Sunday, March 31, 2013

Nine Months

Dear Margot,

I'm sorry, baby.  I completely forgot to take your eight month pictures, then I accidentally deleted your adorable nine month pictures, which I didn't take until yesterday.  Long story short, I'm no good at this monthly photo business, so I'm just going to use regular pics of you instead.  It's time that you learned your mama is not Pinterest Perfect!  Luckily, you're adorable no matter what chair you're in, so it's going to be okay.






You've grown so much this month!  Or, I guess these last two months, while Mom's been slacking on the photos.  You are very, VERY close to crawling.  You love to chew on anything you can get your hands on.  And you think Sylvia is the absolute funniest, most amazing creature on the planet.  Your favorite thing to do is KICK KICK KICK!  You love kicking so much that you practice it in the middle of the night and it sounds like someone is breaking into our house!  You like to sing (or yell, really, but I consider it singing).  You are very patient and easy going, especially in giant crowds, which is unusual for a baby.  However, you are suddenly aware that the world is made up of two kinds of people: Mommy and Not Mommy.  Mommy is your favorite.  You hate anyone who is Not Mommy.  I will never complain about this nor try to break you of this habit.  I hope you still feel this way in high school, but I'm sure you won't.

We love you, sweet baby, and we can't wait to see what the next few months will bring.  You surprise us every day (just yesterday you started to CLAP!  Good girl!) and we can't get enough of your squishy cheeks and two-teethed grin.  Thanks for being awesome,

Love you,
Mama

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Soaking Up the Smallness

My greatest Mama moments all seem to come to me during the bedtime routine.  More specifically, during the "rock my baby to sleep" part of the routine.  NOT the "sing one more song to my 3 year old" part.  That part stinks.  Tangent: Sylvia will have a wildly successful career as a hostage negotiator.  The skill with which she executes the "one more song" trick is remarkable.  During our nightly standoff, she pulls out all the stops...manners, cuddles, smiles...the girl oozes cuteness because she knows I'm a sucker for the mushy stuff.  Suddenly, I find myself singing "Hush Little Baby" for the four MILLIONTH time in my life and I want to gauge my eyes out.  I collapse on the couch and look around for my medal or my trophy or my giant gold belt, of which there are none, because what I just accomplished really isn't that great.  So a glass of wine will have to be a good enough substitute.

ANYWAY....

I was rocking Margot to sleep tonight BY ACCIDENT because she was so tired that she fell asleep halfway through her feeding.  I promise that I try to put her down drowsy but awake so she can fall asleep on her own.  I also promise that I read her books every night before bed so she turns out super smart and I can't be blamed for her inability to read in kindergarten.  I also promise that I sing her the same song every night to trigger the "go to sleep" switch in her tiny baby brain, but let's face it.  All of this nonsense is completely useless.  I have no idea if this "routine" is helping her or confusing her or turning her into a serial killer.  There's just no way to know!  What I DO know is that SOMETIMES she falls asleep in my arms, so I put her up on my shoulder to burp her, and she STILL doesn't wake up, which means I get to rock and snuggle and soak up every sweet, blessed inch of her teeny tiny body.  I get to put my face next to her soft, round, pudgy, squishy cheek and sway back and forth for as many minutes as I want to.  And oooooooohhhhhhhhh my goodness.  Euphoria.  Rocking that baby is like a drug.  No wonder people do it every night in reckless abandon - routines be damned!

But here's the important thing:

Tonight, I found myself letting my brain wander.  I rambled through my usual daydreams - what life will be like years from now.  I could feel her body growing in my hands and I imagined her dark, wavy hair and her deep brown eyes.  I thought about life's defining moments and all of her firsts.  Steps, words, days of school, and so on.  Then, like I usually do, I remembered what life was like before her.  How every moment led up to HER.  She's here.  Because we made her from us.  Somehow she is a whole being made up of our halves, and somehow she's completely different from the first being we made.  Amazing.  But THEN, my mind wandered in to new territory.  Something I had not ever thought about before, at least not when thinking about Margot.

What would life be like without her?

My heart began to ache beyond anything I've felt in a long time.  Up until very recently, it felt like we were still trying to fit Margot into our routines.  In to our little family of three.  Trying to figure out how to mange two kids at bedtime, or mealtime, or mornings or afternoons...it's been a challenge.  But somehow, between the holidays and illnesses and play dates, she just....fit.  Suddenly, she's here, in her own spot, in her own way, and now I just can't imagine how in the world we would function without her.  What else would I be doing right now?  What did I do before she was here?  How could I ever find happiness or wholeness or peace without her?  And what in the WORLD am I going to do when she's too big to rock to sleep?

I can tell you this - if she gets as good at bedtime negotiations as The Big One, I'm toast.  Too bad this girl can't just stay little.  *Sigh.*  Growing up is so tough.


Sunday, March 17, 2013

The Greatest Show On Earth...for real!

Those Ringling Brothers...they don't mess around!  We just tossed two tired girls into bed after a fun-filled evening at the circus!  Mamie Brigitte invited us to go ages ago, but I knew better than to say anything to The Nugget until right before we left.  Needless to say, she was super excited!  She could hardly contain herself on the way there, and for the first time in her entire life, she didn't beg to get out of the car when we dropped off Margot at my mom's house.  I've never seen Sylvia so impatient!  That girl wanted to see DA EL-FANTS!!  And she did NOT want to wait.

We arrived early for the pre-show party, which was CA-RAY-ZEE!!  Sylvia went through the giant bouncy house three times, TWICE by herself while I stood outside and tried not have a heart attack (there were announcements over the PA system about a boy who lost his parents, so I was freaking OUT when she was in there by herself - but she came out!  Both times.  Phew!)


After she had enough bouncing, we ventured to the other side of the floor where we saw an elephant painting (whaa???) and then they took down the barriers and let the kids dance with the clowns and other performers.  Sylvia was in heaven!  I wish I had my other camera so I could have taken video of her dancing.  It was adorable.


We found our way to our seats and secured a box of popcorn, then the show began!  
 I put my camera away during the show because I knew I wouldn't get any good pictures, but let's see....there were people doing tricks on horses, motorcycles on tightropes, dancing ponies, dancing dogs, clowns, a midget, girls dangling from fabric, girls dangling from hoops, girls dangling inside giant clear globes (one girl fell out!), lions and tigers, elephants, lots of smoke, lots of glitter and sequins, lots of singing, kung-fu masters, trapeze artists.....I know I'm forgetting something....llamas!  There were llamas.....aaaaand I think that's about it.  Oh!  Motorcycles in a giant sphere.  Sounds like no big deal, but trust me, it was impressive. 

During intermission there was a clown dance party, so Sylvia got to stand up and boogie. 


After two and a half hours (not including the pre-show!), it was time to go.  Big hugs and kisses to our favorite Mamie Brigitte!  Thanks for a rockin' good time!


OHHH!!  One more big deal: Sylvia wore her Cinderella panties and stayed dry the WHOLE TIME!  I think I'm going to go ahead and declare this child POTTY TRAINED!!!! YIPPEEE!!!!

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Busy Day!

I have totally neglected the blog lately what with sick kids, field trips to plan, and the general blah-ness I feel about day to day life around here.  I need spring to come.  I need to overhaul my house and my classroom and get myself in GEAR!  Anyway, until then, here are some great pics from our busy day today. 

First, we had breakfast with the Easter bunny this morning!  I put the girls in their Easter outfits for a "dry run" and while they were absolutely adorable, Sylvia's hat kept falling down in her eyes, so I think it will be replaced with a big red bow on Easter Sunday.  And Margot's bow needs to be bigger, too.  Other than that, I was in LOVE with their dresses and the RED shoes Mom found in Sylvia's closet right before we left.  Score! 





Then we came home and rested up a bit, had some lunch, and headed out to Ms. Jen's Teddy Bear Tea Party!  Jen works at the day care and she's in charge of DA BABIES!  That's why Margot is madly in love with her.  I made the mistake of asking Sylvia what she wanted to wear to the tea party.  "Yellow Party Dress!"  Duh mom.  I packed gym clothes for her to change in to, but she was NOT interested.  I did get her to take off her dress shoes and tights, which was as comfortable as she wanted to get.  She had a BLAST!

She waited in line for EVER and finally got to jump down the trampoline!
 



Margot had a ball, too.  She played on all of the wedge mats.




Nothing but love for Ms. Jen!

This nice lady taught all the kids a teddy bear dance!

Considering she inherited my grace and coordination, she did pretty darn well!

Love this pic.  She's on the move all the time!
It was a great day, even though we didn't start naps until almost 3:30, which means Sylvia was SPENT!  Tomorrow we meet Mamie Brigitte for a day at the circus!  I'll be back with more pics of that tomorrow night.  Don't you want to be three years old again?!