February 9th

I turned 29 yesterday.

It was a fabulous birthday! It was celebrated 3 days in a row. Who could complain with that!?

Tuesday was shopping and lunch with my mom. Honestly, it was one of the most fun days I have had in a long time. It helps that we spent well over an hour in JCrew. And, my girls were angels. I had never taken Lilly to the mall. Isn't that pathetic?! She has been before, but it has been a while, and pretty sure she was strapped down in a stroller. Anyway, she loved it. Why didn't I think to take her there during the freezing cold, boring, stay-at-home-with-nothing-to-do days? Duh. She also loved being in the dressing room with me while I tried on all my clothes. She thought she would get undressed too. Cute little bug. Then we all headed to lunch. I am telling you, it was a fun day. Thank you so much mom!

Wednesday was my actual birthday. Nothing too special about the day. I spent some time at Costco getting the tires on my car balanced and rotated, and eating hot dogs with Lilly....if that doesn't sound like fun, I don't know what does! But hey, while I was there, I bought my own birthday cake! Success! We did go out later for a really fun dinner with just our little family. Then, we came home and Lilly was dying for some cake. Anton bought me my very favorite treat in the whole world....Chocolate Covered Strawberries from Cummings. So, I opted out of birthday cake and polished off those lovely strawberries. Yum!

Today, Thursday, my siblings and Dad took me out to lunch. It was so much fun, as always! My brothers know how to make us laugh, that is for sure!

I received so many notes, emails, texts, visits, gifts etc. from so many of you. So, thank you. You helped make my day so special.I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends, and family. 

Happy Birthday to me! 

Judging by the look on her face, I think she was a little excited to finally get her hands on that birthday cake. Squirt!

Biggest Fan

So, if you know Anton, you know he loves the Rolling Stones. I mean, he LOOOOVES them. He might be one of their biggest fans. Just out of pure curiosity, I thought it would be interesting to see how many Rolling Stones things he has. Here is the tally:

* 21 Cd's. That is just the number of CD's in the house. So, excluding the many CD's that are in our cars.

*Movies: 4

*Books: 4

*Clothes: 8

*Other items: 2

*We have gone to see "Shine A Light" when it came out in the theaters.

*He has seen them in concert, I think, 3 times.

*Both me and the girls have Stones t-shirts/sweatshirts.

*He knows so many details about them. He could tell you where which album was made, details of members of the band etc.

*He was ticked when they were voted number 4 on the list of greatest Artists behind Michael Jackson, Beatles, and Led Zepplin. 

*We had the song "Shine A Light" on our wedding video.

*Probably his favorite thing....he has successfully converted me into a Rolling Stones fan! 

On My Mind

*We took the cousins on the "train" down to the Discovery Gateway. We happened to do it on the COLDEST DAY EVER. Not the smartest thing I have ever done. It was still fun. Even though I lost my debit card on Trax, and we about froze to death. No kidding.

*Went on a date to the Jazz game with Anton. It was so fun to be with him. We laughed and laughed. It was good for my soul.

*Lilly was so angry at me the other day. This was the best insult she could come up with: "Mom, you....you're...you're a SNAIL"....then slammed the door.

*Reading The Female Brain. So glad to know that girls are drama....and not just mine. Poor poor Anton with all these girls in the household.

*Not only am I wishing for warm weather so I can take my girls outside....I am ready for a wardrobe change. I get tired of wearing the same clothes over and over and over again.

*For the first time since Claire was born, I feel like Lilly is really jealous of her. It is kind of sad. Anton has noticed it too. Every time we pay attention to Claire or play with Claire, Lilly reacts. She either shows off, or gets really snotty so we pay attention to her. And, lets be honest....she isn't very nice to Claire at the moment either. Poor thing. I feel bad for her. I guess I better take her on a special date...just the two of us.

*I am really excited for Valentines Day. Not because I particularly love Valentines. It is really because Lilly is understanding holiday's now. We went and bought her her Valentines to give out. They are Disney Princess ones. Imagine that.

*About those Disney Princesses....she is OBSESSED. Santa brought her all of the Disney princess Barbie dolls. She loves them. She has a princess dress. Loves it. Has a princess book. She has to read it every day. Loves her princess kitchen. Has teeny princess dolls, loves them most of all. Loves Cinderella, and wants to watch it several times a day. She is going to go NUTS in Disneyland. But the thing I think it cute...she still loves to play out in the mud and look for bugs. Perfect combination in my humble opinion.

Trying

We are trying our best to keep busy around here. It is a hard thing to do when the weather is so cold and yucky. Thankfully, we had some sunny days last week that allowed us to bundle up and play outside. While we were in the car, headed up to Nana's to swing, Lilly shouted "Mom, the sun has come up!". Sad. I know she misses being outside. To me, January is always the worst month...so I am kind of glad we are on the tail end of it.

*To help keep us busy during the day, we went shopping for lots of new arts & crafts. She is loving her new paints. Her room is full of her creations. I love that she loves it.

*I have this silly plant on our table. Claire loves to get it. Usually I am pretty good at keeping her away from it. Not this time. She is so proud!

*Sunday we went to the school that is just down the street from our house so we could let Lilly and the Cooper run around. As you can see, she was in heaven.

*Look at that face. Ooh, I could just gobble her up!

In other news:

*We have been watching the TV show "Lost" for what seems like years, and we finally finished the series last night. To be honest, I am kind of sad that it is over.

*Lilly had three teeth when she turned one. Claire is going to have 8. What the heck?! Currently she has 4...and she is cutting 4 more. 

*Both my girls are great sleepers, so with this teething, I am struggling. I feel like I have a newborn again. Getting up twice in the night isn't the most fun.

*Last week, I had a melt down. Anton was so sweet and just let me cry and cry. I worry myself sick sometimes thinking about what I would do if something happened to one of my girls. 

*Lilly and I got sick last week...with the stomach flu. NOT fun.

*We finally got our California trip all planned. It can't get here soon enough! So excited!

Way Too Funny

My moms dear friend sent this to her. She in turn passed it on to me and my sisters. I thought it was too hysterical not to share. Not too far from the truth either!

11 Step Program for Those Thinking of Having Children:

Lesson 1
1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.
 
Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.
Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.
 
Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)
 
Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.
 
Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out...
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?
 
Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.
 
Time allowed for this - all morning.
 
Lesson 6
Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment.
Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.
 
Lesson 7
Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.
 
Lesson 8
1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.
 
You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.
 
Lesson 9
Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.
 
Lesson 10
Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.
 
Lesson 11
Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

The Rut

So, Anton and I have both come to the conclusion that Lilly is really an easy child...most of the time. Every six months or so she gets into a rut. That rut is the following:

*"NO!" (a million times a day)
*Kicking
*Screaming
*Yelling
*Hitting
*"I DON'T WANT TO!"
*Crying
*Slamming the door (I thought this wasn't supposed to start until she hit 14 years old)
*Lots of quality time in the time out corner.
*A few spankings here and there.

Lets hope she doesn't stay in this "rut" for too much longer. I hate it when she is like this. It is a battle ALL DAY LONG. Kill me now.

In other news...Anton watched the girls for me on Saturday while I went and spent 3 hours at AquaVie day spa. 3 hours! It was glorious! I had a massage, a 45 minute pedicure, and a 45 minute manicure. Bliss. My parents gave me a gift certificate there for my birthday last year and I finally got around to using it. It was so needed, and even more appreciated.

Claire has finally gotten her top two teeth! We have a grand total of 4 teeth now. She is enjoying those chompers...she will bite down on everything. Yes, everything. And, it hurts. And at the moment, she has no interest in crawling. She gets into position (with our help) and panics. She would much rather just be a house plant, and I am OK with that. I don't love the crawling stage!

Again, lets hope Lilly is back to her old self soon. I have a feeling it is going to be a long week. Ugh.

Miss Lilly

I just love this little face...