My Girls

Maybe the hint of summer around the corner has me in a good mood, but lately I've been praying for time to stop and my girls to FREEZE in the moment!  Margot is starting to interact more and more with Sylvia every day - the other night she swiped a toy from Sylvia's hand for the first time ever - on purpose - and we all did a double take.  She also started putting her toy basketballs into a hoop and then clapping because she's soooo proud of herself.  She likes to "sing" when anyone else is singing, which means she babbles and yells and tries to be louder than us, which is hilarious.  But my favorite part of this age is watching them snuggle.  Sometimes, when I'm nursing Margot before bed, Sylvia will tiptoe into her room, sneak up to the side of the rocking chair and coo, "Awww.....she's so cute!" Then she'll give Margot a little kiss on the head and say, "Nigh-night Margot.  I love you."

And my heart becomes a puddle of goo.

Here are some "keeping it real" pictures:


Ignore the fact that it's 4:00 in the afternoon and she's wearing her pajama top with black leggings.  Instead, pay attention to that ponytail and those rocking bangs!  My girl is getting so big...

Saturday, after I put Margot down for a morning nap, I couldn't find Sylvia and the house was quiet - never a good sign.  I discovered her in her room, putting her stuffed animals down for a nap, tucking them in with her and reading to them from her gigantic princess story book.  Usually I feel like I'm putting her on hold while I tend to Margot, so I asked her if she wanted to play and she said, "No thank you.  I'm reading to my friends."  So I grabbed my camera instead and took some pictures!

Sylvia picked out a Mother's Day cake from Kroger, one of those bigger-than-a-cupcake-but-not-as-big-as-a-real-cake deals.  She was VERY excited to eat it after dinner on Saturday, and Sylvain was working, so I broke out the fancy French dessert plates and we had a lovely girls-only Mother's Day celebration!  She painted her hands with icing.  Margot and I actually ate the cake.

Two things about Margot: 1) She's losing her mohawk and it kind of makes me a little bit sad. 2) She's still wearing these adorable jammies (sized 9 months!) that used to belong to Sylvia.  I was sad when Sylvia grew out of them so I'm kind of glad Margot is teeny tiny enough to still wear them.  They are SO COZY!

Sleepy Baby!

I did my best to capture a profile so I could make a one-year silhouette of Miss Margot.  Look at those sweet cheeks! 

And finally, here's the funniest picture I've ever seen.  Sylvia and I were snuggling on the couch watching Poppy Cat (which has now become a part of her bedtime routine...sigh).  Sylvia was snuggled on top of me, which never happens anymore, so I asked Sylvain to grab the camera and take a picture.  The camera was within reach, so in the ten seconds it took him to get the camera, Sylvia decided snuggle time was over and this happened....

I got smacked in the head and she fell off the couch!  Not our greatest moment.  But worth capturing, I think.

Finally, since I'm keeping it real tonight and hoping to remember what life was like in May of 2013, I guess it's worth noting that Sylvain's job at CCHS was not renewed for next school year.  We have mixed feelings about this turn of events.  On the one hand, losing a job stinks.  On the other hand, he's been contemplating a change for some time, so this is a good way to get out of a job he didn't love and move on to bigger and better things.  What those bigger and better things are, we have no idea.  But I have faith in him and in God's plan for him, so I know that whatever happens will be the BEST for us and our family.  I just hope that something happens soon because not knowing what's coming is a tiny bit stressful for a Type A Control Freak like me.  Any day now, God.  We'd love to know your plan.  We'll wait patiently but....pick up the pace, will ya?

I'm Going To Tackle This Princess Issue

Oh boy, what a post. It's been rattling around in my brain now for almost a year and I think I might have things figured out. Regardless, I can say that I've come to my own "happy place" and things are much better now that I've sorted out a few problems. So, here's how I feel about princesses...today.

It all started with a dress. A dress from my mother. A garage sale treasure that couldn't be passed up. I had a very hard time watching Sylvia climb into a Snow White costume for hours on end because I have learned, in my adult life, that princesses (especially Snow White) are degrading to women. They undermine all that today's liberal, hard working, MegaWomen stand for. But guess what?  There is no Hilary Clinton costume, at least none that can be found at a Northern Kentucky garage sale.  So, strike one for the good guys. I mean, girls. Whatever.

After two dresses (Rapunzel somehow joined Snow White), things shifted from an intellectual/body image/political issue to a marketing/consumption issue. I don't want princess crap in my house. I don't want The Walt Disney Company controlling my tiny toddler's mind. I don't want to spend money on "the machine." Besides, what will my liberal feminist hippie friends think? I decided that these princesses had to go. I proclaimed to my family that there was an official princess embargo on the Fasciotto house.  No princess items were to cross the threshold! This embargo still stands, by the way, regardless of the numerous loopholes that have surfaced since its inception.*

Then I went and had that darn baby. While I was in the hospital, the border control totally fell asleep on the job and my mom bought Sylvia a princess magazine with a princess poster which she hung on the wall over Sylvia's play kitchen. Gah!! I hate that poster so much. I hate the images of the girls. I hate the "come hither" eyes and the tiny waists. You might as well have slapped a playboy magazine foldout on the wall. But Sylvia loves it, and not because they have pretty eyes and tiny waists. She loves it because they are dancing. To music (apparently). And she would spend a good thirty minutes a day wearing her dress and listening to music and dancing in front of the poster, reciting their names "Cinderella...blue dress! Aurora daaaaancing!" 

During that new baby haze, I decided to let the poster stay.  After all, it kept Sylvia occupied and we could at least practice her colors and count the princesses, so it wasn't completely useless.  Things had shifted from a marketing/consumption problem to a let's-just-survive-the-summer-without-Mama-losing-her-mind problem.  In a last-ditch effort to keep Sylvia occupied and happy for as long as possible each day, especially on those ungodly HOT days, I decided to let her watch movies.  Which brings me to the surprising conclusion of my saga...

We found my old VHS tapes.

We dug out boxes of old tapes from our basement, we found an old VHS player, and the rest is history.  We popped in Beauty and the Beast and suddenly, it all came rushing back to me.  I became very nostalgic and I even choked up when Belle started singing, "I want adventure in the great, wide somewhere...."  Oh my heavens.  How many times did I watch that movie as a kid?  Thousands.  Easily.  I suddenly remembered - I used to love princesses.  It hit me like a freight train.  I used to sit in front of the TV, especially at my Dad's house, and watch those movies over, and over, and over, and over...  I wanted to share them all with her.  I wanted to talk about them with her.  I wanted her to love them as much as I did. 

I went on the hunt for my other favorite movie - Cinderella.  It wasn't in my box.  I couldn't rent it on Netflix and you can't buy it because it's in "The Vault."  I mentioned this to my step mom and she pointed to the drawer under her TV.  "Rach, it's right down there.  With the rest of your old movies."  Ack!  More movies!!  We dug through that drawer like it was a treasure chest.  And we found many treasures, including Cinderella. 

I admit, Sylvia watched WAYYY too many movies this summer.  I used that TV as the world's greatest babysitter, but at least I sang along to all the songs while she was watching.  That's another thing - the music!  Holy cow, those movies have some snappy tunes!  I remember dancing around my room, singing every song to whichever movie was my current favorite.  And hearing Sylvia sing "I know you....I walked with you once upon a dreeeeeam!" really did make my heart melt.  Now I have a whole play list of Princess Songs on my computer.  We sing and dance a LOT around here.

After a couple of months, we seriously cut back on the movie watching and started going outside again.  Now that I'm back to work and things are back to normal around here, we're down to one good movie night on the weekend, if that.  And I have to say, these new princesses are something else!  That Rapunzel is just adorable and her song is fantastic.  So is Tiana, from The Princess and the Frog, which is also an awesome story with fabulous music.  I have to give Disney credit, they know how to play a good story.  I can't wait to see the new one, Brave, but we'll wait until we can watch it at home.

I still have issues with some princesses.  I won't go into a diatribe on Ariel, let's just say she's my least favorite (she gave up her VOICE for a MAN!  Seriously?  Not cool.)  I was also surprised to find that I really don't like Jasmine.  She and Aladdin are a little too "cozy" for kids to watch, I think.  Other than those, I'm really okay with the message and the content of the other movies.  And Sylvia's seen more than just the traditional princesses.  She loves Mulan and Pocahontas.  Her current favorite is Tarzan, which thrills me because Jane isn't a princess, she's a SCIENTIST!  Yay!!  Also, if you liked that when it came out, I DARE you to watch it after you have kids.  You.  Will.  CRY.  A lot. 

So now we've moved beyond the image issues, the political issues, the marketing issues, the developmentally inappropriate issues and we stand here: these are just fairy tales.  Fairy tales can be endearing for kids and are absolutely fine when enjoyed in the context of lots of other stories.  Sylvia has checked out the Tarzan book from the library four times in a row (I better just buy it for her), and she has about three different versions of the Snow White story on her bookshelf.  She's starting to make CONNECTIONS between the stories and real life.  She knows the stories inside and out, which is exactly what I want her to do with books.  As a teacher, I couldn't be more delighted to hear her compare the water tower at the mall to Rapunzel's tower: "Dat tower have waaaater.  No go up dere."  And to see her build castles and towers with her Lego's: "Dis where Cinderella live!!  And Prince Chaarrrming!"  At the end of the day, they're nothing but stories.  Stories that I used to love and stories that I'm glad she's learning.  Princesses aren't so bad.

 But those FIVE other dresses that Mom bought at a garage sale will absolutely STAY at her house!  A Mama's gotta draw the line at some point.  The embargo still STANDS,  gosh darn it! 
 
*Border control approved a pair of light-up princess shoes because Sylvia's old shoes were too small and these were just as good as any of the other options.  Sylvia also has a stuffed Baby Snow White which became her own, real baby when I brought Margot home from the hospital.  She pretends to nurse her Baby Snow White, so I can't really take that away, now, can I? Oh, and she acquired a princess beach towel, but to be fair, that was the item that initiated the embargo in the first place.  Overall, I think we've done well, considering the amount of princess crap available in the world.  Seriously.  Walk down the princess aisle at Target and try not to puke.  I dare you.

Up next: I might tackle my issue with ballerinas and how they give my daughter an inflated sense of coordination and grace which, I guarantee you, she does NOT HAVE.

Nosy Neighbors

Look who's been hanging out in our back yard every night! 

 



A mama and her baby.  I wish I got a pick a few months ago when the baby was teeny.  Alas, I was busy with my own teeny baby.

 

 The mama isn't scared of us AT ALL.  In fact, I'm way more afraid of her than she is of me.  I could probably walk right up to her and touch her if I wanted to, but when I get as close as this, I get visions of being trampled to death by a mad mama deer and I don't get any closer.

I think they are beautiful and I want to make them my pets, but Sylvain?  He hates them because they ate everything in our garden.  I say, if a neighbor came to our door and wanted all of our green beans and lettuce, we would happily share, so I don't know what the big deal is!

 

 



One Week and One Day!

Ugh!  I just finished writing a gigantic post about how hard it's been to adjust to a new baby, and how we have no routine anymore and all is chaos.  Then I put Margot to bed, at the same time and in the same way I've put her to bed since we've been home: in her jammies, nurse her, change her, swaddle her, nurse her some more, lay her down in her crib.  I was rocking with her while she nursed and I thought, "Wow.  Everything I just wrote is completely not true!  THIS is a routine.  And it's worked so far.  It might not work tonight, but it's worked so far, and I should erase that post and start a new one."  So here you go.  Much less complaining, lots of baby pictures.  Hooray!

Margot is one day old here.  I think she already loves her big sister!

Sylvia thinks Margot is the greatest and most wonderful being on the planet. Here's proof. Sylvia is very attached to two toy trains - Thomas and Percy. She carries them all over the house, they go with her where ever she goes, and one day last week we left them at Grammy's and OH, THE DRAMA! Well, the first morning Margot was home, she was snoozing in the bassinet in the living room. Sylvia came out of her room and saw her, then ran to the bassinet and tossed Percy in at Margot's feet. "Here ya go, Margot!" she sang, and walked over to the breakfast table, where Sylvain and I sat with jaws on the floor. It was awesome.

Aww, look at me sleeping.  You thought is was me, didn't you?  Because this kid looks way more like me than the other one does.

I highly recommend marrying a teacher and having your babies at the beginning of the summer.  We have six entire weeks home together as a family of four.  There's no rush to get things organized or scheduled.  My only job is to feed this baby and get some sleep.  Sylvain takes care of everything else.  I'm in charge of Margot and he's in charge of Sylvia, but we make sure to spend plenty of time with "the other one" during the day.  Sometimes we feel like a tag team, handing each other kids and switching from two year old talk to newborn talk at the drop of a hat, but it works for now and that's all that matters.

This job would be four hundred times harder without our family around.  Mom kept Sylvia during our time in the hospital and I couldn't be more grateful.  Lots of family have come by to visit, bringing gifts or food or just a couple of open arms to hold a baby and play with a toddler.  And we get to sit back and watch, and take a little break.  I'm convinced that having Sylvain home and having just the right amount of visitors has helped ward off the "baby blues." 

Margot sleeps like a champ (knock on wood, you never know what each night will bring)!  She can go for three to four hours between feedings at night, and she always goes right back to sleep after a feeding (except for her first night in the hospital and her second night home - those were all-nighters where we partied together like rock stars)!  Once again, the sleeplessness doesn't worry me one bit, because I know that while I'm up all night, Sylvain and Sylvia are sleeping soundly and I don't have to worry about her in the morning.  No matter how rough my night may be, she gets to spend the day with her Daddy, so I don't have to feel bad about sneaking in an extra nap while Margot is napping, which she does all day long.  I think she was awake for almost 45 minutes this afternoon - a new record!

Someday I'll have a picture of her with her eyes open, I promise!

Sometimes Sylvia gets a little whiney and needs Mama's attention.  She's been in time-out a few more times than usual.  But I wonder if that's just because she's a growing two year old?  I think she's starting to understand that the baby needs me and she has to wait sometimes.  She loves to feel like she's helping and I'm starting to find good things for her to do while I nurse.  I can tell that this time of adjustment is helping her to build good character.  I know it's all part of being a sibling and it's good for her.  I get very weepy when I see them together and watch the tiny seeds of a relationship being planted.  Sylvia loves Margot so MUCH.  And I love holding them both in my lap and thinking to myself, "These are my girls!  Both of them.  With me today, gone tomorrow."  I try to soak up their smallness as often and as long as I possibly can.

Vacation

Obviously, we can't go anywhere for a real "vacation" this summer, but luckily, that doesn't seem to matter one bit to the Nugget!

 We spent all afternoon in the sprinkler in the front yard.  I sat in a rocking chair, in the shade, for a solid hour and she screamed and laughed and jumped and played...

...and I decided there's no way a vacation to the lake or the beach or France could ever beat this afternoon.  Ever.  It was glorious!

Last week, we took her to a sprayground.  They have these all over Louisville for free, but there are only a couple of them here, and you have to pay to get in, but we wanted to check it out.  She had a ball, of course, because she's a water bug!

We've also been to the Zoo about....four hundred times.  Sylvain's been taking her at least twice a week.  They go early in the morning and only stay for a couple of hours, which is so nice because she's not exhausted, they get to eat lunch and nap at home, and every time they go they get to see something "new" to her.  I went along last week and we're going again tomorrow, but I have a feeling this will be a Daddy-Sylvia "get out of the house" activity all summer.  They both love it!

Churtles, Mommy, Churtles!

Earlier last week, she was begging to go swimming, but it was way too cold to put on a bathing suit and I was worn out by 9 am anyway.  So, I remembered this idea I found online (thanks, Pinterest!) and I made her a fancy shmancy "waterbox!"  It's just a box of water.  And I didn't go hunting for any special toys that would help her develop all kinds of particular skills in some area or another.  I just dumped a few things from our junk drawer into the water and let her go to town!  It was a hit, and once again, all I had to do was sit in the shade and watch.  Best. Activity. Ever.

Sylvain has been VERY busy in the backyard, and here's one of his day projects from last week - our vegetable garden!  Sylvia insisted on helping.

 It's way better than our last garden because: 1. it's smaller and more managable, and 2. we were much more careful about the materials (cedar planks, landscaping fabric to keep out weeds and chemicals from the ground, and we bought good soil since our yard is at the bottom of a cul-de-sac so our yard soil is probably g.r.o.s.s.).  Last year, I couldn't really feed any of our food to Sylvia because we just used yard dirt and cheap lumber, but now I can feel pretty good about giving her what we grow.  Live and learn!

We check on it every day and we're finally starting to see some shoots and sprouts coming up.  I'm hoping Sylvia will be excited to eat the veggies that she grew herself, but we'll see.  I don't want to jinx myself here, but for the last two nights she's had multiple servings of vegetables at dinner, along with some heaping helpings of everything else on her plate!  I can't even tell you how great it feels to watch her gnaw on her fourth spear of asparagus and then ask for more!  I think she's eating well these days because we keep her so busy and she burns up so much energy.  Or maybe it's just because we're all home, and we're all cooking and eating together for almost every meal, and we're on a pretty decent schedule.  Until you-know-who arrives.......!

Nesting

Well, it took much longer than I expected, but I FINALLY finished the baby room this week.  I just kept coming up with little things to find or make or set up, and technically I still have an empty bookshelf to take care of, but that will work itself out.  Anyway, here are a few long awaited pics!

I'm totally in love with the Blue Dusk color and white chair rail!  I found those sweet curtains and matching blanket at Ikea, which not only matched the wall color but also had lots of the coral-ish pink color I used on the dresser, so it was a no brainer...plus they were CARAZY cheap.  Sylvain rehung the curtain rod "high and wide" so the curtains could take up most of that space on the wall and make the window look bigger than it really is.  On the right side are two picture frames that just have cute cards in them from some of my showers for Sylvia, so that was free art.  The flower canvas above the crib came from The Christmas Tree Shoppe (which has nothing to do with Christmas - go figure) and it was also a heck of a deal.  I made the polka dot crib skirt out of another Ikea curtain, which took all of thirty minutes and was so easy that I made another one out of a sheet for Sylvia's room!  Then of course, there's my cherished glider/rocking chair.  Sometimes Sylvia and I climb into the rocker and talk about where the baby will sleep and what the baby will play with and what a great big sister Sylvia will be.  I love that chair so much.

Mom and I found that awesome coral colored ottoman at Burlington Coat Factory in the clearance section, and since it has a tiny tear in the back corner, she haggled them for another 10% off, or something like that - because she's a gosh darn PROFESSIONAL shopper!  It'll be the perfect spot to set my phone and my glass of water while I'm nursing, and I love that it's big enough for Sylvia to sit on and watch so she can be a part of the new baby action.  I also love anything that doubles as extra storage!  It currently houses all of the 12 month and younger toys in our house.  We'll see how long it stays that organized. 

Here's my favorite part of the whole room!

There's my coral dresser that took FOR.EV.ER to repaint, but gosh, was it worth it!  There's nothing like a $0.00 piece of furniture!  Well, I guess it cost about $30 for the paint, varnish and fixtures, but that's next to nothing these days!  I also made the ribbon mobile and I think it's pretty darn cute.  I found the mirror and tiny picture frame at Hobby Lobby, and the letter M at Babies R Us. (There's a big fat hint at the baby name for ya!  Unless I see you in person between now and then, you'll just have to wait!  Ha ha!!) I found that cute lamp at Target on clearance, but it might not stay there for long.  It'll probably find it's way to the top of the bookshelf at some point.  I'm also not crazy about the bright blue towel under the changing pad, but it works for now.  I might try to find a lighter blue one later.  OH!  And see the baby booties hanging in the picture frame?  Those are from my very first Christmas in 1981!  My Mom swears that my Grandma Neltner knitted them for me as a Christmas ornament, but Grandma insists that she did no such thing.  I don't know who to believe, but I know they are pretty stinking cute.  They've been at the very top of my Christmas tree ever since I moved out, but now they're in baby M_____'s room and that might be where they stay!

So, the baby room is fully furnished, decorated and stocked.  The dresser and closet and full of sweet girl clothes and tiny sleepers and swaddling blankets.  Our hospital bags are packed and the grandparents are on "stand by" to sweep in and take care of Sylvia when the time comes.  We have less than three weeks to our due date and I can finally say that I feel "ready!"  Not just ready, but cool, calm and collected - very much the opposite of how I felt about a month ago.  Phew!  I knew we'd make it.  Now we just have to w....a....i....t........

Hooray for Summer!

Where a French lesson quickly turns into a lesson in being ridiculously silly...

...and a visit to Grammy's includes a jaunt in the sprinkler with our best buddy...

...followed by a good Thomas book read by Uncle Matt...

...during which, this one coos and smiles like she knows something we don't.

 On another day, this is what happens when I try to sort baby clothes during "dress up time," (which is really "any time we're in the house for more than five minutes and Sylvia finds her princess dress").

Notice how her bangs aren't in her eyes anymore?  That's because I broke down and let this happen:

First Haircut!

A little snip in the back and a very little snip in the front, and there you have it!  In all honesty, I could have done it myself, but I was s.c.a.r.e.d. to try.  I was also scared to let this professional lady take too much off, so she really doesn't look much different at all, she just has bangs.  I think I can manage those from now on, but we'll see.

Sylvain and Sylvia are officially on summer vacation.  I can't wait to join them on Friday!  Yippee!!

April's Over Already??

Oops.  We've been having way too much fun playing with our new "family members" and playing outside, so I haven't been keeping up with the blog AT ALL.  We've been exploring our neighborhood and Sylvia has made herself known to anyone and everyone she sees on the street.  Girl's a talker - imagine that.

Now that Sylvia's a big two year old, we decided it's time for her to start taking care of something.  And she loves fish, so it's a win win.  Say hello to Freddie:



 Sylvia feeds him every night before we eat dinner and we clean his water together every weekend. We have the same conversation every time we feed him.  I say, "Wow!  Freddie's hungry!" and Sylvia says, "Yeah, Sil-ya hun-ree too!"  Then we climb up to the big table to eat supper.  It's a pretty smooth routine at this point.

After supper, if she's had a lot to eat and she's tried at least one bite of everything on the table, we take a walk or play outside with a yogurt popsicle.  Here's a picture of the Nugget hiding from the Mama-razzi.  But take a look at her mouth...

...y'all, that's MY mouth!  I spend so much time gawking at this little clone of my husband that I rarely get to catch a glimpse of my side of the family in her.  But sometimes her mouth is all Neltner - sweetheart shaped and LOUD as can be!

She's digging those yogurt pops.  And she insists on walking through the front yard barefoot no matter how cold it is outside.  I can't deny her, it's one of my own favorite things, so....we're a barefoot family. 

A couple weeks ago, we spent a few after-dinner hours putting together baby's bookshelf.  Sylvia helped.  The room is coming along, but I'm still not quite ready to share pictures.  I have to paint the chair rail, finish the dresser, and hang some art.  Also, I need to hem the curtains and Mom's whipping up an idea for a cute crib skirt.  Once I get all that done and throw a few books on the shelves, I'll post plenty of pictures. 

Sylvia's been loving all the flowers in bloom around the neighborhood.  She has no qualms about wandering into neighbors' yards to "smell" the flowers, which she does by blowing air OUT of her nose, which is usually accompanied by plenty of snot and sometimes spit, too.  It's pretty funny to watch.

This Saturday, while Sylvia was enjoying "Sesame Street Live" without us (thanks, Grammy!), we went to buy our newest suburban homeowner purchase - a riding lawn mower!  It arrived yesterday and Sylvain could not WAIT to get out and cut that monster of a backyard.  He's been push mowing it about every other day, because by the time he gets down to the bottom to finish up, the top needs to be cut again!  He was awfully happy on this baby...

I was surprised at how nostalgic it felt to hear a riding lawn mower in the backyard.  It reminded me of summers at my Dad's house.  Sylvia and I sat on the back deck and watched Sylvain climb up and down the hill, smelling the fresh grass and listening to the birds sing.  It was glorious!  And you should see our freshly mowed yard, it's quite a sight!  We stood on the back deck after she went to sleep and Sylvain said about a hundred times, "Look at that yard!" 

So the month of April was sent off with a bang.  Now onto May....only eight more weeks until baby's here!  Yippee!!  I have so much to write about this little one.  She's a party animal, that's for sure!

A Great Weekend!

I don't know about anyone else, but I could really get used to this amazing weather!  If you told me this morning that the rest of the year would be brutally hot, but we'd get one, prefectly sunny, unbuggy, beautiful spring day like today, I'd take it!  Today (and yesterday, and last weekend) were absolutely magical!  Here's what we've been up to (can you tell I don't mind busting out the camera when the weather gets so gorgeous?):

Last weekend we started a couple of projects - I put together a little cabinet that should have taken me 30 minutes but took all morning because I'm an idiot and can't read directions.  Sylvia had fun, though:

No, Mama, you cannot put the shelves in.  Where else would I play?

Screwdrivers are not for babies!

You may or may not have noticed the brown streaks of dust all over Sylvia's sweatshirt.  That came from the project Sylvain started in the garage, which involved power sanding this old dresser:

So I could take over and start painting it to look like a new dresser!

This is what it looked like after two coats of paint last Saturday.  I did one more coat yesterday and will probably do some sort of clear varnish (or whatever you put on top of painted wood to keep it from getting all scratched up) next weekend.  The picture makes it look more pink than it actually is in real life.  The color is called Safflower from Olympic and I love it so much!  Painting the dresser has been a pain, though.  I keep reminding myself that we bought the dresser for $0.00, so a little work and elbow grease are probably well worth it.

***************

On Friday, I was off work and I can't even begin to describe how happy I was that I got to spend the whole day with Sylvia!  I've been so busy at work lately, and we've been so busy on weeknights and weekends, that I could tell the Nugget was starting to crave some Mama time (or maybe it was the other way around).  Anyway, it was supposed to be a little rainy but warm, so we braved the weather and headed to THE ZOO!!!  Grammy came along, because she had the day off, too.  It rained on the way there, but once we arrived, the skies cleared and the sun was shining!  It was a great day and I know we'll be spending pretty much ALL summer there, thanks to our passes from Dad and Sally (thanks, guys!).

Watching the penguins

These guys are so cool!

Our buddy's beautiful backside.

A little break at the playgroud, because slides are just as cool as animals, you know.

On our way to the Gorillas.

Our buddy's beautiful front side!  Can you believe how close we got?  I thought we might get pecked to death, but he was perfectly well behaved.

She's sitting still!  Take a picture, quick!

All the other flowers weren't quite blooming yet, but these babies were bold and beautiful!  Sylvia adored them.

I didn't get many pictures of the animals, but Sylvia's favorites were the elephants, monkeys, manatees and polar bears.  In one of our favorite night time books (On The Night You Were Born, by Nancy Tillmann), it describes what the world was doing when "you" were born.  It says, "When the polar bears heard, they danced until dawn!"  then later it says, "Whenever you doubt just how special you are, and you wonder who loves you, how much and how far....just look for the bears asleep at the zoo.  (It's because they've been dancing all night for you!)"  Sure enough, two polar bears were sleeping, so I said that line to Sylvia and she yelled "Nigh-night po-bears!  Lah you!"  

*************** 

Yesterday we spent all day working around the house and getting our projects finished.  Sylvain started working on our monster of a yard, Sylvia and I took many walks through the neighborhood, and we did lots of spring cleaning / organizing / ohmygodthebabyscomingwhatarewegonnado.  I had a mild panic attack when I thought about all there is to get done between now and June, but after yesterday and today I feel much better. 

This morning we woke up and dressed up to go to Claire's baptism!  I didn't tell Sylvia we were going to see Claire and *Charlie* until a few minutes before we got there, because once you say Charlie's name, she's going to scream it over and over again until she sees him.  Lesson learned.  They had a blast together at the post-baptism party.

The only boy she's never bitten.  Or girl, for that matter. 

The special girl!  Isn't she the sweetest?

Grammy and Poppy with grandbaby #3!  What pros.

Spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning...

...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand falling.

Sylvia and Callie crawled under this little cart and thought they were really cool.

A post-lunch chocolate snack.

 And there you have it!  Our whirlwind weekends in pictures.  We sat outside on our own deck after supper tonight and for a moment I almost cried because I was so darn happy to be in our own sweet house, looking out on our own yard, playing with our own Nugget and eagerly waiting for the next one to get here.  I imagined what it will be like when the baby is Sylvia's age, and Sylvia is about to turn 4, and we're out playing on the deck together as a family of four!  It was all smiles and hugs this weekend, and I can tell it's going to be a great spring!