Monday, December 26, 2011

Syd's 1st Birthday

There are still a few topics I need to blog about, but I'm feeling...guilty?...and am going to post pictures from Sydney's 1st birthday.  She is 34 days away from turning 2, but better late than never, right?  Her party was at our house.  Nothing over-the-top special, just lots of friends and family and food (although it was a "cowboy" theme...sort of).  It was great.  We are going to celebrate her 2nd birthday early on January 21st, and it is going to be a joint party for Chet (who is turning 30 on the 12th!), Sydney (turning 2 on the 27th), and me (turning 28 on the 31st).  We are doing it early, because the end of January is awfully close to Chet's deployment date.  (We don't know for such what day he is going to deploy, and I couldn't post it here even if we did know.  But the closer deployment gets, the higher the stress level, and we don't want that at a party.)

Decorations


We did mini cupcakes instead of a cake.


Pre-Party Sydney


Party Guests

Uncle Todd, Aunt Raquel, and Hailey

Aunt Jenni and Jacob

She didn't want to wear the hat...


...but Daddy can wear the hat!


This was the look on her face while we sang "Happy Birthday."

This was her first time eating a true "sweet."  She really just ate the icing, but certainly enjoyed it!  She also wasn't interested in getting really messy.  Fine with me.  A woman after my own heart. 





There were way too many pictures of Sydney opening presents, so I'm only posting a few funny ones.




We did our best to get a "cousin" picture.  When this picture was taken, there were four cousins (one couldn't make it), and now there are six! 
Jacob, Hailey, and Sydney
And here's an outtake, LOL.  (Sydney, Hailey doesn't want your pacifier!)

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!  My mom is in town and leaves tomorrow, so we are having Christmas dinner today.  We will still open presents tomorrow morning though, and are looking forward to Sydney's 2nd Christmas and Lorelei's 1st!

Friday, December 23, 2011

2 Months Old!

I can't believe Lorelei is 2-months old!  Here are her 2-month pictures, compared to the month before:








Starting to look suspicious (no more pictures!)...

Thursday, December 22, 2011

I was right...

...Sydney DOES think marshmallows are called "one more".  She started requesting "one more" when she saw my coffee cup this morning.  (Thank goodness there really was coffee in it when she peered in.)  However, I was not dumb enough to make Mistake #6, which would have been to retrieve the giant bag of marshmallows from the pantry and correct her misnomer.  No, Sirree.  Let her think what she wants this time, and hopefully let her forget.

Some Pictures

I've been bad about posting (and taking) pictures lately, so here are a few.

Lorelei sitting in her little lamb seat, staring suspiciously at the little lamb.

I thought it would be a good idea to make (boxed) cupcakes with Sydney.  But Lorelei wanted to be held right when we started making them, so I had a lot less control over the mess.  Therefore, my smile in this picture is mostly fake, and is hopefully masking my frustration (frustration at myself for thinking making cupcakes with a cranky 22-month old and a screaming newborn was a good idea!).

Same day as the cupcake fiasco, right before Sydney's bedtime.  Please ignore my outfit and my hair.

My girls!

Lorelei napping in her little lamb swing.  I love their sleeping positions.

Sydney's haughty picture look.  She only makes this face when it's time to take a picture.  She also looks like she needs a haircut.  Hmm...  She is holding a Big Bird Play-Doh that Chet made for her.

Play-Doh fun.  This is the only way I can tolerate the mess.  Contain the mess in the kitchen, and make sure to strip Sydney down to her diaper, otherwise she will sprint away from me with Play-Doh clinging to her pants and will leap onto the couch, transferring all of the Play-Doh onto the microfiber fabric.  (Lorelei is as happy as a clam watching the scene; this was the same day Chet had his minor shoulder surgery, hence the bandage.)

Lorelei, as happy as a clam, watching the Play-Doh scene.

Sydney "working".

Haughty look again.

Lorelei's haughty look.

Chubby cheeks!

Last Saturday Chet and I attended a Christmas party hosted by his CO.  Grant was in town, so he was able to keep Sydney (and take our picture).  No kids were allowed at the party, but we were able to take Lorelei with us.  Here we are holding our crying children.



Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Marshmallows

Today I made a mistake.  Let me explain.  I really like drinking hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows (that's not the mistake, although it is probably A mistake...after "the holidays" I need to give it up, because otherwise I'm going to blow up like a blimp).  Anyway, I was making myself some hot chocolate this morning, and Sydney had just finished her raisins (I served them to her in a little Tupperware bowl rather than the raisin box).  Because I was feeling generous and Sydney was acting sweet, I gave her 10 marshmallows (don't worry, they're the very smallest ones; I'm not crazy enough to give her 10 giant marshmallows) in the bowl.  This was my mistake (well, the first of many in a series).  She was really happy.  She's had marshmallows before, but not in quite a while, so this was definitely a treat for her.  After she was finished (approximately 7 seconds after I handed them to her), she demanded "more!".  I was anticipating this, so I calmly explained they were all gone.  This usually works.  Then she spotted the gigantic bag of marshmallows on the counter behind me.  Oops.  She didn't really say anything, but definitely gave me a doubtful look and a semi-stink eye.

Mistake #1: Giving Sydney 10 marshmallows.
Mistake #2: Not putting the bag of marshmallows back in the pantry before telling Sydney they were "all gone".

Mistake #3: I set my cup of hot chocolate and marshmallows on the end table next to the recliner.  It was time to feed Lorelei, so I needed to sit there.  Sydney knew Mommy's coffee (pronounced "cobby") was in the cup, but the mound of marshmallows must have been so high that she spotted one.  She peered into the cup, saw the marshmallows, and demanded "more!".  I told her "No, those are Mommy's".  This usually works too, but not this time.  She started to cry real tears.

***I'm back from a brief hiatus.  As I was typing this, Sydney was handing me various stuffed animals.  Her pig was wearing a onesie that she wanted me to remove.  After I took it off I asked her, "Are you going to give your pig a bath?".  Then she ran back to the living room.  I thought she was going to get more stuffed animals for me to kiss, hold, and de-clothe, so I went back to typing.  Then I realized how quiet it was, and heard footsteps upstairs.  Sheesh!  I had forgotten to put up the gate to block the stairs.  Sydney climbs the stairs by herself quite well, but we don't let her do it alone.  But she doesn't know that, and naturally headed upstairs as soon as I mentioned bathing her pig.  I don't give the girl enough credit.  Don't worry, the gate is up now and she is using Lorelei's little tub to "bathe" her pig.***

Mistake #4: "Okay, Sydney, you can have ONE MORE".  Sydney was happy.  She thought the marshmallows were called "one more", so she requested "one more".  I said, "No, Sydney, you already had one more".  Then my phone rang.  It was TRICARE calling to conduct a survey about my hospital stay when Lorelei was born.  I HAD to take the call, because yesterday I told them I could DEFINITELY talk at 10 a.m. today, and they had already called four or five times before.  They SAY that you can decline participating in the survey and that it won't affect your medical care...but they say it so quickly and so under-their-breaths-like that I don't believe them and am not willing to risk declining the survey.  I think the joke ended up being on them though, because Sydney continued to shriek "ONE MORE!" in the background and Lorelei would cry sporadically in my arms.

Mistake #5: I continued to give Sydney "one more" marshmallow in order to keep her as quiet as possible during the survey.  She cried real tears every time I tried to refuse by shaking my head "no", and I couldn't resist.

Summary: Don't give a toddler marshmallows out of the kindness of your heart, lie to her that they're all gone before putting them out of sight, put your own cup with a mound of marshmallows right next to her, and then consent to "one more."

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Adventures in Babyland

Eek, 10 days since my last post!

Today was Lorelei's 2-month well-baby appointment, but I need to lead up to it...

This morning was a typical one.  Lorelei's appointment wasn't until 2:00 p.m., so I had plenty of time to get all of us ready and Sydney to the CDC by 10:30 a.m.  (I do everything in my power not to take Sydney to the hospital for appointments that are not her own.  This usually means drop-in care at the base's Child Development Center.  The rule is that she has to be dropped off before 10:30 a.m., or after 1:30 p.m., so as not to interfere with the CDC's lunch/nap time routine.  Makes sense.)  Anyway, we were doing fine, but 10:00 a.m. rolled around and I knew I needed to start moving with a sense of purpose.  The only things left to do were change Lorelei's diaper and finish getting her dressed.  She had been sitting in her swing until this point, so I transferred her from the swing to the changing table...and smelled poop.  No big deal.  Then I FELT poop (wetness, as I started to remove her onesie).  Okay, still no big deal.  A little leaked out the side.  All I needed to do was change her onesie.  But I needed to go upstairs to get a new one from her closet, and different socks, because the socks I HAD picked out were pink, and the new outfit I was envisioning for her was red, and EVERYONE (except Chet) knows that pink and red clash (except on Valentine's Day) and OH MYLANTA!  Why was the entire back side of her onesie wet?!?!  What the--  Oh no.  Her previously white swing had changed to the color of baby poop.  And every mom knows that poopy things need to be washed ASAP.  Especially borrowed things, like swings.  (Don't worry, Amy.  If you're reading this, your swing is as good as new!)  But it was 10:15 by this point, and it takes just under 10 minutes to get to the CDC.  And I still had to put Sydney's socks and shoes on her and load everyone in the car (in addition to dealing with the poop bomb).  And that's exactly what it was: a poop bomb.  Unlike one I'd ever seen.  Like lightening, I cleaned up the mess (but left the poopy swing), wrestled Lorelei into her Baby Gap skinny jeans (seriously, Ashley?) and threw on a pajama top that was nearby.  She went sockless and shoeless into her car seat.  I loaded everyone in the car (I left my diaper bag, wallet, and phone at home) and we arrived at the CDC with five minutes to spare.  Whew!  Because if you are even ONE MINUTE  late you WILL get the stink eye.

Did I mention that when I was taking Lorelei's car seat out of the car at the CDC, I noticed one of her bare feet had poop on it?  Sheesh. 

To be continued...  Oh, wait.  Lorelei weighs 10 lbs, 12 oz.  I have no idea how "long" she is; I forgot to ask.  But she's just under the 50th percentile in height, weight, and head circumference.  Details to follow.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Surgery and Christmas Pictures

Not much time to blog lately.  This past Wednesday Chet had a minor surgery done on his shoulder (the same one he had major surgery done on in April).  His shoulder has been bothering him, so they did an MRI, and the orthopedist thought part of the hardware that was put in his shoulder in April had slipped and was in the wrong place.  So they went in to take it out, but it wasn't there.  Hmm.  Anyway, the doctor went ahead and removed some of the scar tissue from his April surgery, so hopefully that will help with the pain (or better yet, fix the pain).  We shall see!  But Chet has been home from work since Wednesday; he goes back to work Monday. 

Friday morning we went to Portrait Innovations to get our picture made.  We had never been, and it was a much different experience than what we're used to with Tina Nitz.  We got a few good shots, but...I miss Tina (she spoiled us)!  We also ordered Christmas cards/birth announcements.  We'll be sending those out shortly, and it is SO GOOD to have those done!  (Had I waited any longer, they would have never been done.)

In all of these family Christmas shots, Sydney either isn't looking at the camera or looks confused, LOL.




Poor Lorelei!

I told Chet, "They better not make us do any prom poses!".  This one was a little  too close for comfort...