pictures can lie

One of the ways I *truly* am a slacker mama is that I don't really get that many professional portraits taken of the girls. I remember sitting around one of my new mom's group playdates, and all the moms were talking how they took their kids to picture people on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. Me...not so much. In fact, Grandmom actually was responsible for having E's first portraits taken when she was 6 months old.

So, when John went out of town a few weekends ago, I got the idea to take the girls' pictures. I called Picture People and Portrait Innovations and they were booked solid. The local Target had an opening at 12:30, so I snatched it up.

At about 12:10, the girls were done with lunch, in their outfits and ready to go. I had just changed A's diaper and we were playing in her room...when she fell and hit her eye on the window sill. A shiner immediately emerged. Undaunted, I bundled them up and off to Target we went.

In a nutshell, the session was a disaster. Only 4 pictures were taken, and they were all of E. Why? Because A was totally petrified of the gigantic camera-thingy, the nice lady trying to take her picture, the stuffed animal she kept shaking in her face...pretty much everything...and spent the entire photo session crying and holding onto me for dear life. So we left, and came home for an afternoon of relaxation.

At about 4:15 the Target studios called...they had a cancellation for their 5:00 appointment, would I like to try again? Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I said sure...and shuttled the girls back to the scene of the crime.

This time, A was an absolute angel -- hamming it up for the camera and being all around pleasant. E, however, was "that kid". She would not listen to a word I said, kept jumping on the litte platform, and finally, after an eternity about 10 minutes (and 6 photos taken) of photo shoot #2, I called it off. This plunged E into a tantrum to end all tantrums. Not only did she want "pretty pictures" taken of herself, but she also wanted to get a Dora book in Target.

So, after 2 photo sessions totally a whopping 10 pictures taken of the girls, you would think the pictures would be horrible...right? Nope. Here are the results of my pain and suffering. With pictures like this...I ought to do it more often.

weekend update

It was a good weekend in the Slacker household. We were able to take advantage of the warmer-than-normal weather and spend a good portion of it outside. Saturday, we headed out to the Leesburg Outlet, where we strolled around and shopped til we dropped. The girls got some new shoes, I got some Ts and workout shorts and John got a couple of shirts. In the afternoon, we played a bit outside as well.

Saturday night, I got together with my friend, Marathon Mom, for a girl date. We headed out for a cup of coffee and then went to see "27 Dresses." It was really cute in a totally predictable, chick-flick sort of way. But, it was great to see Jenn and have a conversation that wasn't being constantly interrupted by the kiddos.

On Sunday, John took the girls to the playground and lunch while I did our grocery shopping. They then helped him wash our cars. While A (and Daddy) napped in the afternoon, E and I did some coloring and then took a spin on her rollerblades and bike. My parents came over for the first half of the game, so we gorged ourselves on a few apps and chili and cornbread. While the first 3 quarters of the game were pretty boring, the fourth was pretty exciting and we were happy to see the Giants win.

This morning, both girls were total love-bugs and we spent about 15 minutes snuggling on the glider before going about our day. What a wonderful way to start a Monday.

no shirt, no shoes, no service

We might have a little lawyer or our hands. Or a hostage negotiator. Definitely a pain-in-the-ass teenager in the making. Here's a conversation I had with E prior to dinner.

"Mommy, I wanna eat dinner naked."
"No, E. You have to wear clothes."
"Can I just take my shirt off then?"
"Uh...no."
"How about my socks and shoes?"

In other news I will be spending the better part of this morning incessantly checking my e-mail, as I'm anxiously waiting for an e-mail from Kiki about Uncle Steve's and her future whereabouts come summertime. As someone who lives in the same freaking county that I grew up in, I live vicariously through her country-trotting living quarters. I have given up all hope that she will move to the same time zone, let alone state as me. So, I look at their moving as an exciting vacationing opportunity for me.

baby, it's cold inside!

You know how when the alarm goes off and you think to myself "I don't want to leave my warm bed. It's nice and toasty in here and cold up and about." Well, this morning, this was especially true seeing at it was 61-freaking-degrees in the house! So, I'm working from home while awaiting the heating repair guy.

I'll be using this opportunity to find out some riveting facts about my house...namely whether we have gas or electric heat. Seriously, I have absolutely no idea since we have electricity (duh) AND a gas stove. But, I'm pretty sure telling the repair dispatcher that I didn't know just added eleventy-thousand dollars to the bill.

In other news, E has started to rebel against the daycare's uniform policy. She has to wear a polo shirt with the school's logo on it Monday through Thursday, and she can wear whatever she wants on Fridays. Every morning she asks, "Is it uniform day or something-else day?" Well, the past few days she has been saying she wants to wear something else even though it's uniform day. We compromised yesterday by wearing a cardigan on top, and today by wearing a short-sleeved uniform top with a fun long-sleeved shirt underneath. But, I'm sensing that things are going to be more and more of a struggle from here on out.

Truth be told, I don't like the uniform policy...so I'm more than willing to bend the rules a bit. Case in point...here's a picture of E going to school in her uniform back in the fall.And no, she does not go to the Punky Brewster School for the Gifted.

the little things

This morning, I was in the kitchen when I heard A stirring. By the time I got up to greet her, she was standing in her crib with Taggie in one hand and the blanket she sleeps under in the other. For the past week or two, she's been gathering her things up when we come to get her. The funny thing is, E gathers her stuff up, too. She'll come into our room in the morning with Silky, her Dora blanket and pillow, Baby, and whatever else she deemed necessary to be surrounding her when she went to bed the night before.

It's the little things like this that I'm terrified I'm going to forget. Years from now, it's not going to matter when they got their teeth in (except for when they are moms themselves and ask me as a bell weather from what to expect). But, I want to capture what they were like...their little quirks that make me smile.

E puts all of her dolls to sleep face down since she is a stomach sleeper. When A sees Taggie or another soft blanket on the floor she immediately dives down and snuggles her face in it. E loves to have you lightly trace over her face with your fingers when she's going to sleep. A will say "Ah Done" as soon as E gets up from dinner because she wants to get up and play with her.

Trying to get this down so I can hold onto it forever...this is the reason why I blog.

double your pleasure

Neither of my girls took pacifiers as babies. Well, E never took a pacifier...and since I never got used to offering one when A was crying or fussy, she didn't have much of a choice. But both girls have a security blanket or lovey.

E has Silky.I bought Silky at some fantastic sale at The Right Start, not knowing that this would turn into her most prized possession. If I had known this, I would have picked up two since that particular color and pattern was being discontinued...making Silky irreplacable. We've lived in constant fear of Silky being lost, so he is pretty much not allowed out of the house unless we are going somewhere overnight. We even made E bring a faux Silky to school with her, rather than risk her losing it or it disintegrate because of the increased washings.

When A came along, Grandmom and Grandad bought her Taggie.Being so much smarter about this kind of thing, I immediately bought a second (identical) Taggie when she started to show attachment to it. Right now, we take one to daycare and leave the other at home.

Occasionally, A will come into possession of both Taggies at once. A *loves* it when this happens. She runs around with one in each hand (or both hanging out of her mouth). She's as happy as can be. I'm happy because I don't think I have to keep up a charade of there being one true Taggie and hide from her the stand-in versions, as I know some moms do.

The only down-side of Taggie is that other kids have Taggies. And A doesn't realize that every pink Taggie isn't hers. When E's friend, Madelyn, was over, she brought her Taggie. A kept grabbing at it and was visibly agitated. As soon as I retreived hers, she was fine...but it was touch and go there for a while.

change of scenery

So, they did some reshuffling of offices at work on Friday. I was one of the people moved because I was in a prime cube location (by the window) and in the totem pole of employees, I'm not prime cube material. Who knew a part-time, telecommuting contractor could be considered less important than a full-time employee who's been with the company for years.

Anyway, my new cube location sucks. It's by the copy machine. And, because it's a cube the only logical place for my computer is completely visible by anyone walking by. So my extraneous Web surfing will be curtailed Tuesdays through Thursdays during regular business hours. Bummer.

On the bright side, I will get to do my best Rob Schneider impression anytime anyone goes to use the copy machine.

It's Bill....making copies. The Bill-meister, Bill-inator, Bill-o-rama, the Bill-ster, Bill-arino, Bill-van Washeimer, Mr. Bill...making some copies!

How long till that gets old?

a monday morning giggle

My friend, Steel Magnolia, just spent some time in the ER with her younger boys. Luckily, the Slackers have only had to do the ER thing once in our 3+ years of parenting. And, while Steel Magnolia came away from her trip with an amazing perspective on parenthood...well, we came a way with a funny (and totally tasteless) story. So, here it goes.

Two years ago, when E was about 16 months old, we were playing outside and blowing bubbles on the front steps. E sat down facing the house, lost her balance, and proceeded to tumble backwards off the brick porch, down two steps to the cement walkway. Though she seemed fine, I called the ped's office to see what I should do. They told me to monitor her and if she vomits more than three times, to call back.

For the rest of the day, E was fine. Happy as a clam, no ill effects. But at dinner, she threw up. We chalked it up to maybe her food going down the wrong pipe. Then she threw up two more times. By the time the on-call ped called back, it was 9 pm and E was snuggled safely in her bed...but they wanted us to take her to the ER just in case. So we scooped her up in her feety pajamas and headed out.

The ER itself was great. They had a separate pediatric unit and we were seen fairly quickly. However, E was not so keen on this whole thing. Pretty much every thing they tried to do to her -- take her temperature, get her blood pressure, check her heart -- was meet with screams, wails and full-on thrashing. Somehow they got through the initial check and detmermined that, just to be safe, they would have to give her a CAT scan. But because you had to be totally still in the CAT Scan, they would give her some medicine to make her drowsy.

The medicine they wanted to give her was a suppository.

So, now it was me, John and the nurse all struggling with E to try and get this suppository in. I had the arms, John had the legs and the nurse was trying to...uh...administer the thing. As soon as the nurse would start to get the suppository in, E would push it out.

"Wow, she's got a really strong sphincter," the nurse remarked.

In all the commotion going on, John misheard the nurse and thought she said something to the effect of "Wow, she's really strong." So, he replied,

"Yeah, you should see her mother."

Luckily, the nurse was able to get the medicine in and quickly left, E fell asleep and was able to get the CAT scan done (she was fine) and John remained happily oblivious to what he had really implied with his statement (until I told him on the way home). And, I...well...let's just say I'm glad that we haven't had to go back to that ER since.

free to a good home

One blue-eyed, curly haired, 16-month-old snuggle bunny. Loves milk, pasta and yogurt. Favorite activities include Peek-a-boo, Ring-around-the-rosie, knocking over towers of blocks, watching Dora and Diego and playing "Ah-dide".

Owners love her dearly, but she was up for two hours last night screaming her head off...until Mommy drove to The Teets in pajamas, bought Motrin (since the Slacker house was devoid of any pain killers) and gave her some. They will gladly take her back once all of her teeth have come in.

Absolutely adorable wardrobe included. First come, first served.

dear bruce pearl,

I know that, as the coach of the UT basketball team, it's your job and all to win. I get that. Everyone wants to do well at their job. But...could you scale it back a bit?

You see, I've resigned myself to being a
football widow, and that John would spend many a weekend heading to Knoxville for games. I took comfort in the fact though, that I would have a husband during the winter, spring and summer. Sure he might watch all of the UT basketball games on TV...but let's face it...UT wasn't very good, so not many games were nationally televised or even on Game Plan.

But then you had to go and turn the program around. UT's in the top 5 or something (I think...I just nod and smile when John starts droning on and on and on talking about the team). There's talk of a #1 seed in the tournament. Apparently, you are good and John's pretty psyched about it. And off he's headed to Knoxville this weekend for the Tennessee vs. Georgia game.

I fear that if you keep up your winning ways, I might lose my winter husband, too. So, if you could throw in a couple of losses, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,
Slacker Mama

what a difference a few years makes

Yesterday, my (younger, unmarried, childless) co-worker/friend stopped by my cube to ask a question. My purse was sitting right by him...he happened to glance in. All of the sudden he had this strange look on his face. He reached in and pulled out...some Mardi Gras beads.

It took quite a bit of convincing that they were, in fact, part of one of E's ensembles rather than a little something I...ahem...earned while out and about over the weekend.

And, maybe, last decade he might of been right. But seeing as my weekends are considered "wild and crazy" if I make it up past 11:30...not so much.

who's the big sister now?

One of the hardest aspects of disciplining E is that she often will do things that A is doing. So if we are at church (hey...it happens) and A starts babbling, E will take it as okay for her to whisper, too. Meals can be a pain because E will eat more with her fingers than utensils because that's how A does it. I forsee "If so-and-so jumped off the bridge, would you do it too?" type comments coming out of my mouth in the future.

Last night, I was sitting with girls while they ate dinner. And my conversation with E went something like this.

"E, please use a fork when you are eating."
"But, Mama, A's not using a fork right now either."
"Actually, E, she's trying to use her fork when she eats. But right now, she's using a napkin to wipe her face and hands because she's trying to be a big girl with table manners." [Side note: A really does try to use a fork and then she does tidy herself up with a napkin; it's incredibly cute and much needed.]
"Well...she still talks like a baby and I talk very much like a big girl...so there!"

partners in crime

So the girls and I had off for MLK Day. We had lined up a playdate in the morning with my friend Liz, but one of her sons had a stomach bug, so it pretty much fell through. We were forced to do something productive, so we bundled up and headed out to Harris Teeter to get groceries that we were too lazy to get Sunday for the week.

In the afternoon, my friend Heidi brought over her two daughters, Madelyn (3 yo) and Eleanor (13 mos). E has always loved Madelyn...and despite E's over-exuberance in showing her affections toward Madelyn (think: hugs that end up being tackles), Madelyn loves E as well.

The girls get along famously except for the fact that they have a tendency to misbehave a bit more than they would alone. Nothing major, mind you, just jumping on the couches and running off at the playground. But, we've always joked that the girls will no longer allowed to be friends after age 12 when the real trouble will begin.

So, as Heidi and I sat in the family room with Ellie and A, Madelyn and E were up in her room playing with her dress up clothes and stuffed animals...or so we thought. We decided to check in on the girls, and made it up the stairs just in time to see the girls in their undies sitting on the bathroom sink as it began to overflow onto the bathroom floor. They had pulled the stopper in the sink, turned on the faucets and were splashing around.

We might have to cut off ties by kindergarten.

In other news, it was so cute to see A in this type of social situation. She loved Ellie and even hugged her at one point. She also really wants to be part of the older crowd. At one point she joined in on a few rounds of Ring-around-the-Rosie. She just beamed the entire time...it was adorable.

Minor plumbing catastrophes aside...it was a great way to spend a Monday.

tgif

Man, am I ever happy for it to be Friday...and the beginning of a 3-day weekend to boot. Work this week was a killer, but I've got my bottle glass of wine, so I'm not going to dwell on the bad stuff.

We've got a full weekend in the Slacker house. Tomorrow night is John's company party, which they have moved from December to January. It's nice to have something in the dead of winter and not to have another thing to stress about during the holidays. It's up in Baltimore, so we're spending the night while the girls head to Nonna and Pop-pop's house.

Sunday will be the usual -- football, laundry and grocery shopping. Good times!
Monday, the girls and I have off. We're going to catch up my friend, Liz and her sons in the morning, and my friend Heidi and her girls in the afternoon. Very excited to see them all.

Hope you all have good weekends!

one-on-one

So last night, we each had a little one-on-one time with a girl. John picked E up from school, stopped by home to get changed and off they went to The Orange Birginiya to watch the UVA vs. Virginia Tech basketball game. At one point, John was waffling on whether or not he wanted to go (it being a school/work night, etc.), but when E overheard him mentioning that to me on the phone, she started screaming "No Daddy! I wanna go to The Orange Birginiya!"

They had a great time. Ate popcorn in the first half and a hotdog in the second half. They stayed through till overtime (UVA lost), and got home at 11. E stayed up the entire time. Around Warrenton, she told John that she was going to be a ballerina when she grew up. Good times were had by all.

I picked A up from school a few minutes after John and E left. We got home and had a little dinner -- fruit cup, soup and goldfish. Then we spent the time before bed just playing. We played chase...we read books...we did airplanes...we had tickle fights. It's so great to have her feeling better and being in such good spirits again.

I think that date nights should become a weekly thing. We'd switch kids weekly, but I think they would both benefit and love some one on one time.

an optimistic thought

I don't know how exciting your Friday night was, but mine involved a few glasses of wine (of course) and vegging on the couch with John watching a bit of TV. In between the random basketball games that we were watching (I mean, seriously...that kid would watch community college basketball if it were televised), we watched a bit of 20/20. The episode was all about happiness -- what makes people happy and why. One of the things they touched upon was that happy people just have a better outlook on life.

This has struck a chord with me. I definitely think of myself as a glass-is-half-empty kind of gal. So this week, I've been trying to really look on the bright side of things. My 45-minute commute yesterday? Hey, at least it wasn't an hour! Another stupid conference call? More time to catch up on what Britney's up to!

But I was put to the test last night, when after running downstairs to get something, I found that my charge for bedtime, a freshly bathed and completely nekkid A, had pooped on the bathroom floor. As John and I scrambled to clean up the aftermath, I put on my best smile, turned to John and said,

"At least this didn't happen on Sunday when she had her tummy virus."

Just call me Susie Sunshine.

dear lady in the stall two doors down...

You are in a public restroom. Going to the bathroom is an appropriate activity. Talking on the cell phone while going to the bathroom is not an appropriate activity. Ever. Not even in an emergency (and I highly doubt updating "Nan" on the status of your kitchen redo could be considered an emergency).

One should not have to wonder if flushing would be rude since it would interrupt your conversation or possibly alert the person on the other end that you are talking to them WHILE GOING TO THE BATHROOM.

Ew.

Sincerely,
Slacker Mama

a shout out to kiki

So the other night, I was cooking pasta and peas for the girls. Pasta and peas is a Slacker go-to meal, but we usually use tortellini or ravioli from the fresh section. Friday night, however, I broke out the box of Barilla.

"What's for dinner, mama?" E asked.
"Pasta." I replied.
"Mac and cheese?" E asked.
"Nope. Gemelli.*"
"Let me see!" E said.
So I showed her the pasta.

"It's curly pasta!" E exclaimed. "Just like Kiki's hair!"

It just maks me so happy that, even though Kiki doesn't live close, she's still in the forefront of E's mind!

* Nerd alert: Gemelli is Italian for "twin" as well. So another way it all goes back to Kiki.

with daughters like these...

...maybe I should fire the cleaning lady?

hero's welcome

So A is hanging at home for one more day (if I haven't mentioned this before NONNA ROCKS!), but E went to school. It was quite humorous, E was begging to stay home and A was standing at the door with her lunchbox saying "Ah-dide!"

When E walked into her classroom, about 8 of her classmates came running over. "E's here!" they were yelling as they gave her huge hugs. Then one shouted "E, I love you!" and the little lemmings all followed suit with a chorus of "I love you, too, E!" It's so cute to see that she has little friends.

Weekend here was pretty boring. Watched football. Changed some diapers. Watched basketball. Changed some diapers. Watched football. Caught E giving her and A's toothbrushes a bath in her Dora potty. Changed some diapers.

I also did LOTS of laundry. Over the holidays, we ended up getting a new washer and dryer. And while I loved it prior to this weekend, the presence of a sanitary cycle made me love it more.

on the upswing

A woke up from her nap this afternoon just as E and Pop-pop were heading outside to play some soccer and get the mail. When A saw them open the door, she started to cry. I asked her if she wanted to go outside, and she nodded her said and said "Ah-dide!" So, we bundled her up and Nonna took her out.

She's still not 100% but it's definitely a start!

slave driver!

I'm working today since I've been fairly unproductive this week and have a few things that need to be done. Nonna, rock star that she is, is back over here watching the girls. After my conference call, I went in to check on how things are going. E pops her head out the tent they have set up in the living room.

"Are you done with your work, mama?"
"No, E."
"Well then, get back to work!"

poor baby a

Last night was a little rough for A. She woke up several times and wanted to eat or drink. We gave her some Pedialyte at 1 am, which she promptly puked all over me. At 3 am, she joined us in our bed where she alternately dozed and drank a sip or two of water.

She's held down crackers and water since this morning, which is good. She has also been sleeping on and off for most of the day. The rational mama in me says "Great! Sleep is what she needs!" The irrational mama in me worries, "Dude, is she going to be awake all night long!?!?" Daycare called and said one of her classmates had been diagnosed with Rotovirus, so I'm assuming that's what A has, especially since she's had a bit of the Big D and a slight fever.

The big winner in all of this is E. Not only did she get a fantastic night out with John last night, my mom came over to watch the girls while I worked. Well, since A's been sleeping a lot today, she's basically had Nonna all to herself. She even suckered Nonna into a few games of Chutes and Ladders!

the awesomeness continues

I hate it when I'm right. This afternoon and evening was a nightmare. Having a 15-month-old with a stomach virus is no fun at all. She was hungry and thirsty. She was yelling/screaming/crying/pleading with me to give her more than a sip of Pedialyte at a time. She climbed into her booster seat and refused to budge. She tried to scale the counters to get to her sippycup stash. And, since she is only 15-months-old, no amount of explanation would make her understand that it wasn't that I didn't want to give her more...that she shouldn't have more.

Thankfully, she took two naps this afternoon and did not throw up any more after the second one. So I hope she's on the mend. And the rest of us don't get it.

On the bright side, John and E went out for a little date tonight. They went and got their hair cut, got burgers and fries at Five Guys and then hit up a little Coldstone. The both had fun, and have cute new 'dos to boot!

Actually, this reminds me of when E was 18-months or so and got some sort of similar virus. And, towards the end of afternoon, she was the same as A, just begging for more to drink or eat. She was signing "eat", "more" and "milk" furiously and crying, and my mom and I were just plain crying because it was so pathetic. In a desperate attempt to get E to forget about food and drink, we turned on Sesame Street and tried to distract her with Elmo's World. And what were Elmo and Dorothy thinking about that day? Water. As the montage of kids drinking water from cups and water fountains, playing in the sprinkler and dancing in the rain played, my mom and I scrambled to turn the damn TV off. Parenting is a blast some days.

you know what's awesome?

Getting a phone call from daycare telling you to come pick up A, as she puked 3 times this morning.

You know what's even more awesome? Puke #4 being down your back as you carry A out the door of daycare.

She's sleeping now, but I imagine it's going to be a long afternoon here.

fashion plates they aren't

When left to her own devices, this is what E would wear.

That would be her peasant skirt, a new shirt from Christmas, her rainboots, her Hershey Kiss Halloween costume (on backwards!), her "Groovy" necklace and Silky (of course!).

And this is what A looked like when I picked her up from school today. Those were not the pants she wore to school...but this is what happens when striped pants are your "backup" pair and you let your teachers do your hair. (By the way, drop off was decent today...she was a bit teary, but quickly distracted with a banana and Nutrigrain bar. Yep, food trumps Mommy every time.)

better late than never

Slacker Mama is quickly becoming a technological goddess. (She is also enjoying referring to herself in the third person, but that's not important right now.) After learning some new skills in Photoshop (hence the new header graphic, and those of some of my blogger friends), I have now joined the world of YouTube. And that means you get to experience the joy that was Christmas morning.

just "chute" me

E received the Dora Chutes and Ladders game for Christmas from Kiki and Uncle Steve. (For the record, we also have Dora Memory and Dora Candyland as well. I think at this point it's safe to assume that if it's a board game with Dora on it, we have it.) Anyway, this weekend we finally ran out of excuses opened up the game to play it.

In a nutshell, John decided he would rather change A's poopy diaper than subject himself to another game of Chutes and Ladders with E. First reason, for the first 50 or so rounds that we played with her, she didn't fully grasp the concept that Slide = Bad. Therefore, games would last forever. Second reason, E cheats ... a lot. She spins and spins until she gets a number that she likes (often one that would allow her to go down a slide, see Reason 1). Then she "forgets" about your turn. Then she decides that she wants to be Backpack and you should be Dora...now she wants to be Dora and you be Backpack again. The constant chaos and lack of rule-following is enough to send this OCD mama over the edge. I found myself cheating right back...letting her skip entire rows and telling her she had rolled enough to get up a ladder just to get the game to end.

Luckily, the weather was nice so we actually got to use the real-life chute and ladder in our back yard. A, like her big sister, is fearless. She can now climb up the ladder and go down the slide pretty much by herself. She also loves the swing and tried to pull the cover off the sandbox to get in. Today, we ended up at a neighbor's backyard with all of the other kids and she was quite perturbed that she couldn't figure out their rock-climbing wall. She just stood there hanging onto the holds, screeching and staring at me like, "Lady! Get me up this wall thing!"

Tomorrow, it's supposed to close to 70 round these parts. I'm hoping that the good weather will change A's tune about the Toddler class, since they go outside onto the playground (they didn't in the infants room). On a happier note, she was pretty good when I dropped her off on Friday. She more or less yelled in protest than cried, which was nice. I'll keep you posted how it goes tomorrow.

dear pizzeria uno

I know you are trying to emphasize that you use fresh ingredients and what not by decorating your restaurant with boxes of food, cans of tomatoes and bottles of wine. I get that. What I do not get is why a marginally decent pizza chain an Italian restaurant would need to display ginormous baskets of apples and oranges. Wine and pasta? Sure. Go for it. But, apples and oranges? What's so Italian/pizza-y about that?

But, if you are going to continue to display said baskets of fruit, you might not want to sit the Slacker family directly beside them in the near future. My ears (and those or our nearby diners, I'm sure) are still ringing from the shrieking and crying Sweet Baby A did in her effort to convince us to give her one. And, you might want to do a quick check of the apples when you get a chance. I think one of them might have a E-sized bite in it from when I had my back turned.

Oh, one more thing. If you are going to take for-freaking-ever to get us our food on a Thursday night when your restaurant is pretty much empty, you're going to have to give me a bigger glass of wine. The thimble-sized glass that you poured for me just isn't enough to take the edge off.

Thanks,
Slacker Mama

drink more, work less

So, it's New Year's resolution time! Usually, this means that I tell myself that I'm going to eat better, exercise more and lose weight. Like so many others, I've completely blown it by January 18th.

But...this year is different. As you can tell by the post title, I have lofty goals:

Drink more, work less.

I know what you are thinking. "Uh...Slacker Mama...that doesn't seem like something to aspire to." But you'd be wrong.

When I came back to work in July, it was supposedly for 32 hours/week. However, due to the workload that I have (and the culture of the company that I work for) it really hasn't worked out that way, and I usually end up putting a full 40 (if not more). Since I'm a hourly contractor, this has worked out nicely for the Slacker family coffers, but has left me feeling like my work-life balance is totally out of whack. And since this has increased my already guilt-ridden conscience about not spending time with the girls, I pretty much spend every second of my free time with them. Which means that the time I spend doing things for myself (or even by myself) has been reduced to pretty much nothing.

That's where my resolution comes in. I'm going to really focus on limiting the amount of time that I devote to work, by working more efficiently (she says as she blogs during work hours...loving the conference calls!) and by setting limits on when I work (developing and sticking to a schedule). In addition, I'm going to make a concerted effort to spend a little more time doing stuff for me, be it getting up a little earlier to work out or enjoying a glass (or three) of red wine at night.

So far, I've been pretty good at doing this. I'll keep you posted as the year goes on.

people are dumb

As part of my job, I provide user support via the Help Desk. Someone contacted us saying that they couldn't log in. I send my standard response: make sure you have cookies enabled...and if you do (and still can't log in), let me know what error message you are getting to help me troubleshoot further. She replies that she *does* have cookies enabled, and that the message she receives when she tries to log in is...get this:

INVALID PASSWORD

I mean...how am I supposed to respond to that without making her look like a total moron? Sad thing is, this isn't the first time this has happened and I'm sure it won't be the last.

this cracked me up

I get those BabyCenter newsletters on what my baby should be doing for each month. When E was a baby, I would read each newsletter word-for-word as if it were the definitive guide to my child's development. Now that I'm such an expert parent (heh), I read it for entertainment. Case in point, this was in my What My 15-Month-Old is up to:

Whining and screaming: If your 15-month-old has started sounding like a hyena or worse, you're experiencing his intense desire to interact with you. Children thrive on their parents' attention, and a toddler this age will do just about anything to get yours. When he gets loud or whiny, kneel down to your child's level and tell him you're listening. If he keeps it up, calmly say, "I can't understand you when you talk like that. Please use your normal voice and I'll be happy to listen to what you're saying." Eventually, he'll get the message.

I mean...really? The "use your normal voice" doesn't work on my three-year-old...I'm pretty sure it will be useless on A.

We did put this yelling to good use tonight. We played this "game" where E and I would pretend to be asleep. A would creep up and yell "Ahhhh" to wake us up. E and I would pretend to be startled awake and yell back. Laughter would ensue. This kept the girls entertained while dinner was cooking. Good times, indeed.

back at square one

So this morning was A's first day back at school since the Friday before Christmas. It was also her first day in the Toddler's room.

It did not go well.

It started out fine. A was happy as a clam, carrying her lunchbox into school. But she was a hysterical mess as soon as we stepped foot in her room. I ended up taking her with me to E's room to drop her off...and she would barely let me put her down to unpack E's things. (By the way, E was great. Couldn't have cared less that I was leaving her.)

We went back to her room, where she held on for dear life and cried, cried, cried. It was so pathetic. The teachers were great...they all were coming over and trying to distract her. I ended up leaving her with Miss Caitlyn (who is a fave of E's) with her still crying. Hopefully, she'll be back to her old school-loving self in no time.

a's vocab list

Christmas Day was A's 15-month birthday. As E did, she really doesn't say all that many words, but understands pretty much everything you tell her. Her current vocab list is:

• Mama


• Dada


• Pat-da: Pasta


• Ah duh: All done


• Ah-dide: Outside (this sounds very much like all done...however, it can be distinguished by A frantically trying to open a door to get out)


• Dough-da: Dora

Yes, you read that right. In her limited vocabulary, Dora has made the list.

e's resolution

This morning, I was telling E about resolutions. I asked her what her resolution for 2008 would be.

"Dora."
"You mean, you want to watch more Dora?" I asked.
"No. I want to be more like Dora."
"How are you going to be more like Dora, E?" I asked.
"We should go to the store and buy lots of Dora things so I can be more like Dora, mommy."

Sad thing is...she's more likely to keep her resolution than I am.

don't trust her with state secrets

On Sunday (Christmas Eve Eve), John and I had to run to the mall to pick up some things we needed for the funeral. When we got home, John took E upstairs and I settled in on the couch to veg for a few seconds. Suddenly, E comes bounding into the room.

"Mommy, I've got a secret! You've got Crocs!"
"Huh?" I asked.
"It's a suprise. Daddy bought you Crocs for Christmas! And I helped hide them. It's a secret, Mommy! You're getting Crocs! Right, Daddy?"

quick little update

I've really not had a chance to post for a while...we've been very busy here with both Christmas and everything surrounding Maud's passing. The funeral was on Monday. It was very nice. John and his brothers spoke. A and E were (relatively) well-behaved during it all.

Christmas was great. E was definitely psyched to see that Santa had been there. "He ate the cookies, and the reindeer ate the carrots!" she said as she checked the plate by the fireplace. "And look! He made a fire for us!"

She also really loved the dress-up clothes that Santa brought, prompting a new rule of "no dress up clothes outside the house". I don't mind going places with her dressed in her crazy fashion sense, but I refuse to be seen in public with a 3-year-old saloon beer wench.

A also liked Christmas. Her little piano has gotten lots of use, and she was very psyched about the Curious George DVD and the Diego coloring book in her stocking (though we've had to "read" her the coloring book a few times). But she had the most fun in a big box with a ton of tissue paper in it. Hours of fun for her!

We'll be heading back home on Saturday, so hopefully I can post some pictures or videos soon.

car trip + portable dvd player = trouble

What do you get when you combine a 6-hour car trip, a portable DVD player playing Dora the entire time and a 15-month-old?

A serious addiction, apparently.

We made it to Ashland in relatively one piece. A got car sick with about 45 minutes to go in the trip. Ritz Bits cheese crackers and the WV Turnpike do not mix well, apparently. But, they were pretty entertained with the DVD player. No big deal, right? Well, A now loves loves loves Dora and Diego. The last two days we have had to physically restrain A from the presents under the tree with Dora wrapping paper. And when we were in the Kroger, she started screaming bloody murder for the Diego yogurt. Apparently, she's going to be more of an addict than E. That's what you get for starting them young.

Oh, and E is becoming her mother's daughter. When I was a little girl (okay, even last year) my dad would tell me nightly that we could open a present early...and I would fall for it every time. Since we've gotten to Ashland, E has asked me approximately eleventy thousand times if we can open presents now. In a few years, I'll have hours of fun tormenting her in the same way.

In sad news, John's grandmother passed away yesterday. She was 94 years old. John's parents, his brother Dave and John were all there. The funeral is tomorrow.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.

when all else fails...

Pack everything you own. I've...um...gained a few pounds of late, which has limited my already limited wardrobe. So packing for this trip has been a little more stressful than usual. I've just laid out most of what I'm going to pack on my bed. It's litterally anything I've bought in the last 5 months, as well as anything that recently has fit me, sort of fit me or I wish would fit me. I've also thrown in my workout clothes, for good measure. Because, really, being on vacation over Christmas is the perfect time to start an exercise routine!

conference call fun, part two

It's haiku time!

My house is filthy
Cleaning ladies did not come
No clean house for me

Update!
Cleaning ladies came!
Yay! Better late than never!
My house will sparkle again!

conference call fun

Thus far, while on my morning conference call, I've:

• Put away my dishes


• Addressed two more Christmas Cards


• Elfed the Slackers


• Refilled my coffee mug


• Cleaned off my desk


• Wrote this post

If they ask me a question, I'm so screwed.

you. must. comment.

I was all set to write a woe-is-me post about how I'm overworked, underappreciated, overweight and undermedicated. But then, I dropped the girls off at daycare. And, A's teachers had a little present for her. And John and I have not gotten the girls' teachers anything yet. So I need to. Today.

According to my elementary school teacher sister, gift cards are always appreciated rather than random crap. So, I'm thinking Target gift cards. Unless you think Panera or Starbucks will be better. (What if they don't like overpriced sandwiches or coffee, though?) But how much? Remember I have to buy four teacher gifts. Is $15 too cheap? $20? $10?

So, comment. Now. Tell me your vote on Gift Card store AND denomination.

Miss Anya, Idalia, Elizabeth and Robin thank you in advance.

are quirks genetic?

The reason I ask is that two of E's quirks are now starting to show up in A.

First of all, both girls love love love the shower. If they see you are in the shower, they are either stripping down and climbing in before you know it (in the case of E) or trying to climb in fully clothed (in the case of A). And now getting them out has become a struggle. This morning, they both joined me. I got out, dried off, put my robe on and went to get A. The little booger stood in the far corner of the stall so I couldn't reach her without getting totally soaked again. When I opened the shower door to get E out, she tried to get *back* in. Two little water monkeys we have.

Secondly, A is starting to display E's...uh..."colorful" fashion sense. We were downstairs getting our shoes on and I ran into the laundry room to get a pair of socks for A from the laundry basket. A followed me in, and came out with a pair of E's crazy socks -- pink and yellow and green and white with polka dots and stripes and wavy lines. When I tried to put the white socks on her, she shook her head vigorously and handed me the crazy pair.

They can be so different from one another...it's kind of cracking me up how they can also be so alike.

houdini in shopping cart

Last night, John had a business dinner so it was just me and the girls. We didn't get a chance to go grocery shopping this weekend, so I needed to run to the store and pick up a few things to get us through the week. So, I picked the girls up from school, and off we went to Panera for a little dinner.

Panera was the same old, same old. E kept trying to steal A's yogurt. A kept trying to steal E's PB&J sandwich. E had to potty which meant that I uttered at least a thousand different variations of the phrase "No touching anything!" Then we headed on over to Giant.

Giant has tried to renovate to keep up with the new Harris Teeter and the impending Wegmans...but it still sucks in my book. For example, the car carts were tiny and the three that I saw all had broken seatbelts. Undeterred, I shoved the girls in the car and off we went.

There were the requesite "Mommy, A's taking up the whole car" complaints from E, a few howler monkey screeches from A, but it was fairly uneventful. Until we got to the dairy section, where E and I had to go through every option of yogurt available to her. Diego or Yo baby? Diego. Cup or tube? Cup. Peach or Strawberry? Strawberry. Satisfied with her choice, I started walking toward the milk. Until I heard A yelling...and walking toward me.

She apparently had slipped out of the cart and was checking out the refrigerated foods, completely unbenknowst to me. Granted, she was only 3 feet away from me, but MAN did my heart skip a beat...and did I feel like a bad mommy. So for the rest of the trip, I held her tight and navigated the 10 foot cart with one hand.

Good times, I tell you.

e's great idea, part 2

Today, E came downstairs wearing her brand new sock monkey PJs, courtesy of Nonna and Pop-pop.

"I have a great idea," she said.
"What's your great idea, E?" I asked.
"How about if we wore our pajamas all day long and slept really late. Maybe when I get bigger I can sleep in your bed with you and daddy, too."
"That sounds like a great idea, E."
"Can I wear my pajamas and bathrobe to school today?"

Unfortunately for E, her uniform shirt, jeans and running shoes had to do.

e's great idea

E came downstairs this morning, came over to me on the couch, snuggled up close to me and said,

"Mommy, I have a great idea!"
"What, E?" I asked.
"How about for breakfast we either have cookies or chocolate?"

Unfortunately for E, Honey Bunches of Oats had to do.

Oh, my dad has "Elfed" himself, my mom and the girls. Check it out!

click!

E's had her digital camera for less than 24 hours...and she has taken over 125 pictures. Granted, there are a lot of shots of the floor, the couch, the ceiling. But there are also tons of shots of our noses, chins, hands, necks and feet.

The funniest thing? E busting while John was potty and yelling "I wanna take your picture!"

I'll try and download some of her pictures today. Ansel Adams she is not.

are we in the north pole, mama?

So today was our big Breakfast with Santa. Luckily, we avoided a huge "E is terrified of Santa" crisis by getting that out of the way on Friday night instead. The local fire department drives a decorated fire truck with Santa around the neighborhoods in December, and last night they came to ours. John and I raced the girls outside when we heard the sirens.

"Where are we going?" E asked me as we went outside.
"To see Santa, E! He's coming here on a fire truck!" I told her.
"NO MOMMY! I'M SCARED! I WANT TO GO INSIDE!"

Luckily she put on a brave face while hanging out with the other neighborhood kids. And then he came. He stayed a far distance away (on the top of the truck), but threw out candy, so E instantly loved him again. Though, John said that she told him that she didn't want to eat breakfast with him, but he could stop by her house and leave her presents.

This morning, though, she sang a different tune. She happily put on her Santa dress and we piled in the car for breakfast. We headed to the next community over, and when we stopped, E asked me, "Are we in the North Pole, mama?"

The breakfast was great, and the girls ate a ton. The Santa was very nice, and you could take your own pictures. And, since there wasn't a line to see him, all my babes got a turn with Santa, letting the big guy know what they wanted under the tree this Christmas.

Two Girls and a Claus

"I'd like a baby in a box with milk in a bottle..."

"I'd like to get off your lap, scary guy with the beard."

"I'd like Gator Bowl tickets and a case of Coors Light..."

Afterward, John's Aunt Kathleen came to exchange gifts. The girls got tons of cool stuff, including some puzzles, musical instruments and E got a kid-proof digital camera. Aunt Kathleen brought her fancy Digital SLR camera, and got a decent family shot of us in front of our dinky little tree.

not so slacker after all...

Oh yeah...we're on top of it this year. After a morning trip to Target, I am D-O-N-E with Christmas shopping for the girls. All presents AND stocking stuffers have been bought. I even found baby dolls for the girls that were less-creepy than I had anticipated.

Almost all of the other Christmas presents that we need to buy are bought. Just two more to buy (and we know what we are getting them!), and then we just have to wrap, which shouldn't take too long.

My MOMS cookie exchange cookies have been baked and are cooling. I ended up doing Nutella Kiss Cookies rolled in red and green sugar. They are a little flat, but still pretty tasty.

The Christmas cards have been addressed, stuffed, sealed, stamped and SENT. Expect the cuteness that is Hurricane E and Sweet Baby A arriving in your mailbox shortly!

And...tomorrow we are having breakfast with Santa! So, John and I won't burn in the firey pits of hell by denying our children the opportunity to see Santa...and we won't have to go to the mall to do it! And, there's breakfast, to boot!

oh what fun!

Things E did to entertain herself this morning while John and I got ready:

• Watched Curious George

Things A did to entertain herself this morning while John and I got ready:

• Watched Curious George


• Turned TV off


• Turned TV on


• Carried pair of socks around room


• Attempted to put socks on


• Opened bathroom cabinets


• Turned TV off


• Dumped out bag of hangers (going to be recycled)


• Carried empty recycled hanger bag around room


• Turned TV off


• Picked stuff out of trash can in closet


• Yelled in protest when mommy takes away trash and puts trash can out of reach


• Turned TV off


• Turned TV on

it's date night!

Nonna and Pop-pop are picking the girls up from school today. John and I are meeting at the mall near where I work to (hopefully) finish up Christmas shopping and then we're headed out to dinner for a little mid-week date night.

So, if you get crappy gifts from us, you'll know that we got hungry. Thanks in advance for your understanding!

it's just nuts!

Friday night is our MOMS Club Cookie Exchange. I'm excited because I actually get to go to an event...although by the looks of the evite response list, I don't really know many of the other moms who are coming. But, for wine and cookies, I'll meet some new people!

Anyway, the big debate is whether or not the cookies we exchange can have nuts in them. We are a nut-free group for regular gatherings, which I totally get, especially since E's friend Madelyn has a nut (and egg) allergy that requires epi-pens. But, do you know how hard it is to think of good Christmas cookies that don't have nuts in them?!?!?

Luckily, the moms in attendence have thrown caution to the wind and we are going to allow nuts in the cookies. We're ANIMALS, I tell you!

sit right down

So A is getting bigger and bigger these days. This weekend, she reached two milestones concerning where she sits. On Friday night, John was playing around with her, and sat her in E's cushy booster seat right before dinner. When we tried to sit her in her high chair for dinner, she pitched a fit. So we broke out our other booster seat and set a place for her at the table. She was happy as a clam, and has been sitting there ever since. It's so cute...when you tell her to "Go get in your seat" before a meal, she stands patiently by her booster.

The second milestone is that we flipped her carseat forward. She started to do the "straighten her body out so you couldn't put her in the car seat" thing last week. So on Saturday, we turned her around. Now she's happy. This will also be nice over Christmas so they can both watch the portable DVDs when we travel.

Seems like only yesterday we were bringing her home. She's such a big girl now!

good thing it was warm out today

When I picked A and E up from school, they were wearing their Orange Birginia jackets. They could be described as windbreakers, actually...but certainly not coats.

"Daddy let us wear these to school today. He's a good daddy."

i shouldn't have asked

Last night, E and I were talking, and (of course) our conversation turned to Santa. I asked her what she thought Santa was going to bring her. Usually, her answer is "I don't know" and I use that opportunity to "suggest" fun items that Santa might bring her (that may or may not already be stashed in the trunk of John's car). But, tonight, instead of "I don't know" she said,

"A baby in a box with a bottle of milk and a bottle of orange juice."

When we went to the toy store on Saturday to pick up presents for Madelyn and Ellie, E was fascinated with the baby doll section. Apparently, it was more than a passing fascination, and she might actually want a baby doll for Christmas. The only problem? Those plastic baby dolls freak me out. I mean, they are really, really creepy to me.

Oh the sacrifices that motherhood forces you to make...

another "to do" checked off...

So I ordered the family Christmas card today. I think it will turn out pretty cute. I do have one picture of the girls together, but because the aren't smiling in it, I have indivdual smiling shots as well. If they suck, nothing we can do about it now anyway. Of course, we have already received Steel Magnolia's card, which is GORGEOUS. John, ever so supportive husband that he is, took one look and said, "Their card kicks our card's ass!" Nice.

Anyway, here's a look at what the Slacker card might have been. It's a design that didn't win out in the end. But it was cute, so I thought I'd share.

And, in case you are wondering, our actual card won't actually say from the Slackers...

busy little bees

This weekend was jam-packed full of activity! We spent Saturday morning decorating the house and the tree for Christmas. After A's nap in the afternoon, we headed into Fairfax to get birthday presents for A and E's friends, Madelyn and Ellie. Since the stores were jam-packed, we headed to Coastal Flats for an early dinner and then back home.

On Sunday, we got up and did a little divide and conquer. John and E headed to The Teets for our weekly grocery trip. I took A to AC Moore, where we got a lot of Christmas shopping done. They have a pretty extensive Melissa and Doug section, so I got A's big present (a little piano), a puzzle for each girl, stacking blocks for A and lacing beads for E. I also got them some stocking stuffers, too. So, we've got to get a few more things, but we are almost done with our shopping. Woo hoo!

We met back up at home, and then headed out again for Madelyn and Ellie's birthday party. It was at Toddlin' Time, which was a local version of Gymboree/Little Gym. The girls had a blast, running around, crawling through tunnels, going down the slides and playing with the parachute. After pizza and cake, we headed home. All was well until E threw up all over herself as we turned into our development. All of the running around and junk food did not agree with her little tummy. She had partied 'til she puked. We got her cleaned up and both girls went down for a nap for over two hours. Then it was a little more playtime, dinner, baths, and time for bed!

All in all, a busy weekend...but fun nonetheless!

an interesting twist on traffic

On the way home from shopping and dinner tonight, we got stuck in traffic. I know, you could have knocked us over with a feather. Anyway, it ended up being more congested than your run-of-the-mill traffic. E started to get impatient.

"Are we home yet?" she asked.
"No, E. We're trying to get there, but there's traffic," I replied.
"Why? Why is there traffic, mama?"
"Because someone had an accident and so now we're driving slowly," I told her.
"Well, let's hurry up and find out which girl had the accident. 'Cause I have to go potty too!"

the slackers are fakers!

So the Slacker family got up this morning, made some waffles and then headed on over to Lowe's to buy some Christmas decorations. We got lights for outside of the house and then, we passed by the artificial tree display. After some consternation, we caved and ended up getting one.

Now, I'm usually a live tree snob. However, this year, the fake tree seemed like the better idea. A is a climber and we're pretty sure that she would topple a tree. E is also capable of knocking the tree over. Also, we're travelling over Christmas and I have a fear that the Christmas tree will burn our house down ever since, well, the Christmas tree burned my house down when I was five. And, since we have had wind and rain and snow over the last week, the real trees were looking pretty rough.

So, a fake tree it was. And man, does it look fake. And sparse. Charlie Brown Christmas Tree sparse. But once we put on our garland and ornaments and a bow on top (since top branch buckled under the weight of the star tree topper we usually use), E proclaimed, "That's the most bee-you-tiful tree I've ever seen, Mommy!" And I've already had to rehang the beaded garland three times, thanks to A!

So, though I probably won't take a picture of the tree for you to see out of fear of ridicule, the girls are delighted with their tree. Which means I am, too.

necessity is the mother of invention

The girls each have their own PB Kids Everywhere Chairs (thanks Nonna and Pop-pop!) and they use them all the time.

A and E hanging out in their chairs

Lately, E has started building forts with them, too. Last weekend, she ended up climbing on top of chair forts despite my warnings. Therefore, both chairs got taken away for the rest of the day.This did not discourage E from sitting in a chair with A. Here are the solutions she came up with.

"Take our chairs, Mommy! You can't stop us!"

"Come here, A! Check out our new chairs!"

"Oh yeah, this one is much better!"

use your words!

It's all a bit blurry to me, but I'm pretty sure that A talks about the same amount that E did at the same age. However, E communicated to us her wants and needs through baby sign language. She signed More, Eat, Milk and then a couple of random ones, but it was more than enough to get her point across. But, A? A...not so much.

Don't get me wrong, A knows these what these signs mean. If you ask her to sign them, she will. However, if she wants milk or food or to get out of her high chair or for me to pick her up...pretty much anything...she forgoes the signing in favor of her new form of communication: screeching like a howler monkey. It's loud. It's worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. And tonight, it was constantly happening from the time she got home until the time she went to bed.

Dear lord, if you can't get her to start using her words sooner, can you at least give John and I a MUTE button for her? Or at least ear plugs?

who wore it best?

US Weekly and People and all those type magazines always have a little section where they show two starlets who (gasp!) are wearing the same dress. Ninety-nine percent of the time, it's a different event so it's really not that scandalous, but it's fun to see how each person looks different in the outfit and makes it their own.

Since A was born 25 months after E, she inherited a wealth of hand-me-downs. And since Grandmom and Nonna and Kiki and Aunt Noreen (and even yours truly) have impeccible taste when it comes to kids clothing, she's really a pretty lucky kid. But it always cracks me up to have pictures of both kids in the same outfit.

Every time I go to the storage bins, I think to myself "This is my favorite batch of clothing." The velour jumpsuits in 3 to 6 months...the Dandelion Dreams Gymboree collection in 6-12 months...the adorable sundresses and sunsuits in 12-18 months...I love them all. But one of my favorites is the winter coat and hat that A is currently wearing. Both girls just looked absolutely adorable in it.

So here are pictures of the girls, looking equally cute, in their winter gear. Interesting note, both pictures were taking on the first snowfall of the year (though in A's case it was 6 o'clock at night hence the indoor locale) exactly two years apart. Doing the math for you, E is 15 months and A is 14 months!

Hurricane E - December 5, 2005
Sweet Baby A - December 5, 2007

Updated to Add: Now my girls are up against Violet Affleck in the hat department. Bring it on!

how cute are these clothes????

Man, I'm loving Baby Gap's newest line of clothes for girls! The flowers! The stripes! The pink and green and navy! I seriously want to buy it all! Luckily, it seems rather spring-y (lots of short sleeved tops) so hopefully I can snag some stuff on sale in a few weeks. But I am getting the girls the flowered dress for a Christmas present! I figure they can wear it with a turtleneck and tights in the winter and then with a short-sleeved shirt or sleevess in the spring. Shhh...don't tell them!

making up for lost time

So, A's appetite over the previous two weeks had been rather supressed. I think it was a combination of being sick and teething (darn those molars!). But last week, Miss Aniya and Miss Idalia were both saying how she was eating very little.

Well, this week, the appetite's back with a vengence. Miss Idalia said that she ate her lunch at 11:15 this morning, had her snack early AND at the regular time, and when I went to pick her up was standing by the refrigerator pointing and sqwaking (her "sign" for eat). When she got home, she chugged a sippy of milk, split a banana and an apple with E, and then had a pretty good dinner of tacos and rice. She was opening her mouth so wide for the rice that I got to see that her top left molar was pretty much completely in. Yay! Two down, two to go.

For lunch tomorrow, I packed her a turkey and cream cheese roll-up, a yogurt, a fruit cup, 1 1/2 clementines, goldfish and a cheesestick. Which is more than I eat at lunch. I'll let you know how much she gets through tomorrow.

it's beginning to sound a lot like christmas

Since E has been asking pretty much every day when we are going to decorate for Christmas, I thought I'd surprise her yesterday by putting up a few things for when she got home from school. (Oh, the joys of working from home...) So, I replaced a couple of our hanging pictures with a Let it Snow sign, a jingle bell wreath, and a little Santa Claus; broke out the Christmas books; and put our mini tabletop tree on the kitchen island.

While E was very very very excited for these things, she loved the singing bears the most. The singing bears are two teddy bears dressed up in winter clothes. When you squeeze the girl bear's paw, they start singing "Winter Wonderland" and bobbing along to the music. This was given to us by a family friend who obviously hates me for Christmas when E was born. We listened to the high-pitched strains of "Winter Wonderland" approximately eleventy thousand times last night before bed.

Not to be outdone, A has her own favorite Christmas decoration. This would be the sleigh bells that I hung on the pantry doorknob. Shaking the bells kept her occupied for at least 5 minutes so I was able to get some of dinner prepared in relative peace.

And, after dinner, we had Slacker family craft. The girls colored pieces of paper that we cut into strips and made a paper chain to decorate the tree on the kitchen island. After the girls went to bed, I "repurposed" an art project that E had brought home from school to make a little star topper for the tree. It looks really cute!

E's Christmas enthusiasm is definitely rubbing off on me. This weekend, we're tackling decorating the outside of the house and perhaps even getting a Christmas tree. And on the way to work, I even put on the radio station that plays all Christmas music all the time. I used to be a bit bah-humbug about this holiday...but I must say that seeing the magic of the holiday through E's eyes has really changed my tune...literally.

hope e doesn't get any ideas

This is a picture of Heidi Klum and her three-year-old daughter, Leni. Cute kid...cute hair. And how did she get that haircut? Well...according to USA Today:

Klum recently treated Leni to a makeover after hair-combing became a struggle. Leni presented the hairstylist with a DVD of Dora the Explorer to show how she wanted her short new 'do to look.

new habits die hard

Totally forgot that each girl started new habits this weekend...neither of them are particularly desirable.

Sweet Baby A has become a bit of a biter. She bit E twice this weekend. In her defense, E was taking her toy away or blocking access to her toys when this happened, but still. She's starting to fight back against her big sis and I can see some catfights on the horizon Chez Slacker. E told me that Christopher should tell Santa that A shouldn't get any presents because she was biting...how do I explain my way out of that one!??!?

Speaking of E...not once, but twice on Saturday she stripped down nekkid and told me, "I think I'll spend the rest of the day naked, Mommy." I'll take her constantly changing of clothes over being a nudist any day...especially since it gets a bit nippy in our house in the winter months.

girls girls girls!

This weekend, John headed off to Hotlanta to meet up with his dad and brother for the SEC Championship. So, it was me and the girls for the weekend! We had lots of fun. On Friday, I picked them up from school, we came home and played for a bit, had some dinner (angel hair with butter, parmasean, and peas!) and ice cream, and then headed off to bed. Seriously. I pretty much climbed into bed after I put the girls down and watched What Not to Wear and the new Stacy London talk show (which is terrible) before hitting the hay myself.

On Saturday, we got up, watched some 'toons and then headed off to Target. I managed to pry E away from the hideous assortment of Dora bedding with promises of a new Dora toothbrush and Dora toothpaste. We also picked up cute Ts and leggings from their holiday collection (they say Snuggle Bunny on it...so apt for Sweet Baby A). We then headed home, had some lunch and sent A off to nap. While A was napping, E and I baked some cookies. (Okay, they were the premade dough, but we did top them with sprinkles by ourselves!)

Since our afternoon outing to ride bikes and trikes was cut short because of the cold, I relented to E's wishes to go out for dinner...and she picked McDonald's. Now, usually I would steer her towards another choice, but I figured that the Playplace would be good for her so off we went. E had a blast...she made a friend within 2 minutes of getting there and spent most of the time frolicking with her and running back to the table to scarf down a nugget, fry or apple slice. A was content to have me feed her burger (she would hand it to me and open her mouth rather than try to eat it herself) and LOVED it when E would wave to her from the play structure. She would squeal and wave frantically. The girls came home full, happy and exhausted.

Sunday was pretty low key. John came home pretty early and we had a family lunch, E and I ran some errands while A napped, and I did heaps and heaps of laundry. In the evening, we broke out the Elf on the Shelf, courtesy of Grandmom. I had never heard of this thing, but apparently it's the "it" thing this year...most of my mom friends up here have one. I heard such cute stories of what the kids named their elf (E's friend, Madelyn, named hers Foofa) and was expecting E to come up with something good or at least amusing (like Dora or Diego). She named her elf...Christopher. But, she did straighten up a few times when we reminded her that Christopher was going to visit Santa so it's all good.

All in all, it was a good weekend. No Christmas shopping or decorating...but oh well. There's always next week!

it's a wonder i wasn't impeached

As of today, I am no longer the Membership VP of my local MOMS Chapter. I actually resigned in early November, but between Thanksgiving and the illnesses that have been bouncing around the Slacker house, I just got around to passing over the membership box. Although I'm kind of sad to let it go (the Board meetings were fun and I liked meeting the new members), it had certainly fallen to the bottom of the priority list...and I was, quite frankly, sucking at it before I resigned. I think the mom who took it over will do a good job.

I'll do a big weekend recap of my weekend tomorrow morning...I'm off to put away my laundry. Every week I think to myself that I should shoot for a load a day, and that way it won't be so overwhelming. But, you know what? Doing a load of laundry every night after getting up, going to work, sitting in traffic, picking the girls up from school, getting dinner on the table and cleaned up, making lunches, and getting the girls to bed doesn't really sound like a walk in the park either.

My dryer sounds like we are drying a couple of dumbells in there along with the towels. Since our washer and dryer were from the previous owners, they were crappy (we replaced everything in the kitchen except the dishwasher when we moved in) so I have pipedreams of getting new, fancy versions at some point. I was perusing the Sears Wish Book and they had a dryer that cleaned 23 towels at a time. Now I don't think I own 23 towels...but I just realized that maybe I could dump the colors in one load, whites in another and sheets and towels in a third and be done with it?!?!?!?

I so know what I'm asking Santa for this year!

thank god for collage christmas cards

This morning, the girls were looking cute (and somewhat festive) in their matching outfits, so I decided to try to take a picture of them for consideration for the Slacker family Christmas card. How did it go? Not well. The pictures contained A in various states of trying to get off the couch with E alternately trying to yank her back onto the couch or sitting there looking cute as a button. I plan on trying to take some pictures this weekend in their Christmas dresses, but I think the idea of having a picture of the two of them looking cute together is just a pipedream.

So, thank you Snapfish, Shutterfly, and Ofoto (or EasyShare or KodakGallery or whatever your name du jour is) for providing me with the option of showing friends and family how cute my kids are in two separate pictures on the same card!

party girl

Last night after school, E ran upstairs and "changed into something more comfortable" as she is one to do pretty much every day. Last night's outfit actually matched (a rare occasion for her)...it was a t-shirt and matching peasant skirt outfit that her Grandmom had given her. While the t-shirt fits perfectly, the skirt is still a bit big on her, so she kind of looks like Stevie Nicks in it when she wears it (which is often).

Anyhoooo, she comes downstairs and twirls around in her skirt.

"Guess what, mommy?" she says. "We're having a princess ballerina twirling party!"
"Wow, E!" I tell her. "That sounds like fun!"
"Whatchya doing, mommy?" she then asks.
"I'm making dinner. We're having quesadillas with guacomole."
"Even better!" E yells. "We'll have a princess ballerina quesadilla guacamole twirling party instead!"

I've been to my fair share of parties in my life ... but never one like that!

guess she has a sweet tooth

I picked up a couple of E's "art" project from school today and was thumbing through them. Of course, she had the requisite handprint-as-turkey craft that every preschool kid must complete in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. On the top of the paper, the teacher had written "I'm thankful for ... " and then filled in the blank with what E had said.

So what was E thankful for, you ask. Her family? Friends? Cute clothes? Dora and Diego? Nope. E was thankful for candy.

break out the guinness!

The Slackers and the O'Reillys are headed to Ireland in the late Spring 2008. This trip was originally scheduled for this spring as a celebration of our respective 5 year wedding anniversaries, but since Autumn was pregnant, we decided to hold off for another year so that I could have a drinking buddy we could all fully enjoy the trip.

As with all trips we take, John has made all the arrangements on our behalf. Therefore I don't know any details on where we fly into (Cork? Dublin? Shannon?), where we are staying or how we are getting around...so don't even ask. What I do know is that we are flying Aer Lingus...and I giggle everytime I say it.

sweet baby a (and her big ole belly!)

I couldn't have a picture of E without including one of A...so here's it is! Thanks to Nonna, who got the girls the polka dot t-shirts (on A) and dresses (on E in the post below).

I love me some polka dots. I love me some matching outfits for the girls. Not one, but two matching polka dot outfits for the girls? Pure heaven!

she's a child genius

E on Turkey Day

Since we were out all last week, I didn't get a chance to pick up E's report card until today. E's report card is based on the child development milestones from 36 to 48 months, and she did really well. Pretty much everything was an S (sometimes displays mastery of skill), with quite a few A's (always displays mastery of skill) especially with regard to cognition and general knowledge (i.e, counting, naming shapes, etc).

I think the two I'm most excited about are "Develop friendships with one or more peers" and "Demonstrate confidence and pride in accomplishments", both of which she got A's. Because, at 3 years old, I don't want her in some rigorous academic program. But it makes me very happy to know that she's a friendly and confident girl.

I did have to laugh that she got an A in the "Demonstrate personal health and hygiene skills..." task. Maybe she's got them fooled at school, but girlfriend asks me if she has to wash her hands every time she goes potty.

gobble gobble

Well, we survived the Thanksgiving weekend! Turkey Day itself was fun, if not a total whirlwind. The hostess' house had lost (and regained) power, the weather was in the 70s so the kids were playing outside all day, and A spent 60% of the day asleep on John's shoulder. E became a cranberry sauce-aholic (just like her mom...I LOVE that stuff), and had fun at the kids table with Anna and Charlie and James.

I ended up taking A to the doctor on Friday, and she had double ear infection. Poor thing. So I did what any loving mother would do...drugged her up and left her with a babysitter so I could hit a bar. Except that the babysitter was Nonna (who I'm beginning to suspect the girls might like more than me) and the bar was Champps so we could watch the LSU v. Arkansas game with my dad's high school friend and his family.

Saturday could be easily summed up in one word, FOOTBALL. We watched UVA lose to Virginia, UConn lose to WVU and Tennessee win in OT to Kentucky sending them (and John) to the SEC Championship in Atlanta next weekend.

On Saturday night, I checked on the girls before I went to bed. When I walked into E's room, she was not in her bed. I totally panicked. Was she kidnapped? Had she wandered into another room? Drowned in the bathtub? Luckily she was on the floor by her bed. She had either fallen asleep there or rolled out of bed. I put her back into bed, thinking to myself "That's about the worst thing that could happen when you check on your kid."

Of course, I was wrong. I opened A's door and smelled vomit. She was sound asleep...and covered in it. I grabbed John, and he cleaned up A while I cleaned up the crib. I then got her settled down for the night.

Sunday was relatively uneventful, if you overlook the Exorcist-style puke that A had when I put her in her high-chair. The on-call ped assured me that it was not a reaction to the antibiotic, but a stomach bug. Luckily for us, she did not puke anymore, slept most of the day and seemed to be in better spirits. E had a bout of Attention Withdrawal Disorder, where she acted like a holy terror because she no longer had Kiki and Uncle Steve and Nonna and Pop-pop to pay attention to her. She did nap for a bit, which was pure heaven.

And today, we've returned to normal. The girls are back at school, and John and I are back to work. Only, now, both John and I are sick as dogs as we've both caught the cold the girls had. Should be another productive work week, I'm sure!

well crap...

I thought we were on the mend. Then A woke up from her 2 hour nap (her second of the day!) about as ornery as she's ever been in her short little life and E is fast asleep on the couch. Fun times Chez Slacker!

it will be a miracle...

...if I don't catch this cold the girls have. I've been coughed on more times than I care to admit. Sweet Baby A has become even more of a snuggle-bunny now that she's sick, and has been showering me with her big ole sloppy wet (and germ-infested, I'm sure) kisses.

On the bright side, the girls seem to be on the mend. E is almost 100%, spent most of the day wearing a sequined tutu and calling herself "Princess E." A seems to be feeling better, laughing and playing a bit more, but she's definitely not school-ready. So, Nonna will be coming over tomorrow and I'll be working from home. Good thing it's a "light" week at work.

sick day

Both girls have a bit of a cold right now. Mainly, it's just coughing and a runny nose, with a bit of crankiness thrown in. Nurses Nonna and Pop-pop are over here watching the girls today rather than send them to school so they wouldn't (1) feel worse and have a miserable Thanksgiving and (2) infect other kids and make their Thanksgiving miserable.

And, somehow, wiping noses and dealing with cranky kids seems like much more appealing option than working today. Go figure.

walking wounded

Yesterday morning, A was playing around in the "sitting room" off our master bedroom, tripped and her cheek hit our elliptical trainer. She cried for a second or two and then was fine, but she did have a bruise in a straight line on her cheek. Well, when John picked the girls up from school yesterday, A had a bruise and a cut on her eye...apparently she tripped at school and hit the bookcase there. Not sure which parent we can blame on A's apparent clutziness/lack of grace as John and I run neck and neck in this department.

This does put a damper in the one thing I had planned to do this weekend, however. My mother-in-law sent the girls not one, but two, adorable Christmas outfits last week, so I was going to break out the new camera and attempt to procure a Christmas card picture. I still might try to do this, and just try to get a shot of A's good side (both bruises are on her left). Or maybe I could Photoshop the injuries away. I mean, if they can make Britney Spears look like this, I can figure out how to remove a bruise from Sweet Baby A's face, right?

it's not officially straight a's

But, A got her report card yesterday and she ROCKED! Who knew....they evaluate the infants and toddlers as well. The "report card" was a list of standards for 0-18 months old, and rather than grades, they assessed them on Totally Mastered, Sometimes Mastered, and Not Yet Mastered (or something like that).

Well, A pretty much totally mastered everything. She had a couple of somewhat mastered, and 3 or 4 not yet mastered. So, she's got the skills of an 18-month-old and she's not even 14-months! Woo hoo! Child genius, I tell you!

In other A news, she'll be moving up to the next classroom, Toddlers, in January. She was supposed to be moved at the beginning of this month, but the class is full, so she goes over in the afternoons occasionally. I'm excited because I think she'll have more fun (she's the oldest in her classroom now), they only take one nap there (rather than the 10 am and 3 pm schedule in infants), and I don't have to label her foods every day (seriously...I have to write A's name and the date on every banana, yogurt cup, cheese stick and sippy cup in her lunch bag!). On the downside, A and I really do love her current teachers, Miss Idalia and Miss Aniya. And, hopefully we won't have to go through a whole new transitional period...I like dropping the girls off with no tears!