Living Like Rock Stars

We are totally paying the price for having such a busy weekend!  Sylvia has been fussy and tired and whiney and Margot - holy cow, that girl just STOPPED sleeping.  Completely stopped.  She gets quiet long enough for me to catch an hour or two here and there, but she does not sleep.  Until this very moment, of course, and I'm praying she lasts until at least 1:00 am.  I should be in bed, but I wanted to post this video so I can remember the fun we had that caused all of this madness.

We went to the Brew Ha Ha down at Saywer Point on Saturday, after spending all day at Coney Island.  If I had to do it over again, we would have skipped Coney - too hot, too crowded, too much for our little ones.  The Brew Ha Ha was not the most appropriate event for kids, but luckily, these girls were clueless to the comedians' scandalous stories.  We won't be taking Sylvia next year, but this year, she had a BALL!  She and Cecilia accidentally wore matching shirts and they made a new friend, Elias.  Here they are running around - just a slice of the fun they had in that giant grassy field.  I was trying to catch the head-butt between Sylvia and Elias; apparently that's how kids say, "I think you're cool."

I could write a book about how it feels to watch my little girl run around with my best friend's little girl.  My heart nearly exploded as I saw them do things that I know she and I both do.  Sylvia had her eye on Cecilia the entire evening and constantly shouted, "C'mon, Cici!" urging her to play soccer or run behind the bushes.  And Cecilia?  She actually CLEANED UP after Sylvia.  I'm not even kidding.  If you know Ann at all, this won't surprise you, but WOW.  It was clear that they are miniature versions of their mamas, and I am so excited for Sylvia to know Cecilia.  If those girls get each other into (and out of) as much trouble as their mothers did, they will be lucky, indeed!

I Wonder if Cinderella Needs a Flu Shot?

I took the Nugget in for a flu shot today.  She's had plenty of shots in her short little life, but she's starting to get old enough now that she can remember them and be afraid of them and potentially bite anyone who comes near her with a needle.  I wanted today to be FUN! and NOT SCARY! and YAYY!!! FLU SHOT!!!

So, for the last two days, I've been hyping it up.  Say what you will about those annoying Disney princesses - if there's one thing they're good for, it's bribery!  I explained flu shots to Sylvia, and I told her that if she was very, very brave, the nurse would give her a....PRINCESS BAND-AID!  Of course, I wasn't sure if they had those at our doctor's office, so I brought ours along.  Good thing, too.  Because guess what?  No princess band-aids at the doctor's office.  Crisis averted.

As we were leaving this morning, Sylvia shoved her Jasmine figurine in her "princess bag," which is just the little bag that came with her camera at Christmas, and headed for the door singing "C'mom, Mommy!  Let's go!"  We got to the doctor's office and I let her pick out her band-aid in the waiting room.  When they called her back, she told EVERY person she passed, "Sil-ya get flu shot!  Got incess band-aid!"  I wish I could record every word she said, because typing it doesn't do it justice.  She literally SANG these words on her way to the nurse's station.

She sat in my lap and the nurse told me to restrain her with a bear hug.  Yikes!  She broke out the needle and Sylvia watched as the nurse stabbed her leg.  She did the whole crescendo ooouuuuUUUUCCHH!!!  and started wailing, until the nurse grabbed that princess band-aid and stuck it on her leg.  The shouting turned to a whimper and then the nurse pulled out the big guns - three princess stickers!  Sylvia went from crying to laughing with delight in a split second!  What a good nurse.

For the rest of the day, she chanted "Sil-ya get flu shot...incess band-aid incess stickers...Sil-ya brave..."  It was adorable.  Way to go, Nugget!

Two Month Pictures

 

Two months old already!  I can't believe it.  Here she is posing for the crazy lady with a camera:

 



Floppy bobble head.

 

Old man pose.

 

 

Profile with smirk

And my personal favorite...

 

First smiles!

 

Okay, so she wasn't actually smiling for pleasure's sake.  I think she had a gas bubble and I just happened to catch her at the absolute PERFECT moment.  But doesn't that smile and those little kicky feet just make your DAY??  Too cute for words.  

Two Months

Dear Margot,

Hey sweet girl!  You've been a ball of fun this month.  You have a somewhat predictable routine these days, which is awfully nice.  After you wake up and nurse, you spend a good twenty minutes on your play mat talking to your sunshine.  When you get tired of being on your back, you go straight to your swing so you can sit up and talk to us while we carry on with our morning.  It doesn't take long before you get a little fussy and you go down for your morning nap, sometimes you just fall right asleep in the swing and sometimes I catch you early enough to put you in your bed or bassinet.  The rest of the day is spent going through the eat/play/sleep cycle at least three more times. 

Your outfit to celebrate Uncle Evan's birthday this month!

You're very laid back about our plans for the day.  We are usually out and about during the late morning or early afternoon, so you're good about sleeping in the car or the Moby wrap if you need to.  One thing's for sure - where ever we take you, people love to stare at you!  Strangers like to guess how old you are and ask me lots of questions about you.  "Is she a good baby?"  "How much does she weigh?"  "Does she sleep at night?"  I love telling them that you're a wonderful baby, as of today you weight 10 pounds and 6 ounces, and YES you sleep at night - sort of. 

Sylvia loves to hold you, and you love to stare at her!

Margot, you're a marvelous baby all day long, but at bedtime you put up a spectacular fight!  I went back to Sylvia's two month letter and it was comforting to know that we had the exact same issues with her at this age.  You girls just don't want to go to sleep!  Once you're down for the night, you sleep for 3 - 6 hours at a time, usually only getting up once a night to eat, which is fantastic!  But sheesh!  The "going to bed" portion of the day is by far the most challenging for us.  We'll get there, and I know you won't be fussy at bedtime forever, but could you just hurry up and sleep like a normal person, already?!

In our feeble attempt to establish a routine for you at bedtime, we started giving you a warm bath every night.  For the first couple weeks you were NOT INTERESTED.  But last week, you realized that water doesn't hurt and that this is something we do every night no matter what.  Bath time has become a nice, soothing event for you; the calm before the storm!  I'm hoping that the rest of our routine will start to fall into place, one event at a time, until you finally figure out how to fall asleep in your crib.

Kickin' it in the tub.

You're such a sweet girl, Miss Margot.  When I look at your sweet face I'm filled with such hope for you.  As much as it pains me to see you grow so quickly, I can't wait to see what's in store for you.  The possibilities are endless!  We love you.  Happy Two Months!

Love always,
Mama

An Eventful Weekend

Finding time to update the ol' blog has been quite a challenge lately!  My list of priorities these days is all out of whack.  In a word: pumping.  I hate it so much, but I try to do it as often as I can.  Plus, we're sort of a little bit trying to potty train Sylvia.  So...I'm busy.

Anyway, I wanted to post some pictures of our awesome weekend.  It started on Friday when I took The Girls (I love calling them "The Girls!"  I have TWO girls!  Eek!!) to see some of my old friends from long, long ago.  Long story short, I grew up with the children of two families: The Glenns and The Gautrauds. Both families have umpteen children, and now we're all grown up and having children of our own, so when we get together, this happens:

26 children on a couch!  10 moms and 3 Grandmas watching it happen.

Words cannot describe how much fun we had.  Sylvia ran around with these kids until she was soaking wet from sitting in a puddle and sticky as can be from the yellow popsicle Mrs. Pammie gave her.  Bliss.  I got to talk to my old friends about new topics - disciplining toddlers, nursing newborns, funny things kids say and do.  Double bliss. 

On Saturday, we spent a lovely day at home and then went to the Fairgrounds for the high school's staff picnic!  We weren't sure what to expect, but the other two toddlers from day care were there with their families, so we ended up having a surprisingly good time!

Sunday was a big day - The Girls' first Red's game!  Laura and Pete graciously asked us to join them for the Reds v. Cubs game (they are die-hard Cubs fans, and we, of course, are not - so that's always fun)!  We've debated taking Sylvia all summer, but always decided against it because it would mean she'd be up way too late at night or she'd be missing a nap in the afternoon.  We had no problem taking her, though, because we knew Ellie would be there to keep her occupied, and we knew we could leave early if we had to.

We parked in KY and walked across the bridge.  I wish I had a picture of Sylvia looking at the Duck boat (which she rode a few weeks ago with Grammy and won't stop talking about) and the "piano boats," which is what she calls any paddle or steam boat, for some reason.  We met Pete at the front gate and made our way to the Fan Accommodation booth where we parked our stroller and ordered our "First Red's Game" certificates for The Girls!  The Great American Ballpark is SO family friendly!  We found our seats and ate our packed lunch, played with Ellie, and glanced at the field every once in a while.  Every time the Reds got a strike out, fire would shoot up from the steamboat towers in center field, and Sylvia thought that was the Greatest Thing To Ever Watch Ever!  If you ask her what happens at a baseball game, she says, "Fire!"  If you ask her who plays baseball, she shouts "Joey Votto!"  If you ask her if she saw Joey Votto at the game, she'll say, "Joey Votto have boo-boo.  Joey Votto fall down."  So. Stinking. Cute.

We didn't take our good camera, but we did get a few shots with our phones.  I wish I had thought to pull out my phone when Ellie was hugging Sylvia over...and over...and over...it was adorable!!  All of the girls did a fabulous job and we stayed until the top of the eighth inning!  Who needs naps?!* 

Waiting at the front gate.

Me and The Girls!  I love how they both fit on my lap.

Margot didn't pay one bit of attention to the game.  Sheesh!

Go Reds!

*Skipping nap time always sounds like no big deal, and from 2-4 in the afternoon, when she's normally napping, Sylvia is delightful.  It's not until about 6:00 at night that we pay the full consequences for skipping a nap.  Holy COW that child turns into something else entirely.  Girl went to bed at 7:00 Sunday night, and I felt like I had just won a rodeo.

 

End of Summer

Sylvain goes back to school next week and I'm just begging for August to slow down a little bit!  Fortunately, I get to stay home with Margot for six more glorious weeks before I return to work, and even though I'm getting caught up in all of the back-to-school frenzy (I LOVE this time of year!), I'm very grateful for that extra time (and a good sub).

Look who's starting to wake up a little more:

And look who enjoyed her very first ice cream cone at the splashpark today!  (Thanks, Grammy!)

Funny Stuff

It was bedtime on a regular weeknight.  I was following Sylvia to her room when she suddenly dropped to the floor and started crawling.  Then she flipped over onto her back, stretched out her legs and crossed her ankles, put her hands behind her head, and looked up at me, smiling.  I said, "What on earth are you doing?" She said, "I lay down."  I said, "WHY?" She paused for a minute, still smiling, and laughed, "I'm SYLVIA!"  I laughed so hard I had to walk away.  She's never said "I'm" before, and I really don't think she meant to sound like a total brat, as in "I'm Sylvia, I can do whatever I want."  I think that's just what came out of her mouth because she had no other explanation for her silliness.  What a ding dong.

*****

Sylvia doesn't know the difference between "too much" and "enough," so she just says "too nuff" whenever she wants to use either one.  It took me forever to figure out what she was trying to say.

*****

A few weeks ago, we started giving Margot a bottle of breastmilk at bedtime.  Sylvain took Margot to her room with the bottle and Sylvia asked, "What Daddy doing?"  I said, "Daddy's going to feed Margot."  She looked at me like I was absolutely crazy and said, "But...Daddy no have boobies!"  HAA!  No, he does not.  I explained what a bottle was.  Problem solved.

*****

She loves to sing her ABC's all. the. freaking. time.  We've learned to ignore her and live our lives with a constant stream of letters in the background.  The other day, in the car, she was on round number 4,982 when she decided to see if we were listening.  She started mixing up the letters, "abcdef  R! hijk E!" and I totally wouldn't have noticed at all if she didn't start cracking up laughing at herself every time she yelled the wrong letter.  She thinks she's hilarious!  (and I do too.)

*****

The other day, she walked in the door, handed me her book and said, "Here ya go, Rachael!"  Whaa???  Sylvain was behind her, cracking up laughing, because he started teaching her everyone's real names.  I guess it's about time she knew his real name isn't Honey.

*****

She uses the following phrases often, and I guess she gets them from me:

Be right back!

Hmm, let's see.

Ummm....this one!

Dat's SILLY!