Go to sleep you baby!

I find the next sentence very ironic:

Julia's my good sleeper.

I find that statement ironic because that wasn't the case for a looooooong time. At least for night time sleeping. You see, Julia slept in our bed for the first 9 months (the first 6 months Evan was there too, but then he went to training...so those last 3 months were just me and Juju). And she woke up a lot to nurse. She also needed to be held to sleep, so we wore a lot of slings for a long time. Elisabeth, on the other hand, was in her own crib at 3 months and sleeping through the night. She didn't like being cuddled during the night like Julia did and I must tell you that Elisabeth has been told many a time that she wins extra points for being such a good night sleeper at an early age.

Even when we moved here to Colorado, the girl still woke up a lot. And, I don't blame her because it was the first time she had a real room all to herself. She probably woke up nightly at least twice a night until she was around 16 months or so. Sometimes she wanted nursed (until she weaned at 14 months) but sometimes she just wanted someone to hold her. Evan took over once the nursing stopped as the parent on night duty and she eventually learned to sleep all night. Which we love.

But, Julia's always, always, always been a great napper. She needs them, she wants them. She will voluntarily tell me when it is time for her to nap. She loves going "night-night" and cuddling her "baby" (which is a plush bunny) and being wrapped in her "blankie". Elisabeth? Well, she gave up naps at 18 months and never looked back. The girl could (and has) stay up till midnight and still be bouncing out of bed at 7:00AM. She just never needed as much sleep. (Elisabeth lost points for being a poor napper, in case you were curious.)

Because I know she needs naps and loves them, this is why I am sooooo frustrated this week.
Julia has been slowly pushing her nap time back. Which is fine--I am all about using her cues to know when she needs sleep. But, she's been wanting to sleep around 1:30 or 2:00. She naps for at least 2 hours. Elisabeth gets out of school at 3:20. We need to be out the door at 3:00 to get her. You see my dilemma.

I have been calling a neighbor whose daughter is in Elisabeth's class to occasionally walk her home for me if Julia's gone down late for a nap, but this has been happening daily for a week now and I always feel guilty for calling so much.

So, this is what ends up happening:
And I either end up managing to get her to stay asleep after we get home and letting her sleep till 4:30 or she wakes up after only a 30 minute nap and then is the most beastly 22 month old to roam the planet.

I need for school to be over for the year. Julia is suffering from this crappy nap schedule. Order must be restored in my home before I lose my mind!!!!

Only 8 more days of school. Only 8 more days of school. Only 8 more days of school...

Grandparent Screen Time.

One of the hardest things about being in the Air Force is being away from family. Both Evan and I grew up in the same home town. When we moved to DeKalb so he could go to law school, it was 2.5 hours from home and it felt like a million miles away. So, when we moved to Colorado, well...that was quite the wake up call.

And while we do love being out here (seriously? Colorado is awesome!), one thing that has made being so far from our loved ones a little easier is...video chat.

The girls get to talk to both sets of grandparents on at least a monthly, if not weekly, basis.

We set up the little computer we keep in the kitchen (THE BEST PLACE FOR A COMPUTER EVER!) and sit the girls down for some chat time.
Usually, the girls are well behaved with each other. I'd say they only yell and push each other maybe twice throughout each chat session. Which, for Julia, isn't too bad of odds.
But, they actually get to see their Nina & Papa and their Memaw & Pepaw. Our parents get to see Elisabeth's missing and incoming teeth. They get to hear Julia's new words and sentences she's putting together. It's something I definitely didn't get to do with my grandparents. It's something that both girls look forward to. One of Julia's favorite things to do is point to the computer and say, "I see Papa?"
So, even though I myself hate using it (omg, the delays and freezing of the screen make me want to shoot the stupid computer), I do realize it's an important communication tool for the girls to stay in contact with their family. And with us moving every 2-3 years, staying connected is so unbelievably important.

Join me on a walk down Blog Memory Lane.

I am being nostalgic today. Why? Well, I'm putting together a scrapbook for Julia for her birthday. (which is in a little over a month) (oh, and she'll be 2, people. Two!!!!) It's of her first year and I just can not get over how big she has gotten. Or how quickly her babyhood went compared to how long I felt like it was going on when I was in the middle of it.

I also cannot get over how old Elisabeth is getting. She's a big girl. She's slender and cute and Evan's going to have to invest in a shotgun some day because her eyes are cat like and with her sweet spirit and beautiful smile, there will be lots of boys coming to visit us soon. (Oh, and have I mentioned that she is already talking about "cute" boys. Lord help me.)

So, I'm taking a walk down memory lane today and I'm taking you with me.

My little humanitarian.

Waiting to move to Colorado.
Me losing my mind as a stay-at-home-mom. (btw, don't miss these days...)
Julia pre-walking.
My oldest baby starts first grade. :(
How we roll.
Snow day.
Okay. I think that should hold you over in your complete sadness that Julia is turning 2 in over a month and where did the time go and she's going to start kindergarten before you even know it and then she'll be married and having grandbabies. You're welcome.

Mother's Day

This year, Elisabeth had big ideas for Mother's Day for me. She is at that age where she likes to make grandiose plans that may or may not be plausible. She was insistent that Evan take the girls to the mall to go shopping for me. When he asked what she wanted to get me that was at the mall she replied, "I don't know, I just want to walk around the mall and look at things." He ended up taking both girls shopping (at my insistence...because I wanted some time in my house alone!) and they went to 4 different stores. He came back exhausted and grumpy. I giggled.

Elisabeth also really wanted me to have breakfast in bed. But, I don't like eating in my bed. It's gross. And, I would be eating by myself, which would be silly. So, I told her I'd rather eat with everyone at the table. She then asked if we'd give her breakfast in bed instead.

I really appreciated all of Elisabeth's sweet ideas, and I made sure to let her know that she was very thoughtful, but for Mother's Day, I'd rather pretend I wasn't a mom for a day. Which is what I found a lot of mom's with children are wanting. They want days at the spa without kids; a weekend away without kids; a day with their friends without kids; some alone time without kids; a day to wallow in hobbies without kids. (Are you seeing a pattern?)

I find it humorous that, when the kids are young and intense and take up allllll of your time, you want to be away from them. I won't lie, I totally want that. A lot. Maybe 3 times a week, tops.

But, I know that it won't always be like this. I know someday, they will be grown and then I will want them on Mother's Day. I will want them to come over and see me and spend the whole day with me. I will want their undivided attention the way they want mine now. I realize that some day I won't even have the luxury of being guaranteed to have my kids with me on Mother's Day because they will have their own families and will have to see their spouse's mom as well as me and, heaven forbid, they may not even be in the same state as me because their husband joined the Air Force (sorry Mom and Jana).

So, today, I am not running away. I am spending a lazy Sunday with them like we always do. I am doing laundry and watching CBS Sunday Morning with Evan. I am trying not to scream at Julia as she yells my name for the millionth time while ignoring my response of, "What, Julia? Tell me what you want for the love of god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!". I am planning on going grocery shopping with Elisabeth so we can see if there are any garage sales in the area. I am being the Mommy today.

I will run away another day.

Oh, and Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I sure love you. And I'd also appreciate it if you'd answer the phone because I've tried calling twice, and if I didn't know better, I'd say you were ignoring me.

Sister Moments.

I like watching Elisabeth and Julia interact together. Especially when they are being happy.

Yesterday, at a friend's house, the girls were swinging together on a swing set. It's one of those swing sets that has the double bench swing that faces each other. They were sitting together on one side of it. Elisabeth had her arm around Julia, protecting her from falling out. Julia had put her arm around Julia, adoringly imitating her big sister. They were swinging in silence watching the other kids in the yard play. Every now and then, Julia would squeal as the swinging motion tickled her belly. Elisabeth would smile at her and say, "Is this fun, Juju?" "Yeah, Didi. Fun!".

Today, we made a trip to WalMart for more diapers. Elisabeth saw those one carts that have the double seats for bigger kids (you know, the one where they face each other that's not a car?). She's been wanting to have a sibling just so she could have a reason to use this cart. She asked if she and Julia could sit in it. I said yes. Julia sat in the farther seat so Elisabeth's' legs would prevent Julia from falling off. As I was pushing them into the store, they look at each other and both break into the same beautiful smile, giggling at the fun they're having, sharing a sister moment. It made my heart melt.

Fieldtrip to the Zoo.

I do not know if you know this about me, but I love zoos.

I really do.

No, really, I do.

So, when Elisabeth's teacher asked for chaperones for the class field trip to the zoo, I was all kinds of excited. Of course, the day we went (which was last Friday...April 30th...) there was snow in the forecast. (I know, snow in April is still hard for me to digest. Nevermind we had snow yesterday on May 2nd.)

One thing that I do love about being a stay-at-home-mom is that I can go on field trips with Elisabeth. She's always excited when I can chaperone and I like seeing her interact with her classmates. I was in charge of Elisabeth and two other little girls, both of which were fantastically well behaved the entire day.
Because it is technically spring, I was thrilled to get to take pictures of the flowering trees at the zoo. I would make the girls stop while I tried to get the shots I wanted. While snapping this picture, I overheard Elisabeth say, "Yeah, my mom does this a lot. She just really likes flowers."
I also really like animals. I get very excited and squeally when at the zoo. I guarantee you I was more excited about seeing the animals than the three 7 year olds I was in charge of.

Look at this peacock! How gorgeous is he?!

Yeah...more flowers.
The girls had to make tally marks for different things they saw the animals doing. This is the tiger exhibit and he was sleeping. Last time we went, the tigers were playing and they jumped at this window that had about a dozen kids looking through it. The kids all screamed and ran away. I swear that tiger was laughing at them.
And then there were the bears! They were done hibernating, so we actually got to see them. This guy threw the stick he was playing with at the window and Elisabeth thought it was hilarious.

The otters.

The porcupine snacking on a carrot.

I have to tell you something about Elisabeth. The girl LOVES wolves. Big time. It all started when she was about 2 or so and was watching the Disney cartoon "Beauty and the Beast" with my sister, Terra. The wolf part came (you know, where they chase Belle and try to eat her) and Terra said that Elisabeth seemed scared. When Terra asked her if she was scared of the wolves, Elisabeth responded, "No. Because the wolves would save me." And that's kind of how it started. Instead of seeing them as a scary animal, she deemed them her saviors and friends. Wolves are her favorite part of any zoo.

If you ask her about a trip we made to Wild Life Prarie Park in Peoria, Illinois, she will tell you how a wolf smiled at her. She's serious.

Brookfield Zoo in Chicago has wolves.
And when we saw "Beauty and the Beast" the musical at a local community theater in Illinois, Elisabeth was thrilled to get her picture taken with the girl who played the wolf. (Also, that girl was so excited that someone wanted their picture taken with her. The girl's grandma told us that she'd never been asked to have a picture taken with a kid because they're usually scared of her costume.)
But, sadly, even though we have been to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo here in Co. Springs many times now, we have never actually seen the wolves in their exhibit. Elisabeth is always so disappointed.

Until last Friday...
There were three wolves running around in there.
I wish you could have seen Elisabeth's face. Or the way she whispered, "Oh, Mom, they're here!" Or how she smiled at them. She kept talking about them the rest of the trip.
I love getting to go on field trips with Elisabeth.

Elisabeth

Oh, Elisabeth. You are a weird kid.
But, it's a good weird. It's sometimes hard to describe her. I mean, she likes Star Wars in true, full-on dork fashion. She and Evan watch The Clone Wars every Friday together complete with popcorn and soda. She really likes Anakin, but does still like Luke from the old ones. She has a giant Star Wars poster on her lilac colored wall above her bed. She loves bugs and make-up. She likes to get dirty but also loves to write stories. She reads every night in her bed and also becomes a zombie when watching tv. I love it.

And I want to know what we can do from having outside sources tell her that Star Wars is for boys. Or that watching Sesame Street is for babies. Or that giving me a kiss when I drop her off is embarrassing. I want to keep her curiosity thriving without others squashing her dreams. And I know that I can't control other people. I know that someday what her friends think about what she wears and watches and whatnot will be very important to her. So, for now, all I can do is try my hardest to encourage that unique, beautiful spirit she has and pray that the Elisabeth we love so much will be strong enough to defy the criticisms of others.

So, I just try my hardest to enjoy this age with her (which I am not always good about) . To enjoy who she is even when she's driving me crazy. Because this age is just as sweet and special as all the other ages...and some day I will miss her at 7 just like I miss her being 2 or 3 years old.

Elisabeth loves dressing up. She had a sleepover a couple of weeks ago and she talked her friend into dressing up like a clown to scare me (since I am terrified of full on face paint) (shudder). Then they dressed up like witches and ghosts.




Elisabeth has high hopes of becoming an actress. She talks about it a lot. If you ask her what she wants to be, she'll say an actress and then a teacher. She will also tell you that she's not allowed to start acting until after college. That would be our rule, thank you very much.
So, when her school had the annual first grade concert--The Tortoise and The Hare--Elisabeth was thrilled when she got to be the announcer.
Elisabeth fans.
She said she loved using the microphone.

Julia loved the ice cream sandwiches after the show.

Spring soccer has sprung and Elisabeth is doing really well. Sure, she does cartwheels and spins till she falls during practices, but she's participating more during games than she did last season.


This would be Julia throwing a fit in front of the other parents when told she could not go onto the field while the game was being played.
Thankfully, when it was over, Elisabeth ran to get Julia and show her to the other kids.

Oh, Elisabeth. You are a sweet kid.