001-04:00

Payton’s been in a Disney World fog this morning as she is from time to time. First she started off by telling Jason on his way out the door that she’d see him on Wednesday at Disney World when he got home. After he left she mentioned to me a few times that she wanted to go. As usual, I reminded her that we need money to go to Disney and that I needed to work to make money. So, while the girls were eating breakfast I thought I could get a few quick calls in for a customer. I told the girls that I needed for them to be quite so that mommy could work. For the most part they were pretty well behaved while I made my three calls. When I came back to the table to congratulate them on behaving so well handing out high fives to both, Payton politely asks if she could get down now, and then asks “Did you make some money?” I’m either creating a very balanced and money aware child or a monster. I guess time will tell, but if she tries to sell you her sister for Disney money, please don’t buy!

Walking, Climbing and Becoming a Mini-Addy

2009-06-25T15:11:00.006-04:00

Oh Parker, Parker, Parker. What will we do with you! You are our daredevil, and you're gonna kill yourself if you're not careful, or I don't keep a close eye on you. I've taken to calling you Addy, as she's the only other girl I know who likes to climb quite so much. Daddy's thrilled, he's deemed you the athlete, while I'm wondering how to keep you alive long enough to excel at any sport. Since you started walking a few weeks ago (slipping that in here since I forgot to mention it previously) you also think that you can climb Kilimanjaro. I find you standing in your chair, in Payton's chair, trying to climb/stand on your little play table, and yesterday you got mad becuase you couldn't figure out how to climb up onto the kitchen chair. I'm guessing we're only weeks from that. The funniest part is that even when you get up into your chair and fall, you just do it again. Never tears, never fears, just do it again and again. You crack me up dragging heavy toys around the house, as if you really need to contribute to the clutter around here. Today you were picking up a ball that Payton can hardly carry around because it's so heavy, and yesterday it was the BIG ball that I still can't figure out how someone with such a small wingspan could even grasp. You do it all, just grinning at me from ear to ear.

Here are two videos, blue shirt is 2 weeks previous to the one with the chair. PROGRESS!

Parker's Tantrum!

2009-06-24T11:15:00.007-04:00

Parker has recently really learned how to express herself, and not in a good way. I probably shouldn't, but I find it really funny. I'm also impressed with her physical ability to throw herself up into the air using her feet. This particular fit is, I think, due to the fact that she doesn't want to drink from the sippy cup I've provided for her, she wants a bottle. We're trying to make the switch right now. Most of the time she's fine and thinks it's fun to such through the straw, but this moment she's frustrated because she has to suck more than one suck to get milk into her mouth and I think she thinks that the cup is empty.

Bum

2009-06-20T12:29:00.003-04:00

Today Payton's been scratching at her bum all day, so being the attentive mother that I am I thought that I should take a peak at it while I was helping her wipe. As I somewhat expected, her bottom was a little pink, I'm thinking that maybe she's missed a wipe or two recently. I said somewhat rhetorically, "Your bums a little red?" She quickly and happily responds, "It's because you've been spanking me so much." She then grins and goes on her merry way to her nap. I was about to explode laughing. She wasn't mean, or scared or anything. She was just matter of fact, like, duh, of course it is! Honestly, the red on her bottom has nothing to do with spanking, and everything to do with 3 year old hygiene.
As I mentioned before, Payton is currently experiencing the terrible three's, after being a delightful baby and a pretty good toddler. I'm usually somewhat of a softy mom, I try to talk and explain with loads of time outs, but I haven't been feeling like any progress is being made. So, two days ago, I decided to try out a no tolerance approach. I am not coddling any more. I tell her no, or stop and offer the consequence of a spank, and a trip to her room. If she continues, I follow through with whichever was offered as consequence. I know that no one believes in spanking anymore. I'm sure that if all my mom friends read this I'd be dis-momed, but I am trying to raise a bull headed child here and it seemed to work out for my own parents so I'm giving it a shot. I still love my parents, and they still love me. Payton, at this point, seems to still love me and still loves to hug, kiss and snuggle me. She's by no means afraid of me, except when I'm mad about something she's done or is doing. Ya know what, that's a good time to be afraid.

Babies and Bellies

2009-06-14T12:58:00.003-04:00

Here's another funny one from today. Payton is constantly saying things these days that kind of make you stop and go humm.

Payton and I were playing in her room, listening to the radio station blasting Brittney Spear which has recently replaced the Toddler Favorites CD that used to play in her room so often. That alone frightens me, but isn't the story. No this story is about babies. This story starts with Payton telling me to take Parker's jammies out of her room. What? I ask. She points to a set of blue jammies that I recently tossed into the "TO LESLIE'S HOUSE" pile that lives in the top of the closet. I explained that they needed to go to Leslie's. Of course she assumed that meant that they were for Charly. I thought it would be a good time to remind her that Leslie has a baby in her belly, just like I had Parker in my belly before she was born. She sat for a few seconds thinking and told me that I should put Parker back in my belly. I'm now realizing that she REALLY doesn't get this concept. Guess I'll let that one go for a while.

BIG, BIG, BIG

2009-06-14T12:47:00.002-04:00

I have to type this one real quick, cause it's too funny to let go.

Payton and Jason are snuggling on the sofa right now while I'm online. I hear Payton say to Jason, "I like your boobies, cause they're big". She goes on to tell him that she has boobies too. Jason, trying not to laugh, tells her that someday she'll have bigger boobies. She has to continue the conversation with, "I'll have BIG BIG BIG BIG (4x) boobies!"

Someday she's gonna kill me for this one!

Payton Turn's 3 with lots of, uhm, spirit

2009-05-29T13:53:00.006-04:00

Wow, how is it possible that three short years ago it was just Jason, Oliver and I laying around the house. It was so quiet back then, so still. Now there is a constant energy, even when the girls are asleep they're like computers with that little wizzing noise always on stand by, at any moment ciaos could erupt. And at age 3, it often does. Payton was always a happy even tempered baby, never even that curious getting into things, just mellow and content. Oh how things have changed recently. Now she's constantly on one end or the other of the emotion pendulum. She loves with such vigor, often telling us that she loves us THIS much with her arm out as wide as she can stretch. She will list everyone she loves, Mommy, Daddy, Parker, Oliver, Marmar Barb, Papa, Marmar Jackie, Marmar Teresa, Papa, Charley, Leslie, Thomas, Annika...and the list goes ON. She loves to snuggle and give hugs and is totally in love with her baby sister. Then, at the drop of a hat she's in hysterics because she needs kitty (or milk, or a certain doll or anything else) and it's like the sky has just fallen. She's crying, and just destroyed. If you raise your voice to her over this mess, somehow she finds another level of hysterics that seemed unimaginable only moments ago. So as parents we scratch our heads. Are we supposed to yell louder, use MORE time outs, spank more? What is the answer?? We've taken to sending her to her room lately so that we don't have to listen to her, but getting her up there is a whole fiasco of it's own, and usually the punishment ends up creating a need for a whole additional discipline session as she refuses to accept it. I'm 100% certain that my own parents are laughing their butts off as they read this, as I believe my apple didn't fall far from the tree. With that said I often try to relate to her. I know that as a kid/teen/adult I've always been a bit on the emotional side myself. Now I look at her and I know how she feels, I know that harsh words just make me cry more, but what's a parent to do? Ah, only time will tell.

With all of that said I must also say that she is such an amazing kid. She is so charming and for the most part polite. She loves to talk to strangers, and I think she's going to live life by the motto "There is no such thing as a stranger, just a friend you haven't met." She's well behaved now (for the most part) and I actually enjoy taking her with me when I head out and about. She loves to dance and play dress up. She lives for time with her friends, and leaving them is often cause for a melt down as described above. At 3 years old she can swim like a fish, and has no fear of the water. She is a bit bossy, but think that's might be genetics well!

I love you baby girl!

Great Grandma & Grandpa Visted

2009-05-29T13:13:00.004-04:00

It's been a while since I've found/made the time to blog, but I'm going to go back in time here and try to catch up. We've had a spring full of activity, which leaves little time for writing it all down.

So the day finally arrived for the Great Grandparents arrival. I decided to take Payton with me to the airport, so we loaded up in the car and headed off. I had mentioned that they were coming, but we hadn't really gone in depth as to who they were. So the conversation went something like this.

Me: We're going to get Grandma Donna & Grandpa Dean, that's MY grandma & grandpa and Grandpa Mark's mommy and daddy

Payton: But what are their last names.

Me: Last names? Their last name is Orr.

Payton: But what are their LAST names.

Me: Their names are Grandma Donna & Grandpa Dean, Marmar Donna & Papa Dean

Payton: But what are their LAST names

Me: I don't know

We've had similar conversations since then, and I still don't know what she's looking for in a "last name."

Anyway, we had a wonderful visit with the highlight of Payton getting to play in the ocean with her great grandparents. I am pretty certain there are very few kids in the world who can say that! From the beach it was pretty hard to tell who the grownups were and who was the kid as they were all three having a blast and giggling like little kids when the waves knocked them over again and again. Parker spent most of the time on the beach eating sand, but she also enjoyed playing in the surf as well. I don't have photos from that day because I forgot my camera!

The rest of the visit we hung out around the house and the Estero area and filled their bellies with good fish. We took Grandma & Grandpa to Koreshan Park to show them some of our areas history, and enjoyed some good Florida April heat and humidity. It was a very special week for me, as I have very fond memories of my own great grandparents and I am so thrilled that my girls had a chance to spend this time with theirs.

Mr Pabst

2009-04-07T16:50:00.002-04:00

For the last year or so we've noticed that Payton has had a special place in her heart for our neighbor Karl. Karl is Ava and Charley's dad, and has a wonderful wife of his own, Leslie. BUT, Payton is somehow thinking she's gonna melt this older gentleman's heart with her sweetness. So far, she's not broken him down.

Saturday night we're all hanging out eating pizza while the girls play in the pool when Payton announces, "Karl, I love you. And I love your EYES!"

Where in the world does an almost 3 year old come up with this? No, she's not spending her free time watching Cinemax, I promise. I'm pretty sure that I've never heard Oswald or Diego using such a pick up line. I have no idea, but I do know that Karl did finally break a grin. Maybe she's onto something...

Stool Days

2009-04-07T16:27:00.004-04:00

Payton, Grandma & Daddy on her first day

Last week Payton finally started preschool. The big day has come and gone, and I kept waiting for there to be some BIG drama to write about, but apparently my little drama queen doesn't feel like making drama out of going to school. Instead she just picked up her lunch box and hopped in the car after a week of saying to us, "Can we go now, can I go to stool??"

Payton and her teacher, Ms. Kelly 30 seconds after meeting each other

Some will say, she's too young (Great Grandma Orr, you know who you are) some will say it's about time (daddy)! I admit that I was nervous about sending her, but not so much for the reasons I think most are. I'm not worried that someone's going to break into the playground and abduct her. I'm not too worried the other kids are going to teach her bad habits. I'm not worried she'll be afraid without me there. I was worried that I'd dress her wrong and she'd not be able to play on the playground because she had the wrong shoes. I was afraid that I'd pack the wrong stuff in her lunch box and the other kids would think she was a dork, or that she wouldn't be able to open something and she'd be afraid to ask for help so she'd sit starving. I was afraid that she wouldn't get to have Kitty when she needed him. But after a week, and a new week starting today it seems she's surviving. In fact, I'm pretty sure she's liking it. I have to admit, I'm just guessing on the liking it thing because she won't tell us what she does there all day. We ask and ask, but it's like she's taken a vow of silence on the subject.

Did you read books?
No

Did you play on the playground?
No

Did you eat lunch?
No

Who's in your class?
I don't know

But each day she comes home starving, and wired, and grinning from ear to ear, so whatever she'd doing there it must be good!

2009-03-29T22:06:00.003-04:00

Parker, you never cease to amaze us! Lately you are coming up with new tricks every day it seems. In the last week you've started waving, saying bye, some version of hi, maybe bottle (ba), ok that one is a big maybe, you're saying ma ma all of the time as well as da da. You'll eat anything we put in front of you, and many things we don't. I took you and Payton to lunch for BBQ the other day and you were a maniac, I barely got any of my own pulled pork. Today we headed out for breakfast where you sucked down blueberry pancakes like it was old hat. You are grinning and crawling around like every move is a race. You're starting to pull up on things, but don't stay up long. AND, you've learned that you can climb up the first stair. I didn't say stairs, because once you get up the first one you stop and get frustrated, you don't know what to do next. You don't seem to have the energy to get up the next one, can't move back down to the floor, and don't know how to sit down on the stair you've made it to. I suppose this means that we need to get the gate up pretty soon. Yesterday we took you swimming at Grandma & Grandpa's and you were loving it, I think you are going to be a swimmer like Payton is. I'm very excited for you to start swimming lessons next week! Kimmy's gonna love your spirit.

Did I mention that your first tooth is totally through and your chomping with it?! Too bad you won't give me a good toothy grin for the camera so I can show the world.

2009-03-29T21:46:00.002-04:00

Oh Payton, it's crazy how grown up you have become. I think I realized it yesterday after you spent two days with Grandma & Grandpa. When I arrived you were napping, but when you got up you were a person on your own. You had no hesitation to swim alone, jumping in from the edge, swimming from one end of the pool to the other. You knew what you wanted and when, and asked politely (most of the time) for what you wanted. You sat at dinner and ate your fish, shrimp and couscous, even telling us that you liked the "texture" of the fish, working so hard to fit into the grown up conversation. Obviously you're still so little and do need our help for most things, but there's a lot you don't need. You can dress yourself, go potty without us, and now you're headed off to preschool this week. You've started looking out for Parker and playing with her usually with the right amount of gentleness (if that's a word). I know I keep telling you and you look at me like I'm crazy, but I'm really proud of you.

10 Months...

2009-03-20T22:23:00.004-04:00

As much as I seem to be pushing you to be a year old, you are really only 10 months old today. For some reason this time of year, I jump ahead a bit. Grandma Jackie is leaving, Payton's birthday's in a month, and then yours is the next, so in my mind it's all happening at once and I've already graduated you out of babyhood! Sorry sweetheart, I'm just so excited for you because it seems like you are growing up so much all of the time. In the last week you've broken your first tooth through and have become a very happy chick again. You are back to eating, and are making up for lost time. Last night you ate 3 containers of baby food! You are doing your cute little crab crawl all over the neighborhood and seem to need a bath every night after crawling down the streets, pavers and yards of all our friends. You crack me up pushing your little tush up in the air. I don't know if you're doing it to relieve your poor knees or if you're trying to stand up, but it's darn cute. Payton is obviously your best friend in the world, even when she yells at you to "STOP LOOKING AT ME", you just grin and giggle more, and of course keep watching her. Tonight your dad and I got a good laugh at the two of you playing peek a boo in Payton's new tent while she told you "It's not funny" buried her head and giggled, which of course made you giggle, and made her repeat herself "IT'S NOT FUNNY!" Oh you girls are gonna make each other crazy some days, but I hope you both will always know how luck you are to have each other!

Poor Baby!

2009-03-10T20:01:00.002-04:00

I hate this so much for you, but it seems like teething is going to be really tough for you Parker. The last two days you've been having a terrible time. You have spent so much time sleeping and when you're not sleeping you just can't take the pain and you go from giggling to bawling in no time at all. In between those times you're so lethargic it almost frightens me. You just lay on our chests and fall asleep, but when we try to put you to bed you don't want to be left alone. Thank goodness you are eating and drinking but it just goes straight though you poor thing. I don't know what to do for you except hope that it ends soon.

Parker Is Crawling

2009-02-22T20:52:00.004-05:00

All at once you can do it all! Yesterday morning I was talking to your Grandma Teresa telling her that you were almost crawling, and then all of the sudden you did it, you crawled! It was just a creep and the rest of the day we were on the go and you never got a chance to practice anymore. So this morning you were ready to go and that you did. You will crawl a few feet at a time to get to toys or to Payton, then you sit up (also new) and clap for yourself with a BIG grin. This afternoon we went to Jim & Barb's and that's where this video was taken. You are trying to get to Payton. I think all of this crawling must be exhausting, because you've taken two naps, eaten a bunch and were ready for bed early! Night, night sweetheart.

After watching you move around for just the few hours today we're already scared, you are gonna be TROUBLE! You spent 5 minutes today trying you hardest to get your finger into an electric socket that you found after crawling around under the kitchen table. These are thing that Payton never bothered to do.

Parker Is Up To Lots

2009-02-18T15:02:00.003-05:00

Oh my sweet baby Parker, what are you doing these days? Last week you shocked me by clapping, and I was so excited to report to your daddy that you clapped for me and then he burst my bubble by telling me that you had actually started the previous day and that Grandma Jackie had shown him when he got home that evening. I suppose that's what happens to mommies who go to work, we just miss some firsts. But, you know what, you've been doing it for a week now and every time I see you do it it makes me giggle, and you too. You think it's very fun to do, but seem to have your own schedule as to when it's appropriate, and it doesn't seem to include when I have the video camera going.

Let's see, what else. Well, you are REALLY REALLY close to sitting up on your own AND crawling. You keep getting up onto your knees, but then can't figure out where to go from there. I am certain that you'll figure it out any day now. While I know you're going to be so excited I am dreading it a bit because you are already into everything, so we're gonna be in big trouble once you can get up as well as around.

And then there's your conversations! For the last couple of weeks it's been dadadadada, which is cute, but give momma a little love. Lately there have been a few mu...mu's but I'm still waiting for the enthusiasm of the dadada's. I'm sure it's coming, you're just waiting for the right time.

Minnie Me

2009-02-10T22:24:00.007-05:00

Payton has become a little mommy in her world. She has Baby and Dolly and Elmo, and she's obviously not got any more control over her children than I do, because I often hear her putting them in time out for terrible atrocities such as not sitting up or misbehaving or anything else or nothing at all! Sometimes she's living out the daily grind of being a mother, trying to take TWO children to the grocery store, as she is in this video. Ah, and I thought I'd have to wait 30 years for her to understand how difficult it can be! Of course there are also times that I'm so impressed with her, I'll see her with Baby over her shoulder, patting her back working a burp out and she's always adiment that we be careful when we hold Baby and do it just so. She'll work hard to get Dolly dressed with her silly socks and shoes that fall of the moment she gets them on, just like a real live baby I must say. Elmo is always in trouble because he just refuses to stand up, you know, she can't hold him ALL of the time I hear her telling him!

Other times she needs to capture the precious moments and breaks out her camera. I can not tell you how many times in the last few days she's insisted on posing her "children", her grandmother, Oliver, Parker, Jason and/or I. Then we HAVE to say cheeeeeeeese until she clicks the camera. She tells us how good each photo is and we're released. In these pics she's trying to get Elmo and Dolly to pose with Oliver who's trying desperately to hide under the dining room table.

Big Girls

2009-02-05T11:37:00.004-05:00

Another milestone yesterday for Parker, she got to ride in the big girl seat at Costco instead of in her car seat. It had been a long morning of errands and car time and we were all at the end, so we stopped for a slice of pizza and hot dog before finishing up our shopping. I took Parker out of her car seat to offer her a bottle, which she refused, and could tell that there was NO way she was going to get back in her seat. Luckily Costco has the big carts with double seats so the girls had a ball. Payton spent the ride trying to protect her hot dog, while Parker switched between grinning at everyone passing and trying to thieve the very attractive hot dog.

Mickey'll Make It Better

2009-01-30T21:50:00.007-05:00

My last blog was written the day before we were heading to Disney with Payton for the first time, at that moment she was perfectly healthy. Somehow over the course of the night that changed. Drastically. Unbeknowst to me, she woke Jason up a few times in the night, and eventually ended up in our bed and at 4:30 we were all up for the day to learn that she had a pretty good temperature and was sick as a dog. Being the stellar parents that we are, we pumped her full of ibuprofen and strapped her in the car seat. I was apprehensive, suggesting that maybe we put off leaving at least until later in the day, when Payton answered "Mickey'll make it better." With that we headed off.

She was a trooper, never complaining a bit through the drive or the 8 hours that we kept her going through Animal Kingdom. She even had a good time for the most part, and some moments she had a great time. We probably shouldn't have started with the 3D Bug's Life movie, it just about brought the poor kid to tears. She was begging to get out of there as the bugs were spitting at us and the exterminator was coming at us with bug spray, never mind the huge spiders dropping out of the ceiling. From there we jumped on the safari ride which was amazing. It was a very cool morning (OK cold), so all of the animals were out and she got to see more than I think you would typically see. She was a little nervous about meeting the characters, but did give Mickey, Minnie and Daffy hugs after waiting in lines to meet each one. She had a blast at the Bone Yard, which is basically a big playground with enormous slides. But, by the end of the day, she was a sad puppy, falling asleep in her stroller before the big parade. I know that she would have loved it, but I just couldn't wake her up to force it on her. So we headed back to the hotel where she was quite content to take a hot bath and snuggle while the other kids headed to the pool.

Day two was off to The Magic Kingdom with more ibuprofen, and it was SO worth it! As we entered there was a show going on at the castle and she was in awe. I have to admit, watching her watch the Princesses and Mickey and Minnie dance and speak kind of brought a tear to my eye. She was so into it, jaw-dropping-into-it. From there we met up with the Bond's and explored the rest of the park. I thought that it would be a good idea to take her on the teacups, what was I thinking! As we stood in line Lea started talking about spinning the cup as hard as she could. I began wondering if Payton would be able to handle it, I had no idea that she'd love it and I'd be the one that couldn't handle the spinning. It was almost time for the big event, lunch with the princesses. But before we could get to the castle, we had a 45 minute wait to see Tigger and Pooh. I really didn't think that she knew who they were, but she was bound and determined to see them, waiting and waiting and waiting. She was thrilled when we finally made it and gave them lots of hugs. And then the moment arrived for the Royal Table Lunch, unfortunately it was about the same moment that the ibuprofen was wearing off, and it was kind of ugly. Miss Payton was rough, very rough. All she wanted was to be held by Mommy and Daddy. She did get her picture taken with each princess and mustered up a smile, but you could see how miserable she was. The princesses all stood back from her, obviously afraid of the germy kid. She wanted so badly to talk to them, she just didn't seem to know what to say. The best line was when she looked at Snow White in amazement and announced to her that she had makeup on, as if it was going to be a big shock to Snow White to learn that someone had snuck it on her. After a while she perked back up and we continued our day heading on to another risky new experience, the roller coaster. Which she amazed me by loving. As we got off she was begging to do it again. It was getting late and was almost time to go. On our way out we were passing the castle as the show was starting. We couldn't help it, we had to sit down and watch it again. This time was even better than the first because it was dark out and the castle was lit up and truly looked magical. I sat down in front of the stroller and had such a great time just watching her face as she watched the show, a toddlers version of Broadway. Ahh, the magic of Disney!

Anticipation

2009-01-21T15:33:00.005-05:00

Tomorrow morning at 6 we're headed to Orlando to take Payton to Disney for the first time at 2 years 8 months old. Yes, everyone says it's too young, we're crazy. Well, everyone who doesn't have a 2 year old or a 3 year old who has gone. All of them say, take her, she'll LOVE IT!! Besides, before she's 3 she's still free, and Momma likes a bargain. Wow, can you really talk about Disney and bargains in the same thought??? Anyway...

Miss Payton is excited. Very excited to say the least. We didn't talk about it until after New Year's really because that just would have been too far out for her to deal with. So about 2-3 weeks ago we started talking up the trip. We told her that Mickey would be there, as well as all of the princesses. As we've talked and talked she's had many questions and thoughts about how this is all going to go down. So we've determined that there will in fact be hot dogs there, and juice. These are high priorities to Payton, especially the juice as it's a special occasion drink. We've gone back and forth trying to explain to her that Mickey and the Princesses will talk, she still doesn't 100% believe us on that one. We've had LONG discussions about how Kitty will be traveling, where he will be allowed to go and where he won't. She's bound and determined that he will be with us at the Parks and that Mommy can carry him in the bag, her solution when Daddy expressed concerns that he could be lost. We'll see who wins that battle. So for the last week she's been running around the house in her most excited whisper voice shouting to us that we're gonna see Mickey and THE PRINCESSES!!! As she whisper/shouts this she grins from ear to ear and jumps up and down with arms waving. I don't think a little girl could be any more happy. In fact last night she professed to me again how proud she is of me, for taking her on this trip. Gotta love the kudos from a kid.

This morning she helped me pack her suitcase. And in true female character she piled every pair of shoes she has in the suitcase as well as ribbons and necklaces. I sure hope she forgives me when we get there tomorrow and instead finds only 3 pairs of shoes and 5 outfits. I may be a mom, but I'm still a girl too, of course she's overpacked! It's about 3 pm as I'm writing this and I think that MAYBE packing at 10 this morning was a bad idea, because every since we finished she's been dragging the suitcase around telling me that it's time to go.

Payton's Top 10 Recent Lines

2009-01-05T22:20:00.003-05:00

You are a boy and a man.
DARCEEEEEE
Marmar's a woman, mommy's a woman.
Daddy calls you Darcee, I call you Mommy?
One, Two, Four, Five, Four, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, TEN
Here's the deal...
Pink - This is an answer to ANY question. Name, age, what's wanted from Santa...
Finish it up
What color is that?
I wanna go inside (outside really)!

Grandpa's Playhouse

2009-01-05T20:47:00.006-05:00

I can't even start to describe how much fun it was to have Grandma & Grandpa Orr, Colin, Robynn and Addy here for Christmas, but let me give it a shot. First of all Payton spent the week leading up to everyone's arrival begging for ADD-EE to get here, she would practically break out in tears when I'd tell her it would be another day or hour or minute. It was a rough week, the anticipation of Santa and the family is really trying on a girl at 2 1/2. Parker had no clue what a great week was in store for her, but she has spent quite a bit of time since they left wondering why we abuse her so allowing her to occasionally not be held.

The week started out with Payton riding in the car for 4 1/2 hours with G & G explaining to them that Grandpa is a boy and a man, over and over and over. 30 minutes into the drive they called me in my car asking where the off button was. I just laughed, and hung up so that they could continue the chat with her. See, I had a plan. I knew that riding in the car with the babies could be difficult, surely some crying would happen, but that they would eventually sleep. Payton on the other hand was likely to stay awake and at full volume the entire way. And she did.

At last, we arrived at "Grandpa's Playhouse" as the rental house in the Key's became know. And the party began! The girls were kind of a love triangle, but the love seemed to go all 3 directions. Parker was entertained by anything Payton and Addy did. Addy and Payton loved to put on a show for Parker. Payton was finally the big girl, and loved her role as ring leader/boss. Addy thought the baby was very interesting and that Payton was pretty bossy but also very exciting. There was a lot of screaming, laughing, singing and giggling. Very few naps were had and lots of emotions were expressed (loudly), and we loved most every minute of the trip! It was feeling very un-Christmas like as we sweat outside during the day, but Payton did spot Santa taking a break on the streets of Key West three days before Christmas. I really can't imagine how he had the time, but I suppose he has "people" to take care of the chaos before the big trip so he was just out enjoying an afternoon stroll.

Eventually we had to come back to reality and started the 6 hour trip home (yes it took MUCH longer to get home). This seems to be the part of the trip that Payton remembers. When I ask her to tell people what we did in the Key's she always tells them we went to the park. Well, the park was actually just one of MANY stops on the way home, but was where we decided to have lunch. Kids are funny that way.

So, by the time we got home we had started to remind Payton that Santa would soon be arriving. Christmas Eve she went to bed after helping me set out Oreo's and milk for Santa without putting up a fight. We really talked it up with her and thought she'd be racing downstairs early in the morning. Jackie and Mom and Dad arrived early to be here for all of the fun of the girls all seeing Santa's goodies. But the silly kid must have forgotten by morning, because instead of running for the stairs, she crawled in our bed and asked for cartoons. I suppose it was a good thing allowing everyone to get themselves together a bit, but being a Santa junkie myself I had a really hard time relating. Caillou vs Santa, Santa ALWAYS wins in my book! Finally we had to remind her and headed for the stairs. She was excited to check out the pile, but after surveying the situation, decided that she needed to go potty before diving in. Once again, I question her dedication to this whole Santa thing. Have I already failed as a parent?? SO, AFTER a potty break, the fun began. She opened and opened, as Santa was very generous. I have to take a break here to mention that Addy and Parker were also present at this Christmas, but they were not quite old enough to really grasp the whole event. Addy TOTALLY loved her sun glasses, and is quite the groovy chic in them. Parker got a way cool dinosaur with super cool balls that still seems to be a big hit in our house, but she was more concerned about getting her breakfast in than opening gifts. From here I'll let the photos tell the story.

Giggle Box

2008-12-31T20:29:00.003-05:00

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

2008-12-18T06:00:00.007-05:00

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

2008-12-03T21:02:00.009-05:00

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

2008-12-01T23:06:00.007-05:00

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!

2008-12-01T21:50:00.006-05:00

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

2008-11-26T21:20:00.007-05:00

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!

2008-11-22T22:13:00.002-05:00

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,

2008-11-22T21:24:00.004-05:00

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

2008-11-19T13:02:00.006-05:00

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

2008-11-01T22:57:00.005-04:00

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!

2008-11-01T22:05:00.010-04:00

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

2008-10-28T22:09:00.005-04:00

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

2008-10-18T23:12:00.006-04:00

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

2008-10-18T22:42:00.005-04:00

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'?