April 29th!

Happy Birthday to my little Butterball! 2 years, 17 pounds, and less than a dozen inches later

we are so glad you are here.

Clara Lauren!

April 28th

So...I have a very strong memory of what I was doing 2 years ago tonight... anyone else know what they were doing? I can tell you exactly what I ate for dinner (nothing -- I was planning ahead) what time I went to bed (didn't, couldn't). I know I made a couple of phone calls, packed a bag, stuff like that. I know that at the moment, I still had yet to meet a certain family member:

and I know I will continue the story...

tomorrow.

bar or liquid, scented or unscented?

I need to know. When you wash a child's mouth out with soap, which kind do you use? Never having been stricken with this kind of punishment, I can happily say I do not know from experience, nor know anyone who has encountered this type of corporal punishment. However, it seems like someone in our house...someone who is on the cusp of celebrating a birthday...someone who must be channeling some long lost sailor relative...that someone is pushing the limit.

Let me step back about a week and start from the beginning.

First, for whatever reason, Greta knows and respects immensely the fact that there are some words she is just not allowed to say, no matter what. It has never been an issue. Now, Clara obviously is still a wee young to understand that difference yet. Last weekend during dinner, Clara put her arm in some ketchup on her plate. (I don't remember what we were eating, but I find that a little dollup of ketchup no matter what the entree -- ketchup with apples anyone? -- seems to cease any murmurings of uprising on the food front, so ketchup is often present on her plate.) A new found panic for spills or messes totally halts the eating process, but as she was trying to wipe off her arm i heard her saying something. Continuously. It was quiet, and at first I thought 'for sure my ears are deceiving me'...'where would she even hear that from?' After listening very carefully to this word which must have been repeated 10 times for whatever reason, it did indeed dawn at me that she must be saying

"damnit".

After slyly asking Chris to listen, he confirmed that sure enough, that's what it sounded like. BUT, not to make a mountain out of a mole hill, we choose to ignore it.

Another BUT, of course Greta -- being the ever nosey big sister -- overheard the dinner table convo and knew we found it wrong, yet funny, on Clara's part. So yesterday while enjoying some playtime outside Greta needed to announce "Mommy, Clara said dammit". "Well, so did you" I couldn't help but declare, and don't say it again. (Cue sorry attempt at an excuse.) I tried to ignore the whole thing, Greta kept pushing, I calmly told her to ignore it too....

when Clara turned to me.

Held her face to the heavens, and with sapphire eyes gleaming and confidently glancing towards me said "dammit dammit dammit dammit". Cue nearly 2 year old vs. mommy stare down. Mommy loses when a laugh that could no longer be stifled erupts like and Iceland volcano out of her mouth. Mommy looks down at her book, Clara goes back to playing. The moment has passed.

Lessons learned? O, but Mommy is glad she had already swallowed the mouthful of water she had lest it come spraying out of her nose.

What Time is it?

Some things in this house are sacred and not to be tampered with.

Sleep is one of those things. We can't help it, it's just how we are. We're the first ones up, and the first ones down, and while some people roll their eyes...we just close ours.

It must be why we're all so beautiful.

How do you really know it's bedtime?

When the baby hits the floor and you are

pretty sure there might be some snore-like

noises going on.

Garden Dining

This weekend we decided it was time to go back to one of our favorite restaurants, one that doesn't even have chicken nuggets/tenders/strips, etc. on its menu -- in fact, in has two things on a kids menu and they really are just small portions from the adult menu. It's great. The best part about this restaurant though, well one of the best parts, is that it has the most delightful patio. It is all enclosed with surrounding buildings, but you can't see them through all of the lush greenery. With beautiful greek statues and fountains and flowers adorning the area, you completely forget that your car is just on the other side of the store you can't even see you are sitting near. Plus, the outside is usually not crowded, and perfect for small children who don't have the patience or desire to be interested in more than a fleeting moment of flower, about 90 seconds of a fountain, and that's it.

So besides the ambience and surprisingly kid-friendly (even stroller friendly outside, though at this moment we didn't need that) the food is divine. And when I can say that, it must be good because usually a good meal is one of the least important things to me in life.

Hummus though. Real. Greek. Hummus. It will make your toes curl. And the homemade pitas that come with it, well you're just about done for. And the fresh from the oven bread -- so fresh that the crust melts in your mouth, and you don't even realize how fresh it was until you go to take another nibble a half an hour later and the crust is crispy. That fresh. The rest of the meal is just as wonderful. (The kids even ate the meat sauce and pasta! And when Greta eats anything, it's a good day.)

The only downside was that you are in for a long meal here. Where our meals usually don't go past 40 minutes in any 'normal' restaurant we go to, and you don't even want to know the lightning speed we tend to make at our own kitchen table for some reason, the length of a dinner that get dressed up nicely for is a big deal; obviously part of the meal is to enjoy company in beautiful surroundings. Unless you're 10 and under. We had books, paper, pens, dolls, etc but 90 minutes in one restaurant did finally get a little taxing -- and that was 60 minutes waiting for dinner, 30 minutes eating and paying the bill. It was still a great time, although I do believe Chris and I mentioned that perhaps we'll go back for our anniversary and splurge on a sitter.

The following pictures though are from the restaurant. They were from the 'waiting for the bill' portion of the evening. The girls were really well-behaved considering, and enjoyed their restaurant photo shoot. (* Author's note: no dining guests were annoyed while photographing, I promise.) I AM CURRENTLY HAVING TROUBLE PUTTING THESE PHOTOS IN, SO I WILL TRY A FEW NOW, AND ADD SOME TO ANOTHER POST LATER.

Learned, Heard and Duly Noted

3 Things I've Learned This Week:

ANTS BEWARE
When drawing on the driveway with chalk, it's amazing to watch the fine motor skills an almost two year old actually posesses as she effortlessly yet permanently removes an ant encroaching on her drawing.

EAR WORM
No matter how cute it might seem at first, YMCA is still one of the most annoying songs I have ever heard, even when sung by a 4 year old. It is cute for about 6 seconds and then no more. But it will remain her favorite thing to sing, and you will find yourself waking up in the middle of the night singing it. (Unless you're one of those lucky people that gets to sleep through the night.)

MESS IS MORE
It's worth it to have fun outside and not worry about the dirt (chalk, mud, sand, water, etc.) and just wash that extra clothing item than spend the energy avoiding the mess that is inevitable, or the whines of boredom instead. And I need to buy a bottle of bleach.

2 Things I've Heard This Week:

FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Clara repeating everything anyone says. I love it. My favorite is "Dandumommy" which probably only I know that it translates to "thank you mommy'.

TRUE LOVE
While toiling away in the bathroom painting with Chris, I came in to get something and heard Greta telling him "I just love you and mommy so much because you take us places and do so many fun things. I just really love you". Her professions of love are pretty normal, I hear them a lot, but it was just so nonchalant and part of her everyday conversation it was so cute and heartfelt, yet completely natural to her.

1 Thing of Note:

Room and Board

Allowances? Ha! We want our children to learn the ethics of a good hard day's labor!

Notice the child...forced to work manual labor in conditions too hot for clothing...with only the light of a single bulb...made to stand until the clouds she is painting are perfect -- "I want a bunny -- no, make it a dinosaur -- more fluff!" (Incidentally, she is not painting clouds on our bathroom wall.)

She toils...

and through it all, still musters some semblance of happiness...

Some of the other urchins aren't as lucky.

Until rescued by their loving parents, thrown in the tub,

and happiness is restored in the kingdom!

The Daily Grind

Ahh, back to work tomorrow. This 3 weeks has been too good to me -- and my house WOW! Straight through until mid June, not even Memorial Day to look forward to as the powers that be deem it okay for teachers to work on Memorial Day, and this year it is a snow make up day so kids will be there too! I'm still trying to figure out why anyone thinks that is okay....

Anyhow, the next break I will be prepping for many big events. Hopefully the first one being Greta starting Kindergarten, but one can never be too sure if our extra family member will decide to make an appearance around that same time. Let's hope I can bake this one closer to her due date!

We just finished a delicious steak dinner expertly grilled outside and while we would love to be watching the end of the Masters on the big t.v. in the living room...it seems to be mysteriously taken over by Max and Ruby. Time to go find a hideout before the brownies we baked earlier will be served. Happy Sunday!

Shoes!

Another triumph in the independence department! Greta has been able to "tie" her shoes for a month or two, it's been nice and fun and all, but the tying has not been functional. She practices all of the time, and always tells us how she will get better she just has to practice. Yesterday morning she was (amazingly enough) in her room while I was getting things ready to go. I called and called, and finally she came out -- with shoes on and completely and functionally tied! Needless to say I was completely ecstatic, and took a blurry picture to document this moment.And in pinker news (if that is even possible around here to get any more pink) here are Clara's flashy 'rocker girl' tennies. She had one pair of sneakers to wear, but at school they have to wear sneakers everyday. Has to be some kind of sneaker, you get in BIG trouble if it some other kind of shoe. I hate the idea of her poor little feet being cooped up in the same pair of shoes everyday, so I hopped on over to a sale at Rack Room shoes and picked up this little number. They are too big for her, but are wearable, and to me they look like they were made just for her. She seems to like them, though isn't quite the fashionista that Greta has always been -- THANK GOODNESS.

(What you're not seeing is the light-up jelly flip flops Greta has been asking for since last year, and since it was a buy one get one half off sale, she received a little treat as well. And has hardly taken them off of her feet since. She is even going to bring them for Show and Tell at school tomorrow!)

Something New

As soon as we get home from school, it seems like such a hectic time. Dog needs to go out, cat needs to eat, kids need a snack or basic attention from being away from mom for 8 hours, except I just really want to change my clothes and sit for a minute. The kids still go to school even though I am off because 1) Greta asks to go to school every single day, no matter if is 8:00 am on a Saturday and 2) because I still have to pay for it whether they are there or not so...they go. For an abbreviated day though.

Anyhow, they still want that maniacal attention when I bring them home, and I am still tired. But today, I felt inspired, and really this kills 2 birds with one stone -- if not more! (I am in no way condoning bird killing, or throwing stones with that sentence.) Reading, blogging, entertaining kids -- it has it all. Sounds like we might be able to work in some sort of weekly video update if this works for all. Feel free to leave a comment to tell me what you think -- does it work, doesn't it, etc.

Circle Time!

The kids in Greta's pre-K class rotate their daily morning routine and each take a turn being Teacher's Helper. Seeing as my Spring Break is almost done, and on my next break (Summer) Greta will already have graduated pre-K, I felt this was a great time to go in and watch her in action. I was really wondering if this was going to be a good idea, because during the few music programs she has had whenever we are there to watch her all she does is suck her fingers or stand there. But, she did a great job. Her teacher said Greta loves to practice the circle time routine during free play times "a born teacher" she said...ugh. So naturally I could not let this opportunity pass by without capturing it in photos.

As you can imagine, I took 'a few' others, but won't bore you with details. You can get the whole idea here. She was great! And I had a lot of fun, and wish wish wish I was the teacher in that classroom. Oh the things I would do!

I am currently contemplating some kind of song of the week section here, because there is just an incredible amount of awesome kids' music out there that must be shared with you! We listening to Kids Place on XM116 quite regularly, and except for an inane amount of talking by one of the afternoon hosts, the music is almost always fantastic. Many times I keep the station on while I drive to work and always come out with a chuckle. I'm realizing that a group I keep coming back to is Trout Fishing in America, which I heard originally with the song "My Hair Had a Party Last Night".

Enjoy, at least get a laugh, especially with the hair video....

Me, Mine and Honey

This pictures was taken about 8 months ago, before Clara developed severe camera aversion or the ability to annoy her sister to such an extent that my head thinks it just might be better off leaving my body before it explodes from there with such force that it takes out the whole neighborhood. And that just might happen soon. I implore anyone considering to add a 3rd child to their family, to please wait until the youngest child is 2 (or almost 2, you'll know the timing, trust me) and then decide if that is really a smart thing to do given the current status of craziness amongst the siblings. I'm not going to go into details in this post. I am not feeling emotionally stable enough to rehash all that goes on between them, and while it usually is just one of them causing the problems (because it's all about taking turns after all) there are many times that they do play together, or at least in the same room, well. I am just not focusing on those times at the moment.

So, for brevity's sake I just wanted to talk about Clara's name for Greta. She is able to (finally) say Greta. Or at least what we make out to be Greta, I'm pretty sure a stranger off the street couldn't figure that out, but why would a stranger off the street need to now, right? But more often then calling her Greta, Clara calls her "Honey". I'm not sure why, my best guess is that she has heard me call Greta Honey. "Honey, come here please. Come here please. Come here please, right now...I said right now! Stop hitting..."oh wait, I almost got away from myself for a minute. Anywhooooooo....So Clara calls her Honey. It started mostly when Greta was crying, and Clara would look at me, point to Greta and say "Honey". (And with the tantrums around here, that was often.) Now she almost always uses Honey to talk to Greta, call her, etc. In the car on the way home from the beach the other day we heard (about 6 bazillion times) "Honey, hand. Hand Honey. Hand please honey." Clara wanted Greta to hold her hand. Oh the cuteness. Almost makes up for the other moments...but I WON'T go there.

Spring!!!!

You may have heard me say this before...but the weather is beeeeauuuutifulllllll! Today and tomorrow, however, it is supposed to be in the low 90's. Wayyyy too hot for me, but we needed to get out of the house. The girls didn't have school today, and this being my last week of Spring Break, we tried to make the most of it. (In fact, I could be indulging in naptime myself right now, but am not.) We went to a playground this morning -- choosing to go before the heat of the day kicked in. It was nice, and though the entire world in our immediate vicinity is now covered in pine pollen and the girls came away with a slightly yellowish tinge to their bodies and clothes, it was great.

Shhhh! Don't call protective services. I promise I had my hands on her the whole time -- except for when I just HAD to take this picture. This was the 2nd or 3rd time she climbed up this ladder, and I couldn't believe it! She actually didn't even need the help, but I had my hands on her just in case. Once she sees Greta do something, Clara doesn't even stop to think, she MUST do it too.

Going for a run, Greta loves a challenge. If I say see how fast you can run from here to X, you can bet she's saying "ready, steady, go" before I can even think about it.

Not a cloud in the sky!

Okay, so these aren't from today. A great surprise at the beach however! You can tell which one is genuinely happy to see the Easter Bunny, and who could really care less.

Weekend Getaway

We had a great getaway weekend to the beach. Enough warmth for swimming and playing in the sand, yet certainly not as hot as it was at home!

Kick Clara kick! Notice the little shark following behind her ready to grab her feet?

Our little mermaid. Give her a swimming pool and everyone will be happy. She has become quite the fish! (And also thought she was all that in that bathing suit.)

Clara was starting to get the hang of the pool. She wasn't totally crazy about it, but managed to splash and kick her feet around. She loved to "jump" while daddy caught her. (And a HUGE thank you to daddy who covered all in water duty this weekend and let me just sit and watch from the sidelines. Appreciated more than you'll ever know!)

And seeing as Clara remains almost totally evasive when the camera is out, this is the best I could do for a shot of them together. At the aquarium in the evening, another one of our favorite places at the beach.

Moments Like This

We've been having moments in our house. Moments I'm not too proud of. I'm not looking for pity or affirmation or anything, this is just a statement, that...in the past couple of weeks there have been several moments where Chris and I look at each other and -- I believe he was the first one to actually put this into words -- we realize "we must be doing something wrong". The terrible two's? Ha. Sure, Greta started them at 13 months and really didn't stop until...December (of 2009). From then until about February things were going really well. Greta was fun, hysterical, sheer delight. Clara was still the baby and our sleepy-rarely fussy- super eater-cuddle bunny.

Welcome March.

March Madness -- and I'm not talking basketball.

In like a lion out like a lamb? I think not. Perhaps in like a tarantula -- large enough where you think you see something, but aren't quite sure and then you figure out what it really is and OH MY GREAT HORNED OWLS WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!!! And then March went out, like a tornado. Or Hurricane. Or stampede of bulls in Pamplona and we were the pavement -- or that random weird guy who always gets horned and makes it famous because the picture is passed around the internet.

After wondering if Clara was really falling behind, she has finally picked up her vocabulary. She repeats soo many things, and is putting together phrases much better than before. (Phew.) She knows a lot more than she lets on (another phew). And she knows...no. And in the past week, has begun using it -- constantly. I could list all of the different times Clara uses no, but what's the point really. It applies to everything. But on the same note, she also says "Ok" or "k" quite a bit -- as in 'Clara, let's go change your diaper now' "'K" she says. Call me crazy, I think it's cute. Then there are the double takes I have to do when I honestly hear her asking me "why". I can only assume it's because her big sister uses that word in just about every conversation we have, and not like "Why does the sun shine" or "Why do you have to use that knife when you cut fruit, but a different knife when you butter toast" but more of the Why do I have to do that when Clara doesn't...or Why does Clara get/have/etc that and I don't? So it's totally understandable as to where Clara would pick it up, I just want it stopped. It's way to early for another Whyer in the house.

And then last night at dinner, after about a ten minute chorus-only rendition of YMCA complete with hand movements (which, I let go on much longer than I usually would have because there was actual eating involved during this time -- eating that didn't involve me feeding someone or begging them to please put some kind of food from their plate in their mouth in a timely fashion) I finally had to stop the madness. I am sure there was a phase, though I'm not sure when it would've been, when I find that song just as engaging, but frankly now days it is on my top ten least liked songs right up there with the Hokey Pokey and the Chicken Dance. I don't care which you say, that is NOT what it's all about. So, post YMCAing Greta announces that she has two boyfriends. I had never heard her use that term before. Her best friend for a while now has been a boy, but not boyfriend. I didn't want to over analyze, so I just said "oh cool, what does that mean" and I really didn't get a coherent answer so I'm not worried. However, on the heels of proclaiming all of the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team her best friends, we will have to start looking for some good female friendships and encourage that a little more I suppose.

Finally, this morning -- after a lot of practicing over the past month, this morning Greta finally managed to connect her seatbelt while in her car seat. A feat which might seem meaningless and stupid to some of you without a basketball protruding from your belly which makes leaning over a marvel in gravity defiance/balance/grace nearly impossible, but that walk to the other side of the car can just seem so long on legs already carrying 20 pounds more than what they are used to (yes, 20...already). So I was really excited about this whole seatbelt thing.

Let's hope April is a little more...subdued. That the warm weather brings out the best in all of us as we stay outside as much as possible before it becomes too warm to even breathe.

The mail is here, and that laundry from the previous post still hasn't found it's way into the dryer yet, and I hear birds calling for me outside.

Spaaaaaaaa

I just spent the past 45 minutes in complete luxury and it didn't cost one cent. First I was treated to a relaxing music of nature sounds. Next came the warmth -- set upon me like a blanket straight from the dryer. And, when that became almost more than what I thought was comfortable and my thoughts started drifting towards crispy chicken skin, the warmth was muted and I was fanned with a muscle relaxing breeze that brought me to my perfect temperature. And all of this was in my own backyard. I set outside to enjoy a few minutes of reading my book, but found I didn't even want to do that. Never being one of those people that truly could get into -- or understand for that matter -- the true "laying out" experience, I wasn't out there to acquire a golden glow, although let's face it, it certainly might make it easier on the eyes. (Seeing as it is going to be in the 80's for the next week or so and my legs will have to make an appearance, a little color really wouldn't hurt. But I haven't actually stretched out in the sun in a "savage tan" acquiring way in over a half of a decade -- and when you figure I have been pregnant 3 times in that half of a decade that really makes sense -- I have this feeling this isn't going to be the year I go golden either.) And I'm okay with that. After all, who needs to worry about wrinkles more than we already do.

So, I'm in my backyard, which -- although it remains the one part of our house that we really will not be doing a lot to -- is a little rough around the edges, spending time back there really shows just how much character and charm it has. In a nature-loving kind of way. I must have seen 5 different kinds of birds flitting around the 100+ trees we have back there (not that it's a large yard, just very wooded) from sparrows to nuthatch, from cardinals to woodpeckers, and a couple I have to refer to the bird book for. They were chirping and twittering and pecking and scratching just going on with their birdy lives and I wasn't bothering them one bit.

When I first sat down I was inundated with several buzzing, flying things which I thought at first would be a hamper on my oasis seeing as I have yet to develop much of a tolerance for those kind of visitors. However, I found after a few minutes of letting them hover around me and do a few fly-bys I was not that exciting and their drones quieted down and I could finally relax.

My thoughts drifted away from the laundry I had in the washer, away from the floor that really needed to be washed. Away from the previous laundry loads to be put away, and away from the fact that I have one week left of my marvelous spring break. I can't really tell you what I thought about, except birds and bees (not THE birds and the bees) and how the wind was so wonderful and how interesting it was to watch the wind high up in the longleaf pines start from one edge of the yard and go to the other...and so on. (Again, sounds like a big yard doesn't it.)

And now that I've come in for a little freshening up, a potty break, and to put that laundry in the dryer (and of course, to blog this) I think I might put my book back by the bed and get a large cold thermos of water and head back outside for a little more of my own personal backyard spa treatment. Now if only I could teach one of those squirrels how to give a really good maternity massage.