Belly and The Bug: June 2009

Adrift in a sea of boxes

Please pardon the lack of posts lately - my usual nighttime blog time has been filled with unpacking boxes. The girls have not been too keen on giving me the latitude needed to unpack during the day, so I have only a few hours every night to make headway. A lot of headway that simply does not make. BUT - Bri and Dan came over on Sunday and helped me make some progress. PLUS - Bri is coming over tomorrow evening; a friend and her daughter are coming on Thursday during the day to run interference with the girls; and Bri said she'd come hang on Friday during the day since she has a vacation day from work. The unpacking shall get done (whether I like it or not, I suppose).

This house is SO big. I'm used to being able to hear what's happening upstairs while I'm downstairs and vice-versa. That just doesn't happen here. In fact, I keep having to call out to the girls and locate them when we're all on the main level. I'll call, "BUUUUUGGGGGYYYYYYYYY!!!!! BEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYY!!!!!" and I'll hear the patter of little feet in the distance getting closer and closer. Or not - and then I have to run in the kitchen and make sure they haven't somehow figured out how to put each other in the oven (everything else has been baby-proofed). They really are having a big ol' time scampering about. I love seeing them so happy. I can't wait until all of the box-chaos is done and they know where all of their stuff is. For the moment, their toys and books are out in the sun room. I'm also going to give them the bottom level or two of shelves in the library. And Jonas informed me last weekend that he's about to start building a play kitchen for them. I'm going to put it in the eat-in part of the kitchen so they can cook while I cook. How cute will that be??

In other news, Belly had an eye exam today. It was the first she's had since November and obviously the first time she's been to the pediatric ophthalmologist out here. I liked the doctor. He was very gentle and thorough. Belly HATED him...for most of the visit. She seemed to deeply resent the fact that he was all up in her grill and positively screamed with everything she had every single time he tried to examine her eyes. She's such a strong little kid that I couldn't hold her. Dude and I switched spots so he could try to snuggle her/hold her still. It only half worked. Finally, finally, finally she calmed down. Dude sat in the exam chair and held her on his lap facing out. I knelt in front of the chair and hugged her. Dude and The Bug rubbed her back. This was the only way that worked - but it WORKED. She let the doctor do a full exam and by the end of it, she was reaching out to touch his hands and his glasses and was pleasant. Then he gave her a sticker and I think she forgave him completely.

After all of that, there's good news and bad news that will ultimately be good news. The good: Belly doesn't need to wear her glasses anymore. This means the fighting to keep them on her is a thing of the past! How about an amen? Can I get an amen?! AMEN!! And how about a woot?! WOOT!!

Now, the bad that will ultimately be good: She doesn't need the glasses because they're not correcting her crossing. What she needs is surgery - probably within the next six months. I hate to think about my little baby-kid going in to surgery but I like the idea of having the problem FIXED. And putting the whole ordeal behind us. We're going back for a follow-up to today's exam in about a month and we'll get the full story on the surgery then. We understand WHY the surgery, but not the HOW yet. Today was totally traumatic and there was a lot to process, so we just left all the detail questions for next time.

It's a non-stop party here, isn't it?

Anyway - boxes are calling me. More soon.

It's moving day!

Goodbye, average rental house. Heellllllllooooooooooooo, Charmer!!!!!!!!!!

Scattershot

I haven't blogged in a few days, so there is much to write about. Here it is in no particular order...

Belly had her evaluation this morning. She's basically a baby-kid rockstar. The developmental specialist, the physical therapist and the audiologist all confirmed that there's nothing wrong with her - she's just a late walker (most likely the result of being preemie). The relief I felt this morning was MORE than palpable. We are going to get, however, an Early Intervention eval. The physical therapist suggested that Belly's fine motor skills might benefit from some occupational therapy - you know, to help her catch up faster. Sure! Sign us up! Sounds good to me! I want my girl to have every advantage.

Next...

Who knew when I decided that we must paint the gawd-awful red dining room and the gawd-awful royal blue girls' room at the new house before we moved in that it would turn into such an all-encompassing effing production? We started on Wednesday night (see previous post), painted some Thursday night, until 1:30am Friday night/Saturday morning, most of the day Saturday and most of the day Sunday. What made two rooms take that long? Well, the dining room was a deep, blood red so it needed two coats of primer. Plus the woodwork literally had the old paint (which was off-white) peeling up, so that was all pulled off, sanded, primed and painted white (it was salmon-colored under the off-white). The dining room is now olive green. If you hate it, don't tell me. I wasn't 100% sure about it at first but now I L-O-V-E it.

The dining room was nothing, though, compared to the girls' room. I don't know why, but this bedroom has siding on all four walls. It is clear that it has always been part of the inside of the house so it was someone's conscious design choice at one point. And to that person I say, "YOU SUCK." Every single board needed to be cut-in with a paint brush and then a 4-inch roller could be used. And since it was royal blue, it too needed two coats of primer. And I had a three-color scheme planned, adding to the fun. Fortunately, only one of those colors needed a second coat. In the end, I think it's totally fab. But it's not going to be repainted until the girls are old enough to do it themselves. I will wish them well in their endeavor as I sip cocktails on the back deck.

Here are some pics of both rooms:

The dining room before...

...and after.

I should mention here that the kitchen you see in the background will be a very soft tangerine before the year is out.

The girls' room before...

...and after.

I would be remiss if I didn't give two resounding woots - Woot! Woot! - to Bri for making many of those loathsome hours of painting possible by babysitting for us. I did the math and I think she watched the girls about 22 hours this past week PLUS helped us paint on Wednesday. YOU ROCK, BRI!

Next...

While looking for some cleaning assistance on Craigslist earlier today, I came across an ad entitled "Free Carpet Cleaning for the Ladies." The body of the post went on to say "I have my own carpet cleaning business. I can do a free carpet cleaning for the ladies who have a fantasy of being with a uniformed carpet cleaning technician. A+ if you like it in the back door. Have time today or Wednesday." Ew. And by that I mean ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, EW. Ew.

Next...

Two days ago, my president Barack Obama (I can't tell you how nice it is to say those last four words, so I still like to use them whenever I refer to him) took his daughters to my favorite frozen custard place THREE BLOCKS from our old place in DC. Big giant audible sigh. PLUS he's been to Five Guys - my fav burger joint. He is really doin' it right back there. It makes me proud.

That's all for now. It's nearly midnight and I'm pooped.

I almost had to sell the Charmer last night

My mom, being the most excellent mom that she is, drove 3+ hours from her place to ours yesterday so she could babysit Belly and the Bug while Dude and I got some painting done at the new house. I did not request this of her. She simply informed me on Monday that this was her plan. Nice, huh? I even headed back over to the house to do some more painting this morning, too. Mom's the best!!!!

And Bri very generously helped Dude and I paint last night. Our goal was to get the dining room and the girls' room and closet prepped and primed. We got it mostly done (I finished the girls' room this morning). Our system was that Bri and I prepped the dining room and then moved upstairs while Dude started the painting. It seemed to be working out alright. Until I was alone in the girls' room for a minute and the light flashed off-on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off-on. If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I am TERRIFIED of ghosts. So, I panicked. Bri then told me that the tape had mysteriously rolled into her foot a little earlier. This, of course, led to the two of us high-tailing it down to the dining room where I hemmed and hawed and finally said to Dude, "Um, we're scared. The light kept turning on and off. The tape rolled into Bri's foot. Can we stay with you?" To which Dude mocked us and basically told us to get our butt's back up there. Bri and I decided that the house didn't seem scary - just those things did - and that whomever was here was clearly "good." So we went back up.

The more we talked about it, the more I felt like there wasn't anyone but us there. I learned that Bri had just set the tape down when it rolled, so no real mystery (it just caught her off guard). We had been taping the closet - which is a walk-in closet out in the hallway, not actually part of the bedroom - and I walked back into the girls' room. I turned on the light and commented to Bri that I was SURE there weren't scary ghosts in the house. AND THAT'S WHEN THE LIGHT DID IT AGAIN!!!! I yelled for Dude to get up there and he came quickly. I told him it happened again and we stood there waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Finally Dude walked over to the switch, turned it off, flipped it on and THERE! My heart was racing. Dude looked at me like I was the biggest moron ever. He was all, "Look. It's an old switch. You have to push it all the way up or it sort of hovers around three-quarters up. It's not establishing a solid connection so it's flickering." And he did it again to prove his point.

Me: "Oh. Well. Thanks. Sorry. I was scared. I still want to sage the house."

The eye-rolling continued and he went back downstairs. I can't say I really blame him. But wouldn't you have been scared? I went back by myself this morning to finish painting that very room and everything was fine. I even went to the basement by myself to use the utility sink. Nothing scary. Whew! I was a little worried that we had made a terrible, terrible mistake.

Sissy

This is a comparison that I never thought I'd make, but in at least one way, my family is like the Osbournes. Remember how their oldest daughter, Amy, didn't want to be on their reality show so it looked to the whole world like they only had Kelly and Jack? Well, my youngest sister has decided that she would like to be removed from my blog. I cannot easily accommodate that, however, because she is a significant part of my life and affects it in many ways, usually for the richer. I can't pretend she doesn't exist. I have decided that a fair option would be to change her name, so from here on out I will refer to her as Sissy. And I've changed every post in which she was ever mentioned to reflect this. I'd also like to publicly apologize if I've ever aired anything that could be deemed her "dirty laundry." That was never my intent and I thought I had been careful to reflect that in my wording of any situation that did not directly involve me.

Why I am not a fan of pets that live outside of an aquarium

Today seemed to be going down just like an ordinary day - the girls and I chilled and played all day; Dude worked; we had family fun-time this evening; we ate dinner; Dude took the girls upstairs for a shower before bed; and then the plan was to get those little critters to sleep as soon as possible so we could go about getting our chores done. Only, that's not what happened. Dude took the girls upstairs for their shower and as I was embarking on the weekly grocery list, I heard Dude exclaim, "Ohhh NOOOOOOOOO!!!! Don't move!! Stay still!!" I had no idea what could be happening - poisonous snake in the house? rabid raccoon? WHAT?? - so I took the stairs three at a time to get up there and see what I would need to say to the 911 operator.

Dude heard me and said, "Open the door VERY slowly!" My heart sank. I was just starting to crack the door and I could already smell poop. In our carpeted bedroom. I opened the door slowly (I'm very good at following directions) and there was Belly wearing only a purple long-sleeved tshirt, holding my little green satin handbag, and hovering over a massive pile of poop on the floor. The Bug was trying to get all up in her business to see what had happened. I so wanted to take a picture, but the camera wasn't anywhere near the bedroom.

The whole thing was pretty gross and we dealt with it like good parents, blah, blah - but THIS is why there aren't any puppies in the girls' near future. Dude and I are both a little allergic, which is a convenient excuse, but really it's the shit. And the hair. And the dog slobber. Ew. I'm totally getting disgusted thinking about it. I like fish because they don't have those kinds of issues. Plus they don't bark and whine and need to be taken out at inconvenient times. Yep, fish are great. They taste good, too.

A recap of mayhem...sorta

This weekend had its highs and lows, but I think it can be summed up in 4 words: Family. Everyone's got one. Let's just leave it at that. That way I don't run the risk of insulting some but not others. It seems like it just wouldn't be right if I didn't insult EVERYONE, so I'm not taking my chances. Let's instead move on to some seriously major news...

I know that I have made proud declarations on here before about Belly walking and I now run the risk of sounding like that kid who cried, "Wolf!" but FOR REALS, she's walking. And this is so incredibly exciting because let's face it - she's almost 20 months old and stubborn as hell. If she didn't want to walk until she was five, there was nothing I could do. Over the last week, she's decided that she's walking more than crawling and, in fact, crawling rarely happens anymore. She's grown steadier and steadier and steadier. It's awesome!! I've even considered canceling her evaluation, but nah - I'm going to keep it as is just to confirm that she's simply a late walker.

And the Bug is talking up a storm. She babbles nonstop, even repeating "yammer, yammer, yammer" (which cracks my shit up). Of course, from her it sounds more like "yammy, yammy, yammy." She also just started pointing to the ceiling and saying "up" (accompanied by "da" for down) and pointing to one side with "back" (and "doh" for forth). That Skippy Jon Jones - his book of opposites is having a profound effect on my little girl.

I should also brag about that other baby of mine, the Charmer. I think she's more of an old lady than a baby, though - one of those beautiful old ladies who smiles knowingly and smells like rose water, not one who complains about everything and steals the packets of jelly from Denny's. I've spent a fair amount of time over at my new home the last few days and I am pleased to say that I'm simply more in love with her than ever. I've already had a plumber over there; have calls in to a few electricians; have lined up a handyman; and have paint colors already assigned. This week and next will be sorta nuts as we get her spruced up and then we'll move at the end of next week (the last weekend in June). There is SO much to do, but I don't mind. Somehow it will all get done. I'm trying to be very Zen about the whole thing. Good luck to me on that one, right? A move in a week and a half with twins and a husband who works 9000 hours a week? Should be no problem for me to keep my cool...

Matriculation

Today, along with the 1900 others at this particular ceremony, Bri graduated from college. It wasn't hard to pick her out in the sea of black caps and gowns because her cap quite clearly said, "PEACE CORPS OR BUST" in large letters on the top. Very cute. The whole ceremony was nice and I got a little misty when I saw her accepting her diploma and shaking hands on the jumbo-tron at the Rose Garden Arena. Belly and the Bug were mostly good during the ceremony, but Dude and I had to take them outside for a little while. I guess it was during that time that some guy accepted his diploma then raised his robe and danced back to his seat - whilst only wearing a shiny green grape-smuggler bathing suit under the robe. Dang - sorry to have missed that ridiculousness in the midst of an otherwise pretty mellow ceremony.

Afterward, we all went to an excellent German restaurant called The Rheinlander for a big family meal. They have wonderful weinerschnitzel. And I think the lunch was fine...sometimes it's nice to have the girls as an excuse to not get too involved in what's happening around me. Mom was there with her boyfriend, but her ex-husband was there, too, since he played a significant role in raising Bri (and they still keep in touch, etc.). Bri and Sissy have been fighting like cats and dogs for a few months and Sissy only decided to come to the festivities at the last minute, but even they seemed to get along. I just stayed away from everyone's drama. That's the way I like it.

I'm at home now and writing this quickly while my family naps. The rest of the family will be here any minute. We're going to get pizza and play games tonight. I hope the day continues in a drama-less manner. Keep your fingers crossed. I know I will.

IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry to pull out the all-caps title for the second time in a row, but people, my friends, my darlings - The Charmer is officially MINE!!!!!!!!!!!! Everything has been signed, sealed and delivered. I'm just waiting for our realtor to get the keys and bring them to me. OH. MY. FUCKING. GOD. I think I just thew up a little in my mouth.

SHE DID IT!!

Bri has been accepted into the Peace Corps! She leaves next April and will be heading somewhere in Africa to do HIV/AIDS education. I am so, so, so, so proud of her. What an adventure! What a life-altering experience! What a...wait. No. How totally uncool. I really only have a babysitter until April?? Bri, if you're reading this, I hope you're not busy every weekend for the next ten months. Dude and I need to pack 27 months of dates into 10 months. Hm. That kinda sounds like the plot to a bad chick-flick starring Kate Hudson, doesn't it? Do you think in the end everyone's happy and we see a montage of the family going to Africa to visit their beloved sister/aunt/babysitter? Now THAT would be cool.

Anyway - HOORAY FOR BRI!!! Even though I've turned this little blog into a post all about me and my needs, I truly am excited for her. Now this is puke-worthy!

I might puke

Way back in spring of 1998, Erika, Jonas and I went on vacation together to Hawaii. It was the first time we'd ever done something together as adults and we had a really, really awesome time. Erika lived in Arkansas, Jonas was here in Oregon and I lived in LA. Erika flew in to LA to spend the night with me before we both left together the next day for our trip. I was so excited for this vacation and Erika arriving that, well, I puked right before I left for the airport to get her. That quickly became the measuring stick for excitement in our family. One can claim to be excited, but unless there's some up-chucking involved, how much anticipation is there really?

I'm feeling awfully close to pukey over getting the Charmer. PLUS Erika gets here Wednesday for a long weekend (Bri's college graduation is this weekend!). Come Wednesday night, I might seriously need someone to hold my hair.

Weekend Update with...me

This has been a pretty great weekend, all things considered (not to be confused with Weekend All Things Considered). Friday night, Dude picked up some mondo burritos from a hole-in-the-wall place near here where English is spoken only limitedly. We shared a chorizo burrito and a chile rellenos burrito. Goooooooood stuff, I tell you. Plus I made margaritas. And, my friends, I should let the cat out of the bag and tell you that I make some of the best margaritas in the whole wide world - not too sour, not too sweet, not too boozy, just super delicious. That's a little perk left over from my bartending days (I make an excellent cosmo, as well). Anyway - yummy dinner and cocktails and then some serious lazing around after the girls went to bed.

Saturday morning was spent doing a little prep work for moving - taking apart our bed frame, packing up a few random things, blah, blah. After the girls got up from their early afternoon nap, though, we took them to the children's museum. SO fun. Dude had never been and Belly and Buggy hadn't been in awhile, so it was like discovering it all new for the first time. We also met the girls' friend Wesley and his mom there. I really like her. They're going to be moving sorta near our new house soon, too, so it'll be nice to have a built-in friend already over there. Here's a picture of Belly, Wesley and the Bug in the water room at the museum. In this picture, Buggy looks exactly like Erika did when she was a tiny tot.

After the museum, we went to the store to grab dinner provisions. Dude and I each carried a kid. I had the Bug and I gave her a sample of a little pastry when we walked in. About five minutes later, I realized that she was making a funny face. She still had that food in her mouth! I kept trying to get her open her mouth but she wouldn't do it. She made all kinds of crazy faces, though, and I was busting up laughing as I walked through the store. She's a really funny kid. I should post a montage of her goofy faces repertoire sometime.

So we came home, fed girlies, bathed them and put them to bed. Well, Dude did. I spent most of that time making this awesome catfish (dredged in spices, egg whites, crushed cornflakes; baked; drizzled with spicy sauce; sorta like buffalo chicken but with fish). As soon as the girls were down, we ate and then watched a movie. We spooned on the couch just like in the days of yore. Seriously - I asked Dude if he remembered the last time we watched a movie like that and he said it was when I was still pregnant. It felt so good to be doing something that we used to do all the time. Like we were regaining part of "us."

It's funny how having a kid (or in our case, kids) takes such a toll on marital intimacy. I'm not talking about sex per se, but more the random snuggling and physical closeness. There's always a kid or two who wants to be in the lap or otherwise between us. It was a wonderful luxury to spend a full two hours that close to each other without being asleep.

This morning got off to a lazy start and Bri came over (as she does most Sunday mornings). I made fatty breakfast burritos. I drank copious amounts of coffee. I basically accomplished very little today and just played with the girls. That is how Sunday should be.

Tomorrow we sign the paperwork for the house. Tuesday is a "processing" day. On Wednesday, the Pricks do their signing and we should have the keys Wednesday evening. After everything we've been through (and there is still a little drama surrounding getting our down payment money transferred from our account in DC - but I have every confidence that will be sorted out tomorrow morning), I will only believe the Charmer is ours when, well, it's ours. But I so can't wait for it to be ours!!

If only baby butt took away the dark circles under my eyes

I cannot wait to get a new futon for the girls. Dude and I alternate getting up with them in the night (one of them - sometimes both - always wakes up and stands at the gate in the doorway crying). And whoever gets up usually crawls into bed with them in an effort to get them back down...and of course crashes and sleeps the rest of the night in bed with the girls. That futon is seriously old and seriously uncomfortable.

*Special interjection for Erika: Don't worry - I'll put an air mattress on top of it when you stay here next week.

Anyway, I have ended up in with the girls the last three nights in a row. Dude has been cranking out some long work hours and I figured he deserved five uninterrupted hours of sleep each of those nights and I volunteered to be the middle-of-the-night parent. By the time last night rolled around, I was major-league tired. That did not stop me, though, from staying up really late watching recorded So You Think You Can Dance and The Fashion Show (please don't judge me on my crap-television viewing habits - or go ahead and know that I really don't care). I went up to bed about 12:40am and as I was just about to pull back the covers to snuggle in with my sleeping Dude, the Bug woke up and started howling at the gate. I never even touched my bed. I went straight to the girls' room and hunkered down for the night. Only the Bug was UP. For hours. Dude said he heard me bitching at her about 4am. I know the particular bitching he's referring to because I got a little loud (can you say beyond tired and frustrated?). She finally fell asleep shortly after that.

All of a sudden, I awoke from a dream where I felt like I was being smothered...only to discover that a diaperless kid was crawling over my face. I sat up and Belly started laughing as I flipped her around. Yep. No diaper. I did a quick assessment of the scene: morning light coming in the window, water/pee-logged diaper in the far corner of the room, brand new package of wipes almost completely pulled out into a pile on the floor, every book and toy off the shelves and the Bug sitting with her back to me reading a Richard Scarry book. At which point Belly gave me a kiss and announced to the Bug, "Mama." The Bug turned around, made note of me, sorta looked like she was annoyed at having her reading interrupted, then promptly went back to her book. I grabbed my phone. 6:49am. To which I thought, WTF?!

Seriously. Those girls clearly had been up for awhile. I can understand Belly having plenty of energy, but the Bug? Does she not need sleep anymore?! That just doesn't work for me. I'd like to say this in a way that does not mince words: I need her to sleep so that I can sleep. I am not a good parent at 4am. I beg. I swear. I want to cry. It's not pretty.

Tonight Dude is on kid duty. I hope everyone sleeps through the night. I know I will.

Sneaky pete

Twice today - TWICE! - I caught Belly walking around when she didn't think I was watching. The first time was at Swap 'n Play (this cool kid hangout place that we go to). I was doing something with the Bug and I looked across the room to check on Belly, who had been playing at the Little Tykes Kitchen for the past ten minutes. She wasn't there. Immediately out of the corner of my eye I saw her walking from a baby push toy about fifteen feet to the kiddie trampoline. It was AWESOME. As soon as I called her name, she dropped to the floor and whipped her head around to figure out where I was. And then, of course, she started crawling toward me like a whining maniac. The second time was this afternoon. We were at home and I was in the kitchen getting the girls a snack. I looked across the dining room toward the living room and Belly just came walking around the corner of the couch to the big basket of books. She crouched down, picked out a book, stood up and headed back around the front of the couch. Unfortunately, she took a digger when she slipped on a toy (she wasn't hurt but she crawled away with her book). But, PEOPLE! How exciting!! She walked for the sake of getting from one place to another! Neither time was a show-boat move because Mama was making her practice walking! It was straight-up strolling along.

As I drove home from an appointment this afternoon, I thought about what to do as an extra special little treat for her but upon arrival, I discovered that Dude had already provided both girls with treats. Bright yellow sno-cones at the park. That's right - liquid, food-colored sugar poured over ice. He beamed from ear to ear, "They loved it!" Well, duh! Fortunately, they were already coming down off their sugar-induced high by that time so I didn't have to deal with any crazy antics. I ended up not doing anything special for Belly because, let's be honest, I can't compete with sno-cones. I'll put some more thought into it for another day, though.

As a side note, look at this sno-cone-related headline. Holy yikes! At least the girls didn't have blue ones.

Duh

Why did I shoot myself in the foot like that yesterday? Why did I say that it was all fine? Talk about a jinx. Today is...uh...rough.

My precious darlings

Have I mentioned lately that I have two adorable little girls? I'd say babies, but well, they like to pretend they're babies (Q: What does the baby sound like when she's crying? A: WHAAAAAH! or Q: What does the baby sound like when she's giggling? A: TEE HEE HEE HEE) and that makes them seem pretty unbaby-like the rest of the time. I'm slowly accepting this. Don't push it, though, okay? I figure I'll embrace it whole-heartedly by the time they leave for college. Or not.

Anyway, my sweet, precious little girls are alternately loving me up in a way I've never known and experimenting with various forms of tantrum-throwing. Belly likes to give some serious squeezes these days. She'll look me straight in the eye with a small smile on her face and then go in for a gigantic hug. She'll hold me super tight and rock back and forth - then withdraw a little to smile at me again and go in for another. It so melts me. Belly also has been practicing throwing herself down on the floor in full sob if she doesn't get her way. She had four of these tantrums last Friday alone.

Not to be outdone in either department, the Bug is definitely holding her own. She's doling out big kisses - complete with MWAH! sound effect - on a regular basis. She'll gladly give them when asked for a kiss, but she's also been smothering me in them whenever the fancy strikes her. She's even been running up to me, smooching away, then darting off in a fit of giggles. More than the drop-and-sob approach to tantrums that Belly is perfecting, the Bug has been focused on the stomp-and-whine technique. It's almost like she's running in place as she starts to whine and cry about whatever perceived injustice she's suffering (e.g. not getting to help with cooking, not receiving the first bite of yogurt, not getting to rip the book out of her sister's hands that she really wants to read that very moment).

The love is abundant and the tantrums are frustrating. And they can very easily be within moments of each other. It's mighty impressive to see the girls turn the charm both on and off so quickly. Oddly enough, I feel like I'm handling this much better than I would've expected (given my short temper when there is biting involved). Maybe it's because I understand that tantrums stem from frustration and there are SO many times I wish I could throw my own big tantrum. Or maybe it's because they are so dang lovey-dovey the other times that it's easier to roll with the craptasticness of their tantrums. Or maybe today was just a good day (even though the Bug did pull some 14-month-old's hair at playtime and her sister's in the shower this evening) and I feel optimistic about things. Whatever it is - I'll gladly take tantrums combined with this outpouring of love than tantrums a la carte!

Belly and The Bug

Adrift in a sea of boxes

It's moving day!

Scattershot

I almost had to sell the Charmer last night

Sissy

Why I am not a fan of pets that live outside of an aquarium

A recap of mayhem...sorta

Matriculation

IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SHE DID IT!!

I might puke

Weekend Update with...me

If only baby butt took away the dark circles under my eyes

Sneaky pete

Duh

My precious darlings

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