Memory snapshot

One of my favorite happenings this week was Father's Day. Jeff wore the tie that Izzy made him in toddler class. Everywhere we went complete strangers were complimenting him! Church, the grocery store, pet store, etc. I'm not exaggerating when I say at least fifteen people said something. I think it made him feel like a celebrity. That's how all dad's should feel on Father's Day!

Other moments I want to capture and bottle up...

Izzy singing to me in the bath tub after I sang to her. It went something like, "Oo..book... duck... ooo.. ..ooo... the end!! Yay!!!"


The quote of the week came from my adorable four year old niece, Tessa, when she explained that Addie wasn't hungry so she didn't want to nurse... "The baby wasn't hungry so she didn't eat Aunt Stephanie's bra."

Izzy is not-so-mildly obsessed with Curious George. Today I overheard her asking one of her stuffed animals if she could watch a video. She got an enthusiastic Yes! from the animal.

Why My Hubby is an Awesome Dad

Why you are an awesome dad...

You take Izzy on "flights" almost daily.

You take on evening time with Addie and actually enjoy it.

You change diapers.

You stay home with us, a lot.

You bring home the bacon even though it's exhausting.

You get up early with kids when you know their mom has had a rough night.

You readily agreed to sell your car for a minivan (I know, I know, the title says "station wagon")

You kill spiders for us.

You spray bees for us (and do it the less toxic but probably more pain-in-the-butt way so your kids can have a safe lawn to play on barefoot)

You have supported the healthy food changes in this house without complaint.

You help with dinner, or even make all of it for us sometimes.

You fingerpaint with Izzy despite the crazy mess!!

You were so crazy proud to introduce your kids to your coworkers.

You get up with Izzy when she's scared at night.

You finished reading a book with Izzy tonight when I had to nurse Addie...and then you read it a second time!

Piggyback rides. 'Nuff said.

Laundry and toy cleanup- taking on two tasks that grow exponentially with kids.

You help me get back on track when I'm feeling like an overwhelmed mommy.

You pray with and for the kids.

You spend more time in the sun than you want to so that Izzy can have fun outside.

You are excited to get the Father's Day gift that Izzy made for you in class.

I totally blew your Father's Day surprise and you just hugged me and smiled and said Thank You!

The list goes on, but it's 4 am and I can't think. By the way, you are sleeping next to me right now even though this is the noisiest room in the house at night, due to baby wake ups.

You rock! And we love you very much!

Happy Father's Day!

Toddler Bully?

Tomorrow is our last day of tot class for this semester. I'm dreading it somewhat. Here's why...

I didn't realize there was such a thing as toddler "bullying". Preschool maybe, but toddler?! I don't want to label Tommy permanently as a bully, but I'm afraid that is his behavior that I will most remember about him.

Last Thursday in our Mommy and Me class, Tommy pushed Izzy. It wasn't your average push. He locked his sights on her and charged. She ran. I tried to intercept but didn't make it in time. Izzy was slammed into a wall. And I was facing Tommy and said, quite firmly, "That's unacceptable!". And by firmly, i mean it was almost a yell. It wasn't an ideal response, but it was mild compared to how my mama bear instincts wanted to respond. (think Kung-Fu ninja)

It seems we are moving into the age where Izzy's peers aren't as sweet as they used to be, and I'm really struggling with how to react. I absolutely don't blame the kids, or even the parents in most cases. Kids will be kids. They are learning. But Tommy's mom just doesn't seem to care, which drives me nuts. I can't tell other parents what to do (and believe me, I have a litany of ideas for this particular mom!). So I'm left with the only thing that I can control: how I respond. In theory, anyway.

The teacher and another mom gave me a great tip, though. Teach Izzy how to put her hand out and say STOP! They said it usually alarms the attacker enough that they stop and give me time to intervene. Also, it gives Izzy back some power.

And that's what I really want. She's going to run into this so much (and sometimes she'll be the offender). I want her to not feel the victim.

We went home and re-enacted the scene with Stuffed animals. When Curious George told Mickey the Moose, "Stop Tommy!" Izzy went over to the moose and said "it's okay, Tommy.". She did that in class too. At the end of class she brought Tommy a toy.

I've pondered that a lot since that class. I ultimately want her to remain the loving, empathetic girl that she is.

I hope I can be that forgiving at our next class .

Memory Keeper

The girls are changing so fast. Since I don't do baby books, this blog is serving as one of the main memory keepers. So I thought I would use a post to make a few notes about things that I've noticed lately and want to remember later...

1. Izzy tried to feed Addie a cheese quesadilla today. Izzy likes for us all to enjoy any food she particularly likes (especially Popsicles, lollipops and cheese). More and more, she wants Addie to enjoy these too.

2. There are tons of sisterly snuggles right now. Izzy hugs Addie and they both giggle. Addie just developed this belly laugh that gets set off by Izzy's hugs or my tickles or my friend Shannon tickling her belly. It's the sweetest giggle ever! And Izzy is the sweetest big sister ever!

3. Izzy is loving all things outdoors. Sometimes when that fresh air hits her she just runs and laughs. Our "run"'usually takes us down the path to visit Sunny, the neighbors' dog. Izzy calls "SUNNNEEEE" before we are within 500 feet of the house:). When she was one year old she used to bark at the dog. The neighbors told me once at church that the dad went out to see why Sunny was barking. He came back in and said in a surprised fashion, "That wasn't Sunny barking, that was a little girl!". Lol! I love that story!

After seeing Sunny, Izzy usually leads the three of us (Addie often passed out in Ergo carrier) to see the ducks at the nearby apartment complex. She gets soooo excited over this! She talks to them a lot..."Hi duck, hi goose!".

4. Addie is teething and using her tongue to rub and comfort her sore gums. She looks like a lizard for most of the day. It's hilarious to watch. I just got out the teethers yesterday. I'm mildly OCD when it comes to germs. Having a baby who will want to put everything in her mouth and a toddler that touches everything with her usually dirty hands is going to test my wits. Yesterday Izzy wiped her runny nose with the baby's cloth wrist rattle. It's gonna be a long year...

5. I just feel so blessed to get to spend time with my girls and Jeff. Undeserving and blessed.

Oh and if anyone didn't get a copy of Izzy eating an apple in her sleep, let me know and I will forward it on. Jeff's hoping it wins America's Funniest Home Videos so he won't have to teach summer school :). (we find out tomorrow if he gets a summer school job- fingers crossed, prayers said!).

Hope everyone is doing well. Thx for reading:)

Sleepy Sleep

Izzy recently moved into her toddler bed. It happened without protest and rather-- surprisingly--gracefully. We had to discard her crib mattress (long story) so we didn't have much of a choice. She was happy and excited, literally giggling with joy as we left her to slumber in her "new bed". I was heart broken. Well, I was happy too. I suffered from that feeling of watching my kids grow up and wanting to find a pause button. My daughter had bravely left the safety and security of her crib, where we had put her every night and every nap for most of her life.

I was thankful that it went so well, of course. Lately, I've been trying to bring nearly everything to God in prayer (having two kids has brought me to my knees in a good way, I guess.) And this transition felt like an answer. She had such confidence! I would like to think it had something to do with our bedtime parenting but without extensive research with double-blind studies of twins with matching DNA, I will never know. We never made bedtime a punishment and on only very few occasions left her to cry in her crib. That meant a little less free time for us and a lot more energy in helping her calm down. Without a DVR, it sometimes meant missing the first fifteen minutes of The Office, something she will have to somehow make up to us later. It meant lots of precious, wonderful moments of rocking and singing, too. And many late night bottle deliveries (we would pack a cooler each night and take it to our room as if we were going on a picnic). Eventually those stopped and we only had nighttime visits once in a great while.

Her new independence leaves me wondering if we should have co-slept longer. We tried it for about three months when we first moved. It helped during Izzy's adjustment to a new home, but ended promptly when I awoke to her trying to crawl off the end of the mattress. Too much nighttime excitement for me! She moved back into her crib without protest. Still, I hope that when the girls are older they will want to crawl back into bed with their old folks and cuddle for a bit.

I'm reminded of something my nephew Ty recently said to my sister Regan as he was going to sleep in her bed. He said, "Momma, you know why I like sleeping with you? Because I don't have as many bad dreams. And if I do have a bad dream I know you are right here and I feel better." I hope, partly for selfish reasons, that one day we will be that safe harbor for our girls. Until then, I will be thankful for their confidence in facing brave new worlds like the "new bed".

Sick Little One

Poor Pumpernickel. We awoke last night to her crying. When I went in I found she had thrown up...a lot. She still doesn't feel good this morning. She can't even keep Pedialyte down. So we are watching Kipper the Dog on Netflix via our Roku (so thankful for the Roku on days like this!).

I'm surprised we've dodged the stomach bugs for two years-- surprised and thankful! It's strange though after two years to feel unprepared for a day like this. Last night I was a bit stumped as to what to do. She was pretty messy. Throw her in the tub? I tried to imagine myself getting sick and someone tossing me in the bathtub...that dismissed that idea. Instead I soaped up a towel and wiped her down. Then we poured water over head while she laid on the changing table. That sentence sounds like some kind of water-boarding, but it wasn't that bad. She actually didn't mind. Afterward I put my hairgel in her hair to cover up the scent. She said, "Oooooo, nice!" then she requested going back to bed. She's Such a sweet little girl, even when she feels so bad.

It's weird having one kid sick while the baby needs so much attention. I wish I could cuddle with Pumpernickel but Chowder just doesn't want to nap except in the Ergo. But P is happy with her toddler couch (as you can see), her Kipper and Curious George. And I can fold laundry while wearing C-- and there's a lot of it to fold since last night!

Here's to hoping it's just the 12 hr flu, and that all of my breastfeeding antibodies keep Chowder from catching the bug!

New Blog

I'm finally starting a family blog that I may stick with. I can't make any promises, but I would like to keep this blog for a few reasons:

As a family journal I can share with the girls when they are older, and especially when they have kids of their own.

As a way of keeping in touch with friends and family.

As a way of processing some of our parenting ways (attachment parenting, positive discipline, etc). These are just some of the things that have helped shape how we parent and I would like to share them in case they are helpful to someone else out there on the world wide web.

So, if this fits with our schedule, I will try to write regularly. The fact that it works with an app on my IPod greatly increases the odds:)

One note...because the blog is public, I'm changing our names and location to protect our privacy. If you leave a comment, please use our nicknames--thx!

Sincerely,
Me
Momma to two year old Pumpernickel and three month old Chowder, Wife to ??? (I'm going to let him pick a nickname tonight)