Priceless car conversations

On the way home from work yesterday, we took a detour after hearing a traffic report that said the interstate was at a stand-still due to an accident involving 2 tractor trailers. A new/different route is always fun because the girls see lots of different things. Olivia loved to see the big "high scrapers" aka sky scrapers as we went through the city.

Further along, we passed a cemetery. She explained to Addison and me that when people die, they get buried in a cemetery. When pets die, they get turned into dental floss.

Of course I had to ask who told her that. She said it was me. I had to think about it for a minute and then figured it out. When Jinx died in March, we had her cremated and told Olivia that the remains were angel dust. Angel dust, dental floss....same thing!!

Beach fun

I cannot believe our vacation is over and it's back to work for me!!! Billy has one more week off....lucky dog.

We had a wonderful week at the beach. Don't get me wrong, there were days full of not eating, not listening, temper tantrums, crying "I want to go home!" (Olivia, not me), crying because we can't stay at the beach or pool, hitting (Addie), biting (also Addie), a few thunderstorms, and yelling (me) because it seemed like repeating myself 1000 times didn't work.....but, there was also wonderful times of playing in the sand, walking along the edge of the water or sitting at the edge of the sand letting the water get our toes while we listened to the waves crashing, lots of sandcastles built and quickly squashed by Addison, ice cream....lots of ice cream, silly goggle wearing, mini golf, squealing when surprised by the cool water on the back of our legs (mostly Liv but me too), sand on every part of our bodies no mater how much we washed off, and me getting knocked down by the big wave that also stole my sun glasses and baseball cap.

Olivia and Bill were able to go for a kayak ride. Addie was terrified at the site of the kayak but was glad to hear that we only had one adult life jacket so she and I couldn't go with them. Olivia was terrified of the ocean at first but by Tuesday was having fun at the edge of the water letting the water come up and over her toes. She even sat down in the water a few times. She was still apprehensive but enjoyed playing at the edge of the water. Once, a wave snuck up behind her and I swear if I didn't grab her arm it may have taken her away. Olivia also loved the pool. As long as she had her goggles on, she could swim like a fish (with her life jacket on) and was also less afraid of the water at the ocean. Go figure.

Addie wasn't having any part of the water -- not the ocean, not the pool, she wasn't even thrilled about a different bath tub. We did dip her toes in the ocean....which she really didn't enjoy too much but I did. We also had her in the pool trying to get her more comfortable in the water (what happened to the fun swimming lessons she took??). She relaxed a little but still kept a tight grip on me or Bill with one hand. (Time to sign her up for more swimming lessons!)

Despite the frustrations of the week and the occasional crying and mean girls, it was great, in a way, to hear Olivia say she didn't want to go home when it was time to finally get in the car and go. It was great that we were able to relax and spend time with Jennifer, Troy, Gabrielle, Danielle, Mrs. Green, and Aleyah. (Great vacation suggestion Jen!!!!) We hope to be able to do it again next year!

Here are some of our favorite pictures............

Interesting lesson from Olivia

Right before we left for vacation, I was driving Liv and Addie home from daycare and learned an interesting lesson from Olivia. She explained to me that boys and girl go to the bathroom differently. Girls sit down on the potty but boys pull out their "squeezer" and squeeze it to go pee-pee. Not sure where that came from but I feel smarter now.

Strange week

It really has been a strange week. There is a ton of stuff for me to do at work before we go to the beach for a week and I'm running out of time. I feel like I am a little nuts trying to get it all done but on top of that, I think the girls are trying to see if they can push me over the edge.

Let's see. It's only Wednesday. On Monday, Addie bit someone at daycare. On Tuesday, it was Olivia's turn. With her, it is always provoked by someone (usually a boy) pushing her but it is still so far from ok I wanted to scream. Wait, maybe I did a little.

Olivia's speech class was a nightmare. Since Bill is off this week, he took her. It didn't go well at all...not listening, whining and crying for me, not sitting in the chair.....totally unlike her. Of course, they said she didn't nap at daycare so she was very tired and with Bill there, she pushes the limits more for some reason. Miss Sue was trying to test her to get updated scores and see how well she is really doing with the different sounds we have been working on but that did not happen. They ended up calling it quits 1/2 way through the session. I was not happy to hear it!

Because she was so tired, we made her go to bed very early. Typical Olivia, she fought sleep as long as she could. We heard her out of bed to go to the bathroom twice but since we didn't come up to check on her, she went back to her room. Finally, it got quiet and we assumed she was asleep. She was, but when I went in to check on her before I went to bed, I couldn't find her in her bed. I guess that's because she wasn't in her bed. She decided she was going to sleep on the window seat/bench Bill made for her room. She put a headband in her hair, laid a blanket down, and covered herself with another blanket. It was funny. I took the headband out and carried her to her bed because I was afraid she would fall off the bench. She is something else!!

Addie has had a less eventful week. She did bite one kiddo at daycare but has been ok other than that. Tomorrow is her second birthday and I can't believe that much time has flown by already!!! Hopefully will just be a fun and uneventful day.

First Barbie Fatality

I'm not exactly sure how it happened. All I know is Addie came running in with Barbie's body in one hand and her head in the other, Barbie's neck was clearly broken. Unfortunately, she could not be saved and she had to go to that big Barbie Dreamhouse in the sky. Olivia was ok with it because it was not her Cinderella Barbie. Addison didn't care, she just played with another.

It's July!?!?!

Ok, I'm sorry to everyone who looks at this site for updates on the girls and new photos. I knew it has been a while but didn't realize it was since April. I don't have a lot of free time for the computer and have been playing around with Facebook a little and didn't realize how much time has flown by. Anyway, It's 6:30 on July 5th. I should be sleeping but Bill's snoring woke me up (again) and won't let me go back to sleep so here I am.

I'm sure there are a lot of things that happened in the past 2 1/2 months to share with you but I can't think if a whole lot right now. Let's see...

Olivia finished up the school year and it back at daycare for the summer. Her school had a closing ceremony and her class sang, "Let's Go Fly a Kite" from Mary Poppins. It was very cute. Of course it was a terrible song for Liv because 3 of the sounds we have been working on in her speech classes are not only in the song but all in one sentence -- G, F, K. It seemed like there was one girl who sang her heart out and the rest of the class, including Olivia, sang parts of the song. It's not that she doesn't know the words, believe me. I can't tell you how many times the song has been played in the car on the way to and from school/work. If I had it on tape, the tape would have worn out a long time ago. Blasted I-pod!

Liv has been enjoying daycare and seeing her old friends and I think she has a crush on a boy in her class. It's not her first crush. Oh no. Her first crush was on a HS student at her school. His name is James. James was a student helping with the after school program at the end of the year. He was out on the playground with the kids and Olivia fell and scraped her knee. The after school care director was inside the building and saw him walking in, carrying Olivia in his arms. She ran over, thinking she was really hurt by the way he was carrying her, and found out it was just a scrape. When I picked her up that day, she and James were sitting at a table by themselves playing a game. There were only a few more days of school left but each day when I picked her up, she was with James, by herself, either coloring or playing a game. I almost felt like I needed to have a talk with him and explain the "no touch" zone (shoulders to knees :o) ) but it was all Olivia. In love with an older man at 3!!

In May, Olivia turned 4 and had a birthday party at Bounce U. It stressed me out because many of her friends couldn't come but in the end it was fun. We also had a little party at our house when my parents, Aunt Tori, and Molly came down to visit. It was a tough decision what to have on the cake...princesses or Tinkerbell but Tinkerbell won out in the end.

Addison didn't enjoy the birthday party at Bounce U. We thought she wasn't feeling well but have since learned that she is terrified of the inflatable bounce houses.......also, the kiddie blow up pool and pretty much every ride at Hershey Park (good thing she gets in free). We have a little bounce house at home. When we pulled that out, she clutched onto me and would not let go. I don't know what it is about the inflatables but she is terrified, seriously terrified. Hopefully, this will be short lived like Olivia's fear of grass was.

The girls are both getting so grown up. Olivia is doing very well with her speech classes and is getting more articulate and a little more confident talking with adults. Addison is speaking so well it surprises me. There were times where she said a few words better than Liv which broke my heart a little (since Liv is 2 years older than Addie). Addie has become little miss independent. I can't tell you how many times a day she says, "My do it!". She wants to do everything Olivia can do. She gets in the car by herself, can buckle one of her car seat buckles by herself, and thinks she can walk across a parking lot by herself (she can't).

It's 4th of July weekend and we've been having some fun with small fireworks. I think Bill is having more fun than anyone. Last night, we did have a little accident. Bill was helping Addie hold a sparkler and she tried to grab it with her free hand. He pulled her hand away but she did get a small burn on one finger. We immediately got ice on it and after a short time, she was feeling better. I still am not but she is. :o)

The girls both loved the fireworks and Olivia showed us some of her own when we told her it was time to go to bed. That girl can be mean when she is tired. Wow!! She obviously gets that from her dad. LOL!

I have to upload some pictures I took this weekend and I hear Addie waking up. I usually put the pictures at the end but for some reason, I can't get the pictures to move and Blogger always put them at the top of the post. I guess I need to put the photos in first and then ramble on.

Addison's first haircut!

I don't know if you all realize this but it's my fault that Addie had so little hair when she was born and has taken what seems like forever to grow hair. Really it is. Here's why.....When I was pregnant with Addie, I wished for 3 things to be different about her than Liv. We love Liv to death, but would change or would have changed 3 things.

First, I asked (ok, threatened) Addie to be a good sleeper. For the first 9 months of Olivia's life, she did not sleep and neither did Bill and I. I told Addie that if she was as bad of a sleeper as Liv was, we were going to return her to the hospital where she was born and ask for a better sleeper.

Second, I asked her to be a better eater than Liv. Liv did great with baby food but that is where her good eating ended. Addie is a great eater. She eats more than Liv many days and will eat a greater variety of foods than Liv will eat.

The third wish was about hair. Olivia had tons of beautiful, dark hair when she was born. It was so beautiful but it was a huge pain in the neck. She had so much hair by 5 months that we could put pony tails in it. Have you tried to put pony tails in a 5 month old baby's hair?? Not always an easy task but her hair looked so bad if I didn't. I wished that baby #2 would be a bald baby. Yes, I did it. It was my fault. It seemed like a good idea at the time but after she was born and people kept mistaking her for a boy (even in her pink and purple) it got old. It was much easier to care for but we wished she had more hair than the little bit she had. It didn't help that the little hair she had was on the sides and back of her head and she looked like she had an old man's receding hairline.

So, now that she's just about 21 months old, she has beautiful red hair. It's long enough that we can get some pony tails in it to keep the hair out of her eyes but not long enough to get all of her hair in the pony tails. Still, it has gotten to the point that it looks terrible without pony tails in and I decided it was time to take her to the hair salon to get her first haircut....not to get it all cut off but to give it some sort of shape and style. Here's the before picture of the back & side...

Go ahead, call it a mullet. We have.

So this morning, I told Bill that today was the day. Addie was going to get her first haircut. You all know us. Bill is the laid back one who is pretty agreeable most of the time. For some reason, the girls hair is one of those odd things that he will argue with me about. I expected him to say we should wait but he agreed it was looking pretty bad. So, off we went (before he could change his mind). When we got there, he was ok but as Addie got into the chair and he saw the reality of what was about to happen and heard the hair stylist ask how much we wanted cut off, I think he was rethinking his decision. And as the hair stylist pulled out her scissors and went to make that first cut, I think I saw a little tear form at the corner of his eye. Ok, so I'm exaggerating but it was a stressful thing for Bill to watch.

Of course she looks gorgeous. Her hair is shorter than it was but she looks so cute and her curls are back. She has her own little style.

The picture says it all.....

Easter Photos

Easter has come and gone quickly. The girls went to a few egg hunts but didn't get to see the Easter Bunny this year. I think it was more fun for Olivia to pick out a new dress and get to wear it all day like a Princess. The Easter Bunny did visit our house and brought some candy but also some toys and books. I know, kids want candy but don't worry. My mom pumped them full of M&Ms on Easter Sunday. Believe me, there was no shortage of sugar in them that day. Here are some photos from one of the egg hunts and of the girls in their Easter dresses.

Jinx

Well some of you know our sad news. Jinx, our 15 year old cat died last week. Her little kidneys were failing for over a year and she lived longer than the vet anticipated. Right before I left for a work trip, she started going down hill pretty quickly. We thought it might be time to put her to sleep but really had a hard time making that decision. We had decided that when I got home from St. Louis, I would take her to the vet. She was so thin and was barely eating anything. It was very hard to see her so thin and even harder to pet her or hold her and feel how thin she was. (Billy offered to take her to save me the heartache but Jinx was my cat before he and I started dating and I felt like I needed to be the one to take her.....as hard as that would be.)


Well, I didn't have to take her to be put to sleep. Jinx died on her own. Billy went to check on her last Thursday morning (4/2) and she had passed away. It was very sad but we feel it was better that she died on her own and didn't have to be put to sleep.


Billy really didn't want to be the one to talk to Olivia about it. It was hard enough for him that he had to call me and tell me. I had been thinking how we would tell her since we knew Jinx's health was failing. Unfortunately, Liv overheard Bill on the phone with the vet's office telling them that Jinx had died and asking about cremation. Olivia had lots of questions and was very sad. Addie is too young and really didn't know anything had happened.


Olivia said she would miss Jinx and worried that Chevy (our other cat) would be very lonely without Jinx, especially while we were all at school or work. Of course we talked about heaven and tried to explain why she died. We explained that she was old and she was sick and the medicine couldn't make her better. Last Saturday night I was putting Liv to bed and she broke my heart. Chevy jumped up on the bed so Liv again told me that she was sad for Chevy because she didn't have her sister-cat to play with (Jinx wasn't playful for the past 12 years or so.....how do you think she got up to 22 lbs??). But she also said that sometimes she gets sick and maybe next time she gets sick, she might die. Boy, I never expected that one!


To make her feel better, we've thought of ways that we can remember Jinx. We put her picture up as our desktop background and Olivia wants to put a picture of her in her bedroom. She thinks that heaven is up in the clouds and likes to look at the clouds and find different shapes or animals. Liv thinks that she will be able to find a cloud shaped like a cat and it will be Jinx.

It's funny. Jinx was not an active cat at all. But, she had her favorite spots and at different times of the day, you always knew where to find her. We still look for her in those spots and miss her very much. Olivia's plans for how to remember Jinx has helped all of us feel better.

Miss Addison

Today Bill put Addie down for her nap like normal, except when he changed her diaper, he didn't put her pants back on before he put her in the crib. After about 1/2 hour, we heard her saying, "Poop" over the monitor. So, I went upstairs to see if she did poop. When I walked in, she was standing up in her crib and she had thrown all of her blankets and stuffed animals onto the floor. I leaned over to look in the back of her diaper and there was no diaper.....just her cute little butt. The diaper was on the floor with the blankets and stuffed animals and there was a big, wet circle on her crib sheet. She didn't poop but she certainly did pee. Good thing for waterproof mattress pads and mattresses. Needless to say, I put a diaper and her pants back on for the rest of her nap.

March Updates

I seem to be getting worse instead of better at updating the blog. I am off to St. Louis tomorrow for the week and should be doing laundry and packing but since everyone is still asleep and I am only awake because Bill snores, I thought I'd let you know we are still alive and post some pictures of the girls. I figured catching up on the blog was a better choice than putting my pillow over Bill's face to stop the snoring.

The month of March was busy but pretty quiet. There was the day that Olivia fell in the potty -- I guess it's terrible to have skinny little hips. Fortunately, she wasn't traumatized. Bill pulled her out and after we stopped laughing hysterically, we cleaned her up and put her in the bathtub. She went through a phase where she was having some "accidents" at home and at school. That appears to be over. I'm afraid to jinx us but she hasn't had an accident in a few weeks. Yea!!!!!

Since I last wrote, we had Olivia tested by a speech therapist. She has a tough time pronouncing many letters so we thought we'd talk to someone about it. So, Olivia started speech classes. We've learned all about tickle sounds (F, V), poppers (B, P), snake sounds (S), and bumble bee sounds (Z). She's doing better with pronouncing some of her letters but has a long way to go. Have you every tried to explain how to position your tongue to make the hard C or G sounds? She gets to do tongue exercises with life savers and grape flavored tongue depressors. Come on, that would be fun for anyone, right?!?

Addison is in the Monkey Room at the daycare and that is so fitting for her these days. She will climb on and jump or step off of anything. Since we had a few warmer days, we had the girls outside as much as possible and they were back to swinging and sliding in the yard. Addie went up the ladders and down the slide over and over and over again. She is getting more and more vocal and, at times, can be a little mean to her big sister. Addie has learned that she can get a really good grip on Liv's hair and pull. But, the truth is, she really loves "Wivy". She wants to do everything her big sister does (and of course Olivia doesn't always understand this and sometimes gets annoyed by her sister wanting "her" toy). She is still biting at home and school occasionally. It's terrible but when I get an incident report at school and realize it's because she got hurt (pinched finger, scraped face w/ finger nail....nothing major), I'm relieved. I hate walking in to get her and getting the note that she bit someone.

Bill and I are doing well. I'm working more hours and he's working less. Lately, he has had a bunch of shut down weeks due to lack of orders or parts. The threat of layoff makes us nervous but he is so helpful at home the weeks he is off. There is less rushing around in the evenings and on weekends to get chores and errands done. It's wonderful!

Well, everyone is now up so it's time to make some breakfast. I didn't take a lot of pictures in March but here are some of the cutest ones.