Things I've Been Asked

"Where did the alphabet come from?"
Wow, how do you answer that one? I finally told Addie that some guys made up the alphabet a really long time ago so that Mommy's could read their kids stories. That seemed to work.

While we were playing with the glass pebbles you put in fishbowls, Addie said, "Momma, we use this money at church?" This kid loves church! She wants to go to church every day. She corrects Adam if he doesn't hold his hands correctly while praying. She corrects us if we forget to say prayers. Somehow I'm not sure the church office would find it cute that we're putting glass pebbles in the collection basket. We'd better attach a note!

Lily

After running a mysterious temperature for 36 hours with no other real noticable symptoms (other than sleeping about 30 of those hours) I took Lily into the doctor's office. The doctor keyed in on Lily's eyes, both had big bags under them, but one looked like she had been stung by a bee (or punched by someone). I didn't even really notice it until he pointed it out, I thought it was just the sick, red, puffy eyes that kids get.

The doc called in another physician to consult. They both agreed it is periorbital cellulitis.

Basically she has a bacterial infection of the tissue surrounding her eye. We're happy they caught it extremely early as this could lead to eye/nerve/bone damage if left untreated. At my request, they are treating this pretty agressively. Lily was given 2 shots of antibiotic in her thigh in the clinic and was sent home with oral antibiotics. She also has another appointment on Friday to see if there's been improvement.

The other thing we found out at the clinic is that Lily weighs 17 lbs, 13 oz. Basically the same as she did 2 months ago, and less than she did at 9 months. The kid eats and eats. She eats more than Addie at most meals! The doctor put her on a calorie supplement and wants to see how she does on that for 1 month before they do anything further. We're also going to be giving her more concentrated formula so she gets more calories per serving. The doc gave us a few other ideas to try. Basically I'm very scared. At our 12 month appt. the doctor told us that if she doesn't start gaining weight by her 15 month appointment (at the end of June) we would test her for metabolic disorders. It might be related to the dairy allergy, but it might be something additional. The words failure to thrive just keeps running through my head.

I Addie, I 2

Adam and I are blown away by our social butterfly. Addie will walk right up to kids roughly the same age as her (give or take a few years) and say, "I Addie, I 2" and wait for a response. Most kids have no idea what she's saying. That or they're just too shy to say something, even to another kid.

Yesterday we went to see the new lambs at Bob and Pam's house. The lambs were adorable and the girls were excited as all get out. Addie almost immediately (after scarfing down the top of a cupcake, some fruit, large amounts of cheese and half a hot dog) made friends with another little boy and girl that were there. The boy was a year or so older than Addie and the girl was a year or so younger. Still, Addie made friends. She ran and fake falled with the boy, she blew bubbles in the little girl's face, she traded (and even gave away at one point) her bubbles. At one point Addie even demonstrated the chicken dance for her new friends. I swear, I have no idea where the kid gets this from!

Lily on the other hand, charmed the older ladies and practiced her new walking skills.

Have you seen Dumpr? The have a sketch feature that allows you to bring in a picture and convert it into a line drawing. I find this oddly addicting.

I've Got Skillz!

Look out world, it's me Lily! I'm a big girl now. My Momma calls me her baby, but I'm really not. I can get everywhere I want to go - I crawl, I climb and now I walk around holding onto people's fingers. I've been very demanding lately that everyone walk me around wherever I go. This crawling stuff will soon be for the birds. I can even stand up all by myself (I practice at daycare all the time.)

My Momma thinks that she puts me to bed at night, but really I put myself to bed. Sure, she gives me some milk before bed and rubs my hair, but I crawl up the steps all by myself. Momma turns on the music and then I launch myself out of her arms and into the crib. Rocking is for babies.

I'll be taking my drivers license test to drive my hot little red car soon. Beep, Beep, look out, blonde driver coming through!

Foggy Day

I've tried to find a picture that shows you just how beautiful the fog is today. It's blowing off the lake so you get these strange gusts of fog billowing around. However, everything I find looks like ths... http://www.earthcam.com/cams/minnesota/duluth/ Which will look much different tomorrow than it does today. Today, that picture is just a sheet of grey.

So, instead of a picture, here's some fog info: Between late spring and late fall the (Lake Superior) shore can be shrouded in fog when the land surrounding Lake Superior heats up much warmer than the water. This warm season fog occurs when when moisture in the warm air condenses as it flows over the cold lake. Duluth, Minnesota has an average of 52 days of heavy fog each year.

Wordless Wednesday

Point Taken

I'm missing the sun... It's been rainy, foggy and nasty all week. So here's a picture of my no-nap kid. She has decided that it is too much fun at daycare and she doesn't want to waste a moment of it sleeping. Who would want to sleep when you have little Reese's (other baby her age) chubby toes to tickle? So Lily sleeps in the car on the way to daycare (30 min) and on the way home (30 min). If I run her right upstairs, she'll stay asleep through the night. However, this means that she misses supper. If I keep her awake and feed her supper, she's banging her head on the floor in exhaustion by 7pm. What's a mom to do?

Lactose Intolerance vs. Dairy Allergy

***I copied the following from Living My Dream, I think Sue explains this perfectly in a way I couldn't. I've asked her for permission to post it. Lily's reaction to Dairy seems to be abdominal cramping and a severe persistent diaper rash.***

I have encountered many people who confuse Lactose Intolerance with a Dairy Allergy. So I figured this was the perfect time to post about the difference.

A person with a food intolerance will have an adverse reaction to a food but it does NOT involve the immune system. Someone who is lactose intolerant lacks the enzyme that is needed to break down the sugar in milk known as lactose. The symptoms of lactose intolerance can be gas, bloating and abdominal pain. A person with lactose intolerance CAN drink milk – those I’ve known drink Lactaid which is true milk, but has the lactose taken out.

A food allergy involves the immune system. Basically when someone eats the food, in this case dairy, the body’s immune system mistakes the food as a threat and creates an immune system response – attacking the offending food. A food allergy has the potential to be life-threatening. Signs of a true food allergy can be any or all of the following:
• a tingling sensation in the mouth
• swelling of the tongue and the throat
• difficulty breathing
• hives
• Vomiting
• abdominal cramps
• diarrhea
• drop in blood pressure
• loss of consciousness to death

Symptoms typically appear within minutes to two hours after the person has eaten or has contact with the food to which they are allergic.

It is also important to note that where Lactose intolerance people have trouble breaking down the sugar in milk, a person allergic to dairy reacts to the proteins in milk.

Source: Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network

Tag, You're It.

I've been Tagged by Sue to do the following post. You're supposed to list your 5 favorite restaurants and then Tag 5 people to do the same. We're kind of lucky that Lily is as young as she is since I can still bring a lot of her food into a restaurant and no one will say anything. Once she is older I will have to be more selective in where we go - unless of course, God willing, she out grows her allergy.

1. Add a direct link to your post below the name of the person who tagged you. Include the city/state and country you're in.

Nicole (Sydney, Australia)
velverse (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
LB (San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy)
Selba (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Olivia (London, England)
ML (Utah, USA)
Lotus (Toronto, Canada)
tanabata (Saitama, Japan)
Andi (Dallas [ish], Texas, United States)
Todd (Louisville, Kentucky, United States)
http://www2.blogger.com/
Jiggs Casey (Berkeley, CA, USA! USA! USA!)
Kat (Ontario, Canada)
Cheezy (London, England)
Paula (Orange County, California, U.S.)
Jeff (Colorado, USA)
gekko(Arizona, USA)
Norma (Columbus, OH)
Janeen (Cleveland, Ohio USA)
Sue (New Jersey, USA)


2. List out your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location.

New Scenic Cafe - Yummy unique food. Our favorite appetizer was the goat cheese rolled in pistachio's and fried. Yummy! However, we haven't been there in an incredibly long time and it probably wouldn't be the same without the cheese.... :(

Boathouse Restaurant - Run by a man who thinks Adam has one of the coolest professions in the world, we always get a deal. Since it's so pricey, we only go for very special occasions. Luckily I have an account there through work so I can at least go for business lunches occasionally! They love seeing the girls and once we got free dessert because there was a Christmas party that was pretty loud. Never mind that on any other day Addie would have been the loudest person there!

Anchor Bar - Incredible burgers, lousy service. This is practically their motto. Where else can you get a burger with cream cheese and olives? Mmmm.... their blue cheese burger is also a fav. We haven't been here lately either.

Pizza Luce - I'm not a huge pizza fan, but this restaurant has recently been a favorite of mine because they will use soy cheese on their pizza and sandwiches. It's as allergy friendly as you can get for a restaurant!

Outback Steak House - This is kind of a cop-out since they aren't local, however I could be happy with their chopped salad and nothing else. Again, it has blue cheese so I have to request they take it off, such a waste!

Hmmm... I don't think I have 5 people that blog that I know well enough to tag. So again, a cop-out. If you want to do this, send me a comment and I'll list you!

South Dakota!

"South Dakota.... Where the wind goes whipping 'cross the plains."

Our trip to South Dakota was good. We didn't get to see my ailing grandma which was sad (she's 87 and not in very good health) or one of my uncles. However, we got to spend a lot of time with my cousins and my aunt and uncle. Addie and Lily were incredible travelers! They had no problem with the 7 1/2 hour car ride. I was really worried about that, but I kept the kids happy with snacks and the movie "Happy Feet" the entire way.

Once we got to my aunt and uncles the girls had a blast in the swimming pool. Lily was such a fish! She was kicking her legs and splashing, just having a wonderful time. We couldn't stay for the actual graduation ceremony, but we did go to the graduation mass (Catholic High School) which was very nice.

While we were there I had my uncle the doctor check out Lily since she still hadn't gotten over her cold from the first of the month. He said that her ear was getting pink and that her lungs were kind of rattley. So he proscribed an antibiotic biaxin (sp?). By her 3rd dose, Lily's nose was running like a sieve, she was cranky and she had a rash on her legs. I freaked. Here we were about to take this child on a 7 1/2 hour car ride and she was having a reaction to the meds. I was shaking I was so scared. My uncle checked her over and said it was a mild reaction and we should just give her Benedryl. Guess she won't be getting Biaxin again! So now we're watching her carefully.

Comments:
*Yes, I checked out flying to South Dakota, but it was prohibitively expensive. From Duluth to Aberdeen it was $897 per person.

*I received an email from Gerber. They are forwarding my concern on but they develop products based on demand, so basically they won't do anything. However, they are being gracious enough to send me coupons that I can never use because all of their products have milk in them!! If you have not gone to the Gerber website and asked them for more non-milk products, please do so now. The only way they will sit up and take notice of people like us is if we request more allergen free food.

*In answer to Sue's question, Lily is allergic to milk and now arithromyocin. She is 14 months old as of tomorrow. Her reactions seem to be only from ingesting, and she develops a horrible open sore diaper rash/skin rash.

Sunflowers & Shopping

Addie was very excited this morning by the crop of dandelions in our yard. She cried, "Sunflowers Momma, look!" I had to tell her that those weren't sunflowers. Addie was still excited about the sunflowers 30 minutes later when we got to daycare. I told her she could pick a yellow flower for her teacher. She very carefully examined the available flowers and picked just one for her teacher. I had thought she would just randomly grab a handfull, but Addie spent some time considering which flower would be the best. Addie was extremely proud carrying in the flower and giving it to Alyse.

I did a little bit of shopping last night for our roadtrip to South Dakota. Mostly just snacks for us to eat in the car and some emergency non-dairy food for Lily. I wanted to have some options on-hand just in case there wasn't a large selection of dairy free food to give her. Normally I don't buy prepackaged food for Lily anymore (or at least not a lot) because it's just easier (and safer) not to. I don't have to read the label on broccoli or chicken breasts.

I can't tell you how disappointed I am in Gerber products. Almost all of their Graduates line (toddler food) has dairy in it. I was only able to find a couple of their soups that didn't have dairy. I have written to the company, and ask that you help me out and do the same. Gerber has a contact us area where you can email them a request. Please request that they develop some allergy friendly options in their Graduates line and that they clearly label the allergens in their foods. (Under the ingredients it should say "contains: wheat, dairy and soy")

Word to the Wise

If your child seems out of sorts for days and then starts screaming uncontrollably (as you drive up an incredibly large hill to daycare) and saying that there is a bug in her ear, it means she has an ear infection. Apparently that is a typical symptom (the bug thing that is). The poor kid has never had an ear infection before. I had no idea that she was even that sick. In fact, I thought the dr. was going to tell me I was nuts since when we got to the dr's office she was feeling fine - all doped up on Tylenol.

After 4 doses of amoxicillin we are doing great. Addie took a 4 hour nap yesterday and woke up a totally different child. She's happy again; she'll eat more than just cheese and hot dogs.

Of course this afternoon when I took her to daycare she walked in all chipper and said hello to the owner. The owner asked how Addie was feeling. Addie got this very sad look on her face and told the owner that there was a bug in her ear and that her ear hurt. Those kids will make you look like a liar every time!

Things I've Done today

1. Gotten up insanely early to go to networking meeting
2. Cleaned up cat puke - twice
3. Stopped in at the office to pick up work to bring home
4. Comforted child (suffering from ear infection)
5. Comforted other child (suffering from teething pain)
6. Changed dirty diapers
7. Swept floors - three separate times
8. Scrubbed sticky juice residue off floors
9. Rescued baby from electricution/strangling with electrical cord
10. Did ad reservations 3 minutes at a time (children permitting)
11. Was a short order cook for 2 cranky children
12. Put youngest down for nap
13. Spoke with co-worker about a voice mail that was left for me.
14. Cast on a guage swatch for a new sock
15. Wiped countless noses

I could go on and it's only 1:30...

Daycare, Day 4

I am logging 2 hours a day in the car just bringing the girls back and forth to daycare. This does not take into account the amount of time I spend in my car doing my job. UGH!

The girls love daycare. They love going to see their friends. Addie wants to go see friends immediately upon waking. Followed closely by a demand to wake up Daddy. The daycare teachers love our girls. Their new friends know them by name and seem excited to see them every day. Addie has developed a new friend named Eli. They apparently go everywhere together and love playing outside together.

Both girls have been completely and utterly worn out by the time they get home each night. Lily slept from 6pm-8:30am waking once for a diaper change. I fed her just because I thought she probably needed it, but I think she would have been fine without it. Addie has slept past 9:30 each of the last 2 mornings.

Addie was excited about going t0 daycare this morning up until I lifted her over the gate into the 2 year old room. All of a sudden she became a clinging vine. She wrapped her legs around me and wouldn't let go. She cried, she wailed, she scared the other children. She didn't want me to leave. It is heartbreaking to leave a child when they are crying for their mommy. I feel like a horrible human being. I feel like a bad mommy. Of course I immediately called daycare as soon as I got into the office and found out that Addie was just fine. She had wanted to go into the baby room which is the room in which they sleep. She got onto her cot, grabbed the binkie and immediately flipped over with her butt in the air. Fast asleep within seconds.

Thank goodness my parents are coming tonight and will watch the girls tomorrow. Hopefully they will catch up on some much needed rest and get a chance to be spoiled rotten. :)

Oops

I fixed the link to my knitting blog. I know, I know, everyone's just been biting their nails waiting to read it. Gee. Don't all rush at once.

Daycare

Today is Adam's first day in his new position, so today was also the first day of daycare. Addie hasn't been to daycare since before Lily was born. Lily has never been in daycare. I alternate between the high of thinking what great socialization this is for the girls, and the low of thinking how they're going to contract every major illness on the planet. I completely lucked out finding a place that would take both girls part time. Most daycares in our area will only take the wee ones full time. Addie's age they're fine with taking part time, but there's such an excess of infants and 1's that they will only take them full-time. Two of my good friends bring their kids to this center, so I feel good about that also. I called the daycare this afternoon and both girls napped well and seemed to be having a great time. Lily actually napped on a cot! Well, they both did, but Lily is just 13 months old!!!! She napped on a cot like a big kid!!!!!!! Oh man, I'm not ready for this! Like. A. Big. Kid. The sweetest thing is that the daycare ladies put their cots right next to each other so they wouldn't be sad. Normally they separate the little ones from the big kids, but in Addie and Lily's cases they made an exception. So sweet.

I learned something this weekend. Scraping the cheese off a pizza and giving Lily the toppings and crust isn't good enough. She has the mother of all diaper rashes again. Lily has blisters on her bottom. Actual blisters. Dang! Someday I will figure out not to test the limits.

Oh Man!

How stupid am I? Seriously. I can not beeelieeeve it. (said in Leo's voice from Little Einsteins)

Microwave popcorn has butter on it. Yes, it even says "Contains, milk." on the package. In bold.

So those mysterious diaper rashes Lily was continuing to get even though we "both" weren't eating dairy? Duh. At least I know enough not to feed her popcorn yet.

So this combined with my multiple knitting disasters this week has caused me to seriously doubt my intelligence. Honestly, when will I learn? I have at least one skein of yarn that I think I will burn. Unfortunately it is acrylic (which I normally hate and won't buy) so it won't even burn properly. It will just melt and smoke and be very very nasty. It figures that this stuff would live on to haunt me. ARRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

Fianne

Lily is blowing a great big kiss to our new little friend Fianne. I just cannot stop gushing about how cute Fianne is. I got to see her and her mommy in the hospital today. Wow, what dimples. I don't think Erin knows how badly I wanted to take the little peanut home! I desperately want to post a picture of Fianne, but have decided that it is not my decision to make. I'm not sure I would be crazy about someone else posting a picture of my kid on the internet. She is a sweetie though, you'll have to take my word for it.

We're going back to ECFE tonight after a long absense. No particular reason, we've just been busy on Tuesday nights lately. I hope Addie does well, she was a bit of a drama queen earlier today. She ended up going down for a very early nap because she just broke down into tears whenever she heard the word "no." Poor Kelli (babysitter this morning while I went to visit the awe-inspiringly cute Fianne) just didn't know what to do with Addie. I know she felt badly because she kept hurting Addie's feelings. Unfortunately everything hurt Addie's feelings today. Hopefully she will be in a better mood this afternoon!

I'm feeling optimistic that we're making progress on the potty training front!

Welcome Little One

My friend Erin had her baby yesterday; Fianne Marie Makela was born Sunday evening. She's 8lbs and a few ounces (I forget exactly how many, I was driving and talking on my cell at the same time), 19 inches long. I get to see little Fia (I'm voting for that as a nickname) tomorrow morning and I'm so excited!!! I love babies. I love their little squished up faces and squinty eyes. I could not be more happy for Erin and Damien. Erin is the sweetest, most loving person I know and is an awesome Mommy to Katie so I know she's going to be a rock star with this one too.

Wedding Bells

I knew it would come someday, I just didn't realize it would be so soon. It appears that our baby has grown up without us realizing it. Addie announced yesterday that she would be getting married.

I (bad Mommy that I am) asked who she would be marrying. I didn't realize she was seriously dating anyone.
Addie unhesitatingly said, "Daddy." "No, Pwince Charming."
Ahhh... the imagination of a two year old!

Product Review

Road's End Organics - Dairy Free Shells & Chreese (not a typo)

Today I made some regular Mac & Cheese for Addie and Adam and some Shells & Chreese for Lily and I. Lily ate it like it was the best mac & cheese she's ever had. Which to be honest, it probably is since it didn't make her tummy hurt or give her acid burn on her bum. As for me, well, it's not mac & cheese that's for sure. It doesn't have the slightest cheese taste. It's more of a garlicy oniony creamy taste. Not bad, just not what I was expecting. Who knew that the dried processed cheese food that I always made fun on API making during marching band practice was actually a dairy product? (You probably have to be a Boycevillian to understand the reference and since Addie is back on my lap I really don't have the time to explain.)

Bloggers

Hey thanks guys! I can't officially declare a winner since I don't know who posted about jaberwalkie... good blog though. I have my suspicions... probably the person in my life who makes me drive out of the way to visit Cady cheese despite his wife and one child not being able to eat anything that comes out of there. I also realized that one of the knitting blogs that I visit has a daughter with food allergies.

Here's a sweet picture of 3 out of the 4 of us on Lily's birthday. Unfortunately Addie was ear-deep in birthday cake so she wouldn't come out to pose with us. Right now Addie is sitting on my lap wanting to "press the buttons." Ooops, she pressed the space bar too much.

.;lhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhii mmmmmmmmmmy nnammmme iss AAddie

There you go, Addie's first blog entry.

Just Chillin', Reading to my Baby

It's the Baby-Baby, reading to her baby.

Lily's favorite things are:
1. climbing (especially onto chairs)
2. eating
3. snuggling
4. blowing kisses
5. reading
6. saying "tickle, tickle, tickle" as she reaches out to touch someone or something.
7. dropping something and saying, "uh oh"

Milk Allergy Blog anyone?

Ok, I have spent an inordinate amount of time over the past week looking for a blog about being Dairy-free or having milk allergies. I can find nothing worth going back to. Maybe I'm too picky. Maybe it's because I don't really care if the person is vegan and wants me to plant a tree for every piece of meat I've ever placed in my mouth, maybe it's because I really want a blog written by a mom about her kid(s) who have Milk Allergies, maybe it's because I don't want a blog about just recipes, yeah, maybe I'm too picky. I just want a blog I can relate to.

I broke down and bought cheese for Adam the other day. He was getting kind of sad about the no cheese thing. Not like he is suffering all that much. We had pizza the other day and I made two different types - one regular for him and one Amy's Organic without cheese for Lily and I. I also fully believe that he eats dairy while he's at work so I don't worry about him suffering overmuch. (I'm sure someone will comment about how deprived he is!!)

So... the person who finds me the perfect dairy allergy blog gets... (drumroll please).... white, squeaky, perfectly salted cheese curds from Cady Cheese. (I know how to use bribes, I'm a mom.)

Edited to add: I've turned off the comments on this post. The spammers are driving me nuts.

No Leave Mommy

We have a major case of the "Clingys" at our house this week. Addie came home from Grandma and Grandpa Argh's and she has wanted to be attached to my hip.
I get a lot of "No leave me Momma."
"Me come too."
"I miss you Momma." Oh honey, I missed you too!

Addie has also just wanted to be held and rocked a lot. I'm sure it's just because she missed us and missed being at her own house. I admit I'm taking every opportunity I have to rock her. Rocking Addie has been few and far between lately so I'm going to enjoy it while I can. I know that too soon she will be too big to be rocked. Although it would be nice to be able to use the bathroom without a little helper!

We're headed down to Grandma and Grandpa Dude's this weekend. We'll go down to LaCresent for Tyler's birthday party on Saturday. Addie will probably have so much fun that she'll forget to be clingy.

Miss You Baby Girl

Addie is staying with Mona and Boppa Argh for a few days. We left her there on Easter Sunday and they'll be bringing her back on Wednesday morning. Our house is so quiet!

So far Addie has gone to breakfast at Perkins, possibly gone shopping at Target for a new potty(not entirely sure about that) and gone to play at a park. My guess is she's having a great time getting undivided attention. Addie will make Boppa read countless stories and have Mona nurse her sick baby whale back to health.

I think Lily is trying to figure out where Addie has gone - she hasn't quite been herself today, very cranky and clingy. Every time I put Lily in the high chair she flings herself around and throws a tantrum. The problem with 1 year olds is you just don't know what the problem is. Is she not feeling well, is she just not hungry, is she so hungry her tummy hurts? What?

Things I have accomplished with only one child at home:
-We had our taxes double checked by H&R Block
-I came home and e-filed the taxes we had already finished
-Made a Creative Memories order
-Talked to Addie on the phone
-Blogged
-Read other random blogs that I haven't read in awhile
-Talked to Darla
-Left messages for other random people

Yet to do:
-Put away baby clothes
-Sort clothes that don't fit the kids
-Sort my own clothes that no longer fit.

Climbing: The Series

See Mom, it's way more of a challenge if the boxes actually shift under your feet. Look out Mt. Everest, here I come!

Climbing: The Series

She's up and over. This is hardly a challenge anymore... what could possibly be next?

Climbing: The Series

that's one determined child!

Climbing: The Series

Then, you see your child balanced precariously on the baby gate, using the holes as toe holds.

Climbing: The Series

This is how it starts, an innocent look out the window at newly fallen snow...

Whew!

Lily had her 12 month appointment this week. Aside from her actually loosing weight (a few ounces) from her last visit (at least she grew in height and head circumference or I'm sure they'd be discussing how horrible a mother I am!!) we got her tested for allergies. The good news is that she is not allergic to wheat. The bad news is that she is allergic to milk. And really, her levels were low enough that the dr. is fairly optimistic (I hope I can put those words in your mouth Shar) that she will grow out of it by age 2 or 3. That's the hope anyway. Soooo.... that means I can drink beer! However, we still need to read labels to make sure nothing has milk or casein in it. Nothing but soy cheese, soy yogurt and soy milk. Oh yeah, did I mention that there's a 10% chance that she would be allergic to soy as well? Sheesh! I guess we wait and watch on that one. In addition to taking milk out of our diet, I need to work on fattening her up. Since I don't want to give her junk and unhealthy stuff, I need to work on including healthy oils in her diet. Apparently coconut oil is really good, as is fish oil.

On a totally different note (in an attempt to make this less of a nutrition blog) we got the most adorable pictures taken last week. We got Addie and Lily's pictures taken with real live bunnies. I cannot believe how well behaved Addie was! Not that she's a badly behaved child, but when you take out a camera and ask her to sit still she just gets totally wild in a way that only a 2 1/2 year old can. However, you dangle the carrot of petting live bunnies in front of her, and she becomes a very well behaved little girl. I would love to show the pictures to you... unfortunately because they're professional pictures, I can't. Bummer. I haven't downloaded the pictures from Lily's birthday yet either... bad Momma!

A Wheat Free World

Lily and I are on week 3 of our Wheat-Free, Dairy-Free diet. Lily has had a red, puffy and raw diaper rash for several months. Lily has been prescribed several different broad spectrum diaper rash creams and nothing has done the trick. We finally saw a dermatologist who did a culture 4 weeks ago. The cultures came back negative for yeast and bacterial infection. On a hunch, I took Lily to see a friend who is a naturopath who suggested that yes it might be an allergy. The only way to rule out an allergy is by going on an elimination diet.

I can't begin to tell you how hard it is at first to eliminate wheat and dairy from your diet. We do not live in a wheat free world. Try going out to eat... no soy sauce, no bread, no breading, no pizza, no beer, no pasta.... I could go on. Try eating on the run, same senario. Everything you eat has to be thought out - did they use flour to thicken the sauce in this? Can you leave the cheese off? Not to mention constantly policing the house making sure Addie doesn't share her Goldfish crackers and milk. I spent probably 2 of the 3 weeks mad at the world. I will do anything for my children, I love them and want them to be healthy but I admit I spent a lot of time whining! Since Lily's diet consists mostly of fruits, vegetables and some meat, this was relatively easy for her. For me it meant a total change in my thinking.

Now, since I've finally seen progress I'm feeling better about the whole thing. Lily's butt has been consistently clear for a week. We did have a setback when she chugged some of Addie's milk, but it cleared up quickly. Today I start to challenge wheat. I am to start eating wheat again to see if it is being transfered through breast milk. I admit that I'm scared to try it. I don't want Lily to be hurt again, I don't want her clingy and whiny because her bottom (and maybe her tummy) hurt. I don't want to rock the boat, I want to leave things as they are. But I really want a beer!

So the challenging begins. Wish us luck.

Happy Birthday Lily!

Lily is one year old today. Well, technically she won't be one until 6:35 tonight, but who's splitting hairs? Wow, my baby is one.

Last night I caught Lily scaling the baby gate at the base of the steps. We had the gate leaning against the steps at about a 45 degree angle. This has always been enough to deter the girls in the past. However, our little Lily saw this as a challenge. When I walked into the room, Lily had her feet halfway up the gate and was clinging to the top. I watched as she found the holes in the gate and used them as toe holds. She struggled to get her feet over the top of the gate. Finally she pulled herself over and onto the first step of the 2nd section of steps. Such determination and focus in that girl! Pictures of the feat will be forthcoming... as soon as I can download them... which means after the birthday party this weekend.

Snow Cave - Fun For Daddys.

The girls don't appreciate Daddy's snow cave yet. Neither one wanted anything to do with it!

I'm not sure this is safe

Seriously Momma, do you think you should have me on top of this 4 foot tall drift? Is this safe? Remember, I'm not quite one year old yet!

Beautiful Blue Eyes

What Do Clouds Taste Like?

Last night Addie and I ran to the grocery store for wheat-free soy sauce (long story that I will probably blog soon) while Adam started dinner for us. While we walked to the car I got the long list of "What's That?" "That's our muddy garden." "That's melted snow." "That's the driveway."

Then, "Momma, there are clouds!"
"yes, honey."
"I eat clouds?"
"No honey, we can't eat them.... What do you think they'd taste like?"
"Toast."
"Really? They'd taste like toast?"
"Mmmm... like crackers."

There you have it folks, clouds taste like toast - or maybe crackers. I always wondered...

Ugh

Ugh. It's March. We've still got some snow left, but it's rapidly melting. It's melting so fast that we're worried the basement will flood. Adam took Addie for a walk down to Brad's house last night. I guess she ran and splashed in the puddles the whole way. By the time they got home she was soaked to her knees and cold. However, as soon as she warmed up she wanted to go right back out again.

March just seems like one of those ugh months. It's not quite sunny enough for spring, not quite snowy enough for winter. It just is. We have so much going on this month; Adam's birthday, Lily's birthday, I'm leaving the girls with my parents and Syren next weekend, it's just busy. And yet I have no ambition. I can't believe my baby is turning One. I just can't believe it. She's just too much of a little peanut. She's so silly all the time - playing and dancing, laughing her little belly laugh.

Daddy Did My Hair

Seriously? You're going to do my hair like that? All the other babies will make fun of my lopsided ponytail!

Snow, snow and more crazy white stuff that my child wants to eat

I'm supposed to put more pictures up so Grandma and Grandpa Argh (who are in FL enjoying sun that we will not see for several more months) can see the girls in the 5 feet of snow we got last weekend. I downloaded the pictures, I uploaded them into Memory Manager 2 (CM software that rocks) and tried uploading them to the photo website. "Tried" being the operative word there. www.cmphotocenter seems to be down. Which means I cannot access my pictures from here. I couldn't even access the internet last night so I was totally stuck. Maybe tonight, assuming our playdate goes well and I get the kids in bed at a somewhat reasonable hour.

So... you get to imagine the kids in the snow. Imagine Addie making snow angels in a snowbank. Imagine Lily sitting on top of a 4 foot drift, totally terrified. Imagine Addie's mittens completely covered in fluffy cold white snow (not the snowman making type) as she puts yet another ball of snow into her mouth. Imagine Lily terrified as Adam puts her into the snow cave he built.

And speaking of white stuff... I just found out that Addie ate some diaper rash cream today. I don't think zinc oxide is toxic... is it? When will everything stop going in that kid's mouth!?

Lily Eating Freeze Dried Fruit

It should be a snow day today. The town is pretty much shutting down due to near blizzard conditions. 40 mph winds with white-out conditions yet to come. Bring on the 2 feet of snow!

Unearthed

Much like the worm he is reported to be, Wormy resurfaced yesterday for a brief period. He was found deep in the depths of the green recliner. Much rejoying and merriment accompanied his reunion with Addie. By the time I returned from work at 4:30 pm, Wormy had once again r-u-n-n-o-f-t.

A search and rescue mission will be started today or tomorrow, weather permitting.

On Strike

I was going to tell you that I'm on picture strike until we find the USB cord that connects the computer to the camera... however after much searching, I found it. Instead, I'll tell you to check out my new knitting blog, Knit One Blog Too. Any comments about my wittiness are greatly appreciated.

I'll have new pictures uploaded shortly.

I Was Just

Every once in a while a phrase comes along that you wonder where it came from and when it will go away. My day went a little something like this...

"I was just... looking at the pony fruit snacks."
"I was just... looking for Monkey." (as toys are thrown wily nily out of the box)
"I was just... looking at the cake."
"I was just... touching the pitcher of juice." (balanced precariously on the edge of the counter)
"I was just... wiping Lily's face." (with her foot)
"I was just... tapping Lily's head." (again, with her foot)
"I was just... looking at the treasure chest."
"I was just... pulling Aggie's tail."
"I was just..." Grinding the croutons into the chair, shaking applesauce off my hand, hiding so Mommy couldn't put me on the potty. Basically, you name it, she "was just" today.

On the other hand, she took a 3 hour nap and I was able to get quite a bit of scrapbooking done in that time. Even though Lily didn't nap at the same time, I was able to keep Lily entertained while I worked.

Proof

For all of you clamoring for pictures (that makes it sound like more than 2 people actually read my blog) here is proof that we did actually have snow at one point this winter. Addie doesn't actually look all that thrilled about it. It could be because Adam put her in a snowsuit that's too small and in Lily's mittens!

Snow is one of her favorite things though. Eating fresh snow is right up there in her book with picking apples. Sledding on the other hand is a little scary. She's not quite ready to be a speed demon!

R-U-N-N-O-F-T

Well, it happened. Wormy dun r-u-n-n-o-f-t. I can't find him anywhere. Addie says she doesn't know where Wormy is either and is very distressed by the fact that Wormy is gone. I'm guessing that Wormy has found a nice little purse to hide in for the duration. However, in Wormy's absense, I have started wearing a different watch. Addie was very excited when she saw it and immediately said, "WORMY!" I had to explain that this is not Wormy, it is his brother Squirmy. "Oh Sammy." No honey, it's Squirmy. "Oh Sammy, I missed you too."

Had I known that the "Squ" sound was so hard to make I would have named the watch something else. According to my sister the teacher, she may not be able to pronounce that sound until she's a few years older. Oh well.

Oh Oh

Lily is now repeating things that we say. This weekend she was saying "oh oh" pretty consistently as she dropped food off her tray. This morning she also tried saying "Addie" when we heard Addie talking upstairs. No Momma or Dada yet... no walking yet. All of which are good things in my book. I don't want her to grow up yet, I'm not ready!

I a boy

I was getting Addie into her jammies tonight while she was entertaining herself by looking into the mirror.

"Look Mamma, I a boy." putting her hands onto her ears
"What honey?"
"Look Momma, I a boy. No... I a big girl!"

I realized that she's not putting her hands onto her ears, she's squishing her pigtails close to her head so it looks like she has short hair! In her mind, the only difference between girls and boys is that girls have long hair! It reminds me of our friend Eliot and his facination with ginas.

Happy Birthday Em!

I am such a procrastinator! I have been thinking about blogging Addie's recent haircut since Friday night (8 hours before the hair was actually cut). I took the camera with us to the hair stylist, took several pictures, and.... nothing. Not a darn blog written. Maybe it's because I wasn't sure if I liked it yet. Maybe it's because I am absolutely positively exhaused. So exhausted I fell asleep on the couch last night (something I only seem to do while pregnant or staying up until 2 am watching a bad movie - neither of which I am/did.) Seriously exhausted.

Ok, shake it off. Drink some coffee, eat some yummy homemade apple pie. Ok.

So here's the story. On Friday night I gave Addie a bath. After the bath it took over 30 minutes for me to brush her hair. 30 minutes of kicking, screaming and hitting. If I had 2 more hands I would have been able to do it. Since it isn't very common for 2 more hands to be lurking around my house, I completely lost my temper. Addie was yelling at me, I was yelling at her, and Lily was scared of both of us. Early the next morning I called the stylist and got an appointment. I told them we'd be cutting 7-10 inches off and donating it to Locks of Love. I went to the Locks of Love website and printed off their donation form. By the time our appointment had rolled around I realized that cutting off 10 inches would leave her with a boys haircut. Cute, but super short. I wasn't sure I could do that to her.

So we compromised. It's a shoulder length bob. Addie still doesn't want me touching it, but at least it combs more easily. It looks much less wild. It's still long enough that we can pull it back from her face and put it in pigtails. It's really pretty cute. (Especially in the Elmo hair pretties she got for Valentine's Day.)

Now if I can just stop feeling guilty for loosing my temper with her.

Note to Self

1.) If a baby who normally sleep most of the night is up every 3 hours 2 days in a row, perhaps there is a reason. It might even be due to the top two teeth coming in.

2.) Do not (in an attempt to make the house look cleaner) put the baby's Orajel out into the mudroom when it is 20 below zero outside. Gels will freeze solid.

3.) Always have a back-up supply of Orajel stashed somewhere in the house. Babies do not enjoy frozen Orajel rubbed onto their gums.

4.) When you find said stashed Orajel, baby will still not like it rubbed into their gums.

5.) Babies with Orajel on their gums are lousy nursers. It must have something to do with the fact that half their mouth is numb.

5.b.) Babies get very mad at their mothers when they are unable to nurse effectively.

6.) Babies with 2 teeth coming in do not like you to touch their new teeth. However, they are inordinately proud any teeth already in.

Last Man Standing

Lily stood today all by herself. Unfortunately I wasn't there because as Addie so aptly puts it, "Momma work." Lily picked up a cracker, forgot to hold onto the James Hart orginal and stood. All. By. Herself. For about 30 seconds. YEAH LILY! It's time to get out the walking toys...

A Day in the Life

Imagination Station

Addie borrowed/liberated/wouldn't give back a large stuffed puppy from the Kirchoffs yesterday. She played with the dog all night and wouldn't give him up before going to bed. Since the dog (henceforth named Mr. Spotty) looked like it would make a really comfy pillow, I let her take it to bed. This morning when I heard Addie talking I walked up to get her (yes, Lily was the first one up again today). As I got to the top of the steps I heard Addie saying, "I love her soooo much." I opened the door to see Addie talking very intently to Mr. Spotty. (I really wanted to place a very insightful link to an article on Crib Talk here, but I can't find a single one. I'm sure it's not a phrase I made up!)

Later in the morning, Addie took Mr. Spotty and Patrick the Pup (who is much bigger than Mr. Spotty) and started having conversations with them. It goes something like this...

Mr. Spotty - "Help me daddy, I fall down." (Mr. Spotty thrown off couch)
Patrick - "I'll save you." extends paw to Mr. Spotty
Mr. Spotty - "Oh, Thank you."

Mr. Spotty - "I love you."
Patrick - "I love you too puppy."
Addie - "No Lily, no no!" Hits Lily on the head.

Yes, sibling rivalry has reared it's ugly head at our house. This morning Lily was hit on the head, poked on the head repeatedly and also had her hair pulled until she shreaked. Nice. Any advice anyone would like to give on how to get this to stop would be greatly appreciated!

Where did Kitty go?

"Momma, make the kitty come back!"

Catch the Kitty

Do you see the Kitty in this picture?

Opportunity Knocks

I had the opportunity to get up early with Lily this morning (and I say opportunity the same way I'd say I had the opportunity to change 30 dirty stinky diapers yesterday). I was really kind of feeling sorry for myself - I wanted to sleep in and maybe kick this cold that's been kicking my butt for days. I, however, lost the "I'm pretending to sleep so the other person will wake up and take care of the baby" battle.

I am so happy I got up with Lily (tired, but happy). I really don't get much time alone with her, mostly she's competing with Addie or a shopping list for my attention. We snuggled, played and made coffee. Lily is such a happy baby in the morning, it's hard to be cranky for long. The highlight of the morning was when she crawled over to the basement door (closed) at warp speed. Lily had heard the cat locked in the basement and went to investigate. She discovered how much fun it is to play with the cat's paws under the door.

I'm now being pulled (literally) away from the computer to watch "Little Einsteins" with Addie. More photos later

Stop me if I've said this before...

Have I shown you this picture yet? How incredibly sweet is that? That's my baby with her Great Grandma Addie. Yep, pretty darn sweet.

Wow, this picture just makes my blood pressure go right down. I've had a miserable day at work - ok, maybe not miserable the whole day. One person is just really twarking me off. I really just need to take a few breaths, go home and cuddle my babies.

So, I'm going to go home, grab Lily and go knit. Tonight is our knitting night for the Optimist Club. We knit hats for babies and donate them to the hospitals and to a crisis nursery in town. I, however, will not be working on a baby hat tonight. I have to work on a shawl that I would like to have done by Saturday (I'm only 1/3 of the way through!) Panic knitting, people! You might ask why I started a new project last night if I'm in panic mode. (Yes, Adam asked the same thing.) Weeeelllll..... it's because I signed up for a class and had to start the project in the class. So really, adding one more project to my to-do list isn't all that crazy... sort of.

I'm thinking about starting a new blog for my knitting. It might get a little boring as I am a slow knitter.... and I probably won't have any readers. I also don't yet have a name. Any suggestions? I'm amazed and continually entertained by people like the yarn harlot and Franklin (two of my fav knitting bloggers).

Santa

Yes, we're still talking about Santa at our house. I've explained that Santa is on vacation and won't be back until next year, but Addie chooses not to understand. So in the spirit of the season, here is a picture of Addie with Santa on Christmas Eve day. This is the Santa that brought her a huge trampoline.... not an itty bitty 2 1/2 year old size trampoline, one that will take up our entire backyard and scare me to death every time she wants to use it. Take a deep breath Jess, it will be OK. Nope, I need a few more deep breaths... oh man this scares me! This scares me almost more than the idea of Addie going to preschool next year scares me. Talk about Mommy panic attacks. Is raising kids supposed to be this scary? I know I never scared my parents this much!!! I'm sure that hiding in the culverts, falling out of trees and getting my head stuck, punching my sister in the nose, and other myriad things didn't scare years off my parents lives!

New Year's Eve

I don't do this often, but here's a picture of our crew from New Year's Eve 2006/07. Bob, Michelle, myself, Adam, Lisa, and Brad.

Lady Godiva

No, this is not a picture of Lady Godiva (I think that's the right reference), it's not kiddy porn, nor is it Cousin It. This is how long Addie's hair is. Just a little bit longer and we can donate her hair to Locks of Love!

Wormy

I've been meaning to post this for some time, but I was waiting for a picture. I don't think I will have a picture taken and downloaded any time soon, so here goes. Addie has developed an attachment to my watch. She has named "him" "Wormy." She'll take my watch, wrap it up in a blanket, coo to it, put it to sleep, kiss it, and generally drag it around the house like it is a doll. She did this one day and I thought that would be the end of it. Oh no, momma, you were totally wrong on that one! A few days later she saw my watch lying in the bathroom where I put it while I shower. Addie snatched it up as fast as she could and said, "Oh Wormy, I missed you!" and gave it a big kiss! This has gone on for several weeks now. This morning the 3 of us were walking in the mall (my attempt to work out in the cold and maybe loose the last pounds of baby weight). Addie looked up behind her at me and said, "I play Wormy?" What's a mom to do but turn over her watch?

At least she can still be creative

Despite the over abundance of TV watching at our house, Addie still has an incredible imagination. This was the "boat" Addie and Lily were playing in at Christmas. Note the toys and wrapping paper in the background... who wants toys when you have a perfectly good box to play in?

Random Babble

I cannot tell you how hard it is to take a digital picture of 2 small children and have them both looking in the same direction. It seems that something in their genetic makeup makes them look away in the instant before the digital camera goes off. Honestly I thought Adam was going to throw the camera through my parents living room window trying to take a picture of the girls.

On a totally different train of thought, I was thinking about Sara's blog about the universe today. (You have to go to "In Your Face McGinley" because I don't know how to link to a specific blog entry) Anyway, she writes about how the universe doesn't hear negatives. For instance, when I say "my children will not watch tv all day long." The universe hears, "my children will watch tv all day long and as punishment momma will then have songs from Blues Clues permanently embedded in her brain." How did we get to the point where Addie knows all of the characters on all of the toddler shows? She actually said this morning, "Little Einsteins, I missed you!" Geez, kid! Go, play outside! Oh yeah, one of us would have to take her outside and it's darn cold out today. And did I tell you my child runs like a girl? So when I said, "We're going to have a tomboy, there's no way we'll have a girly-girl." Basically God laughed his/her ass off and gave us a girly-girl. I-yi-yi! (yes, I know I swore on the blog and someone will probably chastise me for this.)

Little Lily

So poor little Lily is in the 15% for weight. She's such a little peanut! There's nothing to worry about I guess, she's just little. The funny thing is that she's in the 64% for height, so maybe that will carry through to adulthood. Developmentally she's right on track.

Yesterday Lily climbed all the way up the stairs. Now she's been climbing the first few steps by herself for awhile (maybe a month). But this was the first time I let her climb all the way to the top. I'm not sure what she was trying to get to, but boy was she determined. Lily just had this grin on her face like, "no one's going to stop me now!" I can just see she's determined to be a big kid like her older sister.

Lily has also started to copy us. If I say "mmm..." when I'm eating, she'll make the same noise. Lily also has started to copy us dancing. Little head waggles here and there, maybe a booty shake, but it's definitely a dance. It blows me away that she's capable of doing so much. I know she's much more aware of what's going on than we give her credit for. She's going to be such an entertaining toddler!

Dreamscape

Addie has been having a lot of interesting dreams lately. Maybe it's just that she's remembering them more...

On Christmas Day she came up to me and told me that she had played with cousin Tyler "All night." When I asked her what they did all night she said, "no, no, no Tyler, no." Later I asked her again (we had to get it on video, it was so cute!). This time Addie said, "share Tyler." I can only assume that Addie and Tyler were playing with toys and Tyler didn't want to share.

This morning Addie told me, "I play Santa, all night." In the last week she's also played with Grandpa and Grandma in her dreams!

Family Picture

This is our crazy family picture this year. We procrastinated too long in getting someone else to take the picture so this is what we ended up with. This is going to be such a fun Christmas. Addie is just old enough to understand that Santa is coming and bringing presents. She also kind of gets that it is someone's birthday. However, a lot of the time she sees the tree and says, "Happy Birthday Daddy." Then we correct her and tell her it's Jesus' birthday. "Oh yeah, Happy Birthday Baby Jesus."

It's got to be so confusing for her, who is Jesus and why are we getting presents instead of him? How does Santa and Rudolf come into the whole thing? I think the poor kid is going to be crushed when she doesn't get the moon sand she keeps seeing on TV and saying "Santa bring that?" Then what about the letdown after Christmas? Is she going to be disappointed that there are no more advent calendar socks to open, no more presents, no more stockings?

See House?

Addie and I decorated a gingerbread house on Sunday. I was amazed at how methodical Addie was about decorating the house. She started with lining up a perfect row of candies along the roofline. No smidge of frosting was going to be uncovered! Next we did the doors and windows, and although this was harder for Addie she did a really good job. Then I made crosshatches of frosting on the roof and started putting candies on the x's. Addie picked up on this and started putting the candies on - some x's have more than one candy, but I think for a 2 year old she did an amazing job. I really tried to let her do her own thing and be creative.

Every day (multiple times a day) we have to go into the dining room and "see house." Lily has picked up on this and follows us into the dining room to see what her cool big sister is doing. Addie of course then wants to "touch house," which really means, "let me eat the candy and frosting." I'll have to post a picture of her making the house - you can see the concentration on her face!

December 2006

This was one of my attempts to do a cute Christmas picture without taking them into the _ell that is portrait studios at this time of year. Unfortunately I never did get a picture of them both smiling at the same time (let alone looking in the same direction!).

Thank Goodness for Big Sisters!

We were in Chicago for a baby shower on Dec 1-3 and had just gotten back and were unloading the car when Addie started screaming from the TV room. I thought she was screaming at Lily because she had taken one of Addie's toys (a normal occurrence). All I could understand was, "NO Lily, no no no!" I went out into the TV room and automatically told Addie it was OK, Lily could play with that toy. Addie shook her head and said,"No momma, mouth!" and pointed to her open mouth. I asked her if Lily had something in her mouth. "YES!"

I took out an acorn sized piece of plaster out of Lily's mouth. Someone must have tracked it in while we were unloading the car. It scares me to think what might have happened if Addie weren't there to keep an eye out for her sister! Addie may have prevented Lily from choking.

Lily's standing

Lily pulled herself up to standing yesterday. We were at Grandma and Grandpa's in Siren and she was kneeling by the cot Dad brought. She got her little feet under her and pulled herself right up. I couldn't believe it! She even inched along a little bit.

Lily is such a funny baby; she is so smily and bright. Last night I got her laughing hysterically just by putting my nose on her belly and rubbing it. Apparently Mommy is the funniest person she knows!

Addie is at Grandma and Grandpa Poskozim's today. She's staying there until Wednesday. Adam is hunting all week - our house is so quiet!! It was just Lily and I last night, I hardly knew what to do with myself. Lily seemed to be looking for Addie this morning. She settled for tormenting the cat.

We're not in Kansas Anymore

"Auntie Em, Auntie Em"

BTW: I just changed the settings on the blog so anyone should be able to post a comment. Let me know if it's not working by email and I'll try to work some magic.

Daddy's Girl

Now that there is snow on the ground, I can hardly believe this was taken just a week ago! It's one of my new favorite pictures. :) Addie and Lily love playing outside in the leaves. Addie takes a stick and "rakes" the leaves with her stick while Adam rakes. I think more leaves are actually scattered across the lawn then are raked into piles. Lily on the other hand has figured out that leaves can be pulled inside her shirt, inside her pants, inside her mouth, and best of all - inside her diaper!

Lily and the Lambs

This picture has been the talk of our office. Lily, Addie and I went out to Bob Wallace's farm to see the sheep. The sheep were more interested in Lily than Lily was in the sheep! Addie and I got to feed the grain sheep. She was shocked when the sheep "baaa'd" at her!

Can you believe this is Addie 1 year ago? She has grown so much! Just her hair alone has grown. Today I was noticing that she is loosing that baby belly; she's starting to get long and lean. Of course, some of that might be that she's hardly eaten in the last week because of her nasty cold... but really she's growing up on me. When I ask her if she is momma's baby or momma's big girl she tells me, "big girl."

Today she and Cathy Carey are making a Haunted Gingerbread house. I suspect more candy will end up in Addie's tummy than on the house, but oh well. Halloween only happens once a year! I can't wait to see the finished product....

Silly Momma Bear

I came downstairs this morning in what can only be described as a frumpy teacher sweater. It's black white and grey with snowflakes on it. Addie saw me and immediately said, "ohhh pretty!" I laughed and asked her if she liked my sweater. "oh yeah!" I must have looked sceptical because she then said, "silly mamma bear." Sometimes kids are so smart!!

Potty training update: This morning Addie sat on the potty and peed.... in her pull up. Gotta give the kid credit, she knew what to do!

Biter Biscuit

Whoever invented the Gerber Biter Biscuit deserves a medal of honor. It takes Lily from a teething cranky little thing, to a blissed out baby. She gets that biscuit in her mouth and gnaws on it, drooling brown graham cracker drool all over herself and me with this look on her face that is true bliss. You know it has to feel incredible on her gums. She was so happy gnawing on that thing and watching cartoons on my lap this morning I thought she was going to fall asleep with it in her mouth.

I think Lily may have gotten her first taste of fruit this morning as well. She was picking up crumbs of Addie's freeze dried raspberries this morning. Lily was very intent upon what she was doing and I'm pretty sure she ate some of it.

Right now Lily's on her hands and knees rocking back and forth. I don't remember Addie ever really doing that. It's the classic, I'm going to start crawling so fast you won't be able to catch me move. Yikes! Creeping/low crawling is fast enough for now!

"Come Mama"

Addie has several favorite toys right now. Among the top contenders are a castle (complete with 3 disney princesses) that she got from her cousins and a set of plastic dishes. Lately she's been coming up to me and saying, "Come Mama.... play... with me" in this sweet little voice. Now how can you say no to that? I pretty much have to drop whatever it is I'm doing because it's so darn sweet! Yesterday she even let her little sister play princesses with her.

I love that under that bossy little exterior is a girl who is learning to share and play with other people. This gives me hope that Lily won't have her toys rudely taken from her forever.

I hate it when I'm right.

Well it happened, Lily is crawling. Monday night I watched her scoot/army crawl across the floor towards the strap of the black diaper bag. I moved the bag - she turned around and went right for it. Lily was determined to put that strap into her mouth. I was so amazed - she's only 6 month, 1 weeks old! I think Addie was 10 months old before she was crawling. I'm not ready for this! I guess this definitively proves the idea that you should never compare your children. Don't do it, because they'll prove you wrong every time.

Yikes!

It's not going to be long before Lily is crawling I'm afraid. She's been pushing herself up onto hands and knees. As it is, she can pretty much get anywhere she wants to go. If there is a power cord anywhere in the room Lily zooms toward it, squirming on her belly. This girl does not like to sit still! It's going to be a wakeup call for Addie when Lily starts moving more. Addie has started stealing toys away from Lily. Once Lily can fight back it's going to be a whole new world!

Adam and I had our 6th Wedding Anniversary this weekend. I can hardly believe it's been 6 years. I never would have thought at that time that we'd be here in Superior with 2 kids and me working part-time. What a crazy wonderful trip it's been. Neither one of us is the person we were 6 years ago, but we've worked hard to grow together. SZomeone told me that you have to work together to keep the person you married the right one - not that you have to change the other person, but that you have to work and grow together. I am truely blessed to have such a wonderful husband and family.

Fuzzy Bunny

Lily has a really sweet little white blanket with a white bunny attached to the middle of it. (It looks like the bunny is growing out of the blanket.) Addie was playing with it yesterday and chewing on the head (Have I mentioned she's getting her 2 year molars?). I asked Addie if it tasted good and she nodded. "What does it taste like?" I asked her. She just looked at me like I asked the stupidest question in the world and said, "Fuzzy."

DragonTales

Lily is the smiliest baby I have ever seen! I know I keep saying it, but it's true. She has such a sweet personality. She just laughs and kicks when she sees one of us. Yesterday Addie, Lily and I went shopping. I knew Lily was getting hungry, but she wasn't insistent about it so I pushed it further than I probably should have. I stopped to grab McDonalds on the way home so Addie and I could eat while Lily was eating and no one had to wait long for their meal. When I finally got Addie settled in her high chair and went to pick up Lily, Lily just started laughing at me. A huge rolling belly laugh. It was this funny, "huh, huh, huh" laugh. It was as though she was so excited to finally have my attention she couldn't take it anymore.

Lily is now trying to scootch across the floor... I'm afraid it won't be long before she's crawling. She's not up on her hands and knees yet, but she does get herself across the room.

Adam told me the other day that Lily was laying on the floor playing when Addie went up to her and kissed Lily on the head. Lily (being a normal baby) grabbed Addie's hair. Addie started whining, "no Lily, no no. Lily, no." Now if this was us touching Addie's hair she would have been screaming bloody murder. Addie started trying to hit at Lily, but because Addie was now flopped on the floor, she couldn't really reach Lily. Adam removed Addie's hair from Lily's hand. Addie said, "sorry Lily" and went to kiss her again. Lily once again grabbed Addie's hair and the whole production started all over again!!!

Police to the Rescue!!

Chris and John came to our rescue in the cool police boat!

Boating

Sailing the High Sea

Adam, Addie and I went out with Boppa Argh (Grandpa Poskozim) yesterday on Grandpa's boat. We left Barker's Island and tooled out into the St Louis River. We got almost to the Oliver Bridge before turning around - about an hour's ride. Addie had just started getting cranky when we turned around. Up until this point she loved going fast and having the wind in her hair.

We had just turned around and were headed back when we started to smell something... was it the construction along the banks of the river? No, it smelled a little too hot for that... it was the engine! The temperature started climbing. Ray decided we should try to make it for the Arrowhead pier just a little ways away. Unfortunately, that's when the engine died. So, Adam and Ray started paddling. Ray's paddle broke and almost sent him into the drink! Meanwhile I'm calling Amy Kirchoff who's watching Lily and telling her what happened and that she may need to take a hungry Lily to church with her if we don't get back in time! Not to mention keeping a slightly cranky and very tired Addie busy. Adam called the dispach and had them get in touch with Chris Kirchoff who was the sargeant on duty.

At this point Ray and Adam decided to drop anchor because they weren't making much progress again the wind and current. After about a half hour Chris Kirchoff and John Newicki came to our rescue using the police rescue boat. It was so cool to see them come screaming up on us. Not quite lights and sirens, but close. (Pictures coming) Anyway, we tied up to the police boat and were pulled into shore. Yahoo for the SPD!!

Addie's 2!

I can't believe my baby is 2! She is growing so fast. On Saturday she was a flower girl in a wedding. She looked like a little princess in her fluffy white dress. Addie kept lifting up the fluffy tulle layer and playing with it, she loved her pretty dress! I was very worried about how she would do walking down the aisle but I think she did very well. She was supposed to walk down the aisle with her friend Gavin (they've been friends since their first days at daycare). However, Gavin got a case of stagefreight and wouldn't walk down the aisle. So the babysitter held Addie's hand and carried Gavin. It was very sweet. During the ceremony, Addie wandered off and sat by a tree and talked with another little girl. Afterwards, Addie walked back down the aisle with the mother of the bride. For a 2 year old, I think she did remarkably well. I'm glad the bride was so laid back about the whole thing!!

One step forward, two steps back.

Warning: Yucky Potty Training Story

Yesterday was a very exciting day at our house, Addie peed on the potty for the first time! (Crazy that I am so excited about this!) I even called/emailed most of the family members to tell them this. We couldn't get her to sit on the potty again though. It's almost like it's too stressful for her - performance anxiety?

Today Adam put her on the potty again when she first woke up and nothing... I think she had already gone since she had woken up and fallen back to sleep once already this morning. Then while Addie was in the bathtub she got the "POOPING" look on her face. I ran for the potty insert which had been drug out of the bathroom and into Addie's room. By the time I got the insert on the potty and Addie out of the tub it was too late. She pooped in the tub. There is nothing grosser than cleaning poop out of a tub. Yuck! So now I don't know if Addie is traumatized by being yanked out of the tub and plopped down on the toilet, but she was not happy with me.

Thoughout this whole ordeal Lily slept. 2 nights ago she even slept for 7 hours straight. Those are the good nights.