musical chairs

Typical of the Slacker girls, we had a mobile feast this morning for breakfast.

Waiting for the pancakes while sitting on the kitchen counter...

In their own seats to start the meal...

And at some point during the meal...reunited and it feels so good!

sick-o

Does this look like the face of a sick child to you?Nope. I didn't think so.

Sometimes you can't help but resent the 24-hour puke or vomit rule at daycare.

Thanks, Nonna for watching "the patient who did not nap" yesterday!

Edited to Add: When I dropped A off at school today, two of her little classmates shouted out "A!" and started waving furiously. The teacher told me that her little friend Alexa kept asking for her yesterday when she was out. How cute is that?

ain't no denying that i'm her mama

One of the projects I recently tackled Chez Slacker was the organizing of our photos. They were scattered throughout the house so I organized them by date, labeled them and put them in a neat-o photo box I bought sometime in 2007. It actually wasn't as bad of a project as I thought it was going to be, but that's only because it turns out I've only printed out about 50% of the photos I've taken in the last 4 years. E's First Birthday? Sitting safely on Shutterfly. Christmas 2007? On Ofoto. I did end up ordering all of my missing 2008 and late 2007 pictures...all 800 of them! In my defense our Ireland pictures were in there, but still...that's a lot of photos.

Anyway, while sorting pictures I came across a scrapbook that my godmother, Ann, had created for John as an engagement present. It basically chronicled my life in pictures, with an extended number of pages devoted to "the awkward tween and teen years." However, on the back cover, she had a picture of me taken when I was about 4 or 5 maybe.

It reminded me immediately of E.

Now I'm not a big "you look just like your daddy/mommy/great Aunt Ethel" person...I rarely see the resemblances in babies. But, even John agreed, and when I showed the picture to E, she thought it was herself. It wasn't just the similarities between our facial features...I had an expression on my face that E makes.

But don't just take my word for it. See for yourself.

 

Oh...on a random note...what do you *do* with all of the pictures you take? Do you print them out and put them in albums? Do you keep them in boxes? Do they languish on a photo hosting site yearning to be printed out? Do you have more gumption than me and take the time to scrapbook?

best dollar ever spent

On Friday, the Slacker family went en masse to AC Moore to get two prints (a photo of the UVA rotunda and a print of Foxy John's hardware store/bicycle rental/pub in Dingle) custom framed.

While I navigated the world of frame sizes and mats, John wheeled the girls around and let them pick out three (3!) items each. They each got a foam visor (E's was a tiara and A's was a tiger); a foam picture frame (E's was Dora and A's was Diego); and a big-ass activity pad (E's was The Princesses and A's was Diego). The initial excitement of 99% of the loot has worn off...the picture frames still sit empty, E has managed to shred her (and A's) activity book using the included scissors and I have worn the tiger visor more than A.

But the tiara? E wears it pretty much all the time. Especially after yours truly broke out a Sharpie and her best sorority girl penmanship to declare that the tiara is, in fact, Princess E's.Watch out, Dora! The tide is turning toward Princess-dom in the Slacker house. I have a feeling we're going to see less and less of your disproprotionately large and oblong-shaped head round these parts.

guess who got a bouquet of flowers yesterday for no particular reason?

Ah...the perks of motherhood.

moving and shaking

It was a good weekend in the Slacker house. Not only did we get to see friends and family, we also got tons done around the house. On Friday, my brother-, sister- and dog-in-law came up from Charlottesville to visit us. Despite the fact that they live about an hour and a half away from us, it had been a ridiculously long time since we had last seen them. After the girls went to bed, we had a nice dinner with copious amounts of wine and good ole conversation. Some neighbors had quite a fireworks display going about 10...we tried to wake E up to see it but she didn't even budge. If only A could sleep like that, we'd be in business.

I got up with the girls on Satuday morning, and since it was cloudy and overcast, no other adults emerged until almost 9 AM. As a reward, John let me head out to the Outlets by myself while he watched the girls. I ended up getting quite a bit of stuff from the Pottery Barn Outlet -- a new shower curitain for the girls freshly painted bathroom, and some ledges and picture frames for our family room. Our friends, Kevin and Melissa, came over in the late afternoon. Again, despite them living a short bit away from us (in Arlington) we never see them so it was good catching up with them.

On Sunday, we went out to lunch with my parents in an early celebration of my Mom's birthday (Happy Birthday, Nonna!). They stopped by our house on the way back, and my dad helped me install the PB ledges. It was a fairly successful job -- only one hole had to be redrilled and there was minimal cussing! (Thanks again, Dad! You know those things would have never been installed without you!)

We really have been trying to do a ton of stuff around the house. We actually moved into our house 3 years ago today. We had done a lot of stuff when we first moved in (new kitchen appliances, a deck), about a year and a half ago (new countertops, painting most of the house), and just recently (more painting, ordering new living room furniture). I'm going to finally get around to fabric window treatments, so by the end of the summer our house should be pretty finished, which will be nice.

And, as a blast from the past, here are some pictures from the big move three years ago.

Step 1: Put your E in a box...
Taking some of her first steps in our unpainted kitchen with nasty old fridge

Hanging out at the Nats game with today's Birthday Girl

what the hell is a rampart, anyway?

Only a few more hours til the three-day-weekend commences and I am looking forward to it. Because we have nothing really planned. Well, that's not *entirely* true...I think my brother-, sister- and dog-in-law are coming to visit, as are some friends who live in Arlington (which is a mere 20 miles from me, but since we see them once a year they might as well be in Canada).

Last night I was putting all of our books and photo albums back on our bookshelf in the newly-painted office, and I came across this picture from the 4th, 10 years ago.

Yeah...it's a picture of a picture. I don't have a scanner. So sue me.

Back in the day, we used to head out to Arlington (right along the Potomac River) for a day of drinking and watching the fireworks. The year this picture was taken was especially fun because my friend, Susie, was getting married the next weekend...so her Bachelorette party was the night before and most of our sorority sisters were in town for the festivities.

I was thinking about how much my life has changed in the last 5 or so years. Before I got pregnant with E, John and I lived in the 'burbs, but still made it into DC quite often. I'm sure if you plopped me in the middle of Adams Morgan on a Saturday night right now, I would stick out like a sore thumb. The thought of spending a day out along the river makes me tired (and hung-over) just thinking about it. And you know what? I'm fine with that. Whereas 10 years ago, spending a weekend at home (a holiday weekend, no less) would be catastrophic...now it sounds like pure heaven. My three favorite people in the whole wide world will be there, and that's all that matters.

Now if we can only convince our neighbors to cease and desist on the fireworks after 9 or so, so my kiddos will go to sleep...life will be just about damn near perfect.

impressive...but not *that* impressive

Last night, I sat the girls down for the oh-so-original dinner of Pasta, Peas and Parmasean Cheese while I finished slicing up the tomato-and-mozz salad and reheating the deliciousness that is Sweet Pea Chef's Chicken Tetrazinni for John and I. [Note: If you haven't tried this dish, I highly recommend it. John doesn't ever eat leftovers unless it's pizza and later that evening, and he gobbles this up even when it's reheated. However, despite the dish containing staples of the Slacker girls diet (pasta, peas, chicken and cheese) they for some strange reason *refuse* to eat it. Eh...it's just more for me.]

Anyway, I had my back to the table when E started yelling,

"Mama, mama! Look at A!"

Since a command like that is never a good sign, I took a deep breath and turned around to...A taking bite of pasta.

"She's using her fork, mama!" E explained. And then she turned to her sister, and in her best sing-songy voice said, "Aren't you such a big girl eatin' your pasta with a fork?!?!? Such. A. Big. Girl."

Then John walked into the kitchen and E excitedly told him about the fork usage. She then mentioned it again at bedtime when we were talking about what happened during our day. And, to top it off, she told not one...but *THREE* teachers today at school that A ate pasta with a fork.

I mean, c'mon! While it's nice that she wasn't shoving pasta in her mouth handful after handful...it's not like she was using chopsticks to feed herself. Fork usage is not so unheard of in the two-year-old set. But it was so cute to see E doting on -- and bragging about -- her little sister.

Now, if only E would follow her lead and user *her* fork a little more often...

tossin' and turnin'

I really think that A is psychic. Lately, we have a new bedtime routine in which I read both girls a few stories in A's room, then sing them a song or two. E then hops off to her room, I sing A her song as I put her in her crib...and then tuck in E. Wow, it sounds pretty complicated when I type it out, but I *love* it because (1) I no longer have to sing the same songs twice, (2) it actually reduces the amount of time I spend putting the girls to bed and (3) I get out of teethbrushing and bathtime.

Anyway...last night as we were doing our new routine, I thought to myself: wow...A has been really good with the sleep of late. She's sleeping through the night and going down without any protest. Life is good. You know what happened? Silly mommy jinxed herself.

At about 11:30 I heard a blood-curdling scream over the monitor. I then proceeded to to spend the next FIVE hours trying to get that kid back to bed. We administered Motrin. We rocked. We sang. We tried to sleep in mommy's bed. We tried to put her down in the crib. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Finally, we somehow managed to get a few conitinuous hours of sleep in my bed. Needless to say, my caffiene intake today has been a bit on the elevated side.

So, John's bringing her into the ped's this afternoon to see if it's an ear infection. I don't know what to think. On the one hand, if it is an ear infection...then we know why 3 out of 4 Slackers were miserable last night, and can fix it. On the other hand, since we have been down this road before, we might have to revisit The Great Tubes Debate.

One thing's for sure, A is sleeping in her crib tonight. How an 20-month old can manage to hog an entire king-sized bed is one of life's great mysteries. Perhaps it's because she sleeps across the damn thing...but I could be wrong.

housekeeping

For some reason or another, John and I are on this really big home improvement kick. It's like were both nesting...and yet neither of us are pregnant (thank the stars above!). It's weird. We've lived in our house for three years now, and while there was a flurry of activity when we first moved in and then we painted the house last year, we really haven't done much else. So it's kind of nice to finish up some stuff.

So far we've powerwashed the house, cleaned the gutters (and fixed one that had fallen off) and this week we are painting the Master Bath, the sitting room in our Master (where the elliptical trainer lives), the girls' bathroom and our office. We're also replacing the faucets in all of our bathrooms because somehow E has managed to break them all. (I think it's more a sign of how cheap the previous owners are than our daughter's super-human strength but you know what I mean.)

And by "we" I mean the contractor we hired. Because, John and I combined are the two least handy people in the world. Really. I try to do things around the house which always end up necessitating several trips to Lowe's, a few phone calls to my dad for moral support, and enough curse words to make a sailor blush. John, on the other hand, doesn't even try. When I asked him to help me hang a shelf in A's room, he actually told me that he didn't know how to use a drill. Seriously. So, it's safe to say that for the sake of our marriage (and our own personal safety) that we leave any work that involves ladders or plumbing to the professionals.

In other exciting news, we're finally getting furniture for our "formal" living room. Currently, the room is furnished with couches John and I bought when we first moved in together as well as The TV (aka, The Bain of my Existence...another post altogether). We'll be removing all of it, and getting all new furniture.

Here's the floorplan I drew up using Visio...we're getting a sectional and a chair, and then a side table, coffee table and a small console table upon which we'll put a small TV. The room is hard to work with because it is really narrow, but I'm pretty excited now. Tell me you love it!


Finally, I did a little housekeeping on the blog. I used Blogger's new blog roll feature to update my blog roll. It now shows the last time that one of the blogs I read has updated a post. I added a few more blogs to my list...but I'm pretty sure I forgot a few. If you want me to add you to my blog roll so I can stalk you read your blog...let me know!

memoirs of a geisha

When we got home from school yesterday, E ran upstairs to change. She couldn't decide on whether she wanted to wear her fairy socks or her flip flops. So she decided on both.Here is a close-up of the fashion-forward footwear.
In other news, I think A can officially be considered a blond. John and I walked to pick up the girls and on the way home, with her hair glistening in the sun...I noticed there are strands that are almost white. Now it doesn't look too blond in this picture...But, compared to this one taken at 7 weeks...the difference is amazing.And, do your kiddos have bitchin' tans like mine do? I swear I rub them down in SPF 100000 and yet they are still getting really dark. Me, however? Pasty as ever.

had i known i would have gotten a pedicure

Since I've gone back to work, there's definitely an element of guilt regarding how long the girls are in daycare...I mean, school. Sure, they have fun there, have friends and the teachers love them. But still, I can't shake the feeling that every extraneous minute that they spend there should be avoided at all costs.

This morning, I dropped the girls off a little bit early so I could make my Weight Watchers meeting. I felt a little guilty, but honestly since the girls have been getting up earlier this summer, it's not like I had to rush them out the door or wake them up to do this. But, to "make up for it", I planned on picking them up a bit early today. Well, I had to finish up something before leaving and I hit some traffic...so I ended up pulling into the parking lot at the exact same time that I usually do, fretting all the while about the damage I was inflicting on the girls.

I shouldn't have worried at all.

I found A in the gym having a grand ole time bouncing on the moonbounce that they had set up. Two other moms were standing there watching their kids bounce. "We've been here for at least 10 minutes," they told me. The other kids eventually got out, but not A. A usually runs right over to me...but she pretended not to see me or hear my announcement that it was time to go.

Once I wrangled A, we headed off to find E. She was firmly planted in front of a TV, watching Dora. "It's Wild West Week," the teacher explained. "So we let them watch a Dora cowboy episode." Of couse, A ran over to E's side and they both watched, danced and shouted the answers to Dora's questions until the end of the episode. It was touch and go on whether I was going to be able to hustle them out before the next one started, but luckily we made it.

By the time we finally got out of there it was after 6PM. And they were asking to go *back*. Seriously, if I had known how much fun they were having I would have stopped by CVS by myself to pick up toilet paper and diaper cream. Because bringing them with me was another post within itself...

totally 80's

As you know, E has to wear a uniform to school Mondays through Thursdays...which neither of us love. E's current method of breaking the rules is to wear a second shirt *under* her uniform shirt, and then at some point during the day taking off the uniform polo.

This morning, she came into my room already dressed for school. Her "undershirt" was a polo, so she was wearing a pink polo under her white uniform polo. She had also thrown on her denim skirt (with attached shorts underneath). When it came time to style her hair, she insisted on one piggle on top of her head and two barrettes as well.

I wish I had gotten a picture because I'm pretty sure I wore that exact outfit to school circa 1985...except that the collars on my polos were popped. Don't think I didn't consider suckering E into popping hers just for fun.

who are you...and what have you done with my e?

Monday is John's day in Baltimore...so I get the girls fed and John and I eat after they go to bed. Last night, I served them up the Slacker stand-by -- Pasta, Peas and Parmasean Cheese. John's Aunt Kathleen had sent the girls some cute summertime dinnerware, so the girls got their pasta in the melamine bowls with the matching ladybug forks.

As I put the bowls down in front of the girls, the rumblings of trouble began.

"Mommy, which bowl do I have?" E asked me.

"Uh...the orange one?" I answered. I didn't know what she was getting at, but I knew it wasn't going to be good.

"No, Mama. Do I have the butterfly bowl or the catepillar bowl?" E asked.

"E, I have no clue," I honestly told her. "I guess you'll just have to eat all of your dinner to find out."

Because, really, I hadn't noticed what, if anything, was on the bottom of the bowls. But E totally notices crap stuff like that. For months she would ask if we were going to the "green" Target or the "blue" Target. We had no idea what she was talking about until one day I realized that, lo and behold!, one entrance was green and one entrance was blue. Go figure.

"Mommy! I have the catepillar bowl! I don't want the catepillar bowl...I want the butterfly bowl!"

"Why not?" I ask...trying to stave off the impending tantrum.

"Because, Mommy! I like butterflies! But I don't like catepillars!"

"But, E," I reply, "don't you know that catepillars are baby butterflies? Just like in The Very Hungry Catepillar, when the catepillar eats and eats and eats and turns into a beee-you-tiful butterfly? So you both have butterfly bowls...yours is just a baby butterfly."

Then, the most amazing thing happens. Instead of insisting that I switch her bowl with A, E turned to me and says,

"Oh. Okay, Mommy. I guess I'll just keeping eating out of the catepillar bowl."

Crisis averted. All the while serving a healthy and nutritious dinner AND teaching the girls about science.

I am SuperMom.

a tale of two sundays

Early on Sunday morning -- from about 12:30 AM to about 5:45 AM -- I was the hapless victim of food poisoning. I got up close and personal with the master bath (thank god the cleaning lady came on Thursday). Simply put, if death were given as an option, I would have gladly taken it without a second though.

Though the digestive fireworks were over by the wee hours of Sunday morning, I was pretty much incapacitated on Sunday. This left the parenting duties to John. And let me tell you, he hit it out of the park. So here's the dichotomy of how we spent our Sundays.

Slacker Mama's Sunday

• Slept
  
• Ate 2 pieces of toast
  
• Watched HGTV and Denise Richards reality show marathon
  

John, E and A's Sunday

• Went to Panera for breakfast
  
• Went grocery shopping at The Teets
  
• Played outside with neighborhood kids, including organizing a neighborhood baseball game
  
• Ate lunch
  
• Went to the pool
  
• Came back for a nap (A) and some good, old fashioned snuggle time (John and E)
  
• Went to see Kung Fu Panda
  
• Stopped by McDonalds for dinner
  

Guess who had the better Sunday?

the price is ... totally bizarre!

Over the course of the last week, I have gone shopping not *once*, but TWO TIMES! I know...it's like more than I've gone the last two years combined! On Saturday, I hit the outlets with my mother-in-law and the girls, and picked up a few things at the JCrew outlet. Then, today I scooted on over to the mall at lunch to return some things that I bought in total desperation last month and had yet to wear. I picked up some few things on clearance. On the way out, I stopped in the Nordstrom shoe department to pick up a new pair of summer flips, since my old pair no longer had any sole to speak of underneath my big toe on either foot.

So here's the weird part. Because I scored some awesome deals on the clothes...I was able to get all of this:

(that's two sassy jackets, 4 t-shirts and a flirty little top)

For the same amount that I paid for these:

Not sure how that quite worked out, but hey...I'm not complaining!

walk this way

We had a little time before dinner, so the girls and I decided to take Creepy Baby and Slightly Less Creepy Baby on a walk in the new strollers from Grandmom. A thought that the 3-wheel design made it perfect for a jogging stroller.
E thought that the perhaps she could use it to take Creepy Baby on a little off-road adventure.
But then, just like A and E always did for me, the Creepy Babies decided that they no longer wanted to ride in the strollers...so the girls had to carry them home.

Oh, and it's not the best picture ever...but here's a shot of E's new 'do. Like I said, we were lucky because the damage was minimal (her hair was in piggles at the time of the chopping...limiting access to it).

to kiki and uncle steve

You two sure do have reason to celebrate! A business school graduation...an upcoming move to California...a birthday AND an anniversary.I can't believe it's been two years already! On the other hand...I can't believe for as long as you two have been together, it's *only* two years...but I digress.

As is tradition in our family, allow me to serenade you with "The Anniversary Song."

well that's a fine 'how do you do'

Yesterday, when I went to pick up the girls, A's room was empty. Since it was raining out, I figured they were in the gym and headed on over. Sure enough, her classmates were playing in the gym, but I didn't see A after a quick scan of the room.

"Where's A?" I asked the teachers.
"Argh!" the teacher said and opened the bathroom door. "I think Anna opened the door again."

One of A's classmates is a "runner"...she has figured out how to open all of the doors in the school and spends the entire day plotting escape plans. Apparently A joined her in her attempt to escape the gym...into the potty.

Sure enough, A came barrelling out of the potty with arms wide open. Just as I was about to hug her the teacher yelled,

"Don't touch her, she was splashing in the toilet."

Ew.

After we got A cleaned and dried off, we headed off to pick up E. I ran into one of her teachers in the hallway.

"By any chance, did E get her hair cut into bangs this weekend?" she asked me.
"Uh...no," I replied.
"Oh, okay. We were cutting today, and she took a chunk out of her hair. On the bright side, it looks really good...we couldn't figure out if she had done it, or if it was already like that."

Sure enough, E is sporting a new 'do. Luckily, she didn't do much damage, and after I evened it out, they look cute (and can be pushed off to the side, for a more versatile "look.") I'll try and get a picture to post tonight.

But all in all, not the best pick up we've ever had.

best seat in the house

When you've got your best friend by your side and Max and Ruby on the TV...sometimes a coffee table is all you need.

father's day 2008: to my girls' daddy

My husband, to put it mildly, is a boy's boy. He loves sports. He lives and breathes sports. He could tell you who UT is scheduled to play in football for the next 10 years. He tried to convince me that donating $10,000 in order to get season tickets with good seats for UVA would be an investment in our children's future. And, yet, he's the father of two girls.

When he had returned to work after E arrived, he came home one night livid.

"Do you know what someone asked me today?!?!?!?" he said. "They asked me if I was disappointed that we had a girl. Can you believe that? How could I ever be disappointed that we had a girl!"

For as much of a boy's boy he is, he is every much the father of two girls. He has learned who The Princesses are. He has attempted to put barrettes and piggles into hair. He plays dress up and wears tutus and necklaces like a champ.

And the girls have benefitted as well. They know all the words to the "Good Ole Song" and "Rocky Top." E loves going to The Orange Birginya for football and basketball games. The girls love to play tennis and soccer and basketball in our front yard.

Who knows if another little Slacker is in our future. Even if we did have another one (or seven) there are no guarantees that we would even have a boy. And you know what...it wouldn't matter either way. While I'm sure John would be a fantastic father to boys...he's the best father to little girls around.

Happy Father's Day, John! I love you!

father's day 2008: to *my* dad

If you have been around me long enough, you will know that (1) I'm a twin and (2) my parents did not know that they were having twins until my mom was in labor. The story goes that in those days they X-rayed moms in labor since ultrasounds were a cutting edge technology. My poor mom was on the X-ray table for a long, long time...so she asked the technician what was going on. The technician told her that she needed to talk to the doctor first. Panicked, my mom asked if everthing was okay.

"Oh, yes," said the nurse. "It's a good thing."
My mom, who had been fielding questions about how many babies she had in her ginormous belly for 9 months, then asked, "It's twins, isn't it?"
"Yes," the nurse replied. "It's twins."

Just as my dad walked into the room.

My mom said that you could actually see the color drain from my dad's face when he heard the news. But, despite his shock, he didn't skip a bit.

"That's okay," he told my mom. "We have enough love for two."

And they did. I've said over and over what great parents I have. I've mentioned how he's always supported us in sports in other ventures, though he wasn't the greatest hair dresser ever.

But I think the biggest gift he has passed along to me is my sense of humor. I remember sitting with my dad in the living room wathcing a marathon of "The Naked Gun." Most of our conversations are sprinkled with references to Airplane! or some other ridiculously stupid movie we love. And, since a conversation with my dad means that there is laughter involved...how could you not want to be around him?

So, Happy Father's Day, Daddy! I love you!