An update on the girls.

-Both of my girls are growing. Elisabeth has an unstoppable appetite and has out grown most of her wardrobe. Her feet are now in a child's size 3, which is just 2 sizes away from needing to shop in the women's shoe section. Julia is in a 4T now and they fit her perfectly. I need to make sure the bucket of 5T clothes is ready in the wings for when she sprouts into them. Also, Julia's been asking for naps again, which she rarely does anymore, but usually occurs during a growth time.

-Elisabeth is going to have a ginormous summer vacation this year. School ends on May 27th here but doesn't start until August 22nd in Texas. If we were still living here, she'd start school on August 3rd. That's a good 2.5 weeks of extra vacation. She's very excited, mainly because she knows that means it's extra time she'll get to hop in the car with me and explore San Antonio.
-While Ethan and Owen were visiting us last week, it occurred to me that Ethan will remember Colorado more than Julia will. That made me very sad. She's so little and she'll have barely turned 3 by the time we move to Texas. She won't remember our house or her room or the library we go to weekly or the Y or anything. Thank goodness I take so many pictures so she can at least see the things she loved to see and do and where we lived when she was ages 1-3.
-Let's have an Elisa-update. Currently, Elisabeth's favorite color is orange. She is reading chapter books left and right (so proud!!). We're reading the 3rd Harry Potter together and she loves it! I'm going to go ahead and read the whole series with her and then get her her own addition of the series so she can read them whenever she wants. She is thinking about being a music teacher or an art teacher when she grows up. She's pretty certain she wants to live in Illinois as a grown up (probably in Chicago). She still brainstorms ways to save the planet, still dances like no one's watching, still sleeps with her Doodle Bear every night. She and Evan still have their Star Wars: The Clone Wars dates on Friday nights (complete with popcorn and soda). She's been better about keeping her room clean and has really started to improve her "dealing with Julia" tactics. She is a clothes and shoes fanatic and has developed her own unique, cute style. Elisabeth is growing up and some days that is fabulous and some days I try to rewind it all to see the progression all over again.
-And then there's Julia...Julia's favorite color is pink. She has imaginary friends and is playing more and more out of my sight. Julia likes paint and markers and chalk and feels that any surface is an art outlet (including her face). Julia is funny. She has a natural ability to know what will get a laugh. She's definitely our comedian. Julia likes to read, loves her Pink Baby and considers Roosevelt her bff. Julia is wearing underwear now and is quite proud of herself. Julia is getting better about talking to people the first time she meets them, but we've still got a long way to go. Julia's almost physically outgrown her crib and we're talking about getting her a big girl bed (sob!). Julia's pretty good at riding her tricycle and no longer needs a booster seat at the dinner table. She's like to be a Mommy when she grows up. She asks for Evan as soon as she wakes up and is beyond giddy when he walks in the door.
Well, I guess I'll keep both of them. For a while at least.

Virtual Coffee

Good morning!!!

Ok. It's not morning anymore. So, I guess we'll be having some night time virtual coffee.

If you were really over here having some evening coffee with me...I'd tell you how beautiful today was. How it was in the high 60s. How my lovely friend came over to clean my house and I followed her around talking her ear off. How I immediately started cleaning more after she left because I am such a weirdo.

If you were really at my kitchen table chatting with me...I'd tell you that I finally bought Elisabeth a new bike today. That Elisabeth outgrew her bike last fall but we kept forgetting to actually purchase her a new one. That Julia fell asleep laying down in the cart at Wal-Mart and I had to place groceries around her. That a few people stopped me just to tell me how cute it was my daughter was so contentedly sleeping in a shopping cart.

As you asked me for a second cup of coffee...I'd say that I am happy today. I am trying to appreciate everything I have--good health, a fabulous home, 2 beautiful girls, a husband I adore, friends who are beyond terrific, family that is always there for us. I am trying to be more at peace with all the things I find so frustrating and not let that frustration dominate my whole mood, day, outlook. I am blessed with many wonderful things in my life and I need to learn to appreciate them more.

Before you leave for the night...I'll ask what's new with you? What are you reading now? I'm reading David Sedaris' "Naked" and loving it. I've also read quite a few Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich. What are your plans for the week? Anything you're hoping to accomplish? Anything you're dreading?

Thank you for coming over. Sorry this had to be such a late date. I do so love when you stop by, though.

Sand Dunes

While preparing for their trip out here, Jana made a request to visit the Sand Dunes. I had no idea what she was talking about, so I googled it and found out that about 3 1/2 hours south of us were these natural sand dunes. In fact, it's called Great Sand Dunes National Park. Of course, we all wanted to go and check them out.

It was a long drive, but eventually, we saw this at the end of the road:

The kids were so excited! Elisabeth wanted to roll around and make sand angels. Ethan and Julia both wanted to dig! dig! dig! (we made a special trip to Target before we went to stock up on shovels and rakes and buckets) Owen just likes to stare at all of us and smile, so he was pretty stoked about going too.




Elisabeth led us to the "sand mountains" and we all diligently followed.
It was kind of chilly and super windy, so Kyle and Owen ended up going back to the car to nap and hang out. Owen wasn't a fan of the wind in his face. The rest of us kept on trudging up the sand dunes.
Sand dunes are deceptive and what looked pretty close was actually over half a mile away. But, once we got there, the sun got brighter and the temperatures went up. We ditched our coats and shoes (I had made a poor shoe choice anyway, so I'd ditched mine well before everyone else). Then the kiddos started rolling and sliding down the dunes.


I don't think I can adequately describe how completely awesome this place was. It was beautiful, it was mesmerizing, it was exhausting. We scaled the tiniest portion of those dunes. These are the tallest sand dunes in North America and I would have loved to have climbed the tallest one, but with 3 small kiddos, that wasn't an option that day.


Eventually, though, Jana and Elisabeth headed towards a pretty steep dune.
This is the view from the bottom. Elisabeth climbed up this 3 times!!

This picture cracks me up!



We had so much fun! We were there for probably 2.5 hours. It was definitely worth the drive out there. And, for a very brief time in the summer when the snow on the mountains have melted, there is a small lake of water and you can actually splash and swim in it! I really want to go and see that!!

On the way drive home, we had to stop so a few elk could cross the road. The kids super liked seeing them!

This was one of my favorite days here in Colorado. So glad that Jana mentioned going because I would have been very sad to have missed this opportunity while we were living here.

Nina and Papa visit and bring some extra people along

Evan's parents had planned on coming to visit us over spring break. We had some things planned and were most excited.

Then, Evan's sister, Kyle, asked if we cared if she and her boys could tag a long since her husband, Matt, would be on a work trip the whole week.

Of course, we said yes! We're not going to give up opportunities to smooch those red-headed nephews!!!

Let me tell you how thankful I am for a bench on our dining room table. Three kiddos fit perfectly on it!
Oh, and these two?
Are nothing but trouble when they get together. Lord help us when they are teenagers.
Nina and Papa came bearing gifts for the girls: Baby doll beds! Julia put her pink and purple babies in there pronto.

Kyle got to celebrate her half birthday while at our home!

Poor Ebeth was stuck in the middle of Flopsam and Jetsam.



I don't remember why this occurred...

We had a lot of fun and did a whole bunch of things. The weather was pretty cooperative for most of the week they were here. I'll share some of the trips we made soon, but for now, I have some cleaning to do and some sunshine to enjoy!!!

Ear trouble.

This was taken in the spring of 2007. Elisabeth was almost 4.5 years old.

Last night, the 8 year old Elisabeth came downstairs and said that her left ear hurt when she laid on it. Elisabeth is not a complainer by any means, so we got a flashlight and looked in it to see if it was red or swollen. We saw a buildup of wax way down in the canal. I told her I'd make an appointment in the morning, that the doctor had a special scoop to get excessive ear wax out of ears and to sleep on the other side. She was happy and went off to bed.

We get to her doctor appointment and the doctor goes to look in her ear and immediately sees the build up but says, "I don't think that's wax." Ok. So, the doctor has Elisabeth lay down and she gets this little tool that looks like a stick with the smallest little loop on the end. She tells Elisabeth that she's just going to try to scoop it out. As soon as the scoop goes into Elisabeth's ear, she starts steadily screaming, "Ow! Owowowowowowow!" louder and louder. The doctor looks up at me and says, "I can't get this out. I'm going to get a nurse who is great at getting things out of ears to come and spray some water and hydrogen peroxide mixture into it and see if she can get it out." I ask if she knows what it is. "It looks like a bean."

Now is where I need to tell you a story. When Ebeth was 4.5 years old, she was in daycare at The Growing Place in Dekalb. One day she came home saying she had stuck a bean in her ear. She was playing during naptime and there were pinto beans from the sensory table near her cot. She stuck one bean in her right ear, but it kept falling out. She stuck a different bean in her left ear and pushed it in and it didn't fall out. We checked her ear and didn't see anything. We talked about not putting things in her ear and said that it wasn't in there anymore and went about our business.

For four years, Elisabeth has brought up this story about the bean that is still in her ear. She'd say how sometimes she could feel it when she itched her ear. She was always insistent that it had never fallen out...

When the nurse came in with the water to get the thing lodged in Ebeth's ear, she asked me to sit next to Elisabeth and put my arm around her so I could hold the cup to catch the water and the object in the ear. She then whispered very softly, "You're going to need to restrain her."

As soon as the nurse started squirting Elisabeth's ear with the stream of water and hydrogen peroxide, my very mellow eldest daughter started screaming like I haven't heard her scream before. She was crying and trying to run from the room. She was screaming, "Stop! Leave me alone! Quit hurting me! I want to go home!" I was holding her with everything I had, whispering to her that it was almost over. I was sobbing. Her crying reminded me of when she was an infant and had to have her heels pricked for jaundice. She was a week old and I felt helpless watching my child cry from pain with my only way of comforting her being hugs and crying whispers. That was how Elisabeth cried today.

While I was holding her, Elisabeth suddenly cried out, "It's not funny!" Confused, I looked at the nurse who told Elisabeth, "Honey, your momma's not laughing, sweetie, she's crying. Momma's cry when their babies cry." Elisabeth looked at me, her mother who almost never cries, for a second before focusing again on her pain.

After 20 minutes of squirting water and using the tool to try to scoop it out, the nurse was able to dislodge...a pinto bean. A pinto bean that had been in Elisabeth's ear canal for four years. A pinto bean that had finally started falling apart in Elisabeth's ear and started causing her some mild discomfort.

I was completely appalled and kept saying, "But, it's been in there for FOUR YEARS!" The nurse said that she's seen weirder things come out of ears. I decided not to ask what those weirder things were.

Elisabeth will have to have ear drops in her ears for 5 days to help kill anything the bean may have left inside. She doesn't feel like she can hear any better, but said her ear is sore from getting the crap beat out of it.

While we sat and waited for her prescription number to be called, Elisabeth calmly said, "I told you I had a bean in my ear."

Yes, she did. She'd told me that for four solid years. I believe I've apologized a million times today.

Definitely a day I will never forget.

Babies.

Babies have been on my mind a lot lately.

I know at least half a dozen women who are pregnant and 4 who have recently had their babies.

There are so many emotions when women are pregnant or just delivered their babies. Lots of fear and joy. In some heartbreaking cases there is also a lot of sadness as well.

But one thing that is true for every first time mother is this--you are never ready to have a baby. You can never read enough books, talk to enough veteran mothers, give yourself enough pep talks to fully be ready for parenthood, but when that baby is put in your arms, you are not ready.

When Evan and I got pregnant with Elisabeth (at the quite young ages of 20 and 18), we were both still in undergrad. We both were still living with our parents. We both worked part time at minimum wage jobs just to have a little money while in college. To say the least, our being pregnant was a gigantic surprise (for everyone!). After our initial shock (which lasted the first 2/3 of the pregnancy) we started getting "ready" for this baby we were having. We bought the essentials (crib, stroller, carseat), we were thrown baby showers by loved ones, we read some books (Dr. Sears! A must read!) and we took the birthing classes. We were "ready".

And then, after a few hours of hard labor and good 45 minutes of pushing, this little girl came into the world:

And I knew that I was the most clueless person ever. There was no way that those nurses and doctors were going to let me take her home--I was an idiot! I didn't know anything! How was I supposed to make her stop crying? How did this breastfeeding thing work? Would a nurse come home with me? What the heck?!?!

I tried talking one of the nurses into letting me stay. She just smiled, patted my arm and left my room laughing. I stared down at this baby who was sleeping so sweetly in my arms with her shock of jet black hair and her perfect little lips and thought, "Well, crap."

I took that baby home to my parents house (who so lovingly said that Evan, Elisabeth and I could live with them until we were graduated and had real jobs) and I cried. I cried a lot. I cried as I tried rocking the not-tired baby to sleep. I cried every time Elisabeth wanted to nurse because I hadn't gotten the breastfeeding thing down and it hurt like hell every time she latched on. I cried when she peed on me. I cried when Evan would ask me if I could pass him the remote. I cried and I didn't even know why I was crying. I was a huge, bumbling mess.

After a few weeks, I stopped crying so much. After a few months, I adjusted to the idea that I was a mommy now. That Elisabeth was my daughter...forever.

And that's when I came to this conclusion--Even if Evan and I had been trying to get pregnant; even if we had been 10 years older with steady careers; even if we had millions of dollars because we had a goose who laid golden eggs; even if we had read every book about babies, watched every video about birth, attended every class in a 20 mile radius about having kids, we would have NEVER been fully ready. Why? Because you can't be until you have birthed that baby and held it in your arms and realized that "well, crap", you are now in charge of this tiny, tiny person forever and ever, amen.

I am blessed in that I have a huge community of mothers that I can lean on. I have fabulous friends and a tribe in Illinois that I turn to when I don't know what I'm doing who have "been there done that" and can help guide me or give me an outsider's perspective of my current parenting dilemma. I can not even begin to describe how important it is to have people who will help you when you are getting to know that new little baby you brought home. I have made it my mission to be a source of help to new moms, especially since we are in the Air Force and so many of these moms are very far from family. Being a new mom can be lonely and overwhelming--to even have one person to call and say, "Um...their poop looks funny and I have cried about it for 45 minutes" is so valuable. I can't image not having anyone to lean on during those first few months.

And the funny thing is that a lot of these moms are so shy about asking for help. They don't want to be a bother. I have taken their timidness, completely ignored it and become that pushy person who knocks on their doors and says, "Hi! I'm here to hold your baby." They never say no. :)

Now, I'm not saying that Evan and I are professionals at parenting by any means. I know I still have moments with Elisabeth where I think, "Geez louise, I hope that parenting decision doesn't cost you months of therapy when you're 25." But, so far, I think we're doing ok. We've learned a lot and evolved as parents. I mean, she's pretty awesome, but that has a lot to do with just who she is as a person.

And, when we decided that maybe it was time to add a child to our family, I still panicked. I still had that moment of "oh my lord, what was I thinking?! How in the world will I parent two of them?!?!". But, then Julia was born and I hear her little montster-ish cry and I thought, "Eh, I did it once, I'm sure I can do it again."
And I would say that she's shaping up pretty nicely as well.
Don't worry, though. We're talking about eventually having one more addition to our family. I have not one doubt in my mind that I will have a panic attack again about parenting three of them. I plan on just cry into the phone and making someone come over and hold my new baby.

Virtual Coffee

Hello, all!!! Isn't it a lovely (but, holy crap, so windy!!) day?

Let's drink some virtual coffee and chit chat about our week!

Well, spring break is here for Ebeth. She has 2 full weeks off and so far has spent them building forts with Julia, frolicking outside and asking to help out in the kitchen. Oh, and laying around reading. I love that kid.

We've been working on how to interact more positively with Julia lately. You see, my children are polar opposites. They have different needs and likes and wants and sometimes this makes it hard for them to interact together. The 5.5 year age difference doesn't always help either. Julia likes to show Elisabeth she wants her attention by trying to tackle her or by grabbing what is in Elisabeth's hand and running away with it or by following Ebeth around making obnoxious noises. Elisabeth's reaction to all of this is freak the eff out and panic or whine or yell "Stop it, Julia" until my ears bleed. Julia likes big hugs and lots of touching. Elisabeth is like me and prefers the hugging and touching be done on her own terms. All of these opposites makes for a lot of sibling bickering.

So, I sat down with Elisabeth yesterday and brainstormed (this would be after I lost my shit and did some screaming and asking of the children to leave my eyesight until I could calm down). We talked about how when Julia is being pesty, a lot of the time she just wants some attention. We discussed how to handle Julia's need to play rough and our tone of voice when Julia starts getting annoying. It's a topic we talk about a lot, but hopefully this time it'll help with the yelling. (Please let it help with the yelling...)

Sigh...parenting.

So, this giant tumbleweed came by to visit us this weekend.
Evan was so happy to see it.
Spring is very windy around here and besides lovely visits from massive tumbleweeds, it kind of makes it hard to play outside. Julia really wanted to blow bubbles yesterday, but since it was hard for her to stand up straight without the wind trying to knock her down, we may have to wait a few days for that outside toy.

Well, we have lots of plans for today. A trip to the Y and the post office and some playing that needs our attention. Thanks for stopping by and we'll see you soon!!!

Evan's parents will be here Saturday and the girls are counting down the days. They have both decided that a zoo visit is a must and who am I to argue? :)