My funny girls…
Eating lemons…
They made faces…
Really hilarious ones…
But for whatever reason…
They just kept on eating them anyway…
Have a super sweet weekend everybody!
Eating Lemons
2
The Valentine that Peter Almost Got
I’m not sure there could be any stronger statement of love:
Breaking the Nuk Addiction
What We Did This Past Weekend: Sunday
I am happy to report that our house is now a nuk-free zone. Lydia was done using her pacifiers months ago, and now big sister Alethea has made the transition too. It probably would have been good to take Alethea’s nuks away sooner, but she has had a remarkably high number of transitions in the last year and a half (new room, new beds, new baby sister, potty training) and there just never seemed to be a good time to go through withdrawal. But we knew it was best if her binky days came to an end, so about a month ago we started telling her about the special stuffed animal she would get after Lydia’s birthday party.
Let me explain. I read a few articles about how to ease the transition to nuklessness and talked with a couple friends about it as well. The idea that was the most appealing to me (and I thought would be the easiest for Alethea to accept), was to take the nuks to the Build-A-Bear store and put them inside a stuffed animal. That way Alethea could ‘keep’ her nuks forever, but they would no longer end up in her mouth. After convincing Peter that this was the way to go, we started talking it up to Alethea. Although I’m not sure exactly how well she understood what was going to happen, we know she sort of got it, since at Lydia’s party she told my sister in law, “I’m a big girl. I don’t need a nuk.” And as the last guests were headed out the door, she asked me, “Go get my stuffed animal now?”
So, we figured she was as prepared as she’d ever be and Sunday we took the plunge. At the store, the first step was for Alethea to pick out her Build-A-Bear carcass. She selected a brown puppy. And no, they don’t call them carcasses at the store, they tell you to pick a friend, but really, it looks like a carcass…
While we were waiting our turn for the stuffing machine, we noticed that you could add a noise maker to your ‘friend’. They happened to have a Brahms’ Lullaby one (Alethea’s favorite bedtime song), so we let her get it to put inside her puppy. (The noise maker is in the little white cloth bag Alethea is holding in the next picture.)
The nice guy at the stuffing machine put in the noise maker and then filled Alethea’s puppy with fluffy white stuff…
And then Alethea put her last two nuks inside. “Say, ‘Bye, Nuks!'” I told her. “Bye bye, Nuks,” echoed Alethea. And then the Build-A-Bear guy closed him up!
After the puppy was complete, Alethea got to give him an air bath to get any extra fuzz off.
Then we paid for him and took him home!
As you can tell from the pictures, Alethea was compliant, although not necessarily overjoyed by the event. On the car ride home (to endless repetitions of Brahms’ Lullaby) I asked her whether she liked her new puppy. “I’m excited,” she said, “But I want my nuks out of him.”
In the days since we bid farewell to the nuks, Alethea has managed to nap two days out of the four and has gone to bed easily every night. She has not once woken up crying for the nuks during the night, as I was expecting. We’ve only had one major meltdown (Sunday afternoon at nap time) that I’m sure was entirely related to the nuks. It was both sad and slightly funny when she sobbed, “I just want one! Okay? Just the green one!”
As far as her attachment to the puppy goes, she seems to like him fine, but he definitely is playing third fiddle to Dee (Alethea’s number one since she was about nine months old) and Clifford (her number two since he showed up in June). He did get a name though. When we walked out of the store, we asked her, “What’s your puppy’s name?”
“Nuky,” said Alethea.
Peter and I looked at each other. “How ’bout ‘Nuks’?” suggested Peter.
“No, Nuky,” replied Alethea.
“I think his name might be ‘Pacifier’,” I said.
“No, he’s Nuky,” said Alethea.
In the end though, Peter didn’t feel that ‘Nuky’ was an appropriate name for one of his daughter’s stuffed animals, and we have since convinced her to call him ‘Lullaby’.
I think it’s for all for the best!
Just for old time’s sake, here’s a pictures from Alethea’s first Twins game when she was almost a year old:
So long nuks! Thanks for the memories!
Lydia’s Flower Birthday Party
This year was my first attempt at transitioning from Christmas mode right into Lydia’s birthday party planning. I think I did reasonably well, although it involved a marathon of cleaning and packing up of Christmas decor. Much of Friday and Saturday were spent taking down ornaments, hauling out the tree, vacuuming up mounds of pine needles, putting decorations in tubs, vacuuming up more pine needles, putting up birthday decor and of course, vacuuming again, because those pine needles are like cockroaches (only they don’t move and smell better, but still, they are hiding everywhere!)
I decided, with Peter’s complete approval, to go a little simple and just invite family, order take n’ bake pizzas for the food and not organize any games/favors/activities, because let’s face it, Lydia’s too young to enjoy them anyway. I did let Alethea pick a theme though. She decided on “flowers” and says she wants her next party to be a bumblebee one, which I believe stems from the girls’ Halloween costumes. Makes me glad I didn’t dress them in anything too weird for trick or treat!
So here’s what I did for Lydia’s 1st birthday flower themed bash:
The cake was a cupcake creation! It turned out really cute and I had fun practicing with my rarely used piping tools.
I thoroughly enjoyed my Christmas mantle, but I also have to admit that it feels good to go back to something simpler and less cluttered, and bonus, it left lots of room to put all the presents up there too!
Back in September, I used photos of myself growing up as decor for my 30th birthday party. Then it occurred to me that it might be a fun family tradition to make a special photo display of the birthday girl/boy of the month whenever there is a birthday. Will it be a tradition that sticks? I’m not sure, but two in a row is a good start. And an enthusiastic response from Alethea makes me feel like it’s a tradition that the girls would appreciate.
She had fun explaining to me in detail what the occasion of each picture was and even got down on the floor to demonstrate after she pointed to the one on the left and said, “This one is Lydia crawling.”
But enough about the decor, I’m sure you are all dying to know what the guest of honor wore.
We kept it comfy and washable with a flower embellished sweatshirt and a pink flower headband. Lydia wasn’t entirely certain she liked having something on her head, but she did mostly leave the headband alone.
If only the headband had been equally as cooperative.
Despite an unruly hair accessory, Lydia managed to enjoy opening presents and even climbed into the bag of oversized cardboard blocks from Mommy and Daddy.
After everyone sang ‘Happy Birthday’, Daddy helped Lydia blow out her candle.
Then we let her have her cake, and even eat it too!
Had to get a picture of the aftermath, because in the war of Lydia v. Cupcake, there was carnage to behold. (This shot fails to capture the crumbs smeared on the wall. Vertical surfaces were not exempt from the massacre.)
So that was how we celebrated Lydia’s first birthday. It was a memorable event and we appreciated all our family taking the time to celebrate with us. (And a special shout out to the grandmothers who helped clean up the birthday girl and her high chair! You’re the best!)
To view more BobbleHeadBaby celebrations, visit my Parties Page!
Happy Birthday, Lydia!
Love me tender,
Love me sweet,
Never let me go.
You have made my life complete,
And I love you so!
Love me tender,
Love me dear,
Tell me you are mine.
I’ll be yours through all the years,
‘Till the end of time.
Happy 1st Birthday, Lydia Grace!
We love you so very much!
Hugs and kisses,
Mommy & Daddy
She Keeps Me On My Toes
Alethea just cracks me up all the time. Like the other morning when I came out of our bathroom only to discover that she’d made my bed for me (and even got the throw pillows put back in place):
Or this morning when I got out of the shower and she pointed at me and said, “Mommy, you have a tummy!”
“Yes, Alethea,” I replied, “I have an abdomen, just like you.”
“But Mommy,” she said, “You have a BIG abdomen!”
Sigh… “Yes, I suppose that’s true.”
Gramma and Poppa got Alethea a new shirt for Christmas that is so totally her. It says, “I love music.”
And she does. She loves music, and playing the piano and singing, singing, singing!
Tonight, she went into Lydia’s room after Lydia had gone to sleep and was standing next to her crib singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”. Lydia woke up and started crying.
“Alethea,” I told her, “That wasn’t nice to wake your sister up!”
Alethea’s bewildered reply was, “But I was singing to her!” At which point we had to have the conversation that singing to people is a very nice thing, but not while they are sleeping, because that wakes them up and people don’t like being woken up, even if it is for singing.
Confusing, I know! But we did manage to clarify that mommy also would not like to be woken up by singing.
So, anyway, I’m off to bed for a hopefully tuneless night’s sleep!
Nighty, night!
Lydia’s Eleven Month Update
December 5th was Lydia’s eleven month birthday! Happy birthday, my sweet girl!
I know it’s only three days until she’s one year old, but just for a minute, pretend I was an on-top-of-things mother and that it is still the first week of December. Okay? Oh, and just to make myself feel a tiny bit better, I’ll mention that these photos were taken around her 11 month birthday.
Eleven months old, oh where does the time go? Lydia’s current mode of transportation is a combination of army crawling, hands and knees crawling and cruising around holding onto things. She definitely seems interested in walking, but has not yet gathered the courage to let go of her supports.
Her favorite activities continue to include taking baths (you should see her, she thinks she’s a fish!), eating (doesn’t seem to matter what it is as long as it’s easy to chew) and getting into Alethea’s stuff. We also enjoy lots of hugs and kisses and her repertoire of goofy faces that she uses to get our attention and make us laugh.
Physically, we can tell that she is continuing to grow since she is wearing almost all 12 month clothes and even some 18 month tops. She’s also getting more hair and has this random one that is always standing up on the back of her head. We are still waiting for her last two bottom teeth to poke through. She drools a lot and it seems like she’s always chewing on stuff, but there is still no sign of them.
The other notable thing that has happened this month is that Lydia’s vocabulary has expanded from just ‘all done’ to include ‘mama’, ‘dada’ and ‘nigh-nigh’ (night-night) as well. She responds to her name when called and will shake her head from side to side if you tell her something is a ‘no-no’.
We are enjoying our eleven month old while we can because we know that her first Christmas is just around the corner and right after that comes her birthday! Love you so much, Lydia Grace!
Christmas is Brewing!
Happy Christmas Eve 2011!
As is our family tradition, we will be having some friends and relatives over for Chinese food after the tonight’s church service. Is it a little odd to eat Chinese take-out off of china plates? Probably, but was one of Peter’s family traditions growing up that has been fun to adopt for our own little band.
So now the food is ordered, the table is set, and I am happy to announce that I have gotten pictures of all my dining room decor to share with you, including the mysterious coffee filter project, so without further ado, here are my Christmas Dining Room Decor 2011 pictures:
The top of the bookcases:
The sideboard:
Do you see the coffee filters?
How ’bout now?
My grandmother says it looks like a dust catcher. She’s probably right, but I still love my coffee filter wreath!
And to stick to my self-imposed challenge to reuse and reinvent items I already had on hand, I used this Christmas card we received a few years ago from one of my aunts to complete the sideboard transformation. So glad I kept it around.
No Christmas dining room would be complete without a festive table. Here’s my attempt:
I used some snowflake ornaments for placecard holders:
And grabbed some things I already had on hand to complete my centerpiece, including my glitter bird from Michaels, and my homemade sheet music stars, and some glittery snowflakes that were on clearance at Target last year in the gift wrap section.
Overall, I am extremely pleased with how everything came together, especially considering that my entire Christmas decor budget this year (not including the fresh-cut tree) came in under $25 and that includes the adorable snowflake hand towels I got for the half-bath.
Sticking to my challenge was truly a challenge. It definitely made me dig around and say, “What do I have that I could use here?” But in the end, I think it’s the best our house has ever looked at Christmas. My favorite part? Definitely the wreath, so one last pic… okay?
Merry Christmas Eve everyone!
Ear ye! Ear ye!
Just a quick update on our doctor appointment yesterday. Turns out both girls have ear infections, Alethea in one ear and Lydia in both. The doctor said this is Lydia’s last chance at antibiotics. If the infection won’t clear up, or if it clears but she gets another one in the near future, it will be off to the ENT for tubes. I’m not thrilled about the idea of tubes, but would much rather that than endless antibiotics. So I guess it’s a waiting game at this point.
On a side note, Alethea’s current weight is 28lbs (35th percentile) and Lydia’s is 25 lbs 4oz (96th percentile). Since they are less than three pounds different in weight, they’re taking the same dosage of medication now. Makes it easy to remember how much to give!
Days of Christmas Craziness
I know posts have been few and far between around here lately. We have been BUSY! So to catch you up on all our happenings over the last two and a half weeks, I’ve written a little ditty and it goes like this…
On some days of Christmas Craziness my true love gave to me:
Twelve Floats a Glowin’
Alethea, Lydia and I all got to experience our first Minneapolis Holidazzle Parade together this year. I know, I know, I grew up in the Twin Cities and had never seen it in person before. Shame on me. It just wasn’t part of our family traditions growing up. I don’t know whether it will become part of ours, but it was cool to see the girls’ faces light up as they watched the stunning floats go by. This is Alethea and Poppa (Peter’s dad) waiting for the parade to begin (not sure why Alethea looks sunburned, the weather hasn’t been that nice lately):
And here’s Lydia making everyone laugh while we were waiting:
Ooooo lights!!!!
Eleven Singers Singing
I was in charge of directing our church’s Christmas choir again this year. I decided to try my hand at arranging some of the carols we were going to be singing. “How is the arranging coming?” Peter asked me several times in November. “Haven’t started yet,” I told him, “but I don’t think it’ll take me too long. I’m not going to do anything too fancy.” Turns out even not fancy arrangements are a lot of work. Especially when you forget to save one before you go to bed and then wake up on Saturday morning with two hours until choir practice and find that your computer has rebooted and you’ve lost eeevvvveeeerrryyythiiiiiing! Three original arrangements (one written out twice!) and four rehearsals in two weeks makes for choir overload! Peter told me that next year I have to be done in July or he’s pulling the plug on my directorship. We’ll see.
Ten Students Playing
Tuesday was the Christmas party for my piano students here at our house. We had a great time playing music bingo, eating junk food and performing Christmas carols for each other. Alethea enjoyed getting to interact with all the ‘big kids’, though she was a little confused about what kind of party it was. She kept walking up to various students saying in a cheerful voice, “Happy Birthday!”
Nine Presents for Peter
… and other assorted gifts. Lots of Christmas shopping has been done and while I have done as much as possible online, there still have been a few trips out to brick and mortar stores to pick up this and that. Peter and I even braved the MOA to get Lydia her Bitty Baby Doll from the American Girl Store, though afterward Peter commented that we should probably have just paid to have the doll shipped rather than deal with the crowds. Bah Humbug!
Eight Dozen Cookies
The girls and I were invited to attend a cookie exchange on Monday with some friends from church, but due to Extreme Choir Week (see number eleven above), Sunday night was my first chance to bake anything. So, I stayed up late baking my Coconut Macaroons and Chocolate Andes Mint cookies. It was totally worth it though because not only did I end up with a nice variety of cookies for my piano party, I got to spend an entire morning chatting with other moms. I really need to do that more often, it was such a blessing!
Seven Monkeys Climbing
Okay, so it’s not seven monkeys, it’s just one, but it feels like seven! Lydia is now climbing on everything in sight, including, but not limited to, the stairs, step stools and Alethea’s child sized rocking chair (which is now in the basement because Lydia kept falling off of it). I can’t seem to get anything done because I’m constantly rescuing her off of things and the day I finally put the gate up at the bottom of the stairs so I could clean the kitchen, she sat there and cried for 10 minutes! You heard me right, easygoing, not bothered by anything Lydia wept like her poor little heart would break just because I wouldn’t let her climb the stairs without me. Sigh…
Would you believe that she got up here all by herself?
Six Gifts from Santa
One of the great things about our neighborhood is that every year the ladies do a Secret Santa week early in December. This year I got five lovely gifts left on my doorstep through the week and then Saturday was our brunch and Santa reveal, where we ate a potluck meal and exchanged our final gifts. I had a good time planning a gift theme for my recipient (snowflakes!) and thought my Santa did a really good job picking gifts for me. Alethea had fun going to the door each morning to retrieve my gift for me off the doormat. She especially liked the Tuesday gift, which was mini chocolate bars, but then on Wednesday when she pulled the tissue paper off of pretty paper napkins, she said in dismay, “But it’s not food!!!!” I guess you can’t please everyone.
Five Sets of 20 Cards
My photo cards from Snapfish arrived and all 100 of them are currently sitting on my counter in envelopes, stamped and addressed. My letter is written and copied. I just need to get the letters stuffed and envelopes sealed and they’ll be headed to the post office for mailing. How glad am I that I bought stamps in November so I have zero trips to make to the postal counter? SO GLAD!
Four Assorted Parties
Happy Birthday again to my nephew Deacon and my sister-in-law Leah! We enjoyed celebrating with you! The piano party (number ten above) and a football and pizza gathering with church friends rounded out our yuletide celebrations thus far.
Three Prescriptions Filled
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been to the pediatrician’s office in the last few weeks, but I do know that we’ve had three rounds of antibiotics to combat ear infections, one for Alethea and two for Lydia. I wish we could just get healthy, but they’ve both got horrible colds again and after a couple terrible nights with Lydia, we’ll be going in for an appointment this morning. I really hope it’s just a cold and not another ear infection, otherwise we may be looking at tubes for our baby. She just can’t stay on antibiotics for weeks on end. It does horrible stuff to her digestive system and that makes both of us cranky!
Two Rooms Decked Out
My holiday decorations are done! There are a few touches in the kitchen, my office and the main floor bathroom, but I’ve concentrated most of my efforts in the living and dining rooms. I haven’t had a chance to get pictures yet, but Lord willing, before the end of the week, I will post my final decor shots for you all to see.
And a Gorgeous Balsam Fir Tree
I’m pretty sure we found the finest tree ever grown in Minnesota for our home this year. It’s perfect! And we had a terrific time going to cut it down too. We’ll, at least some of us did. Lydia had a hard time sitting up in the sled and Alethea didn’t like being squished! The adults in the group just about died from laughter as we watch Lydia channel Ralphie’s little brother Randy from A Christmas Story:
After tree cutting comes tree decorating though and the girls liked that much better:
Alethea, naturally, took her ornament hanging task very seriously and did a nice job of getting each one to stay on the tree. This is the face of utter concentration!
And as you may have predicted, Lydia thought her job was to go around and pull down all the ornaments Alethea was so carefully placing:
We did finally get all the ornaments to remain on the tree and Peter and I both agree that it is the finest tree this family has ever had.
Ho, ho, ho!
So that’s what we’ve been doing lately. It seems like there are never enough hours in a day, but clearly we’ve managed to cram some stuff into the hours we do have! How’ve you all been? Busy too, I bet! We’ll, I’d love to chat, but we’re off to see our pediatrician. Have a happy Christmas Eve, Eve, Eve today! Later y’all!