Kaitlin's Christmas Serenade

Kaitlin has become a pro at delaying bedtime. This holiday season, we have been singing some carols by the tree every night before she goes to bed. Tonight she told me she wanted "the song about angels" so I started "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." To which she quickly replied "No, no NO!" I asked her which angel song and she said it goes like this:

Now this has been edited down significantly, and Scott didn't even catch the whole thing on video. It was close to 10 minutes. At first she was just throwing out every Christmas song word in random order. Lots of Bethlehem, Jesus, angel, manger, etc. This part really shows a lot of made up words and such. After the big finish she goes "Ok Mommy, now YOU sing it." I told her not a person alive could recreate that beautiful performance so we better just end on that note. And for kicks, here's the link to last year's hottest hit.

We've got a winner!

I've become one of those moms who encourages good behavior with not-so-veiled threats about Santa and the presents he may or may not bring for one sassy little girl. However, as we have learned again and again, it's never quite as easy as it would seem when we are dealing with this one. I started with threatening no presents. She asked "Will you and Daddy and Claire get presents?" I said, "Yep, but none for you if you keep up that sass talk." "Well I'll just play with your presents then." Touche'.

Next we went on to lumps of coal. I had to explain the concept since she didn't previously have any reason to know what a lump of coal was. I told her they were black rocks. Mistake number 1 as she LOVES rocks and has several "sparkly" ones her Dad got her in New Mexico. "Oh, I LOVE rocks Mommy." I said "These aren't sparkly rocks, they're just black, plain rocks." "I love rocks, I can't wait to get flumpsofcoal for Christmas!" (yes that begins with an "f" and is all one word). Hmm.

Now a little side track here, Bud gets ear infections pretty much every month. It's a Lab thing. And when he gets them, his ear STINKS. I mean you can smell it 5 feet away and it is just terrible. I've always made little comments about it, just b/c I can't hold it in when he walks by, I must tell him "Bud, your ear stinks." I've never really discussed it with K though. So last week she randomly comes up to me and goes "Mommy, would you PLEASE wash Bud's ear, it really stinks." I laughed pretty hard at that and told Scott about it later that day.

Back to this weekend and yet another sass-laden line of commentary from K to her Daddy. And then Daddy pulls out the big guns. "Kaitlin, Santa is listening right now and if you keep up that sass talk, then all you're gonna get for Christmas is a stinky Bud ear." Tears ensue. "No, no, no neeevvverrrrr!!!" We have a winner!

Some things I've learned...

...about puking.

1. It will never be at a convenient time. It's always when you're out of town and in a hotel room, or when your husband's out of town and you're alone with 2 kids. Or at Walmart. Never when you're all safely tucked in at home, with plenty of cleaning products and hands on deck.

2. You will be amazed at the condition of the food that comes from your child's stomach. About a year ago (when Scott was at work late during busy season), K threw up what appeared to be an entire bowl of macaroni and cheese. It looked like she had just taken it fresh from the stove and dumped it all over her bed, along with some raisins. Raisins which to this day she has never eaten again. Tonight it was the hot dog I was amazed at. Sure, I had cut it up before giving it to Claire, but other than my cuts, the thing was entirely intact. She hadn't chewed it at all. Several half grapes too (cut originally by me, not at all by Claire's teeth).

3. You will marvel at their inability to puke anywhere other than all over themselves or you. Physically incapable of turning their heads it seems. And the monkey grip - never is it as strong as when they are about to blow.

4. You will relish how sweet and pitiful they are when they are in your arms when it is all over. Sure I would rather have a healthy kid 100% of the time, but when you're sitting there with puke drying in your hair and a couple loads of laundry staring you down, it's nice to just snuggle them close and be thankful for the moment.

Off to put the sheets in the dryer...

Halloween 2010

Better late than never! This year for Halloween we....

Decorated (and munched on) a spooky gingerbread house...

Hugged a super cute bear...

Went fishing at school's Fall Festival...

Went to the Pumpkin Patch (note not a single pic with everyone looking at the camera!)...

Carved a pumpkin...

Played dress up while Daddy finished carving the pumpkin...

SCREAMED b/c we were so excited!...

Looked super cute in our costumes....

And trick or treated til we dropped!

It was a great Halloween! I think K preferred answering the door to trick or treating, but I believe C loved the trick or treating the best. Being able to walk up everyone's forbidden front walks, picking up tons of acorns and making off with candy whenever she could (which we would later find half open and eaten). Kaitlin is already talking about wanting to be a butterfly next year and having Claire be a ladybug. She keeps saying "Claire will crawl and I will fly" and asking how she can "fly for real?" And she thinks she gets to wear a costume for Thanksgiving. We obviously haven't made this concept clear enough.

Claire's 15mo appt

We are going to a new doctor now, one recommended by a couple friends in Mom's Club. I LOVE Dr. Meyer (old dr) but she's about 25 min from the new house with all the lights, and the last 2 times I've been I've had to wait 45 min for my appt. Not really my idea of a good time with a 3yo and 15mo. So we went to Dr. Pam last week and it was nice, a very different feel from the big clinic Dr. Meyer was at. Here are C's stats at 15mo:

Weight: 22lbs 6.5oz - 25-50%
Height: 32in - 90%
Head: 19 - 95-97%

She is my petite chu-chu! Almost 6lbs less than her big sis at 15 mo, but only half an inch shorter! She's right on track with everything else, although Dr. Pam did comment on how active she was. "Is she like this all the time?" Yep, from the moment she wakes up to the moment she goes to sleep! No wonder she's so skinny!

Is this some kind of joke?

Those of you that know me know I am no fashionista. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I would wear jeans, a black t-shirt and flip flops every day of my life if I could. So I find it comical that my daughter is not only the exact opposite with regards to fashion, she is also ADAMANT about her opinions about these fashions. Let me run down a few examples we've had in the past few weeks:

We've had to resort to a calendar system, which determines whether she gets to wear a dress or is forced by her cruel mother to wear pants (the horror). As most of you probably saw on FB, last week when it was that dreaded day I was told "Mom, you are RUINING my life." This is in part to the Barbie movie from whence she got the line, but I believe the sentiment would've come out even if she didn't have Barbie's sassy words to use.

She is in LOVE with her flip flops (I guess we're not that different after all). Since it has now gotten a bit too chilly to wear them, I've had to hide them because it is a fight pretty much every day. In her despair over her loss, she has turned to the comfort of one pair of brown dress shoes. Dress shoes that were meant to be worn with cute little tights and a skirt. Instead, she REFUSES to wear tights at all and wants to wear these shoes all the time with no socks or barrier at all for her poor little foot. The first time she wore them to school, the teachers told me she was hurting all day in them (mom of the year award). When I got to school to pick her up, I noticed they were on the wrong feet (probably b/c she had been taking them off and on all day b/c they hurt so bad) and told her she was a gooser. I would've thought this would have been deterrent enough to either have her choose a different pair of shoes or break down and wear socks. But oh no, she does not give up that easily. The next day she requested to wear them and I reminded her how badly they hurt her feet. To which she replied "Mommy, it's because I had them on the wrong feet gooser!" So I made her wear them with socks (only after having her walk into school barefoot in the cold rain since she refused to put on the socks). And then again this week she refused to wear socks, saying, I kid you not "I would rather have my feet hurt than wear socks with those shoes." OMG. What have I gotten myself into?

Finally, and most upsetting to me, is that I really do pick out some cute stuff for her to wear and she REFUSES to wear it as intended. Tights - no go. Cute skirt and shirt outfits - trash. Comfy track suits - dumb. Suggest she wear a sweater over her outfit because it's cold? Be prepared for a major meltdown. Not even dresses are safe, there are some that are not good enough for your highness. Given her choice, she would wear one of 3 or 4 dresses over and over again. So I guess she does get it honestly, we just have different opinions about what is acceptable to wear over and over again. So please don't judge if you see my little girl wearing a sundress with a completely clashing long sleeve t-shirt underneath. These days I've learned you must pick your battles, and this is one I can't fight every day. I just keep reminding myself that I am thankful I have a little girl who knows what she likes, and isn't afraid to fight for it.

CB's First Haircut!

For posterity, here is the requisite post about Claire's first official haircut. I say official b/c I cut her rat-tail off when she was around 9 months and that's the hair I saved for the (nonexistent) baby book. But she went with K last Friday after the Pumpkin Patch for the real deal. It was also her first sucker, since she had very little time for any other diversionary tactic we tried and the lollipop was the only way to make her sit still. I think K was well past 2 when she had her first "lolli." Second kid is so lucky. She was one sticky mess!

UPDATE: After Jamie's comment, I realized I should've posted K's for comparison, so here it is.

Rub it in!

Jamie posted some new recipes a few weeks ago and we decided to try one last night. Pepper Crusted Flank Steak was amazing and as I think I've discussed on here before, I'm not a huge steak fan. But this was really, really good. The girls agreed, they both inhaled it. Literally as fast as I was putting it on the tray for Claire, she was shoving it in her pie-hole. And Miss K. Oh, Miss-I-Never-Eat-Dinner-Unless-It's-Mac-and-Cheese-or-a-quesadilla. I'm not kidding, she probably hasn't eaten anything besides fruit for dinner for the past 3 weeks (if she doesn't eat what I make, she doesn't eat, we run a tight ship around here). She sat there and ate 4 full strips of beef! I think it was actually more than I got since I was otherwise occupied making sure CB had her fill. But that wasn't the best part. What just really warmed my heart was how she went on, and on and ON about how Daddy cooked the best dinner EVER! "Daddy, you are SUCH a good cook!!" "Daddy, thank you for making us this great steak!" "Daddy, you made us the best dinner!" He cooks one meal in months and suddenly he's the hero!! Must be nice to be appreciated! ;-)

Rangers!

Kevin & Brittany celebrated Braden's first birthday out at the Ballpark - what a great idea! There's a little pavilion area right down on the field on the right field side where we could be up and walking around (ie not stuck in a row of seats and feeling bad every time K wanted to get out and stretch her legs.) We just took K because as I correctly expected, there were stairs everywhere and I would've just been following C up and down them all day had we brought her. Braden was a champ and dug right into his cake, and we left with a great souvenir - a game ball for Kaitlin! Daddy was so excited to get that for K. I missed the whole thing b/c I was helping dish out cake. :-( The story goes that a fly ball was hit to right field where Francouer caught it and turned around and scanned the crowd for someone to throw it too. He saw K standing there cheering and tossed it to Scott for her! Good thing it wasn't me, b/c there's no way I would've caught it! Here are some pics:

Showing off the pony and ribbon

Daddy Daughter

ICE CREAM HELMET SUNDAE!!!

Mad face displayed when Daddy took a bite of aforementioned ICE CREAM HELMET SUNDAE!!!

Cheer face

Rare family pic (minus CB of course)

The precious ball

Laugh a minute

As I've been told many times before, 3 is the new 2 and K is certainly no exception to that rule. I thought we had the Terrible Two's pretty rough, but three gets you a whole lot of in-your-face attitude and a huge vocabulary from which to choose from when you don't get your way. It's pretty neat. Three spankings in the span of 20 minutes last night kind of neat. But with this stage also comes some moments of hilarity. I think I've had more belly laughs in the past few months than I had the first 2.5 years of her life combined. She is funny both intentionally and unintentionally, and the latter is usually better. She also picks up more and more phrases from school, movies and random passerbys which makes for some interesting conversations. For example, at school she is in a class with THIRTEEN other 3yos. Yikes. You couldn't pay me enough to teach that class. Anyways, apparently during lunch there is a little problem with the kids actually eating so Ms. Grace (from NY) uses the phrase "less talking, more eating." Probably not my first choice with these little parrots, but I'm not dealing with these kiddos every Tues/Thurs. So last weekend, while driving home from lunch, Scott was telling K that when we got home we were going to take a nap. To which K replied "Daddy, less talking, more driving." Scott about ran off the road and I just stared straight ahead with a huge grin on my face. I think the best part is her attitude about all these new things she's learning. Every time she throws something new out there, whether it be a phrase, a new dance move, a new letter she can write, I ask "Who taught you that?" and her response is always "Me, myself. I taught myself that." Can't say she's not confident!

Kaitlin's 3 Year Stats

We went to Dr. Meyer today for K's 3 year appt. Here are her stats:

38.8lbs - 95%
40.5in - >97%

They don't do head measurements any more at 3! She did great otherwise, even got a shot with no tears and no anxiety at all. She was so excited to tell Daddy what a good job she did, she told me she wanted to tell him about it tonight in person (not on the phone on the way home), and it was the first thing out of her mouth when he walked in the door. Such a brave girl!

From the mouths of babes

Yesterday we were out for a short walk and found a dead worm dried up on the sidewalk. Kaitlin was very concerned about him, asking what was wrong. I explained that he had died trying to cross the sidewalk when it was too hot. We haven't really talked much about death, just when her fish died about 6 months ago so I thought this would be a good, easy example, with little chance of emotional trauma. She then goes "Oh, he went to be with Jesus?" I said "Yes, like Frankie." But then she went on to say "When he got there, Jesus said "Peace" and gave him a new body and he was as good as new! And then he gets to crawl around wherever he wants, with Jesus!" I wish we all could look at death with the optimism of a child's heart!

Kaitlin's Dance Class

We signed Kaitlin up with two of her little friends at LC Dance Center in Lewisville. Saying she LOVES it would be an understatement. It's a combo ballet/tap class and I'm not sure which part she likes more. Here are some pics from her second class:

Getting ready to go (much more pleasant than when we are going anywhere else!)

Ballerina

Hopping like a frog

Serious tap moves

More seriousness

Hurricane Claire

In less than the 2 minutes it took for me to go wipe Kaitlin's bottom (sorry, a bit graphic but it's the truth), this is what I came back to find in the kitchen/hall/bedroom/bathroom. TWO MINUTES!!

I guess I'm lucky she didn't empty them like she normally does.

Hard to tell, but those are baggies all over the floor

ENTIRE roll of parchment paper rolled out from the hall...

....Through the bedroom and into the bathroom

Suspect caught and apprehended!!

Kaitlin at 3

Birthday August 25, 2007

1 Year Old

2 Years Old

3 Years Old!

You are....
....sweet...high energy...sassy...determined...precocious...smart...bossy...fearless (sometimes)...silly...stubborn...outspoken...funny

Your favorite time of the day is PLAYTIME. No matter what it is, you're always asking me "Mommy, can we go play?" or "What should we play now Mommy?" Dress-up, puzzles, playdoh, painting, ball games, swinging, SWIMMING, batter up. You love to be going and doing.

Your favorite shows are any princess movies. The current fave is "Christmas Belle" (not my favorite) but you watch it every morning if you can. I can also talk you into watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Oso instead, but that's about it. We have bribed you into staying in your bed all night with the promise of getting to watch a princess movie in the morning. You love to get the green pillow, the white blanket and set up on the loveseat to watch it. You look so sweet and content, and love to pat next to you and invite me to join you.

Your favorite foods are:
donuts...pizza...grilled cheese...quesadillas...waffles..."eggo muffins" aka english muffins...goldfish...cheese...grapes...strawberries...pbj...french onion dip...

Some phrases in rotation:
of course my child (quoted from Ursula in Little Mermaid)...want to play?...what should we do?...that was AMAZING...it's delicious...how's that sound like? good?....she HAMMERED that...lastday (instead of yesterday)

You make up songs when you're talking to me. If I ask you do to do something, you will sing me a response as to why you can't do it. It is both maddening and endearing.

You love to sing and dance. Love to watch home movies. If a song comes on, no matter where we are you start to dance. Sometimes if you are feeling especially feisty, you'll make a crazy face and go "STAR ROCKETTE!!" (learned from Margie and meant to be "Rock Star")

You are your father's daughter. Just tonight I was laying in bed cuddling with you and could feel you straining to toot. And once you did you laughed so hard you almost threw up. Crazy kid.

You love to congratulate Claire. Even though she's been walking for months, sometimes you'll just stop her and say "Good job Claire, look Mommy she's walking! Way to go Claire!"

You love baseball and cheer for everyone "good hit guy!!"

You are ADORED by your sissy - first thing C does when she gets up from her nap is try to break into your room and wake you up.

A favorite past-time right now is singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" while bouncing on your bed. You and Margie made up little dance moves for it and use your microphones (flashlights). You also like "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Last Christmas" and several of your church songs.

We knew you were strong-willed when you refused to take a bottle for your entire babyhood, and that trend has continued. I am thankful that before you will do what others say, you must first make sure it is something you want to do. I hope this sticks with you through your teenage years.

We are so blessed to have you in our lives, and I can't imagine life without you. Thank you for THREE wonderful years! We love you more than words.

Kaitlin's Third Birthday Weekend

Little miss is turning three this year and we just so happened to have three parties for her. I told her not to expect the trend to continue. Friday we hosted 21 of her little friends at Pump It Up in Coppell for bouncing, pizza and cake. I think everyone had a good time, the adults did watching them jump the day away. I rode down the big slide with K only once because I went flying right over the barrier at the end and plop onto the floor. But she probably rode the thing in the neighborhood of 50 times. Even though she came crying to me that her dress was flying up and she was getting burns on her knees, back and elbows, she just couldn't stop herself.

Saturday we kept the party going with the Liners, Browns and then both sets of grandparents and the Bonds over to swim and grill out. With this 105 degree heat, we had to top the day off with some ice cream cake of course.

And the third party will be on her actual birthday when we host playgroup at our house. I think it's been a great year for her first year that she actually comprehends what is going on.

Click here for way too many pictures.

Kaitlin's Third Birthday Party

Deemed successful if judged by the following two pics:

More pictures and details to follow...

Just your everyday stroller contents...

Claire doesn't quite get what is supposed to go into the stroller. She went in and got these mismatched shoes by herself and then came out to walk around the house with them. A few days ago it was K's water cup, and today it was a pair of sunglasses. It's funny the purpose with which she places these items in. It's not happenstance, she goes and grabs whatever she thinks belongs there and then squats down and arranges it just so in the stroller. She has yet to put a baby in it.

Hug your babies

I've become somewhat of an emotional basketcase since having kids. Hearing about kids being injured or abused makes me physically ill, like I've been punched in the stomach and can't breathe. If you've read "The Secret Life of Bees," I often feel like I am on the verge of becoming like May Boatwright, where the weight of the world and all the sadness in it is almost too much to bear. So I don't watch the news. I don't read the paper. I live in my little bubble, and that seems to spare me a lot of heartache. But sometimes my bubble is burst by stories like Claire Martin, a friend of a friend who called out for prayers. And again this week, another call for prayers and another punch in the gut. A friend of a friend, Margot was 2 days older than Claire. She picked up and choked on something that was only removed after an emergency tracheotomy, but it was too late for her little body. They had to say goodbye to their sweet, 12 month old baby. I've sat here looking out at the hot, sunny day, thinking about what agony this family, this mother must be going through. I can't imagine. But I can't stop imagining either. As we go on about our lives, theirs have come to an abrupt and sickening halt. And the fact that it's something that could happen to any of us, on any day, makes it all the more heartbreaking to me. If you page down on the blog, you will see such joy as they celebrated her first birthday less than a month ago. A beautiful video her mom made for her. A charmed life. Why God? Why let this happen? As I sit here, crying for the hundredth time today, I don't know the answer to this and probably never will. But I do know that her story has made me a more patient mom today. I have hugged my girls more today. I have examined their toes, their bellies, their bodies so full of life and kissed them and cherished them. I hate that it takes something like this to make me stop and realize how very fragile and precious this life is, but at the same time I think that might be one of the answers to the Why God question. Not to say that Margot's life should be reduced to making us appreciate our loved ones more, but that it is one of the ripples that it has produced. So hug your babies and be thankful for this day you have with them. As I continue to pray for Margot's family, I will pray that this lesson stays with me and all those who know her story.

The "Yuckees"?

Kaitlin has developed an interest in sports and in particular baseball. I have taken her to a couple of Rangers games over the last year, which she has really enjoyed. We have also developed a new bed time routine in which she will sit and watch an inning or so of the Rangers game on tv, before she goes to bed. She has really picked up baseball concept pretty quickly and one of her first questions is always who are they playing. Well, last night the Yankees were in town. Here is how our conversation went:

Kaitlin: "Who are they playing, Daddy?"

Me: "The Yankees."

Kaitlin: "The Yuckees?"

Me: *laughing* "Yes, baby...they are playing the Yuckees!"

Seemed like an appropriate name for the Yankees team to me (we are not Yankee fans)!

1 Year Comparison

We had Claire's 1 year appointment on Tuesday. She was in rare form and had Dr. Meyer laughing. She was pushing chairs together to use them to climb up to the windowsill, ripping apart any sort of paper she could find, trying to break into all the cabinets in the place and at one point bent down and licked the floor. Just an exceptional specimen all around. Here are her stats:

Weight: 21lbs 1oz - 50%
Height: 30.1in - 75%
Head: 95%

For some reason I have no record of K's one year stats, on the blog or in her baby book. I do have stats from her 9 mo and her 15mo appt so averaging those gets me:

Weight: 24lbs 12oz - she was always >97%
Height: 31in - always >97%

So as I keep saying, C just seems so SMALL to me in comparison. Here are some pics from K's 1 year, C's 1 year, and a cute one of them snuggling.

I'm too sexy for these jammies!

This is what you get on your birthday...

clowned by your big sis (click on the pic to make bigger).

Happy First Birthday Claire Bear!!!

Happy birthday sweet girl! We can't believe you've gone from this:

To this:

You are...relentless...serious...determined...adventurous...silly...fearless...sensitive...shy

You walk all the time now and have been for several weeks. You crawled for such a short time!!

Your favorite games:

• Looking under the couch and bed and finding balls. So cute to see you squat down and look under there, and start grunting when you find something.
• Playing peekaboo by leaving the room and coming back, or hiding your face in your chair
• You love to brush your teeth, and get so excited and kick your legs and scream when you open the drawer
• You have started playing actually WITH K more. You bring her toys and try to engage her. You still love to watch her and K is still the only one who can consistently make you laugh.

You are going to be a terror. As I've already mentioned in previous posts, you've been perfecting your tantrum for a couple weeks now. When you have something you know you're not supposed to have, you look at me and then RUN as fast as you can away, screaming the whole time. When I try and pry it from your grubby little fingers, you squeeze so tight and scream bloody murder. Then you act injured and cannot be consoled as you run away from me and won't let me hold you. You repeatedly climb on the fireplace (chairs, tables, you name it) and as we are telling you no, you just look back and smile and continue doing it. You try to go down the stairs standing up. You have been caught standing on top of K's toy box, holding CDs that you have somehow removed from her radio. If you are told "no" when throwing your food, you cry the biggest crocodile tears and make me feel like a terrible mother.

You actually sometimes LIKE to eat:
bread...strawberries...grapes...baby food veggies (no other whole ones, spits them out)...MEAT...goldfish...pasta...cheese...grilled cheese...Everything else is merely tolerated.

You can say:

bye bye (in the cutest little southern accent "bahhhh buyyyyy")...bud...hi...all done ("ah duh")...banana?...ball...bat...I swear you say Kaitlin, at least mimics the pitch and length when I'm calling for her...mama...dada...

Your favorite toys:

Plastic water bottles...train tracks to chew on...tupperware (love to take the top off and on)...your hand against your mouth (making babababa sound like a little injun)...BAGGIES!!!...the remote (only the working ones, none of these fakies please)

We love having you in our family, and as Kaitlin often says "You are the best sissy EVER!" We can't wait to see what the next year holds!