The Most Craziest Time Of The Year!

Whew!  Where are we?  Did Christmas happen already?  Where the hell did this month go??  I've been caught up in a craze of present buying, cookie making, nutcracker show seeing, office and home partying, Santa visiting (at the mall and on a train), Disneylanding insanity for over a month now.  This is the first time I've sat down since Thanksgiving.  I wish I was kidding about that.  This time of the year gets so crazy for us, as I'm sure it does for everyone. Even though the day after Christmas used to be my most unhappy day of the year, when I was a kid, it has quickly moved to the top of the list as my favorite, because there is nothing I HAVE to do today!!  YIPEE!  Well, nothing that is, except catch up with all of you.  

Don't get me wrong, I had a great time with my family yesterday.  The girls loved all their gifts and played for hours.  They are all at such a great age for Christmas.  Although, I think we may lose Sonya in the belief of Santa by next year.  She started asking too many questions about him this year.  Questions that you only ask when you are trying to trip someone up in a lie.  Questions that I wish I could give you an example of right now, but my brain has become a sieve this past month.  Just trust me, she has been skeptical.  However, thanks to the NORAD Santa tracker on line, we kept her at least wanting to believe for one more year.  I remember being her age and thinking things didn't add up.  Things like why Santa and my parent had VERY similar writing.  I have tried to correct this by using cursive when I put Santa tags on their gifts.  I always print, so Sonya doesn't recognize my cursive.  We haven't had anymore questions, so she must be satisfied for now.  I am worried about next year though. Good thing I have eleven months before it will probably come up again.  

So all that planning and prepping, shopping and madness that led to one day this month, and then it's just over.  I remember being a kid and feeling like it took forever to get to Christmas and now it comes faster than I am ever ready for.  The good news is now, I can take a bit of a break for the next week.  My parents are coming on Friday to spend a few days with us, which will be helpful.  They are good with helping out with the kids which will be essential to my sanity during the girls' time off of school.  Then, who knows?  Maybe I will clean out closets and drawers that have been begging for organization for months now.  I do know that I will be able to come update more on here.  Something I have been seriously lacking lately, and I truly apologize.  See first paragraph for excuse.  

Thanks to all of you who come back here to read what I have to write.  I appreciate all of your support and especially your comments.  I hope everyone had as great a Christmas (or whatever holiday you may celebrate) as we did.  Hope your new year is filled with much joy and happiness. 

Now, I'm going to go take a nap.  

Pretty As As A Picture

You may have noticed I changed the picture of the girls on my blog.  It is one of the pictures from the wedding the girls were in back in October.  I love the way all the pictures turned out.  Courtney and  Mark's wedding photographer was amazing.  He had about three other people with him taking pictures. The result was awesome pictures you sometimes had no idea were even being taken.  His name is Mike Larson and if you are getting married or know someone getting married at a vineyard in California anytime soon, contact him immediately: http://www.mikelarson.com  Not only did he do an amazing job, but he was an incredibly nice guy.  He took a fabulous family picture of us as well as tons of great ones with the girls.  But you can judge for yourself:

Getting ready for their big debut.

With the blushing bride.

Sisters!

Loving sisters. (To bad it's not always like this.)

We are all smiling and looking at the camera!  This is not as easy as you would think.

Waiting...

Showtime!

So far so good...

Following in her sisters' footsteps...literally.

Might as well just dump all the petals now!

This is probably one of my favorite pictures of all time.

Followed by this one. This is what I was talking about, not knowing you were being captured.  Well Lana did.

Sonya REALLY wanted that bouquet.  I can't believe how well they captured this moment.  

Terrible Tragedy

Usually I come on here to write stories about my girls being funny, sometimes annoying, or just silly.  Usually you come here to read my stories to laugh or empathize with me.  Even though I had a story in mind I was planning to write about, I just didn't feel that after today's horrific tragedy I could write something that seemed trivial right now.  Instead I want to say how much love my little girls, how incredible I think they are and how tight I am going to hug them  before going to bed tonight.  Sonya and Lana are both in elementary school, and never in my most terrible nightmares could I ever imagine something so scary happening at their school.  Mostly, I can't understand why someone would target such young children.  The whole thing makes no sense. 

I am so incredibly sorry for the moms and dads in Connecticut tonight that won't get to hug their babies again.  Especially ten days before Christmas.  Their lives are changed in a tragic way forever, and I pray I never  know the pain that they are going through.  My girls mean everything in the world to me, even the days they drive me the craziest.  I would no doubt fall apart if something that horrible ever happened to them.  My heart, thoughts, prayers, and tears go out to those parents who lost their little ones today.  In honor of their losses, I will try to have just a little more patience and spend a little more time with my three girls.  I encourage the rest of you to do the same with your own kids, nieces, nephews or grandchildren.  Make sure they always know how much you love them.

They Can Walk 500 Miles-Or Maybe 5

Last week we took our annual holiday trip to Disneyland.  As I've mentioned before, the only reason we can do this is because  our awesome friend Melinda works for Disney.  She gets us in for free.  If not for her the girls would never know Disneyland because we would have to mortgage our house to go there.  Seriously.  It's so incredibly expensive.  I don't know how anyone affords it.  Lucky for us we don't have to worry about it.  Well, for now anyway.  We always go during the week right after Thanksgiving because it's not yet busy.  This year, however, we decided to challenge ourselves.  After much debate, we went WITHOUT A STROLLER!!  AAAAAAAA!!!!

Why would I do this to myself you ask?  Because I like to torture myself and listen to my kids whine?  No, not really into that.  Truthfully, the girls are getting to big for the stroller.  I realized this when I took out our sit and stand to use a few weeks ago for the little girls.  Georgia was starting to look way to big for that front seat.  There are a few pet peeves I have in my life.  Anyone who knows me knows my biggest one is people who leave Christmas lights up outside WELL past Christmas.   The second thing that drives me nuts is seeing a kid with his knees up to his chin sitting in a stroller.  I don't care if your eight year old is tired of walking.  Maybe if he DID walk around instead of you pushing him all day while eating ice cream, we could cut down on childhood obesity in this country!  Seriously people!   Sorry-tangent.

So my youngest two are on that bubble of being too big.  We could have probably still gone once more with the stroller, but I kind of wanted to see if they could do it.  Sonya has been walking around Disney since she was four, so I figured Land and Georgia should be able to.  

I will be honest, I was worried.  Especially after our last trip to Disney back in August. You might remember that story when Lana had her major breakdown and having to walk to the park instead of taking the tram helped to contribute to her tantrum.  Plus, what were we going to do with all of our crap we stuff into the bottom of the stroller??  Well, we packed up a backpack and made Daddy carry it around.  That's what Daddy's are for right?  I mean after helping us create the kids, their other job is to carry stuff around amusement parks.  I'm pretty sure that's a rule somewhere.  I know it was for my Dad.  Who needs a stroller when you've got a Daddy?

The other worry was how long the girls were going to last without the stroller.  Would they get to tired to walk and start protesting? (Lana?)  Would they start  whining about it? (Lana?)  Would there be a tantrum? (LANA??)  Turns out, they all did just fine.  Yes, even Lana, for the most part.  Sonya had  no complaints at all, which is how I assumed she would be.  Lana kept up with us and didn't complain until the end of the day.  Even then her complaints were more funny than annoying.  We were getting ready to watch the fireworks and Lana was squatting on the ground saying,

"Ohhhh...I wish you brought the stroller!  My little legs can't walk anymore today!"  

I'm assuming I talked about their "little legs" at some point in the day. 

Georgia was probably the one who had the hardest time not having a stroller.  She had a bit of trouble keeping up.  Andy and I did have to pick her up a few times to carry her when we wanted to walk more than two miles an hour.  I don't remember her ever complaining about walking though.  I think the best part for the girls about not taking a stroller was that we finally got to take the tram.  Something I always hated doing with the stroller.  It always gave me anxiety to get everything from out of the bottom, carry it, the kids and fold up the stroller in a fairly quick time frame.  We would just always walk the half mile to the park from the parking structure.  This time they were so excited that we agreed to take the tram.  It was really another ride for them.  

So yes, we survived our first trip to Disney without a stroller.  A milestone that throughout the day made me say both of these things-"Haha!  Suckers with the strollers!"  and "Oh I'm so sad we don't have one that little for a stroller anymore."  I tend to be an emotional roller coaster when it comes to my kids growing up.  But you probably already get that by now.  

The Big Bang

Back in September, Lana started putting two barrettes in her hair that would hold her bangs back.  I asked her why she kept putting her bangs back like that.  Was she trying to not have any bangs like her sister?  Indeed she was.  She wanted to grow them out.  FUN! (For those of you who have never grown out a little girls bangs, that was meant to be sarcastic.)  Of course since she wanted to grow out her bangs,  GG decided she was in on that idea.  Double FUN!  Why not right?  Get the annyoningness out of the way at once.  

Now the only problem, besides being aggravated by growing out bangs, was they were a month away from being flower girls in the wedding.  So I decided to get them cut once more before the wedding because I was pretty sure Courtney didn't want two shaggy looking little girls walking down the aisle before her. 

I'm sure there are plenty of you out there who have done this with your kids, and you have not had any problems because once headbands or ponytails are in place in your child's hair they stay there.  For my kids they do not.   I will put barrettes or ponytails in their hair to keep the bangs out of their eyes every morning.  They go to school being able to see unobstructed.  By the time they get home, however, they look like this:  

Georgia is worse than Lana at keeping something in her hair, and her bangs are worse in terms of falling in her eyes.  It's all I can do to keep myself from taking the scissors and just cutting them myself. Sonya grew out her bangs around this age and it took a good six to nine months to get them to a point where they weren't driving me crazy anymore.  The funny thing is, they could care less if their hair is in their eyes.  Georgia just puts her head back, like in the picture, to see better.  

So I will continue to pin their hair back with whatever I can find and hope they get used to it until it's long enough to not worry about anymore.  Don't be surprised though if you come to this blog one day and find a picture of Georgia with very short, crooked bangs cut by yours truly.  

One More Battle Won

I've been waiting a few weeks to write this post because I didn't want to jinx myself, or Lana really.  I tend to be superstitious that way.  In fact, I'm fairly certain that the good thing that has been happening will not happen tonight just by me writing about it.  Yes, this is my crazy side.  Welcome!  Don't pretend like you don't have one too.  Anyway, the "thing" I'm referring to here is Lana no longer wearing a pull up to bed at night.  

Almost two years ago I wrote this.  At the time I wasn't sure how long Lana would have to wear a pull up at night and I was worried we weren't doing enough to help her out of it. At one point I would even wake her up before I went to bed to make her pee thinking it would help.  It didn't.  She would pee around five in the morning whether she had the 11pm potty break or not.  Limiting her liquids before bed made no difference either.  Then I asked her pediatrician if it was something we needed to work on or be concerned about.   He assured me there was nothing we could do about her peeing in the middle of the night.  She couldn't control it anymore than someone can control their snoring, and that most kids grow out of it by 6, sometimes 7.  Once I heard this, I felt comfortable and totally let it go.  Andy took a bit more convincing and I had to remind him to not say anything disparaging about her still wearing a pull up.  Making her feel bad was not going to solve the problem.  It would only make her feel worse.  

So every night we would  put a pull up on her and never made a big deal about it.  Every morning she would wake up and that thing was so heavy with urination it was like she had been swimming in it.  Part of the problem is that she never woke up when she peed at night.  Even the few times I attempted to have her go sans pull up, I would check her at some point in the night and she would be soaked and completely zonked out.  Every once in a very great while she'd wake up dry, but it was such a rare occurrence I never put much stock in it.  

Then, about a month ago, she started going more than one day with a dry pull up.  Soon it was two, then three, and before I knew it we were at a week and she was asking if she could switch to underwear at night.  I wanted her to have the chance to get rid of the pull up, and she had never gone for a week completely dry before. Still I was not looking forward to the middle of the night sheet change if she did have an accident.  Plus she sleeps on the top bunk.  Do you have any idea what a pain in the ass it is to change sheets on bunk beds?  I didn't!  Until we got them.  Sucks.  Especially at 4am.  Still, I had to let her try and see if she was ready.  

The first night went great.  Not one accident!  I think we got to about a week in until there was an accident, but no big deal.  I had expected a couple.  The good news was that she woke up when she had the accident.  This was something she hadn't done in the past.  Before she would have just slept in pee for who knows how long.  So this was progress!  She was dry for a night and then had an accident two days after her first one.  Hmm.  I hoped that didn't mean regression, but still she woke up when it happened. 

 The next night she called me from her bed and I got up and shuffled groggily down the hallway.  I was fully expecting her to tell me she had peed again and prepared myself to change sheets.  I was thinking it was a good thing I hadn't claimed victory over the bed wetting issue, because here she was back to peeing every night.  I walked in the room and asked what she needed.

"Mommy, I have to go potty."

"You didn't pee the bed?"  I asked surprised.

"No, but I have to go," she told me.

FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC!  She woke herself up BEFORE she went this time.  She didn't tell me then, but I found out the next morning, that she had started to pee a little in her underwear, but then woke up and stopped.  That was when she called for me.  I guess her underwear were wet unbeknownst to me, but the sheets were dry. 

That was over a week ago.  Since then she has stayed dry all night long. She's called me a couple times to get up and go to the bathroom.  One more time where she peed a little in her pants and we did change them, but so much easier than changing top bunk sheets.   All in all major progress!  NOW I am ready to claim victory over the bed wetting problem which is why I decided to write this today.  I will not be surprised, however, if I find myself changing sheets in the middle of the night tonight.  The Universe likes to laugh at me.  

Thankful

I know I'm a couple days late, but I am so thankful to have three beautiful, healthy, smart although sometimes sassy little girls.  This was them on Thanksgiving morning watching the Macy's Parade with me.  This is a tradition I've had since I was a little girl and I'm so happy I can pass it down to them.  They even anticipated Santa's arrival at the end of the parade and asked at every commercial break,

"When is Santa coming??"

This is a question my sisters and I undoubtedly asked my mom several times during the same parade years ago.

As much as they may drive me crazy some days, and I know I may complain about them on here,  I know how incredibly lucky I am to have these three little souls in my life.  Thanksgiving reminded me how thankful I am to be able to be their mom.   

So, I Think I Can Dance

A few months ago, Andy got us memberships to the 24 Hour Fitness a few miles from our house.  I was excited to go to a gym, because even though I've found ways to work out just about every day for the past seven years, my workout DVDs were really starting to get old.  Now that I have a few hours a week alone, I can actually take advantage of going to the gym.  Sometimes I wake up early and go before everyone else wakes up.  Either way, it's nice to add something different to my regime.  I was getting really sick of the Bob's Biggest Loser Boot Camp, and I wasn't looking forward to my 10th round of P90X.  The other awesome thing about the gym is that they offer classes like spinning, Nike Fit Club and Zumba.  A few weeks ago a took my first Zumba class and it was WAY harder than I expected.  

Now let me clarify.  When I say harder, I don't mean in the too tough of a work out way,  although it is a kick ass fun workout.  No I mean in a- I so can not dance kind of way.  For those of you who don't know what Zumba is, it's a Colombian dance fitness program.  That was the problem, the "dance" part.   I've taken the class from three different instructors and while they all have their own style, the basics remain the same, move your body and shake your booty.  A lot.  The problem is, I am the whitest of the white girls when it comes to dancing.  I've always known this.  In fact Andy and I took dance classes together years ago and he would get so frustrated with me because most of the time I couldn't move the right way, but I thought I could at least move a bit. Then I took this class and realized I can't.  

The truth is, there are all kinds of people in the class.  Woman and MEN in their 60s who get it less than I do, and girls in their 20s who could teach the class themselves.  Therefore, I didn't feel completely incompetent because I'm somewhere in the middle.  Plus I know my mom has taken this class at her gym in Florida and she's a whiter white girl than I am when it comes to dancing.  Sorry, mom!  I learned from the best.  HOWEVER!  I started to gain a little dance confidence the more classes I took.  It would-and still does-take me a minute to get a move when they change it up during a song, but I'm getting better at picking them up more quickly.  There are mirrors all over the class and I catch glimpses of myself from time to time.  Last time I took a class I caught myself during a move and thought-

"I CAN move my body better!  This class is sorta teaching me to dance!"

So, I've been feeling pretty confident about my moves and my booty shaking and have been practicing them around the house when the mood strikes.  I will salsa through the kitchen, and mambo to the living room.  I and anxiously anticipating the next party my neighbors have where sometimes impromptu Colombian type dancing breaks out.  I won't look like such an idiot next time!  My youngest daughter would not agree.

Friday night I took the girls out to dinner at a cafe and bakery near our house called Porto's.  It a Cuban bakery and the music they play tends to have a Latin flair.  After our meal the girls had to use the bathroom.  Georgia and I were together in a handicap stall.  She was on the toilet, while I stood by and waited for her to finish. I heard the music piping through the speakers and since there was space in the big stall I decided to try out my new moves.  I started dancing around then Georgia looked at me and said,

"It'sth good dat nobody can sthee you in hea."

I continued my dancing, feigned being hurt and said, "Why?  You don't think Mommy is a good dancer?"  

Realizing she might hurt my feelings and not wanting to, she looked at me with a touch of pity and said, "No! It'sth just good dat nobody can sthee you."

Huh.  Guess I'm not ready for Dancing With The Stars: Mommyblogger Edition.

Building Up Her Immune System

You know how everyone has that one baby in their family who puts EVERYTHING in her mouth?  For us that baby was Georgia.  She was constantly crawling around the floor as a baby and putting everything from cat food, to play dough, to bouncy balls, to lint in her mouth.  We would go to the beach during the summer and she would poop out sand for two days because she ate so much.  I don't know why she would keep eating it after the first handful, but I guess it was tasty to her.  Come to think of it, she is always asking for extra salt on her food.  Perhaps there could be some deficiency there.  Eh-it'll work itself out.

Anyway, turns out, even at four, she still puts things in her mouth, but it's not as bad as it used to be.  We can take her to the beach worry free now.  I have caught her chewing a toy a time or two, and she has no reservations about eating something that has dropped on the floor.  Most of the time this is okay, as long as it was JUST dropped on the floor and it's something like a goldfish cracker.  Eating pasta off the floor is never okay, but crackers, whatever.  We do the obligatory "blow off the germs" and I will allow her to eat it, if it was JUST dropped.   My van, however, if full of crackers, popcorn, etc on the floor that was not JUST dropped but there for God knows how long.  Yes, I vacuum and wash it from time to time, but I do have three kids who like to bring snacks in the car on a regular basis.  I'm sure you can see where this is going.

About two weeks ago, Georgia and I were rushing out the door to go pick up Lana from school.  I told her to go out and get buckled in the car while I locked up.  As I was walking up to the car, she was standing in front of her car seat munching on something.  I hadn't given her a snack.

"Georgia," I said.  "What are you eating?"

"Goldfish!" she told me.

"Ummm....where did you get the goldfish?" I asked.

She gave me a sheepish grin and said, "Fwom da floow."

"Georgia!" I yelled.  "That's gross!  We don't eat things we found on the floor of this car!"

"But Mommy!  Is okay!" she assured me.  "I bwew it off fwist."

Sure, a goldfish cracker sitting on the floor of a car for weeks can become germ free simply by a four year old blowing it off.  Good call Georgia.  

Heading Toward The Wonder Years

Monday was Sonya's 8th birthday.  EIGHT!  As in -she was one, then two, then three...all the way to eight!  How I ask?  HOW?!!  Time goes way to fast when you have kids.  Anyway, over the weekend for her birthday we took her and two of her friends to get their nails done.  Then we went out to lunch.  They were all very excited and such little ladies.  And also gentleman, because Carter joined us as well, but not until lunch.  He decided he wasn't into getting his nails done.  Although there are quite a few men who do that now.  Well, at least here in Los Angeles, and no they aren't all gay.  

After lunch we came back to our house and had cake and ice cream with everyone.  It was a fun little birthday celebration for her.  Sure it cost a bit with the nails and lunch, but all I had to do was make a cake,  so I'll take it!  I spent many years planning and hosting big birthdays at our house.  We decided once the girls turned five that would be the end of the big parties.  Now they pick a couple of close friends and do something fun, like nails or mini golf.  Hey I still make my own cakes, so I'm still working!  Just a bit less, and it's fabulous.  I actually get to enjoy their birthdays now.  

The other thing that is nice about having only a couple of friends to celebrate with is less presents.  She doesn't receive dozens of toys or other things that she won't use and we have no room for.  She got three gifts from three good friends who know her well and got things she will use. 

My favorite part of the day was after Sonya opened her gift from her friend Gwen.  It was a salon chair for her American Girl Doll.  I don't know if you know about the American Girl Doll craze or the complete racket that store has going on. If you don't then here's a piece of advice: STAY AWAY!  I can't get over how much crap they have for those dolls.  You can buy furniture for them that is better than what I have in my house, and just about as expensive.  I am so not kidding about this.  The good news is that places like Target and Kohls have knock off furniture, clothes, etc for a fraction of what the "real" AG wants to sell it for.  Sorry, I digress.

So, Sonya opens this salon chair, and it's exactly as it sounds.  You can put the doll in the chair and fix her hair.  It came with all kind of accessories to play beauty salon.  Sonya was completely excited about the gift and was ready to play the minute she opened it.  Carter, the only boy amongst all these girls, eyed it for minute or two.  He looked interested in it, but I could tell he didn't want to look interested in it, so he said to Sonya,

"Sonya, I am probably going to regret saying this, BUT I will play American Girl Doll with you if you want."

Well, don't let us twist your arm Carter!  Andy and I looked at each other and we both surpressed our laughter.  Then I immediately texted Stacy to let her know how funny her son was.  Sonya was more than happy to oblige Carter and let him play dolls with her.  

Monday was her birthday, and lucky for her, they had the day off school in honor of Veterens Day. (Thanks to all those soldiers who do and did so much for our country, my Daddy being one of them.) I told her, since she didn't have school, we could do whatever she wanted that day.  We could go anywhere, the zoo, aquarium, park.  What did she most want to do?

"I want to go to the farm and pick vegetables," was her reply. 

Yup, my daughter WANTED to go pick vegetables.  So that is what we did.  Since Stacy doesn't work  I invited her and Carter to come along with us.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize the farm we go to doesn't have 'pick your own' after October during the week.  Sonya was slightly disappointed, but there were so many other things to do there she got over it quickly.  They ran around and fed the chickens, sheep, and horses.  They had fun in the petting zoo with the baby goats, which I was ready to put in my pocket and take home they were so damn cute, and they rode the cow train a couple of times.  Then we bought some vegetables from the famers market there.  They sell the veggies they grow on that farm.  So we sorta picked our own.  Just not directly out of the ground.  

All in all, she had a fantastic birthday.  Still, 8 has been hard for me to wrap my head around. 

On Sunday night, as I was putting her to bed, I said to her, "This is your last night of being 7, I can't believe it!"

"Why?" She asked.  "It's not that big of a difference from 7 to 8."

"No?" I said.

"No! It's not like I'm turning 13 or something," she told me.

"Why, then it would be a big difference?" I asked.

"Well, yeah!" She said.  "Because then I will be old and almost dead!"

Soooo...if she thinks 13 is old and almost dead, I must be living on serious borrowed time.  Maybe she thinks we live in 1812 when 13 was old and 38 was unheard of.  The truth is, her turning 8 has made me feel old, especially because of how grown up she acts now. I guess that's what it is.  She's a big kid now, not a little girl at all.  I was prepared, somewhat, to raise babies and toddlers, but this big kid to tween to teen stuff...I am so screwed!  Help.

8 days old to...

8 years!

Happy Birthday baby girl!  I love you! No matter how old and sassy you get, you will always be that baby in my heart.

No Texting While Driving

This morning, as I was driving Georgia to school, I grabbed my phone at a stoplight.  I was going to take a picture of something, but the light changed before I had a chance, so I just held the phone in my hand for a second.  I PROMISE I wasn't doing anything on it, just holding it.  From the back seat Georgia says to me,

"Don't text, Mommy!!"

"Oh don't worry, Georgia, I'm not," I assured her.  "I was going to take a picture, but I didn't get a chance to.  I'm just holding it."  Then I put it down to show her I wasn't doing anything while driving.  Just for the record, I swear I do not text and drive.  I can't say I don't ever look at a text at a stoplight, but I always put it down when the light turns green.  Honestly, I don't know how people can text and drive at the same time.    

"Okay," she said.

"That's good that you know that I shouldn't text while I'm driving," I said.  "It's dangerous to do."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Because you will fall out of da ca."

"What?" I asked.

"You will fall out of da ca if you text when you awe dwiving," she told me. 

I'm not really sure where she got that idea from, and I thought about correcting her, but then I remembered that someday she will be driving.  Someday she will have a cell phone.  Someday she will be driving and have a cell phone.  So why not scare her into not using them together now.  So, I went with it.  

"Yup," I said.  "That could happen, so I never text while I'm driving.

"Yeah," she said.  "'Cuz you don't want to fall out of da ca!"

Kindergarten Homework

Lana has homework every week.  Yes, even in Kindergarten they get homework.  It's nothing to difficult.  They practice writing words they've learned that week or tracing and writing their letters.  It's mostly just a review for them, but it doesn't keep Lana from whining about having to do it EVERY week.  Sonya always loved doing homework and even now doesn't mind it so much.  Lana is not that kid.  The next thirteen years are going to be a blast!  

A couple weeks ago, as part of her homework, her teacher suggested they create a small sentence with the word they practiced writing.  She encouraged the parents to allow the kids to sound out words and spell them the way they hear them, even if it isn't the correct spelling.  This is how they learn to read and write, and eventually spell correctly.  I always make Lana think of the sentence on her own, even though that is often met with groans from her.  In the end she will do it, but she's NOT happy about it.

One day she was working on writing the word "me".  She got to the part where she has to write a sentence. She moaned about it for a minute then said, 

"I know!  How about I write, "That is me."

"That is a great sentence, Lana," I told her.  So she proceeded to write what she heard.

A while later I took her homework to look over it and make sure everything looked okay.  Then I saw the sentence:

If you noticed I erased a word she originally wrote.  It said "Tha tit is me."  Later I had her add the 't' at the end of 'Tha' after I got rid of the word 'tit'.    I know Mrs. Lombardo wants us to let the kids sound things out and spell it themselves, but I guess I felt completely leaving the word 'tit' in my daughter's homework would not be the best parental move.  Yes, I laughed at this for a good five minutes and even though I erased most of it, I left just a enough behind to give her teacher a good chuckle as well.  This is the kind of thing that makes the groaning about the homework just a bit more bearable.  

Trick-or-Treat

I couldn't let this week go by without giving you pictures of the girls in their Halloween costumes.  

Sonya went as Mulan, Lana was Sleeping Beauty, Andy was Johnnystein from Hotel Transylvania and yes that is a Georgia Spiderman.  That kid still LOVES Spiderman.  She was so excited to wear this costume.  She has been talking about being Spiderman for Halloween for six months now.  And to this day, I have zero idea where the whole Spiderman thing came from.  They had a great time trick-or-treating and I can't believe how long they can last now.  Gone are the days of just going down our street.  We have to go at least two or three streets now.  That equals a shit ton of candy we don't need.  We basically trade what we give out, for what they bring home, but whatever.  They have fun, and I know this stage won't last forever.  Someday I will give out candy on Halloween and it will actually be gone.  I'm not really looking forward to that day.

From Pumpkins to Jack-o-Lanterns

Sunday afternoon the girls carved pumpkins, and Andy and I helped out.  We always have them draw their own face on one, then we help them cut it out.  This year Sonya did her jack-o-lantern completely on her own and it looks pretty awesome. How is she old enough to wield a knife on her own?? The younger two drew their faces.  Lana carved most of hers with a bit of help from me.  Andy just took over the knife from Georgia.  We didn't need any ER visits right before Halloween.  He did follow her drawing though.  So here is how they came out:

Sonya, Lana, and Georgia

In the process of carving

I let Lana take my picture and it's only on here, because it's not that bad!

Displaying their work

Have a safe and Happy Halloween everyone!  Don't forget to check your kids candy for razor blades!  Or was that only when we were kids?

The Big Day

So in my last post I promised to talk about the wedding the girls were in last weekend.  I keep my promises.  Well, at least this time.

After our lovely time on Friday, dealing with Georgia and her not so friendly migraine, I just prayed that Saturday it would be completely gone.  Lucky for me someone heard that prayer and she remained vomit and mostly dizzy free for the day of the wedding.  She did complain about being dizzy twice in the morning, but it went away quickly and after a good breakfast, there were no more issues.

The wedding wasn't until 4:30, so we spent most of the day relaxing in the hotel and I made Georgia take a nap, because I knew it would be a late night.  We left to go to the wedding around 3:30 and the girls were beyond excited.  They looked absolutely adorable in their tutus.  

All dressed up and ready to go!

Since they had never been flower girls before, they weren't exactly sure what to expect. They had practiced during the rehearsal, but that was without an audience.  As we were waiting for the wedding to begin, Lana looked at me and said,

"I'm nervous!"

"You're nervous?" I said.  "Why?"

"I don't know, I just am," she replied.

"Because of all the people that are here, maybe?" I asked, and she nodded yes.

"Don't worry, girlie!  You guys are going to do great!" I assured her.

With the blushing bride

Since the wedding was outside, most people saw the girls as they arrived.  They kept commenting on how adorable they were, and we were asked the "are they twins" question a number of times from people who don't know us.  Especially when they are dressed identical, that is the question I always get.

 The wedding began and I ran to the front to wait for the girls to walk down the aisle, while Andy stayed in the back to make sure they paid attention, and went when they were supposed to. They did a fantastic job walking down the aisle and dropping their petals meticulously.  Then they sat next to me and paid attention to the ceremony.  The ceremony was perfect.  It lasted long enough to be sweet and get the job done, but not to long that Lana had to ask me "is it almost over" more than once.    

Taking their job seriously

Afterward, we had appetizers and cocktails and I let the girls have the ultimate kiddie cocktail, a Shirley Temple.  What kid doesn't love a Shirley Temple?  I would get those things anytime we went to a fancy restaurant when I was young, which in those days was not often.  Unfortunately, McDonalds never sold them.  

Kiddie Cocktails!

Signing the guestbook

Throughout the night they listened to Andy and I and their behavior was fantastic.  The best part about this, was that several people came up to us to comment on adorable they were, how well they did, and most importantly, to me anyway, how extremely well behaved they were.  No need to tell those people that just days before I had threatened to take away Halloween AND Christmas, if they even thought about misbehaving.  Nah, better to just let people think I have the best, always-listen-to-their-parents kind of kids.  Ok, the truth is, when we go to places or events like that, they are usually pretty good.  Usually.  We also received several compliments on how well mannered they were with their "pleases" and "thank yous".  That's right!  We rock this parent thing!  Well, at least we did that day.  It felt nice being told all those great things about your kids.  It almost makes up for those times I've walked around Target dragging a screaming child behind me clinging to the bottom of a shopping cart.

I just loved this picture of Lana, so had to add it!

However, when it came time for dancing and then cake, Lana was starting to lose a little patience.  She was ready to leave, but I reminded her that cake was coming soon.  That of course gave her incentive to hang on.  I forget that sometimes she freaks out  in a crowded situation.  So, I picked her up, held her and danced a bit, waiting for it to be cake time.

After cake, Lana was ready to call it a night, but then we heard the announcement for the bouquet to be thrown.  I took Sonya and Georgia and let them stand at the front of the crowd of eager girls ready to throw down to catch the bouquet.  Courtney tossed it in Sonya's direction.  She jumped and missed it, but it landed directly behind her.  She turned around to grab it, but the girl the bouquet fell in front of  was quicker than Sonya and she snatched it up.

"Ahhh!  Oh well!" I said, grabbing Georgia and reaching for Sonya who was looking down a the place the bouquet had been.  All of a sudden she looked up at me, with tears in her eyes.  Then she started bawling. Oh boy!  Definitely our cue to leave.

"Sonya, why are  you crying, baby?"  I asked.

"I didn't catch iiiiittttt!!!!" She wailed.

"Oh honey," I said trying to comfort her.  "It's okay, you're to young to get married anyway."

She just continued to cry.  I led her outside where Andy was sitting with a friend.  He gave me a questionly look when he noticed Sonya sobbing.

"She's upset she didn't catch the bouquet, " I told him.

"Oh Sonya!"  He said. "Don't be upset about that!  Do you know what it means if you catch the bouquet?"

She shook her head.

"It means  you are the one to get married next!" He informed her.  "You do NOT want that!  Are you ready to get married?"

Her crying started to subside and she shook her head again.

"I know you just wanted the flowers, girlie," I said.  "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunity at other weddings to catch the bouquet."

"Okay," she said sniffing and wiping her eyes.

We started to make the rounds to say goodbye to all of our friends in preparation to leave the festivities. They were scheduled to go on for at least another hour and we would have loved to stay and dance,  but when you have kids...

As we were about to leave I turned around to make sure we had everyone, and Sonya produced the flower bouquet, from nowhere.  Where did she get that?  Did she fleece it from it's rightful winner?
I questioned her, but as it turns out, the extremely sweet girl who grabbed it decided to  give it to Sonya.  She must have seen her crying and felt bad.  I appreciated her generosity giving it to her, but clearly this girl is not a mom.  Now Sonya's going to think all she has to do is cry at a wedding to get what she wants.  GREAT!  Seriously though, I am grateful she did give it to Sonya. It totally made her night.

We left after that and had the girls in bed at the hotel by 10pm.  A VERY late night for them.  But it was the most special of any occasions and they had been so damn good a late night was no biggie.  I was so proud of how well they did and fantastic  they behaved.  It was one of those days where I thought, "Hey look!  We ARE doing this right!"  Those times don't come around to often, so you gotta pat yourself on the back when you can.

It was a great weekend for all of us, because we got to hang out as a family and have fun.  Plus, Andy and I got to hang out and have fun with friends.  It really was the best of both worlds.  Courtney and Mark did an amazing job with every little detail of their wedding and they were both extremely happy and surprisingly relaxed all day.  They are that couple who you know will actually make it.  Something so rare anymore.  I'm so thankful they gave my girls the opportunity to have something to talk about for the rest of their lives, and for giving my entire family an enjoyable memory filled weekend.   I wish them all the best and many happy years to come.  Maybe by the time they have little girls (or boys) of their own, Sonya will be old enough to babysit.  

Congratulations Courtney and Mark!!!

Post wedding tiredness and Sonya with her pity bouquet

Rehearsal Dinner

A few months back my girls were asked to be flower girls in a wedding for a couple of our friends, Courtney and Mark. ( Hi guys!! They are avid readers of this blog and I hope they are enjoying their honeymoon right now.)  The girls were thrilled to be in a wedding and they've been counting down the months, then the weeks.  Two weeks ago, they started counting down the days until this past Saturday.  They couldn't wait.  I was also counting down the weeks and the days for something else to happen.  Then it did.  At 4am on Friday morning, the day we were to drive to Santa Barbara for the wedding rehearsal,  I woke up to Georgia standing next to my bed whining,

"Mooommmyy...I don't feel good.  I'm dizzy!"

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!  SHIT, SHIT, SHIIIIIIT!!!

Yes, this is yet ANOTHER post about that poor kid's migraines.  Sorry. I know I mention it every what- oh 7-9 weeks, but when it disrupts your life like this, it makes for good writing.

She was getting her migraines every seven weeks, like clockwork, for  ten months.  Then, the doctor put her on new medication this summer and the time extended to eight weeks in August.  This time she got it in the ninth week.  Of course it happened to be at the worst time possible.  Why not, right?  It's happened before.

Whenever she comes into my room, and says she's dizzy, I think "maybe this will go away if she sleeps some more."  It never does, but none the less I put her next to me in bed encouraging her to sleep.  She did for a couple hours only to wake up and "frow up" in the bucket.  I tried giving her Benadryl, because her doctor said sometimes that can help the nausea and vertigo.  Unfortunately, that dose of medicine immediately left her body.  So I did the only thing I could do, let her sleep and throw up for the next five hours, while I finished getting us ready to leave for the weekend.

The good news was, the wedding was the next day and hopefully she'd be better by then.  The bad news was, we had a two hour car ride, a wedding rehearsal and dinner to go to that day.

By the time we were supposed to leave she was still getting sick.  So I packed up a Tupperware container and a bucket to make sure puke didn't end up in my van or her carseat.  She slept on and off most of the way up, got sick a couple of times, but by the time we got to the hotel it was almost completely done.  She was acting more like herself and hadn't mentioned being dizzy in a while.  I thought we were out of the woods.  We were good to go!  The worst was over!!  I'm a mom, I should know better.

This migraine thing is constantly changing in her.  Much like a baby's sleep pattern.  Just when you get used to them taking two naps, they decide to move to one.  The migraine does the same thing, just when I think I have it figured out it changes.  It used to be it would last half a day, she would come out of it, but then it would come back the next morning.  The last two times, however, it is bad for half the day.  Then she kinda comes out of it, but gets dizzy on and off the rest of the day.  BUT it is only for ONE day. Which is kinda better.  Except for this day.

We went to the rehearsal and she was fine for most of it.  She learned what she was supposed to do, but toward the end she got dizzy again and I had to hold her until it was time to leave.  Good thing I still had a bucket in the car!  We got back to the hotel and she threw up again.  Then she was immediately better and hungry.  Poor kid kept bringing everything back up that she put in her body.  I gave her some apples, and they stayed down.  It was over... we were good?  I wasn't trusting it.  Stupid sneaky migraine.  By the time we were leaving for the dinner, I knew better than to think this was completely over.  I grabbed a little Ziploc baggie, knowing I couldn't walk around with a bucket at the dinner.  Well,  I guess I could, but people might talk. I stuck the little baggie in my purse.  

Georgia was great for a while.  She scarfed down some pizza and other appetizers.  Except by the time we were to sit down at dinner, her vertigo was back.  I spent most of the dinner walking in and out.  We would go outside to sit and get some air, she would feel better, we would go back inside.  This happened at least three times, once we even went to the bathroom when she claimed she was going to "frow up", but she never got sick.   

 The last time it happened was at the end of dinner.  I told Andy we needed to leave in five minutes, as she sat on my lap with her head on my chest and her eyes closed.  He looked at her and agreed.  Then Courtney and Mark came over to talk to me.  Courtney asked about Georgia, and I told her she  had a migraine all day, which is what she had suspected.  She has suffered from them herself since she was a child, so she recognized the signs.

Then as we were talking, Georgia picked her head up and looked at me with THAT look.  (Fair warning-if you're eating put down that sandwich right about now.)

"Mommy, I gonna frow...."

And then, yup.  She did indeed throw up all over me.  It went down my shirt and pooled in my bra.  I know, super gross.  Unlike the rest of the throw up all day, this was one was for real.  Most of the other times, she had nothing in her stomach so after a while it is just harmless oderless bile.  Not this one!  NOPE!!  She had been eating pizza, so I will just let you imagine what that smell was like.  BLECH!  YUCK! GROSS!  Sorry, sorry sorry!!

Earlier in the night I had taken out the Ziploc baggie I had brought with me out of my purse.  I didn't have any pockets, so at one point I just stuck it inside my bra to have it if  I needed it quickly.  So as she was getting sick on me, I discreetly took the baggie out of my bra, opened it and let her finish getting sick into there.  So at least it wasn't ALL on me.

Courtney tried to help clean me up, Andy ran over and disposed of the baggie o puke and I sat there looking around to see who might have caught the incident.  Most people were already up and out of their seats milling about, so luckily we didn't have a big audience.  But the smell was, well, it was throw up.  So we did the only thing we could do.  We left without saying goodbye to anyone.  We would see them the next day at the wedding, after all, and I promise at that point, nobody would have wanted to come near me anyway. 

On the ride back to the hotel Andy and I were talking about how fun it was having our child throw up at a wedding rehearsal dinner.  Then he looks at me and says,

"Where did the baggie come from??"

I shrugged and said, "My bra."

He looked at me questioningly.

"What?" I said. "I'm a mom!  Always gotta be prepared, baby!"


Fortunately, that was the last time Georgia got sick.   We went back to the hotel and took a shower, and then I got acquainted with Marriott's laundry room.  I was so happy they had one.  I did not want THOSE clothes sitting around all weekend.

Happy ending to this part of the story though, the next day, the wedding day, Georgia claimed to be dizzy only twice in the morning.  However, all her food stayed down and she was great all day.  The wedding was....well, I will wait until the next post to tell you about that.  All I can promise you is that it was a  day entirely throw up free!