Stuff

I've been a little obsessed with reading lately. I read The Hunger Games in just a few nights and then I started Catching Fire on Monday night. Did I say obsessed? :) Anyway, that's a big reason I haven't popped back on here!

I started a Biggest Loser Challenge a couple of weeks ago. It's with Herbalife protein shakes. In 2 weeks, I'm down 5.5 lbs. Whoop whoop!!! And, I finished another BLC that a college friend is part of......and I won it!!! I lost 3.7% of my weight from 12/2 to 2/3. I'm especially proud that I managed to lose a couple of pounds during December, when I typically gain it! Look out size 8's that have been hanging in my closet for 3 years....here I come!

Lacey has been playing indoor soccer the last several weeks. I had talked to her about playing soccer for a couple of years, but she had no interest in it. I think she was just scared to try. But, some of her friends (including a BFF...Mallory) was playing, so she agreed to give it a shot. She's doing pretty well with it, too! I've loved watching her gain more confidence over the last few weeks.

Last Saturday, during the last 2 minutes of the game, a ball was kicked into her chest. :( The coach carried her off and she was crying. But, she pulled it together enough to walk out at the end of the game for the handshakes.

She & Leah both want to play spring soccer, so I know we'll be running around juggling a lot then.

Weekend Update

I feel like I need a weekend after my weekend! (Kind of like needing a vacation after vacation!) Yesterday, I got up early and went to Weight Watchers to weigh in. I hadn't been since December 10th and needed to show my face. I did well through the holidays and actually lost a little bit of weight. :) (Hopefully that isn't just from having a kidney infection that caused vomiting!) Lacey & I went to a Girl Scout event from 11:00 - 3:00. A couple of the troops in our Service Unit put on a "Beach Party" for all the troops in our Unit. All of the girls in my troop (10) made it. They played games for the first 90 minutes, took a lunch break, then crafts. I was beat by the time I got home since I'd been on my feet for the whole 4 hours. But, I couldn't sit down and put up my feet. There was a party to attend. Justin is heading into the Air Force on Tuesday and we needed to celebrate with him. :) Rick & Kristina had a party at Trinity Church Hall with family and friends. Food (potluck), a DJ/Karaoke and lots of fun. The Hall has a little back room that's a play area and they stayed back there almost the whole night. A couple of young cousins were there (11 and 9) and they all played really well together. I think it's the latest my girls have ever stayed up. We left around 11:00, I think and Leah fell asleep when we turned into our neighborhood. You'd think I'd decide to make today a quiet day, right? Wrong. The girls have both said recently that they want to have their own rooms. They've shared a room since March 2010. We started this morning at Lowe's, buying painting supplies. The "playroom" needed a new coat of paint before we could move Leah's furniture in. I painted for a few hours this afternoon. Then, as soon as the paint was dry, we started moving the furniture. We still have to hang pictures and shelves back up, but it's mostly done. So.... Lacey wanted to sleep in Leah's room. On the floor. She had a bed set up. Then, she decided to go back to her room. And, Leah decided she wanted to be on Lacey's floor. Now it's 9:20. Lacey is usually asleep by 8:30 and Leah by 9:00. They will be so tired tomorrow. I've yelled too much and feel horrible about that, but I was really thinking after all the work today I'd like to sit and watch DH while sipping a glass of wine. Frustrating to still be fighting them at 9:20. Hopefully tomorrow night will go more easily. Leah has promised to sleep in her room then.

Weekend Update

Monday comes, and I can never really remember what we did all weekend. Ridiculous.

We thought about going out on Friday night, but didn't call ahead of time for our sitter, so we were out of luck with that.

Saturday morning, we headed to the gym. I was getting ready to stretch when one of the child care workers came out to find me telling me Lacey had lost a tooth. My response was "and she's wigging out?". The blood really freaks her out. Apparently she was just crying, but they thought they should get me. So, I stretched in the child care area while she rinsed her mouth out and calmed down. (This was tooth #5, by the way.) Pictures to come.

We went home to get the kids changed for their swim lesson and drove out again - the opposite way. Swim lessons the last 2 years have done wonders for my kids. I'll have to do another post on that.

Home again. Thinking about going out. Called the sitter, but they were out all day and didn't get the message until 8:00ish, so another night at home. Instead, we cooked cheese tortellini with chicken sausage. So good! Since the weather was so awesome (low humidity), we enjoyed the deck again.

At some point, Leah either left the back door open, or didn't close it tight & the wind blew it open....and Alex got out. (I need to post about the new cats!) We didn't realize she had gotten out until a couple of hours later when she showed up on the deck ready to come back in. Apparently, it was a fun outing because she keeps trying to sneak out again.

Lacey woke up early on Sunday - I think because she remembered the tooth fairy would have come. So, she came bounding into our room at 6:45 with a big smile and showing us her dollars. :)

Both girls started asking to go to PaPa's to swim almost immediately after waking. We gave in late morning thinking we'd let them swim for an hour or so, then head home to get stuff done. Getting them out of the pool was much more difficult than we thought it would be! I guess an hour isn't enough. But, we did get back home and managed to be a little productive. I think the house is cleaner than it has been in weeks.

After dinner, the girls & I walked over to see friends. The kids played while I chatted with Donna. The plan was for me to walk home and leave them for a bit, but once we started chatting, it seemed silly to walk back home for such a short time.

Then, it was just a typical Sunday night. Ironing clothes for today, etc.

Hello Monday.

Kindergarten....come and gone!

So hard to believe that I will be the mom of a 1st grader next year! Since I have been so lame with posting updates here, I thought I'd just do a quick one (hahaha) about the whole school year for Lacey in one spot. I truly can't believe I didn't do a 1st day of school post!

First, we went to an open house so Lacey could meet her teacher & see her classroom!





Here's the official picture from the first day!


And, just to compare....here she is last year starting pre-K!


She barely looked back when she hopped on the bus this year! She sat on the bus with Brittany (who lives across the street) all year. We were really lucky with that. Brittany is in 5th grade and is great with Lacey. http://www2.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

In October, the school had Trunk or Treat. The kids all went around to about 50 cars getting treats. Lots of fun & chaos! Lacey was Alex from The Wizards of Waverly Place and Leah was a pumpkin.



I volunteered for the trip to a pumpkin farm and had a great time with all those little munchkins. I had Lacey & 2 other little sweethearts in my group. We went on a hayride, the kids got to milk cows, we saw baby pigs, pig races and more!


I tried to go on the spring field trip, too, but the school is lucky enough to have lots of volunteers...and they all need their turns! Since it was at a swamp, I'm okay with that!

In June the school held a mini-relay to go along with Relay for Life. Lacey & I decorated a shirt for her that read "In Memory of MeMa" and "In Honor of Aunt Annie and Uncle Steve". The kids walked around the school 4-5 times, while some of the teachers blew bubbles and squirted them with water guns.

Here are Lacey & Haley holding their class sign.



Trying to avoid being squirted by Aunt Kristina (I mean, Mrs. Lacey)!


The end of year picnic was held at Gilbert Run Park. It was H O T!!!!! Heat index was above 100 degrees that day. It didn't slow the kids down, though.

Here's Lacey & her BFF.


They had tons of fun running around. Lunch was set out earlier than planned because of how hot it was --- figured everyone would want to get out of their early. After eating, the rental place for peddle boats opened up and despite the heat, Lacey HAD to get on one. We lasted about 20 minutes!

On the way out, Lacey wanted to pose...and got a little silly!


She had a few more days of school after the picnic. Can you believe the last day was scheduled for a Monday? Ridiculous. We ended up keeping her at home that day. I would have sent her, but none of her best buddies were going and Grandma & Poppy were in town....so we kept her home to visit with them.

She had another awesome report card! I'm so proud of how she's done this year. She's reading ahead of where expected and doing really well with math, too. Comments on report cards through the year were things like "model student", "attentive & ready to participate", etc. It's so awesome to hear these kinds of things as a parent!

And, now....it's summer! Butch is spending lots of time with her and she's talking about being bored. :) Typical kid, right?

Weekend Update

I haven't done one of these in a long time, huh? Sorry ya'll. No excuses.

I honestly can't even remember what we did on Friday. Oh - nothing! :) I was exhausted and went to sleep at 9:30 - soon after the kids did.

Saturday, I left the house with the kids before 9:00 to head out for a stop at Starbucks and take the girls for haircuts. Lacey had been begging to get hers cut shorter (shoulder length) for a couple of weeks. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that her BFF, Mallory, has shoulder length hair. And, anything that big sister does, Leah wants to do, too. I told them that it had to be enough to donate, or they'd have to grow it some more. (I just don't see the point in cutting so much hair off if it's going to be wasted.)

Locks of Love requires 10 inches, but Pantene has a donation program that only requires 8 inches. And, both girls had enough for Pantene.


They love it and I do, too!!! So cute. Lacey's looks good when it dries naturally, too, but she wants it straight. Luckily, since it's so much shorter, it doesn't really take much time to do it that way.

After we left the hair place, we stopped at a dance store to buy their new tap shoes for the recital. It's not until June, but pictures are in May and both girls say their shoes are too tight. We had no luck with shoes. They didn't have either shoe size in the right color. Ugh. I spent some time yesterday checking around online, but didn't have much luck with that, either. I might have to see about having the store order them.

Then, we headed to Toys R Us to buy a birthday gift for a friend of Leah's, who was having a party on Sunday. Bought more than just for the birthday girl, though. I'd promised them if they could be good with all of our errands, they could have something small.

From there, we headed to Bowie for swim lessons. This was the 2nd week for the girls this season. It's a different teacher than they had last year, but they are doing great with her, too. Both girls swam on their backs for a bit this week. :) We're driving them about an hour because last year, I couldn't find anything local for private or semi-private and Lacey hadn't done well in group swim before. Right after I had signed them up for this 6 week session, I found out about a new place - much closer to home - that does semi-private and private lessons, too. I need to check on it since a 20 minute drive is much better than an hour.

On Saturday, while we were running our errands, Butch went to our tax accountant to have the taxes done. Nothing like the last minute. We don't normally do it this late.

Saturday night, we went to eat at The Green Turtle. (Sweet Potato Fries....yummy!) Then, a quick stop at Target for a couple of things before heading home.

Sunday was Payton's party, so the girls and I left at 10:15 or so. We stopped by Kristin's new place (she moved back from Fairfax recently) to drop off some Fiesta party supplies for a party she's planning for a friend. (I saved them from Butch's 40th birthday party....8 years ago.....I just thought it was stupid to toss them all.)

Payton's party was a princess tea party at a tea room. I've been there several times and the only time the service has been really good is when it's before noon. Otherwise, it's slooowww. And, it was slow yesterday. But, it was a super cute party. :) And, the food was good.

Butch spent the entire day doing yard work. The entire day. The crepe myrtle is now pruned. They grow so crazy that I'm always scared to do it. But, it needed it badly.

The girls went across the street to play with neighbor kids later in the afternoon. Lacey wanted to walk with them to the gazebo in our neighborhood....which is about 1/2 mile from our house. That part didn't bug me too much, but the gazebo is right at the main road. It's really hard to balance letting your kids grow up and have some independence with keeping them safe....yet not being over protective. I decided Lacey could go because one of the neighbor kids is very dependable and she's about 11 or so. I knew Brit would take care of her. It ended up not being an issue since they decided not to walk. Lacey & Leah went to our other neighbors house for a little bit instead. :)

And, then.........the weekend was over. Much too quickly. I was packing lunches and getting clothes ready for today MUCH TOO SOON!!!

Funny Conversation with Lacey

This happened this morning:

Lacey: We live in Earth.

Me: Yes.

Lacey: I'm glad we don't live in England. I don't want to speak Spanish.

Me: (Struggling really hard not to laugh and hurt her feelings.) They speak English in England. They speak Spanish in lots of places - like Spain and Mexico.

Lacey: Oh.

Update on the Kids

Swimming Lessons....
The girls have been taking swim lessons for about 10 weeks now. Lacey has taken group lessons in the past without much success. I’m not sure how much of this was due to her being shy or her being able to see us there or what. I had been trying to find someone to come to dad’s house to teach them – thinking that in a familiar place, it would work better. I had no luck with that – after looking around since last year. Then a friend told me about Kids First Swim Schools. The closest one is 45 minutes away. They can do private & semi-private lessons. We love it. The pool water and air temperature are 90 degrees. Parents watch from behind a window (that the kids can’t see through). Both girls are doing really well with getting used to water in their face, learning to float, etc. We’re going to keep them in lessons through July, then we’ll likely stop for this year.

Last Sunday, they got into Dad’s pool for the first time this year & they loved it. Leah still can’t touch the bottom of the shallow end, so she needs a float or someone holding her. But, she’s all about jumping in. Lacey was floating all around the deep end with a ring on….no fear. They both were doing great with getting their faces wet or going under.

At swim lessons last weekend, Lacey started putting her head under for 5 seconds. That’s one of the things that she has to do to go to the next level. She did it over & over. It’s so awesome to see her confidence grow. After they spend about 20 minutes in the (very) shallow end (which is maybe 3 feet), they go to the deep end (5 feet or so). Miss Holly has 1 of them sit on the side while she works with the other one practicing supported swimming. On Saturday, Leah fell in. Scared me to death. Holly was with Lacey and didn’t see her at first, but then grabbed her & pulled her up. Leah didn’t cough, cry or anything. And, when it was her turn to get back in, she did without any problem.

Our lessons have been on Saturday afternoons and it makes for a crazy day. We are in La Plata at 10:00 for Leah’s dance/gymnastics class; then drive an hour from there to Bowie for swimming. We’re gone from the house for 5 hours. Starting in the summer, their lessons will be on Thursday mornings and I’ll be happy to have our Saturdays back!
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Dance/Gymnastics....
Leah still loves her dance/gymnastics class. Their teacher has taught them a little ballet routine and next weekend, they are supposed to perform it for the parents. I’m thinking that might be an experience! Leah does it fairly consistently, but she prefers for Butch or me to be right with her. The other little ones do their own thing for the most part. Gymnastics is her favorite part, I think. She’s such a little monkey. Last week, she did amazing with all of it. She did the dance everything she was supposed to, did everything Miss Kristen had them do, then did everything (really well) in gymnastics.

Lacey’s recital is coming up at the end of June. I’m hopeful that she’ll actually dance in the recital this year. Last year, she wouldn’t even do the dance or any of the practice drills in front of us when Miss Nisha would call the parents in to watch. This year, she has done it every time we’ve been invited in. She still tells me that she doesn’t want to dance in front of anyone, so who knows what the recital will bring!! She’s told me she doesn’t want to dance next year, but she does want to do gymnastics. If she still feels that way after the recital, I won’t push her….she can do whatever she wants to do. But, it will be hard to let her quit since I can tell she enjoys it. So You Think You Can Dance is one of her favorite shows….party because she dances along with them while watching.
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School...
Lacey’s last week of pre-K is this week. I can’t believe the school year is done already. I had a conference with the teacher last week & he was very complimentary of her. He said she is a role model for others in class and called her a “high flyer”. You know that makes me proud.

Next year, she’ll be in full day kindergarten. We’re hoping to be able to avoid paying for before and after care. If she stayed where she is, it would be $100 a week and she’d only be there for an hour in the morning and 40 min. in the evening. Butch can get her off the bus every day. And, since I work at home 2x a week, I can get her on those days. Unless I find someone in the neighborhood, I guess I’ll have to work later hours and head in after getting her on the bus.

Lacey's 5 Year Old Well Visit

Lacey had her doctor's appointment this morning for her well visit. She was 43 lbs and 44.75" tall! Her height is near the 90th percentile and weight is 50th percentile. Dr. Jill said her growth was awesome...nearly 3 inches in 1 year. Wow.

Lacey's been coughing and sneezing a lot lately. Dr. Jill confirmed she is having some mild problems with the pollen. Apparently, it gets worse each year due to additional exposure, so she might be a kid that has it bad later in life. (Like Rick, who has a terrible time with pollen now.)

She had to get 2 shots....chicken pox booster & MMR. She looked so pitiful with the first (chicken pox), then to have to get the MMR (which burns) afterward is just mean. :-( She cried, but got over it fairly quick. On the drive back to Miss Lisa's, she said "my shot doesn't hurt anymore".

I was going to take her to Rita's, but convinced her to wait until after school so Leah could go, too.

Next for her is blood work. I am so not looking forward to that. Leah had it done and did great...but she's the one that doesn't seem to have issues with pain or fear. Not sure when I'll get the courage to take Lacey in for the blood work.

Tidbits

We went to the Hospice Easter Egg Roll/Hunt this morning. This was our 2nd year going. They changed the location this year because the other church was already holding an event for this date. I hope they go back to the old one for next year. It was much better - more spread out - more scenic, etc. Last year, they had a much bigger moon bounce and they had pony rides. But, because the location didn't have enough space...those things were gone. We didn't stay as long this year, but the kids enjoyed the egg hunt.
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Tomorrow, we have another Easter Egg Hunt. This time it's with the 7th District Optimist Club, that Dad belongs to. I think it's a better location, so that will help. And, an old high school friend usually takes her daughter there (she's 4, I think). So, it will be good to finally see her. (We've been talking about it for about 4 years!)
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I went to NY on business Thursday-Friday. We were celebrating 30 years with one of my clients. Crazy to think of spending all that money for me to fly up, stay overnight and come back...just for dinner. But, it's worth it for the relationship. I was happy to be back in my room at 8:59, just in time for Grey's! And, I actually slept without waking up from about 10:30 to 5:00. I can't believe it! Then, I dozed back off for another hour before coming home.
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Yesterday afternoon, I went to Lacey's school to help with their "spring celebration". Those kids are so cute. The "party" had to stay inside since it was rainy and cold outside. But, the kids had fun, anyway. That was their last day before Spring Break.
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Speaking of Spring Break, Lacey's and Butch's aren't the same week. Annoying. They overlap by a few days, but that's it. That's going to make it difficult to do trips in the future since I won't want to take them out of school. We talked a little about going up to Pittsburgh for just 3-4 days this year, but the girls are starting swim lessons next Saturday & they are too expensive to miss. Plus, we have entirely too much to do around here.
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Lacey did swim lessons through the community a few years ago. Then, we signed her up again last year. She refused to do any of it. She was still in the midst of her shy phase. Plus, the classes are only 30 minutes long and there are 5-7 kids in a class. So, there is very little 1-on-1 time. I've been searching for someone to do private lessons and had no luck. I did find a place about 40 minutes from here that does private or semi-private lessons, though. The girls are signed up for semi-private lessons together. I think that will work okay because Lacey tends to be more "careful" and Leah tends to just "go for it". I think their level might be about the same. The teacher is a young woman who teaches kindergarten and the person I spoke with said he calls her the child whisperer because she's so good with little ones.
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I'm realizing I should probably stop typing since I need to do some laundry before heading out for "Mom's Craft Night". It's with some of the women from my "meet-up" group and one of the mom's is pretty crafty...she has these events every few months to help those of us that aren't very good at crafts. :-)

More later!

A March Weekend

We've been having a nice quiet weekend and I love it. We did absolutely nothing Friday night. Lacey fell asleep pretty quickly (8:30 or so) and Leah (as usual) didn't fall asleep until 9:00ish. I'm pretty sure that that will be the case until her naps are done. And, they won't be done until she's in pre-K (another 18 months).

I stayed up for a bit & watched Ghost Whisperer while sipping a glass of wine. (I bought a new one that I had at Bonefish Grill. I don't like it as much as I did at the restaurant!)

I had plans to go to the gym today for the Turbo Kick class at 9:30. But, Leah had a slight fever again (100.3) and has had a slight cold for over a week, so I took her to the doctor for a 9:00 appointment to check out her ears. That is so frustrating. I know body temps fluctuate through the day, but 100.3 seems a bit high for that. When she had her bad ear infection in early December, I asked if her ears hurt & she said "no". So, obviously, I can't count on her answers. Anyway, her ears and everything else were fine. And, the temp was gone. I told Butch I'm putting the darn thermometer away. I just wish she would answer me honestly on whether things hurt and things would be much easier.

I digress....

So, I didn't make it to the gym for my class. Leah & I met Butch & Lacey in La Plata for Leah's dance/gymnastics class. This week, he went to her class while Lacey & I went to Target.

When we got home.....I tried out the new treadmill! Hooray for me! It's pretty awesome. I didn't realize when we bought it that it has built in fans. :-) Nice little feature. I walked for 30 min., with a little bit of running mixed in at the end to boost the calories burned. It felt great to get in a workout.

I'm hoping I can get on a schedule of doing that in the morning. On office days, that will be tough....like 4:30 a.m. tough. So, if the kids don't sleep well, it won't happen. On work at home days, it would be about 6:00 a.m. We'll see how it goes. I know that's the best time of day for me to really do it.

We got the girls outside today for a bit. The high today was supposed to be in the low 50's, but I don't know if that happened or not. It was windy, but the sun was shining brightly. Love it! It does wonders for my attitude.

We managed to fold lots of clean laundry, and do 3 more loads. Yikes. Laundry is like rabbits with multiplying. Especially with kids.

Once the kids fall asleep, I'm planning to watch a little more TV before bed. I'm hopeful for an earlier sleep time for Leah since she had an early & short nap today.

Tomorrow, I will hit the treadmill in the morning. I was hoping to have us all go to the park for late morning fun & a picnic since tomorrow is another nice day, but Butch has to go to work for an Open House from 11:30 to 3:00.

Tomorrow night we are having dinner at Dad's house. We'll head over sometime in the afternoon to visit a bit. I need to figure out what our contribution to dinner is. He's got ribs and chicken; Dee/Buck are bringing potatoes. Maybe we'll bring salad or something healthy like that.

[Speaking of salad, Leah-Lou loves romaine lettuce. Amazing. She dips it in Ranch, but she'll eat mine (in light creamy ceasar), too. Lacey has tried it a few times after seeing Leah eat it.]

Lacey's 5th Birthday

Wow. I have a 5 year old. It's been 5 years since our lives changed by having a baby!

Lacey had entirely too many celebrations! (Although, now that I think about it, it's kind of cool to have 5 celebrations for your 5th birthday.)

On her birthday, I woke her up by whispering in her ear, "Happy Birthday" and she woke up with a huge smile. She was so excited. I sent pink iced donuts to Miss Lisa's for morning snack. (I only wish I'd saved one for myself!) Then, for school, I sent pink iced cupcakes. They were bought at Food Lion. (You have to send store bought things these days because of allergy issues.) I had never seen Food Lion's pink.....wow......I should have taken a picture. They were shocking pink. Hot pink. Crazy pink.

We let Lacey open up presents from Grandma & Poppy and us before dinner. For dinner, we let Lacey pick what to do....she picked Bert's! Always a win. Once we were at home, we had Pinkalicious cupcakes.

(Have you realized, yet, what Lacey's favorite color is?)

The rest of the week went by normally.....

On Saturday, Lacey had her first "friends" birthday party! It was awesome! We had it at Flips, which is where they take gymnastics. Several kids from daycare came and a few from dance class. Including Lacey, there were 11 kids and that was perfect. Mr. Ken (the teacher) was amazing with the kids. I've seen him with babies before, but not the bigger kids. He has a gift.

They did a couple of things that really put Lacey at the center of attention. What a difference! A year ago, she probably would have been in tears, or close to it, at being watched by everyone. But, she did well....enjoyed it!

After an hour of running, playing games, being silly and wearing themselves out, we had cake and ice cream before opening gifts.

The first thing she opened was from a girl at dance class. It was a ballerina Barbie. Lacey said "I already have her!". Lovely. Hopefully the mom wasn't too offended!

On the way home, Lacey fell asleep and stayed that way (in the car) for 2 hours. Her party had wiped her out, apparently.

Some of the family came by that evening for dinner (Ledo's Pizza) and Carvel Ice Cream Cake. We were missing several, though. Rick, Kristina and Kyle were at a pool tournament. Bucky hadn't been feeling well, so he stayed home to avoid getting anyone else sick. So, it was quieter than normal

And, I should mention, those little french braids in her hair....I did them. My first attempt. Didn't look great, but I didn't think it was a bad job for a beginner. :-)

Sleeping Arrangements….and Sleep

So, you are already aware that sleep has been rough in this house since December. Mostly it’s due to Leah. Though, it seems the nights that she sleeps well, Lacey wakes me up.

We had been planning to do some room shuffling since Leah was out of her crib. The “nursery” is typically pretty cold. It’s usually about 2 degrees colder than the rest of the upstairs in the winter. I think this is because it hangs over the garage by a few inches. Also…that room is the smallest one, so it makes sense that it should be the guest room. The plan was to move Lacey from her room to the existing guest room (biggest after the master); move Leah to Lacey’s old room; and make the “nursery” the guest room. (Got all that?)

But, with Leah’s sleep issues, we decided to put them in the same room in hopes that having Lacey there would help her sleep. Even when I was pregnant with Leah (and maybe before), I thought it would be nice to have them share a room (if our 2nd ended up the same gender). I wasn’t sure about making the switch, but Dee suggested it and it reminded me of my earlier thoughts….so we took a chance.

We also ended up buying Leah a full size bed so she’d have more space. (Of course, I have more space when I have to come in & lay down with her.)

We weren’t sure it would be a permanent thing. But, they both seem like they really enjoy being in the same room. No, it’s not really helping with the sleep problems that I can tell, but maybe that will come in time.

Up until recently, I was laying down with Leah to get her to go to sleep. I know, I know. A no-no. But, it got her to sleep. My intent was to leave when she was really groggy, but I have always been so tired that I fall asleep. Then, I wake up 45 min. later, exhausted and unable to do anything except go to my bed.

In early February, I decided I’d had enough. Leah (and Lacey) earn points if they go to sleep in their bed – without me (or Butch) in the bed, too. Leah usually lays on the floor next to me (while I’m on the laptop) for a while, but eventually she gets into her bed when I remind her of the points (and the prizes that come after earning those points). The 3rd night, she slept through the entire night. I was amazed, but skeptical. Good thing I was skeptical….because I think that's only happened once since then!

The room is PINK! And, we have pink Christmas lights draped over the closet door. That makes for an awesome night light. It’s quite cute and we have finally decided they are staying together. I think they’d both hate it if we separated them now. We ordered beds that are going to be delivered next week. I'm excited to see it more "complete". Then it will be time to start hanging pictures and things! (I'll include pictures once it looks complete.)

Even though the sleep isn’t better (yet), it’s nice being able to be on the computer for a bit in the evening. During the week I catch up on work emails. And, I’m not going straight to sleep after Leah falls asleep. I can actually stay up and watch a show if I want. And, strangely enough, I think my body is getting used to waking up 3-5 times a night. I hope it can get used to solid sleep again soon, though.

Leah’s Ears

Just before Thanksgiving, we moved Leah from the crib to a twin bed. She’d been waking in the night and one of us would end up rocking her for an hour (or more). It’s hard to sleep in a rocking chair. So, we decided to move her to the twin ….. my thinking was she’d either sleep a little better…or, if she didn’t, I could at least just climb into bed next to her & doze off. The transition to the twin went well initially. In fact, she actually slept better for a few nights and I started to think that she was just cramped in the crib.

Around this time, she caught a cold. But, she still slept alright. Until the week after Thanksgiving. She started sleeping poorly and one night, when she just wouldn’t fall back to sleep and was super fussy, I gave her Motrin. She crashed within 15 minutes. Obviously something hurt and even though she had no fever, I took her to see Dr. Jill the next day (December 3rd). She had a double ear infection. Jill said “wow….she’s not complaining?” Nope. Other than the sleep issues, she was fine. She was happy during the daytime hours. Her ears drums were “bulging”. No wonder her sleep had gotten so terrible.

She was on an antibiotic for a couple of days, then developed a fever and a rash (which was only there for an hour or so). I took her back to the doctor that Saturday and they changed her antibiotic.

Then, the day after Christmas she developed a fever again. We were leaving the next day for Atlanta, so I didn’t want to take any chances. I took her to the After Hours Pediatric place. Her ears weren’t terrible, but there was still fluid and it was cloudy. It’s supposed to be clear. So, back on an antibiotic.

After the Atlanta trip, I took her in for a recheck to make sure she was clear. She still had fluid, but no infection. That lasted a week. We went back exactly 1 week later and got antibiotics again. By this point, I was sure we’d end up going to see an ENT and ending up with tubes.

(All this time, her sleep was awful.)

Leah kept running a low grade fever, even on the antibiotic. And, I was heading out of town on a business trip…unsure if Butch would have the intuition to know if she needed to go back. Dr. Jill changed her antibiotic again for us.

When I got home from my trip, Leah still had a low grade fever!!! (The most it ever hit during most of this time was 100.5 or so…and that was rare. Usually it was below 100.) I took her back to the doctors and she was given an “all clear”. Huh. No fluid. Probably a virus.

On the way home from the doctor’s, she threw up. I hate the smell of that. I think it might be the worst part of parenting. (Well, it’s either vomit or the lack of sleep.) Thankfully, she never threw up again during that illness!

She had until the end of February to totally clear up the ears & have them stay clear......or it was off to see an ENT. Luckily, her ears have been fine. Too bad her sleep hasn't improved!

Christmas Eve 2009

The holidays are always so hectic. And, Christmas Eve is one of those days where I feel like we run around a bit much. But it seems worth it all in the end.

I had to work (from home, luckily) until 12:00 and daycare closed at 1:00. Aunt Marilyn had invited us to an open house for the girls to see Santa. (She has a connection to him through her brother!) He is amazing! So, we picked the girls up & drove to Indian Head. For those that don't know, it's about a 30-40 minute drive. The girls got changed into their Christmas dresses, then sat with Santa and posed for pictures.
We had planned to only be there for an hour or so to allow time to pick up pizza before church (at 5:00). That didn't work out!

We ended up visiting longer than we had planned. It's just too hard to leave when you don't see someone often enough. By the time we left, we knew we'd be late for church (40 minutes back toward home). While Butch was in Ledo's picking up our pizza (in La Plata), it dawned on me that there is a Methodist Church right in La Plata that we could go to. So, that's what we did. It was okay. The 5:00 is supposed to be the "children's service" or "family service". At Mt. Zion, our regular church, this means that the service is really done for the kids. It incorporates them and makes it more fun for them. However, at the La Plata church, I felt like it was just a regular service that was more tolerant of noise. Live and learn, right? Next year we will be at Mt. Zion, I think.

After church, we headed home for pizza. In case you don't know, Christmas Eve is also Butch's birthday. We had birthday cake for him after the pizza and he opened his gifts. I had gotten him an iPod....finally he decided he wanted one!

Then, we switched back to Christmas mode. :-) The girls get to open 2 gifts each year. One is usually PJs and the other is an ornament. We got them new robes this year, too.

Something new happened this year! Lacey was able to write a note to Santa!

I can't believe she's old enough to do that! I love it!

Daycare Christmas Party

The Daycare Party was Tuesday, the 22nd. Miss Lisa's daughter had written a play about the animals in the forest taking care of a little tree that was lonely. Sort of a Charlie Brown tree. Lacey's best buddy went out for her part before Lacey (with her sister) and "froze". Lacey & Leah went out and Lacey refused to do her speaking part, too! Oh well, they were cute! And, when the time came for singing, everyone participated.
Santa came - arriving on a fire truck! No surprise to me that Leah was the first one to run up to him. That girl has no fear.

It was a bit surprising that Lacey went up right after Leah! She sat on his lap for a few minutes and talked.The kids had picked names a few weeks before for a gift exchange. Miss Lisa had also gotten them gifts. And, Miss Lisa had helped them to make gifts for us. They were little bags that had been decorated with fingerprint painting and it said a hug was inside. Inside the bag was a piece of yarn that was as long as their arms are wide. It was a very sweet gift that we'll be keeping.

December 2009 (Pre-Christmas)

Lacey & Leah headed to the dentist in late November & I was amazed at how well they both did! Lacey did fairly well last time, too, so I shouldn't have been surprised. Leah sat by herself in the chair & let them do what they needed to. They told us that Lacey's bottom teeth (middle) were both loose, so she got quite excited about the tooth fairy coming at some point.

Leah had a cold at the end of November and by the first week in December her sleep had deteriorated enough that I took her to see Dr. Jill. She'd had the cold for nearly 2 weeks by that point. As it turned out, she had a double ear infection - both ear drums were bulging. Dr. Jill called her a tough cookie, considering she wasn't complaining. Poor baby.

We started with winter early here this year! It was really just a dusting, but we don't normally get snow so early. This was December 5th. It was just enough for the kids to explore, but not to cause issues with driving.



Just wait until the pictures from future snow storms! Yikes!

Butch & I had taken off on December 18th to take the girls to see Sesame Street Live. For anyone that doesn't know, Leah is a huge fan of Elmo. She loved it! Lacey enjoyed it, too, but not nearly as much.
We had planned to go see the Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes on Saturday, the 19th. Dee, Kristin, Lacey and I were going. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans for us....a blizzard. We got 16 inches at our house. It snowed for 24 hours straight. Unbelievable.
Saturday morning, we knew we weren't going to the show. They didn't cancel it, but they did give refunds to those that couldn't make it, so at least we got our money back.

We stayed inside that day since it was so windy and cold, but made it out to play on Sunday.

Lacey isn't much of a daredevil, so she wouldn't go sledding in the backyard (big hill). Instead, she liked the mound of snow made from Butch's shoveling work.
The snow wasn't packing very well (too powdery), but it worked okay for a snow castle.
And, Leah didn't like going into the snow since it was so deep. But she had fun with her sandbox toys.

We had lots of fun throwing a tennis ball for Brady into the snow. She'd hop through the snow & see the hole where the ball went....then dig for it. Made for a tired dog that night.
I have some great videos from that day, but have never had luck uploading them to blogger for some reason. I'm really not sure why, but I try to do it an 2 hours later, it's still trying to upload. So, I'm giving up. Maybe I'll put them on Facebookor email them out.

Princess Tea

There is a little place in La Plata called The Royal Tea Room. I went last weekend with friends for lunch. I'd heard from friends that they will do a "princess tea", which seemed like a great idea. I thought about doing it for both girls, but Leah is just a little too toddler-ish to be expected to sit through something like that. So, when I made the reservations, I just included Lacey. It was Dee, Kristin, Kristina, Jessica, Grandma, Lacey & me.

Grandma had bought Lacey & Leah play jewelry sets, but the earrings kept breaking. Lacey has wanted earrings for a while and I've been telling her when she turns 5 she can have them. Well....I decided yesterday was a special day and thought she could get them to show off at the tea. Grandma, Lacey & I headed to the mall. On the day after Thanksgiving. Amazingly, the parking wasn't too bad. And, the crowd wasn't too bad.

Lacey picked pretty pink earrings. Here she is getting ready to get it done. (Yes, she wore her Snow White dress for the Princess Tea.)
She was crying after, so I don't have an "after" shot for you. But, she really recovered quickly & was happy with them.

Here is Lacey smiling at her special Princess Tea snacks. They did a great job for a little girl. The owner came out before hand to ask what she liked & didn't like so we could make sure Lacey would be happy with her treats. There was a star shaped turkey sandwich, a heart shaped peanut butter sandwich, a little hotdog, grilled cheese, etc. Yum-o.

The whole gang.....Jessica wearing Lacey's special tiara....

Lunch with Santa

It seems that I am always saying "I can't believe how long it's been"....when I post. But, I think I have new motivation. I found out that I can have my blog put into a nice book. That will be awesome to have done for the kids. Motivation.

Today we went to Lunch with Santa through the 22nd Annual Hospice Festival of Trees. We apparently went in the wrong way because we almost missed lunch! We spent a lot of time in the room with Santa and a very cool train set up.....and the lunch was down the hall! But, we got to eat even thought they had already put the food away.

The girls were great with Santa. I was amazed that neither one was scared or nervous.



Lacey told Santa that she wants a bike for Christmas. He made sure to talk to her about not riding in the streets. ;-) Leah wasn't very talkative with him, but has said "Elmo" anytime someone asks her what she wants.

The girls got their faces painted....and Grandma joined in the fun as well!
We walked through the hall where all of the amazing trees were. Wow. They are beautiful.

Almost Heaven....West Virginia....

….Blue Ridge Mountains…Shenandoah River…

I remember listening to that song on the drive to WV long, long ago when I was maybe 4 or 5. We all piled in the station wagon to go visit Mom’s family. No car seats. Just kids all over the back of the station wagon.

Aunt Annie – Mom’s sister – had lived in Houston for years. I know if I try to guess, I’ll be wrong. 25 years, maybe? Anyway, she & Steve retired and moved to West by God Virginia January 1st.

Dee & I have been trying to coordinate a visit for quite some time. We finally went the last weekend in September. We drove one route and Dee/Buck took a different route. They had left about 20 minutes earlier than us….and we made it to Annie’s about an hour earlier than them. Even with stops for kids.

The girls were good on the drive. And, we were driving through beautiful scenery after only about 2 hours into the drive. Butch said the drive was easy & good….until the mountains. It was still pretty and all….but was more stressful.

This was the first time Annie had met Lacey & Leah. As we were pulling into the driveway, Lacey --- who used to be so shy --- said “Aunt Annie’s gonna love me”! And, as soon as she got out, ran over to give Annie a big hug.

That evening, we just relaxed on their front porch. They have a feeding station for the deer, so the girls “helped” with filling that up. Then we waited (not for long) for the deer to show. The girls stayed fairly quiet, but even when they made a loud noise, the deer just looked up to check things out.

Unfortunately, it rained the entire next day. That was our only full day & we were supposed to go to the park. I’d made a trip to Michael’s and picked up crafts to entertain the kids, so they were set. And, later….we let them put on their rain boots & coats to go splash in puddles (although, I don’t think they really splashed much).

We had spaghetti with Aunt Annie’s homemade sauce on Saturday night. Yum-o! She uses brown sugar in her sauce. I do, too, but obviously not as much. I think I’ll add more next time I make it.

Sunday morning we had a big breakfast before packing the car up and heading out. I’m so glad we went. I asked Lacey what her favorite part of the visit was. She said “everything at Aunt Annie’s was my favorite part”. Sweet girl.

I’m not really sure how to describe it, but I felt somehow closer to Mom during that time. Partly the visit to West Virginia and partly Aunt Annie – who seems so similar to Mom.

I know we’ll head back for a visit again before too long. Soon, we’ll be planning our “reunion” for all of that side of the family. Can’t wait!

Summer is Gone

Wow. Summer is done. August flew by. And, I haven't posted anything on here since the end of July. So, I had to take a look at my pictures to figure out what all you've missed. :-)

At the end of July, we went to Chesapeake Beach. I had taken one of the Thursday morning's off when the girls were home with Butch. I'd hoped for a few hours of fun before coming home for a conference call. But....the weather wasn't great....drizzling off and on, so we only stayed about an hour.


There was this little stream that the girls were playing in a lot.



And, Lacey loved looking for sea shells.
I found a couple pieces of sea glass, too.

The beach is called Brownie's Beach. It's not usually too crowded & was free....until August of this year. They have added a per person fee now for non-county residents and for the 4 of us, it would be over $30. Not bad, except the kids sometimes only want to stay for an hour or so.

Like this visit. Lacey was happy to keep playing & looking for shells, but after about an hour, Leah was pointing to the exit, saying "Mimi, done pool". And, since it wasn't a great day, she won.

I'm sure we'll go back next year....$30-35 isn't too bad to give the girls some fun. :-)

One of the things I'll miss most about summer is the fresh corn! I think Leah will miss it, too! She can finish an entire ear on her own .... and still ask for more.

At least we will still have a few nice days this week. I love the Fall & all the festivals there are in the area, too!